[center][h1]Radiant Empire of Amrea[/h1][/center]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/X7DZSRY.png[/img][/center]
[center] [b]Motto[/b] :[i] Steadfast in the Radiant Light[/i][/center][center][i]Zeiranöna-ni Punso-ari[/i][/center]


[hider=Nation Sheet]
[u][b]Type of Government:[/b][/u] 
Absolute Monarchy

[u][b]Head of State:[/b][/u] 
Empress Naryu Naosamu, the Kömyö Empress

[u][b]Species:[/b] [/u]
The primary inhabitants of the Celestial Empire are the Amaripito, or to the people of the West, Amreans; resembling humans and light-skinned elves with fox-like features such as fur on their lower legs. a long flowing tail and canine ears. Amreans naturally live up to a century, but practitioners of magic frequently find themselves living up to two centuries on average. The ancient history of the race is itself not known, but oral accounts of the events of five millennia ago stipulate that the Amreans were once two separate races, one pure in essence, and another pure in form. It is said that those of pure essence descended from the Tunza mountains and settled in the forests of the Yin valley where they dwelled for three hundred years before those of pure form arrived. Whilst the origins of those of pure form are still a point of contention within Amrea, it is generally agreed by the Yllendyr Imperium that those of pure form were indeed elven settlers who fled from Endaria several thousand years ago. Likewise, the modern Amrean is neither truly elf, nor a mystical creature of yore, but something in-between, and split into several strands; the Zenko, Kapako, Areko and Ködzi.

[i]Zenko (The Highlanders):[/i] Amreans hailing from the eastern provinces bordering the Tunza mountain range. They are considered the oldest of the Amrean groups and also the closest to those of "pure essence" recorded within the Empire's oral traditions. Their features are decidedly the least elvish, their ears firmly vulpine, and fur growing more easily as opposed to the spectrum that the remainder of the population run through. Being those closest to purity of essence, they also tend to make the best mages within Amrea, as well as hold the honour of being one of the ancestor-races of the Kapako, Areko and Ködzi peoples. They comprise roughly 9% of the Amrean population. Their dialects of Amrean most closely resemble a less terse variation of the Classical Amrean in use by the Imperial Court and government bureaucracy.

[i]Yinko (The People of the Yin River)[/i]: Descendants of Zenko settlers and those of pure form that colonized the Yin river valley, the Yinko are the first of two strands of the Kapako group, the collective name of the Amreans that had settled within the bounds of the Empire's two main rivers, the Yin and Kara. Owing to their greater age and position within the prosperous heartland of Amrea, they comprise a plurality of the Empire's population at around 45%.

[i]Karapito[/i] (The People of the Kara River): The second strand of the Kapako, the Karapito are descendants of the Yin and Zenkö that went south to the Kara River. Comprising 30% of the population. They can be distinguished from the Yin people by their more gruff way of speaking and general rowdiness, a trait perhaps inherited from their proximity to the more savage Arekö of the southern jungles.

[i]Areko[/i] (The Settler-Children): The descendants of Yinko and Zenko migrants who did not stop at the Kara river but instead went further south. The Areko are notorious for their reputation of being extremely unwilling to submit to the authority of the Kapako-based Imperial Government, with the Areko provinces of the southern jungles unable to go half a century without some revolt or another. Another group lumped into the descriptor of Areko are the inhabitants of the northern steppe on the frontier of the Amrean and Miranid Empires. The Areko residing within Amrea consist of 6% of the population.

[i]Ködzi[/i] (Those of Pure Blood): As opposed to the Zenko, who are considered the closest descendants to those pure of essence, the Kodzi are considered the closest descendants to those pure of form. Whilst the origins of their forefathers are shrouded in myth and legend, they can claim two things; some sort of vague elvish descent, as well descent from the Amrean Sun God. The Naosamu Dynasty, as well as roughly 70% of Amrean nobility can trace or claim descent from this group. They account for roughly 8% of the population. They are seperated from normal Amreans by virtue of their longer lifespans, approximately 180 years on average and their distinct ear-shape, more clearly resembling that of an elf than a fox as well as a universal affinity for plasma magic, both considered marks of their true origin.

Apart from the Amreans, there is also a population of humans residing in Amrea's north known simply as the Myösin (The Civilized Guests) who account for 2% of the population. They are various groups of Tzücomen and Üarim that have over the past few centuries sought to settle within the borders of the Celestial Empire. Most of them are allowed to by Imperial authorities, on the condition that they adopt Amrean dress, customs and culture, embracing civilization and casting away the trappings of savagery.

