The Vasquer Standard
Elenore saw the completion of the capitol of the Blackgard Union during the Age of Revolutions. The Bastion, as it was later nad by the people, ca to embody the significance of her station by sheer force of necessity. The position of pri minister ca to have so many offices serving it that the building needed to be enlarged. The bureaucracy that Elenore had established at the very beginning of the Blackgard Union did not stagnate where it’d been born—rather, just as the society had grown, so too had it.
Her reforms of the era split the power of her seat, but her workload had grown so intense it was necessary. Even despite this fragntation, the last vestige of truly imperial power can be seen in the pri minister’s office. Every position that received so delegated authority remains directly appointed by the pri minister, and that seems unlikely to change. In practice, the pri minister still dictates the direction the governnt takes.
Elenore beca an unwilling icon to the working won of the era. In civil service, where won had beco extrely prominent, she set the standard that many of them aspired to. In wider intellectual movents, too, her continued quiet and skillful reign was heralded as the epito of excellence. Elenore’s complete avoidance of these movents has ensured they never reached the heights of others of the age, but Prince Garm says their affection ‘wasn’t entirely hated by the esteed pri minister.’
On the personal front, Elenore and Durran continued to raise a revolving door of orphaned children. Prince Garm deed it ‘a hobby of theirs, wherein they would take in those young children visited by a great tragedy, and then expend their efforts toward ensuring the children achieved both great happiness and great success despite their misfortunes.’ When asked, Elenore rely claims it to be ‘small recompense for the good fortune I had to experience firsthand such a reversal of fate.’
Elenore and Durran had no more trueborn children after Therese, which was a point of small friction between the pair that nonetheless never amounted to genuine conflict; only a ‘few snide comnts,’ according to Garm.
Sword and Shield
Galamon and Orion, once called the sword and shield of the empire, adapted to their changing roles well. The army, for its part, beca far closer to sothing of that of state-funded workers. They still saw action, at many points—the imperial fleet, for its part, was constantly hard-pressed to keep the waters safe as trade began to explode. By and large, the soldiers engaged in far more acts of public benefit, such as laying out the railroads or expanding the sewer systems.
The Order of the Sun under Orion, anwhile, expanded massively. They faced innurable challenges as they did so. Anti-traditionalists decried the dated role of knights in an enlightened society, while instances of excessive force drew close scrutiny from the public eye. In the face of all that, the people constituting the order changed just as society did.
Speaking from my experience as a Knight of the Sun, it ca to be one of the most difficult roles in society. Every day, the knights see the very lowest of society—rapists, murderers, thieves, appearing one after another. We see children enduring that which none should ever have to, and we have to deal with the aftermath of those who’ve taken their lives. We see all that drives n and won to cri, and we see all the misery resulting from illegality.
It can be very difficult not to break beneath that strain. It very nearly did break in 72AC, and led to my retirent in 73AC.
Nevertheless, the Order grew into a fixture of the Blackgard Union, and knights themselves a very prominent and celebrated citizenry. Orion, as their leader, dispelled the notion of superiority of arms entitling one to superiority of rights. He seed the very ideal of the knight they all aspired to—protector of the weak, unfailingly virtuous, and pursuant of the truth no matter the cost.
It ca as an imnse shock, then, when Orion retired as grandmaster in 81AC. His son, Argrave—better known by the nickna Archie—took his place. Such a thing might’ve been controversial had his son not proven amply able of filling the role. He possessed the sa bravery Orion did, while inheriting his Great Chu mother’s talent of magic. Archie beat the emperor himself in a sparring match, once, with the caveat that the emperor refrained from using blood magic. In leadership, too, Archie proved his father’s peer.
Nation’s Architect
During the Age of Revolutions, the na ‘Artur’ beca synonymous with that of a great creator or artist. It’s no wonder why—travelling through the Blackgard Union, should one see a piece of architecture or a monunt that’s particularly striking, the na of its creator in almost invariably the sa: Artur. And if it isn’t, the likely case is that it ca from one of his direct students.
A list of all his great works of the age would be as long as this entire volu in itself. Suffice it to say the revolutionary constructions he produced in the Age of Reclamation continued on ad nauseum in the Age of Revolutions. He continued to receive innurable honors from the crown, going through ceremony after ceremony in which another dal was pinned to his cloak, or another title appended to his na.
In 87AC, two days after his two hundred and twentieth birthday, Artur stopped working altogether. He retired with a woman of uncertain background, presud by many to be a forr goddess who survived the Last Calamity. When asked why, Artur simply said, ‘I have to be miserable and envious to produce good work. That’s a lot harder for , now.’
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As a final honor for all his good work, the date of his birth was declared a national holiday revolving around the arts.
Princes and Princesses
The children of the imperial court diminished in prominence, sowhat, as their parent’s power waned. The Vasquer family achieved a great deal of harmony after the unrest they endured during the Age of Fury. The fifth princess, Gisele, proved to inherit her father’s radical anti-monarchism. She renounced her last na altogether—not out of malice toward her parents, but out of idealism—and went on to focus deeply on the education of the nation. Elenore appointed her as the Master of Public Education—a new office, revolving around the increasingly important role education took in the Blackgard Union.
