New Rozsan Empire
The Second Colonial, Necrocratic Empire of First Age Materia
The Empire of New Rozsa was the second and final of the major interplanar colonies that settled Waking Materia in the First Age, this one emigrating from the more advanced and central plane of Rozsa. They arrived about 600 years after the Kelpeater Empire of Lorgain, thus beginning the Middle Upper or "Elmdorian" Era, according to the Yasnan Calendar. The name of the Era gets its name from Elmdor, the Rozsan nation-state that would eventually become the Empire.
Rulership was complex but decisions ultimately had to meet the approval (or at least ambivalence) of the twin God-Emperors and Lichlords Nir and her brother Nef. Though Nef was most active and more often seen, the eccentric Nir was thought to be the Empire's true ruler.Imagery
See also: Image Gallery of Nireau (external)Unlike the Kelpeaters (who did not often print non-military texts, and whose architecture is mostly known from ruins), large volumes of Rozsan and Nireauan writings remain on matters of art and architecture, and as such Third Age scholars have a relatively good idea of what New Rozsan cityscapes would have looked like. They had a fondness for ornate styles, with decorated friezes, statues, narrative art and especially conical or crown-shaped spires. Unlike the consistently geometric Kelpeater ziggurats and stacked, cubic townships, Rozsan architects were often highly experimentative, sometimes incorporating more flowing, natural shapes, often in the name of artistic harmony with the structure's surroundings.
History
The initial cause of the Empire's exodus was thought to be due to heavy cultural persecution experienced by its Rozsan precursor, a Nation-District known as Elmdor, who were the subject of frequent and often brutal inquisitions by neighbouring Districts for participating in occultism, blood magic, avant garde music and theoretical physics. This culminated in what became known as Elmdor's Final Referendum: no longer willing to endure the attacks, the district had become sharply divided between a militant "stay and fight" wing and a more peaceful "third way" movement lead by Nir, who wanted only to seek enlightenment unharassed. Aided by her brother Nef's strategic brilliance and the diplomatic acumen of their long-time ally Lakodalmas, Nir emerged victorious. Some number of Remainer militants still dig in their heels and fought, but having lost their bid for a united front, they did not last long and remaining Elmdorite cultures would be largely subsumed or went underground.The Deluge
While the Empire was almost completely annihilated by the Deluge at the end of the First Age. However some Nireauan fortresses and temples remained in remarkably good shape throughout the Second Age, forming the core of truly ancient cities like Fauregand, Caer Gormengast and Valamon City.The Vestige Materietúm
Despite the extinction of New Rozsa by the Deluge's apocalyptic floods and tsunamis, there remains one extraordinary microcosm of Rozsan civilization, in a demon-controlled city in the Near Umbra known as the Vestige Materietúm. The city is a sort of ant farm, wherein demons invisibly observe the goings-on of the otherwise accurate Rozan city. The citizens, through unknown means, are unaware of their highly unique situation. Whether or not the city was intentionally rescued from the Deluge is up to debate, though such benevolence from the arrogant and morally alien demons would be unusual.Society
While the empire would expand and contract over the following centuries, the nation state of Nireau would comprise the cultural and governmental core of the Empire; in fact Nireau was so influential that modern scholarship often uses the name interchangably with New Rozsa. This confusion is exacerbated mainly because Nireauan was the lingua franca of the empire, with the vast majority of surviving texts being in that language.
Other major population centres included:
- Nío Elmdor
- Nío Isidor
- Severax
- Xoís
- Csílla
- Midras-Elynax
Death in Rozsan Society
The Rozans had extremely rich and complex beliefs around the journeys that await one's soul after death. Though some of these potential journeys were described as dangerous or brought judgement on the person's past actions, most are described as positive or neutral, with the overall impression that death is simply another chapter of experiences that carry much of the same unpredictability and variance that the Waking world holds. Additionally the Lichlords, who themselves had mastered death, portrayed themselves as strong and caring psychopomps, willing to cross the Veil and discipline creatures who would harrass the wandering souls of their subjects. (Whether this actually occurred is unclear, though the means to cross into the Duskscape was well within the means of the ruling demigods.)
Voluntary converstion to undeath was seen as an honourable course of action: criminals and other "undesirables" were encouraged to undergo the process to spare the justice system the effort of choosing and enforcing punishments. Doing so often brought their extended family honour or even financial compensation. The rituals were solemn and usually painless, traditionally using a sacred breed of asp whose venom was both fast-acting and pleasantly numbing.
Acceptance of "state necromancy" was common but not entire: groups existed that protested some or all of its aspects, most famously the Ionian League under Vierix Ionia. Though the worship of gods of death's sanctity like Overshepherd Rom or The Skull Knight was highly persecuted in Rozsan society, these organizations sometimes bore strong similarity to other historical orders of the Death Gods. Indeed, some (though not all) sects of the Ionians were worshippers of Rom, making them members of what the Rozsans called Hyperion Cults.Hyperion Cults
For more information, see the full article: The Hyperion Cults.
