Duchy of Lightning
Duchy of Lightning Duchy of Lightning | |
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 Flag
 Coat of Arms
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| Motto: "Onward!" | |
| Capital | Castle Keraunos |
| Largest city | Port Keraunos |
| Official languages | English |
| Ethnic groups | |
| Demonym(s) | Lightninger |
| Government | Duchy |
• Duke | Karl Keraunos |
• Vizier | Roel Mahoe |
| Legislature | The Duke's Court |
| Formation | |
• Founding of Duchy of Lightning | 25 April 2022 |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 1,000,000 |
| Currency | Fire Nation Kronor (FNK) |
| Driving side | left |
The Duchy of Lightning is an autonomous vassal territory of the Fire Nation, located in Eldhavet. It is known for its prowess in Lightningbending, high degree of zealotry towards the Church of Fire, and as the home of the indigenous Lirë people.
History
The origins of the Duchy of Lightning lay in the port of Skimmerhamn. A variety of factors contributed towards shaping a radical movement of hyper-nationalists who became known as the "Burners". Skimmerhamn was, at this time, an enclave of Fire Nation settlers in Kaerii tribal lands, the only pagan tribe to have voluntarily submitted without bloodshed during the War of the Flowers. Despite this conversion and acceptance of royal rule, pagan elements still resided around the port and ethnic tensions grew high. Furthermore, isolated from the rest of the Fire Nation, local Fire Nationals began to develop a regional identity and style which emphasised lightning and particularly harsh opinions regarding local pagans and conversos.
The Burners can be said to have truly begun on the 21st of April 2022. On this day, two officers of the Fire Nation Navy, Karl and Thurin, engaged in an Agni Kai over a dispute regarding which of their two ships was better. Karl won this contest using lightning, achieving temporary local fame. This fame was seized upon rapidly to establish the Burners' Social Club, dedicated to discussing "Fire Nation culture, history, and the legacy of the nation". The name "Burner" came in tribute to the Baron's Burn, the genocidal campaign launched by Baron Bigby Branson of Even Newer Mexico during the War of the Flowers against the Carnii tribe.
While the Burners could have gone down in history as merely a nationalist mob, multiple events shaped them towards an outward conquest. The first of these happened before the club was even founded. Being located on the port of Skimmerhamn, and at the periphery of Flametouched society, local nationalists were able to speculate of the many lands that lay over the seas in front of them that could be conquered. Furthermore, with local pagans nearby an object of intense resentment, the desire to achieve this conquest was realised with a clear target in mind.
The first discrete event to set the Burners down the path of conquest was in an attack on a local Kaerii language school in the city. Alleging it to be a secret hub of Cult of the Moon worship, the Burners set about smashing windows and setting the school ablaze. This promptly began a riot between the Burners and local Kaerii, prompting the city garrison to step in. During investigations of the crime scene, the allegation was proved to be true as a hidden shrine for moon worship was discovered in the school's basement. The city's priest, Kerstin, appealed to the Firelord upon hearing this news in order to suppress this pagan following. It is unknown if the Burners actually knew of this shrine. Karl, the leader of the Burners, would seize upon this good fortune to defend the riots as simply a justified conflict against pagans, as the Burners belief in extrajudicial violence against pagans was vindicated. The Water Tribe would stage a protest over this behaviour, causing the Firelord to formally intervene, scolding the Burners for their vigilantism but authorising City Priest Kerstin to begin removing pagans from the city.
The second event would be a follow-up from the previous one. The recent riots frightened local Fire Nationals, including those who did not wish to join the Burners but now feared being persecuted by pagan Kaerii who might not care for the difference. The Burners opened up a new self-defense school to see to this demand for protection against pagans, open to nonbenders and firebenders alike but with no pagans allowed. Controversially, Kaerii Flametouched were also barred entry, being seen as liars who secretly practised their former pagan faith. The popularity of the school was high, causing the school to relocate outside the city grounds for lack of space as firebenders in particular wished to learn lightningbending. This large group of armed warriors outside the city soon caught the eye of the city garrison's commander, who promptly sought to arrest Officer Karl for having attempted to raise a private militia. Karl was successfully able to persuade the garrison that the school was simply targeted in the interests of the state, while also being intimidated himself into not seriously considering taking the law into his own hands. This event saw the Burners form a rapprochement with authorities to act only in each other's interests and not contest hegemony over the same pagans, forcing the Burners to look abroad to achieve their dream of conquest.
