Oraburg
This is a a city where your wealth, social standing and everything is decided by the society of prohecy who keep the rich, rich and poor, poor.
Description:
The city is rich and in an area of great natural abundance, it has a well trained military, though inexperienced and is largly self-sufficient. It has high walls and many farms outside. It is ruled by a system similar in everything but name to the feudal system.
History
The city was once under the rulership of corrupt nobles. 50 years ago there was revolution that overthrew the nobles. It was led by a band of wealthy merchants that took over power afterward. They founded the Society of Prohecy which was formed of priests who were given the choice 'say that it is the will of the gods for us to rule or the people will find out that you are an enemy of the revolution'. The priests did not need much persuasion. The Society became rich because of this and over time this system changed to that which is present today. Anyone who opposed the system was killed or exiled by Soldiers of Destiny. An order of elite soldiers who still act as a secret police.
THE SOCIETY OF PROHECY
This in an order of priests who are trained from the moment they are 'chosen' to give confining prohecies. They keep the nobles in power and the commoners in there place. The prohecys are kept on record. The priests decide the following:
1. The name of the person.
2. The occupation of the person and his/her position in that job.
3. The wealth and privileges of that person, determinded by their worthiness of it.
4. Who they will marry.
5. If they will be brought in to the priesthood.
6. The social standing of that person (nobles are 'chosen' but only the children of a noble are selected).
7. Sometimes a person can enter the royle family if his parents are rich enough.
8. If there are no jobs available the person is declared to be evil and they are thrown into a river.
Roleplaying notes
1. The players can either aid the government or support a revolution designed to destroy the Society of Prohecy.
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? Responses (8)
Interesting. A theocracy.
I think that the Society of Prophets should get it's own post, and delve into some of it's power players and history. The city itself is rather bland, and could benefit from some detailing that would set it apart from the average city.
I have to agree with Scrasamax. The religion should be a seperate post. The city itself is fairly bland, it needs some details (besides the theocracy) to make it interesting. Why don't you check out the City Image codex. While it has specific rules for its posts, it can give you a feel for some telling details that can be used on any city post. We also have some city posts (location, city, and see the list....)
Updated: The society of prohecy is a way of state control more than a religion and it should be noted that the city is nothing without its religion. I will see about describing the city better.
What is a Theocracy, this city is based on communism (is that what you meant?)
Theocracy is government by the representatives of a religion: In this case, the Society of Prophecy and their secret police, the Soldiers of Destiny. A real-world example of a theocracy would be Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Theocracy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theocracy
Communism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism
I think yours is more of a socialist system with the 'people in power' being part of a religious group, rather than 'a party'.
A grimly cynical theocracy, secretly controlled by the descendants of the merchant-princes that originally overthrew the old order and their mercenary troops, now the secret police force of a manipulative priesthood.
I could see the priesthood developing a rift between the hypocritical prophets that originally controlled it and a new generation of priests that have grown under the new order. While some of these new priests would be as hypocritical as their ancestors, others might have decided that the revolution and its results were foreordained by the gods, just as everything else in their carefully-planned lives is.
Such a city would be ripe for conflict, between the champions of social order ('Truly you are lost in sin, to seek to evade your prescribed place in the Great Order of All Life!') and those advocating the city's rigid castes be eliminated ('Workers of Oraburg, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!')
More information about the methods of control used by the priesthood would be interesting. They would need a detailed system of record keeping and the ability to verify their citizens' personal identities for them to enforce their system. I'm curious what they do with strangers. Do they try to shoehorn them into the caste system or do foreigners have their own specific social niche?