The Estran Empire

Estra sits near atop the food chain in terms of Coalition federations. Not due to military prowess, like Gath-Sako or economic and militarism like Lather, but through harnessing their main resource, esoteric knowledge. Estra is one of the rare civilizations that has lasted since before the times of strife, and has a huge collection of rare books and other artifacts.

History
Estra's foundation by best estimate predates the calamity by a significant margin. Most scholars agree that it was a zone within the Ascal Empire prior to its fall, and a common theory postulates that Estra was used as a regional repository for esoteric resources and research.

Estra abides by a monarchic state and a pseudo feudal system and as such tended to side with the areas that would become the Coalition in internal disputes within the League. As a result, when Latheria announced its secession Estra eventually came around to its position.

Over the past few centuries internal struggles and external conflicts have eroded Latheria's power. As a result, Estra's stability and attempts to build up its manufacturing base have given it the political and economic momentum to begin to really take the head of the Coalition.

Politics
Estran politics exist in formal courts, wherein ranked nobles jockey for power. The government itself is controlled by a council of esotericists, who appoint one among them as their head or king. Internally Estra tends towards petty squabbles, but facing externally, they tend to be fairly passive in terms of internal Coalition struggles.

Estra sees Heilegterra and Lati as its closest natural allies, albeit it maintains positive relations with all Coalition constituent states. Estra also engages in some trade and diplomacy with other majority Ascal areas, such as United Hampton and Gallan within the League.

Religious Affiliation
To the chagrin of many within the coalition, the Estran Empire does not take an aggressive stance on religion. However, the clear majority of their citizenry leans towards ascal revival of the Alte cult of heroic action.

Military Disposition
Estra is not a highly militarized society and tends to rely on levied and elite armies of knights and lords if the need for arms arises. Estra is also known to train the esotericists of other nations and this too extends into military applications of the arcane.

Many Estran nobles maintain armories to supply their charges with needed weapons should the need arise for self defense, but these caches comprise largely outdated, imported and mismatched equipment.

Demographics
As with all large empires on the Galactic stage it is difficult to ascertain the exact ethnic makeup of Estra. However it is widely accepted to be a super-majority Ascal area, with a non-insignificant Janue minority.

Estra's official language is Ascal, and it is the only state to recognize an archaic magical language, namely variants old lower Ascal and old high Ascal.

Culture
Estra is one of the rare civilizations that has lasted since before the times of strife, and has a huge collection of rare books and other artifacts. Arcanists, loremasters, archivists, librarians, wizards, esotericists, archeologists, and scholars live in monasteries and fortresses that dot the many millennia old forests and mountains that blanket the worlds of the Estran Empire. These complexes are rumored to be the greatest places of learning in the entire galaxy, at least in terms of learning esotericism. Runic emblems, incantations, and other forms of the uncanny constitute but a multitude of the disciplines studied and learned in Estra. This does not even go into the numerous and uncountable untranslated, unread and uncatalogued and even hidden works that reside in the complexes.

Beyond its largely mystic nobility, Estrans tend to live pastoral, slow paced and relaxed lives. The vast majority of them are attached to a noble court and function within it for both employment and community. Estrans often tend to avoid mechanization, both for suspicion of artificial intelligence, and for a generally atavistic attitude.