The Valorous Dominion
A Theocracy dedicated to the god Siegmund, The Valorous Dominion is dedicated to a particularly strict interpretation of his teachings, something that has earned them few friends across The Shattered Continent. Born amidst one of the many wars between Galacia and The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland in a crusade which took formerly Fruchtbarian territory from Galacia, endearing the newly born nation to neither.
History
Founding
During one of the most brutal wars between The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland and Galacia, where the Galacians had pushed all the way inland to the banks of the Grosserfluss, the most devout and fanatical followers of Siegmund banded together to form a crusade. This crusade was initially welcomed by the nobles of The Kingdom as it pushed deep into the galacian lines, retaking territory from the invaders with incredible speed. What the nobles failed to realize was that the impetus behind the crusade was a dissatisfaction among the clergy about the refusal to adopt worship of Siegmund as the official and exclusive state religion.
When the crusade had retaken an extensive chunk of territory, they declared the formation of The Valorous Dominion, a theocratic state devoted to Siegmund. The formation of this new state was taken extremely poorly by the nobility of The Kingdom, seeing it as a betrayal and an outright power grab by The Church of The Lawbringer. The Church fell out of favor with the ruling nobility of The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland as a result, but its popularity with the common man and the knightly class prevented them from acting against it in any major way.
Defending its existance
As a nation born out of warfare, The Dominion started its existance with a hostile nation on its eastern border and poor relations with the nation to its west. Within a decade of it's birth it had been forced to defend itself against galacian incursions multiple times with absolutely no help from The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland, but the combination of a hilly and easily defended eastern border and the extremely high number of divine spellcasters in its armies allowed the young Theocracy to survive these tumultuous years. As it matured so did its defenses and today the border between The Dominion and Galacia is a heavily fortified one which has, between natural barriers and manmade fortifications, become one of the most defensible on The Shattered Continent.
Modern Day
The nature of it's formation has left The Valorous Dominion in an awkward position, sandwiched between a historically hostile nation to the east and the nation whose territory it was formed from to the west. All of its trade must pass through one of these nations, typically The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland, both of which subject it to tariffs due to their rocky history, and this has pushed The Dominion into being largely self sufficient. Tourism is mostly limited to pilgrims visiting the various holy artefacts of Siegmund which are stored there, all of which were quietly removed from The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland and relocated to the newly founded nation immediately after it's founding, something which has further harmed their relations with The Kingdom.
Society
The Valorous Dominion claims to be spiritual home of Siegmund on earth, something that the country he was born in and founded, The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland, fiercely contests. The Dominion is a theocracy of the The Church of The Lawbringer which operates under a particularly strict interpretation of Siegmund's teachings. Their insistance that their interpretation of Siegmund's teachings are the only true version of his vision and that true order and justice can only be achieved through their version of Siegmund's laws have earned them few friends.
The Presbytery
The ruling council of The Valorous Dominion, each of the members of The Presbytery is responsible for a different aspect of the running of The Dominion. They are intertwined with the synod, the assembly of bishops, by virtue of the fact that The Presbytery appoints the head of the synod while the synod elects the head of The Presbytery
Members
The Lawbringer
The Lawbringer is elected by The Synod and is both in charge of The Presbytary and the head of state of The Dominion. In addition to his basic administrative responsibilities, The Lawbringer sets high level policies for The Dominion.The Fist of Siegmund
In charge of The Dominion's military, The Fist of Siegmund is responsible for ensuring that the militant forces of The Dominion are well trained, equipped, and prepared to defend their nation against all comers.The Eye of Siegmund
In charge of dispensing Siegmund's Justice, The Eye of Siegmund is the head of The Inquisition and in charge of ensuring that Law and order are upheld and no heresy takes root within The Dominion.The Voice of Siegmund
The Dominion's top diplomat, The Voice of siegmund is responsible for ensuring that foreign policy as laid down by The Lawbringer is enacted properly and all of the nations diplomats are kept up to speed on current policy.The Archbishop
The leader of the clergy and head of The Synod, the Archbishop is appointed by The Presbytery, further tying the two bodies together. He is responsible for ensuring that the voice of the clergy is heard by the ruling council.
