[IW] What does the world of Cyrano look like?

[ericthered]

The text says "a triad society", rather than "Triads" in general. So only one triad society figures it out. I think the old triad societies are mostly secret societies with religious trappings and the goal of restoring native chinese rule, especially in the 1800's. So we have one of these societies that figures out the secrets of the jansenites. They could be a single group, but I suspect there is at least a power struggle between prince Tsa and the traditional triad leaders.

We have a minor knot to unravel with the Han invasion. The europeans had enough power to invade china to "loot and conquor", but once a faction had equal technology, the european armies were "minimal" and "slack". The Manchu empire falls before the europeans invade and accidently share their technology, and is divided up by warlords. I suspect the Han armies have their roots in this, which mean that each warlord likely ruled over one of the modern chinese provinces, given that the bones of the chineese province system are 400 years old or so.

So maybe the Manchu Dynasty fell (triad scorery involved?) and the middle kingdom falls into the hands of about 20 warlords, each controlling a province or so. The Triad (there is only one now!) gives three of these warlords Jansenite tech, hoping that if one of them betrays them, the other two will bring him in line. These three crush the other armies, incorporate them into their own, and then launch attacks against the europeans. Tactics and Technology rapidly escalate, with Dutch mastery of the seas finally bringing a stable border.

The Han empire will still have the warlord mentality, and the Triad will be trying to pull the strings so that it can become officially in charge. The Warlords are torn between watching each other, watching out for the Triad, and consolidating their existing holdings. And who your governor is can make a LOT of difference.

How does it sound?

[warellis]

I sort of think the triads in general became warlords.

You might not really have those three being Triads anymore but more like one of the Warlords of the RoC era in China after 1911.

When the Manchu Empire collapsed in the 1850s, Christian adventurers swarmed into China to bring the light of civilization to that unfortunate land – and, sadly, to loot and conquer. A brilliant Triad society studied the Jansenist devices, and made their own fiendish improvements – when the armies of Kiang Ho, Prince Tsa, and Yue-Liao emerged from the Asiatic interior in 1892, they were more than a match for the minimal armies of Christendom, made slack by decades of peace.

Because this reads like criminals who became legitimate via military power, you could say. Like to use an example, many revolutionaries often start with stuff like say bank robberies, a clearly criminal activity, to get some cash flow. And then they legitimize themselves via defeating and conquering their homelands and becoming the new leaders.

I'm beginning to think each little warlord clan is sort of master of their own city or territory, thus explaining why the CR is 4-6, and the clan stuff.

Essentially the Han Empire here is a loose alliance of sorts.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by warellis

I sort of think the triads in general became warlords.

You might not really have those three being Triads anymore but more like one of the Warlords of the RoC era in China after 1911.Because this reads like criminals who became legitimate via military power, you could say. Like to use an example, many revolutionaries often start with stuff like say bank robberies, a clearly criminal activity, to get some cash flow. And then they legitimize themselves via defeating and conquering their homelands and becoming the new leaders.

I'm beginning to think each little warlord clan is sort of master of their own city or territory, thus explaining why the CR is 4-6, and the clan stuff.

Essentially the Han Empire here is a loose alliance of sorts.

One thing to remember is that the triads started as revolutionary organizations rather than organized crime.



I think "City" is a bit too small to be a credible threat or for the GM to keep track of. Giving each Warlord a chunk of territory the size of England or Spain is about as small as I'd want to go, and still leaves several dozen warlords. And some places I'd want in bigger chunks, like the various pieces of Africa.



Yeah, I'm thinking of china's warlord era as a heavy inspiration for the politics of Han Eurasia.

[warellis]

Originally Posted by ericthered

One thing to remember is that the triads started as revolutionary organizations rather than organized crime.

I think "City" is a bit too small to be a credible threat or for the GM to keep track of. Giving each Warlord a chunk of territory the size of England or Spain is about as small as I'd want to go, and still leaves several dozen warlords. And some places I'd want in bigger chunks, like the various pieces of Africa.

Yeah, I'm thinking of china's warlord era as a heavy inspiration for the politics of Han Eurasia.

I find it interesting neither French Outremonde or the Han Empire have any separate CRs for anything like non-Han ethnicity (for the Han Empire) or anything like slaves.

I think it was in the 1600s & 1700s when stuff like the Caribbean or North American sugar & tobacco plantations were up and running?

[patchwork]

The Han (they aren't an Empire at the moment) have CR 4-6 and we aren't told on what basis the division is made. I would make it geographic but ethnicity is depressingly plausible, as is religion.

Louis busts up a ring of criminal slavers in his origin write-up, so it seems slavery is happening on a small scale despite being illegal.

It's also possible that transporting slaves offworld never seemed like a good idea, so that abolition was accomplished by default when the Han overran Europe.

[warellis]

Originally Posted by patchwork

The Han (they aren't an Empire at the moment) have CR 4-6 and we aren't told on what basis the division is made. I would make it geographic but ethnicity is depressingly plausible, as is religion.

Louis busts up a ring of criminal slavers in his origin write-up, so it seems slavery is happening on a small scale despite being illegal.

It's also possible that transporting slaves offworld never seemed like a good idea, so that abolition was accomplished by default when the Han overran Europe.

