General Domestic Issues

[kingpie3]

Uturaam walked through the immensely large tent. In the center was the Adored One, who sat on an ornate stool brought from Janisabad. It was adorned in many glyphs and motifs of Janisist culture.

"Uturaam, how goes it?" the voice asks.

"Good, Adored One. The city of Shiluleem is well fortified by its crater walls, so naturally it requires more attention. The central Entinates are a rough land, much unlike the northeast you once called home. But never mind that. I requested you here to discuss your new order."

"Yes, what of it?" another, ethereal voice spoke. A tall man walked from another section of the tent, stopping right next to the Jan'isi as he eyed the general.

"Ah, Losseni Iskaatino." Uturaam said, his voice not losing a beat. "I've heard of your ascension to Luminaire of the Administrative Guild. Congratulations."

"The Iskaatino bloodline is now in servitude to Janisis, Uturaam. It is an honor beyond all honors. Thank you. Now what of this new order?"

"This nation must be defended, and if I can speak frankly, I'm not convinced of your capacity to do just that."

"I agree entirely, General." the Adored One says. "I'm more concerned attending to the needs of our urban poor than setting policy and fighting war. That is why King Orinza's bloodline will lead the Military Guild."

Uturaam's eyes widened as he clenched his fists and bit his tongue. An awkward silence followed that statement, punctuated only by distant gunfire and the nearby stomping of Baunairi war camels.

"Szalchians are spies, not soldiers, dear Adored One. On top of that, have you not given them free reign in several southern provinces? Are they even members of this new nation?"

"In return for King Orinza's help in defeating Tammertert I offered Szalchian cities in the south "Free" status. They are under our control but given more leeway in local decision-making. Their faith is syncretic, a mixture of conventional Janisist thought and the deity of their dead moon. They want to craft policy that takes that into account. I allowed it, as is my right as Jan'isi."

"Yes, of course. But to have one sit as an adviser and liaison to the Board of Directors or Synod is problematic. A potential conflict of interest wouldn't you agree?"

"The day I declared the formation of the Entinates King Orinza was in Nelumbo capturing corrupt men in preparation for the farubolo ritual. You lost half a division in Shiluleem. I trust his judgement, and pray that I can continue to trust yours."

Losseni quickly followed. "I have arranged for you to be a member of the Synod. We plan on outsourcing Baujantec security to others, as the nation's purity demands it. So you will find more utility in those halls than out here."

"That's quite nice of you Luminaire Losseni. Now I am honored." Uturaam spoke softly, slightly bowing his head. "While I have you here, may I ask how the registrations for the different guilds are coming?"

"Very nicely, actually. I've been working closely with Director Khata to send out the forms and process the examinations. It will be months before we have everyone accounted for. My main concern are the citizenship packages which the Board and Synod must vote on soon."

"I see. Well, I did not just invite you just to talk of nation-building. Please, stay for dinner."

[musashisamurai]

Politics in Pacifica
-some info here is OOC and ot publicly known or acknowledged at least


There have been few constants in Pacifica throughout its time. First, is the Forum. Its the same organization as when I began a country, making it a pretty damn old legislature. Although Pacifica has gone through sone hardcore socialist or republican periods, the Forum is largely oligarchic for the majority of its existence; I would classify it as a maritime republic dominated by merchants, merchant families, and old wealth. As a merchant republic, vast regions were governed through company charters for centuries even keeping pacifica relatively small; Denmark, India are two examples. The Forum gone through a lot of changes in that time period but its around. Another constant is the sneakiness. Even now, as nobility feud, wars aren't fought by large-scale battles but conspiracies, assassins, and duels. This has been throughout Pacifica, from the first conspirators to now, when all our major noble houses were founded by ex-Spectres and the other houses by elite super soldiers (so I guess yes, our aristocracy is actually better than the lower classes). In that regard, think of Morrowind or Dune, where there are rules for house-wars that limit casualties and sneakiness is more of a boon than pure strength or numbers. The next is the struggle between regional powers and a central power. Interesting tidbit in this struggle:

So if anyone here realizes or knows, this is actually the second time Pacifica went monarchist. First time, a shadowy government conspiracy-Illuminati like-overthrew the government in a quiet coup and installed a monarchy through the Pacifican Forum. This conspiracy group created Athenians and later Spectres as their shock troops and elite spies to maintain power; of course they made enough Athenians and indoctrinated them so hard, the Athenians overthrew the monarchs and re-established a republic. The monarchs of that dynasty weren't the conspirators, they were originally just figureheads, public faces for the group so they could stay secret. Of course that struggle then re-established itself as provinces wanted more autonomy, the monarchs wanted more power or were curious as to the start of their dynasty, and the conspiracy would blatantly breaks laws and ethics to stay in power. Almost every ruler took the throne as a "reformer" but would be stonewalled until one particularly troubling one was assassinated*; the Athenians ensured that the reforms did happen and the Spectres hunted down the conspirators, gaining some of that influence in turn. Again, some massive advances including the creation of super soldiers and psychics done during this time at high cost. The Spectres later formed the Inquisition which like in Florence or Venice, was actually set up with the goal of preventing someone from centralizing too much power and installing themselves. Of course, who watches the watchdogs?

Another several centuries, maybe even millenia, until new king. Again same story. Conspiracy group gains power in the Forum, centralizes authority (this time with the help of the Spectres) and eventually a Spectre "retires" and becomes king. Again, some kickback from the provinces-this time the solution was to empower local 'nobility' to gain control (previous dynasty had no other noble families). Two generations in though, and now the nobility is uppity leading to other reforms including an elective monarchy, serfdom, and other privileges granted to these houses. That stage is where we are now; Lili isn't the most popular queen due to some foreign policy blunders, but is still popular and legitimate enough that no one's complaining (although many probably wish she wasn't effectively immortal...) that there's no one trying to overthrow her. On the other hand, the noble houses and politicians from the Lower Houses, freedmen, are in the process of taking more power and privileges away, although whether its to local nobility or to commoners depends on the faction.


In previous posts, I mentioned several parties. The Rasmians (Erasmus) are essentially the Dutch Statists; they believe in limited democracy to full republicanism, were proponents of the elective monarchy reform, and generally try to move power to the Forum from the Crown, or at least to Inner Council. The party itself has a few different wings, split on where the power goes-some to the Forum's lower house, some to lesser nobility, some to the Great Houses, etc. Ideologically, they avoid war but would like to use "might" for "right" and combat injustice. The Vellians, similar to Machiavelli, are generally royalists, to a man. They believe in "might makes right", "ends justifies the means" and that the Crown should do whatever it takes to increase its/their power and Pacifica's influence. The Revanchists are split between teh two parties, though more are Vellians by far and only the Vellian party has Sulawesi revanchism in its plank. They're about re-claiming Sulawesi, fighting Domuia and weakening her power, and establishing Pacifica as the sole superpower in the Pacific.


Where that goes, I'm not sure what my plan will be. If a monarch screws up though, you could expect to see an oligarchic maritime republic again formed from Pacifica, possibly with the Crown as just first-among-equals amongst other Great Houses. That said, this dynasty was much smarter. The provincial powers although they want to take power from the Crown can't overthrow it without putting their elevated status in question; the new landed nobility class also fights to maintain the current status quo, which was never happening in the previous dynasty. On the other, this landed nobility is much more prominent to the standard Pacifican than the original monarchs were; that would be like not choosing Presidents, while now these houses have private armies, royal charters and privileges, can keep "slaves" in the form of serfdom, and can impose justice as they see fit. And while sneaky, the current dynasty isn't drugging a majority of the population like the first monarchs although of course they've kept the secret police. That means the lower classes are way more restless.


TLDR: Pacifica is essentially a hybrid Dutch/merchant/oligarchic Republic whose republican tradition consistently falls to zero once a millenium and forms a type of monarchs. First constitutional then despotic, then enlightened and currently enlightened/feudal.


*There is of course an even sneakier theory that the king wasn't a reformer, but was killed in a false flag operation by Athenians, who then used the death of a popular leader to get the leverage needed to kill the conspiracy.