[u][b]Population:[/b][/u] 
312 million (± a few million)

[u][b]Economy (Main imports, exports, industries, technology level, etc.)[/b][/u]: 
Agrarian economy transitioning to an Industrial one. The Steam Engine was only introduced in the capital in the past decade, and the main industries consist of steel and textile mills in the capital. Amrean Engineers are always looking for ways to innovate however, and there are rumours of a backroom war being waged among the intelligentsia to build a revolutionary device that would earn its creator a one way ticket to noble status. In the cities, skilled craftsmen alike those of the guilds of Onindyr ply their trade, using their skills to weave fine silken textiles, forge sharp blades and reliable muskets and turning the produce of the land in works of more material value.

In the countryside, life continues as it always has. A small trickle of young men and women head to the great cities where pyramids and temples rise to pierce the sky to find work and opportunity. The vast majority remain in the countryside, growing rice, herding livestock and harvesting fruits and fish to feed the ever growing populations of the urban centres. The Empire is rich in natural resources like coal, iron, copper, lead and bauxite, but much of it remains trapped in the ground and untapped due to lack of investment or demand. 

[u][b]Main imports:[/b][/u] Silver from the Yllendyr colony, assorted tribute from Galia and Al-Baqi

[u][b]Main exports:[/b][/u] 
Limited amounts of tea, porcelain and silk to the Yllendyr colony. Gifts of assorted materials and weapons to tributary states.

[u][b]Literacy:[/b][/u] 
Literacy in the Empire of Amrea is difficult to measure, due to the presence of a dual script system that mixes a conventional alphabet with the intricacies of a logographic writing system, justified by the Amrean language's overabundance of unrelated homophones and reliance on sensitivity to context to discern meaning from words. Whilst a majority of the population is familiar with the alphabet, and literacy in this regard is fairly high, the presence of over ten thousand unique logographic characters hampers literacy in the second script. Rural peasants may know simple characters like those for the sun, weather and animals, enough to get by in daily life but incapable of intellectual expression. On the other hand, the nobility are more likely to know all the characters labelled as 'common use', as well as additional uncommon ones.

[u][b]Culture:[/b][/u] 
Amrean culture dates back to around 4500 years ago to clans of farmers around the fertile Yin and Kara rivers who migrated west and south from the Tunza Mountains, and based on ancient texts and principles established by the first dynastic reign of the Naosamu clan. Of these principles, those of Enlightened Compassion, Meritocracy and Nobility of Blood. Enlightened Compassion believes that civilized society is akin to a family, with the reigning monarch as its patriarch or progenitor, the nobility and scholar-bureaucracy as strict parents, and to the broad masses as children. As all under the monarch are considered as his familial relations, there is thus no room for bias, allowing for judgement to be passed in an impartial and enlightened manner. 

Meritocracy is in and of itself simple, but serves both its intended meaning of allowing skill to triumph over birth, but also serves as a rejection of fatalistic pessimism. Thus, meritocracy within Amrea not only refers to the power of mortals to carve their own fate with the resources provided to them at birth and the denial of divine interference in the realm of mortals, but also that any who possess sufficient talent may rise to serve at the monarch's side.

Nobility of Blood refers to the species whose duty it is to civilize the savage races (their racial subgroup or geographical neighbours). Amreans have the duty to civilize what they consider to be the barbarian states that neighbour them, whereas a race such as the Yllendyr have the duty to civilize the peoples of their empire. Amrean Noble Blood theory is split into two schools, that of Mutualism and Hierarchism. The majority of Amrean aristocrats and the Naosamu Clan sponsor the school of Mutualism, believing that the noble races are equal to each other and that the savage races may eventually be made equal, after centuries or even a millennia of life under civilized rule. On the other hand, a radical minority of the Amrean nobility and scholar bureaucracy espouse the school of Hierarchism believing that the noble races are equal, but it is next to impossible for the savage races to be made noble. Hierarchism itself originates from the aftermath of the reign of the Weeping Emperor, where Mutualists who believed the presence of Strigoi within the Empire would eventually find themselves renouncing their savage ways were proven bitterly wrong.

Amrean culture can be fully summarized as thus; whilst hierarchical divisions exist within society, they are quite fluid, and the children of woodcutters may one day find themselves as an official in service to the Empire, an officer of the Banners or provincial governor if they choose the right path among the infinitely branching roads of the future. In lieu with the principle of Enlightened Compassion, the family and village unit is the building block of society, fostering a sort of collectivist culture as different bloodlines come to see each other as extended family. As a result, rural Amrean communities, and to some extent urban ones, tend to pool resources together to achieve their intended goals, whether they be agricultural, commercial or social.

