Empire of the Southern Sun

South of The Elysian Federation, central Caino’s plains and forests give way to dense jungle, cliffs, lower-lying plains and marshes. All of this is the territory of the Empire of the Southern Sun, a highly unified state, ruled and administered by almost a hundred noble houses which emerged from alliances of the region’s post-Cataclysmic tribes and chiefdoms. Most, but not all of these houses are built around genasi bloodlines.

Geography

The natural boundary with the Federation is the Greenwall, a range of mountains. Modest in comparison to the Skystone Peaks, they are nonetheless sufficient to prevent armed conflict. They take their name from the dense cloud forests which line their slopes.
South of the Greenwall, the Empire is divided into five provinces, ruled by the five Imperial Houses.

• Daarion - The northern province of Daarion sits along the line of the Greenwall, among the trees and mists of the cloud forests. It extends to the drier and more temperate forests in the east, the Elysian boundary in the west, and the high plains in the south.
• Jaridan - The south-central plains of southern Caino belong to the province of Jaridan. This includes both the warm, sub-tropical high plains, and the more temperate low plains, separated by the Cliffs of the Sun, in the centre of which stands the Imperial City of Golean, capital of the Empire.
• Urogan - To the east, the cloud forests give way to temperate forest and then to broad swathes of fenland. This unpromising land is the province of Urogan, whose wealth is founded on trade from the river port of Uroga.
• Tirikan - The long, narrow, southern extent of Caino is split between the coastal regions and the deep jungle, the dark and primeval province of Tirikan, where an ancient and sophisticated culture struggles to tame a land rich with the raw, wild influences of the plane of earth.
• Oolian - East of the deep jungle, the forests and mists thin through the coastal jungles and salt marshes of the province of Oolian. As Urogan dominates trade with Yethera, so Oolian grows rich on its botanical wealth and trade with Suto through the ports of Liat Tas and Liat Nor.

Social Structure

Imperial society is built around a highly stratified caste system. Every member of the society is born into one of five castes – noble, citizen, pastoral, servitor or outcaste – and their social role is refined through a regimented schema of public education and examination. The dominant philosophy of the Empire is built around an ethos of public service, coupled with reverence of the castes above one’s own station. This tradition is especially popular among the high castes, with much more geographical variation and revolutionary thinking in the customs and philosophy of the lower echelons of society.
Traditionally, there is very little social mobility in the Empire, but in practice there are several ways to change one's caste. Servitors who excel in the public examinations may be elevated to the citizen or pastoral castes to train as military or civil officers. Members of the Imperial Houses are able to award a rise in status to those in their favour, up to and including permitting the creation of a new noble house, or to punish the most heinous of crimes by stripping the perpetrator of rank. It is also possible to switch from citizen to pastoral via a change of location, the two castes being functionally equal, although the status of a city awards its citizens a certain extra cache.
In addition, social promotion can be gained on one of the Three Roads: The Black - service in the central military - the Green - a career in one of the Imperial Temples - and the Gold - study in one of the recognised traditions of magic.

The Black Road

Most of the military power of the Empire is made up from the house levies, armed retainers of the various noble houses. There is also, however, a central military force, in the form of the Imperial Academies and the Imperial Battalions.
The Academies train candidates who perform exceptionally in the public exams to become officers, while the rank and file of the sixteen Battalions are composed of volunteer citizen-soldiers who undergo a year's training and then serve five years 'at the pleasure of the Emperor,' being dispatched to border or coastal garrisons, or to engage in military campaigns against the Empire's enemies (mostly patrols and sabre-rattling on the northern borders, or maritime service against pirates.) Nine of the battalions are trained for land warfare, four are trained for naval action, two provide marines for the ships of the naval battalions, and the last provides escorts for diplomatic missions. Regardless of birth, all members of the battalions are given citizen status, and senior officers of the general staff are always part of the noble caste.

The Green Road

The religion of the Empire combines the cults of the Gods of Foundation and the House gods, patron deities of the noble houses. While most of these patrons are worshipped only by their house and its vassals, the Imperial Gods, patrons of the Imperial houses, have the status of national deities. Ordained clergy of any recognised religion are accorded the status of citizen, and high clergy of the Foundation and Imperial Cults are part of the noble caste.

