#good fun to be Worldbuilding like this again

[thetruearchmagos]

Breakaway In Brief: Or, Why Upepwani Left, And The Commonwealth Came

I'd like to thank @hessdalen-globe for the queries that led to this particular post coming into being. If anyone would ever like to know anything about some part of the 12 Worlds, feel free to Ask!

For the sake of attempting to institute brevity, which I preety much always lack, I'll try and keep the answers narrow to the questions, and in scope generally.

If it's alright, I'll Tag @lividdreamz @writeblrsupport @caxycreations @theprissythumbelina @thatndginger @sanguine-arena @the-stray-storyteller @orphicpoieses @dogmomwrites

1. Why is it that Upepwani is trying to break off?

In short, Slaves, egregious Nepotism, and the almost inevitable results of an institution of Empire about as well unified and centralised as Holy Rome.

I'll start with that last one. The Fuhrati Empire had gained its dominance over the continent on the twin methods of crushing military capability, and comparatively soft-handed governance. Upepwani was one of seven Princedoms in the Empire, ruled by assorted lines of the House of Tharoon whose main dynasty held court over the Empire as a whole, and like the rest of the princely states it was risen from the ashes of the once powerful Kingdom of Sabto, whose people had been turned to slaves in the bloody wars that secured Fuhrati ascendancy. The rest of the Empire was divided between the Homeland Provinces, the Old Country of the Empire which had birthed the dynasty and was once the old Sultanate of Merkat, and the Client, or Vassal Provinces, which were formerly states in their own right which had, by fair means or foul, been turned to the light of the Empire.

As it relates to the Upepwani Seccession, this particularly sprawling system of government resulted in distinct, highly independent polities to grow wealthy and achieve significant autonomy for themselves, with Fuhrati rule relying as much on complex social and familial systems of patronage to ensure compliance as the formal structures of a bureaucratic state. The dynastic line which ruled Upepwani would take advantage of this generally detached system of government to conduct what was effectively its own secret foreign and trade policy, building the economic ties to foreign states it bordered as well as the United Commonwealth and the rest of the 12 Worlds that it needed to secure the development of an otherwise resource poor and centrally neglected Province.

The reasons for that particularly alien relationship between Upepwani and the broader Imperial whole would be summarised by those other two points: Slavery, and Nepotism. I'll start with the latter.

Of the seven dynastic branches which were given their own slice of the Sabto corpse, that which had received the province of Upepwani were said to have received it mostly to keep them away from the capital in a respectable sort of exile. They were the 'black sheep' of House Tharoon for various court-politics related reasons I shall not get to here, but to cut a long story short by the time of the 50s to 70s A.S. the only thing that stood in the way of the destruction of the provinces autonomy by the other seven Princes or its absorbtion into the Heartland itself was the particularly close relationship between Emperor Sayed II and a former Prince of Upepwani forged in their combined experiences in the foreign conquest of Santa Mateo. Much to the entirely unstated indignation of more senior and prestigious dynastic lines, Sayed II, who was no saintly figure himself, had taken to siding with the Prince and his descendants in matters of court politics, and despite fairly considerable contempt for their choices in government allowed them to keep their autonomy so long as they didn't bother anyone else. At the turn of the 7th Decade in the UC Calendar, however, the ailing monarch was quite obviously drawing his final breaths, and everyone within or beyond Fuhrati itself knew that when Sayed's time came and his eldest son, Haroon III, would ascend the throne, Upepwani's time in the sun would come to an end. This, thus, put quite the impetus behind the Provinces desire to preserve its hard won autonomy.

One particular feature beyond family squabbling which would mark a definite distinction between Upepwani and the rest of the Empire was its attitudes towards slavery, which were seen in time as almost a direct assault against the Imperial system and order of things. From the first Princes to the Seccession, the dynastic court and the Provinces populace and institutions of state more broadly had taken an extreme aversion to the practices of slavery which defined so much of the Imperial economy, external and internal. The Princes had declared all peoples free within its borders, and only the threat of very direct violence had prevented a declaration that any enslaved person who stepped foot on Upepwani soil would be under the Prince's protection. Upepwani's refusal to participate in the system of Fuhrati slavery would have three main effects:

Economic decoupling from the Empire

When it came down to it, Upepwani conducted more trade with the foreign states that bordered it than the fellow provinces of its own Empire, which meant that when the time came for decision to be made very few ties of necessity existed to pressure the Province to stay behind. The Province would refuse to participate in the Imperial Grain Levy, or "Daribat Alhubub", either in receiving the food products or submitting them, on account of the fact that the majority of the Empire's crop production and export was produced by millions of generational or imported slaves across the rest of the Empire. Thus, Upepwani was fairly insulated from agricultural pressures compared to many other provinces, which gave it the freedom to act more independently

