Gestrin

The Empire of Gestrin or Gastrinian Empire (Gastrinian common: Archēbasileía Gestrina ; Old Soltran: Imperium Gastrinium) is a multiethnic empire with territorial holdings across much of southwestern Ovaicaea. It is among the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in the continent, and rivals the New Empire in strength despite being considerably smaller.

Gastrinian society is diverse and stratified, with differing rights accorded based on legal status and social class. Slavery is widespread and institutionalized, and full citizens form a privileged elite, with varying levels of freedom for subject peoples. Citizenship can be obtained by anyone recognized as such by the state, but in practice most citizens are hobgoblins and humans.

Incorporating various peoples of different origins and faiths, it is notable for its successful model of a centralized, bureaucratic administration, for building infrastructure such as road systems and a postal system across its territory, the use of an official language across its territories, and the development of civil services and a large professional army. Gestrin's impact on art, architecture, culture, language, law, philosophy, and religion in the areas under its influence has been extensive.

History
The core of the empire and its namesake is Gestrin Isle, which has been a site of human habitation for 13,000 years. Identifying the first waves of human settlement have been difficult, but it is now theorized that an initial wave of settlers arrived on boats from the south, and these people were either closely related to the Proto-Tethro-Mocric speakers or were a separate, unrelated group of human settlers. They founded a culture based on agriculture and maritime trade, and flourished under an Early Bronze Age civilization composed of city states with complex palace economies. These humans worked bronze and built extensive stone palace complexes and urban areas, and traded with the early Tethari and Dunera civilizations. Their "golden age" came to an end around 3200 BE after a series of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions destroyed many coastal cities. The native civilization was starting to recover after a couple centuries, when new arrivals overtook them.

Around 3000 BE, speakers of a Proto-Gastrin language arrived from the north, migrating out of the lower Athua River basin. Possible as an effect of the earthquakes, a small land bridge or causeway had formed that connected Gestrin Isle to the mainland. These migrants were warlike, rode horses and herded cattle, and were armed with bronze weapons and armor. Their bellicose nature and mastery of the horse, along with use of war chariots and bronze armaments, enabled them to rapidly outmaneuver and overtake the native inhabitants of the isle. The relative lack of defensive structures, apparent lack of bronze armor industry, and inability to field organized armies were massive strategic disadvantages on the part of the pre-Gestrin civilization. The Proto-Gastrinians conquered the region violently, and established a new system of walled, militaristic city-states to command the agricultural palace economies, expanding activity to horse and cattle pasturing. They took over the pre-existing trade routes; pottery and gold ornaments from this early civilization has been found as far afield as the Southern Isles, Lake Kaiser, and west Aendrilad. These city-states engaged in war with each other in a widespread and systematic fashion, which is reflected well in Gastrinian myth. They built monumental architecture and statuary, including Gestrin's first free-standing temples and humanoid depictions of their gods.

Between 2000 and 1900 BE, the Bronze Age civilizations of the southern ocean collapsed in phases due to various factors, including climate change, drought, famine, and foreign raids by unknown attackers (believed by many to be Merrow war bands).

Geography
The empire of Gestrin is one of the largest in Ovaicaea, presently covering an area of nearly a million square miles. Its size is the result of a continual drive to expand and rule over new territory, an ideal described as "empire without end". The Gastrinian traditional religion purports, as an article of faith, that neither time nor space can limit Gestrin's imperial ambitions.

Regions
Gestrin can be broadly divided into seven regions: Gestrin Isle, East Gestrin, Kaiser, Old Tethar, Crab Bay, South Mocryae, and the Southern Islands. These regions are divided into eighteen provinces. Most of the provinces are connected by royal highways to the capital.

The core of the empire is Gestrin Isle, where the empire originated, and is centered on the capital city of Zonara. The capital city is the most populous in the empire, with over 750,000 people. The region in total has a population of 6 million, mostly Zonaran humans, hobgoblins, and many slaves. Despite the name, it is no longer an actual island. A portion of the Sound of Gestrin was dammed on both ends and filled in with 6,500 square miles of earth to create a massive land bridge, over the course of a century-long engineering project designed to provide Gestrin Isle with a secure connection to its conquered provinces on the mainland.

East Gestrin is composed of territories taken from the empire of Aendrilad, over the course of a 500-year-long intermittent struggle. It is predominantly inhabited by desert elves, half-elves, leonin, and Aendriladi humans, though there are some goblinoids that remain in their ancestral lands.

The Kaiser region is composed of the lands east of the Tolossus River but west of the Kaiser River and Lake Kaiser. It contains parts conquered from Tethar, and all of the former Republic of Kaiser, which had fought Gestrin on-and-off during before being conquered in the 840s. It is predominantly human and half-elven, and is centered on the large city of Kaiser, which is home to 500,000 people.

Old Tethar comprises the lands west of the Tolossus river, up to the border with Mocryae, all lands taken from Tethar during the long war in the 10th century. It is a very diverse region, home to human tribes, half-elves, and elves of varying types, with a few major urban centers. The largest city in Old Tethar is Pearl Port, with 150,000 people.

Crab Bay is the southernmost tip of the Mocryae Peninsula, a bay shaped somewhat like an outstretched crab. Much like Old Tethar, it is diverse and is home to many humans, as well as merfolk and some lizardfolk tribes, and various kinds of elves.

South Mocryae is the portion of the Mocryae Peninsula ruled by Gestrin south of the border with Mocryae proper, but north of Crab Bay. It is a marshy and forested area, sparsely populated primarily by lizardfolk tribes and human villages.

The Southern Islands are not a homogeneous region, but rather are the patchwork of islands across the Southern Sea ruled by Gestrin. They are sparsely populated except by merfolk and sea elf tribes, with some human and goblinoid military presence.

Demography
Demographic information on the peoples of Gestrin is very well-known to the public. Accurate census records have been taken every ten years for the past nine centuries, and the census information is published in a digest by the state record office. Historians often gain access to these records to inform their writings, which has disseminated Gastrinian demography to lands well beyond the borders of the empire, among scholarly circles as far north as Skyshroud. Gastrinian census tables record the name, sex, age, race, tribe, occupation, income, legal status, and wealth of individuals, as well as the location, language, family status, and number of slaves of a given household. Other state records keep track of the dates of births, deaths, and naming ceremonies; tax and income records for businesses, guilds, and organizations as well as individuals; land ownership and survey records; and manifests keeping track of shipments of raw materials, goods, and resources overland and overseas.

Gestrin is home to many races and ethnic groups. As biological creatures, these people are categorized as humans, goblinoids, elves and half-elves, mer, dwarves, tabaxi, and lizardfolk. Within these are several ethnic groups or nations, distinct people with their own cultures, traditions, and ways of life, as well as some physiological differences. Among humans, such peoples are differentiated based on their places or regions of origin, and then into various tribal, clan, or kinship groups. Elves fall under the typical delineations: sun elves, moon elves, desert elves, sea elves, and wood elves. Mer creatures can be defined under the more civilized merfolk and the barbaric and more monstrous merrows. Goblinoids are differenced by the martial and civilized hobgoblins, the barbarian bugbears, and the servile petit goblins. Dwarves and lizardfolk do not have significantly different races, but dwell in their homelands under their traditional, tribal divisions.

