Holy Gauvajut Empire

The **Holy Gauvajut Empire** (Gauvajut: **Wanakariwattas Kawwajutalli Hāstija**) was an empire that ruled most of southern Palkyras during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Ages, thousands of years before the present.

## Factfile

* Official name: Holy Gauvajut Empire
* Anthem: Glory to Tarhunz
* Official motto: Justice over Corruption
* Capital city: Hattusas
* Official language: Late Gauvajut, Classical Gauvajut
* State religion: Gauvajut religion
* Government: Consitutional monarchy
* Climate: Tropical in the north, subtropical in the south.
* Currency: tengires ("spinels")
* National Day: 2 July (Foundation Day); 21 June (Tarhunz Day)

## Flag

The **National Flag of the Holy Gauvajut Empire** (Wanzejas Wanakariwattas Kawajutalli Hāstija), or the **Gryphon Banner** (Baiwenas Krelitan), was the banner of the Wanzanna and Zurenza Dynasties, until their conquest by the merciless Zonunja tribes to the east.

Purple is the national colour of the Gauvajut people, as it is associated with royalty, civilisation, and righteousness (*mahanan*, which originally meant "noble-ness", as in "noble behaviour" as a term for "righteousness"). The gryphon is the middle of the flag was a symbol of the Wazanna emperors, who originated from the western mountain provinces (west was represented with gryphons, a native animal in those parts), and it was already a popular symbol of the Gauvajuts and their mythology.

The *sahantas*sword and the *eskewes* axe symbolise honour and courage, and the shapes on the gryphon's chest (from top to bottom) stand for the sacred peak Mount Tahanas, the Wandazuri River, and the lands of the farther south. In Vozonid times, Mount Tahanas was renamed Mount Mandil ("Foundation"), and the Wandazuri River was known as the Baval Olhi River ("Great River").

## History

The Gauvajut Empire was established during the Fifteenth Age as the successor of a long list of predecessors that stretched back to the earliest records of human history.

During the Sixteenth Age, Empress Ratāri expanded its borders. Its relations with its two former rivals -- the Kingdom of Redjetesh in the north, and the Vachelonian Empire in the west -- had improved, and all three of them fought alongside the other powers of the continent against the Tuksharan Empire's attempts to conquer them.

This ancient civilisation was challenged thrice by powers from the east and far north, such as the deviant rulers of the Socialist Republic of Ardesch, their predecessors, and the fanatical warlords of the Kingdom of Rannar. When the Ardeschen Empire waged war against Redjetesh and it to seize control of their spices, the Gauvajut emperors sent fleets to aid the kingdoms of western Rifandi to sabotage the Ardeschen war effort, earning it several allies. In gratitude for saving an emperor's life, several Rifandian nobles and runaways were permitted to settle at the southeastern jungles of the empire, and these Rifandians became the ancestors of Aujarsax and Omayeran.

Prime Minister Tusellia, the second of two female Prime Ministers, led a campaign of technological advancement to ensure the Gauvajut Empire successfully repelled the Ardeschen Empire's attempts to conquer it and its allies at west Rifandi.

To meet Ardesch's attempts to challenge its power, the Prime Minister Suwelli conducted genetic research to make his people more resistant to its influence, and the diplomat-turned-Prime Minister Pahhurkas enacted many laws to prepare his nation for Ardesch's coming war. And to ensure that its people will not be corrupted by the perverse ideologies of the Ardeschi state, many dissidents and "deviants" were being isolated into hundreds of enclaves along the eastern coast, where they were free to do almost anything as they pleased.

Over a thousand years later, the Gauvajut Empire battled the cybernetic hordes of the Grey Kings. It was later overrun by the barbaric Zonunjas, who massacred thousands of inhabitants and sacrificed them to their gods. After the Zonunjas were driven back to the eastern mountains, many of them were killed by a series of disasters, and they adopted the Gauvajuts' culture to placate what they feared as the Gods' wrath. Some remaining Gauvajuts fled to the Eastern Enclaves, which reorganised themselves into the Little Gauvajut Empire. Meanwhile, the Zonunjas became the First Vozonid Empire, which waged war to conquer the Little Gauvajut Empire as part of its claim to be the "legitimate successor of the corrupted Gauvajuts".

