Arfacsad

Arfacsad is one of the six continents. It was the fifth to be populated.

## Geography

The five Cliffs that make up Arfaxad may seem small on the map, but they have a highly-varied ecosystem with ample bio-diversity. The entire circumference of each island (as well much of the Mekthnel shoreline) is composed of enormous white cliffs, made of chalk, alabaster, and silver ore. The sight of the cliffs is such an awesome sight to behold that they’re never referred to as “islands” but rather as Cliffs. Anyone who calls Corus an “island” would garner ridicule.

The Cliffs are very high-altitude. They have ice-capped mountains, that melt into grassy river-valleys, and spill down ravines of chalk. The white chalk bluffs and the cloudless cyan sky have become Arfaxad’s national colours.

Before the Event, the Cliffs were far larger. Huge portions of the Cliffs crumbled into the sea with the Event, and even now on the map you can see how each Cliff seems to be missing pieces. Only the smallest Cliff, the one called Soren, suffered minimal damage from the Event.

But despite the damage of the Event, there have always been five Cliffs, their white walls rising sheer of the blue ocean; their high plateaus reaching up to great heights kissing the cyan sky. The glaciers from these high plateaus melt, creating rivulets falling off the sides of the Cliffs into the ocean, creating enormous gushing waterfalls in the summers. These waterfalls run right through the Dins themselves, and the capital city Din Forstain is built around one such waterfall.

The Five Cliffs:

* Soren
	+ Capital city: Din Fastil, the city of Goats
	+ Accent: Isle of Man
	+ Known for: goatherds, wool, cotton, farmers, hot springs, the Falcos, the Old Capital.
	+ Maya: Dominobestia
* Vreyus
	+ Capital city: Din Serifos, the city of Rain
	+ Accent: Scottish
	+ Known for: Commerce capital, known for producing vibrant dyes, the best craftsmen, tailors, smiths, glassblowers.
	+ Maya: Telecogladios
* Teltic
	+ Capital city: Din Carathel, the city of Hibiscus
	+ Accent: Irish
	+ Known for: being religious. Home to the first and largest Tor of the Fifth Way, hidden atop Mount Felinial. Also have vast vineyards where the best wine is made.
	+ Maya: Somniomedicos

* Parus
	+ Capital city: Din Barcsel, the city of Gardens
	+ Accent: Welsh
	+ Known for: Being the self-proclaimed cultural capital of the world. The most theaters per capita, the largest Academy in the world, and the famous Tower Gardens.
	+ Maya: Belatiosonias

* Corus
	+ Capital city: Din Forstain, the city of Bells
	+ Accent: English
	+ Known for: being the political and military capital, having the biggest arena in the world.
	+ Maya: Auguroparsonen

There are raised waterways within the capital cities allowing boats to travel through the sky between the towers of each city, but there’s also a massive waterway high above the ocean connecting the five Cliffs called as the Great River.

There are some Cyclades at the water’s edge where the peasants and paupers dwell, but fishermen and sailors also use these shanty towns to dock. Their powerful navy use their own docks which are reserved exclusively for military purposes.

## Climate

The Cliffs see four seasons. Soren, the northernmost Cliff, sees more snow than anywhere else, but even the southernmost points of Corus will have a few weeks of snowfall every year. They see tons of rain, all year long, especially Teltic.

## Resources

The Cliffs have an abundance of three things: chalk, alabaster, and silver. So much so, that these three materials are not very expensive. But they can be traded to other nations for an extremely high price, since the Maratim empire has very little silver, almost no alabaster, and zero chalk. Arfaxadi chalk boards are made from pale blue slate stone.

Glass. Arfaxad have the best glassblowers in the world. They mix trace amounts of secret chemicals into the glass while hot to create a foggy and translucent effect, called Tumbled glass. There are tumbled glass varieties of nearly everything: dishware, cutlery, chop sticks, windows, even currency (the very rare denomination of Glass Graph).

Porcelain. Painted dishware white with thin cyan lines that make intricate designs vaguely inspired by the Nihauli food art. Pewter dishes are usually reserved for candletrays, candelabra, and saltbowls. The people of the Cliffs are really into salt, the same way the Europeans were crazy for sugar. The Arfaxadi add spoonfuls of salt to nearly anything, but they produce none of the salt themselves.

Their goats can be sheared for Wool, while the tailors of Soren harvest cotton for cheaper clothing. The most expensive material is silk, which is only made in t’Ro isles of mia’Nihaul, where the silk worms are plentiful.

Lemon. They lander with citrus water, and make perfumes with it. They would never think of eating lemon, the idea disgusts them. Every now and then a sailor will squeeze some lemon into a glass of water to avoid scurvy, but the culinary possibilities of citrus have evaded them entirely.

## Flora

Grass! Their most common trees are cypress, cedars, styracs, and willows. Plentiful plants are: cossary, calathea, corydalis, paliocus, poppies, tulip, cornelia, carnations, daffodil, mallow, purslane, sesame. Popular crops are: eggplant, cucumber, sea onion, bell peppers, barley, cabbage, coriander, grapes, raisins, peas, and almonds.

## Fauna

The wooly Goat, the aquatic Calamanders, the house Cat, the Cattle, the Ram, the Eagle-like Alastu, and the Falco. Not to mention the hundred breeds of fish and crustaceans!

## People

The societies of the five Cliffs began separately by Nihauli emigrés in ancient history. Although the five Cliffs breed different people, they are collectively referred to as the Urobír by the Arfaxadi eugenicists, who have categorized all the peoples of the world into such categories. The rest of the Commonwealth refer to them playfully as Cliffmen.

They are a social crowd. They value honest and confident speech. They are highly rational, and most of them reject superstition and religion outright. They are fiercely patriotic, loyal, and abjure lies. They have a great respect for literature and history, and adore tales of heroism. Din Forstain is famous throughout the world for its enormous cliff-facing arena called the Colos, where they re-enact historical battles from their early history. Before the Commonwealth, the actors actually fought to the death. Nowadays, the Colos is used most often for public debates.

The Arfaxadi see themselves as the guardians of world culture, although they have an immense respect for the literary culture of the Nihauli. And although the Dins are busy cosmopolitan hubs of human activity, especially the capital city of Din Forstain, the people of Arfaxad are culturally fascinated with the outdoors, and take frequent vacations outside of the city to dwell within nature.

## History

Silver Age. The five Cliffs were populated in 155 AF, and the five kingdoms were erected shortly thereafter. They soon invented the forge and cast their silver weapons and began warring among each other in the year 555 AF. Most battles were fought at sea, where their longships lassoed each other’s mainmasts with silver chains. Countless tales of heroism emerge from this period, including legends of the Maya warriors of the Fifth Way. In time, each Cliff developed their own version of the Fifth Way, and contributed their magics to the military of their kingdom. In the year in 690 AF, the Cliffs arrive on the shores of mia’Nihaul, not as an invading army, but as five individual kingdoms seeking trade with the Nihauli. They converted the Snake into a trading port, and a No-man’s land in the Cliff’s ongoing war. In the following years, the Cliffs establish a small colonial presence in the north of mia’Nihaul. At the end of the Silver age, a Maya named Pelarum Nocturn deSoren, discovered how to train the Falcos to obey his will using the Prima Lingua. He showed the army of the Soren kingdom how to use the Falcos to destroy the sails of their enemy’s ships, and Soren quickly conquers the other four Cliffs. Their victory is swift and absolute. The king of Soren, who had no male heirs, ended the monarchy, naming himself Caesura, and uniting the five Cliffs into a political entity called the Soral Republic in 1105 AF.

Bronze Age. The Soral Republic reigned for centuries, and the Maya of the Fifth Way were afforded great privileges in their society, much to the chagrin of the common citizen. The Senate of the Republic was almost exclusively populated by Maya, and vast taxes were collected to build their mighty Tors. The Silver Age truly comes to an end with the life of a young man named Pithos Restutos deVrayus, who was in the process of being trained as a Auguroparsen on Corus when he suddenly quit the Tor. Different tales account for why Pithos quit his training: some say he was abused by his elders, others tell a story where his elder refused to listen to Pithos, while making simple mathematical mistakes. Pithos refused to call himself an Auguroparsen, which means “one who knows.” He called himself instead a Philosopher, “one who seeks to know.” As the first Philosopher, his impact was immense, not only in the Cliffs, but in mia’Nihaul and Mekthnel. He espouses a view that rationalism is in conflict with mysticism, and only rationalism is open to new information. Only rationalism can critique itself and evolve. The name Pithos became synonymous with materialist-rationalism against the Maya mysticism.

