The Holy Illyric Empire

Structure

Depending on where exactly in the Empire you stand the Queen-Empress Maria Charlotte Isabelle Liudolf is the anointed regent of the sleeping gods, the queen of heaven incarnate, the hereditary landlord of the empire, the elected arbitrator between noble disputes, and a dozen other things besides. Regardless, the sole universal quality of the Illyrin Empire is that she sits at the top of it Wearing a crown which holds the wisdom of all her most august predecessors, she has reigned for fifty years and-with the modern advanced in biotheurgy and medicine-has stated she expects to reign for at least that many more.
While personal favorites rise and fall with some regularity, the overall management of the realm is carried out by a privy council and small cabinet that is more or less constant. -A Captain General (and a dozen ancillary titles besides) who enjoys overall command and responsibility for all the armies of the Realm. Often considered a job requiring more diplomatic skill and political connections than actual military talent, though the Grand Duke Stephen's extended and seemingly successful hold on the position has left him the de facto head of the War Party at court. -The Imperial Chamberlain, who has loyally served the throne since he is first recorded as appearing in the court of Old Belthaya, some thousand years ago. Universally assumed to be some sort of bound devil, he manages the empire's contradictory and byzantine bureaucracies with surprising skill for something that's incapable of leaving the throne room -The Countess Catherine, Lady Protector of the Realm. An old Illyrin position which grew out of the need for a royal bodyguard and champion, within Illyrin proper she possess expansive rights to take any actions deemed necessary for Her Majesty's safety. More broadly, she commands the personal loyalty of the Royal Inspectors, and is, technically speaking, the crown's highest representative in all legal proceedings.
It is customary for the Queen-Empress to name a Chancellor and Prime Minister that have the confidence of the Illyrin Diet and Belthayan Parliament, respectively. While most of those elected are exempt from taxation on one ground or another, the vast majority of the crown's revenue comes from taxes raise by the two bodies.
Below this exalted level, it is nearly impossible to make any blanket statements about life in the Empire-something that's very nearly by design. Every law abiding subject has their place in the grand hierarchy of creation, an estate and position, with attendant rights, obligations, privileges and duties. These existences are by no means pleasant (there are peripheral areas where serfdom still exists, and certain temples who take tithes in blood to maintain their bindings), but they are at least certain and reliable.

Public Agenda

The Empire stands for stability, the traditional rights of the people, self-defense, protection of the natural order, and in general the Correct way of doing things. As the world's greatest power, by default it finds itself invested in conflicts the world order-both because its interests really do span that far, and out of an ideological allergy to revolution of any variety.

Assets

The Empire is the largest, most populous, state in the history of the world, attached to a web of clients and vassals that are on occasion impossible to distinguish from autonomous provinces. Its chivalric and militant orders are some of the finest shock troops in creation, and its mages are the binders and conjurors the rest of the world sets their standards by, with centuries of accumulated pacts and debts to call upon.
While hardly uncontested, and certainly incapable of focusing its power as well as its rulers would like, the Empire is, for the moment, the foremost power on the map.

Demography and Population

The Empire sprawls across most of a continent and its colonies and integrated clients make up not insubstantial chunks of two others-by both landmass and population it is the largest empire in the world.
Politically speaking, the Illyric Empire is roughly half of Her Majesty's realm, and the Kingdom of Belthaya another third. In terms of demography, the Teryan and Belthyc peoples make up less than half the empire's population. (Among the manifold blasphemous abilities of the Chamberlain, the ability to speak every tongue of man is probably the most useful overall).

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Alternative Names

Illyrin, Illyrin-Belthaya, The Empire, The Exalted and Sacrosanct Imperium of Illyrin and Belthaya, their Colonies, and Associated Dependencies

Demonym

Illyrc

Subsidiary Organizations

• Her Majesty's Royal Inspectorate