Khagoan Empire

Five Starred Banner of Khago. It was an ancient symbol of Khago dating back to the Beforetimes. The fifth and central star was later added to symbolize the Emperor

Khagoan Empire at its peak

## General Information

### Common Languages

Laeklunder (official), Texhun, and various regional languages

### Religion

Khagoan Pantheon , Imperial Cult , Various Local Religions, Arkivism (Late Empire)

### Eras

Epoch of Empires, Epoch of Alterations

The **Khagoan Empire** was an extremely powerful and large empire which spanned much of the Maer'Kan Continent at its peak. Founded by its infamous first Emperor, Don Wabbash, a great and ambitious conqueror, who transformed Khago from a corrupted Oligarchic Republic ruled by the various competing powerful families of the Aldermanry, into the most powerful Empire ever seen since the Beforetimes. The Empire was renowned for its military might, which it used to conquer all the lands from Sea to Shining Sea.

Although a brutal and autocratic state, the security of its iron-fisted rule allowed civilization to flourish in the otherwise chaotic world of the Salvage Age. During the peak of its power, a golden age of urban growth, trade, and cultural diffusion occurred, known as Pax-Khagoa. The Empires rule set the stage for many major developments and turning points in the Salvage Age, such as their Destruction of the Arkivist Holy City of Ark Mount. This ultimately led to the Arkivist message being quickly spread across the interconnected world the Khagoans created during The Scattering, and ultimately led to the Empire adopting the faith as its state religion, greatly increasing its influence over the new world.

But the prosperity of the Khagoan Empire was not to last forever. During the Epoch of Alterations, the Empire was hit by numerous crises, civil wars, and invasions during the Century of Chaos. But despite the brief restoration of the Empire by Anbul Washtenaw, disputes of power between the newly formed Arkivist College of Khago and the Emperor triggered the bloody War of the Schism which culminated in the permanent division of the Empire into Eastern and Western Halves, with each Emperor claiming to be the rightful claimant to the throne.

Centuries of bitter conflict exhausted the resources of both East and West allowing for increasingly powerful barbarian warlords to migrate their tribes into imperial lands, culminating in the Fall of Khago and the dissolution of the Eastern Empire at the conclusion of the Epoch of Alteration. From its ashes Kanuck Warlords and Aapalachen rebels carved out new Barbarian Kingdoms in the East, beginning a new Dark Age known as the Epoch of Trials. Its Western Half barely survived the era of tribal migrations on top of the massive Moormun Crusades of the Empire of Dezuret which swiftly conquered its provinces in the Far West as well as the Mexihtec Empire. The remnant if the Western Empire came to be referred as the Texhun Empire and it remained a substantial though greatly diminished power.

But Khago remained a city of great importance even after its fall. As the seat of the Provost of Khago, the Eastern College slowly but surely convinced the new Barbarian Kings to become followers of his spiritual authority, setting a new stage of political developments in the East.

## History

### **Collapse of the Republic and Conquests of Don Wabbash**

The Khagoan Empire was formed from its predecessor, the earlier Khagoan Republic, which had been an Oligarchic Republic run by the a council of the cities most powerful families known as the Aldermanry. The Republic had grown unstable in its later years and was plunged into numerous civil wars and was on the verge of collapse due to conflicts between rival Aldermen vying for control of the Republics wealth and provinces it had attained over previous years of conquest and diplomacy. One powerful Alderman and General by the name of Don Wabbash fought a civil war vying for for control of the dissipating Republic with his arch-rival, another powerful Aldermen, Fultun Monroe. After Monroe's defeat at the Battle of the Brazhuss he fled the Republic to seek refuge in Xalifaunia, one of his allies. Don Wabbash was then declared the first Emperor of Khago by the people of Khago upon his return to the capital, and his name Don became the title and honorific used by all Emperors after him.

Monroe then married the Paramount of Xalifaunia, Queen Qortnae, and they both formed the TexMex Alliance with the other Texhun ruled Kingdoms of the Far West to fight against and retake Wabbash's new Empire. The new Emperor quickly learned of this plot and launched a massive invasion of TexMex Puebloa, Ar'Sonia, and finally Xalifaunia, destroying the alliance. Monroe committed suicide and Qortnae was taken prisoner by Wabbash and brought along with his Legions as a war trophy. On his way back east Wabbash fought a short but bloody war with the Arkivists of Kohlratia, which had just recently overthrown their oppressive Texhun rulers shortly after the beginning of the Emperors campaign against the TexMex Alliance. But their brief independence of the Arkivists was ended when Wabbash absorbed their State into the Empire after signing the Treaty of Uryango with their Provost, Which allowed Khagoans to occupy the country, so long as they left their Holy city of Ark Mount and its sacred ancient relics undisturbed and allowed the Kohlratians to continue the practice of their religion.

The disgraced Queen Qortnae was then paraded through the streets of Khago in chains as part of the Emperors triumph in the city, at the end of which she was publicly strangled to death. Wabbash then invaded the mysterious island of N'Anglynd at the edge of the known world and subdued its Yenkee Tribes one by one before the whole island was conquered. His final campaign was against the Kanuck Tribal confederacy of the Untarrienes, who were defeated after an extremely bloody war where five legions were wiped out entirely and the Emperor himself was nearly killed. Choosing not to proceed any further into the dark and wild forested homeland of the Kanucks, Wabbash established the province of Untarrio and ordered the construction of the massive Wall of Wabbash which spanned the northern border of the province and divided Imperial Kandau from Wild Kandau, where the other even more warlike Kanuck tribes still ran free.

For the remainder of his reign Wabbash constructed many great monuments in his Empires capital city, such as his palace the Red Tower, which stood over 500 feet above the city and was the tallest structure built since the Beforetimes. He also constructed many stadiums, theaters, aqueducts, and statues, as well as his own personal Mausoleum where his body was to be interred after the Khagoan Priesthood deified him as a living God, founding the Imperial Cult. The city grew exponentially to a population of One Million inhabitants, and was now by far the largest city in all of Maer'Ka. Wabbash died quietly years later, and his dynasty would last until the last of his lines death at the Siege of Ark Mount at the end of the Epoch of Empires.

### **Pax-Khagoa and peak of Imperial power**

For its first few centuries of existence, the Empire brought upon an unprecedented era of order and stability to the continent, known as Pax-Khagoa. The Empires protection allowed for unrestricted trade across the continent and the long distance exchange of ideas and culture. Due to its long reign, the Empire heavily effected the continent and Khagoan culture, language, and politics heavily influenced the several cultures which fell under its domination. Cities around the Empire grew exponentially, reaching populations ever seen in urban centers since the re-establishment of civilization, with the city of Khago itself reaching an astounding population of one million souls.

A massive network of paved roads was built connecting all the Empires provinces and major cities, and Laeklunders established hundreds of colonies in newly conquered lands. In the East, military settlements were founded by veterans of the Don's Legions to subdue the lesser civilized and populated Yenkee and Apalachen regions of the East, with natives coming to settle around the newly established forts which eventually developed into new cities and towns bringing civilization to the region. Colonies were also established within the already heavily developed urban centers of the West, with cities like Quochella in Xalifuania, Fuenix in Ar'Sonia, and Ozduhn and Tahluss in Texhuss, and being studded with new monuments and infrastructure, growing their already large populations. The extensive frontiers of the Empire were heavily fortified with strings of fortresses and watchtowers manned by the Citizen Legions as well as the Provincially recruited Auxiliaries. These fortified boundaries kept barbaric tribal groups such as the warlike Kanucks of the north, the Buckskyn Horse Nomads of the Great Plains, and the desert tribes of Dezuret at bay. Rival neighboring Empires, such as Mexihtec and Kazkadiya were also severely punished by the powerful imperial armies whenever they gathered the courage to make attempted incursions into the Empire.

In the homeland of the Empire, Laeklund, the powerful Alderman families of Khago still held great influence in the economy and to an extent politics, but their power was kept in check by the Dons, who were the undisputed rulers of the Empire and loved by the citizen masses of the city. The Citizens of the Empire were mainly concentrated in the Khagoan homeland of Laeklund and largely lived on grain and corn welfare guaranteed to them by the Emperors, who threw them lavish and violent games such a Bloodflag and Chariot races to keep them distracted from the often squalid conditions they lived in. At the bottom of the social ladder, Hundreds of Thousands of slaves from the Empires many conquests were imported to Laeklund and Khago, where they and their offspring also born as slaves worked on massive agricultural estates owned by the Aldermen or in the retinues of slaves serving the households of elites.

In the many Provinces, Imperial Governors represented the Emperor in all corners of his realm, but granted much of the lower level administration to local aristocracies, which had largely been left in place so long as they paid their taxes and did not rebel. In fact, the local elites of the conquered often learned the Laeklunder language in order to move up in society in hopes of gaining citizenship themselves, causing Khagoan influence to permeate throughout every corner of the Empire. However the vast majority of the Empires provincial populations, simply known as subjects, remained largely poor and continued to practice their traditional way of life and speak their native languages in poorer parts of cities or rural hinterlands.

The Khagoans also adopted much from their multitude of subjects, adding various unfamiliar Gods and Goddesses to their pantheon, as well as finding correlations between their own Gods and the Gods of foreign peoples. All religions were tolerated under the Empire, but some such as Arkivism were viewed with suspicion by authorities, due to refusal to make sacrifices to the Gods due to their belief that the Gods of the Beforetimes were in reality simple mortals, causing the Khagoans to view them as arrogant atheists.

### **Century of Chaos**

Despite its glory and the order it brought, the Khagoan Empire was quite oppressive in the view of the peoples it subjugated. Non-Citizen populations were heavily taxed and often had few legal rights, and were viewed as expendable by imperial officials. This led to many revolts and rebellions by provincials which were often ruthlessly crushed by imperial Legions and locally drawn Auxiliaries. Towards the middle of the Empire at the dawn of the Epoch of Alterations; a turbulent period known as the Century of Anarchy, marked by endless civil wars and Succession crisis, tore across the Empire and brought it to the brink of collapse. The Emperor Anbul Washtenaw then desperately searched for ways to restore his Empire, and finally gave into to taking advise from the leader of Khago's growing Arkivist community, Mallus. Mallus taught the Emperor in ancient military and political tactics and accompanied him on his campaigns to reconquer the fractured Empire. After his victory he converted to Arkivism and established it as the state religion, making Mallus the Provost of Khago, the first person to hold the title since the destruction of Ark Mount at the beginning of the Epoch.

