Post by Harkovast on Oct 9, 2017 16:17:29 GMT
GOTETRA
(Let me know if you like this or if I forgot anything. I think I got everything but let me know if I messed it up!
And in case anyone doesn't know...Gotetra look like horses.)
Culture
The Gotetra rule a powerful empire in the south of Jaydia.
They are both extremely pious in their religious faith but also highly inventive and creative.
Their society thrived in the past by being open and inclusive, allowing other races to live under their ruler ship, such as the Shulway, Brorg-Dao and most noticeably the Anzlov.
In recent times though, hardship has come upon the empire (mainly due to incompetent and corrupt leaders.)
This has caused the Gotetra to become inward looking, suspicious of new things and outsiders and trying to recapture past ages rather than striving to build new ones.
The Gotetra Society is based around several large cities, the capital Costalinos being the largest by far, surrounded by small villages and farm land.
Gotetra society is complex and ordered, though in recent times the laws and rules have been applied inconsistently and ineffectually, with those in power abusing the laws to suit their own purposes.
The Gotetra believe in loyalty to the state and to authority, viewing their leaders as having divine authority, often in a very literal way. This attitude has been very helpful in the past, as it has helped them organise and complete works on a grand scale. But now it allowed self serving leaders to miss run the Empire and go unquestioned.
In the past the Gotetra Empire was heavily involved in dealing with other powers in Western Jaydia, either through military conflict or trade and commerce, though this too has declined as the Gotetra turn more inward. Interestingly the Gotetra have always had good relations with the Tolpish. The Gotetra helped the Tolpish during their exodus from Vellastrom. The Tolpish maintain an embassy in the Gotetra Empire, their only real foreign relation since the forming of the Knarl Empire.
The Gotetra also have good relations with the Brorg-Dao, who have an ancient alliance pack forged long ago between their rulers. The Brorg-Dao, as a matter of honour, train and organise the body guards of the God Emperor of the Gotetra. These Varangian guards are mainly Gotetra, though thre are often a few Brorg-Dao amongst them, but all of them live as Brorg-Dao, learning their mindset, culture and eventually their magic. Such a drastic training is very tough and involves absolute commitment that few can achieve. However the few that do are some of the most loyal and fierce warriors in Jaydia. Many Varangians undertake pilgrimages to the Brorg-Dao lands to gain deeper understanding of the ways of the southern berserkers. To become a Varangian is not just training to be a warrior but is a complete life style and state of mind which must be adopted absolutely and with complete commitment.
Once mighty armies stand idle, ships wait in harbour and precious resources remain untapped.
Entertainment.
The Gotetra are a serious people, generally focused on work and service.
They have little time for foolishness or tomfoolery. This attitude makes the Golta seem serious and emotionally reserved to outsiders.
The one gathering where they all truly enjoy themselves is during their religious ceremonies, which can be wild indeed.
Gotetra are naturally creative, but tend to focus that creativity on practical rather than artistic undertakings. In the past the Empire flourished with small workshops where Gotetra would tinker, create and perfect their designs. Unfortunately this has come under suspicion in recent times, as new ideas are more and more mistrusted and feared. Though this subculture still exists, as it is a natural inclination for many Gotetra, but is now done in secret behind closed doors to avoid public scorn.
Previously outside communities living under the Empire would provide a lot of colour and a taste of the exotic with their own celebrations, but these are also now viewed as suspect and discouraged.
Government
The head of Gotetra Empire is the God Emperor, a hereditary ruler who holds absolute power. The God Emperor is viewed as a living God in a very real sense, not just someone favoured by a higher power but a higher power in their own right, meaning their authority is both material and spiritual and beyond question.
Below the God Emperor the administration of the Empire is performed by Exarches, hereditary lords who hold great power. Traditionally Exarches vie amongst themselves for power, hoping to gain closer access to the God Emperor, securing larger areas of territory within the Empire under their rule and hoping to secure the most prestigious positions, such as administrating over the capital.
