Empire

Biodata

History

Pre-Walden conditions

The Empire is a major military state whose Mage Soldiers—called the Demon Legion by Allied troops—were the foundation of its rise from a small country into a continental power 13 24. Its enemies formed a coalition of sixteen nations to halt its expansion 24.

Despite its strength, the Empire is fated in the original Fall of the Empire storyline to lose to the Allied Army within ten years; surviving loyalists are expected to die alongside the Emperor or face execution afterward 11.

The state has a history of noble abuses, racial hierarchy, slavery, and illegal magical-modification experiments. Under the current Emperor, the noble responsible for Selvia Reinhart's family's massacre was executed, magical-modification experiments were abolished, and racial rank classifications were replaced with a unified citizenship system 31.

The Empire has expanded through more than a millennium of conquest, annexing thirty-four states and reaching approximately 355 provinces across more than thirty million square kilometers. Its expansion has not always relied on Mage Soldiers: the Demon King's Army under Tolovsky conquered and integrated vast territories without leaving the land contaminated by Mage Soldier bombardment 268 286.

Battle of Walden

At the start of the Walden campaign, the Empire's Seventh Air Force faced three Allied legions while struggling with exposed supply lines, resistance in conquered territories, depleted magic-stone funds, and the reassignment of the Third Navy to another front 14. Allied Anti-Magic Devices forced the Mage Soldiers from offense into a costly defensive stalemate 16.

The Empire sent Warrant Officer John Maslow, Squad 14, and covert Black Eagle support behind enemy lines to locate and destroy the devices 16 21. The operation destroyed the Allied Anti-Magic Device cluster, allowing the Seventh Air Force to launch a full assault for Walden's Lake of Magic Power 26 27.

Occupation of Walden

Following the victory, the Empire began clearing remaining Allied troops and administering its new holdings 29. General Dormammu assigned John to lead a joint force toward Bahamut Town, a strategically sensitive settlement in the Walden Region 30 31.

The deployment toward Bahamut consists of more than six hundred troops, including Mage Soldiers and auxiliary forces, tasked with occupation, suppression, and governance 37 38.

John's force subsequently captured Bahamut Town without battle, arrested Baron Myka Hartman and his family, secured the garrison's surrender, and raised the Imperial flag over the town within an hour 82. The occupation nevertheless exposed continuing Allied espionage and resistance activity within the Seventh Air Force's area of control 84.

Fauken Campaign

The Empire's Fauken deployment began under highly unfavorable circumstances. The Third Navy and Gulf Fleet could field only about fifty warships against an Allied fleet of 241, while Imperial ground forces suffered from low morale, illness, political division, and unfamiliar terrain 111.

Political rivalries made the campaign still more dangerous. Prime Minister Wolf's faction used the Ministry of Military Affairs to assign John Maslow to support Lieutenant General Doran in what Marshal Dormammu recognized as an attempted sacrifice; Dormammu ultimately provided John with 1,000 Mage Soldiers 111.

John's forces reversed several apparent defeats through mobile Mage Soldier assaults, guerrilla operations, artillery ambushes, deception, and the exploitation of enemy command divisions 129 156 157. The campaign culminated in the complete Imperial occupation of Fauken Bay and the destruction of the Allied Fifth and Seventh Legions, the Saga Kingdom's Bloodhowl Legion, and major divisions of the Morning Star, Black Marsh, and Fang Clans. Allied Seventh Army Group commander Frank Francis was killed during the Battle of Starry Coast 273.

Post-Fauken settlement

Following the Fauken victory, the Empire formally rewarded the campaign's commanders and absorbed the Half-Dragon Special Operations Legion and Drow Special Operations Regiment into its military 274. Imperial air raids against the Froststar Tribe and six other Fauken tribes cut Fauken Bay off from the mainland and compelled the sixteen Allied nations to request a ceasefire 274.

The resulting peace negotiations concluded twenty-five days later. The Empire withdrew the First Imperial Air Force Army from the Slock Kingdom border, Loran returned Gordon Town, and the belligerents agreed to nominally equivalent reparations while publicly emphasizing their own gains 343.

