Gates Of Empire

[Karoline Oum]

TheEmpire (帝国 Teikoku), sometimes called the Empire of Sadera or the Saderan Empire, is a pre-industrial hegemonic country that, by some extraordinary coincidence, bears structural and aesthetic similarities to the ancient Roman civilization and that is entirely located in another dimension known as the "Special Region", which can be reductively described as a "medieval fantasy world". Characterized by its chauvinist and militaristic culture, totalitarian rule and brutally imperialistic foreign policy, the Empire invaded and subjugated all its neighboring nations with the clear intent of achieving universal conquest. Each newly assimilated territory was converted into an imperial province, its rulers replaced by officials chosen by the emperor, its wealth plundered and the population enslaved, reserving particularly harsh treatment towards demihumans, who were considered by the imperial ruling class, composed almost exclusively by humans, as second-class citizens.

At its height, the Empire spanned more than half of the continent of Falmart, ranging from the northern mountain ranges, south along the coast of the Blue Sea, and from the western desert regions to a mountain and forest regions far to the northeast, a total distance of about 8000 km. This impressive size means that the Empire is comparable in size to the ancient Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire in Earth's history. The Imperial Capital, Sadera, is located south of the Rho River, east of the Dumas Mountains and north of the coast of the Blue Sea.

After the Imperial Civil War with near-total devastation of the Imperial Army, the Empire officially lost its status as Major Power. It enters a period of great decline in which it no longer holds great influence on the vassal states, and becomes vulnerable to foreign invasion within the Special Region for at least a century.

Due to their weakened state, they now depend on Japan for protection against foreign aggression as well as economic recovery, making them a Japanese satellite state and ending their role as a conqueror after centuries of dominance in Falmart. Furthermore, the Empire also changed from a monarchy to a republic to prevent tyrants like Zorzal from rising to power ever again.

The Imperial government is nearly identical to the Roman Dominate Period (the ruling System of the Roman Empire in the late Antiquity from 284-630AD) in which the Emperor is nearly an absolute monarch. He has the responsibility for the overall policy of the state and its diplomacy and has the final authority on most matters of state. However, substantial power also lies in the hands of the Imperial Senate. Like in the Dominate, there exist the title of princess, which, in reality, never happened in the Roman Principate Period (the ruling System of the Roman Empire in the classic Antiquity from 27BC-284AD).

Like in the Late Antiquity Roman Empire, senators, military commanders, and other high-ranking officials carry substantial power; more than enough to depose an emperor if they oppose him. Molt Sol Augustus has many such enemies, as seen in Episode 2 when the Emperor orders his rivals to attack the Japan Self-Defense Forces encampment at Alnus, knowing full well they would be slaughtered by the superior firepower of the JSDF. He later orders the surrounding regions to be burnt down by applying scorched earth tactics, officially to deny the JSDF from obtaining local resources but it is totally useless due to the high mobility of modern vehicle and effective logistic line of the JSDF as well as the fact that Empire's conventional resources means little to none to the JSDF.

The behavior of the Senate and the Empire in general before their massive defeat by the JSDF are highly arrogant and chauvinistic since they often think the Empire is always unbeatable against any foes due to having rule their continent unopposed for 600 years. The overall government followed a 'military-first' attitude, where the Imperial Army was given priority over domestic issues and conquest was the main goal of the Empire. They also have the tendency to call others nations beside the Empire as barbarian much like the Ancient Greeks from the Earth. This kinds of attitude also extends to Japan, despite Japan's vast superior technology and military. As the result, this attitude makes them unprepared to fight the technological superior of the JSDF causing them to suffer massive defeat and casualties.

After their extensive loss from fighting the JSDF, the politics of the Empire becomes more humble since the Empire acknowledges that there are enemies that are too powerful to fight continuously or defeat and sometimes peace through negotiation is the best way to ensure the existence of the Empire as well as the fact that there are civilizations that are far superior to them in every ways and the Empire is not the center of the world. However, some of the people like Zorzal and pro-war senators and generals don't think like the others sensible pro-peace senators in which they try their best to defeat Japan, defense their blind chauvinism and preserve the glory of the Empire for thousands of years by continuing to battle the JSDF, despite no matter how futile and idiotic is it.

