Editing Autia (section)

====Second Empire====

The self-proclaimed "Second Empire" is a nation extremely proud of its Eldrian heritage and seeking to recreate the fallen empire.
The Empire was once a confederation of several (mostly) human southern kingdoms that fully merged together because a pan-nationalistic eldrian movement became dominant in the region (after the purge of the most stubborn "nationalist reactionnaries").

They are very friendly with all and any nation of eldrian heritage and strangely enough consider the sapient descendants of Eldrian experiments like the Taurs and the inhabitants of the Pumkin Kingdom as being fully Eldrian (causing some diplomatic awkwardness because of the skirmishes between Sneed and the Taur Tribes but both appreciate the zealous help that the Empire give to them against Aesanaeria).
Their closest allies are the Theocracy of Alana and the Unravelers, the Empire enjoys their drive for ancient eldrian knowledge and is always to help them.
All non-Eldrians living in the land belonging to the Eldrian Empire (unless they are limited in numbers and accept the authority of Eldrians) are their enemies but they especially hate Aesanaeria and Brazilistan, the former for expanding in the South and the latter for holding so much southern land.
Caricatures of foreigners as "Sorgos mongrel half-dwarf mulattoes" are very common and by law having sex with a Taur is legal but sex between an Eldrian and even human non-Eldrians is considered bestiality.

All schools of southern magic, including dark aether channeling (regulated by the state and mostly limited to the military and government research) are common, well-developed and supported by the state to stay competitive with Nantic magic although the more "experimental" wizards are often sent to the Unravelers.
They loathe magitech and trade heavily with An for the non-magical weaponry of the Union to supplement their purely magical warfare with more acceptable pure technology.

They are ruled by an Emperor elected for life from the hereditary provincial governors who themselves descend from the royal families of the Kingdoms that made up the Empire.

Ironically, their semi-official religion is an henotheist cult of a syncretic form of the primordial southern goddess Mother Ocean and the Nantic Fertility Goddess : Eldrians are the only legitimate children of Eldria while non-Eldrians are merely lesser bastards only deserving to be tolerated as second-class minorities or in the barbarian lands outside of the Empire.

People:

The politically dominant race in the Second Empire are the so-called Eldrians, magically talented humans who descended from a mix of human races conquered by the Eldrians, and in some cases, have some blood ties to the original Eldrian race. However, the Eldrians ran a multi-cultural empire based on racial castes, and thus so do the rulers of the Second Empire. They are keen to re-absorb any peoples who were once a part of the Eldrian Empire, including both magical creations like the taurs, pumkin, duckers, and horsemen, as well as former client peoples like the southern Nantic cultures, western Jinsan, and northern Shaobon. Many such individuals can now be found in their holdings on Autia and Flickfowl.

A strange exception to this rule are the Sorgos dwarfs of Brazilistan. Once near the bottom of the hierarchy in the days of the Eldrian Empire, their continued resistance to any attempts at being integrated into the Second Empire has caused the leaders of the Second Empire to label them as foul foreigners.

Despite their self-professed hatred for foreigners and their ways, the elite of the Second Empire have a keen interest in foreign martial styles, and foreign mercenaries are a common sight in the entourages of the wealthy, particularly the wealthy, and the radical mages known as Unravellers.

A handful of Bridge Tribers still live in the remnants of San'Barg, now reduced to a worthless stretch of coastal swamp. The Second Empire claims control of this area, but makes little effort to collect taxes, enforce laws, or hunt down rampaging monsters.

Religion:

The Southern Gods associated with the original Eldrian Empire; Primolt, Great Mother, and the Green Titan, are strangely not particularly respected here, instead, Mother Ocean is worshipped. Seen as the goddess of the original Eldrian people, she was only worshipped by pure blood Eldrians at the time of the Eldrian Empire. It is believed that the modern version of her faith was created by combining elements of Gaelhalla with the Great Mother, along with a healthy dose of nationalist propaganda and historical revisionism.

Magic:

Mages in the Second Empire practice all forms of magic invented by the Eldrian Empire, now known as the Southern Magic Tradition. They have an irrational dislike for other magic traditions, particularly those from the Nantic States, but turn a blind eye to the fact that the mages of the Zandra Peninsula (known as the Unravellers) openly practice all forms of magic. Although technically a part of the Second Empire, the Unravellers are a law unto themselves, and many mages and nobles from other parts of the Second Empire make frequent use of their services, and they are a key component to the Second Empire's military, intelligence, and "industrial" organizations.

