Imperium (Setting Info)

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IMPERIUM

The Imperium was founded as an alliance between the Church of the Dark God and the Magi.  The Magi were a group of powerful spellcasters, led by the Elders (or Elder Magi), who agreed to aid the Church in banishing the rest of the pantheon from the lands that would become Gratis and the rest of the Empire (note that while other gods are still worshipped in secret, they have very little power within the bounds of the Empire).  In return for their aid, the Elder Magi received power, control, and immortality.  The success of this alliance resulted in the Imperium, the structure of which reflects the interplay between the two dominant factions of the Magi and the Church. Due to the machinations of the Church and the Dark God, the Imperium controls the safe use of magic within the bounds of the Empire, and he who controls the magic controls reality.  It is much easier for a highly-skilled spellcaster to join the Magi and receive a license and a talisman than it is to try and channel raw spell energy on his own, and so the Imperium holds the reins on the learning and use of the most powerful magics.


THE CITY OF GRATIS



Gratis is a major city of one-hundred seventy-five thousand people. The place was established to serve as the port for an important fortress built at the time of the founding of the Imperium, a citadel called Glast'Heim, which later became the headquarters for the City Watch. More significantly, however, it lies in the shadow of an impossibly tall (almost three thousand feet) and thin pinnacle of rock known simply as the Spire. The Spire and its surroundings seethe with mysterious legends and rumors. These tales tell of ancient battles waged and cities erected on the site, of demons and dark lords, of forgotten kings and mighty wizards. Some say that the Spire was raised by the Elder Magi; others insist it had existed for thousands of years before.  Many such stories might be at least somewhat true, for recent developments have revealed vast complexes beneath the city. Of late, Gratis has become a city of adventurers. Treasure-seekers flock there to explore and plunder the labyrinthine structures beneath the streets, which they call the “Dungeon.” If the stories are correct, these catacombs include the following:

• The sewers of the city;
• vast stretches of subterranean passages and chambers created by a Lich and his minions;
• the remains of an even older city;
• an abandoned underground dwarven settlement called Dwarrowdeep;
• and levels that plunge incredibly deep below the present urban area.

Gratis lies in a cool, rainy coastal region with harsh winters. It serves as an important port on the Bay of Mortis off the Whitewall Sea and is the official capitol of the Imperium, though the Emperor of the Church usually resides in his palace in Tarsis.




GRATIS FACTS AND STATISTICS

• Humans are by far the most common race in the city, but monsters and other races are allowed.
• The Gratis year has 364 days, with twelve months and a seven-day week.
• The Gratis climate is cool, with many overcast or rainy days.
• The typical commoner earns 1 to 3 sp per day.
• There are no banks, as such, but you can rent out a small personal vault to store your valuables at places such as Hammersong Vaults in Oldtown.
• Buildings have glass windows that hinge open.
• Most buildings, but not all of them, have indoor plumbing, including privies that pump water in via hand pumps and drain it away into the city sewers.
• You can hire a messenger to carry notes and packages anywhere in the city. This typically costs 1 sp per delivery. There is also a magical messenger service run by the Magic which is much more expensive.
• Carriages are widely available for hire to take you wherever you want to go. This service costs about 1 sp per trip.
• While no stranger to magic or monsters, the typical Gratisite fears the undead rumored to stir in the Necropolis. Even more real, however, are fears of thieves, fire, plague, and the deadly whims of the Magi.
• The Gratis City Watch is extremely competent. Despite this fact, the city has a terrible crime problem because the Watch is also quite corrupt.
• Ratmen live in the sewers.
• Rumors speak of Cults of Chaos finding new members about the city these days.
• Imperial law requires that everyone carries identification papers. Written law favors citizens over noncitizens, but practical law favors the upper classes over the lower.
• Most shops and places of business stay open as long as the sun is up, which means that business hours are longer in the summer than in the winter. Many are open seven days a week.
• The city is huge.  Huge. The caves, ruins, tunnels, etc. below the city are also huge. It contains lost civilizations and abunch of other unknown stuff. People from all over the world come here to try and make it rich.