In their eagerness to hold and centralise power, the ruling class has become increasingly distant from the population and has suffered from generational inbreeding. The desire for person power has become more important than serving their Empire. A string of weak God Emperors have proved unable to improve the situation, being manipulated and isolated by wiley Exarches.
The various Gotetra churches don't hold official power but have great wealth and influence that they use to influence policy to their own advantage, at the expense of their rivals.
The Anzlov living under the Empire have their own warlords and tribal chiefs that take care of their internal affairs. Anzlov are well known amongst Gotetra for being able to quote specific laws about what the rights of their community are (much to many Gotetra's irritation.) The Anzlov do not respect much of the Gotetra government, considering Exarchs to be largely corrupt and to have no business telling Anzlov what to do. However, the Anzlov swear sacred oaths of loyalty to the God Emperor, who they see as their protector and one to whom they can appeal any injustice.
The Varangian Guards also hold a great deal of political power, deciding who has access to the Emperor and having great influence over him. It is not unknown for Varangian captains to become extremely powerful political figures behind the scenes. The Varangians also have little or no respect for the Exarches, as they answer only to the God Emperor.
Enforced correctly, the Gotetra have a sophisticated and well considered system of laws and rules, with the God Emperor acting as a figure head that can unite the elements of the Empire together, but this potential is currently not being realised.
Magic
The Gotetra magical elements are thunder and technology.
Some of their most elite warriors are about to harness thunder magic to create shock waves of force when their blows strike, hurling back opponents.
The most common application of their magic though, is in invention and creation of strange devices using their technomancy.
Many of these creations are truly bizarre and ingenious devices, often fuelled by technomancy. Many of them cannot be worked by other Gotetra aside from their inventors, let along by anyone not versed in technomancy.
The mad genius of Gotetra tinkerers and inventers has lead on to some creations that have more universal applications, most obviously in enhancing their military capacities with some remarkable weapons.
The Varangians guards are an exception who use the magic of the Brorg-Dao.
Military
Each Exarch is expected to maintain a force of trained soldiers, that can be expanded by conscripting more of the male population in times of need. These soldiers use large oval shields and spears as their standard armament, with bows and crossbows for ranged combat.
As each Exarch maintains their own force of men, they quality of them has become quite varied as many have neglected their duties, leaving their troops poorly trained, poorly equipped or corrupt. There are some forces where soldiers have sold their armour and shields to supplement unpaid wages.
Some Exarchs still properly maintain their military commitments and can deploy well equipped effective forces.
These infantry are supported by Cataphracts, noble born suss riders who represent the best of the Gotetra military. Dressed in matching scale armour on their bodies and mounts they ride into battle with lances, shields and maces for close combat. They also carry bows to allow them to harass enemies at range, mounted archers being considered a primary weapon of war in Jaydia. Cataphacts view themselves as a military elite, proud of their warrior traditions and a cut above other military elements. For young nobles who don't have an important political position, training for war is their only responsibility, and they embrace it will relish. Cataphract's are known for their intense rivalry with the Varangians, as the Cataphracts resent a rival military group, especially one that treats them with such dismissive contempt.
The Varangians primary purpose is as bodyguards for the God Emperor, but formations are sometimes deployed in times of great need. These provide ferocious, elite infantry, fighting with their mighty long handled axes to inflict horrendous damage.
In addition, the Gotetra armies are supported by weapons teams equipped with strange, esoteric weaponry, such a lighting cannons, harpoon launchers, bomb launchers or for close combat various saws, drills and electrified prods, or a whole range of other bizarre but deadly devices. The most common weapons used are flame throwers, firing out burning liquid "gotetra fire". This substance is not magical in nature, so the Gotetra are always careful to guard the secrets of its creation in case another nation copied it and used it against its inventors. It is illegal for the secrets of the weapons construction, operation and the various stages of creating the fuel to be memorised by more than one Gotetra, so no single individual will sell the details to another nation. Weapon teams are commons two individuals, dressed in heavy leather leather overalls, hoods and goggles to protect them from any misfire of their weapons.
