The Broken Bell

Thlayli · Apr 22, 2018

At the request of the geographer M. Berube, a learned man whose reputation is known to us, we share our knowledge of these last vestiges of the civilized world.

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L'Empisante Reineblanche Esafis (Esafis)

As the mother of Heaven once gave birth to her Son, the World, so too do the Thousand Seas give birth to her many Kingdoms. Over them, She stands, cradling them in Her arms. Under the Empisante Esafis, there are countless tribes, towns, republics, and petty princedoms. The colors of their banners, the scents of their foods, the adornments of their armor, are as varied as the stars in the sky. But all of these threads are unified in the patchwork of L'Empisante, those who have acceded by trade, by arms, or by blood to the Acceptances.

The Holy Acceptances of the Dual Faith

To be subject to them is to know civilization.

Primer, Acceptance of the Faith of the Dual Union, the duality of existence seen in Mother-Son, Heaven-Earth, Sea-Land. The White Queen and her crown of stars, the World-Conqueror in her hands.

Sekon, Acceptance of the supremacy of the White Queen of Esafis, Mother Speaker of the Holy Faith, and spiritual overseer of all the world, through her Blanchemaids and their spotless marbled churches.

Twazem, Acceptance of the voluntary conscription of the levy to the Haukomand, the chosen son of the White Queen and commander of the Diadic Wars. Long in gathering, each generation's Diad brings the pagans to tremble. Through this pageantry of subjugation, we bring wealth, glory, and new subjects for the expansion of L'Empisante to the far corners of the world.

With it, the bonfires of the pagan gods and the sacred speech of Languesante spread as a sign of unity and prosperity among the sujecs, free to war and trade and politick as they may, but all under L'Empisante, and the White Queen's watchful eye.

Spoiler :

In indigo: The province of Esafis Herself, the Diune City, Mother of Monasteries, Wellspring of the Holy Faith, Seat of L'Empisante. This holy land is a great place of pilgrimage from thousands of miles away, and its festival days are the culmination of the lives of tens of thousands. Founded almost a thousand years prior, her walls of silvered steel are considered unbreachable by the works of man. The delights, contrivances, rituals, and magics of this city would be done a disservice by an inelegant translation into mere words. The reader should make pilgrimage to see its glory with their own eyes.

In gold: The Holy Enclave of Teredor. The incredible wealth the Church has gained from settling this strait centuries ago, and controlling its trade, has caused the population of Teredor to expand beyond that of Esafis herself, and it has even threatened to eclipse the Diune City at times. As a result of this power, the Archmaiden of Teredor has a measure of autonomy from Esafis, and great influence in the White Queen's councils. The position is often given to favored daughters of the White Queen to prevent civil war. Conversely, the Archmaiden of Teredor is often informally seen as the successor-in-waiting to the White Queen.

In red: The main faith-fortresses and monasteries of the Blanchemaids cling to the isles and coasts of the great seas. In the dark times before the rise of L'Empisante, and even today in times of feudal civil war, migration and strife, these wooded islands offer excellent protection. Sheltered bays and hidden underground entrances often provide additional protection from pirates, although Esafis itself maintains several squadrons of warships which patrol the seas, and there are rumors the Blanchemaids protect their keeps with magic and other lost arts as well.

In green: The domain of the Vienvenidines, of whom much is written elsewhere. The greatest of l'Empisante's many fealties. The warlike horsemen fill the old shells of the pirate cities with new, rough-hewn songs, and the thundering procession of their knights upon the plain now bears the white and silver banners of l'Empisante in addition to those of their own king.

The Principality of Glenoir - A Domain of L'Empisante

The emblem of Glenoir is a crowned prince and princess, inflammant, gules upon on a field of blue, quartered with the moon.

Unlike newer additions like the Rander Kings or Vienvenido, Glenoir has been firmly integrated into L'Empisante for centuries. An ancient feudal alliance between the Archmaiden of the Isle of Glenoir (who carries the title of Hauprincaise) and the Auprinç, during the Age of Piracy, was instrumental in the defeat of the other Pirate Kings, and to this day the Principality is run as a Dual Union, governed jointly from the ancient island monastery of Glenoir Herself and the Auprinç's newer capital of Baisant, with the court summering on the island and wintering on the mainland.

The romantic tale of the Archmaiden's capture by the pirate king of Glenoir and her fateful seduction, turning him against his erstwhile allies and making war against the other pirates, before their fateful dual immolation upon their burning flagship, has been memorialized in the famous pageant, The Aflame. The Aflame is performed before crowds of thousands at the spring equinox, before the great festival in which small toy ships are lit afire to celebrate the foundation of the Principality. In some years, the White Queen herself graces the event with her attendance.

Primarily a naval trading state, the Glenoirine prefer light, mobile, shallow-drafted ships with two or three masts. While they are no longer a very warlike people, the Auprinç maintains an elite squadron of fire ships which are the envy and fear of many rivals. The royal guards are mounted pistoliers, but the bulk of the fighting is done by levied archers and spearmen, and mercenaries.

Slow but steady progress in settlement and civilization, with the aid of the church, has been made in extending the frontiers of Glenoir to the north, with the most recent generation of princes liberally employing both Macher and guissarn mercenaries to push the frontier down the coast. The old-growth forests of the interior remain inhabited by fiercely independent tribes, but steady support from Esafis has enabled once-tiny Glenoir to become an important buffer state on L'Empisante's vast northern frontier, extending down the western coast as far south as the Silent Lakes. Still more ambitious plans to settle The Great Severance to the south have stalled in the face of opposition from the southern monasteries, and of rebellious tendencies among the Severine marcher lords (perhaps encouraged by those selfsame monasteries).

Its steadfast loyalty to the White Queen in political matters has led Glenoirine merchant guilds to obtain the bulk of the contracts for trade overseas, although these voyages are fraught with risk, and not for the faint of heart, or the lightly armed. Contacts with the superior industrial technology of some trading partners has spurred a minor industrial and productive boom, and Glenoirine firearms and machines are rapidly gaining a reputation as some of the best in l'Empisante, as their ships are familiar presences from Teredor to Naucrastas.

Spoiler :

OOC: FYI all of the various groups, Esafis, Teredor, Glenoir, the Fortress Monasteries, are all quite decentralized, to say nothing of player affiliates with the Empisante system. So I won't really be technically "playing" as much as making religious pronouncements if the situation calls for it. The favored candidat

NinjaCow64 · Apr 22, 2018

All this has happened before. All this will happen again.

Noehses the Bridge nails himself to his boat, his sacrifice protecting its inhabitants from the flood. They bridge two cycles, but even they will drown again and again and again.

All this has happened before. All this will happen again.

The serpents laugh as their poison turns the air itself into water, they laugh until they drown themselves. The daughters of the Sorcerer-King flee the White Palace as it burns from the fire of the flood.

All this has happened before. All this will happen again.

The last of the Precedent-Kings fights until his last breath. The Gorgon laughs as it eats the land, while countless soldiers drown in its belly.

All this has happened before. All this will happen again.

The armies of the living and the dead drown in their own blood. Maraghaseeah the Bridge drowns in her tears, for the Gorgon was inside their blood. She stares at her Kingdom of Pride as it is washed away by the storm.

All this has happened before. All this will happen again.

The people of the Latter Kingdom of Pride have accepted the truth. Our time on the land is short, we will play our roles as best we can. For we know that the flood draws near, and we too will drown in the sea.

All this has happened before. All this will happen again. This has happened countless times before. This will happen countless times again. All men, Gods and monsters cannot escape inevitable flood. We are all on the same, sinking, vessel.

Name: The Latter Kingdom of Pride (the Faragar)

Location: I'm terrible with maps. Put me in the North Carolina region and make my capital Fort Bragg. I'll leave how big I am up to you Thomas, don't make me too small though.

History: TL;DR: They are the successors of the successors of the successors of the United States Government. The successors of the United States (known to the Faragar as the Kingdom of Despair) set themselves up around Fort Pride and after ~200 years they got beat by a large coalition of nations (perhaps including the Ur-Gorgossi?). The successors of the Kingdom of Despair (known to the Faragar as the Former Kingdom of Pride) was a highly militaristic society that believed that they must gather a large army of the strongest soldiers in the world (both living and dead) to fight against the Gorgon, a monster from the sea that desired their destruction that would come after the 50th leader ascends to the throne (their leaders could only lead for 100 Moons (Months) under the Faragar calendar). The Former Kingdom of Pride likely traded with the Gorgossi (were vassals of?) for gladiators. After ~200 years their 49th/48th/47th leader ascended to the throne and everyone freaked out and thought the Gorgon was coming to destroy them all. They all ended up killing each other. The survivors adopted a fatalistic outlook that became the national religion.

I'll develop more of the history when I work out what my neighbours are doing with their histories.

Themes and Values: The state religion of the Latter Kingdom of Pride is extremely fatalistic. They believe in inevitable cycles of death, rebirth, reincarnation and destruction. They believe that every cycle ends with a flood, which will take the form of a literal flood or a metaphorical one, which will destroy the current order and establish a new one on top of that. They believe that this flood is inevitable. They believe that a countless number of cycles has come before them and a countless number will happen after. They believe that they will be reincarnated in the other cycles and that the way to ensure that in their next cycle they will be put into a place of privilege with a healthy body if they perform their role to the best of their ability. This belief is known as the Cosmic Truth and because of it the Latter Kingdom of Pride values hard work and sacrifice.

