The Thousand Thrones of the Azure Eye
The Thousand Thrones of the Azure Eye is an autocratic thassalocracy whose domain encompassed the region surrounded the sea called The Azure Eye.
Five hundred years before the Age of Dusk, a fateful voyage from the far regions of Zagros, a Pleasure Barge run by a brave and foolish prince navigated the strait with ease using the shallow draught of his vessel. First bringing a tribute of great spices, books, and potions from his homelands, the people of the Azure Sea were not prepared when he returned a year later with golden shackles, cages, and poisons.
The slavers of Zagros took the peasants of the region by the barge load, shoulder to shoulder weighing down the great barges as they drifted from their homes never to return again. Had it not been for Trade Prince Zidar poisoning the Great Azure Reef , the slavers might have paid for their greed. When the barges were ready to leave, the Dire Strait widened for the world to see and exploit. Desperation lingered as the masses were pressured to conscript and prevent future raids on their lands.
The resulting pressure from hostile foreign enemies urged a consolidation of power in the region. Barons built larger forts and mayors rallied workers to develop thicker walls. What was once large open towns, spread to distribute the disparate farmland because clustered and protected communities. Despite the devastation the slavers brought, gold lined the pockets of artisans when before they struggled to find customers the slavers brought the prospect of grand foreign cities in distant lands with a nigh insatiable hunger for luxury. United for protection, the gold and wonder of Zagrosi Pleasure Barges proved to be too tempting for the old barons and mayors of the Azure Eye. In the night like bandits, families disappeared. Homes were burned and farms laid fallow as smaller surrounding villages were spirited away by the sand on the wind. One after another, each member of the High Counts lost de facto leadership of their domain to Zagrosi Patricians, usurping the court and keeping key members loyal with bribes of gold, bearded keef and concubines.
Levies were raised and settlements became centralized and entrenched. With fresh weapons made from foreign metals, slavers rallied "retaliatory attacks" on other high counties and broke upon peasants like waves on the rocks, sweeping them out to sea. The systematic enslavement of political enemies and disempowered citizens lead many to lose faith in the High Counts during this period as they eliminated each other's problems as favors of good faith, feigning political action against the de facto slavers in charge of the new cartels.
This period later became known as the War of the Golden Shackles whose moniker was denoted by historians listening to dock worker accounts witnessing the first noble house to become enslaved by the Zagrosi cartel. Leaving the port in golden chains, they were designated as special courtesans to the Zagrosi ruling class. As pirates, long exposed to the wiles of the Trade Prince began to prey upon unsecured vessels, free slaves and citizens began to take matters into their own hands and lead lives of piracy and banditry. Travel became increasingly dangerous as regional cartels began to seek the aid of mercenary forces to protect their barges. Escaped slaves and deposed noble families reforged themselves through the theft of trade goods and the strife along , many great leaders and adventurers earned their notoriety during this period, their stories putting inspiring hundreds of heroic ballads and somber melodies for bards throughout the realm. Of exceptional note, the end of this period marked the founding to The Empire of the Thousand Thrones. Through the recruitment of indentured assets, mountains of stolen booty, the bloody efforts of Annabelle I and the crew of the Eyepiercer that ultimately ended with the Great House of Annabelle making it's debut and claiming the [Lesser Azure Sea] as her de jure birthright. Sailing on the broken backs of slavers and persecuting ruthless assaults on the Zagros Cartel and the keeps of the High Counts, the Great House cowed the Counts into servitude and unified the realm.
Based at the Island of a Thousand Thrones, the administrative , palatial grounds and market was hefted on a foundation of sunken platforms made from the recovered flotsam of of pirates, defectors and Zagrosi barges. The eponymous Thousand Thrones is a treacherous region of ocean that breaks the waves, and has broken many a ship with large pillars of columnar basalt. In the final years of her life Annabelle I had the small stretch of ocean dedicated to her by her daughter Rowena I who later concentrated construction efforts to create a port using the large stone pillars there. Forming the heart of the trade empire, the Thousand Thrones grew into a palatial grounds and a grand audience chamber for the trade consul and later, the Imperial Department of Customs.
