Berini Empire
The Berini Empire was the greatest power in the world in it's time. It spanned most of the sub-tropical forests and grasslands of north Rashini.
Structure
At the top you have the Emperor and the Nobles' ministry who have a little bit less power than the emperor. The lands of the empire are divided into satrapies, provinces and domains. Each satrapy is has a satrap and is divided into many provinces, each province has a provincier and is divided into domains, and each domain has a governor who runs it. All these officials report to their higher ups in the chain of command and the satraps report both to the emperor and to the Noble's Ministry. The satraps were appointed by the emperor for 6 year terms, the provinciers were appointed by either the emperor or Nobles' Ministry for 5 year terms and the governors were appointed by the satraps for 4 year terms. The empire gives the private citizen the chance to live however he wishes based on his merit as long as he doesn't break the law. There is a lot of religious and cultural freedom in the empire. These chosen officials could have as many terms as they were given.
Assets
Vast natural resources. These include a huge variety of spices that grow wild throughout it's vast territories. The empire also has a very large industry for sugar, sea salt and spices. The empire had an estimated 165 million people when it reached it's greatest territorial extent.
Disbandment
The Berini Empire was in a state of gradual stagnation that saw it being ruled by 23 different people in the final 50 years who gained power using coups or civil wars. the new and emerging Rioana Empire started to slowly swallow up the small remainder of the once mighty Berini Empire (like the Ottomans the Romans in the real world) and end it forever.
Demography and Population
There is a huge urban population in places like Berin, Tesfan, Lefan, Kurkash, Kirshan etc. The fertile lands of the empire and the roads, canals, aqueducts, defending armies and booming trade allowed the population to explode to huge proportions. The subtropical climate and the presence of huge rivers like the Berinus that were filled with rich silt allowed the growth of crops all year long and allowed the empire to feed more people. Food became a lot cheaper and people could afford to have more children which caused an exponential population growth. For example, Berin had a population of around 400,000 in 0 A.B which exploded to a size of about 3 million in 250 A.B.
The empire has a huge variety when it comes to it's population and it has many cultures and ethnicities. When the empire conquered a new region, it allowed the locals to keep there customs as long as they funtioned as a part of the empire in every legal aspect. That meant that the authority and official laws they had had to change. First, they couldn't keep any laws that contradicted the Berini laws. Second, the ruling class had to be stripped of their power. Instead, they would be governed by the satraps, provinciers and governors. Third, they had to learn the Berin dialect of Berinus Fren-Chital as a main or second language. This caused the various areas to remain unique while still being a consolidated part of the empire.
The Fren-Chitali are the largest group of ethnic groups in the empire. This is the result of the Berinus Basin becoming a huge breadbasket that caused their numbers to explode. However, this prosperity was shared among the empire's peoples and cities grew to astronomical sizes and were supported by very productive rural communities that could easily support them. This prosperity caused the empire's population to reach about 100 million by about 130 A.B and to about 165 million by 265 A.B. This prosperity that was a characteristic of the empire that helped keep it together. However, this worked against the empire the in End Berinus Dynasty crises when everyone rebelled because life was so good for them before that they took out their frustration on the empire when the going got tough (as it says in the Tanach: "וישמן ישורון ויבעט". The explanation to this is that if you pamper someone too much, he will eventually rebel. This is what happened in the crises.).
Territories
From the marshes of the lower Berinus, to the dizzying heights of the Saniri mountains, to the fertile farmlands along the Berinus and many other rivers, valleys and lakes, to the plains of Kirshan to the forests of Cornellia, you have can find an abundance of subtropical, alpine, Mediterranean and tropical regions in the Berini Empire's territories when the empire was at it's height.
Above: The Kingdom of Berin at the end of the 1st century B.B (green), The Berini Empire at the end of Mario I's reign (red) and at the end of Angeli I's reign (brown).
by Mr. CookiePasta
Military
The military was split into 5 armies in the time of Mario II. Two professional ones with 1 million soldiers and 200,000 logistics personnel for conquering new lands, and three semi-professional defensive armies for guarding the empire from external threats. The defending armies were posted throughout the empire and got a small state salary they had to supplement by working where they were deployed. This way they doubled as a decent army and as a massive labour force which could be moved around. Each defending army had 1 million soldiers and 200,000 logistics personnel. Only men with the rank of army master could command an entire army. This prevented one single faction from having complete military backing. However, The emperor or the Nobles' ministry could command 3 or 3 armies respectively if need be.
Berlintini I of Berin changed the army size to 1.2 million soldiers and 400,000 logistics personnel because the empire had gotten bigger and it needed a larger military.
The Berini armies could move extremely fast for their size. When travelling throughout the empire, they stopped at storehouses along the way to get a day's worth of supplies to get to the next one. They also traveled on the amazing and well maintained imperial roads. When reaching the last storehouse before leaving the empire, they would gather all the needed supplies and from there on they were supplied by the logistics personnel. Another thing that sped up the armies' pace was the use of drums that were beat at a fast and steady pace that caused the soldiers to naturally move faster.