Demographics by ethnicity:

Demographics by age group:

Urbanization
Gestrin is highly urbanized, with a significant portion of the population living in cities and towns. According to state records, there are some 1,200 urban sites throughout the empire, ranging from market towns to cities, to metropolitan areas composed of several sub-cities or boroughs.

The largest city in Gestrin, and likely the largest city on the continent, is the imperial capital of Zonara, with a population of 750,000 people. Other major cities in the empire (Lascaris, Acropolita, Pearl Port) have populations of about a few hundred thousand. Of the remaining cities, most are small, usually possessing 10–15,000 inhabitants. The cumulative urban population of the empire is estimated at around 11 million (using a population threshold of 5,000 individuals), indicating an urbanization rate of 30%.

The five largest cities in the empire are: Zonara (750,000), Kaiser (500,000), Lascaris (400,000), Acropolita (300,000), and Pearl Port (250,000).

Society
Gestrin is remarkably multicultural, with a rather astonishing cohesive capacity to create a sense of shared identity while encompassing diverse peoples within its political system. The Gastrinian attention to creating public monuments and communal spaces open to all, as well as common institutions throughout the empire, have helped to foster a sense of "Gestrinhood".

Gastrinian society has multiple overlapping social hierarchies in a complex, stratified system structured by both civil codes and customary law. From the perspective of the lower classes, a peak was merely added to the social pyramid. Personal relationships—patronage, friendship, family, marriage—have always influenced the workings of politics and government. The stark social divisions between slaves and citizens was enforced in the early days of Gestrin's unification, and lasted for more than six centuries. However, when the empire began to expand beyond Gestrin Isle, and incorporated more people, a more dynamic society emerged where conquered people and freed slaves were given a pathway to citizenship.

By the time of the Ricid dynasty, it was not unusual to find a former slave who was richer than a freeborn citizen, or a middle-class knight who exercised greater power than a noble, depending on their interpersonal connections. The rise to power of the hobgoblin federates in the 7th century shattered the ethnic boundaries of citizenship. This blurring or diffusion of the formerly-rigid hierarchies led to increased social mobility both upward and downward. Freed slaves, travelers, and subject peoples had opportunities to profit and exercise influence in ways previously less available to them.

Social life in the empire, particularly for those whose personal resources are limited, has been fostered by a proliferation of voluntary associations and confraternities formed for various purposes: professional and trade guilds, veterans' groups, religious fraternities, drinking and dining clubs, performing arts troupes, and burial societies. This more fluid social hierarchy seemed to take its current shape during the early Leonid dynasty.

Legal status
According to noted 9th-century jurists Marcigal and Petamir, writing in their History of the Laws of Gestrin, the fundamental legal distinction between persons in Gastrinian society is that of free and slave. This distinction became qualified over time into a varying levels of legal status based on citizenship. Most free persons hold some rights, but citizens are entitled to legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by those who lack citizenship.

Citizens make up around 26% of the population, just under 9 million people. The vast majority of people subject to Gestrin do not hold citizenship, with 39% of the total population being free non-citizens or inhabitants of communities under treaty. Around a third of the population are slaves.

In Gestrin, legal status can broadly be divided into the following categories: In all cases, legal status is inherited based on the mother's status.
 * Full citizens (cives) are those who have equal protection under the law regardless of social class, as well as certain enumerated rights. Rights available to a full citizen include: the right to own property, to engage in commerce, to enter into contracts, to have a fair legal trial, to marry another citizen, to serve in the legions, to serve in public office, to vote for local assemblies, to sue in courts and to be sued, to appeal decisions of magistrates and lower courts to the Gestrin royal courts, to travel freely, and to be exempt from torture. Most full citizens are inhabitants of Gestrin Isle and Gastrinian colony settlements, but some individuals can be granted citizenship by royal decree, and Montagnards who serve in the legions for 25 years are automatically granted full citizenship.
 * Montagnards (Gastrinian: Orenoi, Old Soltran: monticola) are second-class citizens, with limited rights. Originally used to refer to the people of mountainous western Aendrilad who willingly sided with Gestrin during the conquest of that area, the term later came to refer to those who were raised to citizenship from a lower status. Such citizens have most of the rights enumerated to full citizens, but notably cannot travel freely without deprivation of status, nor can they vote or hold public office. A montagnard cannot, for instance, retain their citizenship rights if they relocate to a federate community or live outside of the protections of a citizen community.
 * Federates (foederati) are citizens of communities which have treaty obligations with Gestrin, typically due to conquest, under which certain legal rights of the community are exchanged for agreed levels of military service, i.e. Gestrin's magistrates have the right to levy soldiers for the auxiliary forces from those communities. Federates have most of the same rights as montagnards, but cannot serve in the legions nor own property above a certain acreage. However, a federate and their children can gain Montagnard rights by serving in an auxiliary regiment for 25 years.
 * Peregrines (peregrini, lit. "travellers") are any other free persons living in the Gestrin Empire. The term originally meant "travelers" and referred to resident foreigners, but today it indicates any free non-citizen. Peregrines lack many of the rights of citizens and even federates. They do not have the right to a trial or to appeal to the royal courts, to sue citizens in court, to marry citizens, to serve in the legion, or to vote or hold public office. Peregrines are subject to summary justice by local magistrates, and are required to pay certain direct taxes. Freed slaves are automatically peregrines. A peregrine can, like a federate, gain Montagnard rights by serving in an auxiliary regiment for 25 years, which is also extended to the veteran's children.
 * Slaves (servii), who are not a subject but an object of law. Slaves are considered property, not persons. A master has the right of ownership over the slave. A slave can be sold, pawned, and exploited as any other chattel, and a master can treat their slave as if it were any other personal property. Slaves cannot own property and cannot marry or have a legally-recognized family.

Social class
Gestrin has maintained the social structure of its predecessor states, the kingdoms of Zonara, Lascaris, and Acropolita, with distinctions based on property ownership and traditional lineages. The census rolls of the ancient city-states maintained an accounting of the value of person's property, which has continued under the Gastrinian census records. The social order in the empire exists in parallel with the system of legal status, and citizenship determines some boundaries on social order.

The highest social order in the empire are those of senator rank, originally composed of the city nobility who held the right to sit in the King's council of elders, the Senate. Later laws set a minimum property requirement of 100,000 gold bezants for a senator. The modern Gastrinian Senate follows these same rules. A senator's children belong to the senatorial order, but they have to qualify on their own merits for admission to the Senate itself. Over time, the senatorial class has expanded beyond the traditional nobility of Gestrin Isle to include the aristocracy and governing classes of conquered and subject lands. Tribal rulers and city governors are typically given citizenship and made into senators, either from existing property wealth or through grants by the central government. This aids in the process under which subject lands are made an integral part of the Empire.

