Priam
Priam
History: Priam appears to have housed a central garrison for the Gemini systems prior to the sundering. The Lycurgans hold that they, the descendants of that garrison, came from a slave army, given their freedom in exchange for honorable service. The truth of this will likely never be known. Nevertheless, during the upheavals surrounding the sundering, Priam appears to have emerged almost unscathed. At this time, it appears that the Lycurgans quickly organized themselves into a militaristic aristocracy, complete with a king, and suppressed all military or violent uprising on the planet. Although they did subdue the entire planet, they then proceeded to carve out a section of the planet for themselves, allowing the other cities and groups on the planet to organize themselves as they saw fit. In short order, two democracies emerged: throughout their history, these have remained miraculously unmollested by the Lycurgans, although both willingly submitted themselves to pay tribute to the Lycurgan king, which they do to this day.
Having quickly contained the situation on their own planet, the Lycurgans, apparently hungry for action, sent many expeditions to the other planets in the Castor system to see to affairs there. Thus began the long and storied role of the Lycurgans as the Gemini's best mercenaries (and undoubtedly the best military force period). Throughout the history of the Gemini, the lycurgans have served, and continue to serve as the military enforcers of the megacorps, as enforcers for the Aeneans, and as defenders of merchants against piracy.
Politics: The lycurgans are a monarchy, although the exact workings of their government are complex: the king is elected from the highest ranking officials, and may never come from the same bloodline as the previous king. The king rules for life, and has supreme power, but social taboos prevent him from interfering significantly in the affairs of each nobleman's domain except in extraordinary circumstances. Lycurgan society is carefully stratified, with all actual lycurgan citizens aristocracy of some sort, ruling over peasantry, artisans, and merchants, as well as slaves. All members of the aristocracy must serve in the Lycurgan military for a minimum of 15 years, beginning at age 18: most marry and beget their first child before that point.
Military: The Lycurgan military is well trained, well organized, superbly led, and nearly fearless, but very small. Lycurgans are organized in ten man units, the smallest mercenary force they hire out. The military is centrally composed on the aristocracy, but is actually bolstered significantly by Men-at-Arms: non aristrocratic retainers of the aristocrats that serve in exchange for improved rights, pay, and the opportunity for social advancement. The Lycurgan military contains no navy, and even their number of atmospheric fighters is not large, (although these craft are of superb quality): the Lycurgans supply men, not vehicles (although they are trained in the use of many fighting vehicles). Much of their equipment dates from the sundering, and is maintained in a semi-religious manner, while new equipment is always bought from top of the line stocks from the megacorps.
Technology: The Lycurgans do little technological development themselves: they receive significant tribute and do a lively trade in a variety of goods, notably agricultural products, and they make significant profit from their military exploits: much of this money goes to purchase top end technologies. Priam is a very beautiful planet, and it is considered the prime luxury vacation destination for all the rich folk of the Gemini (another significant source of income): thus besides military technology, much of the fanciest things from the luxury market find themselves here. The Lycurgan Kings have long been known as masters of diplomacy, and the king personally entertains many of the rich visitors, negotiating for the benefit of his people. Although the lycurgans have access to genetic and cybernetic technologies, they rarely employ them: in general, the Lycurgans prefer to let technology enter their own lives as little as possible.
Social: The lycurgans, as some historians of the Gemini have described them, are an "odd bunch". During the sundering, the lycurgans were the primary military of the system and they subdued fighting on their planet, but kept completely within the domain that had been assigned to them. Rather than extend their operations to other planets, they took the subsequent calm on Priam and established their own society: they enslaved those societies who were uncooperative with their plans for Priam and supported those societies that played along. Their own society became an aristocratic monarchy modelled in some respect on their previous unit organization. At this point, they named themselves Lycurgans, with their capital Lycurgus. They then sent their units out to work as mercenaries in the conflicts throughout the Twin Systems. Here, they distinguished themselves, acquired tremendous wealth and slaves, and brought them back to Priam. During this time, word had spread about the peace on Priam, leading to significant immigration: these people entered the Lycurgan society as "indentured servants", one rank above the slaves. Through their military exploits, Lycurgus flourished, and in this same process, the society became ever more stratified and complex. By the end of the Sundering Wars, The Lycurgans were the most skilled fighters and most wealthy individuals in the Gemini. Left with little to do, Lycurgus looked as if it might consume itself: instead, they established a complex honor system and an aristocracy to govern their new acquisitions and citizens.
