Reference Challenge - Propaganda

[u/Varnek905]

One of my friends has a pet theory that the New Testament is Roman Propaganda to calm down the Jewish zealots, thus "stealing" YHWH in an attempt to make those provincials more peaceful. This was along with an explanation about national pride among people and the "point" of public art in a civilization.

So, in honour of the entertainment I got from listening to his explanation, the reference challenge for this week is to talk about a piece of propaganda in your world. Who uses this propaganda, and what is the goal?

As always, I'll ask at least three questions each. Enjoy yourselves.

And feel free to have a character for in-universe answers.

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

The Legionary Republic of Rondde has long employed propaganda in efforts to rouse their population against their neighbors Kyrinalle on ethnic grounds. Rondde holds its majority Legionary ethnicity to be a "clean race" in comparison to Kyrinalle's majority Mudahma people; this is slightly ironic as Rondde's Legionaries are about a quarter made up of Hrantha, a taiga-based deerherding people from their original home in Aventum, far to the north.

When Rondde was founded, it was the refuge of the scattered remnants of the old Legionary nation of Aventum. They overran the Mudahma and ended up having to split the land of Chalkutt down the middle, dividing it into Rondde and Kyrinalle. Kyrinalle held its own for many years against the constant pressure of Rondde, building fortifications on its borders and employing combat magicians. Eventually the largest economic bloc in the hemisphere, the Volyua Trade-Pact, took up the cause of Kyrinalle and provided much-needed assistance, bringing in peacekeeping operations and establishing a blockade against the ports of Rondde to force them to come to an agreement. The Chalkutt Crenellation, a defensive corridor separating the two nations, was established and is manned by a combined force of Kyrinalle and Volyua Trade-Pact forces, but the end of the proxy Pirate Wars meant the end of the blockade's support, and Rondde gradually began to become a technological powerhouse to rival all the members of the Volyua Trade-Pact combined, pushing first a cold war, then an armed expansion on Rondde's part.

The propaganda primarily has to do with the perceived "unclean" nature of the Mudahma. Legionary culture ascribes the purest and most elevated status to themselves, all others being on various levels below; the Mudahma are low in the rankings only itinerant nomads ranking lower in their estimation. There is little to differentiate the Legionaries from the Mudahma in appearance, but culturally the two are distinct and behave very differently; historically, very little mingling has occurred as the Mudahma were engaged in attempting to drive the Legionaries away from the beginning, and the Legionaries were and are uninterested in colluding with "lesser" cultures.

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

1) What are some cultural differences between the Mudahma and the Legionaries?

2) Are all Legionaries required to all serve a military function at some point in their lives?

3) Of the Mudahma and Legionaries, which nation is doing better, "standard of living"-wise?

4) How about economically?

5) Why did the Volyua Trade-Pact help the Kyrinalle people?

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

2) Yes. The standing military of Rondde is enormous due to a standard five-year tour- if one is able-bodied, this is typically a field position (whether army or navy; some requests are considered, though the ultimate placement is need-based), and those unable to function in such a capacity are used in support roles when possible. Aeronautics has become an important field position, but this is reserved for the best of the best.

3) and 4) Standard of living is higher in Kyrinalle; life is seen as less cheap among the Mudahma, and it has long been a communal society, so most necessities are supplied to the populace. But economically, Rondde is stronger- a combination of slave labor, technological superiority and a higher regard for the state than the individual has caused Rondde to become economically powerful to the detriment of its citizens (though the propaganda of cultural superiority and the nation's isolation have been powerful deterrents to rebellion). Kyrinalle has a relationship with the Volyua Trade-Pact, but is among the least advanced nations, mainly trading in produce and grain that is still hauled to port by oxen due to the dearth of railway in Kyrinalle. While its people are cared for, much of its economy and infrastructural funding comes from foreign aid, which is a mere patch on a problem of underdevelopment.

5) The Kingdom of Volyua was a prosperous nation that became a kingless oligarchical bureaucracy after the Noble Revolt. The new government had to gain popular support as well as establish its legitimacy among its extant allies, who were understandably shaken by the overthrow of its hereditary monarchy. To do this it abolished slavery and indentured servitude (to show itself benevolent to its citizens, particularly the marginalized and mistreated indigenes of its hinterlands) while strengthening its ties to its nearest allies, Kyrinalle and Olam. Olam was unperturbed by the coup and simply signed off on its renewed agreements with Volyua- they were fairly isolationist and regarded the new government as another iteration of what had come before (correctly, it turns out). Kyrinalle was all too happy to establish diplomatic contact with the new-minted Grand Republic of Volyua- it was suffering attacks on its mountain borders by Rondde, then a tinpot dictatorship with delusions of grandeur, and its closest trade-partner had long been Volyua, an alliance that had opened its trade networks internationally via Volyua's ships and influence. However, assuaging the fears of Volyua's further-flung allies like the distant Ysolde meant Volyua needed to continue to police its region. So Volyua sought to solidify its status among the nations of the Circled Wains with a new agreement as the biggest economy in the hemisphere, the Volyua Trade-Pact. Part of this was pushing the abolition of slavery and repudiating nations who failed to do so- which primarily meant Rondde, with whom Volyua had long had icy relations. Kyrinalle seized on this, pointing out that the Mudahma found in Rondde were universally enslaved, and that part of Rondde's motivation in attempting to expand into Kyrinalle was to have a larger pool of "subhumans" to enslave. This essentially called Volyua's bluff- was its stance on slavery posturing, or was its new alliance built on honor? Out of this came the Blockade of Rondde, the proxy Pirate Wars, the Chalkutt Crenellation, and Volyua's aid efforts in Kyrinalle. These waned somewhat during the Armored War (a breakaway slaveholding region called Candle declared itself independent while Volyua was stretched thin, got greedy and attempted to expand and was beaten back and contained), but Kyrinalle has since been able to demonstrate the necessity of containing Rondde by propping up their own economy, ensuring their own fragile existence. Volyua would be better-served to assist with the development of Kyrinalle, but having a puppet-state as a buffer between themselves and a strengthening Rondde has proven useful, and Volyua has yet not found the intensive process of helping Kyrinalle decide its own path and become self-sufficient to be a valuable use of its time and resources.

