Epitaph - A Civilization Quest
- Thread starter Chehrazad
- Start date
- Original Alt. History
- Location
- Hollister
[x] A Father's Crown
[X] The Onenamekene
[X] The Temples Would be Cowed:
[X] The Onenamekene
[X] The Temples Would be Cowed:
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] A Father's Crown: It had long been the case that the Hoxman palace saw Eskeragal as its greatest ally on the coast, and in the complicated network of settlements that dotted the valley, such loyalty had its rewards. However, it would be impossible to discuss loyalty without power, and the matter of fact was that Hoxma and Eskeragal were simply operating on different scales of power. Therefore, the palace offered to Eskeragal the exalted role of becoming like a son to their Hoxman father, governing the coastal province of Ungir in the emperor's name, raising the still-nascent city-state to a place of first among equals on the coast. (+1 Sedentism, vastly accelerates the cultural unification of the People under Eskeragal)
[X] The Priesthood: As the temples were already a powerful and established faction within Eskeragal, it came as no surprise that the peacock primarily became the domain of the priesthood who used it in a great amount of rituals and ceremonies. These varied from the peacock feathers used by various priestly garments to the sacred peacocks of the Wild Lady, but largely signaled a significant increase in the priesthood's power over the settlement, which permitted them to largely begin the sidelining of the power of the onenamekene in favour of their own growing power and importance for admministration.
[X] The Temples Would be Cowed: It was clear that the priesthood had acted in error. The chieftain ruled in favour of the prostitutes and henceforth, the ability to regulate pricing and purity regulations would be the remit of the chieftain and the palace alone. This drove a rift between the temples and the palace but endeared the palace to the prostitutes and other small craftspeople, whose labour conditions would now be secured by the justice of the palace rather than the often-arbitrary and capricious rulings of the temple. (Creates problem for next phase: Schism of Priest and Palace. Creates advantage for next phase: The King's Labour)
[X] The Priesthood: As the temples were already a powerful and established faction within Eskeragal, it came as no surprise that the peacock primarily became the domain of the priesthood who used it in a great amount of rituals and ceremonies. These varied from the peacock feathers used by various priestly garments to the sacred peacocks of the Wild Lady, but largely signaled a significant increase in the priesthood's power over the settlement, which permitted them to largely begin the sidelining of the power of the onenamekene in favour of their own growing power and importance for admministration.
[X] The Temples Would be Cowed: It was clear that the priesthood had acted in error. The chieftain ruled in favour of the prostitutes and henceforth, the ability to regulate pricing and purity regulations would be the remit of the chieftain and the palace alone. This drove a rift between the temples and the palace but endeared the palace to the prostitutes and other small craftspeople, whose labour conditions would now be secured by the justice of the palace rather than the often-arbitrary and capricious rulings of the temple. (Creates problem for next phase: Schism of Priest and Palace. Creates advantage for next phase: The King's Labour)
- Location
- Minnesota
[X] A Brother's Embrace
[X] The Onenamekene
[X] The Temples Would be Cowed
[X] The Onenamekene
[X] The Temples Would be Cowed
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I should make it clear that going for strengthening the onenamekene and cowing the temples may have repercussions when combined with previous decisions which among other things strengthened the priesthood and integrated it further into the daily running of Eskeragal. There are no right and wrong choices, of course, but it may create issues to be dealt with. Of course, strengthening and binding the chieftaincy to the onenamekene further will of course also result in a stronger
Just to clarify: The primary mode of government along the great sea is either a sort of decentralized tribal system or a very centralized palatial government and an independent bureaucracy can be a very dangerous one indeed. Of course, a bureaucracy independent of other factions can also be a very powerful faction desperate to safeguard itself, which could potentially create something very efficient eventually, but currently the bureaucratic elite of Eskeragal isn't really distinct enough from the administration of the temples to really constitute something separate from simply a catch-all descriptor for the administrative union of palace and temple.
Abby Normal
High Clerk of the Ymaryn
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Oooh, very nice to see this update! I'll think more on the vote later, but one quick thing i noticed when rereading and refreshing my memory:
Hastal should have 1/2, if i understand the system right,due to the 'when fully integrated a settlement, gain another coadunation point' rule
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yeah, I'm going to go back to that and check to see when I last updated it, I'm still not sure if I've remembered to adjust for population increase this turn yet.
- Location
- Hell
Thinking about it further, while I dislike the idea of being seen as the son of Hoxman, I did want to become a city through urbanization specialization. It would be interesting to be the place to go for when you need the best of the best.
