Tsaraine
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| Flag of Tsaraine | |
| Motto: Varies, no official national motto | |
| No Map Available Yet | |
| Region | The Vast |
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| Capital | Kel Eridhant |
| Official Language(s) | Sekhel (official), Sche'dayach, Hyazinari, Ktraizirha, Scheighui (dialects), Amrasenatj (minority) |
| Leader | Rene Seingult I |
| Population | 3.5 Billion |
| Currency | Khoi |
| NS Sunset XML | |
Contents
Overview
The Greater Ascendancy of Tsaraine is a socialist collectivist state based largely on Earth, with outposts and colonies throughout the solar system. It is a member of the Non-Democratic Alliance, and while not particularly influential militarily or economically, it does moderately well at both.
History
The recorded history of Tsaraine begins around the Eleventh Century AD, in the first year After Conquest by the Tsarainese calendar, when the Tsakh warlord Tsalin I led his hosts out of the West to conquer the Hyazinari and Sche'dayach peoples, establishing the Dominion of Tsaraine.
The Dominion, a feudal society with it's capital at Kel Tsaraint on the Eastern shore of the Lake of Shadows (from where the name Tsaraine was derived), thoroughly opressed the Hyazinari and particularly the Sche'dayach, and waged regular campaigns against the Ekatorik barbarians to the East.
Around 450 a new wave of barbarians showed up from the West, the Ktrazirha. Culturally related to the Tsakh, the Ktrazirha carved their way through the Dominion almost to Kel Tsaraint before being defeated by the Dominion cavalry a few miles outside the city. For their valour in battle, the survivors, led by the Ezkhar Eketerrak, were granted pardon by Dominar Radukh VI, and were granted the Tekhat of Scheighu to rule over.
The years 567-589 are notable as the only period the Dominion possessed a sea port; the Ekatorik were finally subjugated, and the city of Rakenno was captured as the capital of the Tekhat Ekatori, but the barbarians soon rose again to cut off Tsaraine's sea access once more.
In 605 AC an interstellar dreadnought of the Kymnari race, the Kiija, crash-landed on the North-West side of the Lake of Shadows, beginning several decades of intermittent warfare between the higher-technology, matriarchal Kymnari theocracy and the lower-technology but more numerous Dominion. Eventually, sheer numbers caused the Kymnari to lose the majority of their military technology, settling into uneasy peace.
Kymnari concepts, however, were harder to still, and the political views of the more advanced species seeped into Tsarainese thought. A century after the landing, the peasants were agitating for a looser rule, the army was agitating for officers based on merit rather than birth, the merchants were agitating for industrialisation, the intelligensia were agitating against the grip of the priesthood, and the stage was set for revolution.
Revolution's agent was Kail tsaIngult, second son of a nobleman of a distant branch of the Imperial household. Statesman, general, and philosopher, Kail I wrote the Principles of Sound Governance, which was to influence Tsarainese political thinking until the present day. Sound Governance argued that there were some fundamental necessities and amenities which should be granted to all people by right, and detailed the governmental structure ideal to carry it out - which Kail I believed to be a burecratic collectivism, taking in the products of the state and redistributing it to all as needed.
Sound Governance was the most coherent call avaliable for the restructuring of the Dominion, and the peasants rose beneath the black-and-blue scales of collectivism to defeat the old order. While Kail I had originally called for a peaceful transition of power, he was quick to lead the uprising and overthrow the Dominion (aided in part by Kymnari artillery support). Breaking the crown and skull of the last Dominar, Ykhat V, on the steps of the Imperial Palace, Kail I assumed the Obsidian Throne as Lord Protector Kail Seingult, first ruler of the Tsarainese Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth rapidly became less than the perfect utopia Kail I had envisioned; private enterprise was outlawed, religion was outlawed, dissent was outlawed. The state ruled all, and the state was all.
This system was refined and adapted throughout the next four hundred years, and saw the Commonwealth expand greatly to the West, until the ascencion of Kail IV to the Obsidian Throne in 1125. From his mother's family Kail IV inherited a variety of insanity, and was quick to declare Tsaraine a closed state; not only was contact with the world beyond the borders not permitted, the outside world did not exist.
