The Empire

The Illyrian Empire - also known as the Imperium or more colloquially as the Empire - has existed in it's current incarnation for the last ten thousand years. The Quam'jannah is the body that represents all of the Great Houses within the Imperium and that is ruled by a high council which is overseen by the Empress. The Quam'jannah meet frequently and provide a quorum to hash out trade agreements, negotiate political alliances, or resolve their vendettas with one another. The ruling body serves as a way to ensure that no one House can consolidate too much power or wealth and simultaneously also provides protection so that none of the Greats would ever be singled out and eliminated. None would ever argue that they could take the other and in truth it does not matter too much considering it would take all of the Great Houses combined to even stand <<a chance>> against the Empress' elite fighting force; the Praetorians. Selectively hand picked and bred to be the fastest, strongest, most capable swordsmen in the empire, these warriors are feared across the span of Caelum. The amount of resources that go into making a single Praetorian is so prohibitively expensive that none of the other Great Houses of the Quam'jannah have managed to ever produce such a warrior -- although some would argue they have come close.

The Empress may represent absolute power backed considerably by divine providence thanks to her appointment by the Mother Goddess herself, however, she is just one woman and though she is rumored to possess the power of knowing it is her sheer prowess at governance that has kept her seated on the Illyrian throne. The Quaesitorium was her finest contribution to the longevity of empire; these are Illyrians who have demonstrated gifts of prescience and intuition that make them adept at being able to know things without having any possible way to know, scarily, much like the Empress. These men and women are the finest spymasters, strategists, and manipulators within the empire and are highly feared for their preternatural talents. If the Quaesitors are the secret police used to root out dissidence and heresy then the all-female warriors known as Archons are the blade of the Empress that is used to excise it. These women are Chosen of Sophia, imbued with divine energies and granted preternatural physical abilities. Those among the Quam'jannah fear the day a formal inquisition is launched and they are the subject of another Archon's crusade. There have been a few in the long history of the empire and each one is remembered fearfully.

Commerce is the lifeblood of the empire and though they have virtually no outside trade the lands of Caelum are vast and wealthy in resources, thankfully. The guild of commerce, also known as the Magisterium, serves as a conglomerate of trade in which the Quam'jannah have divided amongst themselves. Within the Illyrian empire all trade goes through the Magisters which has made the Great Houses the most wealthy of the empire. While consolidating power and wealth among the one percent might seem like a recipe for disaster money flows within the empire like water and the level of comfort for the average citizen is quite high. They needn't worry about shelter, food, water, and healthcare -- all things gladly provided by the benevolent and wise Magisters of the empire. Even the Panacea, an alchemical cure-all for bodily illnesses and disease is within the reach of the every day citizen of the Illyrian empire. Where the higher standard of living might not hold true, is in fact, in Thule. Sovereign Prince Gedeon Thayne is as cold as the arctic hell-scape of the north that is within his holding. He's a vile man that is, quite sadly, highly regarded among the Quam'jannah for his establishment and academic justifications for the enslavement of non-Illyrians. The practice of slavery has made Thule even more rich than their peers among the Greats and the slightest glimmer of hope for the people of the north lies within whispers of the Empress' jealously of just how grossly wealthy Gedeon has made the Thaynes.

Religion within the empire is complicated and yet very simple. The mother goddess, Sophia, created all things while her twin emanation, the Adversary, unmakes all things. Possessing of preternaturally long lives and powers beyond those of mere mortals, the rulers of the Empire are seen as the direct descendants of the goddess herself. This gives them divine authority that has been unchallenged since the founding of the Illyrian empire. Albeit, the organized religion all but ensures it through the Doctrina Animae. If the empress is one of the Mother's daughters, then the Archons are Imperial cousins and are treated as such by the faithful. They may not have the bureaucratic powers of the Quam'jannah but their divine authority often rivals it and the sisterhood wields this influence with a heavy hand and as long as they stay on the good side of the empress they have little to fear outside of their line of work, which is rife with perils all its own.