Istantium
The Holy Empire of Istantium is one of the Stormland nations. Once a grand empire sprawled across the Stormlands and beyond, it is now greatly reduced from its famous (infamous) reach. The population is concentrated in the Istantine archipelago in the southern waters of the Sea of Storms, and on the southern shores of the sea. The interior population is largely settled around one of three major riversystems emptying into the Sea of Storms.
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| National motto: To the end of time - and beyond. | ||||
| National anthem: Unknown | ||||
| Official language | English | |||
| Capital | παραίσθηση | |||
| Imperator | Astansio Ioul | |||
| Population | 62 million | |||
| Currency | Ilaster | |||
Once a grand republic, then a great empire, Istantium is now a corrupt, decaying nation, a shadow of its former self. The richest of the rich are wealthy beyond all imaginings, while the rest of the population is mired in a neverending struggle for the trappings of a decent life. What government remains is mired in bureaucracy - which can be easily bypassed for a few measly ilasters. Government services, roads and schools, once the pride of the nation, are available only to those who can afford to pay. Bribes are the national currency, and fear the national dish. As resources grow more scarce in the rural hinterlands, the population of the cities expands with refugees creating a potentially explosive situation.
The Holy Empire of Istantium is not a member state of the United Nations, due to its unwillingness to conform to UN resolutions.
Contents
History
Time began when the first Imperator of Istantium ascended to the newly created Imperial Throne in response to the fervent, unanimous pleas of the heretofore elected Istantine Senate. The Empire knows no time before the Imperators, and the Imperators know no time before the Empire. Such was the arrogance of the early Empire.
Early History
Based on language patterns and other available data, Migalian scholars speculate that at least three distinct separate waves of emigrants from the south and west settled the Istantine archipelago. The first major tribal group, the Kymri, were displaced in a series of small but bloody skirmishes approximately 2500 years ago by the second wave of immigrants, the Hrecians. Although some Kymri set out across the sea of storms, the great portion of the population simply ceded the archipelago to the Hrecians and moved into the deep southern interior, settling along the upper reaches of the Silth and Ayruni rivers and in the lower slopes of the central Ayrun range. The language has gradually eroded, but traces remain present in southern Istantium dialects, and certain pockets of speakers still exist among the nomadic herders who inhabit the highest of the habitable Ayrun valleys.
The Hrecians were in turn somewhat displaced by refugees from the fall of a great civilization in the west, the Soulu. Both the Hrecians and the Soulu maintained seasonal trading posts in the Bay of Than to trade agricultural goods, salt and tin for trade goods with a variety of merchants. The seasonal trading posts were eventually inhabited year-round, and became the rival cities of Issoul and Antium.
The Istantine Republic
Today, the Empire's origins in the Republic are relatively widely known - at least among people who care to know about such things. The Istantine Republic - and its proto-states Issoul and Antium - are believed by Migalian scholars to have been true, functioning democracies for at least seven hundred years before the ascension of the first Emperor. Issoul and Antium were originally small, rival trading ports situated across the bay between Cauchmer Island and the penisular mainland.
Both cities were proto-democracies. In Issoul, each man received one vote per member of his household, including slaves, women and children, which he then cast for the primary governing body, the Counsul. In Antium, both men and women received votes in proportion to their property holdings, which they then cast to elect a strong central Governor, who in turn appointed a weak city counsel. Issoul and Antium were great rivals, but well aware that armed conflict would seriously injure trade on all sides. Thus, the rival cities began a tradition of combat by proxy in an open-air ampitheater centrally located between the two towns.
Eventually, Issoul and Antium were forced by the depredations of marauding Thaxtons to band together for mutual defense and survival. Over time, the Republic consumed the surrounding tribes and villages, and eventually took to the seas, spreading civilization - aquaducts, public baths, aquaculture - throughout the Sea of Storms.
As the Republic expanded, the mechanism of its representative democracy grew more and more unwieldly. Although the most far-flung of conquered lands remained colonies, most colonies were eventually integrated into the Republic as Compartments, entitled to representatives in the Senate and a seat at the table of regional government. However, communication was only as fast as the swiftest of military ships, and decisions on important issues could be delayed weeks or even months when the bad weather at sea delayed the arrival of some of the most distant of the Sentators.
These delays - procedural and budgetary - had direct, measureable impacts on the daily lives of the citizenry. Mid-summer delays in the maintenance and repair of aquaducts resulted in major crop failure three years in a row; uncertain military budgets impeded the Eastern Campaign mid-advance, leading to two major military disasters. Internal politicking over tariffs and trade routes closed all major Istantine ports for three months the following year, while the Senate awaited the arrive of three Senators from the farthest reaches of the Empire whose votes might break the Senate's stalemate. This, in turn, exacerbated the chronic food shortage in Issoul and Antium caused by two years of major crop failure in the interior.
No thanks to the disastrous Senate, Generallissimo Ioul finally cracked the Babyulian nut, essentially winning the Eastern campaign, which had consumed the Republic's resources for at least a generation. Somehow, the Generallissimo broke the siege of the fortress city of Babyul, which guarded the Straits of Guer and the Ispastian passes - and was thus the passport to the vast riches of the Fandul Sea. He returned - triumphantly - to Istantium, his ships laden with rich and exotic trade goods.
The Expanding Empire
Woo! We won lots of battles and ruled practically the whole wide world!
