Julian Collins - Omegicania

Omegicanians
JULIAN COLLINS
The Land Of Omegicanians
The Answer to what makes a successful
civilization
Collins, Julian Tuesday, June 3, 2014 1:13:06 PM Pacic Daylight Time 70:56:81:b0:0a:6b
SECTION 1
The savanna is a hot, desolate, dry envi-
ronment with a somewhat hilly land-
scape in the distance. Brown and yellow
weed like grass covers the area, and a
few shrubs and bushes sprout from the
ground. The river cuts through the sa-
vanna like scissors through paper, but
with rounded curves and a few sharp
A savanna: a hot, desolate, isolated landscape with a creek that makes the yellow grass spring to life.
Introduction
1
edges. The river is shallow and narrow
but it is as long as the eye can see. The wa-
ter is murky and contaminated, a dark be-
draggled brown. The waves of heat inter-
mittently reect up off of the ground, rip-
pling through the sweltering air. The wild
grass waves to the rhythm of the warm
wind, dancing in the harsh weather of the
savanna. The smell of fresh grass drifts
across the savanna. The land is choppy
with crags, and small, sharp, gray stones
are mixed in. The dusty, dirty earth oor
makes the landscape unclean with the
lth being kicked up by the wind into the
air. The sky is covered with bleak, white
clouds with the blue sky peaking
through. No birds are ying with the sun
covered. The day slowly transforms to
night, where the wind begins to whisper
secrets, cold overwhelms warmth, and
the deep howling of animals under the
moon can be heard in the far off distance,
and then it stops dead. The open, bare,
isolated landscape brings a sense of life-
lessness and loneliness, as if you were the
only one left in a twisted, melancholy
world.
It is in This Favorable geographic envi-
ronment that the civilization of Omegaca-
nia will be founded it is a civilization
whos design takes its inspiration from
the study of past civilizations such as the
Arabs the Aztecs, the Greeks, the Mayans,
the Mesopotamians, and the Romans
Among others. this book will document
2
the necessary steps to take in order to cre-
ate a successful civilization.
3
Humans are children of their environments.
-Sanichi Suzuki
CHAPTER 1
4
Modifications
http://www.experienceittours.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/eljem1.jpg
SECTION 1
The rst step in building a successful civi-
lization is to secure basic human needs
such as food and water. Due to the geog-
raphy, the major challenges the civiliza-
tion of Omegacania faces in achieving a
basic food and water supply include the
following:
Figure 1.1
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/AmazonFire/Images/burning_forest_540x270.jpg
Human Changes to the Land
5
Slash and Burn concept used
to clear land to build houses.
1. A savanna is a difcult environment to
live in. The heat is intense and it is dif-
cult to endure. Food is limited and chal-
lenging to get because of how fast the ani-
mals are, and there are no tools with
which to kill them. Another way of get-
ting food would be farming. But to do
that the ground would have to be t for
farming, but it is not. The ground is only
slightly fertile and it is hard and dry. The
area is vast and open, which is tough be-
cause it makes the Omegals vulnerable to
any predators in the area. Without shelter
we have to sleep in the cold at night, and
there may be animals lurking around
looking for prey, especially vulnerable, di-
urnal creatures like themselves.

Another challenge about living in a sa-
vanna is that there is a limited amount of
water. Even though the river is moder-
ately long, it is not that deep or wide.
Since the Omegalien people live in a
warm environment, the water evaporates
very quickly and is hard to sustain. In a
few years the water may run out, and
there would be nothing to drink. If the wa-
ter is dirty and tainted, the Omegals,
could get severely sick, and could lose
many. It rains rarely, and when it does, it
rains in small amounts, so it does not re-
plenish much of the water that has been
lost from the river. The water is rapidly
being used up by the people, or has
6
evaporated in the boiling hot environ-
ment the Omegals live in. If this civiliza-
tion does not solve these difculties, it
will perish.
Part II Proposed Solutions
The requirement for a civilization to sur-
vive and thrive is to modify, and adapt in
order to provide a steady, stable food sup-
ply. A modication is a man made change
to the landscape to make survival possi-
ble in that environment. An example of a
modication is clearing land to provide
more area for farming. In order for a civili-
zation to survive the people have to
adapt to the environment they live in. An
example of an adaptation is that if there is
little water, then the people have to drink
and use less water. Civilizations cannot
survive or prosper without these traits,
adaptations and modications. If they do
not make them, the civilization will not
be able to innovate and thrive.