Lastly, the sinking of the Yorkish ship USS Lusitania by hostile spirits played a coincidental role. The Burners promptly organised a fundraiser to "set things right", a statement largely interpreted as meaning donations to the families of those lost at sea. The true intent was instead to set a course for the Spirit Wilds where the Burners could open a new front. This plot was soon identified by the Minister of War, Johan Skiöld, who promptly issued orders to ensure no Fire Navy ship left Skimmerhamn unauthorised. While Officer Karl had purchased ships by this point, he was forced to look elsewhere, and thus vowed to sail elsewhere than the Spirit Wilds. Standing at the port of Skimmerhamn on the 24th of April, he said the last words he would speak on Fire Nation soil and gave his infamous Final Speech:
"My brothers and sisters, bear witness to our fair city. Skimmerhamn has proven to be the new city of the new Fire Nation. For the first time, a great fleet has been assembled here, and the scope of the Allfather's territory has never stretched wider. For the first time, we recognise the great expanse of ocean beyond us, knowing of the many lands there are to be conquered, like the glorious Baron did. Yet as we reach higher still, the ground becomes darker and murkier below us. Pagans still infect our glory, mottling it and erasing what is good and pure.
My brothers and sisters, bear witness. The Fire Nation is a nation of movement, of energy. We cannot sit idle, we must strike outwards. We cannot simply stay put and police over what is ours, no, we must reach out and seize what is given to us. As the Allfather granted us domain over this world, he granted us too the authority to take what we can in His name. To be merely content with what one has is the greatest of sacrilege. If our ancestors had felt such content, we would have never explored the caves of the north and found our Holy Sunflower. We would have never felled trees, we would have never learned firebending, and we would never learn truths.
We have come a long way - starting as little more than patriots with armchairs, I see all two thousand seven hundred and forty of you. Your fire is strong, your weapons are sharp, your lightning is brilliant. I call on you to step forth into our ships, where we shall sail to find our new frontier. The Allfather demands it of us. The pagans of Skimmerhamn are the police's concern, but we are not merely police. We are warriors. We are lightningbenders. We are the future of the Nation. We must take it!
Brothers and sisters, bear witness: the path of Lightning awaits us in this water. We shall strike south, and we shall take our future. Forward! Forward! Forward!"
Little was heard for some time after this, as the Burners sailed across Eldhavet. This would end with a report back to the Royalist Gazette, a Burner-loyal newspaper in Skimmerhamn, stating that they had successfully conquered a beachhead in new lands. The indigenous residents of this area were said to have resisted them, but with no knowledge of lightningbending, sought to board their ships by swimming. The Burners let them swim and promptly electrocuted the water, dispelling this force. The site of this landing became the first city of the territory, Port Keraunos, which soon saw the construction of a Church of Fire as well as a small port and housing. Karl formally opted to be known from this day forwards as Karl Keraunos, thus forming this noble house. Notably, the port had no copy of a Book of Fire, due to concerns it would be destroyed in the sea voyage, prompting the Yorkish to offer one as a gift. This event would play a major role in the downfall of the United Socialist Republic of Yorktown.
Upon the first encounter at Port Keraunos, the news of lightningbending swept over the Lirë communities in horror. The newly formed ducal government seized on this, rapidly spreading lightningbenders across the territory to impress of their martial prowess and hide for their weakness in numbers, as the Lirë outnumbered them almost 10 to 1. While this rapid expansion saw vast territories fall under Burner control, they seriously risked overstretching their very small forces. To rectify this situation, garrisons were established at a number of strategic river crossings. As the Duchy has a largely fluvial geography consisting of small islands broken up by medium sized waterways, placing garrisons at significant chokepoints to extract tax would see the maximum amount of power imposed across a disproportionately large area with only a small commitment of forces. This garrison system provoked significant ire from Lirë nobles, who requested that the taxes be lowered at a petition to Duke Keraunos. This incident was met with a lightning strike by the duke, as the nobles were chased off the premises.