The Gold Road

While there are many means to obtain magical training, those seeking to use it as a means for social advancement are limited to the recognised traditions, schools of learning and practice whose methods are enshrined by the Imperial Schools and Colleges. Within these organisations, distinction is made between the grand traditions, and those that are merely respectable.
The grand traditions are the revered Schools of Wizardry: abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, necromancy and transmutation. The Empire considers illusion to be a minor art, but recognises it as a respectable tradition alongside the order of scribes and bladesinging, each of which is governed by its own College. In addition, the bardic colleges of Eloquence, Lore and Valor are considered Imperial Colleges.
Magicians of all of these traditions are granted citizenship on graduation, while masters of the grand traditions have noble status. Any other form of magical training is considered a lesser tradition, and carries no status.

Castes

• Noble – Traditionally the caste of the noble houses, including the Imperial Houses, involved in matters of policy and governance. Land-owners - specifically those owning more than 100,000 platinum in land - ambassadors, members of the upper priesthood, senior officers of the general staff and master magicians of the grand traditions also hold noble status, whether or not they belong to a house.
• Citizen – Non-noble city dwellers. Bureaucrats, soldiers, priests, and magicians of recognised traditions always hold citizen status. Skiled artisans, especially those of established families or guilds, are citizens. While traditionally part of the pastoral caste, merchants and traders with a locally established guildhall may also be counted as citizens.
• Pastorals – Non-noble country dwellers. Tenant farmers, hunters, miners, messengers and merchants all belong to this caste.
• Servitor – Servant caste, functioning as literal servants or as assistants to citizen or pastoral experts. Members of the servitor caste have low status and limited freedom. They also have limited access to education. The public schools are open to all, but without private tuition, few servitors achieve high enough results in the examinations to rise above their birth.
• Outcaste – Outcastes lack status, but have considerable freedom as nothing is expected of them. They have substantial latitude in speech and action, and are deemed to fulfill a ‘productively disruptive’ role in society. Entertainers outwith the respected Colleges, mercenaries and travellers fall into this 'caste.' Most outcastes are human or Halflings.

The Houses

The five oldest dynastic houses are known as the Houses of the Imperial Dynasty, or simply as the Imperial Houses. Along with House Golean, they are also known as the Ruling Houses. The lesser houses of nobility are vassals to the Ruling Houses, and form the government of the provinces and the Empire as a whole, supported by a substantial bureaucracy.
The Emperor, the overall ruler of the Empire, is elected on the death of their predecessor both from and by the leadership of the Imperial Houses, and takes up the Throne of the Sun in the capital city of Golean on the cliffs above the southern central plains. The power of the Throne is dependent on the strength of the Emperor, ranging from pure figurehead to effective and driving executive. The current Emperor hails from Imperial House Tirikan and is considered to be a strong and effective ruler, if a little keen to focus power in the south.

The Imperial Houses

• Imperial House Tirika – Ruling House of Tirikan. The dynasty is largely composed of earth Genasi, but with Elf and grung members, either related to the genasi or adopted from lower houses of the deep jungle.
• Imperial House Ooliat – Ruling house of Oolian. Ooliat is a fire genasi dynasty, ruling over a mix of genasi, Humans and sea elf houses.
• Imperial House Daarium – Ruling house of Daarion. A primarily high elf bloodline, Daarium has a large numbers of Dwarf, genasi and Gnome vassals.
• Imperial House Jarida – Ruling house of Jaridan. A mixed house of fire genasi and elves, their vassals are mostly human, Goblinoids and gnomes. They are the first of the Imperial Dynasties, and holders of the land around the Imperial City of Golean.
• Imperial House Urog – Ruling house of Urogan. Urog is a water genasi house, with many Orc retainers, and human, sea elf and bullywug vassals.
• Imperial House Golean - Administrating house of the Imperial city of Golean. This House is not one of relatives, but made up of people from all walks of life who are brought to Golean after their examinations by the Imperial Scouts. Notably, the candidates brought to Golean are not always those who achieve the best scores, with individual scouts judging by their own criteria. Here they are granted noble status, regardless of birth, and given a place in the running of the city. The scouts also choose a larger number of individuals, mostly servitors, to form the lower bureaucracy of the city and enjoy citizen status.