Final Empire

The Final Empire was the major state on Scadrial for over for one thousand years by the Lord Ruler. The empire was established in the aftermath of the destruction brought about by Rashek's attempts to save mankind from the [[Deepness], and is one of the few remaining states with a living population of people. It is noteworthy not only for the length of its reign, and for the theocratic systems in place in every level of the government, but the various systems of oppression and eugenics enforced by the Lord Ruler on the Skaa and Terris peoples.
The Final Empire effectively collapsed with the assassination of the Lord Ruler in FE.
== Geography and Ecology ==
=== Geography ===
==== Location ====
The Final Empire was located in the northern hemisphere. It was bordered on all sides by the burnlands, inhospitable deserts with temperatures too hot for survival. The border areas between the Final Empire and the burnlands were sometimes referred to as the "wastes".
Notable lakes and seas inside the Final Empire include the Tyrian Sea, Lake Luthadel, the Black Lake and North Seran. There are a number of large mountains in the Final Empire called Ashmounts. The Empire also contains a number of mountain ranges, the most notable of which is called the Terris range.
The Final Empire also included multiple islands like the Southern Islands and The Shrouded Isles.
=== Climate and Weather ===
The Final Empire experienced mild winters, with snowfall every few years.
The Final Empire also experienced ashfalls, the raining down of the ash in the scadrian atmosphere. The ash was released into the atmosphere by eruptions of the Ashmounts. There were seven of these Ashmounts; Tyrian, Zerinah, Faleast, Doriel, Morag, Kalling and Torinost. These seven mountains spewed ash into Scadrial's atmosphere, cooling the world down. This was the Lord Ruler's solution to his alterations of the planet's orbit. 
Every night, shortly after sunset, the Mists appeared. These Mists seem natural, but are in fact Preservation’s gaseous investiture. The Mist is important to the cultures of both the Skaa and the noblemen.
=== Ecology ===
==== Flora ====
The Final Empire contains many different types of Flora. Most of the Flora was created and designed to survive the Ashfalls.
The Lord Ruler designed new plants that could break down the falling ash in order to prevent the ashfalls from covering the world. The plants in the Final Empire are usually brown. This was due to the Lord Ruler altering their physiology to be able to use more wavelengths of light (such as green light, which is normally reflected) to compensate for the loss of light caused by the ash. Since the plants' light absorption still wasn't fully efficient, the plants became brown instead of black.
==== Fauna ====
The Final Empire has many different types of animals. Most of these animals were created after Rashek’s Ascension, and were designed to survive and thrive in the ash. Some species from before the ashfalls are still around however, such as horses and some types of dogs.
The most notable animal in the Final Empire was the mistwraith, a creature made of mostly muscle, which uses the bones of deceased animals to create unique skeletal structures for itself. They were created from all the living Feruchemists at the time of the Lord Ruler's Ascension. The Lord Ruler also created microbes that broke down the ash as part of their biological processes, in order to prevent the ashfalls from covering the world.
The Final Empire also contains multiple species made through Hemalurgy. These species are the kandra, koloss, and Inquisitors.
=== Notable places ===
* Luthadel - The capital city of the Final Empire and seat of the Lord Ruler.
* Urteau - The capital city of the Northern Dominance and hereditary home of House Venture.
* The Pits of Hathsin - A large mine that produces atium.
* Austrex - The capital city of the Southern Dominance.
* Conventical of Seran - The home of the Inquisitors.
* Tremredare - The capital city of the Western Dominance.
== Government and Politics ==
=== Lord Ruler ===
The Final Empire is ruled by the Lord Ruler. This man is a fullborn, a full feruchemist and a mistborn. Some Skaa view him as eternal, like the sun and the mists. The Lord Ruler has a lot of influence on the culture of both nobles and Skaa.
The Lord Ruler plays a large role in Steel Ministry doctrine. They view him as a god, calling him the ‘sliver of infinity’. He is revered for saving the world from the deepness.
He has absolute authority in the Final Empire. It must be noted however that he doesn’t make many decisions himself, instead letting the various cantons of the Steel Ministry rule.
=== Noble Houses ===
The noble houses effectively rule the empire, although they are policed heavily by the Steel Ministry. The houses control imperial trade and also enslave the majority of the Empire’s Skaa population.
Most noblemen are provincial lords, owning plantations that produce food or other products. Most of these lords seem to live on their plantations, although a lot of them also live in nearby cities, controlling their plantations from a distance away. While the empire seems a unified entity on first sight, the truth is that there were a hundred different courts with a hundred different little 'Lord Rulers', each region having its own political dynamic.
