Eyaw Empire
The Eyaw Empire was founded by a group of Aarakocra who were displaced from the Plane of Air and made a living on the material plane. After roaming around and picking up how to eat and use the local plants, they settled in the Shan Mountains.
The empire shares the mountains with several tribes of Yeti. This works by the simple fact that yeti like the cold, and aarakocra like their homes warmer. Because of this, quarels over living space are few and far between.
Settlements and Building Style
Aaracokra have a preference for high places, which has a strong influence on the settlements of the Emprie. The cities and villages of the Eyaw Empire are mostly built upon mountain tops, ridges or inaccessible ledges along cliffsides. There are no roads between the different buildings or settlements, simply because they are not needed. The denizens of Eyaw buildings tend to be all Aarakocra, and the occasional land-walking visitor is usualy restricted to specific guest areas.Building materials
Buildings usually have a stone foundation, either carved into the mountain, or built from boulders carved from said mountain. The buildings itself tend to be construced out of light wood or bamboo, with various forms of paper used for some of the inner walls. This way of building has developed out of practicality. Because most of the resources need to be hauled up to the construction site, light but sturdy materials are prefered. The larger cities, and especially the imperial city of Gaocheng, have constructed cargo elevators which alleviate some of the hauling labour. Because of this, these cities have more heavy materials incorporated in some of the buildings, such as hardwood, non-local stone, or sometimes even large pieces of metal.Wealth display
The heavier the building material, the more expensive it is to aqcuire. Well-off aaracokra families use this to show of how wealthy they are: By incorporating hardwood pillars, foreign marble, or other unnecessarily heavy things in their family homes. The more remote the location of the home, the better.Domesticated animals
After settling in the Shan mountains, the aarakocra set about domesticating the local wildlife. One of their standard "work horses" are Mountain Goats. While Chinchilla are commonly held as pets. Most aaracokra think it wierd to have other birds as pets, but there are some standouts who have entire flocks.Structure
The empire has been haded by the Jun Family since 3783. While it was originally the case that only female family members could rule over the empire, the lack of sexual dimorphysm in the current imperial family meant that over time both male and female members wield equal power.
The next heir to the throne is not selected based on order of birth, but on the bases of who would be the most capable of ruling the empire.
This has extended down to lesser positions of office, making the Eyaw Empire a meritocracy.
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Capital
Leader
Ruling Organization
Government System
Meritocracy
Official State Religion
Location
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
Comments