Empire

From Asmythe
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The Armada Empire

The Armada Empire is a federation of relatively small human kingdoms and city-states throughout Asmythe. All civilized human settlements on Asmythe are part of the Armada and each is generally fairly independent. Groups of humans outside the Armada are pirate gangs, rogue nations, bandit tribes and such. The Armada exists to protect against the Orcs, organize trade, and resolve disputes between human nations.

Laws of the Armada

These are the rules of the Armada that all nations are expected to enforce. Other than these "laws of commerce and communication" member nations are free to make and enforce their own laws.

  • All humans must act to support the Armada empire and all citizens of the empire.
  • Member nations must recognize the laws and currency of the Armada. They must not create their own currency.
  • Member nations must follow strict war protocols. Attacking another member nation without a formal war declaration to the council may results in a formal war declaration by other member nations.
  • Member nations must host an Armada ambassador, who is the voice and hand of The Armada.
  • Member nations may bring grievances to the Armada court, Comhairle, are entitled to a seat on the Comhairle, and must abide by the decisions of the Comhairle.
  • Member nations must recognize the common language, Codrix, and conduct all state and business transactions using this language.

Law Enforcement

Every authority in the Armada, from emperor to shop master, is the arbiter of law for the people that work for them and only for the people that work for them. A mayor, for example, is not the arbiter for ordinary citizens. A mayor is arbiter to council members, who are each an arbiter for guild masters and so on. A judge is somebody who is arbiter for people who have no other arbiter, and may act as a tie-breaker. A level of government will have a judge only if the arbiter of that level allows it but they are common in towns and large guilds.

At every level an arbiter is responsible for enforcing the laws of the level above them, and are empowered to create their own laws that apply to the people they are responsible for. Arbiters police themselves.

When a crime is suspected a court is convened composed of the arbiters responsible for the accused, accuser, peers of those arbiters, and possibly a judge. The court must contain at least three arbiters. The accused and accuser each personally present their description of the facts, there are no lawyers. The arbiters determine the facts, if a crime was committed, and what the punishment should be by majority agreement.

Agents of the Armada, specifically the organizations listed below but usually the Eye of Sol, may bring an accusation against any citizen. This helps to reduce, but not eliminate, corruption and collusion in government.

History

The Armada appeared shortly after the cataclysm that ended the second era, when humans appeared on Altazar. The humans founded the Armada Empire in their first city and spread out from there over the centuries.

The Armada Empire has always been decentralized, trusting that each individual nation knew best what they needed to be successful. The business of the empire was governed by the Lord Admiral until the coming of Faelltor, after which a council of representatives of the leaders of all recognized nations took over.

Taxes are levied against the national leaders and each nation is required to have and yield to an ambassador stationed in each city.

Armada expansion and wealth grow greatly as humans mastered magic.

At the height of the Armada the archmagi Faelltor, who had been raising an undead army in secret, attacked and killed the Lord Admiral and nearly destroyed the Armada itself before he was defeated by the Eye of Sol. The fracturing of political power and distrust of magic this created was the turning point of the Armada. The Armada began to fracture, armies became less able to react to orc incursions and nations became more independent and less reliant on Armada power for commerce and protection.

Culture

Life and culture varies throughout empire nations on each continent.

Food: A popular beverage is Kaff, a strong black tea made from ground bark. It is served warm or cold and usually with ground bark in the bottom. It is often spiked with gin or rum when consumed socially. It has some caffeine in it.

Life: Life outside the walls of the city is usually very dangerous because of roaming monsters. Farmers live inside the walls in boarding houses and travel out to the fields in guarded caravans. Settlements are typically about 10-20km apart; farms more than a few km outside the walls are too far away to protect. Farming settlements might be little more than a single castle just large enough to house farmers and guards to work the land.

Events

  • Landing Day - A yearly celebration marking the anniversary of humans arriving on Asmythe. The first day of the year.
  • Founding Day - A yearly festival marking the anniversary of the founding of The Armada Empire.

Organizations

The Armada Empire, by it's nature, is composed of many factions, organizations, and member nations. These organizations are part of the empire itself and although they act as independent organizations they are not nations, they serve the empire.

