Empire of World's End

Scarbantia, Capital of World's End

## Overview

Once known as Alba Coralis, the Empire of World's End was founded by Emperor Arthur Coralis, the bastard son of Clovis Coralis. After becoming the sixth Philosopher-King, Emperor Arthur would secretly abdicate, and allow Ramander of Oranor to take the throne, and his identity as well.

## History (Alba Coralis)

A monarchy in which the Emperor passes power to a chosen and trained successor. Originally based in a territory known as Alba, the nation began to shift and transform when the Coralis dynasty - a foreign dynasty - took power. Originally, the Alban nation was composed of many warring states famed for their hoplite warfare, which were in turn conquered by Valens, the founding emperor of the Alban Empire. It was the Alban emperors who began the process of selecting Emperors from among the populace, a practice changed when the throne passed to a foreigner, Corrado Coralis. Conrad Coralis began the practice of adopting successors from within a close-knit group of families, consolidating power into the hands of an culturally and politically distant elite. Corrado Coralis also brought with him the religion of his people - where before, the Alban emperors were themselves deified, the emperors of Alba Coralis considered themselves chosen by their one true god. They elevated the church of their deity, at the price of creating an entity that rivaled the monarchy for power, led by a Pontiff unaccountable to the emperor.

## Civil War of World's End

Ramander, disguised as Emperor Arthur Coralis, faced a civil war led by his rival, Duke Regulus of Draugissonne. Facing pressure from Nadezhda, Arthur would start by ensuring loyalty. He would place key noblemen and generals, including Grand Duchess Galla and Chancellor Ernesto, under deep mind control, to ensure that no one would break ranks. He prepared the fortifications of Scarbantia, and readied for civil war. Duke Regulus of Draugissonne was present with the majority of his troops, who formed the majority of the force. Duke Bernardos of Corcedon was present with the majority of his troops, which formed the next largest contingent. Duke Linus of Narrick was absent, and had sent about half his troops under the command of his son, Sir Lydos. Duke Fabius of Karres was present with less than half his troops. Duke Petros of Savaria was present with a skeleton force - most of his troops were behind guarding the northern border. Duke Regulus presented the surrender terms, and gave the capital until the dawn. Under cloak of shadows, Ramander would meet with each of the Dukes. He would warn Petros of the nature of his victory, and suggest that he focus on defending the northern border. He would go next to Fabius, and offer alliance. The offer would be rebuffed, and his attempt to control resisted. He would, however, convince Fabius not to lead his troops from the front. He would go next to Lydos, and exert control over him, promising him the Duchy of Narick. He would command Sir Lydos to be part of the second wave of attackers, and to turn on his allies. He would go next to Bernardos, and exert similar control over him, promising him marriage to Duchess Galla, as well as the Chancellorship over the empire. Duke Bernardos would also agree to join the betrayers. Finally, he would go to Regulus, and give him a final private chance to surrender. Regulus would refuse, and resist the attempt to control him. At dawn, Duke Petros and his troops would depart. Duke Regulus would lead his own troops on the offensive, followed by Duke Fabius' troops, led by a trusted general. At the command, Sir Lydos and Duke Bernardos changed sides, and surrounded their allies. Duke Regulus would fall in battle, and Ramander would arrange for Duke Bernardos and Sir Lydos to fall as well. Duke Fabius, the majority of his troops slain, would flee back to Karres in disgrace. Declaring them traitors to his person, Arthur would disband the six Duchies, turning control to the local nobility. He would retain the surviving soldiers at the capital, granting pardons to commanders who had been acting in service to their Dukes. Meanwhile, individual Margraves, Counts, and Barons would be permitted to disobey anyone proclaiming Ducal authority. The rank would be retained solely for Galla, who was granted the title Grand Duchess. She would additionally be appointed Pontiff of the Alban Church, with the title being stripped from Laurentius, who was declared a traitor under penalty of death.

The next phase of Emperor Arthur’s plan would be the transformation of the country. Arthur would proclaim his immortality, declaring himself Emperor in perpetuity, and renaming the country to World’s End. He would then issue a blanket pardon for necromancers, inviting them to come to Scarbantia to practice their arts. His next step would be to take every Count in the capital, and transform them into free-willed Vampires. His command would next be for them to go forth and transform other Counts into Vampires as well, with the further instruction to transform their chosen troops into Vampire Spawn. These brazen orders would draw horror and outrage from people of all backgrounds, but any resistance would swiftly vanish in the face of the Nadezhdan assault. Only in war could such actions be accepted, in a war that would soon prove them necessary.

At this point, Emperor Arthur began to test his control over the former provinces. The majority of the southern forces were present and under his direct command. He would dispatch them eastwards under the command of a chosen general, Count Cosimo Abbascia. The east was readying for a great invasion by the orcs of Darguzze. Each Count was already preparing their defenses without direction from Duke Linus, and very little changed with the abolition of the Duchy. Linus himself issued a proclamation declaring that he accepted the imperial decree, and fled to exile in Guilddon, leaving his remaining heirs to try and assert their claims to the province. None of them would find any success. Count Abbascia and the southern forces would find that the defenders had coalesced around a triumvirate of nobles, to whom transfer vampirism would be transferred, along with the instruction to create a force of Vampire Spawn. Thus would the former Duchies of Corcedon and Narick come under his control. The majority of the forces of the west had perished along with Duke Regulus, and with former Duchy of Draguissonne being far from the war, Emperor Arthur was content to leave them alone. Regulus’ son, Augustus, would claim the Duchy for himself, but find that without troops or popular support, his claim was hollow. He would die at the hand of an assassin dispatched by the Emperor, a reminder to the region of the price of disloyalty. A survival western noble, Count Demosthenes, would be transformed into a vampire and instructed to transfer the condition to the remaining Counts of Draguissonne. Demosthenes would run into a great deal of local resistance, and spend the duration of the war fighting to assert control. A similar situation would develop in the islands, which had never been very loyal to Duke Fabius to begin with. An additional problem arose from the difficulty posed to vampires by running water. Though he needed the troops from the isles, Emperor Arthur had no credible way to assert control over them. Fabius still lived, but had lost any credibility with his former nobles, none of whom wanted to fight to defend other provinces. A particularly interesting situation had arisen in the north, where war with Nadezhda had already broken out. None of Duke Petros’ troops had been lost in the war, and despite the decree abolishing the Duchies, Petros’ noblemen remained loyal to him. Petros took command of the defense of the empire’s northern front, and continued to be honored with the title of Duke. The troops of the central province, who had taken great casualties, remained loyal to Grand Duchess Galla Livossa-Coraliss. Arthur would transform the region’s Counts into Vampires, and take direct command of the troops, leading them to held defend the northern border. There, he would find to his surprise that the northern Counts were firmly loyal to their former Duke, and were loath to become undead. In the face of war, Emperor Arthur could only accept the reality of the situation.

## Cities

* Scarbantia
* Kravnovou
* Carbao
* Beyheath
* Astenbach
* Orbeins
* Cato

## The True Form of Man

After the War of the Philosopher-Kings, Emperor Arthur's true identity as Prince Ramander would be revealed. Unconcerned, he would go about the task of transforming everyone in his kingdom into a Vampire Spawn, determined to protect them from the Great Old Ones by making them undead. The only surviving humans are blood bags for their vampiric overlords.

## Gods

While it was still known as Alba Coralis, the nation had its own pantheon, headed by its storm god, Jupiter. In World's End, many of the nobility have now turned to the worship of the vampire god, Kanchelsis. Their representative god on the Holy Council is Kanchelsis.