Shattered Sanity

The political landscape of the Valdrak Empire was a complex web of noble houses, powerful Sects, provincial rulers, and smaller clans, all connected to the Imperial Throne through different forms of loyalty.

To an ordinary citizen, the structure appeared simple.

The Emperor ruled the Empire, while everyone else obeyed his commands.

However, the Valdrak Empire was far too large for one man, one family, or even one court to manage every village, city, fortress, forest, and mountain within its borders.

Because of this, the Empire was divided into several different layers of power, with each layer handling duties that the Imperial Court could not manage directly.

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(The first layer)

At the very top stood the Emperor, whose word was considered law throughout every territory that carried the Imperial banner.

In theory, all land within the Empire belonged to him.

The noble houses did not truly own their lands, while the Sects did not truly own the mountains and valleys under their control.

They were merely allowed to govern those lands in the Emperor’s name, and that permission could only remain valid while they continued serving the Empire.

However, the Emperor did not control every territory in the same manner.

Some lands were governed by noble houses, some were managed by Imperial officials, while the most valuable Ascension lands within the Empire were placed under the administration of powerful Sects.

These Ascension lands were regions where the Aether in the air was much denser than normal, making them perfect places for Ascendants to train and improve their Soul Vessels.

Some of these lands contained rare herbs, powerful Aether Beasts, ancient ruins, or natural formations that gathered Aether from the surrounding region.

Because of their great value, controlling even one such territory could allow a Sect to grow stronger for hundreds of years, which was why these lands were highly sought after by individuals who had dedicated their lives to the pursuit of power.

Had the Imperial court tried to control this land directly, it would have most certainly led to more problems than benefits, because Sects were not like ordinary noble houses.

They were filled with powerful Ascendants who cared deeply about their teachings, traditions, and freedom, while many of them had existed long before the current Imperial bloodline took power.

Trying to control their daily affairs would have created endless conflict, and for that reason, the Emperor allowed the Sects to govern themselves.

Each Sect had the freedom to choose its own leader, create its own rules, accept or reject disciples, punish its own members, and decide how its resources would be distributed.

The Imperial Court rarely interfered with these matters, as long as the Sect continued following a few important conditions.... Namely-

1)The Sect had to recognize the Emperor as the ruler of the land.

It had to pay an agreed amount of tribute each year, while also sending fighters whenever the Empire called upon it during war.

2)The Sect was also forbidden from building an army large enough to threaten the Imperial Throne, although the exact meaning of that rule was often debated.

This arrangement gave the Sects almost everything they wanted.

They received freedom, valuable land, and protection from foreign powers, while the Emperor gained the loyalty of some of the strongest Ascendants within his Empire.

The Sects often fought among themselves over disciples, resources, reputation, and old grudges, however, very few of them openly opposed the Imperial Court, since there was little reason to rebel against a ruler who rarely disturbed them.

However, it was beneath this first layer of politics that the real circus began.

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(The second layer)

Outside these special Ascension territories, the Valdrak Empire was divided into four enormous provinces.

The Northern Province was called Frostmark.

The Southern Province was known as Redvale.

The Eastern Province was called Sunreach.

The Western Province was known as Ironmoor.

Each province contained countless cities, towns, villages, forts, and farming lands, while some were so large that travelling from one end to another could take several months by foot.

On paper, each of these four provinces were ruled by a Provincial Governor who was appointed directly by the Emperor, however, in truth, it was ruled by the Four Great Houses.

The Provincial Governor served as the official face of the Imperial Court within the provinces, with his presence in the region being mostly to remind the general populace that it was the Emperor who ruled these lands and not the Great Houses.

He carried the Emperor’s seals, announced Imperial laws, inspected tax records, and reported major problems directly to the capital.

However, the Governor did not possess enough soldiers to rule the entire province by force.

His personal guards could protect his estate and maintain order within the provincial capital, but they could never control millions of people spread across such a vast territory, as the true military and administrative power of each province belonged to one of the Four Great Houses.

House Winterfang controlled Frostmark Province in the north.

House Embercrest controlled Redvale Province in the south.

House Dawnriver controlled Sunreach Province in the east.

House Ironveil controlled Ironmoor Province in the west.

Each Great House maintained its own army, treasury, officials, courts, supply routes, and network of fortresses.

Their soldiers defended the borders, hunted bandits, guarded important roads, and stopped smaller conflicts from spreading across the province.

Each Great House was powerful enough to protect itself from the other three, which prevented any one family from easily devouring another.

If one Great House attempted to invade a neighbouring province, the war would cost both sides an enormous number of soldiers and resources.

The Emperor would also interfere immediately, as he could never allow one Great House to control half the Empire.

This created a careful balance.

The Great Houses were strong enough to govern their provinces, however, none of them were strong enough to challenge the Imperial Throne alone.

The Emperor also made sure that the four families remained suspicious of one another, as fear of their rivals kept them from joining together against him.

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(The third layer)

Beneath each Great House stood many smaller clans, noble families, and sworn bannermen.

These families controlled smaller pieces of land within the province, while the Great House remained responsible for the province as a whole.

Some clans governed cities, while others protected mountain passes, farming regions, mines, ports, or important border forts.

In exchange for this authority, they paid taxes to their Great House and provided soldiers whenever their master called them to war.

A small clan might provide a few hundred soldiers, while a powerful noble family could command several thousand ascendant warriors of its own.

These forces allowed the Great Houses to gather enormous armies without paying for every soldier throughout the year.

The smaller clans handled local problems during peaceful times, however, they gathered beneath the banner of their Great House whenever the province faced a serious threat.

The Imperial Court claimed that this lower system was based entirely upon merit.

To become a recognized noble, a clan had to be trusted with at least one hundred thousand square kilometres of Imperial land.

However, that land was not given to the family forever, it was granted to them so that they could prove they were capable of governing it.

A successful noble family kept order, protected its citizens, maintained roads, collected taxes, produced soldiers, and made sure that farms and businesses continued growing.

If the family performed well, its territory could be expanded.

If it failed badly, part of its land could be removed and given to another clan that had produced better results.

This competition kept the smaller families obedient.

They knew that their rise depended upon the support of their Great House, while their continued authority depended upon the approval of the Imperial Court.

However, noble titles could not simply be passed from a father to his eldest child.

A noble’s children were born with wealth, education, and powerful connections, but they were not automatically considered worthy of inheriting the family’s authority.

They first had to prove themselves.

This was the reason the Imperial Academy had been created.

The children of noble families were sent there to study warfare, administration, law, history, diplomacy, and the principles of Ascension.

The Academy was presented as a place where the most talented young nobles could prepare themselves to serve the Empire.

Upon graduation, each successful student was granted temporary control over exactly one hundred thousand square kilometres of land.

For the next two years, the graduate had to govern that territory while Imperial officials secretly studied the results.

They examined how much tax was collected, how many crimes were committed, whether the roads remained safe, and whether the citizens living there became richer or poorer.

A graduate who performed well became eligible to inherit the lands of his family.

A graduate who failed could lose that right, even if he was the eldest son, and the inheritance could then pass to a younger sibling, a cousin, or another member of the clan who had proven more capable.

However, the same rule did not fully apply to the Four Great Houses.

Their provinces were considered too important to be taken away after one poor generation, as replacing an entire Great House could throw millions of people into chaos.

Because of this, control of each province remained within the same Great House.

However, the eldest child did not automatically become its next head.

Several members of the family could compete for the position, while the Provincial Governor and Imperial Court watched the struggle carefully.

In the end, the Emperor had to approve the new head of the Great House.

This allowed the four ancient families to maintain their power, while still giving the Emperor some control over who eventually led them.

From the outside, the entire system appeared fair.

A talented child could rise.

An incompetent heir could lose everything.

A hardworking clan could gain more land, while a careless one could slowly disappear.

The Empire proudly called this system meritocracy, claiming that power had to be earned rather than received through birth.

However, that belief was only true below the Imperial Throne.

If merit truly mattered above everything else, then the Emperor’s children would have been forced to compete for the Empire under the same rules.

They would have attended the Imperial Academy, governed a small territory, and proven that they were worthy of ruling millions.

Yet that was not how Imperial succession worked.

The throne passed through the Emperor’s bloodline.

His children did not need to earn the right to belong to the Imperial Family, while no talented noble from another house could ever become Emperor through merit alone.

The contradiction was obvious to anyone intelligent enough to notice it.

However, very few people were foolish enough to speak about it openly.

The meritocratic system had never been created because the Emperor truly believed that birth should not decide power.

It had been created to control the noble clans beneath him.

By forcing their children to attend the Imperial Academy, the Emperor could study every future noble before that person inherited real authority.

He could teach them Imperial law, surround them with loyal instructors, and observe which students respected the throne.

The children of rival houses also grew up together inside the Academy, creating friendships, grudges, marriages, and alliances that the Imperial Court could watch closely.

More importantly, no lesser noble could inherit land without Imperial approval.

A family might possess money, soldiers, and an ancient name, however, its next heir still needed the Emperor’s system to recognize him.

This was what made the Imperial Academy so powerful.

It did not merely educate the children of nobles.

It decided which of them would be allowed to rule.

The smaller clans competed against one another for better results, while the Four Great Houses competed for the favour of the Emperor.

The Sects remained loyal because they were allowed to govern themselves, while the Provincial Governors watched the Great Houses and reported directly to the capital.

Each group believed it possessed freedom.

Each group held enough power to feel important.

However, none of them could maintain that power without the approval of the Imperial Throne.

That was the true strength of the Valdrak Empire.

The Emperor did not control every piece of land with his own soldiers.

He controlled the people who controlled the land, and that’s how the Imperial family managed to control the Empire for the last two hundred years.