Empire of Kufmal

The Empire of Kufmal is the primary government of the Realm. The empire is run from the Capital of Kufmal City. The empire has six core cities which are directly imperial-controlled as well as a plethora of other cities and towns that are mostly autonomous or have a player governor.

## History

### Early History

Before the empire existed, Kufmal City was a city-state that jockeyed for power and influence with its neighbors. However, under the leadership of the Emperor, Greystar2426, the city expanded into a regional power. Then, on November 26 of 2019, the First Capitol Building was constructed. Noticeably larger than needed for a city state, the building preempted the city's ambitions. The next day, the Empire Column was erected in the capitol building's plaza, officially marking the transition of Kufmal into an Empire. The once-imposing neighboring city states of Carhio and Uxban, now dwarfed by Kufmal's size, were the first to join under the imperial banner in exchange for favorable trade deals. This tip in the balance of power would gradually lead to the empire annexing every city that it came across.

### Expansion

The reason the multitude of peaceful annexations were successful boiled down to a few major points:

* Annexed small towns on the periphery were mostly left to their own devices, only receiving an imperial flag
* Each town got a connection to the Nether Highway Network to facilitate trade, free of charge
* Generally low taxes, more lenient for smaller towns
* Representation in the Imperial Senate, and even then most of its legislation was designed to disrupt daily life as little as possible
* Lucrative trade contracts and infrastructure support

Explorers from the empire were sent in all directions to make this offer to whomever they came across. If a city-state was hesitant, the empire would send a deeply discounted trade caravan loaded with luxury goods, to impress the locals. However, word of mouth of the benefits of imperial membership spread along older local trade routes, and Kufmal soon found cities reaching out for first contact.

## Government

The Government of Kufmal is that of a Constitutional Autocracy. It has an Imperial Senate that shares legislative power with the Emperor. However, the government's goal is to be as hands-off as possible, preferring to not stick its hands into local towns' affairs unless taxes aren't paid or basic rights aren't being violated. The Emperor also wields the might of the Kufmal Armed Forces, split into the Kufmalian Army and the Kufmalian Navy.

## Major Events

### Imperial Plague

In November of 2021, a plague swept through the capital city. This plague would have spread to other villages if a quarantine had not been enforced. The plague took a major death toll on the capital, but those who survived gained herd immunity and the capital city repopulated. To this day, very little is known about the disease, what type it is, or where it came from.

### April Uprising

The April Uprising was a major conflict that rocked the imperial core in April of 2022. This conflict was the result of a long-forming conspiracy where Shathenaten, the governor of Bruhmethius at the time, hatched a plot to kidnap both a master architect and then an avatar of a sun god to transform his city into its own empire and ride above Kufmal. This plot would be uncovered by a reporter Tengu and a Kufmal City businessman, and both the Kufmalian Army and the Kufmalian Navy would be rushed to the city to take the governor down from inside his own pyramid.

## Important Categories

These categories contain characters, cities, players/governors and other information pertaining to the empire.

* List of Cities and Towns
* List of Geographic Features
* List of Players/Governors
* List of Notable Structures and Landmarks
* List of Species in the Empire
* List of Religions in the Empire

## Trivia

* The Imperial Plague was an in-game representation of a real-life depopulation of Kufmal City. For some reason I still don't know, almost all villagers in the city disappeared one day in November 2021. I'm guessing it was some sort of bug.