THE AGNYETT
The Modernist Civilization of
State & Sovereign
Gods audacious enough to claim that they remember existence long before their arrival in the Agnyett are a rare find—especially who continue to roam the extant in our present-Modern. But there are those that will hint that, in a wider context, out there in a largely unknown cosmos—cataclysms of desperate proportions are not as uncommon as a living soul might be inclined to think.
Other extants, far too distant to imagine, have experienced transformative moments in history of unparalleled scale. Times where the foundations of realities are threatened; divine forces turn upon one another, silencing materiea life permanently; when mortal will directs ambition to storm the heavens, only for their assault to be cast down, plunging civilization into unconsciousness in countless versô; sometimes, reality itself comes to an end.
The civilization of state & sovereign crosses the wider extant, from any one boundary to the extreme side of other. But without the Unfettered Durance and its Wars, the advent of modernist history wouldn’t have been. Our conflict with the gentry devastated the extant-materiea. The Principles adopted in the aftermath were agreed upon to serve a greater purpose, and see civilization rebuilt. They are the values enshrined within the Vismott Accords. With their Ratification the statelands were defined, and the 31 sovereignties were appointed to nurture congregations, and the connections between them. To guide exchange and commerce, across borders—and to collectively protect the sanctity of stateland boundaries.
Even in the present, spread across all the wider extant, some cultures are buried so deeply within their respective statelands that the Accords, and what they gave they Agnyett, may as well be folklore or myth. For many, intersovereign power shows no practical influence in maintenance of their lives. So far removed from the stage of sovereign machinations, and far from the tenuous web of sovereign power, it would be difficult to convince that native soul of single benefit that glows to them from their sovereignty.
But, for a citizen native to any of the 31 sovereignties themselves, the Accords dictate a the terms that have sustained life through a tenuous peace, across the extant, for the whole of modernist history. You could call it a biased perspective—but, it’s also technically true.
There are 24 statelands within the extant materiea; unevenly scattered amongst them are the 31 sovereignties. But its a rare soul that learns or sees more than one of each in their lifetime.
“The Agnyett knows the best and worst of us because of the diversity found within all of kin and kine. We are our own twice edged sword—even if the gods are more inclined use us as playthings, and care nothing for our souls besides what we can determine for ourselves. If we’re truly honest, the Vismott Accords are responsible for reclaiming ourselves in the aftermath of the Unfettered Durance. Many of those divinities went on record, dictating versions of “serves you right,” directly into holy scripts. State & sovereign have never—are never—perfect. The two versions of belonging do not exist in harmony. They’re seldom even in agreement. And across boundaries, state & sovereign are hardly known for cooperating amongst themselves. But in over six thousand years nothing better has come along. Many would welcome a replacement arrive to supplant the Accords, and their intersovereign law, but an option like that hasn’t presented itself and borne out as viable. And that’s not for lack of trying. ”
“Most inhabitants of the extant-materiea would consider it to be, at base, flat. And it’s easy enough to see that its surface is broad enough to give the innumerable souls on it a lot of room to work with. Only a few them are ever driven to figure out if they can fall out or off it. Even less want to try to do it personally. But some will develop extraordinary, highly complex and convoluted reasons to justify pressing through the outer edge of the map. Usually it chocks up to being a tip top way to buck the dominant system of power.
If we’re being honest about power, there’s a powerful lesson to be learned from the fact that souls much better equipped with advanced theory and quality years of study don’t try to test their own ideas out, by using themselves as the instrument. Most won’t even use their friends out to do it for them. Ethics, and all that. After all, advanced cosmology exists because of the experimental evidence already gathered. We’ve got oodles of the stuff—from every modernism in history. Is it all part of some great conspiracy? Of course not. Who has the time to monitor such a thing? Does a second year drop-out spend a season on an island off the Highshore, dancing about revolution, then decide that there’s just such a conspiracy hiding behind a moon? Yes, indeed. If not them, it will be a soul just like them.
So steel your nerve. At some point, a plucky mind will appear at the doorstep of your Symposium, and demand you tell them everything they want to know. They’ll be ready to challenge the fundamentals of reality, in the name of exposing the truth! And us, the gatekeepers, along with it. If you’re lucky, they’ll throw in a portent, like a bonus prize: ‘You just wait to find out what happens, once the extant knows what you’ve been hiding.’
As professionals in the field, it’s not our job to dissuade these poor nutcases. The chance you can change their mind or deflect their fixation is slim. When it comes to matters like this, for many versô now, our advice has been to let these souls do and think what they want. Tell them what you can to keep them safe—or restrict what you tell them to what you think it’s safe for them to know—but NEVER lend them any money before showing them the way out.”