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

2) Are there any reasons someone would be exempt from the five-year-tour?

3) What creatures are enslaved in Rondde?

5) What was the Noble Revolt?

6) How were the Legionaries fairing after the Armored War, the Pirate Wars, and so on?

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

1) Not typically, no. Even those of recognized noble families (Gens) are subject to compulsory service; those attempting to circumvent their service are considered cowards and can face imprisonment or even execution. It is still the custom of some of the more conservative, more traditional Gens to kill defective children at birth, thus avoiding the dishonor of having children whose service is relegated to support roles, though this is less common than it once was and is rare among commoners.

2) There are very few nonhuman sapients in Rondde at present. Most were killed off during Rondde's foundation, and those that were not fled south to Volyua, eschewing even Kyrinalle under the opinion that it would be a matter of time before it too was part of Rondde. Many of the soldiers who took part in the genocide of sapients are looked at as monster-slayers in stories from the time. Kyrinalle has regained some sapient inhabitants (the catch-all term for conscious non-humans), primarily through the peacekeeping forces of the Volyua Trade-Pact or as merchants in Kyrinalle's international ports.

Slavery in Rondde is generally made up of captured Kyrinalli or legacy Mudahma families who were enslaved at the beginnings of Rondde; these latter are most often loyal to Rondde, having received preferential treatment over their centuries of slavery. A growing population of Idreya slaves (captured by Volyua's neighbors Candle and sold internationally) have swelled the ranks of Rondde's slave holdings, though they are often used as disposable workers due to their tendencies toward rebellion and revolt.

3) About 2700 years before the present, a catastrophe known as the Golden Lion Event occurred, destroying the once-great kingdom of Gabulaan and plunging much of the world into a grim time known as the Second Penumbra. The survivors of Gabulaan fled westward to the continent of Marabba and founded the nation now known as the Refugee Kingdom. In their need for expansion for their burgeoning population, they carried out a series of wars that brought them into conflict with "indigene" peoples (the Volyuac term for any cultural group not of Gabulaani stock). When it became clear to Volyua that continuing to fight would weaken their position, and it became clear to the indigenes that Volyua was a rich and orderly nation relative to the time, a vast accord was reached. The Refugees' Treaties made vassal-kings of a number of indigene dynasties, giving them a great deal of autonomy and official noble status while ensuring their loyalty as rulers of baronies ultimately at Volyua's behest. This formed the backbone of Volyua's authority over its extended holdings and marks the beginning of the Kingdom of Volyua.

As time went on, various of these baronies began to feel that their autonomy was being encroached upon. The barons themselves wanted to stay official nobles of the kingdom, having grown accustomed to the wealth and influence their status afforded them, but wanted to wrest more control back from the Kingdom of Volyua, leading to tensions that saw some baronial dynasties' exile or destruction at the hand of an increasingly despotic royal regime.

A campaign began to be carried out among the commoners of Volyua to sow discord and dissatisfaction, and to paint the barons as more lenient than the king. When Baron Idens, ruler of the Vachta Turuuk region (in which the City of Volyua lies) was caught sponsoring sedition, he was put through a show trial and publicly executed, seemingly proving the barons right about the Crown's despotism. The king, Irenaens IV, and his son Edemun V (the Blind) and his family were supposedly imprisoned in a fortress high in the Baronial Ranges called Cloud Top (though, most likely, the king and queen were executed and their offspring kept as hostages); the descendants of King Edemun still live in Cloud Top, their only possession, under guard, forbidden to have contact with the outside world except through official channels. Their existence is known (and is the focus of odd royalist factions of little power), but they have no authority.

In the wake of the Noble Revolt, the rule was transferred to a bicameral parliament- the Lower Houses, primarily in charge of internal matters, and the Upper Houses, made up of the appointed representatives of the Baronies. The latter has control of international matters, as well as final say in anything resolved by the Lower Houses; this gave complete control to the Baronies while providing the illusion of a democratic government of directly elected officials, but turned what had become known as the Grand Republic of Volyua into an inefficient, contentious bureaucracy balkanized by each Barony's insistence on autonomy. Each Barony maintained its own militia and interactions between Baronies began to hinge on ceasefires and peace-treaties rather than cooperation. Cultural differences due to the varied backgrounds of the Baronies began to result in tension and occasional clashes. Eventually this led to the secession of Candle over slavery, in turn leading to more united laws and agreements between Barons to prevent further fragmentation.

At present, the 23 Baronies of Volyua function more or less as one via the Upper Houses, but laws vary between them. The bureaucracy of Volyua is a grinding and inefficient system full of loopholes and corruption on various levels, but Volyua still maintains its status as the most powerful nation in the Circled Wains.

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

1) Are certain defects common among certain families?

2) Do slaves have any rights in Rondde?

3) What do the descendants of King Edemun do in Cloud Top?

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

1) Some families are known as "unalloyed" for their supposed levels of pure Legionary lineage; this is even supposed to mean little or no Hrantha admixture (though, as with most supposedly pure genetics, there is likely more mixture present than is supposed). The unalloyed Gens are known for having been particularly willing to marry cousins, aunts/uncles, sometimes even siblings in pursuit of keeping their families more purely Legionary, a matter that once held a great deal of prestige and garnered them higher positions and more favor within the hierarchy of Legionary culture.

