Spoiler: Important people in the Society
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Lokhad Forgeheart, Master of the Facilities
Lokhad is an old dwarf, with a long greying beard and piercing blue eyes. He sued to be a talented smith, and still teaches theorethical courses on metallurgy, but his advanced age has robbed him of the strength to properly wield a forging hammer. Instead, he oversees the care and sue of the many workshops on the campus, and deals with misdemeanours of Society members while on campus grounds. He is known for being willing to go to significant lengths to help the members of the Society do their work, but if you purposefully mistreat the facilities or put parts of the campus in danger with reckless experiments he'll make you regret it.
Headmaster Owena Dey
Owena is half-elf, and the Headmaster of the academy housed in the campus. She's a district disciplinarian, and in a constant low-key war with the entertainment district near the campus. Though some might find her moralizing a bit tiresome, there's little doubt that she's got a great eye for talent among both students and prospective teaching staff, and her connections among the high nobility can be of great use to those she favors.
Cirast Overhill, Curator of Alchemy
Cirast is a middle-aged halfling of unusually large size in every dimension except height. He's known as connoisseur of fine dining and finer beverages, and his detractors scoff that his skill at alchemy is merely a side-effect of his desire to brew alcohol from every single fruit, vegetable and mushroom ever discovered. Nonetheless, it'd be a mistake to dismiss his skills. His knowledge of alchemical formulas is vast, and it's been said he can determine the full ingredient list of a potion from just the tiniest of sips.
Maria Escribano, Curator of Engineering
The humans of House Escribano earned its place among the high nobility on the battlefield's of the age of conquest. Their members where the very finest siege engineers in the Emperor's employ, and Maria is no different, though she applies her knowledge too less martial endeavours. She has had her hands in tons of designs, from the aqueducts that provide water throughout Vaungate and many other major cities, to the cranes that help unload ships in the harbor in record time, to the massive wind and watermills that process the empire's grain. Her workshops have produced many fine designs, and it's said that she never does something small.
The only thing that comes close to matching her intellect and creativity is her temper. Those that seek advice or favors from her know to be straight and to the point, as she cannot stand those that waste her time.
Jassin Iliran, Curator of Architecture
"Form and Function" is the motto of the Iliran stoneworks. No embellishment should be without function, but every design should be elegant nonetheless. Jassin considers it to be every Architect's calling to make the most practical building possible, while making the most beautiful building possible. Iliran has designed many of the grandest buildings in the capital, and the elf's style is emulated by many other architects. Apart from the aesthetics, one of the things that sets Iliran apart from their peers is the foresight involved in the elf's designs. The most clear example of this was the expansion of the Imperial theater, where the acoustics of the theater allowed shows to continue even while the work was happening, with none of the noise of construction penetrating into the great halls where performances where being held. This wasn't a happy accident, but a targeted effort by the elf to dampen noise coming from the most likely sites for expansion of the building.
The elf is rarely seen in public, preferring the peace of their offices. Nonetheless, they seem to have an uncanny ability to know exactly what's going on in the city, and where their services will be required.
Ralph Curnow, Curator of Biology
Curnow is the most respected doctor int eh empire. Though frequently called upon to attend the emperor and the high nobility, he makes a point of spending time to advice in the various hospitals and wards in the poorer districts as well. He helps who he can, irrespective of their social status, and treats everyone with the same firm but friendly way. He's dictated several books on best practices in medicine, including the importance of cleanliness to avoiding infections, and he has helped end many harmful practices based on what he considers 'counterfactual superstitions'.
However, he is only one man, and though many have sought to study under him, he has never made time to teach, referring those that would seek his mentorship to others, or to his books instead. There are also periods in which he becomes completely unavailable, something those closer to him attribute to his unwillingness tos top working until his body forces him to get rest.
Kou Maron, Curator of the Archives
When many people think of an Archivist, they imagine a stuffy and old librarian, constantly fussing over books. And this is true for quite a few of the archivists on the campus, but not for Kou. She's the youngest person to ever hold the title at only 27 years of age, and spends most of her time away from the archives. Instead she travels the empire and beyond, tracking down rare volumes and bringing them back. Her capacity for finding rare volumes is without peer, and she's found many books thought lost forever.
When she is in the capital, the young catfolk is visited by many researchers looking to convince her to track down a work they need next. She also spends time recovering works that have been lost in the labyrinthine depths of the archives themselves, as her near-perfect memory allow her to effortlessly track down every book currently in the collection.
