Welcome to the final World Creation post. It\u2019s been exactly three months since this series began, and now, I\u2019m bringing it to a close.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve covered science, religion, culture, warfare\u2026by now, the setting is established enough. If I was to write anything in it, of course, I\u2019d flesh out more things as I went, but this series has already provided a very firm ground on which such sub-settings could be established. One doesn\u2019t need to start out knowing the name of every factory in Caulplanck; to establish that much would be a waste of time that could be spent actually writing.<\/p>\n
However, there are a few little things about the setting I either missed or have retconned, and I\u2019d like to go over them before I wrap up the series.
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\nAs Thiel pointed out way back in Part 3, the use of telegraphs relies pretty heavily on the use of electricity, and is thus infeasible in a (theoretically) Industrial Age society. I\u2019m going to need a more plausible way for the cities to communicate quickly and efficiently. I\u2019m tempted just to have the supply ships carry letters; that would be an elegant solution, seeing as they\u2019re already jetting all over the place. Unfortunately, this would mean communication would probably be relatively slow, much slower than the telegraph.<\/p>\n
Perhaps a sort of Pratchett-esque semaphore tower system would work better for express messages. These would fire immense blasts of flame into the air that, depending on height, would signify dots or dashes. Operators would transcribe and pass on messages until they reached their targets.<\/p>\n
Phase, in the most recent post, asked a pair of questions that I\u2019d like to take this time to answer.<\/p>\n
The first asked what sort of holidays were observed in the Great Machine. As I\u2019ve stated beforehand, the Great Machine is hardly culturally homogenous, and different areas will have different traditional ceremonies. The Great Machine tolerates these, but does not enforce any sort of mandatory day off work for them. It\u2019s up to the local business owners to respect the traditions of the people.<\/p>\n
For its part, the Great Machine does have days revering famous and heroic members of the Machine, most of which merit little more than a public announcement regarding said figures. However, there is one day of festivities, Soul Day, on which the Machine strongly encourages workplaces to give their employees a day off to revere the souls of those who have passed on. Towards the center of The Machine, where the religion this day is founded on is more entrenched, the day is a time for solemn reflection. Towards the outskirts, where other religions are more influential, the day is more or less a day for random partying.<\/p>\n
The second question asked whether or not banishment from the Great Machine was ever practiced. The Great Machine is usually pretty draconian with its punishment: as Steampunk Tales 2 demonstrated, a chief rule is that evading the justice system (resisting arrest) means waiving your right to it (to a trial). Punishments for crimes such as theft and vandalism usually involve being sent to work camps on the fringes of The Machine. Crimes such as petty theft incur one year of servitude, crimes such as arson incur up to 5 years, crimes such as grand theft could result in ten years. The interesting thing about these camps is that they are constructed, maintained, and for the most part governed by the criminals incarcerated within, sort of like self-contained communities. The only roles not filled by inmates are that of food production, since there usually isn\u2019t arable land nearby, and policing, which is done by Warders. Crimes such as murder usually incur a death penalty, and there isn\u2019t much of a lead-up to the carrying out of that sentence.<\/p>\n
Courts do tend towards acquittal as opposed to conviction, but there isn\u2019t really such a thing as appeal in the case of the latter. There are, incidentally, no lawyers\u2014only investigators, expected to be impartial, and judges.<\/p>\n
That was an incredibly long-winded, inefficient lead-up to saying banishment isn\u2019t really practiced. Their criminal justice system has other priorities.<\/p>\n
I realized that I\u2019ve never really dealt with the concept of prejudice in the Great Machine. Obviously, it exists, but it might exist in different forms in different places. Since the actual citizens of the Great Machine are as diverse as the nations of Earth, I\u2019ll deal with the prejudices of the citizens in the core cities (which tend further towards homogeneity).<\/p>\n
The more I think about it, the more I realize that racism would probably be alive and well in the core of the Great Machine. Conventional wisdom states that when cultures mix, racism tends to die, but history tells a different story. At best, immigrants are viewed by the worst traits of the worst members. At worst, they are dismissed offhand as unwashed heathens out to steal jobs from honest locals. The fact that the Great Machine flies under one banner wouldn\u2019t really change either impression.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t to say everyone would be racist. Some cities have been multicultural for centuries, and over time the other races have gone from dangerous outsiders to innocuous locals. There still is racism, but it\u2019s not nearly as widespread.<\/p>\n
Sexism in the core cities is almost nonexistent. Around those parts, technological aptitude goes a long way towards defining one\u2019s worth to society, and women have often excelled in the technological academies. The reason for this is that there was never preconceived cultural notions about what women were capable of; the reason for that is that some of the original Councilors were female, proving quite definitively that women were capable of preternatural abominations of science. Of course, there still exist pockets of sexism, but it hasn\u2019t been a cultural institution anywhere in a long time.<\/p>\n
Religious persecution is common in the core. Towards the core, the belief in the Great Machine\u2019s religion of perfection is firmly entrenched. Other religions are viewed with condescension at best and disgust at worst.<\/p>\n
Homophobia is more or less a non-issue with most.<\/p>\n
Well, that more or less does it for this post, so I guess the series is over. No more World Creation posts. Don\u2019t fret, though\u2014next week, this spot will be occupied by a new series, and though I don\u2019t want to spoil anything, let\u2019s just say you haven\u2019t seen the last of the Great Machine\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Welcome to the final World Creation post. It\u2019s been exactly three months since this series began, and now, I\u2019m bringing it to a close. We\u2019ve covered science, religion, culture, warfare\u2026by now, the setting is...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[295],"class_list":["post-443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-creation","tag-world-creation"],"yoast_head":"\n