ARCANE MAGIC IN GRATIS

• Every arcane spell cast within Gratis (and other lands under the sway of the Imperium) requires an additional focus component, which is handed out under licensing by the Magi.  Each focus is attuned to a particular individual, so there's no black market for these things (it's done in a ritual by one of the Elder Magi).
• It is possible to cast a spell without using the focus, by channeling the raw spell energy.  However, to do so you have to make a caster level check at a DC of 10 + 3 times the spell level.  If you fail the check, you still cast the spell, but at -2 CL; you also take 2d4 points of damage per spell level.
• Whether or not you use the focus, you can try to channel MORE spell energy into a spell than the minimum.  This works sort of like the Overchannel feat in psionics.  You can voluntarily take Xd8 of damage, to gain one of the following effects: (i) +X DC for the spell; (ii) +Xd6 damage of the appropriate type for the spell (this is independent of caps); (iii) +2X to the spell penetration roll to defeat SR. This damage is not reduced by DR or energy resistance.  X can be any positive integer up to 1/2 your HD.

Channeling small amounts of spell energy without a focus is not terribly difficult, and so the Magi only give out licenses to casters who reach a certain degree of proficiency.  (They keep very strict watch on those who seem close to reaching such a degree, though they will often ignore less able arcanists.)  They induct the most skilled and talented into their own ranks, and rumor says that members of the Magi can use their talismans to achieve greater effects with their spells than those with a lesser license. It is theoretically possible (though extremely dangerous) to disguise one's spellcasting ability so as to evade the notice of the Magi.  Legend says that the bones of those who have tried and been caught are on display in a museum somewhere in the city.

RELIGION AND DIVINE MAGIC IN GRATIS

The day the Imperium was founded, the Dark God's followers (the Church) and allies (the Elder Magi) bound all other deities out of the Imperium's realm.  They couldn't remove their influence completely, but the in Dark God's demesne, other deities have very little power.  Anyone caught overtly worshipping a deity other than the Dark God, or participating in any other religion, is branded a Heretic and has their tongue pulled out.  This doesn't stop citizens of the Imperium from venerating their ancestral gods, but they do so in extreme secrecy and infrequence.  Everyone pays lip service to the Dark God, or at least holds their tongue out of expediency.

For clerics and others who cast divinely-inspired magic (excepting Druids, Rangers, and the like who venerate nature), the Dark God's agency is more explicit.  Those who worship the Dark God directly can cast as normal, subject to the usual roleplaying and alignment restrictions of worship.  For those who worship other deities, it becomes more complicated.

• All spells with the [Good] or [Chaotic] descriptors suffer a spell failure chance equal to 10% times the level of the spell.
• Domain spells prepared from domains which are not on the Dark God's list also suffer a spell failure chance equal to 10% times the level of the spell.  The exception to this is spells which also belong to one of the Dark God's domains; such spells are cast with a -2 penalty to caster level.
• All other non-domain spells which are granted by praying to other deities suffer a -2 penalty to caster level.
• At any time a divine caster who worships a different deity may ask the Dark God for divine sponsorship; if she does so, all caster level penalties are immediately removed, she loses access to any [Good], [Chaotic], and off-domain spells, and she gains a +2 morale bonus to caster level for 1 minute due to the euphoria of the Dark God's attention.  However, she cannot pray to her original deity for spells unless she receives the benefit of an atonement spell from a worshipper of her original deity of her level or higher.
  

