Editing Autia (section)

====Tartes Imperium====

People:

Having originally started out as one of the Sorgos colonies, the Tartes Imperium retains a population of mostly Sorgos humans with a relatively small population of harpies, centaurs and satyrs having also came over from Soukos. Their long isolation from their homeland has led to the Tarteans possessing a far paler complexion than the slightly darker skinned Soukans alongside being slightly shorter. The monstrous races also living in the imperium live closer to the outskirts keeping watch for possible enemies. Because of this they are well respected amongst the people living in these border towns and garrisons, a sentiment not shared by those who live in more civilized sections of the nation who treat them with mild apprehension which thankfully rarely escalates to anything beyond that level.

The same can not be said to the neighboring hobgoblins and the strange ashen people of K'eyi Meda however. Both are seen as barbarians by the Tartean senators and are commonly used as scapegoats to convince citizens to enlist in the army to defend their nation out of fear of a possible incursion into the imperium. Any among those two races who are caught within the borders of Tartes are subject to a most gruesome fate as their bodies are nailed to enlargened holy symbols to the Tartean/Soukan pantheon where they inevitably die from asphyxiation. These poor souls are proudly placed next to the roads and cities of the Tarteans where their forms writhe in pain.

Lastly there are the merchants and mercenaries, those from far beyond the nation. These foreigners are treated as honored guests among the Sartyrians due to the wares and information they bring of events far beyond Tartes. In exchange the Tarteans sell goods such as olive oil, furs, rare dyes, pearls and most importantly of all, animals.

While the merchants sell their stock in the streets, mercenaries are commonly seen sitting in the courtyard of a Tartean captain's villa writing out the terms for a contract. These mercenaries fill out multiple useful niches which aren't the primary focus of the military such as advanced long range firepower which could be strengthened by a hired regiment of Yrrian Iron Beasts or trench warfare which a platoon of Belkan riflemen could cover quite well. Most of these visitors are from Soukos due to the nation being the closest one to Tartes and are vital to the imperium because of the deadly magical ballistae and enchanted cannons they send over to maintain their technological superiority. This is particularly important when facing the gnomes to their south who hunger to restore their fallen empire and are a constant threat in the south constantly having to be fought off. Advanced technology helps particularly well against the wee men as unlike the infuriatingly fast and dangerous warriors of K'eyi Meda who constantly raid the western imperium, the gnomes see little value in stealth and wear thick plate armor you can see a mile away and line up a shot towards.

Religion:

The Tarteans incorporate a modified Soukan pantheon into their daily lives as well. Many gods such as Zeupiter and Hadiese remain the same but other gods have their names changed such as Mercuros, god of travel, trickery and thieves being a renamed version of a similar minor Soukan god who is much more important in the imperium due to the greater rate of travel between cities. Additionally completely new gods are added in some cases with Baelona being the Tartean goddess of war and strategy. The high priest of each major god's church all have a seat in in the senate reserved for them and leading to the religious side of the imperium holding a great deal of power because of how many churches there are.

Magic:

Similarly to their former homeland of Soukos, magic is regarded very highly among the Tarteans. The strange inherent magical potential within Soukans is not mirrored here however due to the long isolation from their homeland leading to a loss of that particular trait. While the percentage of people with magical potential among the Tarteans has been lowered to normal odds, it does not exactly mean they have lost the blessings of their gods. The most zealous of Tartean warriors may have the chance to be acknowledged and directly blessed by their god, becoming true paragons of their deities ideals and demigod warriors that are often seen directly leading Tartean legios. Conventional mages are still seen within Tartean forces however as whenever a citizen with magical potential is discovered, they are immediately recruited into the garrison and are directly trained by a mage of the magical school they choose to specialize in which can greatly vary due to the large amount of magical schools utilized by the imperium. These mages are given the great honor to bear a banner of their legio and wear a blessed lion pelt to signify their status as a fully trained mage.

Economy:

As mentioned earlier, the Tarteans primarily export olive oil, furs, rare dyes and pearls. There are two exports however which serve as their main products sold by the imperium, slaves and animals. Their animals are particularly important as many of them are magical creatures like hydras specifically bred to be sold to other nations for multiple purposes. These creatures sell for vast sums to outside buyers due to most nations flat out refusing to sell their warbeasts to others in order to maintain the advantage such creatures bring.

Most of the wealth in Tartes is held by a mix of senators and high ranking military personnel who use it to build magnificent villas and commission great artworks to be built, the common folk have to deal with a far more humble and frugal existence.

