The Empire of Verdon
The Empire is the premier superpower on Granmor, and indeed in all of Granthea. However it is struggling to cement its conquests in the face of resistance from the Magically and Technologically advanced Elven nations.
Structure
The Empire is governed by the Verdonese emperor with absolute power. Eligible successors are elected by a cabinet chosen by the emperor or his eligible successors by a simple majority.
Below the emperor is the Regent of Verdon, the ruler of a massive kingdom comprising Verdon’s extensive early conquests in the south. The Regent is the de facto successor historically and has been elected to succeed each of the five Emperors. The Emperor's firstborn son is also the de facto Regent historically and when he is too young to rule, the Grand Duke of Verdon rules in his stead.
Immediately below the Regent is The Magocracy, the imperial apparatus for control of magic. “Magoc“ is not only a bureaucracy of technicians and advisors but a state within a state, enforcing the rules that prevent magic users from becoming too powerful.
Next is the Council of Lords, a committee of rulers with limited sovereignty and a duty to the emperor’s will. Nominally subordinate to the Emperor and unable to make any actual legislation, the Council has provided a way for the vassal states of the Empire to influence and advise the Emperor, jockeying for favor and influence.
The Imperial Army is the military force under direct control of the Emperor, one of the first professional standing armies in Human history (dwarves and sometimes elves have been known to have professional armies as well). Smaller than the Verdonese army, what it lacks in size it makes up in skill, diversity, and influence, being drawn from the elites and veterans of the entire empire. The Lord Marshall commands great favor in the imperial court but not quite as much as in many monarchies.
Finally are the Theurgical Society and the Yeomanry. Both these organizations share a common thread, that one of their main functions is to further the agenda of the Magocracy in some way.
The Yeomanry does command a close ear from the Emperor, being primarily an instrument of intelligence and control. However this function is often synonymous with furthering the objectives of Magoc, as its intelligence gathering is often focused on the whereabouts of magical items and creatures and its enforcement capacity is often focused on securing magical artifacts and raw materials. Nonetheless, the Yeomanry is still charged with its original function of keeping Nobles secure and in line and it does this with great effect. The Yeomanry has free rein to recruit adventurers and is often a path to having items which would normally be off limits to normal people.
The Imperial Theurgical Society is an ecumenical religious body promoting the worship of a state-sanctioned pantheon and monitoring the worship of banned Gods. Because of the incredible power of divine magic users and the inscrutability of this magic, Magoc was forced to cede dominion over religious affairs to the clerics, priests, paladins, and druids who had the divine authority to enforce the Empire’s strictures.
Public Agenda
The Empire is in a Confederative Alliance with the Dwarven Mountainhomes, forming The Union of Granmor. The The Mountainhomes are de-facto independent but out of likeminded paranoia thanks to their own history of "dug too deep" disasters and their devastating war with the Elves, they more or less follow the Empire in lockstep and are basically client states.
The Empire seeks to extend this arrangement to the kingdoms of Theamor, seemingly locked in a perpetual state of war and political turmoil it is having trouble gaining a foothold or making sense of the situation, not helped by the monthlong naval journey and the Empire's unitary structure. By contrast, the open state of war with the Elven tribes in the east has tied up resources for the Empire. Only one Elven state has been brought to heel in league with their Dwarven and Sergal allies, the rest press the Empire from across the mountains along nearly its entire breadth.
A more insidious concern are the The Free Cities in the central desert. The treaty with the Dwarves left the desert a buffer zone and no man's land, which has allowed a freewheeling culture atypical of Verdon to flourish within its scattered Oases and bordering foothills. The Empire has been increasingly worried by the independent spirit of these lands and is currently trying to assess the possible threat this area poses.
The Empire seeks to extend this arrangement to the kingdoms of Theamor, seemingly locked in a perpetual state of war and political turmoil it is having trouble gaining a foothold or making sense of the situation, not helped by the monthlong naval journey and the Empire's unitary structure. By contrast, the open state of war with the Elven tribes in the east has tied up resources for the Empire. Only one Elven state has been brought to heel in league with their Dwarven and Sergal allies, the rest press the Empire from across the mountains along nearly its entire breadth.
A more insidious concern are the The Free Cities in the central desert. The treaty with the Dwarves left the desert a buffer zone and no man's land, which has allowed a freewheeling culture atypical of Verdon to flourish within its scattered Oases and bordering foothills. The Empire has been increasingly worried by the independent spirit of these lands and is currently trying to assess the possible threat this area poses.
Assets
An army nearly 10,000 strong, a navy counting hundreds of ships.
The concentrated wealth of the entire fertile area of a continent and more.
Through Magoc, the magical knowledge and artifice of 2,000 years of human history.
Several large bureaucratic, theocratic, and police organizations.
The Imperial Fortress outside of Verdon City, magically carved out of an artificial mountain.
History
Around 1,000 PE, Verdon was a backwater region home to the Knights of the Pit, a conclave of paladins loyal to several law- and good-aligned gods dedicating to keeping the trickster god Taron trapped in his bottomless pit, which lay at the feet of the Burned Mountains on the western coast of Verdon. This religious order instilled in the area's people a distrust of arcane magic and the belief that it must be controlled, lest the advent of Taron repeat itself and more lands find themselves burned than just one mountain range.