Their descendants and those of the Gauvajuts intermarried, resulting in the existence of the Vozonid people and their empire. The Vozonids themselves revered the surviving Gauvajuts, and their influence through the Sarmelonid Empire spread Gauvajut culture to other species, like the Ontemazei and Vovtarlan extraterrestrials.

### Legacy

The Denlotians and other empires after them regarded themselves as the worthier successors of the HGE.

Instead of honouring the HGE, the Denlotians hate the Gauvajut Empire for two reasons: using the Human Sanctification Project to make people obey the Gauvajut emperors instead of improving humanity, and simply for being conservative. They instead honoured the Little Gauvajut Empire and the Vozonid Empire as worthier successors for being more open to reform.

The Vozonid nations honoured the Gauvajuts as their mentors of classical culture, and praised the HSP as a necessary method to destroy corrupt attitudes and behaviours. However, most of them regarded the latter Gauvajut Empire of Red Ardesch's time as a corrupt society, misusing the HSP and traditions to force everyone to obey the emperors. The Sarmelonid Empire, which venerated the Gauvajuts as an honourable classical culture, also condemned the Gauvajut Empire for its corruption, and explained about its self-destructive irony.

## Politics

The Gauvajut Empire is a monarchy ruled by an Emperor, and managed by a Prime Minister.

## Economy

In ancient times, the Gauvajut Empire's economy was focused on mining and agriculture, until its desperate industrialisation to fend off the Tuksharan Empire's incursions led to the development and adaption of crude machinery that improved its citizens' way of life.

During its rivalry against Socialist Ardesch, its economy was the sixth-strongest in the world, and it practiced a capitalist economy with later socialistic elements -- whatever that the rulers deemed necessary to push their people to progress to catch up with the rest of the world was taken, even though it attracted unwelcome attention from its (former) allies over "socialist" or "secular" elements.

## Society

See also: Gauvajut glossary, Late Gauvajut glossary

Gauvajut society was conservative, yet willing to adapt when it encountered something that seemed practical. It was mainly devout, stratified, and patriarchal, but it became more flexible in later times; however, it can be rather xenophobic and distrustful of foreigners, except for Redjetesh and Vachelon (its former enemies), who were considered as close allies that it fervently protected.

Many ideologies and beliefs were prohibited in the Gauvajut Empire because the rulers considered them to divide the people and make them stubbornly disobedient and quarrelsome -- they ranged from veganism to fascism, socialism, anarchism, democracy, and activism that supported atheists and homosexuals.

Although feminism was also prohibited as a "divisive ideology", women in the Gauvajut Empire enjoyed similar rights as men do, from access to higher education to property rights, to voting and freedom of movement, and becoming officials and governors (if they were capable as individuals). Two prime ministers before Pahhurkas were women.

Although the Gauvajut Empire favoured ethnic Gauvajuts and several aboriginal tribes, it was tolerant towards anyone of any race who sought refuge into its society, as long as they refused to disrupt social life. Although its government developed that racial policy when a past prime minister emulated Rannar, that policy's openness towards foreigners was condemned by the Rannarisk government and its allies. However, refugees who enter the empire were immediately put to work, assigned to a job based on their skills and preferences.

While Pahhurkas has released thousands of slaves and granted them citizenship, he instead applied slavery towards criminals and many of the slaves' abusive owners. Furthermore, people who were suspected of wasting welfare also end up as slaves.

### Public holidays

Public holidays (*šijamanes*) in the Gauvajut Empire included:

* Ishuwa Star Festival (9-18 January)
	+ Honey and olive oil were poured into pitchers, where were given as offerings to various deities.
* Start of Antahsum (12 March)
	+ A festival for the autumn rains.
* Hannahanna Day (21 March)
	+ A day of worship dedicated to the earth Goddess Hannahanna, and a festival to celebrate crop and spinel harvests.
* The Emperor's Birthday (variable -- as of 2018 16A, 31 March)
* Antahsum Offering (12 April)
	+ The first crop of antahsum (orchid or saffron) flowers were offered on that day.
* Nundarijas-Day of Sixteens (14-16 April)
	+ On 17 April, the Emperor or the Crown Prince rides on a chariot and has a priest make sheep offerings to the Wandazuri River and the Sixteen Stars by two sacred fires.
* Coronation Day (variable -- as of 2018 16A, 2 June)
	+ Yellow flags were flown on that day.
* Tarhunz Day (21 June)
	+ A day of worship dedicated to the thunder God Tarhunz. Consecrated as the national day of the Gauvajut Empire during Prime Minister Pahhurkas' time.
* Foundation Day (2 July)
	+ That was the day when Wajurimmuwas and his consort Sashawija founded the Gauvajut Empire during the Fourteenth Age, thousands of years ago.
* Killamas (17 July)
	+ A festival dedicated to the God of hunting, where the Emperor hunted for deer in a sacred forest.
* Aruna Day (16 August)
	+ A day of worship to the sea God Aruna, and a memorial for the Gauvajut Water and Space Navies.
* New Year's Day/Purulli (1-3 September)
	+ A spring festival dedicated to the harvest Goddess Purulli and her mother, the earth Goddess Hannahanna.
* Hasameli Day (23 October)
	+ A day of worship to the God of smiths, Hasameli, and a celebration to science and industry.
* Wariman (28 October)
	+ An annual chariot race that commemorated the defeat of the Eimaranda Celestial Empire, and its failure to oppress or harvest the peoples of Jerde.
* Arinna Day (21 December)
	+ A summer festival dedicated to the solar Goddess Arinna.

Every full moon and new moon was also a public holiday.

### Views towards non-heterosexuals

Many Gauvajuts believed that the existence of "sexual diversity" was the creation of an evil god (along with other socially-unacceptable ideas such as socialism, fascism, democracy, false religions, and atheism) to confuse humanity and stop it from becoming too powerful and numerous to challenge his power. They also believed that non-heterosexuals were confused or mentally-disturbed, so they were either given medicine or brought to ceremonies to "cure" their conditions, even though most cases ended in failure. Another reason why they believed that non-heterosexuals must be cured (and why they refused to kill them) was due to a fear that if they die, their non-heterosexuality turns their souls into powerful ghosts that perpetually waged war against the living.

In older times, non-heterosexuals were somewhat tolerated as long as they did not practice or express romantic things in public, more so than in several other countries. However, with the rise of Red Ardesch, Gauvajut society became more suspicious of them, sometimes by forcing them to live in separate communities as they associated such communities with treason against the Gods and the emperor. During Pahhurkas' time, that treatment intensified into the creation of the Eastern Enclaves, and with the invention and arrival of the Rho-Pill from an Ardeschen fugitive, suspected non-heterosexuals were forced to take the Rho-Pill, sparking riots in some towns.

In response, the Ardeschi government used a variant of the Rho-Pill -- the Loi-Pill -- to make people into non-heterosexuals. It was not only used as a recreational drug, but it was also used to punish conquered peoples by forcing them to accept non-heterosexuality. Unlike the Rho-Pill and its widespread usage by many governments on Jerde, the Loi-Pill is prohibited as "a threat to social order": because of this, some people take the Loi-Pill to protest the actions of their governments. On the other hand, Red Ardesch and some other countries also forcibly fed prisoners a mixture of Rho and Loi-Pills to torture their minds, frustrating them and driving them to instability.

At some time after the fall of Red Ardesch to the Utopianist terrorists, some Gauvajut provinces and districts became more tolerant of non-heterosexuals, leading to minor clashes over fears of their influence in society. With the rise of the First Vozonid Empire and its purges, similar attitudes were carried over and absorbed into the Little Gauvajut Empire, which succeeded the Eastern Enclaves. The Little Gauvajut Empire, itself a Gauvajutised monarchy, attempted to integrate non-heterosexuality as part of its traditional culture. They even adapted its traditions to support non-heterosexuals as people who were blessed by the Gods.

### Human Sanctification Project

The Human Sanctification Project -- which was initiated by Prime Minister Suwelli -- was an attempt to eliminate various undesirable traits from the genome of the empire's people, using technology salvaged from the machinery of the Twelfth Galactic Empire.

