Highfall
| The Technocracy of Highfall | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Politics and Religion | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Population and Economy | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
PC Player: FluidKarma
The Protectorate of Hobstaat's war against the necromancers was a short one. Their armies and citizens had braced themselves for a noble defense against the necromancer-lords. They expected running battles, apocalyptic clashes, epic last stands, and a heroic end. Instead horrors burst from the ground. When the massacre was over, Hobstaat was no more. Hobstaat's conquerors placed a government like their own in its place: the Technocracy. They were the best and brightest amongst the surviving Uruk and they set out to make a paradise in their own image. The lengths to which they are willing to go, however, has even the necromancer-lords questioning whether they would be better off with one less Uruk puppet state around...
History
Highfall began as the Protectorate of Hobstaat, a modest colony carved out by an Alfar expedition. It was composed of a modest number of all of the empire's various races: Uruk, Midgar, Alfar, and a number of others. The problems that the colony faced though slowly weeded out the less capable. The weaker members of the expedition died out in alarming numbers from barbarian raids, lack of food, and the bitter cold. By the time the colony was self-sustaining, the coalition was chiefly composed of hardy Uruk and a smattering of Alfar. For a time things worked out well. The Alfar kept in contact with the empire while their Uruk thrived. But then the emperor died.
Hobstaat turned in on itself like most of the empire. The Alfar lords had grudges against their fellows that their Uruk were more than willing to take up. A bloody civil war followed in which the original underhold and towns that they had formed were reduced to ruins along with their accompanying wizard towers. When the dust finally settled there was only one Alfar family left standing. They were quick to consolidate their hold over their foe's Uruk by placing their own loyal Uruk in charge of them. This too work out well. Quickly the hardy Uruk re-organized themselves and Hobstaat's economy once again began to boom. It prospered like never before; cities and cultivated fields rising at an unheard of rate. The barbarians around them were pushed aside with little mercy and Hobstaat's name began to spread.
Unfortunately the name came to fall on necromancer ears.
The Alfar of Hobstaat had grown prideful. They thought that Thule was safe from the necromancers. They thought that their Uruk had the power to throw them back. So when word came that they were coming, the leapt into action without any consideration of a loss. The necromancer's easily swept Hobstaat's armies aside by turning the lands themselves against them. It's unknown what exactly happened in those final hours, but when it was over, the ruling family and Hobstaat were no more. Some say that the Uruk around the ruling family had long ago chosen to think for themselves, and when the opportunity presented itself, butchered them for years of bondage. Others swear that the first council simply handed them over to the necromancers to ensure the survival of the nation. What ever the case, the technocracy grew quickly to fill the void. The transition was a largely bloodless experience. The bulk of those who were loyal to the ruling family, after all, had met their end fighting horrors in the hills. Those that had not met their end soon enough.
Within a season, Highfall was ready to serve the necromancers. It exported hordes of berserker infantry across their empire to fight wherever they were needed while simultaneously consolidating its grip over its citizens. When the war started to turn against the necromancers, Highfall refused to allow a harsh reality stop them. The "Great War" had become too intwined with their society. Without it they feared that dissent would take hold and the order that they had fought so hard for would erode. So they lied. Those who didn't accept the lie were silenced and more and more regulation over the citizens was introduced until finally their power was virtually absolute. When they were pushed off Lemuria, they turned their brainwashed soldiers against their neighbors in Thule. The "Great War" was thus able to continue for them non-stop and it currently shows no sign of stopping.
Government
The Technocracy of Highfall is a tightly-knit federation where all political power rests with the capable. Only those with extraordinary vision and talent are allowed political power; everyone else is restricted to what ever role would best "fit" the nation's vast needs. Naturally there is a high focus on efficiency and production as opposed to the petty needs of the individual. That is not to say though that the individual suffers in Highfall. On the contrary they are taken care of quite well and made specifically to be as comfortable as possible (as long as they meet their quotas).
Order is maintained chiefly by the nobility. They are the fortunate few with the resources to obtain the education needed to become managers over their fellow common Uruk. Typically one noble is responsible for managing one solitary facet of Highfall's society as it pertains to a great number of Uruk. This can range from ensuring that they receive adequate rations to making sure that they are keeping up their happiness quotas. After proving themselves capable the managers are selected by their peers to become executives for their individual area. The executives oversee the grand picture for their area and report on the efforts of the managers to senior executives. These senior executives in turn ensure that all their executives are following the programs that they lay out and that their reports are being delivered to the council.
The council is the highest power in Highfall. The most exceptional senior executives from each of the states are promoted to this position for as long as they remain competent. It observes all facets of the technocracy, and when it sees anomalies, quickly acts to bring the offenders back on track. This can range from simple "re-orderings" where managers are "re-educated" to ensure that their quotas are better met to mass "re-assignments" when one of the states shows itself to be not acting out of the best interest of its fellows.
Geography
- Cursed Mountain x 1
- Countryside x 3
- Cursed Hills x 3
- Cursed Wasteland x 2
- Underdark Lightfield x 3
Military
- Uruk Knight x 30
- Uruk Arbalist x 0
- Uruk Headsplitter x 0
- Uruk Blaster x 0
- Uruk Berserker x 0
- Uruk Falconet x 0