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By Benjami
05/13/2024 - 18:46:41

Type: Captain
Rating: 15 (Very good!)
Tags: gaprop

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Description

From outside, it might seem like the entire Xocal?Inac Queendom is composed of only knights. Which makes sense, as their culture is heavily focused on the Code of Xocal, and typically when an alien interacts with the Queendom, it?s often via a knight, either because they?re a target of a crusade where there are knights aplenty, or because their planet contains something important for a knight?s Soul Rite. However, in reality knights make up less than 1% of the Queendom?s population. They could be thought of as a high-investment elite force and cultural paragons. In contrast, warriors make up about 22% of the population, serving more as cheap foot soldiers, as well as manual labour when their Court is not at war. The rest is composed of jobs necessary to keep an empire running.

Despite the fact that knights make up such a small portion of the population, they are the only class of citizens allowed to undergo Soul Rites. There are exceptions of course, as communers for example require Soul Rites for their job, and title-holders are expected to have history as a knight. Warriors are generally discouraged or even disallowed in some Courts to partake in Soul Rites, as distributing the power of the Unoo?o so wide could dilute it greatly. The Order of Roaring Armada stands as an exception, being made up of only warriors instead of knights. Nevertheless, there are many who believe that the Unoo?o is a birthright for all xocals, and the fact that such an important element of the species is denied for the majority of the population causes some to seek alternative methods to harness its power. Methods that have widely been deemed taboo and illegal by the Queendom.

Those who practise such methods are often referred to as ?witches?. They have no overarching structure to their organisations, as their covens tend to develop independently with their own separate goals. Some may simply seek to practise their craft in peace, whilst others may seek to shake the Queendom?s status quo. Whilst some Courts may tolerate a coven or two in their lands, generally any xocal practising witchcraft is considered ?kill-on-sight?. There is a strong cultural hatred towards any who would ?steal? the power of the Unoo?o, as each xocal whelp is taught from their early days at whelp houses that the power of Unoo?o is only meant for knights, and that breaking this natural order could lead to calamities. Consequently, when a natural disaster or a catastrophe of similar scale occurs, it is common, especially in small colonies, to search for any secret covens to lay the blame on.

How the witches actually practise their craft varies between covens. Some covens are born from converted communers, who have knowledge regarding the inner workings of Unoo?o and thus know how to manipulate it. Others make use of illegal Herb concoctions to grant forbidden abilities, even ones that can access the Unoo?o without a Soul Rite. There are also covens that may not even make use of the Unoo?o at all, and yet are still branded as enemies of the Queendom as the practice of magic outside the Unoo?o is considered foreign sorcery, and is thus strongly distrusted.

To cull the numbers of those who access the Unoo?o without the Queendom?s permission, many Courts incentivise their communers to create Soul Rites that include hunting down witches in some way or another. As witches have long existed in the Queendom?s history, there are plenty of tales of knights slaying, outsmarting or otherwise defeating witches for the communers to use as base for Soul Rites. This has led to an arms race of sorts, as witches have had to create stronger incantations to defend themselves from eager knights, delving deeper into forbidden sorceries. This escalation has led to many tragedies, such as the Massacre of the God Machine during the War of Gods, which is a tale for another time.

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