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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8396076" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>[Session 62, cont'd]</p><p>Aunt Cecilia arrives with two midwifes, the hobbit the Council knows and a human they don’t. Dame Brionna excuses herself.</p><p></p><p>Alistair and Kit discuss Kit’s family planning with the midwives of Gunnora.</p><p></p><p>The Council then discuss Hanal with them. The first of Thyastis’s line ended the great war, some thousand years ago after two-hundred years of conflict between the great noble houses (the Green) and the peasantry (the Reds). She brought in the support of many devils, who strengthened the Iron Legions, and they decimated the human and the hobbit populations. Many theologians would argue that Hanal has never been properly Paranswarmian, though it holds onto it because it holds onto anything they can get their claws into. The nobles of Hanal swore unto Paranswarm as lord of the devils, like the SHH writ large. Every 16 years, they engage in a bloodletting—sacrificing a male child from each noble family, usually a second son. The bloodletting is a reaffirmation of the alliance between Hanal and the devil lords. It is not something that the temple of Paranswarm as a whole is willing to countenance, but it is also not something that they are willing to forbid, because it would cost them the country. There are tens of millions in the countryside and the cities that do not follow the Green. The Red is still very much alive, and it is a mix of bastardized Glordiadelianism and bastardized Gunnora worship. They fear that without the ability to call on legions of bearded devils to reinforce the Iron Legions, the Red could rise and overthrow the Green. Thyastis believed in her youth that through kindness and benevolence she could win over the common people, without preserving the pact with the devils. She resolved to not offer up her child. When her child was born as she was, and she could not save her, she concluded that the devils were more powerful than the gods.</p><p></p><p>Snatterkaz and Anastasia are different—they are of the Reds, though it is a great secret.</p><p></p><p>The primary pacts are recorded in the Great Library of Hanal. They were with Dispater, lord of the second hell. The secondary pacts are not recorded, and are between the noble families with other devils.</p><p></p><p>The military families form a secondary caste, below the nobility but privileged and well taken care of. Well paid, and with their dependents provided for if they are killed. They are by and large loyal true Paranswarmians.</p><p></p><p>If you wish, I could see if the old midwife to Thyastis, an old hobbit now, driven forth to Enclaves but not slain, could come here. The Council asks her to.</p><p></p><p>Would the devils tolerate the dealing with the demons? That is beyond my knowledge of diabolism.</p><p></p><p>We speculate that a formal interdict and endorsement of Anastasia by the Church of Paranswarm might split the military caste from their masters—at least if they knew about it.</p><p></p><p>Do the sacrifices skew the gender ratios in Hanal? Yes, as females are only sacrificed if there are no males available, and more females are born in Hanal than males already. That contributes to the strange marital practices in Hanal—more than one of the great houses has multiple ladies with a single husband.</p><p></p><p>Thyastis was a warrior queen, no theologian and no mage, though powerful in the field. She personally commanded her legions in several battles, fighting in the front. But I do not know that she would have known the difference between a demon and a devil—likely not. There may have been a motive beyond her madness, her blaming the Gunnorans and persecuting all hobbits as Gunnorans.</p><p>[End Session 62]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8396076, member: 7030144"] [Session 62, cont'd] Aunt Cecilia arrives with two midwifes, the hobbit the Council knows and a human they don’t. Dame Brionna excuses herself. Alistair and Kit discuss Kit’s family planning with the midwives of Gunnora. The Council then discuss Hanal with them. The first of Thyastis’s line ended the great war, some thousand years ago after two-hundred years of conflict between the great noble houses (the Green) and the peasantry (the Reds). She brought in the support of many devils, who strengthened the Iron Legions, and they decimated the human and the hobbit populations. Many theologians would argue that Hanal has never been properly Paranswarmian, though it holds onto it because it holds onto anything they can get their claws into. The nobles of Hanal swore unto Paranswarm as lord of the devils, like the SHH writ large. Every 16 years, they engage in a bloodletting—sacrificing a male child from each noble family, usually a second son. The bloodletting is a reaffirmation of the alliance between Hanal and the devil lords. It is not something that the temple of Paranswarm as a whole is willing to countenance, but it is also not something that they are willing to forbid, because it would cost them the country. There are tens of millions in the countryside and the cities that do not follow the Green. The Red is still very much alive, and it is a mix of bastardized Glordiadelianism and bastardized Gunnora worship. They fear that without the ability to call on legions of bearded devils to reinforce the Iron Legions, the Red could rise and overthrow the Green. Thyastis believed in her youth that through kindness and benevolence she could win over the common people, without preserving the pact with the devils. She resolved to not offer up her child. When her child was born as she was, and she could not save her, she concluded that the devils were more powerful than the gods. Snatterkaz and Anastasia are different—they are of the Reds, though it is a great secret. The primary pacts are recorded in the Great Library of Hanal. They were with Dispater, lord of the second hell. The secondary pacts are not recorded, and are between the noble families with other devils. The military families form a secondary caste, below the nobility but privileged and well taken care of. Well paid, and with their dependents provided for if they are killed. They are by and large loyal true Paranswarmians. If you wish, I could see if the old midwife to Thyastis, an old hobbit now, driven forth to Enclaves but not slain, could come here. The Council asks her to. Would the devils tolerate the dealing with the demons? That is beyond my knowledge of diabolism. We speculate that a formal interdict and endorsement of Anastasia by the Church of Paranswarm might split the military caste from their masters—at least if they knew about it. Do the sacrifices skew the gender ratios in Hanal? Yes, as females are only sacrificed if there are no males available, and more females are born in Hanal than males already. That contributes to the strange marital practices in Hanal—more than one of the great houses has multiple ladies with a single husband. Thyastis was a warrior queen, no theologian and no mage, though powerful in the field. She personally commanded her legions in several battles, fighting in the front. But I do not know that she would have known the difference between a demon and a devil—likely not. There may have been a motive beyond her madness, her blaming the Gunnorans and persecuting all hobbits as Gunnorans. [End Session 62] [/QUOTE]
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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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