The Anglean Republic

[Lord Dick Tim]

What we know.

A northern people that resemble Viking raiders.  Little natural resources, representative form of government, possibility of slavery.  Their national flag is the Albatross, their colors black and red.

My first not so wild guess, the name of their congress is probably the Allthing.  My second not so wild guess is slaves are likely thralls, and thralls are likely captured people from raids or prisoners of war.  Thralls most likely do not have the right to vote, yet make up the majority of the working class or menial labourers of Anglean society.

That leaves the Angleans themselves as fighters, political leaders and possibly the business owners of their nation.
If I'd hazard a guess, a little more wild one, tradesmen are valued thralls.  When a place is raided I could see the Angleans sacking industrial settlements and abducting skilled labor like engineers, shipwrights, carpenters and masons.  I'm also going to guess that the Angleans themselves are incredibly inventive, just like the Vikings themselves, using unorthodox tactics, cunning, logic and wickedness to win the day.

I'm not so sure about their society ethically.  Vikings where ruthless, an enemy was treated like a predator does prey, no quarter was given, no parley taken.  If a commander rode out to the middle of a field to negotiate terms with an Anglean army it might be likely he would be shot at range, leaving the enemy army leaderless and shocked by the sudden surge of overwhelming violence and brute naked force.

That being said, this society was also alarmingly polite to guests.  A man lost in the winter months, finding an Anglean settlement could expect to be fed, kept safe and warm the entire winter as would be due the laws of hospitality, laws of tradition that men would measure each other by.  The more hospitable the host, the grander, stronger and more fruitful their endeavors.
The doesn't mean that when you left for your own home that same person wouldn't murder you in a raid if he was about plundering.

Let's see how long it takes till a green name comes in and tells me to go play with my whales.

[Gato Blanco]

When someone says "Republic", I can't help but think of Rome, and the TV show of the same name.  I'd think that Anglea was a much warmer place, but environmental events turned it into the permafrosted island that we know it happened maybe two to three hundred years ago.  Long enough for them to have adapted and know no other way of life.  This would explain why they're a power player in an industrial steampunk world when they're located in a permanently frozen wasteland; good infrastructure.

So they're kind of a Roman/Eskimo  fusion culture, surviving off game and fish mostly, as well as a few hearty plant types and quite possibly mushroomsand other low temperature/low light agriculture.  I chose the Eskimo culture based off the look of the Anglean engineer outfit, how it seems to fit them a bit more than what I think what vikings wore, but whos to say it isnt a roman/Eskimo/Viking hybrid, which would rock. 

The Romans also kept slaves, and what I have gleamed from the Rome TV show and my latin language books, being a slave wasn't torture (As opposed to waterboading, the rack, iron maden, etc...), more like a crappy to okay job, depending on who your master was. 

Touching on the hospitality aspect, northern Canada is dotted with Inuksuks (Took me a sec to type that one out :p)  wich serve as roadsigns and even food caches, I'd hope to see them in Anglea if the Eskimo aspect is taken up.

Being extremely innovative, I'd think that a different kind of profession would arise, the Fixers.  Fixers are a mishmash of engineers and doctors; they have a knack for knowing how things work, whats wrong, and how to fix it quickly and with materials available.  Veritable Angus MacGuyver meets Gregory House.  Fixers are looked down on in the capital, where there are actual doctors (world class kind) and engineers (Also world class), but are keystones to the fringe settlements; no raiding party would dare leave port without their Fixer.

Despite these prejudices, Fixers and Engineers would travel between the interior and the fringe frequently, to expose them to the variety needs people in different areas have, and to build new inventions for the job.  Hearty, multifunctional inventions.  Fixers and Engineers would come up with an idea, and present it to a body of their peers in the interior, like Kinforth.  They would then be given a grant and residency in the interior to prototype and produce their invention.  Depending on the magnitude of change their invention brings, and their personality, they would either head back out to come up with a new invention, go back to living their lives, or just live gluttonously off their invention, maybe even start a small dynasty.

I also see that the Republic Allthing (Where the hell did you get this idea :s), like the Roman governing body, appears to elect any Anglean citizen, but is heavily influenced by nepotism.  If your family is rich and a relative is in the Allthing, you've got a very good chance at being an Allcaller (People that make up the Allthing, maybe its called the Allsong?).