The Kingdom is aristocratic and somewhat militaristic. It is a hereditary absolute monarchy, ruled by the Latter-King. The Latter-King's successor is theoretically the oldest living direct descendent of Marahgahseeah the Bridge (the first Latter-King and the last Prideful General who is worshipped as the reincarnation of Noehses the Bridge and is generally a very important figure in the Faragar Church). In practice, the pool of eligible successors is a far smaller subset of this group known as the Royal Family. Eligible successors have been skipped over in the past due to having bad relations with the rest of the Royal Family. The Latter-King can be any gender, the word "King" being a gendered term and indeed many gendered terms have been lost to time.

The Latter-King rules over all of the apparatuses of state, however they delegate much of their power to favoured appointees (often people within the Royal Family) control over important arms of the state and geographical regions (in a relationship akin to a vassal). The delegates are known as Proxies of the Latter-King, or just Proxies. Cities and smaller subdivisions are ruled by local families, either formally through a succession system similar to one used by the Royal Family or (for smaller cities) informally. Particularly important cities may be directly managed by a Proxy. The capital city, the Fortress of Pride itself, is managed directly by the Latter-King and their trusted advisers.

There exists a state church (known as the Faragar Church), however it is not a particularly strong or independent institution. They are subservient to the Latter-King, while the higher ranks of the institution are considered quite prestigious the organisation is primarily bureaucratic in nature. It primarily exists to ensure that holy books are properly distributed to the people, the religious figures known as Missionaries are properly equipped for their duties and that all other aspects of the Church is being maintained properly.

Each faithful family is expected to have one copy of the holy book "The Book of Truth" for review. Some poorer, smaller and neglected towns may have less books to go around and may have to share from a smaller pool. Because the faithful are expected to read from the book, the Latter Kingdom of Pride has a high literacy rate.

The Latter Kingdom of Pride does not enforce the Cosmic Truth upon their citizens. It is not mandatory to believe in the Cosmic Truth, however it is basically impossible to have any upwards or even sideways social mobility in the Kingdom if you can't demonstrate a belief in the Cosmic Truth. Some communities, especially those further away from the capital, have incorporated local beliefs into their worship, some near the border of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth have even incorporated the Lord who art in Heaven into their belief system. While these people are not directly discouraged by the state unless they try and revolt against the Latter-King or their Proxies, religious figures known as Missionaries are sent to communities with high rates of atheism or unorthodox beliefs. These Missionaries live in these communities for long periods of time trying to peacefully bring back as many people into the true faith as possible. Missionaries were sent to foreign lands, however the violence inflicted upon them by the Kingdom of Heaven of Earth has discouraged Missionaries being sent into those lands (they might be sent into the Banner Kingdom still, I'm unsure).

The beliefs of worshippers Faragar Church vary from area to area, however they have some similarities. Most areas have major motifs around drowning and floods. Most followers prefer to send their bodies into the ocean, or when that is not possible cremate themselves and spread the ashes onto the sea or a large body of water. Some areas incorporate local Gods into their religion, however this is not mandatory.

The eldest child of a Faragar family is considered to be appointed by destiny to continue the family work, whether that be the family farm, business or noble line. This belief is what maintains the legitimacy of the Latter-King, the Royal Family and their system of succession. Other children (short of tragic deaths) are expected to make their own destiny. Some stay around to help their elders, others attempt to make their own farms/cities/businesses. Particularly smart ones try and migrate to large cities and attempt to become a servant of a Noble, a Proxy, a Royal Family Member or even the Latter-King! Others may decide to become Missionaries, or join the Legion of Truth. What is important is that all put hard work into their roles. Laziness is considered a sin and it is believed that those who are particularly lazy will be punished with bad health and poverty in the next cycle while those who are diligent will be rewarded with a healthy life full of luxury.

The army of the Latter Kingdom of Pride primarily consists of levies that are generally demobilised. However, a standing army has been created to discourage the increasingly aggressive Kingdom of Heaven on Earth from invading. This standing army is known as the Legion of Truth, led by the Marshal-Proxy. Their primary purpose is to defend the Latter Kingdom of Pride and, more importantly, to ensure that knowledge of the Cosmic Truth is not lost. While they are a loyal to the Latter-King and the Royal Family, they are the most powerful institution in the Latter Kingdom of Pride outside of the Latter-King and the Royal Family. They manage the region on the border of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth (and possibly the Banner Princedom depending on how hostile they are). Their influence is limited outside of these regions. The Latter-King usually gives them a degree of independence and respect due to their important role in the Kingdom as well as their ability to mobilise a large army. The Legion of Truth is a meritocracy as they strive to be as effective as they can be in defending the Cosmic Truth.

Goals: Continuing independence from the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, the colonisation of the areas to the East that don't appear to have many people in them and the spread of the Cosmic Truth (note that the Faragar Church is currently more interested in proselytising than forced conversion, they believe that only a genuine acceptance of the Cosmic Truth allows one to reap the benefits from enlightenment).

Variations: I'll imagine that religion and culture would blend on the borders of their neighbours. I'm also imagining that there are syncretic groups that popped up on both sides of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth border that believe in both the Lord who art in Heaven and the Cosmic Truth, with some believing that the Lord who art in Heaven can save them from the cycle of reincarnation and others believing that he too is subject to it.

National Focus: That all persons fulfil the roles assigned to them to the best of their ability, from the lowliest peasant to the Latter-King themselves.

National Failure: Such a fatalistic religion lends itself to extreme pessimism and sometimes depression. While some have found comfort in the endless cycle, others find the idea horrific, including neighbouring polities and other religious organisations.

thomas.berubeg · Apr 22, 2018

Map of Claims and some NPCs

Lord_Iggy · Apr 22, 2018

There's a place, child, where the world hits 'er distant, rough edge. Great stone walls 'n gnashin teeth'at chew at the meat o' the dyin' sun itself.

That's the land o'our most ancient forefathers. We set east, followin' the young sun. Long years we rode, ere we first set our eyes 'pon the sea.

There, at the tip of the Great Green, three worlds met, those o' grass, tree and water. The Vannabeggars and their cities on the water fell to our fifth and sixth great grandsires. It was there that our kin first learned to exchange between the steeds of the grass and the steeds of the water.

It was in the reign of the Great King Osker the First that we Machermen crossed the Kenner's Maze in force, and seized the Mesher city of Laghed, our first fortress on the Great Blue. From Laghed, we grew ever across the Great Blue, our seasteeds carrying us further and further afield.

Here, we found people far beyond the Meshermen of the near coast. First among them were the Savers, the men and women who first revealed to us the Dual God. Some times we warred with them, and made their cities ours. Others we traded and lived in peace. Yet try as they might, the savers would find us Machermen difficult to tame. They contented themselves with distant and loose rule. But that didn't mean none to us. We... well, we built kingdoms.

Lord_Iggy · Apr 22, 2018

A mapped history of the interactions of Macher and Esafis.

-250: King Osker crosses the Kenner Maze to bring the first Machermen to the edge of the Great Blue. Esafis enjoys greatest western expansion, with the Queueenua Monastic State, while Teredor is newly-established in the south.

-200: Machermen first reach the Yoper Coast, establishing numerous settlements and coming into contact with the Esafis, who they refer to as 'Savers'.

-150: Machermen begin to settle the Famesher Coast. Elsewhere, the Queeueenua Monastic State is seized by a Macher invasion. Due to its extreme isolation, there is little Esafisine response.

-110: The Mac Kingdom becomes the first significant organized Macher state, seizing the Machinac Islands from Esafis and uniting much of the Yoper Peninsula. Macher raiders become a major threat to l'Empisante, as many of its peripheral holdings fall to organized invasions. The fall of Norray and raids near to the holy city itself alarm the Esafisines, who are driven to action. Elsewhere, Machers establish outposts at So and Skago.

-80: While the Mac Kingdom unites the rest of the Yoper Peninsula, decades of war see islands flip back and forth between Esafis and the Mac Kingdom, with inconsistent help from the other Macher clans. Ultimately, a peace is reached, and the ruling family of the Mac Kingdom converts to the Dual Faith of Esafis, and the monasteries are re-established with considerable autonomy. However, religious tolerance of all faiths remains the law in the realm. The Macher of Famesher Island grow closer to Tedder, or Teredor, and prosetylization efforts see many villages become adherents of the Dual Faith.

-50: The Rander Clan, expelled from the Macher Coast in an inter-tribal power struggle, sail with arms to the Famesher coast, and establish control of the majority of the island's coasts. The Randers, in accordance with the bulk of their population, and eager to secure their power, convert to the Dual Faith.

Present: Relations between the Macher Clans and Esafis remain strained, but decidedly improved from the 80 years of on-and-off warfare fought between -150 and -70. The Rander Kingdom is formally a part of l'Empisante, and has a complex relationship with Teredor. While the city enjoys great wealth and influence, it is vulnerable to the Macher who border it, and occasionally the Rander Dynasty seeks to extract protection money from the small, but economically powerful state. However, Randers also frequently fight in the armies of Teredor, and view the city as a place worthy of admiration. Meanwhile, there remains tension between the Mac Kingdom and l'Empisante, based on a mixture of territorial and religious conflicts. Esafis considers Machinac to be l'Empisante territory, and bristle's at Mac's contentions that it shall be loyal first to the King, and second to l'Empisante. Additionally, the dedication of the Mac Kings to the Dual Faith is frequently brought into question, as the kingdom is highly syncretic and is composed primarily of the syncretic adherents of the Macher faith, and the Yoper Sea Gods. Practically speaking, the Mac Kings are unwilling to personally pay the political costs of enforcing one set of beliefs, given their large and influential religious minorities. Meanwhile, the Macher Coast has never seen continuous unified rule like its larger colonies, although it remains quite rich as it controls a major trade route between the Great Green, the great inlet to the northwest, and all of the riches and goods of the Great Blue.