1. The Omegals had a hard time keeping
a stable food supply because in the sa-
vanna the ground is hard and dry, and
Is not t for farming. Animals are danger-
ous and hard to catch. A solution is to set
up traps for animals using baskets
weaved from the wild grass or Baobab
bark, with bones from dead carcasses or
sticks for support, and seeds for bait. A
bone or stick would hold up the basket
and the bait would be right next to the
7
bone or stick so when an animal came it
would knock over the stick, trapping the
animal in the basket. Faring is also an
other way to stabilize a food supply, but
it is difcult to grow things in a savanna
because of the non-fertile, dry, hard soil
with wild grass everywhere. But the bene-
t of having wild grass is that there is bar-
ley and wheat mixed in. The Omegals
used this to there advantage and collected
the seeds from the grass. Once the
Omegals got the seeds, they slash and
burn the area as done by the [Mayans] to
provide more land for farming, housing
etc. In city-states like Palenque the Maya
they used slash-and-burn agriculture.
First they cleared land by cutting and
burning plants and trees. Then they
planted their crops (Frey 268). The
Omegals then planted the seeds they col-
lected and dug canals from the main wa-
ter source with tools made of bone. They
also dug small ditches along the side of
the crops leading to the canal and when-
8
http://www.crookedtreefarm.com/history/trap/Graphics/basketfall.jpg
Basket Trap to catch animals, made of
from a stick and a basket.
ever the plants needed water they dug a
hole in the canals wall to feed the crops.
But there is a downside to this, since
these crops sucked up most of the nutri-
ents and wore out the soil it became
harder and harder to grow these crops.
The soil was not very rich to start, so land
that had crops on it one - three years was
left to rest for three - six years as done by
the [Mayans] (Frey 268). Because the
Omegalian people used the method of
slash and burn they had more land to
farm, so each year some areas would be
covered with crops while the others
where recovering. Jarrah and Baobab
trees are commonly found in the
savanna.
These fat bulb shaped trees were helpful
in making tools for farming, digging and
many other activities. The Baobab tree
was extremely useful to the civilization of
Omegaliania. They provided shelter in
the hollow place in the middle of the
trunk of the tree. Many liters of water
could be stored inside the trunk, and food
9
Baobab trees that provided
many use full supplies.
http://www.ultimatejourney.
com/Chap44.html
.
was also stored inside. The tree also pro-
vided shade and produced a fruit the size
of a coconut. Also, the cork like bark is
used for cloth, rope, baskets, snares and
nets. There were many different uses for
the tree so they got the seeds from the
trees fruit and started to grow them. The
Baobab tree doesnt require fertile land to
grow. It does not need a lot of water, and
it has a long life span. The trees take
up a lot of space but that doesnt
matter to the Omegals. They just use
the slash and burn technique to clear
more land for planting the trees.
Ever since the Baobab trees were discov-
ered, they have been the Omegals main
source of food. Like the [Greeks],
their diet included a lot of fruits because
it was plentiful, the Greeks commonly
grew olive tress grapes and crops that
didnt need rich soil (Frey 249). The ad-
vantage of having a stable food supply
was that the Omegals had more time to in-
novate and create, and soon enough the
Omegals started to hunt. The tools they
used were sharpened bones, stone tipped
spears, stone or bone dirks, nets, snares,
daggers and bows made
from rope and exible
carved Baobab
branches. The rope
10
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130224103042/thehungergames/images/2/2f/Bow_Arrow.jpg
Weapons used by the
O'clockmegicanians to
kill and hunt.
was attached to both ends of a branch to
make the bow. The arrows were made
with tips of animal teeth. A sharpened
stone or bone was attached to a carved
smooth Baobab branch, and 3 feathers
were stuck to the sides of the back of the
arrow that was notched so that the string
of the bow t in it. Ever since they started
hunting, protein and meat became a big
part of the Omegalian diet. Trading was
essential for the Omegalian peoples sur-
vival. They traded goods like grains,
wheat, barley, tools, Baobab fruit, cloth,
rope, snares, nets, weapons, baskets, meat
and pottery made out of clay from the
creek. In return the Omegals got domesti-
cated animals, foreign seeds, baked goods
such as bread, our, cheese, milk and lots
of other useful products. Animals pro-
vided fur and hair for clothing, and they
could get cheese and milk also from
them.
