The Structure of the Empire

Michael made his way downstairs and set his coffee cup down on his work desk with the laundry basket beside it. The clothes that were in the dryer overnight were a bit wrinkled, but his uniforms and training gear had been hung out to dry, so they avoided that fate. He then quickly made his bed, folded and put away his clothes, and prepared his bag. His class schedule today was a double period of Latin, followed by Algebra and Chemistry. For both full-year language courses, they would alternate between two single and one double period and four single periods each term. This was meant to allow for discussion of more in depth subjects without interruptions, such as cultural, political, or social lessons.

Regardless, it meant he didn't need his training gear for Gym today, which would lighten his bag significantly. He'd heard from his cousin who attended a prestigious private school in the capital that they were able to leave their gear at school and others were responsible for cleaning it, but at Michael's school it was each student's responsibility to maintain their own equipment. He quickly donned his running gear before putting his uniform in his bag and setting his English novel and the supplementary works on the desk.

He knew that the school didn't open its doors til 7am at the earliest, so even if he wanted to get there earlier, there was nothing he could do. Looking at the time, it was now a quarter past 4. He sighed, shook his head, and open his book. He somewhat regretted using his enhanced focus ability last night, as there was now a perfect opportunity to try out his double-up feature. Sadly, he wouldn't refresh his 12 hour cooldown period until soon before class started. He would have to figure out the right time to use his abilities in the future if he wanted to maximize their effect.

Regardless, he was able to complete his preliminary reading of the main novel and get started on one of the other two before the timer he'd set went off. He put his books away, gathered the materials for his other subjects, and put it all in his bag as well. He then made his way upstairs to spend a few minutes with his parents. After some gentle teasing from his mother and a discussion around schedules, they concluded that it would be alright for him to take a shower between 4 and 5 without it disrupting their schedules. Naturally this was only temporary, until the renovations in the basement were finished. They also discussed other longer-term term plans with regards to the basement. When Flavius and Rowena had purchased the house, their thinking had been that they could improve the property value by converting the unfinished basement into an in-law suite. This was likely to take several years, however, so the conclusion was that Michael could use it as his personal space until he went away for his military service after high school.

This was all far in the future, though, so they didn't discuss it beyond a couple of sentences. After that, his parents needed to drive over to the train station and Michael needed to head to school. He packed his lunch into his bag and made his way outside.

---

After showering and changing, Michael made his way over to the library. The lights were already on and the door was unlocked. He opened it gingerly and politely greeted Mr. Maddox before making his way to one of the large tables again and getting out the novel he'd started this morning.

The process as described by the Fundamentals of Reading had the reader quickly read through the entirety of a piece once, without stopping or chewing through more complex parts, before performing a final full reading. That final reading would be something he would do simultaneously with the other novels, referencing and interlacing the various points and events, so for the time being he just needed to complete a preliminary reading of the two supplementary novels Mr. Maddox had recommended. Based on his current pace, he predicted that he'd be able to complete that by the end of the weekend, and therefore have his first draft finished. Considering this assignment was supposed to last them the entire month, he felt that he was making pretty good time.

---

Soon enough first class was approaching, so he packed up, said goodbye to Mr. Maddox and made his way to Latin. He was the first to arrive in class, so he took his usual spot by the window and got out his Latin work. Soon enough Jeremy, Valeria, and the rest of the class filed in small groups. Jeremy and Valeria looked better than the day before - it seemed like they hadn't stayed at the cafe quite so late. They took their usual seats, and Jeremy handed Michael a thick stack of books - he hadn't forgotten the Archery books he'd promised him. Some were basic technique and there were also a couple of books by famous archers expressing their own opinions on the subject. Michael thanked him with a smile, and they made plans to meet at the same exit at the end of the day. Valeria wouldn't be joining them til later, as apparently she had a club meeting after school ended. Tonight was the last night that they could play without interruptions, though, so they didn't want to miss it.

When the bell rang, the professor went up, called for their previous homework to be handed in, and began his lecture on today's topic - the structure of the Empire, and it's provinces and colonies. He explained that as the Empire grew in size, the logistics for management became increasingly complex. In order to profit from local experience and not spread its ministerial resources too thin, it would select a local group to act as the immediate government, with a consul-general acting as the direct representative of the Emperor. No specific form of government was required, but certain metrics needed to be maintained - furthermore, the more work the Empire needed to do directly, the higher the tribute required from the province.

Provinces were furthermore permitted to expand their territory, but not at the expense of the territories of other provinces. Territories would upon inception be referred to as colonies, and until a certain level of stability and profitability was achieved, they did not receive the same protections. Furthermore, if a province's government was unable to maintain that level of stability and profitability for an extended period of time, they could be replaced during a selection proceeding, the specifics of which varied wildly.

Michael himself lived in the province of New Albion, which had once been a group of colonies settled by two of the Empire's northern provinces. At some point the pressure of trying to expand within the settled landmass of the Empire - what was commonly know as the Continent - had led to frenzied exploration of the oceans. This had led to the discovery of another large landmass to the west. However, while a number of colonies had been initially settled on that landmass, one way or another that expansion was halted.

Eventually the colonies settled by Albion and Gaul merged into the current New Albion, and came to an arrangement with their previous territories and the Empire to establish their own province. In addition, a group of colonies further south had joined hands to form the United Colonies, a new dominion independent of the Empire. A number of skirmishes had occured in the early history of the 'Colonies, and their relationship with the Empire was relatively tense.

Relations between New Albion and the Colonies were much warmer, as they both relied on each other for direct trade, as well as both providing the other with additional trading partners. If the United Colonies wanted access to goods and resources from the Continent, they needed to go through New Albion. Similarly, if New Albion or the Continent wanted goods and resources from any number of dominions on the southern or south-western parts of the landmass, they needed to deal through the United Colonies. Additional exploration had been attempted to access the landmass from further south, but no one ever returned. This had led to the current arrangement.

A lot of this was review for Michael, but he still took notes diligently, as this was very likely to come up in their examinations. He also jotted down the titles of a few books that were referenced during the lecture, since this could assist him in completing the system's Extra Credit mission, once it was unpaused.

Class eventually ended, and Michael said goodbye to Jeremy and Valeria before making his way down to the library. He was in a particularly good mood as the professor hadn't assigned any new homework for this class. This worked perfectly for him, considering he wanted to focus on getting the first draft of his English assignment done as quickly as possible. He wanted to complete his preliminary reading of the supplemental novels as soon as possible. Mr. Maddox gave him a brief nod, and he found himself a seat at one of the tables, pulled out his lunch and the novel, and started reading.