Auxiliary forces could be drawn from non-citizens like the Saniri tribes or people from newely conquered areas1. This also includes people who gave up their citizenship.
The Berini military had a very efficient logistics system. There were various military warehouses throughout the empire which allowed the soldiers to travel quickly and lightly until they got to the border. Once they got to the border they would supply themselves from the nearest warehouse and exit. While on campaign, part of the logistics personnel would build temporary warehouses and supply depots for storing extra supplies and various pack animals were used. Among the animals they used were: Horses, donkeys, mules, camels and elephants. the troops themselves carried some of their supplies and also had logistics personnel carry some supplies for them. They would also use their war elephants to carry some of these supplies, but not their warhorses so as not to tire them.
The First Campaigning Army has a lion standard, the Second Campaigning Army has an elephant standard, the First Defending Army has a crocodile standard, the Second Defending Army has a buffalo standard and the Third Defending Army has a leopard standard.
After the reforms of Mario II, a general could no longer command an army and coordinate it since it was very large and reliance on just the simple terrain features like where's the high ground, the brush and the river. As a result, Mario II's campaigns were largely unsuccessful. To deal with this, a lot of effort was put into the development of cartography so that they could make detailed and accurate maps for coordinating large masses of troops that would be able to deal with this problem. This transformed the Berini Military into a military machine that was the most efficient fighting force of it's time for centuries. This is also one of the reasons why Arquado Barbarossa was so successful in Berlintini I's Great War of Coalition and why the army held out in the war for so long after his death against a technologically superior opponent with stronger (but not necessarily more disciplined or trained) troops.
Technological Level
From iron-age-ish in the begining of the first century A.B to late-ish medieval-ish technology in the 10th century A.B. Berlintini I's Great War of Coalition gave the Berini Empire a massive technological boost. They invented successful C-section in 12 A.B. Also, the the people of the empire developed advanced agricultural techniques that increased the quality and quantity of food production as well as basic water elevators which the empire inherited. Advanced water elevators and other medical and technological advancements came as a result of a few things during the very long reign of Berlintini I. The first thing was the connection with the near eastern world during the reign of Mario II when he conquered Toma. Toma was a Saniri trade city under Guntartar control which was connected via road to all the areas in and the East Hu-Balai either directly or indirectly. This caused increased trade and allowed certain technologies to cross over like the stirrup. The second thing was Berlintini I's Great War of Coalition which caused a lot of secret technologies to be captured, or brought some to the empire's attention so they attempted to replicate some of it and bought some of those products. The third, Berlintini I encouraged and funded the building of many libraries and universities which led to a an increase in the educated population and to the encouragement of experimenting with and developing new things. There was an academic and technological golden during his reign until the reign of Filip II when it slowed down.
Advanced cartography with accurate and detailed maps was developed during the late 1st century A.B. This led to a 50 year long survey of the entire empire that was started during the rule of Angeli II and lasted into the reign of Berlintini I. The survey was conducted by over 10,000 cartographers working extensively and vigorously for decades until their deaths or the completion of the survey.
Religion
There are various religions throughout the empire. Their is no official state religion and there is a freedom of religion.
Foreign Relations
Most diplomatic interactions were either trade or conquest. Especially during the Berinus Dynasty. However, Starting with Raffaello I of Berin Foreign relations became a lot more complicated.
During the Berinus Dynasty the Berini Empire was usually the most powerful power in the area and didn't have to worry so much about discouraging neighboring states from attacking it because of it's fearsome reputation and it's ability to simply steamroll them. This allowed it to worry more about trade without having to worry about monkey business. The reason, if the empire felt like it was being cheated, it could throw at it's opponents a "sea of soldiers" to deal with it's troubles. It seldom had the same neighbors for a long time because the emperors of the Berinus Dynasty were very ambitious conquerors.
Agriculture & Industry
The agriculture is very well developed and allowes the empire to have a huge population. There is a lot of irrigation based farming in areas like the Berinus basin where you can find some major canals stretching for dozens of kilometers to aid transportation and to water far off fields. The Berini also developed advanced farming techniques that allowed them to grow food on the same land many times all year long without degrading it's quality and making it infertile.
Trade & Transport
The empire's roads make it very well connected and it's very safe to travel them. This makes the state very popular in the eyes of the people and gives people many financial opportunities, especially in trade. There are also many rivers and canals that make travel by boat very convenient. That is besides travelling by foot, horseback, carriage, express chariot (chariots may have stopped being battlefield weapons in the first century A.B, but their speed makes them a fast and convenient way to travel the roads of the empire) donkeys, camels, elephants, etc.
