Braris Empire
The Empire of Braris was built upon the vigor and vitality of their soldiers and the endurance of its rulers. These two factors were the only things holding the empire and its vast overseas territories together. Once they weakened it was only a matter of time before the empire's enemies took advantage. As with most things, the fall of the empire hit the average citizen the hardest. Yes, the adult nobility was slaughtered to a man by Lorenzo but, it was the citizens who made up the army that fought and were eventually killed by both the pirates and the neighboring forces. It was the citizens who had to watch the sandstone walls that had protected them for centuries be torn down and their cities destroyed. Their individual homes and farms may have been spared but, their lives did not get all that easier. They still had to work the same long hours doing the same backbreaking labor they had been all their lives. Although, the pirates paid much better for the goods and services provided than the nobility ever had so at least in that manner the citizens were better off.
Structure
The Emperor or Empress has absolute power over the territories, cities, and villages within the Braris Empire. They have two advisors, one the leader of the military and the other the head of the merchant's guild. Both roles are usually obtained by one being born into royalty and having enough coin to buy their position.
Public Agenda
Their agenda was to make the Empire as powerful as possible and to conquer as every kingdom and nation throughout the world.
Assets
The Braris Empire called the land where the Scorched Wilds meets the The Farthest Expanse's waters home. This strip of land, though narrow, is relatively fertile and able to sustain wheat crops. However, the primary food source was not from the ground but from the waters of the The Farthest Expanse. It's from these calm waters that the Brarisi people could get the fish that made up a portion of the people's diet. In the desert and savannah biomes of the Scorched Wilds, there are a few animals like zebras, gazelle, and wildebeest the people would hunt for meat, hides, and fur. Still, the dangers presented by the predator species that hunt these same animals made these hunts incredibly dangerous and unprofitable. Most of the Braris Empire's resources came from those brought by merchant vessels or through taking the resources of a kingdom they conquered. The only exception was the plentiful sandstone and limestone the Empire used in most of their buildings.
Citizens' houses were two-story buildings made solely of sandstone with thatched reed roofs. The second story comprised three rooms: living quarters and a dining room, while the first floor was an open area used for storage. Reed mats were used as doors and curtains, and windows were small rectangular holes towards the top of the wall. Wealthier citizens lived in spacious estates surrounding comfortable high-ceiling houses made from limestone with pillars, barred windows, tiled floors, painted walls, and staircases leading up to the flat roofs where one could overlook the estate. Within the estate's walls and surrounding the lavish home were pools, gardens, servant's quarters, wells, granaries, and stables. There was a clear divide between the upper and lower class, with the former's homes built closest to the shoreline while the latter's homes were built closer to the wall separating the cities from the dry, desolate lands of the Wilds.
Businesses were built using a mixture of sandstone and limestone bricks with solid brick roofs. Stained glass windows, wall paintings, luxurious rugs, and fancy wooden doors separated the more successful businesses from the less successful ones.
The one asset the Empire had that continues to this day is fantastic views of both the waters of the Farthest Expanse and the Scorched Wilds that still draw artists to the settlement Sanctuary Lorenzo built on top of the Empire's ruins.
History
For almost two hundred years, the Braris Empire was the most powerful Empire in the world, with their ships in every port worldwide and their influence reaching kingdoms across the sea. Many a king, elder, or ruler would ask for the help of the Brarisi army only to find out too late the price was becoming a subject of the Empire. Though slavery was frowned upon in the Empire in later years, the nobility and Emperor(ess) turned a blind eye to the very active slave trade that went on in their capital city Carthago Nova.
In the ninth century B.R.C, the Braris Empire saw their power slowly slip away from them due to several incompetent and insane rulers damaging the infrastructure of the Empire and sacrificing large numbers of troops in unnecessary and costly wars. Their loss of power plus the nobility's ambivalence towards the slave trade going on within their capital would come to bite them in the end when in 794 B.R.C, the pirate king Lorenzo Rossi began his siege against the Empire that had wronged him so badly in his youth. Emperor Kiriakos Tapalla Atayde attempted to break the blockade by fighting back. But the ships he sent to attack the pirates were all outmatched and outclassed by the pirates and were soon sinking to the depths of the The Farthest Expanse or were on fire.
Attempts to get the foreign territories controlled by the Empire to attack the pirates from behind were met with failure as Lorenzo's wife Jenevieve "Jenna" Loren and several other pirates had already sent notices to every country and kingdom outside the kingdom saying they would not harm any non-Brarisi ship that did not attack them first and that they would be happy to trade with any merchant vessels in the area. In addition, Emperor Kiriakos soon found himself fighting a two-sided war when the neighboring nations of Courson and Granton launched a united attack against the Empire on land. Already short on supplies because of the blockade and short on manpower because of the attacks against the pirates, the Brarisi army soon began to fragment, with many surrendering to either the pirates or the Greti and Claiserian troops.
Having no choice, the Emperor issued a notice of surrender to the pirates and Greti and Claiserian armies, and the former ended their blockade while the latter ceased fighting. Once on shore, however, Pirate King Lorenzo was merciless, having the Emperor and every adult member of the nobility executed and tearing down the palaces and buildings that represented the Braris Empire's power. The children of nobles were allowed to survive, but their titles were stripped from them, and they were made to work as cabin boys and girls on the ships within Lorenzo's fleet. He bestowed a single mercy upon them in that he declared that anyone within his fleet who harmed the children in any way beyond the standard punishment would be killed by his hand.
1050 BRC - 814 BRC
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Capital
Alternative Names
The Empire, Fallen Empire, Rossi's Ruin
Demonym
Brarisi
Leader
Leader Title
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Traditional
Location
Controlled Territories
Related Items
Notable Members
Related Myths
Pretty interesting article ! Your theme and your universe itself mix extremely well ! Even if the history is composed of a big textblock, it's still easily readable, and your article is pretty complete !
Thank you very much!