Imperial Karinthia

"The question, indeed, is often asked what it is that makes emperors evil; first of all, my friend, it is freedom from restraint, next, abundance of wealth, furthermore, unscrupulous friends, pernicious attendants, the greediest eunuchs, courtiers who are fools or knaves, and — it cannot be denied — ignorance of public affairs."'
-The Historia Augusta

Kyburg Imperial Flag

The Empire

The Karinthian Empire is a monotheist human state that controls considerable territory in Western Hesperia and extends out into the otherwise largely unknown lands beyond the Gray Mountains. It was established by the rising Kyburg Dynasty, in alliance with the Old Orthodox Church, during the chaotic centuries following the ruin of Old Askalon. Through clever diplomacy, military skill, and an increasingly organized administration, the Kyburg family navigated the worst of the Interregnum and united under their direct rule all the lands west of the Olentian Gulf and along the Leitha River Valley into a single formidable empire that controls nearly all the former northern territories once ruled by Askalon. Rather than simply an attempt to recapture the glories of that lost era the Karinthians see themselves, united under their new god and their new administration, as a break with the time of the old gods and a new beginning.

With their eastern and southern expansion mostly checked over the past two centuries by the rising power of Krivia and the not yet then completely spent power of Zhaysk, the Karinthians have expended considerable energies out in the nearly endless sand dunes and parched highlands of the far west. While these lands are wholly inhospitable, they have considerable riches to be exploited and these days all manner of exotic materials unseen anywhere in the known world are brought back from the desolate colonies to the bustling markets of Sankt Andra at the mouth of the Leitha. But as the Watcher Cult grows ever stronger and chaos continues in the lawless wreck of Zhaysk, there is ever more murmuring at the court of Emperor Konstantin that now is the time to return the Empire's attention to the known world and its neighbors to the southeast.

Lowland Karinthia

Karinthia

An ancient country at the edge of the world located mostly within the valleys of the Gray Mountains. The Karinthians survived the plagues, tribal migrations, and wars that shattered civilization in most of the lands once ruled by the Askalonians relatively intact and were well positioned to march down out of the hills to establish their new realm out of the ruin. These days as many Karinthians live along the lower Leitha and in the Karinthian Littoral along the Gulf as do in their ancestral mountain kingdom.

The Kyburg Dynasty

Established by the Karinthian nobleman Ludomir following his great victory over the short lived Northern Askalonian Dynasty and his marriage to a princess of the old regime. The family has seen more able rulers than not, most notably the Sorcerer-Emperor Giselbert who ruled for nearly six decades and reformed nearly every one of the Empire's institutions and won a number of celebrated battles before his still unexplained disappearance twenty years ago. The present sovereign, Konstantin, is one of Giselbert's nephews.

The Old Orthodox Church

Founded by an ancient breakaway faction of the early Eastern Sellanian Church that eventually established their monasteries in the remote corners of the Gray Mountains, the Old Orthodox spent centuries in obscure isolation until the old gods began to depart and their favored realm of Askalon faltered. Within a century all of Karinthia had converted and its armies marched east with a new zeal. The Church remains a powerful force within the Empire, though the rise of the bureaucracy has eroded some of its old influence.

The Seven Ministries

Created as part of Giselbert's early administrative reforms, the Ministries employ the bureaucrats responsible for the day to day administration of the Empire at nearly every level. They are Foreign Affairs, Western Affairs, State Income, Commerce, War, Justice, and Arcana. The influence of the ministries is most heavily felt in the southern cities and along the Leitha, with their grasp growing somewhat looser in the interior forests and along the northern coast.

National Traits

Imperial Phoenix

Politics

Table of Ranks, Eyes of the Winter Palace

People

The Knack

Magic/Tech

The Clockmakers, Certified Arcana, Powder Power

Military

Giselbert's Reforms, The Megiddo Regiment

Land

Giselbert's Walls, New Karinthia

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