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---
title: "Regions of the Empire"
updated: "2017-12-24 Mon 00:14"
categories: AP LD
---
# A Brief Overview of the Empire
The Etracian Empire is the largest empire in the world, and the second
largest in history (only falling behind that of the dominion of the
giants during the Days of Thunder).
Though in past ages, the empire grew through conquest, in the modern
days, the holdings and influence of the empire expand primarily
through colonization and diplomacy.
#### Q & A
>How long has the Empire been around?
The current count places the empire's history into 111 ages, but how
many is that? The current age has lasted 62 years, but some have been
less than a year, and some longer than a century.
The best tax records in the oldest provinces say the empire is about
30 generations of elves (or 3000 years) old. The average length of an
'age' is therefore, about 100 years.
>What is the General Edict?
The General Edict is a system of laws and codes given by Josef IV. It
has been in place for a little over 60 years.
As a legal system, the GE has done a better job of keeping the nation
running than the previous code did (the previous Emperor's reign was
rife with civil war, do in large part to the Emperor's power to easily
disenfranchise noble families that "showed disloyalty").
>Who is the current Emperor?
Emperor Josef IV is the official name for Lady Lizbeth Yates, the
eldest daughter and only remaining survivor of the Yates line. Though
technically, only a man may claim the title of Emperor [what kind of
primogeniture is this?], few complain that the Lady Lizbeth legally
declared herself a man (or rather, few who complained about the matter
remain among the living).
## Regions of the Empire
The Empire is a massive, powerful, and infinitely subdivided nation
with an exceptional record for stability matched only by its
inimitable bureaucracy.
It contains three major geographic and political classifications for
its lands: states, provinces, and colonies.
### The Continental States
[I don't the upper bound on states, but there are at least three,
known collectively as the Midlands]
#### The Midlands
North of the Marble Isle
[I need to figure out the bodies of water to get more details.]
Etra, Vala, Isla [transcribe from notebooks]
### The Provinces
There are several provinces which are much less wealthy than the
central states, but contain the majority of the empire's population.
#### The North
There is a great difference between the area of the north claimed by
the Empire, and that controlled by the Empire. The only area of the
North from which the Empire has ever successfully collected taxes is
the southernmost border settlements in the Chill-Lands (of which there
are 12) and the narrow strip of land directly surrounding Fort North.
It is often said that a single southern town could more than match the
value of the entire Northern province of the Empire, and that may be
true in terms of wealth or resources, but in reality few forts
anywhere in the Empire can brag the same quality of recruits brought
into the Imperial Legion as from the tiny northern province and
outlying regions.
The occasional goliath barbarian or glacier dwarf fighter making their
way south and wanting to try their hands (and axes) at Legion life is
more than enough incentive to keep the Empire's northern holdings
fully staffed, supplied, and cared for.
#### The Midwood
The Northwestern-most stretch of the Deepwood, this is the most
'civilized' area of that great forest, or at least that most citizens
of the Empire could ever hope to reach.
Full of elves, gnomes, florans, faunus, halflings, and their kin, the
Midwood is one of the most ethically non-human locations in the
empire. Regiments of the Empire's military raised from the Midwood
are often called 'menageries' and use strange, but undoubtedly
effective, tactics in combat.
[The ghostwise halflings come from an ancient ruin just outside the
midwood.]
### The Colonies
Colonization is the empire's newest tool for expansion.
#### Cover Islands
Oft beset by pirates and even more often by deadly storms, the Covers
are an expensive and dangerous colony to keep. That said, the islands
remain one of the few places for the empire to acquire rare volcanic
minerals and alchemical agents useful in the development of magical
weapons.
After the Black Tongues were disbanded in the Empire, many fled to the
islands, where they find, fewer and more lax regulations on their
activities.
### The Golden Road
Running from the Citadel of Ice in the North to the Feet of the Last
King in the South and twisting, diverging, merging, and turning around
all sorts of places in between, the Gold Road is revered as sacred,
and it's tireless, invisible creator worshiped by those who would
seek safety traveling along its many gleaming golden cobblestones.
The Golden Road belongs to the Golden God, though it is claimed by the
Empire where it overlaps land claimed by the Empire. That said, the
Golden Guides maintain control of the road regardless of the claims.
You need a Golden Guide for the golden road, or you'll travel 100
miles and never lose sight of where you started, or worse, you'll go
90 miles to see your destination right ahead of you, then 90 more
without it seeming to get any closer.
The Golden Guides are either Travel Domain Clerics or (Fiend or
Celestial) Warlocks. Despite the ambiguity, the Golden God himself is
actually an Icon and a Fiend, a powerful one at that, and was involved
in the discovery of the spell which created the tiefling pact. Once a
gnome, the Golden God can be built as a [Gnome (Fine) Wizard 15
(Transmutation)/Patron 5/Icon 5].
The Golden God always needs more gold for the road, and the standing
orders of the Golden Guides are to find and aid parties that can
supply large quantities of gold. The Golden God builds the road
daily, moving it slowly towards an unknown end.
#### Lair
The whole of the Golden Road is the Golden God's Lair. The gnome
himself is cloaked in a Perpetual Greater Invisibility spell (via
level 5 Icon power) and can cast *fabricate* at will.
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