Industrialisation And Liberalisation

Unable to support inefficient farms off the cheap labour of forced servitude, the Upepwani government and its major economic actors would turn to industrialisation and modernisation to provide the economic production - and export potential - needed to sustainits autonomy. To cut another long story short, with significant Commonwealth aid in capital investment and education, a solidly well-educated, productive urban middle class of both ethnic Merkats and Sabtos who carried with them an ever-increasing political movement for further liberalisation in government and society, and a positive view of foreign states such as the United Commonwealth for having attained the sorts of societies this new class wished to create in Upepwani. The Prince and provincial government were broadly in agreement with the push for modernisation and liberalisation, showing their support by allowing for the creation of local-level elected assemblies. Simultaneously empowered by this public fervour and incentivised by the need to maintain strong foreign economic access, Upepwani would forge treaties with the UC which would eventually lead to an agreement on the Commonwealth's part to support a bid for Upepwani independence and to preserve its sovereignty against any Fuhrati invasions. Without the creation of this new political class, such lofty dreams as seccession would have been impossible to attain, or even imagine.

The Sabto Socio-Cultural Enclave

While the old Kingdom was quite firmly dead, many of the Sabto people who survived its fall could remember a time when its pride still stood. While the court and monarch were slain and so many of its people enslaved, in Upepwani thousands of refugees and the diaspora would find a safe place for themselves. Many integrated heavily into the provincial social fabric heavily dictated by the Merkat majority, but otherwise they had found a place wherethey could practice their faiths and ways in peace and dignity. Many notable Sabto leaders would describe the province as a "new home" for their people, and word would spread into neighbouring provinces and their Sabto populaces of this apparent haven for the vestiges of the old cultural identity. Thousands of Sabto would immigrate or escape to the province in search of a better life, even without the official protection of the Prince, and when their freedoms and home seemed threatened by the Imperial crown, they would be first and most willing to fight to protect it.

In short, the Upepwani Secession came to be for many reasons, and considering the cirumstances that birthed it merely a matter of time. While there stood a decent chance that a bid for independence was inevitable, the intervention of the United Commonwealth would turn it from a hopeless cause to the act which would destroy the Fuhrati Empire.

------

2. And how come the UC felt the need to get involved?

In short, Slavery, Hegemony, and Ideology had set the Commonwealth and the Empire on the path to conflict long before Upepwani made its choice, but the act of and opposition to secession was the spark that lit the flame of UC intervention.

In a roundabout fashion, the United Commonwealth had been both fighting the Fuhrati Empire and aiding Upepwani for over two decades, quite seperately. Every one of the Commonwealth's founding states were varyingly democratic nations with significant maritime and mercantile interests, which already set them up for competition with an Empire in the habit of sponsoring Corsairs to raid coastal cities and seize shipping for loot, slaves, and political leverage. The moral fury that the fairly 'progressive / liberal' populations ofthe states that would over time be admitted to the UC was matched by the concerns in its 'unified' government that the naval capabilities of the Fuhrati Empire could threaten the lines of trade and communication that the Commonwealth, split as it was across so many Worlds and continents, relied on for its prosperity, legitimacy, and very existence. Independent slaver ports and states known to have aided the Empire were mercilessly destroyed where found, and systems of repatriation were created to return freed slaves to their homelands or admit them to migrate to Commonwealth shores, while nations that fell victim to raids were declared to be under Commonwealth protection, received aid to their economic and political structures to bring them in line with the UC, and often eventually integrated into the United Commonwealth.

The Fuhrati Empire wished to avoid direct confrontation with one of the few states that could rival it, but wishing to preserve its interests in the form of the Inter-World market for slaves and slave-made goods the Empire did what it could to prop up colonies and puppets abroad, and even attempted to sow discord in the Commonwealth itself when it supported seperatist movements in the founding UC member state of the Battezid Empire. The constant, back and forth competition for international influence and trade would continue for decades, growing ever more violent for all, until it soon became obvious that sooner or later the matter would be settled by the fire of the guns and the clash of the greatest powers in the 12 Worlds.

