Introduction
to Vacith
This project has, as its
origin, an expansive idea for a world—somewhat fantasy, but perhaps
science fiction in terms of its worldly connection to our own history
and planet—which I generated between the ages of 15 and 16, writing
a rudimentary 50 page history of a Kingdom that develops on the
Pacific Northwest coast of North America some seven or eight millenia
after our own.
Essentially, the history
traced the emergence and development of the so-called Royal Domain of
Vacith (built atop and around an asymmetrical radius of the largely
disintegrated remains of Vancouver) alongside the re-emergence of
civilized humanity after a large scale extinction event. This
extinction event took the form of a deadly epidemic disease, with an
odd, tiny minority of people surviving as a result of fluke genetic
immunity. These survivors, spread throughout the width and breadth of
the globe and representative of most of the diverse elements of the
human race, presided over the first steps in a collective regression
of the human condition. Some facilitated the preservation of
artifacts and stories from one generation to the next, while others
either tried, only to fail due to the eventual extinction of their
'tribes' or groups to inter-tribal warfare, new diseases, a lack of
sustainable survival strategies, or connection and immersion with
other groups, etc., or a simple series of mistellings,
mistranslations, general misinterpretations, or literal
interpretations of storytelling elements originally used only as
metaphorical or allegorical devices of description for a lack of
better words.
The original inspiration
for the world came from Walter M. Miller, Jr's famous
post-apocalyptic neo-medieval novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz.
Instead of a North American
neo-medievalism arising as a result of nuclear war, however, the
extinction (or, near-extinction) event was, as already stated, an
outbreak of an epidemic disease sometime in the early to mid 21st
century. My original draft ideas for both the history and story were
excellent starts, ones I am proud to have made as an interested teen,
but were better left to simmer on a very low heat as I grew older and
learned much, much more. Though I had been excited about the story
and the history I had made, there was always a part of me that felt
my ignorance was still too great at the time for any reliably
believable expansion of the world, let alone a novel set within it.
My attention span as well was too frantic and fragmented for any
consistent focus on my part.
Over
the course of the next 7 years, I never wholly revisited the world,
but new limbs of nuance began to sprout from the vastness of the idea
in itself. My relentless pursuit of intellectual, historical, and
worldly context often evoked deeper contemplation of what such a
world could actually be like. I decided there had to be a major
dislocation between perceived historical medievalism and this
fantastically fictional neo-medievalism; it had to have evolved on
its own progressive thread, not one so closely mirroring the true
historical “Dark Ages” as we know it, with its Kings and Queens,
monasteries and monks, horses, swords, bows, and arrows, as
realistically speaking, many of these things would not exist in such
a painfully clear template. This is something even Walter M. Miller,
Jr could not escape in A Canticle for Leibowitz,
having created a world—an incredible world, no doubt—but one
which essentially fused actual medievalism with 20th
century modernity. Written in 1959, it was a timely work which
addressed the most pressing fear of its era—nuclear war—and acted
as a sort of fantasy warning of what was possible now that humanity
had the ability to annihilate itself.
“The
Distance”
In
the world I created (and am still creating), there was no nuclear
extinction, and therefore there are still many surviving relics of
our era, to which little to nothing is known by the inhabitants of
this future planet. Anything which is known was passed from one
generation to the next, and, like a very long game of telephone, the
message distorted in most places over time to interpret stories of
flying machines—planes, obviously—as sorts of strange,
unemotional mechanical deities capable of transporting the good to
where ever they wish to go, or laying waste to entire cities and
regions if a form of karmic recompence isn't reconciled before a
predicted day of judgement, during which it's said the 'sky would be
covered to black by the cylindrical wing gods,' and those tribes
found guilty of disgression would be bombed into extinction, and
tribes found worthy of redemption would be carried away to a
spiritual transit point (not unlike Purgatory) where they would be
ritually purified before becoming One.
The
survivors of the original disease, at least in the parlance of the
region at the heart of the story, are seen as semi-deities who
oversaw the transition of the world from the hands of the departing
god-race to their world: a delicate world of omnipotent mortality.
The survivors are termed “the Ancient Immunites,” and are
acknowledged to have lived among the previous mythological
civilizations of gods, but were not gods themselves, hence why they
were not called to become One with the rest. They are seen as the
most perfect incarnation of current humanity, with every human born
of them since seen as regressing a step lower in divinity with each
new generation. This regression is known to most as “the Distance.”
