Irrynia, the 'Evil' Empire. (Patreon)

Situated between the Braz and Tung mountains lies the great plains of Ira.  This inland bowl dominates a third of the continent, with countless rivers collecting water from the mountains and drawing it into the shallow inland sea at the heart of the depression, before pouring out into the Shattered Sea.  

But the true history of Irrynia starts four billion years ago, when a geological peculiarity caused a large continental shelf to support a primordial sea.  As early life slowly oxidized the iron rich oceans, the metals precipitated out in vast mats of iron which where then subject to geological forces, moving them about.  However, the granite shelf allowed more and more to accumulate and compress unmolested.  When the green oceans were blue and clear, an immense deposit of magnetite had formed.

The Ith had no need to mine, using creation magic to fabricate most of their works.  While the dwaves knew of the deposit, it was in a remote corner of the Ith lands, discarded as being too deep to be viable despite its size and purity.  However, the Shattering that broke the supercontinent into five had the effect of squeezing the topography and forcing the magnetite up to protrude as a massive shelf of red ore thrusting diagonally out of the earth.

Some humans managed to survive the horrific event, and came to reside in the basin formed by that world catastrophe.  The early Ira were tribal and semi-nomadic, moving around the grassy flatlands in winter and up into the cooler mountains in summer.  Combat was fairly regular and light, with hand to hand combat being the norm.  Conflicts would generally resolve with a non-fatal brawl.

All that changed when Cuprina colonists crossed the Braz mountains.  Though the tall Ira were physically more formidable than their coastal neighbors, the invaders possessed copper and brass weapons that the Ira couldn't counter.  With pragmatic swiftness, the Ira capitulated and became an agricultural civilization almost within a generation.  The inland basin had ideal conditions for agriculture, with rich soil and year round water from countless mountain tops.  While summers near the island sea were terribly muggy, and winters in the mountains brutal, most accepted their lot, broke soil, and adopted basic agriculture.

The centuries that Cuprina occupied the basin were transformative.  Tens of thousands of Iras, called Irns by their Cuprin occupiers, were taken from the land, used as labor and soldiers.  Many Cuprins thought the Ira simple minded and complacent.  In reality, the Ira were learning every aspect of Cuprinian life, particularly metallurgy and combat.  They knew of the deposit that formed iron, and had been using cast iron tools for decades.  However, the iron was brittle and poor against hard bronze.  The Ira needed steel.

Steel making wasn't unknown.  Dwarves had been producing it for centuries.  However, it was assumed humans simply couldn't produce the heat necessary to produce quality steel.  Indeed, while coal was available, most simply assumed the iron would be the best they could manage.  But some one noted that where the Braz and Tung mountains met was a narrow gap, and the winds that howled through it were strong enough to knock over a horse.  The Ira made a few bloomeries, packing coal and iron ore high up the mountains where the winds screamed through the Fera gap, and made the first native steel.

The Cuprins learned too late of the "Irn" rebellion.  Irns had been learning for generations 'modern' warfare concepts like mixed units and ranked organization, and with steel weapons and armor, the Cuprins were helpless to prevent their overthrow.  After a desperate, failed defense in the Braz mountains the Cuprins surrendered and the Irns became the new masters.

The military units trained and organized in combat became the new political leadership.  Ira had neither nobility nor wealthy individual, as both had been denied by their occupiers.  Neither seemed appealing as both had failed to protect Cuprina from defeat.  Thus the militarized apparatus became the new cultural manifold that the fledgling nation state of Irrynia was built upon.

In Irrynia, all citizens have rank that places them in a social hierarchy.  Those in lower rank have authority over those in lower rank and are responsible to answer to those of higher rank.  The ratios tend towards 1:10 for first to second rank, and increase in magnitude with each rank.  A town of 5000 would be expected to have 5 4th ranks, 50 3rd ranks, 500 2nd ranks, and 4445 1st ranks, for example.  Children, criminals, and foreigners are all considered 0th rank.

Rank is achieved by merit.  When a person wishes a promotion, several things are considered, such as how many individuals are of that rank already, their ability, and what they are capable of bringing to the new rank.  Aspirants then have to wait for an opening and will then compete in a series of tests and challenges for the position.  The next highest rank votes on the candidates they like best, who they think will offer the most to Irrynia.

First ranks make up the vast majority of citizens.  Every first rank is entitled to a single large meal, a bed to sleep in, a stipend, and one day of recreation.  Everyone has some assignment to perform, even if it as simple as picking up trash or watching for trouble.  Idleness is grounds for punishment.  Most individuals choose a task they find agreeable.  Individuals that do unwanted tasks are given commendation and are more likely to earn promotion, if sought.

Second, third, and fourth ranks are largely focused on community based tasks, assessing the needs and demands from superiors and issuing directives to the rank and file.  The life of these ranks aren't much different than those below them, with larger living arrangements and better compensation.  Fifth and sixth rank organize regions and seventh through tenth the entirety of the Empire.  Every Irrynian can name the names of every person they are subordinate to.

Families do not exist in Irrynia, and deliberately so.  Most people know their lineage, but families are often considered a weakness when coupled with property.  A cluster of related members under the same command isn't uncommon, but it is simply considered a convenience.  Instead, the Irrynian social unit is the community.  Names include the village or social unit an individual belongs along with their rank rather than family names.  Babies are raised in creches, and encouraged to develop natural talents and strengths rather than blind conformity.  Irrynians want motivated people to rise and content people in positions to serve effectively.  Nepotism is a gross crime.

