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 ===== The Grecydan Empire, the First Unifying State of Grecyda =====
+The Grecydan Empire, which is regarded as the first broadly unifying state of [[planes:aurius:ethrekas:regions:grecyda:start|Grecyda]] by the modern [[races:humans:ethrekasan:kataletia:start|Kataletia]], is asserted by many of the scholars of these people to be a civilization which gave rise to a certain advancement among the [[races:humans:ethrekasan:start|mannish people]], allowing the safety and civility of order throughout Grecyda. Accordingly, the Grecydan Empire possesses great militaristic prowess that allows for the hand of the law to remain prevalent, and it is from close advisors and local counts that swear fealty to the emperor that this emperor maintains his power. Initially, however, diplomacy was the method by which the dynastic rulers obtained power, and from this diplomacy was born a trust in the security of the state.
+==== History ====
+The Grecydan Empire was first conceived of by the ruler of a city-state known as [[planes:aurius:ethrekas:townships:minaldel|Minaldel]] on the southern coast of [[planes:aurius:ethrekas:start|Ethrekas]], but in its beginning stages, it was not known as the Grecydan Empire: previously, it was referred to as the Minetian Empire, and sought to unify those descendants of the nautical [[races:humans:ethrekas:minetia|Minetia]] who were plagued by the unlawfulness of the open ocean. Primarily, in uniting the lawful of the Minetia against the pirates of the sea, they sought to establish an order which had never been observed among the mannish people, and thus was born the codified law which explicitly prohibited the sacking of sea-faring vessels and other modes of transportation among the coastal land. City by city, the ruler of the ambitiously named Minetian Empire came into possession of the cities of the southern coast of Grecyda through diplomacy and the promise of protection against the pirates, and thus, the Minetian Empire could properly be called so. The ruler, now known as [[races:humans:ethrekasan:kataletia:emperor_aamir|Emperor Aamir]], had successfully united the people of the coast, and protected them with militaristic reinforcements such that they knew the safety of law and order.\\
+\\
+As the Minetian Empire became more established, Emperor Aamir proclaimed Minaldel, his birthplace and that city which he had inherited lordship of by blood, as the Minetian Empire’s capital, and many of Grecyda sought to journey there in order to glimpse its treasures and seeming providence. These of Grecyda who were not even proper citizens of the Minetian Empire had heard of the city’s prosperity, and, upon their visitation, had spread word of their origin from anywhere of the desert of Grecyda. Upon hearing of these stories, the emperor realized that the law could proliferate in these lands as well, and, being armed with diplomacy and the promise of lawfulness, traveled to these foreign lands and convened with the peoples he had found there. Emperor Aamir had arranged a kind of offering to be had between their rulers, such that they might be protected by his codified law in exchange for their swearing of fealty to him, promising to live in accordance with the emperor’s will so that peace might be attained. Thus was born the noble class of the blossoming empire, and they observed the fruits of residing within the state’s security while maintaining some amount of autonomy.\\
+\\
+Eventually, Emperor Aamir had united all of Grecyda, and thus, he renamed the empire as the Grecydan Empire. Then, his dynasty would continue with an heir, selected from one of his male offspring, and the empire could continue as a civilization of peace and prosperity. It came to be acknowledged that the first emperor of the Grecydan Empire had allowed for this act to be performed, and so many recognized and thanked him for these gifts of safety and security. However, there were still those who maintained the practices of their ancestors and, wishing to see these continued, rebelled against the authority of the state in these lands. These people, while being constituted of a minority of the broader population of the empire, believed the empire to be founded on a certain subjugation of their people to the will of the empire, and sought to cast off their chains so that they might instead appoint their own nobility and rulers, rather than acknowledge those who directly descended from the nobles appointed by Emperor Aamir in the beginning stage of the empire. Thus, they found themselves either at odds with the Grecydan Empire by way of criminality, or experiencing a discontentment that they could not find in themselves to express, through fear of punishment. The traditions of these people would nonetheless be preserved, either through the founding of rebel cities that did not bow before the emperor, or through the secret practice of that like their ancestors.\\
+\\
