Empire of Arathor

# Everen Corelas's Interpretation

The following historical interpretation by Thane Everen Corelas was derived from cross-examination of documents and legal records from the library of Strom.

*(While much of this is a bare framework, the intent is to gradually expand it. The content planned differs significantly from that found above.)*

## Formation

### The Founding of Strom

Following the unprecedented achievement of uniting a host of hundreds - perhaps even thousands - of small, disparate human tribes, clans and isolated families, Thoradin set his gaze on a longer-term strategy: the creation of a fortress, a safe haven for his people. He turned to the leaders of the tribes for counsel, though he ultimately disregarded those who told him to settle in a fertile land, or lead the tribes south beyond the Span, beyond the great snowy ranges, to hopefully greener pastures. To the dismay of many, he listened to his oldest companion among the tribal chieftains: Ignaeus Trollbane, chieftain of the Strom.

Ignaeus counselled him not to flee, or to seek the soft hills of the north, filled with trees and fertile valleys. Instead, the grizzled warrior suggested his own tribal lands on the windswept and rocky shore of the bay, flanked by great granite mountains, mouthed by a ridge - and surrounded only by empty, near-barren plains. Such a site would have but a precarious grasp on food and even fresh water with so many crowding it, but it held a great advantage over softer lands. The lack of trees prevented the [[Forest Troll] warbands from sneaking upon it, the mountains gave easy access to solid stone, and the strange stone temple of the Earth Elementals offered untold potential medicine and magic.

Thoradin agreed, and construction began. Strom was more than mere city; it was a rallying cry, a beacon of safety, of something new. For the bulk of the tribes, structures more permanent than flimsy wooden shacks were completely unheard of. Their nomadic lives, spent fleeing from elves and trolls and other beasts, had given them no chance to develop permanent settlements. Even those who had had built only of wood and turf, and their hamlets had been miserably small, poorly defended, and vulnerable.

Strom was to be hewn of granite, populated by thousands. Men who had never slept beneath a roof would share space with the Arathi; high would share food with low. There could be no division in this new society, this new *idea*, if it was to succeed.

## Elements of Government

#### Origins

The Arathorian Empire was forged from a great host of disparate, and often semi-nomadic, tribes from across the Azerothian supercontinent. Unaccustomed to centralized government and resident in one of the most inhospitable areas of Azeroth, the first days of the empire were typified not, as is typically portrayed in art and theatre, by glory and a well-ordered society; but rather, by a terrifying shambolic state of near-starvation, brutal tribal feuds, and stresses that threatened to tear Strom and the entire Empire asunder.

In order to bring some semblance of order - and long-term viability - to the nascent state, the Emperor embarked on one of his most ambitious schemes. With the help of the Elves of Quel'thalas, the languages of the tribes were syncreticized and a semi-standardized lingua franca developed out of the range of tongues spoken at the time. While helpful in defusing situations, this was not the stroke of genius that saved the empire, and merely allowed for the creation of a sizeable class of literate scribes. These scribes, focused on the careful maintenance and upkeep of all manner of tasks necessary, were the first Arathorian bureaucrats.

The most significant role of these early bureaucrats was the lodging and rationing of foodstuffs. While the people chafed under the seizure of their supplies and their farms, the actions swiftly proved wise. With extensive record-keeping and communication between the capital and the farm holdings springing up throughout the Highlands, the grand total of foodstuffs was made known and accountable; and by this measure, control over the warring factions was achieved with remarkable swiftness. Rather than rely on other tribes to prosecute the peace, Thoradin called on the nascent bureaucracy to enforce the most primitive of the Arathorian laws, themselves yet a glimmer of a development. Troublesome tribes that ceased their quarrels received additional bribes of grain, wine, and meat; those that did not, received nothing at all.

Population censuses, land surveys, and other such bureaucratic tasks quickly followed this one vital role, and by these means, tribal quarrels over borders were dismissed, the great city-fortress of Strom kept from a density certain to bring down terrible outbreaks of miasma, and the state slowly began not only to survive, but to thrive. From shaky origins and a nascent empire at the brink of collapse emerged the mightiest human state ever seen; fit to rival the majestic High Elves and the terrible Amani. To its banner flocked other tribes, reluctant to join earlier with such instability. The primitive bureaucracy had, by merely controlling the production and distribution of food, forced centralized power and organization on a wild and untamed people.

#### Expansion and Taxation

With the growth of the Empire following the foundation of the city-state of Dalaran and the death of Thoradin, the bureaucracy further expanded, taking on specific roles previously handled on an ad hoc basis by *thegns, comes* and appointees. Serving alongside the newly instated heriditary nobility (drawn largely from the ranks of tribal chiefs and their retainers. In some areas, nothing changed save the title.) was an increasingly potent administration of bureaucrats, from the 'lowly' scribes to the great Magocrats of Dalaran. The most powerful tool of control over the Empire was modified as food production increased with every settlement in more fertile soils, and total control over the farms by sometimes tyrannical scribes was largely abandoned. The new tool that replaced it was familiar to the people from the pre-Imperial period: taxation. While it differed greatly in its conduct and extraction, the tax was not perceived as greatly different from those 'gifts' collected by the headmen of the clans and tribes.

Much of the enlarged bureaucracy developed towards the purpose of ensuring the collection and accurate recording of the tax. The taxmen, employed by both local overlords and the central state, were concentrated largely in the towns and villages, taking the Imperial share from those who came to trade and from the local producers. Carefully documented (with the records submitted to the Scribe Overseer of each district to be verified) to avoid fraud and dispersed to the predecessors of the Arathorian Legion, bureaucrats, and the poor, these taxes served the purpose of the control and benefit for the Empire (and it's new emperors) almost as well as the total control and rationing previously practiced.

It was during this expansion that the office of the Palatine and the *missi* were created. The Palatinate, established in 31AD, acted primarily as an advisor to the Imperial Court on matters of law and taxation, but with the creation of the *missi* - envoys of the Emperor, to act as Imperial justices and overseers wandering through the provinces - expanded to the role of overseeing the taxes collected by the Missi. The centralized office of the Palatinate continued the practice of disbursement of goods to shore up loyalty, but also acted to bring as much of the taxed wealth to the capital as possible first - ostensibly to prevent skimming by corrupt Scribe Overseers, but in reality to further reinforce the power of the office and of the Emperor. With grain and other spoilage-resistant taxes held in the capital and dispatched as needed, the state regained the ability to simply withhold the grain ration from struggling and troublesome provinces and clans, and by this measure, force them back to heel.

### Magi

#### Tower of Arathor

The magi of the Tower remained entirely in the service of the crown directly for many years after their formation, acting as a defacto branch of government dealing with taboo places, spirits, and troublesome remnants of the pre-Hundred witches.