Oi. Throwing my hat in the ring again, wanted to do a proto-application spiel before committing to filling out a proper sheet. Nail down approved directions to take things in. Bulk of text after the hider. Captain'll be around sooner or later to jaw on his thing.


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The very basic genesis was for a Sauron/Morgoth type (depending on what overall relation Daigon had to his devils, that of a conquering Solomon type or a subordinate Faust type) who'd survived the fall of Nagath to preserve a functional and Justinian expedition-resilient state(let). Inspirations of character beside the prior referenced mold include the Buddhist fierce deities and the Dharmapala, the Asuras, Dagoth Ur, Emperor Ganishka, maybe a dash of Gilgamesh, and my vague impression of Lucifer from Paradise Lost, himself referenced in the OP. His origin is intentionally hazy in my mind, seeing that demons are anyways not as yet defined; he may have been a demon always, a man transmuted, a spirit otherwise, or whatever else, though I have my preferences; all depends on which are approved as options. A multiple-choice backstory communicated and obfuscated in parables is something that crept into my mind and will be adhered to regardless.

The state itself is a somewhat more absolutist mirror of Justinian's empire, constructed specifically in opposition to it or at least my hypothetical image of it; but likewise the personal construction of its king, a great and rigid structure, occasionally turned to clay as he sees fit. Architectural and partial cultural inspiration is Indo-Asian; a stratocracy built around the active sovereign with magisters as instruments rather than rulers by absence albeit adventurously inclined, countering Justinian's white-black feudal serfdom with black-white castes within castes, with ascension in the ladder being a matter of upper-end whim or an excess of merit, often both in combination; some barriers are untraversible, keeping to the meaning of caste as 'color.' A court of devils rides high, with men generally in the middle, and the unfortunately savage races lying at the foot of the ladder, while civilized demihumans such as Nexerus' Tshriv & familiar spirit-alike races being interspersed varyingly between. Levies, mercenaries and knighthood are contrasted by semi-professional state formations and citizen-soldiers-by-birth in the Kshatriya mold, though tribal reivers and irregulars blur the line of distinction further. The greater mundane military distinction- the remaining court devils that stretch high the limits of low fantasy power being few- than a slightly higher qualitative average or willingness to asymmetric maneuver warfare would be the use of jezails, well-trailed field guns in Mughal styling, and Mysorean/Congreve rockets. Distant reverence of the unseen god-king and direct cult worship is traded for a closer, comradely hero-worship in person and cults of aspects, incarnations, multiple faces of a many-shaped god. Pogroms and burnings are exchanged for semi-voluntary, obligatory sacrifice, for both ritual and practical purposes. The differences between the states' construction and the half-transcendent personalities involved are all intentionally fine-blurred. 'When fighting monsters,' so on.

Motivation was always quite a bit clearer than the rest; the devil-king of the Indo-state wishes to fulfill Daigon's dream in full, in dedication to his memory. Emphasis on 'memory.' The appearance of gorgenmast's Arkhagon took some of the wind out of my sails, since two Saurons would be a bit crowding. But after a bit of further thinking, Arkhagon's appearance only allowed me to further clarify where I wanted to go with the concept. Arkhagon, defined by longing, the high ideal of comradeship, and veneration thereby, refused sputtering military adventurism and half-baked Nagath reformation to seek Daigon directly, and fell into his heroic tragedy thereby. The Indo-King, of a similar stature & rank to Arkhagon (or so the record reads, for now) defied both courses, selecting instead consolidating statecraft; rather than dash himself against the rocks of suicidal martyrdom or destructive, unfulfillable sentiment, he immediately set to the task of laying long-reaching groundwork for vengeance against those who toppled Daigon and the salvation of his work, or at least a work which he would approve. The Indo-Kings' respective exoteric tragedy, then, could be called [i]expedience,[/i] or [i]pragmatism.[/i] The two will contrast nicely.

He preserved what civilization he could, established as legitimate a regency as one may find in the ruins of Nagath, and built a rump empire on lockstep dedication, on the classification of merit and the merit of classification, on insurgency, on fanaticism, and on blood-sacrifice, not in the Semitic Yahweh-Mammonish mold of cruel whimsy & loyalty-testing or the Indo-European one of destruction of the criminal and corrupt, but more the Aztec-Nahuatl mold, of the sacrificed as venerated martyrs, necessarily lost for the worlds' sake; this martyrs' spirit, overembraced by the failed adventurists and which the Indo-King spited as the empire fell couldn't be neglected forever, after all, and in a world starved for the arcane, the energy derived out of innocent, sacred blood is a high-octane fuel for the engines of old empire machinery and sorcery. All the better that those used up are sincerely beloved and mourned, the sacrifice necessary; a means to reinforce the image of the justice and sanctity of the Indo-Kings' state.

Final text block; location. This is a little bit harder to work out. Originally, when watching the interest check, I lazily thought I'd plop down right at the mouth of what I should guess is the Sea of Daigon, west of Tushiena's Isle of Shipwrecks, and snake a bit around the bay & up the fertile river. Eat a nice bit of irrigatable land. With the Red Empire occupying that mouth & one bank revision is necessary, and refinement forced like with Arkhagon's appearance. Therefore, a few projections sprung into my mind.

1: Bosphorus configuration. Snaking 'round the Sea of Daigon/shipwrecks' bay, with the capital emplaced on one or either end of the little black sea-shaped bay/lake on the southern bank. Prime though not sole agricultural territory climbs up the bank opposite the Red Empire, about the boundaries of Firukavukontok. Current preferred, modest territory claim. Hopefully doesn't squeeze gorgenmast too much, assuming the barrage is located between the two little mini-peninsulas, northwest of the Isle of Shipwrecks.
2: Peninsular configuration. A bit more insulated from other players, wrapping around the mountains of the northeast of the Claws. Same riverside as projection 1.
3: Daigon Zul midst squatter configuration. Not a strong consideration in my mind, as the city is explicitly a dead and ruined no-man's land; even a sister city in close, under the protection of a lieutenant of Daigon, would be in physical and political danger from both the beastly & sapient denizens. But a technical option, if map crowding ends up requiring it. Occupies the riverbank north of the Red Empire, half-wrapping Mount Azoth and perhaps just touching the bay/Sea of Daigon with an eastern jut.
4: Big booty borders. Projections 1 & 2 merged, providing a lot of variety as far as potential terrain types and gribbly vassals that can be worldbuilt, but also being a big blob that raises questions as to how or why the Imperium hasn't doubled down on extermination efforts, owing to the threat posed, and why the state would have stagnated in game-start deadlock with so much to draw on in resources & manpower for expansionary attempts. An option if the map needs filling out, still. A possible historical expanse for one of the prior projections, the state having suffered mutinies and withdrawals and thus these territories having fallen out of de facto control.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this text dump in detail. Awaiting approval, eager to get at sheetwriting, worldbuilding & fine detail integration if/when approved.
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