The second highest social order are the patricians, originating from the younger "city fathers" who had not yet become "city elders". Such "young lords" had the means to furnish themselves with horse and armor, typically assessed at a minimum net worth of 10,000 gold bezants. As the equipping functions were appropriated by the royal government, the patrician class became class of lesser nobility. As the military role of cavalry was offloaded to provincial auxiliaries, patricians came to form much of the officer corps of the Royal Army. Within this class are the members of city senates of provincial communities, who are assessed or granted property commensurate with the legal requirements of a patrician. The raising of provincial elites to the senatorial and patrician orders is an aspect of social mobility in the Gastrinian political system.

However, this social order is not hereditary. Admission to the higher orders brings distinction and privileges, but also a number of responsibilities. In ancient Gestrin, a city depended on its leading citizens to fund public works, events, and services, while tax revenues primarily supported the military. Maintaining one's rank required massive personal expenditures. While the royal government has become more powerful and capable to providing a number of social services, this expectation of wealthier members of society to share their wealth through patronage and displays of patriotism endures as part of Gestrin's social structure.

The common citizens are divided into sub-classes based on property. The wealthiest of the common folk, the gentry (gentilis or eupatroi, lit. "well-born"), must be valued at a minimum of 1,000 gold bezants or own at least 16 acres of land, and typically are independent landowners. The second tier, called yeomen (geomoroi, lit. "landed"), must be valued at a minimum of 500 bezants or own at least 8 acres; these are typically small landowners. The third tier are burgesses or municeps, who came to be called so because they are a primarily urban middle-class that lives in city boroughs, who are valued at a minimum of 100 bezants or owns at least 1 acre of property. The fourth tier, plebeians, generally own less than an acre of land or have a net worth between 10 and 99 bezants. Below this are proleterians, who have a net worth of less than 10 bezants, though in practice most own negligible property and instead are tenant farmers (paroikoi) or urban wage-workers.

In earlier times, this property-based class system determined who was able to serve the army and with what equipment they were able to supply themselves. The Marcian Reforms in the 160s enabled free people of any social class to serve in the army, either in the legions or in the auxiliaries depending on their citizenship status. Today, this social system determines privileges given to people of a given property class, as well as certain aspects of political procedures in some communities. For instance, in virtually all cities, the highest city officials are elected with each class voting as a bloc rather than citizens voting individually. Certain methods of punishment are prohibited for use on the higher orders, in addition to the applicability of fines versus imprisonment for crimes.

Slavery
The most recent census indicates that there are around 12 million slaves throughout the Gastrinian Empire, just over a third of the total population. As many as 40% of the people on Gestrin Isle are slaves, and in conquered areas slaves make up on average a quarter of the population, sparse in the islands and South Mocryae, but more concentrated in Old Tethar and East Gestrin. Slavery is a complex institution that supports traditional social structures as well as contributing economic utility. In urban settings, slaves might be professionals such as teachers, physicians, chefs, and accountants, in addition to the majority of slaves who provide trained or unskilled labor in households or workplaces. Agriculture and industry rely on the exploitation of slaves. Slavery in Gestrin is not based on race, and no one ethnic group comprises a majority of the slave population.

The institution of slavery has a long history in Gestrin, originating from a time before the empire unified Gestrin Isle. The kingdoms on the isle, as well as neighboring nations in the coasts and islands of the Gulf of Gestrin, practiced slavery for centuries. Slaves were typically captives taken in war, and it was widely recognized as a natural right of nations that the victor in war could render its defeated enemy enslaved, forced to work for the profit or improvement of the victor. Marcigal and Petamir wrote that "slavery is the state that is recognized by the law of nations in which someone is subject to the dominion of another person, contrary to nature," implying that there is an assumption that people are born free in a state of nature, and that slavery is a civilized institution. Slaves were mainly captured as war booty, with sometimes tens of thousands of slaves taken in the conquest of a rival kingdom or city-state. Even in more recent centuries, Gestrin's conquests have provided a continued influx of war captives to be sold as slaves.

Slaves are also traded in markets and sometimes sold by pirates. Infant abandonment and self-enslavement among the poor are other sources, as debtors have long been able to sell themselves or their children into slavery to resolve a debt. Merchant slavers from neighboring countries, such as Tethar and Aendrilad, sell slaves to Gastrinian slave markets by way of extensive trade routes, both overland and by sea. Criminals can be condemned to slavery for certain crimes. By contrast are the "homegrown" slaves, born to female slaves within the urban household or on a country estate or farm, who are slaves from birth and owned by their mother's masters. Although they have no special legal status, an owner who mistreats or fails to care for such slaves faces social disapproval, as they are considered part of the family household.

Over time, laws pertaining to slavery have become extremely intricate. Injury to a slave by a third party is dealt with as any other kind of property crime, with the injurer held liable for destruction of property. Having no legal personhood, slaves have no name, no ancestors, and no family in the legal sense. The testimony of a slave is not admissible in court without torture. Slaves have no right to legal marriage, but their unions are sometimes recognized informally. Legally, a slave cannot own property, but a slave who conducts business might be given access to a discretionary fund. Slaves have gained increased legal protection in the past two centuries. A bill of sale might contain a clause stipulating the kind of the work the slave can or cannot do. Slaves, while not having rights as a person, can lodge administrative complaints about such illegal treatment. Royal decrees have prohibited masters killing slaves without cause, and a master who has killed a slave can be tried for murder.

Debtors can either sell themselves into slavery, sell their children into slavery, or can be forcibly seized by a creditor as a slave to resolve a debt. Typically, a debtor contractually pledges their servitude as surety for a loan, often with specified terms in the contract for the conditions of their labor. Debt slavery is more akin to an indentured servitude: they are enslaved for a set period of time, until a specified work obligation or sum of money is fulfilled, or until a third party provides surety for the debt. Debt slavery is more common in urban areas, and most debt slaves are educated professionals. Subsequent laws have prohibited torture of debt slaves.

Types of work
Slaves work in a wide range of occupations that can be roughly divided into five categories: household or domestic, public, urban crafts and services, agriculture, and mining. Just under half of all slaves are owned by the top 2% of landowners, and are predominantly used for agricultural work. Despite this, they are a relatively small part of the rural population except on some large plantations. Farm slaves live in more healthful conditions than urban slaves, being far from disease-ridden towns and cities, but still are engaged in harsh and constant labor.

Slaves in urban areas make up a much higher proportion of the population, with slaves making up roughly a quarter of the population in Gastrinian cities. Slaves in urban areas are typically domestic workers, or engaged in commerce or manufacturing work, or are skilled professionals. Records enumerate over fifty jobs a household slave might have, including barber, butler, cook, hairdresser, handmaid, wet nurse, teacher, secretary, accountant, and physician. A noble's large household, like an urban manor or country villa, might be supported by a staff of hundreds. In urban workplaces, the occupations of slaves include fullers, engravers, shoemakers, bakers, mule drivers, and prostitutes. While not a legal obligation, it is customary for educated and responsible house slaves of wealthy masters to be given regular stipends and a personal fund, partly as a means for wealthy families to display their wealth and generosity.

