Capital Province (Formerly Harithma)

The region known as Harithma is the crown jewel of mainland Feredas. United over 1000 years ago by the conquering general-king Gaius, Harithma was a broken-down collection of petty, warring city-states made up of primarily humans and elves. Nearly 1500 years ago, this fertile region would have been home to some dozen different languages, cultures, and currencies. Gaius united these disparate lands through intimidation, alliance, bribery, or good old-fashioned conquering by his highly-trained Legion.

The seat of the Emperor, government, and Imperial power, the capital city of Tretaria (formerly Harithma City) straddles the Oculatus River at its largest junction, controlling the primary waterways for all shipping in the region. Tretaria is the largest city in Feredas and sits at possibly the most valuable site on the continent, making it the natural choice for a basis of centralized Imperial power.

Culture

Tretaria has a large population of elves and humans, though all races are welcome within the borders. Due to the current policies of the Empire, elves are the only "second-class" citizens, and are frequently used, abused, and mistreated. Lately, there has been a sharp rise in people calling for the unjust treatment of elves to end.

Pre-Empire construction consists of either marble (similar to classical Greco-Roman) or stone, though newer trends and developments have lead to more wood or brick structures. Whether through fear or respect, no one has dared to replicate the blackened stone and enormous spires that are the trademarks of the Imperial Palace.

Imperial currency is widely accepted in Ragoth, and any old regional currencies are turned in to Imperial banks to convert to standard currency:

-Gold "Royals": gold coins just under an inch in diameter, used as the common denomination for exchanging large sums of money

-Silver "Crowns": larger silver coins used in most transactions by the average commoner for day-to-day expenses

-Copper "Clips": also known as Marks, these are solid copper coins are slightly smaller than silver or gold coins, used in small transactions such as a loaf of bread, a single beer, etc.

Government

Harithma is the most populous region of Feredas. Gallus is advised by a Senate, but ultimately all the decisions beyond day-to-day minutia are his alone. With the amount of power he wields, the people have to place a lot of trust into him. Thus far, he has shown himself to be benevolent, excepting his treatment of the Elves. No one knows if he has any sort of heir or succession plan, not that it matters as he appears to be immortal. Some estimates place the Emperor's age at over 1100 years old, though he appears as a middle-aged human.

Slavery is technically illegal, though the concept of functional slavery through "debtors contracts" and prisoners are very much still practiced. The worst prisoners are not executed unless there is political gain to be had from it; instead they are sent to the mines near Dragonbridge, forced to labor away digging up precious gems in the vain hope they will one day be freed.

Policing is done by the Garrison, a specially trained branch of the Legion. The Garrison is trained with peacekeeping and policing in mind, with the additional training required to hold off any sieges/attacks long enough for the Legion to arrive. The Legion is the actual military branch, made up of professional soldiers passing rigorous testing and training.