Imperial Empire of Unicora

In the heartlands of Unicora arose the First Ones known as the Empi. For millennia, these tall and imposing creatures spread across the continent settling towns which would eventually arise to become some of the largest and most bustling cities in the world.
They rose to prominence after they were conquered by the Phantinians and assisted them in establishing a near global order. But soon, they rose up and claimed the world for their own and founded the most powerful and enduring Empire Everim had ever witrnessed. Their language, culture, social norms, technology and knowledge seeded great nations across the world with Imperial Tongue being the most spoken language and their Imperial coin the most traded currency.
The assassination of the third Emperor, Jalhari Shannai, sparked a wildfire of dispute over the line of succession and plunged Everim into a terrible civil conflict. In this War of Succession, many cities were brought to ruin and countless soldiers and civilians were slaughtered under the weight of this great war. Many nations rose up to declare their independence in the midst of the fighting and soon the war was centralized in Unicora alone with the Empire being evermore torn at the seams. Today she sits as an injured lion, licking her wounds awaiting the day to march on Everim once again.

Structure

The Empire's structure of governance has broken down quite considerably since the civil war.
The way it worked prior to his assassination, the Emperor would delegate responsibilities to governors, mayors, princes, kings and many other representatives from all lands and races within the borders of the Empire. He would have his personal advisory board to assist him in his day to day tasks of leveling judgement and decisions that would affect the whole order.
Today, the Emperals function more like a confederation. What started out as informal unions of special interest groups within the Empire became official councils that all vie for greater influence and control over whats left over.
The list of councils are as follows:

• The Noble Families of the Heartland which promotes the more regal and esteemed families in the Empire and is the most powerful and influential council.
• The Shoreline Peoples' Council that works in the interest of the fishing towns and cities that deal with all imports and exports into the Heartland.
• The Hunters Expeditionary Council which provides most of the wealth regarding game, exotic items and materials gathered from Aramana and Phantinia.
• The Mountaineers whom control most of the shard mining operations in Unicora's great mountain ranges.
• The Council of Colonies that represents the various established overseas colonies from the old Phantinian days and the newer cities founded by the Empire.
• The Warriors Council deals with all land army operations of the Empire.
• The Council of Shipmates runs the Emperal Navy and is arguably the second most powerful council of the Empire.
• The Infarel Council represents the Infarel Empi ethnic subgroup. The Infarels hail from southern Unicora and most declared independence from the Emperals during the war. The ones who remained loyal still face heavy resentment and racism from their northern cousins.

The councils meet daily in the Grand Assembly to deliberate on the issues facing the Empire and to vote on who will be the new Emperor. The trouble is that every faction votes for their own representative in every election to the throne. Hence, the stalemate has continued to this day.

Public Agenda

The main agenda of the Empire is to reunite all the overseas holdings lost during the War of Succession and to elect a new emperor to lead this campaign. However, its been 178 years since the end of the war and a careful balance of power has been erected in the absence of an emperor. Many groups make political moves and power plays to make sure no one council gains too much leeway over the others. Many other governments on Everim also lobby, in secret, groups in the Empire to keep the Empi factions divided. Were a strong hand to ever truly reunite the bickering councils, it would spell disaster and war for Everim once again.

