RE: Fantastic Mastermind
07-29-2019, 03:06 AM
The Bright Order
The Bright Order follows the tenets of DISCIPLINE and is one of the bloc's founding members, drawing their power from devotion, ritual and obeying the rules. The ruling elite of this state are benevolent Paladins, sworn to uphold the tenets of goodness and justice and protect the innocent. In the past, this won them great renown, and created the ideals of the heroic knight protecting people from evil. Paladins are drawn from all races, as goodness is not found in any one race but rather in unflinching devotion to the Paladin Oaths. Their magic is physical in nature, featuring burning blades, shields warded by faith, long-lived halo-clad holy warriors whose very touch repels beasts of shadow and death.
Over the centuries, their territory grew, as kings have granted them land to protect and they accepted the fealty of nearby nobles and lords who sought to become Paladins. In time, they grew in territorial extent until they became a great power. Suddenly, as technology improved and global travel became possible, they were thrust onto the international stage, still tied by oaths that made more sense when knights rode horses and wore steel. These days, they had to make their way through murky geopolitical disagreements and confrontations, and they were not well-suited to moral grey areas.
The last century has seen stagnation for the Bright Order. They still bind themselves to their oaths, and swear themselves to protecting all that is good and rooting out all that is evil, but in this modern world there are fewer malevolent dragons to slay and more cases of authority-vs-freedom and injustice-from-inherent-inequality, which tends to tie them in knots. They still go out and do good where they can, but the modern cold war seems to be full of grey morality and conflicts with no clear good side. They hold true to DISCIPLINE because they created it to do good in the world, but they cannot in their hearts say HARMONY is truly evil, and so they simply try to stop HARMONY from stopping them and even then are somewhat half-hearted about it.
Their homelands are the Luminal Lands, a large region of the vast continent of Thessin. Pulled together out of patchwork medieval feudal princes and kings, this land ended up ceding itself to their just and noble rule as they had magically bound themselves to do only good - so if any of them ruled harshly or grew corrupt, they would magically lose their powers and be marked as Fallen, resulting in them being cast down by their peers. The Luminal Lands are home to rolling hills and forests, picturesque mountains and alpine lakes, crisp rivers rich in fish feeding into the ocean and warm beaches alongside them. There were once a dozen full-sized kingdoms in these bountiful lands.
The City of Walls and the Carven Wilds
The Carven Wilds are at the opposite end of the vast continent of Thessin, being a region that was once verdant forests, flat plains and farmland, ringed by sharp and jagged mountains that caught the eye with their intense beauty. These days, the land is ravaged, devestated, carven. The natives to this land, the Carvenfolk, are humanoid wolf-creatures with claws and teeth they aren't afraid to use. In ages past, they roamed the land, enacting their philosophy of survival of the fittest. In time, they came to dominate the land and push out competition, forming warlord kingdoms that ruled as they saw fit and enslaved the weak. Those barbarian times are behind them, defeated by invasions from their less brutal neighbours, but they have formed a new society dedicated to the old principle in a new and novel way.
At their heart of the wastes stands the City of Walls, a vast metropolis of towers, parks and monuments - but mostly towers. The city is home to so many glittering glass skyscrapers, filled with massive offices dedicated to the finances of the world. The Carvenfolk have turned to brutal, cut-throat capitalism to prove their fitness to survive - every inch of profit is scraped, every hour of unpaid overtime that can be squeezed out of the workforce is remorselessly demanded, every promotion is hotly contested and every round of layoffs inevitable. Every Carvenfolk seeks to become a Shareholder, the glorious few in society who control all the Investments and Stocks, and live in opulent mansion condos and penthouses. Every Carvenfolk employee is exploited for every penny. Every business consumes itself in its search for ever-greater profits, inevitably collapsing as the Shareholders move onto their next Investment. The City of Walls is rife with homelessness and poverty, and violent crime is rampant as the old ways reassert themselves at the bottom. The City of Walls' walls are built between districts, keeping the poor away from the rich as much as possible. That is why the rich paid for the walls in the first place.
Out in the Carven Wilds, the land has been carved up by resource extraction companies and massive industrial farms, and is covered in a thin veneer of smog and lifeless mud. Bands of Carvenfolk barbarians roam out here following the old ways, seeking to destroy for their own gain, while private security protects corporate investment from them. Between the vast warehouses of battery farms and open pit mines, small company towns huddle, filled with workers who can't afford to move to the city for a faster, cleaner and more cut-throat life. Further from the city still, the global corporations buy what they can in other nations and regions, and always profit their Shareholders, no matter the cost. There are no businesses as worldwide, as pervasive, as profitable as those with their headquarters in the City of Walls. The brands they control are recognizable the world over, even if they are bought and sold between companies every year. The Shareholders and stockbrokers live lives of excess, neck-deep in wealth, drugs, attractive people of their preferred sex, whatever money can buy - which, in the City of Walls, includes everything.
And where do these Carvenfolk of the City of Walls fall in global politics? Why, HARMONY, of course! They have no regard for rules-based systems, or accountability. Whatever gets them the most money, whatever works, that's what they do. Their magic is drawn from the blighted, scarred land, and from their own greed and ferocity, and is blighted, scarred, and ferocious in kind.
