Second Fialta Imperium

The Fialta Imperial Flag, a pentagram representing the Lords of the Pentacle overlaid on a Fialta cruciform

## Society and Technology

### Religions

* Pentacle Churches, especially:
	+ Church of Dalthad
	+ Church of Thalran
	+ Church of Valdos

### Dominant Races

* Fialta
* Humans

### National Anthem

Tiel'Fialt, Hail!

The **Second Fialta Imperium** is a modern successor state to the ancient Fialta Imperium. The Second Imperium was born when the warlord Mithranatus, a dominant figure of the Fialta-Shantine War, declared himself Emperor in 359 A.U. and took the imperial name Tiel'Fialt (The Resurrected Fialta).

## History

The Fialta Imperium is a recent experiment in religious nationalism, born in the crucible of the Fialta-Shantine wars of the mid-4th century A.U.. In these conflicts, several Fialta warlords gained the resources, prestige and martial connections (especially to the various famous Fialta mercenary companies) to form much larger states than before, ultimately coalescing into the “Second Imperium” under its late founder, Tiel’Fialt.

### First Fialta Imperium

*Main article: First Fialta Imperium*
The Fialta people are the descendants of the legendary conqueror Dres’Fialt, the half-angelic warlord who carved out the First Fialta Imperium from the dying Mage Imperium some five millennia ago. This Fialta Imperium collapsed within a generation of Dres’Fialt’s death.

### The Fialta States

*Main article: Fialta States*
For thousands of years after the First Fialta Imperium's collapse, the Fialta States were a factious, warring region of the cosmos, impoverished by endless wars among various clans, princes and bishops.

### Formation of the Second Imperium

Though unified by a common language, heritage and broad religion (the Fialta give their worship to greater or less degrees to the five Lords of the Pentacle), the Fialta were not a significant cosmic force commensurate with their combined population and military power until the aftermath of the Fialta-Shantine War, in 359 A.U. (to use the Aeldman calendar) when a warlord named Mithranatus formed the Second Fialta Imperium and crowned himself Tiel’Fialt.

### The Coalition War

*Main article: First Coalition War*
Within thirty years, the Imperium’s often militant expansion and rapid industrial armament were challenged by force of arms: the First Coalition War (395 - 399 A.U.) pitted the Serene Duchy of Aeldrum, already the leading power of the cosmos, and a collection of other great and regional powers against the Fialta Imperium. With ineffectual or uncommitted allies, the Fialta were unable to sustain the demands of a multifront war (especially in the final year of the war as an internal succession crisis brewed around the death of Emperor Tiel’Fialt) and were forced to seek peace. The motives of the Coalition of Nations were varied (containment, revanchism, zealotry, conquest, prestige), and these led to an omnibus of demands against the Imperium.

The Imperium was born of a series of defining conquests against a declining incumbent, and its defeat in the Coalition War was no less transformative, bringing the Imperial state into crisis and leading to the creation of a nominally secular Emperor with an administration increasingly controlled by the Churches of the Pentacle (especially the Valdosians and Dalthadis).

## Government

The Emperor, nominally, has almost absolute power: his (unlike Bishant or Alusia, the Emperor is exclusively male) only restriction is to profess no preference for any Lord of the Pentacle while defending all five of the Churches, to allow no occult influence over himself and to respect the appointment process of certain very senior government offices. The Emperor’s heir must be one of his sons or brothers (or failing either, an uncle (extraordinarily, a father), then cousin or nephew), and there must always be an Imperial Crown prince affirmed by the court to take the Emperor’s place. With the Emperor’s rule as law, the court and especially the Imperial cabinet are the principle restraint on his arbitrary exercise of power: candidates for positions such as the High Marshal or High Admiral are submitted to the Emperor’s approval by a majority of his cabinet ministers, who thereby control key imperial appointments (though the outgoing Marshall and Admiral are permitted to nominate a successor which a majority of the cabinet must reject for the candidate not to be presented to the Emperor). The heads of the five great churches and church-linked institutions such as the Bank of Valdos routinely hold ministerial positions, offering their administrative and political capability in return for a portion of Imperial authority. Imperial offices with formal bureaucracies and systems of operation are those which the Cabinet appoints for the Emperor: autonomous ministers generally operate more idiosyncratically.

