Empire of Runeva

The Empire of Runeva is the Empire. It is the most populated and most strictly disciplined state in the world. Its hunger for land and power knows no bounds and only those who bend the knee and pay tribute can hope to (temporarily) survive the wake of their brute military force. Their independent neighbors are simply delaying the inevitable: great coalitions of opposing states regularly smash against the borders of Runeva to no avail, and those who opposing their invasions feed wave after wave of troops just to survive another day. Near every immortal and every Lunar God opposes the Empire, and yet the Empire marches on.
Runeva is different from the other great empires in that it is more than just a state that conquers for conquest's sake. It is an ideology closely linked with the Church of Ekaza, that demands conquest as a means to an end. They believe that a force of pure evil, known as The Adversary or The Darkness, is present on the material plane and seeks to end the world. According to their ideology, the world is thoroughly corrupted by this entity's influence and can only be saved by the purifying light of their God-Empress, the immortal Suwota. Suwota is more than a person: she is a massive plant that has physically become one with the capital city of Arna (and, as the city has expanded, she has become one with almost all of the central valley of Runeva as well). Suwota was supposedly created by the Creator Goddess Halcyon to safeguard the world. She leads through mysterious avatar-proxies specially bred and blessed to act as her vessels and representatives, and she is said to be able to see all within Arna and even to be able to bless creatures with great powers (often at the price of total loyalty).
Runeva is a strict police state that runs on a complex hereditary caste system. Status is everything, obedience is praised as the highest virtue, and a sense of paranoia is promoted at all times (both that you are being watched by the government, and that the enemy is preparing to strike). Great academies teach youngsters of all castes and ages the values of discipline, obedience, and military strength. The military and the priesthood permeate all parts of society and seek to carefully document and police as much of life as possible. In the rural peripheries of the empire, the Empire is relatively distant and life can continue as normal. But in the major metropoles, the Empire lives up to its marketing as an all-seeing all-consuming bureaucracy of God. And nowhere is that more true than the Sacred Valley of Runeva, the heart of the Empire that was blessed by Halcyon millennia ago to be the most abundant and fruitful place on the planet. The sacred valley is the throne of Suwota herself, where the very walls contain the body of the Goddess and she can be listening at any time.

Structure

The Government

The Empire of Runeva is the property of her divinity, the God-Empress Suwota, Cosmic Princess of All the Universe, Heir of Halcyon, and Sole Champion of True Goodness. All power flows from her, all laws are by her whim. The Empire is her army, prepared to fight the apocalypse whenever it finally arrives.
But Suwota is always distant and semi-divine, as to avoid displaying fallibility. Her Avatars (powerful creatures she can possess, who act as generals and leaders even when empty of her) and Earthly Regents (oligarchs chosen to lead the vast bureaucracy) do most of the day-to-day decision-making. There are an unknown number of Avatars and nine earthly regents: three for each of the great bureaucracies.
The three bureaucracies are the Military, the Civil Bureaucracy, and Church of Ekaza. The one most recognizable as traditional government is the Civil bureaucracy, which manages taxation, census data, infrastructure, and food. Much of this bureaucracy is done on a regional level, with 9 prefectures governed by 9 prefects:

• Grand Runeva the heart of the empire, the grandest of the prefectures
• Apatov, the land of lakes and magicians, the second grandest
• Lomata the great breadbasket and mining center of the empire
• Ziketa, the great military production center of the Empire
• Majata, the industrial coastline
• Avith, the ancient land of harmonious obedience, now a heart of education and bureaucracy
• Ruwova, a grassy land of beasts and graineries
• Ankata, a militarized mountainous fringe vaguely resembling a militarized Kima City
• Rubava, an occupied land that is being turned into a shipbuilding and smelting center; lowest of the prefectures

Parallel to these bureaucracies are the three Orders of Obedience: The Thorns, the Eyes, and the Lianas. The Thorns are magically altered soldiers believed to be semi-divine, who act as elite soldiers, officers, and representatives of Suwota. The Eyes are the secret police (and the greatest calling of the elites of cat-kind). The Lianas are spies, smugglers, and agents that seek to project Suwota's power beyond the borders of the Empire.

