Gold Empire

The greatest superpower on Dain, the Gold Empire is the holy empire of Aurathear Darastrix. It has over five centuries incorporated all the lands on Dain, uniting together in reverent purpose and giving them divinely justified laws and customs. The Gold Empire is making its mark on the world stage, as it has sent expedition fleets to far-off shores to establish colonies and imperial dominance. The mortal foe of the Gold Empire is the Draconic Empire. It is driven forward by its Holy Legions, the royal armies, the Golden Army, mercenaries of all shapes and sizes, and course the mighty dragons.

Structure

The institutions that rule the Gold Empire are divided into three categories; the Holy, the Noble and the Golden.
The Holy
The Holy institutions are the institutions that respond directly to the Emperor and are in charge of connecting the many regions of the Empire together, ensuring that they are homogenous in law, military and religion, if not in culture and industry. These two are the Aurathean Church and the Holy Legions.
These are in many ways the most powerful, and without the oversight of the church there would be no united Gold Empire.
The Noble
The Noble institutions are the many noble families, each of which rules a province of the empire, and has many investments in other provinces to ensure trade within the empire. Each noble house is connected to an ancient dragon matriarch and the head of the house is called King, Queen or Monarch. Most of these dynasties have historical and political connections with the provinces they rule. They are mostly allowed to rule their provinces as they see fit, so long as they pay taxes, follow imperial laws and worship Aurathear Darastrix.
The Noble institutions are encouraged to some friendly rivalry, but this has been known to escalate out of control. There have been no civil wars in the empire, but some intrigue between the dynasties is common.
The Noble dynasties are charged with maintaining armies and fleets for use by the Gold Empire when the Gold Emperor deems it necessary, and most provinces also pay a tithe of young humans to the Knight Legions and Order of Witch Hunters.
The Golden
The Golden institution is the Order of Alchemists, the body responsible for managing the economy of the Empire and its research into arcane studies. The alchemists also have responsibility for the empire's academia, training its doctors, exploring new venues of scientific research.

Culture

Unity through faith
Faith affects every aspect of imperial life, both for the individuals living in the Gold Empire and systematically. Laborers in mines give praise to the Bronze Metal while working under Bronze Metal Priests. Soldiers fight alongside Copper Metal Priests on the field of battle, who protect them with holy fire and heal them with divine magic, and receive their pensions from the Copper Metal Church. Surgeons pray to the Silver Dragon before operations, sailors sacrifice to the Copper Dragon, mages learn under the protection of the Brass Metal.
The Aurethean Church is thus deeply ingrained in imperial society, and it is impossible to imagine one without the other. The Aurathean Church actively works to keep the populace faithful an loyal, and also controls many of the most essential parts of life in the different provinces.
Holy War
The Gold Empire is a nation built on continual expansion, and many of its society's functions are dedicated to facilitate further wars of expansion. Such wars are often framed as liberating the local populace from tyrannical overlords and giving them good laws, and a central part of the Gold Empire's expansionist policies is to build up the economies of conquered territories, so most people are content with stability.
This has resulted in the Gold Empire having a large industrial capacity for the production of everything military campaigns need, and it is rare for senior imperial officials to not have been on the battlefield, whether as warriors, medics or logistical officers.
The Gold Empire follows the Arrytym, the law of war, which has strict regulations on how prisoners of war are to be treated, how battles near civilians are to happen and which weapons are allowed to be utilized. A few organizations are not beholden to the Arrytym, the most important being the Legion of Vengeance and the Lord Executioner's hosts, but imperial commanders can beseech the Imperial Council for special permission to break from the Arrytym. When such permission is sought it is most often to be allowed to deploy the dreaded Godweapons, of which the Gold Empire has an arsenal, to defeat particularly tenacious enemies.
Forgiveness in peace
While the Gold Empire can be brutal in the prosecution of its wars, though less brutal than many contemporary nations, it is lax in peace. The Gold Empire spends a great deal of resources improving the economic situation of conquered territories and securing stability for its people, even those who may have fought against it. In the eyes of the Gold Empire, a part of their holy mission is building up the lands they conquer and making the lives of their new citizens easier and safer.

Public Agenda

The Gold Empire aspires to protect all the people of the world. In order to do this it must conquer all the nations of the world, outlaw magic and the belief in blashpemic gods, daemons and devils. It is willing to go far to secure these goals.

History

Pre-Imperial Age
Before the Empire was the Empire, it was the Kingdom of Oldan. The Gold Emperor, in the guise of the High King, united the peoples of Oldan and began spreading his influence to the nearby dwarven kingdoms and elven city-states. There is some disagreement amongst scholars regarding when the Pre-Imperial Age ended and the First Conquests began, but the events were as follows.
The Shadow Crusade
The Dwarf kingdom of For Sur came under siege from below by a Shadow Dragon and hordes of daemons. They held for a long time, dwarven resilience holding against the dark, but finally sought the aid of Oldan. The High King acted fast and travelled with his armies into the Underdark beneath For Sur, in a campaign that would become known as the Shadow Crusade, where he fought alongside the dwarves, who grew to respect him. As they pushed the Shadow Dragon back, it became more and more desperate. At last it launched a great counter-attack beneath For Sur, hoping to break their spirit before the war broke its horde.
It was here that the High King finished the fight himself, going beneath For Sur alone. It is written in the holy books that he used his power to banish the dragon and its hordes. When the High King returned, covered in black blood and bile, the dwarves knelt before him as their savior. Here the dwarven kingdom of For Sur accepted the dominion of Oldan.
Some scholars point to this as the beginning of the Empire, the first foreign power added to its throne, but most find this logic flawed. From a theological standpoint, it was before the Gold Dragons arrived to proclaim the High King as divinely destined to rule the world. From a historical standpoint, there was no proclamation of empire or change in the structure of Oldan, other than accepting a vassal state.
The First Coming of the Dragons
The second great event of this time was the First Coming of the Dragons, also called the Great War. The great red fiend Achmontok landed upon the shores of Oldan backed up by an army of her spawn. The High King and the armies of Oldan and For Sur met her upon the beaches and drove her back after weeks of brutal combat. It was here that the High King was given the name "Ormedreper" by his dwarven vassals. He returned to his capital, after throwing Achmontok's corpse into the sea.
Mere days later, the Gold Dragons came to Dain, as was foretold in the scriptures. The High King stood outside the capital, on the Field of Fire, and accepted the submission of fourteen great Gold Dragons, along with the mantle as divine ruler and rightful Gold Emperor of all the lands. It is said that a great comet flew across the sky, an omen by the Dragon God to signify the Gold Emperor as his chosen vessel. This is most commonly accepted as the beginning of the empire, as the Church began here and the Gold Emperor officially clamed the title.
The First Conquests - 0 Imperial Age to 56 Imperial Age
What follows is an era known as "The First Conquests" which includes the early conquests of the Empire. It was during this era that the Gold Emprie made its presence known across Dain, securing its borders and conquering new territories. It became the greatest realm on Dain virtually overnight. The oldest noble houses trace their history back to this era, as the dragons first set flight over Dain alongside mortal soldiers and vanquished the enemies of the Gold Empire. Amongst the the conquered lands of this era was the elven city of Eílciud, which would become the home of the Church. This era lasted the better part of sixty years. It ended with the first Ecumenical Council of Eílciud.
Goldbrand Cyne led the imperial armies that conquered the provinces of Cyneland and Guldfelt, bringing imperial ambition to the northwest of Dain. These early wars set the stage for further imperial expansion: imperial forces would align themselves with a local power and empower them to gain local rule, paying tribute to the Gold Empire. Eventually such territories were fully incorporated into the Gold Empire, a tactic the First Prince described as "Divide and Conquer". The groundwork was also made during the First Conquests to facilitate conquest of Whiteplain, Akeshi and Ashefell.
Later conquests would follow this strategy of divide and conquer with more advanced techniques, such as engaging in proxy wars, espionage and economical support, but the Gold Empire has always engaged in geopolitical machination.
The Forging and the War of the Twins - 56 to 85 Imperial Age
As the Gold Empire grew in size, the Gold Emperor needed to organize its institutions to ensure that it would last forever. He thus called the Ecumenical Council of Eilcíud. Here he assembled all the leaders of the Church, along with the courts of king Brandeck Cyne and queen Maur Guldskeg, the generals who led his armies, most importantly prince Goldbrand Cyne, and the 14 Dragon Matriarchs who had sworn fealty to him. He chose the city of Eílciud for the council, as it was the beating heart of the Aurathean Church and he had great plans for it. Several important decisions were made during the council, but only three are relevant to understanding how the Gold Empire evolved.
The first was the decision to turn the Aurathean Church into the administrative organ of the Gold Empire and the state the Gold Emperor would lead. The Gold Emperor needed a loyal and efficient bureaucracy, and the Aurathean Church had the required loyalty and experience with organizing on an empire-wide level. This turned the Aurathean Church into the most powerful institution of the Gold Empire, and bound it to the Gold Emperor as his tool.
The second decision was the formation of the Holy Legions. During the First Conquests, the Gold Emperor had granted divine powers to a few soldiers and made a personal army out of them. They were so efficient in battle that the Gold Emperor decided that all soldiers should have such powers. It was decided to slowly disband the old imperial armies, turning them the armies of nobles instead, and to begin a long project to build these Holy Legions.
The third decision was making the alchemists' gold the only valid form of currency and allowing the Order of Alchemists to continue to exist and practise their magic, so long as they worked for the empire.
In the two first decisions, the Gold Emperor consolidated his power in the Gold Empire. Up until this point, the generals, dragons and nobles had controlled the Gold Empire as their spoils of war. The Gold Emperor had enough of this and put them fully under his authority, not simply by law and oath but also by blood and steel. As the centuries went on, the Holy Legions and the Aurathean Church both gained more authority, as the Holy Legions became the true army of the Gold Empire and the Aurathean Church became the law.
The last decision put down the precedent for the Order of Alchemists, an organization that would come to have a central position in the political structure of the Empire.
There are many misconception regarding the First Ecumenical Council of Eílciud, and I shall try to dispell a few. Those who believe that it was here that worship of false gods became illegal are wrong, as that was in the Third Ecumenical Council of Eílciud 53 years later. It was also almost a hundred years later that magic was outlawed.
After the First Ecumenical Council came 20 years of peace for the young Gold Empire, where it underwent great changes. The noble families and their dragons took charge of the two conquered provinces, with the imperial army relinquishing its occupation. Most of the army's soldiers returned home or settled the conquered lands, but some veterans remained as the noble armies to protect their lands.
The Holy Legions were formed, growing from the small personal guard of the Emperor to a grand army in its own right. Most of their early years were spent hunting monsters and repelling incursions from neighboring kingdoms.
The age of the Forging ended when the Emperor awoke the twin dragons Nyspathys and Wrathyra from their slumber in the capital to conquer two new provinces: Ashefell and Whiteplain. The former was home to a grand hobgoblin kingdom, which held a great number of ember elves, volcano dwarves and human in slavery, and the latter was a nation of leonids enslaved by an elven magelord exclave. Nyspathys and Wrathyra were supported by the Cyneland Royal Army and the Guldfelt Royal Army, along with their own dragon children.
What truly marked the War of the Twins as a new kind of war, was the fact that the charge was led by the Legion of Conquest and the Legion of Devotion, who acquitted themselves well in the war and brought it to a swift and merciful conclution.
The Great Conquest -- 85 to 197 Imperial Age

