The Empire

The Empire, which seems to have no other name, is one of the major realms on Abeth, situated within the fifty mile wide ice walled Corridor. It is ruled by Emperor Crucical of the Lansis family from his palace in the capital, Verity.

Government
The Empire is a feudal monarchy ruled by an emperor, from his court in the palace in Verity, the capital. The emperor’s power rests on essentially four pillars: The current emperor is Emperor Crucical of House Lansis. Under him and his immediate predecessors, the Empire has become riddled by corruption and tyranny. The common law can be bought with enough money. Treachery and deceit are common practice within and between the great families. This is particularly prevalent within the emperor’s own family, with the plotting of his sisters Sherzal and Valera having seen them banished to the extremes of the Empire. There is also a mysterious and secretive sect of assassins called the Noi-Guin, deployed to end wars, or to start them, for anyone with enough money to pay fees that even many Sis nobles would find staggering. Meanwhile, the common people scratch out a living from the frozen soil, while being treated with contempt by the nobility as if they were serfs.
 * The common law enforced by high court judge similar to circuit medieval court judge. Also the regular army which seems to be a combination of paid professionals and the house troops of the nobility.
 * The Academy, a school for Marjal mages directly controlled by the emperor, and whose powers are enhance by the Ark in the palace, one of only three known to exist.
 * The great noble families or the Sis, who exist within a complicated and shifting set of reciprocal feudal alliances. Notable families include: Tacsis, Jotsis, Memsis, Galamsis, Leensis, Gersis, Rolsis, and Chemsis.
 * The Ancestor Church with its formidable and often deadly Sisters and Brothers. Although officially independent of the state, the emperor can call on their services through negotiation with the High Priest. The royal family also have an ill-defined control over the Church Inquisition.

Geography
The Empire is one of perhaps hundreds of realms within the fifty mile wide Corridor. It is bordered to the north and south by the ice, to the west by the Sea of Marn, and by the Grampain Mountains to the east. The biggest city and capital is Verity, and there are a scattering of towns and tiny villages, such as Gerren, White Lake, Hurtil, and Bru. There's a spine of metalled toll-roads, built in the reign of Golamal V for swift movement of troops, and well-maintained ever since. However, the back-roads are rough and often boggy. The regions nearer to the ice are known as The Grey, where the land is poor and the people are even poorer. The Empire is bordered to the west by Durn beyond the Sea of Marn, and is often troubled by her pirates and raiders. To the east, she shares a land border with the Scithrowl, also troubled by raids. The Grampain Mountains are a scene of almost constant skirmishes, with Battle-Queen Adoma focused on her western border, rather than Ald to the east, because she covets the Ark in Verity.

History
The roots of The Empire lay is tough and independent fisherfolk resting against the Sea of Marn. From these, a tightly knit confederation of ports and coastal towns had grown. From this proto-state, Golamal Entsis had forged eastward overland and founded The Empire. Three centuries ago, Aran the Founder also played an important role in carving out the realm from the chaos of wildmen and petty kingdoms. At its height The Empire stretched seven hundred miles east, through all of what later became Scithrowl, and deep into the Kingdom of Ald. The reversal had been swift. In the space of forty years and six weak emperors the border had fallen back against the rocky spine of the Grampains, and there it stayed, immovable. There have been occasional campaign to the west across the Sea of Marn, but little success apart from short-lived strongholds established at vast cost on the Durnish shores and never held for more than a generation. Hostilities with both Durn and the Scithrowl remain a constant threat. Some fifty years ago, the Durnish sailed against The Empire in force, "so many of them in their sick-wood barges that they almost made a bridge across the Corridor". However, Sister Pan and Sister Rain of Gerran’s Crag met their storm-weavers and swept them from the sea.

Religion
The state religion of The Empire is the Ancestor Church, which worships the god-like Ancestor, from whom all men are supposedly descended. The head of the Church is the High Priest who resides in the cathedral in Verity; at the start of the series the incumbent was High Priest Jacob. There are also four Archons or regional archbishops, and six monasteries including Sweet Mercy, Silent Patience, Chaste Devotion, and Gerran’s Crag. The Inquisition is a branch of the Church tasked with combating heresy within the Ancestor Church.

In smaller towns, people often worship at the Hope Church, a sanctioned heresy within the framework of the Ancestor. They believe that the Hope, the only white star in a night sky of dying suns, will come to save mankind before the world becomes covered in ice. In addition, far from the capital in the Grey and on the ice, there are the remnants of older faiths, such as praying to the nameless gods of rain and sun, or praying to the gods of the Missing.