Bernassi Empire

Southbridge was a prime example of the might of the Bernassi Empire.

The banner of the Bernassi Empire.

## **Summary**

A vast empire spanning continents, the Bernassi Empire was a testament to the  **Human** race.

## **Founding**

In ancient history, the Human population was divided into countless tribes, cities regions, all vying for power and domination. With the rise of the **Sun Brothers**, the various settlements and cultures were unified and brought under one banner; that of the Bernassi Empire.

## **Structure**

### **Leadership**

When the Sun Brothers were deified, the leadership of the Empire passed to mortals trusted with it's care. At the time of the founding of Southbridge, the Empire was ruled by the Emperor Andreas V, of House Andraugus. The ruler was also sometimes titled as 'King'.

The leader would act as the High Priest of both Hastes and Solaris and was supposedly a descendant of the brothers. Although this claim was based on shaky evidence, to refute it was treason.

### **Political**

As the Empire was the name given to the entirety of all the Humans under it's banner, it was necessary to adopt more terms to deal with specific places.

The Empire was split into provinces, which would sometimes be a single city, or at others be an entire continent, depending on the Human presence. Each province would be appointed it's own Lord to rule over it and most provinces would be given, or raise their own Legions.

However, particularly distant tended to be somewhat cut off from the Empire via contact and some more powerful provinces would be more lax with their involvement with the entire Empire.

### **Military**

The Bernassi Empire was raised from a mighty military undertaking, the likes of which the world had not seen until that point. It was of the utmost importance that the Empire maintained its strong military and a rigid, yet versatile structure was enforced.

The Imperial Military, as it was known, was raised from levies from all the provinces under the banner of the Empire. Each province would usually raise it's own Legion, consisting of troops from any Human settlements it had. More powerful provinces, or those with claims to resources, such as Southbridge, would often receive more help from the Empire than others.

The structure of the military was fixed and unyielding, as the rulers wanted the Empire to be:

* A **Legionary** - a single soldier, who is a citizen of the Empire.
* An **Auxiliary** - a single soldier, who is not a citizen of the Empire.
* A **Contubernium** - a group of 8 Legionaries, or 8 Auxiliaries.
* A **Century** - a group of 10 Contubernium.
* A **Centurion** - a leader of a Century.
* A **Cohort** - a group of 6 Centuries. This was the largest Auxiliary unit.
* A **Legion** - a group of 10 Cohorts, plus a cavalry unit.

Please note, most provinces would raise their own 'legions' without having the same number of men as an 'Imperial Legion'. This tended to be common practice.

* The **Tribuni** - a group of 7 who would lead a Legion. A single member was known as a **Tribune**.
* A **Legate** - the prime leader of a Legion and a member of the Tribuni.

The military would be clad in the finest armour available which, for such a large amount of men, was usually iron. Steel and even adamant may be seen on the higher ranks. All would bear a symbol of the Empire, either an eagle or the symbols of Hastes or Solaris.

As the Bernassi Empire stretched across most of the known world, there were all manners of civilisations and cultures under its wings. Unifying every single soldier into a single type of military would not have been the smartest of moves. To this end, many other smaller military groups existed, like the Sons of Dawn, who all answered the Emperor, but had their own specific military structures.

### **Geographical**

The true size of the Bernassi Empire was not known.

#### **Bernassi Empire Owned Areas**

There were no other known territories owned by the Bernassi Empire.

## **Timeline**

* The only known event of the Bernassi Empire is the **Bernassi-Obsidianbeard war**.

## **Demographics**

It is assumed the Bernassi Empire was mostly made up of Humans.