Empire

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Empire (帝国)
Type	Sovereign nation and imperial state 12 186
Capital	Fog City 318 712
Ruler	Queen Victoria II, also called the Iron Queen 207 600
Government	Monarchy with a Parliament and territorial nobility; the Crown seeks stronger centralized rule 186 348 712
Predecessor	Mekalon Empire; the present Empire developed from its central territory 12
Civilization	Steam-powered industrial civilization, later incorporating electrical, alchemical, and magical technologies 12 675 677
Status	Has reclaimed its formerly lost territories, but faces friction between the Crown and regional lords 712

History

Mekalon inheritance and decline

Emperor Arthur united the continent and founded the Mekalon Empire, beginning the Silver Era. His conquests established a shared imperial system, calendar, currency, and units of measurement, while destroying or displacing earlier nations and religious traditions 12 145.

After approximately a thousand years, Mekalon collapsed. Its central territory became the present Empire, while outlying regions formed separate countries. The remaining Empire struggled to defend itself against neighboring powers and could barely retain its territory 12.

Distance helped drive this fragmentation. Orders took too long to reach distant territories such as Francis and Mericia, encouraging a system in which local lords governed their own holdings. Over its long history, the Empire moved its capital three times 61 571.

Steam Revolution and royal recovery

In Silver Era year 997, the inventor James created the steam engine. Sir Babbage’s steam-powered Difference Engine followed, combining industrial transformation with an information revolution. These inventions revitalized the Empire and marked the beginning of the Bronze Era 12.

Victoria II consolidated royal authority through military victories and gradual reforms, overcoming aristocratic resistance and preventing the country from collapsing into civil conflict. Her reforms also brought capitalists into the nobility, although their titles did not automatically grant political power 207 348.

Industrialization left displaced workers vulnerable. In its response to the Luddite movement, the Crown prioritized refusing to appear intimidated by rebellion; the Old Butler defended this position, while Li Wei criticized its human cost 103.

Mericia rebellion

Unrest in Mericia initially appeared as a tea-trade dispute, but investigators suspected an independence movement accompanied by supernatural attacks on imperial officials. Evidence later established that Francis had encouraged opposition and offered a weapons loan 103 135.

Li Wei arrested Samuel Adams and John Hancock at the Continental Congress under a royal warrant. Imperial troops then secured Feyhart City, while General Hao and the Cyclops crushed the remaining rebel positions on Blaize Mountain using intelligence supplied by Li Wei’s Soul Sight 134 135 150.

After the rebellion, Samuel and Washington were sentenced to hang, their property was confiscated, and the general-governor was dismissed. Imperial newspapers emphasized Li Wei’s extraordinary personal contribution rather than treating the military victory itself as remarkable 151 186.

Continental war and reconquest

The Empire initially maintained “splendid isolation,” shelving Francis’s request for an alliance. It later allied with the Duchy of Tiris, the neutral buffer along the land connection between the Empire and Francis 186 330 331.

As continental war approached, the government sought intelligence on foreign supernatural forces while allowing Francis and Kront to weaken one another. The Empire subsequently defeated Kront’s Sixth Army at Delai Port, although the port was devastated and required reconstruction 391 396 436.

Francis’s surrender and the spread of Kront’s mutant forces changed the conflict’s scale. The Queen accepted Li Wei’s argument that demons and alien-controlled creatures threatened humans regardless of nationality. Imperial forces occupied Deburg, then attacked Derrin with missiles, Aerial Mecha, naval artillery, and bombing airships 543 548 562.

The destruction of the alien creature ended the war against Kront, but left transformed prisoners, devastated cities, and the demon army in Francis to address. The Empire later defeated that demon army and sealed the passage to the Bottomless Abyss 568 569 600 614.

Sasha Alliance occupation

After defeating Kront and the demons in Francis, the Empire demanded the Sasha Alliance’s unconditional surrender. Its mountainous terrain made a direct invasion difficult, so the Queen pursued diplomacy backed by military pressure 600.

The massacre at the imperial embassy provided grounds for intervention. Li Wei received sweeping investigative authority, and imperial forces occupied the City of a Thousand Joys, replacing key personnel and taking control of supplies, security, and soldiers’ salaries 600 608 609 617.

The attackers were identified as the Wild Hunt. An imperial mechanized regiment entered Ice City, defeated its supernatural defenders, and supported Li Wei’s confrontation with the Wild Hunt King. Evidence subsequently revealed that Franz I had used ancient evil power against the embassy and attempted to sacrifice his own descendant 606 613 614 617 619 620.

Rapid conquest created an administrative burden: the Empire needed to absorb Francis, Kront, and its occupied Sasha territories before pursuing further expansion. By the later celebrations in the City of a Thousand Joys, the Sasha Alliance had been annexed; imperial media subsequently credited Victoria with recovering every formerly lost territory 621 712 717.

