Tales of the Dispute

Quicksilver Canals

Artificial canals criss-crossing the Dispute. Instead of water they are filled with a silver fluid, which appears to be (but is not) liquid mercury. The canals flow at high speed, completely unaffected by gravity or wind. They ignore the altitude or slope of the surrounding landscape, often flowing uphill.

The flow is fastest in the center of the canal, and grows slower closer to the banks.

It is assumed that these canals were used to transport men and materiel to and from battlefields.

The Canal Fluid

Alchemists from across the Empire have spent lifetimes studying the silvery fluid within the canals, with little having been learned. The fluid, which flows freely in the canals, is completely inert when samples are removed.

Is is rumored that large pools of liquid collected outside of the canals tend to attract lightning in stormy weather.

Quickslips

Boats, normally of metal, are used to navigate the Quicksilver canals. Wooden vessels will work, but seem to only move at a fraction of the speed of metal ships.

Piloting a quickslip is incredibly dangerous. Quicksilver Captains spend years learning to control the speed and direction of their ships. One wrong move, and a quickslip can collide with an obstacle or be thrown out of the canal at a high speed, likely injuring or killing its occupants.

The Silver Lore

The network of the Quicksilver Canals are vast. Only a small portion of them have been explored.

The Silver Lore, the detailed knowledge of the various canals is jealously guarded by the Quicksilver Captains. Their knowledge of the various canals and their dangers is never written down, and is only related verbally to their apprentices, usually in the form of a series of complex navigation-songs.

Tempests

Occasionally, discharges of lightning flicker across the surface of the Quicksilver Canals. The cause is unknown, but the result can be deadly to travelers on the canal.

Many Quicksilver captains have methods for protecting their ships from the tempests: special hull coatings, elaborate devices, magical rituals, etc. It is unknown if any of these methods are effective.

The Bramble

A bustling trading settlement in the Dispute, nestled amongst the branches of a giant plant..

From a distance, it appears to be a giant tangle of thorny vegetation, the size of a small mountain. Giant rose blooms, the size of elephants, sprout from various branches.

Upon closer inspection, it is a small city, constructed among the branches of a titanic plant. Its streets are branches, pruned and shaped to grow wide and flat. The streets spiral up the Bramble to different levels of the city. The buildings are of various materials, mostly imported from elsewhere, but many official government buildings and homes of the wealthy are grown from the living epidermis of the Bramble itself.

Bramble's economy is based on two things: First, Bramble serves as a trading post and marketplace for the Trade Archaic, the recovery of artifacts from the Dispute. The government of Bramble gets a piece of every sale.

Second, the various perfumes and chemicals exuded by the giant blooms of the Bramble, are valuable commodities.

Blooms of the Bramble

Many of the branches of the Bramble are festooned with giant rose-like flowers, commonly called Blooms. They appear in a multitude of colors. Various valuable chemicals can be extracted from the Blooms.

Different colors provide different benefits: * Perfumes * Preservative chemicals * Healing Elixirs * Poisons

The blooms are all officially the property of the city of Bramble, and the Lady at Bloom.

Ministry of Horticultural Civil Engineering

An official group of gardeners, scholars, and cultivarists who are responsible for maintaining the health of Bramble, along with civic infrastructure. They are the ones who prune and shape the branches to create streets and ramps used to traverse the city. They also maintain and exploit the chemical-producing Blooms.

The Ministry gardeners have vast amounts of botanical knowledge, and many of their horticultural techniques are state secrets.

The Ministry also has extraordinary emergency legal powers, available when the health of the Bramble is at risk.

Thorns

The warrior militia of the Bramble. Their armor is made of specially-treated pieces of the Bramble's epidermis, and is carved and painted with colorful floral motifs.

They have a complex system of ranks that only use botanical terms.

Its commonly believed their blades are literal thorns, but, in fact, they only use Imperial steel weapons. Many of the Thorns are former or even fugitive Imperial Janissaries.

They are absolutely loyal to the Lady at Bloom.

The Lady at Bloom

The mysterious ruler of Bramble. An elderly woman who's ruled Bramble for longer than living memory. She sits upon the Perianth Throne in her palace, called the Centifolia Bloom. It is a literal flower high up in the Bramble, with her palace at the center.

