Elexian Empire

Social: Quite helpful and open people that aren't afraid to take initiative. Some find them bullying and commandeering, and some things can be said about the way the Elexians go about getting things done, but mostly it's with all the best intentions and with a mind set on getting it done. They are characterised as arrogant, stubborn and pigheaded by some, others find them willful and persistent. The empire employs a large amount of low paid workers and slaves and the barrier between natives of Medera and the aquisitioned labor is abnormous. Slaves and workers live under despicklable conditions always on the brink of starvation while the nobility and upper echelons of Elexias live carefree, protected and in debouchery. The Elexians have a fondness for displays of power and strength, and they have dozens of empirial holidays with parades both military and civilian. In no particular order there's:

• Emperor's Grace - 3 day celebration in the spring, a former Gilheartian religious celebration assimilated by the empire.
• Emperor's Harvest - 1 day Harvest feast - at the end of harvest in Medera Heights.
• Emperor's Reach - 2 Day summer celebration honoring the conquests of the empire.
• Emperor's Embrace - 1 week Winter festival, solstice celebration, coincides with the Kel'sythian celebrations of Ras'Palantir (possibly an adoptation).
• Emperor's Armistice - 2 day fall celebration, empirial celebration of its military.
• Emperor's Pardon - 3 day festival in which Empirial pardons may be issued, or they may not.
• Emperor's Mercy - 2 day religios festival, adopted from the folklore of Gilheart.
• Emperor's Lavish - 1 week celebration in and around Medera Castle.
• Emperor's Purification - 1 day of faste and 4 days of debouchery, the ceremonies are clearly religiously inspired, but it is unknown where they originate.
• Emperor's Triumph - 2 Day winther celebration honoring the conquest of the empire.
• Emperor's Fertility - 1 day spring celebration honoring the newborn of the empire.
• Emperor's Remorse - 1 week religious festival, adopted from Ophaelean folklore.
• Emperor's Tribute - 1 day summer celebration of the emperors past.

They love to flash the imperial relics and they take every opportunity to create displays of conquest and victory and to celebrate anything celebratable. They love, loving their emperor, and anything but pure worship isn't tolerated. Even in the back of the darkest Inns, where only little light comes in, not even here, is the emperor's name or doings criticised or ill spoken off. The workers and slaves may not have much love for the empire, but noone speaks, the examples set in the past by imperial swiftness and cruelty, mad them loose their voices real quick. The empire is also known to employ a vast number of spies and asassins, but they aren't all that needed, the natives appears content enough, and the slaves and workers are weak and disorganised, and these assets are mostly used at the borders or outside the empire.

Geography: In the North the land rises into the massive Central Mountains. The mountains are rich in ore and gemstones and the northern populace spend a great deal of their lives in mines and shafts, digging ever further. At the foot of the mountains the land changes into rich, mineral rich soil, deposited from the mountains over the centuries, farmland that will host almost anything that can grow. Further to the south the farmlands gradually give way to dense and humid tropical jungles, with an abundance of wildlife and exotic fruits, but also deadly critters and large things that the Elexians tell their children about when they have been bad. Lakes and rivers scar the land, fed from weather systems, from the Sea of Amas, dropping their contents on the jungle before moving upwards in the mountains. Wetlands, lakes and rivers feed the mighty Medera river in the west and the equally large Earn river in the east, both highways of travel for trade and military as well.

