Thibby: The Holy See of Visra

The Holy See of Visra
Empire Info
Capital		Vault of the twins
Leader		Seraph Alexander III
Government Type		Theocratic Republic
Dominant Species		Lumii
Population		8.3 Bil.
Anthem		{{{Anthem}}}
Color Scheme		{{{Color Scheme}}}

Government

The Holy See is a theocratic republic. It is led by the Seraph, a hereditary title passed from father to son, who oversees the running of day-to-day affairs, while the laws and rules are determined by the Council of Visra, a senate of clerics from temples all across Lumiite space. Outside of these two bodies is the Inquisitorial Tribunal, a group of three secretive Inquisitors who oversee the republic and ensure that no single figure ever attains true power over all of Visra.

While Senators are commonly voted on by the people, it is often that the elections sway heavily in favor of those with a popular namesake, making progressive law making quite difficult within the government. Because of this, most of the senate are comprised of those with blood ties to the Kingdoms of old.

The Tribune is both a force of spies and warriors who ensure the prosperity of Visra above all else. Two of the Inquisitors oversee internal issues whereas the third turns his attention to exterior threats. The first two chosen by either the Seraph or Council to watch over the other while the third is chosen by both.

Culture

Most of the Lumii culture can be understood through looking into their main religion, which focuses on the worship of the twin deities, Ymir and Sarai. Ymir being the god of war and justice, Sarai being the goddess of love and compassion.

The Lumii religion requires tithes to be paid on a weekly basis and sermons performed on a similar basis. On Visra itself every individual is expected to be a devout worshipper and on some occasions inquisitions are created to root out heretics and nonbelievers. Visran Lumii seem to willingly pay their tithes, as they have full faith in the Holy See to protect them from alien invaders. This has left the majority of the Lumii population on Visra very poor, but surprisingly satisfied with their lifestyle.

The majority of the population of Lumii like to relish in their history, with a plethora of art, music, and pottery to show for. These are hobbies that even poor Lumii can participate in, so while many Lumii are poor, they tend to be very skilled artists of a specific trade. The Holy See's churches promote the arts heavily, claiming that by paying tribute to the days of old, Lumii heritage can help push out alien influence. After the Succession War, this has lead to a near nationalistic approach to Lumii culture on Visra.

Military

The Holy See maintains a large army of knights, squires and lords. These men and women serve as the dedicated local peacekeeping force and would, in theory, help protect Visra in the event of an invasion. The Knights can trace their history back to the knights of eld, clad in heavy plate mail and wielding massive greatswords. While Lumii technology has advanced considerably since then, it is still typical to find Knights outfitted in modern suits of power armor, wielding advanced melee weapons and firearms. When a Lumii joins the Knights, they begin as a squire and must prove their worth to eventually be knighted. The Seraph has a dedicated force entirely to protecting the capital known as the "Temple Knights".

The bulk of The Holy See’s military is controlled by the Tribune, who divide themselves into two parts: The Sable Order, and the Ivory Order. The first commanded by the internal inquisitors who use it as a policing force. The second is commanded by the third Inquisitor and is most often the larger force of the two and the one that is used during times of war. After the Succession War, it was common for veterans within the Ivory Order to be re-assigned to the Sable Order, as less forces were needed for war.

While Visra may be on the lower end in terms of technological supremacy they make up for it by sheer skill and natural talent for espionage and tactical genius. They are often capable of squaring off even against the special forces of the Rokhandans and causing considerable damage. This is attributed to the quality of their training and the devout nature of Lumii who devote themselves to the order.

Visra relies on the Ivory Order for most military functions, however there have been cases in times of war when drafts were initiated to fill out the ranks, however these troops rarely held the success rates of the Inquisitorial orders.

The Visran military is also known for its use of medieval titles to denote rank. The standard ranking is as follows: Footmen-> Initiate-> Squire-> Knight-> Paladin-> Inquisitor-> Lord Inquisitor-> Grand Inquisitor

Economy

Despite being a republic, the Holy See has created a blend of socialized care, with the rare occurrence of capitalist trade. The Holy See discourages too much alien influence on their population, so trade is rarely done unless required to recover from an economic depression.

Part of the economic disparity on Visra has to do with the Holy See refusing to really negotiate with or trade with alien empires. There still exists a great level of bitterness in regards to the Coalition taking advantage of the Lumii, and the Seraph and the Holy See would prefer self-sufficiency over subjugation. Unfortunately, the reality is that Visra does not have many natural resources besides heavy metals and oil; the Lumii do have some mining installations to sift through the asteroid ring that orbits their planets and are sometimes forced to sell these rare metals in the event of economic downturn, but the Holy See has gone through great effort to prevent further influence from outsiders out of fear that another government may ravage their planet like the Coalition did.

