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Background for Fantasy Novel
Apr. 14th, 2009 08:02 pmMore from the fantasy novel I'm working on. This stuff doesn't actually appear in the story but helps me get a feel for the world and how it works.
This is a world with no Declaration of Independence, no Constitution and no Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. (Though an almost identical Magna Carta was signed in AD 1215.) What it does have is the Stenoses, a document which forms the core of the Compact as it exists today. The true origin of The Stenoses is unknown. Popular myth and official Church policy have them created by two holy people, a male human and a female elf, known as Valour and Grace, respectively.
The Stenoses are only part of what are collectively known as the Grand Revelation, most or all of which also supposedly comes from Valour and Grace. Most people refer to the collected works simply as the Stenoses, though that material is to the Grand Revelation as the Bill of Rights is to the Constitution. Since some of the principles were presented centuries or even millennia before the Grand Revelation (and some of them appear in the Grand Revelation word-for-word as they appear in older writings) it is likely that the work is mostly or entirely a collection of what someone considered to be the best of philosophy, religion and law.
The Stenoses
(Note that during church services these are usually in the form of a call and response.)
1) There shall be no compulsion in religion.
Worship not given freely is worthless.
2) Women shall not be treated as chattel.
As the Mother is part of the Trinity, so are women part of humanity.
3) Government has no interests except to act on the behalf of Church or Court or Citizen.
The governed have an obligation to support their government only as long as it governs wisely. The governed and their government have the support of the divine only as long as they are righteous. The Courts may adjudicate only as long as their application of law is both consistent and fair.
4) Government shall not interfere with Citizens except to aid them against violation, or punish them for committing violation.
A call to war to defend the nation overrides the rights of the individual. Committing a violation of civil law forfeits the protection of civil law.
5) Church, Crown and Court are equal partners in governing and administering. Each depends on and supports the other. They must cooperate without interfering with the business of each other.
The Church represents the divine, the Crown represents the government, the Court represents the Citizen before all others.
6) Respect those who came before you, and those whose path has branched from yours.
Any road may lead to the final destination, if followed in faith and a desire for the truth.
This is a world with no Declaration of Independence, no Constitution and no Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. (Though an almost identical Magna Carta was signed in AD 1215.) What it does have is the Stenoses, a document which forms the core of the Compact as it exists today. The true origin of The Stenoses is unknown. Popular myth and official Church policy have them created by two holy people, a male human and a female elf, known as Valour and Grace, respectively.
The Stenoses are only part of what are collectively known as the Grand Revelation, most or all of which also supposedly comes from Valour and Grace. Most people refer to the collected works simply as the Stenoses, though that material is to the Grand Revelation as the Bill of Rights is to the Constitution. Since some of the principles were presented centuries or even millennia before the Grand Revelation (and some of them appear in the Grand Revelation word-for-word as they appear in older writings) it is likely that the work is mostly or entirely a collection of what someone considered to be the best of philosophy, religion and law.
The Stenoses
(Note that during church services these are usually in the form of a call and response.)
1) There shall be no compulsion in religion.
Worship not given freely is worthless.
2) Women shall not be treated as chattel.
As the Mother is part of the Trinity, so are women part of humanity.
3) Government has no interests except to act on the behalf of Church or Court or Citizen.
The governed have an obligation to support their government only as long as it governs wisely. The governed and their government have the support of the divine only as long as they are righteous. The Courts may adjudicate only as long as their application of law is both consistent and fair.
4) Government shall not interfere with Citizens except to aid them against violation, or punish them for committing violation.
A call to war to defend the nation overrides the rights of the individual. Committing a violation of civil law forfeits the protection of civil law.
5) Church, Crown and Court are equal partners in governing and administering. Each depends on and supports the other. They must cooperate without interfering with the business of each other.
The Church represents the divine, the Crown represents the government, the Court represents the Citizen before all others.
6) Respect those who came before you, and those whose path has branched from yours.
Any road may lead to the final destination, if followed in faith and a desire for the truth.
