OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Flesh out Kaida's rebel group.
Image Credit: Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permissions: N/A.
Links: Vashyada, To Hell and Back, Eldorai Exodus, Twin Exiles, Eldorai, Xioquo, Blades of Reason, Kar'zun, Qadiri, Shadow Knights (lore submission).
GENERAL INFORMATION
Organization Name: Court of Providence.
Classification: Guild/Government Agency. The Courts kind of straddle the line, as they set and enforce government policy, but also act as a representational organ for a subset of society.
Affiliation: Court of the Shadows, Shadow Knights, Naesala Faethyra, Stylena, Citizens' Council, Exodite Asurans.
Organization Symbol: Blowtorch, sickle and hydrospanner.
Description: The Court of Providence is an agency of the Shadow Knights, an Eldorai and Tygaran rebel group. It is one of the many Courts that govern a facet of Shadow Knight society. In Shadow Knight society, the head of a Court holds the title of Magister. They are indirectly elected by the people they govern. In short, all members of a Court elect a body of voters, who votes on a Magister, provides advice and scrutinises their work. This is in keeping with the Shadows' corporativist beliefs, based on which segments of society are organised into holistic bodies and integrated into the government. The Shadows are very controlled by requirement. However, while a lot of power is invested in the central authority and their laws are very strict, they also give individual members a lot of autonomy on the lower levels. Thus they have established specific spheres or courts dedicated to certain businesses or professions. These have a broad mandate to oversee day-to-day operations.
The political ideology espoused by the Courts can be likened to corporatism. This is a belief that advocates the organisation of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. There is also an element of guild socialism. Corporatism involves the incorporation of distinct spheres of all public life, including economic activity, into bodies which join the disparate interests with those of the state. This is supposed to transcend centrifugal tendencies like class warfare. Overcoming the danger posed by racial or religious strife is also pertinent.
Within this context, the Court of Providence is composed of all people who work in mining and industrial manufacturing in the Shadow Knight nomad fleet. They toil in the factories and workshops of the Defiance and its associated manufacturing ships, and the mine the asteroids the Shadows set up shop on during their voyage. Moreover, the Court is responsible for the acquisition and provision of essential supplies, and coordinates the allocation of resources. The Court may also strip-mine moons and asteroids the Shadows come across during their voyages.
It works with the Court of Justicars, the law enforcement branch of the Shadow Knights, to punish economic crimes such as hoarding. Likewise, it has to cooperate with the Court of the Exchange, which oversees traders and business types, and the Asuran Star Combine. Most of what Providence is used by the Shadow Knights to supply their people with tools, weapons, machines and so on. However, some of it is sold by the Exchange to outside parties. Moreover, shipping cargo for outsiders is one of the ways for the Shadows to bring in revenue. So sometimes a ship used by Providence might be repurposed for freight. Here and there, Providence enlists the Court of the Reaver, which governs raiders, partisans and irregulars, to acquire resources they cannot make themselves or obtain legally. Likewise, there is cooperation with the Court of the Four Elements, which identifies, vets and trains Force-Users among the Shadow Knights. For instance, this Court may send Force-Sensitives whose powers grant them notable technical skill such as mechu-deru to Providence.
The Court is responsible for protecting the interests of toilers. The Shadows have a dim view of a comprehensive welfare state, as they believe that benefits should be tied to the services an individual has rendered to the community. The nomad fleet is poor, and they must allocate very scarce resources. However, they are very big on veterans' care and providing aid to those who have pulled their weight. The Court also organises educational courses for workers. This goes hand in hand with drafting the unemployed. The Courts is led by Stylena, a professional Eldorai revolutionary and Rationalist who has turned it into a power base to advance her interests.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Headquarters: Part of the Shadow Knights' migrant fleet and based on the Defiance.
Domain: The basis of the Shadow Knights' society is a nomad fleet. Recruiters can be found in several Eldorai settlements and colony ship, though some of these are clandestine. Because the Court of Providence is a a corporatist body, it is directly involved in the lives of the elves that fall under its authority, namely workers, manufacturers etc. It regulates their activity, but also acts as an advocate and represents their interests. One could compare it to a cross between a government department and a labour guild. As explained further in the hierarchy section, the head of the Court is indirectly elected by the people it governs. Within the nomad fleet, the Court of Providence manages quotas, various sectors of industry as well as their workforces. Its leading figures are administrators, factory managers, economic planenrs and labour leaders. This is not to say that every factory is directly managed by a government bureaucrat. Indeed, most aren't. But industry must work in cooperation with government directives. The Court has the duty of harmonising both. All this to ensure the nomad fleet receives the necessary materials, weapons and resources it needs in the right amount, the right quality and at the right time.
The Court is also responsible for providing pensions for retired workers, as well as further educational opportunities. This also includes political education about civic rights and duties. Within the nomad fleet, the Court of Providence is supposed to work with manufacturing enterprises and workers' representatives to determine working conditions, carry out economic planning and adjudicate disputes. The Court of Providence is supposed to cooperate with the Union of the Hammer and Forge, a major Shadow Knight guild-union for industrial workers. The cooperation is not without tension. The Union has representation on economic planning and company boards and arbitration commissions, but the Shadow Knights are a very regimented society. This naturally causes tension when the Union feels they are being poorly treated. Like most unions, they position themselves as defenders of the working people.