The Castes

This is a society obsessed with hierarchy, and it is built on caste divisions. Castes are seen as biological and are decided by birth, and caste possibilities are usually limited by species. That said, culture and class can often be bigger deciding factors than species; a poor Rubavan is likely to be stuck with the lowest caste their species can be, while a rich Runevan will likely be in the upper castes regardless of species. There are dozens of subcastes at play, and the priesthood has the unique ability to use "blood alchemy" to switch caste membership.
To make matters even stranger, as these things are seen as biological inherited traits, castes are ranked according to "blood type" (which "root bloodline" your family is supposedly from). So a caste artisan in one blood type can be higher or lower status than another, while still doing the same job. There are several blood types current recognized:

• Highblood: Pureblood bloodlines are supposedly part of the first, mythic Runevan empire. By having been directly exposed to the Voice of Halcyon, they are supposedly more sophisticated, intelligent, disciplined, magically capable, and moral. The best
• Halfblood: Halfblood bloodlines are "uplifted" by pureblood emigrants (generally traced to Orchid of Blue). According to official dogma, they are more charismatic, energetic, magically capable, and moral (when properly disciplined). The second best
• Warmblood: Part of the "Northern peoples", supposedly more heat-resistant, fast, mercurial, and strong. Currently ranked at third best but that is undergoing review, as the Coldbloods have increased their favor with the empire
• Coldblood: Part of the 'Southern peoples', supposedly more cold-resistant, hardy, and stubborn. In fierce competition with the Warmbloods, whom the Empire pits them against.
• Farblood: Someone descended from foreigners beyond Sonev. Dangerous unknowns.

These categories are imaginary, and thus apply to humans, dryads, prisms, and cats equally despite them having totally different histories of migration.
Caste role availability by species:

• Dryad: Administrator (High Dryads), Warrior (Wylders), Upper Servants, Managers, Spellcasters, Lawyers/Jurists, Scribes/Clerks/, Dye-workers, Silkworkers, Paper-makers, Agricultural Workers, Common Servants
• Human: Administrator (Heavenborn), Artisan Work, Warriors, Builders, Agricultural Work, Laborer
• Prism: Administrator (Gold Prism), Orchardworker, Doctor, Miner, Courier, Warrior, Laborer
• Cat: Secret Police (Starpaw), Warrior, Courier, Servant, Agricultural Work, Sailor
• Hybrids: Administrators (Flora), Secret Police, Servants who can move between caste interactions, Sailors
• Pangolins: Warriors, Armorers, Spellcasters, Agricultural Workers, Miners
• Solars: Spellcasters, Scribes, Servants

Thus far, only the Aquatic races are safe of this ludicrous and violent system, though they are still ruled by the Empire.

Culture

Control and Paranoia

Runeva is a land of puritanical asceticism, shame, paranoia, and control issues. The school system and general culture do their best to beat these into as many Runevans as possible from a young age. Morality is a simple matter of good versus evil, but almost everyone is evil anyways - including you. You should despise the world and yourself, and you should be afraid of anyone seeing what a shameful creature you really are. The only path to safety is domination of those you can and submission to those above you. This mindset is everywhere, and shapes everything from workplace structures and attitudes to family dynamics. Status is a big deal here, and every interaction in a relationship must reflect any status differences. Parents must hide their love from their children, and children must learn that hurting people is a form of love. Extremely messy emotions often ensue, but these emotions must always be repressed. There are exceptions and deviants in this system, but they walk very careful tightropes to maintain their status. Because the only thing more despicable than the weakling in Runevan popular culture is the dominant not being correctly dominant. 
Tied to this is the Runevan attitude towards nature. The natural world is seen as its own distinct realm, apart from the rational world of mortals. Nature is beautiful, childlike, but despicable and in need of domination. This informs a lot of cultural attitudes towards animals and ecosystems. 
The only place where true comfort can exist are in social roles, where the self doesn't have to really exist. Theater and acting are extremely popular for this reason, as are games that involve playing roles. In a broader sense, jumping into social roles at work or at home are common ways to escape the shame of living. Media (such as state funded plays or art) often provide models for these roles, but a whole cast of public domain characters swirl around the common imagination. 
This is all more pronounced in the cities than in the countryside, but nowhere is truly immune.

Cuisine and Art

Runevan food is a broad category drawing from a number of regions, but the aristocracy imitates High Runevan cuisine and style. High Runevan cuisine is mostly vegetarian, involving lots of lime juice, apples, and rice. Nuts and seeds are a common sign of high taste, as are flower-garnishes. Colorful presentation is also a big thing, and many different kinds of mushrooms are kept and prepared in such ways as to create as much contrast and visual diversity as possible. Sour tastes are considered a sign of refinement. 
Runevan art seeks both grandiosity and realism. Other cultures find their excessively muscled humanoids depicted in their paintings and statues to be rather humorous and base, but in Runeva it is a "realistic" depiction of the subject's strength and artist's skill. Common architecture varies from region to region, but often involves heavy use of bamboo (though tile has become cheaper in recent years).

History

There are many locations currently occupied by the Empire that all have their own histories that are not covered here. This history will concentrate on the Sacred Valley and the Empire. This will be a long story, as the Empire, the Valley, and the Immortal Suwota all have fundamentally intertwined tales.

