Aldrastian Empire
The Aldrastian Empire, known colloquially as Aldrastia, is a large empire taking up much of the northwest reaches of the mainland.
Territory
The territory of the Aldrastian Empire includes Old Aldrastia (also known as the Hearthlands), Suderi, Echtel, several colonies in the Altar Isles, and the Dawnlands. Old Aldrastia is the most industrialised region of the empire, and is home to the capital city of Il Dras. It is here that imperial culture is generally strongest - see the Culture section below for details. Suderi was a recent acquisition to the empire, the brutal war of annexation ending only a handful of years ago. The rich agrarian nature of the region means it can act as breadbasket while the cities around the capital specialise further into industry. Many refugees who have lost their homes, jobs, and in some cases families have dispersed throughout the empire from Suderi. While Echtel is more or less fixed on imperial maps, the region itself, keeping much of the magocratic foundation of its roots, is very difficult for foreigners to visit. Distances and locations of things within it shift, and roiling waves of thick mist keep visibility low at the best of times. Until the discovery of Makarr, it was considered the best place to search for unprovenanced artifacts, and many adventurer types would go there even now to find things they can fence off to imperial academics. The Altar Isles are a Caribbean-esque series of colonies and islands across the ocean from the mainland. Aside from the various plantations, the majority of the Isles' inhabitants have a reputation for being pirates, if they're not merchants. Even so, without the protection of the heavenshields to lean on, it is said that an islander can always tell when a False Dawn is coming. The Dawnlands are the eastern and southern borderlands of the Aldrastian Empire, and generally are entirely inhospitable to human life. Those that live there do so as nomads under the aegis of a small heavenshield siphoned from a noble dynasty's reservoir - or they soon perish. The False Dawn is strong here, and few live to tell of the havoc the phenomenon wreaks on the environment, leveling and raising mountains in an instant, turning lakes to deserts and back again. But for all that they are lethal, the Dawnlands are infinitely rich in resources, as the False Dawn gives as much as it takes - it is because of this that the empire maintains several work camps with which the worst of its prisoners (or in rare cases, the most desperate and foolhardy of its volunteers) may provide it with ever more raw materials.Politics
The Aldrastian Empire's legislation is based primarily on two organs: the Reichstag, and the Kaiserkreis. The Reichstag is a parliament composed of representatives from the various states of the empire; every five years, all citizens of the empire above the age of fifteen are given the chance to participate in a secret ballot to determine their representatives in the Reichstag. While the Reichstag has no right to appoint or dismiss government organs, it holds legislative power that only the Imperial Throne can overrule. The number of representatives a state holds is generally proportional to its population, though additional representatives have on occasion been allocated by fiat of the Throne. The Kaiserkreis is a council formed of representatives from major noble families and state organs. While they are able to vote on legislative changes and even constitutional amendments - the latter being a right no other body sans the Imperial Throne holds - the council's exertion of power has recently remained largely limited to allocation of imperial resources to major efforts such as disaster relief, large-scale infrastructure works, and military or diplomatic endeavours. As with the Reichstag, the Kaiserkreis's decisions may be overruled by the Imperial Throne, though traditionally the Throne abstains from deploying its vote except in the most dire times.Demographics
The vast majority of the Aldrastian Empire is composed of humans, though almost every city (in addition to many towns) contains at least one demihuman enclave. While nomadic clans of demihumans are tracked, their fluid nature makes an accurate count of demihuman population difficult. Changelings are traditionally counted as humans in imperial censuses, and hence the exact number of them in the empire is unknown. Masked legionnaires make up a sizeable minority, accounting for between five and ten percent of a city's population depending on proximity to imperial borders or the Dawnlands, though these numbers sharply decline outside of major population centres. Clockworks are the smallest demographic of the empire, numbering roughly one thousand five hundred in total - almost all towns and villages have zero or one of them, and even in cities they are extremely rare.Culture
The Aldrastian Empire has a culture of Bestimmung, wherein every citizen of the empire has a place in the empire, which itself has a place in the world. Citizens are generally encouraged to give their all in every endeavour they pursue, and failure is generally seen as a learning opportunity and chance to demonstrate improvement in the future. Aldrastian culture emphasises that it is effort and determination, not status or talent, that makes an individual great, and it is considered extremely impolite to besmirch the work done by even the lowest chimneysweep. Aldrastian cultural indoctrination begins at a young age - even with relatively apathetic parentage, all children that attend school will be taught discipline and work ethic first. To emphasise unity of purpose, classes are not segregated by wealth bracket, or indeed any bracket influenced by forces outside of school. Oaths of loyalty to the empire are learned at a young age, and children must often remain at school after their education for the day has concluded and help tidy up the day's detritus. As a result of the lack of universal education, however, it is typical for the impoverished to grow up in resentment of the empire and its values - a problem that is only exacerbated by the alternative to an education for most children being a life sweeping chimneys, in the coal mines, or as an urchin.Education
Children in the Aldrastian Empire are not guaranteed a free education by design - they are largely expected to have their education paid for by the state, a noble dynasty, or even a wealthy business owner, in exchange for a fixed term of service once they reach adulthood and conclude their education. The primary exception to this is scions of noble houses, whose own family pays all expenses without legal obligation, though they are largely expected to serve their family regardless. While in theory this enables even the lowest-class child to receive a proper imperial education (as even factory line workers are desired from such agreements, and so there are always plenty of education contracts to go around), in practice most families below the poverty line cannot afford to send a source of income away for years at a time. Occasionally, such a child will be picked up on a noble's contract, which often allows a stipend for precisely such situations. But in most cases, the disenfranchised simply wither away at the bottom of society, too mired in poverty to be propped up by the system. Imperial education skews towards the rational. After learning discipline and work ethic, a child is put through training in literacy and basic arithmetic, skills which much of the following years are spent refining. On top of this, history (alongside a hefty dose of imperial propaganda) and a basic education in the arts are usually deployed. Scientific education, and true development of artistic skill, are generally restricted to specialised classes later in the education, and access to them must be earned. Any child that shows magical potential during their education is fast-tracked to an imperial magic school, where their talents are immediately refined to put to use either in the empire's vast logistical workings, its military arm, or its academia. While noble children are often weaseled out of this service, many find their contracts with promising students seized alongside any hope of putting that student to work, unless they are able to pay eyewatering amounts of money to keep hold of the child.
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Power Structure
Unitary state
Related Species
Comments