West Ouroborasian Empire
The Empire of Ouroborasia stretches across a wet, miserable land that throughout its history has been constantly invaded, settled, and then divided. Infested by monsters, home of witches and ancient cults - Ouroborasia is the dark, forsaken edge of the Justinian world. Over a century ago, Ouroborasia’s forefathers, filled with fervour conquered this land from the Demurgic nationstates of West Gushawar and Eudekesh, renaming the lands to Ouroborasia, the name bestowed upon it by Wolfraum of the Aemos Imperium over a millennia ago. Since then, Ouroborasia has stood as the stalwart frontline of The Justinian’s holy war in the south. A century of war with Lamash, ghouls and Red Pantheonist uprisings have hardened the people of this land just as much as the dire weather. Two decades of witch plagues, heresy, purges and ethnic conflict has made them paranoid and cynical. Now, the empire has been divided yet again by the conspiracies of false gods and depraved witches. The Emperor himself has betrayed The Justinian and so forever forsaken the coming paradise. It is come to the truly faithful sons and daughters of the true god to silence this heresy.
NATIONAL INFORMATION
'All that The Darkness requires to prevail over the light, is that the righteous do nothing'
-High Cleric Aslan Enverescu, explaining his reasons for his coup
-High Cleric Aslan Enverescu, explaining his reasons for his coup
Population: 24 to 26 million. No census has been performed and the actual number is erratic due to the civil war
Faction: Justinian
Capital (De jure): The Old Capital, Sepulchravest
Capital (De facto): Leshëzkoëm
Government Type: Absolute Monarchy (with significant theocratic backing and legally still a ‘feudal monarchy’)
Government Description:
The Empire of West Ouroborasia technically speaking is a feudal monarchy, The Emperor sits on his throne, legal power to rule is delegated among the many feudal vassals of the Emperor who in turn rule over their many serfs. With that said, this government in truth no longer functions as it once did. With the beginning of the civil war, Crown Prince Istvan Dragcumir rebelled against his father and was declared the emperor by the High Clerisy after the High Cleric similarly declared that Emperor Vasilius had abdicated. Emperor Istvan while young and inexperienced in rule, is a fervent and charismatic leader that does not bend to the whims of the aristocrats, many of whom sided with his father. Istvan has empowered a large number of lower and middle ranking aristocrats to substitute the power of the upper aristocracy as well as delegated power to clerics and even burghers. Istvan’s popularity among the peasants and freemen has given him the means to build a popular base that along with the civil war has enabled him to take near total absolute control of the government, leaving only the Clerisy that backs him as the only rival in power.
Head of State: Emperor Istvan III Dragcumir
Currency: Imperial Gold Leuri (Includes other legal coinage, particularly the Weshlandish Silver Sacrom and the Aequint coin derivatives)
Languages: Ouroboran(majority), Aemerine, Sancthiyin Elvish, Kasaboi, Old Eudakar(suppressed), Many local ethnic dialects
UNIQUE ATTRIBUTE INFORMATION
- Do Not Go Gently - The
- Justice Be Done! - While the Sacrilege War rages across the world, the pleas of the faithful have thankfully not been entirely drowned out. The Justinian World is a mostly unified one when compared to its many enemies. Weshlandish, Aberysian, Archonnan, even distant Middle Kingdomers and Excelsiorites have answered Emperor Istvan’s call to fight in the Ouroborasian Civil War. Even now, crusaders still come from the far-west. As the Ouroborasian faithful’s own leaders die, vetaran foreigners arrive to replace them. Even the trecherous Maleficar Oratorium has been replaced, agents from Sacrosanctia’s own Oratorium Justicarti setting up camp from Istvan’s seat of power in Leshëzkoëm.
- People’s War - Ouroborasia has forever been in turmoil over ethnic groups fighting over the region, but now Ouroborasia has to deal with a whole new concept of 'ethnicity' to wage war over. The Wretchkin or 'bad blood' are the blood relatives of witches. The Wretchkin have split and torn apart families and whole communities. Brother against brother. Former lovers, former friends, even parent and child - as is the case with even the Emperor Istvan and his treacherous father, The false emperor Vasilius of the traitor East. Long before the armies of the east and west officially clashed, the peoples of Ouroborasia were already in a state of war. In the the towns and hamlets and even households. Armed with pitchforks, scythes, hammers and stones. This war was no mere conflict of aristocratic bloodlines or title claims. The people were more than willing to fight, with or without their liege lord's command. So eager are the people to fight, many militias have formed autonomously of their lords. Raids, guerrilla warfare, even assaults are performed by these volunteer forces. Rallied by zealous clerics or charismatic and righteous peasant leaders, they will defend their households from monsters and witches, no matter the cost.
