• The Karthan Empire

    The Karthan Empire

    A Small but powerful force in the world of Celestria is the Karthan Empire. Named after their Capital, the great city of Karth. The Karthan empire is a grand republic headed by an Empire who commands the military and ostensibly leads the Senate.

    Karth idolizes its military and structures its society heavily on the honor of military service. Children dream of joining the legions and taking part in heroic battles. Old men sit in taverns and tell of their time waging war.

    The Imperial Hierarchy

    At the center of the Karthan government is the Senate which debates and votes on all laws that are made on behalf of the people of Karth. It is said (mainly by those of Karth itself) that there is no place more free than Karth, and no people so blessed as those who call themselves Citizens of the great empire.

    The Senate speaks with 11 voices (not including the Emperor). These voices propose laws and actions to further the glorious purpose of the Empire, bringing issues to the floor to be debated and voted upon. These voices are officials brought to power through two sections of society.

    First are the noble houses. Six noble houses remain of the old families that helped forge the early days of Karths history and each house is entitled to name a single member to sit in session and speak as voice at the Senate. There were once thirteen houses but many have fallen in the centuries of Karths existence.

    The other place from which the Senates voice comes are the Guilds. All Guilds within Karth must be registered, must have at least ten members, and must pay their yearly dues. Among all the guilds of Karth each may put forth a name to be considered for voice, and each Guild in good standing may cast votes on those names. There are Five seats within the senate that may be elected from the Guilds. These seats grant the Guilds from which the Voice is elected a great deal of power within the Empire, as such they are highly sought after.

    Smaller Guilds have little chance of seeing a candidate elected, but still their vote counts in the naming and as such the larger guilds often seek to curry favor of the smaller Guilds to gain their votes.

    Six from noble houses, and five from guilds make up the voices that speak for the senate. Each voice may speak one vote on any and all issues. Above them sits the Emperor, who himself may speak with three votes. The emperor acts as a sort of balancing mechanism within the Senate, a means of shifting the flow of the Empire where debate sometimes become locked.

    The Imperial Military

    At the head of the Legions of Karth sits the emperor. Though he cannot unilaterally take the Empire to war, he otherwise has complete control of the Legions ranks, and their orders.

    The military is made up multiple legions. Each legion is headed by a Legate, who commands three to five cohorts. Each cohort in turn is lead by a prefect, prefects command multiple Ranks of 100 each lead by a Centari. Squads are further broken down into squads of 10.

    Ruling the Empire

    Though the senate governs the people, and the Emperor leads the military that in itself is not enough to effectively rule over the empire smoothly. To handle local matters more smoothly the Empire is divided into large Provinces. Each province is ruled by an Archon

    Though the Emperor chooses who to promote within the military up to the Rank of Legate, the senate may than vote from the pool of Legates to be taken beyond the military structure and given Rule as Archon over a province. Archons then themselves take with them a number of their Prefects to become tribunes ruling over smaller sections of their land.

    So, while the Emperor does not have direct control over the ruling of the lands, he does have have control over who gains the rank of Legate. Thus no one can become an Archon against the favor of the Emperor. This creates a delicate balance of power between the Senate and the Empire in the ruling of the lands. Often concessions must be made when the senate favors someone the Emperor does not, and vice versa. Pawns are moved on the board in exchange for favors.

    Further more it is from the Archons that the Emperor rises. Each year, upon the first of that Year, the Emperor stands before the Senate and names an order of succession from the those that currently hold the title of Archon. Should the Emperor die it is the first of the Archons named that the imperial throne passes to. However the new emperor may not then name their own list of successors until the the first of the new year. Each new emperor must live out the remainder of the year before they are then able to influence the selection of Emperor themselves. Should they die before that time the previous Emperors order of succession remains.

  • The Unhallowed Sea

    Unhallowed Sea

    Beyond the material plane lies a quiet place. A somber plane of existence where Devils dwell and an eternal fog covers a quiet sea which connects scattered islands. Though the Unhallowed sea seems a restful place at first glance, its eerie expanse is one of great danger. Beneath the calm pale waters leviathans dwell, and the islands that break up the expanse are the domains of Devils.

