More notes about the empire, in Q&A form.
Do orcs take slaves? No. If you take up the spear or the sickle, either you join a clan or you go it alone. But it’s your choice, and you can renounce your allegiance if your obligations are settled. If you don’t want to work, the orcs don’t have to feed you. If you aren’t causing trouble for someone the orcs pledged to protect, you aren’t their problem.
Who runs Tosk itself? There is no emperor or hereditary succession system. The clans are the largest political unit within the empire beneath the empire itself. Clans have leaders (the “First Spear”), elected by acclaim by the recognized members of the clan. One clan, in turn, is voted by the legislature to administer the city of Tosk itself. In one sense, the First Spear of that clan could be said to be an “emperor”, but the legislature still rules the empire, in fact as well as in law.
What are some problems with the empire? There are several, depending on who you ask.
- Many people are still untrustworthy of orcs and their attitudes toward violence (e.g. that it’s a useful tool)
- Some people dislike orcs for aesthetic reasons - their appearance, relative crudity of tools and technique, and so on
- Orcs can be as bigoted as other races, in turn - they might look down or take advantage of strangers, even ones they’re pledged to protect (in such cases, the Empire will generally deal with the offending clan, but this takes time)
- The empire’s drummers use animal spirits as messengers, but they cannot carry complex messages or express intellectual concepts, so communication can still be slow
- Different clans have different ideas about how to handle business, meaning that if a new clan comes into power in a region, the locals may feel disrupted or distrustful
- In historical Rome, the loyalty of the legionary mattered - did you serve your general, or the emperor?