Pithos’ ideas gave credence to a budding anti-Maya political sentiment, to whom he was a hero. The Caesura of the Soral Republic was deeply concerned that Pithos might become a major political threat, and so they captured him, and executed him publically in the Colos in Din Forstain, in the year 1613 AF. The Soral Republic unintentionally made a martyr out of Pithos. The lower Cliffs wanted to leave the Republic, especially the secular Corus where Pithos was killed, and the hard-headed Vreyus where Pithos was born. After a few scattered riots, a full-scale war of secession broke out in 1783 AF, called the Long Debate. Those who supported the dominance of the Soral Republic were called Cavalos, and those who supported secession were called the Isolos. In the year 1790 AF, the Isolos invaded Soren, killed the Caesura, and the Soral Republic fell. The Cliffs were once again divided, not into five Kingdoms now, but into five Dukedoms. They officially abandoned their settlements in mia’Nihaul.

However, by the time the Long Debate began, the Cliffs were largely dependent on trade from Mekthnel via the Freckles, and mia’Nihaul via the Snake. The Cliffs were using Bronze weapons from ye(Salem at this point, this the name Bronze age, and bought most of their food from their neighbors by selling their silver to Mekthnel, their alabaster to mia’Nihaul, and their chalk to ye(Salem. When the Soral Republic fell, there was no central organization or regulation of trade, and thus the prices for these materials plummeted, and the Cliffs competed with each other for the lowest prices. As a result, the Cliffs did not acquire enough food, and when their own meagre crops failed in 2145 AF, the First Great Famine took place and many Cliffmen died. Two years later, in 2147, the Cliffs created the Merchant’s Guild, which ensured the five Cliffs co-operated to regulate prices and coordinate trading strategies, so that a Great Famine never happened again. In the years that followed, the Merchant’s Guild became more powerful than any of the individual Cliffs, even creating its own private navy.

Steel Age. In the centuries that followed, the Merchant’s Guild secured vast wealth for the Cliffs. But their most valuable acquisitions were: Demasque Steel from mia’Nihaul, and the Lektha, the white-wolves from Mekthnel. Both of these acquisitions would transform warfare in the Cliffs, but it would be a long time before the Cliffs would see war again.

In the late 2900s AF, the s’Olquis dynasty comes to power in eastern mia’Nihaul. After s’Olquis the Third had his sexual advances rejected by an Arfaxadi woman in 3047 AF, he ejected all Arfaxadi traders from the Sands. The lack of trade from mia’Nihaul resulted in the Second Great Famine. While thousands were dying of hunger, the Merchant Guild helped the five Dukes of the Cliffs unite as one nation called the United Arfaxad Commonwealth, led by an Arcon who was chosen by the Merchant’s Guild. The Commonwealth waged a short war against s’Olquis. The dominobestia used the Lektha, the white wolf of the north, to quell the a’Qashtet of s’Olquis’ army, while the infantry were armed with the highly prized Demasque Steel. Arfaxad won easily, dethroned S’Olquis, and re-established the Snake as a trading port. The Commonwealth would remain in power for thousands of years, up until the present day, and functioned with a Manorial system (feudalism) which was intended to maximize their production of food.

An early Arcon by the name of Salios Sorstem deCorus constructed the Great River; a high-altitude water-road that connected the five Cliffs over the ocean. It was an enormous feat of engineering, and a massive success, and Sorstem dreamed of spreading the Great River all across the world.

Although the Manorial System “worked”, and the Cliffs were more affluent than ever, it became clear that they would never be self-sufficient for food: there simply was not enough landmass for their swelling population. They would be forced to trade silver for food forever, and yet their silver stores would not last forever! But after their easy victory against s’Olquis in the Sands, the Commonwealth realized they could easily conquer anywhere they wanted. Around this time, in the year 3860 AF, Maratim ambassadors invite Arfaxad’s Upper Volume to join them in the Mirror Conference, wherein the two superpowers divvied up the continents of the world evenly between them, so they may each expand without direct conflict with each other. There was much debate over who would control mia’Nihaul, but eventually Arfaxad accepted the Snake as a trading port in exchange for the rest of the continent, which would belong to Maratar. And thus, the colonial period began.

Age of Acquisition. The Commonwealth first invaded Mekthnel, or as they put it, “acquired” Mekthnel. The continent was fully incorporated into the Commonwealth in the year 3880 AF, after numerous hard-won battles against the Snolakthïr, the Maya of the Sixth Way, who composed the vast majority of the entire native population of Mekthnel. The Commonwealth greatly underestimated their martial abilities, and thus the war was hard-won, and the Commonwealth committed an absolute genocide of the native Mekthneli. Precious few survived.

In the year 3917 AF, the Commonwealth “acquired” Golgóssa. Armed with additional Lektha acquired in Mekthenl, the war against the Windbearers of the Forest was quickly won. Rather than committing a genocide against the Golgóssan population, the Commonwealth decided to put them to work on their Manors, thus “ensurfing” them. The native Woodkin remained surfs for thousands of years, until serfdom was abolished in 1785 AE. However, the Forest had no organized agriculture at that point, so Arfaxad began felling massive numbers of trees to make room for their new farmland surrounding the Manors.

The Commonwealth spanned half the earth by the year 4002 AF, and now Arfaxad regarded the other empire with leery eyes.

The Event. In the year 4196 AF, two assassins who were trying to infiltrate the Arcon’s court were apprehended in Corus, and publically executed in Din Forstain. This inspired the Commonwealth to invade Maratim waters, and just as the two empires were going to war, the immortals appeared in the sky over them. The First immortal, Zarex, summoned meteors that destroyed both the Maratim and the Arfaxadi ships, and made the white Cliffs crumble away. Thousands of people died, falling into the sea, and the capital cities of Arfaxad were greatly damaged. Immediately after the war, the two empires met to establish truce. Both empires agreed that in order to have a truce, both empires must eradicate all the indigenous Maya in their lands, and thus began the Taboo of the Maya.

The Common Era. Immediately after the Event, Arfaxad told the Maya of the Fifth Way that their ways would be abolished. The Benlogo, the highest-ranking Maya of the Tor on Teltic, refused to accept the Taboo and attempted to murder the Arcon, Cyrus Carpucs deTeltic. However, the Benlogo failed, and was murdered by the Arcon’s general, Ermion deTeltic, who was actually the Fifth immortal, Athos, in disguise. After the Benlogos attempted to murder the Arcon, all Maya were considered terrorists and enemies of the people of the Commonwealth. They were executed wherever they were found. During this time, adventurers and buccaneers of Golgóssa set out to eradicate the last Maya in the Forest. Their adventures were called the Feral Hunt, and this would become the greatest fodder for Arfaxad’s bards weaving yarns of heroism. But the bards soon had new competition. In the year 333 AE, the printing press was invented by a Golgóssan inventor inspired by the beadsheets of the native Woodkin. The printing press transformed Arfaxadi culture overnight, from a largely oral-storytelling culture, to a society drowning in typed texts. The Journals, as they were called, traveled wide. They were freely distributed, funded by the taxes collected by the Dukes, who believed the Journals would help unite the vast Commonwealth, divided across three continents. The Journals were initially divided into two categories: the Editorials, which published essays on Progress, and the Fantasticals, consisting of sensationalized tales from the Feral Hunt. By the year 444 AE, the Windbearers vanish. The Feral Hunt slows to a stop, and all Windbearers are believed to have been killed. By the year 600 AE most citizens of the Commonwealth believe that the Windbearers are nothing more than bard’s tales.

This ushered in an era of invention. In the year 680 AE, a Golgóssan inventor discovered the firedust (a combination of petroleum and gunpowder). However, the firedust required an extremely rare mineral to create, which was only found in the mountains of the Shelf Pass in Golgóssa. Thus, a widescale mining operation began in the Forest, which involved the blasting away of the ancient redpines, and the unearthing of the mountains. This deeply angered the surviving Windbearers, who until this moment were tucked away hiding in their caves. In 682 AE, the Windbearers came out of hiding and began a highly-coordinated campaign of eco-terrorist attacks against these Arfaxadi mining operations, halting their progress.

