Mathari Empire

To be a Dryad in Desmia is to be Mathari. The Empire is not one of land, but of people- every Dryad, willing or not, is a subject of the Emperor. Those who flee into the Southern Feywilds or live beyond Desmia are lost children, neglecting their duties and the glory of the True Dryad Culture. The claims of the Empire encompass Desmia, and possibly the world depending on interpretation. The Empire is not a political organization, but a religious mission to save the world and restore order. All those who oppose the Emperor commit crimes against existence itself. To disobey a direct Imperial order is to increase the evil of the world objectively and commit a sin deserving of death. This is the Mathari political ideology.
In practice, things get a little messier. The Empire undergoes coups fairly regularly, and the Empire's impossibly large claims come from a place of complete desperation. Such bravado is necessary for a people and a state kept alive only through constant effort, ruthlessness, and divine intervention. The endless waves of genocidal Human invasions have never stopped and that is unlikely to change. The Mathari worldview stands in the face of impending doom- survive at any cost, do whatever it takes, and never question an order if it is for the greater good. Religiously, the Mathari are told from childhood that the end of the Mathari means the end of the world. For the dryads trapped there, that may as well be true.
For a human living in Mathari, life is often difficult and somewhat bleak. Human villages are treated as individuals- legally and in terms of property. Urban communities are typically organized by "village" within the urban area. Every village is assigned to one or more higher-status individuals (typically dryads) to extract profit and labor from. Rare humans can become professionals valuable enough to become a personal servant, but most never get that opportunity. Those not assigned to a community are the floating population- drifters and vagabonds to be policed and sent to an imperial mine or work project.
Many Mathari dryads live "normal" lives- farming, building, taxes, prayer. Military training and education two days a week. These communes are somewhere between villages and garrisons and populate the countryside. Food collected from these dryad peasants go towards the large urban military-industrial complex based out of the towns, castles, and cities.
Urban dryads typically spend periods of time practicing a craft interrupted by periods of military or clerical service. Every dryad spends at least some time as either a religious bureaucrat or military personnel. Urban and rural dryads alike feel the weight of the system. Life is toil for them, but toil with possible hints of social mobility, however unlikely.
Even aristocrats aren't spared by this system- status is often temporary, the bureaucracy is vast and dangerous, and frequent tours of military service against The Golden Crusade and Amber Crusade are required to uphold one's status.

Structure

• The Ursha or Emperor: gender-neutral/gender-fluid title denoting reincarnation of prior Urshas and absolute power over both the religion and government of Mathari. Only for dryads
• The Vessel or Rukolom: heir to the throne designated by the Ursha. Religious and administrative functionary.
• The Magister Militum: Chief military coordinators, typically 1-5, and heads of the Imperial Court. Have nigh-unlimited authority. Chosen by the Ursha. Can be dryad or vesper, marking the highest position a non-dryad can have.
• Aspet: Aspets are sub-monarchs and regional generals who manage regions directly. Under the Fifth and Six Empires, Aspets do not pass the title to their children, but rather back to the Ursha to be given to a new recipient. Only for dryads
• Court Favorites: Over thirty ranked titles of court favorite exist, deriving their power purely from being close to the Ursha. Court Favorites often run critical elements of the imperial bureaucracy. Can be any race.
• Domestics: Domestics are military leaders for regions under the Aspets, and are semi-autonomous military-aristocrats. Can be dryads or vespers.
• Duke: Dukes directly manage land, profit extraction, and military operations in a landed area under a Domestic of Aspet. Can be dryads only.
• Strategus: Strategi manage fluid military operations not tied to land for a Domestic or Aspet. Under them are captains, commanders, etc. Can be dryads or vespers.
• Counts manage individual estates or parcels under Dukes. Can only be dryads.

History

The History of the Mathari is long. Perhaps this will be the longest history written- it has a continuity found nowhere else on Halika.

