Cyclone — Roleplayer Guild

While the tumult above grew increasingly bloody and chaotic with the charge of Torrens and Octavius and the arrival of Clotho's antlions and myrmidons, the Master had remained in the lower tunnels continuing to struggle using his magic to counter the dwarven geomancers cowering somewhere in a ritual chamber. Powerful a warlock as he was, he was only just able to hold them at bay by an inch and stymie their efforts to bring a hundred tons of rock down upon the heads of their attackers. This mental battle manifested itself as tendrils of magic extended everywhere through the very earth itself, porbing and manipulating it while tangling and fighting with one another.

Of course, that was only until Emily got herself involved in the tangle by seizing control of the earth from right below both sides. What followed was bewilderment and confusion as both the Keeper and the dwarves tried to determine if this was friend or foe. While the Master wasn't sure exactly who was responsible, he fortunately made the correct assumption that this was the work of one of his allies. He seized the brief window of opportunity that was afforded when the geomancers panicked and dropped their defenses. Tracing their magic back to their physical location, he used his own unholy powers to grasp at their souls from afar and rip with all his might. The dwarves' tenuous hold over the earth instantly vanished, leaving the Master with a strong suspicion that he had rendered those spellcasters either dead or as mindless husks. Still, he wasn't take any risks. Seeing as he already had penetrated the earth with his magic, he collapsed the entire ritual chamber that the geologists had been working within.

Hearing the satisfying rumble of the collapse along with the sounds of battle echoing through the tunnels to the dwarven city above, the somewhat fatigued Keeper managed to teleport into the dwarven hall. The outpost was built into a large and airy natural cavern, a little village of of homes and workshops beneath a sky of pure rock. Atop the roofs of one of these subterranean abodes there was a flash of fire that heralded the Master's arrival.

Torrens especially, but also Octavius and the others had succeeded in routing the first ranks of dwarven spearmen. While more moves forward to fill in the gap and a platoon or two of axe throwers moved in behind the rear spearwalls, the Master lazily conjured a few massive fireballs and hurled them into the dense formations. That would hopefully open up some holes and create an opening for the Horde to exploit. Between gigantic fireballs, he also attempted to smite down the cowardly soldiers that were fleeing. Thinner lances of pure flame shot out to snipe individual stragglers, with the Master intentionally shooting one or two towards Torrens in a rare act of kindness.

While he would have been content to utterly break the mass of dwarves holding back the Horde coming up the staircase from below, the Master simultaneously noticed many things: first and foremost, Clotho had managed to injure herself badly. Secondly, there was some sort of...creature with a sword, riding a wolf and hacking down dwarves. It seemed to be on his side so the Master did not try to kill it, but he taken aback. Thirdly, a steady stream of the weak, young, and old were running through the dark cavern towards a few select passages that most likely were secret escape routes to the surface or places to hide or make a last stand. Either case was bad; those dwarves would need to be stopped.

And then of course, there was still the manner of finding the stash alchemical explosives that they had come to steal in the first place. Feeling far too overwhelmed to handle all of these things at once, the Master could only hope that his followers would prove themselves more competent here and now than they had during Athinar's attack on that last village...

The Third Empire and Grand Commonwealth of Moravia

Flag:

The Moravian lion has long been driven to extinction, yet still its imposing form symbolizes the Commonwealth and the great empires that came before. As such, the national flag is bears the mighty lion's image. The flag is usually referred to as the Pride.

Type of Government:

The Commonwealth is a fascist state, headed by a dictator that is nominated (only nominally, in some cases) from among the leaders of the Nationalist Party and then elected through popular vote. No opposition parties are allowed in the political system, though there is a coalition of minor parties allied to the main one that are allowed to exist and often quarrel with one another over minor issues. Generally, these sub-parties only ever gain lower level legislative or judicial positions and seats in local governments.

Head(s) of Government:

Caesar of the Third Empire and Grand Commonwealth of Moravia, Warden of Moravia, Curate of the Holy Imperial Demesne, Grand Archon-Protectorate of the People, Majordomo of the Commonwealth, High Imperator, Chairman of the Nationalist Party, and Admiral-General, Stefan Thaurissan is the undisputed leader of Moravia. Despite essentially being a dictator and a merciless tyrant, he is genuinely well-liked by the standards of most countries' leaders.

Wild nationalism and propaganda leave him with an incredibly high approval rating among the people, one so high that the government doesn't even have to tweak the poll numbers. He even felt secure enough in his position to recently hold an election. Needless to say, he was reelected with no notable candidate even attempting to run against him.