The Windbearers were very successful in their attacks. Such vast resources are poured into the failed mining project, and the failing Feral Hunt, that in the year 890 AE, Arfaxad entered its third Great Famine. Again, thousands of citizens were dying of hunger, and the Duke of Golgóssa refused to stimulate the Manorial economy. He simply poured more money into the firedust mines, hiring mercenaries from all over the Commonwealth to kill the Windbearers. The Editorials published harsh critiques of the current Duke of Golgóssa, Brunos Anaken deCorus, and in the year 985 AE, the Dukes five sons died due to the famine. Anaken ended the hereditary right to the Dukedom. The first Votes were held, and soon the mining of firedust was abandoned, and the famine ended.

Although the Windbearers continued their attacks against the mines in the Forest, the Commonwealth grew more concerned with their “Slow War” with the other empire, Maratar. In 1290 AE, Maratim spies are captured in Arfaxad. In 1300 AE, war breaks out on Tellarnath when Maratar attempts and fails to capture it. In 1350, Maratar closes the Snake to Arfaxad traders. The Commonwealth goes to war, attempting to re-take the Snake, but fail. Extremely minimal trade between the two empires follows this period, making silk absurdly expensive for Arfaxad, and chalk absurdly expensive for Maratar.

In the 1400s AF, Arfaxad’s ships begin sinking in an area of the south sea. Superstitious sailers tells tales of the Orixiro whirlpools, or the island-sized seaworms, but the common consensus is that Maratar is sinking Arfaxad ships. So, the Commonwealth send spies into Maratar via the Snake, returning with unbelievable tales of swords made of light.

In 1416 AE, the first Maratim spies are captured in Mekthnel, which leads to an era of absolute paranoia in Arfaxad politics, a political philosophy known as Devorenism, named after the Arcon at the time, Antonos Devoren deParus. Devoren believed that Maratim spies might had penetrated the political and cultural institutions of the Commonwealth. He begins executing anyone suspected of treason, and he institutes vast censorship of the Journals, who begin publishing absurd reports from Arfaxad spies about the sadistic, zealous, cannibalistic slavers of the Seas.

In 1750 AE, the serfs who farm the salt marshes on Tellarnath rise up and refuse to work. They are put down with force by the Centurions, but this inspires additional protests and strikes across the Commonwealth. The Journals debate the economic and ethical implications of serfdom. In the year 1785, serfdom is officially abolished, and all serfs become peasants, free to roam the Commonwealth. In the following centuries, the Manorial system slowly decays, and the Woodkin are incorporated more and more into Arfaxad culture. By the 1900s, the Manorial system is on its last legs. There’s a surplus of food, and most peasants have moved away from the Manors, and into the villages, choosing to paying taxes and rent in lieu of working the fields. This, combined with new rationalist mentality regarding production, and the slow technological advances made in the sciences, gives way to an early capitalist society with a strictly secular culture. The Merchant’s Guild loans vast sums of money to the Earls of the old Manors, who begin building new factories.

In the early 1900s, a new law originating from Mekthnel forces the courts to invest in education at least half as much they invest in factories. Therefore, a vast number of research grants appear at the Universities. By the mid-1900s, there’s a revival of academic interest pre-colonial Golgóssan culture, by Woodkin and Cliffmen alike. Old Windbearer beadsheets and other artefacts are discovered in hidden caches, and assembled in a national museum in Din Légossa. The Fantasticals begin publishing stories of the Feral Hunt from the Windbearer’s perspective, to great controversy. The Black Simians, an anti-colonial political movement, emerge out of this moment. At first, the Simians hold peaceful protests at the national museum in Din Légossa, but gradually they become a military group with chapters building autonomous settlements in the woods. It’s even rumored that some Black Simians make contact with the last surviving Windbearers and help them organize eco-terrorist attacks.

Against this backdrop, a Cliffman researcher called Carthanon Elias deCorus believes he might have discovered the location of the hidden Windbearers cave. He sets out in 1980 AE on a final Feral Hunt, and hollows out the final cave. Carthanon becomes famous, but the Black Simians are infuriated. They begin their terrorist attacks against the Commonwealth, inciting a conservative civilian militia called the Silvercore to hunt the Simians in the wild. Amid this chaos, in the year 1985 AE, Carthanon Elias deCorus is elected Duke of Golgóssa, and promises to find a peaceful, cultural solution to this division in Golgóssan society.

Notable Names. Pelarum Nocturn deSoren [the first Maya to train the Falcos]. Carthanon Redstar Debasor deSoren [the first Caesura of the Soral Republic]. Salios Sorstem deCorus [the Arcon who started the Great River]. Cirus Ademnos deTeltic [Arcon during Event and Taboo]. Tiberos Yoracsus deCorus [the General who led the invasion of Mekthnel and Golgóssa, was killed by Yerossan at the Cusp Line]. Anton Devoren deParus [Arcon during 1400s, paranoid leader]. Boresin Samosen deCorus [the Duke who abolished serfdom in Golgóssa]. Sumanos Golegos deParus [current Arcon of the Commonwealth, in the late 1900s]. Durabin Macsim Elias deCorus [a famous Feral Hunter, Carth’s grandfather]. Carthanon Macsim Elias deCorus [Current Duke of Golgóssa]. Kira Elias deCorus [Carth’s wife]. Demanin Elias deCorus [Their only daughter, little Demi]. Bacarius Recalion deGossa [Carth’s protégé, and the next Duke after him].

## Politics

Arfaxad’s Commonwealth sees itself as a secular democracy, but it’s functionally an aristocracy. The main titles of power: the Earls, who once ran the manors and now are a combination of landlords and mayors; the Dukes, who are the political sovereigns of each Cliff and colony; and the Arcon, the emperor himself who oversees the entire Commonwealth. These leaders were determined by heritage for centuries, but after the year 985 AE, all three levels of leadership are elected by public Votes. A Vote is an intense event in the Commonwealth. Anyone who wants a say can show up to the rostrum of their village, or the colos of their city, and make their voices heard. Nominees from within the aristocracy engage in intense, long debates that last several days, and end with questions from the common citizens. At the end of the debates, the crowd is asked to cheer for their chosen candidate, and he who garners the most noise is the winner.

Earls, Dukes and Arcons are called “Seats.” They each have their Courts. Earls are charged with hearing the issues plaguing the citizens of their Earldom. The Dukes are charged with hearing the issues plaguing the Earls, and introducing new legislature and amendments to solve these problems. The Arcon is charged with approving the legislature proposed by the Dukes, and ensuring military coordination. A Cabinet are the many roles in a Court. Offices in a Cabinet are:

* Viceroy
	+ the right-hand man to the Seat; a second in command, ready to take the Seat’s place should they die.
* Scribe
	+ a man of letters; a speech writer, researcher, note-taker, confidant, advisor, and sometimes protégé.
* Lictor
	+ a personal bodyguard, is often given a voice in the court. Often the Lictor and the Scribe compete to be the protégé of the Seat.
* Consul
	+ the overseer of the local Centurions, and advisor on issues pertaining to military strategy. Often butts heads with the Umpire, who see their Pandects as superior to the Consul’s Centurions. Caricatured as meat-heads.
* Umpire
	+ the overseer of the Pandects, and the advisor on all judicial affairs, especially new legislation. Often satirized as absurdly proud and frail-bodied.
* Procurator
	+ overseer of the budget and advisor on the economy.
* Censor
	+ overseer of cultural life, especially the Journals; sometimes parodied as a court Jester.
* Courier
	+ a highly-respected position. A courier is more like a diplomat between Courts.
* Senatos (not always present)
	+ an elected representative of a specific place, either a densely-populated place that requires additional representation, or a remote place lacking its own Earl.
* Marquise (not always present)
	+ a representative of places outside the Commonwealth, the Snake in particular.
* Chamberlain
	+ the managers of Court life, organizing meals and events, and also participant in discourse. Often caricatured as the sad Igor figure, groveling at the Seat’s feet.

## Economy

The Merchant’s Guild is older than the Commonwealth. They wield vast power and regulate the open economy. They enforce rules, audit businesses, and police their own guildmembers.