The forty years following the Coalition War saw a general effort to standardize and rationalize Imperial governance: the result has generally been the systematic elimination of local power bases (e.g. semiautonomous Imperial subject princes) with the goal of centralization, but with centralization then usually taking the form of siloing within the power networks of high Imperial grandees. The resultant accumulation of power has generated tensions not only between the Emperor and his ministers at times, but between formal office-holders and informal power-brokers: the next internal conflict of the Imperium is likely to be between the solidifying state apparatus and the holdovers of the old system of patronage. Ironically, great institutions such as the Bank of Valdos have successfully transformed themselves into pillars of the administration and the patronage system. Dependent on organizations which he does not completely control, the Emperor’s absolutely power in principle is put into practice only through force of will and canny manipulation of his own court.

## Society

The Imperium is at its core both a religious and ethnic empire: its people are defined by a language and martial tradition, which gives rise to a form of Fialta exceptionalism – many Fialta see themselves as the greatest warriors in the cosmos, and the natural conquerors of their surroundings. Fialta culture emphasizes individualistic virtues such as honor and martial prowess; artistic expression, such as poetry, is encouraged but draws its value from the heroism of the author as much as from any aesthetic quality. Historically under-industrialized (though the Imperium has for the last century driven a rapid industrialization of its territories), the Fialta prize heirlooms, military offices, personal retinues (or equal companions, especially at lower social tiers) and land as the markers of social standing. Fialta warrior culture is derived heavily from the traditions of the god Thalran, including notions of honorable battle but also a general disregard for noncombatants (both as unworthy of violence but also of care or protection) and a tradition of looting and enslavement of the defeated which still carries into Fialta expectations for foreign policy (i.e. wars of conquest for glory, gold and slaves). The Imperium is the only great power which has not abolished slavery or serfdom (of the Pentacle Churches, only the Church of Shantara prohibits these) and both are practiced liberally by the Imperial state and local rulers or churches: however, Imperial military service is a commonly accepted way to escape either legal condition (Imperial recruiters will often find themselves in conflict with Fialta grandees over this matter).

### Religion

*See also: Lords of the Pentacle*
Tied into the Fialta national narrative is the polytheistic Fialta religious tradition, which grants enormous influence to the churches in daily and political life (see also the role of court politics, previously). Fialta Churches are highly autonomous, frequently opposed to each other, and directly involved in critical administrative and economic functions as well as more social roles such as entertainment (the Dalthadi Church in particular is famous for its bread and (often literal) circuses).

The Imperium is heavily backed by the Churches of Valdos and Dalthad and their formidable banks (the Churches, in turn, jockey for influence in the Imperial Court). These provide financial stability and economic investment, and with imperial rule replacing princely infighting across the Imperium, infastructural and industrial development have soared, to both the great enthusiasm of investors and the unease of the major mercantile powers. Those who oppose the Emperor are quick to point out his reliance on Valdosian and Dalthadi money and to declare the Imperium a puppet state.

### Race

*See also: Fialta (Race)*
The Fialta are mostly human but claim angelic blood from their forefathers, often with some degree of validity: the prototypical Fialta appears as a tall, broad human with stern features, reddish or bronzed skin and silver or golden hair. Though most Fialta prefer to claim descent from warrior-angels of the god Thalran, it is probable that many are descended from the servants of Dalthad, the Genteel Lord (or even Shantara, the Lady of Guile).