After about 300 years of existence, the Knights took on an administrative role over Verdon, operating separately from the feudal system that had existed previously and establishing their capital in a coastal fishing hamlet not far from the coast that would come to be known as Verdon City, and began taxing the local feudal lords on behalf of the Regent of Verdon. The money they made allowed them to build a glorious castle outside the small town, which was completed in 729 PE where they invited the Regent to stay whenever he liked. The Regent was floored by the structure, both secure and luxurious, and opted to move the capital there from Enviridian@. In 643 PE, the Knights of the Pit dissolved and the Army of Verdon was founded with their members in command, humanity's oldest professional army. They also founded the Yeomanry to secure the nobles' estates on behalf of the King and ensure their compliance as the Army proper concerned itself with defense.
The advent of the Magocracy in 452 PE was the beginning of Verdon as it would be, when a collection of wizards and other magic users (some of whom were descended from Knights of the Pit) arrived in Verdon City. These mages convinced the Regent of Verdon that they could maintain order by concentrating and regimenting magical power, keeping all the magical might of the kingdom loyal only to the Regent. They convinced the Regent that the only way to ensure this was to accrue the magical might of all nations under their, and the Regent's, control. The Army, still possessed of the mage-skeptic meme from their forbears, endorsed this, perhaps not realizing just how much power they would be giving up. The Yeomanry, on the other hand, expanded in its role as the Magocracy was disallowed from policing non magic users. It fell to the Yeomanry to insure that any artifacts or extradimensional creatures were being reported, classified, and appropriated as well as that scofflaws were dealt with appropriately.
Not many Human nations serve an ideology, the race is too diverse and the attraction of power too great for these fleeting creatures. Verdon was different, however, and its beliefs formed into a kind of proto-nationalism, an ideological state ahead of its time whose people were able to suffer injustice for the greater good. Verdon began conquering the south and by 400 years ago, Verdon controlled the entire Southwest coast, the South Central Forest, and the Broken Horn, nearly 30% of Granmor's land area. Deep in the cold forests of the Broken Horn's island chain, the Magoc found artifacts of fantastic power that would enable the country's later conquests. After a few generations of consolidation, Verdon launched a surprise attack on its northern neighbor Centralia, which was reeling from a long war with The North. Caught unaware and exhausted, both kingdoms quickly formed a truce. This was all too late, and to their horror the Great Oasis treaty brought the Dwarves into an alliance with Verdon. Their fate sealed, Verdon marched north and scored victory after victory over the disunited and war-torn enemy. Over this time, Verdon picked up some vassal states as well. Gonewald is a longtime ally ruled by a relative of one of Verdon's royal families. Southmark was an ally in the conquest of the south. Idrion was a former rival that bargained their sovereignty for royal continuity. The Sharptooth Sergal accepted Verdon's help in driving the Elves from their lands.
These diverse powers, each with their own degree of autonomy, culture, and history needed something more powerful and yet distant than a king. In the meantime, Verdon had grown too large for one person with so many other responsibilities to govern effectively, and the nobility had effectively been ruling it for several centuries. The time had come for a change. With the Conquest of Centralia, the King of Verdon announced that Verdon would be devolved into a Regency ruled by his successor, and crowned himself Emperor. His negotiations with his allies also formed them into a Union led by himself, the Union of Granmor. The factions that had maintained power and ideology in Verdon became an Imperial concern, with the Magocracy, the Theurgical Society, and the Yeomanry becoming offices of the Empire. The old Feudal conscription practices would remain in place, but the Empire would take on the best soldiers from all its subjects as a standing army to maintain a constant level of readiness and order. Since the conquest of the North, the Snow Elves have started to emerge from their isolated community at the Northern tip of Granmor. They are assisting the Empire with magical research and have greatly helped the Magocracy, although their motives are somewhat suspect.
Territories
The Empire occupies the entirety of the west coast of Granmor as well as its northern and southern "horns". The recent Dwarven conquest of Xethess has opened up a colony on the eastern Horn as well. The surface areas in-between the Dwarven Mountainhomes nominally belong to the empire, although in reality they are more or less Dwarven territory.
Trade & Transport
The Empire trades internally with the Dwarven Mountainhomes through the Union of Granmor. External trade in black market magical goods occurs incidentally with Kolthis through the Free Cities.
The Empire trades with some countries on the coast of Theamor but this is very small scale because of the time involved. At the moment some trade federations on both sides will send delegations with goods back and forth to maintain relations. Proposals for an air route using magical dirigibles could accelerate trade and bring relations closer.
The Empire, however, prefers an imperialist, colonialist, and mercantilist strategy to conventional trade. To this end they have set up small outposts on the west coasts of Thea and Mor and is pouring resources into a city in the unpopulated taiga at the tip of Northern Thea.
Power, Order, Justice, Peace
Founding Date
1/1/1 PE
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Alternative Names
The Verdonese Empire
Demonym
Verdonese
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Market economy
Currency
Empire Gold Coins
Major Exports
Nothing is beneath the Empire in its pursuit of powerful artifacts. The Empire has incredible wealth in resources and can flood economies with Gold and other precious metals. The Empire has traded weapons, soldiers, and even slaves in order to accrue magical wealth.
Major Imports
The Empire is largely self sufficient but their philosophy demands that they acquire and stockpile magical goods “for the preservation of Order”. The Empire has influenced the fate of nations by aggressively buying out their magical wealth, ultimately allowing them to be overtaken by their now-advantaged magically skilled enemies (this is how they gained a foothold in the Central Desert).
Official State Religion
Subsidiary Organizations
Official Languages
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