The Manorial system evolved ever slowly, mostly because the surplus that was created by the labourers was spent on indulgences of the aristocracy. With the abolition of serfdom in 1785 AE, the Manorial system is slowly transitioning to capitalism, the Wage system, well into the 1900s. The transition was so extremely slow, because both taxes, rent, and surplus wealth created by the labourers went to the Courts, who spent vast sums of money on public art, research grants, and festivals to guarantee their own re-election.

An Editorialist in the 1800s named Antonios put forward a prescriptive theory of life, drawing from the philosophy Pithos, that claims our purpose as humans is to incrementally improve the world around us. This is achieved through ever-deepening order (the battle against disorder) as well as the ever-increasing rationalization (efficiency of commerce). To that effect, he proposed that surplus money be re-invested into the means of production to create greater yields, rather than spent on the arts, the universities, or squandered on the excesses of the Courts, which returned no financial yields. Antonios’ econo-ethics inspired a turning away from feudal to capitalist economic philosophy.

## Law

The Law of Precedents ensures that any change in the colonies is also enacted in the Cliffs. Slavery has been illegal since the Merchant Guild was first created. Serfdom has existed since the Commonwealth was founded, however. People could be forced into serfdom as punishment for crime, as payment for debts, as prisoners of war, or willingly when no other options were available to them. Serfs must be paid. However, they can be bound to the farmland of a particular Earl. When serfdom was abolished, serfs became peasants, who were poor but free to live in the villages and cities. This mass migration away from the Manors resulted in a whole new relationship to crime.

Arfaxadi law is officially quite draconian, but in practice fairly lax. This leaves room for vast differences in how the law is executed by its individual agents, the Pandects. They report to the Umpire, whereas Centurions, report to the Consul. Pandects are lawyer-cop hybrids, who go about seeking lawbreakers at their own will, with the freedom to pursue any case that interests them. Pandects are deeply distrusted by the Common citizens, mostly because they have the jurisdiction to act above the law themselves. They can always produce the legal citations to justify their actions, and can command as many Centurions as they like to arrest anyone. The only thing they cannot command a Centurion to do is murder. The symbol of their power is their handcuffs, the dandies: single and double varieties are available to them. All citizens are charged with co-operating with the Pandects, which obviously opens the way to vast abuses of power, but Pandects are only given the Silver Badge and their darbies when the local Court decides they have a good character and they demonstrate their knowledge of the law. Pandects mostly deal with village/city life, whereas the Centurions deal with hunting brigands and Black Simians in the wilderness. Drugs are illegal across the Commonwealth, but there is also vast organized crime in the Cliffs that will sell drugs.

## Class

Even in the late 1900s, Arfaxad maintains some elements of feudal society. The Earls still exert significant control over provincial villages, especially in the fringes of Mekthnel and Golgóssa, where family-run businesses have changed precious little. There are still some big estates in the countryside that employ Whispers to till the land. But for the most part, there is mobility within the Volumes. By the 1900s it’s virtually impossible to determine someone’s Volume by their speech, smell, or dress. There was a soft revolution centuries gone, where the Duke of Golgóssa, Brunos Anaken deCorus lost five sons to the famine. His wife killed herself from grief. Before he killed himself, he decided that there should be a public debate to decide his successor. There’s a famous play called the Tragedy of Anaken to commemorate the birth of democracy in the Commonwealth.

Arfaxad’s class system was once extremely rigid, but after the abolition of serfdom, there was greater mobility between the classes, or Volumes as they’re called. The highest Volume were called the Speaking Volume. They included the elite members of the Merchant’s Guild and the Arcon’s coterie. Below them were the Clear Volume. They included manorlords, guildmasters, politicians, generals, and court bards. In the old days, they were clearly distinguished by their scarves tucked into their belts, which now has become the sign of the Silvercore. The next class, the Raised Volume, were landlords, journeymen, Pandects, Centurions, and traveling bards. Flat Volume was the designation for the average citizen, which included innkeepers, apprentices, labourers, peasants, and provincial bards. Low Volume, what are often called Whispers: the treeless, paupers, serfs, drunks, kori addicts, brigands, and worst of all: failed bards. In the 1900s, the terms Speaking Volume, Clear Volume, Raised Volume, Flat Volume, and Whispers, are still used, though without any of the rigor of the Manorial days. Citizens move fluidly between the Volumes, and they are not so segregated.

## Currency

Arfaxad currency is called Speech, or more casually Roe. The lowest denomination are silver Strokes (small silver triangles). 10 Strokes make one Copper Word, a coin with a triangular space that can fit a Stroke. 10 Words are worth one Bronze Phrase, a triangular shaft that can fit 10 Words around it. The far rarer denominations are: Glass Graphs, triangular prisms which can fit around a Bronze Phrase loaded with 10 Copper Words, and lastly, the Chrome Tome, which is a pyramid that can fit a Glass Graph within. Some Upper Volumes put such large currency on display in their home, as they are constructed with extreme artisanal prowess.

    Examples:

* A small sack of minnows sell as low as 1 stroke
* A sack of grain sells for 2 or 3 strokes
* A sack of vegetables for 2 or 3 strokes
* A bundle of noodles sells for 5 strokes
* A fresh codfish might sell for 7 Strokes
* A live-boiled codfish sells for 1 Word
* A night in the inn costs 2 Words, 3rd Word for a meal
* A regular ass belt is worth 1 Words
* A fish-scale leather belt is worth 1 Phrase
* A fancy ass cloak is 2 Phrases
* A fancy ass outfit is 3 Phrases
* A pack-elk might cost 10 Phrases
* Buying a wagon costs several Graphs
* Buying a house costs several Graphs

## Military

Centurions are the military, marked with blue-eyes painted upon pennons and tabards. They have two main branches, one is domestic, and the other is navy. The navy largely guard the coasts of the Commonwealth, but also engage in espionage in Maratar. The domestic Centurions are charged with collecting levies, building bridges, helping Pandects apprehend criminals, and above all reporting any Maya suspicions. Their most common armor are tabards over silver chainmail, but there’s also standard issue leather armor. Plate armor is strictly ceremonial. Most common weapons are silver pikes and silver rapiers. Their crossbowmen use silver bolts. The Centurions don’t have stripes to designate their rank, they have yellow laurels sown onto their tabards.

## Technology

Arfaxad is a highly rational society that celebrates science. There is a yearly science fair in a different city in the Commonwealth, called the Pithian festival. However, their technological progress has been slowed by constant food shortages and the relentless attacks by Windbearers on their mines and laboratories. Although the firedust was invented in 680 AE, it never went into mass production because the mines that produced its materials were a favourite target of the Windbearer’s eco-terrism. Therefore, flintlock rifles and firedust canons exist, but are extremely uncommon.

## Transportation

The most common form of transportation in Arfaxad is by sea. For that reason, most of the Dins are constructed in bays and fjords. Their seafarers are extremely proficient. There’s a significant portion of the population who spend more of their lives on sea than on land. The Great River is an elevated waterway that links the five Cliffs together so one can travel between them by boat, without touching the ocean.

## Communication

Letter-writing is very popular in the Commonwealth. They, like the Journals, are delivered by sea. Before the Event, the Falco couriers would deliver letters rolled up.

## Medicine

Arfaxad has quite a scientific outlook on science, but they lack the rigor of modern medicine. Herbalists are called Pharmacists. In the 1900s, the Pharmacy is beginning to transition from using the herbs themselves, to using liquid extracts. The medicine is always liquid; a tincture of plant extracts is to be dropped into a beverage and consumed quickly, with one common exception. The sap of the styracs tree is mixed with honey and garlic, and then frozen solid, to produce the common Cough Drop. One common tincture is made from the Paliocus plant. The mold that grows around Paliocus seeds cure colds, helps incontinence and constipation, passing bladder stones, and rubbed under the eyes makes one look younger. Many vain women of the Cliffs rub this tincture obsessively on their faces in the hopes to appear younger. This is a highly-sought substance which ONLY grows in the Cliffs. See page 121. http://www.cancerlynx.com/BOOKONEAROMATICS.PDF

## Cuisine

They love their Seafood. They eat with chop sticks (often made from glass) and sometimes spoons. They have lots of bowls with water, like soup, wet egg noodles, ramen, udon, with lots of meat! Spicy peppers are extremely common to add. But even their “dry” food isn’t so dry. Shredded meats are served in wet date sauce and put in powdered buns. Good luck eating a pulled pork sloppy joe while maintaining your decorum. They have vast crops of white olives, which they harvest for their common olive oil. They eat macerated fruits with chopsticks, especially the blood grapes of Teletic, which they use to make red wine. Their street food are fish in boiled alive in olive oil, served on a wooden waif, dripping wet. Common desserts are vanilla wafers, candied almonds, marsipan.

