Silnarian Empire
| Formal Name | Silnarian Empire |
|---|---|
| Capital | Ulnasachta |
| Head of State | Empress Innei Aesilnari |
| Government Type | Feudal Monarchy |
| Cultures | ~75% Silnarian, ~15% Hasaapian, ~10% Lymian, ~2% Prasi, ~2% Runran |
| Religions | Silnarian |
| Population Density | High |
| Population | 20 million |
The Silnarian Empire is a Lathian dominated absolute monarchy centered around the Silnarian Plains. The Silnarian Empire once controlled most of the known world in northwestern Ramul Ta, but has declined greatly from its peak two hundred years ago.
The Silnarian Empire however, is still considered a great power to be reckoned with, and underneath Innei’s guidance, the Empire has been recovering slowly. With a peace treaty between the three great powers guaranteeing peace, Silnaria has been looking west, longing to restore its lost land.
Government
The Silnarian Empire is in theory, an absolute monarchy. The Silnarian Empire once had a very efficient bureaucratic machine administering most of the empire under direct control - but Silnaria never managed to displace the martial elites from politics, with the result that they still play a heavy part in its politics. Silnaria has a somewhat traditional council, or a cabinet, with the most important figures being the Chancellor, Chamberlain, Marshal-At-Arm, Marshal-At-Sea.
Underneath the Emperor are a mixture of dukes and governors - many of whom have seized back the right to inherit their position during the catastrophe of the preceding centuries. Further underneath the dukes are a mixture of free cities, towns, and sprawling noble estates - with towns and cities often ruled by noble families, too. Many of the higher nobles simultaneously hold non-hereditary administrative positions and their hereditary positions.
The Aesilnari family is considered the most important, having cemented their rules over the course of 700 years, yet the ruling house has not yet proactively - nor successfully, supplanted other noble houses in importance. However, by this point in time, nearly half of all noble houses in the Empire claim direct or cadet descent from the old Aesilnari house. And the remaining houses are nearly all connected by marriages.
Locations
Geographically, the Silnarian Empire is divided into two main parts - the western Silnarian Plateau,, and the Silnarian River Valley.
The Silnarian River Valley, or Twin River Valley consists of the river valleys of the Luair and the Nionach river. It is here that Silnarian civilization was founded. The capital of the Silnarian Empire,, Ulnaschta is located near the mouth of the river, at the Bruathu province. The river valley is densely populated and home to fertile farmland, with plenty of lesser pastureland used to raise the horses that Silnaria is famous for. To the northwest is the Cladthir province - consisting of rural and coastal settlements, with the important, sacred Mt. Ban located in the province. To the east is Cillthor - a heavily urbanized and quasi-industrialized province, the only eastern city to refuse to join Lymia in their rebellion - despite having a mostly Lymian population. The rest of the valley are populated mostly by Silnarian.
The Silnarian Plateau is the other major geographical part of the Empire, consisting of a large highland that rises above the rest of the plains in the west. Its inhabitants used to differ in culture significantly from the lowlander - and spoke a different form of Silnarian - but after rule by the same Empire for hundreds of years and the spreading of Silnarian culture - cultural differences have diminished significantly. The Silnarian Plateau consists of perhaps half of Silnaria's population, and contain most of its Hasaapian slaves and freedmen, most of whom were and still are imported from the west to work on various farm. Compared to the densely populated east, the west is a bit more rural and dominated by various nobles - most prominent of which is the great Teosneist clan.
Although technically not the westernmost province - the province of Marta an Iarthair (Or literally, western march) is the last remnant of Silnaria's foothold in Rulminia - a land inhabited by East Rulmi - a brayer subclan and then settled en masse by Silnarian - Although SIlnaria once held land all the way up to Hasaap. Marta an Iarthair is an impoverished frontier province with large contingent of Imperial troops stationed along the border, centered around the city of Glenbane that have seen better days before Anushken took it over.
Important Figures
The Silnarian Empire had over 8 centuries of continuous history, and all prominent noble clans today claim descent from one Emperor or Empress at some point in the history.
With the chaos of the previous centuries, and massive territorial losses, only three non-imperial clans remain prominent enough to play a major part in Silnarian politics.
