The Kingdom of Bharata

## Kingdom of Bharata

The hive city of Arbaagnon, with a population of 117 million, is the largest city in human history and is still growing.

**The Godly Kingdom of Bharata** is an absolute monarchy and a member of the **Pact of Kings**. They are positioned between Drunia, Drachva, and the Red Star States. With the second highest population in all of Jeralis, Bharata has become an industrial powerhouse in the modern age, and is responsible for much of modern day Jeralian manufacturing. They are the greatest civil engineers of our time, not even the brightest minds in Shinagi can scratch the genius put into each Bharatan Hive City.

## Society and Government

Bharata is a country steeped in ethnic tensions and religious zealotry, second only to Drunia in their fervor. The majority religion in Bharata is that of Salystinism, a polytheistic belief system that forms the foundations of Bharatan society. The kingdom is ruled over by Emperor Tylveen Laaspatel who holds total power over the entirety of the nation and its laws. His commands are second only to those of the Holy Eyes, the mysterious gods that are the focal point of Salystic worship. Once an emperor dies, all of the nation's Seer Kings (governors) gather together and vote on which of their heirs is most suitable to take the throne.

Bharatan society is made up of a strict cast system that ascertains someone's place in life from the moment they are born. Your cast determines your lot in life, and parents usually teach their children to fill their same role later in life. Moving out of one's cast is nearly impossible, and being left outside the system is worse than death. For a period of time it was not legally enforced, known by most as the "peace years". This was a decade where international pressure from more modern nations forced Bharata to stop the continuation of the cast system officially for some time, which was one of the leading reasons for them to join the Pact of Kings along with their ongoing rivalry with the Republic of Mondrae.

### Salystic Caste System

* **The Holy Eyes:** The Gods of Bharata, none on earth can hold a candle to the power of those in the kingdom of heaven.
* **The Emperor:** Reigning just beneath the gods, the Emperor is the only man whose glory on earth is close to that in heaven. His duties are to watch after his people, enforce the will of the Holy Eyes, and defend Bharata from corruption and evil.
* **The Seer Kings:** Originally the rulers of Bharata until the emperor rose, the Seer Kings were once holy men leading the kingdom of Bharata into the future by the gift of prophecy and sight. In the modern age Seer Kings are simply the governors of Bharata. They choose an apprentice 10 years into their tenure as Seer King, who will take over their position after their death. An ancient tradition, one must sacrifice their left eye to become a Seer King. While seemingly barbaric, the process is meant to give the men who go through it the gift of prophecy, and prove their devotion to their nation.
* **Administrators:** Some of the wealthiest men in Bharata, Administrators are quite literally born politicians. Almost all political offices in Bharata are filled by Administrators, and parents train their children from birth to assume whatever their political role is. This means that these children are given world class educations, mentored by some of the wisest minds of their era, and truly prepared for their responsibility by the time their parent passes.
* **Craftsmen:** Craftsmen are skilled artisans. From architects to smiths, weapon designers to scientists, the category of craftsmen in the modern age has become broader and broader. Highly respected in Bharatan society, these men are often considered the most morally sound and elite of the castes by common folk. Due to the nature of the caste system allowing them to train for most of their lives for their positions, Craftsmen make some of the finest Arks and weapons in the world.
* **Warriors:** The only way to easily rise through the cast system is to join the military, and that is no sound guarantee. Someone joining the military immediately becomes apart of the Warrior caste (unless casteless or an outlaw), and a tenure of 20 years with the military solidifies their position there. Once someone is officially in the Warrior caste, they can begin training their heirs and children to be the next generation of elite Bharatan soldiers. Many men who do not make the full tenure still leave and return to a slightly higher cast than their original. This guarantees a steady supply of thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
* **Merchants:** The most despised of the castes within the system, Merchants are some of the wealthiest men in Bharata while being somewhat low on the pecking order of society. Considered greedy pigs by much of Bharatan society due to their near total control of the economy, Merchants often receive hatred and threats of violence- threats that are often made good on. Most members of this caste are also a member of the Merchant's Guild, a sprawling system run by the elites that keeps track of the values of goods and the stocks of companies, allowing members to easily access incredibly useful information.
* **Farmers:** Almost entirely unheard of within the cities, Farmers mostly stay to their intergenerational farms and provide the thousands of tons of food responsible for keeping Bharata up and running.
* **Laborers:** The vast majority of Bharata's population are laborers. They fill in mostly unskilled positions or jobs that require basic education, and are generally kept happy by the government. A large number of laborers join the military to bring themselves up to one of the higher classes, or to more easily leave the massive hive cities of Bharata. A very unexceptional caste.
	+ ***Casteless:*** Casteless are those born outside the caste system due to religion or ethnicity. They are often forced to take the worst jobs in Bharata, from cleaning sewers to working in brothels. Most consistently go hungry, and struggle to bring in any form of income, forcing most to turn to a life of crime. This has become a repeating cycle, where they are considered criminals and despised more for it, and thus forced to go further and further underground.
	+ ***Outlaws:*** Someone becomes an Outlaw when they are tried for a Felony crime by Bharatan law. Generally forms of theft, drug related offenses, and murder, are all things that lead someone down the path of the Outlaw. They can get almost no legal employment, and are effectively stared out of the system or forced to organize their own. 'Crimetowns' are a concept in hive cities of smaller towns or villages hidden in the depths of the massive cities, almost entirely self governing areas with populations consisting of Outlaws and Casteless.

