Your support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)Grimsage Matt
Star
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2014
- Location
- Toronto Canada
So, happened to be thinking of sci-fi and how the usual trope is that when the two genders are split into different planets that there are some notable differences. As in, the guys devolve into rednecks and warmongering slobs with barely any tech base at all, while the women are living in an advanced and utopian society. So, I'm looking to put together two worlds that are a little bit different. Going to have a summary here, and work on details later.
Kol'athras, home of the Freeholds is a place that can best be described as a highly decentralized meritocratic republic and near anarchist state. It has few permanent leaders and all are chosen by their followers, who are free to leave and withdraw support at any time. While there are some cities, they tend to live more in smaller groups and spread out and in many instances you could be hard pressed to tell where the wilderness ends and their settlement begins. Tolerant and easy going for the most part, global leadership is through the Great Congress, an forum that all adults may speak in and bring issues forward. An important thing to note, is that while they have a principle of 'one man, one vote' men can earn additional votes through accomplishing great deeds that earn the acclaim of their peers.
An important saying among them, that can baffle outsiders who notice their approach to communication is this; "Do not say so much that your words are stripped of all meaning." While they need to communicate, and indeed enjoy storytelling and the arts as much as anyone else, they tend to dislike talking for the sake of talking. After all, as per their approach to great deeds, 'if you must proclaim it loudly and often, then it is rarely as impressive as you say'. No man can nominate themselves for acclaim, their actions and deeds are either impressive enough that others acknowledge them, or they are not.
When it comes to war however, things change. While the position of Warlord is elected, once elected he is the armies commander in chief and the supreme authority with only a handful of checks and balances. He appoints the officers and maintains discipline in the ranks, and they approach war in a professional and pragmatic manner.... even if they remain fond of melee weapons, they use the proper tools for each job as needed. The most important thing to note about them however is that they are a force that values quality over quantity, in no small part due to their smaller than average population, and that their normal recruits are easily as skilled as the veterans of most forces, while their veterans and elite squads are the match for the elite and 'special assets' forces of a vast majority of others. When it comes time for them to unleash their champions, worlds can and have burned.
Talivizar is the seat of the Gaian Imperium, and despite being an empire in name, it can better be described as a feudal clan based oligarchy. The most important thing to note about the Council of the Matriarchs, is that the leader of each of the Families (the Great Families in particular), is the oldest member of their lineage with a large amount of daughters to swell their power base. For in this system, you are not an adult until you have at least one daughter, and each daughter you have grants you one vote... which is exercised on your behalf by the head of your family. As such, the worlds of the Gaian Imperium tend to suffer from massive overpopulation and crowding, as each family seeks to swell its numbers to increase the amount of influence on the council.
One reason why they are looked at with wary eyes by their neighbors comes from the simple fact that intrigue is in the very air they breathe and matriarchs think nothing of the deaths of the youngest members of their linages, with only a handful of vassal-daughters needing a wary eye kept on them (even as they eye their sisters and cousins for poison and daggers) both due to the fact that they are the most likely to try and usurp them and tend to hold important links in the Blood Chain that links each families holdings. Assassinations, kidnapping, blackmail, scandals and forced adoptions and sex changes are rife in the middle ranks, though there is an important distinction. While they avoid open warfare among their own family, the vast majority think nothing of improving their own lot with the deaths of their kin. The only safe target from actual murder would be the clan matriarch, and for a single simple reason.
If the clan Matriarch dies and there is nobody in position to force the lines of the families together under her new rule quickly and decisively the family will splinter with each claimant bringing war to the other lines... and likely being absorbed by more intact families wholesale with many of the highest ranking members of the family being forced into sex changes and slavery to their new mistresses, or in some cases being made into brood-surrogates for their new families.
When it comes to war, the Imperium focuses on quantity over quality for the greater part. However, it rarely uses its people as soldiers, preferring drones and robots with female commanders and leaders, along with dedicated kill teams and assassins. While the local commanders will almost always be deemed as expendable assets by their family, the one commanding the actual war from her command post (made sure to be as safe as possible), will likely be an important vassal-daughter of the clan, with a few dozen daughters of her own serving as local commanders.
