Imperials
The Imperials are Aysea's private police force, though "sponsored militia" is closer to the truth. Funded by city taxes and directed by the Board, they keep the peace, enforce contracts, deal harshly with troublemakers, and defend against external threats including zed incursions and raider assaults. A large contingent is permanently stationed at the Steal Pier, where they zealously enforce the Board's three rules: honor contracts, sell nothing that threatens the city, and turn thieves and cheats over for enslavement.
The law the Imperials enforce is not complicated. It protects property. It enforces contracts. It maintains order. What it does not do is concern itself with the nature of those contracts. Any agreement entered willingly by both parties is considered legal, regardless of how cruel or barbaric the terms. A man who signs himself into slavery has exercised his rights under Aysea's code. The Imperials will enforce the terms of that contract as faithfully as any other. In Aysea, the law protects property and agreements, not people.
The Three Year Division War complicated that picture. As the fighting settled into frozen lines, Imperial authority did not stay with the northern casino spine that became Stack City. It attached itself instead to the Harbor March bloc, joining the labor and trade groups and civic allies who fortified the docks, service routes, and supply corridors of the south. What that bloc held became the city of Harbormarch, and Imperial authority hardened into it, so that in the fractured Aysea of today the Imperials are woven into Harbormarch's structure rather than answering solely to the Board that first funded them.
The law the Imperials enforce is not complicated. It protects property. It enforces contracts. It maintains order. What it does not do is concern itself with the nature of those contracts. Any agreement entered willingly by both parties is considered legal, regardless of how cruel or barbaric the terms. A man who signs himself into slavery has exercised his rights under Aysea's code. The Imperials will enforce the terms of that contract as faithfully as any other. In Aysea, the law protects property and agreements, not people.
The Three Year Division War complicated that picture. As the fighting settled into frozen lines, Imperial authority did not stay with the northern casino spine that became Stack City. It attached itself instead to the Harbor March bloc, joining the labor and trade groups and civic allies who fortified the docks, service routes, and supply corridors of the south. What that bloc held became the city of Harbormarch, and Imperial authority hardened into it, so that in the fractured Aysea of today the Imperials are woven into Harbormarch's structure rather than answering solely to the Board that first funded them.
