12-10-2024, 12:10 AM
If Princess Mina had realised just how much work she would end up having to do following accidentally starting a civil war, she would have remained in her room, logging 18 hours of screen time a day. The fifteen-year-old royal was not used to work of any sort, especially being female. She hadn’t even had tutors since turning twelve; and while the Thraxian royals were old-fashioned, they still waited until a girl’s sixteenth birthday to marry her off, and Mina was not yet fifteen.
That was not something Mina would have to worry about; her grandfather appeared to be something of an egalitarian after his confinement. The eighty-one-year-old had not been known for his commitment to women’s rights in his original reign, but after Mina rescued him, he didn’t blink before giving her a leading role in his new war effort. She had become his right hand, without asking to, and she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about it. There wasn’t time to think about it much, however, with a three-faction civil war to fight.
Navid’s forces were comprised of the units led by the Thraxian Army’s royalist-but-sane commanders. The faction, based on the island of Khasira, had also attracted many retired ex-soldiers who remembered Navid’s reign. While of middling popularity at the time, it had come to be remembered very fondly by everyone fed up with Shapur’s cat-infused madness. Therefore, much of the elders in Zargothrax had quickly sided with Navid. The third group attracted to this faction were Arabic speakers, who resided primarily in the northern islands and who remembered Navid’s efforts at linguistic parity in state communications.
Mina was one of two women present at strategic meetings in Navid’s camp, alongside a positively ancient village elder who commanded the respect of the peoples of Khasira’s mountains, who had insisted on her inclusion to lend their forces. This had been acceded to easily enough, for Mina’s rescue of Navid had immediately converted him into something of a feminist. And after the cat chaos, the kind of General siding with Navid tended to be a pragmatist – if you’re a woman who really wants to engage in traditionally male activities, the more the merrier.
The egalitarian pragmatism of Navid’s camp made the faction generally popular in their home bases and the areas they held, which they managed to obtain largely through support of the locals. This made their territory relatively stable, with a cooperative local populace and very minimal oppositition and resistance from within their claimed territory either on Khasira, or the parts of Sharquaksia and the mainland nearby. The land borders with Hashemi’s forces were much more contentious, though there was something of an unofficial ceasfire with Shapurian forces.
*
Shapur, meanwhile, had his people rebuilding his ancestors’ castle. The structure dated back in parts to the 1400s, and hadn’t been resided in since the late 1700s. The amount of individuals with experience in the construction of this style of architecture was, of course, small. Carpenters and architects were working with history nerds and cats to build to King Shapur’s specifications. Okay, the cats weren’t helping, but Shapur had recently decreed that workplaces needed to meet Feline Inclusion Quotas. This was definitely slowing down the work, but Shapur seemed oblivious.
Shapur had attracted the insane segments of the military. These were units whose commanders had allowed cats to be added to their forces. The veterans of the “Saladian war” were mostly counted in this group; as were the kind of officer who had taken the cat laws as an opportunity for sucking up for a promotion, and who lacked the experience to actually have earned such a promotion.
Shapur’s forces held the land they did primarily because they were the default option. Prior to the civil war, they were who had been in power. The kind of city to declare for Shapur was the kind of city where the word of the day was “apathy”. He was more popular among the female residents of his territory than the male; with women having taken advantage of his cat loophole to gain more independence.
The main exception to this was the tiny exclave on Sharquaksia. This was centred around lands owned by a weak local lord whose wife was a cat person. It was an open secret that she had dominated the man since marriage, and she had very much made him declare for Shapur. The only reason Hashemi’s forces hadn’t overtaken the area was because the land in the area was very harsh to wage war in. Daytime temperatures could reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), and fresh water was difficult to find. Hashemi’s troops had decided they had easier fish to fry.
*
This had not been Jared Hashemi’s plan. Openly seizing power had never been his preferred method; this land was one of the last vestiges of feudalism and ruling without a title was damned hard. He had intended to manipulate Shapur through the Cosmic Infinity cult. It had been a stroke of luck that Shapur sustained brain damage from the Thraxian Plague that killed his brothers, and that luck was the only reason Hashemi had ever dared dream of power.
The Hashemi family had long been favoured servants of the House of Zargo, but that’s all they were. Way back in 1738, when the House had conquered the rest of Zargothrax, there had been a Hashemi there. They had sworn to serve the House of Zargo, one after the other, and to keep them safe and protect them on their quest to cement control of the country.
The only reason Jared Hashemi had kept Navid alive was because he didn’t want to break his final promise to his own father.
Jared’s father had died during the Thraxian Plague. On his deathbed, he made Jared swear to uphold their family’s ancient oath – protect the members of House Zargo from the enemies who would kill them. Well, he hadn’t killed Navid, had he? If he had, then this whole situation would be much less complicated.
The cult itself hadn’t worked either. Oh, it worked for a time, but Shapur was much to insane to be curtailed by a cult leader. No, he’d gone and set up his own spinoff cult. He fancied himself a conduit to God; a translator for feline messiahs who could predict the future. Shapur didn’t rule, the voices in his head did. And Hashemi didn’t have any more power than he would’ve had if he’d never set up a cult in the first place.
