Grimstal Empire

The Grimstal is ruled by a Kaiser. The empire is currently divided into seven Archduchies which are ruled by Archdukes and several Duchies which are ruled by Dukes. The Duchies and Archduchies are divided into counties which are ruled by Grafs. The Grafs can grant land called Baronies to worthy individuals who rule them as Barons.   The succession is of the Kaiser is chosen via an election by the Archdukes. The Archdukes vote from among the Archdukes on who the heir to the current Kaiser. When the Kaiser dies, the heir becomes the new Kaiser.   Primogeniture succession is the type of succession that is generally used for Archdukes, Dukes, Counts, and Barons.

The Grendan people lived in tribal communities for many years until the armies of the Magnosi Empire moved into their lands and attacked them. The Grendans defended their lands fiercely, but they were overcome by the tactical and magical superiority of the Magnosi Empire.   After the Magnosi took over, the empire installed a governor who in turn installed regional overlords who took the task of trying to civilize what they saw as barbaric people. The civilizing process was aided by the economic prosperity that came with the Magnosi taking over but was hindered by the fact that the Grendans valued their freedom. Rebellions were common in the Magnosi controlled Grendan provinces, but were generally put down very quickly.   The exception to those quickly defeated rebellions was a rebellion lead by a man named Grimstal. Grimstal was a charismatic farmer from a small village in the central part of what is now the Grimstal Empire. When the local provincial overlord came to his village with a small continent of soldiers to take a group of children to the capital to be trained as specialized slaves, Grimstal rallied the village around him and killed the overlord and his soldiers. Tragically, one of Grimstal's daughters died while the fighting was going on. This caused Grimstal to vow that he would free his people and bring the empire to its knees.   Grimstal's rebellion lasted for nearly ten years, and during the course of the rebellion, he had freed nearly every part of the land the Grendans called home. The rebellion ended when Grimstal was betrayed by one of his lieutenants, a red-scaled dragonbreed and former slave named Erythros and captured by the Magnosi army.  The week after Grimstal was captured, he was publicly executed in the center of the largest city in the Grendan lands, Niedrigheim.  The execution was quite brutal. Grimstal was beheaded and then dismembered and a Magnosi wizard ripped his soul apart in a powerful display of magic.   With the death of Grimstal, the rebellion collapsed, but his death stoked the fires of faith.  The Magnosi had long been trying to impose their own gods on the Grendans, but they had always resisted, preferring their traditional gods.  After Grimstal's death, several influential priests of Volkmar, their chief god, claimed to have dreams of Volkmar commanding them to venerate Grimstal as a saint.  These priests began to preach throughout the Grendan lands that Volkmar had made Grimstal a saint and that Grimstal was with his people in their time of struggle.  Devotion to St. Grimstal spread throughout the land like wildfire.  The Magnosi Empire tried to stop the spread by making it illegal to worship St. Grimstal, but this had very little effect.

The Grimstal Empire is primarily composed of Grimstaler humans with other human ethnicities and races composing a small minority. Fewer dwarves living in the Empire than in other nations in the region, but the Empire has a higher number of elves than those other nations.