Jeceau Empire

The former Jeceau Empire was a large and once powerful empire spanning much of the central-western Green Cradle. The empire is currently in a nine-age civil war and has lost all influence beyond its war-torn borders. (note that in prior unpublished revisions of the Grim Dream, the Jeceau Empire was called the "Jaquian" Empire. This map uses the old name and is out-of-date.)

The southern border of the Jeceau Empire is vast -- stretching across the entire northern borders of Bruhinn and Feldhasel, to the northwestern border of the Ostergau. In the east, the Empire borders the small independent nations of Fellmoor and Aramoor. A vast, empty tundra separates the northern reaches of the Empire from the Noresselaud, and treacherous, inhospitable frozen mountains lead northwest to Izuahar. Finally, to the west, the Empire covers the only navigable river entrance to the Holy Thlos.

Since the disappearance of the Jeceau Emperor and the beginning of the Jeceau Civil War, the region is sometimes referred to as the Jeceau "Territory," rather than as the Jeceau Empire. Indeed, no centralized imperial authority currently exists. Instead, power is divided among the former provinces of the empire. It is generally believed that we are currently witnessing the breakup of the Empire and that, within the next nine years, a unified Jeceau state will no longer exist.

The city of Montlevoche-Allant is the former capital of the Empire and site of the royal Palace of Zerine.

Pronunciation:

The proper pronunciation of Jeceau words is sometimes not obvious. The word "Jeceau," when it is written in the Grim Dream novels, appears with a cédille under the "c" like so: Jeçeau. Thus, the "c" is pronounced as an "s" and the proper pronunciation is "jeh-So" with emphasis on the second syllable.

Key Provinces:

Lemarre: Located near the center of the Empire, slightly off-center to the northeast. A wealthy province with a variety of climates and industries and a large population.

Chesny: Located in the far southwest of the Empire, along the Bruhinn border. Once an independent nation with its own language and strong cultural identity, Chesny was violently and swiftly annexed by military genius, Emperor Belgaine III, who erected many castles to consolidate Jeceau power there. A prosperous province due to its fertile floodplains and convenient location for trade between Bruhinn and the rest of the Green Cradle. To appease the Chesnian people, the heir-apparent to the Malachite Dais (the Jeceau throne) is given the title Duke of Chesny.

Allanche: Located along the northern edges of Treth, along the southern-central border of the Empire. Thickly forested in places, the large population of Allanche is centered in a few urban centers along various major rivers. The rest of the province is wilderness.

Glassfall: A sparsely populated, rugged, snowy region along the northern border of the Empire.

Trethinville: Technically not a province, Trethinville is an important fortified city-state along the Freyeau River deep in the Forest of Treth, south of the Jeceau Empire. Trethinville was an extension of Jeceau power into Treth, an otherwise dark and dangerous wilderness between Bruhinn and Feldhasel. Trethinville provides a safe stopover for caravans and riverboats brave enough to travel through Treth. It is therefore one of the most prosperous and important properties of the Empire.

History:

Records surrounding the birth of the Jeceau Empire are spotty. The Green Bloods first gained prominence sometime during the early Myriad, through a distant relationship with the Archbishop of Nomon Linnor in the Holy Thlos. The early Green Blood state was known as Hraan, now a woe-infested ruin near the Thlossian border. The prevalence of woe and grim ruins in the northwestern corners of the present-day Empire suggest that this region (Hraan) was highly magically active during the Myriad. As is common, most records from the Myriad were lost during the Lost Years. But at some point during either the late Myriad or early Lost Years, Hraan fell to barbarian nor-folk tribes, then reemerged, perhaps hundreds of years later, as a unified Jeceau Empire.