The fourth prince who’d joined the army, Elimar, beca the right-hand man of Lieutenant General Abadon, commander of the seventh imperial army. Political parties and prominent businessn increasingly attempted to exert influence over the ard forces. Abadon and Elimar stood in stark opposition to this, ensuring that political allegiance stayed far removed from the army as legislation passed to ensure the army’s continued incorruptibility.
Seventh Prince Diedrich, Eighth Prince Yannik, and Sixth Princess Hannelore reached the age of majority during the Age of Revolutions. Unlike their predecessors, they were largely removed from the public eye as the majority of the family transitioned to the island estate of Goldrest. Very little is known of them. When asked, Prince Garm rely smiles and calls them lucky children.
Goldrest beca the place at which the imperial family ca to spend the majority of its ti. The estate has year-long mild weather, a palatial mansion constructed by Artur himself, large orchards of myriad fruits, and warm, sapphire-blue waters that grace it shores. No vessels without permission from the imperial family can near, thanks to endlessly complex wards built into the island. Less than two hundred alive have ever seen its splendor, the majority of whom are either those of Vasquer or the small serving staff living there.
Prince Garm describes it simply: ‘paradise.’
Science of Magic, and the Magic of Science
Magic, fundantally, could be said to have endured no major revolution. Its knowledge was spread, yes, but spellcasters had been probing the depths of magic long before the Last Calamity ended. It’s been the interweaving of magical and mundane that has produced the most significant steps forward. It began in the field of healing arts with Raven—his thods involved an all-too-clever combination of the magic of healing with the mundanity of surgery. That thodology spread to other fields. The combination of the forces of the world and the forces of magic have struck many as the future.
Raven continued this endless march forward with all the fervor of a sinner seeking penance. His advancents in the healing arts remain incredibly notable, even in this age—curing ailnts such as arthritis, delaying the onset of dentia, and mitigating the negative effects of strokes stand as the most prominent examples. A great deal remains out of his reach of yet, and many of these treatnts remain ridiculously costly, requiring the aid of an S-rank spellcaster. Nevertheless, people take strides toward making these thods more efficient, making the magical mundane so that all might partake in the fruits of knowledge. Things have advanced far enough even non-magical humans can breach one hundred years of age.
Other fields march forward in lockstep. The field of magical engineering is becoming particularly prominent, where boats that can sail in the air and other such impossibilities for the common man beco closer to reality every day. Robust protections from governnt ensuring that the one who discovers these things can profit from them make many incredibly eager pursuers of the runaway future. Older thods are made more efficient day by day, and what was the privilege of mages yesterday becos the pleasure of the common man today.
The dwarves, for their part, take part in this revolution with eager hands. Largely unblessed magically, they’ve long been applying magic in such conventional ways. Now, their thods are going through a rebirth in the forges of the Blackgard Union, making them one of the wealthiest classes of citizenry in the nation.
These successes, however, are shadowed by what so think is to be a grim future. Increasingly, a phenonon known as Magical Scarcity has been observed. As the na suggests, the simple ramification of this fact is that magic, as more users arise, is not quite so plentiful as it once was. Magic itself hasn’t decreased, yet as more people use it, the prival force is drawn thinner. While it’s far too early to know if this will be a prevailing trend or an anomaly, the fact remains that many see efforts toward efficiency in magic use as an inevitability if the population should continue to rise, which it seems like to.
Regained Nobility
Several noble houses that fell out of prominence in the past began to reappear, so of their status regained by rit of effort expended. Elias of Parbon saw the continuance of both the bloodlines of Parbon and Jast, alongside his wife Ridia. After achieving great success in resettling land near Relize, their family began the Parbon Foundation, an organization that funds research into healing arts.
Nikoletta of Monticci remains very wealthy, but the Monticci lineage seems likely to pass alongside her. The na lives on in the form of the many magic schools she founded alongside Mina of Veden, herself another noble. Rumors suggest both of their wills are entirely dedicated to a fringe movent promoting certain civil liberties.
Hegazar and Vera, forr duke and duchess of Dirracha, continue their lineage as the only nobles appointed by Argrave himself. They were ornery at first, vehently protesting the king’s decision to end nobility. Vera nearly divorced Hegazar, who’d lost all of his magic, but a firm rebuke for their protests from the crown made them unite closer than ever. By this age, Hegazar reclaid what he lost, and the both of them were S-rank spellcasters. Hegazar is noted for a feat of magical engineering called ‘projections,’ which can display complex images on glass surfaces, enabling complex interfaces on devices. The potential of this invention has yet to be fully explored, but its patent has already earned them great wealth.
House Quadreign remains the only noble house in possession of what can be called a heritage—naly, their black fla. Vasilisa’s incredibly effective stewardship of the north also earned her family so wealth. Her daughter—which she admitted she never intended to have, if not for a touch too much to drink—stands poised to continue her unexpectedly brilliant political legacy as she campaigns for governor, today.
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