@Terran Empress This is the setup I proposed in the initial edition of this game. I currently have no idea what your current nation is, culture-wise, but I'll be happy to adjust this proposed history to include your people.

Lord_Iggy · Apr 22, 2018

The faint yellow aura represents areas of some influence and fairly regular sailing by Macher sailors, isolated spots of yellow represent either Macher settlements or cities where they have significant presence, the large yellow region is the homeland of the Machermen of the Great Blue, while the Mac and Rander Kingdoms are loose entities founded by migrants and adventurers leaving the Macher coast and overthrowing local Meshermen and Yoper states, establishing themselves as a new ruling class.

Jehoshua · Apr 22, 2018

History of Gorgossos

[NB: Subject to editing to render compliant with canon. Also if people want to discuss fitting Gorgossos with their apps I am available to do so]

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Early Gorgossos

??? - ~ 800 BP

The early history of the great city of Gorgossos after the fall of the Witch King of old is obscure. Indeed so old is Gorgossos that the Empire itself claims that the city dates from the days of the Philosopher Kings themselves, and that Gorgossos alone of cities survived the great catastrophe and stood fast against the ancient serpent when all other cities fell to darkness. The truth of this is unknown, the High Gorgossi (by which is referred the citizens of the city itself) notoriously do not permit outsiders or slaves inside the walls of their city and beyond them in the bounds of its empire little has been left little in terms of written records from these ancient days. Much of what is written of them elsewhere is more the subject of myth than history. Nonetheless evidence of the antiquity and reach of this most ancient of cities exists in many places throughout northwest and beyond. For instance while their dominion over the inner seas was brief, evidence remains in the ruins of the oldest cities of the “Canal-Builders” or “Sea-Folk” as the modern inhabitants of the sea call these folk of iconography remarkably similar to the spell-sigils that still adorn the walls and gates of Gorgossi cities. While no self respecting scholar would dare say that Gorgossos once ruled those lands, stories from the lands of the ashen kings would have it that the men of Gorgossos once flew on wings of fire and iron to trade with the City of the Moon, an absurdity no doubt for such sorcery is scarcely conceivable, but the truth remains that there is no evidence of coastal outposts in the inner sea that would speak of Gorgossi settlement there, rendering the relics of them that remain in the inner seas a mystery.

Of the pale people of Gorgossos there is much we scarce need mention. It is known to all that they have always endured on their island while other, younger nations have come and gone. Disputes about their origins are many. Some say they are akin to the Entooky, the Faragar (Said to be descendants of loyal holdouts of the Witch King) or the pirate peoples. As for the Gorgossi they claim to be descendants of those of the people of mythical Issaral who were delivered by the god Keriste and who later fled across the great ocean to escape the tyranny of the demon Jergyi, who ruled the land of Angalon in which they abode in latter days before finally they fought alongside the god Uashantin, first of the philosopher kings when he broke the power of Jergyi and settled in Gorgossos remaining to this day true heirs of the ancient kingdom. Such fables belong in myths and so it is perhaps best to consider them as a unique nation unto themselves far removed from the other races the Gorgossi disdainfully refer too as "lesser peoples". And not without regard, for indeed lesser many of the nations were in the ancient days. It is even said that far from being the warden of nations and mother of slaves as it was to become in latter days, Gorgossos of old, possessed of many secret workings and arcane magics, was a peaceable city, trading upon the shores of the great sea even across the waters to the mysterious lands of the Hodun, Kavanai and Mesheka, and that she taught her lessers of the rudiments of civilisation and religion that the world might rise again from the darkness of the fall. Many of the ancient cities along the shores of the great sea, (The Red City of Ashantur and Gomura of the chains amongst others), are believed to have been built by them or their descendants, and their religion is believed by some to be a significant reason why the figure of the "Lord of Heaven" is revered all along the shores of the great sea, albeit in varying forms, although other scholars point to a pre-existing reverence for the One Lord as the source of the similarities between the coastal faiths.

~ The maximum extent of the Republic of Gorgossos' direct holdings according to the Federation

The First Empire

800 BP - ~550 BP

Of the First Empire, officially the Republic of Gorgossos, much is known. Originally she was ruled by the Magisterium, a circle of some hundred or so magistrates, or magisters drawn from the noble houses of Gorgossos itself. Each of these noble families, many of which still hold great influence in Gorgossos, it is said, traces its ancestry back to one of the many philosopher kings of the ancient kingdom, and some of the greatest of these even claim descent from such deities as Uashantin and Turam. While originally the Magisterium ruled Gorgossos alone, what is known is that two hundred years after the calamity, roughly 800 years before the present, Iman 1st was elected to the hitherto ceremonial position of Speaker, as first among equals and sovereign commander of Gorgossos. What pushed the election of Speaker Iman 1st is unknown, as what records exist are hidden in the archives of His Divine Majesty the God-Emperor and not permitted for outsiders to read. However what is clear to scholars is that the election was quickly followed by a dramatic revolution in the social conventions of the Gorgossi, even in their religious practices. The practice of slavery, previously unknown became prevalent albeit not in the city itself, and human sacrifice (A practice some say the Gorgossi spread to the Hen) nowadays prohibited took hold, with slaves becoming regular fare for the Gorgossi gods, offered as atonement for the sins of the wretched and detestable race of Man. Simultaneously the legendary “Silent Ones” (so called because it is said that by sorcery they could telepathically communicate with each other and thus fought in absolute silence) sailed out from the Isle of Gorgossos and rapidly subdued the Isle of Mempur and enslaved numerous enemies of the Gorgossi state. Records of this subjugation are many, albeit the truth is not as the abolitionists in Conros would have it. As recorded in the archive of Aveshantur of the Golden Domes at the southern tip of Mempur, the aristocratic classes of the Mempuri largely retained their status and freedom as did many of the natives with reduction to slavery being reserved for what the Aveshai archives refer to as "Liberians". While the term is obscure, references in the liturgies of the Gorgossi imply that this group was one which offended against the religious and moral strictures of Gorgossos, which is to say that only heathens or infidels appear to have been enslaved during this the first of many conquests. Indeed Iman 1st in his thirty year reign as speaker conquered all of the Gorgossi Archipelago and many other islands besides with Conros and Vesta being settled during his rule.

His successors went even further than he, for within two centuries, Gorgossi colonies littered the coastline, from aforementioned shining Conros and its sister Vesta and fair Sandeleon on the Golden Gate (The Ip river as known to the Stiltmen), to Ashantur the Red in the Sweltering North. The Slave cities of Lusa, Gomura, and Dohanos, which to this day still engage, unlike their free-city brethren, in the slave trade and pay nominal obeisance to Gorgossos were all established or conquered in this time. Indeed even such distant peoples as the dour Faragar paid homage to the Great City, and were on occasion subject to its hegemony as records of the early Faragar kingdom indicate.

Of the peoples who occupied the conquered lands, none can now say who they were with certitude for without exception they were subsumed into the Gorgossi society if they were not in fact consumed upon its altars and in the dust of its fields. For it was upon the backs of its slaves that Gorgossos' mighty empire was built, with slaves toiling on the great plantations that fed its teeming masses and sustained its mighty cities.

Yet despite all this apparent wealth and splendor all was not well with the Empire. Decadence and time slowly whittled away at her foundations, with ancient sorceries, long the palladium by which Gorgossos stood inviolate and invincible slowly failing with none being able to restore them. The magisterium too, once a bastion of republican sobriety became ever more indolent and corrupt, with magisters being concerned more for their passing pleasures and petty intrigues than the affairs of state. The first evidence of this decay to the outside world was when the Silent Men were repelled by the primitive Stiltmen Kingdom of Valcis during the Second Reed War, fought upon the waters of the Ip for control over the nascent oceanic trade route to Naucratis. This was swiftly followed by Pirate-King raids that shockingly managed to bypass the fortifications at Sandeleon, Conros and Vesta that guarded the Golden Gate and reach the core territories of the empire itself. The malaise that had afflicted the Empire at this moment became clear to all.

The Great War

c 550 - 520 BP

Speaker Kalros VI, a corpulent and indolent man to put it kindly, did not respond to these attacks and outrages against his empire, being far more concerned it is said with his entertainments and no less than forty-seven pet Meshekan cats than with his obligations as Speaker. In response to this apathy and silence the edges of the empire started to crumble with rebellion and sedition seething in the slave pits, along with numerous heretical cults and sects which would later coalesce into the faith of the Thousands Gods worshipped in the free cities.

The Augurs of Destiny, reading fateful signs as they are ever wont to do in these events proclaimed a year of sacrifices to avert the gods displeasure, expiate their sins, and restore Gorgossos to its splendour. Yet it is clear by what followed that their entreaties were not enough to wipe away the stain of Gorgossos' decadence and sins and make Gorgossos great again. So, as was in hindsight inevitable, it came to pass that the resentments that had been slowly building since the inception of the Gorgossi empire ignited. Sparked it is said by a magisterial tax on tea aimed at bolstering a flagging state budget, civil war broke out throughout almost all the colonial cities. First, the eastern cities, led by Maefis formed secret alliances with the plains people who assisted the eastern colonies in throwing off the imperial yoke. Together, the Maevians and the Benaadir moved against Ashantur, notorious then as now for its depravity, knowing that she was the bastion of Gorgossi power in the east, and after a lengthy siege starved her into submission, putting an end to Gorgossi rule (albeit it is clear that the Red City swiftly cast of the rule of nomads and slaves, with it to this day practicing the worst excesses of old Gorgossos).