Geography and Territories

Location	Relationship to the Empire
Fog City	Imperial capital, proposed headquarters for centralized policing, and a major industrial metropolis with Mecha, airship docks, and a flying battleship 318 495 712.
Mericia District	Northwestern overseas territory separated from the mainland by an ocean. Originally a frontier defense region, it later served as a destination for exiled prisoners forced into slave labor 122.
Delicat District	Fief granted by Arthur to the Baskerville clan; Ovelia later seeks steam machinery to modernize its estate 79 151.
Bisbaru District	Hosts the Steam Inventions Expo 151.
Casablanca	Former imperial capital and a center of powerful criminal families with connections to local officials 300 302 318 571.
Delai Port	Site of an imperial victory over Kront’s Sixth Army; the battle reduced the port to ruins 436.
Francis	Former imperial territory across the Storm Sea. The Duchy of Tiris provides the northern land connection between Francis and the Empire 330 331.
Kront / Cront	Breakaway state later defeated and fully reclaimed by the Empire 571 678.
Sasha Alliance	Former imperial territory subsequently occupied and annexed 600 678 717.

Government and Institutions

Crown and Parliament

• Queen Victoria II directs military strategy, reforms, honors, and territorial policy. Ministers debate policy, but major decisions ultimately depend on her authority 207 322 600.
• Parliament participates in foreign-policy deliberations, including the decision to shelve Francis’s alliance request 186.
• Regional lords retain substantial independent control over their territories. Victoria’s goal is to make all imperial subjects answer directly to Fog City and the Royal Family rather than competing local authorities 712.
• Police reform uses outside investigators to bypass local political protection of gangs. The Queen plans expanded, specialized departments controlled through headquarters in Fog City 318.

Nobility and Honors

Institution or category	Description
Royal nobles	Nobles connected to the Royal Family 348.
Nobles of the sword	Primarily nobles who command military forces 348.
Nobles of the robe	Capitalists who acquire noble standing through money and marriages into noble families 348.
Thistle Order	Knightly order devoted to the Royal Family. The Thistle Medal is limited to twelve living recipients 207.
Imperial Cross	Honor associated with Li Wei’s elevation to knighthood 151.
All-Seeing Eye medals	Awarded for research and strategically important scientific service, including sea-monster research and protection of the Difference Engine 207.

Arthurian Legitimacy

• Six surviving families descended from Arthur’s Twelve Knights hold their ancestral fiefs within the Empire. Their continued existence supports the Crown’s claim to inherit Mekalon 79.
• The Twelve Knights’ former holdings also underpin territorial claims against breakaway states. The disappearance or destruction of knightly families weakens the historical evidence for those claims 505.
• The Queen plans to restore the resurrected Holy Maiden’s title as one of Arthur’s Twelve Thistle Knights, linking the current monarchy directly to Arthur’s era 569.

Intelligence and Research

• Military Intelligence Section Seven coordinates supernatural investigations, receives recovered alien equipment, and recruits researchers such as Dr. Franco 291 328 346.
• Magic Research Department / Institute studies Sanctuary magic, develops countermeasures, and produces battlefield Dispel Devices 670 675 739.
• Imperial Library supports research into mysterious species and other subjects 103.
• Royal Academy of Medicine admits Kia when she moves to the imperial capital 346.
• Royal Treasury contains ancestral enchanted equipment alongside dangerous foreign gifts and cursed artifacts. Li Wei’s inspection separates beneficial relics from objects intended for disposal 346.

Military

Organization and Doctrine

• Mass production over single “ace” weapons: the Empire prioritizes productive capacity, numerous weapons, and heavy firepower rather than concentrating national resources in one supposedly decisive asset 683.
• Broad supernatural experience: although the Royal Family earlier proposed a dedicated supernatural military unit, later policy favors deploying nearby troops and giving ordinary formations experience against occult enemies 291 683.
• Intelligence-led bombardment: Li Wei supplies precise target locations, while commanders such as General Hao translate that information into artillery and airship strikes 150 396.
• Combined-arms operations: armored infantry, Mecha, airships, artillery, flamethrowers, and specialist teams operate together rather than relying entirely on individual supernatural combatants 562 613 614 739.
• Expeditionary logistics: portable cabins, aerial support, secure camps, and cautious advances help limit losses during the Ice City campaign 614.