The Bright Order follows the tenets of DISCIPLINE and is one of the bloc's founding members, drawing their power from devotion, ritual and obeying the rules. The ruling elite of this state are benevolent Paladins, sworn to uphold the tenets of goodness and justice and protect the innocent. In the past, this won them great renown, and created the ideals of the heroic knight protecting people from evil. Paladins are drawn from all races, as goodness is not found in any one race but rather in unflinching devotion to the Paladin Oaths. Their magic is physical in nature, featuring burning blades, shields warded by faith, long-lived halo-clad holy warriors whose very touch repels beasts of shadow and death.
Over the centuries, their territory grew, as kings have granted them land to protect and they accepted the fealty of nearby nobles and lords who sought to become Paladins. In time, they grew in territorial extent until they became a great power. Suddenly, as technology improved and global travel became possible, they were thrust onto the international stage, still tied by oaths that made more sense when knights rode horses and wore steel. These days, they had to make their way through murky geopolitical disagreements and confrontations, and they were not well-suited to moral grey areas.
The last century has seen stagnation for the Bright Order. They still bind themselves to their oaths, and swear themselves to protecting all that is good and rooting out all that is evil, but in this modern world there are fewer malevolent dragons to slay and more cases of authority-vs-freedom and injustice-from-inherent-inequality, which tends to tie them in knots. They still go out and do good where they can, but the modern cold war seems to be full of grey morality and conflicts with no clear good side. They hold true to DISCIPLINE because they created it to do good in the world, but they cannot in their hearts say HARMONY is truly evil, and so they simply try to stop HARMONY from stopping them and even then are somewhat half-hearted about it.
Their homelands are the Luminal Lands, a large region of the vast continent of Thessin. Pulled together out of patchwork medieval feudal princes and kings, this land ended up ceding itself to their just and noble rule as they had magically bound themselves to do only good - so if any of them ruled harshly or grew corrupt, they would magically lose their powers and be marked as Fallen, resulting in them being cast down by their peers. The Luminal Lands are home to rolling hills and forests, picturesque mountains and alpine lakes, crisp rivers rich in fish feeding into the ocean and warm beaches alongside them. There were once a dozen full-sized kingdoms in these bountiful lands.
The City of Walls and the Carven Wilds
The Carven Wilds are at the opposite end of the vast continent of Thessin, being a region that was once verdant forests, flat plains and farmland, ringed by sharp and jagged mountains that caught the eye with their intense beauty. These days, the land is ravaged, devestated, carven. The natives to this land, the Carvenfolk, are humanoid wolf-creatures with claws and teeth they aren't afraid to use. In ages past, they roamed the land, enacting their philosophy of survival of the fittest. In time, they came to dominate the land and push out competition, forming warlord kingdoms that ruled as they saw fit and enslaved the weak. Those barbarian times are behind them, defeated by invasions from their less brutal neighbours, but they have formed a new society dedicated to the old principle in a new and novel way.
At their heart of the wastes stands the City of Walls, a vast metropolis of towers, parks and monuments - but mostly towers. The city is home to so many glittering glass skyscrapers, filled with massive offices dedicated to the finances of the world. The Carvenfolk have turned to brutal, cut-throat capitalism to prove their fitness to survive - every inch of profit is scraped, every hour of unpaid overtime that can be squeezed out of the workforce is remorselessly demanded, every promotion is hotly contested and every round of layoffs inevitable. Every Carvenfolk seeks to become a Shareholder, the glorious few in society who control all the Investments and Stocks, and live in opulent mansion condos and penthouses. Every Carvenfolk employee is exploited for every penny. Every business consumes itself in its search for ever-greater profits, inevitably collapsing as the Shareholders move onto their next Investment. The City of Walls is rife with homelessness and poverty, and violent crime is rampant as the old ways reassert themselves at the bottom. The City of Walls' walls are built between districts, keeping the poor away from the rich as much as possible. That is why the rich paid for the walls in the first place.
Out in the Carven Wilds, the land has been carved up by resource extraction companies and massive industrial farms, and is covered in a thin veneer of smog and lifeless mud. Bands of Carvenfolk barbarians roam out here following the old ways, seeking to destroy for their own gain, while private security protects corporate investment from them. Between the vast warehouses of battery farms and open pit mines, small company towns huddle, filled with workers who can't afford to move to the city for a faster, cleaner and more cut-throat life. Further from the city still, the global corporations buy what they can in other nations and regions, and always profit their Shareholders, no matter the cost. There are no businesses as worldwide, as pervasive, as profitable as those with their headquarters in the City of Walls. The brands they control are recognizable the world over, even if they are bought and sold between companies every year. The Shareholders and stockbrokers live lives of excess, neck-deep in wealth, drugs, attractive people of their preferred sex, whatever money can buy - which, in the City of Walls, includes everything.
And where do these Carvenfolk of the City of Walls fall in global politics? Why, HARMONY, of course! They have no regard for rules-based systems, or accountability. Whatever gets them the most money, whatever works, that's what they do. Their magic is drawn from the blighted, scarred land, and from their own greed and ferocity, and is blighted, scarred, and ferocious in kind.