Lainir

History
After striking the Pact, the lainir were greeted to a show of their new god’s power. The mountain was transformed before their very eyes. The mountain bent and folded, creating a magnificent city. Little did they know, as they marched into their new home, that their destiny was beginning. The lainir began to undertake the great task of building up the city and establishing the framework of their civilization.

Malen, as one of the few who had spoken with their people’s god, took upon himself the title of Prophet, and established the worship of Vantric. In time, Vantric told Malen of the other god that helped craft the lainir, and the god Melanthios was celebrated as well, though they were under no illusions, nor allowed any, that the chief architect of their species was Vantric. Malen began to establish church control over the study of magic. Within a few years, all magical tutelage was done under church supervision.

Tyna, for her part, sought to establish a political order for their people to follow. She seized power as greatly as she could and began to dictate the structure of the new civilization. There was widespread opposition to the concentration of absolute power, however, many gave way to a great degree of power in the new executive.

As time went on, the lainir filled their first city, Gaerv Vantric, and sought to expand, knowing that there were other cities like it across the continent, just waiting for them. Within a century the first colonists ventured through the tunnels connecting the continent and toward a new city, a fresh start. When the first colonists opened up another territory something unexpected and dangerous, yet unavoidable occurred. The colonists arrived and declared themselves independent of the others. They claimed the city as their own, free from outside authority. Immediately, Gaerv Vantric sent a force to seize the city, but was beaten back after a bloody clash with the colonists. From that point forward, the pattern was repeated unceasingly. The cities grew, colonists left, new cities were found and new states were created.

It wasn’t long before the entire continent was mapped out and each city was populated. From there, the lainir began what became known as the Great Game. Each city-state was engaged in a battle for supremacy with every other city-state. Through guile, military might, and assassination, the cities of the lainir sought to dominate each other. The constant series of wars and political contests and upheavals continued on and defined the lainiri civilization.

After many centuries of the Game, things began to change. In secret, a coalition of the three most powerful cities of the lainir; Melant, Taren, and Gaerv Vantric, formed with one stated objective: conquest of the entire continent. Pooling their resources, the three began to infiltrate the other cities, slowly and carefully. They began bribing lower level nobles in the other courts to gain some political power. From there, they began to nudge the affairs of the states in more favorable directions.

Within ten years a massive war wrecked the northern cities, largely devastating the territory. Afterward, everyone was surprised at the speed with which Melant, Taren, and Gaerv Vantric seized the north and established their own country. To the other cities it was telling of things to come, but by then it was far too late. Other states had gained power before, and other alliances had been brokered before, it was the nature of the Great Game to do so, but there was a definite change in this new alliance. Power was quickly consolidated in the conquered territories; the chances of the new alliance losing the spoils of war were slim.

A more concentrated campaign began against the rest of the cities of the lainir. Within five years of the war in the north, a new war began starting in the west and engulfing much of the south as the new alliance entered and began capturing one city after another. Attempts at building a broader alliance throughout the remaining cities were started, but never went anywhere. Civil strife and political upheaval instigated by the great powers’ agents prevented even national unity within the free states.

Once the more general war ended, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the alliance captured the continent. The remaining rulers found themselves competing with their own courts to bend the knee to the alliance in hopes of remaining in command of their own cities. Within six months of the end of the Continental War, the last free city submitted itself to the alliance. As the lainir marshaled themselves under a new rule, Fanem Rhone, ruler of Gaerv Vantric, seized the moment and crowned himself Emperor of the Lainir Empire. The Empire underwent significant changes in the upcoming centuries, reorganizing and articulating itself as a political entity, a process that largely stabilized as the First Age ended.

The Second and Third Ages saw little significant change in the overall structure of the Lainir Empire. There was  the opening of relations with both the Dwarven Kingdom and the Human Empire, but little of note changed internally. The might of the Lainir Empire was stable, and uncontested.

In the latter years of the Third Age, the tectonic plates beneath the society began shifting suddenly, steadily, and relentlessly. New technologies expanded the the economy, building up a new business class. Another avenue of ascension was created in the evolving entrepreneurial class. Power began reallocating itself, pulled away from the national government where it had been so long enshrined. Territorial governors, closer to the economic elite and more able to mobilize resources on their behalf, began gaining an upper hand, receiving support from generous benefactors.

As the ground on, the edifice of imperial authority broke down. Moves by the Assembly and various executives tried and failed to reassert the supreme power of the state with little success. The wheels of the economy continued to storm forward, changing everything about the Empire in its path. After five centuries of decline, Emperor Baim Karer made one last attempt to revive failing central power, he suspended the Assembly, declaring a state of emergency and taking absolute power for himself, hoping that he could rebuild the imperial authority. It was the move that killed the Empire.

Across the country, the proclamation was met with outrage and mass protests. Governors took the decree as a sign to depart, seceding from the Empire and declaring war, hoping to expand their fortunes. Within six months a nine-sided civil war began. A year and a half later, the Lainir Empire finally collapsed with the assassination of Varek Tae, the seventh imperial executive since the war began. No one else came forward to claim a broken throne and a lost cause. The capital, Gaerv Vantric, was taken over by the Church and declared an open city, safe from the war.