After the Imperial Civil War and the closure of the Gate, with Zorzal's death and the collapse of the pro-war faction, the political system changed from monarchy to democracy to ensure a tyrant like Zorzal will never damage the Empire in the future. As the hopeless war costs the Empire almost all of it military power and influence, Pina has to do what is considered to unthinkable for the Empire in their long history, which is personally going to several far away countries to pledge for peace agreement as the Empire is now too weak to even defend themselves from potential invasions. The situation is so dire that Pina has to rely on stranded JSDF personnel and Rory Mercury for protection against threats from within the Special Region for the sake of the Empire.

Taking advantage of the severely weakened Empire, King Duran and others leaders of the former vassal states force Pina Co Lada to pay them tons of golds and surrender a lot of lands and mining areas for them as reimbursements for the great damages in their national military after the massacre of the Second Battle of Alnus Hill, which Molt tricked them into fighting the JSDF. Cope with the fact that Molt already surrendered a good amount of lands and mines to the JSDF to get rid of Zorzal and his pro-war faction, the Empire experiences massive economic downturn because of this.

Based on the Imperial Calendar, which likely marks the founding of the Empire as "Year 0", the Empire was presumably founded 687 years before the invasion of the JSDF, or in the early 1300s based on Earth's calendar. Initially the country was a democracy, however, the government grew ineffective as the territory increased, which resulted in the current imperial government. While few events in the history are known, it is known that, about 250 years prior to the JSDF arrival, or around 487 Imperial Calendar (mid-1700s), a major war called the Arctic War took place, which is generally considered to be one of the most turbulent and difficult times in Imperial history. In 680, a major rebellion occurred in the Empire. While little is known about the precise details of the rebellion, it can be surmised that it was crushed with brutal force. The crushing defeat in the Japanese-Empire War, which started in 687, or the early 21st century on Earth, led to the decline of Imperial power in the Special Region. By the end of the Imperial Civil War, the Empire loses 90 percent of its military and becomes the shadow of its former self. Pina Co Lada states that it will take at least a century for the Empire to recover. As the result, all vassal states and neighboring countries now don't have to fear the Empire anymore and most of the vassal states have successfully declare independence from the Empire.

The Imperial Army is similar in appearance and structure of the real-world Roman Army during its Imperial period, being made up primarily of formations of infantry armed with spears, swords, and large rectangular shields. Also present in the military are cavalries, archers, siege engines such as battering rams, ballistae, and trebuchets, and dragon riders. Auxiliary forces are provided by both human and goblin vassals of the Empire.

While the Empire is very Roman-like, their technology level is actually more late-medieval. For instance, the Imperial cavalry are typically similar in appearance to medieval knights, clad in plate armor and armed with swords and lances. Other medieval weaponry used by the Empire include halberds and trebuchets. The Empire had not yet invented gunpowder and therefore had never seen firearms or powerful explosives prior to first contact with the JSDF.

Magic exists in the Special Region, primarily in the form of manipulating other objects and forces, such as creating explosions, fire, or electrical discharges. However, it is not very powerful, mainly due to the lack of understanding of the forces they are attempting to manipulate. For instance, the Empire has no understanding of the chemistry behind combustion, and after Lelei La Lalena learns of this information from the Japanese, her fire magic becomes exponentially more powerful, finally becoming a viable weapon. Lacking such knowledge, the Imperial army does not typically employ sorcerers in battle, though they will employ magical creatures, primarily dragons to be used as mounts. On the rare occasion where magic is used on the battlefield, it is generally used for support purposes, as seen by Myuute Luna Sires use of wind magic to blow arrows off course.

Much like the Roman army, the largest division of troops is referred to as a legion. Other divisions of the army are not known and it is not clear how the size of an Imperial legion is comparable to that of a Roman legion from the Early Principate Period (2.000-5.000 man per Legion and 1.000-2.000 man auxillaries). It is also not clear whether auxiliaries and orders of knights are integrated into the legions or they exist separately. Auxilliariy forces are structured and fashioned in their own native ways like the foederati (regional recruited barbarian forces, lead by their own rulers) in Roman Armies of the late Antiquity.

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