Mages who are seen as too radical, particularly users of dark aether channeling, are often sent to join the Unravellers, however, many Second Empire mages use forms of magic considered unethical in other lands, particularly Life Magic to create strange new creations from unwilling subjects, still a cornerstone of the Second Empire's military.

Military:

The Second Empire refuses to use Material Alternation and Aether Manipulation to make so called "magitech" devices, a strange self imposed rule since the Eldrian Empire freely used magic copied from other cultures. However, it sometimes uses Life Magic and Dark Aether Channeling to achieve similar results. The Unravellers ignore this rule.

Life magic is also frequently used to create new races as shock troops, though the more extreme experiments tend to come from the Unravellers.

They buy weapons from the Union for their non-magical troops.

The Second Empire uses its military to bully its neighbors, or help former Eldrian nations fight against non-Eldrian nations like Aesanaeria.

History:

The original Eldrian civilization was believed to have emerged from beneath the waves of the North Emerald Ocean. Although the centre of Eldrian civilization gradually shifted north, where magic could be harnessed more efficiently, a number of important coastal cities remained.

Alongside unimportant rural provinces like Sneed and Kornheiseria, and strange cults like the Theocracy and Persquaria, some of these coastal cities were the only parts of the Eldrian Empire to remain relatively intact.

For nearly a century, the coastal cities struggled to rebuild, while the interior was left to former servant races and out of control magic creations. Some foreign nations also founded colonies in the area, including the short lived Bridge Tribe colony of San'Burg, which was largely abandoned due to repeated attacks by the taur tribes and roaming monsters.

Eventually political factions in some of the coastal cities on both Autia and Flickfowl joined forces, purged their enemies, and formed a new government with the goal of reuniting the old Eldrian Empire.

Progress has been slow in Autia, where they face considerable resistance from their former servant races and rampaging monsters, however, they have made gradual progress, and are currently on a diplomacy blitz in both Sneed and some of the Taur Tribes. They have also long courted the Theocracy of Alana, seeing them as one of the last pure descendants of the Eldrian Empire, however, although considered allies, they don't fully understand the Theocracy's values and motives.

More success was to be had in Flickfowl (known by the Second Empire as Shao-bonham), where their member cities there were able quickly reestablish control over the northern portion of the continent with help from the more powerful Autian city states and provinces.

Economy:

The Second Empire is ruled by nobles who trace their descent to the nobility of the Eldrian Empire. Magic users and nobles (who are also usually magic users) tend to own anything worth owning, including land, buildings, and hoarded wealth.

Common folk do their best to get by in a land filled with rogue monsters and other creations, both recently created, and left over from the Eldrian Empire. Many work on planation farms, or as domestic servants.

The Second Empire imports technological devices, and exports potions and strange monsters and items made from life magic.

Government:

The Second Empire is ruled by a coalition of provinces, each led by nobility descended from Eldrian Empire Era noble families. The overall ruler is the Emperor, elected for life by the leaders of the provinces. Due to life magic, and other more darker forms of magic, some Emperors rule for many decades, while others are assassinated after just a short while in ways even the strongest magic can't return them from. The current Emperor is Emperor Syn Vymber II. Despite being a man of vile and sadistic hobbies, he is firm but fair to those he sees a valuable to the Second Empire's cause, and his zeal is tempered with foresight and pragmatism which has allowed him to consolidate and expand the Empire at a rate not seen in modern times.

Although each provincial leader is strongly committed to the goals of the Second Empire, many display a certain amount of megalomania due to their unnaturally long lives and access to powerful magic. As a result, laws and customs can vary greatly from one province to the next. However, the Golden Legion (Army) and the Black Fleet (Navy) are always well positioned to invade any province showing signs of separation, or shirking on taxes, though this hasn't occurred for over a century, and the current batch of provincial leaders are all committed racists, xenophobes, and/or imperialists who are always keen to prove their commitment to the Empire.

Both the Golden Legion and the Black Fleet are somewhat under equipped and undertrained, however, this also allows the Second Empire to maintain a large army at relatively low cost. The real heavy hitters both forces though are the nobles, the mages, and their assorted creations. Thanks to the biology altering abilities of life magic and alchemy, the elite of Second Empire are typically heavily enhanced, whether it be relatively subtle chances to appearance, strength, and stamina, to the strange and terrifying forms associated with some of the Unravelers and their creations, and a few nobles as well. Many shock troops and members of knightly orders settle for increased size, muscle mass, and durability.

