Nothing is here 3

This is a page describing the radical nation known as the Dundainian Anarchy within the setting The Judges of Tehom

Introduction

As a society that completely rejects rule of the Few over the Many, the Dundainian Commune is a new development on Tehom that many find terrifying. It is a society that should not be able to exist as far as most are concerned, and as such it and its ideology disturbing beyond compare. How humanity could maintain itself without looking toward its betters simply does not make sense to many of the Tehomin. We will be examining the Commune, commonly called the Anarchy, here.

History

Dundain on the Path

Dundain, the single largest contiguous landmass on Tehom that is slightly larger than Madagascar. Since before humanity was on the Path, Dundain was controlled by three city-states. The Highspire was one of the first major human settlements, founded and defended by Dimday Dragoon, and over time it developed into a cultured, almost ritualistic society. Stoutfort, meanwhile, was founded by a group of officers who left Hazor after Warmaster Molyvdos slipped into suspended animation. Though small in population, its emphasis on martial ability made it a cosmopolis to be reckoned with. And finally, the Tenax Primacy was founded by network of legacies that broke away from Srimec City. Though the pro-legacy tenor of its leadership had waned over the years, its emphasis on engineering marvels did not.

Having three major cosmopoli sharing the same island was a unique situation on Tehom, and they developed a rather awkward but more or less stable peace while humanity was on The Path, the time period of relative prospect after the Shattering War ended when a kleocratic (neo-feudal "rule of the glorious") hegemony spread across the human settlements. Archonic War between the three was a common occurrence, though in the name of stability these confrontations were always kept as static and ritualized as possible, and the stakes were also kept very low for any given confrontation.

The Wasting War

The status quo between the three did not last. Eventually, humanity fell from the Path, thanks in part to the Hadalian attacks from the deep, and the global recession created by Novum Volsci's greed. The shrinking and destablized global economy encouraged the cosmopoli of Tehom to look within their borders for resources and markets. The increased concern with territoriality inflamed pre-existing feuds among the Archons of the three cities, eventually creating a conflict. The war between them became increasingly bitter, until it moved beyond archonic war into a full military conflict known as the Wasting War. Those affiliated with the Tenax Primacy tend to claim Stoutfort began it when they violated the rules of a static struggle regarding ownership of mining rights within the heart of Dundain. Former supporters of Stoutfort, on the other hand, insist their actions were within the letter of the dueling agreement, and claim Highspire instigators promoted an inaccurate view of the fight. For their part, apologists for Highspire point out that Stoutfort and Tenax had been colluding together for years to take away land traditionally held by Highspire, and that war was inevitable.

In the chaotic war, alliances between the three shifted constantly. After the Wasting War began and military forces comprised of the Many became a common element of the conflict, the other cosmopoli of Tehom stayed generally neutral. The Wasting War had became a mass of atrocities committed by Archons of all three city states. In contemporary Earth terms, this was primarily a defensive war between three very small armies, none of which wished to commit to an all out assault. However, in the eyes of the Tehomin who had become used to the idea that "war" simply meant superhuman champions dueling for the glory of a city, the Wasting War was a shocking wave of unending violence.

The Wasting War continued for well over a year until the agora of Tenax was hit with a massive barrage of biochemical weapons, destroying a large portion of both the Many and the Few. However, the attack did not kill Seraphim Scythe, the nephew of the Primate and one of the major heroes of Tenax during the war. In retaliation for this unprecedented attack, Seraphim Scythe brought together most of the surviving Archons from Tenax, called them the Tenacian Reckoners, and led an all out assault on Highspire. While none of the Reckoners are known to have survived, they managed to kill several thousand citizens of Highspire, many of its Archons, and broke its infrastructure. Tenax and Highspire had killed themselves in matching genocides.

