End of Empires - N3S III

[conehead234]

Excerpt from the History of the World, written in the distant future

On the beliefs of the Trilui

The Trilui had long worshiped Hulos, the sun, as it was He that they believed who had created the ocean which was the lifeblood of the Empire. For thousands of years, the Trilui had feared the Lulos, the moon, least it returns to block out the Hulos. Fathers had told their sons of past times when the Lulos attempted to extend night into day by blocking out Hulos, however after much trembling by man, day would return. Nothing as dramatic as the legends tell of the massive tremors and heat that resulted when it first happened at the beginning of time, brought on by the wrath of Hulos.

Legends and mythology are funny things, the moon had blocked out the sun many times after that day thousands of years ago, besides the panic and the crazy old men saying “its the end of the world, you must repent”; building haven't crumbled, canyons haven't opened, massive waves haven't sunk trade fleets. So why have the Trilui continued this fear of the Lulos and this worship of the Hulos?

For one, the Trilui only understand that when the sun reigned over the sky, there was warmth and light and when the sun disappeared, the moon watched over the darkness and cold. To the Trilui, the Hulos symbolized good and the Lulos symbolized bad. When the moon blocked out the sun, the Trilui panic as they believe the bad is blocking out the good. That evil will reign, night will return. The oracles interpret this event as somewhere in the world, enemy forces are growing in power, there is a growing threat to the peace and stability of the Trilui and the world.

The fear of Hulos' wrath has resulted in Triluin society to outlaw the worship of Lulos. It is a crime, punishable by death, as the Trilui don't want to evoke the wrath of the sun again. In Trovin the massive temple to Hulos is the centerpiece of the city, where the oracles and high priests welcome the sun in the morning with dawn ceremonies and burn incense at night, hoping to protect Trovin from the Lulos. Trilui families who follow the cult of the Hulos traditionally light a small fire within their home, called Tinui Hulos, or little Hulos. It was believed to protect the Trilui family during the reign of the Lulos at night, giving them warmth and light.

More so, the Trilui are not merely sun worshipers, as the sun is more of a symbol for the Trilui. Paramountly the Trilui believe that the world is in a constant battle of good and evil and will always be in this battle. But whenever evil tries to gain the upper hand on good, the good will prevail in the end to restore this balance.

The Trilui believe that men who are inherently good in life, will in the afterlife go to a place of eternal sunlight and warmth called the Hulonui, while the evil people will be banished to eternal darkness in the Luonui.

 

[North King]

a) There is no such thing as "non-slavery";

False; abolitionism is an established ideology.

b) There is a big difference between slavery as applied to ourselves and slavery as something we apply to others.

While true, this has no bearing on the situation at hand, because people can have either.


In any case, most of the complaints about Farou seem to be because the complainers have not bothered to actually research what the society is like, and are instead going on assumptions. This is a bad idea.

To: Prokyr
From: Ritti

We wish to establish permanent peaceful relations. At the least, we wish to sign a treaty of peace and encourage trade between our two states. At most we wish to agree to a defensive alliance against outside aggressors. We believe that more can be gained through mutual defence, over mutual aggression.

This sounds like an excellent proposal. Agreed.

OOC: I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to change your religion, Danny. I don't want copies of Earth gods hanging around. Also, you may want to do some research about the Ritti. Look up posts by flyingchicken in this thread.

On the other hand, welcome to the NES!

 

[Lord_Iggy]

How do you imagine that?



a) There is no such thing as "non-slavery";
b) There is a big difference between slavery as applied to ourselves and slavery as something we apply to others.

I guess that it could be more along the lines of a ban on enslaving any of the Farou and a freeman-based economy. That would technically make sense for slavery to be practically nonexistent, at least under that specific name and in an explicit form.

Whoops! Hahahah, I meant to say 'intense instability', not 'intense stability'.

Yes there's such thing as non slavery- it's simply a general disgust at the concept of slavery in general.

And, in an absence of a will to enslave (I imagine it would be written law, if one feels the need to write a law against something which is seen as a horrible taboo), a freemen based economy would be the logical result, would it not?

 

[Symphony D.]

Yes there's such thing as non slavery- it's simply a general disgust at the concept of slavery in general.

False; abolitionism is an established ideology.

Intrude: Not to be a stickler, but anti-slavery is not the same as non-slavery, just like being a non-voting citizen is not the same as being an anti-voting citizen. Non-slavery carries the implication of not practicing slavery but not being opposed to it either.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Okay, then Farou's attitude would fall under anti-slavery.

 

[das]

OOC:

Words out of my mouth.

And, in an absence of a will to enslave (I imagine it would be written law, if one feels the need to write a law against something which is seen as a horrible taboo), a freemen based economy would be the logical result, would it not?

