The Progress of a People

The full text of the Progress is as follows:

Behold the end of kings!
A new age has dawned upon the peoples of the world, as the rot of the past has been burned by the clear light of Etoile. Yet, what does the era of Etoile mean for the world? We name the kings and tyrants of the past era as 'petty', stamping it with the dismissal of inconsequence, but surely a writer of the future could simply do the same to our own lives?
This bulwark against the tides of History is that which I name as Progress, with a special note as to its capitalisation. Just as a man building a house makes progress towards an ideal image of his home, we, collectively the new citizens of this new country named Etoile, make Progress towards an ideal conception of a Nation.
Though the description of Progress you will find here is new and radical, its genesis is a seed of fervor that all have felt, that spark of beginnings. When the skapets were freed from their soil bondage, when corrupt moneybrokers were put in shackles, when false prophets and holy warriors were rendered unto dust, the clearing of the sins of the past opens a space for new thought and new purpose, the threads woven together becoming a Progress that will guide Etoile ever onward and ever rising.
Let us describe a few of these new thoughts:
Firstly, that the hierarchies of the past are to be discarded. No more shall a skapet till the soil merely because their forebears tilled the same. The People may only Progress when they are given the opportunity to do so. By right of existence in Etoile, all Etoileans are heir to the future, without exception, and all are subject to the Critical Eye of Progress.
Secondly, that Reason will rule the day. The fine line between empowering faith and incredulous superstition has often been crossed, to the detriment of the People and the rational arts. While the People should be free to embrace their faiths, superstition is to be crushed by the Power that derives from Reason.
Thirdly, that the objective of the Nation is to generate new Knowledge from which Progress can be derived. Knowledge has been jealously hoarded throughout all of history; let us see for a mere moment in the world what occurs when Knowledge is widely shared amongst the People.
And finally, that this conception of Progress is to be upheld by the Person. The duty to construct a better future is no abstraction upon musing. It is a implicit vow that each and every Person makes, to further the Nation in their own way, to see that the Etoile one enters is improved by one's temporal passing through life, and that the Etoilean light shines ever so slightly brighter after one's passing.
This is no king's directive, no royal order stamped and sealed and forced into your hands. It is a belief, an idea, a dream of a better society, a better country, a stronger nation, and a shining world, that dream that is only realized when each and every Person of the People of Etoile embraces Progress in precisely the way that Person deems fit.
Ours is the future that will be shaped with our own hands.

Historical Details

History

The Progress of the People was a pamphlet circulated among all the major cities of the Principality of Etoile, not long after The War of Unification. The First Princeps (though not yet crowned) had already succeeded in his political goal of aligning all of the remnants of the nobility and the merchant classes with him at The Assembly at Kraj Zeifluss , and his ascension was assured. As his war council transitioned to a peacetime role, however, several of his advisors recommended the creation of some sort of statement of ideals to be communicated to the common man, a justification for why Etoile would be 'different' from the era of petty kings.
The pamphlet was drafted and reviewed within two days by the First Princeps and Anastasia DuChemin, and copies of it were sent all across the new country, to be nailed to signboards and distributed at every public house. As the Etoilean Ground Forces wound down at the end of the war, those soldiers who were both believers in Progress and orators of reasonable quality were instead dispatched to spread Progress among the people, in a similar vein as the traveling preachers of old faith. Their charge was not to convince people of the merits of Progress, but merely to define what it was, and spread that knowledge among the ignorant.

Public Reaction

The Progress was, not incorrectly, perceived by most merely as post-war propaganda, a justification for the conquest of the continent by the victorious armies of Nasse, and largely greeted with indifference. Over time, however, as new innovations began to enter society from the minds of The Academy of Etoile (selected by merit) and old corrupt institutions began to be dismantled, the average person began to see Progress as a meaningful and positive philosophy underpinning and legitimizing the Principality.

Legacy

The Progress is now both document and catchphrase - casual references to 'upholding Progress' and 'having the spirit of Progress' are now idiomatic across Etoile. Its principles have been, for the most part, upheld; the concept of opportunity of Progress resulted in the creation of a mandatory national education system, where students learn both the fundamentals of reason and natural philosophy as well as a study of the Progress itself.
The laws of the Principality serve as the bedrock for how the Principality functions, but the Progress is a declaration of the ideal form of the Principality, and serves as its guiding philosophy.

Medium

Paper

Location

Etoile Capital City