Origins
The authority of the Empire of a Thousand Thrones had meager beginnings in the fishing villages in and around The Lesser Azure Sea , this region had long been isolated from the outside world. Scattered hamlets and townships have had for many centuries cropped up, but struggles with commerce, agriculture and geographical disparity have proved too taxing to make power consolidation worthwhile for any ambitious nobility.Five hundred years before the Age of Dusk, a fateful voyage from the far regions of Zagros, a Pleasure Barge run by a brave and foolish prince navigated the strait with ease using the shallow draught of his vessel. First bringing a tribute of great spices, books, and potions from his homelands, the people of the Azure Sea were not prepared when he returned a year later with golden shackles, cages, and poisons.
The slavers of Zagros took the peasants of the region by the barge load, shoulder to shoulder weighing down the great barges as they drifted from their homes never to return again. Had it not been for Trade Prince Zidar poisoning the Great Azure Reef , the slavers might have paid for their greed. When the barges were ready to leave, the Dire Strait widened for the world to see and exploit. Desperation lingered as the masses were pressured to conscript and prevent future raids on their lands.
The resulting pressure from hostile foreign enemies urged a consolidation of power in the region. Barons built larger forts and mayors rallied workers to develop thicker walls. What was once large open towns, spread to distribute the disparate farmland because clustered and protected communities. Despite the devastation the slavers brought, gold lined the pockets of artisans when before they struggled to find customers the slavers brought the prospect of grand foreign cities in distant lands with a nigh insatiable hunger for luxury. United for protection, the gold and wonder of Zagrosi Pleasure Barges proved to be too tempting for the old barons and mayors of the Azure Eye. In the night like bandits, families disappeared. Homes were burned and farms laid fallow as smaller surrounding villages were spirited away by the sand on the wind. One after another, each member of the High Counts lost de facto leadership of their domain to Zagrosi Patricians, usurping the court and keeping key members loyal with bribes of gold, bearded keef and concubines.
Levies were raised and settlements became centralized and entrenched. With fresh weapons made from foreign metals, slavers rallied "retaliatory attacks" on other high counties and broke upon peasants like waves on the rocks, sweeping them out to sea. The systematic enslavement of political enemies and disempowered citizens lead many to lose faith in the High Counts during this period as they eliminated each other's problems as favors of good faith, feigning political action against the de facto slavers in charge of the new cartels.
This period later became known as the War of the Golden Shackles whose moniker was denoted by historians listening to dock worker accounts witnessing the first noble house to become enslaved by the Zagrosi cartel. Leaving the port in golden chains, they were designated as special courtesans to the Zagrosi ruling class. As pirates, long exposed to the wiles of the Trade Prince began to prey upon unsecured vessels, free slaves and citizens began to take matters into their own hands and lead lives of piracy and banditry. Travel became increasingly dangerous as regional cartels began to seek the aid of mercenary forces to protect their barges. Escaped slaves and deposed noble families reforged themselves through the theft of trade goods and the strife along , many great leaders and adventurers earned their notoriety during this period, their stories putting inspiring hundreds of heroic ballads and somber melodies for bards throughout the realm. Of exceptional note, the end of this period marked the founding to The Empire of the Thousand Thrones. Through the recruitment of indentured assets, mountains of stolen booty, the bloody efforts of Annabelle I and the crew of the Eyepiercer that ultimately ended with the Great House of Annabelle making it's debut and claiming the [Lesser Azure Sea] as her de jure birthright. Sailing on the broken backs of slavers and persecuting ruthless assaults on the Zagros Cartel and the keeps of the High Counts, the Great House cowed the Counts into servitude and unified the realm.
Based at the Island of a Thousand Thrones, the administrative , palatial grounds and market was hefted on a foundation of sunken platforms made from the recovered flotsam of of pirates, defectors and Zagrosi barges. The eponymous Thousand Thrones is a treacherous region of ocean that breaks the waves, and has broken many a ship with large pillars of columnar basalt. In the final years of her life Annabelle I had the small stretch of ocean dedicated to her by her daughter Rowena I who later concentrated construction efforts to create a port using the large stone pillars there. Forming the heart of the trade empire, the Thousand Thrones grew into a palatial grounds and a grand audience chamber for the trade consul and later, the Imperial Department of Customs.