Mythic History

The Sacred Valley was one of the first places to develop focused agriculture, written language, and cities in the early Divine Era. The insulated river was an excellent place to harvest fruit and game but had little space to do it, making gardening and agriculture a natural progression of the growing population. Hard years brought conflict, though: mostly from outsiders along the coast and in the mountains, who were more impacted by harsh storms or bad winters than the insulated riverlanders. The mountain dryads in particular became a militaristic raiding culture, even as the river dryads were beloved for their pacifism and skill at writing and arts. To avoid future conflict and to nurture this realm, Halcyon intervened with The Great Vision of the Eye of the Storm: a mass dream and vision that struck all inhabitants of the valley and mountains at once. In this dream, Halcyon took the form of the heavens themselves and instructed the early Runevans to integrate the mountain peoples into their culture and hierarchies, and told the mountain peoples to find a place in Runevan life. Halcyon praised the river-dryads to all the land for the culture and pacifism. When the land awoke, the soil had been consecrated: the sacred valley now grew with ludicrous abundance, and the crops were far more nourishing, plentiful, and fast-growing than before. The river-dryads were credited with satisfying this benevolent over-God, and they became the priestly elite of the new paradise valley.
The mountain peoples became the sword and shield of the land, the valley humans became the builders and farmers, and the valley dryads became the theocratic leadership. This new order was not uniform (different parts of the valley were ruled in different ways), but it evened out into a consistent system over time, as harmony and conformity were valued as the will of Halcyon. A caste system developed out of this, based along cultural and species lines. The mono-culture also formed into a complex government: a single empire with limited power that reigned over a large number of autonomous sub-cities.
Centuries later, as a great Prism migration arrived from the North, Halcyon sent another message to the valley. They named themselves Halcyon the Tempest and instructed the Runevans to welcome the Prisms into the valley. As the Prisms arrived, all citrus trees in the valley bloomed at once - and would thereafter grow at all times during the year on stone as well as soil within the valley. Halcyon was celebrated throughout the land and the Prisms were welcomed as messengers, miners, and orchard-keepers. Prism leaders were inducted into the priesthood, even! This is now known as The Day of Blossoms, and annually recurs. Not long afterwards, more miracles began: cats began to walk and even talk when born on certain days! These humanoid cats were welcomed into the fold as well as couriers, hunters, scouts, and sailors.
But the welcoming of prisms and cats into the caste system only further strengthened and legitimized it. And the more time went by, the more unequal the society became along caste lines. Dissent and deviance was silenced at every turn, as Halcyon's harmony was not to be disturbed. The state was growing violent. Halcyon and the Masked One came down to interrupt this order in their own way by striking love into the heart of one arch-conservative Runevan priest-leader: Orchid of Blue. Orchid slowly came to despise the caste system that she had once championed and became a voice for integration and equity. Her old allies turned on her and she was soon under attack by the other conservatives, even as allies flocked to her banner. The Architects sent a vision to her to leave with her allies to a promised land (now known as Miuta), and she left the city. Halcyon scolded the Runevans in a vision, but the old order was mostly strengthened by having its greatest political enemies leave.
In -300 DE, the old order had its own reckoning: the 'Invasion of Giants'. A huge wave of refugees fleeing climatic changes in Ibith arrived at Runeva's borders seeking shelter and food, and were rejected. Instead of accepting this, the migrants gathered under their tribal military leaders and invaded - easily seizing the valley with their superior Pearl Pangolin scale weapons and armor. But Halcyon did not abide by this: they sent another vision, request integration and cooperation. The occupying foreign warriors were driven out by a great wave of irritating heaven-sent pollen, and the valley was left as fragmented. A decentralized peace emerged.
As a final blessing to the valley, Halcyon left an immortal guardian: Suwota, a massive flower that could integrate itself into the city and could bless mortals with great power. To encourage Suwota to reject caste, she was placed on the tower of the most anti-caste priest in the valley.

The Early Empire (0 - 280)

The appearance of Suwota created a great religious zeitgeist, that carried through the valley as a movement for unity and stability. The old princes were toppled, and a new elective monarchy was created in the style of the old Empire. The only parts of the valley that did not join were the Eastern reaches, which were ruled by the descendants of mercenaries and were more interested in the outside world than valley identity. In 89 ME, a war between these princes and the elected monarch broke out, and the princes were easily destroyed - and the elected monarch seized power for themselves as a hereditary monarch. Suwota approved of this and crowned them emperor, as this was a mountain human of lower caste - a possible counter balance to the priesthood, who tended to be the only literate caste and could easily control elections and bureaucracy. And so the struggle between the military-backed hereditary monarchs and the priest-backed elected urban oligarchs began. This would be a running theme in Runevan politics for centuries, with Suwota playing a mediating role to try and stop civil war or tyrannical overreach.
Early on in this new regime, a massive crisis struck the Empire that required both of the new sides to work together: the Corpseblight epidemic. This epidemic was more than just corpseblight, though: a host of other dryad-targeting bacteria and fungi had developed among the weakened immune systems of those corpseblight infected, leading to waves of disease that followed right on the heels of the corpseblight epidemic. And as the dryad doctors died of their own diseases, human diseases began to get out of control. The government raced to induct prisms into the medical field as a response measure, but struggled to properly train them in both dryad and human medicine in the middle of a crisis. Suwota sent out adventurers to bring aid, and those adventurers returned with a savior: the Lunar God Haru. Haru and her solars rushed into Runeva to pick up slack. They were celebrated as heroes of the valley, and Haru and Suwota became close friends and allies. Haru left behind a contingent of solars to serve as a permanent contingent for aid (and to support Suwota in her attempts to wrangle the political system). Haru's lieutenant in this was a powerful cleric by the name of Bliss, who was to further thaw the caste system and help Suwota build an ideal society. Bliss was brilliant but ultimately found the Runevans uninteresting and later abandoned her station to become a pirate. The solars they left behind were confused and began bickering, throwing the system into disarray.