## Military

Bharata's army is an ancient and massive beast and they strive to fall into every corner of Ark engineering. Due to the narrow nature of their geography and their proximity to nations that threaten them, Bharata has an incredibly diverse army that is allowed by the sheer scale of their population and industry. The speed at which Bharata can produce new armies and divisions is intimidating in and of itself, with their hyper-specialized Craftsmen being able to design new models or innovate on old ones fast enough to surprise enemies.

Seeing prototypes of new Arks on the battlefield being fielded by Bharata is quite common, though the more wildly experimental designs are usually saved for brutal surprise tactics. This swiss-army knife nature makes Bharata a keystone in the broader range of war for the Pact of Kings. They are constantly trying to reverse engineer the technology of other nations, and rumors have it that Bharata is close to cracking Ambrosia's submarine technology. They have an airforce, ground army, and a naval fleet.

### Noteworthy Parts of Bharata's Military

* **Blind Witness:** The name of Bharata's special and covert operations division, Blind Witness is a murky organization with spies implanted in important positions across the world. Their soldiers are some of the best in Bharata's army, and it is considered good form to not mess with them.
	+ **Restless Twitch Strike Force:** An elite group of Bharatan Ark pilots, they are Bharata's own answer to Nemean. The best of the best of the Bharatan army, put through some of the most brutal and grueling training on the planet, eventually come out the other side as Restless Twitch pilots. As the name implies they are almost always out on missions, usually splitting into smaller teams so they can constantly be working towards an objective even as some of them rest. Each member has been classified as HPV status by the UDI, though Bharata seems wary to throw them against Nemean just yet.
	+ **Blue Gambit Terror Force:** Reformed every time Bharata goes to war with the Republic, the Blue Gambit Terror force started out as the Blue Terror Charge, a brutal cavalry brigade centuries ago. They are a terrorist force sent to sow dissent and violence within Mondrae, ranging from mass shootings to bombings to attacks on key factories and production facilities. Reviled by the Union of Free Lands, and with members often high on the UDI's most wanted, the Blue Gambit have always been deemed a necessary evil. In the modern age they target all Union nations, though it is often difficult to ascertain a terrorist's affiliation with Blue Gambit, making them a boogeyman blamed for many unrelated attacks.
* **Bharatan Defense Armada:** The BDA is Bharata's "defensive" naval fleet that has been conducting a number of hostile operations along the coastline of Union nations. It is theorized that they provide additional funding to Ambrosian Pirates, and these rumors combined with the reports of shelling runs along Mondrae and Atlan's coasts make them into a sufficiently evil villain for the coastal nations.
* **Witnessed Army of Wrath:** Witnessed Army of Wrath, or WAW, is the main ground force of the Bharatan army. Their name was changed from the Bharatan Defense Army when the war initiated, as the Seer Kings had agreed that the Holy Eyes had witnessed them and blessed them with their Wrath. Due to the scale of the WAW, their soldiers vary as wildly as their population. It is incredibly uncommon for anyone from a class above Warrior to join the army, but it isn't entirely unheard of.

## Trivia

* The Kingdom of Bharata and the Republic of Mondrae have been in 6 major historical wars against each other, and are bitter rivals.
* In spite of its large population, Bharata was lucky enough to remain relatively untouched by the Clearance Virus. Had it struck Arbaagnon it is estimated fatalities could have as much as doubled worldwide.