Nearly simultaneous with the fall of Ashantur, Prince Evanur of Conros formally disavowed the Empire and the Speaker (his first cousin) and proclaimed Conros as the Free City of Conria (saying "-os" a stereotypically Gorgossi city indicator was a slave mark for the city) with himself as its Speaker. He freed the slaves and raised up a council of magistrates in a new magisterium, ironically replicating the constitutional arrangement of Gorgossos he had just rejected and proclaimed a war of liberation to free the slaves from the "tyranny" of the mother city.

Despite the irony of its establishment by a Gorgossi prince, the newly decreed “Free-City” made no delay in sending envoys to its neighbors, many of which were in the throes of slave revolts themselves. Those cities that allied with Conria proclaimed themselves to be the Federation of Free Citties, with their united fleet (bolstered by ships seized from the Gorgossi naval garrisons) quickly becoming an existential threat to the Empire itself. Not all the cities rose in rebellion, however. In the west the Gorgossi colonies ruthlessly and swiftly crushed the nasent slave revolts, and sailed their fleets out at the call of the mother-city in a great armada that covered the horizon.

Yet for all its not inconsiderable military might the Gorgossi fleet failed to subdue the nascent federation, with the magisterium refusing to allow ships to sail where, in offensive forays against the Federation, they may have crushed the still nascent rebellion and the newborn federation in its crib, perhaps out of fear of further rebellion in the core territories. This failure to strangle the Federation in its formative stages had dire consequences. Over years of warfare, attrition, defection and some say infighting nearly two fifths of the Gorgossi fleet was lost greatly hampering the ability of the Empire to resist the federations momentum. So it was that some years after the Free-Cities Federation was first founded, the militias assembled from the ranks of liberated slaves finally embarked on an expedition north, engaging with the Silent Ones on the island of Mempur. It was after a long siege and the fall of the walls of Aveshantur that the Slave Cities, who of all the imperial forces were most diminished by the action, or inaction of Gorgossos, approached the Federation, suing for peace now that it became clear that the Gorgossi cause was lost in a mire of indecision and imperial apathy throwing off the imperial yoke. The federation pragmatically agreed, despite misgivings, to their terms in a bid to hasten the end of the war.

Finally, Evanur, First amongst Equals of the federation and his army sailed to Gorgossos itself and stood directly beneath its great walls, joined by Bjehedar Ras, the Masih of the Maevian Benaadir hosts. Shockingly, it is said that the Speaker was unperturbed by his guest and invited Evanur to a banquet, having remained entirely unaware of his cousins treason and of the state of the Empire after a now lengthy war.Either way what followed is certain, the corpulent Speaker perished, either from shock or as some suggest by poison. The Augurs of Destiny under the promptings of the Magisterium decreed this to be a fateful sign. The position of Speaker which had been pre-eminent in Gorgossos for over three hundred years was abolished, and envoys of peace were sent to the allied forces. In the Treaty of Aveshantur signed 520 BP, Gorgossos, in exchange for the city not being sacked, acquiesced to the independence of all its colonies, abolished slavery and was compelled to pay reparations to the free cities. The Federation accepted, and the Proud Gorgossi Empire was no more, though Gorgossos herself remained unbowed and unbroken.

The Century of Humiliation and the Great Crusade

520 BP - 400 BC

Gorgossos the Great had been laid low and the shock of this rattled the nation of Gorgossos to its core. For Gorgossos then as now held itself superior to lesser men an now it had been humbled by the least of all peoples, its own slaves. Nonetheless Gorgossos remained proud and did not recant in the slightest its imperial rule, repenting only of the decadence and impiety that they believed had resulted in divine punishment upon their Empire.

Not that the Magisterium would rise up from their failings, for in the so called century of shame, Gorgossos was compelled by the federation to punitive measure after punitive measure designed it seems to humiliate Gorgossos in lieu of its destruction. From punitive tariffs, to the requirement for a magisterial representative to offer up a tribute and kiss the shoe of the Elected Speaker of Conria for the right to sail the river Ib, to a treaty giving the citizens of the federation immunity from prosecution on the isle of Gorgossos itself, the city of splendors was subject to shame after shame until it was almost beyond sufferance, indeed even the heavens punished them for at this time Gorgossos was wracked by the red plague, the victims of which wept tears of blood as a fitting sign of their lamentable fate. Thus the Gorgossi turned to faith, and became ever more zealous in their penances and abasements before their gods.

Then it was that in the High Temple the Lord of Heaven, a mysterious man appeared. Calling himself the Oracle, and said by some in the streets of the ancient city to be one of the self-same heroes who fought against the Witch King centuries ago, he proclaimed that Gorgossos had failed in its divine duty to bring order to the world, having fallen into decadence and sin and thus been subject to humiliation as punishment for its faithlessness. The populace swiftly became enthralled by this Oracle, and while events themselves are obscure with talk of miracles and signs abounding (once again the truth is perhaps hidden behind the walls of the city), it is known that 420 years ago the Augurs of Destiny proclaimed the Oracle was the avatar of El Ashai, the Lord of Heaven come to lead his chosen people back to the right path and to their true purpose. The Magisterium, spurred by the fanatical populace and discredited by the humiliations that had followed the fall of the empire swiftly laid down its governance and submitted the empty throne of the old speakers to the Oracle, who became the first of the autocratic and absolute Gorgossi God-Emperors.

The Oracle was decisive in making use of this power. First he declared the Treaty of Aveshantur null and void, while at the same time establishing the Code of Servitude, forbidding the sacrifice of men upon the altars and granting, for the first time, rudimentary rights to the enslaved. He then sent forth emissaries to the city of Barbessos, across the straits of Gorgossos from the city itself, and demanded its submission. When the city refused, fearing it is said repercussions from Conria, the result was decisive. It is said in the diary of a Esafite blanchemaid who happened to be preaching in Barbessos at the time and kept in the library of Gomura that in a night of sorceries not matched since the days of the canal builders, fire flashed across the heavens and that the seas roiled with the oracles wrath and that before days end the magisters of Barbessos were dead on their thrones, eyes wide with terror in their deaths. The city submitted, and soon afterward all the cities of Mempur abased themselves before the Oracle and pledged eternal submission to his divine will. Thus was the Rebirth of the Empire purified and redeemed proclaimed.

Conria and the free cities, terrified at the prospect of an ascendant Gorgossos and its mysterious emperor almost immediately re-established their federation which lately had fallen into abeyance due the rivalries amongst its members, with its members soon after declaring war on this "New and Monstrous Empire". The Silent Ones of Gorgossos, perhaps anticipating this immediately crossed to the mainland from Aveshantur and marched south, conquering city after city. The slave cities too, fearful of Gorgossos but seeing the opportunities it's newfound vigour brought pledged vassalage, retaining their independence in return for their fealty. Thus it was that the allied forces conquered even to the mouths of the Ip laying siege to the very walls of Conria itself. After a lengthy siege and the treason of a Vestai guardsman the city fell 400 years before the present day and was sacked and occupied by Gorgossos to the shock of the federation. It was only when a host from Holdout and the swamp cities assisted by Vesta and the forces of Maevis, after several years rendered the occupation militarily untenable did Gorgossos withdraw, sparing the federation from annihilation.

What followed was a century of on and off war.

The New Empire

400 BP - Present

The wars which prevailed between the Federation and the Empire of the God-Emperors (for indeed after the oracles reputed ascension into the heavens to once again await the peoples time of need 370 years ago, after a fifty year reign, there have been many God-Emperors, each bestowed and imbued it is said with the divine spirit of the Lord of Heaven as his earthly steward) after the Oracles enthronement and the Second Treaty of Aveshantur 300 years ago scarce needs to be said. The Reversion of Gomura right when Gorgossos victory seemed at hand after the sack of Vesta 350 years ago is infamous, likewise the daring night raid against the city Aetharion by a Conrian detachment to reclaim a literal bucket of gold plundered by Gorgossi raiders on the anniversary of the old empires fall is famous for its audacity. All in all it can be said that the conflict entered into a stalemate, with a balance of power taking shape where both sides won and lost control of territories around the Burget and generally considered it too costly to push for absolute victory lest third parties, such as the ever troublesome ash kings, take advantage of their distraction. So it was that both parties agreed, eventually, to peace, wherein the conquests Gorgossos still retained after a century of war were recognized by the federation along with its revocation of the first treaty, while the Empire for its part tacitly accepted federal "stewardship" of the Ip and refrained from enslaving its citizens (although rumour persistently suggests that the Gorgossi purchase slaves from Ashantur hailing from the federation to bypass the treaty). That said it could be considered that the main reason for the hundred year wars end is simply that the Gorgossi eye was turned to alternatives to the grinding conflict, for its zeal remained (And remains to this day) undiminished in its drive to restore by hook or crook its imperium over the lands. The Federation for its part remained as zealous in its opposition to the slave trade as ever with simple exhaustion and infighting being the only reason they accepted peace at all.

What followed for Gorgossos was an era of renewed evangelism and trade. Missionaries were sent as far as what is now the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and the lands of Macher proclaiming the way of the gods and of the greatness of the Lord of Heaven. Indeed evidence of the success of these efforts (As well as the influence of the old empire) is to be found in the worship of the Lord of Heaven throughout the Gorgossi complex and even to in further lands such as the realm of the cotton kings. Less successful however was the imposition of imperial orthodoxy and emperor worship, with heretical interpretation and syncretism prevailing the further from Gorgossos one goes, and with missions being less than successful amongst the hillmen and Faragar (Who clung to their own morbid faith) or amongst the cotton kings where the peasantry persisted in their superstitious and errant practices. The Red City for its part persisted in denying the avataric divinity of the Emperor even while maintaining the Gorgossi gods and the abolished practice of human sacrifice while the free cities remain obstinate in the impious worship of the thousand gods although the faith of Gorgossos can yet be found there. Perhaps only the slave cities fully embraced (under threat of imperial sanction) the orthodox way, sending token tributes to Gorgossos every ten years in recognition of the Emperors divine hegemony although some measure of influence may be seen in the realms of the cotton kings further west. Missionaries were even sent to distant Kavana and Mesheka although the success or failure of these enterprises is known only to Gorgossos itself.