The Foreign Wars (280 - 700)

Suwota was afraid to take control amidst this turmoil, and while she was wracked with indecision the military seized control of the government. They immediately set out conquering in the neighboring lands of Zirikev and Lomata. While Suwota attempted to reign them in, they started dozens of foreign wars. Now the Empire was surrounded by enemies and had to fight whether they wanted to or not. These wars were on-and-off, but they kept bleeding into each other and kindling new wars decades later. Factionalism within the empire worsened the problem at every turn. Suwota faced pressure from Haru, her new friend Aysha (who she considered a sister and very much wanted to impress), and the Lunar Pantheon to force peace. She also blamed her past indecision for this situation in the first place - and so she set to contain it with excessive force. She armed assassins and zealots to act as her eyes and ears, and began to use her power to see and hear everything in the city to blackmail criminal syndicate leaders. She mashed together these crimelords and monks together into a spy network that she set on the elites. The priests and generals may have learned ways to avoid her physical sight, but they were hardly expecting spies.
These spies, known as the Lianas of Suwota, helped Suwota force the government to make peace. Runeva made this peace on favorable terms, though, and still walked away with an expanded empire. Runeva also walked away with a rival: the Kingdom of Majata, a militaristic kingdom that ruled to the Southeast and whose ruling class was descended from those very warriors that Halcyon had driven from Runeva with divine pollen. Mahata and Runeva regularly competed and clashed. And when a mysterious foreigner with a massive dragon named Makoi arrived from Majatan territory to demand tribute from Runeva, none in the Empire were amused. Suwota saw Makoi as a dangerous disturbance to this fragile system and had the sorcerer assassinated after he refused to leave. The sorcerer's dragon, Kemegi, proved more difficult to kill, and went on a massive rampage. Suwota almost died to the flames and spells of that dragon, and her unshakable divine nature was thrown into question. Majata promptly invaded the weakened Runeva, and only barely was repelled.
While Suwota recovered and healed her burnt form, the wars intensified. The priesthood even became involved with them, and the new government proved to be an unholy union of the old militarists and the old pro-caste theocrats. In 510 ME, a resurgent Suwota and the government came together to support an elegant solution to the Majatan problem: the arming of an invasion of tribal warriors from the interior of Sonev to take over Majata without any overt traces back to Runeva. This plan proved extremely successful, and the new regime was far friendlier to Runeva than the old. Suwota was welcomed back into government and the castes began to slowly thaw again. Two centuries of peace (for Runeva- the tribal invasion caused a lot of problems for other people) followed.

Doomsday Whispers (700 - 940)

In 701 ME, a solar messenger came to Runeva carrying most unusual news: Suwota's sister, Aysha, had declared herself a Goddess in rebellion of the Architects (who Suwota considered her parents). Suwota, furious, issued her own proclamation to the people of Runeva. She explained that the Architects had planted her seven centuries ago to watch and ward against a great evil that she called The Adversary. The Adversary, Suwota claimed, had corrupted Aysha and turned her against the rightful Gods of the world. Suwota explained that she had kept this information quiet as a way to prevent panic or overreaction, but called on the people of Runeva to be vigilant now against any and all corruption.
The people of Runeva were seeing their comfortable world decline in recent years, as Runeva's old puppets became rebellious. Many whispered that these rebels were like Aysha - rebelling against their rightful parent empire because of cosmic corruption. Panics broke out, jingoism became common, war followed. Suwota tried to calm these fears, but was more focused on looking outwards. For centuries she had been too inward-focused; now she needed to move into the greater world to combat the Darkness, and she sent out her spy network to be her eyes and ears abroad. Under the leadership of the infamous spymaster Sereni, the Lianas transitioned from spies targeting corrupt politicians to an international network of assassins and spies that traveled the world. These spies brought more enemies to Runeva, but they also brought technology. The Empire was roused from its slumber and was ready to truly move out into the world as an Empire.
Local coalitions gathered to try and subdue the Runevan Empire, but the Empire was now unified in its militarism and easily crushed these petty kingdoms. The Empire was not set on conquering the world, but it began conquering the surrounding areas to better bolster its control of the region. It became a bastion of the Lunar Goddess Jade as a militaristic beacon of order and hierarchy, and began courting other Lunar Gods for power and connections.

