Arthurian Empire

The Arthurian Empire, also known as the Empire of Arthur or simply Arthuria, is a pre-industrial, militaristic, and autocratic country in the Continent, where it runs in a hegemonic system with many vassal states. As an Imperial Hegemony that controls a total distance of about 7.854 million km², it is one of the most powerful Empires in the Continent's history, rivalled only by the Empire of Saxonia in the south-east.

The Empire is often seen as a landlocked superblock in the centre of the Continent, with many independent kingdoms and duchies surrounding it as well as the Empire of Saxonia in the south-east.

They were the first nation to make contact with the Germans in an event called the Attack on Berlin.

Structure
A mostly human society with a high degree of magical influence, the empire is known to possess multi-ethnic complex of territories that include elves, dark elves, dwarves and even a number of various other races, such as orcs and ogres, though this is only to a limited degree as the human population is known to oppress the other races.

Leaders of the Empire come from the House of Arthur, the original house who contributed to the Empire with their long-standing wealth and power. The House of Arthur has ruled the Empire for thousands of years, focusing on building up their influence to try to forge an empire built to last for an eternity, showing hostilities when they view it as a necessity.

History
Arthurian Empire was created 1500 years before the arrival of the Germans, following a successful invasion on multiple barbarian, elven and dwarven tribes, by an army led by a ruler called King Arthur, capturing the old elven capital of Sarawyn and renaming it Camelot and leading a great crusade upon the dark magicians with the help of the Holy State of Magic.

When peace was settled, the empire grew so large that it spread throughout the entire Continent, making way for entire kingdoms and duchies that answer under to Emperor Arthur I. By the time Arthur came to the end of his life, the only three powers that existed on the Continent were the Arthurian Empire, Empire of Saxonia and the Holy State of Magic.

However, after Arthur died, his over expansive policies and lack of a proper heir with the same prestige as he had led many of the kingdoms outside the main imperial territories to undermine the House of Arthur. This led to a successionist war that saw many kingdoms once loyal to the empire to succeed from the empire and consolidate their own power. For generations to come, revanchism became the policy of the many Arthurian emperors to come with little success over the span of a thousand years.

Population
Overall population figures for the Arthurian Empire are extremely vague and vary widely. Humans are known to be the main population of the entire Empire, but certain species such as elves, dwarves and even orcs are widespread across the Empire's territory, some even becoming leaders of powerful duchies from within. According to an agency within the Empire that was commissioned to record the entire population, the population in the year 1940/1500 is over 208,500,000.

Military
The Empire handles a mostly feudal military, with armies brought in from each of the many kingdoms and duchies to respond to any threat against the Empire. This was until the year 1500, where feudalism in the Empire, except for the Archduchy of Zaurus, was wiped out by Mordred in an effort to replace the old system with the Imperial Army after realizing the benefits of having a personal army rather than spend too much time mustering together feudal armies. However, this plan was thwarted by the fact that Mordred's Imperial Army mostly contained mercenaries, criminals who seek "redemption" and slaves brought in from other nations.

Religion
The state religion is the Church of the Paragons, with other religions existing as minorities. While forbidden to hold any true power in the government, priests are permitted to hold certain offices and become advisors to courts within the Empire, done as a way to keep the faith relevant but not strong enough to force open a power struggle between the ruler and the pope.

Technology
Efforts of Arthurian engineers are pathetic when compared to the Dwarves, who are known to have been the most technologically superior species prior to the arrival of the Germans, but they do have a relatively good understanding of science and technology in terms of agriculture and infrastructure. Despite this, they can be considered the most technologically superior human civilization on the Continent.