Banner of the Wide North

The Lutoborian Banner, officially the Banner of the Wide North (Lutoborian: ⰞⰉⰓⰑⰍⰑⰋⰋ ⰒⰋⰂⰐⰑⰝⰋ ⰔⰕⰡⰃ Šyrokoji pivnoči stjah), is the Vaestic Banner of the Lutoborian Imperial Realms. Its Standard-Bearer is the Vozhd of Lutoborsk. As an imperial Banner, the Lutoborian Banner comprises the Banner-State of Lutoborsk itself and the marshalates of Cadasy, Sebagy, and Doyotia. Since 1655 the physical banner has been held within the Banner-Shrine of the Mokykla of the Magnification at Zhytomir, in the southern knyazivstvo of Anjirska.

History

Origins

The Banner of the Wide North is one of Vaestdom's oldest extant Banners, with the first Standard-Bearer, Parautis, named by the conciliar government of the Prophetic Marshals in 1429. Like other similar creations, its geographical jurisdiction was very fuzzy at its establishment, and Parautis' own missionary work took place largely within Great Doyotia; his disciples were expelled into the Aborovid Confederacy in the late 1430s. By the time of the Wars of Heresy, the Standard-Bearers could notionally claim the loyalty of hundreds of small Vesnite communities within what is now the Lutoborsk, although even at this early stage it had small schismatic competitors. Although it attracted converts from all ethnic groups, it was particularly popular among the inhabitants of the more urbanised coastal areas. The Standard-Bearers of the 16th century were generally drawn from Pitenet-speaking (Neo-Chotarian) communities, while the Moujiques of Unscany were enthusiastic in embracing what was apparently the definitive answer to the Undughu civilisation's quest for disclosure.

After the death of the last Marshal Viswald and the highly controversial election of Viswald II as Universal Prophet in 1472, the Wide North slid into implicit Desuetudinalism, with Frokosh's Left Hand Utterance (or 'Wrongful Utterance') of 1490 carefully avoiding any recognition of Siluve II's victory in the Wars of Heresy while essentially arrogating Prophetic authority to the Standard-Bearer. Although pro-Prysostaic elements remained very active within the Banner, a full reckoning was avoided for at least a generation by judicious obfuscation of the official position. At the Nadrovsk Debates of 1519, however – convened to discuss the recent usurpation of the Throne That Ends by Sobiebor II – Siluve took the opportunity presented by the distinctly murky circumstances of Sobiebor's election to proclaim the Prophecy 'in abeyance'. Despite undignified scenes at the Debates, Siluve carried the day against the principled opposition, and the Banner would remain 'risen' for more than a century thereafter.

On the Flank State

Although most of its adherents were concentrated within the borders of the Aborovid Confederacy, the Banner had little to do with elite or political life during the first century or so of its existence. After decades of relative prosperity following the unsuccessful Urban Persecutions, however, the late 16th century saw the Banner gain many new adherents as part of the so-called Urban Movement within the Sirian knyazy class. The confederate nobility looked to the coast's culture and Neritsovid influence as a way of cultivating literate sophistication, and to ingratiate themselves with coastal subjects, or Vesnite trading partners from the south. But besides these cultural or cynical reasons there was an element of genuine marvel at the new philosophy, aesthetics, and thaumaturgical power being presented by Vesnite culture, just as the princes had previously accommodated to the survival of Undughu religion in view of its perseverance and folk influence. The most famous albeit probably legendary and exaggerated example of this was Prince Stanimir of Anjir, whose supposed death by electrocution in 1575 was interpreted as a miraculous transcension, leading to the conversion of his grieving kinsmen and clients; in the succeeding decades, Anjir became a stronghold of Vaestism on the Dovhyi Tableland.

This new popularity drew the Banner inexorably into the violent world of elite politics, and meant many new challenges, both internal and external. On the one hand, a new wave of pro-Neritsovid Tirfachky aristocrats sought to restore Lutoborian Vaestism to Prostration, a threat that was largely seen off during the bloody Lesser War of Enlightenment. On the other, the Sirian lords once more resorted to massacres and outright warfare to punish those Vesnites within their reach for the misdeeds of their aristocratic counterparts. By the early 17th century the Banner was a far more significant player in Lutoborian politics than it had been fifty years earlier. But in exchange it had been forced to accept great hardships and ultimately to acquiesce to noble tutelage. From the turn of the century all Standard-Bearers were of aristocratic stock, and in the name of security the Banner was moved to the Vesnite knyazy's strongholds in Anjir. This process culminated in Bronimir the Younger's investiture as Standard-Bearer by Ratibor I in 1632, which also brought it back into 'Prostration' and established Bronimir as Polcovode. During the renewed persecution of Vesnites in the Red Decade, the Banner was relocated to the security of the fortified Mokykla of the Magnification in the Vesnite stronghold of Zhytomir, and during the War of the Shackles a heroic defence against Sirian forces in 1658 conferred such glory upon it that the school was now accepted as the permanent Banner-Shrine.

From the 17th century onwards the Banner became an inseparable part of the Lutoborian state and a key weapon in attempts to forge a stronger and more centralised polity. These outward developments were mirrored by centralisation within the Banner itself: the 17th and 18th centuries saw fierce disputes between traditionalists and the Neritsophile 'Agars', who sought to bring praxis into line with southern orthodoxy and promote Theoreticist learning in the southern style. Although the reformers enjoyed some successes, the particularism of the Lutoborian Scholarchate and limited state power acted as a countervailing influence, giving rise to much of the distinctive blend of southern and indigenous practices that continue to distinguish the Banner today. Although during the Second War of the Exiles Zhytomir was captured and the Mokykla of the Magnification burnt down in 1673, the separation of powers was so evidently strong that the Banner was not ultimately relocated to Hremel after the incursion was repelled, and the strife of the Antiprophetic Rebellion in the 1680s seemed to vindicate this decision. The custom of processions carrying the Banner between Zhytomir and Hremel at the accession of new vozhds and major events became gradually established after numerous Lutoborian succession crises, ensuring if not uneventful enthronements themselves then at least the assent of the nobility and scholars.

As the Lutoborian Banner

As Zhytomir was located on the border with Great Doyotia, the physical Banner was placed in peril many times during the Tardy War, and it had to be evacuated when the city was captured again several times in the First Peridot War. After Doyotia's destruction the Banner enjoyed a period of uneventful existence. During the Lutoborian Civil War a celebrated move of Negomir's court to Zhytomir as part of the Indivisible Alliance saw the Banner used in an extraordinary wartime ceremony. It was evacuated again during the 1947–49 Doyotian War as Zhytomir would eventually be swept up in heavy fighting and captured by Three Power Bloc forces, with the Banner-Shrine itself damaged. Intelligence reports of the discreet smuggling of the Banner out from Zhytomir shortly before the Expulsion War in 1958 supposedly informed Zemay of Svorad of Nemasy's ambitions of aggression.