Valedori Empire

The most powerful nation in the modern world, the empire that defined the Imperial Age, and the banner of the red and black eagle that flies atop Skyships of the Imperial Army as a symbol of the mortal races claiming the skies of this world for their own.
The Valedori Empire is a civilization unmatched in size by the other societies across the Fractals - currently maintaining control and protection over the largest swath of secure and cleansed Fractals, called the Imperial Fractals. Though even now, its reach has grown so great that it has stretched its talons out to clutch a foothold in the Nimbus Sea with Fort Ramsgate. While its control of the Silvermark region has faltered over the past decades with internal strife, the nation remains a dominant power in the known world and that has only grown stronger under the rule of the Empress Sabatine Aranetta.

HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE

Founded by the First King, King Caspian Valero, during the War of Thorns - the Valedori Empire was born in battle. Its first purpose was that of war and survival, and the Imperial Army was the first real construct of the budding civilization, born out of the need of the people who lived under the subjugation of the Vampire Lords for centuries during the Age of Darkness. When the city of Valedor was taken in the war effort that stretched up from the modern-day Southmark, it was founded as a grand new capital city for this fledgling kingdom and has remained the seat of power for over a hundred years.
When peace was won and the War of Thorns finished - the Valedori found themselves victorious, but with little identity of their own outside of battle. Under the direction of King Caspian Valero, the empire was established to live beyond him, with the emperor to be chosen by a council of their peers and to carry on the legacy of this new kingdom to create a safe land for all. This safety came at the cost of significant and sweeping acts such as the adoption of the Saints as the dominant religion of the empire, and the passing of the Arcane Exclusion Act which led to the Elven Diaspora.

THE EMPIRE TODAY

Today, the Valedori Empire has largely been responsible for the renaissance that all have experienced in the Imperial Age. Now on its fifth monarch, the Empress Sabatine Aranetta, it has swelled once again to new heights of power and control - much of this driven by expansion of guild production through Castile and the strengthening of the Imperial Army which has made safe the homeland of the Imperial Fractals and allowed the empire to expand to cleanse Fractals at the edges of the Nimbus Sea around Fort Ramsgate.

CULTURAL NORMS

While the Imperial Fractals spans a wide land of diverse peoples and cultures, the beating cultural heart of the empire can be found between the sister cities of Valedor and Castile - where cultures of progress and innovation have met business and art. While many of these norms come from an inherently Human persuasion of motivation and hunger for greatness, it has expanded to all races of peoples within the society who seek to make something of their own amidst this world made safe by the Empire.
Within that, ideas of honor such as Vendetta, as well as an importance of the arts and religion through the Churches of the Saints and their support of the arts such as La Operata, have created a complex and beautiful culture that has been allowed to flourish into a true renaissance of invention and creation.

by Shin W