He almost always bears a cool expression and has a way of inspiring fear with a character icy, piercing, and yet thoughtful stare. Always collected, he rarely speaks, but when he does so his voice is quiet yet deep, commanding, and audible.

He is in his late thirties and came to his position approximately ten years ago, mainly because his grandfather was a well known revolutionary and the first dictator of the new Commonwealth. He didn't simply inherit his position though; he received a rigorous formal military and political education, was engaged in politics even before his father's death, and had a large role in his own succession by rallying the support of the rest of his party.

As far as international politics go, he is the Commonwealth and the Fascist government incarnate: he will put on a pleasant face, speak honeyed words, and proclaim good intentions, all the while being utterly pragmatic and an opportunistic vulture. Despite his own unfathomable ambition and desire to make his father's (and the Nationalists') visions reality by reforming the Old Moravian Empire and making the Commonwealth the golden jewel of the world, he genuinely does care for his country as well. Regardless of this sentiment, he does recognize that all of his people as individuals are expendable, and would not hesitate to sacrifice almost anything or anyone to for the perceived greater good of furthering the Commonwealth's goals.

While not much is known of his personal life, it is common knowledge that he is married and has two children. His only siblings died in their infancy, and both of his parents are deceased.
Dwarves are represented well in the legislative and judicial sides of government, yet despite making up a good portion of the Commonwealth's military almost all Imperators are humans, and then almost all of those humans in office are Moravs rather than Machakans.

This makes Imperator Geddon somewhat notable, as he is a dwarf and also one of the Caesar's closest allies. He is the Caesar's official foremost lieutenant and something comparable to a vice-president. Aside from Imperator, he also bears the unique title of 'Master of Horse', an ancient office of the Old Moravian Empire that has been restored with the rise of the fascist government.  Second only to Thaurissan himself in his military rank, Geddon is one of the military geniuses that has been responsible for the Commonwealth's rapid growth.

Geddon is tall for a dwarf at around five and a half feet and is famous for his constantly grim and humorless demeanor. This makes him a rather imposing figure, perhaps even more than the Caesar himself. Scars still adorn the dwarf's face from when he fought on the front lines as a youth; he worked his way up from the bottom to the top.

At around eighty years old he's only middle aged for a dwarf, yet he has been a part of the fascists government since its very beginning. For a good twenty years he has been High Imperator, under both the current and previous Caesar. His time in command has been the most peaceful and uneventful in all of the Commonwealth's history of the fascist state, with little to no expansion. This is largely due to the daunting tasks of integrating the large coastal region that was most recently annexed by the Commonwealth, suppressing a small but notable rebel movement, and his responsibility in seeing to fruition Commonwealth's newfound naval aspirations.

Still, he is by no means a pacifist and is beginning to bend to the pressure of both the people and the military to acquire new territory, for the glory of Moravia.

Imperators are the heads of the Commonwealth's executive branch, directing the military force, handling most foreign relations, and generally acting as the faces and hands of the government. This title and designation is given to both provincial governors and the Caesar's appointed heads of the various executive departments and bureaucracies of the government.

Magistrates are some of the leaders and highest ranking members of the Nationalist Party (although the lesser coalition parties can technically submit candidates for this position, such nominees are rarely if ever capable of acquiring the this coveted position). They are the legislators of the National Government and are elected, although funding and endorsement from the Nationalist Party is almost always needed to actually win an election which means that some degree of nepotism is usually needed to gain power. The Magistrates form something of an oligarchy, doing most of the work involved in ruling the Commonwealth since the higher ranking executives are fewer in number.

Justiciars represent the judicial system and courts of law in the Commonwealth. They generally are subservient to and uphold the will of the Imperators and Magistrates, making them the weakest (but most numerous) type of high official. They are appointed to their positions, not elected.

Economy:

The fascist government has the ultimate goal of achieving economic independence for the country by minimizing imports and maximizing exports, an achievable goal seeing as the country is by far the most industrialized one in the world. 

If something can be made, the Commonwealth most likely manufactures it and does so at least reasonably well, though the area in which they shine is the creation of heavy machinery and land-based vehicles. Their gnomish inventors and dwarven engineers are renowned around the world, and the formidable Moravian Army can attest to the brutal effectiveness of the Commonwealth's tanks and war machines while millions of families can attest to the practicality, reliability, and affordability of Moravian automobiles, farming tractors, and other civilian vehicles.

The Commonwealth's massive industrial engine naturally requires huge volumes of resources to maintain, but fortunately the country is blessed with huge amounts of arable land and exploitable resources. They are a large producer of various metals and fossil fuels, but despite all of that they are still forced to import vast volumes of resources mainly oil0 in order to supplement their own production. 

