Innsmouth
Since its discovery and nearly immediate surrender to Republican troops in TN 1680, Innsmouth has been a disconcerting mystery to the rest of the Southern Republic. Nowhere else can one find a devotion to non-violence blended with such a fiery, some would say Northern, style of religious fervor. Indeed, virtually the entire population belongs to a pacifist order known as the Servants of the Dawn, which founded the isolated community in the remote mountains sometime during the Terranovan Reconstruction era. The position of the population of Innsmouth in the structure of the Southern Republic is absolutely unique. In this highly militarized League, the citizens of Innsmouth are exempt from military service of any kind. In return for this unique status, the town's inhabitants are required to produce a double output of goods for the Republic at all times. This tithe is collected through a combination of higher personal taxes and set proportions of all goods produced being transferred to the government. During wartime, the city is required to increase its production of foodstuffs and textiles to effectively cover the production of itself and Aquitaine: this serves the dual purpose of allowing the Republic to build up stores and also to allow for production levels which can compensate in the event that another city falls to aggressors. The people of Innsmouth are content to comply, for hard work is the norm among them. Over the cycles there have been many rumors regarding both Innsmouth and her citizens, but no one has ever been able to prove any wrongdoing. One of the reasons that these rumors are so prevalent is because the city does not have any form of police force. The pacifistic ideals which the residents hold preclude the need for such an organization. The lack of police work in the area has caused it to become one of the league's least observed areas.
The city itself is baroque in architecture and laid out in a circular pattern. At the center of the town is the main temple of the Servants of the Dawn. This temple, called the Temple of Raum, evokes a sun with a ray pointing to each cardinal point as well as each intermediary point. Each ray is named after one of the eight aspirations of the Dawn's religion. Clockwise starting at the northern point, these are Modesty, Perseverance, Wisdom, Generosity, Courage, Compassion, Mercy, and finally Serenity. In the southeast section of the city is the grand bazaar. It is here that goods are bartered and sold by Servants and Leonists (the term Servants have chosen for non-believers) alike. This is the only area where Leonists and Servants mingle on a daily basis, except for some of the labor activities which both groups take part in such as crop planting and harvesting. Almost anything can be found in the bazaar if one looks hard enough, with the notable exception being weapons of all sorts. This market's reputation has even outweighed Innsmouth's alien nature and attracted some major Republican merchants.
Demographics
Servants of Dawn
The Servants of the Dawn is Innsmouth's ruling body and main religion. Fanatically pacifistic, the Servants tolerate absolutely no weapons, violence, or even hostile language within ten kilometers of the city center. The rigid enforcement of this principle is accomplished simply and is eerily effective. If anyone is caught committing any kind of violence, he is soon surrounded by upwards of forty Servants who simply stare at the perpetrator. This causes most people to feel intense discomfort. When the suspect attempts to leave, the Servants simply follow, keeping up their quiet intense vigil. This treatment will only cease once the suspect has crossed the ten kilometer marker that lies outside the city or made proper reparations to the offended individuals. This mental harassment is usually not necessary when the offender is a member of the sect because sect members voluntarily punish themselves with painful purification rites or exile.
Members of this order are also renowned to be the masters of the unspoken word. They have mastered reading body language as well as using subtle body movements to evoke desired reactions. Port Oasis News Network's correspondent Jean-Napoleon Laroche, who began a lengthy investigative report on the sect, was astounded to see how far they had surpassed his own skills in this area. His expose on the Servants was never aired due to the lack of usable footage, or so Laroche claims. Others fear that he may have been blackmailed or even recruited.
A very closed and mysterious sect, only initiated Servants are exposed to the religion's full doctrine. Any and all attempts to learn more about them have always ended with the agents sent to investigate becoming fanatical members of the sect or returning altogether empty handed. There is also a considerable non-religious population in Innsmouth. A good portion of these residents come from the Innsmouth Military District Central Training Facility (IMDCTF), a Republican Army training facility just outside the city's non-violence zone. The rest are trade representatives for the sect and manual laborers for the agriculture which i s prominent in the city.