Notable Assets: They are part of the Shadow Knight nomad fleet. They have access to several gas collectors, mining, cargo and salvage vessels, agricultural research ships, tugs, and manufacturing ships. Their transport vessels include a number of X46-7-Class Ore Carriers and they have acquired a single Harbour-Class Mobile Space Dock, which serves as a mobile drydock and starship maintenance facility. They also oversee the factories and manufacturing workshops aboard the Defiance.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Hierarchy: Like every bureaucratic institution, the Court of Providence has a strict, top-down hierarchy. However, it has some semi-democratic elements. Each Court is organised in such a way that the people it oversees form a body of voters. Because the Shadows, while republicans, do not want too much direct democracy, these voters elect a council which then chooses the head of the Court. This high official receives the title of Magister. The Magister is typically nominated by the Archon, but vetted by the Court. In theory, this ensures that the grilling is done by people with a background in the sphere the nominee is supposed to head, which is supposed to guarantee expertise. The Court assembly is able to deny the Archon's confirmation, but this requires a majority of 65% of the delegates to vote against the nominee. This is there to prevent a very un-liked or unsuitable candidate being foisted onto the group. In practice, the nomination and appointment process involves all manners of complicated behind the scenes negotiations between the Archon and industrial stakeholders. Cultural factors play a role. The Exodite Asurans value discipline, but also consensus-building.
The Court assembly forms a board of experts that vets and monitors the Magister's policy decisions. There is also a mechanism for recall elections. The assembly can vote to depose the Magister and nominate a replacement, though this has a threshold of 65%. As a Court of an economic nature, the Court of Providence requires equal representation of managers and workers, such as industrial workers, and miners. These representatives are directly elected. For example, steelworkers will vote together to send some of their own to the assembly. Labour and management are supposed to work together to achieve a 'society in harmony'. Thus the Shadow Knights diversify and section off important areas together. Humans might call them departments or bureaus, but this goes even further and involves the citizens themselves in the governance. The logic is that each individual, depending on their practical, moral, and intellectual abilities, be assigned a certain measure of command and obedience. That is to say, each citizen is allotted a rank and degree of responsibility.
Returning officers are responsible for overseeing elections on the various ships that constitute the nomad fleet. They are agents of an independent electoral commission. The Shadow Knights view voting as a civic duty and practice compulsory voting. All citizens have the responsibility to choose their representatives and hold them accountable. This is a duty, not an inherent right. This ties in with the Shadows' belief that citizenship must be earned through service to the community. If people grow apathic and stay at home, a government will lose legitimacy and no longer be responsible to the electorate. This would allow a self-interested minority to dominate the government and separate it from the people. It is also meant to improve the quality of individuals who are elected to office. Members of the Court who fail to vote in an election are subjected to loss of citizenship unless they can provide a valid reason, such as illness, or pay a fine. Repeat offenders lose their citizenship. They can regain it, but it takes work.
The Magister is assisted by a bureaucratic apparatus. Magister Stylena is the head of the Court of Providence. She sets the agenda, chairs important meetings, hires and fires senior bureaucrats and represents the institution in negotiations with outside parties and other Courts. Stylena is an energetic, but also coarse and authoritarian leader. As Magister, she could be removed from office by the Archon, though this can be overruled by a two-thirds majority of the Council. Crucially, the Archon and the Citizens' Council, the central parliament of the Shadows, control the purse strings.
The Court has various departments responsible for handling its various functions, such as military and civilian manufacturing, resource extraction, industrial processing, personnel management, welfare, economic development, as well as economic law and crimes. Stylena is a very energetic, interventionist chief. She is characterised by a combination of relentless drive, hard work, organisational ability and, when necessary, a brutal steamroller approach to problem-solving. In other words, what one might call a 'can-do' or 'results-orientated' manager who get things done. In addition, the Court maintains a network of plenipotentiaries, each of whom is dispatched to check on the work of the elements of the Shadow Knight nomad fleet. Furthermore, it oversees and implements industrial regulations, workplace health and safety laws and so on.
Membership: Strictly speaking all Exodite Asurans who work in industry, manufacturing etc. This includes both employers and employees. Senior positions are closed to Civilians and only available for Citizens, in other words Shadow Knights who have performed military service of some sort. Officially any Eldorai, Vashyada, Qadiri or Xioquo who fits the above criteria can apply for a position. However, Stylena has been accused of discriminating against the Tygaran 'cousins' and showing a bias towards Eldorai. Likewise, there are also allegations of her favouring members of the Blades of the Reason.
This is no coincidence since Stylena happens to be a member of the Committee of Rationalist Security, a body that consists of the top leaders of the Blades of Reason. However, the Court has many Xioquo. They are well-represented in the manufacturing sector. By the standards of Tygara, the Xioquo were very advanced, building metal ships, bolt action rifles, steam-powered vehicles and flying machines. Now that they have been exposed to galactic standard technology, they have adapted very well. Qadiri are also represented among it, as the 'desert elves' were not far from an industrial revolution prior to the coming of the sky people.