That this clash would come in the manner of the Upepwani Seccession was no accident on the Commonwealth's part, which is not to say the UC's various arms of foreign policy actively manipulated events in the province to reach the state it did. A core founding principle of the United Commonwealth, which has held for nearly two centuries, was the conviction that the ways of the democratic, liberal state in general, and of the Commonwealth in particular, should be extended by free association and the will of the people as far and wide as is absolutely possible. This missionary zeal had seen the polity grow from seven states to thirty in less than fifty years, with a combined population of over two hundred million souls. To the most fervent followers of the Commonwealth dream, the Fuhrati state was its darkest enemy, and the province of Upepwani a prisoner of that autocratic, oppresive regime. And to the more practically minded of them, a chink in their greatest rival's armour.

Hope was harboured that if the conditions that had led to democracy and liberalisation in the Commonwealth states could be replicated in the Province, a victory would be at hand and a blow dealt to the stability and political unity of the ever divided Fuhrati state. To that end, the Commonwealth would 'covertly' sponsor and support the creation of over a thousand schools from the ages of six to sixteen in Upepwani, in lockstep with the Provincial authorities, and acting through the bordering neutral states ensure that Upepwani would always have access to the capital, commodities, and markets it needed to fuel its industrial growth and development, creating links between the markets of Upepwani, its neighbours, the Commonwealth, and the rest of the 12 Worlds. Having invested so much wealth and political capital on creating the new Upepwani state, there was a very real desire to see it join the United Commonwealth soon after seccession as a beacon of resistance to the Fuhrati Empire for all to see, to further expand the Commonwealth way, and to ensure the promised-by-the-Prince eventual conversion of Upepwani to complete democratic rule could take place.

Simply put, in many ways it was inevitable that the Commonwealth and the Empire would find cause to apply their fullest strengths against each other, but it would be the circumstances surrounding the Province's path and dreams for the future that decided where the gauntlet would be thrown and the great battle held.

---------

Author's nOte:

All translations and place names are to be considered placeholders. If anyone's got a good source for Arabic translators, I'd love to hear it.

[bruhstation]

special thanks to these pez dispensers for accompanying me during my stay at the hospital. glory to canada

[tumblweeds-omegaverse]

random omegaverse thought:

There must be people who experience specific instinct things with indifference or boredom.

Procreative cycle coming up? "Crap, I've got plans this weekend...stupid skip weeks."

Caught an intriguing scent while walking? "But I need to get to work! Shut up brain."

Had a snap response to a distressed sound? "Who was it?! ...right, it's my day off, I can go back to sleep."

Somebody growled at them? "Kid, I'm not a rival, that's my sibling."

Super cozy cuddle session happening nearby? "I'm gonna pass tonight guys, no social battery left, maybe next time."

Group of friends heading out to flirt and check out other singles? "I'm coming with you but only to make sure you all get home safe."

Setting where fated mates or soul bonds or permanent marks are a thing? "Meh. I don't really want one or care if I ever get one."

People in the actual omegaverse would get as bored of their stuff, as we do of ours, you know? It could be interesting to see that kind of vibe in fics. Biological demands faced with all the excitement of paying bills or doing laundry or tying your shoes.

Even if that kind of energy might not drive a plot, it could be interesting to have as a contrast to the people who do have big feelings about them - good or bad.

There's the friends who can't wait til they have a pack of their own, and the one friend who isn't against it but couldn't care less. There's the group in the office who are all about scent compatibility tests and figuring out one's best match and what sprays most highlight it, and the coworker who has no intentions on putting that much effort in. There are parents who hover and protect their offspring by scenting them multiple times a day, and others who don't see what the fuss is as long as it's done in the morning.

...also: packs with introverts who show care by giving each other space. So often, closeness is depicted through physical touch and tactile affection, but comfortable silence is meaningful too. Knowing people are near, but not having to interact until you're ready. Sitting in the same room doing different things, knowing that all it takes is a "hey, look at this" to share what you're up to. People understanding and accepting each other's differing or fluctuating needs for how and when to recharge. Seeing somebody reaching out or sharing space, beyond what's their norm, as a signal of the fact that they care.

[blujayonthewing]

gnome culture emphasizes playfulness and a good sense of humor partly because gnomes are physically small and vulnerable and tend to settle in wild places with a lot of hazards and if they had to take every completely real threat to their safety seriously while also Taking Them Seriously they'd just be paralyzed by fear

[whoredmode]

going off something i was talking about the other day. i think i know why i took sriv’s terrible quality so personally. like why i felt so insulted and angered by it. it felt like a slap in the face to anyone who cared to take the early games seriously. even if that wasn’t the intention, it doesn’t really matter if that’s how it ends up coming off regardless.