What is known to all of these distant lands however is that the trade between them and the old empire that ceased during the century of humiliation and the following century of war was renewed on an intermittent basis after the Peace of Aveshantur with exotic goods from the land of the Sun-Queens of the Mesheka being traded through Gorgossos to Conros and along the coast of the great sea even as far as the Hen Don to the enrichment of the ancient city.

And so it remains to the present. Despite occasional skirmishes and brief wars between the federation and Gorgossos peace has prevailed, for the most part for nigh three hundred years with Gorgossos the new, greater in divinity and spirit if far less in temporal splendor than the old empire being largely content in propagating the virtue of religion and establishing hegemony through trade and tribute than in outright conquest. However the fundamental claim of Gorgossos, that it is rightful hegemon of the world and that all its former subjects are by right subject to its imperium remains unrenounced, and the threat of renewed conflict between the new empire and old republican federation, between Gorgossos and its former slaves remains ever on the horizon, imminent but ever out of sight.

Thlayli · Apr 23, 2018

The ancient Mitt of Romnais (as the ancients were oft to call that island) should probably be repartitioned between TE's claim, Iggy's Randermen, and Teredor, which should have most of the Straits (although they don't have to have the leftward entrance, the rightward would be essential)

Also, half of the people are calling north true north and half are calling north map north, which is going to get interesting

Jehoshua · Apr 23, 2018

perhaps the magnetic field flipped

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The Way of Heaven (Gorgossi Religion)

NB: for the most part pending and subject to editing.

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Core Dogma

The religion of Gorgossos, commonly referred to simply as The Way of Heaven, or "The Way" believes that there is one true God, referred to as the Lord of Heaven, or by the esoteric name El Ashai*, who is creator, sustainer and judge of the world through divine providence. It was God's will that mankind was punished for its hubris and impiety resulting in the great catastrophe just as in latter days Gorgossos was punished for its impiety (hence the Old Empires fall).

The Lord of Heaven rules over the "Congregation of the gods", a collection of lesser deities, many of whom the Gorgossi believe are ancestors of their people who achieved apotheosis, who are patrons and intercessors for mankind known as the powers above and are powerful spiritual allies against the powers below, demons who afflict mankind. Core passage in the Gorgossi scriptures make clear the doctrine of lesser gods and indicate how the Lord of Heaven compels the gods to combat evil and disorder**.

Spoiler :

The faithful the Gorgossi believe are likewise charged to do good, remain pure in holiness, and actively work to restore order and goodness to the world where it has been marred by chaos, impiety and sin. Sin to The Way, is an abomination that disturbs the right order of the universe and things "as they ought to be". Therefore for the sake of righteousness and the rectification of the world the Gorgossi see it as their sacred duty to establish godly order, ensuring that that which is lesser is subordinate to that which is superior, having been ordained by divine providence to do so (having, by their assertion, survived the cataclysm and this being rightful inheritors of the imperium God placed upon the philosopher kings). They desire to see a world where all men are subordinated to the divine will and the worship of the Lord of Heaven, where lesser men and nations are subordinated to those divinely ordained to rule over them, and where the created world is subject again to the perfect dominion of mankind, which is made in the image and likeness of God. A particular aspect of this is a common Gorgossi belief (albeit one not formally dogmatised by their Church) that all other nations are tainted by the touch of Petaro and the powers below, and are thus rightly subordinated to Gorgossos which alone is pure of this stain.

Imperial Divinity

The defeat of Gorgossos in the fall of the Empire deeply shocked Gorgossi society, challenging their belief that they were anointed by divine providence to restore the divine imperium over all the world (and obtain hegemony over it insodoing).

The Oracle who appeared several centuries ago answered this existential quandary by explaining that this calamity was not only a result of Gorgossi sin and impiety, but a response by God to the usurpation of divine rule by the sinful whims of the magisters who had forgotten their divinely ordained purpose and their ultimate subordination to Him. Likewise he condemned the contemporary Gorgossi for their malaise and failure to rectify this, urging them to pick up their great commission and serve the Lord of Heaven.

Together with miracles and signs*** associated with his appearance and the auguries of the augurs of destiny, the oracle was proclaimed to be an avatar of the Lord of Heaven and hastily appointed Emperor. This avataric divinity is said to pass from Emperor to Emperor in the sense that the "divine presence" rests and is imbued in the holder of the office [as it once rested in the holy place of the temple of ancient Issaral, and later in the infallible "great white fathers" who ruled the world before the rise of the philosopher kings during the golden age of man] and transferred upon his death. This novel doctrine (as of 500 or so BP) likewise is presupposed on the idea that the Emperor instantiates God's divine authority in Heaven on earth, serving as an earthly incarnation of that same authority and bearing His temporal jurisdiction. As the Lord in Heaven rules in Heaven, so the Emperor on earth rules on Earth as his avatar and regent.

Clergy

The priesthoods of the Way are divided into three orders each of three grades.

The "Greater Priesthood", serves the worship of the Lord of Heaven and that of his avatar the Emperor, and possesses the privilege of officiating in the worship of any lesser deity. They have pre-eminence over the lesser priesthood and their episcopal synod, under the supreme religious authority of the emperor, is the overarching authority of the faith.

The "Lesser Priesthood", serves the worship of the lesser gods (the powers above) and each priest is usually devoted to only one of the lesser gods. These gods may have certain requirements of their priests, such as the priests of Turam being required to be gold of hair for instance.

The "Augurs of Destiny", do not officiate in worship, with their role being the discernment of signs and portents (As well as divination rituals), and secondarily as being keepers of doctrine. They act as theologians, canonists and priestly advisors as well as diviners of the will of heaven.

The three grades for each of these sets of priests are Bishop, Presbyter and Deacon. The first being supervisors over a religious jurisdiction (For instance a bishop of Turam will have authority over the cult of Turam in that jurisdiction), the second having full religious qualifications to celebrate divine worship and generally managing local temples, and the third being charged primarily with preaching and assisting presbyters at the altars.

Outside of ordained clergy the laity may serve as cantors, lectors, thurifers and any other of assisting roles in divine worship in accordance with the particulars of each rite and the cultus of the various deities and of the Lord of Heaven.

Rites

In fitting with the emphasis on mans sinfulness and the ancient texts**** the religion of Gorgossos practices animal sacrifice, as well as the practice of giving offerings to the gods and to God. The most important of these in the present time is the first fruits offering to the Emperor.

In the past human sacrifice to El Ashai was practiced, for a mans life is the highest possible offering man can give to the gods as per the Gorgossi scriptures for the atonement of sins for mankind's sake "Man known no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". The old priests also pointed to the voluntary sacrifice of Keriste for the ancestors of the Gorgossi as an example as well as the sacrifice by Abram, ancestor of the Gorgossi people of his son Isak as an example . However in the present the oracles decree that the practice is forbidden and that animal sacrifices are to substitute for the sacrifice of men on the altars.

Another aspect of Gorgossi liturgy to note is the complicated and reverent court ritual in the Palace of the Emperor in Gorgossos itself, in which the worship of His Divine Majesty is perpetually offered in a refined and courtly ceremonial before his very person.

Rites of El Ashai are conducted in Angalish, on the basis that it was the language the sacred texts were originally written in as well as the tongue of the philosopher kings. Rites to the lesser deities are usually in the vernacular.

Deity List

Spoiler :

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Notes

* derived from El Shaddai (God Almighty)
**John 10:33-36 & psalm 82, albeit partly lost and distorted as a result of the cataclysm.
***the oracles mastery of lost sorceries was involved.
**** clearly Leviticus survived

thomas.berubeg · Apr 23, 2018

Jehoshua said:
History of Gorgossos

[NB: Subject to editing to render compliant with canon. Also if people want to discuss fitting Gorgossos with their apps I am available to do so]

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Early Gorgossos

??? - ~ 800 BP

The early history of the great city of Gorgossos after the fall of the Witch King of old is obscure. Indeed so old is Gorgossos that the Empire itself claims that the city dates from the days of the Philosopher Kings themselves, and that Gorgossos alone of cities survived the great catastrophe and stood fast against the ancient serpent when all other cities fell to darkness. The truth of this is unknown, the High Gorgossi (by which is referred the citizens of the city itself) notoriously do not permit outsiders or slaves inside the walls of their city and beyond them in the bounds of its empire little has been left little in terms of written records from these ancient days. Much of what is written of them elsewhere is more the subject of myth than history. Nonetheless evidence of the antiquity and reach of this most ancient of cities exists in many places throughout northwest and beyond. For instance while their dominion over the inner seas was brief, evidence remains in the ruins of the oldest cities of the “Canal-Builders” or “Sea-Folk” as the modern inhabitants of the sea call these folk of iconography remarkably similar to the spell-sigils that still adorn the walls and gates of Gorgossi cities. While no self respecting scholar would dare say that Gorgossos once ruled those lands, stories from the lands of the ashen kings would have it that the men of Gorgossos once flew on wings of fire and iron to trade with the City of the Moon, an absurdity no doubt for such sorcery is scarcely conceivable, but the truth remains that there is no evidence of coastal outposts in the inner sea that would speak of Gorgossi settlement there, rendering the relics of them that remain in the inner seas a mystery.