Likewise, Kar'zun work as contractors, machinists and miners. The stone people have long been the historic enemies of the Eldorai. Indeed, a great war between both species ended with the Kar'zun being driven to the brick of extinction and being confined to reservations. They were emancipated by the time Kaeshana was destroyed, but this shocking atrocity has not been forgotten. Nonetheless, Kaeshana's devastation compelled Eldorai and Kar'zun who were stuck on the planet to band together. The Kar'zun are very good with machines and indeed more technologically advanced than the Eldorai.
Stylena controls her minions through a mixture of intimidation, respect, reputation, charm and managerial skills. She is a demanding taskmistress and is always seeking out new information to get ahead in the game. Despite her blood-soaked past, she has an uncanny way of presenting herself as a representative of the golden mean. Her low class origins and direct manner of speech are also a boon in some circles, such as among the Forsaken.
She pays particular attention to cadre selection, training and management. As she said in one of her rare speeches: "Personnel policy is the most important thing. The movement leads by appointing people. Power is not power if it cannot appoint people. And so, citizens, if we want to successfully get over the shortage of people and provide our movement with sufficient cadres capable of advancing technique and setting it going, we must first of all learn to value people, to value cadres, to value every worker capable of benefiting our common cause."
The Court has positioned itself as adhering to the principle of gender equality. Sadly, sexism at the workplace is still a thing and so women tend to get paid for more doing the same work as men. Here it is pertinent to note that this is more of an Eldorai thing. The Vashyada are rather egalitarian and do not quite understand all the fuss their cousins make about gender wars. It is a mixed bag with the Xioquo, as their culture is traditionally even more misandrist than that of the Eldorai, which says something. But several Xioquo who joined the Shadows are also radical dissidents.
Climate: The Court sees itself as the champion of the 'deserving', hard-working, loyal Exodite Asuran who is building a new future for her people with her own hands. From its point of view, it is opposed by reactionaries, monarchists, saboteurs and enemies of the people who want to undermine the efforts of the free Asurans. Their world is divided sharply into friends and enemies. True freedom and prosperity require overcoming these hostile forces. If need be their voices must be silenced.
However, they also stress the contribution of the noble proletarians. Military language is very common in speeches by Court functionaries, internal and external correspondence. The group is willing to work with foreign partners, but stresses the importance of self-reliance and independence. This is in line with general Shadow Knight beliefs. The rebels realise they must work with foreigners, but seek to reduce dependence wherever possible. Recycling is also encouraged. By necessity, it is a frugal culture that despises wastefulness. The Shadow Knights' tenets stress the common weal over the individual; unrestrained democratic expressions is believed to be dangerous to general well-being of the snation, and will result in the loss of liberty for the individual.
Shadow Knight ideology postulates that service guarantees citizenship. One's place in society should be determined by one's willingness to contribute towards it. Those who are seen as not pulling their weight get short shrift. They are often conscripted into some form of national or penal service - or exiled. Such drafts are not always pleasant and repeat offenders face the possibility of being banished from the nomad fleet. At the same time, industrial workers doing important jobs can be declared exempt from conscription during wartime because they are needed on home front. The Court is permeated by a strong 'us' and 'them' mentality. Admittedly this is quite common for Eldorai in general. Those who do their jobs can expect to be cared for, receive bonuses, pensions and some level of comfort. Military service is glorified to a considerable degree. Reflecting this, the Court likes to use terms such as 'production battles' in order to stress that the workers are doing their part on the home front and their duties are just as vital.
While Qadiri are quite prodigous, Eldorai birth rates are comparatively low, so the Court offers incentives to couples to have children. Having lots of children is discouraged because the nomad fleet's resources are finite, but a healthy surplus is deemed necessary. Use of droid labour is a point of contention. As a Rationalist who believes in progress, Stylena is inclined to support automation...but this runs counter to the interests of industrial labour, especially low-skilled workers who fear being made redundant. Moreover, some industrial managers have a maternalistic approach to their workers, or are sceptical of droids for religious reasons. Necessity has compelled the Exodite Asurans to make use of droids, but the extent is a matter of debate. Lacking a true soul, droid workers do not get a vote.
For foreigners, the Exodite Asurans' economy is a peculiar mixture of a command economy, market capitalism and guild-based syndicalism. Its key slogans are self-sufficiency (as far as it is feasible), anti-colonialism, common prosperity, civid-mindedness and national harmony. Their system promises the guarantee of a secure livelihood for those employed in industry and agriculture, the relentless prosecution of profiteers, the abolition of the pernicious abuses of political and economic power by large-scale capital, and autonomy for business with equal rights of participation for the workers. The idea is that they will bring about an alignment between the classes and races of their common community, unifying all peoples behind a common revolutionary cause and protecting them from colonialist exploitation.
Everything has its own path, just like the Shadows have their courts so too does the economy have necessary spheres. The idea is that each element of society has a role to fulfil. The Shadow Knights are not opposed to private property or competition, but sceptical of big business and unrestrained free trade. Business leaders are to be held responsible and liable for the actions of the enterprises which they head. Key utilities such as water and power have been nationalised because they are considered public goods. However, on the whole the Exodites prefer joint stock corporations with partial state ownership to full state control. Should a business be nationalised, the original owner usually maintains a large stake and often continues as manager of the enterprise, except in cases of misconduct. It is to be observed that while the Exodites have a regimented society, they grant their constituent parts a good deal of autonomy. Communally owned enterprises exist on the level of colony ships and habitats. In essence, the system creates a closely regulated market.
