NWAG3: As responding to your inquiry, I'll change it. You should've seen the National Descriptions part before I changed it though.
I did- why else would I have inquired?
OOC: Using [1], [2], etc for Ulsen's IC footnotes. Using *, ** etc for my OOC footnotes.
Writing a Work
Ulsen looked around. He did not want
anyone seeing him doing the essay now. For one, he was supposed to be at school. For two, it was due yesterday. For three, not that many knew this but the chair he was sitting on was technically illegal.
"You idiot, close the windows!" he thought to himself. As he hastened to comply, he wondered to himself about how long this would take. A typical Ulsen essay had about five drafts each taking three hours. Of the planet's 30 (not 35, he had to remember), he now had five hours- tops. This was going to be hard...
The Rise and Fall of the Ebrite Empire- Introduction
Prior to Septim intervention, the civilisation of Kostoria* was developing into a primitive agricultural society. Kostria's environment was one of the most pristine in the system[1], and unrivalled in the period for it's capacity to accept foreign life[2]**. The question, therefore, is why intervention was necessary.
A typical example of a Kostorian civilisation was the Ebrite Empire, circa 942 JW***. It's achievements include agricultural reform, legal reform, and intellectual ideas that would take hundreds of years to be invented in mainstream Septim thought. In addition, all of these were achieved without that taint of empires, foriegn aggression.
But before looking at the Imperial Period itself, we should have some context about the Ebrites. Ebria, as it was called, was located in the Septim-named Fourth Quarter, a general Septim designation. But unlike typical stereotypes, they were indeed a distinct and vibrant subculture within the quarter, as shown in their primitive art[3], literature[4], and music[5].
The first true Ebrite civilisation began circa 2040 YN***, originally an offshoot of a synthesis of offshoots of the River Boat culture with previous tribal ideas. The previous government of "families" (actually tribes based on common ancestry) was replaced first by an absolute chief, then by a system of Farmers in Council. But by circa 1860 YN, a more moderated but still powerful hereditary chief had emerged as the norm[6].
Two critical points must be noted at this stage. First, the Ebrite civilisation was not the same as the Ebrite Empire of later years. The chiefdoms would commit many acts of war and aggresion against each other, but that was part of a later era. Second, the rise of hereditary chiefdoms was a vital part of the shift to agriculture- a more efficent system was vital to govern a system of centralised irrigation[7].
Technological advancements would mostly take place downriver and "trickle upwards", but the proto-Ebrites were not completely devoid of innovation- circa 1600 YN, bronze-melting techniques appear to have been invented in Ebria[8]. This temporary advantage allowed proto-Ebrite civilisations to conquer as far as Yamaros and Shaldara[9], although these civilisations would not later be acknowledged as Ebrite[10].
(Note to self: Need more on 14-1500 YN. Ask Shalom?)
The Ebrites "proper" would continue to develop peacefully for hundreds of years. 0 YN would come and go without a word. The land would, however, be disrupted from the outside. The "uncivilised" nomads of the North were just around the corner.
It is worth speaking briefly on these peoples because they played an integral part in the history of the Ebrite Empire. They were divided into five major conferacies[11]- the Walvian Claredites, the Moltravan Claredites, the Kangoran Claredites, the Urasulan Jezralites, and the Central Jezralites. Each tribe had it's own army of nobleman cavalry, and peasants from various settled villages to supress revolts[12]. Until the Black Death****...
Oh screw this Ulsen, skip to the good part!
[1] Usend, Evaron,
Black Nights- A Legacy of the Septim, Kolshen mines, page 58
[2] Ibid
[3] Note to self: Find source later
[4] Ibid
[5] Usend, Evaron, op cit.
[6] As extrapolated from the remnants of Septim mission 198205420358245. (Ulde, Jalsog,
Stolen Septim Mission Records, Garnath University Press, 405)
[7]
[8] Ibid source 6.
[9]
[10] Note to self: Find source later
[11] Endwaith Publishing,
The Diary of Abrak Andalor, Endwaith Publishing, page 72
[12] Ibid
[13] Yalmoth, Fictionalitis,
A History of the Ebrites, Charity Press, page 91
[14]
[15]
*: The planet which the game is set on.
**: Implicitly meaning life from other life-supporting planets.
***: Septim dating measure.
****: Not the same as our Black Death, but a plausible term to be used in an "ATL".
OOC: Finally finished.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
OOC: Doing a brief story to fix up the partial plot hole of King Chobres implementing his policy with regards to the death penalty for mixing up the League of Peoples and the League of People.
Kerahim and Kerahim
The word, or more presciely words designated in English as
Kerahim can, depending on the variant translate to
people,
peoples,
the people,
you (plural) people,
you person, or
the (in a context where the topic is persons). Each have different pronounciations, but the different is subtle for the English language. It was this similarity which was the crux of the confusion- the Kerahim League and the Kerahim League, so to speak.
Despite this, Chobres knew his policy would be poorly recieved. The intellectuals resented his "imposing" on policy (theoretically his prerogative, but in practice an area in which the intellectuals desired free rein thanks to Theory Doctrine*) enough already, and it was possible even if they did not depose him that they would go so far as to tolerate a coalition of the palace guards, the army, and the city slaves against him**.
To counteract this, he timed his policy carefully. The plan was to announce it literally at midnight, in the hope that knowledge of the news would spread around the capital as rumor, not established fact. Similiar arrangements were undertaken in various centres of power throughout the empire, and notes given to various nobility (who he also expected would not be pleased).
In the end, however, he had little choice but to appeal to a combination of pragmatism and inertia. Using the army (promised a tripling of their wages and immunity from the relevant laws) against the people, he exploited his connections in the nobility to keep them out of the "fight"- the fact that it begun as rumor reduced the factor of outrage, making this easier.
The timing of the announcement also coincided roughly with the climax of the academic battle between Shymanor and Clomades***, each who thought the rumor was the other's ploy to trick them into alienating the King. Commiting his full bakcing to Shymanor, Chobres III bought him off (if outraging Clomade's supporters). A suprising number of intellectuals outright supported him anyway- they argued it was unnaceptable for the people to mistake the anti-nationalist League of People with the pro-nationalist League of Peoples (which disagreed on the issue of race and nation).
This left the palace guard and the city slaves, but both were traditional puppets of the intellectuals and nobility respectively. Many palace guardsmen and slaves joined the revolt against Chobres, but were defeated early in the Battle of the Capital.
*: A doctrine which advocates that in order to achieve any effective action (at least in matters of government), one must have a theory with which to proceed. This was in practice used to argue that one must only make policy to implement the ideas of an intellectual.
**: All groups which the intellectuals argued should stay out of government, and all of whom were political powers feared by the intellectuals.
***: Two prominent intellectuals.