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Archive of essays on Nova Ostia
Topic Started: Feb 4 2018, 02:51 AM (67 Views)
Oriflamme
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A collection of various essays about whatever comes to mind regarding Nova Ostia and related. Also covers FP OCA.

Might be the best move into formalizing whatever there is in mind about that state entity: I'm in no mood to write dry and neutral factbooks.

Anything will be added upon writing and is based purely on head-canon. Hence, 1) essays might not cohere very well with the established canon or with each other, although everything will be done to have them cohere, and 2) essays will obviously be added upon their writing, expected to be fairly irregular.
Edited by Oriflamme, Feb 4 2018, 02:58 AM.
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Oriflamme
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On the OCA state structures and bureaucracy.
"There are three things I hate in life and that any merciful god wouldn't allow to exist: Hivers, recoil and OCA bureaucrats. Fokin' normies" ─ some character of Area, long-long ago.
Obviously, no large state, especially imperial in character, can stand without bureaucrats. Ostia is no exception.

Good ol' times of the Imperial Ostia at its high water mark (208 AD) saw a military-bureaucratic model allowing the center to hold its territories firm. Brace for garbled Latin and a wall of text.

Regional governors, appointed from Ostia, had full and unlimited control over their territories. However, their power was checked by Ostia, which was represented by up to three ascii (ascia (line)─ Ostian equivalent of two or three legions, there called tercius / tercii), though eastern provinces had up to five and north-western ones rarely had even one full-strength.

Although governors could form their own armies at their discretion and according to their resources, sparsely-populated provinces lacked men and densely-populated provinces had logistics good enough to make sure any uprising will be cut short by sudden visit of a tercio or two. Everything was done to deprive tribal chiefs of their political power and no shadow of federalism was allowed within the command structure. However, very few assimilation efforts were successful.

Further division under governors was centered around cities, which were mostly former or acting military camps with permanent garrison from some other province, rotated every four years. Governors and military command were also rotated every four years to different commands. There was also an age census of 60 years (the average longevity of life was about 70 years) after which the official was retired, except for some extraordinary occasions. Control over bureaucrats was done via a special chancellery answering straight to the emperor ─ by 208 AD they were much like absolute monarchs. Special academies prepared civil servants from dedicated young men as well as from retired military personnel. Only three such academies existed ─ Ostia, Wolfsburg and Valmy ─ and all their staff was appointed from Ostia.

There were too many shatter points in this system, but it worked somehow until corruption, power hunger and sheer size of the Imperium caused civil wars, secessionism and eventual disintegration by 550 AD.

What emerged from Ostia, hadn't inherited the structure it had.

Over-concentration of power was mirrored in decentralization and rising power of warlords in secessionist western provinces ─ those will become the Kingdom of Alsonia (497). Center, eastern and southern provinces were torn apart and plunged into the devastating civil war. Which wasn't wise considering what was on the other side of what is now known as Rio Grande, the border of Nova Ostia and the U.S. of Parlmone.

Fairly sparsely populated northern provinces were of no interest to the ambitious warlords and governors and it was there, where Ostian system would reorganize in the Wolfsburg Academy where minds of all kinds found shelter from the raging civil war. The Treaty of the Eleven Governors (522) made sure the Academy stayed out of trouble because everyone needed knowledge to survive in those lands. It was later the binding factor in formation of the Zeeland Realm (645) ─ divided just like the old Ostia, it was highly militarized country, effectively, a military bureaucracy with strict rules of operation and conduct.

What was left of the civil war to the east turned into an agrarian state, which would later become the Carolina (780). Contrary to Zeeland, Carolina had seen an extreme decrease of military influence and was highly civil, federal and meritocratic. Not fond of feudal chaos of Alsonia or military dictatorship of Zeeland, rulers of that state went the third way, bound together by collectivism, respect and merit, not quasi-formal bonds or military discipline. It worked remarkably well: Carolina transitioned to the republican form of government with much less spilled blood than its counterparts. But it was consumed by systems of their neighbors.