Two of the Commonwealth's largest and most valuable trading partners are the Kingdom of Verendes and the Shogunate of Izuno.

Primary Species:

There are three main species that make up the population of the Commonwealth: human, dwarf, and gnome. The humans are further divided into two broad ethnic groups, the Machakans that were the first inhabitants of the region and the far more numerous Moravs.

The Machakans are easily distinguished from their fellow humans by their skin tone, which ranges everywhere from olive to the brown of mahogany or pure black. They have inhabited general equatorial region of the continent for at least ten thousand years, existing mostly as primitive tribal communities until approximately 2,500 years ago when contact was established with pale-skinned foreigners from the north. These foreigners would later be driven by climate change to go south on a mass migration, where they would settle permanently and found the Old Moravian Empire. With the power of agriculture and permanent settlements they managed to surpass the natives, and with their newfound technological advantage they easily subjugated most of the Machakans.

Machakans would remain considered a slave race for the next millennium and then some after the rise and fall of the Old Moravian Empire. Throughout this time, additional mass migrations and culutural assimilation resulted in the original population of the Old Moravian Empire transforming into the group that identify as Moravs to this day. Despite claiming descent from that ancient empire, the modern Moravs' culture, appearance, and even language has inherited as much from barbarian invaders and foreign lands as it has from those that they claim descent from. Still, they carry a few drops of the blood of those first conquerors.

The second species, dwarves (or the Derro, as they call themselves) make their home mostly on the rugged foothills and mountains of the northern border or in the heartlands, specifically Qualia due to its large manufacturing industry. Modern dwarves as a species share common primate ancestors with humans, though they diverged long ago. 

The idea of the dwarves being half the height of humans came about as their rugged homelands and extreme attitudes regarding temperance often meant food was scarce in ancient times. Nowadays, they are on average larger than humans in terms of weight, though this is mainly due to their bones being thicker and hardier and their bodies more stocky and muscled. They are on average around half a foot shorter than their human counterparts, but it is not unheard of for a dwarf to reach the height of six feet. 

Another unusual aspect about dwarven physiology is that like the elves, they have lifespans far longer than humans; a working dwarf can often expect to reach a fair ways beyond the age of 100, and a few of the most robust dwarves in history have managed to reach the venerated age of 200. While their bodies might be far more durable, their minds are not; at around the age of 150 most dwarves begin to grow increasing mad, sometimes eventually reaching the point of outright insanity before they inevitably go senile.

Dwarven culture is somewhat alien, with it being hard for most other races to even grasp how much the creatures value productivity, hard work, and raw strength and grit. Like in the times of old, dwarves still live in great clans and they still work in the same time honored professions of their ancestors; however, where they once mined with pickaxes and wrought steel on anvils, they now mine with dynamite and gigantic boring devices of their creation and assemble everything from tanks to silverware in great industrial foundries.

Dwarves, like humans, have a variety of different languages and dialects that vary across nations or even individual clans.

Historically many dwarven clans have long existed in the wildest reaches of Moravia, living in their own solitary kingdoms and counties and largely being ignored by the Old Moravian Empire. When the new religion came and the Holy Moravian Empire formed this religion reached the dwarves as well, largely replacing their shamanistic traditions but not their ancestor worship. In recent times, large numbers of dwarves have flocked to the Commonwealth, where they are genuinely welcomed and already have a sizable population and cultural influence. The country's industrious nature and culture also appeals to the dwarves, and so many also visit if only to work temporarily.

The gnomish people are a diminutive and physically weak race, with the tallest of them struggling to even reach four feet in height. They further look unusual with their disproportionately large heads and hair that varies wildly in color from pink to light blue or mundane brown.

Gnomes are innovative thinkers and are responsible for a vast variety of inventions, including more than a few that are commonly attributed to dwarves. Although a diminutive people, gnomes think big, often producing designs far too complex to ever be realized. To gnomes, technology is a way of life. Even gnomes who take on other trades often tinker in their spare time. Because of their innate curiosity, they produce a wide variety of devices that are interesting or amusing but otherwise useless or impractical. While others might shake their heads at such folly, the gnomes value all invention, no matter how unimportant it might seem. A saying goes that the smartest of men are like the dullest gnome children when it comes to mathematics and the hard sciences, but of course this is a gross exaggeration. Still, the point remains that many gnomes have a higher intellectual capacity than almost any other species.

