Intermission: The Empire (30 A.C.)
The empire was founded in the same year that Olympus fell, as a union between the former Babylonian and Egyptian Empires. Within 30 years, it has since expanded to bring the Greek city states and the Hittite Empire under the aegis of its protection and is now the sole power in the lands that border the Mediterranean.
Government
The Emperor is the head of the empire and the one in which all decision-making power rests. Although each kingdom nominally holds great autonomy over their own administration, in practice the current Emperor has exercised his influence in a wide variety of issues, ranging from trade to the military. The kings of the empire serve a function more akin to that of a governor, dealing with day-to-day matters of the bureaucracy, maintaining the rule of law, and ensuring that their kingdoms are progressing in the direction that the Emperor desires. It is in essence an empire united under the absolute power of one monarch.
The Emperor has established a school of scholars which bring in the brightest and most talented citizens of the empire. Although the kingdoms tend to rely on their own home-grown bureaucracy for their administration, many scholars from the Emperor’s school tend to be assigned to high ranking positions that are near to, but not the top, in their respective homelands.
Internal Relations
The three kingdoms of the Greeks, Egyptians and Babylonians, as the founding members of the empire, have somewhat cordial relationships with each other. The Hittites have had a long history of conflict with all three, and as such are less committed to being partners in the empire’s growth if any of the other three stands to benefit more. The Assyrians, having been under Babylonian rule since they were subjugated by Marduk, have begun proposing that they should be granted equal status as the other kingdoms on the basis of their history. The current king of Babylon, Nabuchasar, is not too agreeable on the matter, noting that under the Assyrian proposal some of the disputed and wealthier cities near the Assyrian-Babylonian border would go to the new Assyrian kingdom.
Relations of each of the kingdoms with the Emperor vary. Both the Egyptian and Babylonian kings are extremely loyal to the current Emperor. The queen of Greece, Athena, had cultivated an attitude of indifference, tolerating the Emperor’s rule only as long as her dominions prosper, but the recent incursion of the Terasphagos and the successful defense against it has given her a change of heart. She now supports the Emperor’s rule openly, though she does not hesistate to point out what she feels are mistakes in his rule. King Tudalliya of the Hittites was brought to the throne by the deaths of the reigning members of the Lubarna dynasty, and as such is grateful to the Emperor for his current seat. However, his gratefulness does not extend to his interactions with other members of the empire, who have not given him any courtesy either.
External Relations
The empire has cordial relations with the kingdom in the north and has negotiated peace with its former holdings in the Indus Valley. There are no other major centers of population within reach that they currently know of and can establish diplomatic relations with.
Religion & Culture
Each kingdom has high religious autonomy. Worship of the traditional pantheon is commonplace, with each city having their own favoured god. The official state line is that all gods are true in their own way, though in practice the priests are encouraged to denounce worship of beings that incur the Emperor’s displeasure as worship of impostors. Although the reigning Emperor has been proclaimed a god, he has made no move to force worship of his own divinity in his dominion – even so, his cult is gaining popularity in the kingdoms of Babylonia and Egypt, with the Emperor being elevated to a status of prominence particularly in the old Sumerian pantheon.
The people of the empire receive schooling in their own languages and most of them spend their lives immersed in their own culture. Since the establishment of the empire, the policies implemented have led its citizens to begin identifying more with the kingdom rather than their cities or tribes, but the lack of an official lingua franca or any uniting force beyond that of the Emperor himself has hindered the formation of a larger identity amongst its people.
Economy
Trade thrives far and wide throughout the empire, thanks to its established network of roads. Merchants are encouraged but regulated by a system of laws to prevent cheating and establish standardized measurements for goods. The merchants of the empire are some of the best in the world thanks to the education that the state has mandated, but as most trade cities are within the empire now, they usually compete against each other, with lines being drawn depending on the kingdom they are affiliated to. Currency remains separate between the kingdoms. An established trade route has emerged between the northern lands and the Indus Valley over the past decade, and every day countless goods flow along these routes, feeding the empire’s growth.
Military
The military of the empire is generally maintained at a standing number of 35,000 ready for battle, whose service is regularly rotated with reserves of another 30,000 men that are stationed within cities and camps throughout the empire. They have 2000 chariots, each able to carry 3 men, and 7,000 archers. The remaining forces constitute of infantry. The breakdown of the standing forces contributed by each kingdom is as follows: Egypt – 9000, Babylon – 12,000, with half of that being Assyrian, Hittite – 11,000, Greece – 3000.
Despite their disparate origins, the Emperor has the right to take command of all soldiers in the field and override the authority of each of the kings and their generals. Given the number of occasions on which this has happened and led to the saving of their lives in battle, the military have become distinct from the citizenry in that they have ceased to see themselves as Egyptian or Greek soldiers, and instead think of themselves as soldiers of the Emperor. Most in the military have taken the Emperor as their patron god, and it is there that his cult has the most influence.
The military has been divided into four armies according to their sphere of operations.
The North Army consists of mainly Hittite and Assyrian soldiers and total about 8000 strong. They are led by the Assyrian Nashiram and are stationed in the Anatolian plains.
The South Army is made up of Egyptian and Babylonian soldiers, numbering about 8000 men under the veteran Heroptah’s command. They are based in Egypt.
The East Army, commanded by Dakuri, are stationed to the east of Babylon, watching its borders with the empire’s former holdings in the Indus. They have about 8000 soldiers, a mix of mostly Babylonian and Assyrian.
The West Army garrisons the fortifications around the Olympus rift. The recent incursion has led to an increase in the number of troops in the West Army, and it is currently the largest army with 11,000 men, with a good mix of soldiers from all kingdoms. It is led by Gursu, son of Gudersu, who had distinguished himself greatly during the incursion and been promoted to high rank for numerous, important displays of bravery and thinking.