Slaves in public service are handled differently from most other slaves, and typically have some of the best living conditions among servile workers. A public slave is owned, not by a single master, but by the state as an institution. Public slaves are usually engaged in basic tasks in public buildings, urban maintenance, or state temples, or as servants and staff for magistrates and public officials. Some educated slaves might work in skilled office work, such as secretarial or accounting jobs in the bureaucracy. Public slaves are typically granted a regular stipend for personal use; most use this as a fund towards buying their freedom. Because they have an opportunity to prove their merit, a public slave can acquire a reputation and influence, and are sometimes granted freedom by a magistrate's declaration.

The harshest and most brutal conditions are found in mines and quarries, which are worked mainly by those condemned to slavery as a legal penalty for significant crimes, such as murder, rape, or desertion of the army. Such convicts lose their citizenship and liberty, and their property is forfeit to the state. Slaves condemned to the mines are owned by the state and cannot be sold, buy their freedom, or be set free. Slaves also make up about half of the warriors in fighting pits, which is particularly dangerous entertainment work. Fighting slaves might earn a lucrative living if they are successful, being paid highly for business endorsements or earning money through gambling. Fighting slaves are often able to buy their freedom, and become professional pit fighters.

Emancipation
Manumission, the process of freeing slaves, can be done in various ways. Gestrin has gone through different phases of more or less restrictions on manumission, as rulers have variously been concerned for the plight of slaves and concerned for the stability of the slave labor pool. A freed slave becomes a peregrine, a free non-citizen with limited rights, and is bound by statute to a patron-client relationship with their former master.

A slave can be freed under the following ways: Slavery, while institutionalized and a significant part of Gastrinian economy and society, is not fully accepted by every person. There have been, since ancient times, philosophers and others who opposed slavery as an institution, and many more who have opposed mistreatment of slaves while not opposing the institution as a whole. Notably, the Liberated Society is a fraternity of like-minded writers, concerned citizens, and philosophers, which has petitioned for the abolition of slavery and its replacement with a different institution. Some advocate for full enfranchisement of slaves as peregrines or even citizens, while most advocate for a "soft" servitude system such as the feudal serfdom common in the lands north of the Tethar Mountains. Such societies and individuals have been successful in pushing for laws that mandate more humane treatment of slaves, such as laws that forbid certain kinds of punishment, laws that allow slaves the means to make complaints to local officials, and laws that make a master liable for murder if they kill a slave without cause.
 * A master can bring their slave before a magistrate or judge, state the cause of the manumission, and undergo a manumission ceremony. The magistrate then enters the slave's name into the census rolls as a free person.
 * A slave can be freed by testamentary manumission, by way of their master's will at death. Laws limit the number of slaves that can be freed in this way to up to one hundred.
 * A slave can be freed by appealing to the legal sanctuary of a temple to Ilmater, the god of suffering and liberty, and taking shelter in that temple for a period of a year and a day. This is the only condition under which a runaway slave might be freed. Otherwise, a fugitive slave is subject to a punishment at their master's discretion, up to and including execution.
 * A slave's bill of sale or contract might stipulate conditions under which a slave can be freed, such as a pre-set sum of money presented to the master, or pre-defined work obligations. This is statutorily required for debt slavery, but sometimes can apply to other kinds of slaves bought at market. When a slave "buys [their] freedom" it is usually because of such sale contracts.

Government and military
Gestrin's government has been described as a "republican monarchy" in that while it has a hereditary King of Kings nominally in charge the empire, its actual governance is in the hands of a complex bureaucracy, representative institutions, and locally-autonomous democratic communities.

The major elements of government in Gestrin are the central government, the provincial government, and the military. Gestrin has integrated new territories through a consistent pattern: the military established control through war, followed by the settlement of citizens in colonies in the new territories, but after an enemy city or people are brought under treaty, the military mission transitions to a policing and peacekeeping one. The armed forces in a new territory then maintains the border, protects Gastrinian citizens, and defends the resources of the region. These territories are organized into provinces, which report to the central government.

Central government
The central government, also referred to as the royal or imperial government, is ostensibly under the executive authority of the King of Kings (Gastrinian: Archēbasileíus or Archēianax), currently King Leo III. In practice, the royal government is a partnership between the King, the Mayor of the Palace, the central bureaucracy, and the Senate. The King is the head of state, acting as the physical embodiment and symbol of the nation, and has the final say in directing policy. The King formally acts as chief judge, chief executive, and chief commander of the army. Their title refers to the unification of Gestrin: the Kingdom of Zonara annexed the neighboring kingdoms of Acropolita and Lascaris, and its king declared himself King of Kings, higher than any ordinary royal title. Foreign observers sometimes render this as "emperor," as the title does carry sovereign implications. The king's full title is King of Kings of Gestrin, King of Zonara, of Lascaris, and Acropolita, Prince of Aendrilad, of Kaiser, of Tethar, of Mocryae, Lord of the Isles and Master of the Sea.

In practice, royal power is exercised by the Mayor of the Palace, the chief minister to the King, currently Prince Brekakt VII. In the past, the Mayor of the Palace has been an intermediary between the King and the rest of the central government and chamberlain to the King's household. The Mayor of the Palace today holds power from their closeness to the King and from a collection of political offices, including their position as Master of the Armies, Curator of the Treasury, and Lord President. Since the Hobgoblin coup d'etat in 684, the Mayor of the Palace has been the unofficial governor of the whole empire, directing policy by holding power over both the bureaucracy and the military. In practice, the Mayor of the Palace has been hereditary to the Brekacids, the princely house of the Hobgoblins, though the position is technically appointed by the King.

The imperial bureaucracy is the complex system of elected and appointed magistrates, officers, and public servants who manage the various functions of the civil government. The capital alone has over 6,000 bureaucratic officials. The center of the bureaucracy is the presidium, a committee of magistrates elected by the Senate called curators for annual terms. The committee is chaired by the Mayor of the Palace, who by statute is curator of the royal treasury and the only member of the committee that is appointed by the King rather than elected by the Senate. Each curator is assigned control over a particular matter of state, often being head of one or more departments. Below this council are the ministers, senior bureaucrats that handle day-to-day affairs of particular branches of the bureaucracy as the chief secretaries and deputies of the curators. There are departments for War, Justice, Temples, Diplomacy, Commerce, Trade, Records, Public Welfare, the Postal Service, and the Treasury. Within each department there are offices and sub-offices responsible for minute details of administration, largely staffed by freed persons and public slaves. While much of the central administration is appointed, the judiciary is composed of officials elected by the Senate called quaestors.

