Considerations for a Waylaid Goliath

I had the pleasure of speaking to a cleric of Duufaan recently. I will refer to him as Achilles from this point onwards. He was quite powerful, even one unfamiliar with the full range of strength Clerics possess could tell that much, more importantly, however, they were wise and intelligent. I learned much from them in the brief moments we had a discussion, and he seemed to have a good heart, even if they were a bit standoffish. First, I must share what we agreed on with certainty. There is a storm brewing in Billow, and perhaps all 5 kingdoms of man, it is coming slowly, but that only means when it strikes the wounds and grievances will run painfully deep, those who have been paying attention to the temperature in the room know that it will soon reach a boiling point, those of the noble houses are already plotting how they will conduct themselves, what alliances need to be formed, and what territories they can afford to lose.
Now, we as a people have nothing to gain from this conflict. Perhaps some lords would be marginally better if they win, but the bloodshed and destruction to our communities from a scorched earth war will leave us even more battered and splintered than we already are. Even if we form strong communities, and look to our ancestors for guidance resisting the unstoppable force coming for us will be a daunting task. They will come for us in their soft mahogany wagons, with their pieces of parchment and documents declaring we go off to fight in their war, and to resist means death or to return to chains. So I will offer a few ideas to pass among each other comrades. I will offer a few suggestions and not tell you which one is the best, for I do not live with you or among your neighbors. We must have solidarity with each other as a dispersed people, but not judge the other tribes for working to the best of their ability given their conditions. One thing is clear, we must gather as many allies as possible before the time comes, spread the Gospel of Emancipation, Freedom, Solidarity, and Righteousness. Improve your conditions back home to make our communities as resilient as possible. We have the survived the attacks for the Great Enemy for 300 generations, we will stand firm before this new challenge set before us. Unfortunately, some of us will not be able to escape the levy (slavery by another name), but remember brothers and sisters, you mustn't raise your weapons to each other, it is one of the few dignities we have left.
First I will lay out a method on how to debate these decisions. First you must all come together as a community in one place, anyone of adulthood or one season away, then you must all vote for three positions. The Chief, this will be the person who enforces the decision, is the general leader and avatar of the community’s will, and the one who will ensure all decisions are made and enforced with the best interests of the tribe at heart. Then you will decide on a Shaman if one has not been chosen for you by Kavaki or one our other deities. This person is someone who can read the soil and sky of the signs from our gods and effectively share the Gods’ wills with the tribe, their official title will be Skywatcher, and their role is to offer the whole tribe spiritual guidance, and advise the Chosen Chief. The next role is the Dawnwatcher, this should be the most righteous and powerful among your numbers, they should be fair but kind, and capable of being ever-vigilant without paranoia, their role is not to enforce order among the tribe for that is a burden collectively shared among the tribe, their role is to be the first and last line of defense against outsiders or outside forces who would wish to do the tribe harm, this could mean military forces, but it could also entail propaganda and magical influences, so they cannot be all muscle with no wisdom, they will be the only one equal to the Chief, but their role is limited. The Chief should have final say on all matters regarding the internal workings of the tribe and how they respond to new challenges, the Dawnwatcher should have final say on matters regarding defense and avoidance of external dangers, that is to say both roles still submit to the will of the greater tribe, but they are the ones who decide how to best carry out that will. The Skywatcher is to advise both of these roles, and should be granted limited veto power over both of them. Then that brings us to the debates themselves. Once all the roles are chosen either the Skywatcher or the Chief will be the one who brings the ideas forward to the circle, and the Dawnwatcher is to remain silent during the debates, they are only there to ensure everyone gets a turn to speak and say their piece without fear of intimidation or ostracization. When a discussion circle is formed everyone should be allowed to debate the proposals brought forth by the designated speaker, and bring forth their own ideas through the designated speaker. There is to be no threats or attempts at intimidation within the discussion circle for that is against the sacred rules of a competition. You are all to think of this debate as a competition, and the winner is the one who brings forth the idea that is most beneficial to the tribe. During the discussions themselves everyone must respect each other’s right to speak and think, no matter how radical or outlandish an idea may seem, there is to be no prosecution or shunning for ideas spoken within the discussion circle, to do otherwise would hamper the tribe’s ability to make informed decisions out of fear of severe punishment. Then once all options have been thoroughly discussed you are all to vote and decide what option is best for the tribe overall, then once a majority has chosen the decision you are to have unity in action, all naysayers are to make a good-faith attempt to uphold the decision and keep their dissent to themselves until the next discussion circle. I recommend holding regular discussion circles, how regular is entirely up to the means of your community. I also recommend bringing forth regular proposals to re-instate a new Chief or Dawnwatcher even if everyone is satisfied with their performance, for this assures everyone they are all on the same page and that those filling the roles are still fit. Hopefully this goes without saying, but you should also include the enlightened Nomidians apart of your communities in these discussion circles, for they are just as likely to have valuable input or information we as a people’s may not be privy to. Now to the suggestions.
