Tellus: The Sheradilan Empire

Art by Naranbaatar Ganbolt.

The biggest, most common cliché of JRPG from the 'classic' to the 'modern' era has always been the mandatory Evil Empire out to conquer the world, usually uncovering or abusing some ancient power source and/or ancient evil which may or may not hijack its apparatus. It's been there in Final Fantasy since the second game with the Palamecian Empire and its still going strong in the series to this day with the Garlean Empire of Final Fantasy XIV and Niflheim of XV. Now while the term used is 'Empire' (presumably because it evoke power and expansion) they don't really have to be an Empire in the actual definition of the term and many of the common and famous examples may not have a political structure which match the most famous historical Empires: the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire (the king of oxymoronic names!) and the British colonial empire.

Being 'an evil Empire' in these games is more of a state of mind and of role it plays within the setting and plot: Shinra Corporation from Final Fantasy VII is a mega-corporation but its pretty much plays the token Evil Empire role in the early game. The 'Evil Empire' exist to provide waves of militaristic, expendable mooks to throw at the players, evil commander/generals/whatever to act as named minor antagonists and often a few doomsday threats to the world. Their predominant colors are red and black more often than not, possibly to evoke the Nazis (in spite of those guys not really ruling anything for an extended period of time and collapsing fairly quickly, compared to the Romans). Often these Empires don't...really make sense to be quite honest,  being cartoonishly evil and seemingly so unstable as to collapse as soon as the Emperor is killed by a teenager. Historically, Empires weren't so easily clear cut even if they would certainly appear as the aforementioned all-conquering force of evil to those on the wrong end of their war machine.

In Tellus, the token 'Evil Empire' is the Sheradil Empire. However because I realize my game will not be confined to the railroad plot of a classical JRPG there is a very strong possibility this empire may end up playing a different role or end up explored in ways not intended which would require me to flesh them out beyond being a mere caricature.

The Sheradilan Empire

The Sheradilan Empire is the greatest military power in Tellus. Of course, this isn't really saying much in the current era of the world, as the last centuries have been generally on the decline overall. While currently there isn't an explicitly detailed timeline for Tellus its safe to say that the last few centuries have been that of re-growth following the collapse of older powers. Overall the Ulma have spread across the world even more, growing in power and number in spite of their great nations of past centuries having grown in size, collapsed and grown again. Of the current world order the Sheradil Empire stand at the top as the most powerful.

It was not greed or a desire for conquest which forged what would become the Empire but a simple need for survival. Tellus can be a notoriously wild place, filled with all manner of monsters and odd geomantic locales. There was strength in unity and such a place was fertile ground for someone to unite disparate people. The Sheradil Empire is made of the original union of three city-states:

• Sheradil, the military and (former) political powerhouse. It is Sheradil which used to provide the military might, with its ancient orders of knights populated by its various noble houses while the common populace enlisted willingly. The leader of Sheradil (the city) is also the leader of the Empire's military, the Lord Marshall.
• Zerim was a small enclave formed by mages united by a common cause (survival of their research, their secrets and their lives in that order). While the smallest of all three original city-states it is the most powerful in modern Sheradil's politics as it formed the basis of the magical research & development which fuel the Empire's growth. The Grand Magus of Zerim is the most powerful spellcaster in the Empire and, possibly, the most powerful Ulm in the world. He's also quite, quite mad.
• Phelmus and mercantile networks and ports fueled the Empire's economy and navy. It is ruled by mercantile guilds which are heavily intertwined with the research and development of Zerim. The Guildmaster of Phelmus may very well be the richest (and most corrupt) man in the world and his greed knows no bound.

Together these form the Triumvirate which rule directly below the Emperor, who is always drawn from the various noble houses of Sheradil. While in practice this meant (in ancient times) that Sheradil held the most power in the Empire this is increasingly less true, with the last few Emperors having often been either inept puppets of one or more member of the Triumvirate or madmen all too eager to fuel the expansion of Sheradil's resources. A few well-meaning idealists and noble rulers did exist but these are increasingly rarer and tend to conveniently die to 'clean up' the line of succession.

