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Back to the age of Bagrash Kol

The State of the Realm

The Realm is a mighty empire, one that has outposts in every corner of the world. For over a hundred and fifty years, the Empress has seen the power of her nation grow. Now, however, the Realm faces a terrible threat from the empire of Bagrash Kol, to the north, and her people wonder if the last days of the Scarlet Empress are dawning.

The Great Houses

When the Empress founded the Scarlet Dynasty, she officially dissolved the Gens of the old Shogunate, replacing them with the Great Houses of the Realm. Organized primarily by elemental nature and profession, and led by the five greatest heroes of the Blessed Isle (or, depending on whom one asks, the five warlords that the Empress most needed to impress) - Cathak, Iselsi, Jerah, Rawar, and Talina.

That was then, however, and this is now. House Talina fell after an ill-advised coup, the first great coup of the Realm. In the aftermath, the Empress married Rawar of Arjuf, and the Great House that he had led was restructured into House Feria. Jerah was corrupted by the monstrous creature known as Eyem, and although the Empress's son Ragara discovered the plots it had incited them into, few of them could be saved. On the other hand, two of the Empress's children grew to great prominence, founding houses of their own - Manosque and Ragara - and the great soldier Trae added her power to the Realm's own in exchange for Great House status. Now, the Realm holds six Great Houses, each with its own strengths and designs:

• House Cathak (Fire): Militaristic and adventurous, House Cathak takes its name from a warmaster of the Realm, a man who admired and respected the Empress and was among the first to support her rule. Cathak was also one of the suitors vying for the Empress's hand, and rumor states that he was broken-hearted when she chose Rawar over him. House Cathak is the major source of the legions' strength, and its adventurers often travel the Threshold or prepare for war.
• House Feria (Wood): Formed from much of House Rawar, House Feria shows a distinctly different outlook to that of its progenitor. Official masters of the Realm's farms, House Feria has lost many of the old trade jobs that Rawar kept up, given away to Ragara. Many members of the house are distrustful and annoyed with what they consider an upstart house, fearing that the Empress is turning away from them systematically.
• House Iselsi (Water): Subtle and cunning, House Iselsi manages much of the tax structure of the Realm, as well as having strong control over the Realm's naval forces. Their ancestors hailed from the coast of the Scavenger Lands, where most of their satrapies still exist, and many within the House still fume over the failure of the Realm to overcome Lookshy and the Confederacy.
• House Manosque (Air): Young and proud, House Manosque is made primarily of loremasters and artificers. The Empress structured the House around her eldest son's natural desires and inclinations, despite the fact that this necessitated reducing the power of House Trae and shifting the responsibilities of existing Houses. It is generally agreed that the Empress shows undue favor to this House, over the others, and although they are young they still risk the sting of plots and treasons on the part of their fellows.
• House Ragara (Earth): The youngest and smallest of the Houses, Ragara has only existed for a few years, since the young Exalt discovered the unfortunate corruption of House Jerah. Now, they function as functionaries and bureaucrats, bolstered by those members of Jerah who were not yet corrupted, along with several former members of Trae and Iselsi who were less connected to or happy with their surroundings. House Ragara is still uncertain of their position in the Realm, but is currently sliding fairly well into Jerah's old roles.
• House Trae (Earth): Young but thoughtful, House Trae is already known for its artificers and architects, vying with Manosque for the title of pre-eminent artificers of the Realm. Currently, it seems that they are winning. Trae controls much of the skyfleets and warstriders of the Realm, as their scions make up the bulk of those who can easily repair them.

Children of the Empress

The Empress has had a good many children in her lifetime. Originally, there was a system in place for determining their placement - they would grow in the House of whichever man drew her attention, and be a full-fledged member of her house. Over the course of a hundred years, nine children were born in this manner, and all were placed into various Great Houses and married off to members of those Houses. Eight of the nine Exalted.

When the Empress married, however, a change was mandated. Everyone agreed that it did not seem fair for the newly-minted House Feria to claim all of the Empress's children, and there was no thought that any but Rawar would share her bed. As such, it was agreed that the royal children would be placed into Houses in turn, and would grow up amongst them.

This has not had the effect that many hoped for. The Empress's first child with Rawar was placed into House Cathak, where she lived happily for many years before her unfortunate death ten years ago during a major uprising in Port Calin. Her second and third were placed with Iselsi and Jerah - one discovered almost immediately that Jerah was corrupt and growing worse and overthrew his new house, taking leadership of its remains, and the other pleased the Empress so much with his skill and devotion that she reorganized the Houses to grant him a House of his own. She has had two children since, one of whom died under mysterious circumstances and the other of whom has failed to Exalt. All in all, Rawar's children seem destined either for true greatness or abject failure.

At this time, the Empress has a total of eight living children, all of them Exalts - four Exalted children have died of misfortune, and both of her mortal children are now dead as well, one from age and one from an ill-conceived assassination attempt against Rawar. Her eldest children act suspicious and paranoid of their younger brethern, Manosque and Ragara, and many whisper that the number of children to have fallen is inauspicious. The Empress has not had another child in almost fifteen years, and may never have another.

Territory

The Blessed Isle itself, whose infrastructure was largely untouched by the Contagion and which suffered few wars in the aftermath, is the seat of power for the entire Realm. It boasts cities of over a million people, powerful manses, and is an empire that many thought would be unrivalled. With a total population of well over 100 million people, it has weathered the Great Contagion and suffered little in the Balorian Crusade. As the rest of Creation struggles to catch up to a population already approaching the limits of what Second Age technology can maintain (despite being barely an eighth of what the Shogunate managed), the Blessed Isle stands like a titan.

In addition to this, the Realm controls satrapies across the world, but their power is slowly slipping away. In the North, their influence has shrunk drastically, to the point of nonexistence. The young nation of Cherak still sends small tributes to the Realm, and nominally supports them, but even it has been forced to acknowledge the supremacy of Bagrash Kol. The sorcerer's power peters off towards the Northeast, where the Realm has found allies among the tribes of the Linowan. Allies of the Empress since nearly their foundation, the Linowan distrust Kol and are watching his spreading empire with concern. If war breaks out, it will be there.

In the East, the situation is marginally better, but only marginally. The satrapies of Greyfalls and Port Calin still anchor those few states in the region that support the Realm over the Confederacy of Rivers. Owned by House Iselsi, they are the root of their power in Creation, and Iselsi watches with concern. Port Calin has begun to quietly open talks with the Bagrash Empire, in anticipation of what may come, and many in the region watch to see which way they will fall.

More Southerly, the Realm has major influence through the simple expedient of there being few nations that could do anything else. Chiaroscuro is a shattered ruin, used as a port by the Realm, whose population hovers around 40,000 people and which has few exports of its own. The Lap is far stronger, an agricultural powerhouse which has been associated with two minor rebellions and which was the seat of House Talina's attempt to conquer the Realm from within. Now theoretically under the control of House Feria, the satrapy is being courted by agents of Bagrash Kol, who attempt to inspire rebellion and bring his nation's power to the South.

Western Creation is slightly less stable, balanced on the edge of a knife. The Realm's control over Wavecrest and the Neck, as well as the many minor satrapies between these two nations, remains strong, and there is no major indication as of yet that Kol has started to turn his eye in that direction - all signs are that his attention is much more easternly focused. Still, his diplomats are actively engaged in trying to turn the Coral Archipelago into allies against the Realm. To date, Coral has chosen to remain neutral in the dispute, something that the Realm finds distressing.