Choice of Rebels: Uprising — Lead the revolt against a bloodthirsty empire!

[Norilinde]

@cascat07

@Havenstone has created quite the moral quandary here. My initial reaction is to abandon all therugy that isn’t fueled by self sacrifice. The major problem of course is that your enemies will exploit that vulnerability and simply make helots of you and your followers.

There are obviously ways to economize the system on the expense/demand side. More economical use and widespread practice of self-sacrificing therugy. Additionally, some IRL equivalent energy source as a substitute for mundane agriculture and industry like coal or oil. That obviously would be a lengthy conversion might not even be possible given the in-world cognitive frame.

You could make some changes to the supply side. Executions for certain crimes (likely already happening and then some), volunteers (chronic pain, terminal illness etc.), people in a vegetative state. Then it gets darker, harvesting one or both eyes as punishment for less serious crimes, full harrowing for even minor offenses (probably already the case…), some kind of lottery system, or exploiting some other class or nation the MC finds more agreeable.

Ultimately (at least to the extent I have tortured my mind to this point), barring some windfall/miracle/technological revolution like obtaining a new and substantial source of non-organic aether, I feel like Halassur is probably on to the most equitable way to run a blood economy. The franchise of sacrificing your first born would have to be extended to everyone, but the very horror of such a system should result in as economized a blood market as possible. The biggest issue is that any such system requires state administration. People will inevitably try to cheat, and powerful people successfully cheating leads to corruption and grievance.

One possible enforcement mechanism I thought of was that access to therugic public goods like miraculous healing or tax free food etc would be restricted to those who made the sacrifice after a certain age. You could also make hiding a first born a harrowable offense. I can see how this would lead to a horrifically gendered society. It’s definitely a tough nut.

@Havenstone

I’m glad that’s been spontaneously suggested; I was worried that no one would see it as a meaningful option at all.

This does not address the other aspect of Halassur’s system:

@Ramidel

Of course, the Halassurqs may not call it slavery, but Halassur is a place that’ll really suck to be a woman. You know, “concubines,” as referenced by the Hegemonic tales, employed as baby factories from 13 to 45 before having what’s left of their aether Harrowed out of them.

@Havenstone

It’s a deeply horrific place to be a captive concubine from the Hegemony. (I should emphasize again that there aren’t too many of those.) Halassurq women themselves largely buy into the awfulness of their system–in large part because they’re keen to do all they can to avenge themselves against the murderous, centuries-long aggression of Karagon. You’ll have a chance to meet Erjan’s sister in Grand Shayard and hear a bit of this perspective.

@Havenstone

And yes, the aether concentration in humans does drop off significantly from infancy through puberty before stabilizing in adulthood. The Karagond Theurges pride themselves on their refusal (by and large) to make use of that fact; you’ve got to have something to point to that makes you feel less of a monster at the end of the day. Of course, they can’t overtly explain to the laity just why they’re so proud of eschewing child-murder, but they spare no opportunity to blast the Halassurqs for it. When you meet Erjan in Game 2 Ch 1, you can hear how Halassur justifies the opposite choice, while abhorring the nightmare slave system of the Thaumatarchy.

From what I have read:

It does seem likely that because child sacrifices yields more aether than adult sacrifices, Halassur may have a lower body count than the Hegemony. On the other hand, choosing to sacrifice women when they are no longer able to bear children speaks volumes about societal values.

Other than preventing general starvation and defending against foreign invasion, there is not necessarily a need for a blood-driven economy for Halassur. The Hegemony only needs Theurgy for food production because its population has deliberately been increased beyond what can currently be fed without Theurgy. So Halassur may not need magic to feed itself. Halassur also does not have wards so far as I recall.

So other than maintaining a strategic blood reserve for national defense reasons, Halassur might not need large-scale harvesting of aetherial blood in peacetime. Desire for “revenge” seems a horrid reason to harvest more aetherial blood than is absolutely necessary.

I can imagine feeling that desperate acts are necessary to prevent some more horrible fate. But Halassur and the Hegemony have been using their respective systems for hundreds of years. A successful all-out effort at complete victory over the Hegemony followed by ending harvesting of aetherial blood save perhaps from criminals would probably have killed more people in the short term but fewer people in the long term compared to letting the wars resume every few years for hundreds of years.

@Havenstone I dislike having even to ask this, but if newborns have a higher quantity of aether than adults, what about premature babies or when the fetus is still in the womb? Caesarean section to harvest fetuses would also be horrid but I’m guessing both the Hegemony and Halassur have probably tested whether it would increase aether yield.

@poison_mara

The evil part Of The evil Gandhi came from She knows she will condemn almost 75% of Hegemony to die by famine. And she has accepted it to breaking down the blood circle. And came to another type of society. Is a idealist in a way, she doesn’t want they to die but has accepted the price for the future of Shayard

There was also the following:

@poison_mara

Well, I was talking about it with Mara aka The Evil Gandhi, and she wants to establish a new Empire based upon slavery. She won’t stop Harrowing. She just wants change the persons which harrow. Karagon population would be turn slaves, all of them Yeoman would be making a special social class based on commerce and artisans. And Helots would be Purged in massive death forced camps. Mines, forges and raw magic to destroy Karagon.
Sadly, I hardly doubt that @Havenstone let her commit genocide and mass murder of Karagon. However, Mara for now on has to be goodie, and peaceful until her religion and politics give her power and an army in the sayard.