The New Sophisticates
The New Sophisticates were the first and only successful attempt to organise a planetary government after the end of the Season Of Innocence and the structures they established lasted for more than 1700 years. Although their power had already begun to deline significantly before the end of the Foundation Age in 1622 AF, they retained some influence into the age of the Succession Empires and were not finally extinguished until 1720 AF when the Parliament was flooded and Paratomb destroyed by the Thin Princes.
Structure
The New Sophisticates organised their formal discussion and voting at the Parliament which was first based at the Court of Sunrise in Aberstone, shown at the head of the article, but later moved to Paratomb in 1328 AF.
The leader of the parliament was known as the Principle Speaker (or PS), the derivation of the name coming from the root of "principle" not "principal" because he or she enunciated the principles of the parliament. The PS was elected from the Voting Citizens (also known as VCs). Each Foundation City had five VCs which they elected internally, making a total of only 35 VCs altogether. Observer Citizens (or OCs) were entitled to sit in the debating chamber and to speak, but they were not granted voting rights.
History
When the rulers of Aberstone reflected on the consequences of the fall of the Conclave they were aware that other centres of population would now start to grow into cities, just as Aberstone had done and they were keen to extend the hand of friendship and to establish alliances for trade and the exchange of knowledge.
A group of young like minded enthusiasts, drawn largely from the Order of the Silent Word, formed what was in effect a party with a political manifesto to establish a framework of law and justice for the promotion of peace and stability in a world which could no longer rely on the machinations of the Conclave to enforce order. They called themselves, the New Sophisticates to distinguish themselves from the anti-intellectual simplicity of Rider culture.
Their first leader was Mandron Blake and whilst to begin with they hailed Klane Kalonia as their spiritual inspiration, when he showed little interest in their plans and even expressed disquiet at the speed with which history had surged back into the world, he was quietly but quickly sidelined. Although they never disowned him, his opinions were treated with little regard and they pressed ahead with plans which soon left him behind.
The New Sophisticates established a Parliament at the Court of Sunrise and defined the start of our contemporary dating system in the year 0 AF (After Foundation) from their very first meeting.
An important early policy of the parliament concerned the legal status of settlements that wished to play a part within their organised world community. To these (subject to an agreement to conform to the principles and practices of the New Sophisticates), they granted city charters as an important mark of recognition conferring both rights and duties between the city and the parliament.
The first six cities to join the parliament in this way were the so called Foundation Cities. The New Sophisticates provided much active help with the building and early development of these settlements, which were all granted charters before 100 AF.
Population growth at the start of the Foundation Age was steady but slow and these seven cities were the only communities big enough to require a formal recognition of their status until 438 AF, when Keldramys became the eighth.
At this time, the New Sophisticates chose to draw an important distinction between these newer cities, which they called simply the Cities of the Awakened World and the Foundation Cities. The Foundation Cities had grown powerful and jealous of their rights in the parliament. They returned elected representitives to the Court of Sunrise, known as Voting Citizens (or VCs) and it was thought that new city charters should not automatically confer this right in future. Instead, Observer Citizens (or OCs) from newer cities would be able to attend at the Court of Sunrise but only to work with (and perhaps lobby) the VCs.
When the early period of the Foundation Age came to an end with the sack of Vesper in 677 AF by soldiers from Keldramys, there were dark mutterings that New Sophisticate factions at Aberstone had covertly sponsored the attack. Certainly there were no obvious negative consequences for the agressor and this weakened the credibility of the parliament significantly.
In 1162 AF there was an attempt to change the voting rights to grant more power to the OCs. This was known as the Status Review Proposal but it was rejected by the parliament, despite being championed by the PS Irina Rovariss. Some think that although the effects only played out over many years, this failure to reform was the cause of the ultimate downfall of the New Sophisticates.
By 1348 AF, city charters had been granted to six new cities and one of the old foundation cities had been lost. The centre of gravity of the world had moved eastward and Aberstone was now rather remote from the majority of the population. There was an increasing sense which had never really been dispelled after the destruction of Vesper that cities really couldn't rely on the parliament for anything but fine words and they had better look out for themselves in matters of defence. The parliament itself felt as much, and in an effort to look more relevent and perhaps an implied admission that it was no longer in full control, the charistamtic PS Ebrahim Rezaei persuaded the institution to move to the more centrally located and defensible underground city of Paratomb.
In 1446 AF, in the late foundation age, Modyran, tropical and relatively remote from the cities of Trass, became the first to withdraw from the government of the New Sophisticates. It would not be the last. Anoomenon followed in 1511 AF and then Allport in 1632 AF, not long after the Foundation Age is considered to have closed with the rise of the space elevator at Modyran, an earth shaking technological achievement which had occured beyond the borders of New Sophisticate cities, and for which they could claim no credit and from which they could gain no benefit. There were, in fact, many who suggested that this was exactly the reason why Modyran and Anoomenon had become independent to begin with.
It was increasingly apparent as the age of the Succession Empires progressed, that the power of the New Sophisticates was fading rapidly. Two further blows to their pride, occured when Aberstone itself, the city of their very origins, voted to leave the parliament in 1667 AF, and then when Kingcardine, a city which only had OCs in the parliament, claimed the right to grant a charter to one of its own allies, the important northern city of Ulkvass in 1701 AF.
But now the world had reached the brink of war, and as the Empire of Thorns faced off against the Low Armies, neither side spared much thought for what was left of the old and greatly enfeebled forms of government offered by the New Sophisticates, which had never possessed any significant military backing and now looked obsolete.
The final blow came with the fateful end of the Siege of Paratomb in 1720 AF. Paratomb was conquered by the armies of the Thin Princes from the Empire of Thorns and the last Principle Speaker, Nikolai Yarris, was drowned when the underground city was flooded. Although some few refugees escaped to Anoomenon, the days of the New Sophisticates were over.
Disbandment
The loss of the second parliament at the battle of the Siege of Paratomb proved to be the death blow for the New Sophisticates in the age of the Succession Empires although remnants of their cultural influence peristed at Anoomenon, where the last survivors fled into exile.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
0 - 1720 AF
Type
Geopolitical, State
Principle Speakers
Mandron Blake by DMFW
Irina Rovariss by DMFW
Ebrahim Rezaei by DMFW
Nikolai Yarris by DMFW
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