The Grayden Empire

Founded:  AUC 1 (ab urbe condita, ‘from the founding of the City)

Capital:  Fang Prime (Pop. 1,006,000+)

The emblem of the Empire as a whole is the Chimera.  The lion-head wears a crown of gold, the dragon a crown of silver, and the goat a crown of grass.  Note that this chimera has wings more akin to a great eagle’s.  Although the tail of this creature is still draconic in nature, it is invariably depicted as flaming, ready to smite any foe.  Also, in the Empire culture, there is but one Chimera; it stands as a singular, fearsome being rather than a species.

In times past, the formal name of the Empire was “The Eternal Empire of the Unconquered Grayden People”.  However, the “Old Empire” has been ascendent for so long, and so thoroughly destroyed, absorbed, or cowed by its various would-be rivals on the continent, that in AUC 2,776 it is rarely referred to as such other than in legal documents or formal correspondence.  Many plebeians wouldn’t know the “proper” name even if pressed.

As an echo of this earlier title, the cognomen “Invictus” is occasionally given to patrician men of extraordinary ability in battle.  Such an event must have the blessing of the Emperor Himself, and increases the dignitas of its bearer enormously.