That's true. I just wasn't interested in writing about a pseudo-state and a tribal wilderness (which is what Beelem sounded to me). The Jewish people clung to their religion even with the Spanish Inquisition hunting them down. I don't think it's too hard to imagine that they can hide within California given how highly-populated it is. Is the California Republic more religiously moderate than the Free Zone? Because it isn't an explicit theocracy lead by the Scientologists.
Medieval America Mark III
- Thread starter Flashman
- Start date
That's true. I just wasn't interested in writing about a pseudo-state and a tribal wilderness (which is what Beelem sounded to me). The Jewish people clung to their religion even with the Spanish Inquisition hunting them down. I don't think it's too hard to imagine that they can hide within California given how highly-populated it is. Is the California Republic more religiously moderate than the Free Zone? Because it isn't an explicit theocracy lead by the Scientologists.
Well no, but at times (presumably when it was united with the Free Zone) I imagine it was much stricter. I don't doubt that there are still Jews in California, but I imagine they're either slaves or hiding it.
tehskyman
Banned
I don't think there'd be jew's out in the desert considering that the deserts are all surrounded by hostile religious superpowers: New Mexico, California and Deseret. There might be Jews/ descendants of jews in Cascadia though, having fled there upon the rise of Scientology. The eco-bhuddists might be tolerant enough to accept jews in their communities.
Hence why I made the comparison to Marranos living in medieval Spain.
That can be easily corrected. It's pretty much been accepted as canon as far as I can tell.
That's a mistake on my part: The way I update the Table of Contents is that I add everything we've decided canonical from my last post where I said I updated the ToC onwards. One of these posts was the same post where I questioned you about Beelem. So, when I was updating the table of contents I wasn't ready to put it in, but in all of the ToC updates since I assumed it was canonical since it was behind one of my ToC posts.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: A Great Lakes Sailor's Ballad
tehskyman
Banned
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: A Great Lakes Sailor's Ballad
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called 'gitche gumee'
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore seventy seven tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early
The ship was the pride of the Michigan side
Coming back from some mill in Duluth
As the lake freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?
The wind in the ropes made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
T'was the witch of November come stealin'
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
In the face of a devil's storm west wind
When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya
Late in the evenin a main hatchway caved in, he said
Fellas, it's been good t'know ya
The captain knew then he had water comin' in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
In the maritime sailors' cathedral
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 'gitche gumee'
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early
Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
When the winds of the north come knocking your door
you better pray fast and pray clearly
For every man knows when the winds start to blow
You had better batten the hatches.
The storms of autumn, will send you to the bottom
like the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
'Neath the wind and waves are many mariners' graves
Where lost souls are buried forever
And all that remains are the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
To those brave men who are gone we sing this mournful song
But in our hearts we shall always remember
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called 'gitche gumee'
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore seventy seven tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early
The ship was the pride of the Michigan side
Coming back from some mill in Duluth
As the lake freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?
The wind in the ropes made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
T'was the witch of November come stealin'
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
In the face of a devil's storm west wind
When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya
Late in the evenin a main hatchway caved in, he said
Fellas, it's been good t'know ya
The captain knew then he had water comin' in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
In the maritime sailors' cathedral
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 'gitche gumee'
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early
Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
When the winds of the north come knocking your door
you better pray fast and pray clearly
For every man knows when the winds start to blow
You had better batten the hatches.
The storms of autumn, will send you to the bottom
like the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
'Neath the wind and waves are many mariners' graves
Where lost souls are buried forever
And all that remains are the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
To those brave men who are gone we sing this mournful song
But in our hearts we shall always remember
I altered some lyrics to fit the realities of a medieval ship.