The Millennial Crises (940 - 1075)

In 940 ME, the first great challenge to this order struck from the West: the great empire of the Faro, the horse nomads of the Western Steppes of Sonev. The Faro had conquered the rest of Sonev bit by bit until they finally bordered Runeva, and they demanded tribute from the Empire as well. Runeva responded with overwhelming force, and the two superpowers clashed in a titanic battle of wills. The war ended with a stalemate, but should have been an easy victory for Runeva: instead, poor leadership, outdated tactics, and poor implementation of technology led to a series of embarrassing defeats. Runeva was far too specialized in fighting local powers like Majata - it had never faced a threat like this before, and it showed.
The boondoggles of the Faro war shook the militaristic Imperial establishment. Some called for peace and a return to isolation; others doubled down and demanded even more military spending and adventures. A culture war ensued, and the imperial politics began changing quickly and radically. And as the façade of Imperial perfection collapsed, scandals poured into the public eye. Stories of financial corruption, nepotism, and incompetence filled the public sphere. The increasingly literate commercial classes that had few places in society circulated these stories further and agitated for change. Stories about Suwota herself began to come to light, revealing her personal life and some bad personal decisions. The Goddess became increasingly a person, as well as a symbol of old-regime incompetence and corruption. It did not help that Suwota herself struggled to understand what factions represented what ideas anymore: her rhetoric had become so mainstream that even the reactionary conservatives used twists on her talking points. And species caste no longer mattered as much to anyone - conquests had brought in new cultures and ethnic groups that were more of what worried the xenophobes and conservatives, species was less important (though Half-Dryads were still associated with foreign-ness). Haru's stationed solars also had no idea who represented what anymore. The entire system began to melt down from corruption and confusion. And as the century neared the year 1000, panic set in among a large chunk of the population that the Adversary was coming and the world was ending.
The failure of the world to end in 1000 only put more fuel on the fire - some doubled down that the world was ending more slowly than expected, others became disillusioned in Suwota's warnings. Suwota began to retreat from the public eye again, and the politicians took this as a sign to panic. Only the corrupt remained in power, fighting for scraps. Tribes on the edges of the empire were raiding, chaos spun around the world, and the people wanted change. A priest by the name of Khoshi rose to lead the masses, and brought together a broad coalition of regional separatists, reformers, and disillusioned commoners. When a succession crisis struck the country in 1050 ME, Khoshi sprung into action. They championed their 'Sacred Revolution' and claimed to be a prophet of Halcyon that would consecrate the world as Halcyon consecrated the valley. Khoshi managed to seize control through luck and wise maneuvering in 1052, and they marched into the sacred valley to crown themselves. Astonishingly, their first act as emperor was to establish a holy republic vaguely inspired by the old elective system, but with representation for all groups and cultures of the empire. 
Suwota suspected Khoshi and these revolutionaries and refused to legitimize their government in any way, but allowed these newcomers to try their republic. Khoshi's revolution waged war on aristocrats, wealth inequality, and caste of all kinds - needless to say, it made many enemies. It also centralized power, as the revolutionary government began growing a massive bureaucracy. To contain aristocratic rebellions and repulse foreign invaders, Khoshi used this bureaucracy to conscript a massive army and enormous resources. In 1060 ME, Khoshi finally made his last mistake when he tried to publicly arrest and try Suwota for crimes ranging from tax evasion to invasion of privacy to involvement in organized crime. Suwota initially tried to reason with the court, but eventually gave up pretending to consider herself an equal to them. She armed her Thorns - temple guards and cultists of Suwota that had undergone generations of blessings to give them a telepathic connection to her. The Thorns led an angry mob of the faithful on Khoshi's court and slaughtered them. 
The Empire broke into a vicious civil war. Suwota took direct control of her own faction, which she unleashed in a wave of reactionary violence. In 1075 ME, her faction had pieced the Empire back together. She now used her cult to demand open worship and total obedience, and she used the threat of reactionary gangs and cults to threaten the populace. All who opposed her were branded as corrupted by the Adversary. There would be no emperor, no republic, only Suwota as the absolute authority. 