+Regardless of the criminals and rebels who refused to bow before the Grecydan Empire’s rule, the Grecydan Empire persisted for many, many centuries, there being numerous generations of emperors that had each been chosen by the previous emperor among their male offspring. The blooming and proliferation of the empire had thus marked the beginning of an era that had never been seen, and this era was called the [[third era|Third Era]], with the [[first era|First]] being those of the [[races:humans:ethrekasan:ethetia:start|Ethetia’s]] existence in [[planes:aurius:regions:tradarda|Tradarda]] under the rule of [[pantheons:deities:solara|Solara]] and the [[second era|Second]] being the lawlessness of the inhabitants of Grecyda. The Third Era is estimated by scholars of the empire to have been experienced for two-thousand years, and the era was marked with a certain lawfulness and dutifulness throughout, there being many times where militia were incentivized to protect the emperor through riches and the promise of a well-regarded heroism. It was found, then, that throughout the Third Era, their people could be identified as the Kataletia, the imperial people of Grecyda who, because of their unity, had procured a certain homogeneity among their racial and physical characteristics.\\
+\\
+Though the Kataletia had then become one people, one extended tribe which professed a loyalty and submission to the emperor and its people, the current emperor had nonetheless been assassinated and, because of their youth, had no heir which could have taken the throne. And so, as a result of the interweaving of familial ties and blood among the descendants of the original nobles that the first emperor had appointed, there were many disputes as to who could lay a claim to the throne; there existed no cousin that was born of an incestuous union of the previous emperor’s children, and the others of the previous emperor’s children had married into the local nobility of the constituent cities. Thus, the nobles each professed a claim to the throne, and the empire dissolved, and never was there a total unification of Grecyda to be observed throughout any of the eras of man.
+==== Culture ====
+The citizens of the Grecydan Empire maintain the belief that the emperor’s word is absolute, and that the emperor himself was made so through some divine providence. Any act of rebellion made by a citizen is often met with swift and according punishment, such that if one were to stage an uprising there would certainly be made an execution or an imprisonment of the instigator of such an event. As this is the case, illegality is conducted and partaken of most discreetly, and through this act, there may be observed that it would be a scandal if a noble were to perform such a deed. Of this illegality is found treason and defamation of the emperor, and if any were to publicly claim the emperor as an unruly individual, there would certainly be found a destruction in the opposition to the empire. It is through the empire that the peoples’ peace is maintained, and so the citizens place the rulings and jurisdictions of the empire as the ultimatum of all moral authority.\\
+\\
+Though many of the Grecydan Empire partake in the action of following the laws procured by the emperor, it is found that there is some kind of authority which exists between that of the emperor and themselves, and these are the nobles that preside over the cities that are in turn constituents of the empire. The nobility, then, often have local laws and rulings that differ from what is explicitly defined by the emperor, and as a result, the citizens of one city may have slightly disparate viewpoints from that of another city. Specifically, the people of the Grecydan Empire may differ in what methods of worship are permissible, or other practical issues such as the architecture of cities and the accompanying structures.\\
+\\
+Another feature in which the citizens of the Grecydan Empire may be distinguished from another is found in their treatment of women, where, in some localized regions, women are made to cover themselves so as to not found a desire and lust in the hearts of men. Yet, in other regions, women are allowed to garb themselves in whatever they deem appropriate, and this circumstance is made possible only by the founding of law by the local nobility. Regardless of this, it is presumed that the emperor knows of these disparities, yet does not wish to intrude upon the practices of another for fear that there might be an uprising of a kind to be observed among the punished people.\\
+\\
+As women are permitted different rights of attire in various subcultures, so too are they permitted various rights in relation to what they are able to accomplish. In some regions of the empire, women are married off to a male partner by their family, and from this union comes an understanding between the bride’s family and that of the groom’s; in others, women are allowed to marry as they please, having the ability to distance themselves from their birth family at will. It is thought that from this multiculturalism there is found an animosity, but to remain their protected status by the Grecydan Empire, there are not permitted any disputes among these cities.\\
+\\
+In some localized regions, specifically those where women are required to cover themselves, women are thought of to be the instigators of desire, and so their desires must not be granted for fear that a lust will consume them, and their sexual impurity resulting in offspring with no recognizable father. Yet, in a neighboring region, women are still thought of to be the instigators of desire, but this desire is not seen as vice; it is instead virtue, and it is from men that these desires were regarded as evil rather than acceptable. In these lands of where women have such perquisites, there exists no law of marriage as procured by [[pantheons:deities:alarayna|Alarayna]], and instead, worship of [[pantheons:deities:echna|Echna]] is found. Then, in the cities where women must cover themselves, marriage is a necessary act, as it binds the female in a covenant such that they might know the status of servitude towards their husbands, and their desires being properly reigned in.