THE DARK GOD

Greater God (Lawful Evil)
Ambition. Power. Control. Magic.  These are the purview of the Dark God, the otherwise nameless entity who controls the Church, and therefore the Imperium.  The Dark God's messenger, a coal-black Chronotyryn, speaks with his true voice to the Grand Council, handing down judgement and edicts that go beyond the jurisdiction of the Emperor.  Feared and revered, the Church of the Dark God works with brutal efficiency, while the Magi reap the benefits of the Dark God's arcane essence.
Worshipper Alignments: LN, TN, LE, NE, CE
Portfolio: Tyrrany, Fear, Magic
Domains: Domination, Evil, Inquisition, Law, Magic, Shadow, Spell, Tyranny
Cleric Training: Clerics of the Dark God are trained in regimented and brutal military-style academies.  Advancement is merit-based, though (in classic Lawful-Evil fashion) everyone must watch their back at all times.
Quests: The Dark God's followers aim to root out heretics and destroy their opposition at every turn.  There is much friction between the highly-structured Church and the entitled impulsiveness of the Magi.
Prayers: Every prayer ends with "as the Dark God wills", which has entered the common vernacular as a replacement for statements such as "with luck".  The Dark God is invoked in the name of ambition or discovery, especially in regards to magical insight (arcane or divine).
Temples: Temples to the Dark God come in all shapes and sizes, though they all have certain features in common -- 90° angles and equal-length sides, small windows and dark interiors, and large libraries.  Priests stay in military-style bunks.
Favored Weapon: Bastard sword or greataxe.
Holy Symbol: A pentagram surrounded by black flames.

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Imperium Citizenship
Most people in the Imperium are Citizens. The child of a citizen is automatically a citizen, and for 250 gp, virtually anyone can go through the process of procuring citizenship.  All citizens are issued papers proving their citizenship. These Imperium Citizenship Papers show a person’s name, age, place of birth, place of residence, family members, employment, and a general physical description. They also record past residences and major travels. These identification papers are an important tool for the Imperium to keep tabs on—and therefore control—its population. They also give City Watch guards, officials, and others an idea of how they ought to treat a given person. Typically, all humans, all dwarves, all halflings, most elves, most half-orcs, and most gnomes are citizens. Some 1/2 ogres and centaurs are citizens. Very few lizardfolk or dragonkin are citizens. Virtually no goblins, orcs, minotaurs, or similar creatures are citizens. Ratmen, demons, and truly monstrous creatures are never citizens. Imperial citizenship ends upon one’s death (although it is reinstated if the person is raised), so undead are never citizens.



Subjective Law Enforcement
It would be naive to think that, just because certain actions require permits, everyone who undertakes such actions always has them. No one building in the Warrens obtains a permit first, and there are far more illegal prostitutes and gambling dens than legal ones (to avoid both license fees and taxes).

There are crimes so serious that, although they may not carry the penalty of death, if someone killed the perpetrators while attempting to stop them, the authorities would not bat an eye. For example, say you come upon two KillRavens beating a sister of the Silent Order within an inch of her life. For this crime of assaulting an official, they should receive up to twenty years imprisonment. However, no judge in Gratis would say a word against a band of adventurers who came upon the scene and slew the assailants.  Typically, a thief has his forehead branded to warn potential victims. Sometimes a pickpocket has a finger removed, and castration as punishment for rapists is standard in the city. In Gratis, if a child commits a crime, his parents are legally responsible for facing the punishment.

The City Watch is closer to an occupying military force than an urban police force, and are more interested in order than justice, and more interested in the well-being of the city as a whole than in the needs of a particular citizen.  Since criminal investigations are rare, this means that people who take action into their own hands can break into a crime lord’s safe house, kill all the thugs and cutthroats inside, and—as long as they make good on their escape before the Watch shows up—they can get away without fear of punishment. The concept of citizens “taking the law into their own hands” is not considered a bad thing in Gratis. Local authorities, from the lowest-ranking guard to the  Commissar himself, are quite practical in this regard. In an effort to maintain order, they do what’s best for the city rather than strictly uphold all the laws of the Vast Codex. If an angry mob finds and lynches a kidnapper of children, the authorities not only don’t intervene, they don’t make arrests. They go out of their way not to get involved. In most cases, the City Watch would rather not even know about it, to avoid the bureaucratic paperwork. The guards are happy to look the other way in such instances.
Imperial lawmakers recognize the need to defend oneself against aggression. “Self defense,” a very common defense in murder or assault cases, often results in acquittal and complete exoneration for the accused.