These teams can provide powerful support to Gotetra infantry formations at key moments.
In addition, the Gotetra have extremely powerful atrillery in the form of lighting cannons. These massive weapons hurl huge bolts of electrical energy over great distances cause explosions where they strike. These weapons are even more powerful (if less accurate) then Golta artillery.
These Gotetra forces are supplemented with Anzlov light cavalry, acting as scouts and harassing enemy forces of with deadly composite bows.
The Gotetra military has been neglected and mismanaged but remains a powerful force to be reckoned with.
Religion
Religion is extremely important to the Gotetra and forms a central part of their lives. The Gotetra are very evangelical about their religion, keen to tell others about it and promote them to join, even members of other races.
The Gotetra pantheon is vast and ever expanding.
They worship the gods of Shaldemos, as well as several Brorg-Dao and Tendu gods, in addition to two vengeful, monstrous gods called Dac and Vek.
They also worship all of their previous God Emperors as ascended deities, mostly worshipping them as a collective group though some especially well known and popular Emperors are singled out for special worship.
Gotetra see no problem with adding new gods to their pantheon, adopted those of other peoples that they find appealing.
There is even a small sect worshipping The All Mother of the Zadakine, much to the confusion of the Zadakine!
They do not have a single religious authority, but a serious of separate churches who compete for followers with each other. The churches are dedicated to different gods, or different interpretations of how to worship the same gods, and rivalries with them can be intense.
Sometimes members of different churches engage in violence against each other in street fights and other physical attacks.
As the central authority of the government has weakened, the feuding of the churches has become more open, with some of the bigger churches using their vast wealth to form small private militaries to enforce their agendas.
Gotetra religious ceremonies are in stark contrast to their normally reserved behaviour.
Their temples have circular central chambers where the audience is in a semi circle of seats going upwards in all directions around a central podium where a preacher delivers a sermon. The preachers are protected by metal cages as their firey speeches drive the Gotetra audience into a wild frenzy of religious fervour. The crowd will hurl money towards the centre of the chamber, or place it in collectors on poles carried by church employees (dressed in heavy leather armour to protect them from these projectiles. The audience become wild and berserk, convulsing, speaking in tongues, dancing on their seats and working themselves into a berserk state.
This can be quite frightening and even dangerous to outsiders who wander into a ceremony in progress. This is only made worse when the ceremonies reach their peak, where the frenzied state becomes so high that electromantic energy fires from their bodies, arcing into brass tubing running through the building the directs the energy upwards. This sends great blasts of lightning up into the air, creating a dazzling display, especially at night.
In recent times, as the state has become ineffectual, corruption has also spread into the churches, causing them to expand their wealth constantly and build their own power at the expense of the people. With their greed and infighting, many of the most powerful churches are now a force that is weakening Gotetra society rather than bringing it together.
Social Issues
Gotetra society is very patriarchal, with men all political power and woman being very restricted in what roles they can undertake. The government, clergy and military are exclusively male.
Gotetra have very conservative views on sex, which is only to happen between married couples (though many in power use their wealth and influence to flaunt these rules in secret.)
The Gotetra view all homosexual conduct to be highly immoral.
The Gotetra Empire practices slavery, mostly in agriculture but also as servants in wealthy house holds. They purchase captives from the Brorg-Dao as well as trading them with other nations, such as the Tendu. The majority of their slaves, however, are other Gotetra, often those who are poor and are forced into slavery as the only escape from debt or poverty.
The Gotetra have no objection to hald castes, and they are usually treated well, though they may be restricted in some ways (if you don't have electromancy Gotetra religious ceremonies can be pretty dangerous!) This is hold over from times when the empire was more open and enlightened.
The Gotetra Empire has suffered a long period of decline, coming to a head in a brief civil war.
A new God Empress, the first woman to hold the throne, has now taken power and has begun ruthlessly purging corrupt Exarches, church leaders and Anzlov chiefs. She has also begin moving the Empire to be more open again, looking outward to the world rather than trying to hide form it.Her efforts to restore law, order and prosperity have given the Gotetra new hope for a brighter future.
