Raikoth Autonomous Region

In the Cimmeria and Raikoth Special Autonomous Region of the Benacian Union, the Raikoth Autonomous Region was established as a means whereby the historic cultural identity of Raikoth could be preserved against the encroachments of the modern world.

Note: Portions of the text written in italics are unaltered from the source material provided originally by Scott Alexander. These sections may be updated to match the present context in due course.

Government

The government is run by enlightened stigmergy, an emergent system of prediction markets and utility calculations that operates very nicely without any central authority. There is a Conclave, mostly of the High Priests of Joy, who try to figure out what's going on and why the government has the policies it does, but they have very limited ability to change policies except in cases where some sort of bug has caused the math to completely depart from reality.

Coordinated State

The democratic portion of the government is that every citizen sends the government a copy of their utility function. Not the whole thing, of course. But they take a computerized census that determines how much they value certain things relative to one another. I'm assuming the existence of an entire utilitarian science developed far beyond that of the real world, but I don't think it's a science that it would be impossible to create - just very difficult. Its end result would be a matrix of values for each citizen that describes the relative value they place on things like lives, acres unspoiled wilderness, opals contributed to the economy, historical preservation, cultural traditions, et cetera. These would be adjusted for various biases according to well known formulae, weighted in favor of citizens who actually understand utility functions, and combined and averaged by computer to produce the Official Utility Function of Raikoth.

The less-democratic portion of the government would be a body called something like the College of Experts, but snazzier. This too would be run by combining computerized inputs from everyone in the country. People would be encouraged to predict the outcome of future events (giving their level of confidence, of course) in a system similar to a prediction market. The most consistently correct citizen-predictors would be given the option to leave their previous jobs behind and move to Tala to gain access to more information and become professional expert predictors. Everyone's predictions would be averaged out, weighted according to how frequently they were right before, and re-weighted to give extra weight to the professional predictors in the College, to come up with the Official Raikoth Prediction Plus Confidence Level.

After this, the system is pretty simple. Someone proposes a policy; for example, join the war on Ocia. The prediction system is called into play in order to predict the results of this: for example, whether we would win the war, how many Raikothlin would probably die in the war, whether the post-war government of Ocia would be stable and successful, et cetera. These values then get plugged into the Official Utility Function of Raikoth. If they make it go up, war is declared; else war is not declared.

Because this system is inhuman and hard to love, a constitutional monarch hangs around as a figurehead. The constitutional monarch is usually technically descended from the Kalirion family in one way or another, but since everyone has intermixed pretty thoroughly over the past few millennia, that includes a sizeable chunk of the Raikothlin population. In fact, the monarch chooses zir own successor, and is forbidden from choosing anyone in zir immediate family (see: succession of the Shirerithian Kaisership).

The system above is merely the decision-making branch of government. It's augmented by a bunch of other systems. Most important are the various city councils. While each city uses its own version of the utility function and prediction market, it's the city councils that come up with proposals, decide how the proposals should be interpreted and entered into the calculations, and play around with some of the second-level formulae. The national council at Tala is made of anyone who can make the pilgrimage to Tala to participate, but especially of people sponsored by the various cities to officially serve as their representatives, who have the highest status.

The three Priesthoods, those of Truth, Beauty, and Joy, feed into the system. The Priests of Truth are generally the ones who handle the technical side of things; they're the only ones both philosophically advanced enough and trustworthy enough. The Priests of Joy usually make last minute friendly amendments to the utility function and smooth out anything that can't be calculated directly. The Priests of Beauty have the hardest and most poorly defined task. Their job is to keep the whole system honest. If something's mathematically perfect but just plain wrong, for reasons too specific or too human to account for in the calculations, the Priests of Beauty are authorized to step in and fix things, as long as they don't abuse the power.

Because this system is incapable of handling day-to-day issues, the individual institutions of government are usually individual fiefdoms, in which only the most important decisions get put before the entire system. The two Hands of the Council, the Paladins and Heralds, for example, are both led by a powerful appointee who reports to the Council each year, follows any constraints put upon zir by the utilities and predictions, but otherwise has more or less free rein. Other important people are the deans of the various universities (especially the national universities), the head librarians of the various libraries, the three High Priests, the representatives to Eliria and Shirekeep, and the leaders of various small temporary committees.

