Likewise very much a WIP...and I agree with Publius. The simulation numbers are important, but I'd perhaps like a description of the capital/important locations and some key characters too :) .

[hider=The Serene Empire of Tara]

[b]Official Government Name[/b]: The Serene Empire of Tara

[b]Head of State[/b]: Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Liliana, Queen of Sairland, Suzerain of the Vershellen Principalities, Matriarch of House Tara, Radiant Duchess of the Royal Marches, Defender of the Empire and the Star in the North, Lady of the Winter Dynasties and Protector of the Cinnamon Isles.

[b]Capital City[/b]: Rigour, the Star in the North

[b]National Language[/b]: Tarantese

[b]Basic Geography[/b]: The Serene Empire has its origins and seat of power on a set of sprawling islands in the balmy equatorial seas. Imperial colonies have since been established on several other landmasses, supplying the metal and stone-poor islands with these resources and acting as a market for the various foodstuffs and luxury goods the Home Duchies – the five original islands of the Empire - provide. The islands themselves – with the exception of inhospitable, mountainous Monrutaine – are generally congenial, interspersing thick jungle and cloud forests with broad, open floodplains perfect for settlement. To others, though, Taran summers are stiflingly hot and incredibly humid, even with the frequent thunderstorms. is split into several administrative and geographic units, as follows:

1.) [i]The Home Duchies[/i]. The origin of the Empire, the five Home Duchies are its beating heart. Richly watered by regular rain and spared the extremes of the world's weather as a whole, they are lush and green. The balmy capital region comprises the five principal islands of the ancient duchies – Arcadia, Monrutaine, Vallefay, Myrantia, Salamis and of course the Royal Marches themselves. The islands – with the exception of harsh Monrutaine – are a mixture of lush, rich rainforest and broad, fertile grasslands amply watered by rivers and dotted with sparkling lakes. Such hills and mountains as exist are old and gently rolling, and the beaches slope down to the turquoise seas in long, white arcs. Most of the settlements of any note here are, unsurprisingly, seaports of one flavour or another, the greatest of which is dreaming Xantal on its thousand isles.

The imperial capital of Rigour sprawls across miles of the meandering river Rheol in the Royal Marches.

2.) [i]Sairland[/i] - An archipelago to the south-west of the imperial heartland, in earlier times Sairland was an independent maritime nation and long-term trading partner of the then-Serene Kingdom of Tara. It was a state renowned for its commercial acumen, its music and its artistic sophistication, but in the latter days of its existence as an independent nation it was convulsed by the throes of revolution and internecine war. Tara, in particular, watched in horror as the Sairish people went mad – or so it seemed to them – burning down palaces and grand monuments that had stood for generations, tearing down a culture which had stood for a millennium in a few short months. The Sairish merchant fleet and the navy together both quickly turned to piracy as the disintegration of the Sairish nation continued, fuelled by demagogues from a half-dozen different powers who had aimed Sairland like a missile at the Serene Kingdom and her shipping lanes, many of which passed through Sairish waters, long since considered safe and now suddenly some of the deadliest in the world.

Whilst the Kingdom had initially tried to stay out of the conflicts in Sairland, as soon as Sairish ships began to prey on Taran vessels, it became clear that [i]something[/i] had to be done. Those few Taran agents who happened to be in Sairland – and those that had survived the pogroms – were rapidly coordinated and the Royal Navy sailed for Sairland in quick succession. The armada sent most of the Sairish fleet to the bottom of the sea in short order, just outside the capital Port Vannis, and, having defeated the seaborne threat, the Royal Army was the next up to bat, enormous troop transports disgorging fully a quarter of the entire army into Sairish harbours to restore order – by any means necessary. After several of the more belligerent pirates and agitators had been summarily shot by the advancing soldiery and their strongholds reduced to rubble by naval bombardment, the islands began to calm down and the Royal Engineers came in to clean up the mess and repair some of the damage that the conflict – and the previous years of civil war – had wrought. With the agitators shot, deported or behind bars in the newly-created Empire’s [i]special[/i] cells under the tender care of the Harlequins, the Sairish citizens began to appreciate the return to sanity and the stability of Taran rule. 