According to the advocates of the HSP, diversity in human beings was the result of countless attempts of human genetics to adapt to different environments. However, since many attempts resulted in various disorders and disabilities, there has to be some way to harness and manipulate genetics to ensure those harmful traits will *never* exist again in all humans, born and unborn. This would be done to make life easier for everyone in the Empire, if not for all living people, resulting in a global utopia free from any illness or flaw.

As some advocates instead turned it into an attempt to impose a hive mind upon the Gauvajut people and their neighbours (depriving them of any free will), the later rulers of the empire banned the project, forcing its members into hiding. Angered by the erasure of non-heterosexuality and diversity in that project, the authorities of Red Ardesch decided that the "New Humans" (people who were genetically modified by that project) were to be killed or fed with the Loi-Pill to stop their traits from spreading into the Ardeschi peoples.

## Religion

See also: Gauvajut mythology

The Gauvajut religion is polytheistic, with Tarhunz and Hannahanna being the national Gods of the empire. In opposition to them was the four-headed dragon Illujankas, and his armies consisting of lesser dragons, demons, monsters, sorcerers, soul-eaters, cannibals, barbarians, and other beings of Chaos.

As lightning is the domain of the thunder god Tarhunz, the invention and introduction of electricity was celebrated as his gift to mankind, and it was readily learned and adopted wholescale by the Gauvajut people. Gauvajuts were also known for utilising machinery that gathered lightning bolts from storms and condensing said bolts into usable electricity and fuel. All forms of electricity were regarded as sacred and holy, and they took offense in people who waste electricity as blaspheming their God. Certain battalions used lightning guns as their weaponry in their fight against the enemies of the empire, and severe criminals and terrorists were executed by being electrocuted to a crisp.

While other religions were tolerated as customs for other nations, monotheists and atheists were treated with suspicion due to their adherents' attacks against other religious people, and due to stereotypes formed by rude adherents and terrorists. The same later applied to other religions over time (like Ruism), using a few backwards people to represent *every* adherent of those religions, or towards every atheist over the actions of rude activists. The Gauvajut Empire also had a habit of referring hostile nations as "lands ruled by demons and those given away to the madness of Chaos".

Under Gauvajut law, many works supporting illegal ideologies (like atheism, monotheism, socialism, communism, fascism, corporatism, anarchism, non-Gauvajut supremacy or racism) are placed under heavy restrictions. Before they read or watch such works, all readers were required to swear an oath to Tarhunz and the State never to practice what they had seen. This was a predecessor of the "redshelf" practice, which restricted any forbidden works in Denlotian times to people with permits.

## Gallery

Gauvajut marriage flag, used to bless a couple during their wedding. The red is for the male, and the blue part is for the female.Gauvajut religious flag. White symbolises cleanliness, green-blue symbolises honour, purple for rightousness, and gold for holiness. The colours are arranged as such as to resemble the robes of a typical priest: the green-blue top is for the turban, the purple for the mantle or cloak, and the white part is for the robes.
## Trivia

* The Gauvajut Empire was inspired by the Hittites and their culture; China during the Ming and Qing Dynasty and how it dealt with foreign attempts to forcibly open it; modern Iraq; the Imperium of Man's religious aspects; and conservative, nationalistic countries like Hungary, Russia, and India of the 2010's.
	+ The name "Gauvajut" was influenced by the Old Persian word *kaufa*, which means "mountain".
	+ The Gauvajut Empire was the opposite of the Denlotia and Red Ardesch, as a *conservative* authoritarian society as opposed to the latter two, being authoritarian societies based on using progressivism to punish their enemies.
* The practice of dividing ancient history into the Sixteen Ages was based on Gauvajut mythology, in which each age is represented by a heroine who became a time goddess.
	+ That, in turn, was inspired by the First to Fourth Ages, and subsequent ages to the present in Tolkien's writings.
* Although the Gauvajut Empire hated (Red) Ardesch for its unusually-progressive (but harsh) society and government, it supported the breakaway republics of Green Ardesch, Black Ardesch, and Palguenia when they seceded from Red Ardeschi rule.
* "Gauvajut" and "Kawwajutas" should be pronounced as "GOW-vah-yoot" or "KOW-wah-yoo-tahs" ([ˈgaʊ̯vajut], [ˈkawːajutʌs]).
* In 2023, the author retconned more of the HGE's background, to depict how did its successors look back on it.