Snow Empire


 * This page is about the empire that existed from 1334-1800, ruled by the Snow Dynasty. For the territory ruled by Caius Biuru, see The Bread Bin. For the city-state that also considers itself to be the rightful successor to the Snow Empire, see the Royal City.

The Snow Empire ( Royal: Efsar Mësit) was a major empire and political power on the continent of Gera. At its formation it ruled only Middle Man's Creek and the surrounding islands, but it expanded relatively quickly, coming to rule approximately 90% of the land in Gera by Geran Year 1530. It reigned almost unopposed for 470 years, and greatly unified the trade, science, and culture of the continent of Gera.

The Eagle Plan
The genesis of the Snow Empire began with the Eagle Plan, a speculative plan drafted by the greatest tacticians and military specialists of Chela in Geran Year 1202. It relied on reverse-engineering the recently rediscovered cache of ancient military technology that had been unearthed in Middle Man's Creek. If the technology could be made to work again, their scientists theorized, it would be far more advanced than even the greatest weapons possessed by Efsisi and Zeminar. This was also spurred on by the discovery of the process necessary to purify Mage's Bane a few decades before. For hundreds of years, the elites of Middle Man's Creek had been searching desperately for a way to suppress magic. It had long been known that a mage could be buried at a certain depth to weaken their magic, though the effect was small and it was unknown how it worked. Chela polymath and scientist Wen Sleni and his team had been the first to discover that chemically refining dirt dug at a certain depth would slowly produce a red substance that was an increasingly potent blocker of magic. At a certain purity, most mages would be unable to use telekinesis on a subject who was in contact with even a small amount of the substance; incorporating this substance into the body of the weapons they would develop was deemed essential to the plan.

The Eagle Plan, originally, was a plan to unite all Netkhal-descended peoples into the Chela collective. Though the Baryan and Bazayan peoples of the mainland were considered beneath the Netkhalyan of MMC, the Chela collective recognized their common heritage. In addition, the farmland of northeastern Gera was known to be extremely fertile, and establishing a hold on the mainland would greatly boost Chela's faltering economy and food production, both of which were failing to keep up with its population growth. The junta in control of Chela also decided to close off its borders, both to protect the secrecy of their plan and to maintain control over their population.

Internal Unrest
Reverse-engineering the technology proved to be a difficult affair. Though there were both schematics and a several hundred dilapidated tanks, mechs, cannons, and firearms, the ammunition they had used proved to be difficult to reproduce reliably. As the scientists and engineers continued to work, the population grew restless, and for years food was strictly rationed. In 1257 GY, as bid to appease the especially restless gnoll and 'Aloai territories, they were granted some increased autonomy through the creation of the nine modern duchies of the Middleman Island Chain. Previously, the administrative divisions of Chela were much smaller provinces, with very limited power. The duchies were granted a great deal more autonomy, and a duke was appointed from the nobility of each area. This, however, resulted in in even greater tensions and increased corruption, and soon famines and inter-duchy war began. By 1320 GY, this had escalated to a full-blown civil war with three major factions and several minor ones. By 1334 enough of the military technology had been reverse-engineered to be utilized. The majority of scientists behind the project, however, had brokered a covert agreement with general and leader of their opposing faction Genro Gerison. Genro's faction quickly took control of Chela, and Genro proceeded to dub himself not only King of Chela, but Emperor of the newly created Greater Middleman Empire.

The Eagle Plan begins
Soon enough, just as the technology was nearly completed, the opportunity the creators of the Eagle Plan had envisioned arrived. In 1347 GY, Spies who had been stationed in the Mainland sent news of a deadly plague, one somehow immune to most magical healing. It had a high mortality rate and was rapidly spreading through Efsisi and Zeminar, the mainland's two foremost powers. Within fifteen years, the plague had burned itself out, but had killed a large chunk of the mainland's population without spreading to Middle Man's Creek. The Eagle Plan was ready to begin. The desperately hungry and restless army of Chela had been training with their technology for decades, and they were ready to unleash it on the world. This was first capitalized on by Snow Yue-Han. The aging Genro Gerison wanted to hold back, while younger head tactician Snow Yue-Han wanted to proceed before Efsisi and Zeminar could build up their strength after the plague. Snow Yue-Han was able to gather a loyal following and galvanize the island's weary population. Genro was ousted and executed, and Snow Yue-Han became head of the Greater Middleman Empire, deciding to take up the same titles as Genro. Snow Yue-Han proceeded to launch the Eagle Plan almost immediately.

Culture
As an continent-spanning, multiethnic and multispecies Empire, the Snow Empire has little that unites the whole territory culturally. However, there are some constants across its borders. The Royal language is spoken throughout the Empire, though there are some areas in which fewer than 10 or 5% of people speak it. Battlism has also permeated nearly all areas of the Snow Empire, though the Waioloyan and 'Aloai still primarily follow their own respective religions. The culture of many of the Snow Empire ethnic groups, over the centuries, has undergone what my be termed Netkhalization, slowly adopting many of the customs which the Yuhan Netkhal conquerors brought to the continent. This includes the family name preceding the given name, patrilineality, the Netkhal partially base-6 numbering system, and the Netkhal lunar calendar.