The fact that the ethnic Berini people are river people has led to this because they were used to having easy to travel commuting routes like the Berinus river and the canals they dug.
Education
Most people have some form education (it's the law that you have to learn a craft and make sure that all your children do too) and about 50% of the population is literate (don't you love the Latin alphabet?). This is in vast contrast to the East Hu-Balai where more most non-traders are illiterate because East Hu-Balai script requires you to know a few thousand symbols to be able to read it.
Infrastructure
Amazing. The empire literally depends on the amazing infrastructure to function. That is why the End Berinus Dynasty Crisis was so bad. The empire fell apart because the infrastructure was neglected (among other things).
Footnotes
1Onlly people who lived in areas that were under the control of the Berini empire for 35 years were granted automatic citizenship. Before then your father had to be a citizen for you to be one too. This is a method that was used by the empire to make it more Berini so it would be less likely to resist imperial rule as it encouraged non-citizens to marry their daughters to citizens to get all the legal benefits that came with it. After Berlintini I's Great War of Coalition this was reduced to 29 years so that the military could keep a large variety of recruits to choose from. 2A human being with both male and female sexual organs. 3A human being that has no visible signs of being male or female.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
Vivs les emperor, vivs les populus
(Long live the emperor, long live the people)
Some signifacnt laws
1) Inheritance: Land is inherited to the eldest son while the other possesions are divided among the other sons. If there are no sons, the daughters inherit. Eunuchs, androgynes2 and tumtums3 can't inherit land as the former can't leave it to anyone because he has no physical cotinuation and and the latter have an inconclusive gender and it's unknown whether they are male or female (the tumtum case usually clears itself by puberty) as it has an impact on the inheritance division. This means that if they are the only children they still inherit, unless we are talking about a eunuch in which case the inheritance goes to the deceased's next closest relative. Childless widows inherit their husband's lands and return to their parents or live on their own or with a next of kin if the parents are dead. 2) Military conscription: every able-bodied male citizen is drafted into the army for 6 months at the age of 17 and if the state sees him fit to be a professional soldier, his draft term is extended to 25 years and they are put into one of the five armies. This usually only happens to around 7% of the draftees.Maps
-
Berlintinian Helmet
Further information here. -
Berinus Basin
A map with all sorts of details on the Berinus Basin.
Founding Date
0 A.B
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Capital
Demonym
Berini
Government System
Monarchy, Constitutional
Currency
Major Exports
Salt, sugar, donkeys, elephants, horses, mules, grain and spices.
Major Imports
various goods and luxuries from far and wide. Most notably dragon ivory, exotic furs, high quality metals, horses, tools, etc.
Legislative Body
Berini Emperor, Nobles' Ministry.
Judicial Body
Emperor, Nobles' Ministry, Grand Court
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Official Languages
Related Ranks & Titles
Neighboring Nations
Manufactured Items
Notable Members
Related Ethnicities
Related Myths
Related Plots
Classes
Slaves
Slaves are the lowest class in the imperial society and only make up 2% of the entire populations at most. Slaves have legal protection in the form of minimum food and water required as a function of height and age, sleep minimums, hygiene minimums and clothing minimums. Slaves are often well treated and only owned by royalty or aristocracy as they are the only ones allowed to own slaves by law. A slave's power often depends on how much power he is given by his masters. For example, a royal slave who is in charge of tasting the food of a noble or even the emperor has more political sway and connections than your average middle to low class citizen who makes a living working the family farm and selling the crops. Slaves are also often given nice clothes in order to show off their master's wealth and are recognized by their shaved heads (no citizen in his right mind would walk around with a shaved head as slaves are obligated to be shaved by law regardless of gender, wealth or status). Slaves were a lot more common before Mario I of Berin rose to power as he released most of them to get the popular support he needed to establish legitimacy.Private Farmers
The private farmer is the most common type of profession you find in the empire (they make up around 89% of the empire's population). Either he works his own family farm, or he is an employee who is hired by a land owner to work the fields in exchange for a cut of the profits (25% is what's often accepted) from the specific land he is working or for a prearranged wage or salary the two parties agreed upon in the beginning. Farmers/field owners usually take their produce to the market to sell it themselves if they live close by. However, this changed in the 1st century A.B with the better roads which allowed special produce merchants to make big money as they would buy their surplus crop straight from the field and sell it in the market themselves. They would either buy the produce on the spot for the full price plus transport fees or split the profit with their suppliers after they sold the crop. This allowed farmers to work their fields year round and live farther away away from the towns, villiages and cities. As with most of the populace, they often do pretty decently and tend to have a set of work clothes and a set of nice clothes (see Berini, look under "beauty ideals") and decent tools, but there are people who are as rich as minor nobility and people who are so poor that there is only one full set of clothes for a married couple.Merchants
Merchants play a very big role in the Berini Empire. The import and export goods,Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments