Great Powers

These are the 8 factions of the universe in the Lower Realm. For information on higher realms, see World Building.

Each power has a Tier 50 leader.

## Transfer of Power

Faction leaders who end their reign are forced to ascend, because only one Tier 50 cultivator is allowed for each Power. For the Transfer of Power all leaders of Great Powers gather. When the Tier 49 reaches Tier 50 the old leader has to ascend immediately or would be attacked by all other leaders.

## Ranking

Powers are listed in order from strongest to weakest.

### The Empire

The main character's nationality. It has jumped from 6th place to 2nd place after the reforms but in by the current emperor's grandmother 60 thousand years ago.

In the empire, all rules are applied equally to all. Even the higher tiers.

Emergency measures may be at maximum tier 5 so that lower tiers can use them.

##### Reforms

The empire went through major reforms during Emmanuel's grandmother's reign. Agatha was a monster that could have given Duke Waters a run for his money. She had an inspiration at tier 48 and killed the reigning emperor at tier 49. She enacted several reforms to the empire that protected the lower tiers.

These reforms were opposed by the noble houses of the time and Agatha had to make a lot of concessions. In exchange for allowing commoners onto the path of Ascension and reducing the stringent requirements to recruit for it, she had to reform the tax policy and replace those funds with her own rift rewards.

She also made laws so that new nobles couldn't exclude all but their first born from seats of power, but she needed to write exceptions for old noble houses because they threatened to go to other powers. this trend continued with Manny's father and his reign.

Still some ducal houses enlisted The Sects to back a coup. Agatha proceeded to cut their tier 50 in half and culled all the decenters. The tier 50 leader of the Sects had to ascend and the next one declared 9 wars on the Empire though out their 30k year reign. The current noble faction of the empire are the remains of the "neutral" noble factions from that time, which were spared and for whom Agatha agreed to compromises.

Agatha also set up the alliance with the Conglomerate of Guilds which stands today. They were the first to follow the empire in reforms and only remain the 5th in power because their exploration has been particularly unlucky. They've only found lower tier worlds.

#### The Capital

The capital of the empire has 3 great guilds that each have 2 level 47 rifts. 6 other rifts are for independents, the rest are controlled by the emperor. The capital has a dozen planets orbiting it to absorb the capital's essence. One is tier 15.

The capital is essence rich, but not mana rich and runs on a mana deficit.

#### Royals of the Empire

The requirements for becoming a royal are you must be at least tier 45 and have an aspect *or* defeat all challengers to the title. Additionally, the skill [Clone] and equipment to improve it is required to be in more places at once.

Listed in order of strength:

1. Emmanuel the Third
2. Mara Moore
3. Leon Moore
4. Rusty
	* A tier 47 fist fighter. his signature skill is Fist Blast
	* Rusty is part of the noble faction as they backed him during his advancement
	* His major domain is the military
5. Tur'stal
	* Her name means "burden" in her native tongue. she was the unwanted twin on a desert planet. She was adopted by a group of exciles. Her tier 1 talent is mysterious but possibly has to do with plants which was unhelpful on her original planet. Her tier 3 warped the world into her ideal image.
	* Tur'stal is part of the noble faction as they backed her during her advancement.
	* Her major domain is terraforming
6. Harper
	* Tier 47. Known for using telekinesis. nothing else is known about them, their gender or origin.
	* Harper is considered Neutral and not part of Manny's faction or the noble's faction.
	* Their major domain is the intelligence network
7. Frederick Macheteuil
	* Currently a duke but Emmanuel plans to raise him in the next session. He is part of the old nobility faction of the empire. Manny's father gave Frederick's father a dukedom where a tier 35 planet was later found.
	* Tier 46, although he supports a lot of the reforms Manny suggests, he is considered part of the noble faction and Manny worries about how difficult his successor will be.
	* A collector of rare and cracked skills

#### Government Orgs

The ETS is the equivalent to the IRS and it goes after people and guilds that don't pay their taxes.