Szid Dustmark, Curator of artifice
Little is known about Szid's history. The kobold arrived at the campus one day, walked into an artificer's workshop and casually corrected an incredibly complicated enchantment the artificer had been working on for weeks. Szid speaks very little, and spends most of his time holed up in his small office, working on the most wondrous designs, though many of them are too complicated for anyone else but him to implement, and he rarely turns his designs into reality. Nevertheless, many improvements in the field of artifice and enchantment have been made through decoding the diminutive kobold's designs, even if the full extend of his work is still beyond the understanding of most in his field.
Spoiler: The empire and Vaungate
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Raimel Tarian
Raimel is the current emperor, and like the rest of the Tarian dynasty he's a half-elf. He finished the unification of the empire in his youth after the death of his father in battle, and has ruled (mostly, there where a couple of rebellions in his early reign) in peace. He's well liked among the general populace as a fair and reasonably generous ruler, and he's respected among the Nobles as a just arbiter of conflicts, as well as feared for being a ferocious general. However, there are rumours at court that the now venerable emperor's mind is slowly starting to fail, and a variety of nobles are looking to try to take advantage of this.
Isalar Tarian
Isalar is the emperor's grand-daughter and heir. She grew up on the frontier, but has recently been called to the Empire's capital of Vaungate. She's still something of a wild-card at court, generally keeping to herself, but those that have had cause to deal with her talk about her cunning intellect and sharp wits.
The government
Though the emperor is of course the leader of the empire, he does very little direct governing. Most of this is handled by the layers of Dukes, earls and barons below him. The emperor primarily issues general orders and edicts that the nobles need to execute, and handles disputes between nobles. Though the dukes have estates in the capital and spend at least several months each year at the court themselves, most of the other nobles are spread across the empire, governing their land in accordance with the emperor's laws and wishes, but having a reasonable amount of freedom with regards to how they implement the emperor's will. Some rule alone and with an iron fist, while others have instituted councils of influential citizens to aid with their decision making. Some Nobles are well-liked, others are miniature tyrants only barely kept in check by the empire's laws.
Vaungate
Vaungate is the empire's capital, and a massive city with a population just in excess of 1 million citizens. Though many of its citizens are affluent, there are some poorer slums in the citys outskirts. The city itself houses many vaunted institutions, such as the Artificery Society, the Temple Conclave, the High Tribunal and the headquarters of the Ranger's guild (think a cross between an adventurer's guild and an empire-wide police force). And of course at the centre of the city lies the emperor's cout and the estates of the high Nobles that directly attend him.
The Artificery Society campus
The artificery society occupies a large campus on the city's outskirts. Within the campus are workshops, libraries, dormitories, observatories, lecture halls and all the other buildings needed to keep an institute of science and learning running. Technically outside of the campus, but considered part of it are the personal workshops and residences of the more influential members of the society. The campus is bustling and busy at all times of the day, alive with the hammering of forges, the trundling of waterwheels and the crackle of magical contraptions as the members of the society ply their trade.
Right outside the campus is a bustling entertainment district as well, where the students that come to study under the teachers of the society congregate during their free time.
The harbor district
The harbor district is home to one of the largest markets in the city, where exotic goods from all voer the empire and beyond are traded. Here one can find anything from fish to spices to exotic animals to rare metals. It is often said that if you cannot find it in this market, it does not exist. Clustered around the market are the offices of a number of 'acquisitions firms', Merchants specializing in finding rare and exotic goods for their clients, primarily Nobles, but also the occasional artificer.
races in the empire
Humans and half-humans (half-elves, half-orcs) make up a significant portion, with the other core races (Elves, dwarves, gnomes) having significant populations as well. Anything else is rarer. Though an attempt has been made and is being made to culturally integrate everyone, there are differences based on the area's people hail from, though differences based purely on race are rarer, as the various races often intermingled in the smaller kingdoms and fiefdoms before the current empire took over.
However, the dwarves in particular make up significant sub-cultures with their own set of habits and unspoken rules because most dwarven clans got integrated in the empire through rather favorable treaties, rather than conquest. Most emperors during the age of conquest had the wise response of 'Yeah, screw that' when confronted with the prospect of laying siege to a dwarven hold, while most dwarven clans understood that it'd be best to learn to live and deal with the sprawling empire that now surrounded their mountain homes.