Hermea's Founding and the Glorious Endeavor
More than 150 years ago, the gold dragon Mengkare grew fed up with humanity. For generations, he had watched members of squabbling nations and religions swarm over each other like ants, fighting and loving and dying in an endless series of poor decisions, always refusing to realize their natural potential. Yet even as he deplored their lack of foresight, he was fascinated by their dogged resilience—he saw how easily, with a little guidance, they could be prodded and shaped into something truly worthwhile. A magnanimous, high-minded creature by nature, he decided to make the perfection of the human race his personal mission. Mengkare immediately relocated to an uninhabited island in the southern Steaming Sea, where his experiment could go forward without fear of contamination. He then began soliciting volunteers from among humanity’s best and brightest to participate in what he dubbed “the Glorious Endeavor,” a utopian dream that began with the founding of the island’s only city, Promise. Here, safe from warfare and ideological struggle, these paragons of the human race could perfect their arts and bodies, making each successive generation healthier, smarter, and more talented than the one before it. Under the dragon’s careful (and unchallenged) guidance, the small population has grown and thrived. Life is easy and fulfilling in Hermea— or so its ambassadors claim.
Life in Hermea
Here, the government is a massive, sprawling meritocracy, with practically every Citizen wielding some sort of official power depending on her area of expertise. While Mengkare alone has final say over every decision made within his nation’s borders, the dragon is wise enough to allow his subjects to govern themselves in all but the most crucial matters, and to this end he formed the Council of Enlightenment. The 13 members of the Council handle most of the day-to-day duties of governance, gathering information and advising the dragon on important matters.
The shores of Hermea are heavily defended, and outsiders are only rarely allowed access beyond the carefully regulated trading docks. Immigration is strictly controlled by Mengkare himself, and the only way for an outsider to become a Citizen is to be recruited by one of the nation’s traveling undercover scouts, who follow the exploits of every nation’s heroes and report back to the Council of Enlightenment, delivering invitations to those foreign notables deemed worthy. These invitees are granted a one-time offer to join the nation’s slow march toward perfection and live a life of comfort and security. All that’s required in return is for the applicant to cede all personal authority to Mengkare, agreeing to abide by the dragon’s considerable wisdom in all matters.
Nearly all aspects of life in Hermea are decided by a set of rules and regulations sent down from Mengkare. New rules are announced in the Great Square at the base of the capitol’s hill by the gold dragon. Each of these regulations is written down by scribes; each Citizen has a copy of every current order and rule given by Mengkare, and is expected to follow these general policies and procedures. In many ways, society is similar to a military organization in its design. Each individual reports to another (with promotions made by decision of Mengkare by recommendation of the Council) in a strict hierarchy. Violations of these directives are to be corrected by a rule-breaker’s overseer as compassionately and professionally as possible, but repeated or flagrant violations are not tolerated.
Citizenship
Children born in Hermea are given every advantage—educated in magic, art, science, and the martial disciplines according to their interests—until they are 16 years of age. At that point, they are tested by the Council and frequently offered the chance to become Citizens. Children who refuse or are deemed unworthy are sent away and never permitted to make contact with Hermea again. Mating and partnering among Citizens is encouraged, but the courtship process is long and frequently guided by government officials in charge of helping to naturally breed beneficial traits. While the island is primarily populated by humans, Mengkare occasionally allows in members of other humanoid races if they distinguish themselves adequately in a given field if he feels they could be an asset to the community’s genetic pool. Adding the occasional elf, for instance, tends to ensure a long-lived and physically attractive population.
There are thirteen tribes that a Citizen of Hermea might be sorted into upon Citizenship. These tribes give each Citizen his or her surname: Alkaeus, Diocles, Epaphras, Hagne, Hypatia, Lucarus, Nikephoros, Origines, Pelagio, Rhodean, Themostila, Xanthip, and Zyphros. Each of these tribes has a general focus, such as the Lucarus specialty of military tactics and leadership or the Rhodean specialty of child-raising and education. Each of the thirteen tribes has 500 members, divided into five centuries, and is represented at the Council by a consul – the tribe’s most prominent Citizen (as determined by Mengkare). Each of the five centuries is led by a tribune that reports to the consul, and each tribune has ten legates that manage a family of ten. New Citizens are selected from prospective Citizens and placed into the tribe to fill any vacancies immediately after they occur. Once assigned to a tribe, a Citizen cannot switch to another one; asking for a transfer is seen as doubting the wisdom of Mengkara. The Citizen receives a prefix denoting his or her place in the tribe: ex- for Citizens, tal- for legates, et- for the tribunes, and sun- for the consuls. (For example, a Citizen of the Lucarus tribe named Pytros would bear the full name of Pytros ex-Lucarus, while the legate of his family would have the surname tal-Lucarus.)