Shunned and sometimes violently persecuted, there were movements throughout the Second Empire's history who wished to worship "true" or "celestial" gods (e.g. the Overbeings or Insurgent Gods) as opposed to their landed, undead godlords. They generally referred to these true gods as Hyperions ("Higher Even Than").Rule
The government of New Rozsa appears to have been exceedingly complex and multilayered, with considerable freedom given to individual city-states, however major political or military actions would not be taken without the blessing of the Empire's ruling council, known as the Temporal Vanguard, lead by the twin God-Emperors Nir and Nef. Under Nir in particular, it was the Vanguard that initially defected from Old Rozsa to colonize Waking Materia. She asked her brother Nef if he would join and, ever loyal to his sister, he agreed.
The Lichlords of New Rozsa held the title Vierix (plural: Vierices; no known translation). Unlike the Kelpeaters, New Rozsan society was largely secular, with the Lichlords Nir and Nef ruling over a complex web of councils, senates and courts. They were seen more as (extremely powerful) nobles rather than gods to be worshipped, which by all accounts was their design.
Undeath was a daily reality in New Rozsa, with mindless undead making up a large part of the nation's labour and military force. This made them dire enemies of the death gods Overshepherd Rom and The Skull Knight, who represent the sanctity of the deceased. Lichdom was also granted to more nobles and Nir and Nef didn't hold these secrets as tightly as Ina'ut. The known lesser Lichlords are as follows.Vierix Lakodalmas
Full Article: Vierix Lakodalmas
See also: Vierix Lakodalmas Image Gallery (External)
The Listener at the Edge. A mysterious and reclusive figure, said to be the eldest of the Rozsan immortals, even older than Nir and Nef. Generally portrayed as an ancient black dragon gilded in golden skin grafts. It is unknown whether he was an actual dragon by birth or the shape was simply a warbody that he never shed.Vierix Echidna
Full Article: Vierix Echidna
See also: Vierix Echidna Image Gallery (External)
The Ebon Hand. The first of two major Nireauan warlords, charged by her twin god-emperors to explore and secure the myriad islands voidward of Nireau. Echidna’s writings would remain the canon of First Contact methods for centuries. Unlike her glory-driven counterpart Adepticus, the Ebon Hand was as content to use subterfuge as she was to use violence, though if a fight was necessary, she was well ready: known as the Volgirre, her elite guard were masters of survival, infiltration, psychology, swordsmanship and blood magic.Vierix Adepticus
Full Article: Vierix Adepticus
See also: Vierix Adepticus Image Gallery (External)
Glad-O-War; The Grinning Lion. The second of the Nireauan army’s two supreme commanders, Glad-O-War was responsible for the Coreward front while Echidna's forces explored Voidward. Adepticus lived and breathed warfare: nothing thrilled him more than a strategic disadvantage to be overcome, a new enemy general to outwit or a new weapon to test.Vierix Chelicerax
Full Article: Vierix Chelicerax
See also: Vierix Chelicerax Image Gallery (External)
The Red King. Initially a top-ranking enforcer of the Empire's Ex-Nihilo paramilitary, a politically invisible task force the Lichlords reached to for the most politically delicate of operations. At any rate, the Empire loosened his leash a little too much, and so the Red King ran his scorpion-man (called chelierans) army on a merry reiving across the Beta Quarter, nearly bringing out the world war he was previously employed to protect, before being personally dispatched by Lichlord Nef himself.Vierix Ionia
Full Article: Vierix Ionia
See also: Vierix Ionia Image Gallery (External)
The Dread Star of Heaven. Arch-paladin of a minor but inluential Nireauan religion known as the Three-Pointed Dawn. Generally portrayed in a simple but dignified suit of bright-white mythrilweave and a gold, featureless mask that covered her entire head. While Nir & Nef were unfond of the Heavenswaard church and their political meddling, it seems apparent that antagonizing Ionia and her alabaster armies was less convenient than including them in Nireauan statecraft.Vierix Orgonon
Full Article: Vierix Orgonon
See also: Vierix Orgonon Image Gallery (External)
The Sagacious; The Flavour of Morning. Another sort of religious leader in the odd Nireauan reckoning of things, Orgonon was a monk initially dedicated to the physical and mental cultivation required to explore the Duskscape, teaching meditative techniques to resist fear, enchantment & illusion and martial arts to compensate for the sometimes odd behaviour of material weapons in quasi-reality.
These techniques burgeoned into their own religion. By all accounts Orgonon was aloof to this development and uninterested in worship, but regardless churches held a perilous position in Nireauan society (as Vierix Ionia knew all too well), and a branch of Orgonon's monks, lead by a charismatic poet named Casvaret Dispar-Dispar, acted to reconcile the budding religion with conventional Nireauan beliefs. The result was a series of treatises known as the Analects of the Inner Reverse Gate. Discovery of an intact copy of the Analects is one of the great hopes of Waking historians and anthropologists.Vierix Xandalphon
Full Article: Vierix Xandalphon
See also: Vierix Xandalphon Image Gallery (External)
Generally portrayed as a handsome, muscular, light-complexioned man with a strong dislike of clothing. Accounts on this Lichlord are varied and less agreed-upon by Scholars of the Canon, painting the picture of a man possessed of either great subtlety or great eccentricity, with erratic loyalties and indefinable politics.
