The Baeshènz - A History; Chapter 32: Rise of The Admirals
Apr 3, 2015 5:41:53 GMT
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Post by Dominion of Zabéara on Apr 3, 2015 5:41:53 GMT
...the Dominion conquest of the Diamond Empire proved to have a highly destabilizing effect on the former's state structure. The long-established dominance of the clergy was predicated upon a complex set of interacting institutions that compartmentalized and coopted other groups and sources of power.
Space exploration had begun to upset this balance. When a large Kortl fleet destroyed several Dominion civilian ships and killed a million colonists before moving within striking distance of Zabeara itself, the Dominion's shocked leadership massively invested in building a military capable of protecting the Home Core and projecting Dominion power beyond.
The dramatically enhanced strength, size and scope of the Dominion's Holy Navy and Army created new institutions, most notably the Admiralty, and with it new interests and stakeholders. Although initially the new military institutions were strictly subservient to the clergy of the Holy City, war with the Diamond Empire gradually changed this state of affairs. Control of the war effort led the Admiralty to increasingly stretch its reach into every corner of Dominion society.
The seizure of the Diamond homeworld, in retrospect, was the tipping point that led the Dominion to truly being its slide into militarism. Not only did the quick victory greatly enhance the prestige of the rising military class, but the military occupation of the Diamond empire also provided the Admiralty with direct control and access to a huge resource base. While in theory the General Government of the Diamond occupation was beholden to the Clerics, its actual administration was fundamentally controlled by the massive military presence in the General Government's space as a border territory with the Kortl. Not only did control of this territory provide an independent resource base for the Admiralty, but also allowed individual admirals and generals to enrich themselves for personal gain. Increasingly, they found the airy, detached and arrogant pronouncements of the Lords of The Faith frustrating.
To this increasingly toxic dynamic was the sore issue of class relations. For centuries Dominion society had been exceptionally unequal and stratified. While a small hereditary elite controlled most of the Dominion's wealth and productive assets, the vast majority of subjects lived in abject poverty and squalor. Even as the Dominion's scientists successfully developed technology as advanced as other space-faring races, a majority of Dominion subjects lived without basic amenities such as indoor plumbing or electronic devices. As the Dominion military rapidly expanded, its ranks were filled with those from these lower classes. As the Lords of the Admiralty gorged themselves over the carcass of their Diamond victims, such were the spoils that they trickled down to a great many of their formally impoverished warriors. Returning to their villages (relatively) wealthy, a great many of the Dominion's poor saw the military as the path to prosperity....
Space exploration had begun to upset this balance. When a large Kortl fleet destroyed several Dominion civilian ships and killed a million colonists before moving within striking distance of Zabeara itself, the Dominion's shocked leadership massively invested in building a military capable of protecting the Home Core and projecting Dominion power beyond.
The dramatically enhanced strength, size and scope of the Dominion's Holy Navy and Army created new institutions, most notably the Admiralty, and with it new interests and stakeholders. Although initially the new military institutions were strictly subservient to the clergy of the Holy City, war with the Diamond Empire gradually changed this state of affairs. Control of the war effort led the Admiralty to increasingly stretch its reach into every corner of Dominion society.
The seizure of the Diamond homeworld, in retrospect, was the tipping point that led the Dominion to truly being its slide into militarism. Not only did the quick victory greatly enhance the prestige of the rising military class, but the military occupation of the Diamond empire also provided the Admiralty with direct control and access to a huge resource base. While in theory the General Government of the Diamond occupation was beholden to the Clerics, its actual administration was fundamentally controlled by the massive military presence in the General Government's space as a border territory with the Kortl. Not only did control of this territory provide an independent resource base for the Admiralty, but also allowed individual admirals and generals to enrich themselves for personal gain. Increasingly, they found the airy, detached and arrogant pronouncements of the Lords of The Faith frustrating.
To this increasingly toxic dynamic was the sore issue of class relations. For centuries Dominion society had been exceptionally unequal and stratified. While a small hereditary elite controlled most of the Dominion's wealth and productive assets, the vast majority of subjects lived in abject poverty and squalor. Even as the Dominion's scientists successfully developed technology as advanced as other space-faring races, a majority of Dominion subjects lived without basic amenities such as indoor plumbing or electronic devices. As the Dominion military rapidly expanded, its ranks were filled with those from these lower classes. As the Lords of the Admiralty gorged themselves over the carcass of their Diamond victims, such were the spoils that they trickled down to a great many of their formally impoverished warriors. Returning to their villages (relatively) wealthy, a great many of the Dominion's poor saw the military as the path to prosperity....