==== Great Houses ====
The Great Houses are the most prominent noble families in the Final Empire, notable for their ability to build a keep and maintain a high-profile presence in Luthadel. This is made difficult by the Lord Ruler's keep tax. Country nobility resent the Great Houses for their control of the canal systems. The Great Houses get to buy a monthly stipend of atium, one of the main ways that the Lord Ruler controls them.
A major house war between the Great Houses tends to happen every couple of centuries or so. House Wars are primarily political. The last House War was devastating.
=== Steel Ministry ===
The Steel Ministry and its obligators are the main bureaucracy for the Final Empire. Despite officially being a religious institution, the main purpose of the Steel Ministry is to keep the empire running.
One of the functions of the Ministry is to witness a myriad of contracts and agreements, even something as simple as promise to come to a game of shelldry. The nobility pay the Lord Ruler for their services in a manner similar to that of renting skaa. As the authority in bureaucratic matters, any mercantile contracts, divorces, weddings, land purchases, inheritances, or any other important dealings could only be authorized by obligators. If one of the Ministry’s members hasn't witnessed an event or sealed a document, it might as well not have happened or have been written.
The Ministry is split up into multiple cantons. These Cantons are responsible for their own area, for example finances or orthodoxy. The known Cantons are:
=== Administrative Districts ===
The Final Empire consisted of ten Dominances. Each dominance is ruled by provincial lords each with command of, and responsibility for, their own skaa. This organization has been in place for two hundred years and grants the nobility greater freedom than previous systems. The Lord Ruler seems to be uncomfortable with this and counteracts it with increased obligator activity .
The ten dominances are:
=== Luthadel ===
Luthadel is the capital city of the Final Empire. It is located in the central dominance, southwest of lake Luthadel and east of lake Tyrian.
Luthadel is the economic center of the Empire. Many Noble Houses, including the Great Houses, are located in Luthadel. As these Houses control the trade routes and canals, as well as much of the actual trade itself, Luthadel is very important for the Empire’s trade and welfare.
Luthadel is also the seat of the Lord Ruler. This upon itself makes it very important to the people’s culture. Luthadel is also located at the magnetic North Pole. This makes all compasses point toward it.
== Culture ==
=== People ===
The Final Empire had somewhere around a hundred million citizens. A couple million of those lived in Luthadel.
==== Ethnicity and Skin Color ====
After a thousand years the peoples that initially formed the Empire lost most of their individual culture, with a few exceptions such as the Terrismen. Nonetheless they were still ethnically distinct.
Many people in the southern dominances had darker skin than those in the inner Dominances. The Terris people lived in the northern most Dominance, appropriately called the Terris Dominance. These people generally have a dark skin color, darker even than the people from the southern dominances. They have a lot of diversity in skin color. They are also, notably, a rather tall people.
==== Social Caste ====
The descendants of the people who originally supported the Lord Ruler during his rise to power are now the nobility of the Final Empire. The Lord Ruler and his allies had access to beads of lerasium, and gained Allomantic powers. Because of this, certain nobles gain the use of Allomancy. There is a wide range of nobles, from the high houses to the impoverished.
Skaa descend from people who did not support the Lord Ruler. When he ascended, the skaa were changed so they were more fertile. Skaa cannot become Allomancers unless they have noble blood recently in their lineage. Skaa are essentially slaves, property for nobles to exchange between them, although they are ultimately owned by the Lord Ruler. The best-off skaa are craftsmen or tradesmen. They and their families live in relative comfort, although only a few skaa have this privilege. Even the highest skaa are subject to the whims of the nobility. However, far from the center of the empire, skaa can own land and achieve wealth.
=== Fashion and Beauty ===
==== Noblemen ====
Noble fashion is heavily influenced by the Lord Ruler. 
Men generally wear sharp suits, of many different colors. They may also wear cloaks and carry dueling canes. The fashion around the year 1024 FE dictates that Noble suit coates should be long. Noblemen may also wear hats. They often carry metal jewelry, despite Allomancy. 
Women often wear elaborate gowns and dresses. These sets of clothing are often brightly colored, although some clothing is black or other muted colors. Most of a noblewoman’s clothing is made from silk. In place of a cloak for men, women use a shawl. Women are fond of jewelry, and often use them to change their appearance. Examples of jewelry used are barrettes, bracelets, earrings and necklaces. While they are often made of metal, some pieces of jewelry are made from painted wood to protect against Allomancers. During the year 1024 FE it is fashion for women to wear two starkly different colors of jewelry to provide contrast.
==== Skaa ====
Skaa often wear cheap clothing such as smocks, trousers, shirts and more. These clothes are often coloured black, grey or brown and it’s rare to see a Skaa in colourful clothing.
Skaa men and women often keep their hair short.
=== Architecture ===
==== Noble Keeps ====
The largest dozen or so noble keeps are interspersed throughout Luthadel, these keeps are the homes of the high nobility. Other cities in the Final Empire also contain noble keeps however. The keeps are tall, four or five stories high. The noble keeps are also intricately decorated, with rows of spearlike spires and deep archways. It appears that these keeps all have large banquet halls inside them. The keeps are illuminated by powerful limelights. A token feature of noble keeps are the enormous, rectangular stained-glass windows.
These keeps are often the location of large balls hosted by the nobility. They are the mark of a high noble family, any family who could afford to build a keep and maintain a high-proﬁle presence in Luthadel is considered to be a Great House.
These keeps often have large open areas around them. They themselves look like solitary mountains rising above the rest of the landscape.
==== Skaa City Tenements ====
City Skaa live in large tenements. Most of these buildings are built from stone blocks, with simple, peaked wooden roofs. The structures are packed closely together, making them seem squat despite the fact that they are generally three stories high. The tenements are uniform in appearance. The patches of space amid the tenements are like clearings in a forest.
==== Skaa Hovels ====
The plantation Skaa live in large hovels. These buildings look moundlike and are unguarded. They are made of wood. Skaa hovels have a single room, they also have a firepit at the center upon which food is cooked. These hovels have little furniture, a few crude tables and chairs.
=== The Metallic Arts ===
==== Allomancy ====
Allomancy is known to both the Skaa and the Noblemen. The Skaa, while having stories of it, have very limited actual knowledge of it and often describe mystical powers to Allomancy. The nobles meanwhile are very aware of its capabilities and limitations.
Allomancy only appears in people with noble blood. This includes full blooded noblemen and Skaa with recent noble ancestry. This is because the noblemen are the descendants of ancient kings who ingested lerasium.
The Lord Ruler is also an Allomancer. He gained Allomancy by using the Well of Ascemsion to make himself a mistborn. He uses Allomancy to great effect, constantly soothing and rioting people’s emotions. He also uses Allomancy to compound his Feruchemy, allowing for great feats of power.
==== Feruchemy ====
Feruchemy is seen in the Terris people and in the Lord Ruler. Among the Terris people are a group known as the Keepers, full Feruchemists with the goals of collecting and spreading information. Other Terris people have the genes for Feruchemy as well, albeit buried deeply. 
The Lord Ruler was a Feruchemist as well. He used Feruchemy to effectively become immortal, compounding his metals to gain extreme amounts of every attribute. The Lord Ruler, scared that another person would be born with both Allomancy and Feruchemy, tried breeding Feruchemy out of the Terris population, although some people worked hard to prevent this.
==== Hemalurgy ====
When the Lord Ruler ascended he gained knowledge of the Metallic Arts, including Hemalurgy. He used this knowledge to create servants for himself. Foremost among these servants were the inquisitors, humans who had gained 9 to 11 spikes, granting them a wide range of abilities. He also created Koloss to serve as his soldiers, and Kandra to serve as his spies. The Lord Ruler himself was also spiked.
=== Technology ===
Classical Scadrial, which existed before the Final Empire, was at an early industrial age. They had discovered gunpowder and steam power. After the Lord Ruler founded the Final Empire he began to systematically destroy knowledge and technologies. He destroyed the knowledge of gunpowder in particular. Although he did allow some advances such as the implementation of canneries, allowing for the easy storage of food.
== Military ==
=== Armies ===
==== Human armies ====
The empire had a standing army around Luthadel including a number of garrisons. The Luthadel Garrison consisted of twenty thousand troops, mostly skaa, and many of the smaller towns in the Central Dominance had smaller Garrisons of their own, such as Valtroux and Holstep.
The Canton of Inquisition itself is trained to have formidable warriors, each member more than capable of overcoming any target. The Noble houses operate guardsmen, militias and armies when necessary.
==== Koloss armies ====
There is also a large amount of koloss, who are either under the control of the Lord Ruler or a remote Inquisitor.
=== The Lord Ruler ===
The Lord Ruler is a fullborn, someone who is a full Feruchemist and a Mistborn. As a fullborn he is extremely powerful, being capable of compounding his feruchemy and Allomancy. Due to this he can slaughter entire armies by himself, and has done so before, nonetheless he still uses regular armies for almost everything.