"Look upon the fires brothers! See how they burn the bodies of our enemies, see how they falter before its intensity! See how their weak gods have abandoned them! See how their arrows fail to pierce your armor! See how weakly the swing their swords! Go forth brothers, and kill them!"

the Gold Emperor moments before the charge on the Ash Citadel

After the War of the Twins came an era of rapid expansion, as the knight legions quickly grew in size and power. With holy warriors armed and armored in faith, they swept aside heathen powers that dared oppose the Gold Emperor's divine mandate.
In the span of a century, most of Dain was conquered, and two dozen lesser nations and city-states incorporated within the Empire as Free Cities. The newly conquered provinces were:

• Ashefell
• Kreit
• Akeshi
• Whiteplain
• Ypsilos
• Tveiharr
• Salantano
• Dhuchai

While succeeding in marvelous military undertakings, the Empire's greatest achievement was perhaps the combination of scores of different cultures and traditions into one cohesive Imperial identity. In fact, when historians speak of the Great Conquest, they are not referring to any military triumph, but to the Conquest the Gold Empire made over hate and war as they united the disparate peoples of Dain into a single alloy of peace and prosperity.
The strategy the Gold Emperor and the Aurathean Church used in dealing with all these different peoples was straightforward, but effective. If there was something good in a culture, it was to be preserved and applied elsewhere in the Empire. If something was harmless, the peoples could continue in their ways. If something was dangerous, it was to be cut out as quickly as possible.
This was how halfling agricultural techniques found widespread use in the Empire, along with raising halflings up in general opinion amongst the races. This was also how elven medicine, dwarven forging, gnomic mining and dozens of similar inventions and techniques were freely spread and exchanged amongst a number of people never before experienced.
It must have been quite a time to be alive.
Similarly, cults working with extraplanar or extraterrestrial entities were found and destroyed, to rid the world of fiendish, abyssal, elemental and unnatural taint. This no doubt saved the lives of thousands of innocents and brought the world closer to the ideal state promised by the Dragon God.
Non-divine or non-transmutation magic was also banned about halfway through this era, as it was simply deemed too dangerous for heathen magic to be freely available. During the many wars of the time, one had seen how magic always led to the rise of corrupt and dangerous systems. So it was decided that only divine magic, which came from the Dragon Godl, and transmutation magic, which affected the world in a natural manner, were to be allowed.
This in effect meant that only the Church, Legions, noble families, alchemists, dragons and the Gold Emperor himself could use magic, to protect the people.
The Great Peace and the Hobgoblin Rebellion -- 197 to 210 Imperial Age

"The great serpents fall from the skies, the streets of the empire are covered in the blood of tyrants, a thousand thousand hobgoblins have risen in rebellion against the usurper god's empire. Vengeance will be ours, brothers" -the Warlord Koshina, to his gathered generals following the death of Oriwophyl