Tithes are collected weekly by each city and village's churches. These cities then pool their tithes together, and provide them to the Knights, which pool together the total tithes from each quadrant. Once all tithes are collected, audited, and accounted for, they are given to the Treasury of the Holy See for budgeting for social services. These range from roads, healthcare, emergency services, food distribution, and of course, funds for the military. Should an audit show a discrepancy, the Knights are to report to the inquisitors, who then investigate the source of the shortage, and persecute accordingly.

Because of this, strict tithe collecting leaves the Lumii generally poor, if they are not of high military status or Nobility within the government. However, there seems to be enough basic services offered that even being poor can provide for a family. This economy allowed for the population boom since the upbringing to find Visra at a massive population of 8.3 billion.

To accommodate for such a massive population, the government utilized their tithes to create residential blocks, dedicated entirely to multi-story apartment towers capable of public housing tens of thousands of Lumii. These apartments rarely have enough room for a proper family, yet poor Lumii have found ways to make it work for them anyway. It is common to see a family of 5 or more in a single bedroom apartment-style living.

Nobles and high ranking military live in more traditional houses, with some of the older kingdoms remaining to be homes for nobles with wealthy bloodlines. Ironically, even owning an old commoner's hut is considered higher living, as it means the Lumii at least has land to work with.

Oceans provide the Lumii with the majority of their food, making fish a staple to Lumii diet. Introduction to environmental domes from the Coalition allowed the Lumii to grow plant-based foods in areas normally incapable of doing so. The ability to feed the population allows the economy to sustain itself for some time. However with a large population, over-fishing is common, and food shortages can usher in a depression. To which the Seraph may consider selling Visran metals and minerals to outside traders to sustain itself.

Technology

The Lumii denied much of the technology pushed on by the Coalition's upbringing, but technology that promoted a better social networking was welcomed. Communication phones and computers became common to assist the Lumii in connecting with their family and friends. With the Lumii being family orientated, this technology was well received even by the Seraph and the House of Nobles. However, the Seraph knew that such a massive boom in technology could create the formula for mutiny, heresy, and degeneracy. As such, the Seraph quickly wrote down executive orders demanding strict surveillance and censorship to any and all social media.

Even poor Lumii can get access to communication devices, and internet sponsored entirely by the Holy See. Lumii are not allowed to read about, or communicate with the outside world. Only news published by the Holy See can be accessed, and any criticisms about the government are censored swifty. The inquisitors utilize public networking to silence and destroy anyone using social networking to commit crime, or organize strikes against the government.

Modern day fire arms and armor were also well accepted by the government, and the Knights are well equipped for modern-day combat. However it is common for the Knights to decorate their armor with old iron pauldons and blades, as an homage to their recent history.

Laws

As the Holy See acts as both the church and government, all crime is considered against the church, and therefore unholy. Because of this, punishment for breaking the law can be severe, even for minor infractions. Most laws are referenced from the Holy Book "Zakon of the Twins." Public flogging by Knights and Inquisitors is common when caught committing minor acts. Executions are done for true acts of heresy. However, what is considered an act of heresy is not entirely well written down. As the population of Visra climbs, the government began to consider what was really worth persecuting. No longer does the Holy See enforce traditional gender roles and relationships, allowing men and women to cross lines never considered during the old days.

However, strict policy has been put down on excessive drinking, drug dealing, and prostitution. As alien drugs have managed to invade their black markets, the inquisitors execute sources of drug dealing swiftly. Prostitution is commonly preached as a cordial sin, with both the buyer and the seller risking execution for exchanging currency for sexual favors. While the populace generally accepts prostitution as degenerate heresy, outside governments suspect that Holy See law has slowly become less involved with morals, and more about punishing acts that cannot be collected as tithes. Prostitution and drug dealing fit the description of under-the-table transactions that cannot be properly tithed by the government.

Because the Holy See use such archaic forms of punishment, prisons are few and far between. Public flogging is normally considered embarrassment enough to be considered a proper form of punishment for minor infractions, and prisons are usually only used as execution chambers for those convicted by trial. The Holy See holds a trial by peers, however due to the nationalistic behavior of the Lumii, the conviction rate for criminals is an astounding percentage. To most criminals, going to trial is basically a death sentence anyway, and seems more a formal gesture than an actual fair judicial system.

Only the Seraph may pardon an execution. However, there are no records of a Seraph pardoning in the history of the Lumii race.