Like many other kingdoms of the Green Cradle, the Jeceau Empire predates Neitsches the Conqueror. At that time, the Empire included Fellmoor and Aramoor but did not include Chesny. It is believed that the threat of Jeceau expansion into the Noresselaud is what spurred Neitsches into initiating his lifelong conquest of the entire Green Cradle. Despite its great wealth, resources, and population, the Jeceau Empire (like most other Green Cradle states) fell swiftly to the Norst. Recognizing the importance of the Green Blood to the Jeceau people, Neitsches installed his sister Zerine as Governess of the Jeceau Territory by marrying her to Prince Edrian, son of deposed Emperor Cadeus VI. In the countryside outside the Jeceau village of Ellisais, Neitsches then constructed the opulent Palace of Zerine, which has been the seat of Jeceau power ever since. Ellisais was later renamed to Montlevoche-Allant.

With the death of Neitsches, the Jeceau Empire (like most other Green Cradle states) reestablished its independence. After a short war of succession, Zerine and Edrian were exiled to Aramoor by their own son, who became Emperor Martaine of the renewed Empire, which no longer included Fellmoor and Aramoor. Edrian thereafter became known as Edrian of Aramoor. Emperor Martaine chose to keep many of the homogenizing innovations of the Norst, such as the adoption of Feldhasel Common as a national language, the Norst system of numerals and mathematics, the Norst alphabet, and the standardized system of Norst weights and measures. Though controversial among the culturally prideful Jeceau, this choice enabled the Empire to become a major hub of trade at the heart of the Green Cradle. The breathtakingly beautiful Palace of Zerine was kept as the seat of Jeceau power and was briefly renamed the Green Palace. After Zerine's death in exile, many years later, Emperor Belgaine III honored his grandmother by restoring the original name.

The Jeceau Empire has long claimed to be the rightful divine authority over all Thlossian cultures of the Green Cradle. This essentially includes all man-kin except the Shaolei and Tazitan. As such, the Empire forcibly occupied the Holy Thlos for over a hundred years, shortly after Emperor Belgaine III's conquest of Chesny. During the Occupation, the Empire installed its own Conclave in the high holy city of Nomon Linnor, at the source of the Freyeau River. Thlossian resistance formed a rival conclave and waged what became known as the Conclave War for over a hundred years -- severely depleting the Empire's resources and steadily eroding the Jeceau army's confidence and morale. Emperor Nimian IV, supposedly at the urging of his wife, ultimately conceded defeat and withdrew the Jeceau army from the Holy Thlos, allowing it to become an independent state. Loathe to concede moral defeat, however, Nimian transplanted the so-called "Puppet Conclave" to the Jeceau city of Montlevoche-Allant, near the Palace of Zerine, and refused to recognize the reinstalled Thlossian Conclave. The Jeceau Empire thereafter followed the moral edicts of the Ellisais Conclave and sought to stymie the edicts of the Thlossian Conclave. This led to an awkward era of Jeceau history in which the term "Thlossian" was gradually phased out of common parlance, since it referred ambiguously to either the Thlossian Faith or the rival Thlossian state.

Discontent with the Thlossian thorn in the Empire's side, Emperor Cadeus IX initiated the costly Red Snow War, in which he attempted to re-annex the Holy Thlos. The Red Snow War dragged on for almost forty years, once again depleting the Jeceau army, demoralizing the Empire, costing the life of Prince Theadreau, Duke of Chesny and heir-apparent to the throne, and ultimately costing Emperor Cadeus IX his life. With an infant as their new Emperor, the Jeceau lords ended the Red Snow War.

Almost ten years later, young Emperor Cadeus X once again attempted to raise an army to invade and capture the Holy Thlos. During his prewar tour of the Empire, however, he mysteriously disappeared, along with his entire caravan, in the forest of Clairefore in Allanche, and has never been heard from since. Presumed dead without a heir, the royal bloodline, dating all the way back to the birth of the Empire, is believed to be extinguished. This has plunged the Empire into a civil war which continues to rage at beginning of the series.

Culture:

In its prime, the Jeceau Empire was the most powerful man-kin nation in Landfall. Despite the Empire's decline, Jeceau culture still exerts strong influence on the central Green Cradle region.