She's always referred to as The Lady. Her true name is unknown. Some believe she was the city's founder, and shaped the first streets. She rarely leaves the Centifolia Bloom.

The Forest Glittering

Some areas of the Dispute seem to have their own unique crystalline-based ecosystems. They feature vast forests of tree-like crystalline growths, interrupted my the occasional mysterious crystal monolith.

The forests themselves are no more or less dangerous than any other part of the Dispute, but they do contain one unique danger – hunger. The biology of the Forest Glittering is so alien, that it is impossible to forage for food here. Travelers lost in the forest, without supplies of their own, can easily succumb to malnutrition.

Scholars have debated for years about the nature of the Forest Glittering. Some hold they are a natural evolutionary response to the conditions in the Dispute, while others believe they were artificially constructed, perhaps as an experiment, or to generate some resource.

Another popular theory posits that the Forests are a slowly expanding ecological threat that will eventually overwhelm the Dispute and threaten the Empire itself. Others see the Forests Glittering as a threatened environment that needs the protection of humans. Neither side, to date, has produced much evidence for their claims.

Fauna of The Forest Glittering

Travelers in the Forest Glittering will mostly encounter the giant crystal plants and trees. However, crystalline animals, presumably sharing the same strange biology as the rest of the forest, are increasingly being spotted.

Many appear as centipedes, or spider-like creatures, made of glittering crystal of various colors. It's currently unknown how dangerous any of these creatures might be.

There are persistent rumors, but no proof, of humanoid crystal beings.

Scholars of the Imperial Ulama have a bounty on recovering any of these creatures alive.

Monoliths of The Forest Glittering

Amongst the crystalline trees of the Forest Glittering, there are occasionally found towering monoliths, composed of various colors of partially transparent crystal. They vary in size from 20 to 300 feet high. The crystal substance of each monolith is harder and more resilient than the crystal of the trees, and it's currently not known if they can be broken or damaged.

Approaching the monoliths, a dull humming noise is often noticeable. Explorers who have camped near the monoliths often report disturbing nightmares.

In some larger monoliths, vague shapes can be discerned imbedded in the crystal.

Theories of the Monoliths

Scholars of the Forest Glittering have come up with various theories of the monoliths and their nature. There's no reliable evidence for any of these.

• They produce magical resonances that produce and maintain the Forest Glittering.
• They are ecological weapons, slowly terraforming the world into a crystalline ecosystem.
• They are chrysalises, birthing some new terrible creature.
• They are ancient communication towers, used in the wars of old. The Forest Glittering is just a side effect.
• They are cathedrals of some as-yet-unknown crystalline god. The first to decode their power and will be among the the elect of this new deity.
• They are the foci of natural sorcerous energies, and can be harnessed by those with arcane abilities & knowledge.

Imperial Ulama

The network of universities and scholarly communities across the Empire Immemorial. The Ulama encompasses everything from vast universities in major cities, to monastic scholarly communities in obscure corners of the world.

The countless number of scholars of the Ulama study every conceivable subject. There are scholars who study matters so arcane, they are comprehensible only to themselves.

Academic disputes between the scholars of rival philosophical and historical theories can be fierce. Some rivalries have even descended into violence, with assassinations and campaigns of terrorism.

One such rivalry, a debate over the concept of Free Will, caused a brief civil war in an imperial city, causing it to be reduced to rubble. Both groups of philosophical scholars were later exterminated by Imperial Janissaries, and debates over Free Will are now forbidden across the Empire.

The bureaucracy of the Ulama is labyrinthine, but it is well funded. Many scholarly societies (or “houses”) can hire people to search out information and make discoveries. Many have started organizing expeditions in the Dispute.

House of Fatality

A somewhat disreputable scholarly organization in the Imperial Ulama. They are a group of scholars fascinated with death. They study the process of death itself, and attempt to discover what lies beyond, if anything.

It's known they experiment with various drugs and sorceries to temporarily end their lives, or as they put it: “sail forth from the shores of mortality”

Sometimes their necro-scholars fail to return to life. More rarely, they return, but bring back something with them.

