Ascendancy of Man

The Ascendancy of Man is a philosophical, social, political, and economic ideology and movement which declares the necessity of the abolition of all barriers that hold Humans back from ultimate greatness.

## History

> *"Every rational Human, every moral Human must regard the Ortueist religion with utter revulsion."* -Vertueux
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The Ascendancy of Man developed slowly and its various principles evolved out of the subsuming of several other, smaller political movements with more limited scopes. The roots of the Ascendancy can be traced back to 18th century Gallian philosophers attempting to determine Humanity's path forward. They often took an aggressive and even shocking stance in an attempt to shake minds free of what they saw as "the smothering weight of tradition."

Many of the positions of the Ascendancy of Man solidified as philosophical justifications of demands made and actions taken by rioters and revolutionaries. These principles formalized around the reaction of the masses to times of hardships: the impulse to seize power and property by force, and the torture and murder of their rightful rulers.

The name of the movement came from the multi-subject treatise "Ascendancy of Man" published during the **Summer Revolts of 1849** by Franz Mordechai, a **Cassumite** of **Grienzen** birth. In it, Mordechai provided a shallow criticism of nearly every historical facet of civilization that concluded in the call to tear down everything that society had been built upon in order to make space for a new, hypothetical utopian future.

The first political manifestation of the Ascendancy of Man was in 1871 after the **Gallo-Preusvian War**. With the new **Gallian Republic** being instituted out of the ashes of the Paree Cooperatte, they incorporated many of the leaders of that failed city-state into their new government. With them came the guiding philosophy of the Ascendancy of Man, and over time additional appointments and governmental expansions confirmed this new direction for the Gallian Republic. From there, it has begun to spread all over Uropa.

## Goals

> *"Nothing which imitates Humanity. Everything which elevates Humanity. Suffer naught which detracts from the worship of Sacred Humanity."* -Ascendancy of Man Creed
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The stated goal of the Ascendancy of Man is given as "the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions." Below is a list of the specific demands made in order to reach that goal:

### Political

* Dissolve all governing bodies
* Repeal all existing civil, legal, and criminal codes
* Dismantle all centralized bureaucracy
* Disband all standing armies and state police forces

### Religious

* Put an end to established religion in all forms, with a particular focus on dismantling **Ortueism**
* Execute all clergy for oppressing Humanity with superstitions and immaterial threats, as well as any who protect or hide them
* Denounce all beliefs in magic or supernatural abilities and forbid the practicing of all forms of magic or invoking divine intercession
* Confiscate all church property, destroy all **Planted Sword symbology**, church-style bells, and other external signs of worship
* Demolish all religious cemeteries and catacombs, cremate all corpses

### Social

* Abolish the legal family, and put an end to the oppression of marriage
* Tear down the social frameworks that divide Humanity into artificial categories such as ethnicity, age, gender, etc.
* End all forms of generational wealth transfer such as the institute of inheritance
* Protect the validity of all forms of sexual relations and romantic arrangements
* Eradicate all monstrous "Pseudo-Human" Races that defile the sacred form of Humanity by their inhuman features

### Economic

* Cancel all debts
* End all taxes
* Remove the ability of individuals or groups to claim property or possessions
* Redistribute all privately or publicly owned assets to the people

## National Influence

Within each country, the Ascendancy of Man has attained differing degrees of success, ranging from complete control of the Gallian Republic to solid inroads in the Rossiyan Federation to a mere toehold in Grienzland. While these movements share their core ideology, each country's manifestation of the Ascendancy of Man is separate and only working in parallel toward the same goals. There is a considerable degree of cooperation between them, but it is not accurate to say they are a unified movement.

### Gallian Republic

> *"Humanity will never be free until the sole surviving damnatory priest is strangled with the entrails of the last of the monstrous abominations in the chapel of the final dethroned king."* -René François
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From its position of mere influence in 1871, the Ascendancy of Man spread to complete domination of all levels of governance within the Gallian Republic by 1914. While many of the platform points of the Ascendancy of Man have yet to be fulfilled within the country, the slide into radical secularism has been completed via the introduction of the atheistic religion, **The Eminence of Man**. There are exceedingly few Gallians who object to goals of the Ascendancy of Man remaining, and none of them do so within any of the major cities. Denunciation of the Ascendancy of Man is tantamount to treason, and although rarely relied upon, the death sentence does still apply to traitors- the only form of criminal that can still suffer it.