Fortunately for the Commonwealth, this policy was gradually relaxed, and finally abolished completely. The establishment of a space program followed soon after, headed by Division Two (Air Command) Commandant Rene Seingult, Kail IV's neice. The space command proved it's use in a short-lived invasion by the nation of Canales, and as part of an international coalition against alien invaders several years later.
Economic woes in Kymnar caused the alien race to break their isolation and seek union with the Commonwealth, providing their technological expertise to the Commonwealth. The first Tsarainese interplanetary craft, the Tsalin I, was launched soon after, and was en route to the outer solar system when disaster struck the homeland.
A Kymnari hellformer, a weapon of mass destruction salvaged from the Kiija, was repaired and installed upon Yseult Station, the orbiting Tsarainese starbase, for testing. The weapon worked far too well, irradiating everything within a thousand kilometers of the capital. A few million people survived unknown in the deep bunkers underlying Tsarai - the former Kel Tsaraint - and Reio, and a few million more were rescued from the outlying Tekhati by international effort - particularly by Lavenrunz - but almost five hundred million people were killed, and the heart of Tsarainese industry was destroyed.
Rene Seingult, Commandant of the Space Command, on the far side of the world at the time of the Obsidian Event, returned to the Commonwealth, along with Kasene tsaKinai, the captain of the Tsalin I, and Schaden tsaKell, a diplomat in Lavenrunz. The three comandeered a spaceplane from the border town of Sargali, on the Eastern border, and vanished into the Obsidian Wastes (then a glowing, irradiated hell of rock fused to volcanic glass).
Over the next thirty years, the Tekhati left unscathed by the disaster formed states of their own, based on varying political creeds. Harikhai became the theocratic capitalist state of Aestrakhant, while the larger Tekhat of Undant, further west, adopted a creed of Sound Governance mixed with Communism under Premier-Commandant Eirkhanz Rejiya. Kymnar, now with a mixed Kymnari-human population, adapted Sound Governance to the Kymnari politics it arose from, adding to the mix the Kymnari theocracy. Szakedan to the North remained the most true to Sound Governance, but without the support of Tsarainese industry it withered.
In contrast to the failing of the Border States, the Ekatorik finally became a nation under Rega Qosin Ra, becoming one of the most economically successful of the Border States through a mixture of unbridled capitalism and harsh control of politics.
But unknown to the world the Commonwealth had survived; Rene Seingult had reached the underground bunkers of Tsarai, and rebuilt the nation beneath the lethal radiation of the Obsidian Wastes. The industries of Deep Tsarai and the sciences of Nova Reio carved out a new state geared to survive the radioactive surface, and thirty years later they returned to the view of the world.
The discovery of the tomb of Tsalin I prompted Rene Seingult to take up the Iron Crown of the Dominion and crown herself Domina Rene Seingult I of the Second Dominion of Tsaraine. Under the Second Dominion, religion was legalised, and the state relaxed many rules upon the lives of the citizenry. Tsaraine joined the Non-Democratic Alliance, and radiation-consuming bacteria created by the Empire of Treznor returned the Obsidian Wastes to something if not the match of what it was, at least less hostile than it had been.
Tsaraine reached back into space, salvaging the Tsalin I and using it to return an asteroid from the Belt to the L3 point of the Earth/Moon system. This became High Stone, the crux of Tsaraine's space efforts, and further expansion followed - Far Stone in the Asteroid Belt, Kel Meralkharant in the Leading Jovian Trojans (which were later moved to Jovian orbit following the collapse of the NDA member the Imperial Hordes of Burninatonia), the Tsarainese-administered NDA Protectorate of Burninatonian Io, and the Tekhat Maraldi on Mars.
The Second Dominion expanded on Earth too, establishing the subaquatic naval base "Pearl" on the bottom of the Sea of Storms, and annexing the stone-age peoples of the Katai Archipelago when population growth in Tsaraine threatened to outstrip the hydroponic food supply.
With the provision of FTL technology by the Empire of Treznor, Tsaraine established the Tsarainese ExtraSolar Exploration Corps (TESEC), which has explored in depth many worlds surveyed by the Empire of Treznor's survey ships, and rediscovered the ruins of the ancient Kymnari Empire.