[kingpie3]

Coined by Luminaire Tiberio Zwecklin, "The Exalted Steps" are a series of social reforms aiming to create successive generations of proud, knowledgeable Janisists in the Consortium's Entinates. The process of "janisizing" the population poses a daunting task for Synod clerics, who will encounter a cultural landscape characterized by revolutionary fervor. It took 2 years of protests and riots to topple what people now call "Old Baunair", and skepticism of the new government's structure and intentions remain high.

Meanwhile, though 70% of the population classify themselves as Janisist, their adherence to the Martian faith is questionable and largely in the cultural domain. Which for the sake of the Adored One's legitimacy is unsatisfactory. Hence the passage of new edicts that instill a yearning for closeness to the Life-Death Entity and resolve historic differences between various groups in the Entinates. But the Jan'isi and his advisers will be treading carefully. Too forceful an attempt to advance the faith and they run the risk of provoking violence in a post-revolutionary land, too timid an effort and they may encourage complacency. It's a complicated series of "steps" forwards, backwards, and side-to-side in a fanciful, dare I say, Baunairi manner.

The new society the Synod seeks to create will be a fascinating blend of conventional Janisist creeds adapted to the structures of hundreds of Baunairi subcultures. This is the most diverse nation in Sol, after all. The first of the Exalted Steps is a new language standard. For roughly 50 years, the Adored One conducted scholarly research into ancient Janisist texts and speech. He and the Consortium now commission that his research be used as the basis for the new Janisist tongue, Jukmeyosa.

(OOC: Jukmeyosa is a mixture of French and Italian, with about 40% being loanwords from old Baunairi, which itself was a mixture of French, Arabic, and West African languages, as well as indigenous Martian tongues like Rellakhan and Nelumboan (another 15%). All in all, it's gonna sound pretty musical and jumpy, but with an alien, inhuman kind of layering to it. It's designed to be especially beautiful when sung during religious ceremonies, which will occur often.)

All students will be required to learn this language, in conjunction with an additional 2. One ethnic language of their choosing, and of course Basic (called Britannia in the Entinates). There are 20 main ethnic languages available in conventional schools, while an additional couple dozen can be found online and learned independently. Major choices include Classical French, Formal Algerian Arabic, Traditional Mauritanian Wolof, and Conventional Korhali.

Additionally, in school children will be expected to take on a name from the Janisist faith to be used in the classroom. While at home they may have an ethnic name, in school it will be expected that they address themselves and instructors with these new names they get to pick. Normal Janisist names typically incorporate double vowels "aa" or "ee", are sometimes divided into 3 parts by apostrophes, and often describe a characteristic they seek to embody.

[mat.gopack]

I'm guessing you meant to say that Jukmeyosa is a mix of old Baunairi, Italian, and French, and not just French/Italian - because that does not sound like either of the two languages. Actually, I haven't really seen any French influence in Baunair tbh (linguistically or culturally) - obviously it's there since you've mentioned it, it's more that all your names would sound distinctly foreign to a native french speaker. EG, Baun itself sounds far more 'german' to me than 'french', speaking both languages.

[Subotai45]

Baun is incredibly culturally French. Did you see that surrender in the League War? Cultural accuracy there.

[kingpie3]

I'm guessing you meant to say that Jukmeyosa is a mix of old Baunairi, Italian, and French, and not just French/Italian - because that does not sound like either of the two languages. Actually, I haven't really seen any French influence in Baunair tbh (linguistically or culturally) - obviously it's there since you've mentioned it, it's more that all your names would sound distinctly foreign to a native french speaker. EG, Baun itself sounds far more 'german' to me than 'french', speaking both languages.

I meant the base is French/Italian. Martisians are mostly from the Mediterranean region and since they created the Janisist faith it made sense for a revamped language to use theirs as the foundation. Baunairi is a mixture of all the languages from when I used to administer Clayton. So the original Janisist language is being mixed with Baunairi and alien languages. As for Baun itself, it's cultural influences are more diverse than just French since for centuries it was associated with Northwest Africa (which I generally know more about to begin with). And the names seem foreign because a lot of them I just made up to be different. Like Zwecklin, even though technically they're Arab and French

[mat.gopack]

I'm guessing you meant to say that Jukmeyosa is a mix of old Baunairi, Italian, and French, and not just French/Italian - because that does not sound like either of the two languages. Actually, I haven't really seen any French influence in Baunair tbh (linguistically or culturally) - obviously it's there since you've mentioned it, it's more that all your names would sound distinctly foreign to a native french speaker. EG, Baun itself sounds far more 'german' to me than 'french', speaking both languages.