The Emperor sets aside 1/3 of his rift rewards to fund social programs for the empire. Another 1/3 of his rewards are put back to push someone to tier 50 when his rule is complete. Although the Emperor is immortal, they each reign for 30 thousand years before ascending.

When healers work for the empire in an official capacity, they do not take money for healing. Healing is considered a right in the Empire and empire healers can only charge for battle injuries and rift healing. They instead receive contribution points which can be used to get more healing skills. The Empire buys all directed healing skills for higher than their value in order to offer them for contribution points.

##### Vassal Kingdoms

Vassal kingdoms are strictly controlled. they can only be at most half the size of a kingdom of the empire. Then they must be reintegrated. the Kingdom's king would then become a duke. Usually a duke cannot have more than one dukedom but an exception is made for vassal kingdoms as the empire doesn't want to take their land out of hand. Protection and other incentives are given in exchange for any voluntarily given dukedoms and the empire will buy land at 1.5x market value.

The kingdom of Seven Suns was founded 20k years ago after a faction lost a power struggle for a dukedom. The capital is a Tier 32 planet with 7 suns. There are 19 contenders for the throne in Seven Suns. Only three are the king's actual kids. The king, Brice, adopts anyone with drive.

The Alliance of Allied Queens has 7 queens. The First is Diana and the newest is Cori. The fourth queen is named Verona.

### Republic

#### Elections

> "Every so often, people of the area can vote for positions. But they are limited by Tier for the position. The president has to be Tier 50. So only Dicomaty runs for the presidency right now, but the secretary of defense is growing fast. So there might be another election in the next few hundred years."
>
>

Dicomaty, the current President of the Republic, is part of the "old generation" and was a peer of Emmanuel the Third's father. Manny finds him super annoying. The are officially allied with the The Sects.

Dicomaty's replacement is a woman with pure white eyes. She is currently tier 49 and named Janet. She is rumored to have a partial seeker ability. Her tier 25 ability makes her eyes attract attacks which she redirects back at her opponents.

The Republic keeps the existence of cultivation a secret from their unawakened population in order to allow them to live mundane lives untouched by the immortals and the "rat race" of cultivation. President Janet also remarks to herself that the Empire has many awakened low tier people while spending fortunes to raise planets to Tier 5, putting them under much higher tax burdens and impacting their economic freedom.

### The Sects

Officially allied with the republic against the "Empire Threat."

The sects are extremely harsh on members that surrender or retreat, making their warriors fight to the bitter end. Although The Sects are harsh on their own people for surrendering, they accept the surrender of enemies as it's "easy profit."

Unlike other powers which are scrambling to replicate the empire's success with The Path, the Sects doubled down on their traditions.

When Agatha first took over the empire, The Sects backed the ducal noble houses in a Coup which failed spectacularly after she cut The Sect's then leader in half. He ascended shortly after and his successor declared 9 wars on the Empire throughout his 30k year reign.

Pather equivalent: Young Master; Ascender equivalent: Master

#### Elders

In addition to the Head Sect Leader, The Sects have 5 Elders at tier 47 and 2 at tier 48

* Head Sect Leader Winter Hornet
	+ Winter hornet grew up as a simple slave who was sent to the ice caves to chip away ice from critical components of the ice forges. The Winter Forge Sect used them to make elemental weapons. 2/5th of the slaves die from exposure or ice falling on them. He cultivated the cold and fought his way out. He still uses an awl as his weapon of choice.
* Defiant Comet
	+ A female elder.
* Smooth Bow & Dual Spear
	+ Two elders who's sects are allied and thus vote together. They are trying to recreate the empire's success. Their sects account for 30% of the alchemists and smiths in the Sect.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 168
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Chapter 41
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Chapter 71
4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 Chapter 105
5. ↑ Chapter 79
6. ↑ Chaoter 109
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Chapter 44
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 278
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Chapter 20
10. ↑ Chapter 36
11. ↑ Concept of Death 1
12. ↑ Chapter 46
13. ↑ Chapter 72
14. ↑ Chapter 102
15. ↑ Chapter 26
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Chapter 106
17. ↑ Chapter 92