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Histories of the Old State of Illinois: The Conquest of Iowa
tehskyman
Banned
Histories of the Old State of Illinois: The Conquest of Iowa
At the beginning of new medieval ages, there were no Presidents outside of Washington and chaos ruled the land in his stead. Illinois at this point consisted only of the northern half of the state, in an arc centered around Chicago, where the governor retreated to after a Missourian army burned Springfield down. It was restricted to this area for several centuries until a cowboy family, turned warlords managed to usurp the governorship from the ruling Marshall family. This new family, the Duponts, used Chicago as a base to push Illinois back outwards. Adopting their cowboy heritage with a lancer tradition, the Dupont armies were a uniquely pure cavalry; horse archers and lancers, where men would be trained to use both. Illinoisan armies hit and ran their enemies, using lancers to smash peasant levies and peppering them with arrows from horseback when the enemy cavalry and heavy infantry arrived. With these tactics, Peter Dupont I was able to conquer all the way to the Mississippi and rule all of Illinois from Chicago.
It would be his great-grandson Bradley II who crossed the Mississippi at Rock Island in the spring of 2624, smashing cowboys all the way to Omaha and establishing Illinoisan control from the Missouri to the Wabash. With victories over smaller armies at Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Marshallton, Bradley turned west to face a combined army of the remaining Iowa cowboys and their allies from Kansas and Nebraska. It was at Des Moines where Bradley rolled the dice and sealed his legacy. During the industrial era, Des Moines sprawled around an area centered on the merger of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers. In 2624, it was reduced to a small walled city, centered around the old capitol on the east bank of the Des Moines. When Bradley arrived at Des Moines, all the cowboys had already gathered. Camped separately to reduce tensions between the groups the three armies were split by the rivers. The Kansans were camped between the Des Moines and Raccon, the Nebraskans south of the rivers and the Iowans east of the Des Moines, just outside of the city. Bradley split up his army into 2 parts. Half would cross the Des Moines east of their current location and attack the Kansans from the south. The other half would ride north , cross the river there and attack the Nebraskans. At dawn, he struck. The Iowan army awoke to the sounds of burning wagons and screaming men as Illinoisan Lancers ran through the cowboy encampments and their archers took out those who managed to escape. Helpless, the Iowans watched as their anti-Illinoisan coalition vanished before their eyes. An attempt to cross the rain swollen Des Moines and reinforce their allies failed as man and horse were washed away or shot full of arrows. After the battle, the Illinoisans would cross the river once more. The Iowans confronted them at the ford but rains had rendered their bowstrings limp and useless and the Illinoisans dispatched them easily.
Bradley then rode into Des Moines and captured the aging governor of Iowa Colin Bertrand and his last descendant Jimmy Bertrand. Placing the Hawkeye Crown upon Colin's head, he beheaded Colin and then promised Jimmy his life in exchange for the governorship of Iowa. Jimmy agreed and true to his word, Bradley spared his life. Jimmy would spend the remainder of his days as a monk, hidden away in a monastery just outside of Chicago where he was no threat to the Duponts.
Bradley would spend the next 10 years of his life raiding and defending against other cowboys who sought to rebuild the State of Iowa. Sick and tired of constantly riding out to smash another cowboy horde he then began the work on the Big Wall of Iowa and the Missouri defenses using captured cowboys and the prisoners of other campaigns against Ohio and Michigan as slave labor to build the 400km of rammed earth wall and watch tower system between the Missouri and Mississippi from Sioux City to La Crosse. He wouldn't get to see the wall finished dying of a seized heart just 8 years after construction began. Instead Bradley's son Henry "the Cruel" DuPont would accomplish the monumental task by enslaving tens of thousands to build the wall which stands today as a testament to the power that Illinois once wielded.
At the beginning of new medieval ages, there were no Presidents outside of Washington and chaos ruled the land in his stead. Illinois at this point consisted only of the northern half of the state, in an arc centered around Chicago, where the governor retreated to after a Missourian army burned Springfield down. It was restricted to this area for several centuries until a cowboy family, turned warlords managed to usurp the governorship from the ruling Marshall family. This new family, the Duponts, used Chicago as a base to push Illinois back outwards. Adopting their cowboy heritage with a lancer tradition, the Dupont armies were a uniquely pure cavalry; horse archers and lancers, where men would be trained to use both. Illinoisan armies hit and ran their enemies, using lancers to smash peasant levies and peppering them with arrows from horseback when the enemy cavalry and heavy infantry arrived. With these tactics, Peter Dupont I was able to conquer all the way to the Mississippi and rule all of Illinois from Chicago.
It would be his great-grandson Bradley II who crossed the Mississippi at Rock Island in the spring of 2624, smashing cowboys all the way to Omaha and establishing Illinoisan control from the Missouri to the Wabash. With victories over smaller armies at Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Marshallton, Bradley turned west to face a combined army of the remaining Iowa cowboys and their allies from Kansas and Nebraska. It was at Des Moines where Bradley rolled the dice and sealed his legacy. During the industrial era, Des Moines sprawled around an area centered on the merger of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers. In 2624, it was reduced to a small walled city, centered around the old capitol on the east bank of the Des Moines. When Bradley arrived at Des Moines, all the cowboys had already gathered. Camped separately to reduce tensions between the groups the three armies were split by the rivers. The Kansans were camped between the Des Moines and Raccon, the Nebraskans south of the rivers and the Iowans east of the Des Moines, just outside of the city. Bradley split up his army into 2 parts. Half would cross the Des Moines east of their current location and attack the Kansans from the south. The other half would ride north , cross the river there and attack the Nebraskans. At dawn, he struck. The Iowan army awoke to the sounds of burning wagons and screaming men as Illinoisan Lancers ran through the cowboy encampments and their archers took out those who managed to escape. Helpless, the Iowans watched as their anti-Illinoisan coalition vanished before their eyes. An attempt to cross the rain swollen Des Moines and reinforce their allies failed as man and horse were washed away or shot full of arrows. After the battle, the Illinoisans would cross the river once more. The Iowans confronted them at the ford but rains had rendered their bowstrings limp and useless and the Illinoisans dispatched them easily.
Bradley then rode into Des Moines and captured the aging governor of Iowa Colin Bertrand and his last descendant Jimmy Bertrand. Placing the Hawkeye Crown upon Colin's head, he beheaded Colin and then promised Jimmy his life in exchange for the governorship of Iowa. Jimmy agreed and true to his word, Bradley spared his life. Jimmy would spend the remainder of his days as a monk, hidden away in a monastery just outside of Chicago where he was no threat to the Duponts.
Bradley would spend the next 10 years of his life raiding and defending against other cowboys who sought to rebuild the State of Iowa. Sick and tired of constantly riding out to smash another cowboy horde he then began the work on the Big Wall of Iowa and the Missouri defenses using captured cowboys and the prisoners of other campaigns against Ohio and Michigan as slave labor to build the 400km of rammed earth wall and watch tower system between the Missouri and Mississippi from Sioux City to La Crosse. He wouldn't get to see the wall finished dying of a seized heart just 8 years after construction began. Instead Bradley's son Henry "the Cruel" DuPont would accomplish the monumental task by enslaving tens of thousands to build the wall which stands today as a testament to the power that Illinois once wielded.
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Richard Osborne
Banned
Is this thread dead? I was hoping it wouldn't die this time. If it's dead I'm going to launch Mark 4 but unlike the previous thread creators I'll be more open to new ideas outside the regions white actually described.
I’m thinking that tales of ghost cars and the ghost hitchhikers wouldn’t stop even after all cars have stopped for good. Maybe there’s a local community that has the legend of a pitch-black Impala as their version of the banshee. Headless Motorcyclist, anyone?
Why not? I picked the Impala as a random example but that definitely works. Maybe this small town had someone passing down the stories of Stephen King orally and then becoming the scary stories of this small town. Preferably in what was once Maine just because of how appropriate it’d be.
The Pacific Ideal: Government in the Northwest
The Pacific Ideal: Government in the Northwest
The Republic is the dominant form of government across much of the Pacific-Northwest. Unlike the rest of the continent where violence and scarcity have allowed warlords to rise to power, the Pacific Northwest was secure and lush enough to allow many of the democratic traditions of Old America to not only endure but thrive. Liberty and democracy are so strongly valued by the Northwesterners that most of the city-states declared independence fairly early in the Regression, with "Liberty Flags" of pre-Regressive social movements being flown high to celebrate their newfound sovereignty. Though some despots managed to arise, most were overthrown during the mass conversions to Cascadian Buddhism. Ever since, nearly every city-state in Cascadia has been a republic of one shade and another.