The newly restored Arkivist Empire was short-lived however, and would soon again be plunged into civil war after the Emperor broke his promise to the first Khagoan Provost to grant the new Arkivist College full autonomy and the right to crown Emperors, as he attempted to exert full control over the New Arkivist College of Khago after they refused to crown his son Kwentun Washtenaw. This resulted in Anbul Washtenaw's assassination by a plot formulated by Provost Mallus, who then crowned a new Emperor who was seen as more capable of rule. Washtenaw's heir and supporters fled to the West, where they set up a government in exile that practiced full draconian control over the Arkivist clergy, where the new Western Emperor personally appointed the Provost of his newly formed and heretical Western Arkivist College. He then began a war to retake Khago and avenge his fathers murder, beginning the War of the Schism. The bloody war was fought between the Eastern and Western Empire's, and ended in a stalemate after Kwentun's death and defeat at the naval Battle of the Arch, which left the Empire and Arkivist College permanently divided into the Eastern and Western halves after the signing of the Treaty of Archevele. The two Empires intermittently fought one another in a state of nearly constant warfare for the next few centuries, greatly weakening both sides and exhausting their economies.

This opened the gates for the numerous outside tribal groups such as the Kanucks, Hellryders, Buckskyns, and Dezuretians to cross over the formerly heavily defended frontiers of the Empire. They pillaged the wealthy provinces of the east and west and carved new kingdoms within formerly imperial lands. This culminated in the destruction of Khago itself by a massive horde of Hellryders under their Great Sharff Iron Scalp, and the collapse of the Eastern Empire. The Western Empire barely survived the mass migrations and lost lands to the new Buckskyn Kingdom of Kanzhuss, as well as a Hellryder invasion which came close to the gates of Ozduhn itself. It suffered an even bigger blow when all of its wealthy Far Western provinces fell to the Neo-Moormun Crusades of the former Arkivist Curator turned Prophet, Joziah, who led the rising Empire of Dezuret. A Moormun power which also conquered the entirety of Khago's long-time enemy, the Mexihtec Empire. The greatly diminished Western Empire now only ruled Texhuss and its surrounding provinces, and was now simply known as the Texhun Empire, long detached from its Khagoan roots.

## Government and Military

The three major elements of the government of the Khagoan Empire were its central government, its military, and the local governments of its Satraps. The military would establish its control of a territory through war, but after an enemy government was subdued a new Satrapy would be established in the place of the conquered state or polity. Due to the empire's vast size and the lack of long-distance communication in the world of the Salvage Age, a newly conquered territories administration would be placed under the rule of a native Satrap, who had varying titles depending on the political nature of the province. If a Satrap demonstrated loyalty to the central government of the Empire and paid the annual tributes to the Emperor, their people would be enabled to maintain their local politics, customs, and religions. The Central government maintained direct control over the Khagoan homeland in the Laeklunds, which were exempt from the tributes which were required to be paid by the Empire's numerous Satrapies. The Emperors central government would also send advisors to the courts of Satraps known as Overseers to make sure they remained loyal to Khago and maintained the order and infrastructure of their satrapies, they also served as the commander of any Imperial Legions garrisoned in the Satrapy.

### **Central Government**

The Emperor of Khago (also referred to as the Don) had ultimate authority over his Empire and all his Satraps, who ruled as Viceroys of their Empire's provinces. It was widely believed that the Emperor was divinely sanctioned by the Gods of the Khagoan Pantheon to rule, and the Emperor himself was considered a God-King worshiped in the Imperial Cult. The Dominance of the Emperor was based upon his consolidation upon the powers of the elite families of Khago, who made up the senate known as the Aldermanry, which once was the dominant political force of the preceding Khagoan Republic. The Emperor was the ultimate authority in the policy and decision-making of the government, despite oftentimes being heavily influenced by the elite Aldermen of the capitol and the generals of the military. The Emperors relied on the informal body of his advisors which made up his court, which included members of the imperial family, aldermen, generals, priests, eunuchs, trusted slaves, and numerous other figures.

The practical source of the Emperor's authority was the imperial military, which was directly funded by his treasury. Members of the Imperial Legions were required to swear undying oaths of loyalty to the Emperor, and no Emperor could hope to survive his position without the absolute loyalty of his soldiers. Emperors of the Wabbash dynasty chose their successors based on blood, but later on during the turbulence of the Chaos Emperors could be made by a variety of means such as usurpation and violent overthrow. After the Arkivist Revolution Emperors were in theory required to be crowned by the Provost of the Arkivist college, but following the War of the Schism this matter became much more complicated.