Crime and “Monsters”
Nonhumanoid creatures have no rights under Imperial law. In other words, it is not murder to slay a dragon, it is not assault to attack a troll, and it is not theft to rob from a manticore’s hoard. Exceptions have been made, however, in the case of beings like Urlexus, ogre-mage Star of the City Watch, and Shrugata, minotaur cleric of the Church, who clearly have found a place in civilized society.



Monsters in the City
Unlike most cities in Campaigns, it’s not too out of the ordinary to see “monsters” in the streets. Nobles use ogre slaves to carry palanquins. Elf battle mages ride a wyvern through the streets. At least one local druid has a giant owl companion. In 712 IA, the Commissar himself offered to pay volunteers to be polymorphed into trolls to contribute to the city’s defense. (He found only a handful of takers.) It’s almost odd not to see a dragon on the grounds of House Calaspers estate. A strange ocular tyrant runs the asylum for insane arcanists. And, of course, there are the creatures redeemed by the Brotherhood of Redemption, not the least of which is the ogre-mage cleric Urlexus.

Slavery
Owning a slave is not illegal in Gratis—although it does raise eyebrows. Kidnapping people to sell as slaves is illegal, as is selling slaves. Abuse of anyone, including slaves, is also illegal. Of course, all these things still go on, more in some circles than others.
One commodity traded in the Market is fiendish slaves bound to magical amulets that compel them to obey the owner. These amulets contain the essence of the fiend or some important fraction thereof. The Calasper family forged its criminal empire by creating and selling these amulets and continues the practice. The fiends, forced to come into this world from Hell against their will, are immediately bound to the amulet, then secreted away in some secret  chamber of the Calasper estate until the amulet is sold. At that time, the new owners can call the fiends to them at will and give them whatever command they wish. The price for a fiend slave amulet is the creature’s CR squared, multiplied by 500 gp. Obviously, if an amulet’s owner ever allows it to fall into the hands of the fiend bound to it, the fiend can steal back its rightful essence and become free to act as it wishes—which usually starts with killing the amulet’s owner in some horrible, painful fashion. This also happens if the amulet is destroyed. If the fiend is slain, the amulet becomes worthless.

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Division of Power and the Grand Council

Politics in the Imperium is mostly a state of uneasy truce and cease-fire between the Church and the Magi.  The two factions ignore each other as much as possible, leaving respective jurisdictions alone. The ultimate power in the Imperium is the Grand Council, which is comprised of the Emperor of the Church and the Elder Magi, and advised by a number of high dignitaries such as the Commissar of the City Watch and various other officials.  The Grand Council rarely meets, as the Emperor and the Elder Magi dislike each other and prefer to operate independently; they also prefer to minimize the scrutiny from their dark master, as the secretary of the Grand Council is a bound Chronotyryn supplied by the Dark God, who also reports directly to him on the workings of the Grand Council.   To the Church is given dominion over divine magic, as well as the general legal and justice system. The Church is the official religion of the Imperium, and worship of other deities is officially outlawed, though as long as the Dark God is given lip service this law is not strictly enforced in most cases.  The Church also oversees the day-to-day workings of the Empire, and thus works closely with the City Watch. To the Magi is given dominion over arcane magic and scholarship, and regulation thereof.  The Magi make the laws governing the legal use of arcane magic and give out licenses to those who prove both worthy and loyal to the Magi (and the Imperium, of course...).   An interesting consequence of this segregation of power is that Magi are remanded to the justice of their own faction, which is extremely lenient to its members.  Thus, Magi are often smugly superior in their actions of questionable legality, secure in the knowledge that if arrested the City Watch will have to turn them over to the Magister, usually for a slap on the wrist and nothing more.  This increases the fear and resentment the common folk have for Magi, as any legal rulings will almost certainly go in favor of the Magus in question.  This judicial leniency is another draw of membership in the Magi, and cements their stranglehold on the use of arcane magic.

