Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States wrote:Some of the world-building for the Western superhero-RP I am cooking up. Keep in mind, the history is written from the perspective of a 19th century upper class academic, and cannot be taken as literally true; just as the understanding of that day, with all the preconceived notions that brings with it. Notice the complete lack of discussion of any other social theory besides social Darwinism.
Hopefully people are still interested, then I will put up an actual OP somewhere this weekend.Witches of the West
1890 – The American West is slowly but surely drawing to a close. The last holdouts of free Native American peoples are being crushed underfoot by the United States, slowly drawing itself together from coast to coast. Railroads crisscross the nation, carving a path through age-old mountains and ancient civilisations alike. The trains bring people, and businesses, and lawmen, and politicians, and the bill is slowly coming due for those who fled from either persecution or prosecution.
Among them are people with unique abilities or powers of their own. The name super-powered is as of yet only used in a few English-language academic articles on the subject. More commonly in academia, they are known as Homme Extraordinaire, following the pioneering French research on the subject. Those outside academia, however, use a term that has been used descriptively by the Church for centuries: Witches.
The American West still holds a few powerful individuals who have so far evaded employment by any government. At one time driven by ignorant persecution for their innate abilities, governments now seek them out for more immediate advantage, a part of the arms race that will come to dominate the early 20th century. The Frontier holds people from every corner of Europe and the US. Descendants of plantation slaves in the American South and Chinese railroad workers in the east, called witch-doctors for their non-western origin, also inhabit the region. The Federal Government, amongst others, seeks all.
That job is now yours. The War Department under secretary Redfield Proctor has put a bounty on the heads of five named individuals believed to be residing in the Utah-Colorado border regions. Meanwhile, the same department has sent a few of its own agents extraordinaire to Green River, where train service for the to-be-completed Denver-Salt Late City Line ends. One of the last unconnected tracts of United States land, it is a symbol for those still evading the reach of the War Department, and a show of force intended to flush out the last remaining individuals still not willing to help complete Manifest Destiny, and the American destiny beyond that.
You are part of that group of agents. Equipped with horses, provisions and weapons, as well as a carte blanche from the War Secretary, you are to locate these individuals and convince them, one way or another, to serve the US cause. During peace time, life of relative luxury awaits in New York, at the West Point campus. Living costs are provided for, and those present are only expected to follow officer training and subsequent courses. Their bounty is for their live capture, but be aware that, should they be unable to come willingly or otherwise, half-bounty is awarded for proof of their deaths.
(Image)
A history of Witchcraft
Historical research into Witchcraft is a tenuous business. Ancient Greek and Roman sources make mentions aplenty of supernatural events, but they involve both powers that have been observed in modern humans, and those who are believed to be beyond the ability of any human carrier. As such, ancient sources are to be mistrusted when concerning Homme Extraordinaire, or Homo Heros. Although it is confirmed by multiple sources that such individuals did exist, and especially that they were used to great effect by peoples opposing Roman conquest. It is believed that the density of Homo Heros was higher in ancient populations than in Dark Age populations, although absolute numbers have steadily risen with population increase.
The Dark Ages proved an unenlightened time for any Homme Extraordinaire. Prosecution of witches, both real and imagined, was extensive, especially after the 14th century plagues and following publication of the Malleus Malificarum, which called for the extermination of all sorcerers. Because the persecutions were so extensive, and executed with so little regard to the presumption of innocence and other fundamental legal principles, it is unknown how many Extraordinaires actually perished in the late middle ages, all throughout the early modern period. It is certain that some of those executed for sorcery must have had extranatural abilities, although the incompleteness of the archives leave much to be guessed about the ratio of innocents to actual Extraordinaires that were killed.
Societal views towards Homo Heros changed with the enlightenment. More and more writers pointed to the persecution of super-powered individuals as an example of irrational governance by divinely inspired monarchies. According to Hobbes, a true wise ruler would use the powers and knowledge given to him by science for rational governance. The leviathan would be able to wield these powers to the betterment of his own people and the destruction of his opponents. Other enlightened writers, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, rejected this, and pointed out the dangers these powerful individuals would have to a free society, and advised their expulsion.
It is at this moment that we must point out a strange and counter-intuitive fact about these special abilities. They do not seem to appear at random throughout the population. There are no records of super-powered monarchs throughout the entire modern period, for instance, and among noble families the affliction is exceedingly rare. Even among the proletariat, these abilities are not evenly distributed. In Europe, we find that these afflictions are most often found in minority populations. The Muslims of Bosnia and the Gypsies are among the most prolific creators, but the Poles too have a larger than average number among them. The protestants in Spain are also more represented, while those in Germany hardly produce at all. In that country, Catholics produce best, with the strange exception of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Outside Europe, however, the prevalence of Homo Heros is much greater, almost double that of any European population. While the Ottomans have a smaller representation overall, it is noticed that the division between the upper and lower classes in terms of production is not that noticeable. The question remains whether the lack of production by European upper classes is due to, as some social Darwinists claim, a stronger moral stock overall, or that the European upper class is more apt to hide the affliction, which is culturally associated with minorities.
Whatever the reason, while science and literature were more accepting of the affliction by the end of the 18th century, governments were still openly hostile. The start of the French revolution promised improvement, and many ancient laws were removed from the books. These attitudes shifted as the Revolution progressed and became more and more violent, with many outspoken proponents of liberty for Extraordinaires disappearing beneath the guillotine. It took until the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte that these restrictions were lifted throughout the French empire, as he made remarkable use of their abilities throughout the war. According to some scholars, the Battle of Austerlitz was the first battle won by these powers, as many agree Bonaparte would have lost the battle had he not had access to some incredibly powerful soldiers.
Still, the defeat of Napoleon and the foundation of the Congress of Vienna meant a regression in the rights of Extraordinaires, as many nations slipped back into reactionary opposition. Extraordinaires were treated as inherently revolutionary and faced the same punitive justice, even if they were themselves not in any way politically involved. This only changed after 1848 with the rise of nationalism, and then, only for the same pragmatic reasons Napoleon had had: a single super-powered individual could, if properly utilised, equal a battery of cannon, without the need for horses or heavy equipment. The battle of Solferino during the Wars of Italian Unification was one of the first battles that truly used super-powered individuals on both sides, and the results were so devastating that they would lead to the foundation of the Red Cross.
That was more than thirty years ago. The world has changed dramatically since then. It is a new age of imperialism, colonialism and nationalism. The Dark Continent has been split up by the Congress of Berlin, and Europeans have slowly been making headway into the continent. Germany and Italy have unified, also representing a unification of the many super-powered individuals, with Italy leading the charge. Those Extraordinaires who were unwilling to partake in this exercise could either flee to the US or China, which had little patience for westerners. At first these refugees to the US were left in peace, but as they started to look abroad for more territorial expansion, the US too began to pick up their own army of witches. Those who lived along the east coast were quickly rounded up; those who could moved west in search of better fortunes.
heh heh Homo Heroes
