A History of The Empire of Manrath, and its Government

Today we cover the basics of our world background and its governmental make up. The world, as stated in the first outline post, is my common DnD world Artheria. Those campaigns were so long ago that anything that occurred in those games is long lost to history. Some of the flavor and style of that world remains though, if you read through the old races post, (Found easily on the right) you'll see my style with all the races, and that flavor still exists in the world.

The written history of the Empire is known in its entirety only by few. There is no internet or other central database, and while grand libraries have information available, physically finding a 700 year old text from the start of the empire is a very difficult ordeal that requires perseverance and luck.

What is taught to today's school children is a very simplistic origin story of the Empire. The early tribes of humans were united by the first Emperor, a powerful warlord known as Manrar. The land he conquered was named after him, Manrath. Grade school then teaches our children that the third Emperor, known as Tigris, formed the foundation of our modern government, the Triumvirate.

The Triumvirate was made to enforce law and order in all aspects of life. It is taught that the Empire had grown too large for one man to govern himself, and so Parliament was formed, giving the common man, (and later women and then various religious and ethnic minorities.) the right to vote. Then to enforce the laws Parliament and the Emperor, a third branch was made, Regulation. Like the government, Regulation was split into a trinity. The Chantry, Ministry, and Templar.

When one gets into college, education becomes more detailed, and those that study history learn that ancient races, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, and often even Orcs and Lizardfolk are represented in ancient treaties, but as the Darkspawn have increased, those races have decreased. The Chantry and Ministry run most of the universities in the cities, and as such they determine what knowledge the general public knows. The Chantry in particular has a vested interest in keeping knowledge of demi-humans to a minimum. 'The Way,' the religion of the Chantry, is very similar to rougher Catholicism. It is very human centered, with a belief that God created humans in his own image. This makes the Chantry very skeptical of all demi-human gods. (AKA most of the traditional DnD pantheon) It even uses a cross as its holy symbol. I still use my 'flexible favored weapon' rules for clerics and deity weapons, and as such the most common weapons that represent the Chantry are small arms, (pistols) longsword, and greatsword. (Often a Zweihander or other extremely large sword will be shaped like a cross when used by Chantry crusaders or inquisitors.)

(Chantry Crusaders are fierce warriors.)

As of 117 years ago, the 'Pagan Emperor' Antonius introduced, and managed to pass, a freedom of religion law throughout the empire. This means that technically all religions are allowed in the Empire, however, over the years the more religious and Chantry affiliated members of Parliament have weakened those laws. In most cities religions that the Chantry doesn't approve of, (almost all of those that aren't the Chantry itself) are forced into poor neighborhoods, bad buildings, and other obvious signs of discrimination. Since over 70% of the population of Manrath regularly attends Chantry services every week, they have a genuine mandate on most of their actions in the cities. Since the Chantry runs the churches it is the most popular of the 'Regulation' branches among the common people. The Chantry enforces church code, but they tend to leave most magic-users alone. Unless a necromancer is animating the corpses of prominent members of the church, or summoning an exceptionally powerful demon near a population center, the Chantry leaves those matters to the Ministry. 

The Ministry of Magic handles regulating magical law in the cities of the Empire. At the current telling of this tale, all magic-users are to be registered approved students/graduates of the Ministry. Magic is a powerful force, and it is believed it must be able to be recorded and studied. This makes the only approved casters registered intelligence based casters. Sorcerers, Bards, Warlocks, and all other types of magic users are viewed as outlaws in the Empire. Most unregistered mages go to great lengths to hide their abilities within the city limits. Ministry enforcers scry on their cities from towers above the Universities. From the safety of their towers they can project their magical power all over the empire, summoning creatures bound to their will, projecting harmful illusions, or even teleporting if it was required.

The Ministry also regulates what kinds of magic are taught to the next generation of wizards. Depending on the individual schools administration, different schools of magic are highlighted. In Barshaw, the University of Necromancy has such sway that prospective students can sign over their eventual dead body to the school to cover tuition costs. Much of the labor that maintains the grounds is undead. In Harkota, it is rumored that demons and elementals often escape the confides of the school and wreak havoc in the streets. As long as the Ministry can control it, they don't seem overly moral in their research choices. The Ministry values knowledge above all else, and the power that comes with it. While the Chantry has some legal restrictions on what exactly it can do, (it doesn't chase out opposing churches anymore, for example) the Ministry has much more freedom in how it can enforce its laws. The Ministry is accused of all manner of underhanded practices, from pressuring parents to sign over custody of their magically gifted children, to enchanting senators to vote their way. Still, many believe that the power and destructive capability of magic must be kept regulated and controlled, and a corrupt Ministry is better than mages going around doing whatever they want.

(Cowled Wizard of the Ministry.)

The final branch of Regulation is the most visibly active of them all, the Templar. While the Chantry is busy running schools, churches, and homeless shelters, and the mages of the Ministry are cooped up in their universities, the Templar are keeping darkspawn away from the trains, breaking up smuggling rings, and protecting the farmlands from the Orcs. The Templar are the foot soldiers of the enforcement triad. Chantry and Ministry will often request the Templar hunt someone down for them, and the majority of these requests they accept. The Templar code is much more of a policing than a military mindset. For example, while they use guns and explosives, every Templar carries at least one non-lethal weapon. The Templar always try to use non-lethal solutions first, only killing if they view it necessary. The Templar also run the courts, training both defense and prosecuting attorneys. (Yes, that is an obvious conflict of interest, why do you ask?) Judges, however, are voted in when the country votes for Parliament. 

And with that... we're going to call this a post, I was going to go into more detail on the darkspawn, but it's been a long week and I'm exhausted.