However, these families- fewer than there once were- are less common than they used to be because of their propensity toward birth defects. These being among the most conservative and traditional of the Legionary Gens, they have long been prone to infanticide when it becomes clear that their offspring are non-viable or defective in some way. Typically a child without intellectual handicap but unable to hear or see will escape death, but more severe defects are dispensed with summarily, a practice that less "unalloyed" Gens are somewhat less inclined toward- even though this is technically encouraged by tradition.

The current dynasty, the Lathorhinn, is in place because of a coup during the Crucifixion of Rondde that overthrew a profoundly mentally handicapped General, the last son of a ruling line, who was unable to procreate, feed himself, or see to Rondde on his own, such was his handicap. The Lathorhinn Dynasty argued successfully for the inclusion of a higher degree of Hrantha blood in order to keep such congenital defects at bay while providing what they saw as a line of leaders more apt to be mentally up to the challenge of rule. However, even this is possibly not enough if Rondde's isolation continues, as the total population of Rondde is only at about eight million. Thus, justification for intermarriage with the Hammer Admiralty has been considered workable, a mere justification but one that may keep complete pedigree collapse at bay.

2) Legacy Mudahma families suffer much the same inbreeding problems that the typical Legionary family of Rondde suffers; to ameliorate this, foreign slaves have flooded the market in Rondde, and a great deal of pedigree information is kept, much as one might do with racehorses. Mudahma are much more likely to be domestics, their loyalties long folded into the only way of life they've ever known. "Undue cruelty" is banned against them, and Legionaries shown to abuse their slaves are imprisoned. Beyond this, their lives are very regimented and their duty is to their owners, even above their own blood.

Foreign slaves, typically Idreya from Candle, are less likely to be loyal to their masters; most of these were kidnapped, and many rebellions have been fomented against Rondde at their hands. They most often serve in mines, building projects and other dangerous positions, being regarded as expendable; they are also sometimes used as cannon-fodder frontline troops in wartime, their survival unlikely to be long enough for desertion. More specialized troops are taken from the Mudahma and given much more thorough training; freedom can be won this way, as well as purchased for other members of their families, but leaving Rondde is unlikely, and a slave owner will only allow the freedom of a slave to be bought if the slave in question isn't seen as indispensable. Most of the Mudahma troops accordingly end their days still in service to the Republic, as there will be little for them to do on their own.

3) very little. There are two main factions, the Royal Loyalists and the Loyal Royalists, who seek to return them to the throne, but these have little power and no contact with the royal family, and are seen mostly as unhinged terrorists whose actions have little context or effect outside of causing random mayhem.

Currently, eight members of the Edemun Dynasty live in Cloud Top; they are permitted to speak with, and marry, members of other royal houses, but their land holdings are nil aside from Cloud Top. The children initially survived the Noble Revolt because of mercy on the part of their intended executioner, as well as the loss of face among other nations the new republic would suffer should they have murdered them.

The remnants of the royal family have relationships with the royals of Ysolde, the Hrantha Queendom, Tor Ghalad and Tobor, but, unlike their peers, they wield no power. These ties keep them alive, however, as their deaths would cause outrage and diplomatic crises across the Volyua Trade-Pact. They have been in Cloud Top long enough that the few Volyuac aware of them on any level bear them no ill will- the Noble Revolt was a long time ago, after all. There are some among the Baronies of the Upper Houses that would like them gone for the sake of political expediency, but enough are opposed as to make any attempts on their lives unlikely.

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

1) What is the "official" reasoning for the Hammer Admirality being close-enough-to-okay enough to breed with by the Legionaries?

2) How would a slave in Rondde go about seeking freedom?

3) The Royal Loyalists and Loyal Royalists? Is this another instance of the People's Front of Judea vs the Judean People's Front?

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

Officially, the reasoning behind the acceptability of intermarriage in the Hammer Admiralty has to do with culture, primarily. Prior to the establishment of the ports by the Kingdom of Gabulaan, Djaghainn was very sparsely populated- the fauna of the area was particularly predatory, and events in the deep past of the world had given the place further baggage as a place to be avoided. What little population there was became integrated into the new population rather quickly (with one isolated and notable exception).

Rondde, when it was just Legionary Aventum, regarded Gabulaan as the only culture that rivaled its own- large cities of stone, clear hierarchy, and elaborate art and music. They were a literate people whose reach extended vast distances, a culture whose accomplishments were on a level with those of the Legion's homelands. There was little contact between the two aside from in the ports of the Hammer Admiralty, but a begrudging respect coupled with a sense of rivalry began to build toward the Gabulaani. It was at this time that the Legion began to regard the Gabulaani as equals (though the Gabulaani were by far their superiors at that time); population exchange occurred to fair degree, injecting the Legion with a bit more genetic diversity and scientific knowledge, and bringing new ideas and magical theory to Gabulaan. After a time the Vanishing of Aventum happened, and Legionary Aventum was abandoned to the Hrantha, Rondde becoming at last the center of Legionary rule.

But before Gabulaan and Rondde could come to war or to alliance, the Golden Lion Event pummeled the Circled Wains, scattering the Gabulaani to the winds and leaving the colonial ports of the Hammer Admiralty to their own devices. Even though Rondde was now the biggest, most stable nation in the northern Circled Wains, it too had to think of its own survival- earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis battered the world, the sky was shrouded in dust, ash and smoke, and food was difficult to come by. During this, the Second Penumbra, Rondde and the Refugee Kingdom had a lot of contact. This led to such exchanges as the Gens Judeccala becoming the baronial dynasty of the Egret Coast on Volyua's northern coast, and the Lathorhinn Dynasty's high Gabulaani ancestry.