Harmonious Society

Social control is exerted neither by guilt nor by shame, but by fine-tuning society so that it's in most people's interests to do what is socially expected of them, and by trying to change people's personal psychology enough that there are no irresistible antisocial drives. If someone does something very wrong, they're encouraged to visit the Priests of Beauty, who will help them either by counselling, lifestyle changes, or medication. If that doesn't work, they usually choose to leave the cities and go the monasteries or colonies.

Honor...well, breaking a promise is usually enough to get you exiled pretty quickly, although there's a pretty complex set of traditions around promises to prevent you from getting arrested every time you promise to go to breakfast with someone but oversleep. There's less emphasis on the "you have insulted my honor, I challenge you to a duel" sort of thing.

There's pretty good gender equality, in that there are often female high priestesses, high lotters, businesspeople, et cetera. On the other hand, there's still some pretty strong belief in traditional gender roles, and nobody seems too bothered that there is an uneven ratio of males to females in these positions. Maybe another way to put it is that the economics and politics of gender are more liberal than the sociology; there aren't huge obstacles for women who want to gain high positions, but they're probably less encouraged to do so.

Panopticon (PALANTIR )

PALANTIR, a system of multiple algorithms that relies upon an obscure branch of multi-dimensional mathematics identifies issues for the government to specifically focus on addressing in a few ways. First, it determines where the government focuses the efforts of the oracles; issues with a higher PALANTIR number get enough funding to receive major oracular attention, so that all possible avenues of solving them are considered. Calculations are weighted to allow for them to be sorted into "genuinely most important problem", "problems that have the highest ratio of easy solveability to importance", "problems that make the most people very angry", "problems that are least well known relative to their importance" and so on, all of which will have different value for determining different government actions. If people absolutely insist, we can have a master algorithm that balances all of these factors.

Second, it's used to declare states of emergency. Anything with a rapidly rising PALANTIR number gets automatically flagged as a potential emergency, and the computer system (rather than any human) automatically declares emergency protocols in effect to deal with it. These protocols remove the need for the slow but effective normal Raikothin government and allow rapid action either by people on the scene or by the human leadership of Raikoth using their best judgment.

Third, most respectable media institutions in Raikoth, especially the government owned ones, have voluntarily pledged to cover issues in a way proportionate to their PALANTIR number. This prevents the popular attention from wandering off on flights of fancy or orgies of rage over irrelevant issues, and ensures that people concentrate on what is really important.

Fourth, PALANTIR numbers are a major component of the algorithm that determines how many resources should be alloted to solving which issues in which order.

Culture

Almost entirely mono-ethnic; there are still traces of the genesis of the Raikothin race from the union of several other racial groups thousands of years ago, but foreigners are not invited to immigrate unless they have completely absorbed the Raikothin language and culture, which almost never happens. There are a few Shirerithian officials in Tala, a few foreigners in the larger cities who against all odds have passed the assimilation process - but other than that it's Raikothlin all the way down.

The Raikothlin do tend to obsess over their relatively small internal ethnic differences, though, and although a foreigner couldn't tell the Sithlin apart from anyone else based on appearance or dialect or culture they're still treated about the same way the [Babkhans] treat the [Baatharzi] or [Kumaranchi]. Tairakothlin and Illikothlin also consider themselves distinct groups, although no foreigners take them seriously.

Mythology

Old myths and four thousand years of history. Some stories are indigenous folktalkes older than Raikoth itself - Authi Kalirion who was raised by bears, Kasi Elution who lit the sun by climbing the highest mountain with a torch, Kadmi Rachumion who talked to the volcano and received its promise not to destroy the world. Others are relatively recent stories covered over with myth - Rhoni Karusion the fiery Paladin warlord, Rhoti Inkenion who helped conquer Bosworth during the War of Jeremy's Nose, Yyiji Tonkothion who expelled the Babkhans from Elwynn and began the Great-Who-We-Are-Becoming...actually, any stories about anyone who fought off the Babkhans are pretty popular. And then there is Nithi Kirenion's prophetic dreams about the story of Galinomai, whose influence on modern culture cannot be overstated. Most stories are told in the form of chant or poetry, a lot like our own Kalevala or the Song of Hiawatha.

A form which has caught on recently is the Galisipsimbl, or Galisyin romance, which tells the stories of the warrior-trickster-ambassadors of Raikoth and their travels through foreign countries, usually much embellished to the benefit of the Galisyin involved.

