Dwilight University/Political Studies/On Frontier Republics

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On Frontier Republics

 

A study and commentary of the political institutions that have come to characterize the Southwestern geography of Dwilight during its foremost period of settlement and colonization.

By Kale Perth

 

 

- Vol. 1 -

- The Nature of the Frontier -

 

            The term “frontier” has been used to describe a large variety of things, especially throughout the continent of Dwilight. Indeed, when colonizers first arrived, virtually the entire continent was a frontier. However, as settled populations grew and more land was tamed and parceled out for fiefs and sectioned off for agriculture the frontier shrank. That is: the land that was wild and unsettled; the land filled with lush forests and small villages of native, simple peoples; a land where vile hordes of monsters roamed freely and destroyed whatever they could.

 

            The frontier is undoubtedly harsh and unforgiving, however it is not entirely uniform. The frontier known (surely, mostly in memory only at this point) to the Orientals is a different creature than the one known to the Occidentals. The Occidental frontier, and especially the Maroccidental frontier (which will be specifically addressed in this work), is perhaps the wilder, hungrier, darker and much more violent cousin of the Oriental frontier. While the settlers of the Orient found miles upon miles of grasslands and fertile fields ready for cultivation, those who landed on the shores of the Maroccidens found miles of lush and unforgiving vegetation, suitable farmland scattered only between jungle and hordes of monsters, and of course a vast expanse of badlands dotted with volcanoes and inhabited by an ancient savage population dominated by daimon overlords. The Maroccidental frontier would prove to be a beast not so easily conquered.

 

            The first attempts at settlement of the area proved far more difficult than anyone had at first expected. Merely holding onto and protecting the lands just outside of the major cities became a challenge. Most towns-lands would be a frequent flux between a rogue and settled state for months before they were finally occupied in any permanent fashion. It did not become easier from there; rural regions that were perfect for farmland turned out to also be perfect for attracting monsters. Rural regions were difficult to reach on a frontier that lacked any kind of proper infrastructure or roads. In the sloppy, wet rainy seasons this problem was multiplied tenfold. It would sometimes take days just for a Knight and his troops to set forth from a city and reach a rural region where the monster alarm had been sounded. In young realms where troops, gold and food were scarce the brutality and harshness of the frontier were quickly realized.

 

            From city to towns-land to rural the frontier was pushed back over a number of years and after a great spilling of blood and waste of crop and gold. However, as young realms grew and carved out their own little places of civilizations within the wilderness the battle against the frontier would only intensify. Where the occupation of a perhaps two or three regions was found difficult, the maintenance and protection of many more proved only that much more difficult. With borders pressed up against the old forests and jungles that covered the southwest, virtually every region was vulnerable to large and vicious monster hordes emerging from the thick vegetation to eat their way through storehouses and kill peasants left and right. At the time, an end was virtually nowhere in sight. With such a vast expanse of wilderness before them it could hardly be fathomed that it would all ever be conquered.

 

            This feeling of dread and a struggle against insurmountable odds was only multiplied when the Zuma Deepness began to be explored. Not only was there a civilization of savage and mysterious peoples living throughout the barren wastelands amidst volcanoes and ancient fortresses, but they were subjugated by powerful and demonic beings whose purpose and intentions were known to none. Indeed, as if the settlers’ very survival was not constantly at question before in the face of roving hordes of monsters and unreliable food supplies, but it seemed their very existence was now in question at the expense of demonic beings from the underworld who were now their neighbors.

 

           This writer hopes to have adequately painted a picture of the Maroccidental Frontier for everything that it was to those early settlers of the Southwest. Something terrifying and unsure that truly tested their courage resolve in a way no other contest had done or ever could do again. It was only continued perseverance and an ability to deal with significant setback after significant setback and still march onwards week after week and year and year that finally lead to successful settlement and civilization of the Maroccidens.

 

- Vol. 2 -

- Republicanism on the Frontier -

 

            Perhaps it was the unique hardships of the Maroccidental Frontier or the specific character and mindset of those who were willing to come to the Maroccidens but either way a distinct form of government was formed by those realms carving out a place in the frontier. Republicanism seemed almost perfectly adapted to the conditions required by the frontier of the southwest. It allowed for the ideal combination of centralized and devolved power between rulers and landed nobility to deal with the demands of the frontier. However, more than that it seemed to embody the spirit of those who fought to settle the Maroccidens and of those who bled and died to bring civilization to the darkness of the wilderness.

 

               It is probably true that the roots of Marocciental Republicanism can be traced back to the traditions of the Madina and its Pirate Republicanism. While truly two entirely different creatures, they do share a few important similarities. Madinan Republicanism sought to deliver all power and authority to its Dukes and Lords; they claimed piratical origin and tradition and complete power in the hands of ones so naturally violent and self-focused proved a (somewhat foreseeable) disaster. Achieving anything of national priority was almost impossible in Madina. However, these theories of power being devolved away from the capital and from the autocrat would prove a crucial necessity to Maroccidental Republicanism. A firmly established realm carved out of the frontier practically requires a system where Lords are free to operate at their own discretion. When every region is vulnerable to monster attacks and where every region needs constant attention from its Lords and Knights to ensure its safety and maintenance it creates an environment of fragmentation. For the rural Lord the autocrat is not responsible for the safety and success of his far-flung rural region, nor is the Lord in some other Duchy, nor even the Lord next door, that rural Lord alone has been primarily responsible for his region’s success and for that he feels deep connection, loyalty and a sense of entitlement for his hard work.