The Explorers Valiant

In the popular mind, they are a guild of bold explorers going forth into the Dispute in search of wealth and glory. They've hired many artists and poets to laud their many supposed adventures.

In reality, they're a bit of a scam. They hire lowly adventurers as “apprentices”, and send them off into the Dispute on “training missions”. If the apprentices come back, the Valiant take the bulk of the valuables they find, and take all the credit for any discoveries they make. Any survivors will be sent out again with the promise of becoming full members of the Explorers Valiant.

This will never happen. The apprentices are merely guinea pigs used to test the safety of new routes into the Dispute.

Passion Fields

An unusual type of vegetation common to the Dispute. It appears as a field of low, vibrant bushes festooned with large green flower buds.

When something passes through a Passion Field, the buds can randomly bloom into a large flower. The blooms are of various colors, each releasing a scent or pollen that can have various effects:

Violet – Causing paralysis Red – A rage-inducing toxin Orange – A disfiguring spray of acid Yellow – Causes violent nausea Black – A deadly neurotoxin

It is assumed by scholars of the Dispute that the passion fields were designed as a defense against infantry.

The Passionate Fools

The blooms of the deadly Passion Fields are valuable resources for the alchemists of the Empire. They're willing to pay for samples of the blooms, or the toxins they produce.

The desperate few who attempt to meet this need are referred as Passionate Fools, for their exceptionally high mortality rate. Most Fools make no more than three trips to collect the blooms before they die or retire.

The very highest price offered is for a complete living Passion Field plant. No one has ever returned from the Dispute with this prize.

Oneirogenic Dust

A coarse violet powder, with silver flecks. When brewed into tea and consumed, it provides vivid dreams. If snorted, it provokes violent, terrifying nightmares that have prophetic value.

An alchemist can create a tincture of Oneirogenic Dust, that if injected directly into the brain, can allow the subject's mind to enter an artificial dream-plane. There, supposedly, a dreamer can explore and discover various arcane secrets and philosophical truths. There are considerable dangers for dream voyagers, and some never wake from their explorations.

Believed to be a product of the Supremacy of Sleep, the use or possession of the dust is a crime within the Empire Immemorial.

The dust is only available in ancient caches found within the Dispute. The process for creating the Oneirogenic Dust has been lost for centuries.

The Proud Flesh

It's believed by most scholars of the Dispute that this phenomenon is a mutated version of some ancient military medical sorcery. It takes the form of columns of living flesh, marching in a group. The living flesh appears as a band of distorted human figures, marching in formation, towards some long-forgotten battlefield. The number of figures varies, from dozens to the hundreds.

The Proud Flesh is not generally harmful or aggressive, and will not defend against (or even react to) attacks, but anything standing in the way of the formation is liable to be trampled.

There are scholars and treasure-seekers who try and track and monitor the movements of the various battalions of Proud Flesh, in the hope they can find the locations of ancient battlefields or fortresses.

The Festival Forever

The origins of the Festival are lost to time. It is believed that it started as a regional festival that gradually grew in size. It's not known what, if anything, the Festival originally celebrated.

Over the centuries, the Festival has transformed into a traveling city – a wild riot of color, art, and commerce roaming across the expanses of the Empire Immemorial. The vast Festival Forever caravan stops in a new location, constructing elaborate theaters, marketplaces and circuses for a period of time. Eventually, it packs up and moves on to a new location. There is no off-season. The Festival never stops.

The games and casinos of the Festival are often in violation of local laws and custom, especially in more conservative areas of the Empire, but the economic and cultural power of the Festival tends to overcome any resistance.

The Festival has its own internal administration, bureaucracy, and peacekeeping forces. They generally avoid entanglement with Imperial matters, and the Imperials pay them the same courtesy.

Festival Patois

Not a full language, Festival Patois (i.e. Carny-Speak) is a dialect of Imperial Common spoken by members of the Festival Forever.

Non-Festival folk can understand bits of it, but it is so choked with Festival jargon and in-jokes it is generally impenetrable to outsiders.

There's a rich tradition of work songs in the Festival Patois, usually used to coordinate packing and unpacking the Festival, and innumerable traveling songs to guide them to their next location.