What emerged was a strange carbon copy of a military society mixed with a feudal society. The Lycurgan state is supported largely by the labor of slaves and "indentured servants" (those without notable skills or the offspring of slaves), both of whom have little to no rights and who retain only a tiny fraction of the fruits of their labor. Above them are the Artisans and Merchants: these must obtain a license to practice their profession from their leige lord, and only they and their offspring may retain this license. Above them are the Retainers: these are men and women who have served in foreign campaigns with their leige lord and have now been delegated political authority or important jobs that may only be held by retainers (banking, judicial positions, or medicine). Above them is the leige lord and his family, foster children, and Friends (a term with significantly more weight among Lycurgan society than elsewhere). A direct descendant of one of the original Lycurgans, the leige lord has trained in the lycurgan military schools and completed his tour of service to return to the rule of a fiefdom. Above the leige lords are Barons, above them Dukes, and above them the King: the kingship, unlike all other aristocratic positions, is not hereditary: in fact, it may not be assigned to a direct descendant of the last king. The king serves for life, but upon his death, the remaining Barons and Dukes elect from among their own number a new King.
All aristocratic lycurgans must serve 15 years in the lycurgan military after they complete their military training (which lasts from the age of 16 to the age of 20). the term of service may also be terminated by the acquisition of three of the "high honors": medals for a variety of notable deeds on the battlefield.
Typically, when they complete their military training, lycurgan aristocrats assemble a group of men-at-arms: children of artisans and merchants that wish to become retainers and have therefore applied to be allowed into the lycurgan military academy. Their training is not quite as rigorous on fronts of command and strategy, which are replaced with a severe emphasis on obedience and loyalty. A lycurgan aristocrat typically assembles a unit of 10, including himself: the unit may be smaller and supplemented depending on the size of his feifdom, though it may not be larger. He must pay for the equipment of the unit himself. Having assembled his unit, the young lycurgan is then "recruited" at the great games: contests of skill, strength, wits, and tactics that occur each year for new graduates and their units. This recruitment is at the hands of a more experienced Lycurgan aristocrat into his Mercenary Corps. It is with this group that he will campaign until his release. Decisions about which contracts to accept, which units to send, and so forth, are decided by the commanding officer.
Interestingly, the intricacies of who serves who for how long are difficult to grasp for any but lycurgans: Some Lycurgans start their own corps right from the start, with just themselves and their nine retainers. Others join gigantic armies commanded by one of the kings appointed Imperators, Career soldiers whose term of service cannot be ended.
When a Lycurgan Corps accepts a commission, it does not change sides, nor can it be bribed or cajolled into leaving its duty (of course, this has happened, but they are black memories for the lycurgans, who immediately enslave such dishonorable aristocrats if they get their hands on them). Surprisingly for others, two Lycurgan Corps may join opposite sides of a conflict, and they will fight each other as bitterly as any others (although torture, cruelty, rape or enslavement is not practiced on other Lycurgans)on the battlefield: Once the battle is over, it is expected among lycurgans that all grudges, particularly between each other, are forgotten (again, not always the case).
Lycurgans that show cowardice, stupidity, or who refuse to follow orders (or any number of other infractions) become 'honorless': their service contract can only be completed by the acquisition of the three high honors, regardless of how long this takes. Interestingly, these men often become notable sergeants or other low level officers, who frequently find their way into the service of Imperators because of their extensive battlefield experience. Such men also forfeit their rank and fiefdom: their wives/husbands inherit the entirety of the domain, their marriage is considered annuled. If they ever complete their service, they must be given new ranks and lands by the King.
Obviously many lycurgans are killed before they are 35. The lycurgans have extensive systems involved regarding fostering of children and reassignment of lands/rights.
Those men at arms that survive the term of their leige's service become retainers.
Women are permitted to serve if they have either borne 2 children or if they have lost one. Their term of service is considered complete after 5 years, although many serve longer. They are not permitted to bear children while they are serving.
Religion: The Lycurgans have a religion that is part pantheonic polytheism and part ancestor worship. All Lycurgans to some degree honor Castor and Pollux, the Twins, who are believed to be the last link of men to the Old Gods: the gods men had before the sundering, which the Lycurgans believe separated mankind from the Gods. Below Castor and Pollux are the deification of Freedom, Victory, and Courage (also sometimes called Loyalty), believed to be the deification of the highest virtues of the Lycurgans (and also corresponding roughly to the three "high honors"). Beneath these "gods", each lycurgan family has its own set of semi-divine heroes in it's history: typically, the ancestor pantheon of a given royal family is ruled by their greatest hero, with notable ancestors representing members of the pantheon. Usually, each cluster of families (there are many blood ties throughout Lycurgan society) has a similar take on the overall Lycurgan Pantheon and how their particular family/ancestors are tied into it all. To what extent Lycurgans are "devout" varies a great deal: most use their religion as a source of moralistic tales, inspiration before battle, or to argue in the courts, and little else, while a few families are actually true believers: typically, the high priests of the Three Virtues and the Twins are drawn from these families, since the current king believes that there is at least some virtue in retaining religiosity in his society.
Both the democratic nations on Priam have their own religion: one is a buddhist nation, while the other is a mixture of ancestor worship and paganism (ie magic/gods in all things). Interestingly, both of these religions strongly emphasize the idea of reincarnation.
