Scientarian Empire

The Scientarian Empire is a technocratic country encompassing the eastern third of Gernon, and previously controlled nearly two thirds of the continent.

Name
The empire's name comes from the Scientarian Party, a political party founded by Alek and Adele Tellumnar in 17 b.s.r.

History
In 17 b.s.r. the Tellumnar twins began to plot the creation of a scientific future for the Elves, and eventually all of Gernon. The siblings had been educated in the liberal traditions of the Silver Tree Forest Elves, and were intimately involved in the Scientific Revolution. After traveling across the continent and gaining great skill as an Alchemist and Gunslinger, they returned to their home to begin gaining support for their values. In 4 b.s.r., Adele Tellumnar was elected Prime Minister of the Great Council after the party secured a majority of seats. In the next four years Adele as Prime Minister and Alek as Secretary of Advancement progressed the nation's resources and military to the point where they felt an invasion of the major nations was not only possible, but that it could happen swiftly and simultaneously.

The Scientarian Revolution, as it was later called, was a populist uprising amongst the disenfranchised and disrespected scientific community led by the Scientarian Party's outreach and funding of scientific centers across the nations of Gernon. Using these international centers of learning or wealthy allies, the army of the Scientarians was able to infiltrate some of the largest centers of population from Kurosekai to. In a coordinated attack on several of the major leaders, the Silver Tree Forest declared war on the city-states of the Spice Coast, the Kingdom of the Silver Throne, Kurosekai, and Caliyan. Upon the success of these conquests, the Scientarian Empire was declared with the dual and equal imperial titles of Western Emperor given to Alek and Eastern Emperor given to Adele.

The Scientarian Wars of Conquest took up much of the next 15 years of Gernon history, as the empire grew to enclose most of the realms east of the Caliyan River and west of the Great Plains. The hardest fought fights were against the elves of the Whispering Woods and the dwarves of Jorundum. By 12 a.s.r. the Whispering Woods were defeated and incorporated into the empire, save for small communities deep in the forest or on Rügen Island. Small outposts were set up in Jorundum territory particularly for Alek Tellumnar's interest in ending the Infernal Wars, though the Dwarven realm was never fully defeated.

The Empire's initial expansion was finally halted following the appearance of Kalderus in 15 a.s.r. The monster manifested on the Kurosekan Plataeu, and was only stopped by the might of Alek Tellumnar's brilliant leadership and technological wonders, including the Tellumnar Tank. The western emperor perished in the fighting, and insurgents rose up to take the western half of the empire back from Scientarian control. This began the Union War, a conflict between the former western departments of the empire (now formed into the Union of the West) and the rump of the empire in the east. The Union War came to a half in 25 a.s.r. following the final assault by the Pit Fiend Phentis, when King Kusetare of Kurosekai, Trigwocket the Engineerateer, Harkalios, Brynhildyr Torgrym, and Adele Tellumnar worked together to take down the mighty foe and finally ended the infernal wars. The peace settlement of the Union, the Empire, and Lucifer of Hell decreed the Gernon Peace Accords, which amongst other clauses established the Union as independent from the Empire, created the small nation of Trigwocket as a gnome homeland out of a piece of the Dorry Hills, and guaranteed that no Devils would enter the material plane for 100 years upon pain of death.

Adele settled into a comfortable peace between 26 a.s.r. and 39 a.s.r., working to improve her remaining territory and consolidate control from the few remaining pockets of resistance. In 37 a.s.r. she married the prince of the Whispering Woods, Leopold Dedalus, to cement her control over the northern elves and simultaneously granting the woods a higher degree of autonomy. This period of Scientarian history involved a large amount of corporatization, with new wealth springing up to replace the still entrenched power of the pre-Scientarian nobility. This resulted in first peaceful contact with the Sultanate of Dalux, and the construction of the Trans-Gernon Railroad.

Peace ended in 39 a.s.r. following a diplomatic incident between the Oyashima ambassador to the Empire, Asahi Ryu, and corporate heads of BL°. This resulted in the ambassador's death at the hands of Adele to protect her citizens, and the declaration of war by the Oyashiman emperor, Kenji Ryu. The Scientarian-Oyashima war at first went poorly for the Scientarians, with major assaults on the capital, and insurgents in the Empire taking the opportunity to raise the flag of rebellion. Adele Tellumnar made the drastic decision to submit herself to the Gern Heart to gain enough power to help turn the tide of the war. She was successful and became a new minor deity. With their new god-empress leading the charge, Oyashima capitulated near the end of 40 a.s.r. with an unconditional surrender. In the months following, Scientarian forces occupied many of the strategic points on the islands and set about incorporating the old realm into official imperial provinces.

Geography
The geographic expanse of the Empire has grown and shifted tremendously over the 40+ years of its existence. In the present day, the Scientarian Empire encompasses much of eastern Gernon, including the Whispering Woods, the Dorry Hills, the Tropics of Jossa, The Silver Tree Forest, and the Spice Coast. New posts in Oyashima have been set up, but whether this will result in long term rule is still unknown.

Politics
The Empire is a technocratic military state where the Empress is the supreme authority. The Empress is the commander in chief of all military forces in the realm, as well as controlling an absolute veto on all legislation. The legislative body of the empire is the Scientarian Parliament, a collection of 501 officials drawn unequally from the various imperial subdivisions. These members of parliament are decided by a complex variety of methods, as some are appointed by the executive officials, some are held by ancient noble titles, and some are instated by democratic processes. It is a unicameral body where legislation can be proposed and passed with a majority vote.

The politics of the empire line up strongly with the prevailing policies of the Scientarian Party. This involves strong patronage of the sciences and military engineering, universal education, swift and brutal suppression of dissidents and malcontents, and repression of classical arcane arts. While the empire is officially a single party state, various factions representing regional issues exist, as well as many subversive or terrorist groups working to bring a return to the old ways before the revolution.

Economy
The economy of the empire is one of the most advanced in Gernon, with heavy industrialization, corporatization, and infrastructure improvements. Following the 2 a.s.r. invention of the steam engine, it was improved tremendously over the next decades until the invention of the ipsorails, ipsomobiles, and ipsocycles.

Military
"'It doesn’t matter that their lives are wasted, or that they are turned into cannon fodder. All that matters is that you can take a country boy and turn them into a soldier in 6 months instead of 10 or 20 years. You have an army 20 times the size of the enemy’s, you’ll pick the guns over the fireballs anyday. ' - Adele Tellumnar, 2 a.s.r."