Irrynian law is swift, brutal, and permanent.  A court of 3-5 superiors listen to a defense and render judgement.  Petty crimes can have individuals assigned to harsh or tedious assignments.  Gross crimes can have a person assigned to zeroth rank, forcing them to start anew.  Corporeal crimes, usually reserved for rape and murder, can result in mutilation or execution.  Unlike many other lands, justice is not publicly executed.  An individual disappearing is much more fearsome than an execution, as Irrynians will occasionally parole 'disappeared' prisoners to remind people of the power of the state.

The life for your average Irrynian is summarized as such: when times are good, they are very good.  When they are bad, they are very bad.  And when they are neither, they are dull.  Irrynians work until tasks are complete, and once they are a citizen may be assigned to recreation.  "When the granaries are full, why grow more wheat?" is a frequent saying.  When problems strike, however, many are demanded to work from dawn to dusk to address them.  Those who shirk this call are socially isolated for laziness.

Religion and magic are both Irrynianized.  The state religion is the Church of Ira,  which is a monoregional diety.  A god of the nation.  The religion officiates promotions, births, and funerals.  It's churches commemorate the accomplishments of individuals, writing them down in records going back decades.  These records are some of the only ways people can connect to lineage, by reading the accomplishments of the past.  Irrynia promotes magical study, with clear guidelines and ranks for magical practioners.

Recreation for Irrynians is usually physical and social.  Games are very popular, with teams competing for prestige and recognition.  Sex is viewed as a recreation as well, and is always made available as some men and women are always tasked with making it available.  Music and song are also popular, with some performances having thousands singing in unison.  The effect is said to be rather unnerving to outsiders.  Books, when they were developed, are frequently read and circulated.  

As literacy spread through the world, it was embraced fiercely by the Empire as a way to more efficiently distribute orders and enhance the knowledge of its officers.  Every Irrynian leaving the first rank was expected to be literate, and later on it became a requirement for children reaching adulthood.  Polylinguism is encouraged for foreign service.

Despite the focus on social order, unity, and selflessness, Irrynia is rife with problems.  The sheer military potential of the nation cow the Riverlands to the east.  Though the formidable Tung mountains separate the two regions, the Ventaros Empire has spent millennia for war with their neighbor.  Irrynia is hobbled with virtually non-existant naval power.  Only Cuprina's port offers any trade at all, and there is no ship building tradition as all.  Aurum and Lithican navies often joked about 'Irrynian warships' for decades.  The nations of the Riverlands are very aware that Irrynia would happily seek their territory for good ports.

Trade is another area in which Irrynia suffers.  While the nation is self sufficient, variety is lacking.  Irrynia employs a wide spread diplomatic corps to try to boost the nation's reputation abroad and to secure markets for their metals.  When the dwarven Dominion melted down, Irrynia decided to step in to become the world's supplier of this critical resource.  To meet this, ever larger steel works were built to provide more and more.  Steel was used to build homes, the metal being more flexible and resilient than wood and stone.

The consequence of this expansion was the despoilment of the Irrynian valley.  Watersheds were polluted, fields slowly withered, and Irrynia was forced increasingly to try to make more steel to import food abroad.  Work in the mills was far more strenuous and demanding than life in the fields, and more and more disciplinary actions were employed against first ranks that refused to toil. If they stopped production, such trade as they had would stop, and they would starve.  Occupying land abroad was expensive, necessitating more trade, and thus more steel, and thus more steel mills.  Worse, as Arani and Lithican iron works developed, Irrynian steel demanded less and less price, and thus they needed to produce more to sell cheaper.

Over multiple decades, Irrynia stagnated and rot set in.  Mill worker strikes were broken with military brutality.  More and more time was demanded for work.  Meals became progressively smaller and cheaper.  Higher ranked individuals ate and lived apart from those they commanded and organized.  The most powerful lived atop mountains or even in more comfortable conquered lands than in the increasingly polluted Irrynian core.  Occasional efforts to reform stagnated, prompting cycles of rebellion, crack down, growing rage, and rebellion.  Crime became accepted, then vital to day to day survival for many.

Meanwhile, military action abroad became more and more intense and frequent.  Diplomatic ventures became espionage.  Trade became increasingly cut throat and tied to the military.  The hinterland kingdom of Chroma was brutally conquered in a vain attempt to circumvent the Tung mountains and invade the east.  The mountains continue to keep the Irrynians to the west, for now.

Today, the great green bowl of Ira is a distant ghost.  The north western half is desolation: steel mills using poisoned water and coal to churn out cheap steel.  Abandoned structures litter the landscape, not worth the effort to demolish.  Workshops fabricate a variety of steel goods.  The camaraderie of the villages has become the grinding resolution that this is the only way and must be done, no matter what sacrifices may be demanded.  In the south east, every speck of ariable land is tasked with producing food.  What remains lives in steel framed homes that become horribly hot in summer and brutally cold in winter.  The leadership presents a united face in public, but squabble and argue and scheme in private as each tries to promote their solution to the problem, even as their own estates outside Irrynia become larger and more extravagant, and their own children seem to move up in rank faster than others.

It is a question not as to when the Empire will break, but how, and how much of the world it will take with it when it does finally fall.