(Let me know if you like this or if I forgot anything. I think I got everything but let me know if I messed it up!
And in case anyone doesn't know...Gotetra look like horses.)
Culture
The Gotetra rule a powerful empire in the south of Jaydia.
They are both extremely pious in their religious faith but also highly inventive and creative.
Their society thrived in the past by being open and inclusive, allowing other races to live under their ruler ship, such as the Shulway, Brorg-Dao and most noticeably the Anzlov.
In recent times though, hardship has come upon the empire (mainly due to incompetent and corrupt leaders.)
This has caused the Gotetra to become inward looking, suspicious of new things and outsiders and trying to recapture past ages rather than striving to build new ones.
The Gotetra Society is based around several large cities, the capital Costalinos being the largest by far, surrounded by small villages and farm land.
Gotetra society is complex and ordered, though in recent times the laws and rules have been applied inconsistently and ineffectually, with those in power abusing the laws to suit their own purposes.
The Gotetra believe in loyalty to the state and to authority, viewing their leaders as having divine authority, often in a very literal way. This attitude has been very helpful in the past, as it has helped them organise and complete works on a grand scale. But now it allowed self serving leaders to miss run the Empire and go unquestioned.
In the past the Gotetra Empire was heavily involved in dealing with other powers in Western Jaydia, either through military conflict or trade and commerce, though this too has declined as the Gotetra turn more inward. Interestingly the Gotetra have always had good relations with the Tolpish. The Gotetra helped the Tolpish during their exodus from Vellastrom. The Tolpish maintain an embassy in the Gotetra Empire, their only real foreign relation since the forming of the Knarl Empire.
The Gotetra also have good relations with the Brorg-Dao, who have an ancient alliance pack forged long ago between their rulers. The Brorg-Dao, as a matter of honour, train and organise the body guards of the God Emperor of the Gotetra. These Varangian guards are mainly Gotetra, though thre are often a few Brorg-Dao amongst them, but all of them live as Brorg-Dao, learning their mindset, culture and eventually their magic. Such a drastic training is very tough and involves absolute commitment that few can achieve. However the few that do are some of the most loyal and fierce warriors in Jaydia. Many Varangians undertake pilgrimages to the Brorg-Dao lands to gain deeper understanding of the ways of the southern berserkers. To become a Varangian is not just training to be a warrior but is a complete life style and state of mind which must be adopted absolutely and with complete commitment.
Once mighty armies stand idle, ships wait in harbour and precious resources remain untapped.
Entertainment.
The Gotetra are a serious people, generally focused on work and service.
They have little time for foolishness or tomfoolery. This attitude makes the Golta seem serious and emotionally reserved to outsiders.
The one gathering where they all truly enjoy themselves is during their religious ceremonies, which can be wild indeed.
Gotetra are naturally creative, but tend to focus that creativity on practical rather than artistic undertakings. In the past the Empire flourished with small workshops where Gotetra would tinker, create and perfect their designs. Unfortunately this has come under suspicion in recent times, as new ideas are more and more mistrusted and feared. Though this subculture still exists, as it is a natural inclination for many Gotetra, but is now done in secret behind closed doors to avoid public scorn.
Previously outside communities living under the Empire would provide a lot of colour and a taste of the exotic with their own celebrations, but these are also now viewed as suspect and discouraged.
Government
The head of Gotetra Empire is the God Emperor, a hereditary ruler who holds absolute power. The God Emperor is viewed as a living God in a very real sense, not just someone favoured by a higher power but a higher power in their own right, meaning their authority is both material and spiritual and beyond question.
Below the God Emperor the administration of the Empire is performed by Exarches, hereditary lords who hold great power. Traditionally Exarches vie amongst themselves for power, hoping to gain closer access to the God Emperor, securing larger areas of territory within the Empire under their rule and hoping to secure the most prestigious positions, such as administrating over the capital.
