FrivYeti/WyldspanImp
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The Scarlet Imperium
The Scarlet Imperium is the heart of the Span; its population covers a third of the known world. From the slopes of Mount Meru, the Emperor oversees two hundred thousand worlds and close to a billion citizens. With its Dragon-Blooded host, its Wyldfarer fleets, and its proud and ancient traditions dating back to the days of the Shogunate, the Imperium is a line of unbroken history to many of the people of the Span. Within its boundaries lie safety and tradition, an intoxicating mixture.
But all is not well within the Imperium. The Deliberative is a nest of vipers, politics and corruption determining social progression as much as any desire to protect or guard the people of the Span. Atop this poisonous mixture sits the Emperor, Soren Naganis. For over a hundred and twenty years, he has ruled the Imperium with a silken tongue and an iron fist, drawing ever-more power into his clutches. Now, as he ages and the Deliberative starts to look ahead to his inevitable death, the stately progression of the government begins to swirl with vicious politics once again.
Society
The Imperium's society is one of stratified aristocracy, supporting a rough democracy of partial effect. The population is divided into clear and stratified social structures, from which it is difficult, though not impossible, to move. These structures are generally accepted by the populace, and those seeking to change them are viewed with some suspicion. Lately, the Immaculate Order has resumed support of the structures completely, adding a theocratic tint to the nation.
The lowest social order are slaves. Slaves can come from captives of a war, or from those convicted of non-violent crimes, and the children of a slave is always a slave unless formally recognized at the time of their birth by a non-slave parent. By law, only the Imperial Houses may own slaves, as only they are considered to be of appropriate standing. Those of other nations who visit may retain any slaves they already own, but may not purchase new ones. Slaves make up approximately 10% of the Imperium's population, and are mostly used for service work and unpleasant support jobs, as well as resource production jobs deemed too dangerous or vile for normal peasants.
The second order are the peasant class. Peasants make up a narrow majority in the Imperium, and they have strictly curtailed rights. They may not own weapons unless formally inducted into the Legions, they may not own property (although they may own possessions), and they require special permits to travel between worlds. In total, about 50% of the Imperium are of the peasantry, and nearly all of them work in a primarily agrarian environemnt, as farmers, loggers, or miners, producing the resources that helps keep the rest of the Imperium rich. They are usually poorly-educated, although there is no law against their education. Peasants who prove themselves and can gather the necessary funds may attend an Imperial Academy; if they succeed in graduating, they are automatically promoted to the Patrician class. This keeps a small but constant stream of the brightest peasants flowing into the middle class, which prevents them from remaining amongst the peasantry. Peasant life is poor, but generally safe and not too harsh - very few peasants need to worry about where their next meals will come from, and the Imperium provides free basic medical and education services.
The third order is the patrician class. The middle class of the Imperium, they are the ones that people from outside the Imperium tend to think of when they consider the Imperium - educated, decently well-off, and able to easily access information and choose their jobs. Patricians inhabit the cosmopolitan worlds of the Imperium, working the artisan, scholarly, buerocractic and production jobs that require training and expertise; many of them are from former peasant stock, and are usually proud of having worked their way out of it. Patricians also have voting rights in the Lower Chambers of the Deliberative, and may run for office in the Lower Chambers, giving them a decent amount of sway in the local government. In total, patricians make up about 39% of the Imperium. Any Patrician who should Exalt is immediately inducted into the Imperial Houses.
Finally, the Imperial Houses make up about 1% of the population. The entitled aristocracy, only exceptional merit on the part of a patrician (or blood ties) can allow one to be adopted into the Houses. The Imperial Houses retain many rights denied to patricians; they may own slaves, Artifacts, and Manses, they can run for office in the Upper Houses, and they also have voting rights in both Houses of the Deliberative. In addition, the Imperial Houses tend to control many licenses, choosing which patricians may trade with foreign nations, and holding monopolies on most resources. Nearly all peasant cities are under the management of an Imperial House, which is entitled to collect taxes from said peasantry. The Houses then hand taxes from their own profits to the Imperium as a whole. The Dragon-Blooded make up approximately one in two hundred Imperials, an elite within the elite. While anyone may technically hold the highest offices of the Imperium, their skills and lifespans essentially guarantee that such positions will be held by the Exalted.
Government
When Tepet Ejava became the first leader of the Imperium, she did her best to root out corruption, and her changes survived three hundred years before they began to slowly break down. Now, however, the transformation is nearly complete; where the Imperium was designed to be a self-sustaining bureaucracy without the crippling internal divisions that epitomized the Dynasty, it has gradually evolved into a hundred feuding dictatorships, each theoretically answering to an elected government.
