Calamaran Empire

"Calamar represents stability, order, and freedom. When our empire controlled all the seas, ships were free and safe to travel from Izir to Shavhan without ever being in danger" - High Admiral Sebestien Canarro
The Calamaran Empire was a powerful maritime nation that lasted between 10.20 and 20.89. The Empire was an authoritarian nation, with power centralised on the Emperor and the Church of Navicism; a religious institution aligned with Darkness which worshipped the dark ascended Ulgard Greenblood.
It was Greenblood who first lead the empire to power, after he washed up on the shores of Isla Calamar and became treated like a god by the local people, leading them to eventually take over most of the Shattered Sea.
The Empire was situated across many of the islands across the Shattered Sea, particularly the areas known as Cala Zagradad, Tormentisto, Nochegardia and Portuqa. The heart of the empire was Isla Calamar, and its capital was Calavierus.
By 20.89, the Empire had been weakened over decades by the invasions from Erdannia and Nothindria, but their final collapse was due to a drawn-out war with the pirates of Isla Cobre, and the rebel provinces who backed them; Pyrria and Cartayna.
In the aftermath of the collapse, the Calamaran Fragmented States emerged.
== Politics ==
=== The Monarchy ===
The Calamaran Empire was a monarchy, ruled by the Emperor upon the Anchored Throne. The Throne itself is seen as a cultural artifact, and was crafted from the debris of the many ships destroyed during Calamar's conquest of Portuqa.
The Emperor was the absolute ruler of the Calamaran Empire, and was considered to be the chosen of the Sea King. The last Emperor was Ramazan I of the Eldranador dynasty, who was by all accounts a sickly old man who ruled with an iron fist.
=== The Theocracy ===
Beneath the Emperor were the Court of the Anchored Throne, priests and devotees of the Sea King who run the more mundane affairs across the empire. These theocrats were referred to as "lords", and perform the same function as an aristocrat would. They were usually incredibly wealthy, and were exclusively male. The Court was structured in quite a classist manner, with new lords being chosen from the upper class. In Calamar, faith was a good way to accrue wealth, though poorer people were unlikely to be inducted as priests.
==== Grandees ====
Grandees were lords and nobles who controlled important regions of the Calamaran Empire, and were high ranking in the hierarchy. They often also bore the title of Admiral.
==== Mardeus ====
members of the theocracy who devoted themselves heavily to the Sea King, and were gifted with powers in return, were given the title "Mardeus". These priests were a religious authority and were considered to be the true voices of the Sea King. They didn't tend to intervene in the running of the empire, but were often sent into battle or to new colonies to bring luck to the Calamarans, and to utilise their divine power.
An individual called the "Sacerdeus" was the leader of the Mardeuses. His word was divine law, second only to the Emperor. A person becomes the Sacerdeus after recieving a prophetic vision from the Sea King.
==== Harbourmaster ====
A position of authority within the empire was that of Harbourmaster. Being a maritime nation, controlling an important harbour is an influential position within Calamar. Across the empire, Harbourmasters acted as treasurers and controlled trade tariffs. The most influential of these was the Harbourmaster of Calavierus, the nation's capital. They had some authority over other harbourmasters, and were considered to be in charge of money and trade in the nation.
==== Admiral ====
Admirals were important people in the Calamaran Empire. They led the military and were in charge of all operations by military vessels. The High Admiral led all other admirals, and was in charge of the whole military.
=== The Grand Cazadores ===
In 20.58, Emperor Ramazan I created a martial police force called the Grand Cazadores, an institution created to crush dissent and remove troublesome individuals. This was in response to the rebellious attitudes of the Calamaran citizens, and aristocrats, which itself was a response to the emperor's harsh wartime laws such as forced conscription and increased taxes. The Grand Cazadores was a voluntary institution, however, members of it avoid military conscription, and it was a decently well-paid and comfortable job, meaning lots of people signed up, especially those who enjoy the prospect of bullying their fellow citizens. The Cazadores were well-equipped, and had the authority to do basically anything for the general purposes of preventing revolt. They even had the authority to exert force over the nobility, if they had reason to suspect them.
== Slavery ==
The Calamaran Empire were slave traders. Though their slave trade was not quite as extreme as that of the Izir Confederacy, they still used slaves for a lot of their manual labour, and for some other purposes.
Calamarans usually enslaved any captured enemies from their conquests and wars, and often stopped at islands they've subjugated to enslave a large amount of the population.
Calamarans did not enslave their own men. However, a lot of their women were slaves, though they were not used for manual labour. Most wealthy Calamaran homes had a female slave to cook, clean, and perform other servant tasks. However, worse than this is how female slaves were used at the infamous Calamaran brothels and "pleasure boats".
The cruel slavery that the Calamarans partook in was one of the main reasons for their downfall, as it was a major motivation for the Cobrian Union to bring them down.
After the signing of the treaty of Calavierus, the emergent Calamaran states agreed to abolish the use of Slavery in the Shattered Sea.