The Empire

The Empire is the largest political body of Aum, comprised of five kingdoms that span the continent of Emperus. The Empire is politically dominated by humans but all races of Ib are eligible for imperial citizenship. One of the core tenets of the Imperial Doctrine is that all land on Aum and beyond is rightly governed by it due to its claims of Manifest Destiny and Empyreal Law. In effect, this means that The Empire holds that anybody who does not consider themselves subservient to its administration is part of an insurgent force.

Marble Palace

## Governance

The Empire is governed under a federal system in which power is unevenly distributed among several levels. The Imperial Government reigns supreme over all Dominions under its banner, but those Dominions are allowed a significant degree of autonomy and function as almost independent nations in their own right, but they are still beholden unto Imperial Law, mainly in the form of Edicts.

The Empire also requires that Dominions it governs to divide their power among smaller blocs to increase local and regional autonomy as well as further the federal diffusion of power. These subdivisions are in the form of Provinces, which themselves are to be comprised of Districts, which are further divided into Counties. Beyond this, The Empire also requires that areas of significant concentrations of Ib populations within Counties be classified into Settlements which then may further be divided into Precincts and then Wards if they are above certain population thresholds.

## Imperial Government Factions

In addition to the federal system of The Empire dividing power vertically throughout its lands, the power at the top of the system is divided horizontally as well through its Ministries and the politics of the Royal Families. While the complex intricacies of Royal Family politics are difficult to examine in brevity, in general, it should be known that such politicking is primarily responsible for who sits upon the Imperial Throne. Whoever sits upon the Imperial Throne is then responsible for selecting Ministers who will then operate the Ministries, which tend to be more consistent and are far simpler to fathom.

### The Ministry of War

The Ministry of War is the faction responsible for commanding the Imperial Legion, which consists of all the military forces in The Empire. While the term Imperial Legion does by its definition theoretically consist of the armies of all the Imperial Domains, in practice, the Ministry of War cannot always guarantee the compliance of the Domains in obeying its orders and instead can be viewed as only reliably consisting of the Imperial Army, which is led by the Grand Commander, and the Imperial Navy, which is led by Grand Admiral.

### The Ministry of Harmony

The Ministry of Harmony is the faction responsible for ensuring peace in Imperial society and the promotion of Imperial culture. Originally, they possessed a mostly ceremonial role and worked closely with both the Church of Light and the Church of Flame, but over time relations between these religious factions deteriorated and their ceremonial role was overshadowed by that of the Ministry of Majesty. However, during the Advent of Demons, with the establishment of The Inquisition and its Grand Inquisitor, the Ministry of Harmony rose to prominence once more as defenders from demonic influence and the overwhelming binding force holding together the general populace during the ensuing culture wars.

### The Ministry of Magecraft

The Ministry of Magecraft is the faction responsible for overseeing the development of spells and the education of Mages. The Ministry also plays a major role in the education of more mundane matters as well and operates the Imperial Academy in conjunction with the Ministry of Technology.

### The Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice is the faction responsible for implementing Imperial Law and Imperial Edicts throughout The Empire. The Ministry manages Judges, Magistrates, and Justices across every Imperial Settlement under the leadership of the Seven Supreme Justices.

### The Ministry of Life

The Ministry of Life is the faction responsible for documenting the births and emigrations of Imperial Citizens as well as managing many mundane bureaucratic proceedings.

### The Ministry of Death

The Ministry of Death is an Imperial Faction that was not established at the time of the Empire's founding but came about several centuries afterward during the Decades of Death. It is a ministry responsible for suppressing the Undead and other threats to The Empire and does so through the use of its main departments, The Slayers and The Grave Wardens.

### The Ministry of Technology

The Ministry of Technology is an Imperial Faction responsible for ensuring the continuation and distribution of scientific knowledge. The Ministry works closely with the Ministry of Magecraft, with which they operate the Imperial Academy as a joint effort, as well as the Ministry of Commerce.

### The Ministry of Labor

The Ministry of Labor is an Imperial Faction responsible for ensuring rights to Imperial workers at all levels of citizenship and in all manner of employment.

### The Ministry of Commerce

The Ministry of Commerce is an Imperial Faction responsible for regulating trade and commerce between Imperial Domains as well as generally promoting economic growth.

### The Ministry of Majesty

The Ministry of Majesty is an Imperial Faction that directly manages the daily affairs of the Emperor as well as the events and festivities that are held during holidays. The Royal Guard and the Elite Knights are charged with ensuring the personal safety of the Emperor while the Marvelous Maestro Magnifico, or "Emmm", is charged with ensuring the quality of Imperial ceremonies.

### The Five Senses

The Five Senses are an Imperial Faction that was originally started as an intelligence agency for The Empire that has more or less gone rogue. While the Senses themselves are divided into their own subfactions, being the Eyes, led by the Seer, the Ears, led by the Listener, the Hands, led by the Thumb, the Noses, led by Nare, and the Tongues, led by the Connoisseur, but the loyalties between these factions is unclear and many speculate that each of the respective faction leaders has only ever been one individual, referred to as "the Overmind." Throughout multiple periods of history, the operations of one subfaction or even the Five Senses as a whole have been declared illegal, leading to official disbandment, but, nevertheless, at such times the organization simply continues its clandestine operations and persists mostly as usual despite mounting exterior pressures,