Final Empire
| Final Empire | |
|---|---|
| |
| Capital | Luthadel |
| World | Scadrial |
| Universe | Cosmere |
The Final Empire was the major state on Scadrial for over 1000 years.[1]
Geography and Ecology
Geography
Location
The Final Empire was located in the northern hemisphere. It was bordered on all sides by the burnlands, inhospitable deserts with temperatures to hot for survival.[2] The border areas between the Final Empire and the burnlands were sometimes referred to as the "wastes".[3]
Notable lakes and seas inside the Final Empire include the Tyrian Sea, Lake Luthadel, the Black Lake and North Seran.[4] There are a number of large mountains in the Final Empire called Ashmounts. The Empire also contains a number of mountain ranges, the most notable of which is called the Terris range.[4]
![[4]](#cite_note-Final_Empire_Map.jpg-4){kind=link}
The Final Empire also included multiple islands like the Southern Islands and The Shrouded Isles.[4]
Climate and Weather
The Final Empire experienced mild winters, with snowfall every few years.
The Final Empire also experienced ashfalls, the raining down of the ash in the scadrian atmosphere.[5] The ash was released into the atmosphere by eruptions of the Ashmounts. There were seven of these Ashmounts; Tyrian, Zerinah, Faleast, Doriel, Morag, Kalling and Torinost. These seven mountains spewed ash into Scadrial's atmosphere, cooling the world down. This was the Lord Ruler's solution to his alterations of the planet's orbit.[6]
Every night, shortly after sunset, the Mists appeared.[5] These Mists seem natural, but are in fact Preservation’s gaseous investiture.[7] The Mist is important to the cultures of both the Skaa and the noblemen.
Ecology
Flora
The Final Empire contains many different types of Flora. Most of the Flora was created and designed to survive the Ashfalls.[8]
The Lord Ruler designed new plants that could break down the falling ash in order to prevent the ashfalls from covering the world. The plants in the Final Empire are usually brown.[9] This was due to the Lord Ruler altering their physiology to be able to use more wavelengths of light (such as green light, which is normally reflected) to compensate for the loss of light caused by the ash. Since the plants' light absorption still wasn't fully efficient, the plants became brown instead of black.[10]
Fauna
The Final Empire has many different types of animals. Most of these animals were created after Rashek’s Ascension, and were designed to survive and thrive in the ash.[8] Some species from before the ashfalls are still around however, such as horses and some types of dogs.[11]
The most notable animal in the Final Empire was the mistwraith, a creature made of mostly muscle, which uses the bones of deceased animals to create unique skeletal structures for itself.[12] They were created from all the living Feruchemists at the time of the Lord Ruler's Ascension.[13] The Lord Ruler also created microbes that broke down the ash as part of their biological processes, in order to prevent the ashfalls from covering the world.[14]
The Final Empire also contains multiple species made through Hemalurgy. These species are the kandra, koloss, and Inquisitors.
Notable places
- Luthadel - The capital city of the Final Empire and seat of the Lord Ruler.[4]
- Urteau - The capital city of the Northern Dominance and hereditary home of House Venture.[4]
- The Pits of Hathsin - A large mine that produces atium.[4]
- Austrex - The capital city of the Southern Dominance.[4]
- Conventical of Seran - The home of the Inquisitors.[4]
- Tremredare - The capital city of the Western Dominance.[4]
Government and Politics
Lord Ruler
The Final Empire is ruled by the Lord Ruler. This man is a fullborn, a full feruchemist and a mistborn.[15] Some Skaa view him as eternal, like the sun and the mists.[16] The Lord Ruler has a lot of influence on the culture of both nobles and Skaa.
The Lord Ruler plays a large role in Steel Ministry doctrine. They view him as a god, calling him the ‘sliver of infinity’.[12] He is revered for saving the world from the deepness.[17]
He has absolute authority in the Final Empire. It must be noted however that he doesn’t make many decisions himself, instead letting the various cantons of the Steel Ministry rule.