On the whole, the Shadows are not fond of strikes that 'get out of hand', but it is also rather difficult for employers to lay-off workers. The Shadows believe that everyone has a duty, but equally the state has a responsibility to ensure they are in a position to fulfil it. The right to work is accompanied by the duty to work. Under or unemployed are conscripted into a labour service. Inherited wealth is put into a tax bracket in order to redistribute anything deemed in excess to worthy causes, including underprivileged centres, veterans' care and soup kitchens.
The Shadow Knight economy is built upon a system of labour unions and guilds. There is a good deal of overlap between the two, but guilds are specifically organised as associations of artisans and other skilled craft workers who focus mostly on creation and development production. Guilds are for artificers, jewellers, starship engineers, weapons' smiths, stonemasons, bards etc. For example, there is a whole artisanal gunsmith culture, so unifying them in guilds imposes some standards on this wildly complicated web of small gunsmiths.
Guild members found guilty of cheating the public are fined and publicly shamed. Depending on the severity of their crime, they may be banned from the guild, which prohibits them from further pursuing their trade. Membership of a guild is an honour as it shows you are a skilled worker who has earned some respect in society. Guilds are organised in a hierarchial fashion. Local chapter leaders are elected by all full members, and the whole guild elects the guildmistress from the chapter leaders every few years. Customers have to pay guild rates. If they find you've let a monkeigh (a derogatory Eldorai word for human) fix your ship on the sly, you get in trouble.
By contrast, labour unions represent industrial workers and other labourers who produce raw materials, provide services or engage in a trade. Examples would be miners, transport, construction, agricultural, and steel workers etc. The idea is that every citizen who is gainfully employed will be organised in an association that sets and enforces professional standards, and represents sectional interests while inoculating their members with Shadow Knight values.
Exodite Asuran society is very reliant on such associations as the building blocks of society, with people being part of several associations based on ship, neighbourhood, work and religious affiliation. These associations look after their members if they are sick or otherwise in dire straits. A labour guild or union will help the families of dead members. Organising people in such hierarchial associations also supports wartime mobilisation. The state works with the guilds to keep a batch of skilled workers required for defence industry trained every generation even during peace time via vocational training and national service so that when they have the need, they can quickly give them a refresher course and ramp up production. It helps the government conscript journeywomen from a guild to fulfil various wartime logistical tasks, such as by conscripting the starship mechanics guild into the navy as starfighter and naval mechanics if they are running low on those roles. They'll need crash courses in the machines they'll be fixing, but they won't have to be trained from scratch.
Companies of a certain size are required to create a supervisory board, which appoints and monitors the management, and must have elected union representatives. This establishes a system of codetermination at the plant and company level. However, this is also meant to discipline workers. Moreover, unions organises leisure activities, including charity canteens for the poor, and educational opportunities and criticises employees for their treatment of their workers. Unions are allowed to run their own businesses. Certain guilds and unions that represent similar fields have formed joint associations. Goods that are basic necessities are rationed by the state and doled out based on age and need. In the case of complicated skill based items, a guild within the fleet has a monopoly on making and selling them. Luxuries can be purchased if you have the means.
Reputation: The institution is poorly known out of the extended orbit of Tygara, Firemane and the Eldorai exodites. The Shadow Knights try to keep to themselves. Outsiders may distrust or dislike them. Conservative Eldorai groups are hostile, as they would view the Shadows as heretics, anarchists and dangerous malcontents. Liberal Eldorai would probably see it as too collectivist. Overall, the institution is supported in the Shadow Knight movement, though detractors see it as too interventionist and harsh. Stylena is seen as coarse and brutal by critics.
Curios: Officials wear patches on their clothes to indicate which Court they belong to. It shows the Court emblem. Grey tunics/smocks are acceptable clothing for Court officials at work. Badges of rank and Court assignment are affixed to clothing. Leaders wear a ring bearing the symbol of an eagle.
Rules: Officially the Court is committed to egalitarian principles such as equality, fairness and social justice. It means to reward the loyal and diligent, draft the lazy and combat the heinous activities of 'wreckers and sloths'. It is supposed to organise a fair and just distribution that ensures the survival of the nomad fleet. The ideal model of the Shadow Knights would be a mixed economy. However, necessity has compelled them to introduce a rather collectivist system. The Courts are supposed to ensure the system works. Detractors accuse it of being overly bureaucratised and aggrandising power. Officially, the logic is that the Court and society as a whole is a 'meritocracy', where each individual is assigned a certain degree of command and obedience based on merit.
The Shadow Knights have a culture that prizes frugality and views wastefulness and laziness as cardinal sins. If someone is disabled, the government will find them a desk job. Caring for veterans who suffered injuries or bereaved family members of dead soldiers is viewed as an important obligation on the part of the community. The Shadow Knights also have a maximum wage. The Court assumes a militant stance on economic crimes such as hoarding and sabotage. Here it is pertinent to note that the nomad fleet must manage very scarce resources to keep its people supplied, so there is a logic to this. Needless to say loyalty to the cause is pivotal. Collaboration with slavers, Imperials, Eldorai reactionaries and the like is forbidden and regarded as treasonous. The Court is charged with carrying out inspections to ensure efficient and equitable working conditions in factories and workshops in the nomad fleet, with arbiters resolving industrial disputes.