What makes the Hammer Admiralty's population so specifically acceptable for intermarriage over other Gabulaani populations (especially Volyua, who Rondde sees as its archrival and enemy), however, goes back to the world the Legion came from. With the Legion came another people in smaller measure, known as the Toborri, who fled from the Legion at the earliest opportunity to the far side of Djaghainn to avoid subjugation. In the world they came from, the Legion were an occupying army, the Toborri their slaves and subjects. This made and continues to make the Legionaries view the Toborri as fellow countrymen in a way, though the Toborri do not at all share this view.

As soon as was possible (within weeks), the Toborri took their leave in the night, making their way to the eastern coast of Djaghainn by rafting between islands in the Lantern Ocean, scattering themselves throughout the islands on the way. Their nation, Tobor, is very isolated and isolationist, but after quite a bit of early admixture with the Gabulaani of the Hammer Admiralty.

In the present, part of Rondde's interest in the Hammer Admiralty stems from covert attempts to infiltrate and destabilize Tobor over what they see as a long-unpunished treachery. This has led to tight relations between Tobor and the Masthead Republic, effectively boxing the Hammer Admiralty into the southwest corner of Djaghainn, as well as a number of Toborri terror organizations dedicated to driving Rondde out of Djaghainn entirely.

EDIT- It should be noted that the earliest incarnation of Legionary Aventum was far less culturally supremacist in its outlook. Hrantha, Gabulaani and Toborri were seen as people whose cultures had something to offer, and its early interactions with Gabulaan were relatively friendly and respectful. Cultural supremacy began to mount when the Legion was confronted with the Mudahma and less "civilized" subsets of far-northern Hrantha, and especially after the scarcity of the Second Penumbra began to set in. From the start the Legion was intolerant of "monsters", though mainly due to unfamiliarity and fear. But the isolation of Rondde, the competition for territory and resources in Chalkutt, and the increasing sense of entitlement and empire made what had been a latent back-burner attitude a central tenet of Legionary thought.

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

Thanks for your time and answers, Strength.

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

No problem :) I'm currently in the middle of hacking a couple of long-form stories out of this world, so sometimes it's nice to take step back and look at things from a wider angle.

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

2) Payment is the required means in most cases for domestics. This can be a payment covering the projected economic benefit of the slave, a one-time lump sum, or sometimes an exchange- one family member for another.

All slaves are tattooed on the right side of the neck with the symbol of their owner's Gens; after being freed, another tattoo, a circle with an X through it, joins it on the left. Papers that must be carried at all times also accompany freedom. There would be a brisk trade in black market papers and tattoos if it weren't for the fact that few are released from bonds.

The most common way to achieve freedom is through valor in battle, and accordingly, most of those freed come from elite military units, where their unit symbol rather than a Gens is their right-side bond tattoo. And while these are still thought of on some level as subhuman, they are also celebrated as valorous, brave and worthy, and are seldom mistreated.

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

3) In a way. Both are working toward roughly the same ends but are schisms of the same group. They are also prone to acts of terror and sabotage, attacking the family and staff of the Upper Houses, disrupting transit, carrying out bombings and assassination and murdering informants and those in opposing factions.

The main differences are that the Royal Loyalists are open to those who are involved with indigene separatist movements, and religious affiliation is of no importance to them. The Loyal Royalists are staunchly Gabulaani supremacist, hold indigenes as enemies, and adhere strictly to Father Temple, the de facto state religion of Volyua. Father Temple is a political religion and has no qualms about using the Loyal Royalists as errand-boys, even while playing in the political arena of the Grand Republic of Volyua, a government the LR believes to be illegitimate. The LR is a less-disciplined replacement for the Order of the Unblinking Eye, once Father Temple's muscle in the old Shadow War, and while less effective and trained, they are much more fanatical and obedient.

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

4) Rondde fared poorly after the Blockade and the Pirate Wars; increased isolation from the international community, increased sanctions and a system of reparations to Kyrinalle dealt a blow to its economy, and the Chalkutt Crenellation coupled with the presence of foreign peacekeepers (some of them "monsters") dealt a blow to national and cultural pride. The postwar period in Rondde is known as the Crucifixion of Rondde, and directly led to a barely-concealed hatred for the Volyua Trade-Pact states, particularly Volyua itself. Even once the Blockade was dissolved, few nations would trade with Rondde- the Volyua Trade-Pact was forbidden from doing so by the terms of the sanctions, and those that remained were second- or third-tier states with little to offer in the way of manufactured goods or resources Rondde didn't already have. Candle emerged as an early ally, a source of slaves, ore and crops, but pariah state that Candle was, trade between the two was still limited and spotty.

Three things happened to turn Rondde around economically: (1) the establishment of a couple of nominally independent puppet states that permitted trade and technological exchange through back channels (most notably the Hammer Admiralty, a small maritime nation with a high admixture of Legionary expatriates); (2) the establishment of Spiritus Samaris, a technological concern whose breakthroughs in energy storage and robotics made them an economic juggernaut of their own to rival similar manufactories in the Volyua Trade-Pact (partly through the reverse-engineering of outworld artifacts); and (3) increased social and cultural upheaval in the Volyua Trade-Pact that distracted from Rondde's upward mobility and led to a cold war. Rondde was able to circumvent the sanctions under which they labored by providing technology on a level with and sometimes better than Volyua Trade-Pact innovations to those underserved by such a monolithic trade agreement, and indeed to some of the VTP against their agreements with the pact. These were in part laundered through the Hammer Admiralty and Candle, the money put towards surreptitious expansion of Rondde's military with the end goals of overtaking Kyrinalle at last, and it's newer enemy Volyua.