Following a century of near-perpetual warfare the Empire was divided into ten provinces and three dozen freestates. Ten large noble dynasties, each with its own Gold Dragon matriarch, had been charged with governing their respective provinces. The wars were slowly but steadily slowing down, as the Gold Empire reached its natural borders of oceans to the west and east, and the massive Godpeaks to the south. The Gold Emperor declared 10 years of peace when the last strongholds of the drow fell in the Deep Lake, promising to spend time and effort on improving the lives of imperial citizens before mounting expeditions past the Godpeaks and overseas.
For a few years, there really was peace. The Noble Armies were by and large disbanded, the veterans of many campaigns sent to new provinces to cultivate newly conquered lands. The Crimson Order of the alchemists lost a great deal of its prestige, as there were no more wars to fight. The order that had once nearly competed with the Yellow Order was now reduced to a few old profesors and young, disgraced students from better Orders. These mostly spent their time maintaining the golems of more glorious days, rather than drilling. The oldest dragons mostly went to sleep in their hoards beneath massive cities, while their younger children spent life adventuring and bonding with the nobles.
The only armed forces that maintained readiness were the Holy Legions, as they maintained their fortress-monasteries in all corners of the empire and continued fighting against lesser threats. Even the Holy Legions felt the new focus on peace however, as they stopped conscripting youngsters and rather only accepted youths who volunteered.
This was widely concidered a new golden age, at least for the first few years. The Imperial Highway was completed, far quicker than expected, and colossal projects were undertaken in all major cities. The rural areas benefited also, as an influx of former soldiers and their families began immigrating and working the land.
But all this was not to last however, as seditious elements moved in the shadows. The Gold Empie had defeated many barbaric peoples during its wars, and all these had sworn oaths of fealty to the Empire. Amongst these conquered peoples were orcs, giants, goblins, bugbears, trolls and ogres. But particularly dangerous amongst all these were the hobgoblins.
The hobgoblins had a particularly martial streak to their society, while also posessing a certain sophistication to them. They understand the concepts of art, mathematics, architecture and complex theoretical magic, and they also practice these things in their own way. They were not maurauders, like the orcs, or bandits, like ordinary goblins. They were soldiers, and they were efficient soldiers capable of military feats only surpassed by the Holy Legions. During the Great Conquest they were the free people most often called upon to stand alongside the Holy Legion in its many wars. They might even have received a province to govern, and a noble house to lead them with all the duties and privileges that entailed.
This was not to be however, for the hobgoblins were a very religious people. They had not truly accepted Aurathear Darastrix as their lord, but rather believed that their own god, Kyodaina, had been conquered by the Dragon God. Hobgoblins were not willing to accept this, and slowly the revanchist factions in the hobgoblin armies came to power.
Of all the peoples who could have been planning rebellion, the hobgoblins were by far the most dangerous. They had the most intimate understanding of imperial tactics and strategy, and were largely trusted by imperial authorities due to their many sacrifices in the Empire´s wars.
The hobgoblin rebellion began in the dark caves of the Senzo no Yosai, the heart of the hobgoblin nation. The warlord Koshina, a name that would come to be cursed by the tongues of all imperial citizens, gathered the warlords he felt he could trust and explained his plan for vengeance. He explained how the empire had erred in the formation of vassal nations, that the empire had thousands of thorns in its side that it could not yet feel. He would forge these dozens of peoples into a single great legion, and make war against the empire on all fronts. They would break the empire, and a new Hobgoblin Imperium, a Dai Taikoku, would be formed and the hobgoblins would take their rightful role as rulers of Dain.
Not all the gathered warlords felt that such a thing was possible. They pointed to the dragons in the sky, and said that their fire would burn any resistance. Koshina told them that he knew of powerful alchemical weapons that could defeat dragons, and he knew where they were located. He told them of the kältersturm, a weapon he had seen used in war against the fire giant stronghold of Svart Steinn. When told that there were even more such weapons, the hobgoblins accepted the evil that was in their hearts and began planning war.
While the hobgoblin legions were mighty, they knew that they could not hope to defeat the Gold Empire without allies. Koshina estimated that the hobgoblin legions could make war in 5 provinces and hold 2. They had to secure support, and so Koshina travelled through the Gold Empire and spoke with many different enemies of the Empire. He spoke with goblins, orcs, sahuagin, giants, trolls, ogres, drow and many more. In the end he had set a date for the offensive, and all the parts knew where to attack.
There are two questions worth asking at this stage of the story. How did Koshina succeed in getting so much support, and why didn´t the Gold Empire see this coming?
The answer to the first question is much simpler than one might expect: he promised them land and treasure. All enemies of the Gold Empire had lost territories and riches, and wanted to have a measure of their old glory retaken. Koshina had planned a great partitioning of the Gold Empire into dozens of smaller states, although imperial scholars disagree about whether he intended to implement these territorial changes or whether he intended to forge a hobgoblin hegemony,
The answer to the second question is far more shameful. The short answer is pride. The Gold Empire had not suffered any substantial defeats for half a century before the rebellion, and believed itself inviolable. It also believed that all the conquered peoples would keep their word, either due to their own honor and sense of duty or out of fear for the gold dragons and knight legions. But while these were no doubt terrifying deterrents (and most of the rebels would die to dragonfire and legion blades), the enemies of the Gold Empire sensed weakness. The noble armies, the regular soldiers of the imperium, were by and large disbanded and reduced to garrisons. Koshina´s plan of simultaneous war everywhere was tempting, and they also rationalized that the imperial dragons and legions would not be able to react quickly enough.
The first attacks of this new kind of war began on the 23rd of Ssifisv (Peace), a day that would become known as Dark Peace. The attacks were launched on the annual celebration of the great peace, the celebration of the achievements of the Gold Empire in achieving peace between the races of the world. Many appreciated the twisted irony, and it struck horror into the hearts of imperial citizens, just as Koshina must have intended.
The drow of Beaclom launched raids upon For Sur, stealing thousands of dwarf innocents into their underground slave pens. The trolls of the Godpeaks came down from their caves and peaks and murdered villagers, most of them halflings, in the Salantanan hinterlands. The orc tribes of the Kersotopos wasteland came upon the elven city of Ábéran, burning its marvelous towers to the ground. Sahuagin emerged onto the shores of Éilcíud and threatened the Burning Throne itself. These examples were only a few of the dozens of attacks that tore the empire to pieces. The Gold Empire was under siege for weeks, as the noble armies tried to hold out sieges and proved unable to save the countryside. The Holy Legions were shocked, as their monasteries and fortresses also found themselves besieged and unable to unite into the great smiting fist that ordinary imperial strategy demanded.
The gold dragons burned thousands of enemy soldiers to a crisp during this time, but without soldiers to back them up they were forced back within their holdfasts. Many dragons were killed in hopeless battles trying to save small garrisons or protect refugees.
The Emperor was furious once he heard what had was unfolding, and to turn insult into injury Aurumis itself came under siege from a vast hobgoblin legion. This legion was commaned by Kojina´s brother, Shimaj, who was the most famous and esteemed hobgoblin siegemaster of the age. Kojina seems to have hoped that the size of the host, along with his brother´s talents, would have been enough to keep the Gold Emperor locked in the capital. He was to be proven wrong however, as he was to be many times during the war when it came to the Gold Emperor´s perseverance.
The Gold Emperor rode his dragon, Caerziros Acolitus (called Caerziros Lightbringer in the common tongue), and marched out of Aurumis with the Dragon Legion, his marshals and all the mercenaries he could muster. The battle was long and fieece, raging for five days while the two armies threw themselves at one another. Shimaj used his powerful magic and his cabal of wizards to devestating effect, even threatening the city proper several times during the fighting. The climactic final moment of the battle came when Caerziros and the Gold Emperor launched themselves into the heart of the hobgoblin formation, while the Dragon Legion butchered their way through its front lines. The hobgoblins had fought many things, they had fought legions of undead, armies of humans, tribes of giants and all horrors the world could throw at them. But they had never fought against a god made flesh and his divine agents upon the earth. The Dragon Legion were a totally foreign force to the hobgoblins, who had fought alongside the legions of Vengance, Devotion and Conquest. Their magical weapons cleaved right through hobgoblin plate, their fire burned hobgoblin flesh and they suffered wounds that should kill them three times over.
And they were nothing, when compared to the Gold Emperor and Caerziros. Wherever it looked like the line might fail they appeared, roaring fire and crushing skulls with every movement. They were a force of nature, fire and steel given physical form and let loose upon the world. Only a handful of times in imperial history has the Gold Emperor taken fully to the field, and that was one of those days. The battle ended when the Gold Emperor dropped upon the wizard cabal at the heart of the hobgoblin legion and began murdering his way through them. While Caerziros killed her way through the hobgoblin center, the Gold Emperor found Shimaj. It is said that a sudden silence suddenly fell as the two commanders met. Records say that Shimaj gave a great speech, where he denounced the empire and claimed that the strong would rule. The Gold Emperor said nothing, but those who looked upon him say that they saw a deep and murderous rage in his eyes, like that of a volcano before it erupts and destroys everything.
Shimaj began casting a great and powerful spell, one that would no doubt have been capable of felling an army in its own right, but he never finished the words. Eyewitnesses claim that they saw the Gold Emperor move faster than the roar of fire, faster than lightning, and that they heard a terrible crunch. Shimaj fell to the ground a moment later, his neck broken in one terrible motion by the Gold Emperor. And with the neck of its commander broken, the hobgoblin legion lost its spine. Tens of thousands of hobgoblins lost their lives on the retreat, most to dragonfire.
While the battle for Aurumis was won, the war for the Gold Empire was far from over. The Gold Emperor spent a few days celebrating the victory, organizing his army and formulating a plan of attack. The Gold Emperor would move from province to province with his army, and liberate them one at a time while building up his army. After magically contacting the monarchs of the different provinces and the marshals of the Holy Legions he set out on the campaign.
What followed was years of unrelenting warfare as the enemies of the Gold Empire were thrown back. They were utterly obliterated, and the survivors were taken to prisoner camps. In every province the Gold Emperor followed the same plan of attack:
First he relieved all Holy Legion strongholds in the area, to ensure that he had his Legions in the war. Then he went around the province, gathering all the veterans of the old noble armies, arming and organizing them. The last thing he did was bring the enemy to a decisive battle before the provincial capital, where the gold dragons of the noble houses came out and burned their enemies to a crisp.
And while the emperor must be commended for his many victories, one must also remember those who fought on their own for years without support. Captain Evgeni Koslov of the legion of conquest led his brother knights on a long and arduous guerilla war that was waged in three provinces and united elements from all the legions, along with the noble armies. King Silvio Castelo (known as "Giantburner") did not merely hold his capital of Cidamar, but actively pushed back the sahuagin and frost giants and together with his dragon Drysmyse Fogofri (which translates to Drysmyse Coldfire) reconquered much of his home province of Salantano before the emperor even arrived. Profesor Lazarus Weissmann held Goldstadt in spite of the hobgoblin legion sent to capture it, and was later hailed as the inventor of twentysix new types of golems that he specifically designed to destroy the hobgoblin legions during the siege. He also wrote an incredibly interesting paper on the effects of physical trauma upon hobgoblin flesh, a paper he blasted from loudspeakers within the city to demoralize the hobgoblins. The hobgoblins came to know him as Kino Kyofu, which means the Golden Terror.
After several years secring the Gold Empire's borders, the armies of the empire could finally bring the fight to the Hobgoblins. An army with elements from all the imperial provinces, led by the Gold Emperor, High Marshal Theodor Helbrecht of the Conquest Legion and Duke-Prince Goldbrand Cyne marched into Akeshi, seeking to retake the province from hobgoblin hands. The battles that followed here were some of the most brutal of the Rebellion, with both sides employing incredibly destructive means and magic to annihilate eachother. Imperial victory was in large part secured through the effort of the talons led by Israfel, who fed important information to the imperial warmachine.
The final battle of the war was the Siege of Mokuho, the battle for the capital of the province. The Gold Emperor entered the city, alongside his knight bodyguards and talon warriors, to kill the warlord Koshina while the rest of the army secured the city. The final blow that killed Koshina came from Israfel, only just barely before the great betrayal of the hobgoblins was realized. The hobgoblins had managed to seize a single godweapon throughout the course of the war: the Coldstorm. Now, at the eve of their defeat, they sought to use it to cripple the Gold Empire for future hobgoblin dominance.
In a single moment, the entire city of Mokuho was destroyed as a shockwave of ice and cold winds spread out from the Coldstorm, city blocks levelling and soldiers on both sides instantly dying as their flesh was frozen, like sculptures of ice. The blast was devestating for the imperial armies in the city, with all mortals dying instantly and many knight also falling to the Coldstorm. It would take decades for all provinces to recover, and especially the Legion of Conquest was hit hard by the attack. It was only a miracle that the Gold Emperor himself was spared the destruction.
The Coldstorm spread outwards over the next couple of days, momentarily swallowing all of Akeshi. Tens of thousands died of exposure to the elements, and many more starved to death in the years that followed.
The Gold Empire spent a great deal of resources evacuating the province as the Coldstorm stabilized, moving many Akeshians to new cities along the border of the Coldstorm or to other provinces entirely. The areas of the province hardest hit by the Coldstorm became known as the Wasteland, a prison province for the treasonous hobgoblins and their allies. While no official record of the deaths among the traitors in the Wasteland exists, it is speculated that many died due to the terrible conditions of the province, especially among children.
The Resurrection -- 210 to 240 Imperial Age
It would take decades for the Gold Empire to fully recover from the Hobgoblin Rebellion. Even after the main fighting against the warlord Koshina was over, there were still many parts of the Gold Empire that had to be brought back into the fold through force. The Gold Emperor gave the task of securing the frontiers of the Gold Empire to Goldbrand Cyne, whom he gave the title "Lord Executioner", reflecting his position as supreme commander of the imperial armed forces. While lord Goldbrand focused on reclaiming the Gold Empire, the Gold Emperor set about ruling it again. Peace, justice and stability were brought back to the Gold Empire, first and foremost through an expansion of clerical powers, with the different branches of the Aurathean Church taking a more direct hand in local rulership throughout the Gold Empire.
The Golden Age -- 240 to
When the Gold Empire had been fully reorganized after the Hobgoblin Rebellion, the Gold Emperor declared a golden age and hopeful future! The official clerical policy was to cultivate a development of economic, industrial and scientific strength in the different provinces, and to build all the imperial institutions up to greater power. Most imperial wonders have been developed in the last 200 years
The Gold Empire also conquered the Far South of Dain during the Golden Age, conquering the provinces of Sceya, Whiesia and Akshus. This victory on Dain's soil resulted in the Gold Empire finally having united all the disparate peoples of Dain.
The Gold Empire has also begun extending its influence overseas to other continents. Colonies have been made in the southern jungle continent of Oilean, where the Gold Empire has become involved in fighting against Yuan-Ti city-states and supporting lizardfolk uprisings. Additionally, several city-states and principalities formerly of the Eternal Empire in the western continent of Ikseong have accepted the protection of the Gold Empire from encroaching black dragon forces, in return for vassalhood. To the north, several minor elven city-states in the elven homeland have made similar deals with the Gold Empire in return for protection from both sides of the High Elven Civil War.
The Gold Empire is thus ready to enter the world stage as the first transcontinental superpower since the days of the High Elven Empire.

Demography and Population

The Gold Empire consists dozens of different races and ethnicities, all working together in the great imperial project. The three most numerous races are humans, elves and dwarves, but the Gold Empire also includes:

• Halflings. Halflings have been a part of the Gold Empire since its inception thanks to the stout halfling population in Oldan, and many lightfoot halfling caravans have worked under charter from the Gold Empire to bring trade and the faith to foreign lands. For this reason, lightfoot halflings are generally regarded positively in the Gold Empire and honored in many provinces, unlike the prevailing negative stereotypes before the coming of the Gold Empire. Stout halflings have their own province in Salantano, and while halflings can be found wherever there is trade or farming to be done, the largest concentration is in Salantano.
• Leonin. The leonin are a people with deep connections to the fey, who largely live in the province of Whiteplain. They are a people who have made their fortune trading into Dain from coastal provinces, and whose philosophy, songs and magic are known throughout the known world. Many of the most famous imperial artists and thinkers are Leonin, and they have acclimated well to working alongside the Alchemists, though the leonin's frustrating tendency to maintain their knowledge in oral history has created tension with the alchemists on more than one occasion. The Leonin are one of the few imperial peoples who still practice magic in their everyday lives. The Leonin are also proud warriors, and while they have not contributed to the Holy Legions, the Whiteplain Warhost has contributed to many conquests.
• Gnomes. The gnomish population of the Gold Empire largely consists of Rock Gnomes who have a deep connection with the Order of Alchemists. The largest pre-imperial gnomish population lived in Goldstadt, but the Rock Gnomes have spread with the Gold Empire and now live in all the Gold Empire's major cities. Many of the Gold Empire's greatest scientific minds are Rock Gnomes, and many of its most skilled technicians and laborers are Rock Gnomes. A Rock Gnomish dynasty also rules the province of Dhuchai. Forrest Gnomes and Sky Gnomes are rare in the Gold Empire, but both populations are present. The Forrest Gnomes live as a Free People, largely within the province of Sceya in the Imperial Far South, where they largely live separate live parallell to the Gold Empire and occasionally contribute with druids and guides for imperial traversal of the Feywild. Some Sky Gnomes have travelled from the Stormlands and made their home in the Peakcities of Tveiharr and travel through the Gold Empire as merchants and mercenaries. These live as immigrants from the Stormlands and have not been integrated into the Gold Empire, but offer valuable support and facilitate the lucrative, but expensive, airtrade.
• Orcs. The orcish population of the Gold Empire are largely from the provinces of Whiesia or Ypsilos. In preimperial times, both of these lands were the hearts of large orcish empires which grew, declined and changed masters in great cycles of war, but which were brought into the imperial fold. Because of this history of violence, many orcs face discrimination when travelling outside of their native provinces, though less so in the Imperial Far South due to Whiesia being less expansionistic and brutal than Ypsilos. Many orcs of Ypsilos also sided with the hobgoblins during the Hobgoblin rebellion, resulting in them being exiled to the Wasteland away from their native lands. Orcs are a deeply spiritual people, who believe that their ancestors watch their offsprings' deeds down through the ages, living on in spirit-spears or other items that belonged to them. Many orcs today live their lives as mercenaries or serving in the Noble Armies of Whiesia and Ypsilos, honoring their ancestors through expanding the greatest empire ever seen on Dain. Otherwise, many orcs live as nomadic tribes within their vast territories, surviving through cold winters at the edge of the "civilized" empire. However, some orcs have forsaken the ways of their ancestors for work alongside other races, and many perform manual labor that their massive physiques are well suited for.
• Dwarf. The Dwarves of the Gold Empire are spread throughout Dain, as the Gold Empire has prioritized the restoration of ancient Dwarf holdfasts all across the continent. The greatest concentration of Dwarves is in the Core Provinces, with Guldfeldt ruled by the Hill Dwarf dynasty of Guldskeg. Most Dwarf clans can be found in the Gold Empire, and many look to the Guldskegs as the greatest clan and eminent leader. Hill Dwarves can be found in all the Gold Empire's provinces as loyal imperial citizens, where they work as miners, smiths, engineers and warriors. Mountain Dwarves can be found in the very greatest mountains of Dain, such as the Godpeaks, the Giantheights and the Oldanian mountains, and most of these are Free States who trade with the Gold Empire and serve it as warriors. Volcano Dwarves can also be found in Ashefell and Kreit, where they are part of the realms and often specialize in working with Ignean runes.
• Elf. Most of the elves of the Gold Empire are High Elves, descendants from colonies of the ancient High Elven Empire's colonies on Dain. While there are relatively few elves in the Gold Empire, they are a wealthy population with a great deal of economic and magical might. Many High Elves pursue careers in the Order of Alchemists and the Aurathean Church, where their long lives and experience give them great power. Few High Elves live in the countryside, preferring to live in or near the cities built by their ancestors. Such High Elven cities, like Eilcíud and Toirecíud, are centers of learning, trade and often industrial powerhouses. Wood Elves are rarely found in the Gold Empire, except for the city of Cathair Salann near Dhuchai, a city outside of imperial authority which trades with Dhuchai and Kreit. Many of the primordial forrests are under the authority of Chead Cathaír, and the Gold Empire has an alliance with that great city to protect both nations. Ember Elves can be found mainly in Ashefell, where the Greymane dynasty rules, but also in Kreit. Ember Elves are experts in Ignean magic and many of them serve in the Order of Alchemists. Sea Elves can be found along the entire coast of Dain, though many of them move where there is mercenarywork to be found or piracy to do.
• Aarakocra. The proud aarakocra can be found in several provinces, primarily Tveiharr, Whiesia and Sceya, where they fly between tempel-cities on great migrations across the seasons and years. The aarakocra are Free Poeple under the Gold Empire, and imperial authorities have always sought to treat the aarakocra well and enable their migration routes. When the Gold Empire took the Godpeaks, the Aarakocra accepted the Treaty of Vassalage, and today aarakocra can be found serving as soldiers and scouts in the Imperial Army, as well as working in the Gold Empire as messengers, lookouts and guides. The aarakocra are permitted to worship their own auran pantheon and are generally left to their own devices, though several have converted to the worship of Aurathear Darastrix in the last couple of generations. The aarakocra also have connections to the Stormlands to the north-west and Maeril to the north, so several have worked alongside the Peace Legion as diplomats and ambassadors to foreign powers.
• Hobgoblins. The hobgoblins had several nations across Dain before the coming of the Gold Empire, the largest of which was Akeshi in the center of Dain. They were an important Free State who worked closely with the Holy Legions, but lost their high standing after their unsuccesful uprising during the Hobgoblin Rebellion. Today most hobgoblins have been banished to the Wasteland, where they work snow-encrusted and ice-cold land trying to survive. The only viable work for a hobgoblin in the Gold Empire is as mercenaries, often for the Order of Alchemists, who pay them in the form of food and relative safety to their families. Hobgoblins are looked down upon and regarded as a race of barbarian traitors by the average imperial.
• Humans. Humans are spread all throughout Dain and had several kingdoms of their own before the arrival of the Gold Empire. It is the most numerous people in the Gold Empire and holds many importan positions in the Gold Empire's institutions, as well as being the only race eligible for joining the Holy Legions and the Witch Hunters.
• Goliaths. Goliaths, or demigiants, live in several of the tall mountains of Dain, including the mountains of Tveiharr, the Godpeaks and the Giantheigts. The Goliaths of Tveiharr, also called High Tveiharrans, are loyal imperial subjects with their own noble dynasty, while the southern Goliaths of the Godpeaks and Giantheights are generally Free People who worship their war- and stonegod Sten. Goliaths provide guides and manual labor for helping caravans across the mountains, and serve as mercenaries for the Imperial Army.
• Giants. There are true giants all across the Gold Empire, from Fire Giants in Ashefell to Storm Giants in Tveiharr. These giants are often organized into Free States with quite expensive obligations to the Gold Empire, and the Gold Empire endorses the Storm Giant Two-Sea King as the ruler of their Giant vassals. Giant-forged weapons and machines of war are a relatively common sight in the Imperial Army, especially among the Holy Legions.

There are also other races who live more locally within individual provinces, such as firbolgs and tritons, but these are the races that can be found all across Dain.

Territories

Core Provinces
The Core Provinces were conquered during First Conquests and have been part of the empire for the longest. These are old, prosperous provinces with some of the largest and most esteemed noble families and the most gold dragons.
Oldan
While technically not a province, Oldan is the capital region of the empire with special privileges as the ruling seat of the Gold Emperor. Oldan, with its long sandy beaches, windswept lands and misty highland marshes, was home to the High Kingdom that would eventually become the Gold Empire. The free states of For Sur and Eilcíud lie within Oldan. Oldan is ruled by the Silver Metal Church, working directly under the Silver Metal Decarch.
Cyneland
The island and surrounding lands of Cyneland was once the High Elven Empire's holdfast on Dain. Where everywhere else on the continent they only established trade cities, such as Toirecíud and Eilcíud, in Cyneland they conquered the whole area. Aeneseldra "the Great" Cyne, the legendary high elven king, conquered Cyneland for its richness in gold, silver and great number of magical confluences that could be used by high elf mages to create wonderful magic items.
Today the province is ruled by descendants of Aeneseldra, with an ancient elven noble family that has been made even stronger with Gold Dragons. The current ruler of the province is Brandeck "the Fire of the West" Cyne, who rides Lorxan the Black Dread. The Cyne dynasty is the most respected dynasty in the entire Gold Empire, famous for its many conquests and sacrifices for the Gold Empire, as well as their great magical might.
Cyneland is famous for being the center of the nobility's magic, and many young nobles are sent to the Royal Academy of Ealdorfrig to learn their magical arts from high elves older than the Gold Empire itself. Cyneland consists mainly of the large island of Cyníg, as well as conquered territories on the Dain mainland coast around the island.
Guldfeldt
Guldfeldt is the oldest dwarven kingdom in Dain, settled thousands of years ago by dwarves using the underways from Maeril. From Guldfeldt, dwarves spread all over Dain, and many clans can draw familial relationships to the great clans of Guldfeldt. These relationships have often drawn the migthy armies of Guldfeldt all over Dain to protect its cousins, and Guldfeldt was the beating heart of a large dwarven empire that extended beneath Dain into the Underdark.
Guldfeldt is the second oldest noble family, and has extended the influence of the Gold Empire to dwarves across and below Dain. Many old dwarven holdfasts have come under Guldfeldt's influence, a promise made to Svend Guldskeg many centuries ago. This promise has often caused clashes between different noble families as the Guldskeg dynasty has tried to extend its influences to its old territories, both terrenean and subterennean.
Guldfeldt is reknowned for its massive mining operations all over the Gold Empire, producing high-quality metals used both in the production of arms and armor, as well as magical supplies to the alchemists of Goldstadt, who make their home in Guldfeldt.
The Guldskeg dynasty is old, older even than the Cyne dynasty of Cyneland, with annals going back to Moradin himself in the Age of Gods. They are a proud dynasty, known as warriors expanding the influence of the Gold Empire in the underground, building an empire of their own with a system of vassal states in the Underdark. Out of all the noble houses, they are considered the most belligerent, ready and willing to assert their rights to gain an avantage over their erstwhile allies. Whispers in the Council of Dragons suggest that the Guldskeg is preparing for an eventual collapse of the Gold Empire, hoping to weather the storm should that time come, but all the provinces relies on their production of raw materials for their weapons, fleets and armor, so none dare voice these opinions openly lest they anger king Harald "Ironside" Guldskeg.
Southern Provinces
The Southern Provinces were conquered during the Great Conquests and share a border to the north with the Wasteland and to the south with the Godpeak Mountains. Whiteplain
Whiteplain is savanah and steppeland known for the unique people that call it home, the Leonin. The Ingosi-dynasty rules over Whiteplain, known for their noble rulership and adherence to the law of their ancestors. Whiteplain is by some imperial scholars considered a relative backwater and an underdeveloped province that could offer more to the empire, but these imperials do not see the rich cultural history, art and cultural inovations Whiteplain has given the empire. The Ingosi and other leonin rulers have long valued philosophy, mathematics, empiricism and discusions of both theology, politics and economics, and the Umthetho speakers are valued all over the Empire for their knowledge and expertise. Whiteplain has three of the continent's oldest universities, with vast repositories of knowledge, and the alchemists have long tried to compete with the Umthetho, although often it has been the alchemists who have been inspired by the Umthetho.
Tveiharr
Originally ruled over by the Two-Sea King, a mighty Storm Giant, after the Gold Empire conquered the region stewardship of it was handed over to the Hrith-dynasty, mighty goliath warriors and storm sorcerers who had served the Two-Sea King as protectors and enforcers until a prodigal son of theirs allied with the Gold Emperor. Now the Storm King rules Tveiharr, and the Two-Sea King is relegated to ruling the Giant vassals of the Gold Empire. The Storm Kings are known for travelling the world on expeditions for the Gold Empire, and have founded many of the Empire's colonies.
Salantano
Salantano is a peaceful, idyllic province. Mostly covered in farmlands and forrests, Salantano is a land of farmers, lumberers, the faithful and common folk. Salantano is ruled from Cidamar, an old elven city-state, by the halfling dynasty of Castello. This makes Salantano the only province to be ruled and mainly populated by halflings. Many would-be invaders has seen Salantano as the Empire's soft underbelly, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Castellos fight just as hard as any other noble house in defence of their homeland, and the province has the largest contingent of Knights of Devotion in the Empire, with Devotion Monasteries dotting the landscape all around Salantano.
Salantano is the Gold Empire's breadbasket, and its farms have supplied the food that has enabled the Gold Empire's population boom. Eastern Provinces
The Eastern Provinces were conquered during the Great Conquests.
Ashefell
Ashefell is a land of volcanoes and hot, arid land. The soil is barely tenable, and most plant life withers away and dies. Still a few hardy souls cling to life in the province, mostly consisting of humans, rock gnomes, volcano dwarves and ember elves. These mine the veins of the earth for valuable metals and rare gemstones, producing some of the Gold Empire's finest crafts in forges lit by volcanic magma. Ashefell is ruled over by the Greymane dynasty of Ember Elves, whose legendary craftsmanship and mastery of fire magic is unsurpassed. Not a very industrious nation like Kreit and Guldfeldt, Ashefell produces luxury goods and magical artefacts that are the envy of the world.
Ypsilos
Ypsilos consists of tall plateus of cold rock, glaciers and mountainous ridges, from where one of the toughest peoples of the Gold Empire hail. Here orcs, humans, half-orcs and dwarves make a living homesteading, mining and serving as auxilary in the Imperial Army. Orcish culture stands strong in Ypsilos, but many of the tribes of the land rebelled during the Hobgoblin Rebellion. This has lead to the forced exile of many of Ypsilos' finest warriors to the Wasteland, but those that remain are loyal, a loyalty proven in a gruelling civil war. Ypsilonians are thus slow to trust, but they believe firmly in the ideals of the Empire. Ypsilos is ruled by the Kryetes dynasty, a relatively small noble family that is still recovering from the brutality of the Hobgoblin Rebellion.
Kreit
Kreit, the Dragon of the East, is one of the Empire's largest provinces. Consisting mostly of great tundras, mountains and rivers, it is a wonder that Kreit can support the largest population in the Empire. This is made possible by imports from Salantano and the steam cities, wonders of ignean architecture that uses geothermal vents to create paradise gardens underneath the great cities of Kreit, where virtually anything can be grown. Kreit is the most industrious nation in the Gold Empire, with steam-powered factories that produce many of the Empire's weapons, clothes and ships. Combined with a large fishing industry, which produces a great deal of canned fish used by the Imperial Army, and a mandatory five-year civil service for all its citizens, and Kreit presents as one of the Empire's mightiest provinces. Ruled over by the Pozharits family, Kreit is inhabited by all the peoples of the Empire but dwarves and humans form a majority.
The Imperial Far South
The Imperial Far South was conquered during the Golden Age after the Hobgobling rebellion, and is ruled over by the smallest noble houses.
Whiesia
Whiesia is a steppe warm steppe landscape extending south from the Godpeaks. A large country with a population of orcs, humans and minotaurs, Whiesia was long the seat of a southern orc empire which raided north into Salantano and east into Sceya. Today Whiesia is ruled by the Alexandra "the Battle Queen" Dynastos of the Dynastos dynasty, and Whiesia has invested heavily in the conquest of the southern continent of Oilean, giving them a great number of vassals and trade contacts to the south, which has enriched their home country.
The Whiesian navy is the amongst the largest nobel navies.
Sceya
A land of deep forests, majestic fjords and imposing mountains, Sceya has been the seat of a rapid expansion of coal-powered technology such as trains, steam-powered machins and large ironclad gunships. Ruled over by king Hans "the Great" Ari of the Ari dynasty, Sceya has had a troubled history of rebellions, guerilla warfare and giant incursions, which was finally put to an end 20 yeras ago by prince Andreas "the Handsome" Ari when he conquered East Sceya.
Today Sceya is positioned to become an ascendant province of the Far South if it can fully utilize its impressive elemental resources to become an industrial powerhouse, but it remains overshadowed by the ancestral ignean technology of Kreit, the dwarven forges of Guldfeldt and the alien powers of Akshus.
East Sceya is one of the last mainland frontiers in the Gold Empire, and if it is fully integrated, Sceya could become the most powerful province south of Tveiharr.
Akshus
The smallest province in population and land area, Akshus is a land of arid sandy deserts only occasionally broken by lush river valleys and old cities. The Akshusians were once under the dominion of Mind Flayers, but since their liberation and integration into the Gold Empire, they have begun accessing the alien technology and untapped potential of psionic power for themselves.
Ruled over by king Ibrahim "the Great" Tanin of the Tanin dynasty, Akshus has grown to become an important province which punches above its weight in imperial politics and industry. The Order of Alchemists have become enamored with the potential of Akshusian thinking machines, and the University of Ælmesleóht has close connections with Goldstadt, while Akshusian warbands have contributed to the conquest of Oilean in the south.
The Imperial Far East
The Imperial Far East over a long period of time starting during the Great Conquests, being interrupted by the Hobgoblin Rebellion and being completed much later. The Far East is separated from the East by the sea, and the Far East represents the first imperial experiment with colonization.
Dhuchai
The province of Dhuchai consists of an island chain with greater and lesser islands covered in lush tropical jungle, with great underwater coral cities populated by tritons and cities of stone and brass created by gnomes and humans. Dhuchai is a land of great variation, with halfling farms dotting reclaimed forrest landscape next to deep mines digging magical stones next to deep jungles populated by lizardfolk and stranger creatures. Dhuchai is the product of colonization, with several gnomish expeditions being supported by different imperial insitutions. These founded several colonies, most of which failed, but finally New Goldstadt was succesful in creating a self-sustainable colony. When New Goldstadt became a proper colony, the Gold Emperor granted the gnomish family Messier the dragon Iaris.
Dhuchai has become quite infamous in the Gold Empire for being one of the few provinces, alongside Sceya, where imperial dominion has never been fully established. Rebellions, monster attacks and organized enemies in the forrests are relatively normal still, and the Messiers have not always showed proper faith and decorum in treating with the locals. The Gold Emperor and high-ranking clergy have had to intercede several times when these conflicts threatened to spill over into open war.
These lapses in judgement from the Messiers and costly mistakes made are not severly punished, as the Messiers ensure that the flow of enchanted stone for use in creating automatons by the Crimson Order continues.
Overseas Territories and Colonies
Oilean
The Gold Empire has made impressive headway into the continent of Oilean, having defeated several Yuan-Ti nations on the battlefield and bringing liberation to their lizardfolk and humanoid slaves. The Gold Empire's seat of power in Oilean is the city of Kayara, a northern port city from which trade flows between Oilean and Dain. Duke Iraklis Dynastos rules the conquered territories of Oilean on a commision from the Gold Emperor, as his army was the first to make landfall and conquer Kayara. The Duke, commonly known as the Emerald Duke, rules alongside a council of lizardfolk.
Ikseong
Gold Imperial gains in Ikseong mostly consists of several coastal cities along the Jían coast, though Imperial expeditions commonly travel further inland to fight alongside Ikseong allies against the black dragons. The territorial gains in Ikseong are sizeable, consisting of an area nearly equal to the imperial province of Salantano. Three major cities form the center of local imperial rule, each being overseen by:

• Shingawa - duchess Kanadina Pozharits
• Yahidaka - duke Henrik Guldskeg
• Iwanai - duke Goldbeorn Cyne

The overall imperial rulersip of Ikseong is in the hands of Knight-Commander Diana Scalepiercer of the Black Dragon Order, due to the near-constant need for military activity in the region.
The Wasteland
At the heart of the Gold Empire is the Wasteland, once the large and thriving province of Akeshi, it was destroyed during the Hobgoblin Rebellion by the dread godweapon known as the Kältersturm. In a single moment of ice-cold brilliance, millions died due to intense cold, and millions more were driven from their homes as lakes froze, crops died and fertile soil became too hard to work.
The Wasteland is the Gold Empire's greatest shame, a permanent stain upon its brilliant promise, and where it keeps its undesirables. The most common punishment for crimes against the Gold Empire is exile to the Wasteland, where the judged work in large labor camps to cultivate the land, fight back against the frost and mine precious minerals for the Gold Empire's war machine.

Military

The main force the Gold Empire commands are the Holy Legions. Consisting of thousands of knights sworn to the Gold Emperor, these loyal and brutal warriors have carried forward imperial banners for centuries.
Imperial Army
The Imperial Army describes all the armed forces that serve the Gold Empire at any given moment, organized under the Copper Metal Church and dedicated to expanding and defending the Gold Empire. Imperial Army forces are often under command of Grand Commanders from the Holy Legions, while individual provincial forces are under the command of an officer corps of Copper Metal clerics.
Holy Legions
The Empire's greatest military assets are the Holy Legions that answer directly to the Gold Emperor himself. These are the vanguard of the Empire into new lands and defend the people of the Empire with the tenacity and ferocity of heroes. The knights of the Holy Legions are granted supernatural divine powers by the Emperor and Authenar Dranastix, so that they might smite the enemies og good and order and drive back the darkness. The Holy Legions are divided into the Legions of Conquest, Devotion, Vengeance, Peace and Crown, each of which serves its own purpose within the tapestry that is the Gold Empire.
Noble Armies
While the Legions are often more than capable of achieving the military goals of the empire by themselves, the Empire is so vast a land that it needs forces everywhere to protects itself from those who would take its people into slavery. The Noble Armies, also called the Noble Auxillia, are the armies that the individual provinces of the Empire form to maintain their borders and keep back enemies. These armies often operate in tandem with the Legions as auxillia, and are often posten on the flansk or on occupation duty while the Legions maintaint the brunt of the fighting.
The Noble Armies also include the cabals of noble sorcerers who are often appropriated by the legions for battles or sieges, as their destructive magic potential is valuable for fighting wars.
Also included in the Noble Armies are the gold dragons, whose destructive potential is without rival in the entire imperial warmachine.
Noble Armies are organized into the Imperial Army before they go to war in the Gold Empire's name.
The Red Order
The militant part of the alchemists, the Red Order is an integral part of the imperial warmachine, with its primary supply of destructive magic. The Red Order has legions of Eisenmench, alchemically and magically enhanced humanoids with skin of metal, magical artillery, golems, powerful automatons capable of crushing ordinary men and the empire's enemies and godweapons taken from the empire's enemies.
The Red Order partake in the biggest conflicts the Empire fights, bringing precise mathematical destruction upon the empire's enemies.
Vassal Auxillia
Many peoples within the Empire are not integrated into the noble system of tribute or into provinces, but rather pay tribute in a more ad-hoc manner. Examples of this are giants, hobgoblins, orks and aaracokra, who are occasionally recruited by the legions into campaigns where their skills as warriors can be of use. Such Vassal Auxillary forces are often under the direct command of a captain of the Legions, and are highly specialized fighting divisions.

Technological Level

Alchemical arts
The Order of Alchemists is charged with developing and maintaining new technology for the Gold Empire, a mission that has been very succesful in the last 500 years.
Godweapons

Religion

The official state religion of the Gold Empire is the Aurathean Church, who worship the dragon god Aurathear Darastrix. The Aurathean Church affects every aspect of life in the Gold Empire, a silver dragon priest delivers children, bronze metal priests organize labor unions while brass dragon priests edit papers and write critical pieces on politics. Every part of imperial life is thus dominated by aurathean ideology, every aspect colored by imperial propaganda. Nothing exists without the church's consent, even dissidence is organized into the grand imperial cultural project.
Within the imperium proper, worship of other gods is strictly forbidden. Some gods are accepted as aspects or saints of the Dragon God, but the worship of elemental spirits and demons is hunted down. However, Free States and Free Peoples are allowed to worhsip their own gods within their borders, so long as they do not perform missionary activity or have open displays of faith within the empire.
The Metal Church is the official state apparatus of the Gold Empire, linking all the provinces with unbreakable institutional and religious bonds. The five aspects are responsible for different parts of rulership:

• Gold: the Gold Metal Church is the supreme power of the Gold Empire, with their authority directly derived from the Gold Emperor himself. They are the voice of the Emperor, whose ambitions are the ambitions of Aurathear Darastrix itself.
• Silver: the Silver Metal Church is the supreme bureaucratic organ of the Gold Empire, charged with collecting taxes, maintaining statistics, organizing the Gold Empire and dispensing its justice.
• Bronze: the Bronze Metal Church is charged with organizing the Gold Empire's labor. For civilian projects and in general in the provinces, the Bronze Metal church protects the rights of workers by organizing unions, supporting workers, providing them with lawyers. They also organize larger imperial projects, such as building large dams, creating factories and dockyards to support the imperial war effort and mining operations deemed integral to imperial safety.
• Copper: the Copper Metal Church is charged with organizing the vast Imperial Army, as well as organizing the expansion and defence of the Gold Empire. They also serve as political and spiritual officers in the Imperial Army.
• Brass: the Brass Metal Church is charged with keeping the magical knowledge of the Gold Empire protected and hidden away in vast magical libraries, monitoring the activities of mages and hunting the mages who break the laws of the Gold Empire. As part of this charge, they command the corps of Witch Hunters.

The Dragon Church is the everyday religion of the Gold Empire, dedicated to helping the people where they are and showing the goodness of Aurathear Darastrix in the lives of imperial citizens. Dragon clerics will often wander from place to place, set up shop somewhere and move on when they feel the call. They are immensely respected by the local communities they work in, and many of them are also missionaries travelling among Free Peoples or across the seas to foreign continents.
There are five aspects of the Dragon Church:

• Gold: the Gold Dragon church are monsterhunters dedicated to vanquishing creatures of the night such as undead, elementals and worse monsters. They often travel in small groups between settlements in the hinterlands, taking small donations to hunt for creatures which trouble the people.
• Silver: the Silver Dragon Church are healers and doctors, professionals who dedicate their lives to giving the citizens of the Gold Empire good health and fortune. Many of them are sponsored by the Silver Metal Church or nobility to make hospices, hospitals and health clinics across the Gold Empire, and most of them have a degree from the Order of Alchemists.
• Bronze: the Bronze Dragon church are trickster, gamblers, artists and honest souls who dedicate their lives to critisizing power and those who wield it. Many of them operate newspapers, put on plays, write songs and generally galvanize social reform to make the Gold Empire more adaptable.
• Copper: the Copper Dragon church are sailors and fishermen who bless the citizens of the Gold Empire who work at sea or in the sky. Many sailing ships will have one Copper Dragon cleric travel with them to protect them from bad weather and support the ship's crew through difficult journeys. Many Copper Dragon clerics have also made their name as explorers, bringing imperial culture and trade routes to unmapped overseas territories.s
• Brass: the Brass Dragon church concerns itself with knowledge, reserach and education, and Brass Dragon clerics are teachers, researchers and librarians throughout the Gold Empire.

While the Dragon Church has little formal power, they are supported by the Metal Church and many Dragon clerics have the powerful and rich Metal Church as a sponsor.
Heresy
The Gold Empire understands that all gods are one with the Dragon God, and seek to make other peoples understand this same point. Breaking with this truth can result in censure or criminal punishment.
However, following an elemental or "nature" faith is anathema to the Gold Empire, and the most common punishment is exile to the Wasteland.
Free States and Free People are entitles to practicing their own faith, so long as they do not try to spread it beyond their borders or proselytize it to imperial citizens.

Foreign Relations

The Gold Empire maintains official foreign relations with all the Free Peoples and Free States that live as vassals within its borders. The Peace Legion is charged with the mandate of maintaining official imperial embassies within the borders of its neighbors and speak with imperial authority, but many individual noble houses also maintain embassies to faciltiate trade and protect their interests.
The Gold Empire also has foreign relations with overseas powers, including:

• Chéad Cathair
• the city-states of the Elven homeland
• the city-states of Oilean
• the Eternal Empire of Ikseong
• several skycities of the Stormlands

The Gold Empire promotes its imperial project overseas, and several foreign powers have submitted as Free States and signed the Treaty of Vassalage. The Gold Empire coordinates efforts in Ikseong against the remnant faction of Gargath One-Eye's rebellion and fights alongside Chead Cathaír against the interests of the Draconic Empire.

Laws

Provincial law
For provincial laws, each different province has different ways of carrying out their own distinct provincial laws, dictated by local tradition and culture. In general, the monarchs of the provinces are charged with enforcing law and order in their domains, though different approaches are favored in different provinces. Akshus, for instance, has quite a liberal approach to carrying out their laws, giving tribal elders much power in enforcing the old codes of their people. On the other hand, Kreit is known for its authoritarian approach, with much power concentrated in the hands of the Posharitz dynasty. Should the monarch fail in their duty, it is common for silver metal clerics to step in and restore law and order, often supported by knight legions.
Imperial provinces are always beholden to clerical law, and expected to follow the leadership of the church in matters of law. A few exceptions have been negotiated, but these are rare and far between. Free State law
The Free States of the Gold Empire are largely allowed to determine their own laws, though different Free States all have different arrangements with the Silver Metal Church on which laws apply to them and which do not. A few laws are common for all Free States and a requirement for the status of Free State. These laws are known as the Treaty of Vassalage, and includes bans on slavery, harboring enemies of the Aurathean Church and proselytizing non-Aurathean religious doctrine within imperial borders.
Imperial law
Imperial law applies to all the provinces of the Gold Empire, and is a set of homogenous laws which bind the Gold Empire together. Imperial law is determined at the highest level by the Council Argentum, though the Imperial Council can pass emergency laws in times of crisis, and is carried out by the immense bureaucracy of state that is the Silver Metal Church.

Agriculture & Industry

The Gold Empire is an industrial powerhouse, with a plethora of raw materials and industries united in imperial industry. The different provinces have different industries depending on local traditions and raw materials available, and the Gold Empire always tries to industrialize newly acquired territories to create local jobs and wealth, as well as supporting the imperial warmachine.
The Gold Empire's industries are organized in two levels: provincial level and imperial level.
Provincial industries are the majority of the Gold Empire's industries, its mills and quarries and forges and textile factories and farms. These normally have Bronze Metal clerics overseeing them to make sure that no divine laws on labor are being broken, and many of them are sponsored by noble houses or merchants. They pay taxes on selling their products and their overhead. Such provincial industries include the Royal Akshusian Spice Company.
Imperial industries are considered vital to the Gold Empire's security, or are so profitable or dangerous that they require imperial oversight. The Gold Empire will generally create companies with the Bronze Metal church or the Copper Metal church having a majority stake, which are then in part under control of the Metal Church. These are not taxed, but the dividends of the stocks go into Metal Church coffers.
Such imperial industries include large mining concerns, such as the Godpeak Mining Company, docks used to produce the imperial navy, such as the Samynisk Dockworks, or a host of other industries.
The Gold Empire's industries continue to become more and more efficient, as alchemists are unravelling the secrets of Ignean engineering and applying it in more contexts. The dawn of transevocation promises to revolutionize imperial industry, so long as there is enough firerock to satiate its appetite.

Trade & Transport

The Gold Empire is large, and it has many different raw materials being transported between it provinces to be fashioned into different products, sold on new markets or moved to warfronts. As a continent, Dain is longer than it is wide, which means that trade by sea is commonly used but not enough for moving goods further inland and across the continent.
Seatrade
All provinces of the Gold Empire have a coastline, and most noble houses maintain large trade fleets or sponsor private trading companies and merchants to maintain such fleets. Such trade ships move products and raw materials between provinces as well as between foreign markets overseas and colonial holdings.
The largest private trade fleet in the Gold Empire is the Far South Company, a joint venture between the Dynastos, Ari and Tanin dynasties to dominate the trade between Dain and Oilean, with its headquarters in Karaya. The Far South Company also maintains several military vessels to protect its trade expeditions from pirates and Yuan-Ti ships.
The largest shallow-water trade fleet, conducting trade in the Gold Empire, is the Royal Salantanan Trade fleet and belongs to the Castello dynasty, which ships grain and other produce all across the Gold Empire from the fertile fields of Salantano, and brings back a great deal of wealth and other products to Salantano.
The largest deep-water trade fleet, which conducts trade between the Gold Empire and all of its colonies as well as far-away foreign lands, is the Cyneland High Seas Fleet, which belongs to the Cyne dynasty. The CHSF follows the ancient high elven tradition, where each ship is both trading ship, warship and expedition vessel.
Overland trade
The overland trade in the Gold Empire is first and foremost facilitated through the imperial-sponsored network of roads that link all major towns and cities of the Gold Empire together, and is exemplified by the large paved Imperial Highway that connects most provincial capitals of the Gold Empire. However, both the Imperial Far South and Imperial Far Easy are disconnected from the Imperial Highway, as the Godpeaks and the Eastern Sea are in the way.
Work is being done to open the Underway beneath the Godpeaks for safe travel from the north, but this work is slow and difficult, and for now most major travel and trade between north and south relies on seafaring vessels.
A revolution has recently begun spreading throughout the Gold Empire, with its epicenter in Sceya: the railway. Using ignean energy, Sceyan alchemists have worked out how to transport huge quantities of produts and people quickly from point A to point B. These alchemists have been organized into the Highhammer Rail Company, in which the Copper Metal Church and Ari dynasty are majority partners.
The railway has already revolutionized travel in the Far South, allowing a person to travel from Highhammer to Ælmesleóht in three days, and the system has also been built in Oldan and started spreading through the core provinces, connecting major cities. However, railtravel is currently too impractical due to firestone being too expensive in the Core provinces to legitimize further expansion. This may change should Ashefell or Kreit open further mining, or should the East Sceyan mines prove to be promising.
Airtrade
Though rare, there are several airships operating in the Gold Empire, operating out of the peakcities of Tveiharr. However, airtrade remains expensive and limited as few cities have invested in proper airdocks, and as such the airtrade is generally limited to trade with the Stormlands and moving quickly between the Gold Empire's largest cities.

Education

Brass dragon education
The lower education of each province is generally performed by clerics of the brass dragon, whose methods vary from province to province and within provinces, but who generally run schools supported by noble houses. The goal of this brass dragon education is that all imperial citizens shoud know how to read and write common, know the basic lore of Aurathear Darastrix and know basic mathematics.
Brass dragon clerics will be on the lookout for good minds who could benefit from higher education, and support stipends for these to attend alchemical education.
Some brass dragon education is public and open for all, while some academies are private and require a donation to participate. The surplus from such donations go to other schools.
Alchemical education
The higher education of the Gold Empire generally takes the form of alchemical education at one of the universities in the Gold Empire's larger cities. Attending alchemical education generally requires paying a fee to the university and a recomendation from an authority, such as a noble, an alchemist or a priest.
For disadvantaged populations within the Gold Empire, the Aurathean Church generally pays the stipend.

Infrastructure

Imperial Highway
A victory of imperial unity and ingenuity, the Imperial Highway connects all the capitals of the provinces of the Gold Empire and allows fast overland trade. A recent development was finally connecting the Underway between Salantano and East Sceya, enabling overland caravan trade between all provinces of the Gold Empire.
The Imperial Highway is slowly being suplemented by railways, growing out of Sceya and Oldan, which promise to revolutionize the speed of travel across the Gold Empire.

Thun Sahvot --Law and Faith

Founding Date

0

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Capital

Aurumis

Alternative Names

The Oldanian Empire, The High Kingdom, The Holy Draconic Empire

Predecessor Organization

• The Oldanian Kingdom

Demonym

Imperial, Oldanian

Leader

The Gold Emperor

Founders

• Goldbrand Cyne
• The Gold Emperor

Head of State

The Gold Emperor

Head of Government

The Gold Emperor

Government System

Monarchy, Absolute

Economic System

Mixed economy

Gazetteer

The Gold Empire is a massive country, with its influence reaching from the souther Akshusian desert to the northern volcanic coast of Ashefell, from the western beaches of Oldan to the eastern islands of Dhuchai.
Aurumis
The capital of the Gold Empire is Aurumis, a massive city that has grown in the centuries since the Gold Emperor chose it to be his home. Aurumis has representatives from all over the Gold Empire, and on its golden streets scores of languages can be heard bartering over wares from all the provinces. The highest organs of government can be found in Aurumis, from the Gold Palace in the foggy lake at the heart of the capital to the Cathedral Argentum.
Goldstadt
The Free City of Goldstadt is the beating heart of the Imperium Alchemical, the home of the Order of Alchemists and the most modern city in the entire Gold Empire. The techno-magocracy of the Order extends from Goldstadt to all other major cities in the Gold Empire, bringing home magical artefacts to be replicated and empowered. For this reason, Goldstadt is a marvelous city of brass, gold, steam and iron, with fantastic magical constructs walking the streets alongside the wisest and most learned of the Gold Empire's citizens.
The Imperial Bank also has its main branch in Goldstadt, from where it controls the distribution of Alchemist's Gold into the veins of the imperial economy. Most major businesses have offices in Goldstadt, and a large Bronze Metal Cathedral can be found in the city, dedicated to the draconic god of smiths and inventors.

Currency

The official currency of the Golden Empire is the Alchemists' Gold, which is organized into low, medium and high purity depending on the alchemist who made the gold. The Imperial Bank, administred by the yellow alchemists, controls how much gold is made and how it is distributed. It also gives out loans to promising businesses and noble houses.

Major Exports

Weapons Industry
One of the largest imperial exports to foreign powers, such as the Eternal Empire of Ikseon and both sides of the High Elven Civil War. The Gold Empire supplies these powers with swords, armor, shields, arrows and perhaps most extraordinarily firespears, cannons and other artillery pieces.
Mercenaries
Many noble houses send adventurers and mercenary companies to foreign conflicts, especially in Ikseong and the Azure sea, where they are paid well and give intelligence to the Gold Empire at home.
Industrial equipment
As the Gold Empire has become more and more industrialized, it has begun exporting these developments to foreign nations, especially the smaller elven citystates whose economies have been stagnangt for several milennia.