sr1 is a tragicomedy, it has elements of heightened reality but at its core is a very genuine and grounded piece of work. the tone was meant to be based off (specifically) hip-hop music videos, which in and of themselves are incredibly sincere pieces of art—the visualization of something you can’t see, or in some cases the visualization of literal lyrics. pieces of art that have a point to get across, oftentimes ending in either bittersweet or sobering ways (see: playa’s death at the end of sr1). sr1 hits the beats it wants to and tells the story it wants to tell, even in the face of being a GTA clone or whatever. it had real heart. it had a point to its narrative. and i’ve actually written a longer piece discussing the use of music in the games and its love/hate relationship w gangsta rap and hip-hop if you’re curious. whether you think it did this well or not is up to your own tastes, but the intention and end result is clear.

so all that to say when sriv came along and was just unfunny jokes and badly written irony, parody, and quips placed against painfully bathetic moments and quite literally blowing up its worldbuilding. it’s like. oh. that’s how you’re sending this off. if the intention was just to “make a fun game” then sure, fine, whatever, but there’s really no need to just be so…dismissive of what came before. you’re just lying when you say the narrative of the games was never meant to be taken seriously from the start. sorry for caring?? i forgot it’s not cool to be sincere anymore. forgot we’re all supposed to have this sense of ironic detachment to all art. ok. whatever.

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

To Shape A Dragon’s Breath

YA fantasy

a young Indigenous girl finds & bonds with a dragon hatchling - the first time in many generations for her people - and is required to go to the coloniser’s dragon academy in their mainland city, to learn how to raise her dragon and the science of its magic

historical inspired setting on the cusp of industrial revolution with steampunk vibes

bi polyamorous MC, Black lesbian SC, nonverbal autistic SC

[cinammonelles]

Complete the 4 novels you're currently reading ❌❌❌

Start yet another novel because it seemed intriguing ✅✅✅

[arodrwho]

octavia butler GOOD

[lightblueminecraftorchid]

The eternal tension between genuinely wanting to watch/read good horror media and wanting to sleep for the next week.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Maybe it's my inner Tanta Cinta talking but Cipal has way too many fecking stairs. Where's the ramps? How are merchants supposed to wheel carts and wagons of goods throughout the city? Are they expected to just carry everything on their backs? Or construction materials! How did they haul around all that stone to build the place? And what about their elderly or disabled citizens? It's an accessibility nightmare.

Honestly. I'm going to go with my usual theory when it comes to game worlds: what we see is only a symbolic representation of what the actual world would be like if it was real. I mean otherwise there's no way Cipal can fit thousands of people, let alone the thousands of refugees on top of its usual population that it took in when the Corruption hit. And also if we stick with only exactly what's in the game, Athia is an island, not a continent. It's only about six or seven miles from end to end. My commute to work is roughly half that, which would mean that round trip I bus the length of Athia every day.

This is one of the reasons I wish we had a day/night cycle. If I knew how long 24 hours in-game took in real time, I could use average walking speed to get a rough estimation of how big Athia is supposed to be in-universe based on how long it takes to walk to any given location. I did this with Eos in FFXV using the time it takes to drive from the Insomnia Blockade to the Rock of Ravatogh at 60mph, I can do it again for walking speed!

...wait a minute

I know what day Frey came to Athia. And I can find out what day she fought the dragon. I can calculate from there based on average walking speed and an assumption that she didn't walk for 24 hours straight how far it is between Junoon Castle and Junoon Castle Town. The existence of Flow might throw off my math a little, though. Hmm...

Where there's a will there's a way. I'ma find out.

[newdleboy]

just a few lil notes abt shad.yclaw verse for mk !!

When MK moved to Paris, he didn't really make any friends, preferring to keep to himself.

He became more and more closed off since things at home weren't really great; his dads had separated and he was having trouble getting them to work out their differences.

Okay, he has one (1) whole friend, and that friend is Lila, unfortunately.

This made him an excellent target for The Supreme; MK was recruited by Lila. He was given the miraculous of the Monkey. ( i'll work on a name for him pls be patient w me, i am slow !! )

He now works for The Supreme, though it doesn't always feel right. Still, he doesn't really have a choice now that he's involved.

Has definitely had to fight against the resistance.

I know this isn't super detailed, but i will come back to it !!

[starsstillshine]

brain took a dip and nosedived into media instead of finishing very important serious tasks. standby

[gaterrechinha]

I'm playing The Knife of Dunwall for the first time and I had to stop after like. an hour. Not because the game was boring or because it was difficult (it wasn't) but because the second I set foot in the Slaughterhouse - I immediately started crying. It is so hard to stomach. You hear about the whales dying the whole game, and you get first-hand accounts of how the whales are hunted, and how they're butchered alive. How they cry out, baby whales separated from their mothers, hung from hooks for weeks and months on end while slowly being cut apart. For parts. The terror and the loneliness and the fear. But hearing about it and seeing it are two very different things. Walking into a room only to get drenched in whale blood, looking up to see a whale bleeding out on you, hung from the ceiling, it's eyes rolling around the room in fear, wriggling and struggling. It's so fucking hard to watch.

