Incomplete app sheet. [hider=THE EMPIRE OF HANDS] [b] Location/Geography[/b] I am #27 on the map. The northern mountains are not the tallest mountains in the world, but the range they form is crucial to the series of rivers which flow from their peaks through the limestone, creating massive underground caverns throughout the northern island. Further details will come at a later date. The densely forested areas of the island are interspersed with wide plains out to the Caloro sea which feed the empire and allow for trade from the other major civilizations around the Caloro sea. [b] General Introduction[/b] The empire of hands is a empire that has expanded to new lands around the Caloro sea in the past century. The finefolk, finally unified after centuries of disunity under one imperium has caused them to start expanding downwards seeking new wealth to get their massive hands on. The Great Alpha wants to make the Caloro sea into a handy lake, but to do so there will need to be a great push into the South and overcome primal fears to do so. [b]History[/b] History will be elaborated on in light of the nature of adjacent cultures. However, for now what must be known is that a folk religion became the main religion of a major empire that dominated the northern hills a thousand years earlier. Said empire collapsed due to a centuries long drought and only in the past four centuries has agricultural civilization and ancient technologies been rediscovered by the tinkering guilds. The finefolk have made slaves out of the other races in the area, making a caste society where finefolk can focus on higher pursuits such as war, philosophy and tinkering. The Empire of Hands has a culture of tinkerers and a pathological obsession with elaborate siege machines that goes back centuries which has allowed them to conquer the southern lands. More recently the Empire of hands has sought to monopolize trade in and out of the Caloro bay so they can get all the best spices from the west, and for that reason has expanded across the straits of their large island into the southern territories putting them at conflict with former trade partners. (further history will require Alt's civ) [b]Government & Society[/b] Will be elaborated on by friday. The Empire of hands is a empire that uses a tributary system and slave classes to maintain power. The Great Alpha is essentially akin to a king or emperor; what the great Alpha says goes. For they are handpicked from the palm of the gods to lead and are completely unquestionable. If the Great Alpha is overtaken by another Alpha, than it is clear that the hand of god has cast itself upon a superior ruler. There is three major classes in their empire. The farmers, the tinkerers/engineers and the soldiers. The tinkerers and clergy and one-in-the-same and are the great alpha's fingers that deal with a range of tasks ranging from managing the farms to tinkering with new machines. The soldiers are combined with the merchants, the merchant-soldier being of great importance to the Empire of Hand's economy as having a unarmed merchant without military experience comes off to the Handyfolk as simply suicidal. These merchants unintentionally also happen to be a source of piracy due to corruption and very little oversight outside of the Empire. The farmers do farm work and can be conscripted into building elaborate communal temples for everyone to live in, each terrace holding successfully higher level members of society. The lowest social class, the slaves do not get to live in the temples. Instead they live in mud huts and do their work out in the open, without any protection beyond the merchant-soldiers. The empire of hands values dominance, ingenuity, dexterity and versatility. A versatile individual is the best kind of individual in the minds of the Tinkerers and in the minds of the great Alpha himself (females tend to be their own social class of child rearers, with higher ranking males having more women while low ranking males die virgins unless they can get a women from outside the empire... While they can't have kids with other species and propagate their family name it is better than nothing) [b]Economy & Industry[/b] Details later. (What are your primary exports and imports? How much you trade? How are your craftsmen organized? How developed is your technology? What kind of unique creations you have? etc. If you haven't described your involvement with magic in the society/government section, you can do it here.) [b]Military Overview[/b] Details later. (Yeah, of course you also need to tell us some about your military. Try to avoid number games and unhealthy arms races. We play this game for fun and that needs balance and sensible approach. One of the main guidelines is that your nation's military shouldn't be much better than a historical 15th century medieval army. Don't worry, I don't ask you historical accuracy. So-called "super units" can be okay if they are rare enough for their worth and don't make your army unbeatable. The point is to let you do cool things and explore your creativity but at the same time do [/hider]