Barazon [Bar-a-zon] 

“What is the beginning is the end.”

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The Barazon are the majority of Imperial Royalian citizens. They inhabit the provinces of Bavra, DormuKai, Mordovia, Taschair, and Mazyr.

 

The Living Code

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They follow a code of conduct called the Vesiput Code. The Code requires that all Barazons are taught self-control, loyalty, and honor. In accordance with the Vesiput, hospitality was and is particularly pronounced. A guest is not only a guest of the host family but equally a guest of the whole village and clan. Even enemies are regarded as guests if they enter the home and being hospitable to them as one would with any other guest is a sacred duty. This is a matter of one’s honor.

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Every Barazon arises when someone enters the room, providing a place for the person entering and allowing the newcomer to speak before everyone else during the conversation. In the presence of elders and women, respectful conversation and conduct are essential. Disputes are stopped in the presence of women and domestic disputes are never continued in the presence of guests. Barazons do not touch one another in public and will bow in greeting to one another.

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Blood revenge, a version of ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,’ had a bearing on keeping the peace and made sure that human life was respected, some say revered.

The passage of time furnished an aura of veneration on both men and women. Elders were treated with the greatest deference. When an older person entered a room or approached a gathering, the young ones arose in respect. No one was allowed to sit unless permission was granted by the entrant.

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Virtues are no less contagious than vices.

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There is an overall refusal to consume alcohol, opium, and tobacco. If they are used, they must be done with precise control, and overindulgence is seen as a person lacking self-control, dignity, and honor.

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An honorable life may be seen as part of one’s constant preparation for death — to die a good death with one’s honor intact, the ultimate aim in life. Respect for hierarchy is very important. Duty and devotion to one’s parents and Gods were often associated with one’s devotion to the state.

 

Your honor – it is your face. Honor and dignity are not begging, and not being bought, and deserved every day. But you can lose it for a moment’s error. Whether you are a man or a woman, you should cherish and preserve your honor. In honor can I sacrifice my life, but never – on the contrary, because Royalians cannot live dishonored. How can a living body, lose its heart?

 

History

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Be stronger and smarter enemies.

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Ruled by the Vivessians for centuries, their reverence and loyalty to their dead and to the God of Undead were strictly outlawed. No Barazon could rise through the ranks as all was based on lineage. Hovan Royale was born to a human woman, son of the Fallen Arch angel Eirdandri, he would rebel against the Vivessians with overwhelming odds. The Vivessians had always been a minority with the majority of the power.

Hovan would create a system of power where knowledge and duty would reign and any who showed greatness in military or civil service could rise.

 

Replacing nobility of blood with nobility of virtue.

A state built upon a bedrock of honor.

 

Relationships

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Public displays of affection are not overly common in traditional Barazon society, especially between lovers.

For marriage, a man and his father would bring betrothal gifts to the house of a woman, including a sword, a treasured sword, an ornamental quiver, and a sword guard. This gave every married woman a sword of her own if or when she is called to service by the Empire or must protect her hearth and home.

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The Barazon may practice polyandry, polygyny, or monogamy. A woman may marry male siblings to avoid the division of property or to provide financial security. This may also happen where a man marries several daughters of a household in which there is no son or heir so that the fortune is not dispersed. However, monogamy is more common throughout Royale. Marriages are sometimes arranged by the parents if the son or daughter has not picked their own partner by a certain age.

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When a child is born, they have no strict preference for a boy or a girl. Some, however, prefer a daughter for she stays in the house of her parents once she is married. Her husband is the one who moves to the house of his parents-in-law.

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It is a woman’s responsibility twice a year to tidy the graves; that is look after the graveyard and sweep out the tombs. This has become a national festival where the dead are ritually cared for.

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The Barazon have one important rule of burial; do not bury the dead with anything metal as the land will not take the metal back.

 

Vogdashnen

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A compulsory item in the costume is the ritual dagger and a sword. Women will always have their Vogdashnen, ritual dagger on their person but may not always carry their sword. The ritual dagger is a refinement of self-destruction in a legal and ceremonial institution, not a mere suicidal process. It is an entering of a company of those who offered observance of fidelity to King and state in life and unlife. Once given to someone, they are no longer considered a child, which is the age of 14. This was a method by which anyone could apologize for disgrace, and/or prove their loyalty and gain distinction. 

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What he carries in his belt is a symbol of what he carries in his mind and heart,–loyalty and honor. The dagger meant duty, pure and simple.

All those who die by the Vogdashnen, (in the ritual of slitting their own throat with the dagger,) rise as intelligent undead to serve in the King’s armies. 

 

The Imperial Sacrifice

 

A firstborn child of the Emperor is named shortly before the newborn’s spirit is returned to the Amaranthine River.  This is done by each Emperor in, “Royal subordination of the Heart in servitude to the Royalian People and the Lord of Darkness, Nanqa.”  

 

This is a physical and painful display of the doctrine of service–the serving of a cause higher than one’s self. The sacrifice is a manner in which the royal family actively shows their loyalty, duty, and honor to a people who would return said loyalty by offering their lives and undeaths in battle for the Empire.

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The Sovereign should serve the divine as they serve the people, the ministers of state should serve their sovereign, the divine and the people, and the people must serve the divine, the ministers, and their Sovereign.