Rules Argument System

If you wish to dispute one of my rulings, here is the system you must follow.

1) Submit your grievance, in a form as long as you like. (Pages, even)
2) I read it, and evaluate. I deliver my judgement.
3) That's it. No follow ups, no what if, no attempts at logic traps.

If you really feel that you MUST continue to argue, here is what you must do.
1) Create an extraordinarly well thought out arguement, detailing all your reasons and thought processes.
For you to submit this, you must be supremely confident that my answer to this arguement is unequivocally yes.
If there are perspectives that I may pick upon, balance issues I can point out, flavor arguements or anything that would result in my disagreement with your point, then do not submit.
Good things to include a page numbers, and text book examples.

If the above fails, then I will summarily ignore further arguements until I personally come across new revelations.

Essentially, if I have to question you twice, you're asking too much. This follows suit for related issues. Don't go spawning off related tangents to your arguement in an effort to backtrack me. If that's your aim, do it in the first arguement.

Laws of The Land: Clerics and Other Divine Spell Casters

Laws of The Land: Clerics and Other Divine Spell Casters

They say that the Empire is the land of a thousand gods. This may be true. Each province and vassal state has it's own pantheon of gods and through the ages scholars have penned different accounts of deities and their interactions. Many novels and 'accounts' have conflicting views of the gods, often mashing toghether the gods of several different cultures toghether to create an entertaining tale.

The result of this is that there is no unified, codified religion within the Empire. The closest thing to that, would be the State. The Twelve Dragon Seat and the Emperor possess enough power for most mortals to consider them deities among themselves, and neither party has made any particular attempts to dissuade this notion.

So where do divine casters and other clerics come in? The Ministry of Magic and Arcanics categorizes them under internally focused magic- it is believed much of their power is derived from powerful faith. In what it does not matter, the psychic energy or ki is still there. In contrast, the science of arcane magics is considered to be the conscious manipulation of external forces.

Many devotees of the faith embrace abstract concepts such as 'The Light' Or "The Dark." These are not merely good and evil, but the actual magical aspects of the positive and negative. Life and Death are opposites of the same; both can serve any purpose of morality. There are also those who walk the balance, and those that do not walk at all. Those who do not walk tread something only known as The Void.
The Ministry of Magic calls this entire philosphy Yin and Yang, and attributes the whole mess to Taoist magicians. Most respectable Ministers scoff at the very notion.

But the Taoists are not the only game in town. Devotees to gods like Lim Kuei run around pulling tricks in the name of a nebulous mischief deity.
Ambitious historians may call the name of deity Tong Lu, a famous warrior from the Unification Period. He was raised to godhood by Imperial Decree, and from all records, he seems to 'answer prayers' for magical power. The Ministry of Magic attributes this again, to inner ki.

Whatever the name being called, the magic always comes. Even when two sides with the same supposedly gods come into conflict, prayers are answered and men of faith smite each other with equal zeal and effectiveness. This logical contradiction is typically what sways the Ministry of Magic to question the 'divinity' of divine magic.

Exotic Locations: The Blood Alliance

Exotic Locations: The Blood Alliance

The Blood Alliance is a coalition of kingdoms and city states primarily populated by the Minotaurs. They were annexed into the Celestial Empire in the days after the Neogi Invasion, after the Imperial Navy assisted them in repelling a massive assault. Prior to the conflict, they were a constant bane on Imperial shipping. Pirates struck from nowhere and retreated among the many shoals and atolls that make up Alliance waters.

Nowadays, the Blood Alliance is made up of a single vassal state run by an Imperial Governor. The Governor's duty is primarily tax collection which comes in the form of gold and conscripts. The Blood Alliance is expected to make annual contributions to the Imperial Navy, and patrol the Southern waters for Neogi threats.

Alliance culture is violent. Born from pirates and warriors, the minotaurs are skilled fighters and hold strength and honor as supreme virtues. Despite the terms of annexation, many pirates still operate in Alliance waters, preying on Imperial ships. These actions are tolerated as the Navy is typically too busy and frankly, lacks the skill to deal with these crafty bandits. Independant merchants are left to their own devices in defending against pirate attacks, and it is not uncommon to see cargo vessels heavily armed with cannon.

Alliance culture is also simple. Although they are often skilled in navigation and mathematics for trading, yields and loads, along with naval engineering, the minotaurs do not have great appreciation for art or literature.
Most minotaurs have a single name, adopting a second name if they encounter someone else with the same name, or if they fancy another culture's traditions. The intellectually starved amongst the minotaurs typically adopt other cultures to the disdain of their peers, and look down upon their own upbringings.

While many organizations make up the Alliance, the most famous is the Crimson Trading Company, run by Duke-Admiral Labrys. Most of them dwell in ships for the majority of their lives, landing only for repairs. The Duke Admiral is based in Telesto, the Floating City. Here, thousands of ships gather in a massive harbor created by a crescent island. Shipworks and other workshops compose the bulk of the island's landmass, and most food is either imported or harvested from the sea.

Other Aquatic Cultures: The Minotaurs are the most aquatic folk anyone in either the Clans or the Empire know of. It is known that the merfolk and sahaugin live beneath the waves- the dragons say so, but they are not encountered on a regular basis. Since the Invasion, encounters with less organized groups are far less common. It is assumed most were Taken*.

*enslaved by the Neogi