The Holy Palorian Empire

The Holy Palorian Empire; eponymous of St. Pelor, the hero that vanquished the The King in Yellow, is the largest kingdom of the Continent of Idrimore, and by it’s holy edict of spreading the word of Pelor, the empire is ever expanding. And almost constantly at war.

INHABITANTS
Inhabitants of the empire are predominantly Human. Halflings, Dwarves, Half-Elves, and Half-Orcs closely follow, however members of all races can be found within the Empire. Citizens of the Empire range from urban aristocrats to hardened frontiersman and everything in between. The cities of the Empire, especially the capital of Portsmouth, are industrialized centers belting smoke and steel, fed by a constant river of coal mined from the earth while the farthest reaches of the empire are small, rural communities. One common trait among the citizens of the Empire is the patriotic concept of “Together, All Stand in Palor’s Light”. This has driven the empire, and its people, to spread, colonize foreign lands, and spread the teachings of Pelor to the ‘uncivilized’ masses wherever they find them.


GEOGRAPHY
To the far east of the empire is the Copper Sea. A vast and deep ocean, the Copper Sea keeps the empire plentiful in fish and other seafood as well as being home to the massive Dragon Eels. Two mountain ranges, the Dragon Peaks and the Tails, bisect the kingdom leaving vast forests and lakes to the east and vast open hills and planes to the west. To the far west, marking the empire’s western border is the Sanguine Desert. To the south the empire is separated from the jungles of Skar by the Breakline Mountains, leaving only a one-hundred and fifty mile wide pass into the region to the south.


GOVERNMENT
The empire is a constitutional monarchy, ruled by a King. While the day to day function of the empire is handled by a congress made up of the House of Law (Parliament of elected political leaders) and the the House of Faith (chosen from the ranks of the Church of Pelor) it is the King who wields ultimate authority. In times of war and crisis, the King may take complete control, suspending both Houses and operating with total and complete authority.

Noble Houses: The noble houses of the Palorian empire number in the hundreds. Each noble house holds land and power in it’s own right, each with their own standing militia of loyal banner men, but each and every house swears loyalty to the crown of the empire and are expected to answer any call to arms issued by the King. Otherwise the houses are left to their own accord, to rule their lands and govern and conflict as they see fit (so long as the house agrees to uphold the basic tenets of the Empire and pay their taxes).

Law and The Codex Erga: The Codex Erga is the holy edict of the basic laws and punishments upheld throughout the empire (mostly). While small, rural communities rely on the strength of their bannermen to uphold the law, this can prove problematic as enforcement of laws can vary greatly depending on the demeanor of a Lord or his forces. Larger communities and urban centers possess a dedicated force of peacekeepers, often including a contingent of Chaplains and Battle Mages, to answer particularly dangerous threats.


CITIES AND TOWNS
Bastillian - Broughton - Felghast - Highport - Hommlet - Innskeep - Kear Dhagdan - Newhaven - Norburg - Portsmouth^(C) - Rooksroost - Tallfield - Ynsmuth - Whitecliff - Winterdale


EVANGELISM
One of the primary edicts of the Church of St. Pelor is derived from the words of the prophet himself, “Go Forth and Spread the Light of Civilization.” To this end every community in the Empire plays host to a church of Pelor and his cathars, clergy, and priests. In order to continue their holy mission the House of Faith within the Imperial congress has pushed for further expansion, including expeditions and colonization of lands to the south in both Skar and the Shackled Isles.


TECHNOLOGY
Eel Oil Discovered some seventy years ago, the great Dragon Eels of the Copper Sea are an invaluable resource. Not only are these massive, deep-sea dwelling creatures capable of feeding a community for weeks on end, but they produce mass quantities of a slick, volatile fluid known simply as Eel Oil. This oil has found use not only as a fuel source in things like lanterns, but it has proven to be the key to the Empire’s industry, acting as both a fuel source and a lubricant for machinery. Eeling has become a vast, massive industry in order to keep up with the Empire’s demand for cheap, abundant Eel Oil.

Industrial Revolution: With the discovery of Eel Oil, a revolution of industry is well underway in the Empire. Moving from small scale, tedious production to mass production of daily needs the Empire has heralded a new age. This has allowed the Empire to mass produce weapons and armor for troops, as well as goods for trade all over Carcossia.

The Imperial War Machine: The most feared weapon in the Empire’s arsenal isn’t it’s cheap and easily produced armor clad soldiers, but the titanous, bipedal war-mechs known as Warjacks. A fusion of Arcanum and Mechanics, these sentient weapons of war are capable of laying waste to entire battlefields. What the Warjacks possess in raw firepower, they lack in mobility. Heavy and easily unbalanced, the use of these machines on the battlefield has given rise to the concept of trench warfare.