The Despotic Period (1075 - 1480)

Suwota's new dictatorship was not immediate dystopia, but it was a major pivot in how she approached politics. She was no longer hesitant or distant (though she often projected the appearance of distance to deflect criticism from the populace), and she no longer prioritized social equality or balance. Instead, the Empire began seeking power at any cost, even if it meant unjust hierarchies. For centuries, this wasn't all that much worse than other empires, and the Lunar Pantheon would do their best to try and support their favored political factions. Castes swung in and out of law, almost like a threat. Khoshi's bureaucratic framework grew and grew, just as Suwota's body grew to infest more of the valley. 
The rest of Sonev began to react against this new aggressive Runeva. First, it was religious, with the other states of Sonev gravitating towards the new religion of Elemeer. And then, in 1290 ME, it turned to military matters. A grand coalition of states declared war on Runeva to prevent it from gaining partial control over the neighboring state of Apatov, and the war spiraled wildly out of control into a continent-wide grand melee from 1290 to 1320. In the end, Runeva won. It conquered Majata, it kept control of Apatov, and it had demonstrated astonishing military ability on the field. 
The conquered lands never stopped being conquered, in a way. The locals saw their lands taken, their resources exploited, and their populations exploited for cheap labor. Religions outside of the Church of Ekaza were banned. The other immortals were increasingly uncomfortable. And finally, in 1470, the Lunar Pantheon sent a grand procession of paladins and representatives to hold an intervention. The other immortals approached Suwota and demanded she implement a few basic reforms. Suwota found their demands hypocritical and presumptuous, and refused. Things escalated into a massive argument, and the Lunar Gods demanded Suwota step down entirely. She began arresting paladins and cracking down on illegal use of the Divine Contact. The Lunar Gods began shutting down all trade into Runeva in response. State by state, Runeva was being closed off from the rest of the world. 
The only exception was Haru, who continued to visit every few years to heal the sick and talk with Suwota as a friend. 

War On the World (1480 - Present)

Ever since the blockade by the Lunar Pantheon, known now as The Great Betrayal, Runeva has been at war with the world. First came the Wars of Agony: massive rebellions and invasions that pummeled Runeva from 1480 to 1600. The invasions were batted aside with ease, but some of the rebellions proved quite a challenge for the Empire. A massive rebellion from the region of Zirikev in 1530 that worked closely with rebels in Apatov and invaders from Avith was famously destructive and managed to carve a swath of fire and destruction through the Western Empire. And yet, the Lunar Gods and their mortal allies always tired before Suwota. And the constant exposure to low-level threats was a training ground for Runeva's military and policing machine.
After the last of these attacks failed disastrously in 1600, it was time for Runeva's counterattack. The Empire's attempts to expand North and West weren't all too successful (mountains and swamps being what they are), but the invasion South met incredible success. Only a coalition from distant Ibith was able to halt the invaders and roll them back to modern Rowava. But the more troubling developments were internal: the Lunar Pantheon had accidentally pushed cultural resistance movements too far for immediate returns, and the new Runevan secret police was now crushing non-Runevan cultures with ease. Runeva had invented the police state. To make matters worse, Suwota's earlier experiments in hereditary blessings had paved the way for new breeding programs to try and create superior soldiers. Through wizardry, magic items, and blessings, the Thorns went from modified palace guards to magically bound super-soldiers. And Suwota's power over them was increasing as she mastered the arts of wizardry herself. Her objectification of people seeped into every social structure, and a new brutal ethnic-cultural caste system emerged. Dystopia was being born and the Lunar Pantheon watched on in horror. 
In 1630, Haru decided they were going to stay in Runeva for as long as they needed to to "save Suwota from herself". They began living in her palace, pestering her to talk about her feelings. They realized too late that she was building a prison around them, and they lost the ensuing fight. Suwota began experimenting on their former friend, desperate to try and absorb Haru's power for themselves. In 1632, a massive invasion gathered from forces around the world to free Haru before she could succeed - and a massive host of solars were able to break into Suwota's palace to free Haru. The operation was a success, but it drained just about every anti-Runeva resource available. 
From 1632 to 1800, Runeva exploited this weakness to conquer lands near and far. First the Karizan isles, home of the Elemeer faith, fell. Then, Avith. Then Rubava. Then Kerata. All had been great walls against Runevan expansion, and they fell one by one. More would have fallen if it had not been for Enarsha Arshi, she who laughs in the face of God: a legendary conqueror who united all of Western Sonev and threw it against Runeva in a massive war in 1830. The Lunar Pantheon followed up this horrifying clash of titans by bombarding Runeva with thousands of raiding parties and small invasions, an effort known as the Unholy Invasions that lasted from 1850 to 1950. 
Since 1950, the efforts to contain Runeva had tired once more. Suwota has moved slowly but deliberately to avoid giving away where she will be attacking next.

Demography and Population

250,000,000 humanoids. 40% are Dryads, 30% are Humans, 15% are Half-Dryads, and 15% are Prisms. 10,000,000 cats live here as well

Territories

The Empire is a grand sprawl of over 3000 miles of coastline with over 1000 miles of territory pushing inland. It occupies many regions: True Runeva, Lomata, Zirikev, Majata, Ziketa, Rowava, Kerata, Apatov, Avith, Ramatov, Rubava, and the Karizan Isles. 

