Eirusian Empire

The **Eirusian Empire** is a great and ancient empire on the Western Coast of Eirus. It is an ancient and advanced civilisation built primarily on slavery. It is divided into 11 Provinces and 3 Territories each ruled by a *Praefectus Provincialis* and policed by the elite Eirusian Legions, with the Emperor ruling over and from Old Eirusia, the capital of the Empire. It was founded around two thousand years before the Founding of the Kingdom of The North.

Due to the heavy backbone on slavery, as well as several decades of declining economics, the Empire briefly collapsed in rebellions from the 4 Free City Alliance of Kiamba, Balssin, Ronorum and Anumbia who waged war against the rest of the Empire in the Eirusian Slave War. The Eirusian Empire was forced to allow the 4 Free Cities to secede.

## History

According to Legend, the city of Old Eirusia was founded and built by the Gods, Tiberius (God of Wealth) and Caelus (God of War), and named after the continent it was located on as a continental capital. The people of Old Eirusia who slowly built up the city believed that they were destined by the Gods to found a great nation to encompass the continent of their namesake. The city of Old Eirusia and the Kingdom of Eirusia was founded in 3000 BF, according to these legends, and began to grow rapidly in prosperity.

The promising new Kingdom found itself being eyed upon by rivals and the nearby Kingdom of Yulara, Sacred Kingdom of Pullum and the Castian Foundry all began to close in on the Eirusians, feeling threatened by the rising power. In the War of the Kingdoms, and supported by Caelus and Quintus (God of Wisdom and Victory), the Kingdom of Eirusia was rebirthed into the Eirusian Empire after Old Eirusia was sacked and conquered the opposing Kingdoms. The First Emperor and demi-god of supremacy, Emperor Lucius, was told by Caelus to subjugate and bring the continent to heel. The Eirusians enslaved the fallen realms and incorporated them into the Empire as provinces. They did this for the next two thousand years until the beginning of the Eirusian Cataclysm.

At it's peak, the Eirusian Empire spanned as far as to the borders of the Vensis River, named after the Goddess of Pleasure and Prosperity, and met the Divine Empire of the Ninh who were sworn rivals to each other. At the turn of 200 BF, the Eirusian Cataclysm began. The Divine Empire had already begun to decline and the Eirusian Empire was largely uncontested but after a steep decline in economic strength and a string of weak emperors who weakened the realm, independence movements sprung up around the Empire. The Independence Movements were manageable but the emergence of the Inaloni Tribes and their rapid advances over the deserts of central Eirus forced the Eirusian Empire to retreat entirely from central Eirus and left the Vensis River, which many believe cemented the beginning of the Eirusian collapse as the sacred river named after the Goddess of Prosperity was no longer in the lands of the Empire.

The Eirusian Empire was built upon slavery and subjugation, this was a core tenant which spurred many of the secessionist sentiments in the realm. Combined with the rapid withdrawal of the Eirusian Empire back to Western Eirus, many people found it advantageous to rise up as their own sovereign states again. The Most Serene Republic of the Diliacomati seceded from the Eirusian Empire peacefully in 176 BF and became very close allies of the Empire despite their independence. After the withdrawal of Eirusian Legions, the Amanian people of northern Eirus fractured into warring Kingdoms, Duchies and Republics while the Principality of Allyth began to cement themselves a regional power, causing the Amanian States to find a common enemy in the Allythi.

The crescendo of the Eirusian Cataclysm came in 109 BF with the beginning of the Eirusian Slave Wars against the Free Cities Alliance. Many of the new nations of Eirus who had founded themselves after the Eirusian withdrawals and abolished slavery jumped to support the Free Cities while even some who had abolished slavery such as the Diliacomati allied with the Eirusians. The Empire under Emperor Hostus Vibidius was determined to hold onto the western coast of Eirus and to stop the decline. In the over 100 years of warfare against the Free Cities and the Eirusian Empire, hundreds of thousands died and the Empire fell into further decline but held onto their power out of national determination. Eventually after the disastrous siege of Kiamba in 1 AF, the leaders of the Free Citiies and the Emperor Primus Lucilius Strabo met in the city of Rulura to discuss a permanent cease of hostilities. After the negotiations, the Eirusian Empire recognised the independence of the Free Cities and the Great Plains Region was agreed as a demilitarised and neutral zone between all nations involved to stop Eirusian expansion.

Emperor Primus held the Empire together and the Eirusian Cataclysm was declared as ended in 1 AF with the end of war. He turned the economy to focus once more on prosperity and wealth. He was then killed in 3 AF during a slave revolt which ushered in the reign of Emperor Lucius Augustus who increased the strength of the state and tightened control on the Empire through expanding and rebuilding the Eirusian Legions and this also brought the Empire back under a sense of control once more. Since 3 AF, the Eirusian Empire has been on a steady rise once again and has been slowly involving themselves in Eirusi affairs once again.

## Military

The Eirusian Empire is one of the few nations which possess a large standing army. The Eirusian Army consists of 30 Legions, each with 5,000 men, and each Legion is commanded by an Imperator Generalis. The soldiers of the Legions, a Legionisi, are heavily equipped infantry with curved rectangular shields, and a two-edged sword for cutting with a tapered point for stabbing during thrusting, however soldiers in the first rank of a Regimentum (500 men) were equipped with a long spear as well as a sword and shield. The Legionisi wear white tunics with a steel grey plate armour that covers the entire upper body with the tunic-skirt covering the lower body.

In Eirusian Society, the Legionisi are selected from birth and taken to the Eirusian Academy in Old Eirusia to be trained to become a Legionisi. They are devoutly loyal to the Emperor and the Empire and are known to be fierce fighters and a Legion could quite easily take on a greater numbered foe and still come out on top. The Eirusian Empire, at it's peak in c. 300 BF -200 BF, had over one hundred Legions which policed and controlled vast swathes of the Empire. However as the Eirusian Empire began to collapse, the Legions were slowly dwindled down to just 14 by the end of the Eirusian Slave Wars. Emperor Lucius Augustus became Emperor in 3 AF and began to rebuild the Eirusian Military and the Legions were slowly increased to the present 30 Legions.