The Festival Lords

The mysterious rulers of the Festival Forever. No one outside the inner circles of the Festival is actually sure who they are. In the rare instances the Lords make a public appearance, they are clad in voluminous robes and wear colorful carnival masks.

The Lords appoint the heads of the various Festival organizations: The Order of Peacekeepers, The Order of Health, The Order of Travel. Most importantly, the Festival Lords decide by their own secret formulas how long the Festival stays in any one location. The time can vary from days to weeks.

How the Lords are selected is unknown. Popular theories include:

• The Lords inherit their position from their parents.
• Wealthy Festival merchants can buy lordships for themselves.
• The Lords are chosen randomly from Festival members – everything from stagehands, musicians, and peddlers are said to have served.
• The mythical Spirit of the Festival summons who it will to serve it as a Festival Lord.
• The Lords are figureheads. The Festival is under the direct control of the Emperor.

Breach Hawks

Debtors, disgraced Janissaries, and other wanted fugitives of the Empire Immemorial often try to change their fate by fleeing into the Dispute. Low-level criminals and petty reprobates are generally written off when this happens.

However, anyone wanted by someone with authority or money might have a significant price on their head. Men dangerous and desperate enough to enter the Dispute chasing after fugitives are known as Breach Hawks i.e. Barrier Rats, Chase-Scum. They'll go into the Dispute, usually in well-armed groups, and try and bring back the fugitives. The profession is lucrative, but with a ludicrous mortality rate.

Most Hawks are as desperate as the the people they chase, and are generally less respected in Imperial society than than their quarry. A few ambitious breach hawks have been hiring poets and playwrights to create works of art extolling the hawks, in an attempt to give the profession a dangerous, seductive mystique. So far, it hasn't worked.

The Trade Archaic

The polite term for the vast black market in artifacts smuggled in from the Dispute. The majority of items recovered from the Dispute are various unidentifiable items, sold mostly as low-value curiosities.

More lucrative is the trade in magical technology. Vast amounts of thaumaturgical lore has been lost over the millennia, and even fragments of a forgotten spell or a talisman can easily fetch a good price.

The rarest and most valuable discoveries are of ancient weapons, especially weapons of a sorcerous nature. Various Janissary orta and wealthy nobles will pay almost any price for these rarities. An explorer who can bring even one powerful weapon back to the Empire can easily retire on the proceeds.

The Bargain Sorcerous

The sorcerers of old could wield the forces of nature directly, but in this degraded age, most magic is performed though pacts with minor infernal beings, and somewhat more alien spirits from Beyond the Spheres.

Summoned creatures will perform a service or provide information for a caster, for a price. The price is dependent on the being and the request. Some of the possible prices are as follows:

• Blood – for simple tasks
• Mortality – years are taken off the target's life.
• Memories – The more precious the memory, the higher the value.
• Intellect – The target actually becomes duller and less intelligent.

Despite rumors, no summoned creatures are interested in human sacrifice. They have no use for the dead.

Normally, the price is paid by the actual caster, but some poor desperate souls will sell themselves as sacrifices for spell-casters, accepting money in exchange for their loss. In the Empire, this isn't technically illegal, but is widely despised in polite society. No respectable sorcerer would admit to using paid sacrifices.

Ancient Spell Boxes

The Imperial sorcerers of old wove dark and terrible enchantments, crafted to wage their endless war. As the millennia went on, their spells grew ever more powerful, and ever more dangerous.

Most of them have been lost to time, but fortune hunters and obsessed sorcerers constantly scour the broken, ancient battlefields of the Dispute, hoping to recover these forgotten enchantments. They are considered incredibly valuable, and finding one might gain its discoverer a small fortune.

Particularly powerful spells were written on vellum scrolls, which were stored in elaborate armored puzzle boxes. The spherical boxes were designed to be opened with special keys, most of which are lost. They can be forced open, with either physical or sorcerous power, at some risk to the wielder and the boxes' contents.

The Locusts

An empire-wide criminal organization, almost as ancient as the Empire itself. They essentially run the Trade Archaic, along with many other illicit and licit trades. Imperial scholars believe they make up a large (perhaps even a majority) amount of the Empire's economy.