History:

During the golden age of Soukos it had seemed like the Three Fates had unveiled the world itself for them to explore. Day by day more land in southeast Autia was being seized but the slow the land was being settled at meant the city-states soon hungered for more while waiting to properly colonize the land. Currently their efforts were all focused directly to their east and while it may have proven a worthwhile investment with Aesanaeria being filled with natural resources and the dwarves of Brazilistan greatly improving their technology the west was still untouched. And so, in order to expand the ever growing republic a great fleet of triremes (I say triremes instead of neo-triremes because this was a long time ago so they just used magic triremes) made from the strongest of woods and given sails of folded silk was gathered together. Following several slight modifications allowing them to survive longer on the open ocean the ships set forth on what would be an arduous journey as triremes weren't meant for long voyages across an ocean. Storms of increasing magnitude broke out throughout the expedition and the loss of supplies and precious food in these events meant many ships were lost to the sea. This voyage did not end without a proper discovery however as when the triremes finally reached land they discovered a vast, warm land with plenty of space to set up holdings in. Overjoyed by this discovery, the crew quickly made landfall and began construction of a small village to serve as a home as civilization was brought to this new land. What they didn't expect however were many hidden pairs of eyes observing them performing their work belonging to those who had already inhabited this land, the men of K'eyi Meda. While a similar situation had happened to the Soukans before with the Sparticia Mountain Clans raiding their newly established city-states, initial contact was far later and this problem could be solved by building better defenses.

This strange new foe would not allow them the time to build proper defenses however as the scouts observing the encampment quickly mounted their amphibious steeds known only as "Kbahalis" and set back home to notify their chieftains of the newcomers. Sensing a splendid opportunity to captures these foreigners as exotic slaves, the chieftains petitioned to their king to travel to their western lands and attack these foreigners. Permission was granted and their swiftest warriors were mobilized to head east. Later that night the Soukan settlement would be attacked by a group of strange winged monsters known as "Kongamatos" who under the cover of dark flew above their homes and each dropped a bomb to wreak mayhem inside the settlement. This caused the settlers and their hoplite bodyguards to run outside in panic to find out what was going on, exactly as the black skinned warriors intended as many citizens were captured and flown away that night to be displayed before the chieftains as a sign of their superiority over would-be invaders. Those who survived the initial assault chose to take all their valuables and flee the settlement before another attack would begin and ran back to the triremes. Before a second attack would inevitably commence, a group of sailors were chosen to head back home and request a greater force be sent to the west to battle this unexpected resistance. Using their greater understanding of calmer regions across the Ignis Ocean the sailors made it home to Soukos safely and begged for aid before the senate to send more troops to take this new land which they'd taken to calling Tartes. Thankfully the senators back home still lusted for this new land and wrote off the Medans who were already inhabiting this land as weak savages who had to resort to stealth to win their battles. Almost immediately following this meeting, general Caelus Titillus volunteered to travel to Tartes.

Caelus was a general of great renown among the Soukans for his role in clearing the Sparticians from Voluntas, a campaign that had earned him the title of consul given by the senate. He had volunteered for this new expedition in order to test a new system of warfare he had thought up and had been building up an army of his own to utilize. These new tactics utilized several groups known as maniples, each a hundred men strong and made up of several ranks of soldiers such as Hastati or veteran Triarii each given enchanted shields capable of taking an arrow from a longbow without issue and javelins alongside a spear, sword or something else entirely. These formations would be led by ranks of monsters meant to disrupt enemy lines while the main force would get in and the artillery right behind them would fire away. His force of 500,000 men each dressed in his personal colors of red set sail later that week as the crowd gazed upon them with great curiosity as they were far more used to seeing hoplites. After what was now the third voyage back and forth from this new land Caelus's forces set foot on land and their greater numbers and training meant they had made a fortified garrison by the end of the day and a force of Velite skirmishers found the remaining original settlers hiding inside a cave. What commenced would be a fierce series of wars as while the Soukans may have had a force of veterans followed by monsters aplenty, the Medans had a greater understanding of the geography of Tartes, possessed dangerous creatures themselves and had a far larger force stationed in Tartes.

Initial Medan attacks on the garrison were failures as ballistae had been stationed to shoot down the flying monsters the people of K'eyi Meda were using to scale the walls but counterattacks ended in failure as maniples were very easy to spot and were repeatedly ambushed in both woods and mountain passes by wrathful warriors with iron weaponry and cowhide shields and terrifying giant serpents with elephant heads known as Grootslangs. To make matters even worse Caelus's subordinates were repeatedly coming down with illness due to some kind of voodoo magic being performed by the Medans from a distance. The magical warding of his armor protected him from such a fate but this campaign was steadily getting more and more difficult than what he initially expected. During the battles he had been in against the enemy tribesmen he had noticed one high exploitable weakness in the Medans structure however. Each tribe seemed to have been sending their own warriors who very rarely cooperated with those from other tribes. This meant that instead of trying to fight everyone at once, as long as his headquarters remained defended the general could send his army out and take out one local tribal militia at a time. Additionally he began to reach out to a few tribes with many luxurious gifts and magical tools being given as a means to ensure their cooperation, having them sabotage their allies under the belief that they would become the most powerful among the tribes that made up the Medans if they performed their job and received more weapons to arm their warriors with. While his forces may have been reduced to half by this point, he began a slow series of victories which eventually stacked up until the final Medan forces were encircled.

