Jade Ox Empire

## Overview

The Jade Ox Empire is an empire of Goblins and other small races that are fascinated with Alchemy and fire for the most part. They choose to pursue intellectual pursuits rather than raiding and pillaging other races.

The Jade Ox Empire is built on the remains of a long forgotten dwarven kingdom. The goblins that have taken over this area and have done renovations to the ruins to make them livable for goblins. It originally was a few goblin tribes that controlled a few caverns but due to how prolific goblins can be, those few tribes spawned a few more tribes and that just kept happening until modern day. They have a singular ruler but they have a council of clan leaders under them. Each position of power is passed down through the generations. The formulae books of each ruler are passed to the successor and train themselves to understand the previous ruler's formulae.

The ruler is Besb Firebrand, He is clearly an alchemist as most of the ruling class are. He rules somewhat randomly, he takes control and guides his subservient rulers to specific goals at times but other times gets distracted with his alchemical pursuits. His right hand person is Stab-face "Stabby" Stinkbreath. The official advisor to the throne.

The goblins main rival of the goblins are the slime dragons that inhabit the same general area. Every 10 years they have a battle over territory inside the caverns, in which ground is gained and lost. The ruler of the slime dragons real name is Ziadiath, Lord Of The Green. The goblins of the Jade Ox Empire have changed their name in folklore to "Zia the Green."

If an entire cavern ruled by the Jade Ox Empire is taken over by Zia the Green or his offspring the Jade Ox Army mobilizes to help the goblins that have been displaced take their home back. This is a dangerous venture for both the dragons and the army alike, seeing as the most powerful are those that use big fire bombs that could hurt those that haven't developed a resistance to fire.

Besb is fairly inexperienced for being the ruler, He was to be trained by his parents in how to be potent alchemist and rule well, but they died doing what they loved, in an ill-fated alchemical experiment. So he is currently being taught alchemy by Stabby and is learning bureaucracy as well.

There are an unusual amount of larger goblins in this area, as a byproduct of living by the fallout area and also working with materials from it. The Goblins of the Jade Ox Empire have been even more prolific since the fallout area near their territory has formed. They send those that can hazard the dangerous area or seek fortune to the area to find new alchemical ingredients that they can farm or use for powerful alchemy.

## Standard Practices

A lot of the commoners that aspire to rule or be part of the ruling class are alchemists as they need to be shown that they are valuable to the ruling class. Though education is not formalized, the smartest of each group is put together and trained in the most basic principles of how chemicals work.

Wizards and other arcane casters are also valuable as well, although if that is all they do, they typically hold lower positions unless they can prove themselves somehow.

They are typical goblins for the most part culturally, with the few previous notable exceptions. They are very few goblins that survive in the Jade Ox Empire that are not smart. Even those not magically or alchemically inclined typically are smart enough to stick to what they are good at and help the others in whatever ways they can. Alternative accepted classes include blacksmiths, crafters, and chefs since they are foundations for a cohesive community. Any goblins that don't or can't contribute are pushed to the outskirts of the kingdom.

These resources are very valuable and the ruling class pays well for them. All groups of goblins from the Jade Ox Empire must be sanctioned by Besb Firebrand himself so that they can explore new areas each time and in result don't deplete the new and exotic materials. Each approved explorer is branded with ink or hot iron, with visitors getting an imperial symbol, to show they have permission to the guards that they have permission to leave and enter with the lord's permission.

## Important People/Historical Figures

* Hoss Firebrand (Lewtin) (Besb's Father)

Hoss Firebrand, Cret's Father and Keef's Consort. He was an important alchemist that was Keef's right hand man before Keef took him as a partner. He was a very charismatic man as well and helped a lot when they needed to decide on conflicts that arose among people in the empire.

* Keef Firebrand (Besb's Mother)

Keef Firebrand is Cret's Mother, she was also an amazing alchemist. She was more focused on keeping the empire advancing than on keeping it running, something Hoss did in her place. She always was looking for the next innovation that her empire could use. She experimented with the strange stuff from the fallout area and sometimes even accompanied the people going there on their expeditions.

