Vivesperian Empire
Government Form: Imperial Monarchy
Demographics: As of now, Vivesper's sapient population is completely human. Though elves existed earlier in the area's history, there was a long history of mutual bad blood between the two species, and elves were wiped out to the very last in the final stages of the Vivesperian Empire consolidating control of the realm.
Population: Massive
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: As of now, the overall appearance of the plane differs drastically between areas near settlements and more isolated areas. Most of the land was initially barren, but, through a combination of land development and magical advances, the general fertility of many areas was increased.
Fortunately, the weather provides for plenty of precipitation, and droughts are rare. This precipitation is most notable in the winter season. In addition to the more regular snowstorms, blizzards are common, and have often ground military actions to a halt throughout Vivesper's history. Much of the infrastructure of cities is designed around resisting blizzards.
Phoenixes are a species hunted for their feathers and ashes, often dwelling in the harsher environments.
History: Though the population of Vivesper is much than its lowest point, it's drastically lower than it was after going through the portal. In addition to humans, the population initially included the less populous elves. The land was initially named Vacacia, so barren was it at the time. Many people died of starvation, and the previously unified people fragmented as they sought out the most survivable areas. With elves already having a strong reputation for arrogance and bigotry among humans, they split up into their own groups
Fighting for resources was a way of life initially. As people split up more and stabilized, however, war didn't become less frequent so much as it became more organized. After awhile, various major territories were established, and two eventually developed into kingdoms. Though the two kingdoms were at a stalemate for awhile, one eventually conquered the other through major breakthroughs in technology and magic. Those advancements were the development of phoenix steel, a steel alloy which, contrary to most metals, insulated against heat, cold, and electricity, rendering knights virtually invulnerable to most opposing offensive magic; and major improvements in tunneling magic, which permitted larger, deeper, and more stable tunnels, allowed one to circumvent castle defenses, and allowed attacks to be pressed underground when blizzards rendered surface movement dangerous.
The Empire of Vivesper was established shortly after the conquest, named after the territory previously known as Vacacia that would now be known to the Empire as Vivesper to reflect its ability to make the land work.
In the time that followed, the Empire rapidly grew in size, with most human territories choosing to pledge loyalty to it and gain the advantage of stability from being under its umbrella, rather than wasting lives and resources delaying what was seen as inevitable. As the Vivesperian Empire grew, the idea of uniting the entire land under one authority gradually changed from concept, to aspiration, to objective.
The elves refused to give themselves freely to human rule. The Empire used a major smallpox epidemic that originated from a human settlement close to elvish territory as casus belli for a punitive war against elvish territories - elves were accused of conducting a targeted attack with a horrible disease known only to infect humans, motivated by their bigotry, though specifics regarding those accusations were lacking. Having made it clear after a few battles that elves that didn't surrender would be slaughtered, the bloody affair went on for a very long time, before remaining territories surrendered.
Seeing elves as an obstacle to a unified Vivesper, however, the Emperor ordered every single elf in the realm slaughtered. It was nearly impossible for the remaining elves to put up any meaningful resistance after their territory was already under control of the Empire. What would have been seen as the most depraved sort of affair imaginable instead became seen as a marker of a once divided people being made whole again, with much emphasis being placed by the Empire's historians on the reactionary ideals of the elves, their hubris, and their crimes against humanity.
Culture and Society: Culturally, the realm puts major focus on unity, loyalty, obedience, and knowing and fulfilling one's role in society. Propaganda posters frequently reiterate the importance of these values.
Working long hours is frequent for many. The culture of fulfilling one's role in society leads many to become highly devoted to their sociological niche, taking pride. One's profession and position in society is second only to their name as far as personal identity goes. People are more reluctant to explore different fields overall, which potentially leads some to squander potential they had elsewhere.
Phoenixes are a national icon. In addition to their ashes being the basis for phoenix steel, their ability to survive in harsh areas is seen as symbolic of the resiliency of the people, and their legendary reincarnation is seen as iconic of the people themselves rising from the ashes.
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Governance and Politics: The Vivesperian Empire has relatively high taxes. It is often emphasized in propaganda how paying one's taxes is an important part of fulfilling your due to society and helping your fellow people survive.
Religiosity is banned by mandate. It is regularly emphasized that gods forsook the people of Vivesper, and that the continued survival of the people comes from the strength of its people, and their strength alone.
Punishments for many things are often draconian. Beyond the crime itself, criminals are seen as opposing the very foundation of the Empire itself, that being the mutual cooperation that allowed its people to survive in spite of the land itself trying to kill them. Public executions in many places are frequent, with criminals being executed in ways that make their death slow, painful, and showy. The people revel in seeing an end to those who are seen as being a danger to their survival. Prisoners are often allocated to dangerous jobs, and frequently die as a result of misadventure during those jobs.
At least per the Vivesperian mandate, the role of children is seen as learning and developing into the future of the Empire. Education for young children is mandatory; this policy was highly unpopular when initially invoked, as it meant fewer hands for things like farm work. It has mainly survived because none of the emperors have been of any other mind, despite the concerns of subordinates.
Technology and Magic: Magic is something that takes a thorough understanding of both physical and metaphysical laws in order to use, at least with any degree of proficiency. Thus, magic is often associated with higher education, and, by extension, with privilege. In military matters, mages serve as specialists; they're not used as general agents of lethality, but to perform a specific action that cannot be done with more traditional tools. Though one might be able to use basic spells of various types, one often has to specialize in a particular type of magic to get the most out of it.
A major technological advancement was phoenix steel. It is a steel alloy which derives its carbon content from phoenix ashes. It can only be forged at extremely high temperatures, temperatures that can only be sustained and survived with the aid of magic.
Military Overview: Currently, with stability as opposed to constant wars, the Vivesperian Empire's standing army is much smaller than it was at its peak. It is composed of knights, mages, and other elite men-at-arms. The majority of those in the standing army are under direct command of the Emperor; this makes potential rebellion a difficult affair, as one cannot outnumber the Emperor's professional army with their own professional troops even in the unlikely event that every other noble with professional troops offered their support.
Beyond the standing army, the Empire also requires every man of fighting age to own and be proficient with a weapon of their choice, with other potential arrangements based on the Empire's needs. These men can be drafted as needed for either local militias or the main army.
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