And, like, that's what makes it impactful. That's what makes it good. But it also makes me wonder why they stopped this incredible piece of worldbuilding in its tracks in the second game. Why they chose not to build on it, and on its connection to The Outsider. The Leviathan, The Whale God. How is the whole cult storyline more interesting than this?? Why are Dunwall and Karnaka so sunny in that game? Why don't the whales cry anymore? Why is their extinction not really all that relevant anymore? Where did the magic go? Why is the question of their sentience ignored? The cruelty overlooked? The end of the whales will be the end of the people, no? I was led to believe that wasn't just in the literal "we're running out of power" sense. Was it? Where did the metaphysical subtext go? It's such a stark change. The game's atmosphere is completely different. They killed the vibe. Did they fire someone from game 1 to game 2? Is that it? Was there a "whale guy" in charge of the whales that they fired?? Did they get rid of him?? Is that it?? Who made this decision I just want to talk.

[kagooleo]

RILEYYYYYYYYYY RILEY IS SO GOOD!

Also I found one of your tags and I can confirm that he is definitely Not British voice-wise! (Episode 110 of the DP anime dub/sub if you're looking for it)

Love your work ❤️❤️❤️

yeah!!!! thank you!!!!! he's amazing!!!!!!!!!! the life changing gender awakening character to me as a kid

I actually have the anime episodes downloaded (both subbed and dubbed by totally legal means ahah) and yeah he's not pompous brit sounding bgdhfvh, I'm moreso wondering if they'll pick someone different voice wise for him in masters :0c

as of now they haven't revealed how he sounds in the gacha yet but i'm crossing my fingers he has someone like. along the lines of greg chun or similar in terms of deep but soft spoken voice

[oldmanyaoi-jpeg]

something i'm trying to remember when creating characters is that respectful and researched representation is more important than getting it absolutely perfect with 0 flaws bc (when it's something i'm not) i'm never going to get it perfect

[humanmorph]

I still think about “Another Word for Righteousness” by boo_cool_robot btw. Like its just up there. The Divine Scrupulosity is making me sooooooo. Like what do you meannnn thats MY brand of mental illness in the form of a divine software program that lives in a man’s brain/the suitcase he carries around. Good lird

It’s so sick that theyre listed as synonyms truly but like I get it. I got there. It’s incredible really.

righteous (adjective) 1: acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin 2: a: morally right or justifiable     b: arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality

(+ from the fatt. wiki article for Rightenousness: “[...] a deep commitment to others in the broad sense, but in the narrow sense is willing to do whatever it takes for that commitment, [...]”)

scrupulous (adjective) 1: having moral integrity: acting in strict regard for what is considered right or proper

And like. The way that scrupulosity too makes you intensively care about others and to do right by them but in a way that puts yourself down while holding yourself to this high standard that righteousness just brings from itself...

It’s Ibex and Righteousness putting themselves Above... They know what’s best. What has to be done. And then Orth and Scrupulosity

But then again, Scrupulosity never likes its Candidates to be too comfortable.

-

Orth closes his eyes. “The first thing in any situation that Scrupulosity finds the flaws in is me. I don’t think meanness can scare me anymore.”

And how this makes Orth easier to manipulate like I’m going to screammmm. The way he numbs to it it is internalized and also what’s so so good here is that it is really truly exhausting to feel like this. And Orth is Oh so miserable and susceptible to someone complimenting him or trusting him even if he KNOWS it can’t be true.

“Meaning no offense to you of course. Dogs are wonderful. People trust dogs.”

��None taken,” Orth assures him. It would be nice to be trusted.

^ So good to meeeee because when you constantly have to be on guard that extends to yourself too and how you think other people perceive of you. Orth mentioning multiple times he Expects people to be put off or not trust him. Augh !

ALSO Orth making a point to separate himself from Scrupulosity (specifally to put himself down too. “Not my specialty. Scrupulosity’s.“). BUT at the end when

Scrupulosity says, You can’t trust him.

Scrupulosity says, You can’t trust yourself.

“I know,”Orth says aloud. He’s always known that.

Attar Rose looks down at him and smiles.

                  sorry i lost it for a moment. Because it Is a part of him it’s in thereeee. Maybe it’s always been.

anyways. good fic good fic