Azi Empire
The Azi Empire. The land of dragons. While other species do call the empire their home, it is the sheer number of dragons that has flocked to its banner that has caused others to notice. And to worry. The Azi Empire has never hidden its expansionism, fuelled by a dream of a world flourishing under the wise guidance of dragons.
This dream meets challenges both external and internal. Externally, plenty of factions oppose the notion that the dragons of the Azi Empire would be better suited to rule their lands. Furtheremore, having already conquered the sphere of Azimin, further expansion has proved challenging. Transporting an entire army to another sphere is a massive logistical challenge, not to mention supplying said army once a beachhead has been formed.
Internally, the leadership of the Azi Empire, it's emperor, empress and the leaders of the Great Houses, struggle with the very nature of their subjects. Dragons are by nature rarely cooperative and often chafe under rules and regulations imposed by others. Territorialism and posessiveness means civic concepts such as taxes or conscriptions are likely to provoke fights rather than patriotism.
Despite these challenges, the Azi Empire has lasted for a long time, proving what dragons can do when they set aside their differences and work together.
Structure
Commander: A dragon given authority to command other dragons on behalf of the empire.
Emperor/Empress: The ruling dragons of the Azi Empire. Iraynjadry "Babyace" Dragoncrown and Gyrvolorsirth "The Shepherd" Dragoncrown have ruled for the entirety of the Empire's existence.
House: Smaller governing body that handles the responsibility of a facet of the empire.
Hunter: Specialised agent of the empire tasked with acqusition far outside allied territory.
Culture
The core belief of the Azi Empire is that dragons, by virtues of their strength, long lifespans, intelligence, magic and deep connection to nature and the best suited to guide the spheres into a better nature. At the same time, it is also believed that some of the very vices that comes natural to dragons, selfishness, arrogance, calousness and a disregard for others would naturally draw dragons away from making the best decisions.
The Azi Empire's culture thus focuses not only on exalting the nature of dragons, but also channel their more negative qualities into constructive, or at least not disruptive, purposes.
Public Agenda
The sworn mission statement of the Azi Empire is: "To assume administrative control of those spheres whose current overseers lacks the skills, ressources or other facets to govern their lands effeciently and to the benefit of all." This translates to that the Azi Empire feels it has not only the right, but the sworn duty to invade and conquer territories that they feel are not properly administrated, putting it under the superior governance of the Azi dragons.
Assets
The Azi Empire rules the entire sphere of Azimin and thus has access to all the ressources that affords. Miles of land produces the vast amount of food necesarry to feed a civilization primarily consisting of dragons, while heavy industries and solid trade has brought in wealth beyond imagining. Great archives collect lore from across the spheres to grant the empire the insight needed to overcome any obstacle.
The fact that a large percentage of the citizenry are dragons also lends the Empire strength, as well as making their military quite feared.
History
It all began in 1722 AIT. The demi dragon Iraynjadry, given the titel name Babyace due to being quite the magical prodigy even in his youngest years, made an observation of the world. Weaker creatures, like humans, banded together and made great accomplishments. Powerful creatures, like dragons, often lived issolated and were not known for their lasting works. And yet his own kind, demo dragons, seemed to benefit from both, being both powerful and social. And this phenomena drove him to investigate.
In 1727 AIT, after years of study, Iraynjadry realised that no society existed tha twas truly worthy of being called a dragon society. The only nation primarily governed by dragons he could find had eventually collapsed catastrophically, rendering a number of dragon species exctinct in the the process. Yet Iraynjadry knew his kind had the power to change the world and resolved then and there to found a nation.
This initiative went nowhere for the first many years. The first real development was in 1744 AIT, when Iraynjadry met Gyrvolorsirth, known as The Shepherd. She had taken over a valley and brought prosperity to its people, in return for the loyalty, service and tribute. Iraynjadry found this to be an excelent model for how draconic rulership could guide an area to prosperity. He thus tried to recruit Gyrvolorsirth to serve as an advisor for his cause. She, for her part, had no interest in serving under some tiny dragon with delusions of grandeur. This eventually ended in a battle between the two, her physical strength an equal match for his magical might, an encounter which at some point neither can pinpoint changed from furious to passionate. After this, the two agreed to lead the project as equals.
With Gyrvolosirths valley serving as their home base, the two endavoured to spread their territory and gathern ew draconic allies. This proved difficult as few dragons where interested in having their territory administrated by a higher authority than themselves. And any talk of taxes usually ended in violence. Yet the two did not give up and a few dragons did agree to join them, some out of curiosity, some out of sense of duty and some because the pair actually kicked their ass.
In 1782, things to a major turn when, on an expedition to Arnyekfold, Iraynjadry encountered the balefire dragon Driaokvalxioneeka 'Dreadwing' Emberscar, head of the Emberscar dragons. Already a large family of dragons, the Emberscars would be the perfect addition to the burgoning dragon nation, though the would be emperor had his doubts whether he could convince the ancient wyrm to subjugate himself to such an organization. To his surprise, Dreadwing heard him out and then pledged both the support of himself and that of his family.
This support would be an important boost, as not only did Dreadwing bring his own family, he also brought a number of other Arnyekfoldian dragons that had sworn loyalty to him. By 1789, the majority of the dragons who lived even remotely close to Gyrvolorsirth's vale had sworn loyalty and Iraynjadray formally declared it the birth of the Azi Empire.
By 2022 AIT, the sphere of Azimin had fallen completely under the control of the Azi Empire.