[u][b]Religious and Other Beliefs:[/b][/u] 
Worshippers of the Radiant Sun, the origins of the Amrean faith lay in the legend of the Sun and the Moon. It is said that since time immemorial, the world was locked in a conflict between the followers of the Moon, Öza-nami and Sun, Iza-ranö, entering a vicious cycle of rebirth and destruction as both entities sought to paint the world in their light. Such a conflict only ended with the union of the two sides, the Sun taking the Moon as its lover and bride, as did their respective generals, founding an ancient race of immortals. However, in the millennia that passed since this union, the gods fell one by one; some to petty grudges, others to intrigues of the Radiant and Luminescent Courts and bloody kin-strife, till one day their numbers were reduced to but a handful. It was in that time that the god Kagu-susi struck. Cast out of the divine courts for sparking innumerable kin-strifes with his rashness and fury, he had wandered into a path of exile, but sensing weakness amassed an army of beasts spawned from hellfire, seeking to make war upon those who had wronged him. The Great War that followed in his wake soon brought the whole world to conflict, ending only as follows:
    
[i]"When the Moon Öza-nami fell, her luminescence forever extinguished, the Sun Iza-ranö took from the field to mourn.
As she laid her final rest, at the base of Mount Keshi amidst Tayeri and Zunira, twin lands standing vigil,
The Lord Kagu-susi followed. And so the Lord Iza-ranö gripped his two-point blade and brought it to bear.
The sparks from their blades struck the earth as lightning, the clash of steel as roaring thunder.
So magnificent was their struggle that each movement made the land itself quake, drowning continents and raising them anew.
And at the end with a mighty blow, the Lord Iza-ranö separated the kinslayer's head, freeing the divine souls consumed.
Together they sealed away the spawn of Kagu-susi, and with their blood watered the land, the lifeforce of the gods enveloping the world in light once more;
that which was destroyed in the Last Duel rising from rubble, like withered branches blooming again in verdant spring."[/i]

Thus, it is foretold that one day, the world shall once again be brought to ruin by the spawn of Kagu-susi, lest the Sun God Iza-ranö, the father of light, love and life be ritually renewed with the life-essence of those with magic potential, as it is believed that the life-essence of mages is a fragment of the blood of the Lord Iza-ranö, cast down to the earth to restore it after the death of the Kinslayer. Thus, as Iza-ranö gave his blood to restore the world, his blood must be returned to him in great sacrificial altars to renew his power and assist in staving off Kagu-susi's minions. To this sacred task, they defer to the guidance of the line of Naosamu, purported to be greatest of the mortal descendants of Iza-ranö's kin and by extension, descendants of Iza-ranö himself.

[u][b]Military: [/b][/u]
The Amrean Military is a juggernaut that is best divided into its main fighting forces, as well as its complementary specialized forces. The greatest of the Empire's military might lies in the eight hundred thousand serving in the Imperial Standards, or as they are more commonly called, the Imperial Army. Whilst the Imperial Standards are not the largest of the Empire's fighting forces, it is however the most well-equipped. Formed from conscript troops recruited for five year terms of service, they are also the main beneficiaries of military reform in the aftermath of the Rebellion of the League of Five Provinces. For combat, the Imperial Standards are armed with a mix of breech-loaded muskets; the Sösindyu, as well as the traditional muzzle-loaded muskets known as the Kösindyu. Backing them up is a combination of heavy and mobile artillery, namely cannons as well as the infamous Kamön Batteries.

Second to the Imperial Standards are the Provincial Banners. True to their name, the Provincial Banners are simply local militia forces though the title of militia is a misnomer. The men that serve in the Provincial Banners are more akin to serfs, tied to plots of land within military districts throughout the Empire that they cultivate when there is no call to arms. However, as a result of these ties to land, the Provincial Banners are not suited for long-term campaigning, especially east across the Tunza mountains or north across the steppes, leaving them as a defensive internal policing force. Consequently, they have not benefited much if it all from Amrean military reforms and are equipped with a mix of pikes, swords, bows, crossbows alongside the occasional musket. Artillery for the Provincial Banners remains in short supply, Kamön Batteries being entirely non-existent. At the very least, the Provincial Banners can call on three times the manpower of the Imperial Standards, allowing them to compensate in weight of numbers what they lack in firepower.

