The Federation: Common Knowledge

The Federation is the name for a loose alliance of countries and city-states that were formally subject Satrapies of the Empire. In R.Y.768 (last year) the Empire withdrew its garrison legions from the East, leaving these Satrapies with considerably reduced military power, thus rendering them vulnerable to raids from neighbouring lands – in particular the greatly feared barbarian tribes that live in the Far East. The most influential individual in the Federation, its de facto head, is Mnemon Alexius, the former Satrap of Grecia who declared himself its King towards the end of 768, an act calculated to annoy the Dynasty and a direct challenge to the authority of the Scarlet Empress.
It was Alexius’s plan to ally with General V’Neef Yy and have the entire 23rd Imperial Legion come over to the Federation, to form the backbone of its military strength. This proposed alliance was far less of a gamble than Alexius led his fellow Federation founders to believe, as he knew that Yy was a fellow heretic – both Yy and Alexius practice Ancestor Worship, forbidden by the laws of the Empire, which forces its own faith (the “Immaculate Philosophy”) upon all its subjects. The heresy of General Yy has only become common knowledge since the beginning of 769, when the entire 23rd Legion defected upon setting foot in the Threshold. General Yy is now one of the most wanted criminals in the Empire, with a handsome price on his head.
The Federation’s economic strength comes from the Scavenger Lands, the one area of the world that has never been subject to the Empire. Any enemy of the Empire is a friend to the Scavenger Lands, it seems, since from the beginning the Federation has enjoyed a healthy trading partnership with Nexus, the most powerful trade city in the world. It helped that the individual sent to set up this partnership was Alexius’s daughter Anna, who is both renowned and popular with the people of Nexus.
Religion in the Federation is perhaps the greatest barrier between the various rulers within it. He has been King for less than a year, but already Alexius has begun making changes to his country’s faith, with the intention of eventually replacing it with one in line with his own. The majority of the other rulers are more than a little disturbed by this, for they are followers of the Immaculate Philosophy which has, after all, been the only religion permitted in their lands for eight hundred years or more. This break with the faith is the source of many rumours about Alexius, among the more widespread of which is the one that he has under his influence a number of Immaculate monks that have been purposefully trained wrong, so that they may go abroad and preach a perverted creed to the masses.
The worst rumours about the Federation, and Alexius in particular, say that he has allied it with one of the Deathlords. This is given credence by the Deathknight ambassador that attends his court. Which Deathlord this may be is not known, but Grecia is quite near to the city of Thorns…