Of the pale people of Gorgossos there is much we scarce need mention. It is known to all that they have always endured on their island while other, younger nations have come and gone. Disputes about their origins are many. Some say they are akin to the Entooky, the Faragar (Said to be descendants of loyal holdouts of the Witch King) or the pirate peoples. As for the Gorgossi they claim to be descendants of those of the people of mythical Issaral who were delivered by the god Keriste and who later fled across the great ocean to escape the tyranny of the demon Jergyi, who ruled the land of Angalon in which they abode in latter days before finally they fought alongside the god Uashantin, first of the philosopher kings when he broke the power of Jergyi and settled in Gorgossos remaining to this day true heirs of the ancient kingdom. Such fables belong in myths and so it is perhaps best to consider them as a unique nation unto themselves far removed from the other races the Gorgossi disdainfully refer too as "lesser peoples". And not without regard, for indeed lesser many of the nations were in the ancient days. It is even said that far from being the warden of nations and mother of slaves as it was to become in latter days, Gorgossos of old, possessed of many secret workings and arcane magics, was a peaceable city, trading upon the shores of the great sea even across the waters to the mysterious lands of the Hodun, Kavanai and Mesheka, and that she taught her lessers of the rudiments of civilisation and religion that the world might rise again from the darkness of the fall. Many of the ancient cities along the shores of the great sea, (The Red City of Ashantur and Gomura of the chains amongst others), are believed to have been built by them or their descendants, and their religion is believed by some to be a significant reason why the figure of the "Lord of Heaven" is revered all along the shores of the great sea, albeit in varying forms.

~ The maximum extent of the Republic of Gorgossos' direct holdings according to the Federation

The First Empire

800 BP - ~550 BP

Of the First Empire, officially the Republic of Gorgossos, much is known. Originally she was ruled by the Magisterium, a circle of some hundred or so magistrates, or magisters drawn from the noble houses of Gorgossos itself. Each of these noble families, many of which still hold great influence in Gorgossos, it is said, traces its ancestry back to one of the many philosopher kings of the ancient kingdom, and some of the greatest of these even claim descent from such deities as Uashantin and Turam. While originally the Magisterium ruled Gorgossos alone, what is known is that two hundred years after the calamity, roughly 800 years before the present, Iman 1st was elected to the hitherto ceremonial position of Speaker, as first among equals and sovereign commander of Gorgossos. What pushed the election of Speaker Iman 1st is unknown, as what records exist are hidden in the archives of His Divine Majesty the God-Emperor and not permitted for outsiders to read. However what is clear to scholars is that the election was quickly followed by a dramatic revolution in the social conventions of the Gorgossi, even in their religious practices. The practice of slavery, previously unknown became prevalent albeit not in the city itself, and human sacrifice (A practice some say the Gorgossi spread to the Hen) nowadays prohibited took hold, with slaves becoming regular fare for the Gorgossi gods, offered as atonement for the sins of the wretched and detestable race of Man. Simultaneously the legendary “Silent Ones” (so called because it is said that by sorcery they could telepathically communicate with each other and thus fought in absolute silence) sailed out from the Isle of Gorgossos and rapidly subdued the Isle of Mempur and enslaved numerous enemies of the Gorgossi state. Records of this subjugation are many, albeit the truth is not as the abolitionists in Conros would have it. As recorded in the archive of Aveshantur of the Golden Domes at the southern tip of Mempur, the aristocratic classes of the Mempuri largely retained their status and freedom as did many of the natives with reduction to slavery being reserved for what the Aveshai archives refer to as "Liberians". While the term is obscure, references in the liturgies of the Gorgossi imply that this group was one which offended against the religious and moral strictures of Gorgossos, which is to say that only heathens or infidels appear to have been enslaved during this the first of many conquests. Indeed Iman 1st in his thirty year reign as speaker conquered all of the Gorgossi Archipelago and many other islands besides with Conros and Vesta being settled during his rule.

His successors went even further than he, for within two centuries, Gorgossi colonies littered the coastline, from aforementioned shining Conros and its sister Vesta and fair Sandeleon on the Golden Gate (The Ip river as known to the Stiltmen), to Ashantur the Red in the Sweltering North. The Slave cities of Lusa, Gomura, and Dohanos, which to this day still engage, unlike their free-city brethren, in the slave trade and pay nominal obeisance to Gorgossos were all established or conquered in this time. Indeed even such distant peoples as the dour Faragar paid homage to the Great City, and were on occasion subject to its hegemony as records of the early Faragar kingdom indicate.

Of the peoples who occupied the conquered lands, none can now say who they were with certitude for without exception they were subsumed into the Gorgossi society if they were not in fact consumed upon its altars and in the dust of its fields. For it was upon the backs of its slaves that Gorgossos' mighty empire was built, with slaves toiling on the great plantations that fed its teeming masses and sustained its mighty cities.

Yet despite all this apparent wealth and splendor all was not well with the Empire. Decadence and time slowly whittled away at her foundations, with ancient sorceries, long the palladium by which Gorgossos stood inviolate and invincible slowly failing with none being able to restore them. The magisterium too, once a bastion of republican sobriety became ever more indolent and corrupt, with magisters being concerned more for their passing pleasures and petty intrigues than the affairs of state. The first evidence of this decay to the outside world was when the Silent Men were repelled by the primitive Stiltmen Kingdom of Valcis during the Second Reed War, fought upon the waters of the Ip for control over the nascent oceanic trade route to Naucratis. This was swiftly followed by Pirate-King raids that shockingly managed to bypass the fortifications at Sandeleon, Conros and Vesta that guarded the Golden Gate and reach the core territories of the empire itself. The malaise that had afflicted the Empire at this moment became clear to all.

The Great War

c 550 - 520 BP

Speaker Kalros VI, a corpulent and indolent man to put it kindly, did not respond to these attacks and outrages against his empire, being far more concerned it is said with his entertainments and no less than forty-seven pet Meshekan cats than with his obligations as Speaker. In response to this apathy and silence the edges of the empire started to crumble with rebellion and sedition seething in the slave pits, along with numerous heretical cults and sects which would later coalesce into the faith of the Thousands Gods worshipped in the free cities.

The Augurs of Destiny, reading fateful signs as they are ever wont to do in these events proclaimed a year of sacrifices to avert the gods displeasure, expiate their sins, and restore Gorgossos to its splendour. Yet it is clear by what followed that their entreaties were not enough to wipe away the stain of Gorgossos' decadence and sins and make Gorgossos great again. So, as was in hindsight inevitable, it came to pass that the resentments that had been slowly building since the inception of the Gorgossi empire ignited. Sparked it is said by a magisterial tax on tea aimed at bolstering a flagging state budget, civil war broke out throughout almost all the colonial cities. First, the eastern cities, led by Maefis formed secret alliances with the plains people who assisted the eastern colonies in throwing off the imperial yoke. Together, the Maevians and the Benaadir moved against Ashantur, notorious then as now for its depravity, knowing that she was the bastion of Gorgossi power in the east, and after a lengthy siege starved her into submission, putting an end to Gorgossi rule (albeit it is clear that the Red City swiftly cast of the rule of nomads and slaves, with it to this day practicing the worst excesses of old Gorgossos).

Nearly simultaneous with the fall of Ashantur, Prince Evanur of Conros formally disavowed the Empire and the Speaker (his first cousin) and proclaimed Conros as the Free City of Conria (saying "-os" a stereotypically Gorgossi city indicator was a slave mark for the city) with himself as its Speaker. He freed the slaves and raised up a council of magistrates in a new magisterium, ironically replicating the constitutional arrangement of Gorgossos he had just rejected and proclaimed a war of liberation to free the slaves from the "tyranny" of the mother city.

Despite the irony of its establishment by a Gorgossi prince, the newly decreed “Free-City” made no delay in sending envoys to its neighbors, many of which were in the throes of slave revolts themselves. Those cities that allied with Conria proclaimed themselves to be the Federation of Free Citties, with their united fleet (bolstered by ships seized from the Gorgossi naval garrisons) quickly becoming an existential threat to the Empire itself. Not all the cities rose in rebellion, however. In the west the Gorgossi colonies ruthlessly and swiftly crushed the nasent slave revolts, and sailed their fleets out at the call of the mother-city in a great armada that covered the horizon.

Yet for all its not inconsiderable military might the Gorgossi fleet failed to subdue the nascent federation, with the magisterium refusing to allow ships to sail where, in offensive forays against the Federation, they may have crushed the still nascent rebellion and the newborn federation in its crib, perhaps out of fear of further rebellion in the core territories. This failure to strangle the Federation in its formative stages had dire consequences. Over years of warfare, attrition, defection and some say infighting nearly two fifths of the Gorgossi fleet was lost greatly hampering the ability of the Empire to resist the federations momentum. So it was that some years after the Free-Cities Federation was first founded, the militias assembled from the ranks of liberated slaves finally embarked on an expedition north, engaging with the Silent Ones on the island of Mempur. It was after a long siege and the fall of the walls of Aveshantur that the Slave Cities, who of all the imperial forces were most diminished by the action, or inaction of Gorgossos, approached the Federation, suing for peace now that it became clear that the Gorgossi cause was lost in a mire of indecision and imperial apathy throwing off the imperial yoke. The federation pragmatically agreed, despite misgivings, to their terms in a bid to hasten the end of the war.

