The Eternal Empire of Ternum

Upon the ascension of the first Ternum Emperor, Lucius Tarquinius Magnus the Empire began to create its bureaucracy which would keep it competitive and efficient for the coming 1000 years. The Emperor was the leader of the empire and held full control on matters of state. The concept of the Pontiff was expanded into the College of Pontiffs, who elected the Pontifex Maximus, the chief religious leader of the nation. The College consisted of the religious leader of every Banf. The legislature consisted of the Centuriate Assembly, the secular leader of each Banf was represented here. They wrote the laws and governed the lands.

 

The Empire brought about a near utopia for the Elves, there was no war or even revolt for almost 1000 years. By the last 100 years even police forces had been disbanded. The empire was weak, decadent, vulnerable to the calamity that was to come. This was achieved though through the use of a mix of faith, a secret police (the Exploratorem) and an intoxicating drug, called Eritas, it caused a great calming effect in the subject and often left them unable to move for hours as they felt relaxed. This weakness and addiction was funded by the states who gave an eritas dole to every citizen as to give them their fix.

As the era came to the end the College of Pontiffs had become a shadow of an organisation as people began to turn away from their faith and became fully addicted to eritas. The emperor himself was said to be an addict although historians can not confirm that. The warning signs of the invasion were there but few paid any heed to it. This would be their downfall when the invasion began. The era officially ended when the Emperor declared war on the “Foristunt”, the foreigners.