Or the other way around. A Lycurgus figure could simply have banned the practice of slavery long ago, thus making possible the rise of a viable middle class (whereas slavery would've granted an advantage to the rich).

 

[Dannydehz]

OOC: I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to change your religion, Danny. I don't want copies of Earth gods hanging around. Also, you may want to do some research about the Ritti. Look up posts by flyingchicken in this thread.

On the other hand, welcome to the NES!

Fair enough. I only took the names from OTL Gods, not the descriptions, so I'll just have to come up with new names.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Well, when it started off, Farou was a successful slave rebellion. A refusal to enslave others led to the development of Farou as we see it today.

Is it just me or are we debating semantics?

 

[das]

OOC: Not until now. Now you have clarified it satisfactorily (the slave rebellion is one thing and the refusal to enslave others is another - whether they are connected or not is not currently significant), so that's that.

 

[alex994]

OOC: What are the other domestic prices for stuff to be done? I see on the first page that it takes 500 gold respectively to found a colony or fun a new exploration mission, but how much does it take to build a city (same landmass), build roads, and etc?

 

[North King]

OOC: What are the other domestic prices for stuff to be done? I see on the first page that it takes 500 gold respectively to found a colony or fun a new exploration mission, but how much does it take to build a city (same landmass), build roads, and etc?

However much you feel appropriate. I'll take any excess and make it do something useful.

 

[Cuivienen]

Fair enough. I only took the names from OTL Gods, not the descriptions, so I'll just have to come up with new names.

Also, a good part of your population has converted to Maninism, in the east and in your eastern colonies, and Seshweay Ancestor Worship, in the western isles. Only about half of Ritti (at least by land area) still worships its native polytheist religion. If you sift through this thread you can find some of my stories describing Maninism, or I could send you a description if you'd like. I don't know as much about the Seshweay religion.

Map: http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=year7religionstq7.png (pink is Maninism, purple is Seshweay Ancestor Worship)

 

[Ninja Dude]

North King, off to the far east just north of New Kalos, there's a sliver of blue sticking out of the shroud. Is this a new country that you didn't hide well enough (DACHS!) or is it just some error?

 

[alex994]

OOC: Oh you're good Ninja

 

[alex994]

Zarkija Naira​

Fire lit brightly against the darkness of the night. Screams could be heard in the distance as two children cowered in the underbrush of the forest outside of the village. The young girl hid in the arms of her older brother even as she sobbed. The brother, young by any years could only stare at his burning home, too young to understand it all. With a flash of the eye, all they had known was gone. In their traumatized state, they never noticed being taken away. All they could remember was the loss of everything.

-----------------------------------------------​

“Soku! Stand!” He stood up abruptly and dropped the brush he had been holding, onto the floor. The room was silent, completely quiet as all his fellow students stood at him with a mixture of fear, bewilderment and humor. Their master stood up, and slowly walked towards him in what seemed like forever. When the master stood in front of him, he gulped and did his best to look him in the eye.

“Soku. In that moment of lapse in your mind, you would have been dead at the hand of your enemies. One second is all it takes in war for death to overcome you. Death is glorious, but not at the expense of your Lord’s victory. You are selfish to seek your death at your Lord’s price. In battle, there is no luxury of thought. Your loyalty, your strength and your bravery are the only matters of import when you fight at your Lord’s behest. Do you know the three oaths of all Ichenga?”

With bravado, the young student burst out in recitation “Loyalty to Kin, to Lord, and to Heaven.” The old man smirked at hearing it and said clearly: “Very good, but what does that mean? You don’t know? It means that absolute loyalty is to be paid with absolute love. Sit down and write! Absolute love is not filial love. It is not romantic love. It is not divine love. It is the pure essence of love. It can be sought, but never found. An-“

The elderly retainer suddenly stopped and bowed at attention. In the students’ concentration, they had not noticed that the screen door had been slid open with the Lord entering in full military regalia. With his fearsome helmet covered in black lacquer tucked under his left arm, dressed from neck to feet in splendid armor; it portrayed him as a member of the Ichenga, the warrior nobility.

The serpent which adorned his helmet shouted to all around him that the man under the helmet was a man to be reckoned with; a man honored by his superiors. And this was the man who was looking at the students with a smile of sheer benevolence, the look of a grandfather more then the expression of a battle-hardened warrior.

“My dear Lord Baji, it is present to all those not oblivious that you are the finest Master of the Ichenga arts. You served brilliantly on the battlefield and now, in your old age, you continue to serve with great distinction and honor in passing the wise learning to the young. You are the hope and pride of the Liarta Clan. Your grandson shall marry my niece and be one with us.”

