Empire

Empire is an absolute hereditary monarchy, led by the Perduin te Umparo, with direct control over the 4 armies, the barons, Empires hand's, Office of representatives of the Empire, all the forges, indirect control over the Hey Eye temple, collage of artefacy, Empire aligned adventurers, and symbolic control over the apothecaries. Perduin commands the 4 armies (previously the tuats), with the high warlord of each army swearing loyalty to the Perduin, with the Perduin having direct command of one of the armies himself. As a legacy of the Konders breaking of the taboos, Perduin has the title of overbaron, and can unilateraly judge the barons, or send one of his representatives to handle the case in his stead. During Konders dynasty, the title of overbaron was an elected office and held by the baron approved by the perduin, however, all institutions related to this office, including the southern militias, have been disbanded and reorganized into the Office of representatives of the Empire. As a legacy of the Vel's, Perduin is the forgemaster, guardian and benefactor of the collage of artefacy, the rightful leader of the Tunnel lands, and the protector of the Hey Eye temple. All forges belong to the Perduin as the forgemaster, giving him the right to assign the Head forgers of each forge. Being the head of collage of artefacy gives him the right to utilize the fruits of the collages research, as well as the obligation to support the endeavors of the collages arteficers. The rightful leadership of the Tunnel lands has often come into dispute since the toppling of the Vel's dynasty, but with no one being able to pass the sorcorous rites since, Perduin has been granted the title of "Leader in absentia" for the Tunnel lands (often through a forceful reminder). As the protector of the Hey Eye temple, Perduin has direct patronage of the clerargy of the Hey Eye temple in return for many protections and rights, and as such, Perduin may request compliance from Golden order or other branches of the temple. As a legacy of the Bor's, Perduin is the one given the oath of the apothecary, and thusly, any apothecary is sworn to follow the orders given by the Perduin. While apothecaries lack any formal organization since the Konders disbandonment of the brotherhood of apothecaries, many are still under the employ of the emperor either in the armies or as one of the Emperor's hands. As the legacy of Lepigs, Perduin is the protector of trade, farming and the unsettled. This gave Perduin wide rights to settle disputes of settlement of land, leading to the doctorine that the Perduin is the lawful owner of all land. In practice, this means the Office of representatives was given the right to make decisions on matters of land in emperors stead. In addition, the Lepigs created the Empires hand's as a way for the population to work for the benefit of the Empire, but it was later reorganized to be Perduin's own help as well as supporting workers of vault cities, losing a lot of it's original purpose.

Within the Empire, many settlements have their own unique rules and customs known as the minor rules. However, major rules are enforced over the whole empire, and are the guidelines to the adherence to the taboos. That said, the minor rules and customs of the Heartland of the Empire are considered the cultural backbone of the empire. When one meets a representative of the Empire, they can expect to be greeted in a way common in the Heartland, and for the representative to display the manners most common in the Heartland. Representatives will try to observe the settlements local customs in addition to the Heartland customs as long as there is no contradictions between the two (On occasion, this may lead to humorous displays).

Heartlands custom requires greeting from the one entering anothers proximity when in private quarters, in addition to an anouncment of entry if it is not the main entry into the dwelling or the dwelling only has one room. The announcment of entry is roughly "Incoming", and the greeting depends on the status of the involved parties, but consists of salutations and reason for intrusion. If one does not anounce himself in such a manner, he might be assumed to be a thief and can be questioned further. More customs can be found in the Adventurers handbook: <link>.

Heartlanders are often trendsetters in culture, music, act plays, recreations, art and arhitecture, as the proximity to the organizations of the Empire guarantees resources flowing into the region constantly. This often creates the image of a Heartlander as one studied, informed and cultured, but at the same time detached, pompous and uptight.