Aesthetic

Raikothin ideas of beauty involve natural forms, geometry, and extremes of detail - either minimalist or completely over-the-top. Portrayal of order, even hidden order amid apparent chaos, is smiled upon; portrayal of discordance, rage, chaos, or political ideas as typically understood are not.

Society should be calm, quiet, clean, and well-ordered, but also spontaneous, happy and full of genuine (if subdued) emotion. Unacceptable behavior is loudness, vandalism, uncleanliness, having strong political opinions not reducible to math, stuffiness, or excessive grandstanding/narcissism. Although Raikoth has had autocratic periods and even times when the country has approached a caste system, autocracy and caste systems are now loathed thanks to their association with Babkha; opposition to these two ideas is a tolerated exception to the dislike of politics.

The Doctrine of Truth and Beauty

The philosophy of Per-elith-ve centers around Ainai (northern dialects: Per) and Elith, two figures who would probably be termed "gods" according to our own religious sensibilities but who are treated much more subtly in actual Hyperborean philosophy. Ainai is the goddess/force/concept of beauty, Elith the god/force/concept of truth.

Elith represents everything that actually objectively exists, in the exact way that it actually exists. The world of Elith is mathematical, precise, and completely devoid of subjectivity. He is symbolically associated with winter, stars, the colors blue and silver, and all the hard sciences.

Ainai represents feelings, dreams, hopes, personality, meaning. Her world is numinous, charged with emotion, and fantastic. She is symbolically associated with summer, roses, the colors green and gold, and all the arts.

Both Elith and Ainai exist eternally and completely in and of themselves. However, these separate existences are literally incomprehensible by humans and have no relation to the human world or any value in human terms.

There is also a certain relationship between Elith and Ainai. This relationship has been expressed by poets and philosophers, depending on their earthiness, as love, a kiss, or a sex act. Out of this relationship comes the world and everything significant to humans.

Nothing in the world can exist independently of its connection to both Elith and Ainai. Consider a book, to take the example of the first thing I see on my desk. It exists in the world of Elith, as a series of measurements - two centimeters thick, twenty centimeters in height, and so on - as a set of atoms arranged in certain geometric shapes, and as the syntactic structures that regulate the words upon it. But it also exists in the world of Ainai, as the story within it, the associations and memories it creates in people, and even the feel of your hand stroking the cover.

The universe is constantly struggling to integrate its Elithian and Ainian aspects so as to achieve a complete concurrent expression of Absolute Truth and with Absolute Beauty. This is not a conscious, mental act on the part of the universe; it can be considered more analagous to a chemical reaction between two unlike substances, or like red and yellow mixing to make orange. Nevertheless, this is an extremely difficult process, and it corresponds to the extremely diverse range of phenomena that exist in the universe we observe. It begins with things like rocks and dust, which are neither scientifically/mathematically complex enough to fully express Absolute Truth nor meaningful and beautiful enough to fully express Absolute Beauty, and progresses all the way up to things like animals and people.

Humans are a special case, sort of a maelstrom of unamalgamated Truth-essence and Beauty-essence powerful enough to take an active role in its own amalgamation. We invoke Elith each time we solve a simple math problem or make a logical decision, and we invoke Ainai each time we make a moral or aesthetic judgment. But we ourselves are neither of Elith nor of Ainai, but of the reaction between them. Continuing on the chemical reaction metaphor, we are the light produced as a byproduct between the two reacting substances. Or, to go further, we are the neutrons produced in a nuclear reaction - because we create a positive feedback effect allowing the reaction to bootstrap itself and progress further.

In Hyperborean Death Customs, I called the soul "a question the divine asks itself." Now I can explain this more precisely. The specific question is "How are the Elithian portions of me and the Ainian portions of me to be integrated in such a way that the love between Elith and Ainai is properly consummated and the universe is brought closer to full perfection?"

There is no simple answer to this. The answer is not to sit and ponder this specific question, because the form the answer takes is a life well-lived - whatever that means! A person with a talent for drawing who becomes a great artist has answered the question in one way: bringing the Ainian aspects of zirself into reality by combining them with the Elithian attribute of objecive existence. A politician who has a dream of a more perfect system of government and works to instantiate it has done likewise. A scientist who explains the motions of the planet has done the same thing in reverse: taken something in reality, and cast it into meaningful, elegant terms.