Arfaxad loves their Chai, which was discovered in Mekthnel. Taken hot, with a shoot of Golgóssan sweetstalk standing in the mug, or cold with a sprinkle of silksalt from Tellarnath. Oh, did I mention Arfaxad loves their salt? One of the main justifications for their colonial expeditions was to acquire the salts of Golgóssa. The most common way to consume liquor is to sit around a table with a bottle of Golgóssan, Tecala, or Mektheneli Krakthen, or the Cliff’s own Jin, along with a bottle of tonic, and a bowl of salt, and you mix as you drink.

There is a popular movement that promotes the consumption of healthy food, including the infamous Paste: seeds of poppy, sesame, the skin of sea onion [from which the juice had been thoroughly extracted], the flower of daffodil, the leaves of mallows, the paste of barley and peas. Compounded into a paste with Golgóssan honey or stalk to sweeten it. Would you like a drink to go with that? Try the Shake: seeds of cucumbers, dried raisins with the seeds removed, flowers of coriander, seeds of mallows and purslane, reindeer milk, and honey. Mmm.

## Fashion

Silk is highly prized. So is bronze jewelry. But both silk and bronze only comes from mia’Nihaul and ye(Salem respectively, so they’re absurdly expensive after the Event. The common population can never hope to afford silk, or even so much as a bronze ring. They mostly wear wool, cotton, denim, and leather, and silver jewelry. Their dress is quite European, though with lots of blue, white, and yellows. Women often wear skirted tunics with long leggings. Above all, Arfaxad loves their ribbons, which they use to decorate.

## Language

They speak the native Corus tongue, which is English, or what they call Common. They replace the indigenous languages of the places they conquer. The Prima Lingua, however, was said to originate on Soren. Their curse words are legion. They are very creative with language, often imitating each other’s accents. Examples: “You old fogey, mining for gold in yer nares,” or “Boorish as colts what graze on hemlock,” or “On castors like gouty old aldermen in patent chairs,” or “Quit your bucker mewling,” or “Their wet whistles would have honey in their tawdies,” or “His wit is more barbed than blackberry and tastes less sweet,” or “You’re but a muddy prawn all shorn of a roe, with pauper words besides.” You get the idea.

Major faux pas including: interrupting someone, forgetting someone’s name, mispronouncing a word. Do not do these things.

Arfaxadi are very fond of expressions. They have many. “Volume to your voice,” is a polite way of greeting someone, but more common is the abbreviated “Volume.” Instead of saying farewell, people wish each other “Good tides,” and tap their larynx with one finger. To invite someone into your house, it’s common to say “Come, I will salt your bread,” or variations thereof, whether or not bread is involved. Instead of saying, “Every nook and cranny!” they will say “Every mite and mote!” Instead of saying “That was the long and short of it,” they might say “That’s the bow and stern of it!” Instead of saying “For shits and giggles,” they will say “For aught and naught.” They also love their seafaring expressions. The most common non-insulting exclamation is “Sprung spars!”

## Music

There’s operatic theatre in high society. Big symphonies are growing in popularity, and include instrumentation similar to European symphonies, with the addition of zither, biwa, and hand drums. At the same time, there’s a long tradition of folk music, meant to be performed in the taverns and in the streets, with the whole village singing along. In the late 1900s there’s also a new movement, inspired by the Breezies [hippies] of the Forest.

## Myth

Due to Arfaxad’s early embrace of a fully materialist worldview, many of their mythological tales have been forgotten. One has survived the test of Time however: the story of the death of the Fifth immortal, Athos. The Fifth heard about the Third immortal, Qualito’s mystical oasis in the middle of the desert, which was said to give superhuman intelligence to anyone who drank from it. Athos went to Qualito’s oasis, and requested one cupful of her water. She said only if Athos gave Qualito a book that contained the entire Prima Lingua, something Qualito long desired to add to her vast libraries. Athos could not do this, and refused her bargain. But he stole a cup of the mystical water after distracting Qualito with a rainstorm so heavy she thought the Everfire would be extinguished. Athos poured that cup upon the glaciers on the highest peaks of Teltic, so that it would slowly melt into the villages of the central Cliff. Many years later, Pithos grew up under those very glaciers, and many believe his intelligence is a boon from Athos. However, Qualito soon found out that Athos had stolen her water. She summoned a horrible seaworm that came to gnaw on the subsea foundations of the Cliffs so they would topple over into the water. Athos leapt into the water to battle the seaworm, and never came back up. It’s said that he’s still down there now, holding his breath, and supporting the Cliffs upon his back. No one in the Cliffs believes such tales, of course.

More common myths are the fictionalized stories of the wars of the Silver Age, before the Soral Republic. The famous writer of the Fantasticals, Tolkos, wrote a very popular cycle about a heroic warrior named Cycladius, in a secondary-world inspired by the Silver Age, who fights greater and greater enemies, until one day he fights the moon itself.

More contemporary stories involve the Feral Hunt. There are stories of both daring warriors on long treks through the wilderness, fighting hexabears and Windbearers alike; as well as forensic detectives investigating the Windbearers attacks. The Windbearers in these tales would kidnap children from their homes, poke holes in colonial watervats, cut the cords on fish nets, break the axes on wagons, cut down the pulleys lifting ore from the mines, or dislodge the puncheons holding up the mineshafts, killing dozens of miners. These are common fodder for the Fantasticals. The Feral Hunters would also seek out those Arfaxadi traitors who helped the Windbearers: the sour youths who wanted more pay. Carleton Aneas is one major figure of these stories, the great Aerie Hunter who gives a young traitor a chance to redeem his honour by helping the Hunters find the Windbearers. Trophies were made of stone swords and painted gourds. They had great respect for the fallen Windbearers, their worthy foes. Carthanon’s father was killed by a Windbearer during the latter days of the Hunt.

## Rituals

Secular Arfaxad is still very ritual-based. Their houses are built around a waterwell. They scoop out a cup of water before leaving the house every day, drink half, and pour half back in. Some people still perform ablutions of hands and feet when someone returns home after a long absence.

They have a big New Year’s celebration. It dates back to the days before Pithos, when the Cliffs still believed in the immortals. They commemorate the battle between Athos and the seaworm. Someone is submerged under water, and is raised up from water on a net at the moment of the new year, a sort of reverse baptism. These rituals, along with others, were performed at the top of the nearest hill, where the Tors once stood. You must climb up steps and pass through a stone portal, signifying your passage into the future. At these celebrations, there are competitions of all kinds. Archery, kite flying, glassblowing, you name it.

They also have Lumentide celebration shortly before New Year’s, near winter solstice. They celebrate by placing floating candles in the Waterpit inside their houses. They speak a wish aloud with each candle they place. In the morning, gifts are exchanged. Lumentide originated with the myth of Cibelen, the mortal lover of Athos. The immortal was wont to leave Cibelen for years at a time, and one time he left for so long that Cibelen feared he would never return. Cibelen lit a candle and promised to keep it burning so long as she lived. The candle itself was a prayer to see Athos again, and at last he returned, decades later, to see Cibelen when she was an old woman on her death bed. Athos, whose power was deep as the Sea, granted Cibelen one wish, which was to spend one last day in his mighty arms, as a young and beautiful woman once more. Athos granted her this wish, and they had the most joyous day together, and at the end of that day she died. As Athos blew out her candle, he realized his gift to Cibelen was in fact a gift to himself. This is the moral of Lumentide. We light candles of our own, and blow out the candles of others, taking joy in both actions, and knowing the true gift is each other’s presence. Most Arfaxadi do not really know the mythological origins of Lumentide.

## Calendar

Arfaxad has a Pithian Calendar. It has no months, but 18 weeks, and they count their years since the Event.

## Religion

The average Arfaxadi hates religion, sees it as their task to secularize the world. That’s their “white man’s burden.” But religion still exists. Like the Jehova’s Witness in terms of popularity, it’s there, but with zero cultural impact. The Parsons are like priests, who live in their churches, which are called Tors: circles of stone pillars standing atop crests of mountains, fit with runes and perfumed water. They perform the rites for funerals and weddings and that’s about all.