The Magi

The Magi are a loosely-organized brotherhood of skilled arcanists, founded on a sense of entitlement, privelege, and vice.  Ranks in the organization are handed down somewhat arbitrarily by the upper echelon, and the system of titles is based on age (though actual physical age rarely plays a part), with the highest ranks called Venerable and the newest members called Younglings. Magi live lives of luxury and excess, cushioned by extremely benevolent treatment due to the quirks of the Imperium's legal system.  They have the run of Gratis, and are feared, respected, and resented by the normal populace.  Members are encouraged to pursue their own studies and agendas; while infighting is officially discouraged, the culture embraces the mentality of "survival of the fittest" to its fullest extent. The High Arcana games are the highlight of the year, as the Venerable Magi each attempts to gain reputation and power through the success of the team they sponsor.  It is the winning team's sponsor who distributes the new Younglings to his or her proteges as apprentices and assistants.  Occasionally the Elder Magi will participate as sponsors instead of the Venerables, when the crop of new talent is especially strong.

The Church of the Dark God

The structure of the Church is hierarchical, with absolute power residing in the personage of the Emperor, who is both high priest and hereditary liege to the clergy.  The Emperor is feared and revered nearly as much as the Elder Magi (though the Five have achieved legendary status over the lifetimes of a hundred Emperors), and wields as much if not more power over the day-to-day workings of the Imperium.   The current Emperor is a very old, very powerful, and very ruthless human man named Ruric Eldredge, said to be a direct descendant of the first Emperor and founder of the Imperium.  Emperor Eldredge normally lives in Tarsis, but is at the moment on an extended stay in Gratis. Second in command and heir is the Prince of the Church, who currently is Eldredge's son Aldric.  He personally commands the Knights of the Dawn, and has had public disagreements with his father on several integral items of Church doctrine.  Rumor has it that these disagreements are the reason for the Emperor's presence in Gratis, watching over his son's shoulder and attempting to turn him into a suitable replacement in the eyes of the Dark God. Unlike the Magi, the Church is founded less on a sense of entitlement and more on practicality and military efficiency.  Priest-judges earn and keep their posts through rigorous and constant evaluations of ability and merit, and the Church will not hesitate to reassign a priest or priestess to a distant and unpleasant post if he or she shows the slightest lapse in judgement or loyalty.

The City Watch

The third major faction of the Imperium in Gratis is the City Watch, which occupies the unenviable position of having to answer to two conflicting and often contradictory sets of orders.  The position of Commissar is a thankless job, and has a very high turnover rate, as often one faction will decide that the current Commissar is guilty of treason (often by virtue of following orders given by the other faction) and will have him executed. Technically, members of the City Watch are subordinate to members of the Magi or the Church of equal rank.  Practically, however, the Watch tends to treat all members of the Magi and Church as superiors, as the Watch has to answer to both factions in matters of protocol and rulings almost never go in their favor.  Constables of the Watch are reluctant to arrest members of either faction, no matter what their actions.

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THE ELDER MAGI


The Elder Magi stand over all as imposing overlords, spiders in the shadows, and terrifying virtual demigods.  Their attention is both craved and feared, as they have been known to both elevate those that please them and utterly destroy any that displease them on a whim, often with a simple wave of the hand.  Much information about the individuals themselves has been lost to the vagaries of time (and, perhaps, by conscious action on the part of the Five), but some rudimentary knowledge and reputation exists.

Noctus

First among them is the man known only as Noctus, Who Walks in Shadow.  It is said that during the founding of the Imperium, he personally slew the goddess Nera by imprisoning her and consuming her life essence.  He is constantly surrounded by a nearly impenetrable cloud of darkness.  It is also rumored that he is a dark elf, though no one living, not even the other Elder Magi, has ever seen his face.  He is the most mysterious of the Five.



Protea

Second is Protea, the Warper of Reality.  She wears many faces, and stories of her lurking behind every smile are told to naughty children at bedtime.  She has been known to call impossible creatures into existence, transform even her most powerful enemies into harmless animals, and bend traditional spells in impossible ways.  She is traditionally the most feared of all the Elder Magi.



The Ravener

Third is the Ravener, who is the most unpredictable and erratic of the Five, and also the most well-known, as he cares little for secrecy.  He is a deep orc who revels in physical combat and slaughter, unlike most of the other Elder Magi, and has been known to call demons from Hell, set them free, and hunt them for sport.  He is able to wield powerful magic both arcane and divine, but usually chooses not to do so, instead tearing apart his enemies in personal melee.