 
==== Kandra ====
The Lord Ruler used the kandra as spies with the ability to accurately imitate and replace anyone whose skeleton is available.
== Economy ==
=== Skaa ===
==== Plantations ====
The Empire is fed by the food produced on plantations, these plantations often contain a few hundred Skaa and a number of overseers. Each plantation is owned by a noblemen, who may or may not live on the plantation itself.
==== Craftsmen ====
Some Skaa work as craftsmen in cities. These Skaa have much better lives then regular city skaa, although they are still subject to the whims of the nobility.
==== Other Jobs ====
Most of the manual labour is done by Skaa. For example, they work jobs as builders and clear ash from the city streets. Skaa also operate canal boats.
=== Currency ===
The Final Empire uses a currency called Imperials (often referred to as Boxings) and Clips.
Imperials are large gold coins with an image of Kredik Shaw on their reverse.
Clips are copper coins notably much smaller than other pieces of imperial coinage, such as the Imperial. Due to their low value, they are commonly used by Mistborn and Coinshots for pushing off the ground.
=== Atium ===
The atium economy acts as one of the many ways the Lord Ruler takes a firm hold on the Final Empire. Its scarcity, along with its godly Allomantic use, makes atium an extremely valuable currency; a small bead being valuable enough to cover the cost of living for a skaa for several years.
The only place atium can be mined is at the Pits of Hathsin, where skaa criminals are sent to work as punishment for their crimes until death. A noble house is in charge of the profitable mining camp, with House Venture being the last House to oversee the operation before the destruction of the mine. The fact that atium is mined here is kept top-secret. Not a single prisoner has escaped before Kelsier, hence his nickname "the Survivor of Hathsin".
A portion of the atium mined at the Pits of Hathsin is secretly transported to Luthadel by the Canton of Resource, mixed into and disguised as Ministry funds. Since metal coins radiate powerful light in the Cognitive Realm, the atium beads, when mixed with other coins, can be transported safely without being discovered by Ruin.
Kandra are known to only accept atium for their service. Their "contract", purchased with steep prices, provides the Kandra's absolute loyalty and their powerful imitating skills. However, the fulfilling of Contracts actually has another purpose. All the atium they earn is brought to their Homeland where it is stockpiled in a metal vault, the Trust. They do this on account of their First Contract with the Lord Ruler. For atium is condensed power of Ruin, by storing it in a place where Ruin has no influence, they deny him access to a part of his power.
With enough atium, a Mistborn with its future-seeing ability is almost invincible. At the time of the Final Empire, the only known way to counter it is to have more atium than your opponent. The result of an atium match is almost always fatal for the one with less amount of atium. Therefore, it is essential for the Noble Houses, especially the Great Houses with one or more Mistborn, to maintain a steady supply of atium. The atium has to be bought from the Lord Ruler with very high prices. Usually, the uncertainty of who has the more atium forms a balance of terror, making none of the sides dare to start burning atium.
The Lord Ruler Compounds atium to gain access to near-infinite amount of youthfulness. As he ages, he needs more and more atium to remain youthful. It is unknown how much atium he eventually needs to consume at the last years of the Final Empire.
== History ==
As the Deepness gained strength and caused more problems, Alendi, considered to be the Hero of Ages, conquered the world then traveled to the Well of Ascension, ostensibly to defeat the Deepness. When Alendi's travelling party was almost at their destination, Rashek killed Alendi and entered the Well of Ascension in his place. During his Ascension, Rashek used to power to remake the world and create a number of new species including the mistwraiths. He also used his power to fundamentally alter the planet's location and ecology, even changing the humans that populated it into skaa and nobles.
After returning from the Well of Ascension, Rashek impersonated Alendi, and bribed several monarchs into supporting him by giving them beads of lerasium. He then conquered, killed, or suborned his remaining rivals, and founded the Final Empire, proclaiming himself the Lord Ruler. He ruled over his empire for another millennium.
As the Lord Ruler, Rashek built a stable and self-sustaining empire. No dissent was tolerated, not even from nobility, and all religions except his Steel Ministry were banned. The last religion to keep fighting, the Valla, was destroyed in the late fifth century of his rule.
At some point Rashek attempted to destroy the Final Empire.
Kelsier's crew planned the Skaa rebellion, resulting in the fall of the Final Empire. The empire fractured into several competing kingdoms, but eventually consolidated under Elend Venture's New Empire.
== Notable People ==
== Notes ==
category: culture
 
es: El Imperio Final (in-world)