Disclaimer: All materials presented below are EXTRAS. You do not need to read/see any of them to understand and enjoy the comic. They are purely for those of our readers who want to find some additional titbits about the world of 'Of conquests and consequences'. The cultural structure of this world has been developed by us and is our intellectual property, so it may not be used or adapted by anyone without our consent and there is actually little chance we will ever give one to anyone.

Moreover this section is a work in progress and will remain a work in progress probably forever. We have hundreds of pages in various files about the culture of our comic's world and we are constantly revising and expanding it. Here we publish some extracts from those files, but the information available here will always be incomplete and thus it will also be simplified. So do not be surprised when you come here after an update one day and the content is somewhat different than it used to be.




EXPANDED INFORMATION ON:

Religion

Military

Law

Huzsan language

Imperial language

Geography

Calendar and time measurement

Pharmacists




General information

Huzsa

The comic takes place in a fictional world, mostly in the place called Huzsa. It is one of two major (most numerous and most developed) cultural centres of that world at the time. The word 'Huzsa' means 'sisterhood' and it is a group of large matriarchal social organisations called clans centrally governed and arbitrated by an Allmother.

The head of a clan is called an Agni, which translates exactly as 'clan mother'. She is the matriarch and ruler of the whole clan (think a small country, usually a few million people). Her position is hereditary, she is usually succeeded by her oldest daughter, the Hym. The ruling family is called the clan family. It comprises of: the Agni (the ruler), Hym (the oldest daughter of the Agni), Agnak(s) (brother(s) of a ruling Agni, who stayed with the clan), Cyhym(s)(younger daughter(s) of the Agni), Hed(s)(son(s) of the Agni), Agkan(s) (a sister(s) of a ruling Agni).

Optionally it may also contain a Snan (the ritually bonded mate of the Agni and the father of her legally recognised successors) and a Cysnan (the ritually bonded mate of the Hym). For political reasons Heds are often delegated to perform this task, they must leave their clan and join the clan of their ritual mate.

A ritually bonded mate is a relatively new political invention. The traditional family unit in Huzsa consists of a mother (ni), her brother ( ninak) and her children, who the mother and the brother bring up together. The oldest daughter inherits the family fortune, land, workshop etc (if there is any). The father of the children may be the mother's long term boyfriend but may also be some random guy she slept with, the latter is more common in large communities where accidental inbreeding is not a significant risk. The brother may have some biological children of his own but he often does not know about them and takes no interest in their life, unless he is in a stable boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with their mother.

Empire

The other cultural centre is the called the Empire, although the position of the ruler has significantly declined since the times of past glory. The vast territory of the Empire has been divided into smaller kingdoms, dukedoms and fiefdoms, which often quarrel with each other and although the Emperor is the one to officially bestow the title upon the newly appointed kings, dukes and counts he has no true power over them.

The weakening of the central government was to some extent due to the increase in significance of newly emerging religions, which partially replaced the ancient imperial cult and partially were incorporated into it. Historically The Empire and Huzsa had adopted the same religious doctrine, but the two cultures being significantly different from the start developed it in different ways. The new Imperial cults just widened the rift.

Ruiso comes from part of the Empire that is rather far away from the most culturally developed parts. The place is called Kaimen and it is a relatively small dukedom with about 100 000 inhabitants in total.