Over the millennia, they've developed routines, rituals, and social structures as complex as any government or religion in the Empire. There are scholars in the Imperial Ulama who have devoted their lives to untangling and recording the complexities of the Locusts and their operations.

The Chronicle Unfeeling

A legendary tome, supposedly written by an unknown scholar of the Locusts, that is simply an unbiased, authoritative social and political history of the Empire Immemorial. It takes no sides in cultural or political disputes. It merely describes every Imperial institution clinically and honestly.

Though Imperial officials refuse to admit the Chronicle exists, they have still banned the work, and any public discussions of it. No known copies exist, though some have claimed to have seen a copy or even read some of the forbidden book.

Some bolder, radical scholars hold secret conclaves where they discuss the book and its possible contents (none of them have read it). They often refer to it as the Tome in Question, or more popularly, the Dread Volume.

If the Chronicle Unfeeling actually exists, and a copy could be found, it would be both a priceless treasure and a mortal danger to the owner.

The black markets, are, of course, flooded with shoddy fake versions of the Chronicle.

The Abode of Reconstruction

The team of engineers and architects sent to the Barrier to repair the Breach. Their original camp has blossomed over the centuries into a small palace, and the town of Breach-Town has grown around it. Their descendants have inherited their titles, and serve as a provisional government for Breach-Town.

No work has been done to repair the Breach.

Technically, no one is allowed to cross the Breach into the Dispute, but the Abode is authorized by ancient law and custom to issue Imperial passes (Sashes of Transit) to workers who need to work on both sides of the Barrier. In practice, these are issued to anyone who can pay a fee. It is the Abode's principal (but not only) source of income.

Sashes of Transit

A brightly colored sash (or kuşak) that allows the wearer to freely pass through the Breach to and from the Dispute. Anyone attempting to cross the Breach without a sash will be arrested.

The sashes are available for a fee from the Abode of Reconstruction, the Imperial presence in Breach-Town. The basic sash is simply colored with the seal of the Abode of Reconstruction, but more elaborate versions are available with embroidery and patterns. These more expensive sashes imbue no special rights, but are considered status symbols, often worn by those who have no intention of crossing the Breach.

The color of the sash changes twice yearly, requiring them to be repurchased from the Abode.

Older sashes, or ones owned by famous or infamous figures have become collector's items throughout the Empire Immemorial.

Ramazan VII – Chief Imperial Architect of Breach-Town

The direct living descendant of the original head of the team of architects tasked with repairing the Breach, the gap in the Barrier. Ramazan is essentially the ruler of Breach-Town.

Though basically a living symbol of the decline and corruption of the Empire Immemorial, Ramazan is generally well-liked in Breach Town. He keeps the town peaceful and the trade in Dispute artifacts flowing. He can be bribed, but always keeps his word. People say of him- “when Ramazan is bought, he stays bought”

He is a patron of the arts, especially music, and puts on various festivals.

Supposedly, in his palatial quarters in the Abode of Reconstruction, he has a vault filled with rare musical instruments collected from the Dispute, many which are sorcerous in nature.

The Cacophony of Cartographers

Space and Dimension within the Dispute has been wildly warped by ancient sorceries and technologies, making it difficult to navigate or map.

Seeking intellectual challenge and the esteem of their fellows, cartographers from across the Empire have come to Breach-Town to try and create the first reliable means of mapping the Dispute. Many scholars rely on the tales of actual Dispute travelers to make their maps. Some of the bolder map-makers actually join parties entering the Dispute, while a few foolish and suicidal cartographers enter the Dispute alone.

The map-makers regularly meet at a hall called the Abode of Exploration. There, they have long and raucous debates about the geography of the Dispute. Each scholar have their own arcane theories about how to map the Dispute, and are usually quite dismissive of any rival theories. The debates at the Abode are long, angry, and occasionally violent, giving this place its common title – The Cacophony.

Maps of the Dispute

Cartographers will often present their proposed Dispute maps that purport to allow safe and reliable navigation within the Dispute. Some are purely of academic interest, while others are intended for actual use. They come in many forms, including:

• Grand illuminated maps of vellum.
• Handbooks with arcane mathematical formulas.
• Wheel charts of sturdy paper
• Complex clockwork computers.
• Elaborate algorithms in the form of rhyming poetry.