Despite all the patriotic rhetoric, the Shadow Knights cannot rewrite sentient nature, which means they must offer incentives. Those who do their jobs can expect to be cared for, receive bonuses and some level of comfort. Moreover, the honorary title of Champion of Asuran Labour is bestowed upon individuals who have made significant contributions in the economic sphere. Those who receive the award are regarded as exemplary models of the Exodite Asuran worker. It entitles them to benefits such as priority housing.
Goals: Organise and represent the manufacturers workers, ensure a fair distribution of supplies and resources, and make sure the manufacturing centres of the nomad fleet keep running. Also influence Shadow Knight politics.
MEMBERS
Stylena:
“This one believed once, now they believe in nothing but progress. Efficiency and progress are hard masters, and might she not be consumed by the machine she has created?” - Brak'Vrasz.
“It doesn't matter how many people vote, only who counts the votes.”
“You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.”
"You know, they are fooling us, there is no Goddess. If the Goddess existed, she'd have made a more just world."
"Kaeshana was ceaselessly beaten for her backwardness. She was beaten by the corsairs; she was beaten by the Firemane capitalists; she was beaten by the Imperialists; she was beaten by all - for her backwardness. For her military backwardness, for her cultural backwardness, for her political backwardness, for her industrial backwardness. Such is the law of the exploiter - to beat the backward and the weak. It is the jungle law of the galaxy. You are backward, you are weak - hence you can be beaten and enslaved.
Now she is a dead world. Her children are scattered. We are the only ones who have thrown off the twin yokes of royalism and imperialism. But our ships are old; our resources few; our people fractious. We are fifty or a hundred years behind. Can this backwardness be overcome? Citizens, it must be overcome. We must ceaselessly struggle. Either we succeed or we go under."
“It is difficult for me to imagine what "personal liberty" is enjoyed by an unemployed person, who goes about hungry, and cannot find employment. Real liberty can exist only where exploitation has been abolished, where there is no oppression of some by others, where there is no unemployment and poverty, where a woman is not haunted by the fear of being tomorrow deprived of work, of home and of bread. Only in such a society is real, and not paper, personal and every other liberty possible.”
- Stylena.
A former bandit, Dark Eldorai insurgent, revolutionary understudy and lethal bureaucrat. She was meant for the Ashiran clergy in her youth, but took a hard turn to the revolutionary left and became a radical agitator. Stylena is a prominent member of the Rationalist faction and heads the Court of Providence. This puts her in charge of manufacturing and farming, making her responsible for the Forge of Prosperity. She divides her time between the Defiance and handling projects in other areas of the nomad fleet. Stylena excels in the spheres of management and personnel. She is a skilled organiser of supplies, but also coarse, ambitious and ruthless. She is the type of energic trouble-shooter who gets things done, but can be rather intimidating.
Stylena is an atheist, having replaced Ashira with a strong belief in the cause of Rationalism. She is not an impassioned, charismatic speaker. None of her speeches can be described as memorable. However, she has cultivated a sort of gentleness and a sort of quietness, a lack of showiness which people trust because she comes across as unpretentious. When she wants, she can be charming. One of her acquaintances has described her as half subtle scholar, half thug, and she plays either of these two halves whenever she needs them. As someone who was trained to become a priestess, she takes reading and learning very seriously. Stylena can be a rather attentive boss. She has a habit of going to the apartment of every senior subordinate. She comes bearing gifts, checks the heating and reads bedtime stories to their children. But she is also vindictive and awfully blunt about the fact that a revolution goes hand in hand with bloodshed.
Qial'Zyran (NPC) - an important functionary of the Court. The Xioquo bureaucrat lives under a false name. In the old days she was a minor lady in charge of the arsenals in the Underealm. During the downfall, she killed one of her scribes and took her identity. She used alchemy to drastically alter her physical appearance and mentalism to assimilate some of her scribe's memories. Having succeeded at passing herself off as a victim of the ancien régime, she tried to ingratiate herself with Firemane and the 'Bright Queen' Lia, providing evidence against several of her former peers.
However, she grew concerned about being discovered. It was common to forcibly split up slave families, and it was no different with her scribe. But she was unexpectedly reunited with a family member who began asking inconvenient questions. Zyan acted quickly by arranging a defection to the Shadow Knights when they conducted a recruitment drive on Tygara. She has useful information on production and manufacturing as a 'scribe', but is always concerned that one day someone might recognise her, so she stays in the background. Stylena does not entirely believe her story, but finds her useful enough to forego probing too deeply. She is a survivor, and that is something the Shadows have a lot of. Zyran is quite fond of droid labour because machines are easier to manage than organic workers. Her assimilation of her scribe's memories may have been a bit too successful, as her two sets of memories are increasingly blurring. This has been a cause of distress on her part.
