THE AUTOKRATORIA TIS ENOTIS, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF KÁRDIOS IV SIDEROS

It is the current year. The BasileÍa ton Ayakkayoli threatened in years past to erupt into a religious civil war, when instead it should be focused outwards upon its stagnating and increasingly creaky neighbors. The ailing Basileus, Enotitos II Palaistís, The Goddess' Viceregent on Earth, has finally passed on after a struggle with liver cancer. While otherwise a competent and broadly-liked ruler, his illness for the last half decade prevented him from taking a firm handle on the competing worship cults amongst the Empire's elite, and only mourning him has kept the upper echelons of power sedate enough to continue being at each other's throats--especially since he has no sons to influence as regent. The "Architect" Emperor, Enotitos built many roads, docklands, and other things to aid commerce, pleasure travel, and education within the empire. Large apartment buildings were erected in major cities--Enotitos was intrigued by the rapid advancements in things like plumbing and sewer systems, so by Imperial Decree, he had large development plots set aside in places that weren't even good wasteland for fostering wildlife or foraging herbs. Buildings with crawl spaces, walls and other innards spacious enough to fit both piping and insulation were erected to house the population of cities--it was under his reign that death rates amongst orphaned children, sex workers, and new urban migrants dropped DRASTICALLY as winters became less harsh for commoners, neighbors from many parts of the state grew to know each others as people, and intellectual power became more concentrated...causing young people eager for change to rally around powerful people who may have desired a change.

Luckily for the people, and perhaps more vexing for the nobility, Enotitos had no male siblings, either--his father and predecessor, Agapas IX Palaistís, only had two children, both legitimate--Enotitos himself, and a younger sister. This sister married into the Sideroi, an old noble lineage famous for its history of military service, loyalty to the throne, and sponsorship of social and industrial works both. Enotitos grew close with his nephew, Kárdios, by his beloved sister, and encouraged him to draw upon lower-ranked nobles, merchant sons, and even some poorer but promising commoners for his circle of friends. As such, the public eagerly awaited the young man's ascension to the throne--Kárdio Sideros is a mere twenty years upon assuming the throne, but his father has died, his mother his most fervent supporter, and his will is too strong to be swayed by any faction...Kárdio's allegiance is only to the reformist faction he LEADS and formed himself, one that would follow him through the gates of Malacca, into the states known collectively to the Empire as "Seapoulai". Kárdio now reigns as sole Divine Viceregent, Kárdio IV Sideros, defender of the Empire. He begins a new dynasty, as well, though the Sideroi continue to insist both publicly and privately that their family keeps the seat warm for a return of the Palaistí, a nigh-extinct family whose most virtuous cadet branches Kárdio scours the Empire in order that he may marry one of their daughters and take his uncle's name. It may be a futile effort, though.

He is young and ambitious, eager to make a historically-significant impact on the Empire immediately. Kárdio is assisted by a cadre of minor nobility and wealthy merchants in the civil service, and plans to institute sweeping reforms to the way the Empire is run and in the way it fights. His own pride would demand nothing less--he is publicly adherent to the worship of the goddess Kaneko Lumi, who first guided the Empire's people to their current homeland, and publicly adherent to the worship of Amaris Yuri, goddess of war and bravery. Lumi's doctrine advocates for swift yet erudite action in matters of self-governance and to whatever power one may hold over others. Educate yourself, gain depth of knowledge, and strike while the iron is hot for what you believe in. Yuri just likes it when cool people shoot uncool people...or when polite protocol is breached in a particularly unhinged and comedic way that leaves all involved with pie on their faces. Mmmm...pie. So the Empire, renamed the "BasileÍa ton Lampardaleos", is set to work becoming its new ruler's vision. Menace, Inori, and Hylo-worshipping cults have been exterminated, and the remainder kept under extremely close watch by the Noumeroi, a former palace guard regiment reworked to be composed of elite garrison companies for the capital, and for spying on domestic columns Kárdio does not like.