The Threefold City

Art by Volodymyr Shvacko

The three original cities which formed the early Empire are no more, having merged together in one mega-city which span the entire peninsula where the three city-states laid. The Threefold City (also called the Imperial City) is gigantic marvel whose sheer scope and level of advancement has not seen since the days of myth. There are massive 'garden' spanning between its major districts: some are major geomantic points which have, for whatever reasons related to their harnessing, not been turned into churning magitek factories. Others are parks and domains for the various noble houses to enjoy greenery and the traditions of hunting while others are magically-attuned farmland, drawing energy from the nearby geomantic points to renew themselves and provide food to the city.

Such level of advancement come at a price, however: for one thing, the Empire's resources to maintain such a massive city are dwindling. Law enforcement is also a concern and there are many horrid slums and other terrible places to live, where squalor and thievery are common. Some speculate the city just can't sustain itself forever and this has spurred the Empire to conquer more lands and acquire their resources. Others speculate that Mages guilds are slowly accidentally corrupting and polluting the city with their experiments, unsettling the geomantic energies and causing spontaneous unstable phenomena. Others say they are even releasing their experiments in the city sewers but this has yet to be proven.

The Imperial Army

Even today, with Sheradilan patriotism slowly on the wane (since a lot of people feel they're less fighting for their city/nation and more for the Guilds), Sheradil maintain a large volunteer army. Joining the army is a good way for one to improve their lot in life and this remain true even today. The army is large, well organized and well-equipped and offers some pretty decent opportunities for a commoner to rise through the ranks all things considered. Others volunteer to avoid prison and there are quite a few regiments raised entirely from criminal and slum rats. A few have even risen to the rank of general purely from their merits and ruthlessness, which is insulting to the commoners with a clear record and the nobles alike. In truth these ruthless bastards come from the ranks of those whose talents are well suited to the Guildmaster and Grand Magus' plans. If the game ever call for a General to be a ruthless and almost stupidly evil individual, it would be one of those.

In addition to the rank infantry and the nobles (who form elite corps, often armored cavalry and/or command), the army boast a fairly large navy and, much more importantly, elite corps of battle-mages. While magical talent remain rare among Ulma, the Magus have long studied the phenomena and produced many training regimen which could help foster some weak or even dormant potential. While these individuals might never rise to a high level of power, even the weakest of spells is an important asset. There are also rumours of the Grand Magus attempting to magically imbue and mutate individuals but this too is unproven. What is more common is the (relatively) new corps of war mages, trained exclusively in spells designed for battlefield use. This ruthless, purely scientific and pragmatic approach to magic is utterly devoid of any spiritual aspect and focus exclusively on getting results: namely bigass fireballs and spells designed to enhance or weaken multiple individuals at once.

Dissent from Within?

One generally expect an 'evil Empire' to have some rebellion going on, possibly because of how famous Star Wars is. In truth, right now I have not written down anything which cement the who and the what of any rebellion. It is, however, accurate to say that there are plenty of people within the Sheradilan Empire with a reason to hate the status quo, such as:

• Nobles tend to be either battle-hungry elitist assholes or people lamenting the loss of nobility of their caste, who are now reduced to being either bloodthirsty conquerors, pencil-pushing bureaucrats or petty politicians. Sheradil noble lines were founded from the great heroes who battled under the banner of the Empire's founder. They fought monsters. They protected people. This idealism was lost over time.
• Sheradil's various religious orders have been long-deemed obsolete. Symbolic, at best. Whatever complex faith these people had has fallen by the wayside and the spiritual is increasingly neglected, with the magical and divine being more and more seen as a tool for greed and conquest.
• Some Generals have grown dissatisfied with the many wars they have waged and which ended in a stalemate in spite of Sheradil's great power. Often the simplest solution to win a conflict was rejected by the highest echelon because doing so would harm the schemes of the Grand Magus or potential future assets for the Guildmaster. Entire regiments have been lost to protracted campaigns which could have been more easily resolved. In some cases, the peaceful surrender of the enemy was told to be ignored.
• The sewers and slums are full of people living in abject poverty. It is also possible that a population of cast off 'mutants' may exist down there, eager to destroy the Empire which made them suffer.