Eternal Empire
The Eternal Empire is a faction of Wraeclast. People who originate from this empire are known as "Eternals". It is one of the factions that can be fought within Domain of Timeless Conflict.
Members
- Tarkus Veruso
- Caspiro
- Commanders
Tarkus Veruso
Tarkus Veruso founded Sarn and with it the Eternal Empire. After his death, he was succeeded by Caspiro.
Caspiro
Caspiro succeeded Tarkus Veruso as Emperor of the Eternal Empire, but was killed shortly into his reign by a "dark being" speculated to be the Vaal Oversoul.
Perandus family
The Perandus family was an aristocratic family of the Eternal Empire, the wealthiest in its history. Its members include Cadiro Perandus, Chitus Perandus, Janus Perandus, Icius Perandus, and Medici Perandus. Janus Perandus is the only known member to still be alive.
Phrecius family
The Phrecius family was an aristocratic family of the Eternal Empire. For the majority of its history, the Eternal Empire was ruled by an "unbroken line of Phrecia emperors". The Phrecius family was known for extensive inbreeding, resulting in their final descendant Izaro being impotent. His inability to produce an heir marked the end of the Phrecius family and its rule over the empire.
Emperor Romira
Emperor Romira ruled the Eternal Empire at some point prior to Izaro. To the great shame of his subjects, besides being incestuous as per Phrecius family tradition, he was a cannibal. In protest of the Emperor's activities, Sarn was burned to the ground and Romira was desposed in an event known as the Night of a Thousand Ribbons.
Marceus Lioneye
General Marceus Lioneye is a historical figure of Wraeclast, a general of a Gemling legion who defended Lioneye's Watch from an assault by Kaom. Killed in that battle, Lioneye is now encountered as the Legion general of the Eternal Empire army in the Domain of Timeless Conflict.
Victario
Victario is a historical figure of Wraeclast, a Sarn poet who was killing during the Cataclysm. He has no in-game depictions.
Marylene
Marylene is a historical figure of Wraeclast, a Sarn rebel who fought for the Purity Rebellion. She was killed in the battle of The Grain Gate. She has no in-game depictions, but was prominently featured in Origins: Death to Sin, Book 2 of the Path of Exile comic books.
History
Founding (Imperialis Conceptus)
The Eternal Empire was founded by "eighty thousand tribesmen and women" of the Azmeri, led by Tarcus Versuso shortly after The Fall. They descended from the Azmerian ranges onto Azala Vaal, the former capital of the Vaal Empire.
"The Vaal closed their eyes to flesh and stone, to blood and bronze. We are not Vaal. We are Azmeri. For now and forever, our eyes are open."
- Tarcus Veruso, on founding of the Eternal Empire
Veruso founded Sarn, capital of the Eternal Empire, on the ruins of Azala Vaal. "To care for this Empire with eyes open" became a "traditional vow" made by the High Templar upon the coronation of an Eternal Emperor.
Reign of Tarcus Veruso
Emperor Veruso sealed and quarantined the "ancient Vaalish centres of power and knowledge", outlawing thaumaturgy in an effort to ensure that the Eternals wouldn't fall to the same fate that befell the Vaal. The Tears of Maji, gems, were collected up, taken to Highgate and buried under the mountains there. He introduced the system of Legions and legionnaires and conquered many "lands beneath the Mantle".
Reign of Caspiro
After Veruso's death, his successor was decided by the "Lord's Trial", an Azmerian tradition that had brought Veruso to power and would go on to inspire Izaro to build The Lord's Labyrinth. Caspiro, a "low-born legionnaire", was the only survivor of a "labyrinth" that had killed Veruso's only son, and was soon crowned Emperor Caspiro.[a]
Caspiro's reign was cut short, just 5 years after Veruso's death. He was "dismembered" by an unidentified entity known only as "a dark being".[b]
Azmerian writers of the time were "unified" in their description of a "portion of [their] Empire [being] cast into perpetual night", a "pervasive darkness" that enveloped what "would become the imperial heartlands". Wraeclastian historians are uncertain of the cause of these events", suggesting alternatives such as "peculiar weather patterns" or "thaumaturgical residue".[c]
Given the many parallels between this "darkness" and the darkness encountered by the player in Act 2, dispelled upon the defeat of the Vaal Oversoul, it is theorized by some Wraeclastian historians that this "dark being" was in fact the Vaal Oversoul.
Reign of Alano Phrecia
General Alano Phrecia to avenged the death of the emperor, defeating the "dark being", dispelling the darkness and returning "the gaze of Solaris" to the "lands stretching from the foot of the Mantle to the Axiom Ranges".
"... our legions drove the dark being deep into the recesses of its lair and sealed it away for eternity"
- Alano Phrecia, first Sacrato of Lurici, 35 I.C., on defeating the "dark being".
