Bludgarten

Bludgarten is a very old empire. Its borders have not changed in over 7000 years. It is complacent, decadent, and very powerful. The capital is Carcosa; it used to sit on the shore of the Halitus sea which has since turned into a desert from wasteful use. The current Imperator is Vladislav XXIII. He has been on the throne for the last 30 years.

The empire has been suffused with a new energy by the discovery of technology. Technology is recent, most advances done in the last 15 years. Electrotech and other technologies were actually discovered in the neighboring Republic of Mordavia. Blutgarten, having spies everywhere, stole the technologies from them and used its vast resources to ensure the defection of the greatest minds to develop the technologies further. Firearms, trains and factories can now be found all over the empire. Researches advance rapidly and new inventions appear regularly.

People are a bit xenophobic, considering everyone else inferior. This happens at all levels of society, both regarding other countries but also within the empire itself. People from the city look down on those who live in the country and vice-versa, while nobles look down on the common people who laugh at them. Everyone living in the city (no matter the race) considers those who live in the country (whether they are farmers, elves living in a forest or dwarves in a mountain) as primitive. Everyone living in the country considers people in cities strange. They don’t like the smells, pollution and city dweller’s attitudes.

Dwarves, elves and others who live in the city have done so for generations. There is the occasional member of a race who will leave their tribe to go to the city but they will invariably have trouble adapting and it will take them a long time be accepted. Those who have lived for generations in cities have adopted local names and customs, and abandoned their traditions.

Nobles like to show how idle they are and entertain themselves with theatre, opera, artistic pursuits, hunting and fashion. Fashion is very important and changes every few months. The current fashion for both men and women is very severe with high collars and very little skin showing.

Noble women like to show how much free time they have by walking their pets. Things went so far as walking snails but the women were too impatient and the fad disappeared quickly. Turtles are the current fashion.