Geography:

The Autian component of the Second Empire is mostly subtropical forest, farmed land, and swamps, while the Flickfowl component is a mix of jungle and subtropical forest that rises sharply along the southern edge where it reaches the Peaks of the Heavens mountain range. The Second Empire is split up into a series of provinces, all of which are named for their largest city. Their are also several special territories, which don't have cities, and are ruled by the military (or by no one in the case of the Zandra Peninsula).

- Zandra Peninsula: This swampy, low-lying peninsula has long been the domain of the more experimental, reckless, and unethical of the Eldrian magic users, it now serves the same purpose in the Second Empire. Home to the so-called Unravellers, their servants, and their creations, it is generally seen as an area to be avoided by the sane. There isn't any large communities, instead each magic user, or group of magic users, operates out of a compound of their own design. These compounds are often surrounded by testing ranges, alchemy gardens, and "zoos" showing off their favorite creations, however, the bulk of the peninsula is swamps, marshes, and dense forest, where the occasional escaped slave or creation struggles to survive in a vicious ecosystem made up of the most dangerous of past escapees.

- Kyleana: One of the Second Empire's largest port cities, Kyleana joined the Second Empire under duress, but any seperatist sentiment is long dead. It now has a reputation for being a thriving merchant harbour with a strong military presence.

- Jikenzen: The westernmost city on the old trade road, Jikenzen mostly serves as the command center for military operations meant to tame the western edge of the Empire, and possibly one day launch an invasion into Brazilistan. Tens of thousands of soldiers, laborers and slaves have the thankless task of clearing jungle filled ruins and arable land of vegetation, monsters, and magical hazards.

- Morelosso: This large coastal city is one of the few Eldrian cities to survive the fall relatively intact. Consisting of tens of thousands of gleaming buildings of white marble with brass and gold trim, hung with flags and banners featuring the gold and black of the Second Empire, it is highly visible reminder to the Second Empire's wealth and ambition. Like most previous Emperors, Emperor Syn Vymber II makes his home in the sprawling Ascendant Palace in the middle of the city. The black and gold (or at least black and brass) colors of the Second Empire are almost everywhere, particularly the clothes of nobles, wealthy citizens, members of the Gold Legion and Black Fleet (both of which have a large presence in the city), bureaucrats, and senior domestic servants.

The area surrounding the city has been largely cleared of hazards to make space for plantations, estates, and palaces, though trouble still crops up occasionally in unusable land like rocky hills, or undrainable swamps.

- Vulpturen: The small city of Vulpturen is a rather dull place where b-list nobility manage the plantations and other holdings of their senior family members in Morelosso. The land in the province is mostly covered in plantations, with some estates, but almost no palaces.

- Cressoe: Much of the land in this province is untamed swamp and damp forest. Never well inhabited, even at the peak of the Eldrian Empire, the swamps are home to swamp dwelling fey like hags, bullywugs, and giant frogs. Also common are the so-called swamp elves, a mongrel race of elves, humans, and sometimes goblins that live in the deepest sections of swamp in southern Autia. Although less dangerous than the neighboring Taur Region and Ashkev Province, Cressoe is largely uninhabited by civilized folk except for the towns and villages along the trade road. The only city is Cressoe, a partially ruined, partially flooded regional hub ruled by an eccentric mage obsessed with the magic of swamp fey.

- Traghazo: Traghazo is a smallish province located on a low plateau overlooking the swamps to the north and the ocean to the south. Home to plantations, ranches, estates, and several large palaces along the ocean, it is generally free from the wandering monsters and magic hazards found in other mainland provinces, though the local elite have a reputation for being even more callous than in other parts of the Empire.

The main city, Traghazo, is the main slave trading hub of the Empire, where slaves taken during uprisings in Flickfowl, or supplied by the Afzen are purchased, and malcontents, convicts, and surplus slaves are sold. Once a major center of culture and the arts in the Eldrian Empire, it is filled with theatres and statue filled plazas, some of which have been repurposed as slave markets. Although most of the shipping is done by Afzen Amazons (who make up a large portion of the city's residents), the local nobles are still able to reap huge profits from the slave markets. The governor in particular is famous for his decadent palace and massive harem.