+==== Religion ====
+The Grecydan Empire professes the worship of the [[pantheons:class:elohad|Elohad]], and any who deviate from the constraints of this worship are thought to have committed a sin, and, in the eyes of the law, are able to be punished. Though there is found the constraint of the worship of this set of divine beings, there are still those who worship only a few or even, one of the Elohad, and this is permitted as appropriate by the necessity of the national religion. However, there have been found many cases of sacrilege against these gods by the empire, furthermore disabling the people from worshipping these gods as they see fit rather than by the strictures granted to by the state. Sacrilege, then, is dependent on not only the intent of the action of the worshipper, but the way in which the worship is done in accordance to the deity being referred to.\\
+\\
+Regardless of the existence of this sacrilege, worship is performed in congregations assembled in constructions built with an aura of beauty, befitted with long arches and towering windows that properly enshrine Solara’s light as it descends from the heavens. Solara is thus a necessity of the religion, and those who do not recognize Solara are professed by the empire to be heathens, and without respect for the original deity which gave rise to the other of the Elohad. Thus, Solara is an icon that proliferates in their religion, and it is from her light that the Elohad were bathed in so that they might know her themselves.\\
+\\
+[[pantheons:deities:aldrath|Aldrath]] of the Elohad specifically has found icons of himself in those grandiose temples found in the heat of the sun, and it is in these temples that there is laid a fire so that the people know of his embrace of warmth and the instigation of purity. In the fire, there is oftentimes an immolation done of a sacrificial animal, usually a camel, and from the gift of the flame comes the later consumption of this animal as it is proven to be safe to consume through the providence of Aldrath.\\
+\\
+Throughout the empire, there are two deities which are also held in high regard in conjunction, and many homes have these deities as decorative mantles so that their presence is known; these are [[pantheons:deities:lexith|Lexith]], the god of nobility and lawfulness, and [[pantheons:deities:namitha|Lexia]], who is known colloquially among the descendants of the Minetia as Namitha. From Lexith comes a reverence for government, and from Lexia comes the peace of a domestic home and the order which the matron of the host must provide. Though they are often worshipped in regards to the other, the worship of Lexith is seen as masculine, and the worship of his mate, Lexia, as feminine. Thus, a temple usually conducts worship of both, though the men are thought to look towards Lexith and the women to Lexia.\\
+\\
+The goddess called Alarayna is also worshipped throughout the empire and, in those temples outfitted with the proper rites and customs, the marriage that Alarayna procures can be conducted, celebrated, and enforced. As a goddess of marriage and fertility, it is believed that through Alarayna marriage is sanctified, and a woman can come to know her husband as the one worthy of healing and a space of compassion. The softness of the masculine, then, is brought out through Alarayna’s influence, and it is from her that women can come to know their place as being prostrated to their mate. Worship of Alarayna, then, is conducted almost exclusively by women, and it is she who is prayed to when a woman aims to find a suitable mate through which she can bear their offspring.\\
+\\
+The youngest of the Elohad, those who were born from the privilege of the heavens, are Echna and [[pantheons:deities:astoneal|Astoneal]], and it is from them that culture is developed and the artisan and merchant class are born. Echna, who bore the artisan class, is acknowledged as a goddess of both artistry and beauty, and it is thought that from her comes the gifts of creativity and music. Astoneal, then, is thought to be a god that protects merchants who travel from city to city, and calls for the citizens to house these merchants so that they might know the comforts of home while still providing their service of redistribution to all of the empire. Thus, these of the youngest of the Elohad are thought to have only come into being from the uniting of government, and through them, the government and its people can be enriched and made more abundant.\\
+\\
+The texts of their religion, which are numerous and manifold, are redistributed throughout the temples and spread from city to city, and many claim that these texts are more ancient than the empire itself. These passages are considered sacred, and any offense or tarnishing of them is considered sacrilege and is punished severely, so long as it is determined that there is indeed an offense against the national religion. Many of these books are yet found in the home, and thus forms a kind of shrine where one of the Elohad as is specified by the text may be made penance to, and their religiosity made proliferating through the belief of its word of a god.