Government and Military

Imperial leadership

• Emperor William Perus — supreme ruler of the Empire. His government issued reforms ending racial status divisions and illegal magical experimentation, while he continues seeking to centralize political, military, and intelligence authority against the great noble houses 31 78 288.
• Prime Minister Wolf Caster — leader of the Old Guard Party and the Empire's chief administrative power. Wolf defends aristocratic privilege and institutional restraints on the Emperor, believing unchecked centralization and expansion will eventually destroy the Empire 79 286.
• Marshal Dormammu Philot — former commander of the Seventh Air Force. Following Walden, he became Marshal of the Imperial Third Air Army Group, Count Philot, and lord of Walden Territory 76 80 92.
• Grand Admiral Dries Ostan — former naval grand marshal and leading Reformist supporter of William. He died after prolonged poisoning, leaving his eighteen-year-old daughter Liana to inherit the Ostan duchy and consolidate the navy 351 352.
• Marshal Bob Ariel — naval commander appointed Imperial Navy Minister by William amid the struggle for control of the navy and border autonomy policy 363.
• Colonel Jett Slaifute — commander associated with the Black Eagle Special Forces; helped arrange John Maslow's joint operation and its deputy-command structure 23 31.

Political factions and institutions

The Empire's Upper House, Cabinet, and military commands are divided among competing political blocs. The Old Guard Party, led by Wolf Caster, is supported by great noble houses and seeks to preserve hereditary authority, property protections, and limits on imperial centralization 78 79.

The Reformist Faction supports Emperor William's program of military, administrative, and social reform, but became fragmented after Dries Ostan's death. Its principal blocs include Liana Ostan's younger naval and idealist supporters, Bob Ariel's pragmatic legislators, and a profit-driven swing faction 351 363.

Duke Mosesiris maintains a powerful western faction and has spent eighteen years preparing to exploit conflict among William, Wolf, and Liana in order to seize the throne with the Blood Lion Legion 352. John Maslow has rejected both major parties and announced the formation of the People's Party, a third force founded on “Honor” and “People” and opposed to inherited privilege, class oppression, and the existing military-merit hierarchy 353.

Following major intelligence failures, William and Wolf agreed to reorganize Military Intelligence Section Five as a state-wide intelligence system. Its structure includes an Executive General Bureau, an Oversight and Compliance General Bureau, and a General Bureau of Strategic Analysis and Assessment, with separate naval, army, and air-force branches 287 288 289.

Mage Soldier forces

The Empire's Mage Soldiers are its most feared military asset. They can fly using magic packs, wield standard-issue magic rifles, and use destructive spells capable of overwhelming ordinary units 13 17.

• A thirty-person Mobile Magitech Soldier Squad is classified at company level because each Mage Soldier's firepower is comparable to that of a bomber aircraft 17.
• The Empire possesses approximately 120,000 active Mage Soldiers. Its First and Second Air Force Armies form the core of the force commonly called the Demon Legion 115 175.
• Mage Soldiers are vulnerable to Allied Anti-Magic Devices, which suppress their abilities and can halt Imperial offensives 16.
• Mage Soldier magic is too destructive for unrestricted conquest: it can leave behind contaminated, lifeless territory and therefore cannot be freely employed against every target 115.
• The Black Eagle Special Forces are an elite covert unit that uses Phantom Spell Formations for concealed movement and conducts reconnaissance, infiltration, and assassination operations 21 23.
• The Empire's military treats desertion as an offense severe enough to deter soldiers from fleeing even when they believe the state is doomed 11.
• The Fauken Campaign demonstrated the Empire's growing use of combined-arms warfare, including mobile armor, artillery, mage-tech equipment, telepathic coordination, guerrilla formations, terrain manipulation, and captured Allied technology 156 157 219.
• The 303rd Independent Division, granted to Lieutenant General John Maslow after Fauken, was later approved for formation despite earlier obstruction by the Old Guard Party 273 361.
• Faoken has also developed Steel Bone Armor, a potentially mass-producible system that grants a Low Mage physical capability comparable to a High Mage while improving casting speed and power 468.

Imperial Doctrine and Civil Policy

The Empire promotes an official Empire Spirit centered on loyalty, sacrifice, incorruptibility, and dedication to national strength. General Dormammu ordered John Maslow's speeches compiled as Maslow Quotations and memorized by soldiers as ideological instruction 34.

Its stated occupation doctrine calls for strict discipline, civilian protection, and an army that acts as a “shield” rather than an abusive force; commanders are urged not to take even “a needle or thread” from the populace 30.

