Post by Harkovast on Mar 1, 2015 17:22:03 GMT
The Rotetra.
When the Levengroust and Galdrasai rose up as new, rival powers, fighting for control of Xalkara, there was actually a third power that had the potential to challenge these two nations.
The Rotetra were also an emerging power in the South, with a powerful and motivated army and ambitious population.
The Rotetra possessed a strange and unique magic which allowed them, through intense training, to copy magic of other nations. A Rotetra had to focus on a particular magic, usually studying with practitioners of that power, or Rotetra who had already learned it, in order to master it.
The Rotetra society was extremely pious, with the church holding great authority that came close to that of the nobility and monarchy.
Their religion was similar in some way to the faith of Shaldemos, but rather than anthropomorphising the powers of magic as gods, they viewed the powers of magic themselves to be divine beings, considering ascribing mortal characteristic to such incomprehensible forces as heretical.
Over time, and after several religious schisms and civil wars, the magics of Mind and Light had been agree amongst the Rotetra as the supreme and purest elements, since these were the ones the Rotetra themselves possessed.
For a long time the culture had been relatively stagnant and regressive, but then there was a great expansion of art, culture and learning as the South of Xalkara began to exert itself.
The Rotetra were by nature skilled at learning from and adopting the ideas of others, and borrowed new ideas from both the Levengroust and Galdrasai, and then adding to them.
In battle, their elite infantry were know as Tercios. They were recruited from the lower ranking nobility, who lacked estates or much authority but enjoyed a tax exempt status. The tercios fought with combined arms formations, of pike men to hold off cavalry, swordsmen to launch fast assaults and hand gunners to fight at range, all working in unison. The close combat troops generally studied to copy the fiery weapons of the Galdrasai while the gunners copied the mastery of technomancy of the Levengroust. Though they were never as skilled in magic as the native practitioners of these magics, the ability to field a range of powers together gave them a unique advantage.
The Tercios were supported by Reiters, suss mounted, armoured gunners, equipped with shorter fire arms. The Reiters were a good example of the skills of the Rotetra at building on the ideas of others, as the Levengroust did not combine their firearms and cavalry in this way.
Both the Tercios and Reiters were renown for their courage and daring in battle. Due to their desire for personal glory, they had punishments for warriors breaking formation to rush at enemies or endanger themselves with excessive acts of bravado, as these were so common place.
Tercios were known to demand to be beaten with the flat of a sword blade rather than be flogged as punishment for transgressions, as they saw this as a more noble punishment for a warrior (even though it was more dangerous!)
When the state failed to pay their wages, the Tercios and Reiter would only mutiny after the battle had been won, so that none could accuse them of cowardice for seeking to avoid battle.
Unfortunately, the new found success of the Rotetra led to a backlash.
The church saw these changes in society as a threat to its authority and began to openly condemn them.
Foreigners living in the Rotetra Kingdom were driven out, accused of undermining the state.
This move was very popular with the peasantry, who had been riled up against foreigners by fiery preachers, and with the Nobility who took the opportunity to seize the property of the people being exiled.
For the long term though, this was a disastrous, destroying businesses, getting rid of skilled craftsmen and removing sources of new ideas and magics they could learn from. This damage the economy badly, and angered foreign powers who refused to trade with or lend money to the Rotetra monarchy, further adding to the problem.
The Rotetra church put strong restrictions on the lending of money and forbid lending for interest. Ultimately this meant that the only reliable place for the state to borrow money from was the church, further increasing its political power and allowing it to further regress social change.
The nobility had always taken an attitude that leisure was the goal of the wealthy, and that work was demeaning to people of their station. The nobility also enjoyed tax exemption, allowing them to amass vast wealth and do very little of use with it. The lower classes, who were actually driving the nations economy, were burdened more and more with unfair taxation.
Weak kings, intimidated by the church and manipulated by selfish nobles (and in some cases suffering the ill effects of generational inbreeding) could do little to solve these troubles, generally just minting more coins to pay their debts and adding to mass inflation that rendered currency worthless.
The monarchy was not entirely ineffectual though. Prince Petos of the Light (third in line to the throne) was renown outside the Rotetra Kingdom and a great thinker and statesman, even as he was hated by both the church and nobility.
He came to realise that, unfortunately, his nation had been so hobbled that its best hope for success was to seek alliance with either the Galdrasai or Levengroust, accepting a junior position to another power.
Ultimately such an alliance would never come to fruition, as a new power was already rising that would change the balance of Harkovast forever.