Recently, social pressures resulting from the reexposure of Tsaraine to the world caused the Second Dominion to become the Greater Ascendancy - an ambitious piece of cultural engineering designed to supplement and improve Tsarainese culture, although politically the government remains much the same as it did under the Second Dominion or later Commonwealth.
Government
Tsaraine's government is hierarchical in nature, and promotion is strictly by merit; the Tsarainese hold no truck with hereditary rule or democratic elections, claiming that neither are based upon the ability to govern wisely. Thus the government is a series of departments (Arkhreifiates) run by a large burecracy, with heavy use of computers to reduce the amount of paperwork required in day to day life. Despite this, there are instances of nepotism in government, but the burecracy usually manages to filter most poor judgements into the normal status quo of day-to-day operations.
The Arkhreifiates are as follows;
Arkhreifiate of the Interior - Arkhreifane Kasene tsaKinai - responsible for the day-to-day running of the government.
Arkhreifiate of the Exterior - Arkhreifane Ksravi Ekina - responsible for relations with other nations.
Arkhreifiate of Agriculture - Arkhreifane Linya ralEiran - responsible for the maintenance of Tsaraine's food production, both in the Tekhat Katai and the underground hydroponic farms.
Arkhreifiate of Construction - Arkhreif Ekhoi Sche'daya - responsible for the expansion of the cities of Tsaraine. This Arkhreifiate has begun to merge with the Arkhreifiate of Mining, as they utilise the same equipment for carving out of stone.
Arkhreifiate of Mining - Arkhreif Kaligh ralInya - responsible for the extraction and processing of ores and other resources, both on Earth and at Far Stone (which produces the vast majority of Tsaraine's nickel-iron).
Arkhreifiate of Industry - Arkhreif Irvali tsaHuri - responsible for the production of everything from sheet metal and electrical cabling to fighter jets and nuclear missiles, the Arkhreifiate of Industry is one of the most powerful divisions in Tsaraine's government.
Arkhreifiate of Research and Development - Arkhreif Kyne ralGhema - Tsaraine values technological advantage over numerical superiority, and this division is responsible for technological advances, as well as pure research and design.
Arkhreifiate of Medicine - Arkhreifane Aira tsaKtraine - responsible for the health of the Tsarainese populace.
Arkhreifiate of Security - Arkhreif Schaden tsaKell - comprising the State Security Corps, the External Intelligence Corps, and numerous smaller departments, the Arkhreifiate of Security is charged with the maintenance of law and order throughout Tsaraine, and Tsarainese "covert" operations outside the nation.
Arkhreifiate of the Ground Command - Arkhreifane Erin tsaKell - Tsaraine's ground military, 750,000 strong, of whom 80,000 or so are fighting troops. As the Tsarainese military is designed more for defence than offence, the military is small and well-trained. With the exception of a deployment in the Iraqstani Civil War, it has not been required to fight since the Obsidian Event.
Arkhreifiate of the Air Command - Arkhreif Larak tsaGhen - Tsaraine's aerial forces, from troop transports to giant aerial carriers. This division also includes the Naval Corps, as the submarines used by the Navy are capable of atmospheric flight. The Tsarainese have never been a naval power, but they take to the air perfectly happily.
Arkhreifiate of the Star Command - Arkhreifane Tanyi ralKeyra - Tsaraine's space forces, responsible for the expansion and protection of Tsaraine's offworld assets. Aside from colonial garrisons, the Star Command's military units are divided into the Inner System Fleet (based at High Stone in Earth orbit, and under the direct command of Arkhreifane ralKeyra) and the Outer System Fleet (based at Kel Meralkharant in Jovian orbit). The Tsarainese ExtraSolar Exploration Corps is also a part of this Arkhreifiate.
Belief Systems
Tsaraine does not hold to freedom of religion, instead attempting to police the beliefs of it's citizenry, and judging prospective faiths upon how far they may differ from State policy. Despite this, some 40% or so of the citizenry profess some manner of religion. Those which have their roots in Tsaraine are almost entirely legal, however.