The first suggestion is from Achilles himself. When we spoke, he recommended we "keep our heads down", that is to say draw as little attention to ourselves as possible, for many this is what we're already doing, only letting the enlightened Nomidians into our circles, but for many others is it not enough. Keeping our heads down leaves our backs open to the lashings we are too familiar with, never forget what they did to us. I recommend adopting this strategy only when the temperature has reached its boiling point and those who are left are forced to sit in the waters. If we keep our heads down and mind our own business that leaves us open to exploitation, not only by the Burgher and Noble classes but to the Merchant classes. But there is a significant advantage that can not be overlooked, it will keep our communities together and as intact as possible at least in the short term, and at least for the time being some communities can only afford to think ahead to the short term. The long term disadvantage is that our children will see how we act, how we submit “willingly” to the chains of labor and coin, and could potentially inherit these traits from us, now children are often rebellious, and it is ambitious teenagers that often bring about many of the needed changes within our society, but once those rebellious teenagers settle into adulthood do we want them to so easily submit to the ones who kept us shackled? If you and your community find this strategy the one that best addresses your needs let me, make a few suggestions on how to minimize the negative aspects and maximize the positive ones. First, don’t become complete isolationist, accept the enlightened Nomidians into our ranks, perhaps even encourage inter-cultural friendships and marriages to strengthen these bonds but never forget they are guests. We must keep strong records of our culture and myths, what little we have left anyways, do not forget our ways for the illusion of assimilation. Stay uninvolved in the local politics and gossip, listen but do not speak, it is important we are constantly vigilant and gauging the “temperature of the room” but if you wish to keep your head low speaking, even whispering, about the powers that be will draw attention to you. Keep your community close, I mean really close, as stated before this strategy will leave you and your neighbors open to exploitation, and when conducting your business this way it is inevitable it will happen to at least a plurality, so you will need a strong support system for each other, care for each other when sick, wounded, at the end of their rope. Encourage disciplined rebellion in our children, they must know its ok to try and change the world around them for the better, but to know when it is safe to do so without putting the rest of you at risk, we don’t want to kill any and all sense of rebellion in our youth, or we risk locking ourselves in a vicious inter-generational cycle of submissiveness and exploitation.
We are a stubborn people, we fight death and the taking of our dignity with every muscle fiber in our bodies. Our skin and minds are stone, but in interest of not repeating myself, I will move onto the next strategy. This one will be the hardest but perhaps the most effective if it’s done properly. Find a territory where the Lord is either unconcerned or unable to monitor their more rural lands and simply build a community there, I recommend trying to lay low and go unnoticed first, but if that fails go through any legal channels. And if that fails there are plenty of Lords who simply cannot monitor the outskirts of their territories and certainly wouldn’t have the resources to kick out a bunch of Goliaths. That being said, you would be guests on their land, and if they become aware of your presence and get desperate enough, they may demand taxes, relocation, levy, all those forms of coercive violence. If you adapt this strategy I recommend trying to be as legally compliant as possible, with luck you’ll fly under the radar and they won’t even notice you’re there, but if they do, fighting them on whether or not you owe them taxes is only going to get you in trouble. Either quietly agree to meet the tax requirements or relocate once again, perhaps somewhere even more remote. We are a robust peoples used to surviving in the harsh wilderness, many of us can even wrestle bears and win, it is not impossible that we survive in the wilderness of Billow, especially considering the wilds of Billow are very calm and forgiving compared to our motherlands. There is a glaring downside to this though, it protects our communities in the short term, and makes our individual community more resilient and independent, however, the combined resilience and strength of multiple communities would still outweigh a particularly resilient isolated community. Our brothers and sisters still living in the homelands face the same challenge, it is at least in part why the shambles of the Degnerite Empire are able to enslave them with little resistance. And here in Billow we cannot put it past a lord or wealthy merchant to organize a small militia to take an isolated Goliath community by surprise during the times of chaos on the horizon.
The next suggestion would have to be implemented quickly and cautiously. Build up a sense of solidarity with all the Nomidians of the laboring class, even if they are not fully enlightened (however be cautious of compromising with those who’s ideas would do us harm in the long run) build a strong and organized movement. With the leverage of the masses you have more bargaining power against the Noble and Burgher class. First you must leverage this strength in every legal way available to you, such as striking or boycotting (just as examples). Then to slowly escalate as some techniques fail to work, disruption campaigns such as blocking carriages, disrupting production, staging prison stand-ins. Then if all of that fails it is up to the community to determine if it is time to use the language of the silenced, riots. I cannot in good conscious encourage violence against people, even guards working for the oppressor, but we have an inalienable right to defend ourselves and the ones we love, and to destroy the property used against us. They will arrest you, use violence, and if things escalate, they will kill some of you. The question you need to ask yourselves is, is this a sacrifice you and your allies are willing to make? Now, I have seen with my own eyes that freedom is not a path easily walked, it is a rushing river of blood of the martyrs, we ALL are more than intimately aware of that.
Many things for you all to consider. I hope you all find what is best for your community. Take these all into deep consideration and do not decide too hastily. This could dictate the future of our peoples for generations to come or rid the world of the gift of our great grandchildren. Kavaki and his champions be with all of you.