Lillianna Ularis

Fourth is Lillianna Ularis, who wields energy in its most primal form.  She is an Illumian, and very secretive.  She is the least known of the Elder Magi, and spends most of her time in the Inverted Pyramid (so it is rumored).



Dusk
Fifth among them is Dusk, an androgynous human vampire.  Like the Ravener, Dusk has almost legendary martial prowess, and carries an enormous sword.  However, Dusk uses magic much more readily than the Ravener, and to deadly effect.  Legend holds that a group of powerful Sun Clerics attempted to destroy Dusk shortly after the founding of the Imperium, and were themselves annihilated  singled-handedly in a matter of seconds.  Dusk is the most reclusive of the Five, appearing for a few weeks every decade or so.

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The Emperor

Ruric Eldredge, High Priest of the Dark God and Emperor of the Church and the Imperium, has ruled the Imperium for many years with an adamantine fist.  He is a calculating, intelligent, politically astute, ruthless, and controlling man. The Emperor dedicated his whole life and all his efforts into maintaining the balance of power in the Imperium, considering himself the counterbalance to the eldritch whims of the Elder Magi. He is a proven battle commander and politician, and has a very powerful personal presence.  Unlike past Emperors, the Elder Magi seem to grant Emperor Ruric a wary respect.



The Commissar

The current Commissar of the City Watch, a Goliath named Nagak Othuigakea, gained his position by distinguished service in supressing the Eastgate Rebellion 15 years ago (his ascension was also aided by his predecessor's activities in organizing said rebellion). He has held it for an unusually long time through a combination of brutal efficiency, unusual tactics, and an uncanny knack for navigating the treacherous landscape of Imperium politics. He has even earned a measure of respect from both the Church and the Magi, though of course either faction would not hesitate to remove his head from his shoulders should it prove inconvenient to leave it there. Under the leadership of Commissar Nagak's iron fist, the effectiveness of the City Watch has increased dramatically, though corruption still runs rampant (as through the rest of the Imperium). He also founded and personally trained the Commissar's Men, a truly elite strike force under the umbrella of the Watch that all new Watchmen aspire to and very few achieve.

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THE HIGH ARCANA GAMES

The High Arcana Games is a year-long tournament run by the Magi.  The Games open on the first day of the new year, and points are tallied on the 350th day of that year.  The results are announced the next day, followed by two weeks of feasting and recruiting for the next year's Games.

The structure of the tournament is very free-form.  Teams can register at any time, and often do as hopefuls flock to Gratis throughout the year to participate.  To register a team, a group of hopefuls need simply find a sponsor among the many Ancient or Venerable Magi.  Ancient Magi in particular jump at the chance to sponsor a team, because sponsoring a winning team is one of the few ways to be promoted to Venerable.

Once a team has registered, it attempts to complete missions assigned out by the Games Masters.  Each mission is assigned a point value based on its difficulty.  There are also ancillary points which can be accrued while carrying out the mission.

The official role of the sponsor is to provide guidance and support for the team, and to take responsibility for any collateral damage the team inflicts.  Unofficially, sponsors often take it upon themselves to try and help their team cheat, to bribe the Games Masters, and otherwise ensure their team's chances.

Team members who are killed can be raised or resurrected at cost by one of the Church officials enlisted by the Games Masters for that very purpose.  Depending on the usefulness of the team member, sponsors can sometimes be convinced to pay for such things.

The winning team at the end of the Games is immediately inducted into the Magi.  If any members of the team are arcane spellcasters, they are brought on as apprentices to the sponsor or any of his proteges; any other members become
personal aides or guards for the sponsor.  Such a posting is extremely prestigious, as even the mundane members of the Magi have essentially free reign of the city.

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HIGH ARCANA ANCILLARY POINTS

Each member of another team killed                   +10
Each non-Citizen destroyed (monsters, ratmen, etc.)   +1
Each team member killed                               –5