The Orthodox Faith of Ruki Aestrakhor
Orthodox Rukines hold themselves to be followers of the one true faith, servants of the one true (and only) god, who is known as Ruki (It is important to note that an Orthodox Rukine will never refer to their god as simply "Ruki", preferring "Ruki Aestrakhor" or some longer name. Although the religious texts of the Faith often refer to Him as y Ruki, and this is translated into English as "the God", it is a mark of disrespect not to accord Him at least one of His titles).
Aestrakhor means Skylord, and as the name suggests, Ruki Aestrakhor resides in the heavens, possessing the common attributes of other similar gods; like Ba'al, He is responsible for bringing rain, and like Zeus (and many other ancient Mediterranean gods) he wields thunderbolts. His other titles include aseiravda ("allseeing"), y Vdakhor ("the Lord of All"), and y Vda'atar ("The Allfather"). He is referred to in common Orthodox Rukine prayers using all of these, as Ruki Aestrakhor aseiradva, y Vdakhor, y Vda'atar.
The Orthodox Faith possesses several canonical religious texts, these being the Origin of All Things, the Laws, the Tshreighan ("end-storm"), and several hundred Books of the Arkhaeroni, one being written by each Arkhaeron (head priest) of the Orthodox Faith. The Books are important as they provide a method by which the Law may be re-interpreted to cope with social and political change; while this is not the concious intent of their writers - the Books are intended to inform the lay-person as to how to live a life in accordance with the Law at the present time - it is certainly one of the major attributes which allowed the Orthodox Faith to survive the Revolution and the religious opression of the Commonwealth.
The Origin of All Things begins before the creation of the world;
"Before all else there was the God. The God knew all, and the God was all. And the heart of the God was blood. And the breath of the God was salt. And the mind of the God was fire. And all was silent, silent save the mind of God!"
In it we see Ruki Aestrakhor create the Earth from His blood, give it seas with His breath, and create life from the power of His mind. He then goes on to create the twelve Kash'ha, somewhat similar to Archangels, to oversee the Earth for Him; and for a long time he leaves them to do so.
The Kash'ha range from draconic in form, as is Meralkhar (the Deathbringer, associated with the planet Jupiter), to entirely humanoid, as is Arikhen (the Huntress, associated with the planet Mars); most of the twelve range somewhere in between, like Kalazimorchan (who is thought by scholars to be a later addition to the faith). The Kash'ha create the Kash'ea to serve them in turn.
All is well until Kalazimorchan goes bad, and, usurping the perogative of his creator, creates Humanity, fueling them with a spark of the mind of Ruki Aestrakhor Himself. The Kash'ea of his dominion become the Kshiarkh (Great Demons), who go on to create the Kshi (Lesser Demons).
There is war in Heaven and on Earth as Kalazimorchan and his servants, including humanity, fight the Kash'ha and Kash'ea, until the world is nearly destroyed. Finally Ruki Aestrakhor intervenes, tearing the wing-membranes from Kalazimorchan's arms and imprisoning him with the Kshiarkh in Kel Akarant, the Burning City. Humanity He redeems - for they are after all animated with a spark of the God Himself - and teaches the Law; but many, seduced by the Kshi, fall into worship of the Lesser Demons and abandon the Law. The Faithful are enjoined to bring them back to the Law or kill them.
The Law itself begins by repeating this enjoinder, and going on to enumerate the many aspects of a good Rukine, including but not limited to fidelity, humility towards one's father and one's lord, charity to one's servants, and obesciance to the God. In short, it outlines how a Rukine should live.
The Tshreighan describes the prophecied end of the world. Fallen humans shall free Kalazimorchan and the Kshiarkh from Kel Akarant, and the battle shall begin again. This time, the eleven loyal Kash'ha will be destroyed, as shall the world; but Ruki Aestrakhor himself is undefeatable, and shall consume Kalazimorchan utterly.
The Books of the Arkhaeroni are commentaries upon and reinterpretations of the Law; the most recent, State-sponsored one, written by the predecessor of the current Arkhaeron, stresses especially humility, charity, and obesciance, all qualities desired by the State; it is considered in some circles to be a fake.
In accordance with the Law, Orthodox Rukines worship Ruki Aestrakhor through prayer and sacrifice; usually salt, representing the breath of the God, is cast into braziers, representing His thought, but the more devout may offer their own blood (in limited amounts - Ruki Aestrakhor does not condone human sacrifice, and it is taboo to offer the blood of another under any circumstances) to the braziers.
