Isidoro Playero On The War Against Daen

[Mad_Gadfly]

An Essay by Isidoro Playero
​

In a multicultural commonwealth such as the Regalian Empire, conservatism is a fluid concept. To be an Ithanian conservative is not the same as being a Calemberg conservative. Different cultures have developed to be distinct from all others and therefore aim to conserve distinct aspects of their way of life. In the Crown Isle, conservatism has been influenced by values such as zealotry, obedience, and hegemony of the local cultures. The influence of conservatism manifests in State Law, which imposes conservative definitions of obedience, faith, marriage, etcetera.

In the centuries that it has existed, the Commonwealth as we know it today is still fairly young. The Ithanian Sovereignty became subject to the Regalian Crown only in 150 AC, and Daenshore was only subjected as recently as 219 AC. The Kingdom of Lusits is the most recent of the subjects, being merged into the Empire by marriage to the Regalian Emperor. In the Daenlands, conservatism is different than how we understand it in the Crown Isle. Among other things, Ithanians conserve pacifism, Daendroques conserve liberty, and the Bragacao conserve egalitarianism.

Something besides their slave heritage unites these three cultures. The three cultures are inherently liberal by Regalian standards, and therefore, they are nearly incompatible with heartland values and Regalian Law where it has been influenced by conservative philosophy. The Ithanian Sovereignty has had its pacifist and matriarchal traditions challenged by King Florent de Gosselin, the Governorate of Daenshore has had its traditions of liberty handicapped by the installment of a Regalian military government, and the Kingdom of Lusits was established from the egalitarian Merchant Republic at the behest of the Regalian Empire in 167 AC.

Many have described these Daen traditions as Jacobin. Those accusations of treason for the innocent act of being faithful to one's culture will not stop. The crime of Jacobinism will continue to be a convenient tool by the conservative factions to not only exclude liberals from the Regalian political order, but also for the Heartland to assert political dominance over the Rimland. There is no better example of this than the creation of the Imperial Culture, and the laws surrounding it. To create an artificial culture expected of all leaders in the Crown Isle, and to ban Daendroque fashions from court entirely, is a perfect example of Contemporary Cultural Antagonism.

Even if many of these expectations were eventually reversed, the overall intended direction of Heartland attitudes towards the Rimland is clear. Daen traditions and political philosophy are in danger of being phased out entirely, and to be popularly portrayed as outright unpatriotic. Though the Daenland cultures are often dismissed as Jacobin by threatened conservatives, the Daendroque culture in particular is many times assumed to be criminal. It seems that whenever it comes to the Daen, the Regalian attitude of "guilty until proven innocent" rings particularly true.

Published on 6/16/308 AC​

 

[StFeuillien]

"It's treason, then."

 

[Wumpatron]

"As if Jacobinism is a threat in any meaning of the term. No. Rather it is a threat to the common man and the servants of the Empire who would rather focus upon these alleged civil liberties they know nothing about. They plot and they steal and they rape the Imperial image that has persisted and expanded since the days of Theomar and every blessed Emperor since. Jacobinism is a vile curse of selfishness and destruction of that which gives this Empire its strength and its resolve. For only a strong Empire can benefit all of its people. Not a false system of government imposed by volatile men who have been proven to need the Empire to prosper. If the Daen choose to challenge the Empire than the Daen will be purged into the earth of which only the weeds grow as it has been done to every single insurrection meant to thwart decent society."

The Drachenburg Paladin frowns as he folds his hands behind his back with a disappointed sigh.

 

[Greenie]

"Most peculiar. Father would've loved this."​