The Senate is the main advisory and deliberative assembly of the government. Originating from the Zonara municipal council of elders, the Senate evolved into a collection of magnates from across the empire. The modern Senate draws its membership from the political elite of both the capital and the provinces, including Gestrin's traditional nobility, landed aristocrats, rulers of federate communities, and citizens previously elected to high public office (quaestors, curators, and praetors of the capital). In theory, the Senate exists as a check on royal authority, a responsibility it has held since time immemorial, and as a representation of the citizens of Gestrin. In practice, the informal networks of patronage that links the Senate's members to the upper echelons of the bureaucracy, particularly to the Mayor of the Palace, ensures that the Senate generally approves the actions of the royal government and legislates in its favor. This has led outside commentators to refer to Gestrin as an autocracy, but Gastrinians see this as an extension of natural networks of patronage and personal relationships.

Provincial government
Even with magical means of rapid communication, a large standing army, and strategic control of resources, Gestrin has lacked the manpower and resources to impose their rule through force alone. As such, the imperial government has had to cooperate with local authorities to maintain peace, collect revenue, and keep the flow of information since its earliest days. This is done through a provincial bureaucracy that ultimately reports to the central government.

The main liaison between the central government and the provinces are the provincial governors. The eighteen provinces are each governed by an official nominated by the King and approved by the Senate. A governor is, by statute, a member of the Senate and typically is a former curator or judicial magistrate. The governor sits in judgement at the highest appeals court for the province, maintains public order, collects taxes, maintains the roads and public works, manages public games and entertainment, oversees religious festivals, and disburses public welfare. The governor has sole right to dispense capital punishment, and capital crimes are tried before the provincial court of first instance. A governor is supported by a circle of advisers appointed by the bureaucracy, representing the government departments, and attended to by a personal staff of their own choosing. These advisers act as a check on the governors, and ensure they are following central government policy where needed. A governor is immune to prosecution during their governorship, but may be subject to prosecution for crimes or abuses committed while in office after their term. Governors were, prior to the Leonine Kings, responsible for the military command in their provinces. After the military reforms in 685, army command was placed in the hands of dedicated commanders under royal commission. Governors can be lent army troops for peacekeeping purposes, but do not have overall command authority.

Within each province are various lands, generally divided into freeholds and communities. A freehold is any plot of land that exists independently of a chartered community. While any free person can be a landowner, only full citizens retain their full legal rights as freeholders; montagnards and federates only retain their unique slate of rights as members of a community. Around a half of all land is owned by private citizens, with around a third owned by communities, and the rest owned by non-citizens.

Communities are divided into three kinds: colonies, municipalities, and federate allies. Colonies are chartered settlements of Gastrinian citizens with the intention of transforming the local area in a process of "Gestrinization", by spreading Gastrinian culture, language, and ways of life. The historian Verica Sevillian wrote, "[colonies] are the tools of empire". A Gastrinian colony serves as an outpost and trade hub, and a place to settle military veterans after retirement. Blended communities are chartered as municipalities, typically market towns or fortifications that have heavy settlement of both citizens and peregrines. In both kinds of communities, citizens can vote for local assemblies and have the right to stand for public office in communal government.

Entire settlements or tribes can be granted federate status, by entering into treaties with Gestrin. Inhabitants of federate communities possess a limited form of citizenship rights in return for military obligations to the empire, and the community's rulers are typically granted full citizenship by royal decree. These communities are legally considered to exist "in federation with" the empire rather than as an integrated part, but functionally they are autonomous areas under Gestrin's control and authority. Federate status is used often as a way to integrate major, pre-existing settlements of conquered territories into Gestrin, but it can also be used to bind a tributary or allied people into the same sort of mutual obligation. The Goblin Confederacy, for instance, was a federate community despite their nomadic way of life, until their grant of full citizenship in 685.

Communities that demonstrate loyalty to Gestrin retain their own laws, can collect their own taxes locally, and generally are able to govern themselves through local and municipal institutions. Legal privileges and relative autonomy are an incentive to remain in good standing with Gestrin among these communities.

Most colonies and municipalities govern themselves in the model of the capital, Zonara. The city or town is headed by a magistrate called a praetor, which means "one who presides" over the city Senate; city senates are composed of the urban patricians. The praetor is elected by the people, but the social classes vote en bloc rather than as individuals; during a praetorian election, the citizens meet in the city square and vote by census order, and however a majority of one order votes is how that class is considered to have voted. While the city senate is the executive governing council, lawmaking power is vested in the Tribunal, an assembly of popularly-elected representatives of the city's boroughs or wards called tribunes. They are called so because in ancient Gestrin, the city assembly was organized on a tribal basis. In certain matters of great import, the city senate can call a referendum of the entire community's citizens in a kind of direct democracy. Despite Gestrin's foreign reputation as an authoritarian empire, democratic institutions exist at the most basic level of community living.

Military
The Gastrinian Royal Army is composed of professional soldiers that volunteer for twenty years in active duty, and five years in the reserve. The army transitioned to a professional force gradually under the late Tiverine dynasty, in the 2nd century. Prior to that, the Royal Army was composed of conscripts raised during wartime for a specific threat, and demobilized after. This process that became increasingly inefficient during the empire's expansion, as repeated wars meant demobilizing and raising troops over and over again. The reforms of King Marcus III established a professional army composed only of citizens, organized into self-sufficient legions. The Marcian Reforms reorganized the way federate communities and non-citizen residents contribute to the army, by organizing their contingents as light or specialist troops. Under these military reforms, the army became a full-time career in itself. The integration of hobgoblin military principles in the 7th century further transformed the Gastrinian army, adopting rigid discipline and tight organization of the legions. The legions were reorganized to a form more recognizable today, with sub-units that can be detached and moved around as needed, and a streamlining of the legions into pure heavy infantry.

The core of the army are citizen legions, which are fixed, homogeneous units of between 4,800 to 5,300 soldiers. A legion is divided into eight to nine cohorts of 500 soldiers each, except the first cohort which is double-strength, plus a general staff and some support troops. Legionaries are all heavy infantry, well-equipped with standardized armor and weaponry, trained to be self-sufficient when on the march. Legionaries are trained not just for massed-unit combat, but also in survival skills, small-team tactics, and basic construction techniques. When not fighting or drilling for battle, legionaries often work on building roads or establishing forts and encampments, spreading the infrastructure of war. There are roughly 40 regular legions in active service throughout the Gestrin Empire, constituting 200,000 soldiers. The majority of legionaries are humans, but by custom since the 7th century, the first cohort of a legion is entirely composed of hobgoblins. In addition to the regular legions, there are two elite mounted legions: the capital Urban Guard, and the Palace Guard. The Urban Guard is stationed permanently in the capital as a police force, city defense, and firefighting brigade. The Palace Guard exists as the personal guard force for the King and the royal government. These two units constitute around 10,600 soldiers, who are generally better paid than most legionaries. There are also 40 independent legionary cohorts, constituting 20,000 legionaries, which can be attached or detached to a legion as necessary, most of which specialize in the use of siege engines and artillery weapons. Service in a legion for twenty-five years is rewarded with a land grant or a cash payment, usually sufficient to make retired veteran of any class into a yeoman.

