Dhaerenuiin Impaerin

The Dhaerenuiin Impaerin is an empire that encompasses the vast majority of of The Darklands. Its origin dates back thousands of years ago, when the five big dynasties formed a federation. Since its creation, the only change in the territory controlled by the Impaerin was during the first Holy War, where humans from The Continent captured Yi'Riila and its surrounding territories.

Government

The Dhaerenuiin Impaerin is ruled by 5 houses who form a council. Each dynasty has their head who sits on the council.

Every city in the Impaerin is owned by one of the 5 houses and one member is responsible for each. These members have an absolute control over the area they govern, but they must abide by the orders given by their dynasty head.

Culture and Religion

The majority of the Impaerin follows Elven Duotheism and it is the only religion officially recognized within the Impaerin. However, there is a sizeable slave population who practice a wide range of beliefs, ranging from Order to Souljar.
The free people of the Impaerin are all elves, most of whom are drow. The slaves captured by the elves can be of any other race, but they are primarily humans. In addition, various mountain ranges are home to dark dwarves or duergar, who are rarely seen on the surface. They are tolerated by the drow, as their innate magic allows them to easily escape slavery.
The culture of the various parts of the Dhaerenuiin Impaerin all melted together throughout its existence, forming the Dhaerenuii ethnicity.

Military

The Impaerin doesn't have a unified military force, but the houses have their own retinue of elite soldiers. In addition, a sizeable portion of their population is trained to be a slaver from birth, so the average drow outclasses even a trained soldier in fighting skills, so drow militias are extremely potent on their own. Dark elf armies are usually very disorganized and unruly, which makes them unpredictable. They often engage in guerilla and hit-and-run tactics, instead of facing large armies head on.
Every fighter has their own gear, which is often better than the equipment of human armies as master craftsmen have been producing gear for hundreds of years, making them relatively cheap. The best equipped soldiers are usually part of one of the houses' retinues. In addition, the look of the armor and weapons often determine the hierarchy within their armies, as those with better gear usually have more money to bribe others with.
Although their soldiers are very formidable on their own, the weakness of this system have been shown as humans could defeat them in wars before thanks to their discipline, tactics and strength in numbers.

Slaver Guilds
Although the dark elves can be borderline barbaric when it comes to their slavery practices, they aren't completely disorganized. Slave guilds, ruled by members of the 5 houses oversee and regulate slave operations, including raids, transport, trade and ownership. They are also the ones who organize the Slave Bids. When an individual learns of a good opportunity for a slave raid, such as a festival on a coastline, they can sell the information to the highest bidder. The winner of the bidding also gets exlusive rights to enslavement at the location or of the group of potential slaves. Richer families use this system to gain exclusivity to more bountiful slaving opportunities, while making life for smaller groups almost impossible.
Form of Government
Hereditary Oligarchy

Type

Territory

Location under

The Darklands

Related Ethnicities

• Dhaerenuii