The longest surviving aspect of the vast cultural, economic, and spiritual powerhouse that had been the Third Imperium was the military and political influence it gave to the myriad small nations that rose out of its ashes. Gone was the concept of elected officials who oversaw the Imperium on both large and small scales, but intact were the feudal mentalities that kept the majority of the people in their place as either peasant or noble. The way that armies were formed varied but a little in the thousand or so years since the assassination of the last Imperator. Many of the small countries that broke away from the rapidly decaying Third Imperium managed to do so with the help of mutinous generals who swayed entire legions to abandon the old system and take up arms for these new masters.

Some of these generals crowned themselves kings over their new domains, especially in the Forkanzan peninsula where the civil war ravaged on for generations. In Sikilia the Diosian Lodge usurped the leadership of the legions and put the soldiers to use for their own purposes. In Fanolania the legions of the Third Imperium stood strong against the elven and human alliance up until the bitter end and serves as a fine example of the Imperium’s endurance even at the end of its life. In the far eastern realms of the empire the armies fought against the Torkan uprising until it became obvious that there was more to be earned by switching sides than continuing the struggle. In the far south of the lands held by the Third Imperium the armies simply pulled back to defend the heart of the realm and let whatever chaos flow in to take up the vacuum.

In the way that armies are formed there are extremely few examples of the old Imperium way of doing things. But how those armies are arrayed on the field of battle has changed nary a bit. The ancient tactics and strategies have been adapted to take advantage of new developments in magic and weaponry but truthfully the so-called “modern” methodology is only now beginning to catch up to advancements made hundreds if not thousands of years ago. Every year another stalwart adventurer will declare the discovery of some ancient relic or artifact that revolutionizes how the Third Imperium is viewed. Sages and scholars are forever working to decode well-worn manuscripts of the age to find hidden powers that redefine how magic is used. And of course there are the evils of the Third Imperium; some forgotten, some locked away. All of them awaiting to be reawakened and unleashed upon a world that has simply forgotten how powerful and wicked things used to be.