[X] A Father's Crown
To keep with the Aristocracy theme we started with, I say let us bring power back to the hands of the Onenamekene.
[X] The Onenamekene
so of course when the third vote comes around and the two options are give power to the "king" or give power to the priests, I say naaay!
[X] Write-in: Form aunionGuild! The priests may have jurisdiction on what goes on in their temples, but let the prostitutes themselves decide what regulations to put in place.
Let us go back to our roots as Merchant Princes. Why seek palace economics when our trade network is so much better?
[X] A Father's Crown
To keep with the Aristocracy theme we started with, I say let us bring power back to the hands of the Onenamekene.
[X] The Onenamekene
so of course when the third vote comes around and the two options are give power to the "king" or give power to the priests, I say naaay!
[X] Write-in: Form a
Let us go back to our roots as Merchant Princes. Why seek palace economics when our trade network is so much better?
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It should be said that in a non-monetized economy such as yours, a palace economy is not only non-contradictory with a trade network but to some degree beneficial, because trade is necessary to make up for shortcomings at home and also in high demand all around the Great Sea because similar shortcomings can occur there. Fundamentally, a trade network supplements a palatial economy by making up for its inefficiencies and shortfalls but a palace economy also allows you to have a great deal of control over the overseas trade you depend upon.
Currently, Eskeragal has a steadily increasing concentration of buildings in a central area providing a primitive "palace-complex" (it's not really very palatial right now) and there's not really any way of escaping that becoming a full-blown palace unless you somehow jump sideways through history and develop a monetized bronze age economy in phase 2, in which everything would be thrown for an insane loop. What you can modulate (which will have greater detail in the second phase) is how much of your income and production is domestic and how much is traded and imported. Both have their benefits and downsides, but in this period you can't really be urbanized while also escaping the palace until a bunch later.
Although you could definitely develop an economy more well-positioned into developing into a market-based economy or one more resilient towards sudden economic changes, but both have their downsides. Towards the late bronze age in our timeline, both Egypt and the Mesopotamian states were steadily developing primitive market economies after all, the palace economy was only really alive in Greece at that point.
- Location
- I think somewhere. I might be nowhere though
[X] A Brother's Embrace
[X] The Priesthood
[X] The Priesthood Would be Obeyed
I don't really remember what I wanted to happen before the hiatus, so I am just gonna go with my impulse drive of THEOCRACY!!!
[X] The Priesthood
[X] The Priesthood Would be Obeyed
I don't really remember what I wanted to happen before the hiatus, so I am just gonna go with my impulse drive of THEOCRACY!!!
- Location
- Hell
Oh and while you are hopefully nearby, this got cut off earlier @ManusDomini
Results in a stronger what?
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Note that Eskeragal already possesses some theocratic aspects but filtered through a distinctly monarchic lens, as most polities around the Great Sea do. The Great King of the River-Children is likely the most theocratic, where the temple and state are more or less de facto one, but most other states around the Great Sea use their temples to administrate in some fashion or do not possess a palace-temple distinction at all. Of course, this would be Eskeragal's own take on the marriage of the temple and the palace, so there would be plenty of unique ways to spin it, especially when you get to phase 2, when the fundamentals of the Eskerag state have really settled and you get to run this more like a traditional civ quest for a bit.
I can't remember, but at a guess it should be something "Of course, strengthening and binding the chieftaincy to the onenamekene further will of course also result in a stronger aristocracy, which may also be used as a different tool for urban administration."
- Location
- somewhere
[X] A Brother's Embrace
[X] The Onenamekene
[X] The Priesthood Would be Obeyed
I'm in full support of the decentralized cultural victory. I'd rather have diplomatic power spread through our upper crust than physical power over the close countryside that will probably get consolidated. Along with that I'd like to keep our power decentralized by supporting the Onenemekene who will drive the conflict and dynamism of our culture while the support for the priesthood allows for more cultural unity.
[X] The Onenamekene
[X] The Priesthood Would be Obeyed
I'm in full support of the decentralized cultural victory. I'd rather have diplomatic power spread through our upper crust than physical power over the close countryside that will probably get consolidated. Along with that I'd like to keep our power decentralized by supporting the Onenemekene who will drive the conflict and dynamism of our culture while the support for the priesthood allows for more cultural unity.
[X] A Father's Crown
[X] The Onenamekene
[X] The Temples Would be Cowed
[X] The Onenamekene
[X] The Temples Would be Cowed