[Starhawk]

Hey ya'll long time no post, well some of you may remember me and my story "From the Beginning" a while back others might not.

Well here I have a few questions for ya'll.

Well the main protagonist nation is Icara, an Empire that we would consider neo-feudal/fascist in make up.

The Empire is ruled for the most part by a man called the Praetor who is nearly absolute ruler of the Empire, directly under him are the High Lords (made up of 6 members) under them is Council made up of the Nobility (only some of these positions can be apointed by the Praetor, the rest are selected by the other nobility and only a handful of even those positions are heredetary).

The Praetor apoints the High Lords, and controls the state's general direction regarding peace/war/religion and can make demands upon the High Lords and council if it is for the good of the Empire. He is the only one who can authorize the deployment of his Personal Guard (a force of 10,000 elite soldiers including armored regiments and airborn forces, and later a warfleet of 100 ships of the line).

The High Lords: These men and women control overall decisions regarding military action, tax rates and draft rate (yes the Empire has an ongoing draft) throughout the Empire (I.E they can say that your tax can be NO MORE then X amount and your draft rate can not exceed X amount, or the reverse they can raise the overall bar of tax and draft throughout the Empire)

The Council: They make most of the "civil level" decisions, each Count/Countess rules a single world, and each Duke/Duchess a single star system in which they can set they are virtually absolute rulers as long as their rule does not violate the dictates of the Praetor and High Lords.


Ethnicity: The Icaran "race" is actually made up of three seperate "races" by modern standards, Caucasians, Asians, and those of blended race all are considered "Icaran" by the law and tradition.

Language: The Icaran Language is a mix of European and Asiatic languages that all sort of blended together over millenia of intermingling.

Religion: The Empire does NOT believe in freedom of religion per se, the High Lords and State Church dictate what faiths are legal within the Empire, currently the two legal faiths (original to the Empire) are:

The Path (state religion): A complex monotheistic faith that has both eastern and western philosophy and is taught in school and throughout Icaran life. It can draw some roots to Christinaity however much of it would be equally alien to Christians.

It teaches discipline of mind and body, loyalty to community and state and preaches all souls go to hell for cleansing and that one can speed their journey through hell by service and loyalty to community and Empire.

Unlike Christianity sex is not taboo, nor is premarital sex only loveless and casual sex is taboo.

The human body is considered a temple and a symbol of God's work which creates an odd casualness about nudity within Icaran society that would throw the Puritanical Christians of past millenia.

Neo-Buddism: Although the Icarans consider themselves a single people many of those descended from the Asiatic populace still follow the tenants of Buddism with some slight changes over the millenia


Every day life: From their earliest years an Icaran child is taught loyalty to family, community and Empire. They are taught that a life lost in service to the Empire is never a life wasted, and a life spent in service to the community is a life to be cherished.
As a child goes threw school they are placed in "cadres" which is a group of children that will spend their entire school life together in the same classes and in the same community and barracks (three months of every year sees children living at school in Barracks)

Icarans are taught that their bodies are temple's, work's of art to glorify their creator and so in school Icaran children undergo a LOT of physical training (think bootcamp for 10 YEARS) including martial arts, general PE and dance (dance is a symbol of education and culture). This physical work ethic continues throughout an Icaran's life unless illness or age no longer allow it, a fat Icaran who is not ill or incapable of exercise is doomed to ridicule and scorn throughout their life.

Icaran schools also raise children with full knowledge of sexuality and anatomy but also teach restraint and temperance (partly out of religious disaproval of promiscuity and partly out of prudence to prevent STDs and pregnancies that a family can't support).

Icarans are considered adult at the age of 13 and are given three years 'grace' in which they can further their education if they choose, or simply live a bit of a relaxed life (within culturally acceptable bounds), they are encouraged to remain with their family but not required to do so by law. At the age of 16 they are required by tradition and law to get a job or return to academy (think college/OCS put together) if they do not return to Academy and do not find a job the state finds a job for them (basically you might end up with anything from sewage disposal to fast food restaurant or you might be called to service in the military).

Although most Icarans do not serve in the armed forces such service is considered one of the highest callings in the Empire and every Icaran shows respect to a soldier in uniform no matter that soldier's age or gender. Anyone enlisting in or called into Military service must serve no less then 25 years in uniform unless otherwise discharged by the service (this only happens dishonorably or if you are injured beyond capability of even a desk job which is listed as an honorable discharge) and those who are dishonorably discharge often face worse fates outside of the service.

(space era): With the discovery of a process named "sustain" Icaran lifespans were increased to roughly 300 years average (some live up to 420) with the interesting and unintended byproduct of second and third generation children being born with increased strenght reflexes and senses.
Adding to the already physically demanding Icaran society and you end up with the average Icaran being twice as fast and almost twice as strong as a modern human, with FAR better vision, hearing and smell then current humans.


Now here are the questions for yah:

1: Being that the Icarans are primarily white/asian/mixed race what do you think their cultural reaction would be if they came across say a black or hispanic person?
The reason I ask is because my first thought was that they would doubt said person was even human until extensive genetic testing proved otherwise.

2: Do you think a culture with the kind of physical regime that the Icarans have would accept a culture that does not have that kind of requirement on it's people?

3: How do you think the Icarans would handle say modern Christianity or modern atheism?
3a: How do you think modern Christians would respond to Icarans (try not to be offensive, and if you can't be unoffensive feel free not to answer)
3b:How do you think modern Atheists would respond to an Icaran?

4: What do you think the Icarans would think of a free and democratic society?
The reason I ask this one especially is because I think they would see it as weak and chaotic but I wanted to know what you think the level inate hostility would be.

5: Would you see the Empire as evil?
I ask this because with the prototype of this society I created for a series of short stories readers have said everything from
"They're a little racist and VERY harsh" to "They're a bunch of uncompromising expansionistic bastards who border on Nazi level brutality".

6: Not from a 'god bashing" point of view please (and if you can't answer without a God bashing remark then just don't answer) how do you think the faith of the Empire would shape it
(I have an idea but I don't want to seem like i'm throwing out a 2 dimensional stereotype so I'd like some other people's honest assessments)

7: Do you think an average Icaran would be happy?
I ask this because again with the prototype of this society I made for short stories I had it that the average Icaran was very happy given that crime was a rare thing and that they were practically born with a sense of purpose and community instilled in them by their society. And that societies assimilated by the Empire eventually blended and became content and loyal members of the Empire (after say 2 generations).

I look forward to your input because I am striving to create a society that is very REAL and alive, and not some 2d stereotypical society.