Rumors and Suppositions
The secrecy that the Servants maintain breeds a variety of rumors; many are totally outrageous but few can be easily discounted. Among the most entertaining of these include the idea that the Servants stole Earth technology during the War of the Alliance and are secretly growing GRELs in their basements, thus the need for the “holy herbs.“ Others maintain that the cultists use these same herbs to summon dark spirits to do their bidding. There is also a theory that they undergo massive scarring rituals and are sterilized as part of the initiation ritual, thus the need for the long, flowing robes. The more paranoid rumors paint the Servants as members of a Northern spy ring intent on infiltrating and sabotaging the Republic. It is also said that there were two attempts to infiltrate the cult by SRID but to no avail. One agent committed suicide before delivering the information and the other became one of the Servants’ most devout followers. Regardless of the veracity of these rumors, it does seem that the Servants make a convenient venting mechanism for the local Republican populace and Strange occurrences are blamed on them.
More serious cultural anthropologists have tried to gain a real understanding of the Servants and filter out the various alarmist legends and rumors. The solar imagery central in the architecture of the city, the religious attention paid to agriculture and the absolute pacifism of thekrvants have led some to theorize that they are descendants of the so-called New World Naturalist movement of the colonial period.
Naturalists argued for the use of the colony worlds to create a “new beginning” for humanity. They proposed that those emigrating from Earth leave behind their reliance on consumer technology and synthetic compounds. Although only a few groups argued for a complete abandonment of technology, most proposed the establishment of isolated communities that lived off the land and used technology only when it was necessary. Naturalists were thought to have paid the most attention to the world of Eden, but some are known to have traveled to Terra Nova.
Government
Power of the Dawn
Innsmouth is run by the Servants of the Dawn. The fourteen members of the Council of Elders are the highest ranking members of the order and make all decisions pertaining to the city and her citizens. Each council member is served by eight people called first disciples. These disciples decide what matters merit the Elders’ attention and what can be dealt with later. Each first disciple also has an entourage of eight second disciples who keep an eye on the daily events in and around Innsmouth and report directly to their superiors. Third disciples are far more numerous and are tasked with overseeing the daily management in the affairs of the Servants. Third disciples are also responsible for the policing and law enforcement of the community. All other members of the Servants are simply known as Brother or Sister.
Since non-Servants have joined the community of Innsmouth, there have been some modifications to this structure. Now each Elder has an additional first disciple to handle affairs they term as Leonist, a term which refers to Bertrand Leon, the Republican envoy who negotiated Innsmouth’s entry into the Republic and oversaw the city for 15 cycles thereafter. As well, one of the Elders has been tasked to deal with foreign matters. Matters such as bargaining are usually left to outsiders better able to deal with confrontational negotiations. The main representative of the Servants of the Dawn is Elder Sebastien, although all 15 Elders have the same status within the order. Elder Sebatien’s counterpart from Port Oasis is Overseer Marie-Eve Verroneau. Verroneau, an official within the Ministry of Economics, is renowned for her fanatic patriotism and devotion to the Republic, but she has found herself having to adjust many of her attitudes lest she face dozens of silent, disconcerting faces staring intently at her. It is rumored that she has taken up kickboxing to release the tension she accumulates in her dealings with the order. She has reportedly gone through five sparring partners at the Innsmouth Military District Central Training Facility nearby.
Industry & Trade
- Agriculture
- Textile
The Economy of Secrecy
The primary industry of Innsmouth is agriculture. With the wide variety of terrain that surrounds the city, the production can easily be modified to adapt to the fluctuations of changing markets. Among the wide variety of crops produced there are two constant harvests: mercy rice and religious spices. Mercy rice is considered a delicacy across the South and even in some parts of the North. Its name originates from the fact that the ray of Mercy in the temple of Raum points directly to the rice fields. The rice seems to bring out the natural flavor of the food it accompanies, no matter what that food may be. No one but the Servants themselves are allowed near the fields of religious spices. They claim that only properly trained brothers or sisters can walk through the crops without destroying their religious value, and these spices are cultivated exclusively by hand. As for other crops, all modern conveniences are used to cultivate the fields but all machines are slightly modified and are marked with religious symbols. The Servants say the markings and modifications are to better coordinate what machines need which blessings and for which crops.
The farmers of Innsmouth also produce several cash crops, including some strains of tobacco and a Terranovan plant similar to flax, whose natural color is sky blue with pure white streaks. A small number of plants produce only pure white seeds, and these are separated from the main pool and spun only for the creation of cloth used for religious purposes. Once the flax is harvested, it is spun on hundreds of small looms in the city and most of the cloth is then exported to other cities. Ashantite designers are currently infatuated by the cloth, and orders are brisk.
Maps
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Innsmouth
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