When the Levengroust and Galdrasai rose up as new, rival powers, fighting for control of Xalkara, there was actually a third power that had the potential to challenge these two nations.
The Rotetra were also an emerging power in the South, with a powerful and motivated army and ambitious population.
The Rotetra possessed a strange and unique magic which allowed them, through intense training, to copy magic of other nations. A Rotetra had to focus on a particular magic, usually studying with practitioners of that power, or Rotetra who had already learned it, in order to master it.
The Rotetra society was extremely pious, with the church holding great authority that came close to that of the nobility and monarchy.
Their religion was similar in some way to the faith of Shaldemos, but rather than anthropomorphising the powers of magic as gods, they viewed the powers of magic themselves to be divine beings, considering ascribing mortal characteristic to such incomprehensible forces as heretical.
Over time, and after several religious schisms and civil wars, the magics of Mind and Light had been agree amongst the Rotetra as the supreme and purest elements, since these were the ones the Rotetra themselves possessed.
For a long time the culture had been relatively stagnant and regressive, but then there was a great expansion of art, culture and learning as the South of Xalkara began to exert itself.
The Rotetra were by nature skilled at learning from and adopting the ideas of others, and borrowed new ideas from both the Levengroust and Galdrasai, and then adding to them.
In battle, their elite infantry were know as Tercios. They were recruited from the lower ranking nobility, who lacked estates or much authority but enjoyed a tax exempt status. The tercios fought with combined arms formations, of pike men to hold off cavalry, swordsmen to launch fast assaults and hand gunners to fight at range, all working in unison. The close combat troops generally studied to copy the fiery weapons of the Galdrasai while the gunners copied the mastery of technomancy of the Levengroust. Though they were never as skilled in magic as the native practitioners of these magics, the ability to field a range of powers together gave them a unique advantage.
The Tercios were supported by Reiters, suss mounted, armoured gunners, equipped with shorter fire arms. The Reiters were a good example of the skills of the Rotetra at building on the ideas of others, as the Levengroust did not combine their firearms and cavalry in this way.
Both the Tercios and Reiters were renown for their courage and daring in battle. Due to their desire for personal glory, they had punishments for warriors breaking formation to rush at enemies or endanger themselves with excessive acts of bravado, as these were so common place.
Tercios were known to demand to be beaten with the flat of a sword blade rather than be flogged as punishment for transgressions, as they saw this as a more noble punishment for a warrior (even though it was more dangerous!)
When the state failed to pay their wages, the Tercios and Reiter would only mutiny after the battle had been won, so that none could accuse them of cowardice for seeking to avoid battle.
Unfortunately, the new found success of the Rotetra led to a backlash.
The church saw these changes in society as a threat to its authority and began to openly condemn them.
Foreigners living in the Rotetra Kingdom were driven out, accused of undermining the state.
This move was very popular with the peasantry, who had been riled up against foreigners by fiery preachers, and with the Nobility who took the opportunity to seize the property of the people being exiled.
For the long term though, this was a disastrous, destroying businesses, getting rid of skilled craftsmen and removing sources of new ideas and magics they could learn from. This damage the economy badly, and angered foreign powers who refused to trade with or lend money to the Rotetra monarchy, further adding to the problem.
The Rotetra church put strong restrictions on the lending of money and forbid lending for interest. Ultimately this meant that the only reliable place for the state to borrow money from was the church, further increasing its political power and allowing it to further regress social change.
The nobility had always taken an attitude that leisure was the goal of the wealthy, and that work was demeaning to people of their station. The nobility also enjoyed tax exemption, allowing them to amass vast wealth and do very little of use with it. The lower classes, who were actually driving the nations economy, were burdened more and more with unfair taxation.
Weak kings, intimidated by the church and manipulated by selfish nobles (and in some cases suffering the ill effects of generational inbreeding) could do little to solve these troubles, generally just minting more coins to pay their debts and adding to mass inflation that rendered currency worthless.
The monarchy was not entirely ineffectual though. Prince Petos of the Light (third in line to the throne) was renown outside the Rotetra Kingdom and a great thinker and statesman, even as he was hated by both the church and nobility.
He came to realise that, unfortunately, his nation had been so hobbled that its best hope for success was to seek alliance with either the Galdrasai or Levengroust, accepting a junior position to another power.
Ultimately such an alliance would never come to fruition, as a new power was already rising that would change the balance of Harkovast forever.