In their eagerness to hold and centralise power, the ruling class has become increasingly distant from the population and has suffered from generational inbreeding. The desire for person power has become more important than serving their Empire. A string of weak God Emperors have proved unable to improve the situation, being manipulated and isolated by wiley Exarches.
The various Gotetra churches don't hold official power but have great wealth and influence that they use to influence policy to their own advantage, at the expense of their rivals.
The Anzlov living under the Empire have their own warlords and tribal chiefs that take care of their internal affairs. Anzlov are well known amongst Gotetra for being able to quote specific laws about what the rights of their community are (much to many Gotetra's irritation.) The Anzlov do not respect much of the Gotetra government, considering Exarchs to be largely corrupt and to have no business telling Anzlov what to do. However, the Anzlov swear sacred oaths of loyalty to the God Emperor, who they see as their protector and one to whom they can appeal any injustice.
The Varangian Guards also hold a great deal of political power, deciding who has access to the Emperor and having great influence over him. It is not unknown for Varangian captains to become extremely powerful political figures behind the scenes. The Varangians also have little or no respect for the Exarches, as they answer only to the God Emperor.
Enforced correctly, the Gotetra have a sophisticated and well considered system of laws and rules, with the God Emperor acting as a figure head that can unite the elements of the Empire together, but this potential is currently not being realised.
Magic
The Gotetra magical elements are thunder and technology.
Some of their most elite warriors are about to harness thunder magic to create shock waves of force when their blows strike, hurling back opponents.
The most common application of their magic though, is in invention and creation of strange devices using their technomancy.
Many of these creations are truly bizarre and ingenious devices, often fuelled by technomancy. Many of them cannot be worked by other Gotetra aside from their inventors, let along by anyone not versed in technomancy.
The mad genius of Gotetra tinkerers and inventers has lead on to some creations that have more universal applications, most obviously in enhancing their military capacities with some remarkable weapons.
The Varangians guards are an exception who use the magic of the Brorg-Dao.
Military
Each Exarch is expected to maintain a force of trained soldiers, that can be expanded by conscripting more of the male population in times of need. These soldiers use large oval shields and spears as their standard armament, with bows and crossbows for ranged combat.
As each Exarch maintains their own force of men, they quality of them has become quite varied as many have neglected their duties, leaving their troops poorly trained, poorly equipped or corrupt. There are some forces where soldiers have sold their armour and shields to supplement unpaid wages.
Some Exarchs still properly maintain their military commitments and can deploy well equipped effective forces.
These infantry are supported by Cataphracts, noble born suss riders who represent the best of the Gotetra military. Dressed in matching scale armour on their bodies and mounts they ride into battle with lances, shields and maces for close combat. They also carry bows to allow them to harass enemies at range, mounted archers being considered a primary weapon of war in Jaydia. Cataphacts view themselves as a military elite, proud of their warrior traditions and a cut above other military elements. For young nobles who don't have an important political position, training for war is their only responsibility, and they embrace it will relish. Cataphract's are known for their intense rivalry with the Varangians, as the Cataphracts resent a rival military group, especially one that treats them with such dismissive contempt.
The Varangians primary purpose is as bodyguards for the God Emperor, but formations are sometimes deployed in times of great need. These provide ferocious, elite infantry, fighting with their mighty long handled axes to inflict horrendous damage.
In addition, the Gotetra armies are supported by weapons teams equipped with strange, esoteric weaponry, such a lighting cannons, harpoon launchers, bomb launchers or for close combat various saws, drills and electrified prods, or a whole range of other bizarre but deadly devices. The most common weapons used are flame throwers, firing out burning liquid "gotetra fire". This substance is not magical in nature, so the Gotetra are always careful to guard the secrets of its creation in case another nation copied it and used it against its inventors. It is illegal for the secrets of the weapons construction, operation and the various stages of creating the fuel to be memorised by more than one Gotetra, so no single individual will sell the details to another nation. Weapon teams are commons two individuals, dressed in heavy leather leather overalls, hoods and goggles to protect them from any misfire of their weapons.
These teams can provide powerful support to Gotetra infantry formations at key moments.