Fialta exceptionalism produces a split society: with all angelic heritage extremely distant, any sufficiently able near-human subject conscripted by a Fialta warlord could historically earn a place in the Fialta class, with its attendant rights and privileges (including a form of proto-democracy through the election of officers, now actively discouraged within the Imperium). The result was a permeable boundary which kept the Fialta as a distinctly warrior-culture (new members having earned their station in this manner were eager to preserve cultural exclusions of non-warlike activities). However, with the rise of the Imperial administration and state armies, this boundary has become more controlled: the Imperium now indirectly sets policy on who is and is not Fialta, and to-date has adopted a far less assimilationist approach than historical Fialta lords, despite mass conscription. The result has also been the gradual (though far from total) recession of militarism as the chief Fialta virtue, encouraging state-oriented values such as loyalty, patriotism, and obeisance.

## International Relations

The Second Imperium at its birth consisted of most of the former Shantine Protectorates as well as about half of the core territories of the Fialta States, including several of the most industrialized worlds. In the two decades after its formation, it expanded to encompass two thirds of the core Fialta States as well as establishing bases and subjugating vassals in the lucrative Trans-Celestial Corridor.

The Third Treaty of Korinth is often called the Humiliation of ’99 by those who fought for the Fialta Imperium, and its devastating effect on the Fialta economy and the size of Fialta territory (about a third was lost) are well remembered by the Imperium. Nevertheless, the significant role of the Bank of Valdos in Imperial government has encouraged pragmatism, leading the Imperium to take a mostly but not entirely rivalrous stance toward other great powers. Aeldrum is the Imperium’s premier threat, as the Aeldman doctrine of Fialta division and containment appears alive and well; Alusia is a competitor for influence and certainly a partner in the last 40 years of Fialta humiliation, but it is not necessarily an ideological enemy or a great power bent on keeping the Imperium down; Bishant is an ideological and hereditary enemy, the power against which the Imperium was first defined, and perhaps the least likely long-term partner for peaceful cooperation, especially as it encourages religious evangelism which undermines the authority of the Imperium’s all-important Churches. Though the Imperial court entertains a variety of revisionist platforms, the central foreign policy objective of the Fialta Imperium is to reinstate itself as the supreme authority over all Fialta.

### Fialta Opposition to the Second Imperium

Though supported by the mainstream of the Churches of Valdos and Dalthad, Tiel'Fialt's ascension was violently opposed by many Fialta, including the lords of the Thalranese Marches. A loose confederacy of mostly Thalran and Dalthad-worshiping Fialta princes declared the "Fialta Free States" and joined the march-lords in their resistance to the new Imperium, while various cults of Shantara and Othal (Qualos) flocked to whichever power center was closest at hand.

Following the Fialta defeat in the Coalition War, The Imperium was handed a humiliation in the form of the Fialta Confederacy, spearheaded by the ambitious Thalranese Marches. The Confederacy provided an umbrella for any Imperial world to effectively declare its independence (if it could win it before the Imperial garrison detained or massacred the local leadership) and join a confederation guaranteed by the victorious Coalition of Nations (naturally the Alusians, Aeldmen and Shantine were especially willing to find various claimant princes and freedom fighters to back).

### Other Enemies

The Second Fialta Imperium has historically fended off countless minor insurrections from rebellious inhabitants of former Shantine Protectorates, as well as raids from the Knights of Adarnum and the Orcish Directorate. The threat of punitive expeditions into the Shantine Empire following the Fialta-Shantine War led the Church of Kirva to excommunicate any chapter of the Knights of Adarnum found to be violating treaties with the Second Imperium: this produced numerous rogue factions, as knights forsook their institutional vows to continue their war against the hated Fialta.

## Notes

1. ↑ Critics of the Imperium’s entanglement with the Bank of Valdos are quick to note that even the formative invasions of the Shantine protectorates by a crusade of Fialta warlords and mercenary captains were bankrolled and largely instigated by the Bank of Valdos. From its very inception, the idea of the Imperium has been inextricable from Valdosian influence.
2. ↑ The Church of Valdos prefers to administer its famous soul-contracts as a means of control, but the distinction is ultimately minor for those whose contracts require their complete servitude to the Bank.
3. ↑ Historical rights of Fialta to challenge one’s master to a duel for freedom have been discouraged under the Imperium, with preference for the military approach.
4. ↑ Though still practiced in the Thalranese Marches.