Murtox — Roleplayer Guild

The Storm of the Desert

From here you could see the beginning of the great desert. The fertile valleys and hills of the empire of Arqantay ended here and the rule of sand began. The history between the Arqantay and the horse warriors of the desert has been one of relative peace, the villages were often protected by various fortifications but the occasional raid managed to bypass these defenses and manage to get away with some of the spoils o of war.

This situation was about to be changed by the decision of the emperor. The Emperor of the Arqantay was a man of ambition much like his father and his father before him, he sought to make a name in the history of his country by expanding his country but not in any random direction but rather in the direction of resources that were lacking in the home territories of the Arqantay. But this was a resource that the Arqantay weren't exactly very familiar with, a resource that had been a rarity within the territories of the Qachi of Arqantay for thousands of years. 

Said resources were crystals with magic properties needed to fuel the power of the earth mages and oracles of the Arqantay. Their power needed many of these crystal reserves and for better or worse these were imported from the rest of the world. The Emperor had thought about seizing these resources directly and his advisors full of themselves believed that the horse riders wouldn't be much a problem for the highly disciplined and honestly overwhelming numerous army of the Arqantay. 

The general assigned for this campaign was Roca Huachi, an old general who came from the close circle of the past emperor. He had been the one who led the Arqantay in their victorious campaign towards the south and had received quite the honors for it, and now he received one more chance to win glory and prestige for himself and his country. Today he stood on stop on of the tallest watchtowers of the empire, accompanied by a single man from his close staff.

"Aqapi, I have seen this desert only three times. The first time I saw it when I was but a guard in one of these many watchtowers, a nobody a man who only served his ayllu and his emperor. The second time, I passed through here with an army and now I am here, watching the deserts I will conquer, I shall conquer the unconquerable, these were once the limits of the world for our people but now they will be within our borders. I will make history with my conquest."

Name of Nation: The Empire of Arqantay
Species: Human [105 Million People]
Capital: Ychma
The society of the Arqantay was once dominated by self-sufficient villages, all of them inhabited by groups of families that shared a kinship of some kind, of course, this was due to the need to the need for unity when external threats were always present. The mountainous terrain of the Arqantay empire while very fertile has a limited amount of arable land, limited to the point that wars of extermination were the norm in the distant past, this created a sense of xenophobia between the various tribes and civilizations inhabiting the region.

The rise of the empire changed the societal and cultural dynamics of the people under the Arqantay, the rise of urban cities and the development of ever-better agricultural technologies led to an era of prosperity with less amounts of conflicts than in the past, the once self-sufficient villages became towns of private farmers and artisans. Cities became centers of knowledge and development, however, the extended family was still a very important institution for the people of Arqantay. Now the extended is seen as a safety net for members of the same family and as a tool to get support to advance in society. 

However, millennia of xenophobia cannot be erased that easily, the empire did its best to reduce the conflicts between etnic groups and instead turned the xenophobia of the people to places beyond the empire. Recently, the sub-continent of Vehndathaya has been the target of xenophobia within the empire, seen as a region of barbaric and uncivilized amazons. 

The society of the Arqantay is patriarchal in nature with the men taking the important jobs and receiving most of the income within the empire, although, women are still an important part of the empire, more often than not working in the textile industries that have boomed within the Empire.

The society of the Arqantay is divided into social classes, although, social mobility does exist to a certain extent due to the meritocratic system put in place by the empire's bureaucracy, education both martial, scientific and humanist tends to get you to a higher place in society, after all, within the empire there exists a nobility of privilege, those who without noble blood are given privileges for their service to the state, within this class we can find blacksmiths, intellectuals, shamans, great warriors among others. Excellence and merit are both rewarded in the empire, and more often than not the nobility of privilege is larger than that of blood or also called old nobility, however, the nobility of privilege and its rights are not passed down from father to children, this is seen as a way not to promote complacency within the populace.

Imperial examinations are the first step of the ladder for those who wish to attain nobility of privilege, but it is only the best who achieve such a status, often the first places in the examinations are awarded some privileges but only the first ten in the national examinations are directly awarded the status of nobility of privilege. 

Religion is a state affair in Arqantay, with the state organizing grand festivals and holidays within the yearly calendar. After all, their emperor is aswell the religious head for the Arqantay. The religion itself is monotheistic and it believes in the sole worship of the Sun or Aktay, the giver of life and patron of the chosen people of Arqantay.