In 2352, the Azi Empire launched its largest military campaign yet, invading the sphere of Haritangala. The justification for the invasion was Haritangala's rich resources, which the native tsuchigumo, being somewhat isolationist, neither developed nor traded. Thus, it would be better of the Azi Empire took over so that the natural ressources could be used responsible. This lead to the seven yeard War of Burning Silk, which ended decisively at the capital city of Komure, when the tsuchigumo's prayers for aid called down an avatar of the Storm Weaver, Odin. The avatar faced the invaders and in single combat defeated the head of the invasion, the dragon Hirzioniiakenxaen 'Hooktail' Emberscar, gravely wounding her in the process. This broke the offensive and the dragons were soon after pushed out of the sphere, ending the Azi Empire's ambitions for now.
Demography and Population
While dragons dominate the Azi Empire, owing to their slow reproduction andl ow numbers, they only make up thirty to thrittyfive percent pf the population. A large part of the rest of the population are humans, but significant groups of wargs, hydras and phoenixes have also settled in the region, many of which where drawn in by alliances made by House Emberscar.
Class-wise, the citizenry is divided into dragons and non-dragons, with non-dragons being capable of receiving the status of honoary-dragon through deeds committed in the name of the empire.
Territories
The Azi Empire rules the entire sphere of Azimin.
Military
The Azi Empire's military is concentrated under House Emberscar.
Technological Level
Azi technologi is focused on intergrating primal magic into devices that can then be used on national scale. They are thus very unlikely to cause pollution or other disruptions. They also perform a lot of secret reasearch into Aeon Relics, mystical artifacts said to have been crafted by the deities themselves in ancient times.
Religion
The Council of Wyrms pantheon is the most worshipped set of deities in the empire. Tiamat is alsoworshipped, especially in the more rural regions.
Foreign Relations
Many nations are well aware of the fact that the Azi Empire is quite expansionist, which has made diplomacy difficult at times. Some nations do, however, feel safe enough, either from having the strength to go toe to toe with the empire or because they can see no reason for the empire to invade, that they deal with them freely.
Coron: The Cozzolino family is related to the Emberscar family and has ensured trade between the kingdom and the empire.
Luz de Guia: Trades with the empire. They have some reservation about the empire's actions which they've never been shy about. They share a policy of anti-piracy and keep each other informed of known criminals.
Megatropolis: A large hub for tarde all across the spheres. Kizzionovalexzta 'Kindeyes' Emberscar is a board member of the Parasol Corporation, giving the mepire a foothold in the city.
Suqara: A major trade network, though the kingdom has condemned the empire's expanionist ambitions.
Agriculture & Industry
Agriculture has a heavy focus in the empire, as many of its citizens require a notable amount of food. Mining is also important, both to extra the sheer amount of iron needed to craft dragon-sized equipment and to uncover veins of gems and precious metals. All industry in the empire is heavily regulated to ensure that t does not harm the land itself and druids are utilizied as inspectors to ensure this mandate is upheld.
Trade & Transport
Inter-emperial transport is usually done by horse wagon, though larger loads a carried from location to location by courier dragons. The empire has a number of navigator and large vessels specifically for off-sphere transport.
Education
The Azi Empire has access to a great deal of knowledge, though most teaching is done on a mentor-student basis. Many learned dragons willingly take on students, even non-dragon students, to educate them in their own topic of interest. Thus, the citizens of the Azi Empire tend to be specialised in their education, but longer lived races often receive mentorship from several elders through their life.
Infrastructure
The Azi Empire uses a sophisticated mixture of primal magic and mechanics to provide several services to its citizens, including sewage, clean waters, light and similar. A well developed network of roads makes transport easy, though it tends to be well trodden dirt in the areas farthest from the imperial heartland. Great ports allow a number of ships to come and go.
Dragons Eternal
Founding Date
1789 AIT
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Alternative Names
Ashbringers(Used among tsuchigumo, referring to the War of Burning Silk), Lizard Empire(Derogatory, commonly used in Megatropolis)
Demonym
Azi
Government System
Oligarchy
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Palace economy
Currency
For external trade, Coins is considered most convenient. Internally, something called Hoard Notes, or just Hoards for short, have gained popularity. The note is tied to a specific part of a given dragon's hoard and functions as a stand in for it during trade. Hypothetically, any citizen in posession of a Hoard could show up and claim the physical treasure it represents, but in practise, that is rare. It was invented as a way for dragon citizens to trade with their personal treasures without having to actually give it up.
Major Exports
The Azi Empire exports a number of things. Having so many dragons means they can supply dragon scales, teeth and blood with ease, as well as other substances, none of which requires any actual harm done. They also export many magical curios whose functions can help in various matters such as agriculture, hunting and so on, the hope being that these devices will also help other lands treat nature properly.
Major Imports
Food is a major import, as the sheer number of dragons is quite the task to feed, especially since even dragons prefer some variety. Another major import is knowledge, be that new technologies or magical developments.
Legislative Body
Any new law governing the empire must be agreed upon between the Emperor, Empress and the leaders of the Houses. The Houses may make their own rulings regarding the affairs they govern, but these rulings cannot break any law established for the empire as a whole.
Judicial Body
Each of the great Houses select a number of the dragons who serve them to act as Enforcers. These handle the breaking of the law as it pertains to the individual House. If a citizen breaks one of the Empire's overall laws, a council consisting of an Enforcer from each House is convened to judge the person.
The Enforcers are in turn served by a number of specialists whose job it is to uncover as much evidence around the crime in order to allow the Enforcers to make the soundest judgement possible.
Executive Body
House Emberscar has the responsibility of handling the empire's military safety and therefore enforcing the law falls under their jurisdiction, for which they have formed the Guardians. Each settlement has at least one Guardian, whose job it is to apprehend lawbreakers and act as first responder to incidents.
Parent Organization
Subsidiary Organizations
Official Languages
Related Plots
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