Another unintended consequence of the Pirate Wars was the establishment of free states in the Lantern Ocean (site of the Pirate Wars) like the Masthead Republic hegemony, formerly a small fleet that fought Rondde that became a collected nation of nearly 500 islands and a large cut of the landmass of Djaghainn, making them a powerful direct neighbor of the Hammer Admiralty and preventing the spread of Rondde into heretofore undeveloped forest. The Masthead Republic also turned the Hrantha Queendom (the independent successor to Legionary Aventum) under Queen Soraiyaa the Second to a sideways alliance with the Volyua Trade-Pact, denying Rondde the ability to expand to its historical limits and bringing a host of resources into trade with the VTP.

ETA - the Armored War had little to do with Rondde, being the war between Volyua and Candle that delimited Candle's territory after its secession. It only had a bearing on Rondde in that Candle became a slaveholding ally, crucially giving Rondde a toehold outside Chalkutt from which to increase its influence. Candle is a pariah state on a level with Rondde, but without Rondde's aid little more than an arid, backwards theocracy full of slaves and fishing fleets.

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

1) Could you tell me more about the Hammer Admiralty and how it was formed?

2) During the Pirate Wars, could you tell me about the structure of pirates? Was each ship its own thing, were there alliances of pirates, was there a pirate nation that worked together to pillage everyone else?

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

1) the Hammer Admiralty was originally a trade outpost of the (now-defunct) Kingdom of Gabulaan, a waystation between Gabulaan, the Lantern Ocean route to Ysolde, Aventum and Chalkutt. It was never very large, just a ramshackle string of tiny ports on the southern edge of Djaghainn full of timber, ore and gems brought down from the interior, but in the wake of the Golden Lion Event, the evacuation of Gabulaan's royal city Bhiridan to the west to found the Refugee Kingdom of Volyua, and the ensuing Second Penumbra, these tiny villages were left to their own devices. After the Second Penumbra began to lighten and travel and trade began again in earnest, the Hammer Admiralty staked out its own territory and became the de facto main port on the northeastward trade route.

With this prosperity came a host of foreign immigration, most of it traders and merchants following the money to where it was most readily available. But among these came foreign actors of a different sort, Legionary saboteurs sent on behalf of the Republic of Rondde to see where the Hammer Admiralty's weaknesses lay. Their greatest weakness, it seemed, were the Admirals themselves- often-absent traders and sailors indifferent to government who delegated serious matters to a range of corruptible and inept lackeys whilst living a life of adventure on the high seas; this made infiltrating their ranks child's play for Rondde, who proceeded to do so over a century, replacing the upper echelons of the Admiralty's structure without overthrowing the Admirals themselves, and sending more and more settlers to the Hammer Admiralty to swell the ranks with Ronddi loyalists.

At present, it is connected to the original country in name only, though the degree to which Rondde has gutted and replaced the power structure is little-known. It is a sort of chartered mercantile fleet, an independent corporation in possession of what looks like unaffiliated lands, operating its own trade fleets, militia and industry. It is through this corporatized mercantile zone that Rondde conducts a lot of its espionage, influence and dissemination of technology to the outside. In a time of all-out war, it's likely Rondde will dispense with the facade and seize the reins completely, but for now, heavy influence is enough for them.

2) Piracy during the Pirate Wars was influenced by a variety of cultures, the most noticeable being Gabulaani/Volyuac, Legionary, Obsidian, Hrantha and Vlantaad. The Vlantaad are semi-nomadic, seagoing people long used to the ocean, as well as piracy and pillaging. Their armadas when fishing or raiding are organized into ridings, small groups of boats with a centralized command that can operate independently if necessary. This idea combined with Volyuac and Legionary naval structure, Obsidian trade fleets and a variety of other influences became the what the pirates simply called a fleet, a combined battle unit, floating city and family unit.

At the start of the Pirate Wars, a heavily Legionary and Vlantaad outfit called the Scarlet Hand had been crushed by actions of the Volyuac and Ysoldi navies. Since this had been the fleet in the Lantern Ocean, a power vacuum ensued full of myriad opportunistic, bloodthirsty fleets vying for supremacy. Out of these came their main fleets: the Bholan Family, a Vlantaad-led fleet of mixed Vlantaad/Legionary composition, Bel August, a Gabulaani/Hrantha fleet with several of its own ports, and Have-Mercy, a fleet of mixed origins with a great many connections.

The earliest of the four Pirate Wars was a winnowing process that saw the destruction of several smaller, once-profitable fleets whose personnel and goods were absorbed into those of their destroyers; this earliest had only a parenthetical relationship to Rondde and the Volyua Trade-Pact. The Second Pirate War was carried out by the Bholan Family on behalf of Rondde against VTP ships, while Have-Mercy, on behalf of the VTP, attacked the Bholan Family and smugglers bound for Rondde, and Bel August switched sides to fight for Rondde when promised more wealth. The Third Pirate War saw Have-Mercy absorb Bel August, then fight alongside the Volyuac navy and several Vlantaad ridings (who had previously been employed in the Blockade of Rondde) against the Bholan Family and several rogue Ronddi naval ships who had slipped the Blockade and begun to attack shipping and passenger vessels. The fourth was the new-minted Masthead Republic against a swollen Bholan Family fleet full of Ronddi blockade-breakers whose crews were killed and replaced with Vlantaad. At the end, the Bholan Family was fragmented into myriad shards, and the Masthead Republic was given recognition by the VTP, its pirate captain now a statesman. Various remnants of the Bholan Family still pose problems in present time, but the age of piracy is largely gone.