The reliability of any of these maps are questionable.

Swift Roads

Well-paved ancient roads within the Dispute that seem to bend and compress space. A traveler walking one mile on a Swift Road may find they've actually traveled one hundred miles. Travelers on these roads can usually return in the same amount of time, but some Swift Roads seem to be one-way only.

It is assumed they were used by ancient armies to travel to and from battles quickly. Modern explorers sometimes keep the locations of these roads a secret as a competitive advantage.

Jannissary Cant

The language of the Janissaries of the Legion Unending. It began, millennia ago, as a simple constructed war-tongue designed to transmit tactical information succinctly and clearly in battle.

Over generations, it evolved beyond its simple practical origins, slowly becoming more sophisticated. It's now a rich, detailed language with its own corpus of literature and poetry.

Most of the orta (battalions) speak the cant with their own distinct accent. Some of the more distant orta speak the cant in a specific dialect, barely intelligible to the others.

All Janissaries learn to speak it as children. Outsiders rarely learn it, and Janissaries are suspicious of any who do.

The Barrier

An engineering wonder of the old Empire, the Barrier is the vast wall-city separating the Dispute from the Empire Immemorial.

It stretches over thousands of miles, weaving east to west like a titanic serpent. Different sections were built in different eras, so sections of the Barrier can be wildly different in design and material. Typically, the more ancient sections are made of more advanced materials, not reproducible in these fallen times. The newer sections, mere centuries old, are constructed of common stone.

The Barrier once housed millions of soldiers, but has slowly been abandoned over the millennia. It is only fitfully patrolled in most places, if at all. In more remote sections, the walls have crumbled, allowing free movement to and from the Dispute.

Breach-Town

There are a number of broken sections in the Barrier between the Empire Immemorial and the Dispute. The largest is a gap called the Breach – a jagged hole in the ancient wall.

A team of Imperial engineers was assigned to seal the Breach over 250 years ago, but through bureaucratic inertia and corruption, they haven't yet started any work. Around their camp a settlement sprang up, which has developed into an actual town.

Breach-Town's economy is entirely based on expeditions into the Dispute, and the trade of artifacts from the expeditions that manage to make it back alive.

The House Inconspicuous

A small, devout sect that believes the gods are so hostile to the world that humanity must avoid their notice at all cost. They believe if the gods ever notice us, the Apocalypse will immediately commence. They generally work to influence others to avoid any displays of magical ability or elaborate public religious ceremonies.

Though small, they are well-funded, as many of the rich of the Empire see them as a method of keeping society stable.

There are more fanatical branches of the faith that take their beliefs further; taking a vow of silence, so the gods won't hear them, and living indoors or underground, so the gods will not see them.

The Constellation of Wings

A empire-wide network of aeries, used for long distance communication by messenger bird. Imperial officers, of the rank Çavuş, man the aeries. The Çavuş care for the messenger birds, feeding them, healing any injuries, and providing them a safe resting place.

The aeries themselves are stone towers carved with elaborate avian motifs. Some are designed to look like trees.

Çavuş are forbidden, by Imperial decree, from reading or interfering with any message. This is not to say that this never happens, especially in this corrupt and evil age.

The birds themselves are of various types, each specifically bred for it's purpose: common grey messenger pigeons, League Swifts for long distance journeys, and Imperial Blue Ravens for secure messages.

Imperial Blue Ravens

Commonly known as Babble-Crows. Large blue/black messenger birds specially trained to memorize and repeat spoken messages. They will only repeat the message if a specific key phrase is spoken aloud.

They are incredibly valuable, and killing or capturing one is a capital offense. They are usually used by Imperial officials or particularly wealthy merchants.

Notes on the Unusual Nature of Geographies, Fauna, and Flora of the Disputed Territories Beyond the Imperial Frontier, Known in Common Parlance as the Barrier.

Commonly known as “Beyond the Barrier”

A standard reference book written some 250 years ago by Seljuk, a scholar of the Imperial Ulama. It's the only known scholarly work about conditions in the Dispute. Seljuk claimed to have visited the Dispute himself, but modern scholars believe he was only parroting the tales of travelers.