2. Because he civilization of the Omegals
is located in a savanna, there are few ma-
terials for tools and to build shelter. To
solve those difculties the Omegalien peo-
ple created dried, mud brick huts made
from the clay in the river, or created
homes in the hollow insides of Baobab
trees that protected them from the dry
and boiling hot environment. They also
used the same method with mud bricks
arched over the river to protect the water
from evaporation. They put in removable
bricks so that when they needed water,
11
http://static4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110223005105/fallout/images/9/92/Throwing_knife_spear.png
the bricks could be taken out and then re-
placed afterwards. Also the Omegaliens
dug the river wider and deeper to hold
more water. Canals, wells and aqueducts
all branched off of the main water source.
they where manly used to store and pre-
serve water. Aqueducts for instance had
two twin pipes carrying water, and while
one was being cleaned or repaired, the
other was transporting fresh water to con-
tainers or wells in the area. This method
was also used by the [Aztecs] for trans-
porting fresh water (Frey 275). The canals
branched off from the aqueducts and the
main water source to feed the crops and
farms. To conserve water the Omegals
drank less water. This adaption caused a
lot of suffering and pain from dehydra-
tion, but in the end the Omegalians
started to adapt to the change. Then came
the problem of tainted water. To purify
the water, the Omegals created reservoirs
with clay based bottoms so that the water
would not leak into the soil. They then
controlled the vegetation around the
shores and in the water with water born
12
Ancient reservoir that the My-
ans built to purify water.
http://ummeljimal2012.les.wordpress.com/2012/01/img_1605.jpg
plants such as lily pads that ltered and
puried the water. This was discovered
and used by the [Myans] (Reilly). The Bao-
bab trees in the savanna provided many
liters of water stored in the trunks trees.
The Omegals used these trees to tap out
water and are very commonly seen and
used in the savanna. Cleanliness was an
important part of Omegalian culture. In
the center of town there was a shallow,
wide, rounded fountain fed from the res-
ervoir in which people bathed regularly.
The water that had been used would be
ltered back into the reservoir to be puri-
ed again.
13
Myan resovars that purify wa-
ter, for drinking
The peoples good is the highest law.
-Cicero
CHAPTER 2
14
Law & Government
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Maccari-Cicero.jpg/1024px-Maccari-Cicero.jpg
Discussion between the senate about important matters in Rome.
SECTION 1
The civilization of Omegacania looked at
past government systems, the monarchs,
the oligarchs, the tyrants and the demo-
crats. The four signicantly different
forms of government had their strengths
and weaknesses. Only one in the end
really succeeded, democracy. It was used
by many civilizations such as Athens,
Figure 2.1
Minecraft Omegacanian Capitol Building.
Maintaining Civil Order
15
Sparta and Rome, but there were many
different traits to draw from. The Omega-
canians drew from the successes and mis-
takes of other civilizations to make a
good government system. The lessons
learned from past civilizations provided
the success for the Omegacanians. And
with out them, they would have fallen.
Citizenship and Government Setup
Once Omegacania had gured out how to
keep a stable food and water supply, they
had to start to develop a government sys-
tem that dened which citizens had the
right to participate in government. But in-
stead of taking a form of citizenship from
one civilization, they designed their own
from the mistakes and successes of oth-
ers. Omegacania had an age restriction.
To be involved with the government in
Omegacania, or be a member of the as-
sembly, a person had to be 20 or older
and born in Omegicania. This was devel-
oped from the Athenians age restriction
that was, All men over the age of 18 who
were born in Athens, and were not slaves
or women were considered citizens (Frey
261). The reason Omegacania sided with
the Athens age restriction policy of 20 or
older was because it was the age when
most people had achieved a fair amount
of education and experience, enough to
make wise decisions, and also an age that
was not so young that they were juveniles
and might make ignorant decisions and
vote unwisely. But Omegacania did one
16
thing differently than Athens. They did
not underestimate and degrade women.
They allowed them to be part of the gov-
ernment and let them benet and help
Omegicania. In fact women in Omegaca-
nia had a powerful and helpful inuence
on the government. The making of the
government system of Omegacania was
clear on what citizens could participate in
making laws and decisions for stability
and growth. It was partially taken from
Athens past, but changes were made on
who could participate.
Omegacanias government system was
moving on smoothly, and citizenship, like
the right to vote, was now starting to be-
come a part of Omegicanias government.