The Divine Era and First Empire

Prior to 50ME, it was more of a cultural concept referring to the loosely federated dryad clans of Northwestern Desmia. These federates dated back to -2500DE, when Esken slave traders had hunted dryads for sale and sacrifice in the South. The Mathari tribes were those militaristic groups that banded together to hunt the hunters and protect the dryads. They ruled over surrounding dryad and human groups, demanding tribute and manpower for their wars. When Desmians did not raid, they fought each other; when Desmians did raid, they banded together. Rather infamously, they began the practice of Gem Farming (the purposeful exposure of captives to Gem Plague for the manufacturing of gem armor and weapons) and the re purposing of human remains as biological warfare during their raids.
By 30ME, they had concentrated largely along the Northwestern coast, shielded from greater Desmia by the Feywilds. The mercenary Iana the Blue, raised as a dryad shrinekeeper, slowly gathered a larger and larger force for her raids. In 40ME, she returned home and used her mercenaries to press her claim to her clan; from there, she began a series of conquests, uniting clan after clan. By 50ME, she had subjugated the twelve great clans, and she crowned herself Prophet-Queen of all Dryads. Claiming visions from heaven, she declared that dryads must unite under one banner or be divided and killed. By her death in 80ME, the first Mathari Empire was a stable and united state.
The Empire began actively pushing back Human raiding groups while paying off Feywilders. Dryad refugees from across the continent were welcomed; subjugated human communities not found raiding were granted Thrall contracts, allowing them to pay tribute and support the empire while continuing their way of life. Many of these thralls paid taxes in labor rather than food or money, constructing highways, bridges, and watchtowers for the empire. The empire began to centralize, revoking the powers of local chieftains and forcefully projecting the power of the emperor.

The Serpent Wars

The greatest height and ultimate fall of the First Empire were the Serpent Wars of Emperor Okun. Okun was everything a Mathari emperor should be- fierce, well-read, devout. After swearing to the moons that he would free dryad and human alike from the struggles of war, he became a paladin-knight, leading his armies from the front. Having been left an elite organized army by his predecessor, he began his campaigns almost immediately after being crowned in 320ME. Subjugating the surrounding tribes and launching an ambitious campaign Northeast, Okun extracted tribute from modern day Valick and Belmay. Secure in the North, he sent his cousin to court the Feywild lord Urala (a fierce Vesper warrior) in the East while the imperial army finally marched South to face the Desmians.
Okun's strategy was simple: divide the Desmians by offering land and freedom to their non-dryad slaves and poor farmers. Orthodoxy had only truly permeated the elite in many Esken kingdoms, and Okun intended to win the hearts and minds of humanity's less privileged to make them divided and governable. This policy, paired with elite fighters, heavenly guidance, and several brilliant generals, led to Mathari conquests pushing all the way to Torza. The Northern subjects began rebelling at this point, and the Empire was spread thin.
Many Mathari elites were annoyed at the empire's direction, especially Okun's abolition of slavery and de-emphasis of Gem Farming, and invited Urala to invade. Okun's cousin, sent to pacify Urala, instead led her army into the heart of Mathari in 370. The civil war led to a massive invasion from the Feywilds and terrible, bloody infighting. Okun slew Urala and his cousin, but the damage was done. The Empire could not recover, and he died charging enemy ranks- offering himself to the Gods as a battle sacrifice to save the Empire in 375. The serpent wars changed Desmia forever- demonstrating the fragility of the Golden Crusade, opening up the North for Ishkibism, and terrifying Orthodox Desmians to the South into abolishing slavery and offering free religious education in all Orthodox kingdoms (things that became official Orthodox dogma in 868).

The Second Empire

The civil war dragged on from 370 to 410, before a Feywilds Dryad named Koval claimed to have been visited and crowned by wind spirits and conquered the Imperial remnants. Mathari dryads, increasingly desperate as Orthodox invaders closed in, latched on and declared Koval the secret reincarnation of Iadra. Ruling from the Feywilds, the Second Empire was distant and only really managed military matters. The Western kingdom of Lusaya never re-integrated, but converted to Ishkibism; much of what did integrate remained autonomous sub-kingdoms with their own rulers. One, the kingdom of Reaketh, claimed descent from Okun and Iadra; in 550 Reaketh led a coalition of Southern kingdoms to take the empire, sparking the War of Three Crowns.