The legions are augmented by the auxiliaries, cohort-strength units drawn from federate communities and non-citizens. The auxiliaries perform various functions depending on their type. Auxiliary units include light infantry, lancers, pursuit cavalry, heavily-armored knights, scouts, archers, artillery batteries, construction battalions, and other support troops. The auxiliaries make up roughly 3/5th of the entire army, and constitute around 300,000 soldiers dispersed among 500 auxiliary units. Most federate communities are required to provide some soldiers for the auxiliaries, and many peregrines volunteer for service in auxiliary units. Service for twenty five years is rewarded with Montagnard citizenship for an auxiliary veteran and their children.

The Royal Navy has evolved from a fleet of transport ships and harbor defenders to one of the most powerful sea combatants in the region. Today, the Gastrinian fleets operate as far as the Western Isles, and dominate the Great Southern Sea. Their patrols enable the vast sea trade convoys to safely carry goods and resources from the far east to Gestrin, and protect the transport of soldiers to the empire's immense island holdings in the Southern Sea and Mocryae. The fleet protects against pirates as well as rival naval forces and guerrillas. The navy employs a wide variety of different classes of ships, from light raiding or scouting boats to heavy war galleys or bulk transports. While less prestigious than the legions, the navy is crucial in maintaining Gestrin's empire and enabling power projection well beyond its core territories. Most of the navy's crewmembers are rowers, but there are also many sailors that man shipboard weapons, rig sails and maintain the ships, as well as marines for defense and boarding. There are around 100,000 sailors and marines in Gestrin's navy.

In addition to these organized branches, there are special fighting and support forces employed by Gestrin. The army has made a concerted effort to gather magic-users together into small, close-knit special operations units, trained for battle magic, special tactics, and stealth. War mages are frequently employed as saboteurs, spies, scouts, and occasionally as living artillery in battles. These war mages are organized into cohort-sized units for administration, but operate in smaller teams on the field of battle, and can be attached to or detached from legions during a military campaign. There are roughly 48 non-legionary war mage cohorts, with a total of some 12,000 war mages of various traditions. Magic-users also form part of the military medical services, which constitute some 36,000 field medics organized into 72 non-legionary cohorts that accompany the legions and auxiliaries. The medical battalions are mixed citizen and non-citizen forces, selecting its members based on skill in medicine and healing magic.

The army and navy together comprise some 700,000 soldiers and support personnel. This is around 2.7% of the total population, though proportionally certain groups are more engaged in military service than others. Among the hobgoblins, for instance, one in every five military-age adults actively serves in the Gastrinian army.

The military is nominally commanded by the King, but actual command authority is wielded by the Master of the Armies. The Mayor of the Palace has, since 685, held this office. The civil administration that supports military operations, such as the paymasters, war planners, instructors, and others, fall under the Curator for War, an annual elected position. The Master of the Armies delegates field command of all forces in a given province to a high-ranking general called a vicarius. Each legion, or legion-equivalent naval unit, is commanded by a lower-ranked general called a legate. A legionary legate is advised by a staff of officers called tribunes, who are called so from the ancient tribal war council, and are typically young aristocrats on the path towards a political career and desiring of military experience. Whether it is part of a legion or fleet, or an independent unit, a cohort is commanded by a field officer called a ''prefect. Below the operational considerations of a cohort, soldiers are grouped in centuries of 80 to 100, led by a captain or a centurion, which is subdivided into ten-person sections led by a decurion''. This smallest unit is more for organizational purposes while in-camp, with decurions elected by their fellow soldiers.

Gestrin law
Gastrinian courts hold original jurisdiction over cases involving citizens throughout the empire, but there are too few judicial functionaries to impose Gestrin's law uniformly in the provinces. Some conquered parts of the empire have well-established law codes and juridical procedures. In general, it has been Gestrin's policy to respect the regional tradition or "law of the land" and to regard local laws as a source of legal precedent and social stability. The compatibility of Gastrinian and local law reflects an underlying notion of common and customary law among all civilized peoples. If the particulars of provincial law conflict with Gastrinian law or custom, Gestrin's courts hears appeals, with a decision rendered by the provincial governor, on the advice of a quaestor appointed by the Senate. When matters between citizens are disputed, it is directly examined by the provincial court, and is subject to the governor's decision. If this is unsatisfactory, the matter can be appealed to the Imperial Quaestura; such cases are heard before a panel of twelve quaestors, chaired by the Curator of Justice. If all other appeals are exhausted, the King holds final authority to render a judgement.

In some barbarian provinces, law had been administered on a highly localized or tribal basis, and certain individual property and citizenship rights are a Gastrinian novelty. In such conquered territories Gastrinian law has facilitated the acquisition of wealth by a new citizen elite who found their new privileges as citizens to be advantageous. The rights of peregrines, the free non-citizens of the empire, are considerably curtailed to enable citizens to have the most advantages in conquered lands. This is part of the process of cultural "Gestrinization".

The law is enforced across the empire by local military formations, typically. The legions and their auxiliary forces are empowered to act as domestic peacekeeping units,this being their primary function aside from expeditionary warfare and frontier defense. In some special circumstances,where criminal activities cross provincial boundaries and discretion is key in foiling crime, such as treason plots, political crimes, counterfeiting, and smuggling, investigative and prevention is vested in special agents of the state, the Arcani. The Arcani are a secret service, little-mentioned even in Gastrinian documents, and much about them is shrouded in mystery and folk legend. They seem to have emerged from a group specially tasked with investigating claims of counterfeiting and tax evasion, and expanded from there into handling political crimes. It is unknown how many Arcani there are, who commands them, and exactly how they operate, though there are rumors that their agents are secretly embedded on legionary staffs as spies.

The pervasive exercise of Gastrinian law throughout southwestern Ovaicaea has led to its enormous influence on legal tradition in the West. Even the New Empire has adopted some procedural aspects as well as the language of Gestrin's law. At the same time, Gastrinian law and especially legal language was strongly influenced by the sun elven cities of the northwest, such that Old Soltran is still used as a court and academic language.

Taxation and finance
Taxation is a significant source of government revenue, estimated by the Gestrin Society for Economic History at around 9% of the national product. The tax code has been remarked by Gastrinian jurists as "bewildering" in its complicated system of direct and indirect taxes, some paid in cash and some in kind. In-kind taxes are accepted from less-monetized areas, particularly those who supply grain or goods to army camps.

The primary source of direct tax revenue are individuals, who pay a poll tax, an income tax, and a tax on land acreage. Income taxes were paid at a flat-rate for many centuries, but the Twenty Years' War saw the restructuring into a progressive income tax, where higher-earning citizens pay a higher percentage; generally, proleterians pay a 1% income tax, and this rate increases by 1% for each next higher census order. Some landowners are eligible for certain exemptions; for example, Mocrish farmers can register fields and rice paddies as fallow and tax-exempt depending on flood patterns of the Mocryae lowlands. Tax obligations are determined by the census, which requires each head of household to provide a head count of their household, as well as an accounting of property they own that is suitable for agriculture or habitation.

