Self-Justification

Every empire's greatest enemy is time.

Time erodes the ambition that founded an empire, causes the brilliance of those who led its revival to be forgotten, and slowly gnaws away at the empire until it is barely noticeable.

Knowing this, the Empire during its era of iron-fisted rule made purging its ranks a matter of life and death. It decisively cut away the rotting parts to prevent corruption from infiltrating the center.

Yet now, more than a century later, the spirit of that Empire had long since been forgotten.

The Empire could no longer cut away its rotting parts. Having allowed even the sword meant to cut away that rot to decay, the Empire had virtually no capacity for self-purification left.

"Bring in factories? You expect us to tear up land that yields abundant tax revenue and install untested new machines?"

"Study science? Begin practicing medicine? Do you dare try to drag the authority of us mages, passed down for a thousand years, through the dirt?"

"The Empire is falling behind? Hey, Inquisitors! Grab this man and examine his beliefs!"

The young intellectuals who had encountered new knowledge abroad and returned, along with the reformist nobles who were at least somewhat open-minded, were powerless in the face of such persecution.

To reform a country, one must take from those who possess much...