The Church of Athos revolved around vocal prayer, not sacrifices donations. However, there was always the tithe. After the Taboo of the Maya, only the non-magic religious aspects of the Tors survived. They live on whatever meagre tithings are still given. The Parsons are all but gone from public life. But secretly, some people still go to the Tors for guidance when things are rough. Arfaxad is publically secular; but privately religious. Whereas Maratar is publically religious but privately secular.

Their beliefs revolve around Order emerging out of chaos. A very famous play of the ancient world begins with fifty-five storytellers speaking at the same time; total chaos. Then the voice of Athos makes sense of the mess, tells the One story, holding up five fingers amid the storm. Windbearers represent Chaos to them; their gaseous, fluid religion.

Baptism was a big deal for Arfaxad, representing Athos going into the water to hold up the Cliffs. One sacrifices themselves for the good of the whole society.

The Parsons practice two initiations; one for the layman reaching adulthood. The other for entering the Fifth Way.

After the Taboo of the Maya, Arfaxad grows obsessed with nature. It’s their secular religion. The Woodkin are very confused by this, since they build such massive cities of stone to keep nature out. Nature isn’t objectified to the Woodkin, it’s everything, everywhere, including humans. Arfaxad thinks nature is violent must be tamed; Golgóssa believes their inner nature is tame and must be vitalized.

## Gender and sex

They are somewhat patriarchal, and justify their patriarchy with scientific arguments about the natural bold speech of the masculine, the “louder sex.” There has yet to be a female Arcon, but there have been female Earls, and there has been one female Duke of Mekthnel--though only for a few years. She was assassinated by a chapter of the Silvercore, who believe in male supremacy. They’re fringe, not popular.

The Upper Volumes of Corus and Parus have the Lovecourts, where young initiates are trained in the art of physical touch. The Lovecourts perform onstage in very exclusive clubs. Publically, the society is somewhat puritan when it comes to sex. Prostitution is ubiquitous, however.

## Architecture

Can vary throughout the Commonwealth. Their colonies often integrate aspects of the native architecture; sometimes hollowing out trees in Golgóssa, and constructing hexagonal stone houses in Mekthnel. The Dins are cut into the sides of the Cliffs, building their way upwards with vertical logic. The larger cities rise even higher than the Cliffs, constructing arcades upon high towers. The Dins are full of alabaster pillars and massive balconies. They place sundials in rooftop gardens. Huge wooden cranes hang off the side of the Cliffs pulling up fish in nets. The highest points are reserved for the “High Volume” individuals, that is, upper classes.  In the villages, they mostly use scored brick and tumbled glass for doors. They pave the floors inside their houses with flagstone, usually silver. But whether a city or a village, in the Cliffs or in the colonies, Arfaxadi settlements are always constructed near water. The biggest Dins are build right above and around massive waterfalls.

## Aesthetics

Arfaxad’s people occupy much of their time with the arts. Many of them believe art is the purpose of life. And although they have many arts, the theatrical arts still remain the most popular. And the most popular of these stories is the Tragedy of Anaken, written by the most prolific playwright of the 1000s AE, Herman Shoreline deParus. Although he wrote dozens and dozens of plays, the Tragedy of Anaken remains a crowd favourite. But since it recounts the history of democracy coming to the Commonwealth in the year 890 AE, it’s also celebrated by the state itself. The story is simple: after Brunos Anaken deCorus, the Duke of Golgóssa’s five sons died of famine, his wife committed suicide, his wasteful spending on firedust mining, and a failed assassination attempt against him, he invests all of his energy into drafting the legislature to end the hereditary rite to the throne. After he was successful, he killed himself. It’s often discussed in the Editorials as the “tragedy of democracy.”

In the days of the Soral Republic, massive arenas called the Colos were constructed in every Din, where massive performances were held. In those days, gladiators battled to the death in the arenas. After the Soral Republic fell, more humane entertainment has taken place in the Colos, but chiefly the arenas are used for public debates and Votes.

There’s also the “natural arts.” which originate with a very famous Recluse philosopher, named Ran Kelian deSoren, who invented the water gardens, as well as perfumed water. This has evolved into vast topiaries of cedars and cypresses.

Special mention must be made of the Journals, which are published on a weekly basis. There are two main genres: the Fantasticals and Editorials.

The Fantasticals. They consist mostly of romantic fiction. Published in small pamphlets, often illustrated with simple ink engraving. Even the masterworks of the Fantasticals are published in small, weekly, bite-sized chunks.

In the 1980s AE, Benglen Tricsua deParus is the hot new writer. He constructs these elaborate, highly cerebral, self-reflexive stories, which always reference the fact that they reference themselves. One cannot think about them too much, they make the head spin. Nutheads love this stuff. There’s debate whether or not his stories are emotionally impactful, however. They are often interpreted as critical of escapism, disallowing the viewer to truly disappear into his Secondary-world. But ultimately, they have a neutral impact, because they reify escapism, and always end with genuine emotion.

It’s well documented that Tricsua stole a lot of his ideas from another writer of the Fantasticals, a man named Poric Rothanon deCorus, who wrote these sprawling picaresque novels focused upon a single character, traveling through these enormous and highly-detailed secondary worlds. However, it’s less known that Rothanon stole many of his ideas from Williamben Huard Harold Tolcos, a man who redefined the genre of the Fantasticals. Before Tolcos, the Fantasticals were mostly sensationalized tales of the Feral Hunts, but Tolcos invented a bronze age secondary world in his novels. After his masterwork, the Cycle of Cycladeus, most authors published in the Fantasticals create their own secondary worlds.

Cycladius was a fisherman whose village was destroyed by evil wizards. Cycladius is captured by slavers and he spends years pushing a mill in circles, growing strong. An old man frees him. He was once a wizard, but has forsaken magic. He gives Cycladius round blue pauldrons and knee pads, an armored skirt, and helps him train his body. He is depicted as a shirtless barbarian warrior with rippling muscles, who hates magic with a passion. Cycladius sets out on a life-long journey at sea, to liberate the many isles of the dark wizardry plaguing it. In this world, the moon is always a crescent, because it is rumored to be a huge Draco, all curled up. The Draco will be awoken by the dark sorcerers. In the final tale, Cycladius kills the Draco.

The Editorials. These publications are nonfiction, and is usually considered superior to the Fantasticals. The Editorials is a place for both essays and news articles, what they call Events. Many famous editorialists become political figures, like Carthanon Elias deCorus, who was a research who became a man-of-letters, who became a scribe, who became a Duke. The Headings within the Editorials are: Arts, Science, Sport, Events, Philosophy.

## Education

There are major Universities in most Dins, each with a widely different reputation. Tuition must be paid upfront, semester by semester. There are also Bards’ Colleges in villages outside of major cities.

## Philosophy

The philosophy of the Cliffs has a long history. Philosophers are esteemed members of society, and the Philosophy section of the Editorials is quite popular. Here are some key figures:

Ramon Pithos deTeltic (1573-1613 AF). The tradition began long before the Editorials, when Pithos quit the training to become an Auguroparsonen, and instead called himself a Philosopher. He is not one who knows, but one who is trying to find out. During his time, he was considered a blaspheme for fleshing out a theory of the material universe, defined by constant mathematical laws, where Maya had no place. The name Pithos became synonymous with rationalism in opposition to mysticism. His book, The Categories, is still mandatory reading in advanced schools of Philosophy, although many of his ideas are no longer accepted. His thrust towards rationalism totally transformed Arfaxadi society after he was publically executed for blasphemy in 1613 AF, resulting (a few short years later) with the end of the Soral Republic. One of his core ideas was about the Good being Harmonious, and that Harmony was a state that could only be defined mathematically, as perfect Order. The history of the world was, to Pithos, the history of ever-increasing Harmony and thus, greater and greater political Order. It is only man’s hubris, his traditional clinging to the disharmony of the past, which interrupts this natural increasing Order. “The only dimension which exists beyond matter is that dimension of mathematical laws which enables matter to exist.” He also believes that certain aural frequencies create certain physical shapes, and so identified this mathematical dimension as a musical dimension, and therefore the world is a Song, the Vetus Carmen. Later philosophers would take issue with this point. Is the Song a metaphor? Or does Pithos stray here from his strict materialism, suggesting another dimension that produces the physical world, a musical dimension. Either way, Pithos continuously affirms his belief that the world is determined utterly by static and eternal laws. There are no accidents in history, even man’s hubris is part of the nature of the world. His ideas were concomitant with the rising nationalism, a nation defined as one with history, the flow of greater and greater political Order.

