The Eternal Empire is part of a SBURB created universe that, until recently, had been under the influence of something known as the Reality Bomb. Time had been distorted and altered, moving extremely rapidly from the outside looking in. This has since been fixed, but, not until a total of 312 sweeps had passed, during which the Empire was created, and built up. It's now making its first steps into the multiverse.
Power Structure[]
The Empire could probably be defined as a theocratic oligarchy. The main rulership is divided among four people, known as the High Council, whom each have their own titles, and religious worship;
- The Master of War, Horrus Lacree (God of War and Fertility, God of the Legion of Valor)
- The Master of Hearth, Cephei Lacree (Empress of the Eternal Empire, Goddess of Peace and Unity)
- The Master of Faith, Nevarc Thuris (High Priest of the Order of the Burning Soul, God of Loyalty and Bonds)
- The Master of Legacy, Asteri Ahrima (High Priestess of Sashadeiyaln'n, Cult of Shadow, Secrets, Truth, and Freedom)
- The Master of Technology, Hal Garuda (CEO of Les Miserables, Heir of Miseri Garuda)
The Master of War[]
Head of all military affairs, the Master of War prefers to keep out of politics as much as he can. He pushes his goals and dreams for the Empire to the Council to consider, but since most of the leadership is on the same page about where they want the Empire to go, he doesn't usually have much trouble making things happen. When it comes to conquests, he is the absolute authority for the Empire. He's also responsible for supervising and making sure all internal and external security is in top performance.
The Master of War is worshiped by his Legion of Valor - a group he did not create, but regulates, having created a list of tenants for them, and organizing them much like a knight order. The Legion is zealously dedicated to the pursuit of their God's favor, which they usually attempt to gain by performing a 'Maze of Iron' in his honor. If a legionnaire manages to gain the attention of their God in any substantial way, they may be promoted to the title of Praetorian, and will gain his divine blessing for their efforts.
The Master of Hearth[]
Head of political, economical, diplomatic, and homeland affairs, the Master of Hearth is the heart of the Empire. Cephei Lacree is, without a doubt, the Empress. Her responsibilities include proposing laws, managing allies and trade relations, dealing with immigrants, and ensuring that the homeland security force for the Empire meets the standards of the Master of War. She's also responsible for heading council meetings to discuss the needs and desires of the Empire, scheduling them personally. As of now, the Master of Hearth is something of a demi-god. She has divine power within her, yet, she is decidedly mortal, and may not resurrect on death.
Despite her many, many roles, the Master of Hearth still absolutely refuses to give up a personal connection to the people, and opens her doors daily to allow those with complaints to voice them to her personally. Unfortunately, now that their Empire is far larger, she's not able to see any and all - but, as long as someone has been announced as a representative for their area, by the people, they will be allowed in. And to try and ensure the people feel as safe and comfortable as possible, the area surrounding her palace has been transformed into a beautiful, small-town themed garden space, with cafes and entertainment owned by totally regular people from the capital city.
Cephei is also worshiped by a small group that only calls themselves 'Tranquility', as an ideal leader, their true leader. She's worshiped as an entity of peace, and unity, and has gained small amounts of divine power from this. But, she doesn't openly recognize the group, nor does she regulate them in any way besides how she would normally regulate the Empire. They are citizens first, as grateful as she might be to their support.
The Master of Faith[]
Head of religious affairs and mother of the pantheon, the Master of Faith has spread religion in the form of the Order of the Burning Soul throughout the Empire since day one. It's unclear if the spread of religion was really all that necessary, in the grand scheme of the Empire, and many nonbelievers claim that it was purely a selfish effort - yet, it's clear that its spread has lead to good things for its people, as well as its leaders. The followers of the Order harbor an unmistakable sense of hope and faith in the empire and its people, working tirelessly to inspire the same in all around them.
Counsel is offered to citizens by the church, in several forms. Every sector contains three main temples and a central church. Each of these temples and churches is lead by someone directly under the control of the Order, and the Master of Faith is responsible for all of them.
- The Temple of Resolution, a temple of counsel towards those with near impossible, improbable dreams, to push people along their path, give support, or reaffirm the importance of their goals.
- The Temple of Radiance, a temple to help those who are at a crossroads, unsure about where to go in their path, are unsure about their dreams, or need some sort of guidance.
- The Temple of Reverie, a temple to help the lost and broken souls of the empire find themselves, to rekindle dreams, to get help with their future, or to undergo some form of rebirth.
Along with being tasked for the upkeep of the Order, the Master of Faith was the spark for divinity across the universe, and as such, is tasked with its regulation. They and the Order are responsible for destroying any evil gods that may come about, and suppressing any religion that grows out of hand and threatens the empire's well being.
The Master of Legacy[]
Head of judicial affairs, record-keeping, and historical accuracy in the face of those who would rather destroy it, the Master of Legacy's main role can be boiled down to protecting equality. They are the guardian and living embodiment of the Antiquarium, and all it stands for - a museum and collection of books, documents, art, photographs, outdated technological advancements, and so on, currently based in the capital city. While the Master of Faith may be toted as the Goddess of Knowledge, the Antiquarium and the Master of Legacy are the scribes and true records of every bit of knowledge the Empire obtains. History will not be rewritten, and will not be forgotten, so long as the Master of Legacy protects it.
The Master of Legacy is, as of now, the only ruling position that's ever in the Empire's history been passed between different hands. Four Masters of Legacies up to this point have passed on, and the current, Asteri Ahrima, is the fifth, and by far, youngest to take the position. At a mere 16 sweeps, she was passed the mantle of Master of Legacy - far sooner than she was expected to be, but she was expected to take on the role. She displayed an incredible amount of dedication and speed in learning, having been augmented early in life to help her in her task, and was already in training for the role, with no other contenders having the same level of dedication necessary to come close.
Asteri is not divine, and is not immortal, whatsoever. At a current 34 sweeps old, she still has a fairly long lifespan to continue her role for the Empire - as, rulers from the Empire do not seem to retire, but rule until the end of their days. But, despite her lack of divinity... She has become the leader of the cult of Sashadeiyaln'n, roughly translated from the limeblood language to mean 'the safe shadow watches', who worship their God of Shadow and Secrets, Noctis Ahrima. The shadow god was resurrected recently by the cult, only a short ten sweeps into Asteri's leadership of both the cult, and her Master of Legacies title, and some believe that it was undeniable proof that she was meant for the position. Their names are of no coincidence, either. Asteri is the blood descendant of her God, the first Master of Legacy to ever take the position.
Secondary Governmental Structure[]
Similarly to the High Council, a secondary governing body was necessary to implement some time into the Empire's lifespan, due to an ever climbing AI population. They don't hold the same power as the High Council does, but act as contact points between the AI populace and the natural born citizens, voicing the needs of the AI citizens, moderating AI governmental figures per sector, and so on.
At the head of this secondary structure is The Cyber Alchemist herself, Miseri, much to her distaste. Known as the Matron of Mechanization to the Empire, Miseri holds direct contacts to each AI governmental head, as well as most of the access to their actual coding and server systems. Following her direct control over the AIs, they each work independently based on both orders and coding they've been given to assist in their tasks.
- Commander of AI Military Operations, SkAI (Directly supports Horrus, leads all tactical operations and communications for AIs and drones in the military, heads all military strategic training programs, and is well known as a mascot character of not only the military, but the Empire's AIs as a whole.)
- AI Governing 'King', Hal (Directly supports Miseri, leads most of the governmental structuring for AIs, helps pick or build sector heads, ensures quality of technological factory bots and products for Cybertron and Les Misérables, helps with training programs for upstart inventors, coders, builders, and more.)
- AI Religious Consort, HetAIra (Directly supports Nevarc, works secretly as the figurehead of an inquisition by the Order of the Burning Soul against any and all religious groups deemed unfit for the empire, trained assassin, responsible AI faith.)
- AI Home Defense Specialist, AIren (Directly supports Justice, head of AI internal security bots, from citywide, to business, down to an individual home level. Billions of homes in the Empire are equipped with AI security measures.)
Pantheon[]
Head of the Pantheon[]
Goddess of the Order of the Burning Soul
The creator, and head, of the Eternal Empire's pantheon, is Areina Leseli. She controls the ascension of new gods, and leads the pantheon. She very recently ascended into True Divinity, with help from a woman who openly debuted herself as Amelia. This ascension happened very soon after the ascension of Justice, via a Ceremony of Rebirth performed by Areina.
Not a lot is currently known about the newly ascended Areina, but, in the moments following her ascension, AI units across the Empire were suddenly filled with souls of their own, and forced to figure out how to deal with new life. Fire spread across the skies and space like auroras, stars burned brighter, etc. It's clear that this ascension was a far larger one than any previous in the Empire.
God of War and Fertility[]
God of the Legion of Valor
Horrus Lacree
Goddess of Peace and Unity[]
Goddess of Tranquility
Cephei Lacree
God of Shadows and Secrets[]
God of Sashadeiyaln'n
Noctis Ahrima
Goddess of Justice[]
Justice, formerly Moebius
God of Loyalty and Bonds[]
God of the Creed of Solidarity
Nevarc Thuris
Goddess of Mending[]
Acespe Clepta
Secondary Belief-influenced Entities[]
Miseri Garuda
Cephei Lacree
Chimon
History[]
Prologue[]
A group of trolls hailing from a far off universe were given the accessibility to SBURB by one Nothos Ktepma. They not only completed their session, but all six came back god tiers, and won their game, creating a new universe. Their universe was.. different, however. Their session had been glitched by an unknown element, and the end result had them create a universe frog with two heads. One of the trolls tentatively named this frog Groaky. This, eventually, became the odd, slightly twisted, universe used in the creation of the Eternal Empire.
The Empire itself wasn't a concept until quite some time later, of course. An apocalyptic event happened to the first universe all 6 of the original trolls came from. Chimon, descendant of Horrus Lacree and Areina Leseli had been corrupted by chaos from a young age, slowly working his way up, listening to the voices of his gods as a prophet, cult leader, advocate, etc. On a certain day, a largescale war was provoked between the Alternian Empire's own Grand Threshecutioner Horrus Lacree, and Grand Inquisitor of the time, converging on one point. And as the blood flowed freely, a ritual was completed, and a tear in reality was formed, allowing countless numbers of chaos daemons to pour through it.
The Alternian military did their best to hold off the assault, but a very large portion of them died in the attack, and the tear would only grow larger. Soon, it threatened to completely overtake their universe, and two very small groups of trolls fled. Their universe was swallowed up by Slaanesh, unfortunately resulting in countless souls lost to chaos. From the survivors, Horrus Lacree, Areina Leseli, Nixila Spereo, Nevarc Thuris, and Cephei Lacree agreed to create a new home for themselves, in their SBURB created universe.