Id think that the people themselves seem simplistic, but are rather very pragmatic, and not stupid.  Simple in a Captain Carrot sort of way.  Why have thousands of people on both sides of the battle die, and maybe loose, when we can simply kill a handful of commanders, win, and most people live (to be thralls!)?

Hows that for input.

[Lord Dick Tim]

The Allthing is the body of government in old Nordic society and the governing body of Iceland.  I think.  I'd be more comfortable with one of our Scandinavian players to chime in on that rather than just link a Wikipedia article.

Super funny note, you might like this, the Sami population lived alongside the Nordic and Slavic people's, the Sami are from the same culture/ethnic group as the Inuit people's.

Republic is...  An often abused word.  Traditionally a republic is suppose to be a unifying government of elected representatives from various constiuency, usually with several other tiers depending on whatever the hell else is going on in the people's government.  Some have a senate, some have an Allthing, hell some even have a parliament, senate and a president power sharing with a prime minister.
When I think of modern republics, I think United States, with it's convoluted system of checks and balances.

With regards to Angela I'm imagining a moot is called and representatives from each city would attend the Allthing to vote on national matters, not unlike when the congress meets yearly.  I'm just not sure who would lead the Allthing in times of a moot.

[Gato Blanco]

I get the idea that republic is a word thrown around a lot.  Like the PRC or the DPRK   :B  I focused on the Roman republic because of their heavy use of indentured (sp?) workforce, and that I know  bit about it.  And it had pretty good technology for its time, a good deal of wich still stands today. 

Your point on the Sami people is really neat, it sounded familiar to me because it looks similar to Suomi, the Finnish word for Finland.  How I know that is a story for another time.

Id figure with all the checks and balances and redtape and general bloat, day to day things could be run in the capital city by the underlings during a moot.

Moot.

Mootmootmoot.

[Lord Dick Tim]

Strong point mr white cat, it is probably easier for some of us to use Rome as a point of reference, there's a lot of exposure to it in popular media and western education to make some easy parallels.

Mootmoot.

[Ofiach]

If this is a Viking style society why don't we break with real life governments and go more along the lines of "Eaters of the Dead" or the Northern tribes in "The Wild Hunt" book series. Minus the magic I suppose. However that Tribal style ruled by a new man every generation, and that man is chosen in a gathering of all the clans at the death celebration of the old leader.

This "king?"(can't think of a better term) isn't a meddler but he deals with the leaders of other nations and elects a ruler for each Clan and takes an adviser from each clan. He makes decisions about trade and who is open to raiding and who isn't. Another fun tidbit would be a constant Honor guard that recruits elite pilots, engineers, and soldiers to serve as an enforcing arm of the new King. This group is 100% loyal to the king (maybe they recruit from orphans and train from a young age?) clan loyalties mean nothing to them.

I dunno if this is the direction you wanted to go just shooting some ideas out at you.

[Sgt. Spoon]

Ah, remember discussing the Republic in particular when we first got the forums. This is really the faction I'm planning to sink my teeth into.
I'd imagine the faction being held together by several tribes, meeting togheter from time to time in an Allthing setteling disputes and planning major events. All this would probably still be held together more powerful "king" or the like. Personally I'm not expecting the slavery to play such a huge part of the faction as for example old Rome, but yeah we should probably see some thralls here and there. Not just war-prisoners but also convicts, people in debt etc.

Though I'm not sure that the viking analogy is going that far even. I'm still a little unsure as for what we'll actually see.

The Allthing is the body of government in old Nordic society and the governing body of Iceland.  I think.  I'd be more comfortable with one of our Scandinavian players to chime in on that rather than just link a Wikipedia article.

btw I just wanted to clarify. While the Islandic parliament still goes by the name of "Alltinget" today, it's not a "special" form of governing. It simply holds the old name.

[Lord Dick Tim]

Thanks for clearing that up spoon, I've been lead wrong by wiki so I didn't want to make a stance on what Icelands government was or wasn't, all I knew for sure was its name and that CCP moderates a larger player base than their nation has.