Terms of surrender were negotiated and the remaining leaders, who led the tribes bribed by Caelus in fact were let free in exchange for ceding Tartes to the Soukos Republic. Having triumphed over the tribesmen, construction of a proper capital began as Caelus crowned himself the provincial king of this territory. Over the next decade many Soukans immigrated into Tartes as it was swiftly becoming one of if not the most prosperous colony of Soukos and they sought to take large sections of land in the colony for themselves. Unexpectedly, this stream of newcomers would suddenly be shut of soon after as the city-states had initiated yet another civil war with almost all military personnel in the colonies heading back home to help in the conflict. This would not be the same for the Tarteans however as the great distance from their homeland alongside their leadership being mostly outside the standard Soukan hierarchy meant that many of them had started to feel a sense of separation from their homeland. So it was that the Tartes Kingdom as it was known at the time lost contact with its homeland and grew more involved in domestic matters. There were no longer city-states, instead there were simply more cities which while smaller than a city-state were far more closely linked together and to the capital of Rema. The years of isolation brought with them many times of change as well, chief of which was the White Coup. This coup, named such for the bloodless nature of it as the current king was strangled in his sleep was a plot against the royal bloodline who had gotten decadent and cruel. The ineffectiveness of the current heir would be his undoing as the Tartean senate who had been relegated to the position of advisors organized an assassination. Following the successful killing, the senate elected a new leader who would have earned his place through pure merit instead of inheritance. As such an emperor was crowned and the land was renamed to the Tartes Imperium.

Military:

The army has evolved and adapted much since the times of Caelus Titillus, with several reforms since the White Coup having changed how it is structured alongside modernizing it to keep up with their hobgoblin and Medan neighbors who both have adopted gunpowder in combat. The army is organized into multiple legios (legions in the tongue of the Tarteans, which is quite similar to the language of Soukos with a few minor changes) each 100,000 strong. These legios are comprised exclusively of human citizens alongside their warbeasts and are spread throughout the imperium and in some cases beyond its borders. The other monstrous races who serve in the army form a secondary arm of it known as the Auxilia with about a million auxiliaries existing as backup support. The mercenaries hired by the imperium in droves also count in this category as they are non-citizens. The standard Tartean soldier is known as a legionary, well disciplined warriors with many being veterans. They wield blessed scutum shields, multiple kinds of swords (depends on who's training them in their legio), spears and in recent times firelock guns. The strength of these soldiers comes from both their versatility given the variety of weapons a legionary knows how to use and their tactics. These tactics typically involve luring the enemy into a battleground specifically suited for the legionaries to fire into from a distance through gaps in a shield wall meant to deflect enemy small-arms fire whilst a hidden battle mage fires at and destroys artillery brought into the battle. Legionaries are led by centurions with the lower ranks wearing reinforced laminar armor whilst their higher ranks wear full plate and are given exotic enchanted weapons. Some other forces in the army include the Pegasus Equites, an extremely fast flying cavalry division and their Death Rays, the name is self-explanatory.

Miscellaneous:

Flaws in the Tarteans strategies such as a lack of large aerial weaponry i.e airships are covered either through mercenaries or just buying it from Soukos as the two nations share common ancestry and haven't ever directly attacked each other (though the Tarteans have had a hand in starting up the civil war back home so the attention of their homeland would be away from them and they could gain independence) leading to them trading freely. They do have big fiery dragons who live in the area as shown in an earlier picture though, they just aren't as big as a zeppelin per se.

They utilize advanced mechanical mangonels and eagle headed cannons as their artillery. The aforementioned Death Rays also count in this category. The rays in question are essentially just an enchanted mirror absorbing sunlight and firing it off as a projectile when needed.

Their navy is entirely made up of hired neo-triremes as the Tarteans aren't particularly fond of water and prefer for others to do the naval combat for them.

Their monsters are also mostly just a select number of the ones found in Soukos with the exception of some creatures like the Caladrius, a mysterious pale blue bird with healing properties used by the doctors of each legio. I say select number of monsters as they're missing things like minotaurs and warsphinxes.