- Lord Swampland - Ouroborasia's not particularly secret weapon O'Lord Swampland, the greatest commander of Ouroborasia for millennia. He is always defending the country though is stronger in certain seasons. With him comes harsh and constant rain, ever obstructing mud, insidious murky water and creeping mangroves in the wetlands, and shadowy black forests in the hinterlands. Invaders fear him, for their cannons sink into the mud, their powder becomes useless. Disease and illness; Lord Swamplands faithful squires strike them down as they cower, huddling around fireplaces that refuse to start, so wet is the wood. Those who seek to besiege castles fear this great defender, for he is the weather, and while invaders have come and gone, Great Lord Swampland has never been defeated.
- The Nightwatch - Someone, anyone really, had to deal with all these montsers. Ouroborasia was always both a metaphorical and literal swamp of monsters, but once upon a time the Empire actually had Orators to deal with it, back when they were professional monster and witch-killers, rather than monster creators and witch bodyguards. Now, it up to all of us to deal with them. Once just normal men and women, hardened beyond what any normal human would ever have to confront, the Nightwatch are West Ouroborasia's silent army of vigilantee witch and monster hunters. Dressed as highwaymen and assassins, they are prepared to do the dirty-work of Justinian while the new loyal Orators deal with the bigger fish beyond the powers of simple man.
- The Incorruptible - So many of the Ouroborasian leadership have been corrupted already - or even were corrupt all along. So many in fact, Ouroborasia has in just seven years since the beginning of the civil war become synonymous with corruptible and treacherous men and women. What the foreigners however ignore is that the few that remain leading the western empire are nigh incorruptible. Bitter, perhaps. Paranoid, certainly. But none can say these men and women were unable to face down damnable temptations… and then turned away. This incorruptibility is not the same as Sacrosanctia’s however. It is not born from pure innocence or true faith, but rather guarded jadedness and willpower. West Ouroborasia has grown accustomed to being assaulted by foul magics, illusions and temptations and so have grown resilient, even immune to it. Where even a truly faithful paladin of Sacrosanctia may fall sway to the false pure innocence of a child witch and her illusionary magic, a West Ouroborosian would not be so easily tricked. Be it illusion, curse, manipulation or seduction, there are those in West Ouroborasia who shall never fall.
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
- Sepulchravest - #1, The former capital is on the frontlines of the civil war, having switched hands numerous times between the east and west. The city was attacked by Emperor Istvan in the first day of the civil war, however was driven off by monstrous creatures summoned by the former Witchfinder-General of the Maleficar Oratorium (and now Anathema heretic as well as champion of the Turquoise Lord). Since then the city has become a half-ruined hellhole and is saturated with the influence of the Turquoise Lord. Most of the city's inhabitants are now either Turquoise monsters or witches and their homunculi or familiar tools. Istvan as such has moved his capital to Leshëzkoëm
- Leshëzkoëm - #2, Current capital of West Ouroborasia, Leshëzkoëm was created originally by one of the generals of Wolfraum following his conquests of Eudekeshan Ouroborasia into the Aemos Imperium. Lesenopolis, its old name has since become Leshëzkoëm. A heavily fortified city with a second curtain wall as well as a castle-like palace within the city, Leshëzkoëm has been a popular staging point for war, including the original Justinian Crusaders. For both practical and symbolic reasons, Emperor Istvan has saw it fit that this city would once again be the centre of a great crusading host waging war against ghoulish and heathen forces.
- Ouropossia - #3, another old Aemos Imperium-built city, Ouropossia sits on the border between West Ouroborasia and Weshland, acting as a gatehouse for traders and crusaders from Weshland, Aberysia and the Middle Kingdoms. It is also an important city for the foodstuff trade from Weshland and has a high number of centaurs living in the surrounding farmland. Ouropossia is notable for its knightly traditions and seemingly out-of-place chivalry compared to the rest of the empire. Weather conditions are also more temperate and warm.
- City of Vloëmurrëm - #4, vital port city connecting West Ouroborasia to Archonnen, Sacrosanctia and the Excelsiorum Alliance states. A vast amount of foreign supplies and troops enter through this port city. Besides this trade and incoming support, the city is particularly devoute, both due to a high number of foreign clerics setting up their operations from here, as well as the high number of clerical temples and cathedrals.
RACIAL INFORMATION
Majority race: Humanity is the majority and ruling class of the West Ouroborasian Empire. Being once part of the Ancient Pantheon’s human-dominated Eudekesh, later the human-dominated Aemos Imperium and Gushawar/Lamashi empires and now conquered by human crusaders from Archonnen, Aberysia and Weshland, humanity has been both the ethnic majority and rulers of this land for a very long time. The real issue however is due to constantly being invaded and occupied by so many different nations, cultures and human ethnic groups, Ouroborasia is ethnically divided by its human ethnicities. In particular, Eudekeshan, Aemerine and Ourosh (Gusho-Aemerines) have had ethnic tensions for over a millennia. West Ouroborasia is mostly Aemerine dominated, however the ethnic divisions continue even in the West.