The Contracting Empire
Boo. I think it was General Stupid's fault, that we lost that big battle over the silk routes at Babyul. That was the beginning of the decline.
The Age of Steam
Well, at least we have cheap silk for the hookers now.
Geography
See the main article.
Istantium can be divided into roughly five areas: the archipelago and peninsula, the northern coastal plain, the western basin, the interior river valleys, and the deep interior. The map at right shows most of the Empire and the regional Compartments into which it is divided.
The archipelago and peninsula tend to be mountainous, with dramatic cliffs falling into crystalline seas and a pleasant mediterranean climate. Rains come in the winter, and although the very highest peaks may get an occasional cap of snow, snow is never seen in the inhabited lands. At least half the Empire's population lives on the peninsula or the islands of the archipelago.
Another third of the Empire's population lives in the northern coastal plains. Although the western coast - like the western coast of the peninsula - tends to be rocky, storm-lashed and inhospitable, the central and eastern coastal lands are favored with a mild mediterranean climate, a fair amount of winter moisture, and pleasant, rolling plains well-suited to cultivation. Several major port cities are located near the mouths of the Empire's three major river systems, and most industrial development in the area is located in or near these cities.
Thirty to fifty miles inland, a narrow barrier range rises fairly sharply from the coastal plain. Some mines remain active in the mountains, but most mineral deposits have been mined heavily for two thousand years and are largely played out.
Three major river systems drain the vast interior of the Empire, and the land remains arable in a narrow five to ten mile swath on either side of each of these rivers. The μράδυ (Mradu) is the easternmost of the rivers; the βεσημέρι (Besemeri) cuts through the middle of the Empire, while the όνειρά (Oneira) drains the western third. The Mradu, Besemeri, and Oneira are also the only continuous highways through the interior: the Republic's roads have long since crumbled, and the Imperator has little interest in maintaining such unecessary luxuries for the rural populace. Another 10 to 15% of the Empire's population lives in the three river valleys.
In ancient times, a fourth river system cut through what is now the western basin to spill into the bay, but all that remains today is a deep, dry riverbed, barely damp in the winter, dustfilled beneath the scortching summer sun. Except for the remnants of this valley, the western basin is near-featureless and utterly confusing to outsiders. Sand dunes - each like the other - march endlessly toward the horizon. Water and salt are the essential commodities here, and the few nomads who make their homes in these inhospitable lands hold a monopoly over them. In the days of the Republic, a vast system of aquaducts made the desert green and hospitable for agricultural enterprise. Today, the bones of the aquaducts lay in the deep and shifting sands, bleached by the hot desert sun.
Politics
Internal Politics
Under Construction.
Foreign Relations
The nation boasts a pride beyond its reduced means, and the Imperator still pours money into the once-infamous Istantine regiments, in which every male citizen is expected to serve, unless he already fills some essential role. Despite national militarism, no Imperator has taken up the banner of military conquest in at least 400 years. To do so would reduce trade, which would reduce the Imperator's personal income, which would affect...
...and so on. Essentially, both internally and externally, everyone in the nation has his or her price. The nation proudly opens its arms to well-off exiles from around the world, while keeping the teeming masses out (except to the extent that they are necessary to provide cheap labor). Occasionally, the military will conduct "exercises" on some remote border or other, with the intention of flexing its atrophied muscles, but for the most part, the nation remains on good terms with most of its neighbors - some of which are foreign colonies - in the interests of commerce.
Religion
Issoul and Antium had their own patron dieties, Solul and Annin. So, too, did most of the surrounding villages. When the Istantine Republic was officially founded, the combined city counsel adopted an official proclamation naming five regional dieties as the official patrons of Istantium, including both Solul and Annin as well as the patrons of area tribes: Mercia, Thenar, and Paradese. Temples for the patrons were constructed between the two cities - around the ceremonial amphitheater - and a small portion of all taxes collected were designated to support the Temples and clergy.
However, neither the Republic nor the Empire ever officially supressed any religious groups. Conquered peoples were allowed to retain their own religion and religious superstructure, and in some cases, the regional governments officially adopted the local deities as official Compartmental dieties, with similar mechanisms for support. At least one of these regional dieties, Sisi, quickly became popular throughout the Republic, and was added to the official slate of Imperial Gods with the ascension of the first Imperator, Edvarinio Ioul.
Much of the population is and remains relatively secular, although small touches of superstition and belief enliven most ordinary lives. The most devout citizens tend to gravitate towards smaller groups and/or cults that come and go like flashfire. Currently popular in Paraidthése is the cult of the three-headed fishgod Luckmuck, allegedly an import from the jungles of the far south, but quite possibly no more than a Solarium student's prank.
Economy
In Istantium, citizens pay a flat income tax of 8%. Well, most of them do, but some pay much, much less after giving a "donation" to several government workers' favorite charities. The nation has a large private sector is led by the Pizza Delivery industry, followed by Book Publishing and Arms Manufacturing.
The government extracts trade concessions from poor nations in exchange for humanitarian aid, the government is cracking down on subversive groups, children as young as eight can be found working in factories, and citizens are regularly arrested in queues for 'loitering'. Crime is a serious problem. Istantium's national animal is the centaur, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the ilaster.
Military
Military service is absolutely 100% compulsory, unless you can afford to pay some poor bastard to take your place, in which case it is entirely optional, so long as you toss in a bit more to grease the various palms along the way.