The valley of Runeva proper is 675 miles long but only 35 miles wide. On both sides are incredibly steep mountain ranges, known as the Great Spires. It is a blessed land, consecrated to produce far greater agricultural yields than anywhere else in the world. The mountains protect it from storms and foul weather, and the effect is a mild-temperature paradise of humid subtropical forest. 
Lomata is the interior land to the East, a winding labyrinth of forested valleys divided by mountains. The coast to the East is Majata - an abundant floodplain- and Ziketa - a land of swamps and islands. Further South from these lands is Rowava, which is essentially the dry Southern half of Lomata. Furthest South is Kerata, which is a temperate forested region recently conquered by the Empire. Lomata, Majata, and Rowava are all cultural assimilated, while Kerata is very much a region undergoing colonization. 
To the North of True Runeva is Zirikev, a semi-arid flat grassland with a massive lake at its heart. The grasslands flood and become a land of many lakes and rivers for a few months every spring, but dry into its default state every summer. 
North of Zirikev is Apatov, an abundant land of lakes and rich farmland that can be difficult to traverse thanks to its frequent swamps and ranges of small mountains. 
To the West of Apatov is Avith, a flatter and more easily traveled land that has been molded by millennia of aggressive mortal meddling in the local ecosystem - the land is a mess of ancient canals, where entire mountains have been carved to accommodate travel and settlement. 
Ramatov is a much less molded land, a temperate expanse that is currently undergoing assimilation. 
Rubava is a curious land to the North that is a mixture of great mountains densely settled by Prisms and huge flat riverlands. Rubava has been undergoing assimilation for centuries and has been a focus of imperial power. While that assimilation is not total by any means, the Rubavans have largely broken under imperial violence and cultural Rubavans are in a minority.

Military

Runeva has adopted institutions and technologies from around the world to try and create the most effective military possible. Military drills begin from childhood, with more in-depth martial training continuing for those of higher and more martial castes. The majority of the Empire uses traditional weaponry: composite warbows, crossbows, spears, and swords. Some use more experimental foreign weaponry, though, and the last century has even seen a hand-gun wielding division deployed on the battlefield. 
Military composition is a bit of a mishmash. Uniformity is the goal, but never at the cost of military gain (in which case the illusion of uniformity will suffice). 
Different regions still produce different specialist troops. Apatov has the hot spring dragomancers; Runeva has the Wyldwalkers (expert sharpshooters and scouts Zirikev has berserkers; Majata has Pearldancers (Pearl-Pangolin armored heavy infantry with whip-flails Rubava has the Dhampiric marines; Avith has the Boneclan Rangers; Lomata has the halberd-wielding Brethren; Rowava has the Light Riders (light cavalry that can use Way of the Palm Ankata has the Hammerwatch. All of these specialists are nasty in their own way, and all of them predate the modern Empire. 
Similarly, areas are allowed to produce troops according to climate: plains regions like Zirikev and Rowava produce more cavalry, while the rocky lands of Apatov and Ankata produce infantry and archers. 
The goal is to give these different areas the same aesthetic style, ideology, and style of communication and leadership to allow them to fit together seamlessly in a fully assembled army. 
It is unknown what just what the scale or capabilities of the Runevan military is, but it easily outsizes and outclasses any other state on the planet regardless.

Technological Level

Runeva claims to be the center of global technological progress, but is an eclectic mess of (often stolen) technological threads in reality. Suwota and her spies, the Lianas, gather all technologies they can for use in the Empire, but the actual minds of the empire are not always the best at figuring out how to implement them.

Religion

Runeva bans all religions but the Church of Ekaza, even in private. Exceptions exist (such as for smugglers or mercenaries), but the commonfolk have no such luxuries. Low caste communities might be able to get away with following another religion behind closed doors, but they are subject to harsh crackdowns at even the slightest sign of religious organization.
The Church is intertwined with the state and the military. Goodness exists in fighting and punishing evil - so the truly virtuous are also soldiers or policemen. Religious law is the basis for the courts and justice system here, and a constant terror of spiritual corruption has infected society.
Within the empire, pilgrimages to the sacred valley are a strictly regulated but greatly revered thing that can be the event of a lifetime for lower caste individuals. The Day of Blossoms (when the sacred valley enters into full bloom in memory of Halcyon's edicts) and Dorekva (a celebration of the Vision of the Eye of the Storm) are the two most widely celebrated holidays.  
Lesser gods and spirits are commonly revered in the countryside and are tolerated by the religious establishment.

Foreign Relations

The Empire of Runeva is extremely diplomatically isolated. Other states must either pay tribute or are potential enemies worthy of invasion. Given that the Lunar Pantheon and various immortals all oppose Runeva unanimously, neutrality is rarely an option on either side.
While formal relations may be severely restricted, Runeva has many under-the-table relationships with factions and individuals outside of the Empire. This is somewhere between diplomacy and espionage, and is managed by Runeva's massive network of spies and assassins known as The Lianas.