In addition, the Gotetra have extremely powerful atrillery in the form of lighting cannons. These massive weapons hurl huge bolts of electrical energy over great distances cause explosions where they strike. These weapons are even more powerful (if less accurate) then Golta artillery.
These Gotetra forces are supplemented with Anzlov light cavalry, acting as scouts and harassing enemy forces of with deadly composite bows.
The Gotetra military has been neglected and mismanaged but remains a powerful force to be reckoned with.
Religion
Religion is extremely important to the Gotetra and forms a central part of their lives. The Gotetra are very evangelical about their religion, keen to tell others about it and promote them to join, even members of other races.
The Gotetra pantheon is vast and ever expanding.
They worship the gods of Shaldemos, as well as several Brorg-Dao and Tendu gods, in addition to two vengeful, monstrous gods called Dac and Vek.
They also worship all of their previous God Emperors as ascended deities, mostly worshipping them as a collective group though some especially well known and popular Emperors are singled out for special worship.
Gotetra see no problem with adding new gods to their pantheon, adopted those of other peoples that they find appealing.
There is even a small sect worshipping The All Mother of the Zadakine, much to the confusion of the Zadakine!
They do not have a single religious authority, but a serious of separate churches who compete for followers with each other. The churches are dedicated to different gods, or different interpretations of how to worship the same gods, and rivalries with them can be intense.
Sometimes members of different churches engage in violence against each other in street fights and other physical attacks.
As the central authority of the government has weakened, the feuding of the churches has become more open, with some of the bigger churches using their vast wealth to form small private militaries to enforce their agendas.
Gotetra religious ceremonies are in stark contrast to their normally reserved behaviour.
Their temples have circular central chambers where the audience is in a semi circle of seats going upwards in all directions around a central podium where a preacher delivers a sermon. The preachers are protected by metal cages as their firey speeches drive the Gotetra audience into a wild frenzy of religious fervour. The crowd will hurl money towards the centre of the chamber, or place it in collectors on poles carried by church employees (dressed in heavy leather armour to protect them from these projectiles. The audience become wild and berserk, convulsing, speaking in tongues, dancing on their seats and working themselves into a berserk state.
This can be quite frightening and even dangerous to outsiders who wander into a ceremony in progress. This is only made worse when the ceremonies reach their peak, where the frenzied state becomes so high that electromantic energy fires from their bodies, arcing into brass tubing running through the building the directs the energy upwards. This sends great blasts of lightning up into the air, creating a dazzling display, especially at night.
In recent times, as the state has become ineffectual, corruption has also spread into the churches, causing them to expand their wealth constantly and build their own power at the expense of the people. With their greed and infighting, many of the most powerful churches are now a force that is weakening Gotetra society rather than bringing it together.
Social Issues
Gotetra society is very patriarchal, with men all political power and woman being very restricted in what roles they can undertake. The government, clergy and military are exclusively male.
Gotetra have very conservative views on sex, which is only to happen between married couples (though many in power use their wealth and influence to flaunt these rules in secret.)
The Gotetra view all homosexual conduct to be highly immoral.
The Gotetra Empire practices slavery, mostly in agriculture but also as servants in wealthy house holds. They purchase captives from the Brorg-Dao as well as trading them with other nations, such as the Tendu. The majority of their slaves, however, are other Gotetra, often those who are poor and are forced into slavery as the only escape from debt or poverty.
The Gotetra have no objection to hald castes, and they are usually treated well, though they may be restricted in some ways (if you don't have electromancy Gotetra religious ceremonies can be pretty dangerous!) This is hold over from times when the empire was more open and enlightened.
The Gotetra Empire has suffered a long period of decline, coming to a head in a brief civil war.
A new God Empress, the first woman to hold the throne, has now taken power and has begun ruthlessly purging corrupt Exarches, church leaders and Anzlov chiefs. She has also begin moving the Empire to be more open again, looking outward to the world rather than trying to hide form it.Her efforts to restore law, order and prosperity have given the Gotetra new hope for a brighter future.