“The
Distance” became a very ingrained metaphysical concept with the
developing tribes of the old Pacific Northwest. Different religious
and philosophical orientations sprouted from it as some saw “the
Distance” as something that would grow eternally wider and wider
until men were once again part of the earth, coming to be One in a
literal, organic roundabout sense. This is in contrast to others who
saw “the Distance” as growing wider and wider over time, only to
reach a certain zenith and begin to close by progression in the
opposite direction, at the end of which the 'cylindrical wing gods'
would arrive to black out the sky and bring all worthy souls to
ascension in the said spiritual purgatory until they became One,
erasing all the rest into physical and spiritual non-existence. Still
other, more unorthodox thinkers believed “the Distance” was
something which ebbed close at times, and dipped far away at others,
coming to this conclusion through the observation of moving tides.
Vacith
Society
More
important than the actual history of the world is the myriad of ways
this history is interpreted by the differing general portions and
religious / metaphysical sects of Vacith society, and how these
interpretations are applied both practically and spiritually in
contemporary individual, group, and societal settings and
circumstances. For example: how does the concept of “the Distance”
affect one spiritual sect to abstain from all forms of resource
extraction, while to another, “the Distance” seems closer to
being closed by a somewhat relentless project of urban
infrastructural development and material1
contribution to the cultural high arts?
Like
any society as seen in the non-conflated 'flesh,' if we may call it
that, philosophical and religious diversity of opinion is the rule,
rather than the exception. In the original draft of the history
written about 7 years ago, there were times of authoritarian kings
and rebellion, periods of openness, tolerance, and progression, as
well as long spaces of time in which little to nothing of decided
historical importance occurred. With this critical re-visitation and
reevaluation of the world, as I said, the very existence of a
medieval political structure of Kings and Queens comes into question.
It seems clear that, regardless of any tidbits of real historical
information on the medieval period which may have survived the mass
extinction, or impressions of the pop-cultural representation of
medievalism thereof, this would still not constitute a historical
template with any sort of rational precedent justifying the literal
adoption of a structure on par with, or exactly the same as those of
medieval Western Europe. For this reason, it seems clear that a
greater sense of creative depth will need to be applied in the
reconstitution of this world's political structure, one which must
start with the legacy of our own institutions as they would've been
known to the Ancient Immunites. This may, in itself, preclude almost
any reference to Kings, Queens, and royalty altogether, as the
passing of seven millennia, with our real contemporary world as the
precedent, would demand an entirely different (perhaps even alien, in
some ways) evolution of human political structures. Of course, it
must be noted that they would not be more advanced, as is obvious,
but victim to the collective regression of the race, giving their
society parallel to medievalism in the width and breadth of their
dogmas, superstitions, and general lack of education beyond a few
elite-groups who specialize in the 'arts of recall.'2
Another
essential point, often inferred in the last few paragraphs, is that
this society does not possess an egalitarian system of written
literacy. This isn't to say that literacy has dissolved, however;
more accurately, it is a deliberately 'endangered species,' of sorts;
one that has survived in the ruling upper echelons, protected and
taught to certain elite-groups in secret by an ancient Holy Order.
Due to the teaching of literacy being such a tightly-guarded secret,
many who witness a literate individual read and repeat what they've
read are lead to believe this is a skill granted at birth through
inheritance. Literacy is seen as a dangerous gift, useful in the
hands of those cultivating order and balance, and chaotically
empowering in the hands of rogue individuals. Strangely enough,
however, is the fact of freedom of speech, and yet no freedom of
literacy. To speak, it is suggested, is one thing; to write and
record for posterity, completely another. Many in the ruling classes
believe “the Distance” can only be closed through the careful and
deliberate cultivation of a historical narrative as told through the
Chosen, not through the free interpretation of such a narrative in
writing as to cause the truth to become an apparently relative
concept.
_ _
_
Now
that we have touched upon the religious, philosophical, and
metaphysical constructs and concepts central to this neo-medieval
society (emphasis on “neo” for “new” as opposed to “neo”
implying “here's literally the Medieval Ages transposed on a
hypothetical future”), I feel it would be of immense value to give
the reader an idea of what this world might look like in operation
and in fact; one important exploration is that of politics and
political terminology. This is still something I believe needs some
mulling over in my head, so I'll start with describing the obvious
consequence of all politics: defense in general, but military in
particular.