But some aspects were still to be added
from Athens and the systems of Sparta
and Rome as well. Councils, leaders and
rules for the number of people needed to
vote on a law had to be created. Omegaca-
nia had a council. It was the Council of In-
sight, which consisted of 70 to 80 people.
Every 15 years about 200 men or women
17
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Senate
The roman senate
gathering for conversation about important issues and
laws.
would volunteer to join the Council. They
had to be 25 to 30 years old to qualify,
and the previous council members would
choose the 70 or 80 men or women from
the 200, and they would start their terms
immediately. This was also based on Ath-
ens. In Athens, to join the council you had
to be 30, or around that age, because at
that age they had enough experience to
make fair laws and important decisions,
as opposed to Sparta who had a council
of 60 year old men who were wise, but
may have forgotten some of the very im-
portant lessons from the past, and would
not have long terms. Omegacania did use
some of Spartas methods. Omegacania
copied Sparta in that they had a smaller
council. Spartas council consisted of 28
men from noble families as stated by
(Frey 265). Omegacania found a smaller
group more efcient at creating laws.
Athenians on the other hand used a differ-
ent system than the Omegacanians and
Sparta. They thought a larger council of
600 men was dynamic. The Omegacani-
ans tried this method and found it unsuc-
cessful. Though many innovative creative
ideas and laws were being mentioned,
there was too much havoc from all the
ideas being shouted out. The Omegacani-
ans concluded that the form Athenians
used was not as efcient as they had origi-
nally thought. In Omegacania, laws were
suggested by the Council of Insight. The
18
people of Omegicania debated and then
voted on the laws. New laws would be de-
termined when ever a law was men-
tioned and the council would decide
which ones should be put to the publics
vote. Omegacania took the brilliant form
of voting from Athens and tweaked it.
Originally Athens had an assembly that
would meet on a hillside. In order for a
vote to be held, there had to be 6000
men. The assembly debated and voted on
laws suggested by the council (Frey
261). In Omegicania, two leaders were
elected, who were called superiors. They
were men who shared power and con-
trolled the army, and were advised by the
council. Superiors were elected by who-
ever got the most votes. For the voting to
19
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Gaius_Gracchus_Tribune_of_the_People.jpg
Athenian man debating his
point amongst a crowd.
occur there had to be 7000 people. This
rule applied on voting for laws as well as
for becoming a superior. To be a superior
the person had to be in the council and
have some military experience, and once
elected they served for life. Superiors
were like consuls in ancient Rome. Frey
states, Roman consuls shared command
of the army. The senate was supposed to
advise the consuls (318). The Omegals
mimicked the ruling system of Rome, but
implemented something else from Sparta,
allowing the two superiors to be part of
the council. Sparta had two kings who
controlled the military. Sparta was like
Rome, but Spartan kings were allowed to
be a part of the council (as stated by Frey
264), which in a way gave Sparta advan-
tages. Kings in Sparta had military and
tactical intelligence as well as experience,
which may have helped the Spartan
Council make many of their decisions.
The Omegals saw the chance of success
using the Spartan system, and tried using
it in their government, and it was a favor-
able t. The Omegacanians had nally dis-
covered and designed their own govern-
ment from past civilizations like Athens,
Sparta and Rome. They had implemented
citizenship and pieced together a new
form of democracy that t there needs. It
included a council that elected superiors,
proposed laws and a system for citizens
to vote on the superiors and laws.
Political Equality
20
Political equality was also something that
needed to be implemented in the Omega-
canians government. It needed to be
added before big problems arose. They de-
veloped a system of tribunes to debate
laws, posted laws and proposed laws in
public, and most important gave the peo-
ple a chance to veto laws if they thought
that they were unfair. The rst solution to
creating political equality was recording
laws. This would help keep things equal
because now laws could not be changed
and altered unfairly because they were
written down. The Omegals copied the
Romans in the respect that they posted
their laws in public for all to see. Frey
shows this by saying, Around 451 B.C.E
the patricians agreed. The laws were writ-
ten down on tablets called the twelve ta-
bles (320). In Omegacania the laws were
written down in the center of town. Now
that laws were in public, the council and
other government ofcials could not
change them. The citizens of Omegicania
found the tablets of rules very helpful in
the respect that they posted the debates,
and there was proof of what was said and
decided. It also beneted them in carry-
ing out government decisions. These ta-
bles gave proof and fairness to the people
of Omegicania. Tribunes, like in Rome,
had veto power and also were used in
Omegicania. The veto gave the citizens
the right to overrule laws that they
thought were unfair. Vetoes were used by
the Council of Plebes in Rome, (Frey 320).