This, needless to say, has made them a valuable asset to the Commonwealth. Still, they have not always been present. After their homeland experienced a series of devastating natural disasters and political instability, waves of gnomish refugees came into the Holy Moravian Empire during its final days. When their new homeland similarly collapsed, many gnomes moved on but still others stayed.

While the Commonwealth's government proclaims equality and sees value in gnomes, they were historically persecuted not so long ago. Their arrival almost perfectly coincided with the downfall of the Holy Moravian Empire which led to several of the successor states banishing the gnomish populations or committing atrocities against them. Among some populations of humans and gnomes, the mutual hatred and distrust lives on. In addition, the gnomes have a long history of democracy and individualism that chafes somewhat with the Commonwealth's totalitarianism and collective mentality.

All of that has left the gnomish population divided: many vehemently support the Commonwealth and its visions of progress, whilst many others loathe the fascist government and are secretly dissidents. There is a small but growing gnomish rebel movement.

Population: The Commonwealth is home to approximately 250 million people in total. The demographics are as follow:

~70% Human (25% of the total human population belonging to the Machakan ethnic group, the rest being Moravs)
24% Dwarf
6% Gnome
<1% being other races.

Culture:

Religious and Other Beliefs:

*It is very similar to modern Christianity.
*There are a lot of different sects, but technically they are all supposed to fall under the very broad Church of Qualia. Forcing them all under that church was a move that helped end the bloodbath of crusades that raged through Moravia since the fall of the Holy Moravian Empire.
*There is a Divine Prefect (formerly known as Divine Emperor during the time of the Holy Moravian Empire) that is similar to a Pope, but with little real authority either in matters of secular or religious in nature. He is just supposed to be the embodiment of a pure Miaphyte.

Miaphytism is the large, overarching name for the group of closely related religions that nowadays are adhered to by nearly all of the Commonwealth's population, dwarf, gnome, and man alike. This religion was once unified, though this is no longer the case.

Miaphytism is monotheistic and relatively simple, statng that life is a trial of sorts and that one's fate beyond death will depend very much on their actions in life. Hard work, producing offspring, and building a better world for one's children are all things that will be rewarded by the Creator, whilst sloth, thievery, and the like are punished. Traditionally the religion proclaimed that there would always by one Divine Emperor, a great leader and zealous man that would lead all Miaphytes in one united theocracy.

The paganism and shamanistic traditions of old gave way to the New Faith during the rise of the Holy Moravian Empire, and for centuries the land was religiously united. This all shattered apart during the Reformation during the latter days of the Holy Empire, when numerous sects splintered off. The decades to come led to religious persecutions, crusades, inquisitions, and general carnage on a scale never before seen. While this inevitably sewed the seeds of hatred and distrust among the various sects, the Kingdom of Qualia started its own official church. Unlike the other petty kingdoms that demanded strict adherence to one sect or another on pain of death, the only true difference between the Qualian Church and the formerly united one was a newfound emphasis on personal interpretation of the Holy Texts. 

This emphasis on personal interpretation allowed the Church of Qualia to avoid taking a stance on contested issues and easily assimilate people of all faiths. While they did not convert everyone in Moravia, the Qualians through their clever state religion required all churches within the kingdom's borders to submit to the Qualian Divine Prefect (essentially a reincarnate of the Divine Emperor, renamed the Prefect so as to emphasize his separation from the secular state) and join the Qualian Church. This brought about at least some semblance of unity and peace, and resulted in far less protests than there otherwise might have been.

The schism is far from mended and it still seems that nearly every church has its own take on some verse or two in the Holy Texts, but Moravia has slowly mended and the people have grown back together. The Fascist government, seeing the wisdom in the continuation Qualian system, made minimal changes. Nowadays the Commonwealth is more or less tolerant of any orthodox sects of Miaphytism, and even other religions provided that they do not support anarchist or otherwise problematic viewpoints.

History:

Territories:

The Old Moravian Empire was based around the gulf and the modern-day Commonwealth's westernmost regions, and it included parts of northern Zenovia and almost the entirety of Kataylabinsk. Taking an aggressively nationalistic stance, the Commonwealth essentially sees their rightful territory as consisting of all the Old Empire's territories, from when it was at its greatest extent, as well as those territories of the subsequent Holy Moravian Empire.

As of the present day, the Commonwealth controls the vast majority of the Holy Moravian Empire's former lands (some were annexed by the Kataylan Imperium some two centuries ago, and to this day the Moravians still burn with outrage at that series of events) but only around half of the original empire's land around the gulf coast.

