The good guys are a leftist Kingdom with gender-equality (sortof a matriarchy).

So I’m going with a deliberately girly name.

Wondering what comes to your mind when you hear this? Does it work as a name?

  • lurkerlady [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    6 days ago

    Stop being a coward and just make them a republic if they’re “leftist”. The most historically progressive irl medieval era states and regions were usually merchant republics OR extremely religious fanatics demanding equality under Christ. That second option famously ended with major crusades and religious wars against them like the Albigensian Crusade, the Hussite wars, the German peasants war, and the Commonwealth of England (and the many other attempts at Dutch style republics like in Lisbon and Naples). In fact, just copy paste the Cathars.

      • lurkerlady [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        6 days ago

        Yes and they also got rooted out by the inquisition. The concept of an enlightened monarch is a modern fairy tale invented by countries with constitutional monarchies. The most enlightened a country’s monarchy got was when resisting imperialism and genocide, then they went back to enslaving their own people when the imminent threat had passed.

        • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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          6 days ago

          Yes and they also got rooted out by the inquisition

          No they didn’t. The radical reformation took place in the sweetspot between the end of the so called “Papal inquisition” and the beginning of the so called “Roman inquisition”, and the Spanish inquisition had little power to enforce catholic doctrine in the lands where it took place.
          And by the time the Roman inquisition kicked off, Anabaptists had taken over entire towns and Protestantism taking over entire countries. The inquisition can’t do shit to you if you’re in a non catholic town…

          Now they did kill a bunch of anabaptists, don’t get me wrong. But it was aristocrats, catholic and protestant alike that ended the radical reformation as a political (But not theological) movement.
          Müntzer as a representive of what we might call the politial wing (Although they would make no distinction) of the radical reformation was killed by a protestant (Phillip of Hesse) at the behest of a Catholic bishop.

          Incidentally Phillip of Hesse was also a patron of Anabaptists in his own lands. But only the ones, like Zwingli, who championed the aristocracy.

          The concept of an enlightened monarch is a modern fairy tale invented by countries with constitutional monarchies

          No. It was explicitly a counter to the idea of a constitutional monarchy. It grew out of enlightened absolutism as a political philosophy. Its champions include Frederick the Great, Catherine of Russia, and Denis Diderot (Of the slight misquote, although true in sentiment, “Men shall never be free until the last king is strangled with the entails of the last priest”)

          I leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out if the man who wrote “Et ses mains ourdiraient les entrailles du prêtre, Au défaut d’un cordon pour étrangler les rois” and two famous autocrats are fans of constitutional monarchism.

          • lurkerlady [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            5 days ago

            No. It was explicitly a counter to the idea of a constitutional monarchy. It grew out of enlightened absolutism as a political philosophy. Its champions include Frederick the Great, Catherine of Russia, and Denis Diderot (Of the slight misquote, although true in sentiment, “Men shall never be free until the last king is strangled with the entails of the last priest”)

            I know where the concept began. But there is a modern idea in fantasy literature that it is possible for kings and queens to be “good” and “moral” and could transform their countries singlehandedly to their “goodness” which is made up nonsense. All of those monarchs listed obviously thought they were good and moral, but very few people living in those times actually thought monarchs were that way and we have ahistorically thrusted the love of monarchs onto the masses back then. Nowadays, it seems that the all fantasy literature is obsessed with this entirely mythical concept.

            • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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              5 days ago

              but very few people living in those times actually thought monarchs were that way and we have ahistorically thrusted the love of monarchs onto the masses back then.

              No. People did love their autocrats. To a degree that was not rational. Even when the autocrat was objectively unfit or cruel to their subjects that got blamed on secondaries because people loved the autocrat. Countries with autocratic monarchies had borderline cultist devotion (And in Russia and Denmark, actual cultist devotion) to them among the peasantry and working classes

              Earlier, before the rise of “modern” absolutism, people literally ascribed divine power to monarchs.

        • BanMeFromPosting [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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          5 days ago

          I was just trying to think of more “progressive” religious movements.
          I suppose theres also some of the different monastic orders, sometimes. They’re all over the place, especially in the Americas.

      • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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        6 days ago

        Anabaptists were radical christian reformers, and depending on the individual group you can put the emphasis on any of those 3 words.

      • lurkerlady [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        5 days ago

        It doesn’t sound real is my biggest complaint with it. Most military organizations with fancy names, imagery, and wealth were chivalric orders. So, mostly noble knights. They wouldn’t want to call themselves guards because they’re kinda stuck up.

        • Osana [she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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          5 days ago

          It doesn’t sound real is my biggest complaint with it.

          Good, yep. Surreal/whimsical is what I’m going for.

          noble knights… wouldn’t want to call themselves guards

          Good, yep. Non-noble is what I’m going for.

    • Euergetes [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      6 days ago

      you could have “republican”–parliamentary grains in what were still de jure principalities. notional ‘independence’ from monarchs wasn’t the highest priority for most medieval republics, unless their relation to the prince was particularly onerous.

      for a fantasy setting wanting the whole suite of tropes a POV mostly from a merchant town but with a good relationship to a monarchy would let you have your knights, princesses etc. without having to justify the feudal order ‘over there’