The Nexerus — Roleplayer Guild

Lindosia

The City of the Champion




Demonym: Lindosians. 

Description: Lindosia is a theocratic city-state that is the seat of power of the main church of the Faith of Lindos. The city, founded by Lindos on the seven hills from which he received his divine revelations, became the capital of a massive but short-lived empire that spanned over most of Albion, spreading Lindosianism by the sword. After the fall of the Lindosian Empire, the city and its environs came under the immediate control of the Faith of Lindos' clergy, who chose to establish themselves in the city named after their religion's namesake, turning it into the spiritual capital of the Faith as well as becoming its secular rulers. Due to the prevalence of Lindosianism in both Albion and the Great Commonwealth to the east, Lindosia holds tremendous influence over both the politics and society of nations all across the known world. The City of the Champion is also one of the largest in the world, as well as a hub of commerce for overseas trade between Albion and the Commonwealth.

Faith of Lindos


The Faith of Lindos, or 'Lindosianism' more informally, is the dominant religion of the world. Its practitioners number in the tens of millions, across both civilized continents, and it has many regional churches with their own unique perspectives on aspects of the Faith. All Lindosians believe in one essential truth, however: that Lindos was the directly chosen champion and prophet of the Creator, divinely appointed to spread God's vision for his children across the world, by all means necessary. All varieties of Lindosianism also share the same seven 'heroic virtues'—values and behaviors exemplified by Lindos that all men and women of all races and nationalities are meant to follow. These seven heroic virtues are, in alphabetical order: adamance, bravery, diligence, family, honesty, justice and wisdom. The Faith of Lindos teaches that by applying oneself to exemplify these virtues, as the Champion did, mortals may earn themselves admission to Paradise upon the end of their life. All those who do not follow the guideline of the heroic virtues, or who are ignorant of the Faith of Lindos, are destined to be born again, until their soul may live a life of virtue and at long last ascend to Paradise. Only those who actively deny the Faith of Lindos (either by committing the crime of apostasy or dying in the name of a false god) suffer the ultimate divine punishment: their dissolute souls are melted upon their death, their essence reshaped by the Creator to give birth to a new phoenix, denying them from ever reaching Paradise. This cosmic punishment allows the grievous sinner to atone for their misdeed for all time, doomed to die and be reborn from the ashes for eternity, to forever serve the Faith as a war-bird, raining their own melted soul down upon their fellow heretics.

The branch of the Faith of Lindos operating out of Lindosia, colloquially called the 'Eastern Church' or 'Main Church', is the most predominant of Lindosianism's many sections: the central trunk from which all other branches are deemed to derive. Created by some of the most devout and scholarly of the Champion's followers shortly after his tragic passing—including his sister Tirene—the newly organized Faith sought to bring structure to the suddenly predominant religion, creating a standardized liturgy and compiling their numerous theological manuscripts into a single compendium, simply entitled the 'Red Book'. Many nations and individual churches all across Albion supported this effort at standardization, sending representatives to Lindosia's great cathedral, the Brightflame Temple, and adhering their daily worship to the teachings as described in the Red Book. Many other nations chose to retain autonomy, however, electing either to adhere to the teachings of the Western Church—who claimed their empire the rightful continuation of the fallen Lindosian Empire—or to establish their own national churches, syncretizing the Faith of Lindos with their own local traditions. Brightflame Temple, for its part, has always been rather tolerant of the brother church and sister churches, seeing little to be gained from attempting to enforce rigorous obedience on largely loyal followers of the heroic virtues.

The Eastern Church's clerical hierarchy is headed by the Ecclesiast, who also serves concurrently as both the Cleric of Brightflame Temple and the Sovereign of the City of the Champion. The Ecclesiast is elected from amongst the 'High Clerics', MORE TBA

Historically, Lindosianism began with Lindos, often known today as 'The Champion', a man born of humble means in a small fishing settlement in the Kingdom of Karesia. He was the oldest of three children, elder brother to a sister named Tirene and a brother named Zymos. In his early days, long before his divine revelations, Lindos proved himself an excellent sailor through hard-working diligence, and quickly came to captain his own boat. By his early adulthood he had become an established merchant captain in Karesia, with a reputation for both fearlessness and ruthlessness. His ship would weather any storm, no matter how turbulent the seas, always delivering his cargo on time and in one piece. His run-ins with pirates were the stuff of song as well: his ship, The Phoenix, though often assailed, was never bested, any bandit of the sea who dared to challenge it being deftly defeated and left to limply sail back to share stories of their defeat. Lindos' brother and sister, too, were extraordinary individuals even in their early days. Zymos had a talent for stewardship and administration, and worked his way through commerce and local government to become a prominent (and exceedingly wealthy) advisor to the King of Karesia. Tirene, for her part, showed an astonishing natural talent for spells and sorcery, becoming prominent in Karesia as both a prodigous mage and a talented scholar—even publishing a work of poetry under a pseudonym that became popular in lordly courts throughout Albion. The three siblings would all have their part to play in the Lindosian Conquest, and the two that lived through it would both become world leaders. The mage Tirene would rule as the first Ecclesiast of Lindosia, helping to form and then lead the Eastern Church of Lindosianism, whereas stewardly Zymos would forge the Autocracy of Zymokar out of the chaos of the Lindosian Empire's fall, in doing so heralding the formation of the Faith of Lindos' modern-day Western Church.