The Third Empire

The War of Three Crowns was brutal but quick, ending in an ally of Reaketh seizing the throne and proclaiming the Third Empire. The Third Empire's chronic instability invented the Mathari rule of mandate: palace coups are quickly legitimized as long as they do not disrupt the war of survival against outside aggressors. These coups began escalating rapidly in the 600's. In 640, five coups in rapid succession culminated in a palace massacre including delegates from the Feywild Mathari. In revenge, a Feywild invasion swept into the fragile state, and Kovinia, a warlord claiming to be the reborn Koval, crowned themselves emperor of the Fourth Empire in 643.

The Fourth Empire

The Fourth Empire was far more centralized and brutal than the Second or Third- Kovinia immediately revoked all local rights to power, and began tying property rights to state service. In 700, Empress Tonatha used this moment of supreme power to reorganize society in a more controllable way- the Laws of Status. The Laws of Status create a formal, religious-backed caste system. Thrall contracts were abolished; Humans, Vespers, and Cats were to be treated as state property. They could then be lent to estate farms, mines, or building projects; communities could receive privileges exempting them from work, but only for limited timespans and only from the emperor. Perhaps more quietly, dryads were also subject to hierarchical castes; only high-status dryads were to receive service from thrall-caste communities. The egalitarian warrior-society codes of traditional Mathari society were abolished or made only accessible to highest-caste dryads. Punishments for all members of society became more draconian. Wealth was distributed to the top, and all power was given to the emperor.
The endless small-scale violence following the Laws of Status weakened the empire but strengthened the crown. The caste question drew Mathari focus inward, leaving it vulnerable from outside threats. A massive surge in Golden Crusade activity in 850 snapped the Empire back to focus and became the main focus for the Empire through the 1000's.

The Fifth Empire

Feywilds confusion created chaos in Northern Desmia, and a moment of calm arrived in the 1080s and 1090s. The empire immediately turned on itself, and civil war exploded in 1100. As Orthodox forces began resurging in 1104, panic struck the empire. One imperial candidate Iriza, struck a deal with the captain of the largest mercenary company (the Dusk Heralds)- an Okinan Vesper named Didero- to grant Vespers increased rights in the Empire in exchange for loyalty. Gods gave Didero a heavenly blessing of paladinhood, and he rallied the Vespers of Mathari to join Izira's group. It was enough to quickly unite the Empire, and Izira was crowned as a heavenly prophet-empress of the Fifth Empire in 1106.
The fifth empire was less draconian, and sought to balance the needs of Feywild and Western dryads. The Fifth Empire's policies were to solve problems by throwing them at the Human invaders. It worked to create a sense of unity, especially when Orthodox armies began flooding into the North in 1190, in what would come to be known as the Amber Crusade. In 1300, Cats were granted increased rights and no longer bound to workforces (an unsuccessful and draconian policy that had seen most cat clans used for Gem Farming). Cats were instead to be governed by their own government within the empire, known as the Pure Clan, which would elect the Star of Stars to be deputy to the emperor.

The Sixth Empire

The Fifth empire excelled at governing the West, but constantly failed at governing Feywild Mathari. In the 1470s, following victories against the Amber and Golden Crusade, the Fifth Empire hit a snag in the West as well: lands and settlements reclaimed from the Orthodox were kept as imperial crownlands to be fortified, rather than granted to elites within the empire. These controversies could have been overlooked if the empress had not been caught in a naval battle while attempting to personally lead intervention forces in the Lusayan civil war in 1475. Her claimants began feuding, things escalated, the empire became unravelled.
In 1479, the dryad to unite the Feywilds empire was someone completely unheard of: Nefira the bloody, an urban guildmaster that had murdered and talked her way into controlling the guilds of the Feywild capital of Vitayla. Having led a coup of the city, this former glassblower managed to maneuver and bribe the clans into submission before launching a military invasion of West Mathari. Not taken seriously, Nefire was able to waltz up to the capital, capture several claimants, win a few key battles, and seize direct control. Claiming to be a prophet-empress, Nefira founded the Sixth Empire- the longest lasting of them all.
Since the Sixth Empire, the warfare has become constant with the Orthodox crusades. The Red March of the 1550s was the only main counter-offensive of note; everything else has been a struggle to survive. Kobolds and wizardry were imported in 1680, but no serious Kobold settlement ever took hold. The opening of trade lines to Samvara provided a lifeline of money, weapons, and soldiers- but nothing is ever enough.
The empire now faces a serious crisis: the border, fragile as it is, is breaking. The Far West, tired of Feywilds domination, stopped listening to orders from Vitayla in 2016ME. The final fragmenting of Mathari may be at hand- the end of an empire that has survived against all odds for almost 2000 years.