Generally, Jeceau culture openly embraces acts of passion, emotion, love, and creativity. Jeceau people have a reputation for being hot-headed, dramatic, and passionate. They value honesty and speak their mind, even when it may offend others. Topics often considered taboo by other cultures, especially sex, are much more openly discussed. Other peoples of Landfall often find Jeceau abrasive, rude, uncouth, or inappropriate.

Jeceau are generally devout followers of the Thlossian Faith. This creates awkward linguistic issues, because the Holy Thlos (state) has been at war with the Empire, off and on, for almost two hundred years. Jeceau therefore follow the principles and edicts of the Ellisais Conclave, (sometimes called the Green Conclave or "Puppet Conclave") which they believe is the only true Thlossian conclave. The core humanist principles of the two faiths are identical.

Many Jeceau harbor strong prejudice against people from the Holy Thlos. They view Thlossians of the Valley as misguided religious zealots with no regard for tradition.

Jeceau art, music, and theatre is widely regarded as the best in Landfall. Jeceau lords actively patronized the arts, moreso than the lords of any other nation. In fact, Jeceau lords and royalty spent so much of the Empire's wealth on art and architecture that the national infrastructure is now underfunded and poor.

The most famous Jeceau artistic institution is the ville solant -- a royally-funded system of orphanages which raises unwanted children to become slave performers in the Jeceau theatre. It is the only theatre system of its kind in the world. Members of the ville solant are widely regarded as the best singers, dancers, actors, and orators in Landfall.

Jeceau fashion is uniquely colorful, androgynous, and sexually suggestive. Jeceau women favor clipping long locks of unnaturally colored hair to extend their own hair -- or some simply wear wigs. Women may wear breeches; men may wear skirts. Earrings, jewelry, rouge, and powder are worn by both sexes on special occasions. Clothing is colorful. Colored stripes and tassels are popular. White is disfavored except for solemn occasions, since it is considered a holy color. Green is disfavored, since it is considered arrogant. White tassels would be highly offensive and inappropriate, since they are synonymous with Thlossian paladins and freedom fighters.

The Jeceau accent is part of the Empire's cultural identity. Jeceau people are proud of their accent. A unique Jeceau language used to exist, but it was already falling out of use by the time Neitsches the Conqueror standardized the language to Feldhasel Common, about 200 years ago. A few ancient Jeceau words are still used -- such as ville solant.

Racial Characteristics:

The Empire is large and diverse, representing a healthy cross-section of most central Green Cradle peoples. To the west, in regions such as Chesny, the people resemble their Bruhinnen neighbors (shorter; darker hair). To the east, the people resemble their Ostergauen and Norst neighbors (taller; blonder). Winter is longer-than-average; Jeceau people tend to be light-skinned.

Military:

Until recently, the Jeceau army was one of the most technologically advanced armies in Landfall. Jeceau castle design and siege technology, in particular, were studied and copied by most other Green Cradle kingdoms. Recently, however, the Empire has been technologically surpassed by the Ostergau, organizationally surpassed by Bruhinn, and tactically surpassed by the Tazitan. Before the recent civil war, the Jeceau army fluctuated in size and equipment, relying on short-term drafts by local lords to raise armies and funding on a per-campaign basis. The Empire therefore lacked the professional army of its neighbors Bruhinn and the Ostergau. For the past hundred years, repeated failed campaigns against the Holy Thlos severely drained the Empire, fatigued its army, and eroded overall military readiness.

The Jeceau Civil War has rendered the imperial army utterly void. Local lords and provincial leaders now command the splintered remnants, battling each other in crumbling castles with leftover equipment.

Heraldry:

The imperial flag was a green cross with four intercardinal green thorns on a field of white, representing the Green Blood royalty presiding over the four original states of the Empire, together sharing the Thlossian Faith as a common foundation. The pattern coincidentally also resembles the Compass of the Izu'a'ir. Since the Ellisais Conclave has not named a successor to Cadeus X, the Green Cross Banner is not currently in use. Instead, local lords have taken to flying their own crests and heraldry.