- San'barg: This desolate region of coastal swamps and sandbars is the last remnants of a colonization attempt by men of the Bridge Tribes back before the formation of the Second Empire. Home to several Eldrian ruins, hostile Taur tribes, and assorted other monsters left over from the Eldrian era, the Second Empire doesn't see it as worth their time trying to colonize this era beyond some large coastal forts. Instead, the remaining Bridge Tribers are allowed to scrape by on hunter-gatherer lifestyles unmolested despite nominally being inhabitants of the Second Empire.

- Ashkev: Considered one of the most dangerous of the mainland provinces, Ashkev is a mess of rocky outcroppings, swamps, marshes, shallow lakes, magically irradiated sludge pits, forests teeming with the monstrous creations of the Eldrian Empire, and tribes of hostile Taur. Half-spiders known as driders, as well as harpies are also a particular nuisance, though it is unclear whether they natural, or Eldrian created facsimiles. Natural hazards like quicksand, and an extremely painful local cactus, are nearly as hated as the monsters and magic.

At the center of this mess is the City of Ashkev itself. Once one of the largest cities in the Eldrian Empire, the degradation of local drainage networks mean much of the city is now covered in several feet of water, however, that is the least of its problems. Magical weaponry used against it has resulted in reality breaking a bit, resulting in temporal anomalies, rifts in reality, outbreaks of reanimating undead, and rampant mutations to local wildlife. Bloated, muck covered zombies known as bog monsters, some seemingly sentient, are a particular problem. Despite this, the Second Empire has invested significant time in reclaiming the city. Mages work to stabilize magic rifts, while soldiers, slaves, and laborers, some of them captured Taur from local tribes, work endlessly to clear out monsters, drain flooded areas, and rebuild buildings.

The short-lived nation of San'Barg once included much of this territory, and made its capital in one of Ashkev's smaller cities before being driven out by an alliance of Taur.

- Taur Region - Simply known as the Taur Region, this lawless area is home to Taur tribes that have more or less sworn loyalty to the Second Empire. In return, the Second Empire has provided them firearms to help pressure other Taur tribes into joining, as well as helped exterminate some of the more dangerous of the massive reptiles that live in the semi-arid forests of this region.

- Hekraeno: Once a holy city of the Eldrian Empire, Hekraeno is home to a number of temples, many of which have been repurposed as palaces and marketplaces instead. Large parts of the city were destroyed during the fall of the Eldrian Empire, and even today, slums of rotting wood and haphazardly stacked rubble coexist alongside wealthier districts of intact buildings. Like other more settled provinces, much of the province is covered in plantations, ranches, and estates.

- Pillapiillo: The City of Pillapiillo is home to an unusually high percentage of pumkins, and the ruler himself is a pumkin puppet king who the Second Empire is trying to use a figurehead to draw more pumkin tribes under their control. Often known as the Pumkin King (or Pumking for short), he lives in a lavish palace surrounded by slaves, piled coins, and other displays of wealth.

- Dominado: One of the largest inland cities in the Empire, Dominado is a massive fortress carved out of a massive rocky outcropping in one of the Second Empire's few hilly regions. A major source of mineral wealth, getting assigned to the mines of Dominado is one of the worst fates of slaves and indentured servants in the Empire. The ruler himself is a massive man, much enhanced by life magic like many likeminded nobles. He is infamous for impaling his rivals, then leaving the magically preserved corpses on stakes in the hills surrounding his city. Aside from mining, the hills are also popular with ranchers and sheepherders.

- Baensnee: The lesser of the two provinces located in the northern grasslands, most communities are well fortified due to Taur raids from the west, and pumpkin raids from the east. Ranching, sheepherding, and mining are the main economic activities. The province's only real highlight is the Valley of the Dead, a massive network of tombs and massive statues that leave little doubt as to the true appearance of the now likely extinct Eldrian race.

- Calypsen: The City of Calypsen was once a major trade center between the core cities of the Eldrian Empire to the north, and the coastal cities to the south, but is now largely abandoned since caravans heading north are now almost unheard of. During the fall of the Eldrian Empire, the city was hit with some sort of unknown magical doomsday device which transformed all inhabitants into highly durable and heavy statues. Although these statues have been painstakingly removed from wealthier districts, poor folk and squatters simply learn to tolerate their spooky housemates. The local governess seems to be skilled at maintaining peaceful relations with the local pumpkin and Taur tribes, many of which use her city as a trading center, however, her main interest is the Theocracy of Alana, whose secrets she is keen to uncover.

The rest of the province is covered in grasslands, and home to a scattering of well fortified villages, towns, and mines, much like Baensnee to the south.