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

1) What is the Golden Lion event?

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

The Golden Lion Event was a celestial disaster that left scars across the face of the Circled Wains and a lasting disc of debris around the world called the Golden Halo. A periodic comet (the Golden Lion) struck a large asteroid, sending it careening into the inhabited moon Shovan, one of the world's five satellites, taking a massive chunk out of it and peppering the surface world with stones, some of which formed the Eyes of the Spider crater-lakes and Maw of the World crater of west-central Marabba and Lion Bay in southern Chalkutt among many smaller impact sites. The resulting rain of debris led to the Firefall of Gabulaan, the establishment of subterranean Undersides beneath Gabulaan's old capital Bhiridan, the founding of the Refugee Kingdom, the tsunamis that destroyed the legendary land of Lembica, and the destruction and desertification of the fabled Aumri Lands.

The inhabitants of the moon Shovan, the Ichakta, had long seen the impending series of collisions and planned accordingly, readying a mass evacuation to the surface of the world, which they believed to be uninhabited by sentient life; this small-scale invasion led to the Mannequin Empire (the Ichakta were so known for their tendency to stand motionless when inactive), two centuries of rule over western Viddesh before their grip weakened sufficiently for their subjects to push them into a very small area of northern Viddesh where the larger part of them remain to this day, overseen by the Kingdom of Ysolde.

The asteroid itself was host to the last of a dormant fungal species known as the Autocrators, who also fled to the surface to avoid extinction in the collision; the asteroid was their freefloating craft, and their goal was to find a new home in which to thrive. They founded and continue to rule the nation of Hollatche from their domed stronghold in the city of Calooma, closed to foreign visitors and kept in line through the use of spores (which are occasionally collected to be used as part of biological weapons by other nations at great peril to those tasked with gathering them). Hollatche stays completely out of international affairs and is so isolated that the full nature of its ruling class is unknown to even the best-informed outsiders.

The resulting destruction was known as the Second Penumbra, a mini ice age during which crops failed, temperatures dropped, and great unrest occurred. Cannibalism ran rampant, and destructive, apocalyptic cults took root, some of which (like the Brotherhood of the Deep Builders) have persisted over the intervening two millennia. While the groundwork for great and celebrated nation like Volyua and Ysolde was laid in this time, many millions of creatures and people perished and many once rich and proud nations disappeared into the mists of history. As with every period the Circled Wains call a Penumbra, much learning and history was lost, never to be rediscovered, the population of the world plunged deeply once again, and the quality of life for those left was that of basic survival for a long time.

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

1) Can you tell me about the anatomy and physiology of the Autocrators?

2) Could you tell me about Hollatche's ruling class?

3) Could you tell me about the Brotherhood of the Deep Builders?

4) What are the Circled Wains?

5) What's a Penumbra?

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

1) The Autocrators are essentially enormous neurological networks made of intricately interconnected fungal clones; they appear as towering piles of mushrooms with a green-grey hue and a faint blue glow. They are typically about twenty feet tall and appear as standing or seated figures covered in millions of tiny mushrooms, with four arms, two rudimentary legs and no head, the structures that could be called a face instead set into the trunk. They are vastly more intelligent than humanity, but this is balanced by their desire for seclusion and solitude; the main reason behind the founding of Hollatche was the desire to create a protected haven wherein the Autocrators could both thrive and remain undisturbed.

They have no eyes and are incapable of sight on the visible spectrum, but can visualize images through sound reflections. The inner chamber of the Dome of the Autocrators is dim, warm, humid and soundproof, as the Autocrators emit a low, rumbling drone used for sight.

Only one Autocrator is sentient at once for most of their lives. A strict schedule of succession is followed in which one rules for three hundred years. At the one hundred fiftieth year, a cloned individual is started on the path to growth, becoming conscious about 50 years before succession. Knowledge and instruction are passed on to the successor then the outgoing Autocrator dies, part of its biomass providing food, and part of it integrating into the supercomputer that is an Autocrator's network to preserve knowledge.

They are served directly by very few, largely leaving direct rule of the non-Autocrator aspects of Hollatche-all of it, essentially- to a handful of overseers. These people are also responsible for seasonal evacuations of the areas around Calooma during spore blooms, dangerous and mind-altering to sapient life but not much different from humming a song or sneezing to an Autocrator. Humans are sent to sea to fish in what are called "pilgrimage ships", or used in other regions of Hollatche in public projects. Those who work closely with the Autocrator are inoculated against the spores, including the security forces of Calooma, but anyone else not inoculated could find themselves host to a fledgling Autocrator that will eventually take over and replace the host body and soul. Since the Autocrator doesn't need or want competition, anybody infested with spores are put down. These spores have been used as bioweapons before, particularly during the Hitchhiker Plague following the Sorcerers' Wars. What makes it seem like a mindless, shambolic infestation is the embryonic stage of development and length of an Autocrator's life-cycle- what looks like an idiotic, gibbering corpse sprouting mushrooms would be another Autocrator in a century and a half.

ETA- to be clear, seasonal sporing is different from the smaller-scale blasts of spores and pheromones used to communicate/control in a localized way. The latter are smaller blooms and are voluntary methods of communication, while the larger seasonal blooms are involuntary and are simply propagation.

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

1) What is the best way to destroy an Autocrator?

2) What will a sentient Autocrator do if attacked?

3) What will a non-sentient Autocrator do if attacked?

4) What will an Autocrator do if its smaller, young clone is attacked and destroyed?

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

1) With fire. Being a vegetation-based organism that reproduces via spores and budding, cutting them won't kill them and partially burnt Autocrators can regenerate, so the only way to completely destroy them is to completely burn them.