In actual fact Xandalphon was an avatar of the first local ascendant and goddess of night Asphodel, acting as a mole within the empire that was decimating her nation-cult at the time. Whether the Night Lady was ever successful in exacting revenge on her subjects’ killers is unclear; certainly New Rozsa would undergo a series of sharp declines in the coming centuries, however it’s difficult to prove what fraction of that was Asphodel’s holy work.Vierix Euphraxia
Full Article: Vierix Euphraxia
See also: Vierix Euphraxia Image Gallery (External)
The Ashen. Euphraxia of the Long Arm. Perhaps the most polarizing and controversial of the Nireauan Lichlords, The Ashen appears to be regarded by scholars as either a messiah or utterly insane, with few opinions resting in between. Similar to Orgonon the Sagacious, she was both a ruling councilmember and a religious leader in her own right, but that’s where the comparison ends.
Until the collapse of the Nireauan Empire, Euphraxia desired only one thing: to create the Philosopher’s Stone, an arcane catalyst that can allegedly grant an entire coven magicks equal or even greater in power than those of the arcane demigods. She was destroyed in The Hemlock Veldt Disaster in pursuit of this goal.Vierix Pramanix
Full Article: Vierix Pramanix
See also: Vierix Pramanix Image Gallery (External)
A reclusive genius in a similar vein to God-Empress Nir herself, very little information has survived on Pramanix, who seemed to disdain fame, vanity or empty conversation. Surviving art is generally of a plain-looking man in his 40s or 50s with rounded spectacles and a hunch (unusual in that the Lichlords had access to bioengineered eyes and spines). Much of his work seemed to revolve around the meeting of the physical and metaphysical, the barrier between life and death, alchemy and magic, hoping to find a consistent underlying model of all things. He was especially interested in the Veil between Waking Materia and its sleeping counterparts.Vierix Clymenikari
Full Article: Vierix Clymenikari
See also: Vierix Clymenikari Image Gallery (External)
Seemingly the latest of the Vierices, Clymenikari was unusual in that she seemed to have more access to Nir than nearly everyone else save for the God-Empress's brother. She would being news of the outside world to the reclusive Nir, whereupon they would allegedly discuss every subject under the Wyld.
Clymenikari was a biologist, anthropologist and social theorist who was the lead liaison between New Rozsan Empire and the intelligent, non-humanoid Hecath. She was able to befriend a particularly gregarious Hecath Queen by the word-name of Raggedy Azra. They developed a shared sign language as humanoids were incapable of the Hecath's scent-based language, and across decades exchanged untold amounts of cross-cultural information.Vierix Phaedra
Full Article: Shelas Ob'Silexia
See also: Shelas Ob'Silexia Image Gallery (External)
A famous medium and channeler, especially sensitive to the spirits of the drowned, Phaedra would eventually become the feared Material God of predation and sea monsters, Ob'Silexia. Even as an insane god-monster, she seemed to retain her hatred of New Rozsa's rival empire, Alanthan'aravaut... indeed, she may have been personally responsible for the Alanthian decline in nautical power in the late First Age.Vierix Arcturinox
Full Article: Vierix Arcturinox
See also: Vierix Arcturinox Image Gallery (External)
The solemn, tireless, unstoppable march of justice. Arcturinox is minor Rozsan demigod from a time before the empire's colonization of Materia, an ascendant hero of a great war where Galateids threatened to overtake organic humanoid civilization. Arcturinox regards itself as generous, like a veterinarian bravely shoving the medicine in the biting maw of a frightened animal. Both its hand and organic humanoids will then heal. Arcturinox is presumed dead after a second, also failed attempt to conquer Waking Materia.Vierix Oleander
Full Article: Vierix Oleander
See also: Vierix Oleander Image Gallery (External)
Most High Pontifex of the Sanguine Vow. Seemingly the latest of the Vierices prior to the fall of Nireau, Oleander achieved her lichlorddom upon taking over the leadership of the Sanguine Vow, a semi-independent protectorate of estrié who were ostensibly loyal to the twin god-emperors. Accounts seem mostly to rate her as an unimpressive High Pontifex, more preening and shallow than her predecessors, though there is the occasional suspicion that this was a persona meant to obscure the political movements of the Vow.
The New Rozsan Empire
Scope
Interplanar
Origin
Rozsa, Nitoxite Eighth
Active
Middle First Age to End First Age
God-Empress Nir
God-Emperor Nef
The Temporal Vanguard
Profile: Elite warmages of the Empyreal Guard.
Illus. Mamoru Nagano & Square-Enix Design Team
Banner: Scenery of Nireau & New Rozsa.
Music: A New Rozsan peasant dance.
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