Aiding the Standards and Banners are two specialized forces. The first numbering twenty thousand, are known merely as the Manshu Braves, named for the northern province from which the vast majority of its soldiers come from. Armed with sabres, flintlock carbines, bows, fire rockets, as well as ceramic grenades, they fulfill the role of skirmishers, border guards and elite cavalrymen supplementing the iron discipline of the Bannermen with the ferocity and swiftness of the Steppes. The second force, known as the Sunriders are also elite riders, yet whereas the domain of the Braves is the plains, the Sunriders take to the sky. Riding phoenixes, rare and beautiful creatures barely numbering five thousand across the length and breadth of the entire continent, the Sunriders harness the flames of their phoenix mounts to rain destruction upon the foes of the Emperor. The Order of the Sunriders number barely a hundred, and answer only to the reigning monarch as their personal Honor Guard.

In addition to the conventional armed forces, the Empire employs the services of some fifty thousand mages, known collectively as the Sunguard. The Sunguard are seperated into five legions of ten thousand, each led by a Junior Commander with each Legion consisting solely of users of one magical element. The First Legion, consisting solely of Pyromancers is the most prestigious legion, with its commander granted the title of High Commander of the entirety of the Sunguard. These Amrean Noble Mages take the form of monster hunters, in particular being used to wipe out the ravenous vampires that occasionally encroach on Imperial territory and tributaries, but are also deployed in mixed battalions to assist the Imperial Standards in times of war.


Lastly, whilst command of the sea is something that the Empire finds itself deficient in, the coastal defense of Amrea is not something that has been neglected. Whilst paling in comparison to the Yllendyr Armada, the grand fleet of Amrea consists of over fifty copper-hulled steamships as well as several experimental Ironclads. Amrean ships are armed with smaller cannons and a small team of mages to provide heavier artillery support, taking advantage of mobility to evade enemy fire.

[u][b]Climate:[/b][/u] 
Subtropical and Temperate

[u][b]Magic Prevalence/Usage:[/b][/u] 
Present in about 30% of Amreans and considered to be the essence of the Sun God. Usage of magic is restricted to the nobility. They have a natural affinity to plasma magic, at around 60% of the population, and a 10% occurance of the other forms of magic. However, due to the heavy restrictions placed on magic use, it's usage in the military takes a far more even distribution.

[u][b]Foreign relations:[/b][/u]
Limited trade with Yllendyr colonials, and suzerain of various tributaries on the continent. Nominal suzerain of the Areko Principality.

[u][b]History/ Background Info: [/b][/u]
In ancient times, the area constituting the empire consisted of warring Amrean kingdoms and lesser states which had varied in power over the millennia. Ultimately, all were subsumed into the Empire. Ancient stories tell tales of other creatures; goblins, dragons and the like, but none of them have been sighted for over two thousand years and as thus, are presumed to have been destroyed in numerous expansionist campaigns over the centuries. The Amrean Empire of the Naosamu Dynasty has existed in some form or another for three thousand years, although at times it may have been reduced to but a single city and its surrounding territory. Led by the enigmatic House of  Naosamu and it’s line of divinely descended monarchs, the Empire has expanded to its greatest historical extent in the present day and what it considers to be it’s natural borders. Under the dynasty's rule, only once had Amrea fallen to the control of outsiders. Eight centuries prior to the present day, the mighty Banko Emperor was defeated in a magic duel with the vampire lord known in Amrean history only as "The Weeping Emperor". His reign was a period known as the "Nights of Tears", with the vampire lord and his progeny ruling Amrea before his grief paralyzed his rule and allowed the commonfolk to rise up and restore the Bankuo Emperor's descendants to the throne. Whilst short and bloody, his rule was not without benefits. Numerous canals, roads and monuments headed by the newly-created Ministry of Public Works were constructed during his time to feed his thirst for blood and bring him closer to his grand designs. These were eventually repurposed after the Naosamu Restoration to transport water and irrigate agricultural land. Due to the relatively isolated position on the continent with the only easy way to access the Empire from the northern steppes and southern hills, the territory is almost entirely homogenous. Whilst wild vampires do occasionally intrude into the Empire's borders, reports of attacks are taken extremely seriously, and amount to the deployment of an entire mage battalion to exterminate the marauding beast.

For centuries, the Empire has remained in isolation, looking to its own defenses and maintaining a limited diplomatic presence with realms on its direct border. In 1881, the Myosin Empress began reformation attempts which were largely successful, expanding the power of the Imperial Court over that of the bureaucracy and the provinces. This policy has been continued by her successor, the Kömyö Empress. Since then, times have changed. In the north, the barbaric warlord Miran has arisen to wreak havoc amongst the states that once kowtowed before the Empire. In the west, dark-skinned strangers have broken through the ancient forests that once divided West and East. All the while, the Phoenix has watched and waited. Perhaps it is time for the Empire, the bastion of Soiryndian Civilization to strike out once more, to ensure the universal prosperity of the land's myriad peoples.

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