Tamileth Rikani (NPC) - An Eldorai female soldier who was from a lesser family and a younger sibling. Got in as a junior officer but found promotion blocked by the rich and better connected scions. She served in the Eldorai's fledgling space force. Part of a stupidly failed attack on the off-worlders early on, resigned in disgust and then moved back home to work in the family business of mining. She escaped Kaeshana and joined the Shadow Knights, using her experience with mining as well as her military background to rise in the ranks. Today, she is an important figure in their mining sector and sits on the committee that scrutinises the Magister's work. She also gets sent to new Shadow Knight colonies to supervise mine setups.
Bazarna Jai Kalari (NPC) - A Qadiri priestess who used to arbitrate disputes between cities. A natural role for her to move to. She became disillusioned that the same people mainly stayed in power. When the humans of Firemane came, they talked a big game about change and progress, but in truth they only wanted to exploit Tygara's resources and coopted the same elites as long as they played ball. This ultimately brought her into the ranks of the Shadow Knights. Things are not ideal there, but better in her mind. She has been given a job as an Arbiter, which makes her responsible for mediating industrial disputes. Bazarna is an empathic, patient and persuasive person, but also strong-willed. She worships a lesser known Qadiri deity of justice and compassion which is more peaceful in outlook. She continues to practice her faith and preaches to a small congregation.
Zarn'Kadoz (NPC) - a Kar'zun plenipotentiary who inspects manufacturing facilities and the like to make sure they conform with the law. Kar'zun have a historic enmity with the Eldorai Matriarchy...which waged a brutal campaign of genocide against them centuries ago. The crimes of the Eldorai have not been forgiven or forgotten. The Shadow Knights have tried to bring Kar'zun into the fold as fellow Asurans, having denounced the royalists and reactionaries of the Matriarchy. However, tensions and old memories die hard. Zarn'Kadoz is tough though...and very intimidating. When the Kar'zun were still confined to reservations, the Eldorai used inspectors, and local garrisons to control them, forcing Kar'zun elders to carry out their instructions. Economic life was strongly circumscribed, and limited to fairly basic subsistence work. Zarn'Kadoz grew up in a district where the Kar'zun had to work for 'food', as they had been settled in flat areas with no rocks because Eldorai were horrible.
Her people were great at forging, so Zarn'Kadok acquired a bureaucratic role that oversaw the creation and export of such items. But Eldorai merchants tried to short-charge them and Eldorai bureaucrats would often simply confiscate their creations or demand bribes. Zarn'Kadok became adept at subverting tyrannical Eldorai regulations to provide for her clan. Some progressive Eldorai who rejected the old order's racism aided her, which later contributed to her joining the Shadow Knights. She also set up caches to hide valuable items, which gave them things to barter following Kaeshana's cataclysmic devastation.
In the early days of the nomad fleet, she was heavily involved in shutting down independent business activities pursued by the military, which had enabled officers to generate funds themselves and thus undermine meaningful government oversight. She discovered that several were involved in illegal dealings, and sentient rights violations. She remained stalwart when officers involved in illegal activity subjected witnesses to intimidation and even tried to frame and dispose of her. Zarn'Kadoz distrusts Stylena, whom she considers power-hungry and shady. This is not without cause, since that is precisely what Stylena is. Moreover, the Magister is somewhat xenophobic, though she is smart enough not to be very overt about it.
Majara Jai Jinhama (NPC) - A Qadiri metallurgist, engineer and ironsmith from Amikaron. The Qadiri were a pre-spaceflight and pre-atomic civilisation, but they had already developed gunpowder firearms when the sky people arrived. Majara was an ironsmith of considerable skill, who cast large-calibre artillery for Amikaron's wars. As a guild leader, she was constantly tussling with the crown's demands against her own needs.
As a master crafter, she was as respected as a commoner could be despite her low birth. She prided herself on the quality of her creations. As she put it, her work was art.
When Majara had a falling out with the crown, she defected to the a minor Mirza opposed to the power-hungry Shahbânu. When the humans of Firemane invaded an island ruled by her patron, they were met with salvoes from concealed cannons designed by her. Taking by surprise, the overconfident humans suffered serious casualties, though they were eventually able to overcome them due to their more advanced technology. Majara's patron was killed under highly dubious circumstances, and the ironsmith fled. She attempted to begin a new life in a minor town, working as a blacksmith forging farm implements. However, she was eventually tracked down and summoned back to the Amikarese court in Zeheb. She found a way out when the Shadow Knights recruited her.
Now she has reached for the stars. Her job as an ironsmith has branched into modern fabrication, and she has embraced modern designs with considerable enthusiasm. The Shadow Knights need firearms and artillery as much as anyone, after all. Many of her apprentices joined her in the stars. Now Majara is highly placed in the Union of the Hammer and Forge, and her own guild. Unions have representation in boards and economic planning agencies, but Shadow Knights frown on strikes that 'get out of hand'. Which causes tension if the workers feels they are being mistreated. So the unions push back. Building a pan-Asuran guild-union that crosses racial lines is not an easy job. But Majara is neither a corrupt sellout nor an ideologue with her head in the clouds. She has an assertive, forceful personality. She has been nicknamed Majara 'the hammer'. She is noted by others for having an intuitive understanding of just how far the Union can push the Council, and when it shouldn't. As a labour leader, she is distinguished by her full exploitation of her position to get the best deal on the table.