There are bits of truth in it, but anyone depending on it as a guide to exploring and surviving the Dispute will likely regret it.

The Dispute

A vast demilitarized frontier between two antique and dying empires.

All of known history is the war between the Empire Immemorial and the Supremacy of Sleep. The origins of the conflict are lost in deep time, but the war itself raged for thousands of years. Vast armies, strange technologies, and colossal sorceries were unleashed. Untold numbers of people, cities, and entire countries were annihilated in the endless carnage.

The land between the empires, where almost all the battles took place is commonly known as the Dispute.

Entering the dispute has been forbidden, punishable by torture and death. The Dispute is lawless, unpatrolled by any empire. It is rumored to be strewn with forgotten battlefields, tombs, and ancient technologies.

The Empire Immemorial

Over the years, the Empire has slowly declined. The vast knowledge of science and sorcery have been gradually forgotten. All of its institutions are hollowed-out shells of what they once were. Glittering ornate facades over a empty, rotten foundation.

The Emperor

The Empire Immemorial is ruled by the Emperor, who is sealed with his staff in the Tranquil Throne, the ancient domed city-palace of the Empire. No one has entered or exited the city in centuries. The emperor's increasingly infrequent orders and communiques are sent by messenger ravens to the generals and government officials that run what is left of the vast Imperial bureaucracy.

The current Emperor is Ezelon CCCLXXXV, who ascended to the Tranquil Throne over 100 years ago. Other than his (or her?) name, nothing else is known of the Emperor.

The Legion Unending

Once the mightiest fighting force in the Known World, the imperial army, like all institutions in the Empire Immemorial, has slowly diminished over time. Its endless, arcane rituals and heraldry are inscrutable to outsiders. Many of the legions are more social institutions than military, concerning themselves more with internal politicking and ritual display, than any actual defense of the Empire.

The battalions (orta) nearer to the Dispute have manged to maintain some of their martial spirit.

The Janissaries of the Legion Unending

Janissaries, the Empire's main military force, are recruited as children. They undergo years of martial training and indoctrination.

Each recruit is assigned to a particular orta (battalion). Each orta has its own unique insignia, which will be tattooed onto every recruit. An orta is more than a military unit, it is a cultural and economic entity, with it’s own rich and ancient history. Ortas have their own poets, artists, and historians that mythologize their ancient stories.

Ortas tend to be rivals of one another, competing for status and attention. The rivalry usually takes the form of duels or sporting events, though actual small skirmishes have been known to happen.

A Janissaries' loyalty to their orta is above all else, except (theoretically) loyalty to the Emperor.

Some Janissaries leave the service to go adventuring, but never really lose their loyalty to their orta.

Janissary Muskets

An ornate flintlock musket, usually made of wood, metal, and bone. The muskets are given to Janissaries as children. The musket is their lifelong companion. They spend much of their lives practicing maintaining, cleaning, and firing them. A Janissary and their musket are considered as one.

Losing a musket is considered the greatest of dishonors for a Janissary. They will do anything to retrieve a lost weapon.

Over their lives, Janissaries carve the major events of their lives into the stock and barrel of their muskets. You can see the entire history of a Janissaries' life, simply by examining their musket.

When a Janissary of the Legion Unending dies, their musket is often used as a grave marker. Janissary graveyards are vast fields of muskets, each planted with the barrels pointing down. The muskets of notable or heroic Janissaries become valuable relics, kept in places of honor in the fortresses of the orta (battalions).

The Supremacy of Sleep

The great and terrible enemy of the Empire Immemorial.

To the subjects of the Empire, the Supremacy remains a mystery. There has been no contact with the Supremacy of Sleep for centuries. What is known of them is more myth than history.

It is said they are ruled by a council of mysterious masked nobles called the Lords of Somulence. They supposedly were sorcerers of incredible power, who could command vast armies of abominations, demons, and atrocities made flesh.

There are those who hold that the Supremacy no longer exists. There are those that believe that somewhere beyond the Dispute, they continue to plot and scheme, ever-ready to destroy the beloved Empire. There are other, more radical scholars that deny that the Supremacy ever existed – that the wars of old were fictions.