Those who are not assigned to a tribe, but still deemed fit for Citizenship, are sent to the farms of rural Hermea to await their selection. They are expected to live their lives in the same fashion as Citizens, and those who do so are sometimes rewarded to fill a needed vacancy in Promise. Citizens from the Zyphros tribe watch over the Residents (who are prospective Citizens) as they work in the farms and select their mates for breeding (much as the Rhodean Citizens chart and plan bloodlines to assign romantic mates). Long-term romantic relationships are not allowed; if a romantic partnership does not result in the conception of a child within the first year, it is to be terminated. Romantic relationships that are not the result of assignment must be approved by Mengkare, and are subject to the same guidelines. Once a child is born, it is separated from its parents and placed with the Rhodean tribe for raising and education; it is prohibited to query the identity of one's parents without the express permission of Mengkare.
Generally, a female citizen is expected to have two to three children over adulthood. Most citizens receive their first such assignment before the age of 20. When assigned to mate, the prospective parents will live together in a double-size apartment to aid in conception. Each citizen has a fair amount of space and lives alone (generally) in an apartment. Apartments are assigned by tribe, generally with a century all living in a given building. Legates, tribunes, and consuls receive larger residences with more amenities as a reward for their service.
Recreational sexual behavior is fairly regulated but not prohibited. Unless attempting to conceive a child as assigned or allowed, contraceptive methods are expected. Conceiving a child without permission is absolutely prohibited. No given pair can engage in an active sexual relationship for a period longer than two days unless they are in the process of conceiving. They must petition Mengkare for permission to continue the relationship beyond that point for the purpose of bearing children (up to the one-year limit). These self-originated relationships are heavily scrutinized for appropriate suitability (both in terms of producing children that will benefit the genetic pool and in terms of not being a disruptive development) before approval. Occasionally, the Rhodeans will secretly manipulate a situation to organically introduce a pair in the hopes that they will select each other as mates willingly; this is done as an experiment to see if it produces superior specimens. Homosexuality is not prohibited, but these Citizens are not exempt from being assigned to have children. While Hermean society has a tolerant, progressive worldview, a sense of decorum is expected as far as sexual behavior is concerned.
The Unity Doctrine
While Hermea’s few dealings with the outside world are always fair and polite, if standoffish, not everyone agrees with the country’s goals. To many, the idea of breeding humans like horses or dogs is inherently distasteful, and several major religions (particularly the faiths of Desna, Erastil, Sarenrae, and Shelyn) have condemned the nation’s mission, though their ire may be more inflamed by Mengkare’s staunch refusal to allow any form of organized religion on the island.
Religious beliefs are entirely prohibited, as Mengkare feels that they distract Citizens from their duty to improve themselves and the human condition. In addition to following Mengkare’s commands and rules, Citizens are expected to follow a humanist philosophy that they call the Unity Doctrine. The Unity Doctrine has the following principles: that the desires of the individual are secondary to the needs of the collective, and any individual who believes otherwise is a danger to the community; that science and reason are the key to solving all programs, and belief in the gods are superstitious fealty to powerful, uncaring beings; while all Citizens are to be trained in defense of Hermea, private ownership of weaponry is forbidden and violence against other Citizens is prohibited; and that all of an individual’s needs should be met so that there is no need for greed or selfish desires.
For Hermea’s Residents, the nation remains a shining bastion of virtue, humanity’s best hope of transcending its petty conflicts and achieving lasting greatness. Every decision in the country is made for the greater good, as determined by Mengkare, who genuinely believes in his goal and therefore remains righteous and pure, even when forced to order distasteful actions such as the termination of Citizens who prove disappointing or threaten to disrupt the system. The dragon strives to give his subjects as much free will as he feels they can handle— after all, he’s picked the best and brightest, and believes they ought to be allowed to follow their passions toward greatness—but he has no problem enforcing absolute law when the need arises. What’s more, since all who accept an invitation to join Hermea are required to sign a contract ceding all free will to him before they’re allowed to enter, Mengkare knows his authority is just and legal, and any subjects unwilling to lay down their lives for the cause should have read the invitation more closely.