 

            This is where Maroccidental Republicanism succeeds where Madinan Republicanism failed. In the Maroccidens this fragmentation was not turned into petty squabbling, vicious rivalries or practical anarchy in the ability to provide for the nation as a whole. Rather, Maroccidental Republicanism harnessed the rugged, free spirited and determined individuals of its nobility into an effective and efficient governing body—the Republican Senate.  Through the Republican Senate Maroccidental Republicanism was able to harness the fierce individualism that the frontier breeds into a sense of belonging. The Republican Senate gives voice to the far-flung rural Lord whose region is constantly under monster attack. It allows the many Lords to coordinate and communicate with one another, and with their autocrat, on the governing business of the realm. Where before they were all individually responsible for their specific corner of the realm, now they are collectively responsible for electing the government leaders, for choosing their fellow Lords, for defining the realm’s focus and policies. Where on the borders and the bloody fights against the rouges they may be alone, in the Senate they are together and they belong.

 

            However, this topic should not be closed without taking a look at the case of how the central government operates in the Maroccidenal Republics. For although much focus and official power is placed in the Republican Senate, the Maroccidental Republics are not without strong leaders in their rulers. Indeed, characteristic of Maroccidental Republicanism are charismatic rulers who possess the ability to moderate the Senate ensure it operates smoothly. They generally seek to build and benefit their growing realm; and because the ruler is an elected official of the Republic, whose position is regularly polled for referendum, their performance and ability to fulfill their role with the system is kept in check. The Republic’s Banker, Judge and General serve mostly in the background and without much attention. They operate in their roles as prescribed and expected—an variation from the “role” of their position would be seen as abnormal and would garner protest and the election a new subject for that position.

 

            Maroccidental Republicanism is a unique system forged on the frontier because it is what worked; it is a rugged and independent system perfectly balanced with realm wide cooperation and management that allows it to bend and flex with the needs and demands of that the frontier brings to it. Whether it will survive the closing of the frontier and stand the test of time is unclear; however it will live on in history as the system that conquered the frontier.

 

- Vol. 3 -

- Expansion & Success -

 

            Though the frontier proved to be perhaps the biggest challenge of their lifetimes, the nobles of the Maroccidens and their small, new republics began to eventually experience a treat that was so rarely tasted in the early years of settlement: success. Slowly, but surely, the settlers were beating back the monster hordes. They were slowly beginning to hold regions and build them up into communities of people who could produce harvests for their bellies and gold for their causes. However, even in retreat the frontier would dictate the lives of the nobles who sought to overcome them and during periods of expansion and success the Frontier Republics of the Maroccidens would change even more.

 

            Perhaps most primary is that all of a sudden the frontier republics discovered that they had significant amounts of things to lose. Though they had conquered swaths of the frontier for themselves, the frontier continued to fight back just as ferociously and with even more monster incursion into their farmlands or skirting their towns-lands the nobles of the frontier were acutely aware and terrified that the tide could once again turn and they could lose everything, or at least much, of what they had worked so hard for.

 

            In turn, this lead to increased attention to military planning and development. Republics began to operate within cohesive army structures; traveling together and moving from place to place as one fighting force to eliminate large groups of monsters or even strike into the wild lands to search for smaller bands of monsters to destroy before they could group together. The best ways to combat monsters were discussed and debated. How nobles deployed their units became very important, especially in congruence with other nobles in the army structure. Generals and Marshals had to be competent figures able to coordinate the nobles in these movements and advise and consider the options of deployment. In essence, it was at this time that the small frontier republics developed modern militaries.

 

            The republics also, for the first time, began to look outwards. There was a whole world outside their small patch of coastline and their couple rural regions. There was frontier to actually be explored (and many excursions into the wild lands were made for both curiosity as well as military reasons), there were other realms to converse and trade with. The most significant part of this realization, however, was that the frontier, as dangerous and violent as it was, was limited. It would end, and now that success and expansion and the conquering of it was seen as possible the Maroccidental Republics had to entertain the idea of it one day all being conquered (however, this was in a very abstract sense and hard to completely imagine). Thus, they began to lay claims to large areas of the frontier as their “future possessions.” They would even send colonizers out themselves to establish new realms in the heart of the frontier. In this way, the Maroccidental Republics learned how to engage in diplomacy, trade and negotiations with peoples both near and far. Their transformation from “band of survivors” to “nation-state” was rounding itself out.

 

            The expansion of the Maroccidental Republics fundamentally changed their perceptions of both themselves and of outsiders. No longer were they necessarily the small and weak, but they were conquerors bringing civilization into the darkness. They fought and bled and conquered for a living—and reaped the riches of food and gold that it brought them. They were no longer in the middle of a vast frontier isolated from the rest of civilization, rather now they were civilization. They were at the fore front of human civilization. The Maroccidental Republics were literally creating civilization from nothing; bringing learning, culture and iron to a land wrought with monsters and fertile ground and little else. What was the rest of the continent doing? To Maroccidental Republics the other regions of Dwilight seemed to grow less civilized just as fast as the Republics grew more civilized. The Maroccidental Republics had the world in front of them it seemed, they only had to reach out and grasp it.