Minority races:
- Centaurs - Centaurs are a demographic newcomer into the ethnic mess that is Ouroborasia. While there are stories of ancient centaur nomads trying to conquer Ouroborasia numerous millennia ago, the actual centaurs of Ouroborasia descend from Justinian crusaders that arrived 150 years ago, when the Justinian crusaders conquered Ouroborasia in its entirety. The centaurs of West Ouroborasia today are a isolated minority, living in a hostile environment that is not particularly hospitable for centaurkind. Once the fanatical religious zeal of the crusades wore off, the centaurs became bitter though still too stubborn to leave. Those in West Ouroborasia mostly live in the sunnier and more temperate regions of the north-west closer to the Weshland border, avoiding the swampy and forested areas Ouroborasia is most infamous for. Due to their proximity to the breadbasket states of Weshland and the Archonnen superpower, West Ouroborasian centaurs are surprisingly pious for a non-human minority of Ouroborasia, and many volunteered to fight in the civil war as light cavalry, particularly to replace the many lost knights and aristocrats. Istvan, who considers himself an enlightened monarch has lessened the legal restraints of centaurs, and has even knighted numerous aspiring Centaur mounted sergeants.
- Monsters - Not a real species or ethnic group, Justinian Western Ouroborasians throw any ghouls, homunculi, turquoise servitors/monsters, Riglers and Wendigoes (The last two which while an actual natural species are also traditionally hostile to Justinianism) into this broad category of enemy and subversive minorities. In the case of most these monsters, they actually are inherently hostile, particularly the Ghouls of Uudhin, created originally by the Red God Axohaan and spawned artificially, the Ghouls are inherently designed to wage war in the name of their dark god. Homunculi are not much better, being people that have been twisted and changed into abominations by witches.
- Elves - Once, Elves were a sizable minority in Pre-Justinian Ouroborasia in the time period after the fall of Wolfraum's Aemos Imperium, when the region was ruled either by Old Pantheonist elves, Gushawar or Eudekesh. Since then, the elves have mostly been pushed out by native Red Pantheonist rebellion or the Justinian crusaders from the west, most of whom were humans. The few elves that remain have since converted to Justinianism, and have tried to mimic the successes of the Sacrosanctian elves - though to significantly less success. Ouroborasia has throughout the centuries been a brutal battleground between human and elvish interests, and much of the human majority still remember their old enemy - even if the reason they fought has long since been made redundant.
- Dwarves - The Dwarves were never a significant presence in Ouroborasia. When the dwarves were at their apex during the Ancient Pantheon cycle, the Ouroborasian region of the world was left to the human followers of Eudeye - then known as Eudekesh. Dwarves were crushed as a people and powerbase during the Old Pantheon, enslaved like the humans. As such, many dwarves converted to Justinianism when the time came, and thirsty for revenge on their former Elven Old Pantheonist masters, joined crusades against the Yuwanist elves. The dwarves of West Ouroborasia are the descendants of those vengeaful crusaders.
- Other Minorities - West Ouroborasia is now home to many crusaders and adventurers from across the Justinian World. Giants and Half-Giants of Fereumin, Pygmies and Nymphs from Magna Excelsiorum, Kobolds and even 'civilised' Riglers.
RELIGIOUS INFORMATION
State Religion: Orthodox Justinianism
Patron Deities:
- The Justinian - The Justinian, the Nascent God born of man that will lead all the souls of the universe to the Empryean Paradise. For one hundred and fifty years, The Justinian has been the state-enforced god of the Ouroborasian Empire, regardless what the heretics and cultists said. Most West Ouroborasians are orthodox followers of the faith, following each of the great edicts of The Justinian. In these dark times, the Epiphany of the Perfect World has seen a marked increase in usage, as the faithful try to escape the horrors of the civil war. The faithful look to the west for salvation. The Justinian, with its mighty saints and divine powers will surely answer - and its brilliant light will invoke holy terror as it cleanses the East.
Religion Demographics:
-60% Orthodox Justinianism
-23% Anathema Justinianism
-10% Red Pantheonism
-7% Canonical Justinianism
Holy Relics in Possession:
Holy Sites under Control:
- ??? Cathedral - The
Notable Magical Institutions:
- Justicarti Oratorium - With the Maleficar Oratorium so compromised by the east, the remaining organisation was purged when the Justicarti Orators of Sacrosanctia arrived. Throughout the purge, Orators were interrogated, tested and those who failed were executed. Those who passed these trials were introduced into a new fledging order of Orators, which still are mostly controlled by the Justicars of Sacrosanctia as well as Orators from Archonnen, who are quickly taking command as the Justicars return to the holy city.
- Paladin Rites - While the Rite of the Ouroboros fell to the East along with its corrupt leader,
The Archduke of Vlachia, many other Paladin Rites have remained loyal and so fled west. Far more tested and experienced than other Paladins, these paladins are often cynical and traumatised men and women who have been left hallowed by the civil war. While some find them inspiring and heroic figures, others find them to be depressingly defeatist and broken, or even of questionable faith, though the Justicars could no find actual heretical thoughts or corruption within them.
MILITARY INFORMATION
Total Military: 300,000
Listed Heroes:
-The
Military Doctrine:
Military Units:
Peasant Levy: Common serfs of Western Ouroborasia, either levied by their feudal lords to fight in the civil war, or populist rebels revolting against Witch-aligned lords or actual Witches, either way, they are essentially normal people armed with farming tools and spears. The Average Ouroborasian Peasant is very poorly educated and parochial, however they are also have strong survival insticts, healthy paranoia and a suprisingly level of mental resistance and faith. The Average Ouroborasian Peasant is also capable of withstanding the Ouroborasian environment better than even their knights, since it is these poorfolk that often live out in the muck, mud and odious swamps.
Sergeant Men-At-Arms:
Sergeant Men-At-Arms are semi-professional bread and butter of Istvan's Imperial Army of the West. Typically former peasant and urban levies, The survivors of the Red Purge (of the loyalist eastern army) have great experience fighting in the Eudazite/Gushawar wars as well as the seven years of civil war, overall they have become relatively good at soldiery, abandoning their seasonal warfare to an occupation of war. The Sergeant Men-At-Arms of the West are particularly loyal and high in morale, both because their new young emperor is charismatic and commoner-friendly but also because the new regime under Istvan has advocated a system of meritocracy, where the best and most valiant men-at-arms may rise to knighthood. This is so prominent, that upon becoming men-at-arms, soldiers are often given honorary batons, once only posessed by aristocratic knights.
Sergeant Men-At-Arms are often trained in using crossbows and cumbersome arablests, with guns being less common due to the Ouroborasian environment being detrimental to the use of gunpowder based weapondry. Pavise shields are however a common addition to crossbows.
Mounted sergeants are surprisingly common, as many aristocrats died during the early days of the civil war, uprisings, pre-civil war purges and other events that forced the raising of experienced sergeant man-at-arms as cavalry, usually light cavalry wielding swords or small crossbows. Many of these mounted sergeants are hopefuls, awaiting a possible knighthood right behind the corner - so often fight extra hard.
Clerical Headhunters: Men and women armed and armoured by the local Clerisies of their towns, either once being particularly devout junior members of the Clerisy or remarkably zealous townspeople/militia, they are now on the payroll of the Clerisy's private armies, though usually as local clerical militias. They are zealous witchhunters and often collaborate with Nightwatchmen and Gauntlets, acting as henchmen for in particular Cleric Rozarosu. Clerical headhunters are a varied group due to the decentralised nature, some being honest faithful villagers defending their communities and temples while others are fanatical and genocidal militia that were once villagers caught up in the Witch Purge preceding the civil war or hang on to every word from Rozarosu. They are usually not magic-users themselves, that are often retinue support to clerics or other low-level magic users who give them minor blessings - as such they are mostly used against witches isolated from the East, including women accused of witchcraft by village neighbours. Old women, wenches, ugly and diseased, mystics, herbalists, prostitutes, children, social rejects, etc.
Istvanite Knights
The West Ouroborasian Aristocracy suffered greatly from the build up to the civil war. Purges, asassinations and defections to the East combined with many being killed during the early days of the Civil War (Including the Red Purge) took a great toll on their numbers. Istvanite Knights as such are the new radical wing of the knightly aristocracy, being hardened sergeant men-at-arms that have been knighted. They have since become known as "Istvanite" or "the Knights of Istvan" despite being no order. While lacking knightly training, they make up with this with years of actual military experience in campaigns from Eudaz to the Civil War, and they also have greater survival skills than most aristocratic knights due to their humble beginnings. Just as vicious and pragmatic as their eastern counterparts, Istvanite knights are willing to do whatever to win. Dirty tactics, unfair use of terrain, half-swording, whatever it takes they will do. This combination of lack of chivalry and commoner orgins however causes them to be alienated and distrusted by proper aristocrats and foreign knights, particularly those from Weshland and Aberys.
Western Knights that are mounted have a majority of still mostly true aristocratic knights, as the uplifted sergeants usually do not have the personal finances to cover the costs of a large enough warhose and armour to be considered 'heavy cavalry', though some do. There is a degree of internal conflict between the two different groups of knights.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