Forces and Weapons

Force or weapon	Role and documented capabilities
Steam Mech Troopers	Steel-armored infantry carrying heavy firearms; deployed into rebel camps by cable-guided drop pods 150.
Powered Armor	Simplified armored equipment mass-produced to counter Beastmen through protection and concentrated firepower 498.
Hound-Class Mech	Used to escape an ambush and request reinforcements 126.
Knight Mechs	Provide gunfire and flamethrower support against supernatural creatures; also deployed against alien monsters 317 328.
Guardian-Class Mech	Four-legged design with increased carrying capacity and three large gun turrets, developed against Kront’s giants 498.
Aerial Mecha	Engage mutant birds with missile volleys and protect advancing airships 562.
Cyclops	Major imperial airship providing bombardment, troop deployment, and battlefield command support 134 150 396.
Eye of the Sky	Reconnaissance and combat airship supporting Li Wei’s missions; its 450-millimeter main gun destroys a Leviathan 390 396 562.
Guided missiles	Use lock-on alchemy arrays; demonstrated against fast aerial targets and employed during the attack on Derrin 560 562.
Rocket artillery	Legged ground platforms deliver massed barrages across large target areas 560.
Electric Particle Ray Cannon	Close-range energy weapon with approximately one kilometer of range and a four-second firing interval; depends on rare Energy Storage Crystals 677.
Dispel Devices	Spear-shaped equipment powered by oversized Steam Generators; disrupts low-level magic within a limited range 739.
Laser Machine Guns	Used with chainsaw attachments against Spider Monsters, supported by flamethrower teams 739.
Armed trains	Originally built to protect early railways from robbery, then mothballed as attacks declined 730.

Vulnerabilities

• Powerful sonic attacks can incapacitate soldiers and officers even when Mecha remain available 317.
• Alien mental corruption can disable an army before combat begins. At Sun City, Li Wei restores the troops through a protective musical blessing broadcast over military communications 702.
• Ordinary searchlights and flares cannot penetrate magical Darkness; specialist Dispel Teams are needed to restore visibility 739.
• Steam Mech Troopers face substantial ammunition weight: two standard 500-round boxes for their 7.7-millimeter machine guns weigh approximately forty kilograms before armor and other equipment are counted 731.
• Rare materials constrain advanced weapons production, particularly the Energy Storage Crystals used in ray cannons 677.

Supernatural Policy

Technology and Managed Acceptance

• The Empire continues developing machinery rather than replacing its industrial system with supernatural power 371.
• Li Wei interprets the Queen’s approach as selective acceptance: officially confirm some supernatural events while debunking others, strengthening confidence in imperial explanations 172.
• The proposed public display of a slain dragon is intended to demonstrate that legendary creatures can be defeated and reduce popular fear 371.
• Beneficial ancestral artifacts are retained for possible use, while objects that induce fanaticism, nightmares, or bodily transformation are marked for disposal 346.
• Kia’s experiments show that magical devices can run on electricity and that energy interference can disrupt a spell’s structure. The long-term effects on living subjects remain under investigation 675.

Collective Belief

• Li Wei suspects that widespread confidence in Mecha gives them a genuine advantage against supernatural creatures. He connects this confidence to wartime victories and the popularity of Iron Legion 614.
• His strategic aim is to make technological resistance to monsters common sense while continually improving industrial output 619.
• He opposes making supernatural individuals the Empire’s sole military foundation, warning that such individuals could eventually seize power over the ordinary majority 619.

Economy and Expansion

Industrial Economy

• The Empire originated the Steam Industrial Revolution and possesses the continent’s most advanced steam-industrial technology during its resurgence 331.
• Machinery supports civilian transport, agriculture, public services, manufacturing, and military supply. Government orders include ambulances, police cars, and trucks 151 186.
• Difference Engine-related work creates new employment in punched-card handling 186.
• Kront’s machinery competes for the Empire’s customers, making market rivalry a major obstacle to reconciliation 394.
• Military preparation consumes enormous funds, while rapid territorial gains create reconstruction and administrative burdens 498 621.

Sanctuary and Neverwinter

• Li Wei advises against immediately invading Sanctuary because the Empire lacks sufficient magical intelligence and would struggle to supply an expedition 675.
• His alternative is dependency through cheap goods, obsolete civilian machinery, and production lines, without exporting the Empire’s core technologies 658 675.
• The Imperial Department Store introduces inexpensive weapons, armor, cookware, tools, and textiles into Neverwinter, accepting magical items and materials in exchange 658.
• Under intelligence officer Lawrence, the store acquires businesses, farms, mines, and suppliers; establishes a bank; and pays wages in tokens that become Neverwinter’s dominant currency 760.
• Its security force replaces the city guard, leaving the store effectively in control of Neverwinter’s economy, finance, employment, and security without an open military conquest 760.
• The Royal Family orders continued documentation of this takeover. Li Wei also suspects Sanctuary may serve as a testing ground for managing powerful extraordinary individuals 760 761.

