The Caldrian Empire

Latin naming conventions — Aurelius, Crassus, Vettia, Marcellus, Solvara, Carentum

Territory: France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Albania. (Historically included Hungary — see Septentria document; long since Giant territory, not a live dispute.)

Capital: Pax, where Rome is in the real world.

Before the Empire: Before the Long War, the Empire wasn't an empire. It was over a dozen kingdoms and nations. One of them was the Seven Duchies, in the France analog.

City names: The Empire's major cities carry gentle, hopeful names: Pax ("peace"), Aurelia ("golden"), Felicita ("good fortune"), and others in the same spirit. They come from what the Azure Flame was meant to be, a protective faith, not a militant one. Lesser and older cities can have plainer names.

Government: Recently transitioned from absolute monarchy to republic. The shift is recent enough that nobody trusts the institutions yet.

Military: The most professional army on the continent. Standardized equipment, engineering corps, supply lines. The red-moon combat school has its strongest institutional relationship here — combat engineers double as battlefield artillery.

Political situation: The Imperium ended the last war because internal politics were tearing it apart. The shift from Emperor to Republic left the government on unstable footing. They are doing everything possible to hide this weakness. If united and focused they could win any war — but they aren't united. Other nations know they're weak but fear that open aggression would give the Imperium a reason to unite again. The preferred strategy is to keep them depleted by internal strife.

The senate is full of former imperial loyalists pretending they always wanted democracy, alongside idealists who have never governed anything. The military retains old imperial loyalties, making popular generals more dangerous than enemy armies.

Religion: The Azure Flame is the religion of the Empire. See The Azure Flame.

Felicita: A wealthy port city on the Empire's Atlantic coast, in the France analog, about where Bordeaux is, known for its wine and its merchants. The name (feh-LEE-kih-tah) is the city's own worn-down form of Felicitas, "good fortune." Late in the Long War, Ssyrathis took it and held it, and it's the city the Medusae's armies marched from on Aurelia. It belongs to the Empire again today.

Aurelia: A port city on the Empire's southern coast, in the France analog, about where Montpellier is. About 134 years ago, late in the Long War, Ssyrathis held Felicita and marched on Aurelia, aiming to take the whole region from the Empire. An avatar of the Azure Flame turned the army back and saved the city, and she has carried its name ever since. She hasn't died since, and she's one of the two Walking Gods. See The Azure Flame and Religion documents.

The Sigils: The Imperium has the highest concentration of old Sigil bloodlines. The Sentinel Sigil was the Emperor's house — now politically complicated in a republic that resents what they represent. The Warder house has successfully placed multiple senators and is better positioned for the republic than anyone expected.

Sigils present: Sentinel (Emperor's house), Warder (senate-entangled)

Geography note: Very early in the Long War, the Imperium lent a hand to the Giants' draining of the sea between Theria and Azlotl — the act of war that took the Catfolk out of the Long War and scattered them into the Catfolk Diaspora. See Geography, Giant Kingdoms, and Catfolk documents. This isn't a closely guarded secret anymore, and it's from long enough ago that it reads more as uncomfortable history than an active conspiracy — how much the current Republic's leadership dwells on, teaches, or is even troubled by its own ancestors' role in it is open, campaign-level material.