ABOUT
ARISTASIAABOUT
ARISTASIAIn understanding an entire new world, so many things must be considered at once - and each of them influences all the others. Therefore it is helpful to give a very brief sketch of many different features of Aristasia so that it can be seen how they interlock.
Western Aristasia is highly technically advanced. In Quirinelle, for example, where the style of cars and other mechanical devices resemble those of the Tellurian 1950s, their actual technics are considerably more sophisticated, though not as far advanced as in Novaria where such devices as hover pads and sky cars are common. Techinics is somewhat dependent on geography. In the East technics are ineffective. A car driven Eastwards will inevitably break down after a certain point, while flying a plane east beyond Loveton, Arcadia would be suicidal. Loveton is the furthest east Airport in the world. By the same token, it would be inadvisable to fly too far West on a magic carpet!
There are no republics in Aristasia and anything resembling a political party in the Tellurian sense exists only under unusual circumstances. Certainly nothing resembling the Party System - introduced in England in the late 17th century and subsequently in the rest of Telluria - has ever existed in Aristasia. In theory, the whole of Aristasia is ruled by a single Empress, though each Altalian nation also has its own Queen.
The Theory of Government in Aristasia is founded on the concept of the Golden Order - the work of Queens and Empresses is to regulate society in accordance with this Divine Norm and to make such adaptations as may be necessary in order to continue the Golden Order under the changing conditions of later Ages. In other words a Queen or Empress is not an Absolute Monarch ruling according to her own will. If she violated the Golden order she could be deposed, and there have been cases of this in the past, though they are rare.
Government in Aristasia is based not on the perpetual opposition of the party system, but on fundamental agreement as to what is right.
It is also important to understand that Government, like armies, is in Aristasia largely ceremonial. In Telluria over the last few hundred years it has been assumed that Government it there to do things. It is assumed that things are always moving and changing and Government ought to be making perpetual changes in things. In Aristasia the purpose of Government is simply to maintain things running smoothly, not to do anything, except in times of emergency.
So for example, when one says that the Western Empress is "in theory" Empress of the East too, this may seem puzzling to the Tellurian mind - is she or isn't she? To put it colloquially, when she says "frog" does the East jump? But since it is not the business of an Aristasian Empress to go about saying "frog" - especially where it might cause embarrassment - the matter is not put to the test. She may be Empress of the East, but it would certainly be bad taste on her part to try to interfere with the East. They have their ways of doing things and it would be vulgar and probably ill-conceived to meddle.
Changes take place in Aristasia, of course, and Governments must sometimes make adjustments to accommodate these changes, but such adjustments should be as minimal and graceful as possible, and above all tactful.
The statement may not be quite true, that in Aristasia a thing is only made law when it has already been custom for so long that most people thought it was law - but it is a fair indication of the Aristasian approach to "political activity".
Our
Fighting ForcesAll Aristasian nations have standing armies ruled by a hereditary Officer Class. However there has never been a war between Aristasian nations and the idea of an Aristasian nation setting out to kill other Aristasians would be unthinkable - a crime so great that it has never been committed. There have been wars, however, against outlanders who have encroached upon Aristasia; and the wars of the Cairen Empire, which made Aristasia safe and secured her boundaries helped to shape the modern Aristasian world.
Armies in Aristasia are largely ceremonial affairs with brunettes in gorgeous uniforms. However Aristasians are not unaware of the technical advancement of some outlanders and have highly sophisticated weapons of offence and defence which could be deployed if they were ever needed. In the East where technics have no power, forces of cavalry, archers and chariots have always been maintained.
Just as one cannot understand modern Telluria without understanding the Roman Empire and the influence of the concept on subsequent generations, so one cannot understand Aristasia without knowing a little about the Cairen Empire. Founded some three thousand years ago and lasting nearly a thousand years, the mighty legions of the Cairen Empire freed Aristasia from the threat of external invasion. At one time all the West, as well as much of the east was under the rule of the Cairen Empress - li Raihhiranya Caerelan. Caire (pron. kye-reh) is in what is now Eastern Arcadia, so the West was ruled from the East, just as the East is now ruled, in theory, from the West.
Many Cairen words and concepts are still the mainstay of Western thought, and the Western Empress is to some extent the successor to the Cairen Empress. She is styled Raihiranya Orvila (empress of the world) or Raihiranya Orvilanhela (empress of all worldly things) just as the Cairen Empress was.
The lingua franca of modern Aristasia is Westrenne - almost identical to Tellurian English - just as the lingua franca of late antiquity was Low Cairen. Like English and Latin, Westrenne and Cairen belong to the same family of languages, but are very different. A number of other languages and dialects exist both in the West (mostly in its Southern and Eastern parts) and in the East. Cairen is still used in certain official inscriptions and Low Cairen is spoken in parts of the East. High or Raihira Cairen is spoken in a few places among those who regard themselves as the True Heirs of the Empire and refer to themselves as Raihira Caeranyi. More than one eastern city-state or minor Empire claims to be the one true heir of Caire.