The Wasting Revolution

Stoutfort was unaware of its position as the likely victor of the war by default due to the massive amount of damage it had taken earlier in the war. As the cosmopolis with the most obvious military power, it quickly was targeted by both Highspire and Tenax early in the conflict, though it had been allowed to limp along ever since as Tenax and Highspire turned their attention to one another. Reports about what was happening between Tenax were full of rumors and inaccuracies, and it was unclear who attacked first, who had survived, and whether Stoutfort was next. The Archons of Stoutfort decided to gamble on an assault plan that estimated large losses by the Stout military, but also large gains. The exhausted military, however, balked at this plan. The Archons attempted to stamp out this resistance, and accidentally created a full scale mutiny. This mutiny then became a full-scale revolt against the Stoutfort Archons. The Wasting War had become the Wasting Revolution.

The Wasting Revolution was more effective than many believed it could be precisely because of how much power and training had been given the Many of Stoutfort, and over time, the organized numbers of the Many overtook the increasingly panicked and flailing Few.

For several weeks, all of Dundain - the demolished Highspire, the exterminated Tenax, and the revolting Stoutfort - was cut off from the outside world. The other city states of Tehom gained most of their knowledge of what was happening from the escaping refugees who were both if the Few and the Many. The horrors that were described were sometimes true and sometimes fiction, but the result was the other city states generally recoiled in horror and avoided Dundain for as long as they could.

Consolidation

This avoidance likely created the opportunity for the Wasting Revolution to succeed. The Enlisted Council (the leadership of the Many within the Stoutfort military) officially supported the revolution, and it attempted to plot a moderate path forward where the current regime in charge of Stoutfort was exiled, but they would accept other, more palatible Archons as leaders. This created a conflict within the revolution between the Enlisted Council and more radical elements that had come to see the Few in general as the enemy. The Enlisted Council lost this internal power struggle, and the Revolution was now guided by a secretive council of noncommissioned officers called The Peers. Under the guidance of the Peers, all members of the Few, be they Archons or independents or of any other classification were either expelled from Dundain or executed.

The Peers began to set up governing councils for the various districts of Stoutfort, slowly bringing order back. They renamed Stoutfort "Ox" to highlight how the Many had often been treated as beasts of burden by the Few. It also re-established a defenses around the city, fully expecting an attack from the Few from outside Dundain. A full attack never came, as terror and misinformation ruled the day. No cosmopolis wished to be the one that risked its Archons to retake Stoutfort. One Archon from Beacon, Caleb Warcry, organized a small and independent group of the Few in a poorly organized attempt at glory that managed to do little but create video of human military units killing superhumans with relative ease. After that, any chance of an organized invasion was nil.

As soon as it could, Ox sent scouts out to the remains of Tenax and Highspire territory to make contact with survivors. While some members of the Few were found along with members of the Many who were still loyal to their fallen city-states, many were simply happy someone had found them and was willing to help. In this way, Ox laid claim to the entire island of Dundain. This new realm was not a city state, and it was not a kleocracy. Rather, it was something new: a land settled by the Many governed by the Many. This new country was called the Dundainian Commune, though many elsewhere referred to it as the Dundainian Anarchy, as it was quite literally a society without Archons.

The Anarchy Today

Offically, the Dundainian Anarchy is cutoff from the rest of Tehomin society. The styles and architecture found within the Anarchy feel increasingly anachronistic, trapped at a point in time just before the Wasting Revolution. There are many rumors about life within the Anarchy, and few confirmed facts, even among the ruling Archons.

The only agora has been completely leveled and turned into the Memoriam Field as a symbol of their triumph against the Few. The Many generally find the place oddly peaceful, but the Few find it eerie and unnaturally disturbing. Ox is now a small but sprawling city, and the Anarchy has demolished any buildings they did not have immediate use for. It has rebuilt most of the armaments, living in paranoid fear of an Archon attack. The governing body of the Anarchy, the Peers, live in hidden camps in the hills outside the city most of the time. There is also an extensive tunnel network beneath the city. Slowly, Ox has stabilized and allowed the Dundainian Anarchy to begin to spread its message of liberation and humanism to the rest of Tehom. Generally, these attempts at propaganda are met with confusion and terror by both the Few and (most of) the Many. The social order of the Anarchy should simply not work. It is an impossibility that nevertheless exists. Beyond the propaganda wars, however, the Anarchy is still relatively poor and weak, as it lacks trading partners, and much of its territory was devastated during the Wasting War and the subsequent Dundainian Revolt.