"Liberty Flags" are a Cascadian icon, incorporated into flags and symbology to this day.
The typical Cascadian republic will at a minimum possess a Senate, and some sort of Mayor. Senators are usually drawn from the wealthiest and most influential citizens of a city. Mayors are of varying power, ranging from near despots to figureheads who do little beyond cutting ribbons. Many republics also possess a lower house of some sort, referred to as the "City Council" or "Congress". Generally, this house is meant to represent the citizenry as a whole and will either consist of the citizenry as a whole voting as a vast rabble, or as a "sample" of the citizenry selected by allotment.
The Cascadian committment to "democracy" is looked upon with curiosity by most of the West Coast. While all states pay lip service to notions of democracy and a popular mandate (Most rulers bear titles inherited from pre-Regressive democratic institutions, with California even terming itself a "republic), these notions have become as abstracted as concepts of divine right. Most of the aristocrats and philosophers of Medieval America see democracy as the God that failed, most attributing the fall of the old United States to the rabble. Californians tend to emphasize the failures of Cascadian democracy (and make no mistake, they are many), and wait for the day will it will collapse into such anarchy that they and the Columbians inherit the ashes. Some of the more optimistic philosophers, however, hope that the "Pacific Ideal" will prove resilient, and serve as the kernel from which democracy is restored to the nation.
While a full examination of the governments of the Northwest would be impossible thanks to their number, below is a brief survey of the governmental styles of the "Big 3: that is Portland, Vancouver and Seattle.
The Serene Republic of Portland
The Serene Republic of Portland has perhaps the least democratic system of the Big 3. Incredibly byzantine in its structures and provisions with more laws and loopholes then any common citizen is capable of understanding. Without delving into all of the nitty gritty, here's the basics:
Theoretically, at the very bottom sits the Citizen's Council, the assembly of all citizens of the Republic. Once the primary governing body and the electors of the mayor, the Citizen's Council was robbed of more and more power until the point in the modern day where it can only meet when called for by the Mayor to temporarily replace the City Council. The City Council consists of the noble families of Portland, who have purchased their hereditary right to sit on the council. Families strapped for cash are free to sell their seat to another noble family. The City Council is the theoretical source of all governmental power, seating some 2000 members.
At the same level at the City Council is the secretive "Select Committee", a council of 13 members elected by the City Council. The members, elected from within the City Council to 2 year terms, are supposed to be the most trusted and experienced in the Republic. First created during the war with California, it is officially supposed to deal with matters of state and war deemed either too sensitive for Council eyes or too important to allow dithering. However, do to the political deadlock in the City Council, more and more trivial matters are being sent to the Committee.
The upper house of the Republic is the Senate, composed of 60 men selected by the Council. They deliberate on more important manners, and decide upon the bills passed up to them by the City Council.
Finally, the executive body, consisting of the Mayor and his Executive Cabinet, which must sign off on his decisions. The power of the mayor waxes and wanes with time. Currently, their is a very powerful Mayor in office.
The Peasant's Republic of Vancouver
Vancouver was once the most radical of the major Northwestern republics. It was a peasant republic, with no formal leaders, flying the sickle and hoe on their liberty flags. All actions were intended to serve the people, and all decisions were thrown to the mob. Eventually, however, the realities of being a major state made themselves manifest, and this system was co-opted by the merchants and the guilds to serve their interests, eventually transforming the state into a pure plutocracy. Some time following the defeat of the Columbians and the disbandment of the Jedi Orders, the other holy orders of the Northwest were faced with a choice: accept the orderless Jedi into their ranks, or shut their doors to them. Most orders, resentful towards the inordinate control the Jedi wielded under the Columbians, forced them out, even pushing for the cities to force them into outlawry or even executing them outright.