Speaking of ethnicity, I notice Louis doesn't have any issues with working with Chinese or East Asians or whatever in general. Or at least, there is no mention of wariness in his writeup about them.

With the forced exile of Europe in general to places outside of it, it's a bit surprising he doesn't have tensions toward them.

As for slavery, I wonder how much Jansenist psitech allowed for easing of labor on stuff like harvesting of crops.

Because in some ways it sounds like economics of labor changed thanks to their tech potentially.

Honestly, I wonder about the state of robotics in Cyrano.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by warellis

Sy, I wonder how much Jansenist psitech allowed for easing of labor on stuff like harvesting of crops.

.

Hrm, I don't have anything directly for harvesting. "Plants" + "Psi" for me comes up with studying plant auras with kirlian photography and building empathic broadcasters to beam happy thoughts at the plants to make them grow better.

This sort of psitech probably doesn't lead to robots. Telekinetically operated machines sound more likely.

Or maybe a Jansenst sits in a crystal amplifier ina trance and all the ears of corn detach themselves and float towards the harvest wagon.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by patchwork

The Han (they aren't an Empire at the moment) have CR 4-6 and we aren't told on what basis the division is made. I would make it geographic but ethnicity is depressingly plausible, as is religion.

They're calling themselves the Han, which is a bad sign as far as ethnicity goes: anytime after the mongols its an ethnic reference (and possibly even before that).


Even if they are treating everyone equally according to their ethics code, its going to be a hard and painful transition for people whose grandparents weren't raised with a compatible way of life.

Louis busts up a ring of criminal slavers in his origin write-up, so it seems slavery is happening on a small scale despite being illegal.

It's also possible that transporting slaves offworld never seemed like a good idea, so that abolition was accomplished by default when the Han overran Europe.

I believe that slavery was a stronger institution in the Spain and Portugal, who first colonized the new world, than it was in France. A version that is closer to serfdom or an indentured system that frees the victim after so many years. That's one angle that could be looked at.

[warellis]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Hrm, I don't have anything directly for harvesting. "Plants" + "Psi" for me comes up with studying plant auras with kirlian photography and building empathic broadcasters to beam happy thoughts at the plants to make them grow better.

This sort of psitech probably doesn't lead to robots. Telekinetically operated machines sound more likely.

Or maybe a Jansenst sits in a crystal amplifier ina trance and all the ears of corn detach themselves and float towards the harvest wagon.

What about some sort of mechanized reaper powered by crystal batteries?

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by patchwork

The Han (they aren't an Empire at the moment) have CR 4-6 and we aren't told on what basis the division is made. I would make it geographic but ethnicity is depressingly plausible, as is religion.

The CR range does give room for group-based oppression. Perhaps it isn't strictly racial as we see it, but the "clan/tribal" that is in power is of East Asian origin, albeit maybe at least mixed between the 'Han Chinese' we think of these days and also Mongol, Turkic, Manchu, even Korean & Japanese.

Certainly the people of Europe are not in the ruling clans, and are under CR6. Things are probably easier in the East Asian home of the Han Empire, and mixed in South Asia & North Africa, depending on local resistance/co-opting.

Originally Posted by patchwork

Louis busts up a ring of criminal slavers in his origin write-up, so it seems slavery is happening on a small scale despite being illegal.

It's also possible that transporting slaves offworld never seemed like a good idea, so that abolition was accomplished by default when the Han overran Europe.

Are there native Martians/Venusians? That would seem to fit with this world, and others with fantastic other planets (Etheria, Roma Universalis), but doesn't seem to be directly mentioned.

Natives of the conquered planets (presuming they don't die of imported disease like Native Americans) would make better labor force than importing humans across the heavens.



Here's the listing of Great Powers:

France Outremonde (feudal, CR3), Han Empire (clan/tribal, CR4-6), Dutch East India Company (corporate state, CR5), Kingdom of New England (dictatorship, CR4), Brazilian Empire (oligarchy, CR4), Holy Mexican Empire (theocracy, CR5).

None of those are democracies, and the ruling cliques would seem to be originated in certain races/religions.

But there could be some leeway. In the European-derived states, loyal non-Europeans who fought the Han could have been elevated, like Afro-Caribbean sailors at the Battle of Bermuda. There could be some mixing with non-white locals, such as in cosmopolitan Nouvelle Orleans or the more (relatively) relaxed Brazilian Empire (think a bit of Shikaku-Mon Brazil). Pious men of many races rise in the Holy Mexican Empire - and the Jansenist Order. And hard-working employees of the Dutch East India Company have a chance to rise.

This could extend to the Han Empire, where those who joined in its repulsion of the Europeans form their own privileged clans, like Nepalese Gurkhas, Punjabi Sikhs, and various Turkmen.

Meanwhile, other racial groups could be specifically oppressed, particularly in the newer Han Empire, such as pious Muslims from Algiers to Java (and their refugees might have corresponding higher, or at least less-low, status in the anti-Han states).

And then there are the few people & places that try to stay out of the great conflict, like African states or perhaps at Russian Ayeska, that are just inscrutably foreign.



Plus, there's been over fifty years since the rise of The Han Empire, so some time to adjust to the new world.