 

While seen by many as symbol of the prosperity brought by the Empire, it's culture is often divisive, and many attempts to enforce minor rules unrelated to the taboos outside Heartland has often been the cause of riots and regional instability. As such, the Empire has consistently returned to a compromise of it allowing heavy self governance for settlements, having to let the settlements to determine their own minor rules.

 

In practice, the position of Perduin is one of great power and great responsibility, as many have succumbed to the realities of this challange. Each dynasty and each Perduin has had it's source of power, be it the warriors of old and mastery over magic for the Vel's, adherence to morality and the brotherhood of apothecaries mastery over life and death of the Bor's, clerargy of the Hey Eye temple and the favor of the spirits for the Lepigs, control over the food and the masses of people of the Konders, or the martial might and the thunder magics of the Gunnigsens, their reign was determined by whether the Perduin could use the overwhelming power they held to restore order and freedom to the people. Those who used it for oppression and breaking of the taboos, those where doomed to fall.

Empire protects the freedom of its citizens to live in safety, move around the Empire, worship the spirits and the old gods, and to settle in peace. To do so, Empire has given out the major rules to seek enforcement of the taboos that threaten these freedoms. Empire enforces these rules through exploration, guidance, violence and magic.

 

• Empire promotes exploration of it's boarders and the treasures it holds through the support of the adventurers of the Empire.

• Empire guides settlements through example in both culture and minor rules, and hopes for mutual trade and benefit between settlements.

• Empire destroys the threats to it's citizens freedoms through violence, achieved through the military might of the 4 armies of the empire.

• Empire supports the study of magic in all it's forms, and is dedicated to the neverending battle against Durge and the evil magics in all it's forms.

Empire owns all (known) land not cursed by Durge, many of the vaults and all forges in the land. Empire de facto owns all the artefacts of thunder, many vault cities and fortresses. The full extent of the empire's population and it's revenue from taxation has not been calculated.