Structure
The Queen claims rights over the safety of the Lesser and Greater Azure Seas. Her residential council is comprised of a High Priest, a Steward of Taxes, Trade, and Tribute, her Marshal and regional councilors. During certain council meetings she may require a specialist like the Royal Alchemist, Royal Historian or Royal Magician.
The High Counts, who rule over their respective duchies in the Lesser Azure Sea, answer directly to the Queen. Journey from the Queen's palacial grounds to their seaside keep is less than a day's travel by sea by design.
High Counts are given the ability to field armies, however they are expressly forbidden to build navies. High Counts otherwise, are free to their own designs within their own realm and are given priority in intranational affairs based on the year's tax yields.
Culture
The Thousand Thrones was concieved in the corruption of slavery and was born baptized in the blood of tyrants. Wronged by the world and wronged by their protectors, there is an inescapable jingoist element to life in the Thousand Thrones. Mercenary and adventurer guilds operate freely across the countryside. Guilds compete over city blocks, resources and customers.
History
Territories
The Thousand Thrones occupy the entire Lesser Azure Sea. It reigns claim over the three kingdoms surrounding it, the Annabelllitian Peninsula, the Nine Vales, and the Red Flats. The High Counts of each realm push to secure their claims on their respective kingdoms and must pay tribute to the Queen, but on the land each have enough independence to govern how they see fit on the land.
In the Greater Azure Sea, the Queen uses her navy to dominate the seas- requiring ports to pay tribute for her protection.
Military
The Queen's Fleet is host to professional soldiers and sailors. The pride of the nation, every guild in the Azure Sea has connection and contacts with the Queen's Fleet and provides them with new recruits to protect the Queen's Road and enforce her will. Wearing clothing dyed in the water's of the poisonous sea, the Imperial forces are split into two distinct spheres of service one for amphibious attacks and one for naval superiority.
In the early days of the empire all that existed were the extensive varieties of assault frigates. Frigates were relatively small vessels that could operate on a skeleton crew of fifteen to twenty personnel and hold upwards to forty.
Fast and quick, these vessels had a mix of different armaments that could turn a battle into a disaster for their target. Utilizing hit and run tactics, rarely did these frigates stay for a sustained fight- instead showering the enemy with a quick magical salvo, an explosion of shrapnel or throwing a barrel of burning oil onto the enemy ship and drifting away to avoid reprisal.
As ship design became nuanced, the tides gave berth to the Queen's Battleship, which had dedicated firepower for sustained fights and naval bombardment. Holding well over a hundred men, these ships had all the versatility, firepower wise, that the frigates had. Having a dedicated boarding crew of twenty to thirty men, battleships often would have personnel sneak onto enemy ships to secure stolen and misappropriated goods.
Religion
Among the 12, the most revered Gods of the region included the Apothecary, the Weaver, The Messenger and The Gravemother. Religious freedoms were freely given to the people of the region and the Empire did well to let those who dedicated their lives to the Twelve had their own domains within the empire.
-560 BD - -180 BD
Capital
Alternative Names
The Thrones
Demonym
Azuryne
Head of State
Head of Government
Government System
Banana Republic
Power Structure
Thalassocracy
Economic System
Palace economy
Currency
Cargo is exchanged in bouillon.
Counts exchange in coin.
Peasants use Duchal Bits.
Realm coin and bouillon originally was cast gold but due to debasement, Soul Silver was used to create a reliable standard currency, slowly replacing the coin of other realms.
Legislative Body
Laws of the Realm are decided by their High Count or Count. Economic policies are exclusively laid out by the Queen and Her Council and displayed at every port along the Queen's Road. Restructuring of economic policy by Counts and High Counts are expressly forbidden on penalty of death. A Quorum may be held annually by the Queen to discuss the state of the realm.
High Counts are, able to lay out laws according as according to their whims. As such, the protection of the Naval Fleet comes at a low price to those valuing independence.
High Counts are, able to lay out laws according as according to their whims. As such, the protection of the Naval Fleet comes at a low price to those valuing independence.
Official State Religion
Subsidiary Organizations
Comments