* Criart Firebrand (Mother Founder)

Mother Founder is the title that almost all except the royal family and their most trusted associates call Criart Firebrand, the founder of the empire. She recognized the threat of the slime dragon, Ziadiath Lord of the Green, as soon as they came and settled in the region the goblins of the Jade Ox Empire occupied, a while before he started to actually attack the empire in search of a good lair for him and his offspring.

Despite the main form of reproduction for slime dragons being split into several weaker dragons his name would be retained by the ruler of the slime dragons in the area. The strongest of the offspring directly from the previous Ziadiath would become the new Ziadiath. Criart Firebrand recognized this threat almost as soon as he arrived.

She then attempted to get the goblin tribes to unite before he started his attacks but they refused to cooperate against this dragon they perceived to be no major threat. When Ziadiath started attacking the disorganized goblin tribes to claim territory, that and only then did the other goblin tribes leaders respond to Criart Firebrand and her plans.

She and her tribe had been preparing for this day and had practiced alchemy a lot and were fairly good at it for self teaching themselves. The Firebrand tribe taught the other tribes that rallied under their banner to do basic alchemy each so they could help prepare and fortify the Firebrand tribes' fortifications. But that was not to say there was no turmoil in the goblins that wanted to remain independent. Criart was getting to be one of the oldest goblins in this union of tribes and had her own children by this point, she taught them the secrets to the most potent alchemy she knew. Then the day of the attack came.

Ziadiath the Lord of the Green attacked them and tore through the fortifications that were sabotaged by a disgruntled tribe that were no good with alchemy.

This tribe's name has been lost to time as the first thing Criart's daughter did when she became ruler was exile the clan that had sabotaged their greatest chance to kill the terrible dragon. But when the Ziadiath broke through the defenses he tore through the ranks and made way towards the bombing brigade was at, Criart Firebrand being in the center of it throwing the most powerful bombs at the dragon actually hurting him significantly. He attacked her and mortally wounded her with his acidic strikes dissolving her flesh as he attacked. She fought to her last breath refusing to see her tribe destroyed by this beast. Criart's mate and right hand man sliced the dragon right down the center finishing the job his mate started just as he was escaping. But unfortunately they were not able to stop his resulting offspring from the split from escaping.

The one Old dragon had now become five wyrmling Dragons, they laid in wait and slowly increased in size and made a formalized team until they were old enough to defend themselves all alone. After the attack the goblins under the Firebrand's united banner decided to keep the coalition together for the safety of all the tribes they slowly expanded outwards reclaiming some of their homeland over time, but always living in caves to protect themselves more effectively from the flying dragons.

Every time the Goblins killed one of the dragons thereafter almost always one of the dragon's offspring would escape after devastating a particular tribe or settlement they had made, making it so that the population either would stay the same or increase in

* Besb Firebrand (Ruler)

Besb is a 21 year old Goblin and is the heir to the throne. He knows the fundamentals of alchemy but doesn't do it in fear of messing up and ending up like his parents. He is more of a scholar than anything else because he feels it's the safest route to go. Cret wishes her brother would be willing to help her learn alchemy as a team project, but he is too afraid of doing it.

* Stab-face Stinkbreath (Head of royal guard)

Fought With Hoss in their youth, saving his life multiple times. Before his father's death, he vowed to protect Cret till he dies. Though he is small in stature, he thrives in fights against larger foes. He spends most of his time watching over Cret, and occasionally checking the border between their and Zia's territory for any movement or threats. Though the slime dragon is the biggest threat, smaller monsters are sometimes a sign that the dragons are on the move. He also trains Cret in basic hand to hand combat for self defense in case he is called away.

* Cret Firebrand (Besb's Sister)

Cret is a Blacksmith and Obviously an Alchemist as well. She has been traveling Babel and Etera as of recent to learn about things that her kingdom may be missing when pursuing intellectual pursuits.