The old man had such an awestruck expression of joy that, to the amazement of his students, he burst into tears and sobbed like an innocent babe. In a perhaps melodramatic moment, times which were common to the people of the Najiaera Basin, the retainer turned kinsmen threw himself at the feet of his lord and wept. It was at that moment that the students, far from reaching absolute love, saw through a tiny hole into what it meant to be an Ichenga.

Excerpt from Progress Unhindered by William Griffith

By the turn of the Classical Era within the Cradle, the forces of feudalism and regression would seem to be in retreat almost everywhere. The monarchies of the greater powers were increasingly forced to the sidelines or were more and more inclined to share their power with a legislative body. The old feudal and patriarchal bonds were in worse shape then the kingships; they had been for the most part completely replaced by cash in payment.

Most significantly, the long clash of slave-hold states (expressed by the Hu’ut Empire) against the freedmen societies of the Union, the Republic of Neruss and the Kingdom of Farou began in earnest. Against the forces of class struggle and progressivism, the ailing and decrepit state of the Hu’ut Empire was doomed to fail. Struggle as the reactionary forces of the Hu’ut may, it was inevitable that their resistance could not defeat the dialectic.

When the time came for the collapse of the slaveholding system, and the old feudal ties in the principal states of the Cradle, it would seem to the unobservant eye that the bourgeoisie had triumphed over the feudalists and would now pave the way for true capitalism, and hence, the coming of the proletariat. That was not the case. Although the slaveholding and feudal system may have seemed to have been replaced by cash in payment, there were other equally strong bonds which came to strength.

The bonds of religion, the opiate of the masses, remained ever so present and increasingly grew in strength. Although the establishment of Republics was indeed a momentous step forward for the Progressive forces, there was no great transfer of power. The ancient landing-owning nobility of those countries had long faded before the feudal system and had become a corrupt perversion of noble bourgeoisie.

Observing the surnames of the Senators of the Seshway during this early period, anyone can easily see a very strong correlation between those respective Senators. Despite the good intentions of the founders of the Seshway Republic, their ideals were corrupted from within by the powerful forces inherently within every society. By the end of the century, the so called egalitarian view of the People of the River Sesh was nothing more then a façade. It was a façade of the theocratic, capitalist, and remnant factors of the Ancien Régime.

As it was, the Union was one of many dead end in the proletariat’s march to a classless society. It was simply a dead end further down the road then the archaic Hu’ut Empire.

OOC: Disclaimer: The view of William Griffith does not necessarily represent the truth and reality of what is really going on. He's a historian, interpreting history as he sees it. He is not omnipotent and as such arguing about his opinions is futile.

EDIT: But I still want to read what you think

 

[North King]

North King, off to the far east just north of New Kalos, there's a sliver of blue sticking out of the shroud. Is this a new country that you didn't hide well enough (DACHS!) or is it just some error?

*shrugs*

As I said in While We Wait, nothing necessarily tells the truth.

OOC: Disclaimer: The view of William Griffith does not necessarily represent the truth and reality of what is really going on. He's a historian, interpreting history as he sees it. He is not omnipotent and as such arguing about his opinions is futile.

EDIT: But I still want to read what you think

It is amusing how people think the war's already decided.

 

[Cuivienen]

My dearest master,

I write to you in full knowledge that we are in best seating in the Faith.The Darkness be kept at bay, we have done all that we can for the good of humanity and the world. I know to some your plan may appear greatly at odds with our stated goals, but I have full faith that it is for the best. Decadence cannot be tolerated, even at the cost of short-term chaos. And, if we as a people hold strong in the Faith, I know wholeheartedly that there will be no chaos. All will follow the path of light, the path of the Faith, and the Darkness shall suffer yet again a great defeat. Manin’s hand guides us all to the correct path.

The gate is opened. The wall is undone. The bucket is rising from the well. The horse rides down the mountainside. Within the mountain, nothing stirs, save those who would serve the Faith. Gold and jewels shall turn to noble lead. Now we are ready to reclaim the heart of the mountain.

I will not be found near the mountain. My journeys take me far abroad: You need not fear for my safety. The Tehabi are said to be most welcoming. It has not, in the past, been tradition for wards to address those beyond the Faith, but our efforts have been too promising. My ship leaves for Aldina a fortnight hence, and so I must depart our great capital and your presence on the morrow. Your letters will reach me, trusting in the Faith, and I hope to hear great news of you if not from you soon.

Manin guide us, Faith protect us, Darkness be kept at bay.

The Dog

 

[Masada]

Union and friends key word there. Your a friend of the Union aren't you

 

[alex994]

It is amusing how people think the war's already decided.

OOC: Not the war, but the institution of slavery as it is in the Hu'ut Empire. It will die.

@Masada, you're referring to cuiv right?

 

[Masada]

Conehead, he was included in my diplomatic proposal as a "friend", not like I could have controlled trade in the Hu'ut anyway