Military: The empire has a standing force of around 80.000 light and heavy infantry, 12.000 horse mounted infantry, 2400 archers, 2000 warmachines of varying callipers spread around 22 garrisons, and the command chain to go with it. They are conquerors and the empire often invades new territory or tries to, they are always on alert. The empire has a reserve of another 15.000 that it can conscript on short notice and a steady flow of conscripts coming in from all parts of the empire. The military keypoint is Eastwatch that holds the Queen Llaene at bay. Eastwatch wasn't always under the empires control and they quickly learned that letting Llaene having such a staging area for her forces would be the end of the empire. Forces were gathered and focus was mustered and a 3 month long bloodshed went on the foot of the Sabran mountains. In the end the empire was victorious, mostly because it was closer to their home than to Llaene so they could resupply and wear the enemy down. The empire never lost Eastwatch again and the place is heavily defended at all times but luckily the choke point formed by the Sabran Mountains and the coast to the south makes defending the place a lot easier than taking. The empire has several flotillas of warships patrolling the shores of Elexia, the only coastline in the empire, her weak underbelly. One thing the empire has learned over the centuries, always watch Eastwatch and never take your eyes off the Sea of Amas. Most forts, garrisons and outposts are all about business and continuously ready for war, be it invasion or defence of the empire, 1.st and 2.nd Imperial Garrisons are the exception. The first is really all about parades and displays for the people and has no strategic importance. 2.nd Imperial garrisons is used almost exclusively to train elite troops, some of those eventually end up in the Imperial Guard North of Medera. But the remaining twenty garrisons of the empire were always on the lookout and ready for war or skirmishes.

Trade: The empire has the finest roads in all of Ardensis, many paved and all well maintained. The military can respond rapidly to anything moving in and about the region. The road also forms a network for the traders along with old trade routes, rivers and jungle paths. The network allows metals and precious stones from the mountains flowing southward to Gilheart and to the Ebrian Union. Exotic crops, fruit and animals from the jungle, fish and game from Gilheart all travel northward towards Medera using the old trade routes. Trade to the Kel'sythia and Kel'eri is quite frequent but not regular and with only a few established trade stations in the region, mostly the Kel'Sythians and Kel'Erins come to Elexias to trade their goods. Trade with the Ebrian Union through Kadus is regular. The empire trades jungle exotics and gemstone from the mountains with grains and foods, leather and woodwork from the Ebrians. The engineering marvels of Ophaele is a well kept secret and the empire does not trade warmachines or any Ophaele made contraption.

Religion: The official religion of the empire is to some degree set by the royalty in Medera, but only as a means to keep the people content and sufficiently divided. The Empire has one belief, the emperor is above god in all matters, but even royalties and nobilities of Medera would sometimes follow other faiths. The whole matter of religion wasn't terribly important to the Elexians and certainly not to its Emperor. Amongst workers and sslaves however there was more than enough faith, the slavery had brought a slew of gods and goddeses to Elexia. The workers and slaves kept most of it to themselves, little gods in small temples, but their only desperate hope, far away from home and any change of rescue. The empire was not know to let its slaves free, ever.

Magic: While the jungles of Elexia feature quite terrifying predators and smaller but nastier things that can make a grown man lie sleepless, there is no real magic left in Elexia. It is possible if one looks long and hard enough, to come across magical creatures that have retreated far into the mountains in the north, but it is extremely rare and those lingering are often motivated by hunting and fresh human flesh. The Elexians happily dig into the mountains but they do not climb them. The ghosts of the Ruins Tarascon and Bowcare hardly count as magical and in the depths of Glas Moal the ancient evil that once dwelt there, left a long time ago.

Social: The people of Ophaele are friendly and curious to any foreigners, they love to tell stories and if you come into one of their cities you may very well find yourself tied up for days listening to their stories, mostly about solving specific engineering problems or how they overcome a certain obstacle made by nature. Truth be told, they aren't that interested in outsiders at all, they just like to hear themselves talk. Not that they are pretentious but they do have that certain air about them surrounding only people who without a doubt know that they know more than you. But other than that they are a forthcoming and friendly people to be amongst, but the feeling of not seeing it all never leaves you, the sensation of being tolerated on the fringe, never leaves you.

Geography: In the North the land rises into the massive Central Mountains. Mineshafts and mining caves litter the mountain lines and most Ophaeleians spend their lives in the mines or working with the crews that go into the dark. At the foot of the mountains the land gradually changes into hills and rich, mineral rich soil, deposited from the mountains over the centuries. The Ophaelians are not farmers and only little of the land is cultivated. Further to the south the farmlands gradually give way to dense and humid jungles.