The King of Sairland is Alexander de Rochevalle, governing his territory from the silver-domed Grand Palais in Port Vannis.

3.) [i]Vershellen[/i] - The principalities across the sea, Vershellen is the second-oldest overseas possession of the Empire, initially conquered for its rich deposits of gemstones to feed the voracious appetites of the merchant princes and high nobility. The land is harsh; the principalities themselves are scattered across the desert, huddled around oases, aquifers and the rare permanent rivers that come down from the high mountains that fringe the principalities on two sides. Unsurprisingly for such a maritime nation, imperial power is concentrated near the coastal cities, where both the crushing might of the Imperial Navy can be brought to bear and the moderating influence of trade and travel has broadened the mind.

The current Vicereine is Maharin de Sulimenne, whose family lands encompass the regional capital of Aurian.

4.) [i]Cinnamon Isles[/i] - Exotic and engaging, a tourist destination right across the world – to quote a tourist advertisement ‘The dusky and enigmatic Cinnamon Isles, where natives the colour of rich chocolate cavort on the orange sands and wine-dark seas lap the shores under a nacarine sky.’ The Cinnamon Isles are found to the south and west of the Home Duchies. The mainstay of the Cinnamon Isles’ economy these days is tourism, unsurprisingly, given its great natural beauty and the aesthetic sense the Dominion’s rulers have preserved ever since the Isles fell under Imperial rule. 

The capital of the Cinnamon Isles is the city of Cinnabar, where Aurelia Thierrault, the Vicereine of the Isles and Countess of the Rathing Sea in her own right, rules from her sandstone palace and the sleek shapes of hotels discreetly mingle with the villas of the wealthy, jostling genteelly for position along the curving sweep of the beaches.

[b]Basic Demographics[/b]: 

-[i]Sairish[/i]: Traders, merchant venturers and erstwhile pirates from Sairland, a small, fertile archipelago to the south and west of Tara’s Home Duchies heartland. The stereotypical Sairish appearance is one of blonde hair, fine features and eyes like the sea itself.

-[i]Vershelleen[/i]: Natives of the Serene Empire’s second-oldest overseas possession, after Sairland itself, the Vershelleen are dark-skinned and fire-eyed, revelling in heat and humidity that would severely hamper others. A common myth is that their ancestors were burned black by the sun.

-[i]Pencharnese[/i]: Hailing from the Cinnamon Isles, the dusk-skinned Pencharnese have held and cherished an economic rivalry with Sairland and the Sairish since time immemorial. Despite their cosmopolitan homeland, their trading heritage and their practices of hospitality, they still hold themselves apart from the other groups in the Empire; their own word for themselves translates simply as ‘the People’.

-[i]Moravines[/i]: Originally hailing from the most isolated and mountainous of the imperial Home Duchies, the Moravines are known for their strength and stubbornness as well as the similarity of their flattened features – it’s often remarked that Moravines have only three surnames across the entire duchy, which, whilst a falsehood, is not too far from the mark.

--------------------------------------------------

[b]I.Nation[/b]
- [b]Population[/b]: 3.
- [b]Stability[/b]: 6
- [b]Landmass[/b]: 4
- [b]Demographics[/b]: 2.
- [b]Civilian Industry[/b]: 6
- [b]Armaments Industry[/b]: 3.
- [b]Infrastructure[/b]: 6
- [b]Naval Industry[/b]: 5

[b]II. Military[/b]:
- [b]Army Size[/b]: 1
- [b]Army Training[/b]: 2
- [b]Army Technology[/b]: 3
- [b]Navy Size[/b]: 4
- [b]Navy Training[/b]: 5
- [b]Navy Technology[/b]: 5

[b]III. Economics[/b]:
- [b]Rare Resources[/b]: 1.
- [b]Common Resources[/b]: 2.
- [b]Luxury Resources[/b]: 1.
- [b]Bureaucracy[/b]: 4.
[/hider]