Geography
The Duchy of Lightning has a highly riverrine geography, with multiple small islands and peninsulas broken up by rivers and waterways. The south and north of the country are more densely forested, as these are the "mainland" which the islands break apart. The centre of the duchy contains a wide lake where land is notably sparse, which is most often referred to as the Sea of Lightning.
Ethnographically, Burner settlements are most densely concentrated on the west coast where they face Eldhavet and the trade routes that bring more settlers. Inversely, the Lirë settlements become more and more distant from the central government the further east one goes. In the west, the capital of Port Keraunos is by far the largest settlement which hosts a large population of immigrants from the Fire Nation as well as other nations, such as Even Newer Mexico, Atlas, and Cassland. To the west of Port Keraunos is Taberg, a notable mining town that plays a key role in sustaining the Lightninger export market as well as its armed forces. Lightninger smallholds dot the western coast outside these two major settlements, consisting of small farms, isolated hamlets, and other small communities formed in the early days of the duchy's creation.
There is a misconception that the duchy is segregated on ethnic lines, however this is not strictly true, as society has been structured in a strictly clerical manner. Lirë converts do live in Lightninger settlements, in particular Port Keraunos, where they are considered full citizens albeit with some discrimination due to language and cultural barriers. Outside this community, there are other converts to the Church of Fire but their number is significantly fewer. The main evidence of Lightninger control in these areas are the river and sea forts, constructed shortly after Lightninger rule was first imposed. These garrisons consist of a small force of soldiers, boats, and provisions which seek to exert control over strategic waterways. While these forts are claimed to be for securing the flow of taxes back to the capital, it is widely believed that they are actually to deny any rebel armies or navies from joining forces.
Government and politics
The political system of the Duchy of Lightning aligns closely to Burner ideals, and is thus highly autocratic, clerical, and fervently loyal to the Firelord. As a Duchy, the territory is led by a Duke who is accorded limited powers of devolved government in matters such as some foreign affairs, taxation, defence, and other matters in exchange for eternal loyalty to the Fire Nation and the Church of Fire. The highest political authority, below that of the Firelord, is the Duke. The Duke of Lightning is currently Karl Keraunos, who also acts as informal leader of the Burner movement and as the founder of the polity. The corresponding clerical role is the Metropolitan, who acts as supreme spiritual authority within the Duchy and is directly accountable to the Firelord in his capacity as head of the Church of Fire.
Within the administration, two notable factions are known to exist that compete for the Duke's favour: the Baron's Men and the Duke's Men. Baron's Men tend to emphasise the Burner legacy of militarism and the "Baron's Burn" campaign from the War of the Flowers, and thus advocate for aggressive and militant expansion in particular against their local opponents or the Divine Republic of Sirreth, a nearby Cxebruist neighbour. Duke's Men, by contrast, emphasise the role of spreading their religion and thus advocate transforming Port Keraunos into a "jewel of the south", wherein local opposition is effectively hopeless and the Duchy's security is permanently guaranteed, by endorsing immigration into the Duchy from the Flametouched world as well as foreign nations, such as Atlas and Cassland. Both factions have tended to be relatively amicable due to common interests, in particular in their united opposition to the Silverists of Yorktown. When a handful of Yorkish sailors from the IMMC section of Port Keraunos were found to have Silverist connections, all were shot without considerable debate as Baron's Men deemed them traitors while the Duke's Men saw it as part of their overseas commitments to the Fire Nation.