One of the greatest heresies of Perelithve is to try to cut corners in this process; to try and reduce Beauty to Truth or vice versa by a simple rote theory. Platonism, the belief that concepts like goodness and beauty are simply objects that exist in a different world, is a heresy; relativism, the belief that facts are just things people believe is another. It is not a heresy to try to explain things typically viewed as belonging to one world in terms of another. To find patterns in music that explain why people find it beautiful is not a simple reduction of Ainai to Elith, it is an attempt to explain one of the many linkages between them that form the real world.

Hyperboreans tend to resolve many complicated philosophical problems by saying that each side is true in one of the two spheres. So, for example, determinism is correct in the sphere of Elith, but free will is correct in the sphere of Ainai. This is not to be treated as a contradiction, but rather as two separate statements, sort of equivalent to "In a factual, measurable sense, the world is deterministic, but once we slice the world up in such a way as to view it from our perspective as conscious beings, we really do determine our own destiny" (this statement will only make sense to people who have studied this topic before; I apologize for confusing anyone else). Likewise, aesthetics and morality are not factually true or logically derivable, but they exist in the realm of Ainai and therefore shape the universe we live in. Theoretical equations exist in the realm of Elith, and also shape the universe we live in without being literally a part of it.

In the sphere of Elith, Elith and Ainai are interpreted as philosophical principles and ways of looking at the world. In the sphere of Ainai, they are interpreted as people, and this is where Perelithve begins to resemble a religion rather than just a philosophy. Their depictions are relatively constant, and best exemplified in the first chapter of the Book of Loss:

• He looks a boy of thirteen summers
• His very eyes alight with Knowledge
• His flowing hair as dark as Science
• His glowing skin as fair as Wisdom
• His mouth grown pale and worn from silence
• His body decked in blue and silver
• In raiments shining blue and silver
• And round him, on a silver necklace
• A single silver spiral sigil.''

• And she, a girl of thirteen summers
• Her eyes as subtle as mandalas
• Her hair as fair and long as comets
• And gaily decked with living blossoms
• Her mouth grown ripe with pregnant silence
• Her body decked in many colors
• As if she wore the very rainbow
• And round her, on a silver necklace
• A single silver spiral sigil.

In mythology, they are the Father God and Mother Goddess of the world, having complete and immediate control over all spirits, demons, and celestial and terrestrial beings. Elith's servants are the fixed stars; Ainai's the "dancing stars", the aurora borealis.

In some unorthodox version of the mythology, Ainai and Elith have a single child, Quai, whose name means "joy". The philosophical implication of this is that joy is the result of successfully integrating Truth and Beauty in one's life and in society.

The next time I am able to write more on Hyperborea, I will discuss the government, and how its structure reflects the dichotomy between Truth and Beauty and aims to integrate the two across Raikoth to bring joy to its people and the world.

Urban areas

All Raikothin cities are walled by tradition, but their growth over the millennia has led to a series of concentric walls as space within the earlier walled areas runs out. Within the walls are large, geometric, and usually very old buildings mostly of white or grey stone - these are mostly government, ceremonial, or commercial buildings. Outside the walls are roundhouses, pretty similar to yurts, where most of the population lives - only the very large cities like Kalen will have "apartment" buildings. These are arranged in neighborhoods, originally centered around springs of water but now usually around artificial fountains; people tend to stay in the same neighborhood for much of their lives and they have a sense of community even in the largest cities.

The streets are clean and - most surprising to visitors - almost dead silent: there are no cars or animals, and it's a taboo to make noise in public places. People are genuinely friendly in their neighborhoods and guardedly friendly in the city at large.

Children and animals

Children hang around in their neighborhood most of the time, and are raised somewhat communally in mixed-age playgroups (although not in any kind of hippie or commie sense of them not knowing who their parents are or not having families or anything like that - more like the way it tended to happen in old hunter-gatherer tribes. They're left pretty much alone by adult society until age eight or so, when they get ten or fifteen years of education and training.

Pet dogs are pretty common, especially in rural areas where dogsleds are still a viable means of transportation. Ever since the Galinomai stories gained popularity, there's been a move to more tropical pets, especially parrots and snakes - although needless to say this only works in very climate controlled areas. Some people in Sithli of all places have been trying to breed cold-resistant parrots, which would be interesting if it worked. There has been some limited domestication of the dolphin and the polar bear; private individuals probably wouldn't have these as pets, but some "animal hobbyists" might have working relationships with them and the priesthood keeps some domesticated polar bears around for impressive ceremonies.