Finally, Evanur, First amongst Equals of the federation and his army sailed to Gorgossos itself and stood directly beneath its great walls, joined by Bjehedar Ras, the Masih of the Maevian Benaadir hosts. Shockingly, it is said that the Speaker was unperturbed by his guest and invited Evanur to a banquet, having remained entirely unaware of his cousins treason and of the state of the Empire after a now lengthy war.Either way what followed is certain, the corpulent Speaker perished, either from shock or as some suggest by poison. The Augurs of Destiny under the promptings of the Magisterium decreed this to be a fateful sign. The position of Speaker which had been pre-eminent in Gorgossos for over three hundred years was abolished, and envoys of peace were sent to the allied forces. In the Treaty of Aveshantur signed 520 BP, Gorgossos, in exchange for the city not being sacked, acquiesced to the independence of all its colonies, abolished slavery and was compelled to pay reparations to the free cities. The Federation accepted, and the Proud Gorgossi Empire was no more, though Gorgossos herself remained unbowed and unbroken.

The Century of Humiliation and the Great Crusade

520 BP - 400 BC

Gorgossos the Great had been laid low and the shock of this rattled the nation of Gorgossos to its core. For Gorgossos then as now held itself superior to lesser men an now it had been humbled by the least of all peoples, its own slaves. Nonetheless Gorgossos remained proud and did not recant in the slightest its imperial rule, repenting only of the decadence and impiety that they believed had resulted in divine punishment upon their Empire.

Not that the Magisterium would rise up from their failings, for in the so called century of shame, Gorgossos was compelled by the federation to punitive measure after punitive measure designed it seems to humiliate Gorgossos in lieu of its destruction. From punitive tariffs, to the requirement for a magisterial representative to offer up a tribute and kiss the shoe of the Elected Speaker of Conria for the right to sail the river Ib, to a treaty giving the citizens of the federation immunity from prosecution on the isle of Gorgossos itself, the city of splendors was subject to shame after shame until it was almost beyond sufferance, indeed even the heavens punished them for at this time Gorgossos was wracked by the red plague, the victims of which wept tears of blood as a fitting sign of their lamentable fate. Thus the Gorgossi turned to faith, and became ever more zealous in their penances and abasements before their gods.

Then it was that in the High Temple the Lord of Heaven, a mysterious man appeared. Calling himself the Oracle, and said by some in the streets of the ancient city to be one of the self-same heroes who fought against the Witch King centuries ago, he proclaimed that Gorgossos had failed in its divine duty to bring order to the world, having fallen into decadence and sin and thus been subject to humiliation as punishment for its faithlessness. The populace swiftly became enthralled by this Oracle, and while events themselves are obscure with talk of miracles and signs abounding (once again the truth is perhaps hidden behind the walls of the city), it is known that 420 years ago the Augurs of Destiny proclaimed the Oracle was the avatar of El Ashai, the Lord of Heaven come to lead his chosen people back to the right path and to their true purpose. The Magisterium, spurred by the fanatical populace and discredited by the humiliations that had followed the fall of the empire swiftly laid down its governance and submitted the empty throne of the old speakers to the Oracle, who became the first of the autocratic and absolute Gorgossi God-Emperors.

The Oracle was decisive in making use of this power. First he declared the Treaty of Aveshantur null and void, while at the same time establishing the Code of Servitude, forbidding the sacrifice of men upon the altars and granting, for the first time, rudimentary rights to the enslaved. He then sent forth emissaries to the city of Barbessos, across the straits of Gorgossos from the city itself, and demanded its submission. When the city refused, fearing it is said repercussions from Conria, the result was decisive. It is said in the diary of a Esafite blanchemaid who happened to be preaching in Barbessos at the time and kept in the library of Gomura that in a night of sorceries not matched since the days of the canal builders, fire flashed across the heavens and that the seas roiled with the oracles wrath and that before days end the magisters of Barbessos were dead on their thrones, eyes wide with terror in their deaths. The city submitted, and soon afterward all the cities of Mempur abased themselves before the Oracle and pledged eternal submission to his divine will. Thus was the Rebirth of the Empire purified and redeemed proclaimed.

Conria and the free cities, terrified at the prospect of an ascendant Gorgossos and its mysterious emperor almost immediately re-established their federation which lately had fallen into abeyance due the rivalries amongst its members, with its members soon after declaring war on this "New and Monstrous Empire". The Silent Ones of Gorgossos, perhaps anticipating this immediately crossed to the mainland from Aveshantur and marched south, conquering city after city. The slave cities too, fearful of Gorgossos but seeing the opportunities it's newfound vigour brought pledged vassalage, retaining their independence in return for their fealty. Thus it was that the allied forces conquered even to the mouths of the Ip laying siege to the very walls of Conria itself. After a lengthy siege and the treason of a Vestai guardsman the city fell 400 years before the present day and was sacked by Gorgossos to the shock of the federation, although a Maevian host backed by the Benaadir swiftly relieved the city from its conquerers saving the federation from annihilation.

What followed was a century of on and off war.

The New Empire

400 BP - Present

The wars which prevailed between the Federation and the Empire of the God-Emperors (for indeed after the oracles reputed ascension into the heavens to once again await the peoples time of need 370 years ago, after a fifty year reign, there have been many God-Emperors, each bestowed and imbued it is said with the divine spirit of the Lord of Heaven as his earthly steward) after the Oracles enthronement and the Second Treaty of Aveshantur 300 years ago scarce needs to be said. The Reversion of Gomura right when Gorgossos victory seemed at hand after the second sack of Conria 350 years ago is infamous, likewise the daring night raid against the city Aetharion by a Vestai detachment to reclaim a literal bucket of gold plundered by Gorgossi raiders on the anniversary of the old empires fall is famous for its audacity. All in all it can be said that the conflict entered into a stalemate, with a balance of power taking shape where both sides won and lost control of territories around the Burget and generally considered it too costly to push for absolute victory lest third parties, such as the ever troublesome ash kings, take advantage of their distraction. So it was that both parties agreed, eventually, to peace, wherein the conquests Gorgossos still retained after a century of war were recognized by the federation along with its revocation of the first treaty, while the Empire for its part tacitly accepted federal "stewardship" of the Ip and refrained from enslaving its citizens (although rumour persistently suggests that the Gorgossi purchase slaves from Ashantur hailing from the federation to bypass the treaty). That said it could be considered that the main reason for the hundred year wars end is simply that the Gorgossi eye was turned to alternatives to the grinding conflict, for its zeal remained (And remains to this day) undiminished in its drive to restore by hook or crook its imperium over the lands. The Federation for its part remained as zealous in its opposition to the slave trade as ever with simple exhaustion and infighting being the only reason they accepted peace at all.

What followed for Gorgossos was an era of renewed evangelism and trade. Missionaries were sent as far as what is now the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and the lands of Macher proclaiming the way of the gods and of the greatness of the Lord of Heaven. Indeed evidence of the success of these efforts (As well as the influence of the old empire) is to be found in the worship of the Lord of Heaven over a vast stretch of the coast of the great sea. Less successful however was the will to impose imperial orthodoxy and emperor worship, with heretical interpretation and syncretism prevailing amongst the hillmen and Faragar, while the Red City persisted in denying the avataric divinity of the Emperor even while maintaining the Gorgossi gods and the abolished practice of human sacrifice. Perhaps only the slave cities fully embraced under threat of imperial sanction the orthodox way, sending token tributes to Gorgossos every ten years in recognition of the Emperors divine hegemony although some measure of influence may be seen in the realms of the cotton kings further west. Missionaries were even sent to distant Kavana and Mesheka although the success or failure of these enterprises is known only to Gorgossos itself.

What is known to all of these distant lands however is that the trade between them and the old empire that ceased during the century of humiliation and the following century of war was renewed on an intermittent basis after the Peace of Aveshantur with exotic goods from the land of the Sun-Queens of the Mesheka being traded through Gorgossos to Conros and along the coast of the great sea even as far as the Hen Don to the enrichment of the ancient city.

And so it remains to the present. Despite occasional skirmishes and brief wars between the federation and Gorgossos peace has prevailed, for the most part for nigh three hundred years with Gorgossos the new, greater in divinity and spirit if far less in temporal splendor than the old empire being largely content in propagating the virtue of religion and establishing hegemony through trade and tribute than in outright conquest. However the fundamental claim of Gorgossos, that it is rightful hegemon of the world and that all its former subjects are by right subject to its imperium remains unrenounced, and the threat of renewed conflict between the new empire and old republican federation, between Gorgossos and its former slaves remains ever on the horizon, imminent but ever out of sight.

I just want to note that not everything here is canon yet, most especially vis-a-vis the timeline of the second half of the millenium, or of the reach and influence of Gorgossos in that period.

tobiisagoodboy · Apr 23, 2018

The Guardians of the Federation of the Free Cities

The Guardians of the Federation is the standing military force of the Federation. A small but extremly well trained and equipped force it is commanded by the Lord Commander. The Lord Commander himself is choosen by the Council and serves this position for up to ten years. The Force itself is divided into three parts : The Standing Army , the Naval squadron and the Southern Riders.
In case of large scale war, the Guardians are supposed to form a core, around which the various detachments from the cities form a large force.

The Standing army is the largest part of the Guardians, forming about half of the forces. A mainly Infantry force made up of heavy Infantry and archers it is stationed near Conria forms the backbone of the Federation forces. They are the Federation main offensive force, used to besiege city or liberate cities from foreign occupiers and attackers.

The naval squadron is made up of 30 large Dromons, heavy warships meant for fighting the seas surrounding the Federation. Manned by poor citiziens serving as volunteer rowers and naval soldiers, its a small but potent force that mostly keeps itself busy with chassing after Pirates and slavers.

The Southern Riders are a large, light cavallery force guarding the southern regions of the Federation. In difference to many other light forces they don't use bows, instead using short charges and speed to break through disorganized opponents, crumbling lines or exposed flanks. They wear only leather uniforms and long dust coast, lacking any heavy armor, relying on their speed and skill isntead.
They only rarely serve with the regular army, performing lightning raids and harrasment on enemy suppleis and camps.