The primary lens by which many conceive of Lightninger politics is through the disparity between the indigenous Lirë and the colonist Lightningers. Independent Lirë leadership is currently coalesced around Chief Agron, who has at one point appealed to the Firelord directly for the creation of a second duchy within the Duchy of Lightning's present territory. This would effectively reduce the Duchy of Lightning to solely Burner-majority areas and create an entirely separate polity for Lirë Flametouched. No official response was received and there are questions to be asked about whether such a divorce is tenable - the majority of Lirë are not Flametouched, and most of those who are would be in uncontroversial Lightninger territory around Port Keraunos. There is also the question of whether, by recognising Keraunos as Duke of all the territory of the Duchy of Lightning, advocating that territory be stripped from his control constitutes an act of heresy against the Firelord. These issues are due to be negotiated at a later date in Fenixholm.
Economy
Before discussing the economic wellbeing of the duchy, it is necessary to discuss the cultural gap in perception of what an economy is. The Lirë economy is primarily circular due to social perceptions on how goods are transferred. Power is accumulated by being a figure who distributes gifts to others, while receiving gifts reduces one's social status; the most powerful figures are those who take nothing and give vast quantities of gifts, while the untouchable are those who take much and give nothing. While this system can apply locally, it also can play out across regions where a village may be seen as lesser to its neighbour because it takes many gifts from the neighbour. This transaction-dependent system of socioeconomic value is intuitive in a river-based system, as assets are harder to control; armies can easily slip away from defeat, and land can erode or form over lifetimes. The Lirë system is designed for its geography of rivers and their islands which often move, merge, and split.
By contrast, the Lightninger system is a feudal system imported from the Fire Nation, where the holding of assets is key and transactions less so. This imbalance has caused significant economic and cultural strain between the two sides. In particular, the long-term tendency for the feudal system to transfer wealth upwards is a significant threat to the Lirë elites, as they are dependent on a consistent circular economy of goods for their status which is slowly depleted by such centralisation of wealth. It also has caused major cultural clash, as in the Lirë perception of elites and untouchables, a regime of taxation is very low in social value as it appears wholly dependent upon its vassals. This was exemplified in an incident on the 19th of May 2022, where Lirë elites petitioned Duke Keraunos in his palace for remittances so as to affirm his authority. This was understood as an barefaced demand of wealth and a threat of revolt by the Duke, causing communications to break down. Further erosion of the Lirë circular economy has taken place as many of them convert to the Church of Fire, effectively abandoning much of their inherited and earned status in the network. There are hints of another circular economy forming anew in the community of Lirë converts in Port Keraunos. Due to this cultural barrier, while goods are centralised via taxation coordinated by the regional garrisons, the two economies remain largely separated from one another.
In the Lightninger economy, no notions of circularity are present. The primary goods that the Duchy trades in are tropical items such as turtle shells and coconuts, ores, mercenaries, and agricultural goods. The majority of Lightningers live in small rural communities that dot the western islands as part of a campaign to ensure future population growth, but the largest and most economically active area by far is Port Keraunos. The port acts as the most important lifeline of the duchy to the outside world, trading with the Fire Nation in Skimmerhamn as well as Yorktown, Atlas, Fryslan, and Cassland. The nearby town of Taberg hosts a very impressive mining apparatus which acts to both fuel exports of ore and gems as well as fuel the Lightninger armed forces by providing stone, coal, and iron. Further mines have been explored at Hathsin and Lëvore Shkëmbore.
Demographics
The key demographic fact of the Duchy of Lightning is that of the distinction between the colonists and the Lirë. The Lirë constitute the majority of the duchy's population and control most of its territory, living in small relatively isolated communities, whereas the colonists overwhelmingly concentrate on the west coast. While the geographic separation is stark, it is not absolute. Many Lirë have converted to the Church of Fire, and thus move to the Lightninger-dominated west coast, where they constitute a significant minority population. In the east and centre of the country, notable Lightninger garrisons significantly disrupt the Lirë majority regions.
While the majority of the colonists are originally from the Fire Nation, this is not entirely true. Migrants from Nij-Grinslan, Atlas, Cassland, and other parts of the Flametouched world such as Even Newer Mexico also populate this area and have largely integrated into Lightninger society through Burner teachings.
Culture
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