The
primary threat to the Vacith are the nomadic tribes spread across the
continent on all sides. Many are only violent in defense, opting to
strive for peace unless all other measures fail or necessity seems to
demand it. Amongst the great multitude of nomadic tribes, however,
there is no real homogeneous standard. Some abide by twisted cults of
extreme violence and sacrifice, while others remain nomads in order
to facilitate trade between established continental societies, as
well as other tribes with wares of value. Still others resolve to
remain neutral, either fearing the great societies or operatively
indifferent to civilizations in general. A small minority of the
neutral tribes were once ultra-violent enemies of one of the great
societies, being decimated through warfare and henceforth remaining
peaceful, at least toward the civilizations. Some remain arbitrarily
violent toward other nomadic tribes for a multitude of reasons, or,
at the very least, retain cults of extremely perverse sacrificial
worship.3
Only in a very, very small minority of cases has a defeated tribe
reversed its cultural practices entirely to reflect peace, rather
than war. Often, this has only occurred to tribes within a very close
standard proximity to one of the great societies who experienced
military defeat more than once and hence succumbed to a felt external
necessity to change drastically with regards to internal cultural
practices.
The
Vacith fight sporadic campaigns against raiding nomads on their
borders, in some cases causing a cultural defection of sorts through
which both individual as well as families of nomads come to settle
inside Vacith territory and recondition themselves to a stationary,
agriculture-based lifestyle. A select few of these nomads are drafted
into the army as tribal intelligence sources as well as interpreters
and intermediaries. There can even occasionally be a defected nomad
who returns to live with their tribe as a representative Vacith
emissary of sorts, kept in loyal reserve for times of need.
All
able-bodied men and women, when they come of age, are conscripted
into 3 years of compulsory service with the Vacith army. The Vacith
army consists of 6 main echelons: the first is the general
foot-soldier, the Hard-Boot, usually comprised of basic conscripts
who have finished basic training and continue their training
throughout their 3 years of active service; they are armed with
either retro-fit axes usually used in the harvesting of timber, with
a newly-attached mesh grip for better dexterity control, or a basic
broadsword-style weapon mass-produced for war and civil defense. The
second is the Wheel-Shod, a bicycle cavalry unit of sorts,4
comprised of trained and skilled riders who attach an extremely sharp
iron pike to a fitted device on the front-right of the bicycle, being
sure it exits sharply from the mid-left cleft of a built-on
protective shield visor also made of iron. During a charge, the
Wheel-Shod's try to find a declining slope from which to pedal and
then glide into a concentrated group of enemies; once the bicycles
make contact, the soldier is trained to leap off (preferably landing
on their feet) and fight hand-to-hand with sharpened daggers
specifically curved to allow quick-slice finishes to the throat. To
minimize any lack of agility, each Wheel-Shod soldier is fitted with
a light chain armor that does well against broadside slashes, but can
be vulnerable to sharp and specific jabs. Members of these brigades
are chosen on the basis of observed combat ability and skill,
particularly in balance-related exercises.
The
political structure of Vacith society developed gradually, having as
its remote origins a council of different tribes rallied together by
the granddaughter of the Ancient Immunite of the region somewhere
around 200 years after the extinction event.
1 - Material,
as in sculpture and painting as opposed to the 'arts of recall,'
such as music and storytelling. Something with a permanent physical
manifestation, not something requiring performance.
2 - For
example: music (including instrumentation), storytelling, oral
histories, poetry, and a strange trickled-legacy of hip-hop in the
form of syncopated acapella rap-like poetry (slam poetry to very
base rhythms, essentially).
3 - Though,
it must be noted, this is often
only seen through the eyes of the beholder, one must recognize both
that the operative subjectivity's of these tribes see no wrong in
their practices, and that the practices in themselves can include
the sacrificial rape and murder of a newborn daughter or son as an
offering of 'clean blood' to their animist deities. Witnesses,
whether born of a civilization or another tribe, illicit a very
strong emotional response from such practices, creating a loose
collective standard of what can be considered “evil” or
“barbaric” by groups in contrast.
4 - Though
the 'bicycle' is not known as such,
and is an elaborate evolution originating from the design of models
whose practical use survived the extinction event.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A PERSONAL PROJECT, AND STILL VERY MUCH A WORK IN PROGRESS. TO SEE THE ORIGINAL DRAFT PLANS FOR THE WORLD, WRITTEN BETWEEN 2009 AND 2010, FOLLOW THE LINKS PROVIDED BELOW:
The Original "Cali Rajiin" story outline:
Old Map of Post-Apocalyptic North America + Political Descriptors:
Old Map of Post-Apocalyptic Europe + Political Descriptors:
The Original 50-page Timeline of the History of the Vacith Empire:
All of the above are no longer relevant, valid, or, to get lofty, official, and Biblical, no longer "canonical" to the new phase in the story's development and the evolution of the world. They do, however, provide the basic bedrock for the current iteration.
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