The especially devout may tattoo themselves with images of the Kash'ha or passages from the religious texts, but this is currently frowned upon by the priestly hierarchy.
The priestly hierarchy goes Arkhaeron - Aeron - Aren - Esaren. The Arkhaeron is the definitive head of the Faith, the most holy (although he is not considered infallible). Aeroni are roughly equal to Christian Bishops, being a step below the Arkhaeron and carrying out many of the same duties. Areni are somewhat lower, and Esareni are the lowest rank of ordained priests, corresponding to Christian Vicars.
The Orthodox Rukines believe in reincarnation; the world, being created by Ruki Aestrakhor, is a fundamentally good place, and those humans who obey the Law return again for another round. The Fallen join Kalazimorchan in Kel Akarant to burn until the Tshreighan arrives.
Opinion is divided on non-humans; conservative thought considers them Kshi and unredeemable, while the more progressive elements of the faith believe them to possess a spark of the Divine as humanity does, and thus be capable of living in concordance with the Law. Artificial sentience, however, is entirely evil, and the State has angered many Orthodox Rukines by naming some of it's genetically modified human breeds - the Rukine Knights and the Ea after religious terms. The current Arkhaeron, Vrel Tlesafr, has yet to voice an opinion on non-humans, although most would place him firmly within the conservative camp.
The True Faith of Ruki Aestrakhor and Arizhtal Izhtalkhar
While the True Faith has it's roots, ultimately, in the earliest versions of the Orthodox Faith, it was substantially modified by contact with Zoroastrianism, the state religion of the Persian Empire, and imported into Tsaraine by the Ktrazirha invasion of 450 AC.
The main difference between the True and Orthodox Faiths can be boiled down to "every fire casts a shadow". In the True Faith, this is Arizhtal Izhtalkhar (High-Shadow Shadowlord, in the Ktrazirha dialect of Sekhel), the dark nemesis to Ruki Aestrakhor; the True Faith is much more dualistic than the Orthodox Faith.
The True Faith possesses substantially different versions of the Origin of All Things and Tshreighan, although their version of the Laws is much the same. In the True Faith's version, Ruki Aestrakhor was the first being in the universe, before all else, but his existence immediately caused the surrounding nothingness to coalesce into Arizhtal Izhtalkhar. Ruki Aestrakhor created the Earth to block Arizhtal from his sight, and Arizhtal made modifications to it, creating darkness, disease, drought, and other evils.
(It should be noted, however, that Arizhtal, while in eternal opposition to Ruki Aestrakhor, is not regarded by the True Faith as fundamentally evil - rather, the two gods have a basic disagreement over what reality should be).
The True Faith lacks the Orthodox hierarchy of Kash'ha, Kash'ea, Kshi'arkh and Kshi; instead, Ruki Aestrakhor created humanity Himself, and Arizhtal changed them to better suit his own ideals, creating the fundamental rift between "good" and "evil".
The battle between "good" and "evil" is ongoing, not postponed; but, like the Orthodox Faith, the True Faith holds that the world will end in cataclysmic conflict, as Ruki Aestrakhor, Arizhtal Izhtalkhar, and the humans aligned on either side will battle it out, and destroy the world in the process, after which the next world will be made by Arizhtal and modified by Ruki Aestrakhor. Some modern theologians have drawn parallels between this and nuclear war, and several prominent Tsarainese works of post-apocalyptic fiction have drawn upon the mythology of the True Faith.
As practiced in the modern world, the True Faith is substantially more moderate than the Orthodox Faith, as it holds that things in opposition to the Laws are not necessarily evil. Mirroring it's simplified cosmology, the priestly hierarchy is almost nonexistent, and much more democratic - trainee priests are apprenticed to fully trained ones, who are regarded as equal, and who decide the position of the True Faith in a democratic council. However, the True Faith lacks the Books of the Arkhaeroni as a self-corrective measure, and it's strict following of the original Laws is regarded by many outside the True Faith as outmoded.
More to come later, esarqi esenqi. Tsang dteh!