The Empire, despite its military might, excellent infrastructure, is close to meeting a standard the cynical Kárdios might term "In shambles. Unadulteraed copium." Local Dynatoi from subject peoples dodging taxes as soon as certain building projects were finished. They were meddling with Canichoriote settlers in their lands. Disorder in the empire's neighbors (underaged sex scandal in the Sheik's family of /voms/, increasing fall to insanity of Queen Pippers in /pcg/, potential civil war brewing in Anya-Petra, etc.) caused some officials to see if they could extract similarly long leashes from the capital--When even a weakened Enotitos sent the Kanikhoriote Tagma, and sometimes his own bodyguards, marching out of the gates of Pinconiopolis, now renamed Chairetismópoulis, THOSE ambitions were swiftly put into the grave.

Ethnic hierarchies are instituted--total assimilation of unwanted minorities is prioritized. The term "ethnostate" is thrown around by some of the more..."libertine" hand-wringers in /vsj+/, but Kárdios does not care. He sees Ayanians, Satonikites, and Mavrikoukleiotes as causing a serious proportion of the structural problems of the Empire. And indeed they were--the tax records, censuses, and white-collar crime rates show it. How did the capital respond?
--Kanikhoriotes and Amarikiyans are at the top. These are the two largest ethnic groups in the Empire, and are simply composed of the original tribes who established the Empire. Further still, their numbers are bolstered by /ñ/ and /lig/ immigrants from the Momosfikon theme. (Think Balkan Greeks, Kappadokian+Pontic Greeks, and Karamanlides+Urums+Sarakatsani, respectively). These groups, closely tied by genetics speak the Lampardic languages.
--Touavgonians (think Vasmouloi) and Exegentics (think Armenians) somewhere under the top 2.5 groups.
--Thema Alchemilon was primarily settled by Kanikhoriotes and thus do not host a major ethnic group--though rowdier than most of their ethnic cohorts, of course. Thema Oumiyas, likewise, was primarily settled by the descendants of immigrants who'd "gone native", a la Magyars in the Vardar or whatever the hell happened to the Varangians and Ghassanids.
--Satonikites (think of all the dunking on French Canadians that other Canadians and Americans do) and Ayanians (literal fire-eating dudes who perpetually look like they have GRRM-style "greyscale") are little better than slave labor.
--Mavrikoukleiotes, an offshoot of Ayanians, are are basically a bunch of biracial no-castes who speak bastardized Lampardic that's the equivalent of ebonics.
The majority of the country has been effectively colonized internally by our dominant ethnic groups, who provide most of the tagmatic soldiers; the ranks are generally closed to lower-class peoples to keep them from effectively pursuing separatism later on. No segregation within units, however, they just won't get promoted. Unless some serious battlefield valor is observed.

The Army, is of course, overhauled in both structure and aesthetics:

The Skoleio tou Polemou (the School of War) is established--the finest junior and retired officers from the poorest provinces are "drafted", primarily third and fourth sons seeking an income, as teachers. Kárdios spends hours making sure these men, often ones he knows personally, can operate as cohesive teams and create a welcoming culture in their respective departments. They are in charge of preserving and sometimes writing military manuals. They must maintain a mathematics department, a physical sciences department, a medical school, and even a department of information technology--studying and improving upon methods of gathering intelligence domestically and abroad.

The equipment warehouses are enlargened. The factories making their equipment are sometimes contracted out to patriotic private citizens--Kárdios personally screens each batch and enriches only the men whose sons and grandsons are off-puttingly anal and uptight over the quality of the wargear they put in the warehouses. They will inspect themselves, though many of the new Defense Contractors petition for a decree to be put in place whereby the most incorruptible officials from frontier districts are circulated in and out of the warehouses to inspect their products. Especially in times when future emperors might not bother keeping them inspected themselves.

Roads are repaved as necessary, and widened as needed to give traveling armies the greatest line of sight possible; newly-cleared land sees a surge in the establishment of inns, brothels, and other such establishments. This is a job carried over from the previous administration. Mines are dug through the bases of some mountains near major travel arteries; the quarried and dynamited stone is carted off for housing and fortification projects, while the walls are made uniform with imported concrete from /ag/. New roads travel through new tunnels, but ventilating the longes ones proves difficult; these for now have inns established at each exit and are reserved primarily for those enhorsed...or on the march.