The orders of Vancouver welcomed the Jedi of the land with open arms, seeing them as a bulwark against the mercenaries of the guilds. Newly militant and looking to solidify their control, the Buddhist orders launched a new revolution, harking back to the days of the Peasant's Republic, utilizing populist rhetoric to gain wide-spread support. After guillotining the former city elders, the religious orders did not re-instate the Peasant Republic as it had once been, rather creating on oligarchic council of the religious orders' representatives who theoretically use their wisdom to look after the spiritual and material health of the Peasantry. Chief among the religious orders are Brothers of the Whitecap. Theoretically, the Premier-Mayor is the executive of the city. He must be a man of "great piety", meaning pliable to the interests of the Brothers.
The Enlightened Republic of Seattle
While republics are certainly valued across the Northwest, and the ideal of "democracy" is at least payed lip service too, nowhere is what Californians term the "Pacific Ideal" more prominent than in the Enlightened Republic of Seattle. Like Portland (and somewhat unlike Vancouver which is almost totally dominated by local Buddhist monks, albeit unofficially), a city council runs the affairs of the city. Unlike Portland, however, that has its council dominated by merchants, the mercantile guilds here are just one set of contender among many- indeed, rather than being a true city council consisting of oligarchs and pseudo-Democratic representatives, the Enlightened Republic allows all of its citizens to sit in on the proceedings of the council and vote upon decisions. Every man and woman who has proved their loyalty to the republic has the right to determine its course.
It is by no means a perfect system. There is, for one, the fact that in order to qualify as a "citizen" in Seattle, you must be a freeman, one who owns land or has served in the militia. This has tended to limit suffrage to the rich and to men in practice, though it is open to all in theory. But even with these qualifiers reducing the total number of people on the council, it is still hopelessly unweildly: with 30,000 members at any given time, it's nearly impossible to get anything done, and proceedings tend to be dominated by demagogic figures who can sway the crowd. Influential groups include religious bodies like the Order of Cobain or the Order of Starbuck, or manufacturing guilds like the Bowing Company.
The Republic is the dominant form of government across much of the Pacific-Northwest. Unlike the rest of the continent where violence and scarcity have allowed warlords to rise to power, the Pacific Northwest was secure and lush enough to allow many of the democratic traditions of Old America to not only endure but thrive. Liberty and democracy are so strongly valued by the Northwesterners that most of the city-states declared independence fairly early in the Regression, with "Liberty Flags" of pre-Regressive social movements being flown high to celebrate their newfound sovereignty. Though some despots managed to arise, most were overthrown during the mass conversions to Cascadian Buddhism. Ever since, nearly every city-state in Cascadia has been a republic of one shade and another.
"Liberty Flags" are a Cascadian icon, incorporated into flags and symbology to this day.
The typical Cascadian republic will at a minimum possess a Senate, and some sort of Mayor. Senators are usually drawn from the wealthiest and most influential citizens of a city. Mayors are of varying power, ranging from near despots to figureheads who do little beyond cutting ribbons. Many republics also possess a lower house of some sort, referred to as the "City Council" or "Congress". Generally, this house is meant to represent the citizenry as a whole and will either consist of the citizenry as a whole voting as a vast rabble, or as a "sample" of the citizenry selected by allotment.
The Cascadian committment to "democracy" is looked upon with curiosity by most of the West Coast. While all states pay lip service to notions of democracy and a popular mandate (Most rulers bear titles inherited from pre-Regressive democratic institutions, with California even terming itself a "republic), these notions have become as abstracted as concepts of divine right. Most of the aristocrats and philosophers of Medieval America see democracy as the God that failed, most attributing the fall of the old United States to the rabble. Californians tend to emphasize the failures of Cascadian democracy (and make no mistake, they are many), and wait for the day will it will collapse into such anarchy that they and the Columbians inherit the ashes. Some of the more optimistic philosophers, however, hope that the "Pacific Ideal" will prove resilient, and serve as the kernel from which democracy is restored to the nation.
While a full examination of the governments of the Northwest would be impossible thanks to their number, below is a brief survey of the governmental styles of the "Big 3: that is Portland, Vancouver and Seattle.
