Zephiricon Eccelsiocracy
The Kingdom of Zephiricon has been found wanting, the heretics have been put to the flame by the newly emboldened Inquisition, emerging from weeks of infighting to usher in a new age under the regime of High Lord Inquisitor Augusticanus. Under his leadership, the church of the Empyrean shall lead humanity to a golden age of thaumatic technology, a task which requires nothing less than the absolute elimination of magic and the full and loving embrace of technology.
People of faith. People of worth. People of Jibril! I stand before you to ask one thing and one thing only.
It is not to refrain from despair, for you are strong! It is not to beg you to keep the faith, for your faith is unquestionable! and it is not to beseech you to not sit idle, for you are industrious without fault.
No people of Jibril, i ask you this. March with me, march together in singular purpose and set yourself to this one holy task bequethed to us by the messengers of God. The complete annihilation of the heresy of magic, in all its ugly, vile and manevolant forms.
It is within our power, within each of us, within humanity with our boundless resolve, our tenacious spirit and our mastery of thaumatechnology. Rise with me, rise together to meet this challenge!
Lord Inquisitor Augustikos, Autokrator of Zephiricon, Regent Cardinal of the Empyrean Church
History
THe Kingdom of Zephiricon was founded two centuries ago by the Seraph Gestahl, who planned each of it's cities with meticulous precision. It's cities are ordered, with straight roads and large towering housing structures each with their own chapel. These chapels form the bases of the holy order known as the Masons of Gestahl, charged by the church to maintain the holy works of their patron. The landscape outside the cities has been shaped as well, Zephiricon is home to a network of canals, dams and reservoirs, which eagerly drink the sky of it's water.
In the past several decades, Gestahl has grown distant from his domain and left it in the hands of Basileous Trikoupis. Building on the foundations of his chosen patron, Zephiricon has been revitalized with public works such as the new stout iron aqueducts which supply fresh pollution free water to the city, to an expansion of the public housing, all done with the assistance of the Masons. Basileous Tripkoupis poured much of his wealth into the Masons, allowing them free reign to continue their holy work. It has lifted thousands out of poverty,
Basileous Tripkoupis I was tragically killed in an assassination by the hand of his own son, so the rumours say. He was reportedly motivated by his fathers squandering of their considerable wealth. The details around the death are mysterious. the righteous Basileous was mourned by all and in death earned the Epithet 'of the people'. The rule of his son was complicated by intrigue, a web of corruption seemed to flow from the palace, infecting the country with a strange sense of malaise and troubled it with a spike of heresies.
After the 'matter in heaven', Zephiricon was in chaos. During this time, High Lord Inquisitor Augusticanus had wrested control of the Empyrean Church for his faction and came to the aid of the Kingdom, with his retinue and restored order to the Kingdom. Unfortunately for the Basileous, High Lord Inquisitors connections to the Kingdom and himself were complex. He investigated Tripkoupis II, stripping him of power and convening a inquisitorial trial on charges of heresy and witchcraft. The verdict was damning
"Upon consideration of the evidence, this court finds that you guilty of reicide, patricide and using the foul machinations of witchcraft in achieve them. Tomorrow, upon the dawn you shall meet the purfying fires of justice as dictated by the irrefutable truth of the Codex"
The Basileous was remanded to the dungeon for execution, a fate he would never endure, as his cabal smuggled him from the Palace. Despite the setback, the High Lord Inquisitor nevertheless burned the remainder of the royal family as tainted by the pact of witchcraft, including much of the Basileous's staff. In their stead, the High Inquisitor himself is the legal ruler of the nation, placed under the oversight of the Inquisitorial arm of the church. He has declared himself Autokrator.