A major source of indirect-tax revenue are customs and tolls on imports and exports, including among provinces. Special taxes are levied on the slave trade, including a tax on the sale of slaves. An owner who frees a slave must pay a tax assessed from a percentage of the slave's value. Luxury imports from Aendrilad, Tethar, and Mocryae, such as spices, silks, and gemstones, have special taxes levied on them. An inheritance tax is assessed when Gastrinian citizens above a certain net worth leave property to anyone but members of their immediate family.

Some taxes, by statute, contribute towards a specific purpose and cannot be appropriated for other funds. Revenues from estate taxes and from a sales tax on auctions specifically contribute towards the veterans' pension fund. Much of the in-kind grain taxes paid by provinces go towards the subsidized grain given to the empire's poor, while some goes towards provisions for the army, or provisions for the postal service. A 10% tax on certain luxury items is deposited into the Royal Purse, a personal fund for the royal household.

Low taxes have historically helped the Gastrinian aristocracy increase their wealth, which sometimes rivals the revenues of the central government. Gastrinian tradition is that wealthy members of society sponsor and fund public works, entertainment, and festivals to demonstrate their wealth and patriotism. In previous centuries, disloyal citizens of great wealth might have their estates seized by the state. Since the 700s, the Leonine kings have dispensed with "tyrannical" measures to increase the royal treasury and have levied increased tax rates on the incomes of wealthy citizens.

Other forms of non-taxation revenue exist that contribute to the state treasuries: vacant inheritance, that is the case in which the inheritance was without any legal and designated heir; incomes from state assets, such as national mines and quarries, or leasing public lands; incomes from the sale of war booty; incomes from the discovery of treasures or bounties, as half of all discovered treasures are to be delivered to the treasury; incomes from fines; and the estates and goods of those condemned to deprivation of life, liberty, or citizenship.

Government revenues are deposited into the Royal Treasury, which is the central exchequer and treasury for the empire and royal government. The most recent records indicate a total government revenue of 1.44 billion gold bezants. The Treasury is divided into a few specific funds:
 * The general fund; this is used for any kind of discretionary spending by the state.
 * The military fund, which supplies the army and navy, including paying soldiers, providing arms, armor, equipment, and beasts, paying for construction and upkeep of fortifications and military roads, and provisions for soldiers and beasts.
 * The military pension fund, which is specifically set aside to pay the pensions of retired soldiers and their families.
 * The King's Purse, a special fund set aside for the discretion of the royal household and the King. It is funded by incomes from royal lands and taxes on certain luxury goods.

Economy
Gestrin features one of the most robust and dynamic economies to emerge out of the continent of Ovaicaea. Economic growth in Gestrin is greater than that of its neighbors in almost every era. The empire is perhaps best thought of as a network of regional economies, guided by the state in such a way as to assure its own revenues. Scholars working for the Gestrin Society for Economic History publishes a regular digest of expert analysis of trade records maintained by the state records office. Much of the following data derives from recent editions of this publication.

Territorial conquests have permitted a large-scale reorganization of land use that has resulted in agricultural surplus and specialization, particularly in Kaiser and East Gestrin. Some cities are known for particular industries or commercial activities, and the scale of building in urban areas indicates a significant construction industry. The empire is highly monetized, and has pioneered institutions in banking and finance, including networks of banks and merchant guilds. Trade routes connect regional economies, and magical means of communication enable rapid dissemination of information and decision-making by economic actors.

The military is a major driver of the economy. Supply contracts for the army pervade every part of the empire, drawing on both local and nationwide suppliers to provide arms, armor, beasts, and equipment. An extensive industry exists that forges weaponry and armor, builds ships, and crafts combat wands and staves for Gestrin's military.

This economic dynamism has opened up an avenues of social mobility in the Gastrinian Empire. Social advancement in Gestrin is not dependent solely on birth, patronage, good luck, or even extraordinary ability, but is heavily affected by financial acumen. Although aristocratic values permeate traditional elite society, a strong tendency towards plutocracy is indicated by the wealth requirements for census rank. Prestige among Gestrin's wealthy citizens can be obtained through investing wealth in ways that advertise it appropriately: grand country estates or townhouses, durable luxury items such as jewels and silverware, public entertainments, funerary monuments for family members or clients, and religious dedications such as altars, shrines, and statuary. Guilds and corporations provide support for individuals to succeed through networking, sharing sound business practices, and a willingness to work.

The most recent analyses of transaction records, land values, trade, and the flow of the money supply give an estimate that the total productive value of Gastrinian economy is around 16 billion bezants, of which 9% is extracted by the state in the form of taxes and other revenues.

Currency and banking
The empire has become monetized to a nearly-universal extent. Practically any good or service can be assessed in a monetary value, and coinage is ubiquitous throughout the empire. While property assessment and government finances are reckoned in terms of the gold bezant as a unit of account, the most commonly-used coin as a basic unit of account for most exchanges is the silver drachma. The lowest-valued coin commonly circulated is the small bronze mille, with the brass assarion and the electrum radiatus as intermediary denominations. A higher-valued currency exists, the platinum diadem, but this is rarely circulated. These are roughly equivalent to the delineations in the Western Empire made between platinum, gold, electrum, silver, and copper coinage of varying kinds.

The right to mint imperial coinage is solely held by the Royal Mint as a branch of the Royal Treasury, which has several minting factories located across the empire. However, the ability to mint their own coinage is a right that is frequently granted to federate communities, and many places in the empire's frontiers operate with the pre-Gestrin currencies in circulation. Trade with the north has also allowed an infusion of Ovaicaean coinage into the money supply. Bullion and ingots are not used as money or currency per se, but they are sometimes used in trading or real estate acquisitions and are called "trade bars" in this context.

Currency values:

Like in the kingdoms to the north, coinage is counted rather than weighed and is trusted on its face value rather than its metal content. Coinage has periodically been debased, the last and most significant being during the reign of King Ilius to ensure military payments, but typically the value in the money is due to public trust in its supplying institution. The standardization of money throughout the empire has promoted trade and market integration, and the high amount of coinage in circulation has increased the money supply for trading or saving. Gestrin is remarked as one of the richest nations due to this availability, which enables even lower-class citizens to engage in the wider economy.

Gestrin has pioneered the concept of a central bank, though regulation of the private banking system is minimal. The Royal Bank lends money to the government in times of revenue shortfall, enabling public debt and deficit spending so the state can continue to make payments even with limited revenue. This is rare, and Gestrin's government revenue has remained strong over the past century. The Royal Bank also controls the money supply, which was previously completely unregulated, by having authority over the circulation of coinage minted by both the Royal Mint and by federate communities. Banks in Gestrin typically keep less in reserves than the full total of customers' deposits, which has enabled banks with limited capital to do considerable business and produce a robust credit system. It is assumed by many Gastrinian economists that anyone significantly involved in commerce requires access to credit.