Noble Houses
The noble houses effectively rule the empire, although they are policed heavily by the Steel Ministry. The houses control imperial trade and also enslave the majority of the Empire’s Skaa population.[18]
Most noblemen are provincial lords, owning plantations that produce food or other products.[5] Most of these lords seem to live on their plantations, although a lot of them also live in nearby cities, controlling their plantations from a distance away.
Great Houses
The Great Houses are the most prominent noble families in the Final Empire, notable for their ability to build a keep and maintain a high-profile presence in Luthadel.[19] This is made difficult by the Lord Ruler's keep tax.[20] Country nobility resent the Great Houses for their control of the canal systems.[21] The Great Houses get to buy a monthly stipend of atium, one of the main ways that the Lord Ruler controls them.[11]
A major house war between the Great Houses tends to happen every couple of centuries or so.[18] House Wars are primarily political.[20] The last House War was devastating.[18]
Steel Ministry
The Steel Ministry and its obligators are the main bureaucracy for the Final Empire.[16] Despite officially being a religious institution, the main purpose of the Steel Ministry is to keep the empire running.
One of the functions of the Ministry is to witness a myriad of contracts and agreements, even something as simple as promise to come to a game of shelldry.[21] The nobility pay the Lord Ruler for their services in a manner similar to that of renting skaa.[5] As the authority in bureaucratic matters, any mercantile contracts, divorces, weddings, land purchases, inheritances, or any other important dealings could only be authorized by obligators. If one of the Ministry’s members hasn't witnessed an event or sealed a document, it might as well not have happened or have been written.[21]
The Ministry is split up into multiple cantons. These Cantons are responsible for their own area, for example finances or orthodoxy. The known Cantons are:
- Canton of Finance
- Canton of Resource
- Canton of Inquisition
- Canton of Orthodoxy
Administrative Districts
The Final Empire consisted of ten Dominances.[4] Each dominance is ruled by provincial lords each with command of, and responsibility for, their own skaa.[5] This organization has been in place for two hundred years and grants the nobility greater freedom than previous systems. The Lord Ruler seems to be uncomfortable with this and counteracts it with increased obligator activity [22].
The ten dominances are:[4]
Luthadel
Luthadel is the capital city of the Final Empire.[19] It is located in the central dominance, southwest of lake Luthadel and east of lake Tyrian.[4]
Luthadel is the economic center of the Empire. Many Noble Houses, including the Great Houses, are located in Luthadel.[19] As these Houses control the trade routes and canals, as well as much of the actual trade itself, Luthadel is very important for the Empire’s trade and welfare.[18]
Luthadel is also the seat of the Lord Ruler. This upon itself makes it very important to the people’s culture.[23] Luthadel is also located at the magnetic North Pole. This makes all compasses point toward it.[24]
Notes
| History of Scadrial | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ascension of the Lord Ruler | Final Empire | Collapse |
- ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 72 epigraph#
- ↑ Idaho Falls Signing
— Arcanum - 2009-06-20# - ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 26#
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Map of the Final Empire (1021)
- ↑ a b c d e The Final Empire prologue#
- ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 76#
- ↑ Idaho Falls Signing
— Arcanum - 2009-06-20# - ↑ a b The Hero of Ages chapter 5 epigraph#
- ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 6 epigraph#
- ↑ General Reddit 2016
— Arcanum - 2016-03-22# - ↑ a b The Final Empire chapter 13#
- ↑ a b The Final Empire chapter 8#
- ↑ The Final Empire chapter 38 epigraph#
- ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 15 epigraph#
- ↑ The Final Empire chapter 38#
- ↑ a b The Final Empire chapter 1#
- ↑ The Well of Ascension chapter 56#
- ↑ a b c d The Final Empire chapter 6#
- ↑ a b c The Final Empire chapter 2#
- ↑ a b The Final Empire chapter 24#
- ↑ a b c The Final Empire chapter 23#
- ↑ The Final Empire chapter 18#
- ↑ The Final Empire chapter 34#
- ↑ The Hero of Ages Annotations
— Arcanum - 2010-05-04#