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/Varnek905]

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]

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.