Military: Ophaele has active conscription on behalf of the empire, all men of age are drafted and trained at least for 1 year. Some train locally for the engineering troops, while some are sent to Elexia for training. Travelling south from Oleari through lyddaria one finds the mighty Imperial Engineering garrison, main point of warmachine fabrication and training of military field engineers. A number of outposts are spread out along the roads but the only other major military installation is Fort Morphet, far to the south. Apart from the engineering troops Ophaele has no armies to command herself, all is coordinated from Medera leaving the Ophaelians at peace and fairly oblivious to the act of war at the imperial fronts.

Trade: Old well established trade routes cut through land and the jungle securing metals and precious stones from the mountains flowing southward to Elexias and Gilheart. In return Olearia and the rest of Ophaele receive exotic crops, fruit and animals from the jungle to the south and fish and game from Gilheart. Trade stations throughout the jungle make their separate network and in concentration around the mighty river of Earn. On the Earn it is possible to travel all the way from Ophaele in the north to Stroud in Gilheart. This highway of travel is also the favoured way of transporting heavy infantry and warmachines.

Religion: Very few and exclusive groups of believers, most adopt the imperial faith, being possibly more pragmatic than Elexia itself. Other pagan and shamanistic groups can be found if you insist and go looking, but religion has no public presence or importance in the daily lives of the Ophaele people.

Magic: Even the children of Ophaele know that there's nothing really dangerous about Kiaramuir Ruins, just an ingenious use of projections and strange natural formations, although they might call it magical it is certainly not.

Social: The Gilheartians love socialising, they are outdoors people that love hanging in groups and love mingling. They have skillful entertainers, dancers and artists serving most of the empire as summerresort or winther dwelling. Despite their easy going nature one should not mistake it for naivete, the people are well aware of the value of trade goods and imperial coin. The slaves, the real workforce in Gilheart, perform all chores from menial tasks to entertainment including a rather large industry of brothels and even shadier places. Gilheart has something for every taste indulging even the perverts, all carefully staged by the natives that can make anything happen for imperial coin. The slavery is Gilheart at it's core and they aren't shy of kidnapping either. One evening you may find yourself in happy company of slaves and Gilheartians, talking, laughing, drinking and whoring until you pass out, just to wake up in chains of slavery. That's how they kidnapped people, if your tab ran out and no credit was extended, or if the natives knew no one would be missing you enough to cause trouble, they would simply grab you in the sleep of night if they found you useful or worthy.

Geography: Rich jungle in the north gradually gives away to farmland areas, creating favourable weather and tempered zones. The mighty Undarbhur Spires protect Gilheart to its southwest so the land is dominated by warm weather systems blowing from the Sea of Amas. The farming is not overwhelming in the south of Central Kingdoms and there is less ore in the mountains compared to the Central Mountains. In the south Gilheart cuts into the Undarbhur Spires a much drier, jagged and unforgiving version of the northern mountains.

Military: Gilheart has active conscription on behalf of the empire, all men of age are drafted and trained at least for 2 years, most of them in local garrisons, but some are sent to Elexia for specialised training. A large amount of slaves are also enrolled into the Elexian war machine by Gilheartian middle men. Gilheart has a significant fleet along the Elexian located in the Sea of Amas to defend against Llaene and raiders that try to bypass Eastwatch by ship. The empire can easily mount flotillas of 100-120 ships to support any invasion on the empire's coast, it's only real weak point.

Trade: There is a lot of trade of goods taking place in Gilheart because of it's central placement within the empire and the Union to the south but the people from Gilheart are almost exclusively dealing in or employing slaves.

Religion: Empirial religion is the only officially supported faith. A number of smaller cults are known to exist in Gilheart, but without any commonalities or shared properties.

Magic: None

Social: If you are here looking to socialise you probably made a wrong turn leaving Elexias, for a fun time go see Gilheart. They are a friendly enough people and will offer food and drinks if you aren't threatening to them, but life in the jungle is hard and they have no patience for people who do not know how to behave in it. They also have no real interest in what goes on beyond the jungle.

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Magic: None

Social:

Geography:

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Magic: None