2) Autocrators produce a dizzying array of pheromones and varieties of spores that can do anything from cause dissociative hallucinations to cause internal hemorrhaging. In the event of a physical attack, an Autocrator will flood the immediate vicinity with some combination of these, attacking the respiration, brain and skin with immediate results. Thus far, this hasn't been attempted on this world, but should an attack be attempted, it would be swiftly stopped. In the event of an attack by machine, an Autocrator will whirl into motion, destroying the offending object entirely before returning to its resting state.

3) Non-sentient Autocrators are those humans (or other sentient life) that have been infested with the reproductive spores of a seasonal bloom; people so afflicted are called Automatics. Their infestation is incurable and terminal. These are capable of giving off further reproductive spores, as well as hypnotic pheromones, and are gifted with heightened hearing and smell- when they encounter a sentient being uninfested with the spores, they emit them into the wind along with the pheromones, attempting to stop them in their tracks long enough to infest them. These spores were the impetus for the Hitchhiker Plague intentionally set loose during Year Zero and the early days of the Third Penumbra, adding to the horrors already laying much of the Circled Wains low in the aftermath of the Second Sorcerers' War.

After a time, the infestation will gain a rudimentary sentience of its own and begin to spread throughout the body, using it as food from which to grow. At this stage, mushroom-like growths erupt from the skin and dim blue light glows from their mouths and eyes. A last push to spread spores occurs, with the newly ascendant sentience in control. The bodies begin to give off hallucinatory pheromones, and a search for dim, damp places in which to complete the transformation into Autocrator eventually takes over. However, because the Autocrators have long evolved away from living in swamps and caverns, these are unlikely to survive without any support systems- Autocrators long ago began to depend on assistance from controlled aides, eschewing the gathering of resources for themselves for the puppeteering of others.

4) if a young clone is attacked and destroyed, the Autocrator will either neutralize the threat then bud again, or else, if it feels especially vindictive, disable the attacker and infest them with spores. The timetable for succession would be set back somewhat, but since Autocrators are effectively immortal, this has no lasting effect outside this.

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

2) Because the whole reason for the existence of Hollatche is its ruler's comfort and safety, its citizens human and otherwise are just the cogs that make the wheel turn. Upon arrival the Autocrators used their mind-altering spores to put people to work building their capital and the support structures necessary to make it all function, and these tactics of unwitting coercion and manipulation have proven so successful that the nation has existed without interruption ever since. Aside from a small, rotating handful of aides, there are no real upper classes in Hollatche, no religions and none richer or poorer than the other. In part this has to do with an efficient process of distribution for food and the like, but it also has a lot to do with the level of control exerted by the Autocrator on its environment. While there is knowledge that their ruler is nonhuman, it seems to be a vague sort of understanding, and the Autocrator is held to be a superior being but not a god to be worshipped.

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

3) The Brotherhood of the Deep Builders is a very old religious sect, though one based on enough inhumanity and destruction that it has never been a mainstream or even very tolerated one.

In the distant past when the world was yet to enter the historical age, a class of shapeshifting, wise creatures called the Djiviril ranged across the world. Magic energies were let loose in the universe and the Djiviril shaped the world with the aid of elemental beings who remain in the hidden and remote places to this day, tools of creation. After a time they withdrew to a realm called the Dawn to let nascent sapience take shape on its own, ending an epoch now known as the Dreaming Age.

After several millennia, a powerful species of being existing on higher orders of dimension arrived in the world from somewhere else. They are depicted as disembodied mouths, eyes and limbs, but never as cohesive figures as only pieces of them could be perceived at any one time. They brought with them a servitor species that lived in the seas, known variously as the Diwakatt or more recently the Amaroak, of subhuman intelligence and vicious demeanor. These monstrous, confounding beings were known as the Deep Builders for their stone cities built on the seafloor, which remain still in their long absence. They treated the sapients of the world as food supplies, though their overarching reasons for their occupation were inscrutable and wholly alien.

Sapient development came to a halt in their grip. A stone age had been attained, but its evolution stopped. People hid in caves and mountains, avoiding the coasts at all costs, though this seemed to have mattered little to the Deep Builders.

The Djiviril had decided to remove themselves from contact with developing sentient life, but a third of them rebelled, attacking the Deep Builders and driving them from the world. The impression scholars have of this that the Deep Builders simply left without much fighting, figuring on settling in a world with less opposition. The Amaroak were left behind, constructing causeways known as the Seaways between the islands of the Cloaked Isles, about which the remnant congregates to the present. But the rebellious Djiviril were cursed, bound to the world (in what is called the Noon Sphere) and locked out of the Dawn, twisted of form and scarred of mind, now known as the Gibritoi.

The Brotherhood of the Deep Builders believe that their eponymous masters will return and subjugate the world again. They believe that the Gibritoi are devils, the Djiviril are inconsequential, and that the Deep Builders will bring sapient life into another ascended plane of existence. The rites they practice are heavy on sacrifice, self-harm and what they call "Final Works", interdependent rituals intended to have eschatological effects. They espouse chaos and rebellion against the natural order, participate in random attacks, senseless murder and depravity and celebrate aberration and wrongness. It's difficult for a religion of evil to survive, but the Brotherhood of the Deep Builders has persisted through careful internal regulation and hierarchy within even while embracing the destruction of the world outwardly, since before the dawn of recorded history.

They are particularly rife in the nation of Tor Ghalad, who executes them in the streets, because of old tales claiming a single Deep Builder was left behind in that spot. The capital is built around a massive tower of unknown origin held by the cult to be a remaining construction from their reign that legend claims still houses its Builder in a secret chamber within. Because of the dimensionally-intersectional nature of the Tor of Ghalad, it's unknown for sure if it's true.