Other military forces

Each of the 15 member cities posses its own military force, normally called their Guards. With the exception of Holdout no swamp city posses major naval forces.

Conria and Vesta are famous for having very good looking guards, who sadly only have limited worth in combat. The Conrian Redcoat Guards are infamous for beeing unable to prevent the capture of their city, but they are still proud and see themself as a police force of the people.
The military weakness of Conrias land forces is actually rather easy to explain, since the sack and occupation of the city the standing Federation Guardians are stationed near the city and its sea side is guarded by Conrias substantial navy.
Vestas Gold Cloaks are better armed and armored than the Conrian Redcoats, but they are also famous for beeing corrupt. On the other hand they are normally more capable fighters.

But Vesta and Conria posses potent naval forces, made up of over a hundred wargalleys and hulks, both for combat in shallow waters and the high sea. These forces are considered the true walls of the cities.

Massit and Attis , the other large sea citys on the other hand do posses small navys, but actually rather potent land armies. This tradition date back to the time when these two cities (which actually predate Gorgossi rule) still fought each other for control over their island.

Of the swamp cities Holdout is the largest and also the one with a substantial military force that can do more than just guard the city. The "Holdout Protectors" are famous for their skilled crossbowmen and are a proud force. Each year they celebrate the "March of the thousand" with a large parade.

The "March of the thousand" was a military campaign, during which a force of 1000 Holdout Protectors marched across the swamps and land to relieve Conria from its occupiers during the conquest of the city. On the way they gathered support from other swamp cities and inland towns, until they reached the walls of Conria with a host just barely below 10 000 men, chassing away the last reamining occupiers of the city.

Jehoshua · Apr 23, 2018

thomas.berubeg said:
I just want to note that not everything here is canon yet, most especially vis-a-vis the timeline of the second half of the millenium, or of the reach and influence of Gorgossos in that period.

hence the nota bene. Its only on here now because 1) I was impatient and 2) So my thoughts are out there in case people (Tim in particular) wanted to collaborate.

ork75 · Apr 25, 2018

He was once of this world. He walked among us, led us from beginnings to ends. He brought his vision to the earth, and people saw it and were compelled. His glamor spread, and it shaped the hills and trees and streams and people. It shaped the people. And they killed Him. He was powerful, He was wise, so they broke Him and they hanged Him from a tree. They hanged Him. They thought they slaughtered Him.

But His power, His glamor, it doesn’t die so easy.

He was forced out. Forced to the other world. Forced to wait, and dream in the darkness. Forced from His plan, His project, His people.

But He can still dream. And He can still reach. And He can still walk among us.

So we give Him His hands. His fingers to reach to us and shape us to His will.

So we wear the skins to house Him. So He has a skin to walk among us.

So we wear His horns, His antlers.

And we wait for the end. We wait for Him.

Danwar · Apr 25, 2018

Sorry, everyone, but I think I'm going to have to drop out. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I don't really think I can keep up with this along with all the other things i'm doing, and I haven't even finished my signup yet.

Sorry for any dissapointment.

thomas.berubeg · Apr 25, 2018

Danwar said:
Sorry, everyone, but I think I'm going to have to drop out. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I don't really think I can keep up with this along with all the other things i'm doing, and I haven't even finished my signup yet.

Sorry for any dissapointment.

I'm sorry to see you go. Do you want me to keep the Imperium Nautis in the game in case you do decide you want to play?

Danwar · Apr 26, 2018

It was never finished in the first place, so not unless you're willing to try to finish it, and what with the existing burden of hosting an IOT, I don't know if you can. I imagine it'd be better to free up that area for more claims.

thomas.berubeg · Apr 26, 2018

Alright, everyone!

Can you all please try to have a finalized history (or at least an outline) by friday afternoon, I want to try to get the starting update out this weekend.

Thlayli · Apr 26, 2018

1) I commented on a few minor map changes (consolidating Haumer, adding Tamplice to Severance, adding some erosion to the Esafis peninsula) elsewhere. Happy to repost if you want.

2) I'll probably add a few other L'Empisante states to the region now vacated by Danwar. A "post" pirate city (The Republic of Miscocteau) which will be a guild-run merchant city-state, and a Kwa lordship of some sort further north. I might actually keep the Nautis name, but I plan on reworking the state a bit.

3) Could you cross-post all updates in the NES forum as well? Lurkers occasionally check that forum and not this one.

thomas.berubeg · Apr 26, 2018

Thlayli said:
1) I commented on a few minor map changes (consolidating Haumer, adding Tamplice to Severance, adding some erosion to the Esafis peninsula) elsewhere. Happy to repost if you want.

We discussed these the other night, this all works

Thlayli said:
2) I'll probably add a few other L'Empisante states to the region now vacated by Danwar. A "post" pirate city (The Republic of Miscocteau) which will be a guild-run merchant city-state, and a Kwa lordship of some sort further north. I might actually keep the Nautis name, but I plan on reworking the state a bit.

I'd like you keep the name and some of the themes, if possible so that if Danwar DOES decide to join back in, it's there.

Thlayli said:
3) Could you cross-post all updates in the NES forum as well? Lurkers occasionally check that forum and not this one.

I can also do that, yes.

Thlayli · Apr 26, 2018

Some updates:

The Free City of Miscouteau - A Domain of L'Empisante

The emblem of Miscouteau is a moon, d'or, upon a sable field, superior to a horned sea-beast.
(however, far more common are the individual blazons and tabards of the Guilds which govern the city.)

Miscouteau, Mesagogto in the old sea-tongue, (and in still older, half-lost records, Mississauga,) is an ancient city, more ancient even, some claim, than Holy Esafis herself. (We should note this is surely a fiction by the enclave's self-styled merchant princes.)

Mesagogto was one of the pirate cities of that ancient time, and it grew up around one terminus of the great canal that the ancients had constructed. When the White Queen began her rebellion, the merchant families of the pirate-city were quick to overthrow and execute their leader, who realized that he had long been a figurehead. Trading was far more effective at generating wealth than piracy, and the alliance with the White Queen served this, regardless of their ambivalence to her Dual Faith. After her victory, the burgher families of Mesagogto swiftly swore eternal fealty, and were rewarded with autonomy, as long as the old traditions of piracy were fully abandoned.

Nonetheless, the common people were converted fairly early on by the ministry of the Blanchemaids, and the nobility eventually followed. Local dialects of the Esafisine language gradually came into prominence, and Mesagogto eventually became Miscouteau.

Unlike Glenoir, however, which was founded as a marriage alliance between a Blanchemaid and a pirate king, in Miscouteau the descendants of the pirates are very much still in control. This is reflected in the ribaldry of its popular culture, and the anything-goes appearance of the city with its sprawling slums and lax laws, which even include gambling, a practice banned by more virtuous realms. It is a minor scandal indeed that such a known haven of crime and decadence exists so close to Esafis, and there is perpetually a faction within the church seeking to "clean up" Miscouteau, into which various undesirable elements are often swept out of the holy city.

This faction invariably includes Glenoir, which wants to clean up Miscouteau for slightly more selfish reasons than they let on.

The White Queen did eventually punish the city for its sins by revoking its exclusive license to overseas trading contracts in favor of Glenoirine competition some fifty years prior, but the city is still an entrepot thanks to its position near the strategic canal, allowing all trade between Esafis and the southeast to pass through it, and be taxed accordingly. Miscouteau, as previously mentioned, is run by a merchant council representing the major guild interests in the city. There is also a significant underworld element, which has periodically gained control of several guilds and is still somewhat engaged in (now less brazen) piracy, smuggling, and drug pushing. This element, of course, is periodically purged by furious church reforms, but it pops up again after a few decades.

Miscouteau has exclusive trading links with several other former pirate cities. It has a fierce rivalry with Glenoir which often proves violent. The White Queen, for her part, guards the city's independence thanks to her title of Première over the city assembly, which she exercises through a designate, and as a useful counterbalance to prevent ever-ambitious Glenoir from becoming too strong.

The Archmaidenry of Newmintaux - An Ecclesial Subject of Esafis

The emblem of Newminteaux depicts two lighthouses upon hills, left and right, flanking a watery divide.

Like Teredor, Naray, Severance, Naucrastas, or Seulmarche, Newminteaux is a fortress-monastery meriting an Archmaiden, meaning that it possesses daughter lands and townships in sufficient quantity to sustain the local church semi-autonomously. Unlike those famous ports, however, Newminteaux is far less notable and important, serving mostly as a provincial breadbasket for the core of l'Empisante. The approaches to the Diune City and its famed canal are, in places, quite narrow and rocky, meriting a number of lighthouses on the peninsulas north of the city marking the approaches, the maintenance of which are also Newmintaux's charge.

The lights clinging to their rocky shore, made of whitewashed brick and painted stone, are said to be quite beautiful.

Newmintaux Herself sits in a relatively pleasant, sheltered bay. It has some small industry, but it is mostly a fairly provincial town, with its market servicing the needs of the greater cities of Esafis and Miscouteau, for which it (along with Glenoir) produces the bulk of the food. The logging and papermaking industries are fairly well developed, to meet the needs of the bookbinders in Esafis, one of the world's greatest centers of learning.

By tradition and custom, Newmintaux typically does not have much of an independent voice, following the White Queen's will. It has a fractious relationship with the Kwa of the interior, ministering to them but occasionally suffering raids, although the tribes have been peaceful of late. In the event of tribal or pirate raids (and the occasional ambitious Macher willing to dare a raid so close to the Diune City's formidable defenses,) Newminteaux often calls upon Esafis for aid, and pays appropriately for the protection of the Diune City's naval squadrons.

Equally so, the Esafisines rely on Newminteaux for advance warning of an invasion from the north.

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