Within the capital city of Paree, enormous construction efforts saw the demolition of many of the historical buildings across the town, giving way to several new, enormous structures which serve as ceremonial sites for the rituals associated with the practice of the Eminence of Man. The most notable of these is the Monument of Man’s Sovereignty built atop the rubble of the old Royal Palace to the Southwest of Paree. An enormous domed structure, the Monument serves as a theater, music hall, and a place to observe the national festivals. The latter serve as holidays within the Gallian Republic, though celebrations are said to involve days upon days of drinking copious amounts of wine and engaging in sanctioned prostitution and orgies.

In the 40 years after the loss of the Wretched War, the Ascendancy of Man enacted a systematic extermination of nearly all Non-Human Races within its borders, as well as all known clergymen and nuns. There are still Gallian holdouts clinging to their ancestral religion of **Synenolicism** within the more remote countryside villages far away from Paree, but even on a regional level, such practices are forbidden.

### Grand Breteyne

Having been largely conceived in **Grand Breteyne**'s capital city of Lyndin, the Ascendancy of Man holds an amount of intellectual prestige among fringe political and social advocates in the country. As such, many of the government officials are at least sympathetic if not members of the Ascendancy of Man. Several large financial organizations run by powerful banking families living in Grand Breteyne have changed their creed to align more closely with principles of the Ascendancy of Man. And over time a sense of superiority has developed among the urban intellectuals surrounding the success of the nation to embody those ideals.

Many of the Ascendancy's demands are close to being realized or have partially been accomplished in the Brettish Empire. Women are already afforded the same rights as men, meaningful practice of traditional religions has already been phased out to the point of mere habitual mention, and much of the legal class distinctions have been torn down. Even the lack of a professional standing army is seen as a move in the right direction by promoters of the Ascendancy of Man.

There are still considerable hurdles that keep Grand Breteyne from fully embracing the Ascendancy however. Since the Commonwealth encompasses territory populated by several Non-Human Races, the colonial administration that relies on cooperation with locals has lead to a sense of Universal Brotherhood between all Races. All loyal citizens of the Commonwealth are seen as being closer in kinship with Brettish Humans than are even Gallian or Grienzen Humans.

### Rossiyan Federation

Whereas the Ascendancy of Man is more popular among the intellectual and bureaucratic class in Grand Breteyne, in the **Rossiyan Federation** it is the masses that pass around the list of demands and whisper of overthrowing their rulers. While the current ruling Itor Mikhail is fascinated with the **esoteric teachings** of Nicolai Rubashkin, the Rossiyan Federation is still officially **Austeric**. Among the commonfolk, this religion takes the form of ritualistic observances with the meaning of those rituals being left to the understanding of the clergy class.

As a result, there is more focus on daily life and working conditions than there is on matters of mystical assertion. And life in the Rossiyan Federation is brutal, with the country lagging behind the rest of Uropa in terms of infrastructure, conveniences, and political enfranchisement. As a result, the tenets of the Ascendancy of Man are spread around factories and construction sites, and people mutter about the fantastical utopia that must be the Gallian Republic, based on the rare glimpses they catch about life there.

### Grienzland

The Ascendancy of Man has very little influence within the Grienzen Empire. There was a time when liberals took up its cause and attempted to pressure the Emperor into granting policies that would pave the way to further reforms. This culminated in 1882 with the Imperial Representative Assembly passing the **"Protection of Human Citizens'' Act** which called for the forced removal (and inevitable execution) of Non-Human Grienzen citizens. After initially agreeing – albeit reluctantly – to ratify the Act, the refusal of the army to carry out the Act pushed Emperor Walter II to denounce the efforts of Ascendancy of Man-affiliated representatives.

While giving his public address, an assassin fatally shot **Emperor Walter II**, which resulted in violent reprisals against representatives of the Ascendancy of Man. His son, now **Emperor Friedrich III**, then declared the Ascendancy of Man an illegal organization and banned their operation within Grienzland, pushing all who sympathize with it into secrecy.