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Cetatsenia-Demoness Meeting
Topic Started: Nov 18 2013, 07:41 PM (8,317 Views)
Cetatsenia
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If one was to take a place from the nation of Demoness to Cetatsenia, one would most likely see the dichotomy that the nation was rather known for. In the southern parts of the nation one would notice the highlands, heavily forested and almost untouched by man aside from the winding roads and the occasional town. But further north, the terrain would give away to the lowlands of the Centric Basin. This land was flat, and lacked the expansive forests, though there were smaller isolated forests. But the main difference one would notice would be the level of development, it was dominated by a large amount of farmland as the lowland soil was incredibly fertile, but there was also the occasional city, bustling with people.

Albraustana-zid was one such city, and it was the primate city of Cetatsenia, the richest and most populous and most important of them all. It was built along both sides of the great Albastru River that ran through much of Cetatsenia, though most of it was on the southern bank of the river. This was because of the simple fact that Albraustana-zid had begun life as three separate forts and settlements built along the river. Albrau and Stana had been built on the Southern bank, and over time had grown together until they were finally united into Albraustana. And while Zid would eventually become part of the greater whole, for a long time it was simply considered a city separated from the capital only by the river.

Since it had grown organically over the numerous years, and had once been three separate cities, the streets and roads had a habit of being winding and could be complicated to navigate for those unfamiliar with them who had no map. Though the roads had over time been widened and revamped in order to accommodate cars, and the newest sections of the city on the outskirts actually had a gridded street plan. As it was the middle of the day, the streets were currently filled with cars and buses, and the sidewalks filled with pedestrians, while the newest addition to the city's transportation network, the subway system, ran below the streets.

While there was a number of attractions in the city, such as the museums and baths, one of the most prominent is the Palatul Regal, the Royal Palace. The site of the original settlement of Albrau and lying atop a hill, it has been torn down or otherwise destroyed and then subsequently rebuilt several times throughout history. The most recent being the ascension of Ioan I to the throne of Cetatsenia, though it has been renovated and updated since then.

The Palace itself is surrounded by a wall that rings the entirety of the hill, with only a single gate leading up to it. The wall is patrolled by a special corps of Cetatsenian soldiers, easily identified by their bright blue ceremonial uniforms and ornate, pointed helmets. After that, a road lead up to the palace proper, an expansive building with a stone exterior that shared more in common with a medieval castle than what one thinks of when they hear the word 'palace'. It was home to a fair number of servants, as well as the guardsmen, and a small number of government officials. Most of those lived out in the city, and worked in their own buildings. It was absolutely huge, and in front of it was an expansive pool of water. Overall, it was an impressive sight that could be seen from a good portion of the city.

At the moment, however, Voivode Gavril IV Suveraneshti was not at his home in the palace. Rather he was at the airport, which had been cleared of any citizens besides him, the guards arrayed with him, and those who worked there; all flights to this airport had either been delayed or rerouted to other nearby airports. Today was an important day, as this was the decided upon day of Jia Li's visit to Cetatsenia. As two nations whose relationship could be accurately described as "mutually neutral", this was a rather important meeting, and Gavril did not want to mess anything up. So he stood alongside his older sister Andreea, the Steward of Cetatsenia, in the airport, ready to head out onto the tarmac to greet the Empress as soon as her plane set down.
Edited by Cetatsenia, Apr 22 2014, 09:58 PM.
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Cetatsenia
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"Well Demoness sounds like a pleasant place to be gay," Gavrila said, then she rolled her eyes, "Unlike some ze places here."

Gavril nodded solemnly, "Yes, that is unfortunately true. While Cetatsens are known for having had a more tolerant view of women zroughout history, ze same cannot be said for homosexuals and bisexuals. Even in ze recent past zey have been ze victims of hate and discrimination. And ze fringes of my country continue to have such an attitude towards zem."
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Demoness
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Jia Li shook her head. "That is something I never understood," she said earnestly. "There is no difference. We are considered 'bisexual' with gender preferences, but that never played into any sexual laws we had. It is unnatural to not accept these ideas. One cannot help the body they inhabit." Demonessians believed that "homosexuality", transgenders, and other "problems" were the result of reincarnated souls holding onto their past lives and were therefore far more tolerant of these "abnormalities"; this was why bisexuality was considered the default sexuality even if most Demonessians expressed only heterosexuality.
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Cetatsenia
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Gavrila shrugged, "Zere are dumb fucks who zink it is unnatural and wrong for a woman to have sex wiz a woman and for a man to have sex wiz a man just because zey view normal as being heterosexual. Ugh, and do not even get me started on what zey zink of us bisexuals, because zat is somezing I will never understand."