History: The Empire was officially created after the Union of between Kingdom of Peridun and the Hey Eye temple lands in the year 230 AR. Head of the Kingdom of Peridun Rako I Vellis became First Peridun Te Umpiro with the gurantee and backing of the Hey Eye temple, creating the first dynasty of The Empire - The Vellis dynasty, later known by Vel's.   The rule of the Vel's During the rule of the Vel's dynasty, the Empire experienced a golden age of expansion, exploration and discovery. The Vel's are hailed as a dynasty of sorcorer kings, bringing back the magic of the old days. Under their rule and with assistance from the Hey Eye clerargy, the Empire mapped the extents of their borders, marking them with Gemwood totems to warn wayward travelers. A lot of the great vault cities were mined during this time, with one of these being the foundation for the School of Arteficy. At the height of their power, Ian Vellis the II had his arteficers and smiths recreate a Bell of the Awakening Sun, although this was lost during the shift to the second dynasty.   The assasination war This short conflict was had when the rightful king, Aurus Vellis I, was assasinated after a celebration party. While the reasons are speculated to this day, it is believed that Aurus had broken one of the taboos during or after the celebration. This led to a plot by the following dynasty, the Bor, to assasinate the emperor along his family. While they succeeded with Aurus, they failed to eliminate his wife. It is said that she fled, along with her most trusted retinue and an unborn son. What is certain is that after the assasination war, Hey Eye gave legitimacy to the claims of the Bor family, making Rudgard Bor the Peridun of the Empire.    The rule of the Bor's Rule of the Bor's was uneventful, but stable. During this time, advances in artefacy and divination slowed, however, aphotecaries started becoming more prominant and even succeeded in recreating some treatments from the vaults. In addition, the Bor's strengthened the Empire's coffers, leading to a well operating state. This, however, built up dissatisfaction with the people, which culminated in a leader from the Hey Eye leading a revolt and taking the throne. This lead to the third dynasty - the Lepigs.   The rule of the Lepigs Lepigs used the accumulated wealth of the Bor's to fund more generous programs for the populace. Lepigs pushed for more practical uses of artefacy and divination, leading to increased crop yields across the empire. Overall, the Lepigs did well to try and keep the populace happy, but problems came after a year with bad harvest showed the flaws in their governance. This crisis was used by the barons in the south to request special privilages, which the Lepigs granted. However, when the barons attempted to seize more power, Lepigs requested aid from the Hey Eye. This lead to the council of the Empire, where Lepigs attempted to reason with the barons, however, it was to no awail. In the end, the last ruler of the Lepig dynasty decided to abdicate, calling for a vote of the people for their new Perduin, and Atun Lepig exiling himself to the original Hey Eye tunnels. This lead to one of the southern barons electing one of their own as Perduin, creating the Konder dynasty.   Rule of the Konders Konders rule was checkered with both failures and successes as Perduins. While under the first perduin the harvests increased and taxes decreased, under the second these changes were undone. Under the third one, riots grew in the provinces, leading to a more organized military, however, the fourth one used the military as tax collectors, leading to further discontent and larger debts. When the fifth one took over, he made a fatal error - he accepted a proposal allowing for enslavement of debtors and their kin. This lead to riots and refusal of the guard to protect the Perduin. After the Perduin hung from the great battlement along with the barons proposing this breaking of taboo, the General of the castle guard took over as the new Perduin, beginning the Gunnigsen dynasty.   Rule of the Gunnigsens Gunnigsens modernised the military and renewed order through force. This led to a reduction in banditry and increase in trade, bringing with it a resurgence in the Empires wealth. Gunningsens expanded the use of artefacy within the higher ranks from the old vaults of the Val's, as well as implementing the Tuat system. Once again, the empire traded and wealth flowed through the capital. That said, Hey Eye temple lands, Tunnel lands and Southern barrons all looked for ways to regain their lost positions. This lead to frequent crackdowns on protests and quelling of riots, leading to further unrest unless a Tuat was present. At the height of Gunnigsens power, there were 17 Tuats active, however, the following Perduins decreased the number of tuats to 13 before the Treason of the Three Tuats, and following it, reorganized the remaining loyal tuats into the 4 armies.    Current day Gohen IV Gunnigsen controls the hearthland of the empire, and has his armies garrison the wealthier regions closer to his control: the southern baronies, the port to Hey Eye and the Land of rivers. Functionally, the Islands, the Tunnel lands and the Lands of the Crossing are beyond the Empires grasp. The Tuat warlords roam these lands, along with marauders, bandits and free people.

A census has never been completed on the empire and estimates vary between 400 000 and 300 000 000.

Empire used to control the entirety of the their known world (with some stipulations of other parts unaccessible to them). Now, empire de facto controls only the Heartland, Port, Southern Baronies and the Lands of rivers, with Lands of the Crossing, Islands and Tunnel lands being in revolt.

Currently, the Empire relies on the 4 armies of the emperor, each one led by a warlord loyal to him with the exception of the first army, which is subordinate to the Perduin directly. The four armies each integrated 2 tuats, with the Perduins integrating 3 tuats and the remainder of the broken first tuat. The 3 armies are rotated between the Lands of Rivers, Port and Southern Baronies, with one tuat being exchanged between the Emperors army and the rotating army each rotation. With this, Heartland always has two tuats ready for it's defence, and two tuats in each of the regions defending them. They have the alliegence of the Golden order, but Perudin is cautious of reliance on other militaries doing his bidding.

Empire has religious freedom, however it's alliance with the Hey Eye temple has made spirit worship into the main religion in the region.

Empire mostly relies on subsistance farming and vault dwelling for most of it's resource needs, witt the exception of the forges owned by the Perduin and the Hey Eye, providing magical items of the New age. Due to controlling the known world, the Empire is required to keep a delicate balance of subsistance and extraction, as overly leaning into an industry has led to instability in the past.

Most settlements are fairly isolated and feature limited trade between them due to traders travelling by foot. Only transportation available are boats and