The Josephites

[Office of the Registry 2323]

 

THE JOSEPHITES

 

“For the dignity of all.”

 

Political position

Centre-left to left-wing

 

Colour

Yellow 

 

Ideology

Josephinism

Constitutional monarchism

Imperial nationalism

Secularism
Free trade

 

With an ideology grounded in the writings of Joseph I, the failed usurper to the throne in the War of the Two Emperors, the Josephites are forward-thinking and progressive. They are a political faction that has driven much change in the Empire over the past half-century, and are best described as a liberal institution, with an emphasis on the natural rights and liberties of citizens.

 

The Josephites emphasize the social contract which exists between ruler and ruled. This emphasis is mostly reflected in their constitutionalism. They strive for upholding the independence of the institutions which have come to dominate the Empire, namely the Imperial Diet, the judiciary, and the Cabinet’s ministries. Furthermore, they are sometimes referred to as the party of business, promoting free trade and the mercantile pursuits inherent to the metropolitan class.

 

History and origins

 

Though the origins of Josephinism were grounded in rebellion, the philosophy has undergone a dramatic evolution since the defeat of their eponymous progenitor. The groundswell of constitutionalism espoused by the Marnantine usurper was birthed from a reaction to the Pertinaxi style of governance practiced throughout most of the 17th century  - an absolutist war-state where free companies employed by the Emperor killed and looted without restraint. From catastrophe (The 1710 burning of Ves by the Pertinaxi government) sprung the thinking that put the enlightened ideals of natural rights and liberties to the center of government. 

 

Emperor Joseph I espoused the right to life, liberty and fair trial, condemning the excesses of the regime. He was defeated at the Siege of Helena, and historical opinions on the ideology at this point were mixed. Was Joseph a romantic idealist, good-hearted and ultimately seeking to protect the Orenian people from a government that relied chiefly on terror and brutality? Or was he a more cynical figure, a power-hungry usurper who sought to reorder society in order to achieve his own political ambitions?

 

The War of the Two Emperors and the beginning of the Seventh Nordling War drove the old Pertinaxi governing elite into extinction, decrepitude or exile. With a provincial brain-drain, the emigration of foreigners into the Crownlands was exacerbated ten-fold. Rhenyari, Harrenites and nonhumans of all kinds began to take advantage of the opportunities in Helena, but no group were of as much significance as the Vesian burghers. Having supported Joseph in the civil war, the burgher class and the proto-Josephites were intrinsically linked, shaping each other’s thinking in complementary ways. There were no two groups more better matched, with the republicans of Ves cultivated by the ‘Golden Liberties’ of the Gradic Rights. It was this wave of immigration that proliferated modern Josephite thinking, and it were these expatriates who were largely responsible for the economic miracle of the 1740s whereby Helena was brought incomparable wealth and prosperity. 

 

The burgher class who tend to drive the Josephites are known for their business practices, with their skills in finance unparalleled. This demographic introduced an element of ‘economic freedom’ into Josephite thought, syncretizing perfectly with other liberal beliefs and branding the ideology as one for free and open trade. The cosmopolitan nature of these burghers of yore mean that they typically bent towards a sort of ‘Imperial civic nationalism’, whereby nonhumans are welcomed and incorporated into the Empire to contribute to the economy.

 

As of 1763, the Josephites have been the ‘party of government’ of the Empire for the last few decades, having successfully instituted many of their desired reforms. By pioneering the establishment of the Imperial Diet and an application of laissez-faire economics, they successfully translated their esoteric thinking into political institutions and practical bodies. As of recent years, the Josephites have grown increasingly socially liberal.

 

Philosophical discussions proliferated in both the grounds of the Imperial College and the coffee-houses of Helena underpin modern Josephinism. They are a deeply institutionalized group who in practice represent the establishment, their ideology’s role seemingly intrinsic to the economic success of the Empire in current times. 

 

 

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