It was she who helped broker the end to a large-scale strike that threatened to shut down critical supply and production areas in the fleet. She has developed a knack for appropriating the Shadow Knights' flowery rhetoric about how their society is built upon the bedrock of a blood pact between soldiers and toilers. Now that she knows about the greater galaxy she wants protection for workers, a ban on droid replacements for 'thinking' jobs, and more. Ironically, her droid-sceptical stance has allowed her to find allies among Eldorai, and Qadiri clerics despite not being overly devout. She doesn't advocate dismantling all droids, but demands heavy regulation with prohibitions in certain industries and careers. Moreover, she insists that the Court has an obligation to provide workers who have been rendered 'obsolete' the means to start over and find new work.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Eldorai society has always been defined by a high degree of stratification, social and gender barriers. Women are regarded as superior to men and occupy the top jobs in the military and government, whereas males are expected to be subservient. Nobles stand above commoners, who should know their place, pay their tithes and serve their betters. Clerics are intermediaries between the profane and the divine. The opulent cathedrals and mansions of the prelates are an expression of gratitude of the common folk. The Star Queen stands above all. She is not only the absolute monarch of the realm, but also the the emissary and viceroy of the Great Goddess Ashira in the mortal realm. Her person is sacrosanct and her word is law. Rebellion against her is heresy.
This has not stopped the Eldorai from having plenty of palace revolutions, civil wars and schisms. Perhaps the lesson is that repression breeds resistance. Totalitarianism is not efficient, no matter how many times its proponents claim that the trains run on time. Today the dream of a unified Eldorai Matriarchy is dead. Though the Matriarchy still exists, it no longer commands the allegiance of all Eldorai. With Kaeshana destroyed for good, the Eldorai have fractured into a myriad factions.
One of these groups call themselves the Shadow Knights. They started as a militant group of survivalists and former soldiers who banded together during the Great Exodus to protect the Eldorai who had been left behind in devastated Kaeshana. Naesala Faethyra, a career soldier who had gone into exile after being arrested on false charges of treason during the reign of Tirathana VI, became their leader, assuming the title of Archon. They tried to wrest order from the chaos, though it was an uphill battle. Rejecting monarchy, they instead embraced a form of militarist republicanism. They supported the Tygaran Alliance and the Galactic Alliance during the Kaeshana Rebellion, but the First Order's victory forced them to evacuate from the Eldorai homeworld.
Deprived of their homeworld, they were nonetheless unwilling to submit to the ancien régime. Thus they formed a nomad fleet. At first their goal was to one day liberate Kaeshana. The Eldorai homeworld's final scouring by a warp storm has put an end to this goal. Instead they look for a new home. The evolution of their goals and society has forced them to build up actual institutions, as a diverse nomad fleet cannot be run in the same way as a paramilitary war band. By their very nature the Shadow Knights are a coalition. A good number of their members are former 'Dark Eldorai' insurgents, but others are former royalist soldiers who defected to the Shadows - and might have fought the former insurgents at some point. Moreover, they have opened their ranks to Tygaran natives, declaring them to be fellow Asurans.
All this requires delicate management to overcome old grudges. Sects such as the Illyrians, Rationalists and Followers of Arryn had a history of rivalry. Enforcing central authority was not entirely possible without bloodshed. This led to strife and schisms. Some Shadow Knights were banished or split off. Yet the nomad fleet could not be held together by force alone. Reliance on it would tear it apart, sooner or later. Moreover, the group also faced external threats, such as pirates, Kraal raiders, the Archangel machine cult, Sith groups and rival Eldorai factions. It needed to be united if it did not want to go under. This led to the creation of the Court system.
One of the Courts was the Court of Providence. It built upon institutions that had come into being during the Long Night. During this dark period, the Shadow Knights had implemented a policy to feed and supply the surviving Eldorai settlements that could be best described as war communism. Resources were extremely scarce after the Eldorai homeworld was devastated by a huge asteroid, so harsh measures were required to ensure survival, though these inevitably created conflict. The predecessor of the Court was the Commissariat for Labour, Supply and Economic Security. Stylena rose to dominate it. She was an energic but also radical Rationalist revolutionary with many years of experience in the underground.
Born into a low class family, Stylena had first become involved in the New Green Ribbons revolutionary movement before embracing Rationalism and becoming an agent of the Blades of the Reason. She eventually gained a seat on the Committee of Rationalist Security and was appointed its Responsible Secretary. This seemingly innocuous office gave her a high degree of influential over cadres. She distributed funds, compiled agendas, kept records and influenced personnel assignments.
She eventually gained a seat on the Committee of Rationalist Security and was appointed its Responsible Secretary. This seemingly innocuous office gave her a high degree of influential over cadres. She distributed funds, compiled agendas, kept records and influenced personnel assignments. By the time she was appointed as Commissar, she had acquired experience as a bank robber, a paramilitary leader, party organisation chief, backroom manager and requisition specialist.
During the Long Night she proved herself as an efficient, though ruthless organiser. Acting as a troubleshooter, she helped organise requisition and distribution of supplies. This involved founding a pirate gang to raid foreign ships, though she was forced to yield command after the crass behaviour of her minions went beyond the pale. She had made her share of enemies during her career, both within the Blades of Reason and outside of it, so the appointment was not without controversy. Archon Naesala Faethyra, no friend of Stylena, consented to the appointment for political reasons, though she made sure to place some people who had her confidence into key positions.