"You see Empress, ze issue is zat in Cetatsenia heterosexual is what is considered to be ze norm. Zose who are not are considered to be sexual deviants," Gavril explained, "While ze urban populations are razer liberal and accepting of zose not like zemselves, zose who live in ze more undeveloped areas tend to have a more, uh, conservative outlook. And bisexuals are generally zought of as worse zan homosexuals, zough do not ask me why. I've read explanations of ze reasonings behind it, and it still does not make much sense to me."
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Demoness
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Jia Li scowled, truly not understanding. "But that is the natural state of things," she said. "The only discrimination I know of is against Morikubi sires, but that has more to do with reproduction laws than their orientation."
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Cetatsenia
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Gavril sighed, "You see? Zis is exactly ze type of zing I spoke of before. In Demonessian culture it is ze natural state, whilst in Cetatsen culture heterosexuality is considered ze natural state."

"It is true," Gavrila said, "Hell, most bisexuals and gays still consider being straight to be 'normal'. Zey just do not care zat zey are not normal."
Edited by Cetatsenia, Dec 10 2013, 09:05 AM.
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Demoness
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"That is indeed very sad," Jia Li replied. "And in my experience it is very difficult to change deeply-held beliefs, especially ones that have existed for many years. I've met quite a bit of resistance in restoring the old belief system from before Morante was 'reformed' and even though we have historical roots in them, they are not well-received... Except by the Clans who resisted the Reformation in the first place."
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Cetatsenia
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"Yeah, it can be a pain in ze ass trying to get people to change zeir minds about certain zings," Gavrila, "Pretty futut if you ask me."

"I am curious, what is ze difference in Morante before and after being 'reformed'?" Gavril asked, honestly curious, "I admit zat I may not have looked into your religion as much as I probably should have. Zeocratic forms of government are not something I am used to dealing wiz."
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Demoness
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Jia Li nodded. "That's understandable. There are aspects of Morante even priests do not understand - aside from the standardization of the state, there are several 'local' versions where rituals must be upheld." She looked at her husband and briefly considered allowing him to explain; he had become an authority on religious texts, especially following her quest to renew the religion's roots, but he had remained an atheist and sometimes regarded their beliefs scornfully. Let him answer any questions.

"There are technically several versions of Morante, but there are two main branches that were at one point the state standard. There is Blood or Renewed Morante and Orthodox or Reformed Morante. It is easier to explain the difference by emphasizing what Orthodox Morante eliminated. This branch was, ano, 'founded' by Priestess Ori- Deidre Oriana, who basically stated that the version that had been practiced had been corrupted. She excised large portions of our bible and standardized all rituals, but she also changed the definition of marriage and our Goddesses.

"Blood Morante had been pantheistic, believing that all our ryuu were simply aspects of the Three Goddesses, but Oriana emphasized this trinity and effectively outlawed the worship and appeasement of the ryuu. A lot of our old rituals - of which only artifacts remain - ceased to exist for one reason or another. Renewed Morante seeks to rediscover these rituals and bring back balance with the spirit world."
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Cetatsenia
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The Cetatsens all nodded in understanding as Jia Li made her explanation. It seemed to make sense, they compared it to a priest outlawing the worship of the Aspects and instead allowing only the worship of the Mezyan God as a singular entity. Since Jia Li explained the ryuu as aspects of their Three Goddesses, it seemed to be a fair comparison. And if the worship of them were banned, it'd make sense that rituals associated with them would disappear alongside them. So her explanation made sense, despite none of the Cetatsens present having a religious background.

"I see, zat is razer interesting," Gavril said, being quite earnest, "Zough you mentioned zat Reformed Morante changed ze definition of marriage; how so?"

"And how long ago was it reformed?" Gavrila asked, "And why try to bring ze old version back anway?"
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Demoness
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"Ano... She invented marriage, I suppose," Jia Li answered after much hesitation. "I mean, there were examples of it in the Bible and there certainly were marriage alliances in the Clans, but among common people there was no such thing. For example, Xel and I are in a committed relationship, but if we were commoners during that era, I could leave him at any time with no consequences - as long as our children were provided for. Another person could even 'court' me in an attempt to tempt me away from him, but that was only allowed four times a year: on the solstices and equinoxes. Oriana made it a lifelong commitment and there was no such thing as divorce. She also criminalized sex so that it is something 'shameful' instead of natural, as My Grandmother intended. Actually, that's why I tried to bring it back: Orthodox is the corruption of Her words, not the other way around."
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