No, Hashemi had taken advantage of the Plague, daring to imagine a future where his family wasn’t permanently second place.
And all he got was this lousy civil war.
That was not something Mina would have to worry about; her grandfather appeared to be something of an egalitarian after his confinement. The eighty-one-year-old had not been known for his commitment to women’s rights in his original reign, but after Mina rescued him, he didn’t blink before giving her a leading role in his new war effort. She had become his right hand, without asking to, and she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about it. There wasn’t time to think about it much, however, with a three-faction civil war to fight.
Navid’s forces were comprised of the units led by the Thraxian Army’s royalist-but-sane commanders. The faction, based on the island of Khasira, had also attracted many retired ex-soldiers who remembered Navid’s reign. While of middling popularity at the time, it had come to be remembered very fondly by everyone fed up with Shapur’s cat-infused madness. Therefore, much of the elders in Zargothrax had quickly sided with Navid. The third group attracted to this faction were Arabic speakers, who resided primarily in the northern islands and who remembered Navid’s efforts at linguistic parity in state communications.
Mina was one of two women present at strategic meetings in Navid’s camp, alongside a positively ancient village elder who commanded the respect of the peoples of Khasira’s mountains, who had insisted on her inclusion to lend their forces. This had been acceded to easily enough, for Mina’s rescue of Navid had immediately converted him into something of a feminist. And after the cat chaos, the kind of General siding with Navid tended to be a pragmatist – if you’re a woman who really wants to engage in traditionally male activities, the more the merrier.
The egalitarian pragmatism of Navid’s camp made the faction generally popular in their home bases and the areas they held, which they managed to obtain largely through support of the locals. This made their territory relatively stable, with a cooperative local populace and very minimal oppositition and resistance from within their claimed territory either on Khasira, or the parts of Sharquaksia and the mainland nearby. The land borders with Hashemi’s forces were much more contentious, though there was something of an unofficial ceasfire with Shapurian forces.
*
Shapur, meanwhile, had his people rebuilding his ancestors’ castle. The structure dated back in parts to the 1400s, and hadn’t been resided in since the late 1700s. The amount of individuals with experience in the construction of this style of architecture was, of course, small. Carpenters and architects were working with history nerds and cats to build to King Shapur’s specifications. Okay, the cats weren’t helping, but Shapur had recently decreed that workplaces needed to meet Feline Inclusion Quotas. This was definitely slowing down the work, but Shapur seemed oblivious.
Shapur had attracted the insane segments of the military. These were units whose commanders had allowed cats to be added to their forces. The veterans of the “Saladian war” were mostly counted in this group; as were the kind of officer who had taken the cat laws as an opportunity for sucking up for a promotion, and who lacked the experience to actually have earned such a promotion.
Shapur’s forces held the land they did primarily because they were the default option. Prior to the civil war, they were who had been in power. The kind of city to declare for Shapur was the kind of city where the word of the day was “apathy”. He was more popular among the female residents of his territory than the male; with women having taken advantage of his cat loophole to gain more independence.
The main exception to this was the tiny exclave on Sharquaksia. This was centred around lands owned by a weak local lord whose wife was a cat person. It was an open secret that she had dominated the man since marriage, and she had very much made him declare for Shapur. The only reason Hashemi’s forces hadn’t overtaken the area was because the land in the area was very harsh to wage war in. Daytime temperatures could reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), and fresh water was difficult to find. Hashemi’s troops had decided they had easier fish to fry.
*
This had not been Jared Hashemi’s plan. Openly seizing power had never been his preferred method; this land was one of the last vestiges of feudalism and ruling without a title was damned hard. He had intended to manipulate Shapur through the Cosmic Infinity cult. It had been a stroke of luck that Shapur sustained brain damage from the Thraxian Plague that killed his brothers, and that luck was the only reason Hashemi had ever dared dream of power.
The Hashemi family had long been favoured servants of the House of Zargo, but that’s all they were. Way back in 1738, when the House had conquered the rest of Zargothrax, there had been a Hashemi there. They had sworn to serve the House of Zargo, one after the other, and to keep them safe and protect them on their quest to cement control of the country.
The only reason Jared Hashemi had kept Navid alive was because he didn’t want to break his final promise to his own father.
Jared’s father had died during the Thraxian Plague. On his deathbed, he made Jared swear to uphold their family’s ancient oath – protect the members of House Zargo from the enemies who would kill them. Well, he hadn’t killed Navid, had he? If he had, then this whole situation would be much less complicated.
The cult itself hadn’t worked either. Oh, it worked for a time, but Shapur was much to insane to be curtailed by a cult leader. No, he’d gone and set up his own spinoff cult. He fancied himself a conduit to God; a translator for feline messiahs who could predict the future. Shapur didn’t rule, the voices in his head did. And Hashemi didn’t have any more power than he would’ve had if he’d never set up a cult in the first place.
No, Hashemi had taken advantage of the Plague, daring to imagine a future where his family wasn’t permanently second place.
And all he got was this lousy civil war.
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax