Of Highlanders and Heartlanders

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Of Highlanders and Heartlanders

 

A Haenser and a Heartlander prepare for war, c. 1741

 

When it comes to describing the differences between the Highlanders and the Heartlanders, the word “stratified” often comes up. The Heartlander society, they say, is far more stratified than those of the Highlanders. But this is not entirely accurate. It was common among the Hanso-Waldenians for a country to be more an army with a state attached than the reverse, as with the Realm of Hanseti and the Kingdom of Aesterwald. And what could possibly be more stratified and regimented than a military society, with a strict and unbending chain of command, demanding absolute obedience? 

 

No, the difference between Heartlanders and Highlanders lies not in stratification, but in egalitarianism. While the Hansetian may have structured his society in a far more strict hierarchy than the Raevir, the Hansetian peasant could still rise to any rank without impediment based on birth, and such was common. Being of noble blood was of rather little significance in countries like Hanseti.

 

The Heartlander, on the other hand, organises his society according to birth. A man is born into a station, and only in exceptional circumstances may he rise above it or fall beneath it. He is also born with privileges and duties based on this. The gentler one’s birth, the more honours they are afforded, but also the more responsibilities they must bear. Many modern philosophers may see this kind of belief as backwards and inhumane, but it is from this philosophy that the concepts of chivalry and noblesse oblige developed in Heartland societies, and indeed could only have developed within them. 

 

The fundamental philosophical difference that leads to this great divide between the Heartlander and the Highlander is this: to the Heartlander, the world is ordered. God places the King above the dukes above the counts, and so on, just as he placed Horen above His people. God creates each man to serve a particular role, and serve that role he shall.

 

The Feudal Hierarchy

 

But the Highlander sees the world differently. To him, the world is disordered, disorganised, even chaotic. Perhaps an attitude born from the anarchy following the collapse of Edel and the Ancient North, the Highlander sees the world as governed by accident and chance. But how he deals with it varies. The Raevir could be said to thrive in chaos. Any man who has ever been to a Raevir settlement knows of their chaotic democratic traditions, and any historian could tell you how the Raevir saw their greatest triumphs when the Great Exodus of Anthos caused mayhem (and the full-sail collapse of the orderly Heartlander society). The Hansetian is different however. To the Hansetian, the world is disordered, but he will order it. This is at the root of their militaristic and regimented tradition. The Hansetian would have the whole world put in uniform, lined up to march in rank and file. He scorns chaos and anarchy, and seeks to put an end to it everywhere he goes.

 

This contrast between the Heartlanders and the Highlanders, of order and disorder, is seen even more strongly when you look at the traditions that have passed from one to the other. The Adrians inherited a very chaotic democratic tradition from their Raevir roots, where all would gather and, without any procedure at all, a cacophony of chants, cheers, jeers, and finally votes would take place, and they would have their liege. When Adria evolved into the Republic of Ves, and Heartlander influence increased, these assemblies became far more orderly. There was a designated speaker and rules about who could talk and when, how a proposal was introduced, and how the voting was carried out. And these assemblies, undergoing another Heartlander-influenced evolution when the Duke of Adria became Lord Protector of Oren, became the Parliament of the Empire, totally alien to the original Adrian Duma.

 

Now, of course, the Duke’s regime and Parliament didn’t end with him but rather through his son, Emperor Joseph II, and the House of Novellen, these things have continued (if heavily altered) to this day. This has led to the delusion among many that to be a Heartlander is to embrace these Adrian traditions. But an Adrian is no more a Heartlander than a mule is a horse. No, the Adrian and his traditions contribute to Humanity as do those of all peoples, but that will never make him a Heartlander, or make his traditions ours. And that is worth remembering.

 

Average Adrians

 

 

- Samuel II Savoyard,
PROUD Heartlander, Hater of Adrians.

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"'ate Raevir. Not racist. Just don't like 'em," says Paul Temesch to himself in an empty room upon reading the thesis.