User:Mt4u555/sandbox

= Underground Kingdom of Rchida = East of Demner, beyond the Wall of Fire, unbeknownst to the West, lies a dwarven kingdom bearing the name Rchida. A seemingly impossibly advanced Kingdom, despite a lack of any magical talent or ability whatsoever, the Underground Kingdom of Rchida, home to all Dwarves, has long been a proud, yet isolated community. The discovery of the Elvish race, and the subsequent revelation of a world beyond the mountains deeply intrigued them all, and a desire to learn more about both magic, and these strange places beyond the mountain permeates a great many people of the Dwarvish race. The Dwarves are naturally curious, and are predisposed to be explorers and innovators. While they do not have any magical abilities on the surface, the truth is their magical energies are channeled into their creations - it inspires them, and gives life to their creations. A curious quirk of this is that almost all Dwarvish creations are unique, and many a Dwarf spends a good amount of time tampering and modifying his possessions to his liking. The Dwarves fiercely believe in themselves, believing their race to special, and their Kingdom to be a ‘shining city’ of sights. They are not hostile to outsiders, but are willing to justify many acts in the name of advancing the interests of the Kingdom and Dwarvenkind as a whole.

Government
The Kingdom of Rchida is an absolute monarchy, with the head monarch bearing the tile Lord Protector. The monarch is served by the Council, the main advisory body in the bureaucratic structure of the state, but the council itself has no legislative nor substantial powers, although membership guarantees several prerogatives.

The Lord Protector governs on the principles of enlightened absolutism, which posit that royal power emanates not from divine right but from a social contract whereby a despot is entrusted with the power to govern through a social contract in lieu of any other governments. The monarchs of enlightened absolutism strengthen their authority by improving the lives of their subjects. This philosophy implies that the sovereign knows that the interests of his or her subjects better than they themselves do.

In this regard there is the belief of Drogan Lytteg (nobility obliges), wherein it is stipulated that in the pursuit of a higher good, the nobility should be subordinate to the King.

An aging King who felt like he has achieved relatively little in his reign, Ho Vireakboth is a great patron of the arts and sciences, and has been a large driving force behind the ‘Western Expedition’, seeking to build an Empire before his death. He is a jovial, yet resolute man who can become increasingly harsh when his resolve is tested.

Council
The Council is divides into 4 Pillars:


 * Philosophers: Experts in all philosophical matters, logic, politics and law.
 * Arithmeticians: Experts in mathematics, numerical theory and computing
 * Naturalists: Experts in the biological and chemical sciences.
 * Mechanists: Experts in engineering, physics and anything mechanical.

All Council members are drawn from the nobility. Each Pillars is presided over by a Magistrate, a post held for life. advantages of membership include unlimited access to the state archives, an sizeable annuity and exemption from many political and legislative restrictions.

Nobility
The noble families in the kingdom are much like any other noble families, however their noble status is not derived from land owned or battles won, but rather exceptional achievements in academia, research, engineering, invention etc. The monarch can issue a so-called stjora bethund (letter of ennoblement, literally: great mind) that officially bestows noble status upon an individual, however this is a very rare honor.

Religion
There is no unified church nor religion. The Lord Protector sponsors each individual's search for spiritual truth, and to ensure equality all religious orders are under the umbrella of the Rchidain Union of Faiths, where the monarch is the supreme authority. The only exception to this is the worship of Helm, which is banned, and the penalty for which is very severe, many times resulting in exile.

Capital City
A truly wondrous city spanning over a huge space underground, Rchida is the center of the world to every Dwarf. Everything that is of importance to the Kingdom of Rchida happens within these walls. It contains technology and services that have barely been dreamed of in other parts of the realm, with universal access to hot or cold running water, massive automated factories, mechanical contraptions for transportation, and automated scribes, to name a few. Its people are content, and fiercely proud of themselves.

Areas/places/buildings of interest:

 * The Royal Workshop: the most prestigious and advanced factory and workshop perhaps in the world, the Royal Workshop is in many ways the center of the city, a massive structure where incredible innovations and developments occur often.
 * The Royal Residence: the home of the royal family, as well as the administrative center of the kingdom, the Royal Residence is a quintessentially classical Dwarven structure, drawing on iconography on the proud history of the Dwarven race, its accomplishments, and the workers who built it.
 * The Marketplace: one of the few large open spaces in the city, the marketplace is not only for large manufacturers, but also for artisans - many weird and wonderful goods can be found in this place.
 * The Transpod Network: a city spanning network of mechanical ‘pods’ that transport passengers across the city through a system of suspended cables that carry each pod to where it needs to be.

Army
Military: 100,000

Size: 60,000 Infantry, 5,000 Mechanized Troopers, 30,000 Artillery, 5,000 Construct Operators

Description: The Rchidain Royal Army operates with technology and sophistication far beyond any other army in the entire realm - every soldier is equipped with an accurate and powerful firearm with a high rate of fire, and its mechanized troopers, rather than relying on horses, utilize mechanical striders. It's artillery corp is capable of hitting a castle far off in the distance with shells of incredible power with an incredible fire rate with pinpoint accuracy. Its Construct Operators operate moving metal behemoths known as Constructs, that crush any opposition in their path, impervious to all but the strongest of weapons, with guns and cannons sticking out of every surface. It, however, has a complete lack of magic users.

To spearhead the Western Expedition, the Lord Protector established the colonial unit, a subdivision of the Rchidain Royal Army.