The reality remains inconsistent. Civilians in newly occupied areas fear Imperial soldiers as potential killers and looters, while officers can exploit accusations of espionage to coerce civilians and confiscate property 42 43 49.

Imperial law formally recognizes equal citizenship, but racial discrimination and colonial violence remain widespread within the military. Major General Tony openly maintained that imperial mercy should apply only to Norman citizens, while his division looted and abused centaur civilians in occupied territory 137.

The Fauken ceasefire was achieved partly through indiscriminate air raids against tribal territory, illustrating the Empire's willingness to employ overwhelming violence as a political instrument 274. Emperor William likewise frames imperial warfare in terms of calculation, obedience, sacrifice, and future expansion 276.

John Maslow has increasingly challenged the Empire's inherited political order. His policies emphasize honest allocation of military credit, pensions and identification for the dead, medical treatment for the wounded, and the principle that honor should belong to those who earn it rather than to their superiors or ancestors 240 353.

Relations

• Allied Forces — principal military enemy during the Walden and Fauken campaigns. After the Empire's occupation of Fauken Bay and the destruction of several Allied and Saga formations, the Allied coalition requested a ceasefire and concluded peace negotiations with the Empire; their rivalry, espionage networks, and strategic hostility remain unresolved 273 274 343.
• Victoria Kingdom — major Allied power and the former world hegemon. Its technological development, including Anti-Magic Devices and mage-tech forces, is regarded by some Imperial officers as the greatest long-term challenge to Mage Soldier supremacy 115.
• Saga Kingdom — Allied-aligned beastfolk kingdom whose forces fought the Empire at Fauken. The destruction of its expeditionary formations and Faoken's expanding alliances have heightened Saga concerns over Imperial involvement in regional affairs 273 524.
• Faoken Autonomous Region — strategic frontier territory governed by John Maslow. Emperor William seeks to grant Faoken broad autonomy as a loyal military reserve and potential refuge beyond the capital's factional struggle 363.
• House Hartman — a Bahamut noble house formerly connected to Allied operations. Baron Myka Hartman and his family were imprisoned after Bahamut's capture, while Dick Hartman's surrender and cooperation undermined the house's resistance 82 84.
• Unity Society — Selvia Reinhart's former anti-Imperial organization in Bahamut Town. After Selvia's failed assassination attempt on John, the Empire sought to co-opt the Society's administrative talent rather than simply eliminate it 98.
• Selvia Reinhart — half-dragon former enemy of the Empire whose family was destroyed by Imperial nobles and who later endured illegal Imperial magical experiments. Captured after participating in an Allied-backed attempt on John Maslow's life, her associated Half-Dragon force was later incorporated into the Imperial military 31 98 274.
• Drow Special Operations Regiment — a Drow force formally incorporated into the Imperial military after the Fauken Campaign, reflecting the Empire's increasing use of former enemies and non-Norman allies 274.
• Demon King's Army — a semi-autonomous Imperial military power whose thirty-six legislators traditionally avoided factional alignment. Its unexpected opposition to restrictions on Faoken signaled an important, still-unexplained shift in imperial politics 452 454.

Story Role

• The Empire begins as the doomed “villain” faction of Fall of the Empire, with its eventual destruction treated as established future history 11.
• Its unexpected victory at Walden overturns an Allied trap, restores the Seventh Air Force's offensive momentum, and creates an opportunity to seize the Lake of Magic Power 25 27.
• John Maslow's accidental reputation as a brilliant, fanatically loyal commander turns him into a symbol of Imperial renewal and propaganda, even as he repeatedly seeks retirement or defection 27 34.
• The Empire's expansion into Bahamut Town places it in direct conflict with Selvia, House Hartman, and an Allied assassination operation designed to eliminate John before he can further strengthen the state 37.
• The Fauken Campaign transforms the Empire's military and political situation: John's victories avert an expected defeat, secure Fauken Bay, and elevate him from major to lieutenant general, viscount, territorial governor, and divisional commander 273.
• The post-Fauken peace shifts the central conflict from foreign war to an escalating domestic contest among Emperor William, Wolf Caster's Old Guard Party, the Reformists, Duke Mosesiris's western faction, and John's emerging People's Party 274 351 352 353.
• The Empire's future is no longer governed solely by the original Fall of the Empire scenario. Its altered military victories, developing technology, autonomous frontier power, and increasingly open class conflict have made its predicted collapse uncertain 300 361 363.