    The Devils of the Sea

    Devils are beings of Law and contract. They bargain for the souls of mortal beings, striking complex deals in exchange for a sentence to be served by the soul after death. It is said that no Devil may pen a contract in which a soul is bound eternally. Each contract has a stipulated term of purgatory before a soul will be released to whatever after plane they are drawn. That said, while a Devil will never break letter of their contract they are masters of complex logic and precise dealings, their contracts are trapped with tricks and loopholes that extend and obscure the length of a souls sentence. Few souls who find themselves bound to a Devils power ever see themselves released. This trickery is vitally important to them, for Devils grow in power only through accumulation of bound souls. The more souls they have bound, and the longer those souls remain bound the more powerful a Devil becomes.

    Devils gather themselves into Firms. Coalitions of service in which one or two elder Devils are at the top, and many others serve under them. Lesser Devils serve under the elder Devils of the firm, giving up the majority of the power earned through a souls acquisition in exchange for the protection and guidance of those above them. All Devils dream of the day they are either promoted to Partner within their firm, or instead have gained enough power and influence to strike it out alone and form their own Firm.

    When Devils form a form it manifests as a physical space within the Unhallowed Sea. An island birthed into the fogs. As the firm gains more souls, and by extension more power and influence Their island grows, the sea ever shifting, reshaping, expanding and contracting to fit the needs of the the islands found within its waters. The greater the power held by a Firm the more distant it is able to stay from other islands within the sea. Additionally the fog grows more thick around their island, and more difficult to traverse. This is of vital importance for Rival firms are always looking to steal contracts and by extension the souls that are tied to it.

    The Leviathans below

    While the Devils and their Islands represent a great danger to any that find themselves within the Unhallowed sea they are not the ONLY danger. Beneath the waters is the realm of the lost. The hunting grounds of great leviathans.

    A devil without a Contract is no Devil at all. This is the very reason lesser Devils allow themselves to be tied into service. For without the power of bound souls to draw sustenance from a Devil starves. Sometimes occurs because they have had their contracts stolen. Sometimes because a Firm casts them out (a fate even Elder Partners are not always immune to). Sometimes it is because a foolish Devil may have over extended themselves, drawing forth more power than they had access to in hopes that they would be able to leverage that power to win big in the long run and the bet doesn’t pay off, Burning out the souls in their possession and leaving the Devil in question powerless.

    When this happen Devils have three choices (or perhaps two choices, and a consequence): They may Find another Firm, Find another Contract, Or wither into a husk and be thrown out like trash. The third possibility is where leviathans come into being. Devils cannot truly die, but being without a soul to draw sustenance from is a torment beyond comprehension. It leads to madness. The remnants of Devils cast into the Unhallowed sea roam there eternally seeking sustenance. Mindless beasts twisted in desire and shape. They can never regain themselves. Never again be what any Self respecting Devil would ever describe as “A Devil”. But even that is not the end.

    As clever and careful as Devils are in their contracts, and the defense of the souls under their power. Sometimes mistakes happen. Sometimes souls that should be bound manage to slip through the cracks. A stolen contract that is lost before it reaches a new Firm’s vault. A contract that had an unexpected exit clause that leaves a soul without serving its sentence(and by extension release) while also no longer being held captive. And sometimes unbound souls from outside the unhallowed sea come into the plane for reasons of their own, but become lost. For whatever the reason sometimes souls find their way into the depths of those pale quiet waters… At which point all too often they are found and devoured by those remnants of Devils long gone to madness.

    Feasting upon the lost souls allows those husks to regain power, but it is not a stable, long lasting power granted by a contract. Devouring lost souls is a savage, feral feast which sates their hunger for only a short time. The husks regain strength, becoming twisted monstrosities referred to as Leviathans. These beasts form their own ecosystem. Fighting for hunting grounds, devouring what souls they can, and devouring each other whenever possible. Few husks last long enough to fully achieve “Leviathan” status, as they themselves are fair game for whatever elder Leviathans might happen to find them.