The Imperial Army was still using and distributing outdated and archaic equipment. Note that this equipment was being used and distributed efficiently and in a standardized fashion, but why would a modern line soldier need a longsword? Or longbow? Far fewer troops are now expected to fight in melee; these close combat troops are primarily marines armed with javelins, cleavers, pistols, and small steel bucklers. Marines who carry longer firearms typically only have two kinds, maintaining anything but cannons and pistols is still...annoying at best while on the seas, therefore only the best sharpshooters will often wield rifles or better muskets with the new percussion caps from /haha/; marines operating on land will have the long guns to use as clubs or bayoneted spears but draw ammunition and powder from tagmatic stores. Abus-style guns have been mostly phased out on land by this time, but are still useful for increasing firepower thrown out by infantry deckside instead of just cannon fire, especially on smaller ships where a good number of swivel culverins just does not make sense.

The Sfyriotai (heavily armored longswordmen primarily responsible for breaking pike squares, clearing trenches, and entering wall breaches) and Chavliodontai (literally just pikemen trained less for push-of-pike than for Carolean assault tactics) have been merged into the Skoutatoi--infantry in brigandine, zischägge, splint greaves, Karuta-tatami faulds; wielding backswords and rattan-backed bisonhide shields, it is their task to outpace and cut down enemy musketeers and pikemen in close quarters. 1500 Skoutatoi per tagma, balanced by an additional 500 riflemen, the Hyperpyrores. Skoutatoi are deployed in blocks of 50-100 in order to pressure VERY specific portions of the enemy lines. Skoutatoi from the wealthier provinces, or those elite troopers serving in the Paramonai Imperial Bodyguards will carry a revolver with six-shots only to be unloaded close up on the charge, especially against tightly-packed infantry formations with elite armored soldiers in the front ranks.

The Rectrikioi (longbowmen) are no longer a unit type beyond martial arts practitioners. They have been replaced with a specialist company of soldiers wielding hand mortars--not to throw explosive bombs, but launching solid shot of grenade size at ranges between that of a grenadier and musket as front-line artillerists. Musketeers are no longer named Kleisouraphylakes, due to the name's association with Mavrikoukleiote tribal bodyguards. Instead, musketeers fight as "Asterismoí".

The Curseares (medium armored lancers) have been merged with the Youriphoroi (mounted riflemen)--Both are now the Epidromeis, wielding primarily a repeating carbine and 180-cm koncerz, along with a cavalry saber. Completely unarmored horses, though horses of officers may have an anti-shrapnel faceplate and decorated caparison denoting unit and rank. The Eidolones (scout, messenger, and flanking-only cavalry on small ponies) still exist, thought their standard protection kit has effectively been beefed up and given to the rest of the cavalry. Eidolones are now basically cowboys. Pistoleers on horseback, but they fight defensively as a tactical reserve to counter enemy attempts at striking Imperial baggage trains, artillery, and marksmen. The literal opposite of what they did before. ALL cavalry wear 40-ply silk coats, similar tatami faulds to what Skoutatoi wear, plate greaves, and a visored, cheek-flapped precursor to the M1934 combat helmet.

Kárdio wants a modern, industrial army capable of carrying out his vision of a strong, united ethnostate capable of emerging as a world power. As such, they have ditched the last bits of medieval kit. The Asterismoi now wield retrofitted rifled muskets with machined components. The Hyperpyrores, previously the only riflemen, have transitioned from specialized marksmen and skirmishers to fully regimented companies, now have revolving rifles, and all their guns have been treated with smoke-dissipation chuubanite goop. Their role has changed--they are now second-line assault soldiers meant to cover the advance of the Asterismoí with withering rapid-fire rifle shots and follow up after having reloaded. All firearms also have percussion caps instead of paper cartridges. All firearm-wielding infantry have rudimentary 40-ply silk overcoats embedded with steel impact plates, tight silk undershirts, unsput cotton overshirts, and leather breastplates. They wear thick silk pants with plate greaves and tough, water-resistant boots. Army uniforms have been revised. Previously the coats and other textiles were color #317EC1 with color #B94278 accents. Now they are #FECE5A with #C7E0D9 accents, to reflect the new era. Units sport sashes striped in four specific color depending on which tagma (unique color for each tagma), tourma (shared between the same-numbered tourma number of each tagma), bandon (shared between the same-numbered banda of all tourmas within all tagmata), and allagion (10-man unit, shared between the same-numbered allagia of all banda within all tagmata).