Empire of Aen Brainstorm Write-up.

[tomorrow's sunshine]

I wrote this a couple of months ago when I was bored. It's not canon, it'll probably never be canon, it's not revisioned to abide to the current lore, and it's very obviously a first draft -- I really just want to share this in its original form so it can at least see a glimpse of the light of day. It's not up to me to decide if it's bad or not and I won't self-deprecate, so have as much fun reading as I had writing this.

Two hundred years ago, one might've heard of Aen through the lens of mockery: those specially of the Empire of Barsburg judged its choices and laughed at its defeats militarily and economically; month by month, year by year, the other Empire known for its powerful magi and sustainable technology seemed to be closer and closer to doom... until a certain Emperor had an apparent vision of one of the High Angels and, leading its warriors into battle blinded by religious zealousry, mixed in with various giant clans of Vdalion, managed to balance the power of the region and, bit by bit, chunk by chunk... the dystopical Empire would find its grave.

Of course, politics aren't that simple, and following Barsburg's defeat in what is known as The War to End All Wars, Aen suffered enormous economic backlash and its following years were unstable and miserable: by choosing not to destroy the Capitol, Aen ensured the Technomancers of the late Barsburg got to still be organized, and the multiple cultures that Aen inherited from its previous controller were not happy... so the Emperor made multiple changes, the most notable of which was to reinstate the Senate that had long since been abolished, ensuring each province and culture got a say in politics... or at least theorically.

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Since then, Aen has seen a new faction emerge -- that of the Technomancers, to dispute against the Faithless and the Faith itself.

The Technomancers are the same from late Barsburg: they are the scientists and the artificers behind the machinery and arsenal of the country. They're more of a rogue faction, as most can't quite come to terms with Aen, and some take it as a faith, seeking to infuse one's body with magitech and revering the simple act of making technology.

The Faith is the main religious group of Aen; they follow a different sect of Kraunism that believes the High Angels and Kraus are the only divine beings that deserve worship, and all the rest, specially the Primordials, are fake 'gods'. They don't follow the Valmasian Book of Kraus, but an altered version made by the Prophet, who supposedly had a vision with Maltziel before going on a conquest campaign that ended in the creation of the early Empire of Aen.

While those of the Faith will tell you that is the absolute truth, the Faithless will often call it a bluff and laugh at their faces, but they aren't exactly 'faithless' either -- 'Faithless' is simply a broad term to everyone that isn't part of the Faith, and that includes those that worship other beings that aren't Kraus. They're the main users of the Ritual of Inheritance, for the Krausites believe it goes directly against High Angel Jaelthael's wish against immortality, and the Technomancers are mostly opposed to the idea for a multitude of reasons.

The Ritual of Inheritance is what has always defined Aen and made it different from all of the other countries. When a magi of a family is about to die, be it from old age, or if they simply wish it, they are brought to one of the Great Towers of Aen, and a ritual starts. The ritual itself consists of merging the issuer's soul with the receiver's, inheriting memories, personality and, most importantly, a fraction of their power. The memories inherited, however, are like that of one's childhood: it's in a thin line between what is real and what is not, and if it is a dream or a real memory is extremely hard to know by one's own hand.

As more and more generations are 'inherited', the ones who inherit mix their personality to their ancestor's more and more, to form some sort of amalgamation of personalities that almost strip them of what makes them... them -- for the inheritor's personality adds little to the pile, and it shows little.

The ritual itself is obviously not done fully by a familiar's magic, though they aid in it: it is said, or at least theorized, that the secret lies in the Great Towers themselves, who are as old as Aen...

...and sometimes, they scream.

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Despite all that, the average Aenese citizen has little to complain about, specially if they're from the original region of Aen and its Capital, Heraclacia. They don't live a dystopical life like what was the case in the Capitol, and even there things have been better since the arrival of Aen: they live a... normal and boring life. The farmer farms his farm, the factory worker works his machines, and the architect visualizes his project.

Aenese culture descends a lot from that of Astya, as is the case with that entire region, so most of its naming conventions and architecture is based off of that; culture varies, and with the Ritual of Inheritance, it's very obvious that the culture surrounding magi is to strive to be the best of the best: it's one of the many reasons Aen won the battle against Barsburg, and its victory and losses are directly correlated to the number of powerful magi and specially those that have generations of Inheritance. As such, the loss of a great family of magi hurts Aen a lot.