In the absence of a clear Veruso succession, Alano Phrecia was crowned emperor and the Imperial heartlands were named in his honour. This began an "unbroken line of Phrecia emperors" that ended with Izaro.
Night of a Thousand Ribbons
Emperor Romira came into power. To the great shame of his subjects[d], Romira was a cannibal.[e]
In protest of the Emperor's activities, Sarn was burned to the ground[f] and Romira was desposed.[g] This event is known as the Night of a Thousand Ribbons; after Sarn's reconstruction, royals of the Eternal Empire would continue to hold festivities celebrating this event on the same day.[h] This event is notable for being the celebration during which Emperor Chitus was betrayed and murdered assassinated by Mayor Ondar during the Purity Rebellion.
Reign of Izaro
Emperor Izaro Phrecius was the last Phrecian emperor of the Eternal Empire. Decades of incest and inbreeding had rendered him impotent.[i] Unable to produce an heir, he turned to a "forgotten tome on a forgotten shelf" of the Sarn Library to decide his successor - a tome entitled 'Ancient Traditions of Azmerian Ascendancy'.
Izaro was inspired by the "Lord's Trial", a "rough-hewn maze festooned with wild animals and brutal traps" created by the Azmeri to determine their "chieftans".[j].
Tarkus Veruso himself, the "Prima Imperialus", was tested by one of these "trials" to a become the leader of the Azmeri.[k]
Related items
Chitus' ApexChitus' Apex
Necromancer CircletEnergy Shield: (55-64)Requires Level 54, 112 Int+(20-30) to Strength
+(20-30) to maximum Mana
5% increased Experience gain
+10% to all Elemental Resistances
(10-20)% increased Elemental Damage"It takes true strength to hold power,
and my grip grows tighter by the day."
- Emperor Chitus
Storm CloudStorm Cloud
Long BowBow
Elemental Damage: 1-85
Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%
Attacks per Second: (1.77-1.95)Requires Level 9, 38 DexNo Physical Damage
Adds 1 to 85 Lightning Damage
(36-50)% increased Attack SpeedCenturies of development in steel armoursmithing
turned the armies of the Eternal Empire
into very effective lightning rods.
Notes
- ↑ "Veruso's successor, Caspiro, was a low-born legionnaire, the lone survivor of a labyrinth that claimed the lives of every high-born contender, including Veruso's only son." - Trinian, Bronze Inscription § IV
- ↑ "Five years after Veruso's death, Emperor Caspiro, too, was dead... ...Caspiro was dismembered by something referred to simply as a dark being." - Trinian, The Ancients#Book 7: The Light of Phrecia
- ↑ "...it seems fanciful to contemplate a portion of our Empire cast into perpetual night... ...Perhaps it was caused by peculiar weather patterns or some thaumaturgical residue of The Fall..." - Trinian, The Ancients#Book 7: The Light of Phrecia
- ↑ "It burned with shame for giving the title of 'Emperor' to a man who did not deserve it." - Bronze Monograph § The Crematorium (Act 3)
- ↑ "With that most regal of cannibals, Emperor Romira." - Bronze Inscription § IV
- ↑ "The night of a thousand ribbons... ...When Sarn burned And was born again" -
Thousand RibbonsThousand Ribbons
Simple RobeEvasion: (30-60)
Energy Shield: (44-80)
Movement Speed: -3%Requires 17 IntSocketed Gems are Supported by Level 5 Elemental Proliferation
Adds (2-4) to (5-9) Fire Damage to Spells and Attacks
Adds (2-4) to (5-9) Cold Damage to Spells and Attacks
Adds 1 to (4-12) Lightning Damage to Spells and Attacks
+(30-60) to Evasion Rating
+(30-60) to maximum Energy Shield
+(25-50) to maximum Life
+(25-50) to maximum Mana
+(15-30)% to Fire Resistance
+(15-30)% to Cold Resistance
+(15-30)% to Lightning ResistanceThe night of a thousand ribbons
To remember the day of a thousand flames
When Sarn burned
And was born again
- ↑ "On the Night of a Thousand Ribbons, our finest city burned." - Bronze Monograph § The Crematorium (Act 3)
- ↑ During the celebration of the Night of a Thousand Ribbons, ..." - The Purity Chronicles § Book 5: The Emperor is dead. Long live the Emperor!
- ↑ "Try as I might, with a lovely procession of young and ever dutiful wives, my noble seed simply would not sprout." - Izaro, Bronze Inscription#I
- ↑ "The Azmeri were the first culture known in history to use trials of strength, wisdom and spirit to select its chieftains... ...The first Lord's Trial was a rough-hewn maze festooned with wild animals and brutal traps, crafted to test aspiring Azmerian leaders' body, mind and soul." - Izaro, Bronze Inscription#II
- ↑ "There are no surviving descriptions of the labyrinth that tested and proved the worth of Veruso, Prima Imperialus." - Izaro, Bronze Inscription#II