Empire of Sellenia
The Empire of Sellenia is a vast nation controlling nearly all of the Southern Isles and large portions of the continental mainland. The Empire controls moer than 1,000 islands and thousands of square miles of mainland and rules a population of nearly 10 million souls.
The Sellenian Empire is a maritime super-power, with most of its economy driven by the sea. Able to force its collective will through the utilization of vast navies and large armies, the Empire has successfully extended its control over huge swaths of both land and sea.
It is also a slave-based society, with Humans, Dwarves and Gnomes in bondage by the hundreds of thousands. These slaves are captured from far lands or are bred in captivity and sold by their owners and the numbers of enslaved people is nearly a million souls.
The Empire is ruled by the Ulan Emperor, Hyrash IX. The Ulan Dynasty has ruled the empire for more than 150 years and are responsible for the growth of the nation to its current size and population. Hyrash is a powerful and charismatic ruler that has a degree of control and influence over the nation that is unprecedented in the history of the empire.
Structure
Ruled by the Ulan Emperor from the Alabaster Throne in the capital city of Abest. The empire is divided into several regional governments, most of which are centered on specific islands within the Southern Isles archipeligo. Each of these regional governments is ruled by a governor known as a Pasham and all serve at the will of the Ulan Emporer.
Demography and Population
The Empire of Sellenia has a current population of very nearly 10 million people. The vast majority of these souls are Human, and the majority of those humans are ebonos, or dark-skinned southern natives. The largest non-human population are Dwarves and nearly all of them live in the regions of the Empire located on the mainland.
Definite numbers are debated, but fully one in every 10 people living within the Empire are slaves. Slaves of nearly every race of intelligent being known are to be had within the Sellenian Empire, if the price is right. Even Elves have been sold through the flesh markets of the Empire, along with Human, Halfling, Gnome, Dwarf and even Orc (prized as fodder for fighting pits and gladiator games). The largest slave populations are found within the larger cities, but significant numbers can also be found in rural areas and in the many galleys of the Sellenian naval forces.
Territories
The Empire is primarily made up of the bulk of the Southern Isles archipelago and a nearly equal area of the continental mainland directly west of the Isles. Of the more than 1,500 populated islands in the archipelago, only a very few are not part of the Empire. The largest and most powerful of these non-Empire islands are the Island of Cartor in the northern region of the islands and the island of Aresh and its surrounding islands. Thee islands that are under the rule of the Ulan Emperor are divided into provinces based on heavily populated large islands. There are currently nine island provinces and seven mainland provinces. These provinces are all ruled by governors (called Pashah in Sellenian) who are appointed by the Ulan Emperor himself. The Pashah is the "voice and hand of the Emperor" in all things civil, military and judicial within the province they rule.
Military
The Sellenian Empire maintains the single greatest naval armada currently known. Conservative estimates place the number of capable warships available to the Ulan Emperor at more than 1,000, and seasoned crews for that armada numbering more than a quarter of a million men and women strong. The Empire also has three seasoned and very capable armies currently concluding a successful campaign on the mainland regions called Ayroon and Aykar that offer a combined total of another 90,000 veteran fighters of all types.
The Emperor, Hyrash IX, also has built a cohort of world-class fighters and assassins collectively known as the Aldammii, or "blood bound". These aldammii are janissarian conscripts bound through blood magic to the Emperor himself in such a way that when he expresses his will to one of the aldammii, they are utterly compelled to follow his instructions to the end. The aldammii retain the ability to reason and can utilize independent thought and action in so far as it is required to complete the task assinged by the Emperor. These warrior-assassins are some of the most feared opponents in the entire known world.
Religion
There are more than a dozen religious faiths practiced openly within the Empire, bot for the last 151 years, the official religion of the Empire has been the worship of and sacrifice to the god-demon Baphomet. Baphomet is universally represented in statues and idols as a hulking, horned beastial being. He has the head of a horned goat or bull, the body of a hairy humanoid or giant, and the legs and hooves of a goat or bull. He is typically depicted as wielding an axe of some kind, and his lair/abode is often described as a labyrinth or maze of legendary complexity. Sacrifices to Baphomet are always of living creatures (even intelligent beings) decapitated with an axe of some kind.
All of the 13 Ulan Emperors that have sat the Alabaster Throne have worshiped and sacrificed to Baphomet, and most of the Empire's elite follow their example and practice. All public executions and the majority of individual public sacrifices are dedicated to Baphomet within the Empire of Sellenia.
Foreign Relations
The Empire does not have many "friends" amongst its fellow nations. All neighboring nations fear the day when Sellenian armies or naval vessels appear at their doors. Kingdoms and nations that are not actively fighting the Empire trade with it only out of necessity, and always with a wary eye.
The Empire has very recently won a war against a people just to the west of the previously accepted border, adding a tract of territory to the Empire that is greater than the current size of the Kingdom of Aria. With the successful conclussion of this latest military campaign, the Emperor can now turn his attention to the north towards the always-troublesome Arak Coast.
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Alternative Names
Sellenian Empire
Leader
Leader Title
Currency
One gold Dinam (1g) = 60 silver Fadii (1s)
One Dinam equals $360, and one Fadii equals $6
Official State Religion
Location
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
Related Species
Related Ethnicities