The Pithian Crossroads. The most famous thing that Pithos wrote is called the Parable of the Crossroads. He tells a story of a man who walks down the straight path of his life, and suddenly comes to a crossroads. His whole life, he walked without hesitation, but now faced with the crossroads he pauses long, unsure where to go. Some readers believe the crossroads to be a metaphor where the righthand path represents superstition and the lefthand path represents rationalism. But it’s more basic than this. Whatever path the traveler chooses to take, it will be obviously retroactively that he was always going to choose that path. His choice, no matter how long he deliberates in making it, is already determined by the mathematically reality that created him. Therefore, there is no choice. One must not hesitated, for one is always going to make the same choice no matter what!

Dedelman Cratos deCorus (1706-1782 AF). Cratos went around accosting people for their beliefs, grilling them to find the vestiges of superstition within them. The scholarship on Cratos (spearheaded by Faran Mosus deTeltic) would credit Cratos with making the distinction between the philosophical idea of god and the religious idea of god. Cratos helped convert the Arfaxadi people by proposing that they believe in the philosophical god, rather than the religious god. Cratos’ response to the Pithian Crossroad. He agreed that we are destined to choose one or the other, but we don’t know which! He stresses the uncertainty as a fundamental aspect of our being, and that the clarity of the mathematical forms only comes later, retrospectively. Therefore, it is natural to delay our choosing for fear of choosing the wrong one. That fear is precisely what makes us human; even though our choices are pre-determined, we do not perceive life that way. We hesitate because we seek to rationalize all our choices, and perfect them like the world is being perfected. “I say do not suppress your anxieties, but paint them upon the pillars of your house. Faced with this choice, I sit at the crossroads forever, hesitating until the seas dry up.” Our hesitation is what Cratos calls “Our beautiful nature.”

Hemric Dersus deCorus (2133-2211 AF). Dersus marks a return to the superstitions, and is thus quite controversial. He goes further than Pithos, arguing that the musical dimension is real, and does predate the physical realm. He believed that everything we experience in this dimension is merely a reflection of its true musical Form in the other dimension. He came up with the idea of the Great River, that temporal measure which connects all mathematical Forms into one Song. The distorted echo of the Great River is what we call nature. Thus, Dersus marks the beginning of Arfaxad’s deification of nature; the will of the philosophical god manifest. Dersus’ response to the Pithian Crossroad. Dersus agrees that our choice is determined; and even our hesitations are part of the Song’s design. He disagrees with Cratos, who says “Hesitate long!” Dersus says hesitate not: choose a path, even if you are unsure if it’s the right one, and commit to it wholeheartedly. In response to Cratos, he says our “beautiful nature” is not static but dynamic, and we can learn to throw off our anxieties. Our every thought is pre-determined, and yet we change as we’ve been destined to. “Faced with this choice, I will do what I must.”

Faran Mosus deTeltic (3499-3580 AF). Mosus began his career as a scholar of Cratos, but radically rejected Cartos’ idea of the philosophical god. “The immortals are dead, and even their Form is dead. They’re a metaphor that serve no purpose.” He took rationalism to the extreme, and yet believed in the reality of the abstract: ideas have power, words have power. He began the tradition of the Recluse: a tradition where philosophers live alone on mountaintops, often repurposing the Tors of the Fifth Way. The tradition of the Recluse replaces the Philosopher’s substitution of the mystic, a return to mystical traditions without compromising the secularity of that turn. Mosus’ response to the Pithian Crossroad. We hesitate at Pithian’s Crossroads because it is a false choice. The metaphor is meaningless. There are no signs indicating what each path represents. We are never faced with such anonymous choices in life. He’s famous for saying: “Faced with this choice, I will turn around and go home.”

Ran Kelian deSoren (587-694 AE). Kelian is a major figure in philosophy. He rejuvenated the tradition of the Recluse after the Event. He’s somewhat like a flâneur, but rather than wandering the busy arcades of the city, he wandered solitary in nature, in contemplation of the forms of nature, which was conceived as the autonomous mind. He came up with the concept of the Vector, the smooth curve, or the path of least resistance, the great intelligence that emerges from the many smaller intelligences of nature; the logic that bridges the individual tree to the forest as an assemblage. Ran Kelus endorsed leaving society, and he lived the second half of his life as a hermit upon Mount Velassí on Tellarnath, where he invented the water gardens, the topiary, and perfumed water. He saw these practices as a vital metaphor for the care of the self; making oneself a work of art. Consider this quote from Zizek: “The Renaissance ideal of the ‘all around personality’ mastering the passions within himself and making out of his own life a work of art.” Unlike Mosus, the originator of the Recluse tradition, Ran Kelian revels in the power of fluid and ambiguous metaphors. He returns to the mystical idea of nature as an expression of the Great River. Kelian, however, does not see the Great River as a transcendent reality that imposes itself upon the physical world, but an immanent reality that coincides with the physical world. He tells the Parable of the Lonely Traveler, who hears a stranger speaking to him. And though he searches, he cannot find the speaker. Only at the end of his voyage did he realize that the voice was merely the sound of the wind in the trees. The gods do not sit waiting upon their thrones in another realm, speaking through the sound of the wind in the leaves. Rather, the come into existence only in that brief moment when the wind passes through the trees and is mistaken for a voice. The voice you hear speaking does not pre-exist the collision of wind and leaf. He wrote his Discourse on Framing, where he argued that the philosophers of the past century, who were likewise fascinated with the romantic idea of nature, plucked images out of that Vector, which was by definition continuous and indivisible. Any static discrete image of nature, therefore, is inherently false. But his idea was not a nostalgic return to an imaginary unity of man with nature, but a fundamentally secular one that acknowledged this utter impossibility of ever accurately representing the Vector. Ran Kelian’s main example was the Great River. The really-existing Great River, the high-altitude waterway linking the five Cliffs, was unimaginably far from anything that appeared in nature. No one believed the Great River “represented” nature, and yet it was a flawed imitation of a river, flawed in such a way to be useful to human beings. The Great River is great not because of its proximity to the natural world, but because of the very obviousness of this gap, the fingerprints of man which are upon it, the way nature is framed. Salios Sorstem deCorus invented the Great River first as metaphor, which he called the veins of the world, connecting every land in the world as one Commonwealth. Only later did it become a physical reality. Ran Kelian expands on its metaphorical and mythological meaning. It’s not merely a convenience for travel, it is the embodiment of the flow of time, which in fact is circular as the pagans believe. Not because the River repeats, but because only two true directions emerge: forward and backwards, love and hate, which are the only self-replicating statements, which generate their own repetition without waste. The world is speech manifest, thus only these two directions survive time. Thus, there is a philosophical Great River and a religious Great River. The Philosophical Great River does not need to be constructed physically; it comes into existence in every moment that a human apprehends nature. That is why he endorses leaving society; so mankind might apprehend nature more often, and construct the philosophical Great River in every moment. His take on Pithian’s Crossroads: “Faced with such an impossible choice, I will leave the road altogether.”

Vasiri Demanin deParus (1180-1251 AE). Demanin is the only famous female philosopher. Instrumental in the budding feminist movement in the Cliffs. She proposed the idea that all the philosophers who came before her have fundamentally the same notion of subjectivity as “managing, harmonizing antagonizing forces, self-willed from the place beyond history, in order to create history” (Zizek) and therefore Demanin believes the subject is a product of history. Yet she’s committed to free will versus determinism. Radical free will. Her take on the Pithian Crossroad: “I will forge a third road, for the choice itself is a symptom of masculine logic.”

Derek Vondez deParus (1807-1889 AE). Lastly, the post-rational philosopher known affectionately as Derdez, argues exhaustively for the co-existence of multiple truths. He believes every text, including his own, is replete with contradictions. He famously claimed that the Event never happened. His take on the Pithian Crossroad: “I will walk both roads at once, and look back to see neither.”