As soon as those entities felt they have reclaimed at least part of the former glory, they laid their claims on the whole ex-Ostia, resulting in nearly constant border conflicts since about 900. That culminated in the Twenty Years War (1454-1474). Ravaging and highly straining on itself, the combination of prolonged stagnation under several long-reigning kings, previous conflicts, the war and the concurrent plague (1473-1476) was enough for Alsonia to collapse into independent feuds in 1475. Marietta of Alsonia barely saved the situation by signing the Rheim Charter (1476). First action of hers was to use whatever she obtained to crush and execute the rebelling feudal families ─ only three of the older families made it to the 1480.

Thus starts the glorious era of the Zeeland-Alsonia.

Founded by the Rheim Charter, it had far less power at its beginning than Zeeland and Alsonia had. Intellectual center of the old Ostia shifted to Carolina, both countries were bled almost dry and the centralized system of Zeeland was shattered by the same plague. In spite of that, Friedrich XII had extreme imperialist ambitions: he personally led expeditions which brought a lot of wealth to revitalize the unified empire. Furthermore, Wolfsburg University kept working fine and it was there where the new command system was born.

It still employed constant rotations every 4 years and a strict age census of 60 years ─ this time, without any exceptions ─ but without parallel military presence and with two major innovations: civil paramilitary police and secret police. Paramilitary forces could keep many things in check without military assistance and was answering to the civil authorities of the civil department; rotations touched those structures too. That released a lot of trained personnel for Friedrich's nearly constant military and colonization campaigns.

The secret police had little relation to the bureaucracy other than standing over it and making sure to "cure" the "sick" parts.

The University also had its unusual role. Every 20 years professors in law and mathematics would gather the data on paperwork and decide what could be simplified. Such edicts were obligatory for every institution to follow. Later that committee would also start specifying time limits for bureaucrats to do any task, again based on cold calculations. Failure to comply with those limits was enough to get thrown out.

This system survived, with minor modifications, up to these days. Ostian bureaucracy is notorious for its size, which was the price of speed. It can do anything very fast but sometimes it requires great paper input ─ and on various languages too, though rarely. Another big stroke in its portrait is extreme centralization ─ this time, around Hauptfort. Finally, Ostia Magna could've only dreamed of technologies Nova Ostia employs to make the highly centralized governing efficient.

All to get rid of federalism and local governing, all to centralize and tighten the state structure.
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Oriflamme
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On Ostian pre-classical and classical philosophy.

Ostian philosophy pre-1580s is of little interest. Heavily influenced by mingled regional branches of Ostian religion and Christianity as well as decayed Ostian philosophy, it slightly resembled European medieval philosophy ─ which makes sense considering Ostia being modeled after mingled Western and Eastern European cultures.

A turn from religious philosophy to materialist way of thought on Ostian territories happened in 1580s and reflected significant shifts on the north-west. Campaigns of Friedrich I (XII) left Zeeland-Alsonia three times the size it was in 1480 by 1515 and all of those territories were overseas colonies which were robbed mercilessly. Lack of older nobility holding vast landmasses (it was mostly purged in 1480s by military bureaucracy), reclamation of land partially funded by colonial wealth and technological advances together formed thriving agricultural sector. Population tripled in 30 years with subsequent growth of towns. More primitive systems of production could no longer provide sufficient product to the growing population but that growth of the population also provided enough workforce to be taught and enough fresh minds to universities. Newer realities cause new philosophical trends ─ and the turn to materialism was just fine enough to the forming bourgeoisie.

This movement lasted for about 150 years before losing its ground to idealists ─ the reasons are no different from RL materialist movement up to Diderot et al. However, their influence contributed much to the May Revolution of 1760, splitting Zeeland-Alsonia on Zeeland, Alsonia, Western and Eastern Neuland Republics (autonomous areas of Alsonia and Zeeland) and what would later become Eastern Xuephoria.

While materialists changed the world around, idealists were reasoning. The revolution was bloody, as it usually stands in Ostian territories, and materialist cadre ─ apart from philosophers many were soldiers, generals, politicians, administrators and such ─ was depleted. The era of Classical Materialism ended by 1785 as the last guns fell silent.

Ostian Classical Idealism started to rise in 1738 with Abel Riel's book "On contemporary philosophy". Riel, Alsonian bourgeois and an owner of an artillery factory ─ it still exists both in Nova Ostia and in FP OCA ─, wasn't a philosopher in the sense that he had no philosophical education. However, he had enough energy and interest to analyze philosophical movements around. He noted that while materialist movement could be as significant as it was ─ indeed, a union fruitful enough to write an encyclopedia couldn't be called insignificant ─ it couldn't overcome difficulties in understanding of thought and that those difficulties may be overcome in idealism. This book of Reil attracted an attention of philosopher in Wolfsburg University named Friedrich Lange and, although Riel couldn't finish his work on this topic ─ he died in 1740 ─ Lange used some of his thoughts in his own work.

Langeanism in its final form is, essentially, RL Kantianism from A to Z. Lange used Reil's work and his own studies on Centralian philosophy and positive sciences to conclude that logic should be the primary area of research for philosophers (that conclusion is sometimes attributed to Reil). Determining thus a place of philosophy, the rest of his thought ─ three "levels" of logic (formal, synthetic, transcendental), thing-in-itself, trascensus ─ is identical to Kantian thought.

Works of Lange appeared not that long before revolution with its executions and concurrent civil wars. This pacifying dualist philosophy immediately attracted intellectuals from all around ─ and a lot of criticism. The main point of attack, like that IRL, was the dualism of Lange and the first direction of attack was, like IRL, from the right, from the subjective idealism fed by revolutionary romanticism. Erich Schultze and Francois Roen both developed similar ideas in that kind; Roen was more influenced by agnostic line of thought but that was fairly insignificant. Both clashed with Lange on philosophical and political topics while he lived: when he died in 1784, they turned on each other and on objective idealists. Roen, however, fell out of the game, volunteering as a soldier and dying on a battlefield in 1790; Schultze died of cholera the following year.

The following criticism of Lange went from objective idealism, still somewhat influenced by romanticism but mostly by positive sciences. The apex of that trend was Erhard Goerdeler.

Goerdeler was working in different conditions than Lange, Schultze and the rest. 1820s were a time of extreme reaction of nationalist and monarchist elements, which certainly affected his worldview. He was an idealist through and through but not irrationalist like his predecessor, Albrecht van Arnholm. Van Arnholm, a specialist in Ancient Ostian philosophy, took some of the ideas of Lange, Schultze and Riel and, through their critique, developed an incoherent and messy system where the main role in epistemology fell to the dialectic transcended into irrational forms of thought like art. Irrationalism was much influenced by Ancient Ostian philosophy in its decline as well as the omnipresent spirit of reaction (it was 1800s; he died in 1806).

Goerdeler broke off with irrationalism of van Arnholm. RL analogy of his system with German Classical Idealism is as simple as it was with Lange: if Langeanism is Kantianism than Goerdelerianism is Helegianism through and through. Those works have exhausted Ostian Classcal Idealism comlpetely, seemingly resolving everything that was wrong with Riel and Lange. They didn't.

New materialist movement arose from idealists on the "left" flank of Goerdelerianism as well as surviving materialist elements, "surviving" not only the war but also the reaction. Some of them like Edouard Saurell, started the Ostian Internationale, thinking that this spearation of Zeeland and Alsonia is entirely illogical and that they should be united again for the sake of cooperation and united development. They explained that using Hegelian ─ sorry, Goerdelerian ─ dialectic. Goerdeler supported the Internationale until his death in 1838.

As for more philosophical questions, it was up to that left movement to employ dialectic in materialism ─ if that was possible.

Karl Hartog and William Blackett did it. Their influence is akin that of Marx and Engels, though it wouldn't be correct to say they match Marx and Engels. It was 1840s ─ the rise of worker movement. And as most of the workers were concentrated in mountainous areas at the south-east of Ostian territories rich in resources but poor in management, it turned out to become a secessionist movement in those areas.

Blackett supported them wholeheartedly and went on to organize the revolt in 1852 ─ stating another war, against both Zeeland and Alsonia. Commanding an army, though not being a military officer, he fell on the battlefield near Hauptfort at 1856. The movement, however, achieved its goal and the Hauptfort Treaty signalled the beginning of the United Territories. Hartog kept working on the philosophy and somtimes messing into politics until he was killed in 1862 by one fanatic ultra-reactionary student.

Thus has ended the era of Ostian classical philosophy.

The positivist technocratic turn of 1870s-1890s and overall decline of the philosophy into methodology of science is the story for some other day.
Edited by Oriflamme, Mar 31 2018, 10:51 PM.
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