Slavery is an institution within the empire and managed by the state, in many cases, capital punishment can be replaced with enslavement for a period from ten to thirty years. It is often an alternative for the worst offenders to avoid death, but it is often those same offenders who are put to working in hazardous mines and only the strongest get to see the day their freedom arrives again. For non-human, slavery is a condition only slightly worse than their standing within Arqantay society, after all, non-humans are awarded few rights and as a result, they are often abused and neglected by the authorities.

The history of the Arqantay begins six thousand years ago when the first humans began settling near the mountainous regions of Taquan. The Arqantay were but one of many tribes that settled near the secluded valleys of the region, their history was like that of many, they fought and were victorious for otherwise they would have been exterminated or enslaved by their enemies.

The life in valleys was good but often limited arable land meant that they were sooner or later forced to expand and conquer, over time, the Arqantay tribe became a hegemon within their immediate region at the center of the river valleys. For a time, the climate was good and the neighbors peaceful, during this time is that the Arqantay writing first appeared as an alphabet.

Two thousand years ago, civilization had begun to flourish and new technologies began to be implemented within the Arqantay, the most important of them all was terrace farming with it, the amount of arable land began to exponentially rise and with it the population of the various chiefdoms and kingdoms within the mountains. For many thousands of years, the people of the mountains had believed the mountains to be too harsh a place to grow foodstuffs, but with the implementation of terrace farming they found out about the fertility of the mountains themselves some of them, even more, richer in nutrients than the valleys. 

The rising population led to the formation of city-states and confederations, small kingdoms also rose during this period of time, the larger population also led to the creation of larger armies and an increase in the scale of the conflict. The Arqantay during this time were o reach their own apex of martial culture and strength, using both organization and discipline to overcome many of their enemies, conquering them and integrating them. 

Over time, the Arqantay became a sizable kingdom at the heart of the Taquan mountains, commanding armies in the dozens of thousands and creating a large bureaucracy to take care of the newly conquered realms. Three hundred years ago, the Arqantay finally unified the Taquan mountains under their rule and began to expand their influence over new territories, populated by people as foreign to the Arqantay as they were to them. 

Fifty years ago did the final conquest of the Arqantay reach its conclusion, to the south, the Tachi Surabhi were conquered and pushed out of their best lands, which were then given to settlers from the core of the empire and as a reward to soldiers. Five years ago, the young emperor Amani Casto reached the proper age to rule and began new plans of conquests, while also investing on the development of bridges and highways to the south and north of the empire, for they will be used by the empire's armies.

Territorial Claims: 

The empire of Arqantay is one filled with many diverse cultures and sub-cultures, however, the state has mostly organized the various people's into groups of ethnicities. The ruling ethnicity is that of the Qari, and while there are many more, the Qari are the ones who receive the preference of the state, although, that is not to say that the rest of the ethnicities in the empire are marginalized, only the Tachi Surabhi are oppressed under the empire. 

Qari: The original ethnicity of the Arqantay, the men and women of Qari display brownish skin colors and brown hairs, alongside natural yellow eyes said to have been given to them by the Inti himself. They make up for most of the population in the empire and also the most territory. They share common traits with the Ayachi, Muchi, Huanchi and Chachapochi. 

Ayachi: The first group of people's that the Arqantay integrated that weren't part of their original etnicity, these people are well known for their metalworking and irrigation techniques, all of which were integrated into the Empire when they were conquered.

Muchi: Known warriors of the mountains, one of their nations once almost managed to defeat the Arqantay in open combat and bring about an end to the whole hegemony of Arqantay, but they were ultimately defeated by the Arqantay is a desperate last push. Since then, the Muchi have been integrated into the empire some of them still retaining their martial traditions in exchange of service within the military. 

Chachapochi: Great architects in their own right, after all, they were the first to make use of terrace farming in the Taquan mountains. They are also known for the prowess of their bowmen, they were integrated into the empire after the defeat of the Muchi.

Huanchi: The most complex culture in the Taquan mountains previous to the rise of Arqantay, they have had a tradition of trading through land routes and have been the connection of the empire to the world at large. Most of the salt trade passes through their lands bringing wealth to their lands. 

Chinchi: Desertmen, they were the first that the Arqantay recognized as being different mostly due to their skin color and more nomad traditions. Their tradition is that of horse riders, a tradition that they continue to practice and that has been of benefit to the empire.

Mayuchi: An advanced civilization more so than that of Arqantay previous to their conquest, their cities were filled with prosperity due to the delta river next to it, making the lands next to the river quite fertile. The Arqantay got steel techniques and more advanced mathematics from the Mayuchi.

Rupachi: White men of the mountains, considered barbarians both by the Mayuchi and the Arqantay, their ferocity was on par with that of the Machi, many of the Rupachi fled their lands when the Arqantay empire was victorious but those who stayed have had to endure a colonization process by the Qari of Arqantay.