Major Imports

While the Gold Empire does not rely on imports from overseas territories or foreign nations, they have proved elemental in expanding the Gold Empire's potential.
Oilean
Oilean is a southern jungle continent, with incredible wonders hiding in the depths of the warm forests. A particularly interesting resoruce for the Gold Empire in Oilean is Amber, a magical resin with potent healing potential. Currently the only reliable place to find amber is East Sceya, and Oilean could make the amber much more available for the general population of the Gold Empire.
Ikseong
The western continent of Ikseong is home to the Tieflings of the Eternal Empire, which is slowly collapsing due to Gargath One-Eye advancing armies. The Gold Empire has accepted many refugees from Ikseong into its territories, with all their culture, knowledge and aptitude for magic. Ikseong-regiments are starting to be formed, tiefling battalions loyal to the Gold Empire and with a deep hatred for Elemental Dragons. Ikseong's cities are also more than willing to accept seccesion from the Eternal Empire, if it means they may survive the onslaught of black dragons for a couple centuries more.
Elven Homeland
The northern island-chains that make up the Elven Homeland are locked in a bitter civil war that has lasted for the better part of a millenium, with entire cities destroyed in the crossfire of the Young King and the High King. Many of the southern smaller city-states have accepted protection from the Gold Empire. These give vital magical expertise to the Gold Empire's armies, as well as northern ports and docks to conduct trade from.
Maeril
The far northern continent of Maeril has slowly grown to become an important trading partner with the Gold Empire. In particular the age-old dwarven nations of Maeril have become trading partners, exchanging valuable magical metals for the engineering wonders the Gold Empire is developing. While most of this trade is currently overseas, both parties are trying to reconnect the Underways.
Stormlands
The Gold Empire has invested a great deal in trading with the Stormlands, where they can buy auragold for use in alchemical concoctions and magic items.

Legislative Body

Council Argentum
The laws of the Gold Empire as a whole are decided by a combination of clergy and noble delegations from each province, working together to make laws that will better the empire. This group is known as the Silver Council in the common tongue, for their meeting place in the Cathedral Argentum in Aurumis. The Council Argentum is also considered part of the Great Council, and are often called upon to supply their perspectives and expertize to the Imperial Council, which governs the Gold Empire.
Noble families can make suggestions of laws to the Council Argentum, and several families may unite to have the same laws apply to their provinces, but laws cannot become Imperial laws unless they are accepted by a majority of the Silver Metal clerics who sit on the Council.
The Council Argentum hosts 13 noble delegations and 13 provincial Silver Metal clerics, one sent by the Silver Metal archbishops of each imperial province, alongside 3 Silver Metal clerics from Oldan and 10 Silver Metal clerics chosen by the Decarch of the Silver Metal. Should there be an impasse in the Council Argentum, the Gold Emperor will decide. The nobility generally elect one Speaker from among their number to discuss politics and law
The Aurathean Church
Most of the imperial laws are drafted by judicial expert of the Silver Metal Church, who have a responsibility to the God and Empire they serve to draft laws that will benefit all citizens of the Gold Empire. The laws proposed by the Aurathean Church and passed by the Council Argentum apply to all provinces in the Gold Empire, and the Silver Metal Church are tasked with upholding them.
The Council of Dragons
The famous Council of Dragons is the secular alternative to the Aurathean Church, a forum for the nobility of the Gold Empire to suggests laws and changes to official policy. While the Council of Dragons is theoretically limited to the monarchs of the different dynasties, it is more common for noble ambassadors in Aurumis to carry out the discussions on behalf of their monarchs. While the Council of Dragon has a meeting place in the Hall of Dragons in the Imperial Palace, this is only used when the Gold Emperor calls the Council. The Council of Dragons generally refers to the political negotations and compromise that occurs between the different dynasties in Aurumis, their way of affecting imperial policy.
Though it is not often said, clerics of the Silver Metal Church disdain the Council of Dragons, considering more inter-house intrigue than true politics.

Judicial Body

Imperial law is enforced out by the immense bureaucracy of state that is the Silver Metal Church. The Silver Metal Church is charged with:

• Investigating suspects of Imperial Crimes, including tracking them down and holding them
• Judging in criminal cases
• Enforcing the punishments of the courts

Different sects of the Silver Metal Church are charged with these duties.
Silver Marshals
The Silver Marshals are responsible for investigating breaches of imperial law, including thorough investigation of crime-scenes, identification of suspects and aprehension of suspects. The Silver Marshals are not a homogenous group, but are as varied as the nature of the crimes they investigate. Those who deal with murders or assassinations are more akin to detectives, deducing motives and using their holy magic to find likely suspects. Those who deal with economic crime, embezzlement and corruption often work systematically with huge portions of data, working to find their culprits through paper trails. The Silver Marshals deal with all manner of crimes that break imperial law, though a requirement for calling in a Silver Marshal is often that the Gold Empire directly is affected by the crime or that the crime is of a certain scope. For instance, a Silver Marshal may not be called upon to investigate the thievery of a shipment of hashish from an Akshusian plantation, owned and operated by a private citizen, but is likely to have a role in investigating the embezzlement of funds and materials from a Kreitan igneous forge supplying the Knight Legions with arms.
Silver Marshals are often called upon by local authorities to investigate crimes if they are of a certain complexity or span that local authorities deem it necessary to get outside help. Silver Marshals maintain chapels in all major imperial cities for this purpose, and have worked alongside local authorities to bust gangs, smuggling operations and other untoward busness. Other branches of the church can also call Silver Marshals when crimes have been commited that are relevant to their respective fields, but which requires the oversight of an ordained Silver Marshal to carry out a full case.
Silver Marshals will often work alongside other imperial authorities when their work deems it necessary, and the presentation of a Silver Marshal amulet is enough to co-opt the expertise of many groups. This may include recruiting local law enforcement to help with solving a big case, the expertise of a bronze metal cleric when dealing with workplace criminality or copper metal clerics when dealing with deserters or seditious troops.
Silver Marshals have offices in all major imperial cities, and most have the official title of brother within the church. Deacons lead teams of Silver Marshals from a Silver Metal Chapel, and a reagion of Silver Marshals are under the leadership of a Silver Metal Captain-Bishop. These in turn answer to the Silver Metal Archbishop of their province.
Silver Judges
The Silver Judges are an institution onto themselves within the Gold Empire, and are high in the clerical hierarchy. Most Silver Judges hold the ranks of bishops within the church, and can thus call upon several resources in the form of silver acolytes and Silver Marshals should the need arise. Silver Judges, as their titles suggest, sit in judgement over criminal cases that have broken Imperial Laws. A normal case will involve a silver acolyte presenting the case and arguing in favor of punishment, while another is responsible for arguing the case of the defendant. A Silver Marshal will also oversee the process, and ensure that the defendant does not try to flee. Using silver miracles, the Silver Judge will render a judgement on the matter after examination of the available evidence and testimonies. The use of truth miracles and auguries are common practice in such cases, supplemented by the Silver Judge's knowledge on law and interpretation thereof.
Silverhands
The most common judgement passed down from a Silver Judge is forced labor or exile to the Wasteland and forced labor for a number of years in frozen labor camps. While the feared Legion of Vengeance is in charge of the labor camps and the integrity of the Wasteland's borders, there are too few Vengance Knights to facilitate all the prisoner transport to the Wasteland. The Silverhands are an enigmatic group of cleric-warriors who work alongside the Legion of Vengeance to transport prisoners, often with about a dozen Silverhands travelling together with a single Vengeance Knight to bring prisoners to the arctic tundra. The Silverhands are a selective brotherhood, taught in the arts of combat by the Vengeance Knights and trained as clerics of the Silver Metal.
When a different punishment than exile or forced labor is employed by a silver court, a Silverhand is put in charge of checking up on the defendant and making sure that the terms of the punishment are met. Attempts to divert from the punishment are met with exile and forced labor until death.

Executive Body

Imperial Council
The Imperial Council is the very highest echelon of imperial authority, the inner circle around the Gold Emperor who is the very ultimate imperial authority. The Imperial Council represents the most powerful institutions in the Gold Empire, and the mighty individuals who make up its ranks are directly responsible for carrying out the Gold Emperor's will, and thus the Dragon God's will.
The Gold Emperor appoints the different members of the Imperial Council, which consists of:

• High Marshal Enobakhara Amohadegebe, "the Lion Lord" of Whiteplain, lord of the Holy Legions
• Lord Executioner Goldbrand "Blackflame" Cyne, supreme commander of the Imperial Army
• Pontiff Sullyhavn, the Pontiff of the Burning Throne
• Decarch of the Gold Metal Church
• Decarch of the Silver Metal Church

Grand Council
The Grand Council is the largest organ of state in the Gold Empire, and consists of all the monarchs of the provinces, the decarchs of the Aurathean Church and the marshals of the Holy Legions. This is only rarely called, when the Gold Emperor needs to discuss future directions of the Gold Empire. The last one was called in 498 Imperial Age, to discuss the overseas colonial project.

Official State Religion

Aurathean Church

Subsidiary Organizations

• Aurathean Church
• Duchy of East Sceya
• Holy Legion
• Tveiharr
• Wasteland

Deities

• Aurathear Darastrix

Location

Dain

Related Ranks & Titles

• High Marshal

Controlled Territories

• Aurumis
• Azerheim
• Dain
• Firen-Lic
• Fiskemark
• Hærbyerne
• Jansons Ekspedisjon
• Mistsea
• Ny-Aza
• Sceya
• Toirecíud

Neighboring Nations

• Dhynmark
• The Serene Host

Notable Members

• Bronze God
• Goldbrand Cyne
• Ibrahim al-Iliesar Tanin
• Prince-regent Ishmael Tanin
• Prins Andreas Ari
• The Gold Emperor
• Theodor Ari

Related Species

• Gold Dragon

Related Ethnicities

• Akshusian
• Azerdwarf
• Fireni

Related Plots

• A Song of Wolves and Dragons
• Fool's War
• The Knife with the Metal Arm