Agriculture & Industry

The Countryside

Runeva is a massive empire with lots of industrial variety, but it needs a large agricultural base to function like anywhere else. This is especially true given their massive population. So much of the countryside is agricultural, though that agriculture is almost never the small subsistence farming most of the world is accustomed to. Instead, Runeva uses huge industrial estate farms augmented with druidic magic. The Empire's focus is on pushing the land to its natural extreme using massive water control systems and artificial fertilizers (in the form of plant growth spells, manure, wood ash, and bat guano from the Ankata mountains) to extract as much as possible from the soil without being totally unsustainable. As such, species diversity and ecosystem stability collapses wherever the Empire travels.
Rice is the most commonly harvested crop, followed by maize, yams, potatoes, and wheat. The crops here seem to grow year-round and in hostile soil, and it is unknown if this is from centuries of expert breeding, magical modification, or the prodigious use of fertilizers. On top of the usual food crops, fodder is grown during off-seasons for use in dryad-only foods. The sacred valley of Runeva and the prefectures of Lomata and Rowava all produce lots of surplus food, which is transported throughout the empire in massive mobile granaries.
On top of the traditional crops, Runeva also grows an enormous amount of apples and citrus - there are more distinct breeds of citrus and apples found in Runeva than anywhere else in the world! In the sacred valley, they even grow out of the solid stone.
Cotton is also grown to supplement the wool produced in the hills. The wooded forests are carefully regulated to prevent complete de-forestation, and much of the wood used for day-to-day objects, construction, and industries (such as wood ash or paper pulp) uses bamboo instead. There are massive stretches where old wood forests have been cleared out and consumed by fast-growing kudzu and bamboo forests.

The Mountains

The mountains are alive with industry. The old prisms holds have been liquidated and consolidated into massive mining cities, where expansion is accelerated to almost-unsustainable levels. The inspiration of Samvaran Kima Cities shows, as many mimic their designs outright. The greater difference is that these Runevan Kima are not self-sustaining or independent, but are factorial societies kept purposefully dependent on the rest of the empire to prevent secession. They mass produce weapons and metals while requiring textile and food support from the countryside. They also produce Prism food for use throughout the empire.
Bat farming (for guano) is an unusual professional only really found here. Shepherding is a big deal in the hills and mountains as well. 

The Industry 

Runeva has had a system of drawing raw resources from the countryside into urban centers for mass assembly for many centuries now - the big urban/rural industrial divide is nothing new. But the technology and scale of the current day (and dawning era) is like nothing seen before: massive textile mills, smelters, and kilns that produce goods on an enormous scale. Most crafts are still done in the old ways in large urban collectives and workshops, but Runeva seems to be eagerly spying around the world in a desperate bid to industrialize every field it can. 
Part of the recent shift towards these new industries is a massive migration towards the coastlines, where water for the smelters and wheels is more plentiful. Runeva generally has been pivoting more towards the seas, with a huge boom in ship construction in recent years and naval expeditions. Part of this has been to scout out islands for naval bases and precious fertilizer deposits; part seems to be whaling and fishing; and part might possibly be conquest or colonization.

Trade & Transport

Almost all of Runeva's trade is internal, and typically involves the state bureaucracy in some way. A number of state-supported smugglers do run goods into other states, but it still makes for a pretty tiny fraction of what a normal empire this size would be trading.

Education

Runeva has a large public education system that is tiered according to caste. These schools work closely with the Church of Ekaza to promote particularly competent students to higher castes or blood types, while students who lack piety, willpower, or competence for high caste work might be demoted. 
Military and religious colleges exist in most of the larger cities for higher education.

Infrastructure

Runeva has a robust system of roads, canals, dams, tunnels, and bridges that it carefully maintains to transport troops and resources across the empire. And the borders are a nest of interlocking fortresses. 
Recent decades have also seen the construction of the Godroots: semi-secret building complexes (sometimes underground, sometimes above ground) that connect Arna (the capital) to other cities around Runeva - making them, by some definitions, the same massive city. These Godroots serve as vessels for Suwota's body to spread throughout and beyond the Sacred Valley. Already this has allowed Suwota to grow out of the sacred valley, but this method could one day allow Suwota to infest every urban center in the Empire.

We Are The Light

Founding Date

1060 ME

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Demonym

Runevan

Leader

Suwota

Head of State

Suwota

Government System

Theocracy

Power Structure

Unitary state

Economic System

Command/Planned economy

Currency

Gold Flowers, Silver Swords, Copper Shields

Major Imports

Weaponry, luxury items, spell components (all smuggled)

Official State Religion

Church of Ekaza

Location

Sonev

Official Languages

• Runevan language

Controlled Territories

• Arna

Related Historical Events

• 1500 DE
  The Vision of the Eye of the Storm