The Thracian Hegemony

These are setting essays by Nick the Nevermet for the Wyzard's fantasy setting

Welcome to the Thracian Hegemony.

Welcome to the Thracian Hegemony. Welcome to freedom.

Long ago, humanity did not dream of freedom. Rather, its leaders dreamed of power. This hubris caused the downfall of the Amaranthan Empire, a downfall that was as inevitable as it was disasterous. 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. Humanity dreamed of little beyond survival.

The rise of the Thracian Hegemony was a successful 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 can be thought of as a web, though not for prey like a spider’s web. Freedom is a product of the Hegemony’s collective effort, and through integration into the Hegemony a nation’s people gain access to freedom in ways it could not have dreamed of before. The Hegemony can be thought of as fabric that clothes humanity, helping to protect it from a hostile world.

The Hegemony it is a network of organizations and institutions dedicated to helping humanity transcend the provincialism. The Hegemony is composed of combines, formal organizations with specific missions (“threads”) 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 to have a full life of opportunity to be assembled as they see fit. The Hegemony is not a government, and it does not serve governments. It is not the market, nor does it serve the market. It 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 calls its attitude toward governments and markets “parameterism:” a few key ideals regarding universal human rights must be recognized by all nations within the Hegemony. Beyond these core ideals (“The Parameters”), humanity is allowed to self-organize as it sees fit. Two of the most basic are democracy, the will of the people directs the nation’s course, and functionalism, societies are to be sustainable and efficient. The Hegemony sees these as interrelated, and offers assistance in the form of experts and technocrats to ensure integrated nations can be maintained within the acceptable parameters.

Life in the Sunrise.

The Sunrise Realms, also known as the Selvaged Realms or (derogatorily) the Salvaged Realms, are those nations which have been newly integrated into the Hegemony. They exist in a thick, long arc beyond which the Dark Kingdoms still stand, dominated by dark and inhuman rulers.

More than in the Core, the people in the Selvaged feel the continuing threat of the Dark Kingdoms. The Vampire Princes range from inscrutable to alien to mad, and the general populace thus finds their attacks and plots utterly beyond comphrehension. Hegemony technocrats manage the situation best they can, but perfect security is simply not possible.

The technocrats do everything they can to keep the Dark Kingdoms at bay. Intelligence operatives track and predict attacks. Military officers constantly adjust forces to repel the enemy where they can. Not all threats, however, can be correctly met by cold, impersonal efficiency. For all others, the Sunrise turns to heroes.

Heroes

“Hero” is a generic term for individuals who, through whatever means, have amassed a great deal of power attached to their person and personality. Some have powered armor. Some are wizards. Some are even genetically modified. All, however, are spectacular: powerful in a way that demands attention.

There are a number of descriptive categories heroes can fall into. If a hero is employed or sponsored by a nation, the hero is a magistrate or a magisterial hero. If, however, a hero is primarily attached to a Combine or combines, then the hero is a champion.

Most heroes are retained or attached to a particular government or Combine. The Free City of Ion retains the Maul of Comets to defend their city from whatever demonic monsters come its way. Jessica the Windguilder, on the other hand, is attached to the OVDA, the Outer Valley Development Authority, a Combine organized to re-populate and develop a region decimated by the Dark Kingdoms. They are well funded and have a predictable mission. Retained heroes are very different than freelance, or less politely, mercenary heroes, who move from one patronizing entity to another.

Eccentric heroes are those who do not fit cleanly onto the retained – mercenary spectrum. Lord Rail funds his personal vendetta against the Dark through the spoils of war. Brother Break, on the other hand, primarily makes draws his wealth from his exclusive sponsorship deals and his regular video specials. There are even a few, like Faithful William, who scrape together enough resources through amassing Hegemonic development grants.

Magistrates

Magistrates are heroes associated with a particular nation’s government, a situation that creates certain inevitable tensions. On the one side, there are faceless, expert technocrats keeping society running. On the other, there are the heroes, walking spectacles that defy formalization by their very nature. And in between, there is the public. The public may want many things, but more often than not, it rejects the idea that there is an irreducible tension between heroism and technocracy. This dynamic exists throughout the Sunrise. Meanwhile, the Technocrats constantly attempt to minimize the role heroes play within ‘real’ government matters, and the heroes in turn are constantly fighting for either more freedom in their actions, more influence over the government, or both.

Different nations have attempted to balance this tension with various political institutions. One nation may have a select group of magistrates with life-long terms selected by its parliament. In another, they are the cream of the military, given a chance to become more than human in the name of the nation. One nation is even ruled by an aristocracy of genetically enhanced humans who form various political parties which are then elected by the voting normal population.

Magistrates generally have a “built in audience” in their homeland. Simply by representing the nation, they are worthy of adoration.

Champions

Champions are, if anything, even more diverse than the Magistrates. All champions are defined in part by two questions: what is the thread of their Combine, and how much autonomy they have from the Combine. Some Champions are nothing but agents of the Combine, others are part-time agents, and part-time supporters of the public good (often in the name of good public relations). The popularity of a Champion varies widely depending on what its Combine’s interests are.