Despite a period of near-universal vegetarianism during the Saquithve age three thousand years ago, the realities of life in the far north have forced most Raikothlin to eat animals, though a few monasteries still hold out. Fish are by far the most common, but musk ox, reindeer, seals, and walruses are all eaten, usually a combination of those raised on farms or aquaculture plots and those hunted in the mountains. There are strict laws restricting hunting to people in small villages who need the meat for themselves which have prevented the local wildlife from being wiped out; other laws restricting the technology useable for hunting (in some cases as far as bows and arrows) also helps. Polar bears and dolphins are both completely taboo and may not be hunted or eaten.

Economy

About a third of the Raikothlin are farmers, fishermen, hunters, gatherers, or in related rural agricultural occupations. Another third are in the "government occupations", mostly the priesthoods, which aside from administrative bureaucracy and religious ritual also handle science, philosophy, medicine, psychology and education. The Paladins, who maintain civic order, are also in this group. The remaining third are in business and industry, although because of strict control on things like retail and marketing the economy is skewed towards art/craft, technology, infrastructure, energy, and software. In a society that expands at a glacial pace, there's very little construction or infrastructure, although manufacture of various vehicles (usually bizarre) and mass transit systems is growing.

Most Raikothlin don't have very high aspirations, in the sense of becoming rich or moving to Hawaii or becoming a movie star. The ideal is to live a happy life with a partner (or partners) and children in a beautiful community, enjoy Nature and meditation, and maybe leave behind some art or poetry or particular elegant mathematics. There's not a lot of room to become rich, there's no government to rise in, and the priests don't get many special privileges. People usually just pursue their own hobbies and relationships.

People will often switch jobs and locations several times throughout their lives. It's relatively common for people to live in rural areas until their kids grow older, move to cities so that their children can go to the city schools, and then move back later. Many people will try to avoid having the sort of job that ties you to one location, and because of the ease of living off the land there's not the same sense that you have to get money RIGHT NOW or you'll be falling into debt.

The monasteries are usually ready to take anyone who doesn't know what else to do. They usually stand on distant mountaintops where they hunt and farm and meditate in a strictly regimented life. Some of them are for social outcasts and criminals, others are for spiritual seekers, and others are just plain weird.

The idea of "wanting a better life" is sort of foreign to Raikothlin. If they're happy, they stay where they are. If they want more nature and spirituality, they'll move to the monasteries. If they want more money, they'll often move to the colonies, to Elwynn, or to the rest of Shireroth.

Income ranges

There is a wealth ceiling of around $500,000 a year; that is, the tax system allows you to approach that amount but never reach it. In practice, there are very few people making over $200,000, and even if you do there's not a whole lot of ways to conspicuously spend that kind of money. Most people both are and appear pretty equal, although natives who know what to look for have no trouble picking out social classes, and there are many luxuries which are either limited to the rich or which the rich can afford much more of.

Although poor people making less than about $15000 a year are common, they tend to be either hard-working rural farmers or people in the cities who have devoted themselves to a less lucrative field like art but who still live comfortably.

The average income is probably around $25000 or so - slightly less than in [Natopia], and taxes are higher - but there are also much fewer expenses, much more provided free by the government, and much greater ability to subsist off the land when necessary.

Poverty

Raikoth tries to avoid is the existence of a permanent underclass of unskilled and uneducated poor people who can't fit anywhere in society. Whenever these people start to turn up, it usually gets rid of them through voluntary sterilization programs, voluntary relocation to monasteries, and exile. After four thousand years, it's mostly eugeniced-away the problem.

There are still poor people in the sense of "people with less money than average", but the Gini coefficient is pretty low and they're still educated and able to get all the necessities of life and then some. There's enough usable land free that anyone who really wants can go claim a spot out west, and the monasteries are happy to take anyone and give them a liveable monastic lifestyle.

Transportation

Transportation is usually by foot, but some cities have mass transit, usually a sort of monorail pod like this one though obviously not solar powered. A few cities are experimenting with glidderies (thanks, Neverness!), ice-covered streets that can be navigated on ice skates more quickly than by walking, and many smaller villages are already being built this way.