The Serene Republic of Portland
The Serene Republic of Portland has perhaps the least democratic system of the Big 3. Incredibly byzantine in its structures and provisions with more laws and loopholes then any common citizen is capable of understanding. Without delving into all of the nitty gritty, here's the basics:
Theoretically, at the very bottom sits the Citizen's Council, the assembly of all citizens of the Republic. Once the primary governing body and the electors of the mayor, the Citizen's Council was robbed of more and more power until the point in the modern day where it can only meet when called for by the Mayor to temporarily replace the City Council. The City Council consists of the noble families of Portland, who have purchased their hereditary right to sit on the council. Families strapped for cash are free to sell their seat to another noble family. The City Council is the theoretical source of all governmental power, seating some 2000 members.
At the same level at the City Council is the secretive "Select Committee", a council of 13 members elected by the City Council. The members, elected from within the City Council to 2 year terms, are supposed to be the most trusted and experienced in the Republic. First created during the war with California, it is officially supposed to deal with matters of state and war deemed either too sensitive for Council eyes or too important to allow dithering. However, do to the political deadlock in the City Council, more and more trivial matters are being sent to the Committee.
The upper house of the Republic is the Senate, composed of 60 men selected by the Council. They deliberate on more important manners, and decide upon the bills passed up to them by the City Council.
Finally, the executive body, consisting of the Mayor and his Executive Cabinet, which must sign off on his decisions. The power of the mayor waxes and wanes with time. Currently, their is a very powerful Mayor in office.
The Peasant's Republic of Vancouver
Vancouver was once the most radical of the major Northwestern republics. It was a peasant republic, with no formal leaders, flying the sickle and hoe on their liberty flags. All actions were intended to serve the people, and all decisions were thrown to the mob. Eventually, however, the realities of being a major state made themselves manifest, and this system was co-opted by the merchants and the guilds to serve their interests, eventually transforming the state into a pure plutocracy. Some time following the defeat of the Columbians and the disbandment of the Jedi Orders, the other holy orders of the Northwest were faced with a choice: accept the orderless Jedi into their ranks, or shut their doors to them. Most orders, resentful towards the inordinate control the Jedi wielded under the Columbians, forced them out, even pushing for the cities to force them into outlawry or even executing them outright.
The orders of Vancouver welcomed the Jedi of the land with open arms, seeing them as a bulwark against the mercenaries of the guilds. Newly militant and looking to solidify their control, the Buddhist orders launched a new revolution, harking back to the days of the Peasant's Republic, utilizing populist rhetoric to gain wide-spread support. After guillotining the former city elders, the religious orders did not re-instate the Peasant Republic as it had once been, rather creating on oligarchic council of the religious orders' representatives who theoretically use their wisdom to look after the spiritual and material health of the Peasantry. Chief among the religious orders are Brothers of the Whitecap. Theoretically, the Premier-Mayor is the executive of the city. He must be a man of "great piety", meaning pliable to the interests of the Brothers.
The Enlightened Republic of Seattle
While republics are certainly valued across the Northwest, and the ideal of "democracy" is at least payed lip service too, nowhere is what Californians term the "Pacific Ideal" more prominent than in the Enlightened Republic of Seattle. Like Portland (and somewhat unlike Vancouver which is almost totally dominated by local Buddhist monks, albeit unofficially), a city council runs the affairs of the city. Unlike Portland, however, that has its council dominated by merchants, the mercantile guilds here are just one set of contender among many- indeed, rather than being a true city council consisting of oligarchs and pseudo-Democratic representatives, the Enlightened Republic allows all of its citizens to sit in on the proceedings of the council and vote upon decisions. Every man and woman who has proved their loyalty to the republic has the right to determine its course.
It is by no means a perfect system. There is, for one, the fact that in order to qualify as a "citizen" in Seattle, you must be a freeman, one who owns land or has served in the militia. This has tended to limit suffrage to the rich and to men in practice, though it is open to all in theory. But even with these qualifiers reducing the total number of people on the council, it is still hopelessly unweildly: with 30,000 members at any given time, it's nearly impossible to get anything done, and proceedings tend to be dominated by demagogic figures who can sway the crowd. Influential groups include religious bodies like the Order of Cobain or the Order of Starbuck, or manufacturing guilds like the Bowing Company.
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