Monday, February 26, 2024

Antediluvia: The City-State of Megiddo, the Iron Wall of Spears (Overview)

    Located just north of where the River of the Nameless God and the Hoshama Watercourse meet, Megiddo stands shining. Its outer walls are constructed of tan stone flecked with gold and quartz, and they sparkle dramatically in the sunlight, even at a great distance. When citizens of Megiddo arrive home, they speak of the sparkling stone with relief as being the first sign of safety upon returning from the dangerous wilderness of Antediluvia.
    The city-state of Megiddo is run by the priesthood of the Nameless God, a benevolent deity that encourages kindness and fairness. This does not stop the priesthood from becoming occasionally corrupted by politics and power, but the devout priests that hold fast to the Nameless God's teachings are almost impossible to sway from an honest path. For this reason, Megiddo is looked upon as an excellent place to live, and the city has grown exponentially, and so has the settlement of immigrant people outside the city walls that are largely responsible for farming the land and herding animals that feed the populace. More people arrive weekly to live near the city, or in it. They are always welcomed with open arms as long as they are not afraid to work.
    The leader of the priesthood, and overall ruler of Megiddo, is called the Ecclesiast. He interprets the holy writings of the Nameless God, sets down laws to be followed by the populace, and has a team of priests to see to day-to-day business with a level of detail rivaling the strictest of bureaucracies. However, he is fair and just.  If he is found to be unfair or unjust, he can be replaced with a vote of no-confidence from the priesthood.  He works miracles, as do the other trained priests, and divine magic is a somewhat commonplace, but always amazing, sight within the city. The priests of the Nameless God are some of the only users of magic in the world of Antediluvia that aren't corrupted and twisted by their use of magic, since it comes from a benevolent source of power. Most other wizards and priests of Antediluvia traffic with dark powers rather than powers of light.
    Every seven days, all activity in and around the city ceases, and a day of rest is taken. This serves both to refresh workers and to give them a day to worship the Nameless God in peace. If someone chooses to work, they may be reprimanded or asked to come to the temple to worship, but nothing more severe than that will happen. There is a bit of social pressure to attend temple, but it's always couched in positivity and not ostracism. However, other faiths are not allowed in the city, and the worship of other gods is strictly forbidden. No temples to other gods exist here, and would be destroyed if they were built. If the priesthood finds out about the worship of another god in the city, they will take up arms against the offenders, and they will be driven from the city, and hunted in the wilderness until they are destroyed. One of the tenets of the Nameless God is that no other god shall be worshipped in Megiddo, and so offense runs deep when it happens. Dark gods are especially hated, and extra attention is paid to anyone rumored to belong to the cult of a dark god.

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