History

The Imperial Empire of Unicora arose the same way it collapsed: through war.
In the year 689AGD, the Phantinian Golden Empire was at a crossroads. The Fourth Campaign had finally come to a close and the Phantinians had conquered over half the world. The Emperor of Phantinia wished to end the campaigns and more fully consolidate his holdings, but many voices in his palace pushed him for ever more invasions into the impenetrable Cire, the isles of Bade and Clade and even beyond. They eventually launched the Fifth and Sixth Campaigns adding even more territory and more diverse peoples into the Golden Empire, but their armies were stretched thin and troubles at home arose.
Unicora was conquered in the Second Campaign and the Empi were combined into the rank and file of the Phantinian military machine afterwards. Were it not for them, the Phantinians would not have gotten as far as they did. That's why, in the year 720 AGD, when dangerous criminals escaped from a Phantinian prison deep in the Emperal Heartlands and the torching of the city and all its inhabitants to prevent their escape it caused such a terrible uproar among the Empi. The callous and merciless slaughter of Empi not seen since the Old Wars was too much for them to bear and violent uprisings sprung up all over the greatland.
Phantinian warriors all over Unicora were butchered in their sleep and on the field of battle by radicalized troops who heard of the massacre. The Phantinians quickly realized how mistaken they were to rely so heavily on Empi troops with almost half of all their forces comprising of them. The Phantinians who were able to escape fell back to island after island, city after city until eventually the fighting pushed all Phantinian armies out of Unicora. The size of the Golden Empire was far too great for the small garrisons to protect and very soon the entire Phantinian Empire evaporated.
Having secured their native lands, both the Empi ethnic subgroups, the Emperals and Infarels consolidated the greatland of Unicora. They evenly divided their kingdoms into provinces and voted their most decorated leader, General Ereini Shanai, to the position of regent over the whole of the kingdom of Unicora. He soon reformed the cultural divisions of the former Empi tribes and created new houses under the rule of the other generals who fought in the rebellion against the Phantinians. Many new noble houses were created from this reform as many lieutenants and commanders rushed to register and enshrine their name and deeds during the long rebellion to the status of a noble house. However, the Emperals did not remain as a simple kingdom for long. Lusting for an empire of his own and hoping to replace the Phantinians as the global power, King Ereini began mongering for war across the provinces. Preaching a war cry of vengeance and glory, they invaded the northern coasts of Phantinia and carved deep into the land. While the thickest of the jungles proved too difficult to penetrate, Ereini declared himself Imperial Emperor of Unicora and Phantinia and turned his attention east conquering many lands that had only recently gained independence from the old empire. For the next couple centuries, the Emperals proved to be extremely strong and efficient wagers of war, but their holdings could not quite match that of the old empire. The residual influence of the Phantinians proved to be strong enough to stave off the forces of the Emperals. However, this new order would last on Everim twice as long as compared the Phantinian Empire.

Territories

The Imperial Empire, although a fraction of its former size, still holds a sizable chunk of territory. The entire north and central regions of Unicora are under its banner and the majority of the minor island Emperal sea colonies remained loyal to the Empire and are instrumental in its maintenance of sea trade dominance.

Military

The Empire still maintains a very large array of legions to defend itself and launch expeditionary strikes, but the relationship between the Warriors Council and the Council of Shipmates is verbally and ideologically combative. The chances the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Armies fully coordinate and cooperate in a large scale campaign like in the old days is very slim.
The Imperial navy has the largest fleet in the world. Without it, the Empire would more than likely cease to exist. They protect the essential sea trade routes that drive the Imperial economy forward. Although the Emperals have not discovered the secret to magical, shard powered cannons like the Silosians and the Cyrpines, the sheer number of ships and the potency of the conventional weapons used by them makes the Empire's Navy the most nightmarish fight to pick on water.

Religion

Emperals and Infarels alike practice ancestor worship, which is the most commonly followed religious archetype on Everim.

"For the Empire! For Unicora and Everim!"

Founding Date

985 AGD

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Capital

Erendor

Alternative Names

The Empire, The Imperial Empire, the Emperals, Unicora

Demonym

Emperals

Government System

Monarchy, Elective

Power Structure

Confederation

Economic System

Market economy

Currency

The Imperial Coin is the currency of the Empire and is still the most valuable money system on Everim.

Legislative Body

The Grand Assembly of Councils assigns lower representatives from each of their respective groups into a sub-committee to draft laws that most benefit their Council or are generally beneficial enough to everyone to be passed.

Location

Unicora

Official Languages

• Imperial Tongue