    Though they have not the delicate and precise power of Devils at their best, leviathans can grow to be of massive size and power. Some Devils of great power have themselves gone missing in the endless for of the Unhallowed sea, devoured by beasts from below.

    Though their exact nature is hard to quantify it is said that if you can manage to “slay” one of the beasts you may carve away draw out its potent blood, carve away its flesh, and take its bones. All of which are enriched by great power and are of great value to those with the knowledge to make use of them. of course since no devil can truly die, even a leviathan corpse can be returned to the sea where it may itself be devoured by another, or perhaps will someday reconstitute itself to begin its growth again.

  • Goblins: Creatures of Chaos

    For my latest world building project I’ve been thinking about a take on goblins. The idea being that goblins are creatures of total chaos that spring up from nothing, creating a nest and multiplying until they spread forth into the world causing trouble wherever they go. What follows is a poorly formatted early stage of thought on goblins. More to come.

    Concepts

    Goblins are creatures born of chaos. Where there are no goblins there is always a minor chance that goblins will spring into existence.

    Large group of goblins is a “fracas” of goblins

    Goblin Intelligence

    Goblins are not overly intelligent. They are not stupid, but what intelligence they have is a twisted mass of chaotic desire. They can solve problems to a degree, but they are incapable of forming lasting plans. Their minds jump from idea to idea. Desire to desire.

    It is possible to reason with a goblin in the short term, but do not expect your treaty of today to be remembered and honored in the coming hours/days/weeks.

    What causes Goblins?

    The exact reason the universe births goblin’s is ever a mystery, here are some idea’s. All of these may be true, or none of them may be true.

    d#Idea
    1Are Goblins born of children’s Nightmare’s? Or does the birth of a goblin cause children to have Nightmares?
    2Every time a lie is told, a goblin springs into existence.
    3From the chaos of happenstance goblins are born. When a sock goes missing, or a coin lands on heads too many times in a row. These occurances create goblins
    4before you threw out the bathwater did you remember to salt it generously? Everyone knows that unsalted bathwater once out of the tub grows spores that turn into goblins!
    5Always say the blessing when someone sneezes, failing to do so brings goblins to your village!
    6If you find a coin on the road you must throw it in the well! Keeping found wealth invites goblins to this realm!

    Goblins Multiply

    All it takes is a single goblin to produce a hoard. Goblins reproduce through mitosis. Once they have eaten enough they find a quiet place and form a bubbling mucas covered cacoon around themselves. After a short gestation period two goblins emerge.

    Goblins can eat just about anything so at the start food is seldem an issue to get a hoard of goblins started. Its only after their numbers multiply that they run out of mushrooms, rocks, and weeds that they start seeking more delicious foods in the outside world.

    Goblins Mutate

    Goblins generally start out very small and simple, but over time they mutate and can take on many forms and gain many abilities. When a goblin splits both goblins tend to keep the same mutations, so within a fracas of goblins a core set of mutations tend to be shared. As chaotic as the creatures are there are sometimes off branches of mutations that do not survive, they are killed and consumed. Sometimes stronger mutation groups form a sub group within the main group.

    Mutations can be anything from larger size, to acidic blood. Goblins may grow wings, or multiple limbs. Discard hands and feet in favor of tentacle-like appendages. Some goblins may breath fire, and some may be invisible.

    Domesticating Goblins

    Goblins are creatures of chaos. They are neither good nor evil, though they are seldem friendly to have around.

    There are occasions though when a strain of goblins will mutate in a way that people may find useful, and attempts will be made to domesticate them. This can be beneficial in the short term as there are some goblin mutations that can do great things, but even the most intelligent of goblins cannot be reasoned with for long, and their mutations may get out of hand.

    A village may keep a branch of goblins that have developed blood that can cure any disease, but that benefit may turn very dangerous when a new mutation occurs that causes goblin blood to become explosive when exposed to air.

    A blacksmith may enjoy having a molten goblin to keep their forge hot, but what if that goblin suddenly becomes ravenous and grows to the size of a house?

    There will always be those that try to manage goblin mutations for societies benefit, but those with true wisdom have found such attempts to be folly.