Westfal

[map of all the imperial provinces]

The last limping remnant of the old Empyrean Empire, which once dominated the whole world. Though only a colony of the former Empyrean Empire, Westfal remains the largest land empire in the known world.

Its primary language, Westfalian, is essentially fantasy german. If your character is from Westfal, they think of the world in terms of what is honorable and not what is fair or equitable. Westfalians are, as a rule, very concerned with truth, the rule of law, and children being raised with proper moral values.

Demographics

It is predominantly human. There are elves and Valleymen who exist in the empire, but while they may take on advisory positions, they are always at least nominally second to the human aristocracy.

The further west one goes, the more this is true. In the far west, there are those who go their entire lives only ever seeing their fellow man. In the heartland of the empire, they do not even see monsters and may believe the tales of creatures beyond their borders are myth and rumor.

Institutions

Westfal is incredibly decentralized. The powers of the emperor are limited, especially over the nobility. As a result, the emperor relies on being able to patronize various organizations inside the empire that then abide by his agenda, because they depend on the emperor's patronage.

The Heiress's Chosen

Westfal has a long and strange history with religion. The Empyrean Empire held through its whole existence that religion was a sickness of poisoned minds, and thus came The Imperial Truths. A very long list of strictures and tenets, the most important of which was that there are no gods but men, and no paradise but that of man's creation.

When the Empyrean heartland fell and only the colonies of Westfal remained, this gradually became less and less relevent. After a few centuries, there were even churches and mystery cults who operated out in the open, giving comfort to those of a religious bent.

In the modern day, the Imperial Truths have been discarded and all other cults have been deemed heathenous or heretical, and instead all that remains is worship of the Heiress. She who came down in times of great need, and gave salvation to an empire at its own throat.

In only the span of two generations, it has grown to dominate the whole empire. Those who claim atheism and hold to the Imperial Truths are tolerated at best, while the vast majority of the empire partakes of the church's strange strictures.

Those who are part of the church are known as the Chosen.

The Black Court

The Chosen believe that there are enemies to the church around every corner. That anyone who is not a true believer is a potential enemy. And all who do not serve them, are instead - wittingly or unwittingly - servants of the Black Court. An evil inversion of all that they hold to be holy and true.

Little is known about the Black Court beyond rumor and legend. One pervasive rumor exists, though. That they, in a dark reflection of counting one's generations from the holy Exalted, organize themselves in a hierarchy based on descent from their vampiric progenitor.

The Imperial Diaeta

The beating heart of Westfal. Where all the nobility convene in their thousands, and where no weapon is allowed (but plenty are smuggled in regardless). The Diaeta is not a single building, but a walled complex inside the city of White Harbor. It serves as an open forum for all nobility to speak their grievances and negotiate with their noble cousins.

Were it not for the Diaeta, there would be no need for every house major and major to employ their own Spymaster. And were it not for the Diaeta, there would be a thousand more wars fought than there are already. The spirit of open communication, undercut by factionalism and political intrigue, is what keeps Westfal united even as every individual thread of its grand tapestry tries to pull in its own direction.

The highest office of the Diarta is the Majordomo. One of the few offices not held exclusively by nobility or birthright, but instead by seniority. The Majordomo is always the longest serving servant of the Diaeta in good standing, regardless of temperment, competence, or senility.

The Colleges of War

While war in Nostrum is a necessity and war in the Narrows is unheard of, war in Westfal is an artform. The nobility would be a vestigial remnant of harder times, were it not for the fact that there is always war in Westfal. And that war is almost never from without, but from within. Noble War as it is called is fought usually over land disputes or on acount of high passions, and the emperor has no right to intervene in them except in defence of his own properties or alliances.

The headquarters of the colleges is within White Harbor, but the actual colleges themselves are spread all throughout the empire. For the nobility, tuition is covered by the emperor. For all others, they must pay the cost themselves.

In Westfal, they consider the number four a lucky number. There are four Lord-Cardinals, and four realms of competency they think a true knight should have. Those four attributes of a true knight are all covered as part of the basic curriculum across the Colleges of War. Dueling, equestrianism, generalship, and chivalry. Though what Westfalians consider chivalrous is abominable in some of the other cultures of the world.

The School of Artillery

Not the largest nor the most famous of the Colleges of War, but the School of Artillery is definitely the most secretive and elite. They provide an elite private guard to the emperor - The Fusiliers - but most of what they concern themselves with is proper artillery. The kind of artillery that must be wheeled about the battlefield by teams of horses, and are able to devastate fortifications from miles away.

The Order of Apologists

Westfal is the largest contributor to the Valleyman slave trade beside for the Valleymen themselves. The Order of Apologists are the reason why. They have offices in every major city across the empire, and will often send their members out into the countryside and villages. They are tolerated, because they are quite a charitable organization. Building bridges, maintaining roads, uniting communities. They are hated, because they try to convince people to voluntarily sell themselves into slavery. It is a common trope in Westfalian life, that one must sell themselves into slavery to cover great debts. If one cannot find a noble or merchant house to enslave them, then the Order of Apologists certainly will.

Provinces

Westfal is divided into thousands of tiny states. Some are the size of a few farms and perhaps a forest. Some, the major provinces, spread across hundreds of miles and dozens of settlements. Every fiefdom is divided into one of four quadrants, which are themselves semi-autonomous: The Lords Cardinal of the North; the Lords Cardinal of the East; the Lords Cardinal of the South; and, the Lords Cardinal of the West.

The title of Lord Cardinal descends from the Empyreans, who themselves used it in a similar way. Like Attorneys General in the real world, the proper plural is Lords Cardinal, not Lord Cardinals. Foreigners are often tripped up by this.

The Ghastlands

Apart of the Lords Cardinal of the West, the Ghastlands are on the northwestern border of the empire. It is a sour place, full of monsters and misery. Much of it is swampland, but the further south one goes the more hospitable the terrain becomes. It is bordered to the south by Valeholm, and to the east by Bernicia.

The Ghastlands are rich in bog iron, but what's more is that it has many deposits of tin besides. Tin from the Ghastlands is unique in that it is black as tar, and if used to make bronze will produce an unusual alloy commonly known as Black Bronze.

Widow's Bridge

The capital of the Ghastlands, it is where the bulk of imperial interest lies. Beyond the border of the empire to the north lies the ruins of Arboros. An ancient kingdom, destroyed long ago and turned into magical desolation. It is an apocalyptic wasteland there, of the kind no human could inhabit for long without their body warping into a monstrous shyling. Widow's Bridge marks the border, where if one ventures over the bridge they are in Westfal no longer. Many widows have been made on that bridge, as brave soldiers die protecting Westfal from terrors that would otherwise cross over.