The exiled Archons and their familes that once rules Highspire, Tenax, and Stoutfort are biding their time, hoping for an opportunity to retake their homelands. However, few cosmopoli wish to expend the resources to create such an operation, as the open warfare it would require is unpalatable to Tehomin thinking. Additionally, the few times exiles have attempted an attack on their own have ended in the defeat, and often death, of the exiled Archons in question. Rumors have spread that the Anarchy has developed various power suppression technologies, but these rumors have not been confirmed yet. And so, a tense and uncertain détente continues between the Anarchy and the rest of the world.

How Can This Be?

In the eyes of many, the Dundainian Anarchy is disturbing because it shouldn't exist. Humanity, so goes the taken-for-granted argument, needs the Few to guide it and protect it. The Dundainian Anarchy should fail as quickly as and miserably as a member of the Many who decides he no longer needs to eat. So, how then, does the Anarchy sustain itself?

The answer is complicated. On a social and political level, part of it goes to the uniquely militarized structure of Stoutfort. The Many were used to being part of a centralized Many-at-Arms Levy, which created the basis of a political structure that had no need for archons and ventures. Despite what many philosophs within the Set believe, humanity is extremely flexible and many different political forms can stabilize. Where the cosmopolis is a neo-feudal polity centered on superhuman celebrity aristocrats, the Dundainian Collective is a variation of syndicalism where industrial democracy has taken over the archon's ventures. A significant difference between the Collective and anarcho-syndicalism is the presence of the Front, a very centralized government apparatus charged with defense as well as the reclamation of land on Dundain.

Beyond the social element, there is a metaphysical element. Somehow, the Collective either stumbled upon or developed intricate strategies to manipulate the Tide's Eye. Instead of the Tide's Eye imbuing individuals with power, ideas and groups are imbued with power. A factory of normal humans left to their own devices on Dundain actually is more productive than an equivalent factory somewhere else in the Set, thanks to a slightly superhuman esprit de corps that permeates the entire enterprise. This is why the Peers, the leadership body of the Collective, are anonymous figures. Rather than there being a security concern, the anonymity helps focus the attention of the Tide's Eye on ideals rather than people. This is also why Memorium Field offers no names of singular heroes. On Dundain, the only hero allowed to exist is The People.

Dark Rumors

Several rumors refuse to die regarding the atrocities that persist within the Anarchy. One is a continual pogrom against anyone born with powers. Founders must be reported upon birth and they are killed by authorities as quickly as possible. There is no evidence of this rumor, though it never seems to go away. As far as anyone can tell, the Many of Dundain simply have stopped giving birth to superhumans. It is of course possible there is a perfectly efficient conspiracy killing all the children and covering it up, but such a belief requires a degree of conspiratorial thinking that is difficult for many to achieve.

Another persistant rumor are betrayers, members of the Few who work for some reason for Dundain. These may be spies working within the Set, or they may be individuals working behind the scenes to help make Dundain as powerful as it is. Part of this rumor is fueled by kleocratic arrogance: the Many could never have done this on their own, so goes the argument, so there must be Few behind the scene, like what happens in Calmport. Beyond this, however, the occasional Dundain military unit will be armed with blessedtech, or something else strange occurs. There are also concerns about the relationship between the Collective and Uncle Vulture, the powerful mystic who resides in the heart of ruined Highspire, despite the Collective denying they have any contact with him and no one has been foolish enough to ask Uncle Vulture directly.