The Carpocratian Accord
Actually titled 'The Formal Agreement of Validity Of Settlement Upon the Basis of the Transfer of The Heretic Carpocrates into Imperial Detention', the document quickly became known as the Carpocratian Accord, though it was certainly not created by the heretic, nor does it create any accord with the followers of that death cult which still remains, like a pernicious disease, until this day.
In essence, the document gives formal Imperial validation of the right of Orcs to hold Imperial citizenship, with all the rights and protections thereof, and further to settle in their own legally protected settlements in certain established woodland preserves, or to live freely if they choose within existing settlements inside the borders of the Empire, subject to the protections and the punishments that go along with abiding or breaking the law.
While individual Orcs and individual Humans had often shared friendly relationships long before this document, in larger groups they also have come to war, and a great deal of small-minded ignorance on both sides had fed a simmering underground war for eons. When the enterprising Orc Warlord Andarzul captured a certain runaway on the borders of the Tiwwar plains, and discovered the value of this thin, unpleasant man to the mighty Autarch, a bargain was struck which wrote the validity of Orc settlements and fair treatment of the species into law. The runaway happened to be the Heretic, Carpocrates, but the document itself has nothing really to do with him. His ill-fated escape after excommunication and the sentence of death was merely the occasion for its creation.
Purpose
Andarzul's patrols picked up Carpocrates and several of his coterie as they were attempting to escape from Imperial lands over the border into the Tiwwari wilds. While the Dry Plains have traditionally been Gnoll territory, many large Orc settlements exist in the forested mountain lowlands at the border area, and it was into one of these that Carpocrates stumbled. Technically just outside the reach of the Autarch, Andarzul found himself in a supreme bargaining position and in the rare situation of having something that the Autarch needed, and couldn't procure any other way.
As such, Andarzul decided to reach far when the Autarch demanded the prisoner's return. Rather than merely settle for some literal king's ransom of gold and jewels to elevate himself among the local Orc warlords, he decided to immortalize himself and bless his species for millennia to come by codifying the rights of Aeldic Orcs as Imperial citizens under the same conditions that Elves, Humans, Dwarves, and the other Gazafi races enjoyed; in essence, being born a citizen, migrating to purchase and live in property for five years, or working without a significant criminal charge for fifteen years applied to Orcs now as well as the Gazaf. And moreover, existing Orc settlements within the Empire were to be declared valid Imperial settlements, rather than being subject to pillage and destruction without legal consequence.
Historical Details
Public Reaction
The existing Imperial population at the time was not thrilled with the document, but they were not thrilled with much that the Autarch was doing in those lean years of war conscription and rationing, and the Autarch was able to turn the public opinion significantly more in his favor when the ranks of his armies began to swell with elite Orcish troops, reducing the need for conscripts of other races as the tides of war began once again to favor the Autarch. The Orcs, for their part, elevated Andarzul nearly to Godhood, and served eagerly in the Imperial Armies, more than proving their worth and disproving the paranoia that the Orcs would simply rise up and overthrow the Empire at their first opportunity.
Legacy
Now, several thousand years after the Accord was decreed into law, the Accord is simply a known fact, and Orcs and Half-Orcs are fully integrated into urban society, though they still often prefer the company of their own kind in more rustic settlements, and ignorance certainly still exists among the Gazaf races towards the Orcs. In some communities the Orc settlements are more impoverished due to these prejudices, where Gazaf business owners are reluctant to hire Orc workers or the people are unwilling to pay a fair price for Orcish goods. But overall relations are quite good, and men and women of the Orc nations make up the backbone of the Imperial main army forces, and a good proportion of their elite troops including the Khazigiri Tigers.
Type
Text, Legislative
Medium
Canvas
Ratification Date
8122 ADE
Signatories (Organizations)
Comments