The Arachai imperial family ruled the Empire from its beginnings almost fifteen hundred years before the current time. What began as the large estate of the wealthy slave trader Zar Arachai grew into a city by the time of Zar's grandson, Zafur Arachai, and two generations later, under the banner of Zan Arachai, the Arachai Nation claimed sovereignty from the now long-dead nation of Tenzea. The Arachai Nation grew for many years, expanding to fill the continent of its origin and then beyond, propelled by its then-unusual strategies of relying heavily on horse and air troops, as well as the much-feared supernatural troops.
The nation was always monarchistic, and its change in name from the Arachai Nation to the Arachai Empire under Zaphet Arachai was not a surprise to many. Under Zaphet, the new Empire looked outward across the seas, and naval development began in earnest. The superior strategies and power of the Empire soon caused it to spread far beyond its original shores, to become the most powerful entity on the planet.
Success was not eternal, however. As will happen with all great military advances, Arachai's competitors modified their strategies and armies to match or exceed the Empire's. The enormous length of the Empire's borders meant that they were necessarily thinly-defended, and the rapid expansion of them caused great resentment among the people of the conquered nations. Between military strikes by increasingly-powerful enemies and the civil wars, riots, and general destruction caused by the Empire's newer citizens, the expansion of Empire slowed, and eventually reversed. In time, all that was left was the Empire we see today, holding perhaps one third of one small continent, half a world from the place where it began. The aggression toward the Empire continued even after it was no longer a real threat, primarily due to its backward and brutal practices, such as the continued legality of slavery, frowned upon in every nearby nation, and its generally warlike and unfriendly nature. A string of mad emperors did not help matters.
The last active emperor was Zalin Arachai. In an effort to make peace, he decreed slavery illegal, and signed treaties of peace with various other nations. The Empire was suddenly no longer regarded as the enemy of the civilized world. When Lok had risen to the rank of Lord Commander, he pushed for expansion and the repeal of the ban on slavery, since he believed that he could bring the Empire back to its former glory. At that time, however, such things were far in the past for almost every nation, and Zalin would not allow his Empire to fall to such schemes, back into the darkness that had once plagued it.
Lok murdered Zalin. The Emperor's son Zachaeus was placed in the castle dungeons, in Lok's execution chamber. He could look forward to a life of pain and misery. In the morning, the announcement was made that the Emperor and his son had been assassinated, and that the Imperial line was ended. The Lord Commander would take the Emperor's place as the ruler and protector of the Empire. Lok turned down the title of Emperor; he said to the people that the Arachais would always hold that honour. In reality, however, he was disgusted at the idea of sharing a title with seventy-five generations of inbred weaklings.
Lord Commander Lok was a vicious ruler. His first act was to once again legalize the recently-banned practice of slavery, creating a sudden wealth of business opportunities for the less-honourable people of the Empire and beyond. He regarded humans as toys for his amusement, and his amusement consisted mainly of the mental and physical torture of humans who did not agree with his beliefs or did not behave in a way that earned his respect. Sadly, this included slaves, who had little choice in their actions. It also included the unfortunate Zachaeus Arachai, the son of Zalin Arachai.
Lok's brutality prompted several righteous raids and minor battles, but since the Empire still kept mostly to itself while it built up its forces and the Lord Commander's acts were committed almost entirely within the walls of the Empire, few felt a need to take action. The only real battles were fought against the Laryxes, strange and inhuman creatures. No human nation cared when the Laryx armies were crushed by the Lord Commander's forces.
When Ilyea, an old photic ally-turned-traitor of Lok's, arrived and tried to kill Lok to reinstate the rightful ruler, he and then-Ordinator Thanatos nearly killed her; a small piece of her survived, but could not regenerate, as photics cannot use blood to heal themselves. The top floor and roof of the castle were destroyed, and later repaired.
Later, when Lok was on the Lord Commander's level of the castle engaging in his favourite pastime, the photics struck in force, decimating the castle's upper floor once again. Everyone thought Lok was dead, and Thanatos took his place as Lord Commander. Lok was not dead, however, and instead gathered some allies from throughout his home planes, all the while pursued by ever-increasing numbers of photics, before returning to the living world and comsuming enormous quantities of blood, increasing his size outrageously to ensure that he could do as much damage to the photics as possible. When the photics finally struck, Lok caused great losses and casualties by devouring many of them, but their intense heat burned him away slowly until there was almost nothing left. Trapped in a hemisphere of photics, Lok was determined to make a final stand. However, as a last insult, the tiny Ilyea arrived to end Lok, and Lok consumed her while she burned him, until they both disappeared. When the photics left, the molten ground cooled, leaving a great black scar over much of the Empire.
At this point, believing the Lord Commander to be dead, the Ordinator Thanatos took up the title.
It had been four years or so since Thanatos had taken over the leadership of the Empire.
Left on his plate was a struggling auction, a society fragmented and every day on the verge of utter chaos and anarchy, and also a war to wage overseas and far across the continent.
Everyday he did what he could to keep the wolves at the door and the people in relative contentedness. New guardsmen and leadership such as the Lieutenant Owen had been placed in the city garrison to increase security and reform perhaps the worst group of Guards since the Empire's creation. Previously they were more likely to endanger a citizen then help one. Although he was reluctant to do so, Lord Commander Thanatos had also authorized an increase in the "Imperial Population Development and Encouragement Program" which was just an innocuous title for the Slave Hunters. Although he did not fully approve of slavery on the wide-scale, he could not argue with the amount of resources it brought into the economy. But as for the Military he decided to take a much more aggressive stance on account of the enemies that would soon to be made in the coming months. Up until he had taken on the role of Lord Commander Military service was undertaken by volunteers only and even though there ranks were full of blood thirsty warriors there was a huge amount of the population that had not served. Where Thanatos had been weary of taking any being against their will and putting them under the yoke of slavery till the end of days, he had made up for it in his willingness to conscript every able bodied man and woman into at least one branch of the military from the ages of 18 until their 40th birthday for the period of no less than three years. Needless to say the ranks and soldier cities of the Empire skyrocketed and new structures and camps had to be erected to accommodate the surge in troop levels. Those that refused were arrested. Those that tried to flee were hunted down and either executed or were given the option of the collar or enlisting.
But there were somethings that Thanatos could not bring himself to attend to. Gang activity and the illegal drug trade had increased. As the Navy had grown so did the increase of piracy upon the high seas. Trade Caravans and simple travelers were often attacked by bandits and highwaymen. The Slave Market as well as Several banks throughout the city had come under attack but each time the guards were able to thwart of the thieves. The Torture Twitch Manor that had been once newly brought up fell into ruin and was now a frequent meeting place for gangs and general vagabonds. Death and disease were more or less a constant in the more common areas of the city and although the economy was doing well, the working class still suffered. The sheer number of crimes had decreased significantly since the guard increase, but the extreme levels of criminality and viciousness of the criminals did not.
Overall, however, Thanatos maintained the Empire rather well considering the circumstances, and within the period of a few months the entire military would be ready to set out for all out War.
But who is to say what will happen tomorrow, in the next few days? Weeks? Or maybe the next few years? Would they be well on their way into the invasion, the Empire flourishing as it's flag flies over new and distant countries? Or will the city tear itself apart from revolt, anarchy, and it's own decadence?