Whilst freedom of travel and good transportation has naturally led the various races and cultures to diffuse throughout the Commonwealth, there are still regions that are still predominantly home to one group. The western region is almost exclusively Moravs, whilst the Machakan ethnic group still holds a majority in some of the more rugged central desert, savanna, and highland regions. The northern border has a huge dwarven population and dozens of great clans and the vast majority of dwarves, but southern highlands also are home to a few notable dwarven clans. There are large clusters of gnomes in the east, though they are still outnumbered by humans in those regions as well. Overall, the industrial heartland of Qualia is by far the most diverse region, with huge populations of every race, clan, and species.

Cities, Bases, etc.:

Climate:

Great savannas, scorching desert, verdant rainforest, rugged crags, rolling hills, and temperate woodlands are all present in Moravia. The land in general is hot, being close to the equator, and is much more fertile in the far east and west. The central south is badlands, and running through the central-east is a vast stretch of desert. Large portions of the north and south borders are along mountain ranges or highlands, creating something of a natural defense.

Agriculture:

The region's constantly warm temperatures make farming possible year round, especially in the wetter coastal areas. Still, for a nation of its size the Commonwealth has only a mediocre agricultural output. For every great grassland or floodplain of arable land the Commonwealth has a rugged highland or desert that is worthless for farming. In addition to this, a history of urbanization and industrialization has left the country focused much more on manufacturing as compared to farming.

Still, while the Commonwealth has a relatively small portion of their population living in rural areas and farming, their countless advances in heavy machinery and vehicles mean that farmers have easy access to superior equipment.

Industry:

The Commonwealth of Moravia has a great deal of infrastructure. Unimaginable amounts of labor and funding were invested in constructing what is easily one of the world's most extensive railway systems, and Moravia's road networks are large as well. While the Moravians have never historically been great sailors at sea, the many waterways that run through the land have been maneuvered by riverboats since ancient times.

Mainly as a virtue of its large population and occasional usage of child labor (while it remains legal, in past years the practice has been restricted and subjected to increased regulations) Moravia also has a large amount of cheap, relatively unskilled labor. This cheap labor combined with the solid infrastructure base has lead to a strong manufacturing-based economy, fueled to a large extent by the cheap mass-production of finished goods like textiles and furniture.

In terms of technology, the Commonwealth (with its large population of dwarves) leads the world in the making of heavy machinery. Tanks, farming equipment, automobiles, and the like are all manufacturing in vast quantities without sacrificing quality.

The Commonwealth has made smaller technological advances in other areas as well. Gnomish chemists are somewhat renowned and Moravia has developed its fair share of medicines and pesticides. They also have made some headway into the fields of electronics and aeronautics.

Main Imports:

The Fascists' goal of achieving economic independence means that strict tariffs and import laws are in place, and as such it is difficult for foreign countries to export their goods into the Commonwealth. Still, Moravia's industry has a voracious appetite for metals, oil, and coal, and so despite largescale domestic production of these resources they are still imported in massive quantities.

Notably, the Izuno Dominion and Kingdom of Verendes have reached a trade agreements with the Commonwealth and are suppliers of such resources.

Main Exports:

The supreme industrialization of Qualia, the region spanning the eastern-central heartlands of the Commonwealth, means that few countries can compete with the sheer manufacturing power of the Commonwealth. In particular, Moravia is known for producing extremely high volumes of quality heavy machinery and vehicles, both military and civilian in nature. Gnomish chemists are also world famous and concoct all manner of advanced pesticides, cleaning agents, and even chemical weapons. Aside from that, other finished goods such as textiles and furniture are also mass-produced. While not quite a forerunner in the field of aviation, maritime goods, or electronics, these are also created domestically.

Regulations on exporting goods are far more lax than on importing them, and so most nations (especially those on the same continent) would have relatively easy access to a huge array of Moravian products.

The MR stands for machine rifle, and as its name suggests, it is the first fully automatic rifle to have been successfully created on any appreciable scale. Developed in its current stage within the past two years, with the program having only begun five years ago. Moravia has gone to great strides to keep this information out of the ears of other nations, ally and enemy alike, classifying all documents mentioning the program and ensuring that the designers and engineers responsible work in utmost secrecy.

The rifle is largely still a prototype, with work continuing to find the ideal specifications and manufacturing methods. The main details have largely been worked out, and some small units were equipped with the MR-2 rifles and the MR-1 predecessors for testing. By all accounts the rifles worked well, but it will still be most likely two years before the weapons begin to undergo large scale production and perhaps four years before they are commonplace and well integrated into the arsenal of Moravian infantry.

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