Clan Aesilnari - The Imperial Clan
- Base of Power: Ulnaschta
- Prominent Figures: Empress Innei Aesilnari, Scriara Aesilnari
The Imperial Clan, in one branch or another, have ruled over the Silnarian Empire for at least eight centuries.
Yet the past two centuries have seen a gradual collapse of Silnarian power. Empress Innei’s father, Tholtua, was deposed and assassinated as the nobles saw him as a cause for Silnaria’s decline. With the new Empress at the helm, many nobles are hoping for a change of course.
The imperial Clan seeks to restore its power and control over the throne, and employs the steadfastly loyal Imperial Cataphracts, a division of mounted and heavily armored cavalry archers, and the Ciannuist that serve as a combination of Capital police and intelligence agency.
At the same time, the Imperial Clan is also interested in transitioning Silnaria gradually away from the old slavery based economy. The disaster of the previous two centuries have convinced many enlightened scholars of the need for the Empire to reinvent itself to survive.
Clan Teosneist - The Old Guard
- Base of Power: Sionanport, Northern Silnarian Plateau, Navshlev
- Prominent Figures: Archduke Trath Teosneist, Duchess Tia Teosneist
Clan Teosneist is the most prominent of the three great clans, and claims descent from a seafaring Silnarian Emperor - Cluid.
Clan Teosneist control nearly all of the Silnarian Plains area from inheritance, with Trath holding the Duchy of Lochtarach and Talioch located on the plateau.
Tia, herself from a junior branch of the clan, holds the Duchy of Gar Do Rulmi and Gleann Mara.
The clan is engaged in a constant struggle to protect the Silnarian sea and its shipping, and see defeating Pinnacelia or tempering their piracy as a top priority. The Archduke himself owns some of the largest slave raiding and trading fleets in Silnaria, and makes profitable slave raids into the Arcane Gates, Anushken territory and beyond.
As the most powerful clan in Silnaria, Teosneist is looked upon unfavorably by most other house, and the other clans see it as an untrustworthy house that represents the old power, unable to move on to new age and reform the Empire away from its slavery-driven economy.
Clan Scriaru - The Vengeful Warrior
- Base of Power: Glenbane
- Prominent Figures: Duke Siunad, Captain Inne Scriaru
Clan Scriaru used to be much more powerful, before they lost vast territories to the Anushken invasion. Duke Siunad holds the most concurrent ducal title in the Empire - being the Marcher Lord of Marta an Iarthair, Duke of Atshim, and Duke of Cill Sioda and Duke of Sithran. However, all but the first title has been lost in his father’s generation, and Siunad inherited a rump duchy.
Siunad however gained nearly total freedom to run his own diminished fief, the ability to recruit, arm his men, and build fortifications as he wished. During the past decade, Siunad has consolidated his domains and has been petitioning the Empress for a renewed offensive against Anushken and Kadrush, to recover his domains. He is considered the most belligerent of the three clan’s heads - as he stands to gain the most from it.
In spite of his deep desires to reconquer his domains from the beastkins, Siunad is also considered the most liberal of the three clan head, and have shown genuine care for the enslaved and indentured in his domains - and prefer restocking his workforce with paid, well-motivated beastkins and elves.
Siunad’s niece, Inne Scriaru, serves as one of the Ciannuist’s captains. Since the fall of the family’s feudal fortune, many of them have flocked to the Imperial court and aboard to paddle their skills in war. It is not uncommon to see a Scriaru wandering the courts of Ramul Ta seeking employment nowaday.
As the weakest clan and the one who stands to gain the most from the Imperial Clan’s favor, Clan Scriaru is loyal and dedicated to the imperial cause. Its martial reputation is well known.
Clan Uinn - The Merchant
- Base of Power: Iluot, Ruipaior, Court
- Prominent Figures: Duke Crutar Uinn, Duke Miart Uinn
Clan Uinn, is the first recorded great clan in Silnarian history, and is descended from the 3rd Empress of Silnaria. The clan occupies multiple important positions in the court, and holds the Tir Uinn, Ardain and Evinna.
Clan Uinn are located in a relatively secure position, without much room for expansion. Clan Uinn’s members control and profit from the trade with Mentias, and is also the imperial Court’s conduit to its nominal “ally”, Mentian Empire.
