ewancummins wrote:Genocidal megalomaniacs are a lot less common that 'ordinary' people who, with the right set of incentives, carry out genocidal orders. Hitler was an abberant personailty- that is, batshit crazy and evil.
We'll have to agree to differ on this. Based on my reading and the historical record I've looked at, I am firmly of the opinion that Hitler was actually a very average person put through an unusual set of individually commonplace experiences. If he had one skill that would put him beyond the reach of most people, it would probably be his public speaking skill. I also happen to think he's not a bad painter, but more knowledgeable artists than I have declared his work largely unremarkable. Other than that, I'm firmly of the belief that a good number of other people would have done similar things if put in his identical place - if indeed not the majority of his demographic peers. It's hardly as though Hitler invented racism, militancy, and jingoistic demagoguery amongst early 20th-century male European residents.
Now, is your version of Falkovnia a state founded on a totalitarian ideology, or is it just a military dicatorship?
I'm not entirely sure what the difference is specifically, but that's probably my own limited understanding of the subject.
I think of Falkovnia as a pre-industrial totalitarian state that grew out of an emphasis on the military. Drakov originally intended the country to be a "more perfect society" rewarding those citizens who were selfless enough to serve in the defense of the realm. (This too is born out of a humanizing background story - his days on Krynn showed him the poor treatment of injured veterans by an uncaring noble class and he swore never to allow any nation to dismiss the sacrifice of veterans.) By degrees, the perks and benefits accruing to the warrior class eventually resulted in an imbalance, and then oppression by the warrior class. The regimented order of the army pervaded society from the top down, which also allowed a direct chain of allegiance to Drakov himself and relatively easy establishment of a police apparatus.
Much about Falkovnia is frighteningly efficient, at least on the surface. The military controls its postal service, its schools, much of its domestic industries, and its justice system. There is a prescribed political dogma to which citizens must submit, and most do so willingly (or at least unthinkingly), lauding the military above all else. Subversion is possible, but most people have some tie or owe some loyalty of public service to the military and surveillance is pervasive. To survive within the system as a subversive is very hard... the splinter groups of opposition that have succeeded have all done so outside the system, whether as outlanders such as Gondegal, or a separate species like Vladimir Ludzig or the Kobolds.
Falkovnia has rigid strata of classes, taken after the Soviet model: traitor, untested, and faithful. The "traitor" class is further split into two levels: the redeemable and the condemned. The redeemable usually comprise of full human Falkovnians who have committed some minor political wrong and who are labelled traitors as a punitive measure. After completing their sentence, these traitors may be rehabilitated into society, or their children may be rehabilitated. The condemned include demihumans, outsiders, and other completely disposable people. The regime owes these people absolutely nothing, and its primary use for them is in high-risk laborer's work such as mining and construction, or simple menial labor that can be done in internment camps. The regime openly uses these as slave laborers and the primary aim is to work them to death. Philosophically, the regime has deemed these citizens to be worthless, and their sole purpose now is to work hard enough to convert their lives into gemstones, cloth, and buildings that can serve some positive purpose. Public propaganda holds these people to have betrayed the ideals of the warrior's utopia, and most Falkovnians accept this or at least tolerate the official line. Traitor class members enjoy little sympathy from the other classes, and anybody known to be an escaped inmate is usually quickly reported.
Another class is the "untested" class, which usually includes all the other members of society not closely tied to the military. These include scholars, merchants, farmers, and the like. This is the largest class in Falkovnia by number. They lead lives devoid of privilege, and they hope to stay permanently out of the attention of the state. Rarely, a member of this class is "promoted" to the faithful class for valorous deeds. More frequently, an "untested" class member falls foul of a member of the warrior class, and is punished by demotion to the "traitor" class. In some cases this is internment as a redeemable traitor, and they can hope for rehabilitation after some years. In other cases, they are branded as condemned traitors and worked to death. Nominally, all individuals in the "untested" class are bound by feudal ties to the oversight of noble houses in the "faithful" class, but for rural untested especially, many of these supposed ties have fallen into disuse.
The upper class is the "faithful" class, which is dominated by the military, although diplomats and leaders of other professions can be made honorary members too. Almost all families in the "faithful" class have a majority of male family members in the military. Although Drakov nominally supports inter-class marriages (or at least has resisted the calls of advisers who would like to make it illegal), most faithful class members would not countenance the prospect of marrying beneath their class. Some do so out of economic elitism, which makes even bastard children undesirable. Others do so out of an aspiration (strongly encouraged by Drakov himself) to breed future generations to be "superior warriors" - for these adherents, bastard children sired or birthed by lower-class individuals could be desirable, depending on the merits of the individual.
For example, a faithful class aristocrat's son has sex with an untested class female citizen and makes her pregnant. If the female has already had strong sons by her husband, then it is entirely acceptable for the faithful class family to take the newborn into their care and to raise it in privilege and political grace. Some families oppose this on personal grounds, but there is enough political dogma lauding the importance of strong sons of the future to make it acceptable to many.
The majority of faithful are literate, and a significant portion of untested can read too (usually limited to trade usage). Drakov's secure power base comes partially from the fact that all warriors have profited handsomely from his regime, but also because his intelligence bureau (the Nachrichtendienst) is still dealing with a semi-literate populace. Falkovnia does not have printing presses outside of select government offices, but they do have the Core's highest population of carrier pigeons for relatively quick communications, allowing the Nachrichtendienst to be surprisingly effective.
Falkovnia has no organized religion. Drakov's own dealings with the Temple back on Krynn (which first supported him, then later declared him a traitor) have imbued him with an extreme distaste for organized religion, and he usually uproots churches before they can take hold in his domain. In any case, the general citizenry is sufficiently brainwashed by the official state exhortations that they don't have much interest in the teachings of some "outlandish fairy tales".
Genocidal megalomaniacs are a lot less common that 'ordinary' people who, with the right set of incentives, carry out genocidal orders. Hitler was an abberant personailty- that is, batshit crazy and evil.
