Following the fall of the Roman Empire to a succession of decadence, weak Emperors, the Gothic and Ostrogothic invasion and the progressive weakening of cultural, political and military dominance over its neighbours and rivals, there seemed little to hold the lands Rome had once counted among its territories together. As Rome's influence dwindled and her borders shrank, new minor kingdoms and pockets of civilisation dotted Dark-Age Europe, vying to form dominant powers of their own.
Yet Rome's legacy lived on, even outside the faraway lands of Constantinople, and the still-surviving Eastern Empire. It lived on in the Catholic faith, the Church of Rome. The Catholic clergy, still operating out of the Vatican, never lost their sway over the population and set about the long, arduous process of bending the many self-proclaimed royal families across northern Europe to their will. Their influence was particularly strong in the provinces of Germania, the origin of the Goths who had pillaged Rome and built from it their early domain.
Over time, the clergy sank their hooks deeper into the burgeoning Germanic kingdom and eventually installed puppet kings under their rule. Later, they dispensed even with that pretense and the Pope assumed direct control of affairs of state. The people rejoiced; their ruler was, of course, a man who spoke with God's voice. Following his edicts would assure them righteous passage to Heaven. The new leaders of the HRE became prideful, and became sure of their God-given right to lead all peoples and restore the Empire to one that spans the world. Yet not all were happy to bend their knee to Papal rule, even among good Catholics. The French, English, Scottish and Spanish, though they could agree on little, agreed that the Pope's province was in communion with Heaven, and that he should not meddle in worldly affairs. It in turn finds France's faith wanting, and all non-Catholic peoples as unenlightened strayers from the true faith. This does little for their diplomatic relations, but being ruled by the Papacy does still give it a certain sway over many people.
The Papacy has a reputation for being meddlesome, issuing Papal Bulls to nations frequently based on the Pope-Emperor's own desires. Failure to acquiesce has led to full-scale war on occasion.
The leadership of the HRE, bigoted as it is, self-reinforces against Franco-Spanish distrust, British protestantism and eastern heresy into a pathological paranoia. Their ambition is for all Christian peoples to be united under one God, one Pope and one Empire. They engineer assistance to France to weaken Britain's grip on the world, but they view France's imperialistic ambitions with equal alarm. A long cold war has existed with the heathenous Russians which frequently sparks into violent crusades, and a long-standing resentment exists with the Eastern Roman Empire, which itself holds a claim as the historically legitimate children of Rome. In addition, the Eastern Romans control the Holy Land itself, which the HRE would pay dearly to control. The HRE is surrounded by enemies on one side, and grudging allies (of whom it is perhaps more suspicious) on the other, and is paranoid to the point of indecisiveness. Save for the Papal Bulls, it ends up bogging down into a policy of isolationism.
This has a knock-on effect of the Empire creating a military of disproportionate size and quality. Indeed, it eats up 35% of the country's GDP, and is the single largest means of employment within the Empire.
The Holy Roman Empire is a true and total theocracy. The Emperor is the Pope, and is elected by a similar method of appointment by the College of Cardinal-Electors, who serve as the HRE’s “nobility” and executive branch. Foreign-born cardinals cannot be made Emperor or Cardinal-Elector, though a HRE-born Cardinal-Elector may take up cardinalship overseas. The Cardinal-Electors are elite among cardinals, and the Pope is elected from their number. All members of the Catholic clergy are gifted. Gifted worldwide are encouraged to become either members of the clergy or else join some monastic order, though this is not enforced by law.
While Catholic clergy are celibate, they are of course not born to the cloth; close relatives of the clergy typically enjoy positions of authority, power and/or wealth.
Kaiserreichsheer
The Kaiserreichsheer is the Imperial Army. The male population of the country are conscripted for a minimum of five years from the age of 16-21, though a large number 'go career' until the age of 50, serving six months on active duty with six months at home practicing a trade on rotation throughout this time.
Their forces are universally disciplined and are generally equipped with export variants of whatever the British are using (the British, despite their relatively cool relations with the Empire, have an interest in ensuring that there is someone on the Continent capable of handling the French and the Russians). The HRE defensive doctrine is stalwart, and individual soldiers are given a higher degree of autonomy than their contemporaries elsewhere. Their landships are peerless, and they are secretly pioneering magite-powered automatons for their production line, and even as expendable line infantry troops.
Landschnechts - This elite company use a combination of heavy spears and the most expensive rifles money can buy. Unlike any other force within the HRE, these troops are bankrolled directly by the Catholic Church as opposed to the nation itself. They are all known to be 'Pristinely Ungifted' - that is, they are completely unaffected by magic directed at them - as this is bestowed upon them by the Pope Himself. In this way, Landschnechts are the ultimate anti-mage force. They are so deployed as elite shock troops and a subgroup of them, the 'Seekers', are frequently deployed in clandestine groups overseas for the express purpose of performing 'exorcisms' - eliminating magical beings, heretics, abominations and other perceived threats to the Catholic Faith as a whole. The Seekers serve as the secret police, inquisitors, foreign intelligence service and unseen defenders. Though they hold almost all magic forms in contempt, they reserve a pathological hatred for vampires, necromancers and other practitioners or spawn of darker arts.
Reichsflotte
The Imperial Navy is surprisingly small in spite of the large defence budget spent by the Empire. The reasons are simple; much of the Empire's trade goes overland, or moves only a short distance through north European and Mediterranean waters, and could easily go via land or air if blockaded. The Empire also holds no overseas territories. The Reichsflotte therefore limits itself to preventing blockade of its own ports and defending its own waters.
While not powerful or particularly modern, its officers are skilled at making the best of what they have available.
Reichsluftwaffe
The Reichsluftwaffe could not be a greater contrast to the Reichsflotte. It is cutting-edge, and also rather large. Foreign observers do not yet understand exactly how the Empire has managed to make skyships that can travel so fast and be so powerful. Nevertheless, they have, and the force is predictably unwilling to reveal its secrets to outsiders. Without a large standing navy to fund, the Empire can pour a much greater proportion of resources into the Reichsluftwaffe than, say, the British can. As such, the Imperial Air Force is near enough peerless in terms of technological advancement.
That said, the Reichsluftwaffe’s doctrine is still pliant, as it has not yet had to fight a serious war. It has three main Luftgruppe or Air Groups. Air Group East controls the airspace over the border with Russia. Air Group West controls the border with France, and Air Group Central patrols the inner core of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the Italian peninsula.