+==== Attire ====
+As a state which spans the entire mass of the desert regions of Grecyda, there are many modes of dress for specific occasions and the accompanying cultures that are yet adapted to the arid, hot climate of the land; one of these involves the bare chested men who find their skin undamaged by the flames of the sun, who oftentimes wear such a lower garment that allows air to move through it. This garment is constructed from the wool of a camel, and it provides a layer of modesty so that they do not appear naked. Women, on the other hand, have varied outfits, and, in the cultural hub of the capital city of Minaldel, there can be found many styles of dress that originate from variegated regions of Grecyda; one such is that which enshrouds their entire body, made still from a fabric that is breathable, but provides the sense of modesty so that the hearts of men aren’t made to sin. Another style is simply a garment that wraps itself around the breasts, accompanied with one that shields the delicate perineum and close areas from the gaze of another. The feet, in all of these circumstances, are bare, and it is found that within the deeds of those who dress like this, that is all that is needed. All of these modes of dress, however, are found in the class of the commoner, and so do not bear the necessity of opulence or formality that might be found in the noble, merchant, or artisan class.\\
+\\
+Among the noble class, there is found the presence of jewels that hang around the neck, and among the women, there are dresses constructed of a silky essence that remain soft to the touch. With the regality of such an appearance comes the reputation of the woman’s family, as she is presumed to have been gifted in wealth by them. On the other hand, the men wear significantly more attire than those of the commoner’s, and they find their chests to be covered and their calves properly shielded from the weather. These modes of attire are often accompanied by shoes, typically made from a brown leather, that, in the event of leaving the house, are equipped so that their feet do not suffer from the burnt sand.\\
+\\
+In the artisan class, which finds itself over represented in those women whose attire is not as strict in covering, jewels may also be worn, though these are accompanied instead by a tunic in the case of the female that extends to the mid thigh from the shoulders, while the top of their breasts remain partially exposed. Such freedom is permitted by the culture of the artisans, where Echna is primarily worshipped rather than that of Alarayna. The men, however, have no such endowment in the chest, and so their tunics cover them from shoulder to mid thigh, and their sexual proclivities are not immediately made evident as it is in the women. Sandals are worn by these people, enabling both an earthy connection to the sand while allowing protection from direct contact with the heat of the sand.\\
+\\
+The merchant class, being that they often journey to lands that impose dress codes among the females, are much more conservative in the attire which the females may wear, though this is mostly a practical custom rather than a belief that women ought to cover themselves. Thus, women may cover themselves while in some regions and, for ease, they might continue to do so even when journeying out of those regions. The men, similarly to the artisan class, wear tunics that extend from their shoulders to mid-thighs, and both men and women are wear sandals that might protect their feet.\\
+\\
+However, when men engage in the art of battle, they are known to wear armor of a steel that indubitably protects from attacks, held together by straps and other fabrics. Oftentimes, the general of such a militia would wear a helmet of an ornate quality, while other warriors of lesser status would simply wear helmets with no such ornamentation. On the rare occasions that women do fight, they often resort to fitting into the attire of men, though there have been instances where armor was developed for female use. In these rare instances, they are fitted to maintain the shape of the breast, and held together again through straps and fabric.