Alvish Empire

The Divine Tyrathian Empire (, Tyrathūske Scharrschal), more commonly known as the Tyrathian Empire, Divine Empire, Alvish Empire, or simply Tyrathium, is an advanced imperial polity in eastern Ezevria, the restored continuation of the ancient Sunken Empire. Tyrathium comprises both the divine metropole and the imperial frontier. The metropole runs along the northern and eastern coasts and stretches hundreds of kilometers inland, centered on the imperial capital of Tzorach and the six provincial capitals, which are collectively called the Seven Sisters. The rest of Tyrathium comprises the frontier, often considered backwater and poor by imperial standards and governed by an uneven patchwork of Tyrathian law and local custom.

The Divine Empire is divided into nine Provinces, each under the authority of a Domithir. The empire originally utilized smaller commanderies as primary subdivisions, but the loosening of central authority in the 5th century AC allowed regional nobles to consolidate their holdings into larger units, creating the provinces. Today they have evolved into de-facto autonomous kingdoms, with quasi-independent bureaucracies and militaries. Each province is guarded by one of the Nine Banners, the professional armies of the empire, aided by various smaller knightly orders. Well-trained and well-equipped, Tyrathian knights and Bannermen are among the most feared soldiers in the world.

The provincial governments mirror the imperial government, which is led by the Avathir, the chief military and judicial official. The Avathir not only nominally commands the armies of the empire, but also acts as chief magistrate, presiding over most of the bureaucracy. However, many independent magistrates survive, all elected by the Schavka, the ancient Alvish senate, composed of both inherited and elected seats reserved exclusively to the psychic scholar-gentry, the drassir. Originally, the Schavka elected the Avathir as well, ensuring the preeminence of the secular assemblies over the semi-divine imperial throne, but soon after the foundation of the empire, the Avathiri circumvented these elections by appointing their heirs as Co-Emperors, ensuring the throne would never be empty and therefore ending the practice of imperial elections.

The predominant race of the empire are the Alvish, famed for their psychic gifts and prodigious affinity for fire magic. Since long before the Sunken Empire, the Alvish have been ruled by psychic-pyromantic aristocracies, which eventually mixed with the extensive that had arisen to create the drassir. The famous Skylords of Tyrathium, those forty-four families with sacred bloodlines and the inherited gift to tame phoenixes, emerged at the downfall of the Sunken Empire, led by the Prophet Zochomithor. Thereafter, Alvish magic was and remains governed by various Chomithorian churches and sects, led by the Urbaltic Imperial Church, which trains and sanctifies magic-users, regulates the care of phoenixes, and anoints the Avathir as the "Prince of Heaven," among other duties. The Church also legitimizes the Co-Emperors, anointing them as children of Heaven.

Though originating from Ezevria, the Alvish built the Sunken Empire, which called itself the Crimson Empire, in the now-uninhabited Sunken Lands. Though many legal and cultural traditions can be traced to the Sunken Empire, few relics survive its collapse. This ancient state spoke a dialect of Old Zusian, and fought the Iossi city-states for control of the eastern Ezevrian coast. Just after the start of the seventy-seventh century BC, however, the Great Sundering obliterated this first empire and triggered a mass exodus of Zusian Alvish to Ezevria. The Prophet Zochomithor and his Blessed Fifty disciples emerged at this time, leading the Alvish to safety away from the Sundering, and reputedly combating the "Agents of Death" themselves atop newly-tamed phoenixes.

Soon after, during the first century AC, the Prophet and his followers united the Alvish against the vampiric invasion from the west known as the Eldritch Conquest. Largely thanks to their phoenixes, and impressive military organization, the Alvish host played a major role in the multinational coalition to defeat the Conquest. However, the Prophet himself died on the battlefield, and after the victory his followers fought amongst each other for power. By 32 AC, Aldana the Great of House Kaisenyyr, among the most prominent descendants of the Blessed Fifty, defeated her main rivals and declared herself "Avathir," or "successor." She established a second Zusian empire, which she named "Tyrathium," taking the Iossi name for the imperial capital of Tzorach.

The Kaisenyyrian dynasty reigned for several centuries thereafter, during which Tyrathium conquered nearly half of Living Ezevria and oversaw a rebirth of Alvish culture and art. Beginning in the third century AC, however, the Skylords' phoenixes shrunk to the size of birds, dulling the empire's military edge and increasing both the frequency and cost of revolts. A number of civil wars ensued, leading to the Time of Storms and an ensuing partial restoration under a renewed Kaisenyyri regime.

Despite the restoration, economic inequality ballooned throughout the fourth and fifth centuries AC, spurred by corruption, weakened property laws, and the legalization of, often called "debt slavery" by opponents who believe the practice violates the Chomithorian prohibition of slavery. As a consequence, the wealth of landowning magnates increased vastly, while the free smallholder peasantry were eroded and the lower classes descended into poverty. The Schavka came to be dominated by conservative magnates and otherwise gridlocked, and the Avathiri vacillated between reformist populism and conservatism.

Finally, in 493 AC, Aldigard vir Kaltauer overthrew the Kaisenyyri and exterminated the imperial line, precipitating a wave of violence and chaos in Tzorach and sparking the Fifty Kings' War as centralized authority collapsed. Twenty-one years of civil warfare followed, which only concluded with the decisive victory of Polystasia Dardella and her Rhaithyyri allies at the battles of Granach and Bōnimarck in 491 and 492. She seized the throne for herself, founding the Dardellian dynasty and ending the war.

Under Polystasia, the empire returned to a state of normalcy, and commerce resumed. Though old structural problems persist, the past twenty years have also seen the birth of more than a dozen dragon-sized phoenixes, finally matching the scale of the beasts of old. The Urbaltic Church has interpreted their births as a sign of an impending phoenician and imperial revival, as well as a potential second vampiric invasion. Additionally, Tyrathium remains one of the richest and most powerful polities of Ezevria, possessing advanced, complex bureaucracies, immense material wealth despite economic woes, and a large population. Tyrathium is a center of scientific, cultural, and magical innovation, including some of the most impressive architecture in the known world. Magical and technological innovation is spurred by the political system and the centrality of the Konspectium to Alvish society; a massive table of ranks purportedly sorting all drassir according to their academic or magical achievements. The reigning Avathir is Polystasia I of House Dardellos, and the current leader of the Schavka is Vorthir Echibod vir Kaisenyyr.