The senatorial elite, while barred from commercial banking, has always been involved heavily in private lending, both as creditors and borrowers, making loans from their personal fortunes on the basis of social connections. Professional deposit bankers emerged in the pre-imperial era. The first modern banks were commercial banks investing in merchant guilds dealing in the cloth, grain, or metal trade. These expanded over time and developed into community and investment banks present in most cities. Banks dedicated to moneychanging for foreign traders have become a rising business.

Banks in Gestrin have, for centuries, provided paper documentation of transactions to enable networks of banks throughout the empire to exchange very large sums as well as debts without the physical transfer of coins, in part because of the risks of moving large amounts of cash, particularly by sea. In more recent times, promissory notes have become used for smaller transactions, but this is rare outside of major trade hubs and port cities, such as Pearl Port or Kaiser. Most everyday exchanges at markets and in small-scale personal banking are done with coinage.

Mining and metallurgy
The main mining regions of the empire are the Gastrinian Alps, (gold, silver, copper, tin, lead), the Tethar Mountains (silver, lead, iron), the West Aendriladi highlands (mainly iron, lead, tin), and South Mocryae (coal, lead, iron). Intensive large-scale mining—of alluvial deposits, and by means of open-cast mining and underground mining—has taken place since the expansionist Tiverine dynasty.

Hydraulic mining has allowed base and precious metals to be extracted on an industrial scale. Gestrin's total annual iron output is estimated at 41,000 tons. Copper is produced at an annual rate of 8,000 tons, and lead at 40,000 tons. Tethar alone has a 30% share in known world lead production. The high lead output is a by-product of extensive silver mining which has reached over 100 tons per year. An effect of large-scale mining has been measurable pollution of some waterways, mainly through lead runoff, which has increased tensions with federate sea elf, lizardfolk, merfolk, and merrow communities in Tethar, Mocryae, and the southern islands.

Communication and transportation
The Gastrinian Empire is linked together by a network of roads and ports. The empire dominates the western half of the Great Southern Sea, and includes the Bay of Mocryae, Crab Bay, and the Gulf of Gestrin. Gastrinian ships navigate these seas as well as most rivers on the mainland of Ovaicaea. Gestrin also controls the Kaiser, Tethar, Mocryae, and Tolossus rivers. Transport by water is preferred where possible, and moving commodities by land is more difficult even with the overall stability and interconnected road system of the empire. An extensive shipbuilding industry enables large-scale sea trade.

The Old Empire to the far north was able to make use of gnomish blood magic to construct a network of teleportation circles, but no other nation has yet to replicate such magic. Land transport in Gestrin utilizes the advanced system of Royal Roads, which are protected by the royal army as well as local highway patrols. These roads have been primarily built for military purposes, but also enable widespread commerce. The in-kind taxes paid by communities include the provision of personnel, animals, or vehicles for the royal postal service established by expansionist Tiverine kings. Relay stations are located along the roads every seven to twelve miles, and tend to grow into a village or trading post. Taverns have emerged between or around these settlements as popular places to rest, obtain food and drink, and hear local news.

Privately run service stations franchised by the imperial bureaucracy for the postal relay also have established themselves along the roads. The support staff at such a facility includes muleteers, secretaries, blacksmiths, cartwrights, a veterinarian, and a few military police and couriers. The distance between such service stations is determined by how far a wagon can travel in a day. Mules are the animal most often used for pulling carts, but oxen and workhorses are also used. Postal riders are given fast palfreys to swiftly carry their missives.

Due to the relatively slow pace of overland communication, the Gastrinian postal service maintains a system of specialist mages to send and receive magical sendings. The limitations of magical communication spells necessitate that this system is used for matters of military urgency and short, immediate instructions. More complex orders, detailed instructions, and documentation are conveyed along the postal roads.

Trade and commodities
Gastrinian provinces trade among themselves, and foreign trade extends far outside the frontiers to regions as far east as the Empire of the Morning Star and as far north as Odkarkuz and Skyshroud. The primary commodity is grain. Trade is mostly conducted overland through middle men along numerous roads and trade routes, but also occurs by sea from ports across the empire. Other major trade items are olive oil, wine, salt, fruits, spices, condiments, medicines, slaves, livestock, ore, textiles, timber, marble and stone, pearls and gems, arms and armor, wood furniture, metalware, clothing, pottery, glassware, paper, and bullion.

Wine has become a central item of domestic trade. Though most provinces are capable of producing wine, regional varietals are desirable. The wines of greatest repute are made in the Southern Islands, with grapes grown in rich volcanic soils. However, Gestrin Isle, the Tethar coast, and Lake Kaiser regions all produce fine wines that are widely traded. Foreign wines are also imported, especially dwarven wines from Lithuar and elven wines and brandies from Eldunari.

Most trade at market is done at public forums or market plazas, which can be found in nearly every city or town and has stalls and peddlers for general goods. Large cities might have specialty markets dealing in cattle, fish, meat, herbs and vegetables, wine, spices, medicine, and magic items. Other cities might have individual enclosed shops as a widespread feature, particularly in Old Tethar, which retail general and specialty goods. Trade is conducted sometimes by manufacturers' sales agents, other times by wholesale retailers, or by itinerant peddlers.

Members of the senatorial elite are restricted in the kind of commerce they can engage in; they cannot own merchant ships beyond a certain size, engage in banking, engage in mining or quarrying industries, or engage in certain risky kinds of trade. A senator is expected to have earned their fortune through honorable means: military spoils, public service, and land ownership. As a consequence, the trade in grain, wine, and olive oil is dominated by the senatorial class, as it is the main kind of business they can engage in. However, there are loopholes that allow senators to invest in various kinds of trade and industry through intermediaries. Patricians and the common orders, by contrast, are widely involved in commodity trade.

Labor and occupations
Census records account for over 270 different occupations across the empire, with great diversity in major cities. Professional associations or trade guilds regulate a wide range of occupations, including fishermen, doctors, mages, textile workers, entertainers, metalsmiths, masons, teamsters, and stonecutters, as well as merchants and dealers of all types. These are sometimes quite specialized.

Work performed by slaves falls into five general categories: domestic, public service, urban crafts, agriculture, and mining, as outlined in the above section on Gastrinian slavery. Convicts provide much of the labor in the mines or quarries, where conditions are notoriously brutal. In practice, there is little division of labor between slave and free, especially in farm work. The greatest number of common laborers are employed in agriculture: on Gestrin Isle, these are mostly slaves, but dependent labor by people who are technically not enslaved predominates throughout the empire. A majority of free people, especially peregrines and proletarians, are tenant farmers, though unlike the kingdoms in the north they are not bonded to the land in a form of serfdom.

Textile and clothing production is a major source of employment, second only to agriculture. Garments are traded widely outside of the empire, reaching lands far to the north and to the east. Textile producers can run prosperous small businesses employing apprentices, free workers earning wages, and slaves.