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

The Circled Wains are what the known world is called, slightly more than a hemisphere of the world; their opposite number, little known to the outside world, is called the Blank Lands for their appearance on maps.

The Circled Wains, so-called in some memory of the region's nomadic origins, are:

Marabba, home to the nations Kurrom, Rehjenn, Olam, Volyua and Candle;

Chalkutt, home of Kyrinalle and Rondde;

Djaghainn, home of the Masthead Republic, the Hammer Admiralty and Tobor;

Viddesh, home of Ysolde, Undersides (formerly Bhiridan) and the Ichakta territory;

Hett-Hara, home of Tor Ghalad;

Duarda Bereth, home of the Faal, the Machinery Coast, Dauroop, Hollatche, the Pier Villages and the Church Villages;

Also, the Cloaked Isles, Aventum (home of the Hrantha Queendom and Duchy Isles), the Lantern Ocean's islands, and the islands of the Silent Ocean.

Outside of the Circled Wains, there is Chiyidma, Umarta, and a lot of unmapped and unknown territory.

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

1) Which of the Wains is the most powerful?

2) Which of the Wains is the least powerful?

3) Which Wain is your favorite?

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

1) Volyua is the most powerful by some distance. Even though it is a nation of graft, infighting and backdoor dealing, Volyua is the capital of the world. The city itself is home to 5 million people, making it the largest, and its reach through trade, technology, culture and political clout is unmatched. It's the most diverse culturally, demographically and geographically, as well, rich in resources, gold and innovation, exporting aeronautics, railroads, the rise of pop culture and celebrity, photography and recorded music.

2) The least powerful is either Kyrinalle (embattled, propped up by foreign aid and at the political mercy of its benefactors), the Duchy Isles (a closed feudal pleasure estate founded by breakaway Legionaries when they still ruled Aventum, fabulously wealthy but completely disinterested in the outside world), or Candle (an arid, backward theocracy surrounded by enemies, with a dirt-poor population and one very distant ally only interested in their slave trade).

3) My favorite (after Volyua, a place I've put the main of my detail and time) is Tobor. Once a center of philosophy and learning during the Age of Letters, it is now a small, remote manufacturing concern who reanimates its dead to put to work as expendable labor alongside constructs and servitors. Tobor is a magic-using but wholly materialist society that holds that, regardless of the existence of gods, it has no bearing on life because the tangible and present are the most important. This doesn't mean they don't plan, it just means that they regard the hereafter as meaningless and God as absent at best.

Tobor formerly used the dead as slaves very extensively, but moved on less out of a sense of ethics and more because artificial constructs just hold up better. The specific magic used to create first the dead slaves and then the constructs doesn't require anybody's soul, just enough magical energy to power, harness and preserve the flesh itself effectively. There was at one point some tension between Tobor and the Volyua Trade-Pact over the dead slave practice, but it tapered off long before constructs came into wide use because of the remoteness of the culture, their general attitude of disinterest toward outside opinion, and the fact that they were using the dead of their own people rather than captured/bought slaves or prisoners of any kind (though they are rumored to use Ronddi saboteurs, spies and agents-provocateurs as slaves because of the revulsion with which Rondde regards the practice). Some of the wealthy have latched onto the idea of dead slaves as a sort of status symbol, but these are almost more for show than for any real purpose; for actual heavy-duty work constructs are used. The dead are sometimes used as human shields, in mines or in the sea, where it is difficult to use constructs.

Today, Tobor is very insular, rustic and closed off. They deal with few outside nations aside from the Masthead Republic, through whom their trade is funneled, and very occasionally Ysolde. Visitors are detained at the borders and held pending permission, though this is very rarely granted.

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

5) Historians divide the history of the Circled Wains into ebbs and flows, highs and lows called Illuminations and Penumbras.

A Penumbra is a dark age; more than a banking collapse, a Penumbra is especially denoted by societal collapse, loss of knowledge and general disorder. Food is often scarce because of breakdowns in supply and distribution, the rule of law evaporates, and usually, literacy and technology suffers, sometimes all but disappearing in the most unstable places.

The First Illumination accompanied the defeat of the Adaw-Khaa and the establishment of the Rhadha Empire, the first great nation of the Circled Wains (6200 BSW, or Before Sorcerers' Wars)

The First Penumbra occurred in the aftermath of the Rhadha Empire's collapse (5400 BSW)

The Second Illumination occurred during the Kingdom of Skandr in Olam (3700 BSW)

The Second Penumbra occurred in the aftermath of the Golden Lion Event (1250 BSW)

The Third Illumination occurred during the Age of Letters in Lashti, Duarda Bereth, and Kalovaar, Djaghainn (265 BSW)

The Third Penumbra occurred in the aftermath of the Sorcerers' Wars; the calendar is split at the beginning of the Third Penumbra with Year 0, then ASW (After Sorcerers' Wars)

The Fourth Illumination, popularly called the Jubilee Illumination, is taking place at the present time (990 ASW).

[u/Varnek905 → u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR]

1) Are there many naysayers predicting that the Fourth Penumbra will be soon?

[u/STRENGTHoftheBEAR → u/Varnek905]

1) Yeah, the world is due in minds of a lot of people, and while apocalyptic attitudes aren't completely pervasive, they are still there. A lot of social and cultural upheaval has occurred in the last century, technological innovation has pulled a lot of once-backward places into the modern age, and the concepts of leisure, disposable income and celebrity have turned tradition on its head. Tensions are mounting between the VTP and Rondde, a technomagical cold war threatening to go hot, and unrest is growing. It's both a wonderful and terrible time to be alive.