The Commissariat was conceived as emergency institutions that could cut through red tape, but often got into conflict with vested interests, such as local partisan commanders. Indeed, for a while there was an inflation of pseudo-government bodies and militias with confusing and often overlapping mandates. This led to a lot of waste, which threatened the fleet. As the nomad fleet took shape and evolved into a more organised society, the rudimentary institutions were reformed. In order to avert a supply crisis, coordination had to be centralised, but the various players and the common people also wanted a say in how they were governed and supplies were distributed. The Commissariat was renamed the Court of Providence and its head became semi-elective, though with broader authority as it would organise manufacturers and agri-farmers for the entire nomad fleet. Stylena managed to secure her position as its boss.
The Archon played a leading role in devising the Court system. Naesala was a military woman, not a theoretician. But she did not need to be one, as she was reorganising the Shadows into a regimented structure not unlike an army. Naesala was not building some sort of abstract society here. Rather she was grouping everyone into sections which could administer their part of the machine. There was little consideration for rights and aspirations - the Shadows must survive and this would help them do so. At the same time it would decentralise administration, get the citizens involved and mobilise them.
The Court was very active in registering, auditing and shutting down military business enterprises. This had long been a point of contention. During the Long Night many military units engaged in business operations, especially smuggling and mining, to raise independent income. This was justified on the basis that funds allocated to them by the Council were insufficient, and that further revenue needed to be generated to provide for troop welfare and support local communities. To an extent, this was true.
But it eventually gave rise to a mafia economy. Military units leased public assets for profit, demanded protection payments from businesses and engaged in criminal activities. Moreover, these activities encouraged corruption, abuse of power, sentient rights abuses and conflict of interest. The businesses did little to cover unbudgeted expenses, but gave local commanders the ability to bind troops to them. There was an element of irony involved when Stylena, a woman with a background in organised crime, proved herself a determined enforcer of the Council's decree that military leaders divest themselves of business activities. This was not without risk, for auditors and other Court officials were subjected to intimidation by armed thugs. Moreover, the attempts to rein in paramilitaries triggered mutinies and even a rebellion.
Responsibility for ensuring economic security has been a point of contention between the Courts of Providence and the Justicars. It has led to a few turf wars, forcing Stylena to make tactical concessions. Stylena managed to sequester a large amount of 'extraordinary funds' to be held in 'trust' for her usage for 'security matters'. She was smart enough to invest most of it rather than waste it all on expensive items for herself. The money was useful when she needed to purchase or secure someone's loyalty. Enough people appreciated luxury articles such as Corellian brandy, cigarras, jewellery and foreign holomovies.
However, harsh working conditions, authoritarian management and poor pay led to a rise in working class militancy. Things came to head when the workers on a refinery ship went on strike due to unsafe and harsh conditions in the maintenance and production areas of the fleet. Exodite Asuran society promised a better life for all soldiers and toilers, but it was dominated by middle class officers. Many of those who had been at the bottom end of the totem pole remained there. Many workers on the refinery ship had been working there almost continuously. The work was difficult, injury and death was commonplace and the industry was failing to support its workers.
Ration and wage reductions were met with fury. The same applied to the efforts of some manufacturers to replace 'inefficient' organic labour with droids. The spectre of automation triggered fears of lay-offs and further wage reductions. When a radical labour leader was arrested under the public order laws, the workers intentionally sabotaged the machinery in protest and in an attempt to get improved working conditions. When security forces cracked down and arrested several workers as saboteurs and mutineers, sympathy strikes broke out among steel workers, transport workers and printers. A standoff ensued as the central leadership debated what to do and enlisted volunteers as well as droids to serve as strikebreakers.
It also created an organisation for the maintenance of essential supplies, placing it under the Court of Providence. Soldiers were used to restart tram services on the worldship. Things threatened to come to head when radical government officials demanded that armed soldiers be deployed offensively. Stylena was a hardliner, but executed a tactical pivot when it was convenient for her to position herself as a dealmaker. The Archon's office denounced the strike as the road to anarchy, and used the press to rally support and reassure the public, but balked at ordering soldiers to use lethal force against unarmed workers because the optics would've been horrible. Troops were shifted around though to ensure that areas badly hit by strike waves would be policed by soldiers not from the same region as the striking workers. At the same time, the labour leaders feared that an all-out general strike could bring revolutionary forces to the forefront. Fearing an uncontrollable escalation, they tried to keep a lid on things.
A split occured between the Union of the Hammer and Forge, and the more radical Revolutionary Organisation of Exodite Asuran Toilers. After several days of standoff, some workers chose to return to work, but faced backlash from those among their comrades who were still striking, necessitating government protection. After several days of negotiations with labour leaders, dealmaking and appeals to patriotism, the security forces arrested ringleaders of those who refused to negotiate. A compromise had been brokered by guild leaders that gave the Union of the Hammer and Forge official status and inclusion in the industrial arbitration system. A join commission was set up to alleviate some of the hardships the workers faced, and assets of businesses deemed noncompliant were expropriated. The corporativist system had survived, albeit with some concessions, but more challenges lay ahead.
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