title: Overriding Magento 2 base empty page_layout
body: <p>I'm currently working on a custom storefront design for a Magento 2 store and I'm trying to implement a theme which does not inherit from a base theme and where I can define my own <code>page_layout</code> files without having to extend anything. For example, currently Magento uses the following chain of inheritance with its layouts... <code>empty.xml</code> -> <code>1_column.xml</code> -> <code>2_columns.xml</code> etc.</p>
  
  <p>What I want to achieve is to completely override the <code>empty.xml</code> so I can define my own layout starting with the <code>root</code> container. As it stands, I have managed to get my own <code>empty.xml</code> layout to appear in the backend and set it as a layout for pages, however, it'll error out alerting me to having multiple elements of the same name within the layout (in this case, it's <code>content</code>). This tells me that I am not overriding properly.</p>
  
  <p>I have tried adding my declarations at the following directories...</p>
  
  <pre><code>app/design/frontend/&lt;vendor&gt;/&lt;module&gt;/layout/override/base/empty.xml
  </code></pre>
  
  <pre><code>app/design/frontend/&lt;vendor&gt;/&lt;module&gt;/Magento_Theme/page_layout/empty.xml
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have had no luck with either.</p>
  
  <p>I have no reason to believe this is an unreasonable approach to developing a custom front and any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>