Editing Welcome to Freedom (section)

==Introduction==

Long ago, humanity could not dream of freedom, for its leaders were too busy dreaming of power.  This hubris caused the inevitable and disastrous downfall of the Amaranthan Empire.  The sorcerer-kings were replaced by Vampire Princes, demonic patrons, and alien intelligences who erected the Dark Kingdoms on the backs of humanity.  The Dark Kingdoms were the natural conclusion to the vicious pursuit of power began by the Amaranthans: sectarian, war, suffering, alienations, and hopelessness reigned supreme.  The Dark Kingdoms are known by their Three Failings: Parochialism, Tyranny, and Monstrosity.

===The Rise===
The rise of the Thracian Hegemony was a rejection of this social order.  There was no revolution creating a new kingdom, as that would merely continue the cycle of oppression.  The Hegemony was something new and distinctly, wonderfully human.

The Hegemony began as a set of trade agreements made between the human serfs in several neighboring Dark Kingdoms.  Over time, it used its economic power to outflank the domination of the Vampire Princes.  One by one, the Vampire Princes left, were bought off, or destroyed.  The result were truly free human polities for the first time since the Amaranthan Empire.  The Hegemony, however, refused to become a kingdom, but rather the infrastructure to supported all human nations.

===What is the Hegemony?===
Technically speaking, the Thracian Hegemony is a transnational civil society that espouses universal principles for humanity and that supports political, economic, and social institutions that compliment those principles.  '''To be clear, the Hegemony is not a government or business.'''  Humanity is incredibly diverse, and it is inevitable that different societies will have different economic and political structures.  The Hegemony respects those differences.  However, humanity must learn how to best create a universal community, and the Hegemony offers the tools for doing so.  The Hegemony serves humanity in all its infinite possibilities.  Markets and governments are inevitable and necessary, but they must serve humanity, rather than force humanity to serve them.  

The Hegemony it is a network of organizations and institutions dedicated to helping humanity transcend the parochialism, tyranny, and monstrosity.  These non-economic, non-governmental organizations are collectively called "strands", formal organizations with specific missions in accordance with the Hegemonic worldview.  Some promote particular industries, others general economic growth, or a political concern, a form of government, or any number of countless other matters.  However, each combine is defined by an interest it promotes in the name of the Hegemony: humanity shall be free, given a voice, and dynamically integrated.