Kol'athras, home of the Freeholds is a place that can best be described as a highly decentralized meritocratic republic and near anarchist state. It has few permanent leaders and all are chosen by their followers, who are free to leave and withdraw support at any time. While there are some cities, they tend to live more in smaller groups and spread out and in many instances you could be hard pressed to tell where the wilderness ends and their settlement begins. Tolerant and easy going for the most part, global leadership is through the Great Congress, an forum that all adults may speak in and bring issues forward. An important thing to note, is that while they have a principle of 'one man, one vote' men can earn additional votes through accomplishing great deeds that earn the acclaim of their peers.
An important saying among them, that can baffle outsiders who notice their approach to communication is this; "Do not say so much that your words are stripped of all meaning." While they need to communicate, and indeed enjoy storytelling and the arts as much as anyone else, they tend to dislike talking for the sake of talking. After all, as per their approach to great deeds, 'if you must proclaim it loudly and often, then it is rarely as impressive as you say'. No man can nominate themselves for acclaim, their actions and deeds are either impressive enough that others acknowledge them, or they are not.
When it comes to war however, things change. While the position of Warlord is elected, once elected he is the armies commander in chief and the supreme authority with only a handful of checks and balances. He appoints the officers and maintains discipline in the ranks, and they approach war in a professional and pragmatic manner.... even if they remain fond of melee weapons, they use the proper tools for each job as needed. The most important thing to note about them however is that they are a force that values quality over quantity, in no small part due to their smaller than average population, and that their normal recruits are easily as skilled as the veterans of most forces, while their veterans and elite squads are the match for the elite and 'special assets' forces of a vast majority of others. When it comes time for them to unleash their champions, worlds can and have burned.
Talivizar is the seat of the Gaian Imperium, and despite being an empire in name, it can better be described as a feudal clan based oligarchy. The most important thing to note about the Council of the Matriarchs, is that the leader of each of the Families (the Great Families in particular), is the oldest member of their lineage with a large amount of daughters to swell their power base. For in this system, you are not an adult until you have at least one daughter, and each daughter you have grants you one vote... which is exercised on your behalf by the head of your family. As such, the worlds of the Gaian Imperium tend to suffer from massive overpopulation and crowding, as each family seeks to swell its numbers to increase the amount of influence on the council.
One reason why they are looked at with wary eyes by their neighbors comes from the simple fact that intrigue is in the very air they breathe and matriarchs think nothing of the deaths of the youngest members of their linages, with only a handful of vassal-daughters needing a wary eye kept on them (even as they eye their sisters and cousins for poison and daggers) both due to the fact that they are the most likely to try and usurp them and tend to hold important links in the Blood Chain that links each families holdings. Assassinations, kidnapping, blackmail, scandals and forced adoptions and sex changes are rife in the middle ranks, though there is an important distinction. While they avoid open warfare among their own family, the vast majority think nothing of improving their own lot with the deaths of their kin. The only safe target from actual murder would be the clan matriarch, and for a single simple reason.
If the clan Matriarch dies and there is nobody in position to force the lines of the families together under her new rule quickly and decisively the family will splinter with each claimant bringing war to the other lines... and likely being absorbed by more intact families wholesale with many of the highest ranking members of the family being forced into sex changes and slavery to their new mistresses, or in some cases being made into brood-surrogates for their new families.
When it comes to war, the Imperium focuses on quantity over quality for the greater part. However, it rarely uses its people as soldiers, preferring drones and robots with female commanders and leaders, along with dedicated kill teams and assassins. While the local commanders will almost always be deemed as expendable assets by their family, the one commanding the actual war from her command post (made sure to be as safe as possible), will likely be an important vassal-daughter of the clan, with a few dozen daughters of her own serving as local commanders.
Last edited by a moderator: