Ortho: Life In The Pax Harmonium

I've been trying to put my thoughts in order regarding daily life on Ortho, what its really like to *live* there. By necessity I've concentrated on what's average, official, and encouraged by the world state rather than trying to detail the Provincial life of widely scattered cultures. I've also steered clear of the Harmonium itself, government, and Churches for the moment.

All comments welcome.

Life in the Pax Harmonium

Life on Ortho is civilised, structured, and interdependent – because that’s the way the Harmonium wants it. Despite the civil war it provoked, Composer Juhlien’s consolidation of powers left a lasting legacy on his world; a union of church, government, and military that made the Pax Harmony what it is today. Even those powers and resources retained by individual Provinces are now firmly part of society’s infrastructure. Whether you believe Juhlien to be a reformer or a tyrant, his actions were the final stage in unifying the world. One man’s life is now bound to his community, his Province, and ultimately to all the worlds of the great harmony. The Harmonium has worked for five centuries to build this world, and throughout their sphere of influence even the lowliest worker often thinks of himself as a vital cog in the mighty engine of the Pax Harmonium.

Ortho of course, is a big place. Provincial customs are permitted by the Pax Harmonium, much though the state encourages uniformity. Although the information below is the standard, accepted, and encouraged norm, there will obviously be local differences as well.

Life in the Cities

Ortho is a thoroughly urbanised world, with civilisation based in and around her mighty cities. From labyrinthine government offices to soaring temples, to the crowded tenements of the lower classes and even the client farms beyond the walls, urban life dominates Ortho.

City planning is an important part of the state’s duties, with a whole department dedicated to design and improvement of each city’s infrastructure (not to mention its own Composer). With Harmony’s Glory and similar cities having over a million permanent residents to feed, water, clothe, and employ, architecture can be a life or death matter.

Each city is divided into Wards, districts that specialise in a particular industry or activity. Many Ward names are standardised, and a traveller can find Wards of Harmony, Duty, Consensus, and War in cities throughout Ortho, as well as more mundane monikers such as the Dock Ward, Caravan Ward, Factory Ward, and in certain heavily-industrialised eastern cities, the Smog Ward. In larger cities, each Ward often contains several smaller districts, sometimes known as ‘quarters’ because they are officially assigned a ‘slice’ of each Ward based on compass bearings. The exact number of composition of city quarters varies to the needs of the populace, but most cities have at least Parchment Quarter supplying writing materials to the city, a Market Quarter for visiting traders, and a Licensed Quarter for entertainments. There’s also a Dyer’s Quarter, but it is often isolated outside the city itself because of the awful smell and social stigma attached to it.

Wards are normally divided by thick fortified walls, which also double as barracks, store-houses, and bureaucratic checkpoints. Most Ward Gates are closed at the end of the Drunkard’s Hour and not re-opened until to Daily Provender arrives at the Clattering Hour. Its not unknown for sympathetic Harmonium to open the Ward Gate for late travellers, but most honest citizens should be in bed by then anyway.

Despite the relative peace of Ortho, all cities have defensive outer walls as well; the price of peace is eternal vigilance, as the Book of Harmony says. Despite this, most cities are expanding and there are carefully-planned constructions at various stages beyond the outer walls of most major settlements. Once planning for the new Ward is complete, a fresh set of defences and Ward Gates can be built to protect it. These new conurbations are often built around the latest technological innovations, and it’s not uncommon for a newly constructed district to experience a ‘land rush’ by wealthy citizens after new and prestigious dwellings.

City planning is ultimately the duty of the Composer of Civic Harmony, and all urban development is scrupulously planned. Between its dividing walls, architects design and supervise the construction of sewers, streets, houses, shops, plazas, and parks. Wide public roads criss-cross the city at right angles, dividing the buildings into ordered square blocks. Public spaces also dot the cityscape: water pumps, monuments, public notice boards, lavatories, and a hundred other things.

Only the cheapest houses face directly onto a main road, usually rows of tiny cheap tenements. These houses live next door to stables, carpenters, and other local artisans who serve each district, but the majority of dwellings in each block face inwards towards a communal area called an Allotment – or simply as an Allot. Most allotments have their own water well, public conveniences, and middens as well as a meeting space, but their primary purpose is social. Neighbours are supposed to meet regularly, get know one another, and be involved in their communities. Those who refuse to participate may be reported as isolationists and xenophobes by their neighbours or the allotment’s official representative.

Allotments are used in some form throughout the settlements of Ortho, adapted as needed to terrain and local culture. Allots serve between a dozen and a hundred homes, depending on their size, and in governmental records they are the smallest official division of a city beyond individual homes. Some Provinces deliberately mix different races in their allots, while others prefer them to be enclaves of a specific race, profession, of faith. Only if their choice creates trouble does it become a matter of Public Law and the responsibility of the government. Almost all block representatives are Harmonium members anyway, who know how to keep the peace.

The open space of the allotment is used for residents’ meetings as well as festivals and rituals attended by all the families who share it. It’s not uncommon for citizens on a new business venture to host a party and ceremony to the Lords of Order (especially Iathiphos), for a blessing, a show of respectability, and some free advertising. It’s no coincidence that a successful party often coincides with a successful venture.

The amount of decoration (frescos, engravings, statuary, etc) varies relative to the block’s prosperity, but most citizens try and do something as a matter of pride. There are a surprising number of regulations about what can and can’t be done to decorate an allot - it is illegal to magically light them without written permission, for example – but such matters are the responsibility of the allot’s spokesman, an elected representative who speaks for the allot in the district and Ward and councils.

Housing

Broadly speaking, if they dwell in a town or city the majority of Orthunian citizens live in one of three types of housing: manses, barracks, or tenements.

Manses are private homes owned by relatively wealthy citizens. They vary from the tiny homes of mid-ranked soldiers and bureaucrats packed in one beside another, to the opulent compounds owned by rich merchants and the stately palaces of Ortho’s ruling elite. Manses are also the chief residence to be found in rural areas, owned by much more humble faming families or even solitary hermits. Size, style, and just about every other factor varies between Provinces.

The rich enjoys enjoy having gardens around their manses, a luxury enjoyed only by the very wealthy in cities where space is a premium. Larger manses may also include secondary buildings around their perimeter, such as stabling and servants quarters. The main house itself will face into a secluded central area however, used in much the same way as an allotment but only by the family and its guests.

Tenements are the standard housing of Ortho’s working class. They follow the same basic pattern as blocks of manses, but rather than individual houses a tenement consists of by many individual apartments, often just a single room divided internally by screens or curtains. Unlike most manses each apartment is rented rather than owned, and the landlord may be a private citizen or the state itself. Communal kitchens and other necessities occupy the ground floor of tenements, with residences on the upper levels. The highest tenements are usually six stories tall, with the upper floors being the most prestigious. Many have improvised gardens on their rooftops, where the inhabitants produce fruit and vegetables. More than a few roof-gardens have been used to produce illegal substances or homemade alcohol. This well known to the Harmonium, but the level of tolerance varies greatly from place to place.

Tenement life varies hugely in quality, from respectable blocks of honest workers to the warrens of criminal gangs where the wise do not linger after dark. People come and go from a given tenement depending on their wealth, but there is usually a waiting list for the better blocks. Harmonium officers often get preferential treatment in the application process, as their influence helps keep things safe and secure - tenements with a reputation for trouble might well wake one morning to find a squad of soldiers billeted in their block. Of course, each allotment (manse, tenement, or barracks) should have a representative of the Harmonium anyway, to help bind the community together.

Barracks are very similar to tenements, save that they are dedicated to a specific group –soldiers, apprentices, pupils at an academy, and very low level bureaucrats are all regularly billeted together. Factory workers can also end up in these buildings, which in crowded Wards are often adjoin their place of work and are owned by the same merchant or cartel. Workers eat, sleep, celebrate, and work all in the same block; some social reformers have claimed that this situation is tantamount to slavery. Barracks are also common in rural areas, home to legions of unskilled farmhands toiling in the fields, and ’workhouses’ for criminals paying off their debt to society on a chain gang or prison farm.

Outside the Allots

The outer edge of every block usually hosts various businesses used by its inhabitants, but each city also has whole blocks dedicated purely to commerce. Commercial districts usually specialise in a single service area, such as equipping the army, providing food, or supplying household goods. In theory each set of allots is near to its own commercial district as well, providing everyday services for the locals. Many Market Quarters also host ‘merchant allots’ where venture companies and cartels have offices in fierce competition. Larger cartels have offices in the merchant allots for minor business but prefer to run things from their own compounds instead, often located outside the city. Excessive overt displays of wealth are frowned upon in most Provinces, so rich merchants typically maintain an outward façade of respectability, the opulent luxury kept within the walls.

Despite the wealth of the trade districts it is official state buildings that dominate the skyline. The towering architecture of temples, government offices, and harmonium campuses are as majestic as their loftiest ideals. All are built along the same cathedral-like style, further unifying the triad of powers in the minds of all who see them. Behind the impressive frontages are blocks of tenements, barracks, and supplier allots providing for their needs, including the virtual forest of paper that’s used by the administration each year.

Parks & Plazas

Between the residential, commercial, and government districts are communal squares and parks, preserved by the state for the people of Ortho. They are also used for festivals and celebrations, most often religious ceremonies and Harmonium parades. A particularly large open marketplace in each ward is known simply as The Plaza. Often very close to prestigious merchant allots, this Plaza is used for markets, meetings, respectable entertainments, and as a poling station whenever voting is required from the populace. They are busy places and the centre of life in each Ward. In smaller settlements and villages, the Plaza is usually the village allot.

The Plaza is the place to information and gossip from across the Ward. Criers deliver news and missives from platforms: New edicts in force, updates of current building projects and renovations, which private citizens have contributed to the Daily Provender etc, as well as proclaiming each hour of the day. Plazas are also the centre of unofficial news, spread by committed gossips who rarely miss a day.

A visit to the Plaza generally adds +2 to a Gather Information check made about someone in the Ward. Official statements and the like can be heard here daily however, and don’t need a roll. Most travellers head for their nearest plaza when new in town, to find out who’s who and what’s going on.

Orators also come here to make a name for themselves, to mould public opinion, and to elicit support for any particular issue of interest to him - or more commonly to their patrons. Most orators are paid to put across someone else’s views.

Ward Parks

The Plaza may be home to business, busybodies, and bustle, but tired citizens can usually escape for a few minutes of serene contemplation in the War Park. All cities try to maintain at least one or two small parks within their bounds, and some even dedicate an entire Quarter or Ward to providing a relaxing urban garden for the populace.

Obviously what best constitutes a park is left to the discretion of each city council, but most contain a central pool or fountain, flower beds (and perhaps a copse of trees), a grassy are and gravel paths wending between them all. Larger Ward Parks are a popular site for walks, picnics, and respectable assignations, and another site of regular festivals as well. Even the poorest districts try to maintain some patch of land, even if the flora must be practical contributions to the Provender rather than flowers.

Ward Parks are guarded and maintained by ageing Harmonium officers, who keep the paths raked, the flowerbeds scrupulously free of weeds, light the lamps on an evening, and lock the gates each night. Although more caretakers than police, they are still responsible for public order and move along those who try and disrupt the peace and quiet. More than one rebellious youth has been surprised to discover the ‘old man’ he stands up to is actually the fearsome veteran of a thousand campaigns.

Ward Elections

As a general rule, Ortho is no a great fan of democracy. In the opinion of multiple Composers, democracy too often becomes a popularity contest or is corrupted by bribery and patronage. The government prefers a strong central authority and officials who have earned their place through meritorious conduct. They do however encourage participation in local decisions through committees and representatives, as it creates a sense of community responsibility. Electing representatives, lobbying for new public services, prioritising festivals and celebrations, raising specific matters with the city council, and the like are all within the remit of the Ward council, but their decisions are always subject to veto by higher powers.

Someone the PCs know to be a villain – greedy cartel princes or corrupt guard captains work best here - stands for election to the Ward Council. There’s nothing to be done legally about him, so if they don’t want their enemy to gain even more power, they’ll have to find (fabricate?) some dirt on him to ruin his chances – or maybe one of them could stand against him?

Each allot has a representative who speaks for them in the local Ward or Quarter committee, advising three elected officials who in turn represent the Ward’s inhabitants in higher councils. Term of service is for only one year, but it’s not uncommon for officials to serve for multiple terms. Representatives of allots, Quarters, and Wards are all elected, although the numbers and exact duties can vary widely based on local law and custom. It’s almost unheard of for candidates for Quarter or Ward to be non-Harmonium members, as legal financial support for such people is minimal (the Harmonium meanwhile, always funds the campaigns of members), and voters regard with deep suspicion anyone without at least some kind of Harmonium service record.

Voting on Ortho follows the Osmondian tradition: Great glass vases record the votes, which are made by selecting a small coloured stone (usually black or white for simple yes/no questions, with additional colours for more complex issues), which are dropped into the appropriate container and publicly counted. Voting is public and strictly one vote to one person, and only possible with the presentation of the voter’s citizenship papers, which are stamped to prevent repeat voting. Harmonium personnel watch over even the most minor vote to ensure complete propriety.

Before and during voting, speakers occupy the plaza trying to convince the populace to their cause. Each stands before a coloured cloth and wears an armband of the same material, its colour matching that of their voting stone. There are no “political parties” as such - the Way of Harmony is the only acceptable philosophy. Within the Harmonium there are numerous factions and individuals supporting different causes and viewpoints, however. It’s not uncommon to see people wearing their ‘voting colours’ for days before an important vote as a show of support. Ward politics is often used by the powers that be to judge grassroots support for their strategies – whether or not they decide to heed it.

The Daily Provender

The massive urban population requires an endless supply of food and goods, a massive logistical task requiring military-style organisation. An endless supply of carts, wagons, and pack animals clatter in and out of Ortho’s cities, most of which have a dedicated ‘supply gate’ to ease the pressure. The noise is so cacophonous that laws have been put in place to restrict their travel in deep night. Citizens may sleep a little easier as a result, but when traffic resumes the congestion is even worse.

The state considers the acquisition, transport, and distribution of food and other basic necessities to be of prime importance to the stability and happiness of its citizens. This toil of daily deliveries is called the Provender Run (also the slang term for any hard work, low-profit trip among merchants and Free Folk). Each Daily Provender is based around subsidised markets who sell food and basic goods at very low places, but it always includes free bread stamped with the Harmonium seal as well, which is distributed to the poor. Merchant cartels and individuals looking to court public opinion often pay for a portion of the Provender themselves, gaining the right to add their own heraldic stamp to the bread too. In some provinces, this tactic is considered essential to the political landscape, and a good way to demonstrate your loyalty to the Pax Harmonium as well.

Local Farms supply the vegetables and fruits for the Provender markets, but fish and meat are not included unless plentiful locally. These state subsidised markets are among the most visible and popular daily gain for citizens under Harmonium rule, although some snobbery exists against using them among the richer classes. Not everyone claims free bread of course, but the average family visits the Provender Market for its daily provisions and has more disposal income as a result. By keeping food prices deliberately low, the Pax Harmonium has made everyone a little bit richer… except for the farmers who produce and sell it. State subsidies are supposed to compensate rural communities for the low prices they are forced to sell at, but the coin rarely balances out in their favour. Farmers are always looking for ways to improve their lot, but only the very lucky or wealthy can afford magic or the use of the latest technology such as the steamhorse or mechanical scarecrow. Many farms use indentured criminals as labour.

Due to the sheer amount of daily traffic into each city, only the Knights Roads can cope with the constant traffic. Large caravansaries surround the roads just beyond the city, bottlenecks where supply caravans must wait until cleared for entry. Those carrying the Provender always receive priority however, although rich caravans can pay a special tariff (‘bribe’ would be a better word the poorer merchants claim) to have their goods expedited.

‘Provs’

Those who must rely upon the free daily bread of the Provender are somewhat stigmatised in Orthunian society. There is a common perception that everyone could have gainful employment if they wished it – in the Harmonium if nowhere else – and although everyone has an empty purse now and then, constantly relying on state charity is something done only by rogues and ne’er do wells. Obviously this is not the case, but ‘Prov’ has become a derogatory term in the Pax Harmony, equating poverty to moral and physical laxity. Provs also have an unfounded reputation for being disagreeable and failing to appreciate the great harmony they are part of, and are blamed for most unrest or resistance in the slums. In truth, many “prov troublemakers” are just poor folk trying to improve their lot and those of their fellows on the bottom rungs of society.

The Licensed Quarter

For years certain groups on Ortho have campaigned to outlaw all drink, drugs, and bawdiness from the land. The simple reality however is that such things do go on, and the predominant opinion in the councils of Ortho is that if it is going to go on, it might as well be legal, regulated, and taxed.

Although a citizen can certainly purchase alcohol and other legal intoxicants outside the Licensed Quarter, taverns are rare. Public drunkenness is illegal and vendors can be held responsible for the actions of drunken customers. A few wine shops and breweries have ‘tasting areas’ (taverns in all but name), but for the most part if a citizen wants to enjoy a few tankards of ale, they need to take them home or head for the Licensed Quarter.

These areas are known for their wildness and disreputability but a visitor from other worlds would probably laugh at that reputation; each city’s Licensed Quarter is firmly controlled by the state and really rather… respectable.

Punitive taxes penalise any business that provides a service the state disapproves of, but these are lessened significantly in the Licensed Quarter. Only the state owns land in there - all businesses must rent. They also require an operating licence, which must be renewed each year. Places that cause more trouble than they’re worth are simply closed down and rented to a new proprietor.

The Licensed Quarter officially opens at noon, but it’s rarely busy until night has fallen. All businesses close strictly at midnight, and patrons have an hour to get out, after which the gates are locked until the following noon. This last hour is commonly known as The Drunkard’s Hour and Harmonium patrols typically round up anyone on the streets after it on charges of vagrancy. Some establishments offer rooms (usually at exorbitant prices) to get around the licensing laws, allowing their clients to keep drinking long after the doors are shut. Although illegal, this practise is usually ignored by the guards as long as everyone behaves themselves.

The Licensed Quarter only has two gates, one for entrance and one for exit. Both are guarded by Harmonium soldiers who monitor everyone’s comings and goings. Soldiers are also stationed within the district, providing directions and assistance to visitors. Most trouble consists only of escorting the inebriated to holding cells (its an offence to leave while intoxicated), subduing the occasional violent drunk (often brawling soldiers), or separating a fight between prostitutes. “The Drunk Patrol” is widely regarded as an easy posting with many opportunities for corruption.

Around the outside of each gate are Changing Houses, private baths where visitors may refresh themselves and change clothes both before and after their visit. Most of these establishments sell ‘disguises’ - hooded robes and veil-hung, wide brimmed hats worn by clients who’d rather not be identified. The disguises of most changing houses show their heraldry as well, identifying its clients to staff if they should require assistance. Most establishments provide other services as well, such as guides, introduction services, bodyguards, and private carriages and sedans. A few may even have discrete entrances and exits to the Quarter – although these are highly illegal and grounds for immediate closure.

Getting into and out of the district is easy – if you’re happy to give your name and citizen papers to the guards. Officially the district is not part of a respectable city, and a visit to the Licensed Quarter requires that a citizen produce his papers. These are kept for the duration of their stay, but visitors are given a receipt – a small wooden token usually hung about the neck - to redeem their papers with when they leave. Harmonium often take the receipt numbers of visitors after incidents, allowing them to trace who was where and when.

Immediately inside the gate a plethora of taverns, saunas, massage parlours, bawdy houses, brothels, and burlesque shows cluster, fighting for the attention of newcomers. Painted bright and gaudy, these generally cater for less wealthy and stylish clientele. Elegant courtesans and more upscale entertainments are found at the district’s heart, which in more prosperous quarters may well have a small park for assignations.

Life in the Countryside

Farms and factories cover every inch of viable land around each metropolis for many days travel. They produce grain, fruits and vegetables, wine, ale, cloth, and the thousand other things needed for the Daily Provender. Country life is interwoven with the great cities for leagues beyond their walls.

Rural life follows the same basic pattern as its urban counterpart, but often poorer and more widely spaced. Farmhouses replace city manses, hamlets the tenement blocks. Many client farms also house their staff in barracks – especially seasonal workers hired for the harvest or indentured criminals labouring to pay off their debts.

Rural life often flirts with outright poverty, for the state deliberately sets a low price for the Provender crops that make up most farms’ output. Most independent farmers struggle, but the larger farming cartels make a good living from mass crops and cheap labour. Few independent farms can afford the expense of raising ‘luxury’ crops rather than those for the Provender. The state tries to help with subsidies, tax-relief, and state sponsored innovations for Provender farmers, but all it takes are a few bad years or unexpected costs and another ranch gets bought out by the state or a farming cartel.

Harmonium membership is lower in rural areas than in the cities, because the people profit less by it. Signing up with the soldiery, a church, or the government is seen mainly as an escape. Each hamlet, barracks or farm still has an elected speaker however, ensuring that everything runs smoothly, legally, and morally. Villages are arranged into blocks and allots just like in the cities, but without the surrounding walls. Raiders aren’t a problem in the majority of the Pax Harmonium. For most farmers a visit to the Licensed Quarter is a practical impossibility, so entertainment and other services are taken care of by travelling shows.

Between the farms are factories, which seem to squat on every stream that flows fast enough to turn a waterwheel and every hill that can catch a breeze in windmill sails. A traveller will also pass checkpoints, shrines, Harmonium camps, and semaphore towers on their way down the road.

Cartel Compounds are another common sight. Both home and business for the Cartel Lords, these compounds (often opulent and palatial compared to their neighbours) provide a retreat from the cramp and bustle of city life. They are also a status symbol; with productive space at such a premium outside the city walls, only the richest citizens can afford to ‘waste’ good growing land on housing.

Workhouses & Prison Farms

As the population expanded, the Harmonium looked for ways put its criminal element to work feeding and clothing more responsible citizens. Workhouses and prison farms were the solution; removing the criminals, recanters, and antiopodes from the cities where they could do most harm and putting to work on the Daily Provender where their labour could do most good.

Some of these establishments are run by the state, others merely overseen by the Harmonium while a rich farmer or merchant cartel handles day to day affairs. Separated and guarded from honest citizens, these prisons offer redemption through hard labour; usually either work raising crops for the Provender or doing the hard repetitive jobs that keep society running: Dyeing, needle-making, butchery, sewing uniforms for soldiers, and other work. Some are genuine efforts to redeem as well as punish their inmates; others are terrible houses of pain and suffering where few criminals see the light of day again.

The Knights’ Roads

Knights’ Roads cut arrow straight through the landscape, but the image of the lonely road stretching off through the wilderness is largely inaccurate. Stone supply bunkers line the road for use by soldiery, semaphore Stations shadow the road, and it’s a rare journey that doesn’t get stopped at a checkpoint or three. There are also campsites for marching legions, hostels for civilian travellers, tent-towns of Free Folk showmen taking a break from the farm circuit, and even the occasional aerostat station, servicing both civilian and military airships.

Where two roads meet, a Harmonium Road Garrison is sure to be found. Categories by tall watchtowers looking out over the lands, these bases are manned by cavalry units (usually land-bound, sometimes aerial) and co0mpanies of military engineers who patrol and maintain the roads. It is hardly an onerous duty, and most of the soldiers are being rested from more hazardous duties – although it’s also a common posting for ‘short-cloaks’ as well. On the whole these garrisons change personnel quite regularly; permanent assignment to a Road Garrison is usually seen as a ‘retirement post’ or a punishment or a way to quietly sideline a corrupt or incompetent commander the Harmonium can’t otherwise be rid of.

Semaphore Stations

Semaphore stations flank most Knights’ Roads, providing swift communication between cities and roadside checkpoints. Once upon a time criminals could simply flee an area they were wanted in and become virtually untraceable, but things are very different now. Not long after they were introduced across Ortho, murderous fraudster Betan Hooke fell foul of the new technology; he fled the town of Hog’s Head for port Lorvita, but the semaphore message overtook his speeding carriage and he found the Harmonium waiting for him when he arrived. Semaphore operators are still nicknamed “Betanbaiters” in his honour.

Semaphore is a relatively recent invention, although the system itself has been used for generations on the water. Under the Second Harmony the naval system of ship-to-ship signalling was expanded and standardised, and adapted for use over land.

Semaphore is faster than a mounted messenger, although a few skilled horsemen from traditional nomad clans can challenge this if they have changes of horse ready and waiting for them along the road.

The semaphore machine is composed of movable wooden arms, the combined position of which defines a certain symbol, which in turn corresponds to a letter or phrase. A total of one hundred and ninety-six combinations make up the semaphore code, which suffices for almost all messages. Magical lights placed on the arms allow the system can operate at night, although this is done only for official messages. Possession of a semaphore codebook by those not directly involved in their use is a crime.

Mechanical hand cranks operate the rotating semaphore arms, usually worked by a team of four men. Although a single operator could work the system by him or herself, but only very slowly. Many Harmonium armies carry several portable versions of this system (including spars to create a tower) in the baggage train of their military engineers, allowing messages to be signalled swiftly to and from the front when magical means are not readily available.

Checkpoints

Crossroads are a common location for checkpoints: Gates across the road where traffic is stopped and examined by Harmonium troops. Guards examine the citizen papers of travellers – both individuals and merchant caravans – for sign of illegal or immoral goings on. Those apprehended are usually incarcerated at the checkpoint gaol for an extended period while the matter is processed. These investigations are rarely a priority however, and those incarcerated can expect a long stay.

In stable times these checks don’t take too long. But when news arrives of a criminal on the run or other trouble they rapidly become choked with waiting men and horses. Nor are travellers processed in order of arrival – there is a hierarchy of ‘road privilege’ that forces all civilians to wait while official representatives move on, and among citizens certain travellers or goods are also given priority. Arguments are frequent between travellers that feel they are being unfairly held up.

It’s not unheard of for caravans to be delayed for an entire day, and many travellers prefer to camp at a checkpoint anyway. Hamlets or semi-permanent camps often spring up around cross-roads to serve their needs, and many peddlers and minor merchants hang around checkpoints selling their wares, from simple cups of tea and bite to eat, to the comforts of nearby inns and fresh horses.

Daily Life on Ortho

In the city daily life begins at the Clattering Hour (five hours after midnight), when the Provender wagons begin to roll. Those who can sleep through the racket usually rise just before dawn however.

Most families have a household shrine, so the day normally begins with a prayer to the Gods of Order. For some this is a simple touch and moment of contemplation, although for many more it is a full service. The sound of church bells, hymns, and chanted prayers echo out in the dawn light - alongside the chimes of public clocktowers in cities – to signal the start of the Prayer Hour. This is only the official start of the day however; many hardworking Provs began their labours much earlier and merely take this time as a break for prayer and breakfast.

Markets and shops open at the end of the Prayer Hour (one hour after dawn), in what’s officially known as the Market Hour. Educational establishments also begin their lessons at this time, although students have typically been present for religious and moral instruction since dawn.

Those with the leisure to do so often take some exercise and/or a bath in the mornings, at either their own homes (if they’re wealthy), or a public gymnasium, Harmonium campus, or commercial bathhouse. Cleanliness is a civilised virtue in the Pax Harmonium and is encouraged in all its citizens. Its not uncommon for some people to bathe twice a day. Males and females bathe strictly separately at public establishments, to avoid any activities best left at home or in the licensed quarter.

Public baths are often very busy at the Market Hour, with long lines for admittance by the time that Prayer Hour ends. Many citizens chose to queue during the Prayer Hour instead, but to maintain public respectability they employ the services of acolyte priests, who perform quick services up and down the lines in exchange for a donation to their faith.

After refreshing themselves, most citizens head for the Plaza or their place of business to begin the working day. Most people take their lunch at noon, during the Duty Hour – named because this marks one of the three changes in rota for Harmonium troops across the city. There are two other changes as well, one eight hours before noon and the other eight hours after.

For an average city dweller, the working day ends at the Shadow Hour, an hour before dusk. Most people head home about this time, although the bathhouses also enjoy their second rush of the day at this time. Thanks to the Pax Harmonium’s economic strength and technical innovations, most people work a significantly shorter day than the inhabitants of other worlds, but they are expected to continue applying themselves to the cause of Harmony once their working day is done. Many citizens have a second job at night up-keeping their tenement or allot.

Shadow Hour also marks the beginning of the “night shift” when nocturnal races and those who work at night - such as lamp lighters and waste collectors - may emerge to begin their day. Many night workers are actually partners with their daytime companions, and merely take over their job or business in the hours of darkness. ‘Night Street’ is a common name for commercial blocks across Ortho that stay open throughout the hours of darkness.

Nights are a time for family and community. Most families sit down together for an evening meal, either in their houses or the communal kitchen/dining area of their tenement. Evening meals are traditionally a time to speak of the day’s events and the citizen’s deeds for Harmony, followed by some form of entertainment. Many people meet with other families sharing their allot after dinner, with storytelling, drinking, or other specially laid on entertainments (sometimes paid for, sometimes performed by residents). Neighbouring allots sometime put on shows for neighbouring blocks as well, adding some variety to the same old faces every night. Modest drinking is permitted at social gatherings, but most people take their evening ale or wine watered down so as to avoid charges of public drunkenness.

Unless working on a ‘Night Street’, an unofficial general curfew exists after midnight. Laws prevent certain activities (transporting goods for example, and activities in the Licensed Quarter) but unless you have business to be out, the Harmonium expects good citizens to be tucked up in bed by the end of the Drunkard’s Hour.

Art & Literature

Keen to be seen as more than just a band of warriors, a small but dedicated cadre of the Knights of Harmony were champions of the arts. Bards by training, they also served as diplomats, agitators, and spies. The traditions they started have continued down the centuries, side by side with the harmonium’s martial work. For many of a peaceful demeanour, the arts are way to show loyalty to the cause and gain fame and wealth from it.

In the Pax Harmonium, art is a celebration of Harmony’s great achievements. Busts, sculptures, paintings and frescos of Harmonium personalities, victories, and historical events dominate the profession. Many citizens have pictures of those they wish to emulate (the original Knights and Romhel in particular being eternally popular), or of great battles, treaties, or other events they’d like to commemorate. Styles vary between the Provinces, but a strong thread of dramatic realism pervades the art of even the most far-flung colony.

Legitimate literature is dominated by the Book of Harmony, which is available from just about every vendor on the planet. It’s a rare household that doesn’t have a well-thumbed copy in its possession – and in more repressive regimes the lack of one alone has been considered grounds for an investigation. Most households use the abridged ‘soldier’s copy’ but wealthier citizens often own several full volume sets, lovingly illustrated and bound in fine red leather and gold leaf.

Most Harmonium work is extensively documented in diaries and reports, and many famous personalities have become rich producing their memoirs at the end of a long career (examined and edited for inappropriate material, of course). The works of the Knights themselves are still popular: Romhel penned The Journey as an account of his beliefs, Jhary of Heka wrote Ethics of the Ant long before joining the Knights, and in later years Anju became famous for her Scrolls of Inner Harmony. Romhel’s Campaigns (assembled from a variety of sources close to the original Knights) is another perennial favourite that details the quest of the Knights and the birth of the Harmonium. Gazetteers of colonies and the outer planes are also published regularly, and accounts of the horrors of the Iron War have proved popular of late.

Aside from such notables, Ortho produces the same gamut of poetry, comedy, history, and tragedy as other worlds. Among popular non-Harmonium related materials, the Rhapsodies of Motmurk (epic poems about the deeds of ancient gods and heroes) usually make an exciting tale, as do the Chaos Tragedies: A body of work that focuses on Iathran and Thaeran history and myth. Although loaded with pro-Harmonium sentiment, the chaos tragedies contain plenty of action, melodrama, and characters ‘everyone loves to hate’ –who always come to a bad end while the hero gets the girl.

Theatre & Other Entertainments

By dictate of the Council of Composers, all theatrical performances and other works of public entertainment must “have value to the education, moral, or general betterment of the people of Ortho.” Over the years this definition has been stretched to cover just about anything, but all productions must still be submitted to the Office of the Minister of Revels for approval before they can be exposed to the public. The Ministry has the power to close down venues and issue warrants against players who violate the law.

On the whole, the system works. Players who refuse to follow the rules are marginalised, their establishments closed and their papers’ marked. Back alley theatres and underground players still exist in the cities however (or touring the wilderness), performing forbidden plays and satires against establishment figures. They appear for a night or two of inflammatory performances, then vanish like smoke.

Authorised theatre usually depicts historical events – either triumphs of the Harmonium or the follies of chaos. Mythological tales from before the Knights of Harmony are also performed, but always with a slant towards Harmonium philosophy (either deliberately or added just to fulfil the requirements of the Revel Law).

Performances have been standardised over the years, to better integrate different styles and local differences. Rather than individual outfits and characters, actors often wear a simple uniform to indicate their status – a king, a priest, a follow of chaos, etc – and play a generic role. Some of these characters don’t even have names, like The Wise Priest, The Usurper, and the Honest Soldier. Others have names drawn from Ortho’s well-known history and myth. Most characters even in new plays are therefore easily recognisable.

Many travelling players are members of the Free folk, touring the cities and the lands between in a nomadic lifestyle. They are more welcome on the road than in the great cities however, which often have their own established companies of actors who dislike the competition.

Architecture

Harmonium cities are well planned, efficiently managed, and neatly maintained – there’s no other way to accommodate so many people. Town planning is comprehensive both for residents and the countless migratory population of soldiers, travellers, traders, even tourists. Civil engineering is an advanced and prestigious science on Ortho.

Local architectural traditions are tolerated, but the state prefers a standard approach to their buildings’ design and layout. It’s their firm operational principle that a soldier suddenly teleported into the farthest-flung Harmonium outpost could take one look around and know exactly where the mess hall, barracks, drill fields, and officers’ quarters are. The same should apply to civilian settlements as well.

By law all official buildings are faced with red brick or painted in Harmonium colours to clearly mark their allegiance. In fact it’s illegal to use that particular shade of red on buildings not owned and operated by the state.

The Campuses

Harmonium bases are known as campuses. Their primary use is as a parade ground but most have facilities for many other activities as well: Athletics, boxing, wrestling, riding, swimming, weapons’ practise, and various ball games. Large urban campuses like those in Harmony’s Glory or Han the Gen-Studded can accommodate an impressive fifty thousand citizens and are often used as the venue for major theatrical and sporting events – many of which have Harmonium sponsorship. More sedate pastimes are also available at campuses, such as debates and games of strategy. Outside of its military necessity, the Harmonium encourages visitors of all kinds to come, exercise their body and mind, see the benefits, and hopefully join up.

Language

Local dialects are common but their variations are minor – mobile clergy, state officials, and Harmonium officers all speak a standardised common tongue, and all missives are printed in the single unified language of the Pax Harmonium. Regional variations can and do migrate into the common tongue however, usually descriptions of local customs or phenomena. Technically all such additions must be authorised by Harmonium linguistic experts and cannot be used officially until authorised (you still won’t find “short-cloak” in any official documents for example, despite two hundred years of common usage), but things creep in nonetheless.

The Law

“Convert. Recruit. Don’t execute.”

- Harmonium saying.

All Orthunian law is based upon principles found within the Seven Scrolls, a treatise penned by the four Knights together at the dawn of the Harmonium. It sets out the overarching principles of Orthunian international law, dictates to be accommodated into the legal system of each province, and provides the philosophical and moral basis of all future legislation. The Seven Scrolls state quite clearly that the Knights of Harmony and any organisation that succeeds them must be subject to these laws, that no intelligent being is innately more worthy than any other, and several other important foundations of Orthunian civilisation. Another important principle is that the courts do not recognise a person’s moral intent, only their proven actions. The law is the law – or to put it another way, murder is murder, regardless of your reasons.

Also central to the document is the principle of Private Law and Public Law: Private Law concerns the individual, while Public law concerns the good of society as a whole.

As the centuries have passed, Orthunian law has become further divided into various specialised disciplines: Land Law, Property Law, Provincial Law and Colony Law, Military Law, Religious Law, and Moral Law. A lot of Orthunian legal wranglings are concerned with exactly which doctrine a given crime falls under, as procedures and punishments differ in each area.

Cases are administered by a judge not a jury in most cases. Juries are generally only used when multiple bodies are involved in the trial. These come under Public Law and are judged by representatives from each pillar of state. Legal experts are permitted on both sides, always members of the Harmonium – specifically graduates from the School of Ethics. Most decisions are final. There are no appeals in Public Law, and they are discouraged in Private Law as well. All legal processes are scrupulously recorded. The verdict of all trials become part of a citizen’s Private notes.

Citizens without a criminal record are usually permitted their liberty before the trial unless precedent or circumstance demands otherwise. A citizen’s word is his bond in these matters, although their citizen papers are marked to limit their travel - and unofficially limit many other aspects of life.

Temporary or permanent demotion to non-citizen is a common punishment for those who have proved they cannot work within the system (persistent drunks, debtors, brawlers, and similar folk). The social stigma of this is often considered sufficient punishment for minor crimes. Those stripped of citizenship are officially called Antipodes.

Most Antipodes are serving a sentence at a Harmonium prison or re-education centre (the latter usually forming the end of a prisoner’s sentence). Orthunians believe that all criminals owe a debt to society, and that prisoners should work it off through hard labour. Prison factories (and prison farms) contribute a significant amount to the economy and the Daily Provender in particular. Unfortunately not all prisoners are treated equally; wealth is the determining factor - the prisoner or his friends and family can contribute a 'prison tithe' to the establishment that holds him, paying for better conditions, lighter work, and even earlier release. Although many people claim that this system is tantamout to bribery, the official stance is that the prisoners' contacts are just 'paying his debt to society' in ready coin. Only the most severe crimes - like treason - are exempt from tithing.

In the rougher locales of the world (and off it), Harmonium recruiters sometimes visit prisons, looking for potential converts. Most criminals are initially inducted into special ‘felon units’ that are guarded throughout their duties and governed by only the hardest officers and harshest taskmasters in the Harmonium.

The Harmonium believes that it is better to convert and recruit than to execute, but some creatures are simply too dangerous to live. The method of executions varies from Province to Province, but is also ways public and comes swiftly after the trial ends – the Harmonium believes that justice should be seen to be done.

Citizen Papers

No member of the Pax Harmonium should be without their citizenship papers. A small wallet of thin red leather marked with the Harmonium seal, the papers within it detail a citizen’s name, family, rank, profession, registered home, and other pertinent information. An individual’s papers also record their criminal convictions and any commendations of awards they have received.

Papers are required to be presented at every city gate and checkpoint, in all legal proceedings, and before almost any official dealings with the state or Harmonium. Many merchants (especially innkeepers) also insist on an exchange of citizen papers during negotiations, and on the whole it’s impossible to carry on a normal life without them. While a person doesn’t have to carry their citizen papers around with them all the time, many do – they are a great source of pride, especially in newer colonies. Externals possess a variation on these papers, but Antipodes do not. Children are not given citizen papers, and in fact appear on the papers of their parents.

It is a crime to lose one’s papers, although given the sheer number of people in the Pax Harmony accidents do happen and the offence is minor… the first time anyway. Consistent inability to keep one’s citizen papers safe is grounds of demotion to Antipode.

Religion

Religious responsibility is part of a good civilised life. This is not only a matter of moral purity, but of military resources. The Lords of Order are vital allies in the cause and every devout prayer to them is another small victory in the heavenly front against evil and divisiveness. Pious citizens in the Pax Harmonium should pray each day at the Prayer Hour (usually at their household shrine), and whenever their daily life intersects with the Gods’ primary influence.

All good citizens also pray on the assigned Holy Days of the Lords of Order; attendance isn’t actually compulsory, but repeated truants receiving the condemnation of their fellows and a visit from their local Harmonium or temple representative wanting to know why. Since most allots and tenements travel off together to pray, ducking this exodus can be a challenge.

Social Class

Under Harmonium law, no intelligent mortal being is innately more worthy than any other. All are legally equal under the law. This philosophy ran directly contrary to the laws and traditions of several nations, but the provinces have eventually been forced to adopt the new ways – by the letter of the law if not in its spirit.

Post-Harmony society remains strongly hierarchical, but it is also a meritocracy; even the humblest peasant could (in theory) rise to become a Composer – assuming of course, they join the Harmonium. As with the rest of society no actual law says that citizens must join, but public figures without at least a short stint in the Harmonium are viewed as untrustworthy by the populace, and severely lack financial and political support.

The Nobility

Harmonium law may have said that no man was better than another, but it certainly didn’t share their assets out equally. The same noble classes remained in power across almost all of Ortho, because they still owned the land, had the wealth, and were best equipped to continue in their feudal role. More than a few families went bankrupt when slaves and serfs became paid employees, and these impoverished nobles formed the backbone of resistance to the Pax Harmonium for years afterwards. Most learned to play the system however, and continued to profit from it. All young nobles now attend the Harmonium academies as part of their upbringing, whether they continue in that service or not. The church is also a popular choice for advancement, but the bureaucracy is seen as “too merchant class” for their efforts – even by those nobles who are primarily merchants now. They prefer to enter politics from either a church or military background.

Social distinctions are now largely a matter of prestige. Dress and act and spend your money like nobility and you’ll be treated as such. This still horrifies many traditionalist families, who are appalled at the “new nobility” who have emerged; especially the rich merchants of what they call the “coin-polisher class.”

In many ways the Harmonium is the new nobility, a class of warriors who protect (and to an extent rule) the populace. In the face of this development, the old nobility have had to change.

The Merchants

Seen as subservient lackeys to the nobility for generations, the middle class of merchants, bureaucrats, and professional military men have thrived in the Pax Harmonium. No longer were nobles above the law; no longer were men and women of ingenuity and virtue “kept in their place” by those above through legal and social restrictions. More than any other group in society, these people benefited from the new Ortho. In some places it was an uphill (sometime bloody) struggle – and in some places the weight of tradition is still against them – but on the whole they have prospered in both wealth and freedom. Many of them now even take the nobles’ old insult of “coin-polisher” as a compliment.