The two are brothers, but on decent terms. Clan Uinn are primarily concerned with protecting its trade, and possible expansion into the south, at Mentia’s expense. It is also interested in recovering territory from Kadrush, which Clan Uinn stands to gain from.
Military
The modern Silnarian army is still reliant on a quasi standing army - with a feudal component to it.
Every province is responsible for maintaining and raising a provincial army, which is paid from the central governor’s payroll - the governors themselves are only allowed to control the local garrison - except for the westernmost province, which are granted the Right of the Marches, granting them the right to settle colonists, build fortifications and man their own army.
This is of course, only by the law - the fact is that nearly all nobles of ducal rank control the governorship as if it is hereditary - and it practically is, with them having the right to build fortifications and do what they like within their realm, so long as they maintain the outward appearance of loyalty and funding the provincial army. While the provincial armies used to be much bigger and taxes transferred to the capital larger in proportion - nowaday most of the taxes are kept locally and the noble’s army is often just as big as the provincial armies, and even in place with large provincial army, they are treated as if they are the personal army of the dukes themselves.
The Imperial House and Clan Teosneist hosts and fund sizable navies of their own, half of whom are usually away escorting merchant ships or on raiding expeditions into the arcane gate, which brings considerable income to the Empire.
Events
- The Great Lymian Migration: When Silnaria and Lymia were united under one empire, the skilled workforce of the empire gradually shifted to the east, giving the Lymian part equal importance. But mass tax transfer and flourishing commerce kept and attracted a lot of skilled Lymian to the west - who also employed the largest amount of slaves of Lymian origin. The treaty of Cesinor freed all slaves of Silnari origin within the Empire and enforced their immunity against future slavery - a part of the provision that the empire still respects. Those freedmen promptly migrated en masse to the east, and their former masters see no reason to stay, many of them preferring to migrate to Lymia where there are abundant commercial opportunities, as opposed to staying in an empire that they see as declining. The amount of Lymian in the Empire has proportionally shrunk by half, and it disproportionately impacts the most skilled part of their workforce - especially textile workers, faster than native Silnari can learn and take up their trade.
- Prasi & Runran Settlement Act: To counter the decline from mass migration of Lymian, the Silnari has opened up a massive amount of land and encouraged Prasi and Runran to settle amongst them, creating many foreigner districts within their cities. The two groups of foreigners have nearly zero presence outside of the cities, but are providing some much needed skilled labor and infusion of new ideas into the empire, bringing with them their own religion.
- Newfound Slave Consciousness: The Silnarian has always relied on a divide and conquer policy when it came to managing their slave population - the slave population, while consisting of mostly beastkins, were supplied from diverse sources from the Arcane Gates and the west - many of them having been bought from beastkin by beastkin. After centuries of assimilation, the end of a slave population influx, and the end of the slave population being dispersed throughout the empire, the remaining slaves have adopted the Silnarian’s religion, the Silnarian language - and developed a culture of their own, which spells trouble for Silnaria’s attempt to keep them under permanent control.
- The Future of Slavery and Beastkins: The future of slavery and the beastkin is in doubt in Silnaria, with even Clan Teoneist seeing it as no longer tenable in the long term (But still seeking to profit as much as they can). Some nobles advocate gradual abolition of slavery and exiling the beastkin population to replace them with Silnari, while others advocate for gradually phasing it out as it goes. But maintaining the institution of slavery are still a tempting option for many, for nearly all nobles of Silnaria agree on the next goal…
- Our New Destiny: The time for Silnaria’s dominance over the civilized part of the continent is long over. But the west remains for the taking - filled with beastkin and oppressed Silnarian and Macen. It is full of wide, fertile, open land, and Silnaria and the Menti are aligned on their hatred of beastkin polity. The eastern destiny of Silnaria has ended, but recovering their western territories - and perhaps pushing further beyond, would restore the greatness of Silnaria and bring great wealth to the nobles who take over the land. Are they there to destroy the natives and settle the land, or to tame the “wild” which is “criminally underused” by its native inhabitant, or there to “bring civilization and order”? The philosophical justifications and motivation vary - but all of them involve invading the west by force.