Enlightenment
With its lofty goals and comfortable, progressive society, Hermean Citizenship is coveted the world over, and many are the disappointed applicants who sail far across the ocean only to be politely but firmly turned away at Promise’s sandstone walls. (Occasionally, the disenfranchised try to land elsewhere on the island and infiltrate the community via stealth, but these hopeful souls are rarely heard from again.) Invitations to join the community are not issued lightly, and each year only a few men and women from across Golarion are welcomed to Hermea’s shores. Each of these is the result of careful study by agents of the Council of Enlightenment, who sometimes follow a prospective Citizen for years before finally revealing themselves, often posing as cohorts, advisors, or bards seeking to chronicle a hero’s deeds. Once an invitation is issued, the recipient has as long as he or she desires to respond, but all decisions are final once made. Once an invitation is accepted, the new Citizen is showered with gifts and transported at the nation’s expense to her new home, where she signs the infamous Contract of Citizenship in the presence of Mengkare himself, and is then set up in the city with everything she needs to begin her new life of enlightenment.
Occasionally, for whatever reason, a Citizen falls from grace or a child born on Hermea fails to pass the tests required to prove his exemplary status. When this happens, the Council does its best to work with the Citizen to resolve any problems that might be leading to disenfranchisement or sub-par performance. If its efforts are not successful, the offending party is quietly sent away in disgrace, and the community does its best to move forward. Hermean society’s understanding in these cases is that the undesirables are returned to mainland Avistan with enough supplies to make their way in the world, and any charred corpses that wash up on the island’s shores are generally believed to be the work of pirates.
Promise
Promise, the only large settlement of note on Hermea (population 6,578) is surrounded by red sandstone walls so high as to make its buildings invisible from the sea, with only the extensive docks in its harbor offering sanctuary to brave, blue-water sailors. Inside, its spires and domes are marvels of modern architecture, and its streets and arching skybridges are kept meticulously clean. Commerce is virtually nonexistent, as Citizens are encouraged to take whatever they need and give freely to others, with those who abuse the system regulated by their neighbors and the Council. Atop a low hill rests the palatial capitol building, its walls gleaming with gold, which houses the Council of Enlightenment and Mengkare himself.
Life in Hermea, whether in Promise proper or on one of the farms that support it (for agriculture has its innovators as well), is just as wonderful as the stories tell. And if those few sailors allowed to trade there whisper of an undercurrent of fear, of rebels hiding in the forests on the far side of the island or infiltrating the Council of Enlightenment itself, then they must surely be mistaken.
Technology in Hermea
Promise is a true technological marvel, boasting a fusion of magic and science that is not seen anywhere else on Golarion. The soldiers who defend the island are armed with incredible weaponry: firearms that are easier to use than wands yet produce incredible flames, blades that can cut through any metal, and shields of force produced by technology rather than magic. Citizens are assisted by simple mechanical servants who aid them with any household tasks they might need. Doctors treat injuries with alchemical remedies rather than banned divine magic, and technological limbs are standard for those grievously injured. Those Citizens who arrive in Promise after living elsewhere in Golarion are amazed by the technology, which far surpasses even that of Alkenstar, but it is simply a fact of life for Hermeans.
No one can explain its source, only that Mengkare gifted it to humanity upon the beginnings of the Glorious Endeavor. The technological wonders of Hermea cannot be sold or brought outside the borders of the island; the penalty for spreading the gifted technology to non-Hermeans is immediate execution. This policy has kept the technology from spreading. Most scholars outside the country have no idea that the hermetic kingdom hoards such extraordinary devices.
Use of technology is widespread. Most citizens take it all for granted. Inside Promise, transit trains connect the different parts of the city on raised rails that jump from spire to spire. Citizens can communicate with one another by whisperlines, small handheld devices that can carry messages to one another. Any number of convenience devices exist, brought on by the urge to innovate and to make human life easier. Cybernetics replace missing or injured limbs and organs, with doctors and surgeons capable of treating disease and injury far more effectively than even most magic. Even the doors of the island are opened by key cards, distributed based on need (for one's personal quarters, for instance) or by role. Recording devices that capture images and sounds can be played back on sightwindow devices. Several of these devices have been placed in the public squares to pass along messages and transmit instructions to the population.
Some have rumored that Mengkare holds still more gifts for humanity, and that he is waiting until they are ready to use them properly and appropriately. The devices are all powered by a pollution-free electricity generation plant in the center of Promise. Items are generally powered by batteries called silverdisks.