Society and Culture

• Social ideals: imperial citizens value restraint, elegance, composure, modesty, respectability, and gentlemanly behavior 151.
• Clothing: men generally wear black, white, and gray; women favor muted, restrained colors. Bright Francisian fashions are widely condemned as frivolous or vulgar 300 604.
• Arthur’s reputation: Emperor Arthur is deeply revered. Criticizing his destruction of earlier civilizations conflicts with accepted imperial historical attitudes 145.
• Francisian stereotypes: imperial opinion portrays Francisians as boastful, dissolute, and pretentious; Francisians in turn regard imperial citizens as hypocritical and arrogant 300 501.
• Popular comics: Betty the Puppy, Iron Legion, and Unforgiven Love rank among prominent imperial publications 569.
• Film: the imperial government invests in Li Wei’s film venture and receives forty percentage points of box-office revenue under its distribution agreement 712.
• New Year celebrations: royal banquets include honors and investitures, while New Year festivities are an established imperial tradition 207 717.
• Public order: openly wearing armor on an imperial street is grounds for police intervention, unlike the armed-adventurer culture of Sanctuary 672.

Occupation and Postwar Policies

• Local administration: imperial occupation replaces personnel at important posts and controls supplies, salaries, and security, as demonstrated in the City of a Thousand Joys 617.
• Popular support: some residents welcome disciplined troops, released hoarded supplies, and action against predatory lending, despite the loss of local sovereignty 611.
• Transformed Kront prisoners: the Queen orders prisoners to choose between execution and an injection that removes their transformation and vulnerability to alien control. The treatment severely impairs fertility and threatens the survival of descendants beyond three generations 568.
• Enforcement: an escaping Beast General and his followers are killed by an imperial missile during the treatment program 568.
• Ite people: the Queen orders their extermination in the Kront aftermath; later occupation campaigns also expel them collectively from the City of a Thousand Joys 568 611 619.
• Reconstruction: plans include rebuilding conquered territories and considering Li Wei’s amusement-park city, but shortages of ammunition and intelligence delay further offensives 569 600.

Foreign Relations

• Francis — Historically split from the Empire and rose during its decline. Its support for imperial separatism deepens hostility, although some parliamentarians advocate cooperation against Kront 186 322 331.
• Duchy of Tiris — Long-standing neutral buffer between the Empire and Francis; becomes an imperial treaty ally 330.
• Kingdom of Kront — Industrial competitor and military enemy, later defeated and reclaimed 394 568 678.
• Sasha Alliance — Kront’s military ally and the Empire’s final continental-war target; subsequently annexed 600 717.
• Olucci Empire — Belongs to a civilization outside the old imperial sphere. After the Empire’s reconquests, it descends into civil war and shelters remnants of Francisian and Kront armies 621 678.
• Holy Lord Church and Papacy — Subject to imperial crackdowns and investigation. Papal gifts in the Royal Treasury include artifacts capable of intensifying devotion into fanaticism 151 346.
• Neverwinter — Becomes dependent on imperial commerce and eventually falls under the Department Store’s effective economic and security control 658 760.
• Silvermoon City — Faces demands for an explanation after an attack on Li Wei as an imperial envoy. Alustriel recognizes that an unsatisfactory response could bring imperial military destruction 668 670.
• Thay — Its undead rulers seek imperial weapons and industrial equipment. Pressure from the Lords’ Alliance complicates trade, and seizures of goods prompt Li Wei to investigate 760.

Parallel-World Counterpart

Feature	Victoria II’s Empire	George V’s Empire
Ruler	Queen Victoria II 207.	King George V 479.
Technological foundation	Steam industry, coal essence, Mecha, and large airships 480 495.	Limited biotechnology and conventional machinery; no coal essence to support the same steam development 479 480.
Military equipment	Advanced mechanized forces and aerial warships 495.	Rifles, grenade launchers, artillery, and internal-combustion tanks 479 480.
Biotechnology	Develops mechanical counters to foreign engineered creatures 498.	Religious resistance delays Beastman development, inadvertently preventing Kront from commandeering a large imperial Beastman army 479 480.
Strategic position	Li Wei regards it as overwhelmingly stronger technologically than its counterpart 480.	Struggles to resist Kront after Francis’s surrender and the occupation of much of Olucci 479.

• George V provides Li Wei with intelligence after Li Wei rescues him and General Haig, despite uncertainty about Li Wei’s unfamiliar Thistle knighthood 479 480.
• Li Wei agrees to help the parallel Empire on his own terms rather than adopt its military methods 479.
• Photographs, books, and documents from the parallel world are later presented to Victoria. She asks whether conquest would be feasible; Li Wei doubts that it would 495.