The Synod
The ruling body responsible for the clergy, The Synod is a congregation composed of all of the bishops of The Dominion. It is a place where the needs of the clergy can be heard, worked on, and if need be brought to The Presbytary by the archbishop. The Archbishop ties the Presbytary and Synod together as they are appointed by and are a member of The Presbytary, but are also the head of The Synod. Reciprocally, The Synod elects The Lawbringer, head of The Presbytary and leader of The Dominion.
Ranks of the Clergy
Bishops
Bishops are the highest of the regular ranks of the clergy, each responsible for all of the priests in a large region of The Dominion.Priests
Priests are each responsible for the individual churches that they run and the serfs who make up their flocks.Deacons
Responsible for running the day to day operations of The Dominion, deacons are the heart and soul of The dominion, ensuring that everything runs smoothly, bills are paid, shipments arrive where they are supposed to, and tithes are collected on time.
The Inquisition
Responsible for enforcing law and order as ordained by Siegmund, the inquisition serve as law enforcement for The Valorous Dominion as well as judge, jury, and executioner when called upon to perform those duties. With the importance that Siegmund's teachings place on law and order, it should be unsurprising that punishment for lawbreakers is swift and harsh, especially in cases where the accused's actions have threatened public order or undermined the laws of the land.
Ranks of The Inquisition
The Eye of Siegmund
The Eye of Siegmund is a member of The Presbytery, and the head of the inquisition, responsible for ensuring that no part of The Dominion is lacking an inquisitor and for ensuring that all of the inquisitors are aware of any new threats to the stability, law, and order.Inquisitor General
The Inquisitor General is In charge of all inquisitors within a region of The Dominion and reports directly to The Eye of Siegmund.Inquisitors
The primary law enforcement agents of The Dominion, Inquisitors and their acolytes travel throughout their assigned regions in search of heresy, treason, and ordinary lawbreaking. Inquisitors typically bring lawbreakers before the local clergy for judgement, but have the power to judge and punish the guilty themselves if they choose to.Acolytes
Inquisitors in training, Acolytes serve as extra sets of eyes and ears for their inquisitor, empowered to arrest suspected lawbreakers and bring them to be judged, but not to judge or execute anyone themselves. Each inquisitor is typically in charge of five to ten Acolytes.
The Flock
The Valorous Dominion is a feudal nation, where the majority of the population are serfs who are bound to the land that they live on. While in a traditional feudal nation the land that the serfs are bound to are owned by landed nobles, in The Dominion the land is all owned by The Church of The Lawbringer. Responsibility for specific areas is delegated to members of the clergy, with priests having direct responsibility for the parishes centered on their houses of worship and bishops overseeing larger areas containing multiple parishes and the priests responsible for them.
Economy
As a landlocked nation with poor relations with both of it's neighbors, The Valorous Dominion faces high tariffs on all of its imports and exports, and has therefore been forced to be more or less totally self sufficient. All of the needs of the serfs are met by domestically produced goods, and outside of a few natural resources that can't be found in The Dominion only select luxury goods are imported. Most of the locals wear simple undyed clothes of rough homespun cloth, a stark contrast to the fine clothes worn by the clergy.
Outsiders in The Dominion
Foreigners traveling through the dominion will quickly realize that they arent well thought of by the locals, and that they are easily identified as outsiders at a glance. Besides their clothing making them stand out against the rough homespun clothing of the peasantry, the local communities are close knit making strangers all the more obvious. A lifetime of being preached to about the heretics who reside outside of The Dominion has left most of the populace anywhere between suspicious and outright hostile towards outsiders.
Outsiders may be viewed with suspicion, but members of the so called 'monstrous races' and their descendants will find themselved treated with outright feat and hostility. The clergy of The Dominion preach that the members of ths monstrous races are fundementally incompatible with the lawful and orderly society which which Siegmund considered necessary for good and justice to exist. Members of these races and their descendants are not permitted citizenship within The Dominion and those who visit will find themselves viewed with suspicion wherever they go.
Foreign Relations
From its very inception The Valorous Dominion has had poor relations with both of its immediate neighbors, a difficult situation for a landlocked nation to be in, and they have since done little to foster better relations with either Galacia or The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland. Their combination of religious fanatacism and 'holier than thou' attitude has gained them few further friends, particularly among the close allies of The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland, although The Republic of Lechia is relatively friendly with them, able to appreciate a nation which is deeply devoted to their god.
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