Sachachi and Cucachi: Men of the jungles effective guerrilla fighters and tribal at most, the Arqantay had trouble at first conquering their vast regions, but they were victorious when they managed to exploit the rivalries between tribes. They have been slowly but surely civilized by the empire.

The empire's economy is mostly landbased, although, the rivers within the Taquan mountains are a great source of internal commerce for the empire. Although for the rest of the empire, they have to make do with the highways and bridges that the state has built over time, these span most of the empire but are concentrated in the core of the empire, that's to say the Taquan mountains.

In regards to agriculture, foodstuffs are produced everywhere within the empire and even in the Taquan mountains, where the Arqantay have mastered the technology of terrace farming, making use of complex canals, aqueducts and waterways to fill the steeps mountains with life with the terraces, it is possible to feed most of the core population of the empire, although, the rest of the regions are mostly self-sufficient in foodstuffs too.

In terms of metals, there are few metals which cannot be found within the empire, this fuels an extensive history of metalworking within the empire, large state-owned armories and arsenals make the weapons of the empire's armies and these can often be found near sources of metals such as iron and copper. 

An important mineral for the empire is salt for there are many sources of it within Taquan although most of them are owned by the state making up for a significant percentage of its income. Another way that the empire gets its income is through, a complex set of taxes in commerce and through state-owned businesses.

Army:

The army of Arqantay is formed through a complex national conscription system with recruitment offices all around the empire, the men of the empire are required to attend to exhaustive training at various times of the year and to make sure they are well physically speaking. Officers and sergeants are assigned to various barracks and training camps around the empire, all teaching dozens if not hundreds of men the martial arts of the Arqantay soldier.

That said, the Arqantay believe in the supremacy of infantry over cavalry, after all, their own mountainous regions wasn't exactly the best place for the cavalry to engage in flanking maneuvers. Pike squares, longbows, crossbows, men at arms. Makeup for most of the army. 

The most famed elite unit within the empire would be the Sun Guard, men clad in steel armor with a layer of gold, they wear red capes and golden ornaments. Their preferred weapon varies but they use polearms for most of the time, meant to crush and take out armored opponents, they are a most disciplined force within the empire and also the more prestigious.

Cavalry takes a secondary role within the army, after all, the Arqantay mostly use auxiliaries and mercenaries to make up for the lack of heavy cavalry in non-mountainous terrain. 

There are various infantry types within the nation depending on the region, but the professional military makes use of pikes, crossbow, polearms, swordsmen and lancers as a common standardization within the military.

Navy: Given the relative isolation and origins of the Arqantay, there is not much of a naval tradition with the Empire and really no emperor has seen the need to invest in it, given that the empire sources of wealth come from land trade routes and its own massive sized economy. Riverboats are the best the empire can make do.

Traits:

Logistical Masters: The bureaucrats of Arqantay are natural organizers and they use this to their advantage, it is said that no supply caravan arrives either too soon or too late in any military campaign. The supply corps of the empire of Arqantay allow them to march their armies without worries of supplies, this is the work of standardized containers for both food and water, while also using advanced techniques of preservation. This allows the armies of Arqantay to march further away from home and faster than their counterparts. [+Military Logistics]

Divine Mandate: The Emperor of Arqantay is considered to be a living deity and everything that comes with that, the orders he gives are sacred to the people and within the military have the idea that by obeying the Emperor on earth, they will be properly rewarded in the afterlife, this creates an improved sense of moral and cohesion for the imperial armies. [+Military Morale]

Center of the Salt Trade: There are so many salt mines within the Taquan mountains, that it is said that most salt in the world comes from Arqantay, salt is also a state monopoly within Arqantay and that means that Arqantay has a large share of the world's salt production within its borders, this gives income to the state and improves its economy due to the number of traders coming in and out of the region. [+ECONOMY]

Men of the land: Naval technology and development, seems to be a faraway thought for the emperors, after all, the reliable land logistics corps has always served its purpose well, hasn't it?  [--Naval]

Foreign Relations:

WIP

Rolls: (Rolled by GM in the Discord Server. Just ping me, and I’ll roll as soon as I’m able.)

Land Area: 19 (16+3)
Land Fertility: 18 (16+2)
Development: 20 (16+4)
Land Power: 20 (19+1)(Swapped with economy)
Naval Power: 4 (8-4)
Economy: 14 (9+4)
Magical Reserves: 7 (10-3)
Magical Sophistication: 7(10-3)

Tech Trees:

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