Ereban Empire

Warning: Page continues spoilers. Players should not read. See Regions of the Ereban Empire for details on imperial provinces.

The Ereban Empire was an aggressively expansionist pre-industrial empire which conquered much of the continents of Xsass and Kilimara before collapsing under various regional independence movements. Initially a primarily human and halfling confederation of merchant interests, the Ereban government evolved into a mercantile oligarchy before its conversion to an imperial state.

Ereba's ascent to power is generally attributed to a combination of its wealth, its revolutionary military tactics, and its heavy focus on infrastructure development within its borders. While its expansionist period lasted several centuries, the early explosion of Ereban size and might was a direct result of the policies of Ciro Elbandi, the first Grand Councilor of the Seven, the central governing body of the Empire.

Formation of the Empire

In 972 FA, the death of Councilor Va Pinala caused the Council of Seven to need a new member. After significant argument, a compromise choice, Ciro Elbandi, was chosen to fill the seventh space on the Council. The scion of House Elbandi, one of the merchant princedoms of Ereba, Ciro had already been responsible for a highly profitable reorganization of his family's interests. The Council hoped to tap into his abilities to generally improve the state of Ereba.

For the first two years of his tenure, Ciro served as well as had been hoped. He made recommendations that led to greater cooperation among Ereban trading families, reducing everyone’s costs and giving their merchants a greater edge against foreign competition. As the fruits of these efforts began to flow into Ereban coffers, Ciro gathered a cabal of advisers around himself and began to propose broader changes and larger shifts.

His first major project was the reconstruction of Ereba’s army through the Sholeini Reforms. Previously an assemblage of a modest standing army, levies in times of need, and private forces controlled by various houses, Ciro’s new Ereban military was an entirely professional army paid for by taxes on trading companies, carefully calculated to leave almost all companies richer after the change than they were before Ciro came to power. Private armies were banned, but all private guards put out of work through this policy were given the immediate opportunity to enlist in Ereba’s military. Shuffling all new recruits into regularly-sized units with no basis in old allegiance, Ciro created an army and navy which were loyal only to the nation, not to any of the nation’s citizens.

The new army was given its first major test in 977 FA, when it was sent to reclaim the city of Hur and the Hura region, a historically Ereban territory which had fallen in 962 FA to an ogre-led army based in the eastern Sillisti Mountains. The Huran Campaign lasted only three months, at the end of which Ereba had crushed all resistance with minor losses.

By this point, Ciro’s ascension to power was almost complete. Although increasingly worried about the scope of his victories, the rest of the Council could not decide what to do about Ciro. Killing him might ease their fears, but the man seemed to honestly be doing everything for the sake of Ereba, not for himself (though he had, of course, grown very rich incidentally along the way, as his family’s fortunes waxed). Matters were complicated by the death by old age in early 978 FA of Maloni Coastrunner, one of the Councilors most opposed to Ciro, and his replacement by one of Ciro’s inner circle, Gaius Sholein, the co-architect of the military reforms. Also in this time, Ciro had quietly been making connections with the Night Watchers, cutting deals with them to turn them from a powerful guild of thieves and assassins into one of the most powerful spy agencies in the world. This led him inevitably to the head of the Watchers, a fellow Council member, whom Ciro convinced to join his circle and complete the conversion of the organization.

In late 978 FA, Ciro approached the four members of the Council he did not have on his side and declared his intent to take control of Ereba, asking for their support. Three of the four joined him. The fourth was arrested and exiled. Ciro declared himself Grand Councilor, a new position set above the Seven, and put two more members of his inner circle in the two spaces available on the Council. Though the Ereban people would not become aware of it until the official pronouncement the next year, the Ereban Empire had just been founded.

Subdivisions

Main article: Regions of the Ereban Empire

The Empire was divided into provinces and districts, each placed under the control of a local governor. The various subdivisions, and the date they were given that status, are as follows:

Category:Spoilers

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