Demography and Population

2,500,000 humanoids and 15,000 cats live in the Mathari Empire. 48% of these are Dryads, 47% are Human, 5% are Vesper.
In prior eras, the human percentage was far higher, but as the empire recedes few humans choose to follow the Mathari in retreat.

Territories

The Empire currently controls a stretch of land 182 miles North-South and 223 miles West-East, extending into the Northern Feywilds. In prior centuries, the entire Northwestern Rim was Mathari land, but now even this modest sliver is difficult to fully control in the face of constant incursions.

Military

The Mathari Empire is a military wearing a state and religion as hats. The military bureaucracy is the true core of state power- it runs everything from agriculture to trade. The religious and political bureaucracies are largely organs of this military superstructure. In theory (and almost in practice), every dryad is a soldier that can be called upon if a large crusading army arrives- a 1,200,000-dryad standing army in reserve. Much of the economic engine is devoted to training, arming, and supplying this force. Religious service often includes military drills for the civilian population. This includes spear, dagger, and archery training- the Mathari have little use for cavalry. Rural dryads learn survival skills and small squadron tactics and are encouraged to engage in guerrilla warfare and skirmishing, while urban dryads focus on mass formations. Most dryads learn a little of both.
Desmian Humans are not common in the army- the common belief is that they are quick to defect and unreliable. More accurately, human exception from military service is vital for propaganda keeping humans in line- it provides a sense of protection and privilege while keeping humans unarmed. As the exception that proves the rule, human communities can be conscripted into military service in times of emergency or be allowed military service in exchange for work exemptions elsewhere (usually in auxiliary capacities). The greatest exception are the Slave Knights: a small regiment of elite human fighters answering directly to the Ursha, recruited from the best human fighters across the empire (including many human rebels and criminals)
Vespers are also expected to serve in the military in their own regiments that work as personal retinues. The most famous of these is the Grey Guard- a personal retinue to the Ursha that protect the imperial palace and usually have direct ties to the 1 or more Vesper magister militums in court.
Aside from the Dryad, Human, and Vesper divisions, the Mathari have large numbers of foreign mercenaries, adventurers, and pilgrims serving under them. Feywild mercenaries, Hadayan or Lusayan mercenaries, and Samvaran mercenaries make up the bulk of these foreigner legions. To pay for them, the Mathari borrow from the kingdom of Hadaya and the Dusk Travelers- offering trade monopolies in exchange. Despite few promises to ever be able to pay these back, these kingdoms continue to lend both for control over Mathari and to court the Lunar Pantheon's favor.

Religion

By Imperial decree, only Alkaran religion is allowed in Mathari, punishable by death. This rule is only actually applied to Dryads, and only enforced on dryads of status. Nonetheless, the majority of dryads are Alkaran. The religious bureaucracy is everywhere, and worship and military-state service are often one in the same. Religious institutions manage education, courts, social safety nets, urban food rationing, and news media.
Ishkibism is permitted (even encouraged) within the empire for Humans, as Ishkibal is seen as the patron saint of humans as "Slave Knight of Halcyon". Human Ishkibite temples serve as a way to build local leadership and consensus, and priests often work as de-facto village heads.Dryad worship of Ishkibal is seen as humiliating and embarrassing, though some lowest-status dryads worship Ishkibal as a patron for the lost and abandoned.
Orthodox Desmians are persecuted aggressively, which does little to stop it from attracting human followers.The labor camps of the floating population and criminal detention centers are radical centers for Orthodoxy, often under the guise of Ishkibism.