I meant the base is French/Italian. Martisians are mostly from the Mediterranean region and since they created the Janisist faith it made sense for a revamped language to use theirs as the foundation. Baunairi is a mixture of all the languages from when I used to administer Clayton. So the original Janisist language is being mixed with Baunairi and alien languages. As for Baun itself, it's cultural influences are more diverse than just French since for centuries it was associated with Northwest Africa (which I generally know more about to begin with). And the names seem foreign because a lot of them I just made up to be different. Like Zwecklin, even though technically they're Arab and French

I get that - it's just that you always mention French as one of the major influences in Baun (obviously along with many others), and I just don't really see it - at least not 'mainstream' French culture.

I wouldn't really notice it except for being French myself - that's why I'm not saying anything about the other ones, since I don't really know enough about them to say if they're accurate.

(Also, Zwecklin is definitely far more German than anything else again. Zweck = purpose. -lin is a bit french-like for an ending, but on the whole it's definitely got a german flair to it in that name)

Edit - a quick note that -lin is an ending found in names in French, Swedish, and Irish per wikipedia, of germanic names. )

[kingpie3]

I'm guessing you meant to say that Jukmeyosa is a mix of old Baunairi, Italian, and French, and not just French/Italian - because that does not sound like either of the two languages. Actually, I haven't really seen any French influence in Baunair tbh (linguistically or culturally) - obviously it's there since you've mentioned it, it's more that all your names would sound distinctly foreign to a native french speaker. EG, Baun itself sounds far more 'german' to me than 'french', speaking both languages.

I meant the base is French/Italian. Martisians are mostly from the Mediterranean region and since they created the Janisist faith it made sense for a revamped language to use theirs as the foundation. Baunairi is a mixture of all the languages from when I used to administer Clayton. So the original Janisist language is being mixed with Baunairi and alien languages. As for Baun itself, it's cultural influences are more diverse than just French since for centuries it was associated with Northwest Africa (which I generally know more about to begin with). And the names seem foreign because a lot of them I just made up to be different. Like Zwecklin, even though technically they're Arab and French

I get that - it's just that you always mention French as one of the major influences in Baun (obviously along with many others), and I just don't really see it - at least not 'mainstream' French culture.

I wouldn't really notice it except for being French myself - that's why I'm not saying anything about the other ones, since I don't really know enough about them to say if they're accurate.

(Also, Zwecklin is definitely far more German than anything else again. Zweck = purpose. -lin is a bit french-like for an ending, but on the whole it's definitely got a german flair to it in that name)

Edit - a quick note that -lin is an ending found in names in French, Swedish, and Irish per wikipedia, of germanic names. )

I got the impression Baunair sounded more French than anything, but that's probably because of my shallow understanding of the language

If someone were to visit Baunair they'd notice traditional French influences in the language (over half of Baunairi was French) and architecture since a lot of what they made was futuristic baroque (kinda like Jupiter Ascending). Culinary culture too, even if the food being eaten was GM'd to one degree or another. Other cultures had more dominant influences in music and fashion.

But yeah,a direct representation of French culture definitely isn't what people should imagine when they think Baunair and now Baujantec. They're supposed to be somewhat distinct

[mat.gopack]

I think a slight change would make it sound more French (a bit late obv). Like "Bonair" or "Baunier" both sound vaguely french-like, where "Baunair" doesn't. Doesn't help that the adjective (Baunairi) takes it in a different direction too - Baunairien or Baunairois would also make it 'fit' more french like.

[kingpie3]

I think a slight change would make it sound more French (a bit late obv). Like "Bonair" or "Baunier" both sound vaguely french-like, where "Baunair" doesn't. Doesn't help that the adjective (Baunairi) takes it in a different direction too - Baunairien or Baunairois would also make it 'fit' more french like.

How does "Baujantecois" sound for describing the people? I was thinking of just leaving it Baujantec, but the extra "-ois" sounds French-like to me. And for future reference, people can refer to the actual country as "the Consortium" or "the Entinates".