War persisted, new nations were formed and fell. A century later, peace finally returned, the lainir were ever sensitive to the machinations of their foreign counterparts, and agreed to a peace, organized by the Church. A new organization replaced the Lainir Empire, the Lainiri Imperium Authority, the Impath, made up of representatives of the five lainir nations that survived a century of warfare; Datoven, Helmon, Pros, Wichren, and Maey. The Impath became the organization responsible for the peace, and maintaining the outward illusion that the lainir were united and still possessed of a functioning empire.

Political Structure

It is difficult to understand anything about the lainir without first understanding how the Empire operates. One could be forgiven for believing that supreme power rests in the hands of the emperor. Symbols of imperial authority abound in every major city. Each city has a strong military outpost nearby, reinforcing national supremacy. Across the country, the emperor is a well-known figure and symbol whom the nation largely respect and stand behind. With the massive centralization of imperial authority, one would believe that the vast majority of that power is concentrated in the nation's chief executive. This is a wrong assumption.

In actuality, the emperor controls very little of the machinery of state. Most of the power of the government is concentrated in the nation's legislative body, the Imperial Assembly. Outside of their own personal holdings, the emperor can do little in and of himself to affect imperial policy. For almost every major decision the emperor needs to rely on support from the Assembly in order to act. One would think then, that the emperor is merely a figure-head, a public face for the will of the Assembly. This would also be a mistaken assumption.

One of the fundamental dichotomies of the Empire is that the Imperial Assembly rules the Empire, but the emperor rules the Assembly. The Imperial Assembly consists of 200 representatives of the Empire's political, social, and economic elite. Every assemblyman is appointed by the emperor himself, and sits on the Assembly at the emperor's leisure. At any moment, any member of the Assembly could be cast out and replaced by the emperor's decree. This singular power is the greatest in the emperor's arsenal, and gives him enormous leverage over the Assembly. However, the emperor cannot ignore parties with powerful political clout. The Assembly is legitimized by the inclusion of all major power-players in the Empire, as well as the emperor's own allies and lackeys.

From there, each major city is ruled by a governor, also appointed by the emperor, and a small council elected by the city's political elite.The primary function of these local governments is to enact the will of the national authority and maintain the peace.

Culture
The lainir are an extremely classist people. Every member of their society knows, almost implicitly, their own relative importance and rank in the spectrum of society. The Imperial dialogue is constantly focused on questions of class and the all-encompassing power it has over the social spectrum. However, like the imperial political system, the culture is dominated by a fundamental dichotomy.

Despite its inherent classist nature, every member of the Empire reveres achievement and success. The principle philosophy is one of enrichment and advancement. Any member of lainir society may rise to any position they wish, provided they have the talent, skill, and power to claim their prize. As such, the entire Empire is engaged in a constant competition with every feasible replacement for their own position in society. This ideology is the glue which holds the Empire together, and the constantly shifting nature of the Great Game, played even in the lowest levels of society, ensure that there is a constant rise and fall of people from and to positions of power.

The Lainir Empire is marked by a strong sense of xenophobia. Lainir aren't trusting by nature, however, around their own kind they have a sort of understanding based on their success-driven culture. They can, in an ironic manner, trust that their own people will aid them, and continue to do so, so long as it works in their best interest. The ruthless, calculating nature of a society that exists, constantly with a knife to its throat breeds this odd reliance on the mutually accepted rules of the Great Game. This mutual acceptance of the Game, however, cannot be said for foreigners and others who exist outside the lainir political spectrum. One of the few things that virtually every member of the Empire can agree on is a general distaste for foreigners.

Religion
The lainir have a knowledge of all gods in the pantheon, however, they principally pray to their creator gods, Vantric and Melanthios. Most other gods fall into the category of 'respected' though not necessarily focused on in their religion. M'endar is also a prominent figure in the lainir religion, though subordinated to the creators. The figures of Seith and Pentar are viewed generally with scorn and derision in imperial society. Partially because they are the known enemies of the Three, but mostly because they represent values antithetical to lainiri society. Pentar's endorsement of division of power, and Seith's fundamental belief in balance and peace find little audience in an inherently imperial society.

Aside from merely being a center for organizing the worship of the gods, the church oversees a more practical function as well. The Lainiri Church has a monopoly on arcane study across the whole of the Empire. Any facility that wishes to be accredited as a center for magical study must first be approved by the Church, even the Imperial War Mage Academies. This privileged position gives the Church a great deal of clout in its business with the imperial government. The Church acts as an independent political body outside of government influence, though it is closely allied with the government. In exchange for lending its considerable arcane expertise to the government at need, the Assembly is more than willing to legitimize the Church's covetted position as the leading arcane institution in the Empire.

The Impath
The Impath is controlled by 126 representatives of the lainir, tasked with maintaining the peace and ensuring that foreign governments were under the impresion that the lainir still had a united national authority. Each state sends twenty-one representatives, twenty to serve as legislative functionaries in the Impath Congress, and one to serve on the Imperium Committee. As the sole ruler of Gaerv Vantric and the creator of the peace, the Church also has its own representatives in the Impath government.

Theoretically, the representatives are supposed to stand for the interests of their respective states while shaping the overall policy in the most generally favorable to the lainir as a whole. In reality, the Impath representatives work for the expansion of Impath over the other states, thereby increasing their own power in the process.

In true lainir form, the Impath has very little real power, it maintains a trifling supranational military and has little ability to override the independent states it oversees, however, its close connection to the Church gives it a distinct edge at the negotiating table. While loath to surrender any degree of power, the various lainir states all must concede that the Church still had a monopoly on the Impath's magical power, and that making an enemy of them would be the surest way to end their reigns.