Foreign Relations

The Mathari have close ties to the Ishkibite kingdom of Hadaya and owe large debts to the Serene Principality of Okina. They have diplomatic relations with the Empire of Nefka, Kingdom of Lusaya, the Kingdom of Valick, and Samvaran kingdoms of Kiami, Siashi, and Severesh.
The Golden and Amber Crusades also have permanent ambassadors (both Vesper), whose primary jobs are to handle accusations of truce breaking during The Day of Blood but otherwise are mostly formalities.

Agriculture & Industry

The Empire utilized all the resources it can muster, and is heavily developed and populated. Large fortress-towns dot the countryside, radiating out from large cities. The countryside is covered in estate farms overlooked by aristocratic castles and small rural villages with minor fortifications. The agricultural villages are theoretically segregated by species, but often overlap in practice as dryad and human farmers are often able to share land- dryads gathering and preparing the detritus from orchards or nearby forests also used by human villagers. Humans can then hunt and fish in dryad lands.
Large estate farms, quarries, mines, lumberyards, paper mills, plantations, and workshops often crop up nearby these dual-villages, drawing on human labor the village provides while also taxing and providing military supplies to the dryad village.
Labor camps and Jewel farms tend to be in the more inland remote areas, often near the Feywild border.
The fortress-towns of the Mathari are manufacturing centers for textiles, smelting, forging, tanning, and carpentry. Raw resources extracted from estates are transported to these towns for processing. Surplus goods are sent further in to urban centers, where large monopolistic guilds deal with most trading and artisanal production.
Urban areas produce artisanal goods, but primarily work to supply military supplies for the large nearby standing armies. They are also bureaucratic centers and trading ports where outside merchants and legally buy from guilds and sell foreign goods. The city guilds are known for their excellent jewel-smithing, and produce large amounts of jewel-iron tools, weapons, and armor.

Trade & Transport

All legal guilds are semi-military organizations, requiring military and religious representation in all guild meetings. All legal practicing of a trade requires a guild license (though plenty of unlicensed trade occurs), and guild membership means prioritizing military quotas and production over local production. It also means that, when a tradesman undergoes their mandatory military or religious service, they can practice their trade within that capacity- working as support staff rather than frontlines troops. Support staff is still expected to fight, but only in emergencies.
Foreign merchants are typically restricted to large urban centers unless they have imperial privileges to trade internally (something restricted to mercenary-merchants, Hadayans, and Dusk Travelers).

Education

The Empire demands 17 years of mandatory education one to three days a week for all dryads, provided by the Alkaran priesthood. This includes military drills, literacy, and basic arithmetic. Priests can select small numbers of exceptional students to be recommended for increased education, to be trained as bureaucrats or warriors for 2-4 years. Exams done in the large city centers then determine if the student is recommended for a teaching, fighting, engineering, mercantile, or diplomatic track. Those of the highest tier are taken to Vitayla, to be taught in the Imperial University.
Humans receive what education they can get from Ishkibite temples- typically some basic military training (via hunting) and sometimes literacy. Vespers have no system in place, but usually find that education is provided by high-status Vesper families seeking to court their communities.

Infrastructure

The First Empire was famous for their infrastructure, which has become the backbone of the region since- many old stone roads, aqueducts, and bridges are of First Empire design. More rural roads, built to accommodate the estate system, date to the Fifth or Sixth Empires and have a more modern style. Vitaylan style- a mix of old Mathari, Okinan, Valickan, and Samvaran- marks the Sixth Empire's works, typically in mines, castles, and fortifications.

The World Ends With Us

Founding Date

50 (First Empire) 1479 (Sixth Empire) 1890 (Current dynasty)

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Capital

Vitayla

Alternative Names

The Mathari Imperium, The Alkara, The Snake Dryads

Demonym

Mathari

Government System

Monarchy, Theocratic

Power Structure

Unitary state

Economic System

Command/Planned economy

Currency

Asalayan Golden Dragons, Silver Eagles, Copper Bulls

Major Exports

Jewel-iron goods, Lumber, iron, food (sometimes), tar, metals

Major Imports

Food (sometimes), textiles, dyes, silk, wine

Legislative Body

Law comes entirely from the Ursha, often confirmed by the Magister Militum

Judicial Body

The priesthood of Kredea manages judicial bureaucracy, headed by the Magister of Justice.

Official State Religion

Alkara

Location

Desmia