I'm mixed on how much slave labour should be incorporated.  I do like the idea that thralls are a natural part of the legal system though.

[Gato Blanco]

Thralls, mootmoot.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gvRYHUxrhQ

Anyhoo, the reason I was so gung ho about the Roman infrastructure is that it would help them build and develop large airships in their frozen territories.  Consider that there are almost no great, functional Inuit structures today (Inuit is the proper word, I should know better.  Another story.), I dont know of any great, functional viking structures that still stand, but the Romans, on the cutting edge of their time, built the colloseum, temples, and the aqueducts, which we still see today.  It would also show the adaptability of the people to show that they have adapted from a warmer peroid.  Also it would be wicked sweet to see.

[Ofiach]

That's why I was saying take examples from fantasy books. I honestly don't know jack about real life Vikings and I refuse to quote wiki. At least using a fantasy base you can just build a completely unique society without the mental constraints of "Rome!"
I know personally I would be thinking about Rome instead of making a society of Vikings that learned to preserve their history and build cities. (rough explanation I know but I can't express it well)

Also in "Eaters of The Dead" the slaves are almost respected, you don't beat them or mistreat them without a very good reason or else the rest of the clan comes down on you for being a bastard. They have to obey and if they don't a clip around the ears isn't out of place, they're treated more like children than a lower life form.

[Lord Dick Tim]

That's a pretty good angle, it could be that thralls and citizens live side by side with each other, that it takes on more a role about political power potential, like the right to vote, or other privileges that would separate them into different castes on similar living footing.

Now what if most of their cities or settlements where sub terrain?  Ofiach you mentioned thermal vents in the fjords thread, what about more on that idea?

[Ofiach]

Oh god I have to go back to high school for my knowledge on geothermal stuff. Also Tim something you said just triggered this thought, the cities would have huge defenses powered by steam harnessed at geothermal spots. Most of the city is subterranean(had to google the spelling-_-) but there are battlements above ground as are the landing pads and food storage facilities. These guys are tech heavy so they can divert the heat through use of certain metals and keep cold storage right above a warm and cozy subterranean city.

Also I really cannot remember if this is a flight of fancy or something I read in an historic document.(I read too much) That some ancient castles used geothermal vents and kept gaps between the stone walls to allow the heat to seep up through these gaps and warm the stone. I really want to say this was fantasy but....

I do know that a simple brass pipe filled with steam can conduct heat through a large area without too much effort. ALSO certain stone fluting techniques can be used to trap and disperse heat. I'm not even researching this stuff so I'm probably off on some of the specifics but I had to do a huge project on this back in highschool, and it was one of the few projects I actually did because the topic was interesting.

[Lord Dick Tim]

The castle your thinking of is Winterfell in A Game of Thrones.

[Ofiach]

Hah yes it was! but the principle is sound. I feel like a derp now.

Also I know the other 2 techniques work very well.

One other thing, I would see this cultures geothermal tech being more refined and cleaner and being managed by the engineers rather than the slaves or thralls.  This is their baby and the life blood of their city and defense. I see the fjord baronies almost looking at the geothermal management as being a lower class concern.

[Ofiach]

So I realized I didn't even lay out the basics of how the geothermal energy is harnessed and I would butcher the description. So here's a really simple description of how Geo Thermal energy could be harnessed. Also this link is considering an average location for the piping and not being positioned right on top of a thermal vent.
 http://www.discoverperfectenergy.com/DPEI/learn_geothermal_power.aspx

Terrible insomnia mixed with something to think about keeps bringing me back to the Anglean use of Geothermal energy and the thralls.

A way to curry favor with the engineers guild/clan/sect is to capture and deliver engineers to help the Anglean engineers maintain the geothermal systems. What I mean is the engineers might give a certain Tribe or Clans(whatever the final verdict is) ships and systems preferential treatment, if that Tribe/clan is a constant supplier of good "helpers."

This would also tie into the thralls being treated respect. Perhaps even engineering Thralls are given even more special treatment or eventual citizenship or the ability to establish a household of their own? Might be interesting, maybe people down on their luck even look at becoming a thrall as a way to have a semi secure future?