The Empire of Shaladar

The empire is formed by multiple dukedoms that serve the current KingKing Jorgen Lumbard. These various dukedoms form a large area of land and each one has its own Duke that runs the territory. The different dukedoms are Shaladar, Stone Watch, Chevald, Golden Fields, and Mist Hollow. These different dukedoms span a large area, and because of this have different culture and backgrounds from eachother.

Altras is the capital of Shaladar and is the heart and might of the empire. Altras is most notiably known for its Mage’s guild. The mage's guild is the most accessible and succseful in the world. The city has trained thousands of mages that travel across the world enriching the lives of others while displaying the empires soft power to the world. The Mages college provides knowledge and learning of various different magic types like water, fire, wind, time, etc. However, some magics are forbidden such as necromancy and chaos magics. For young and less experienced mages, they first learn practical magics to help out the empire. If someone shows a special apitude they can continue their studies for a life time. Some of the higher end mages practice the more theoretical and possible uses of magic.

The crowning acheivement of the Mages guild is known as The Ark. The Ark is a reservoir of magic that the mages channel mana into it, and with the help of massive magical crystals, stores large amounts of mana. Successful mages that graduate from the college are given a stone that allows them to communicate with the mages that are currently controlling Ark’s power. With this magical stone, a mage can request for mana if there is not enough in the region, or if they need a large amount very quickly. This is normally reserved for very important circumstances, and can be used for war or other dire situations. The stone acts as a conduit for the mana from The Ark to be passed through.

While the college is not necessarily known for their battle mages, they certainly do study war magic as well. Some mages will dedicate themselves to war magic and can be formidable opponents in their own right. The highest ranks of mages for the army are even trained on how to ride a Griffon. Griffons are hard to raise, but their toughness and mobility can turn a mage into an even more destructive force. The griffons are one of the biggest strengths to their army and truly make up their elite units. If not used for mages, then griffons will be part of the Griffon Legion. This is a group of elite cavalry and can decimate unprepared flanks.

If that wasn’t enough, Shaladar is also the largest and richest human empire. With their dominant trade capacity with many parts of the world, they have quite a few different races that reside in their city such as the Al’Rahm, Dwarfs, and Elves. Besides the free city of Altburg, Shaladar is one of the most diverse places in the world. Being the biggest human empire, they are able to field larger armies than most foes, and can spare the expense to have some well trained soldiers as well. This makes them a very versatile and capable empire.

With Altras being right next to Dalris Lake, it has access to many different cities across the land allowing it be a dominant trade hub. One of the rivers connects all the way to the Free city of Altburg which is an ocean city in the west. Atlburg does not have a large enough region to fully defend themselves, so the Shaladar empire provides them with protection in exchange for good trade routes out of the port city.