There is also a movement called the Numinór, which is the Prima Lingua term for the invisible. They oppose the entire Pithian tradition, and Arfaxad’s ultra-rationalism. They are not neo-pagans, in the sense that they still don’t believe in the immortals literally, but they do believe in the union of man and nature, and the mysteries of the cosmos, possibly due to rediscovery of the Mayahuaktha tea in the north, and the prevalence of Silosibin in the south. The Numinos would eventually become a movement of popular culture in the 1900s called the Breezies. They are both a movement of pseudo-mysticism as well pseudo-oppositional politics: they glorify the natives and some of them support the Black Simians, or even Maratar. Most true Numinos are anarchist, however, who don’t believe in authority. But more importantly, they are on a spiritual quest, to find meaning in existence that has nothing to do with war, money, or math. They arrived with the renewed interest in the Windbearers and the Stargazers.

## Magic

The Fifth Way, the Way of Logos, sometimes known as Logi.

There are five veins of the Fifth Way. However, they all share one thing in common: the Prima Lingua, a language that resonates with the hidden realm of musical-mathematics--the language of the Song. Knowledge of the Prima Lingua was supposedly passed down by Athos himself, and the knowledge of these words are a tightly guarded secret, since the speaking of these words even by untrained Maya can result in magical effects. It is an incredibly powerful language. All of these roles still exist in secular society, but the populace does not believe they are using magic. They are covertly Maya.

The five veins are:

* The Auguroparsens      [Scholar-mages]
* The Belatiosonias      [Blade-singers]
* The Somniomedicos      [Dream-doctors]
* The Telecogladios      [Mind-warriors]
* The Dominobestios      [Beast-masters]

The Auguroparsens, often simply called the Parsens, are the guardians of the Prima Lingua, the Namers, and the foremost academics of the Maya in general. They originate on the largest Cliff, Corus, and started the tradition of building Tors, where they taught acolytes the meanings of the Prima Lingua, and their sacred runes. The Parsons often take prolonged vows of silence, knowing the true power of speech, and use speech very sparingly. They are said to wield the ability command whole mountains to move, just by learning the mountains true Name and commanding it. They also imbue physical objects with heavenly dimensions by covering them with the runes of the Prima Lingua, spelled in the cyan ink of the Cossary Bush. They called these enchantments the Runatos, the written voice. In the Silver Age, they contributed their powers to the military of Corus by enchanting swords for the warriors. They would also interpret the signs of the clouds and the songs of the birds to make oracular readings of the future, warning of incoming attacks, but they were not warriors themselves. They were often involved in political life as an advisor, called a Diocese.

The Belatiosonias, often called the Bladesingers. They are the purest warriors of the Fifth Way. The originate on Parus, and they use the Prima Lingua not to speak, but to sing. They are trained to sing certain words, at certain pitches, at certain rhythms. They called this skill the Gregoras, the singing voice, and it can achieve a number of effects: intimidation, hypnosis, synesthesia, hallucination, accelerating their own movement, weakening the effect of gravity, and in certain rare cases, transforming their weapons into all sorts of shapes. This is the source of the name: with a certain song of the Prima Langua, a sword might explode in flames and slice through silver or steel, or emit a blinding shower of sparks with every strike, or create a deafening sound. Athos himself was said to be a Bladesinger, who turned his sword into a shaft of condensed fire: a lightsaber, which could cut through anything at all with one stroke.

The Somniomedicos are psychologists who use the Prima Lingua primarily to hypnotize and induce behavior in other people. This originates on Teltic. It began with doctors who sought to diagnose the inner spiritual kernel of all diseases. Very soon, they realized they could use the Prima Lingua to compel their patients to reveal the contents of their minds. They called this the Pelacos, the persuasive voice. At their worst, the Somniomedicos force people to act against their will, by implanting negative reinforcement against behavior within the minds of their subjects. At their best, they help the patient understand their own mental afflictions, who are encouraged to cry out loud to express their emotional wounds. The Somniomedicos contributed their powers to the Teltic military as master interrogators, spies, as well as giving soldiers buffs of encouragement before battle.

The Telecogladios, also calls Telecons, are a class of Maya who trigger their divine creativity using the Prima Lingua. They originate on Vreyus, and learn to command the world around them using the Prima Language in combination with the Mandatos, the Commanding Voice, to compel the physical structure of the universe to obey their commands. They are essentially triggering synchronicities around them; and at very high levels, they are highly telekinetic. They can deflect arrows with their minds; throw artillery at the enemy; and direct silver boomerangs through the sky. They are impossible to restrain, since they can break any chains and pick any lock. In the Silver Age, they were servants to the ruling class, chosen for their ability to perform many tasks quickly and without much movement, but as the Silver Age war progressed, they became famous warriors. However, there are so few Telecons who are proficient enough with the Mandatos to weaponized it, that there were always precious few Telecogladios.

The Dominobestia, or Beastmasters, were the most successful of the five schools to survive the Taboo of the Maya, and integrate with the Arfaxadi army, posing as a non-magical tradition. The Dominobestia use the Prima Lingua and the Domandos, the Dominant Voice, to command living animals to obey their will. This is a totally different skill than commanding the physical world. The Dominobestia learn how to soothe wild animals, and use them as weapons in battle, or servants in peace. Historically, the Falco has been the most common, for their deafening screech ability, and their razor-sharp talons. Those Beastmasters who train the birds of prey have a name of their own: the Aeries. They are marked by their leather gloves and their sparse use of the common tongue. The Falcos were not only weapons, but also messengers: their original purpose was to carry military information without the need of paper, so enemies could not intercept these messages, since the Aerie can speak telepathically with their bird. The Aeries were key to the victory of Soren in the Silver Age, by piercing holes in their enemy’s sails, and deafening the warriors of the enemy’s army. Thus, the emblem of the Soral Republic was the Falco. However, the most formidable type of Beastmaster are those who train the white wolf of Mekthnel, the Lektha. It was believed no one would ever train one, but an eccentric man named Willios Canathios deParus successfully trained several in 2634 AF. Without the Lekosen, the name given to the masters of the Lektha, the conquest of Mekthnel would never have been successful, let alone the Taboo of the Maya. Nigh every successful Feral Hunt in Golgóssa also included a Lekosen with a Lektha on a silver chain. Still, no one has managed to master the Hexabear of the Forest, and the were never close to as many Lekosen as there were Aeries. However, a massive number of Falcos were lost during the battle of the Cusp Ford and the subsequent battles with Windbearers, who could easily swipe them out of the sky using the wind. As a result, there are precious few Aeries in the world after the Event.

         A partial list of words of the Prima Lingua:

* Fiace.         Amen
* Distenace.     To stretch apart.
* Celerace.      Lend swiftness to.
* Imprecace.     To lay a curse upon.
* Enervace.      To drain of energy.
* Dominace.      To dominate the listener.
* Inflammoce.    Explode in flames.
* Audioce.       Listen closely.
* Orisons.       Influence world events.

There is a Sixth vein of the Fifth Way, called the Aureole. It comes much later, after the colonization of Mekthnel. The majority of Common folk then don’t believe in Maya--but they do believe in dreams. Strangely, there are “storms” of bad dreams in colonial Mekthnel, spreading geographically, and having a tremendous impact upon the world. The medical-psychological role of the Somniomedicos is greatly expanded to deal with this pandemic during this time, but they had to assimilate certain aspects of the Sixth Way [a particular constellation called the Aureokthe] to create a hybrid Maya of the Fifth and Sixth Ways, called the Aureole. The Aureole is a lone figure who travels across the Commonwealth, subduing the layfolk who can cause actual physical problems with the Maya power of their nightmares. Common problems are natural disasters, but their effects can vary quite widely. The nightmares are diagnosed as the symptom of a deeper emotional blockage. The Aureole cures a subject’s mental afflictions by entering the subject’s dreams, and encountering their emotional blockages, which manifest as physical creatures in dreamspace. These creatures take forms inspired by the intersection of personal memory, cultural context, and timeless archetypes. At first, the Aureoles were like traveling bards, who would come into a village and cure all the afflictions in a village. They would use a combination of herbal cures, to diminish a nightmare’s Maya powers, then enter their dreams and diagnose the problem, and then offer psychological guidance to overcome the root of their nightmares. The ranks of the Aureole grew quite large shortly after the Twilight of the Snolakthïr. After the Taboo of the Maya, however, the Aureole was integrated into the Arfaxadi military, who were commissioned to play a key role in instilling the Taboo of the Maya, and weaning out the latent Maya abilities in everyday folk, and helping the Dominobestia hunt down the locations of any stragglers.