Organization: Lindosia's military might largely consists of the hired retinues of the many noble and merchant families populating the city's richer sectors. This plethora of individual small standing armies, loyal mostly to coin, is collectively called the 'Sovereign Guard' when marshaled to the city's defense, or simply 'The Guard' in peacetime. They serve the interests of their hired masters first and foremost, assisting them in minor inter-city feuds and serving as status symbols for the rich. These retinues are all required to follow the city's laws governing their organizations, however, as set in precedent by the Lindosian clergy. Namely, they must enforce law and order, and are forbidden from apprehending men and women of the cloth. The wide, imprecise scope of these responsibilities affords incredible unilateral power to the Guard, and therefore to the noblemen who pay them; the rich are effectively in command of Lindosia's city streets, and they often feel little reason to spend their coin on men to patrol the city's poorer neighborhoods or outlying towns.

Due to their extreme lack of cohesion, the Sovereign Guard is incredibly diverse. Most of their number do not actually come from Lindosia, instead being mercenaries hired from abroad, especially from those nations known to possess proficient armies of their own. Most famously, the retinues are known to hire Orcish and Pangol warriors, mostly converts, who maintain a status as some of the city's most respected soldiers despite their homelands' paganism. The equipment and level of training of the retinues is completely unstandardized, but generally of more than capable quality. Most noteworthy is the advanced weaponry employed by many of the retinues; Lindosia being arguably the technological pinnacle of Albion, many of its professional soldiers wield powerful weapons of gunpowder, both more accurate and easier to use than some of the flimsier weapons of that type found elsewhere in the continent. Just as the soldiers themselves are status symbols for their employers, so too are the weapons their wield and the uniforms they wear, and a great many merchants seeking to intimidate their rivals outfit their guardsman in the most fancy weaponry and most intimidating outfits that coin can buy.

Troop Total: 45,000.

Army:

Navy:

Other:


Government: Theocratic City-State.

Economy: Lindosia's domestic economic activity is largely dominated by a single, long-standing custom of the Faith of Lindos: the tithe. All working men and women, from the age of fourteen until their senility, are required to contribute a tenth of either their labour or their income to the church. The different social classes of Lindosia all contribute to the tithe in different ways, according to their own means and livelihoods. Minor independent farmers in the countryside donate a tenth of their grain to Brightflame Temple, who use it to feed the clergy before donating what is left to the city's poor. Those same poor donate a tenth of their work hours to the church, performing even the most menial of tasks in the Creator's name. The city's nobles and bourgeoisie paid the tithe in the most simple and obvious a way, being taxed a tenth of their income to fund the city's maintenance and the activities of the Faith.

MORE TBA

Geography: (Jungle, grassland, mountains, etc. Be sure to identify where on the map you are, preferably by posting a clip of the region you wish to occupy, keeping in mind the relative size of your territory as was given in your rolls. We may have to move you around to make it work.)

Population: 1,800,000.

Demographics: (Makeup of your population; info of the different species of your people, further subdivided into ethnic groups if you like, maybe even mention linguistics)

Notable Locations & Institutions

Personalities of Note
(Your ruler, perhaps your highest military officers, generally just use this space to help us keep track of your POV characters)

Other: Special traits, remarks, boons and flaws(Here is your chance to decide something unique and important about your nation without basing it on the rolls I gave you. You may have 1 big strength that makes you special, 2 big strengths and 1 big weakness, or 3 big strengths and 2 big weaknesses. Ask if you're having trouble coming up with something)


Rolls


Basic Demographics & Geography

Territory Size:
3. Your nation is smaller than average but there's still plenty of territory to work with. While the lack of endless farmland might prove an issue, you do at least enjoy the benefits of relatively small and easily defended borders.
Population:
1,800,000 (a small population)
Urbanization:
5. Your nation is the very epitome of urbanization: within your borders lies a jewel of the world, one of the largest settlements in the known world. In this way your entire nation is basically just one city that is grand and powerful enough to exert its influence over the surrounding region. A city-state!
Government Type:
1. Your nation is ruled by a theocracy. Perhaps you have a secular king is nothing more than the puppet of a powerful church, or perhaps your king is the head of the religion and acts as more of a high-priest than an administrator. Or perhaps the clergy rule as an oligarchic caste. In any case, deus vult!
Political Stability:
2. Your people are growing increasingly discontent, but so far it hasn't boiled over to the point of violence. Or if it has, your government has found a way to suppress it before it erupted into anything major.

Economy

Overall Wealth:
4. Your nation has a solid and rather stable economy. You have the means to finance most of the projects that your government wants to undertake, and most of your people enjoy a good standard of living.
Government's Primary Means of Generating Income:
2. A levy system exists throughout your nation. Every family is expected to contribute in some form to society, be it in the form of working for part of the year on construction projects, to giving a certain amount of food to supply the military, to even sending off a son or two to join the local army.
Technology:
3. Rapid Modernization, your nation does not lag behind the rest of the world, and even sets the standard on some levels. No doubt there's some Commonwealth influence behind this.
Agriculture:
4. Your nation has its farmlands, but you aren't blessed with particularly fertile land nor regular rainfall. As such, seasonal famines are a common thing.
Natural Resources:
Coal and peat, niter, oils, lumber

Military
Military Size
8. Powerful nobles or merchants maintain private armies even in times of peace. These are effective and don't cost the central government any money, but aren't terribly reliable as they owe their loyalty to their masters rather than the nation itself.
Military Focus
7. Powerful navy; large and well rounded army; small but decent core of magic users. No real strategic weakness here.
Military Leadership
1. Generals are very loyal to the government but gained the position by hereditary status and not necessarily merit
Military Reputation
3. Popular domestically; considered capable by foreigners


Still WIP.
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