The Principles of Honor deal with military matters. The Hand of Wisdom are the police and enforcers of the Armada, they protect the Armada from supernatural threats. The Eye of Sol are couriers and diplomats for member nations. Finally, the Tridale Trade Company ensures a common currency and fair trade practices between nations by serving as the central bank for the Armada.

Principles of Honor

The Principles of Honor are the champions of the Armada. They serve as leaders of the empire army and mentors to national armies. They train and lead national militia to protect against the orcs and demons. They do not participate in inter-nation conflicts.

Every member of the Principles takes this oath and is expected to live by it unto death.

  • The health of the Armada is my only concern for a healthy Armada has healthy people.
  • I will live each day with courage and courage will sustain me.
  • I will always complete the tasks that I begin for I will only begin tasks worth completing.
  • I will make no promises I can not keep and keep all promises I make.

Hand of Wizdom

Early in the third age, as soon as magical ability appeared in humans, the Armada empire founded a college to educate, observe, and indoctrinate wizards. This eventually became the training school for The Hand of Wizdom, the wizard scientists and industrial power of the Armada Empire.

The Hand of Wisdom trains and employs wizards to power industry and science, for only Wizards can safely operate the machines necessary to the trades of civilian and military life. The Hand of Wizdom also trains runeblades as secret police and elite strike forces against the enemies of the Armada.

The Hand of Wisdom has several primary goals:

  • Seeks out and destroy the enemies of the Armada.
  • Create and maintain everyday machines such as smelters, mills, looms, etc.
  • Seek out and destroy all demons and elementals.
  • Identify any person with magical power and ensure they are properly trained and indoctrinated.

The Hand of Wizdom manages every wizard college in the empire.

Eye of Sol

The Eye of Sol are an order of diplomats within the Armada and a school for all who use primal magic. The Eye of Sol trains and employs divas to serve as ambassadors for The Armada empire and between nations. Nations of the empire employ divas from the Eye of Sol to protect and promote their own interests. Everybody knows that the Eye of Sol uses there diplomatic position to spy on member nations, but their value greatly outweighs any risk that imposes.

Collectively the Eye of Sol has no particular alliance to any specific primal domain, but factions within the organization usually do. Bards, crusaders, and monks often travel in groups and some are very obvious in their golden robes and brazen temperament. They make no secret of their existence or their mission.

The Eye of Sol has these primary goals:

  • Advise member nations and enforce Armada laws.
  • Provide communication with any other nation though their ambassador.
  • Abdicate disputes within and between nations.
  • Collect information about nations and their motivations and provide that information to the Armada.
  • Identify any person with magical power and ensure they are properly trained and indoctrinated.

More than most empire organizations, the Eye of Sol is composed of many factions. Factions form around individual dagapesh, and like the whims of the dagapesh they are often in conflict with each other.

Several factions of The Eye of Sol practice meditation and monk-like dedication and training to serve their dagapesh domain.

Tridale Trade Company

The Tridale Trade Company is the merchant and banking arm of the empire. This is where taxes are paid to the empire and where citizens can obtain bank notes and make other financial transactions. Their residence is usually within or very near the empire embassy in each city and are always very well protected.

The Tridale Trade Company does not usually engage in direct trade themselves, for it is much more profitable and less contentious for them to trade in currency and let the nations themselves trade in goods and services. But it isn't unknown for them to broker transactions, especially for very high value goods and across very large distances where the markup can be profitable enough.

Rangers of Asmythe

The Rangers of Asmythe is an organization of adventurers and explorers created by the empire and supported by individual nations and settlements. The organization accepts contracts to investigate ruins, eradicate monsters, and intercept hostile scouts. Any task that anybody would rather not do for themselves, they can contract the Soldiers of Asmythe to do for them; usually these are very dangerous and/or unpleasant jobs.

Leaders in the local chapter of the Rangers of Asmythe negotiate a contract, determine the relative risk and skills required, and assign guild members to do the task. Often guild members self-organize into parties skilled at accomplishing certain kinds of jobs but small guild offices may only have enough members and contracts to support one party.