21
Even though laws were voted for in Ome-
gicania, the voting system could be bi-
ased, and thats why the veto was used.
One of the other contributions of Rome
was the formation of Tribunes that repre-
sented the plebeians. In the Roman city-
states the senate and council sometimes
tried to manipulate the laws to meet the
goals of the patrician members. Omegaca-
nia had separate groups who would de-
bate with each other in tribunes to try
and prove their points and prevent ma-
nipulation. Tribune members also often
would try to manipulate the council to-
ward their opinion as they did in Rome.
The Omegacania tribunes used vetoes,
and accounted for laws, and all contrib-
uted to equality and fairness or the peo-
ple of Omegicania. Tribunes beneted by
the fact that they could prove points to
the council that the people wanted. The
veto often blocked laws that were unfair
to the people. And most important of all
was the recording of laws. It gave the evi-
dence and proof that laws actually ex-
isted and made sure that unfair rulers
could not change them. These 3 parts, all
22
Patrecian and Plebian parties in the Roman Republic.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BZBV5aCnsAk/Ux8EHmWr2LI/AAAAAAAABvA/8rsgSnrUlEc/s1600/pat+v+ple
b.png
committed to giving the citizens of Ome-
gicania equality. The Omegacanians now
had created political equality through
veto by a vote of the people, tribunes that
debated and posted laws and proposed
laws, and writing down laws that were
decided upon. The three steps combined
to create fairness and trustworthiness for
both government ofcials and citizens.
Code of Laws
In Omegicania the main threat was the
lack of ownership and justice within the
society, which Omegicania needed if it
was to be a stable civilization. Laws were
necessary to guarantee ownership and jus-
tice. Conservation of fresh water was
very important because fresh, clean water
was limited and essential for survival and
health. If too much water was used, many
families would have dehydration, sick-
ness or even death because of the lack of
access to clean water. Assault, murder
and theft would also be an issue. Panic
could occur, and conicts would be com-
mon if there were no rules against them.
It was destructive to the society if killings
and thefts occurred, and laws were
needed to prevent them. If property and
land that was owned was trespassed,
claimed or used by others, then there
would be conict and possibly violence.
If possessions were stolen, ownership
would not be valued and there would be
strife. If items were sold for more than
they were worth, or customers were short
23
changed it would be unfair to buyers and
trust would be destroyed and business
would not work smoothly. If someone
was called to court, and they didnt come
or they lied in court, people would not
obey because there were no laws and pun-
ishments. If taxes were not paid because
there were no laws requiring them to,
then there would be no money to run the
government. In other words, without
laws and rules, nothing would have to be
done correctly, fairly or morally. All grow-
ing civilizations need laws to avoid ac-
tions being taken that hurt other people,
and harm the civilization from progress-
ing. In fact that is what laws did, and that
is why they were so important to Rome.
The 12 tables were Romes written laws.
They were laws that created structure and
order by which the Romans lived. Ham-
murabis Code was an older set of laws,
but these laws were much more cruel.
The punishment for there laws was pain.
The reason Hammurabi's laws were fol-
lowed for so long was because they were
believed to have been made by the gods.
The Omegacanians learned from the past
that laws were important to protect pro-
gress in civilizations. Not just having
laws was important though, but having
laws that were fair and had a fair reason
for existing. They were created to prevent
citizens from doing wrong. Omegacani-
ans needed laws to support ownership
24
and justice to be enforced for there suc-
cess to continue.
I. USE OF WATER
You could only take one and a half buck-
ets of water a day. The consequence for
taking more was that a person or family
would be limited to one half of the al-
lowed amount, or three quarters of a
bucket for 3 weeks.
II. ASSAULT,
The consequence was a person would be
locked in their home for two months with
limited amounts of water and food, pro-
vided. And once out of connement they
would be shunned.
III. TAXES
If you did not pay taxes, and were
caught, you had to pay three times what
you owed as a penalty.
IV. COURT
1. If Called to court, and he or she does
not attend, thou will be tied up and
dragged.
25
Omegicanian wall of rules and laws for
the people to follow.
2. If a witness is needed and does not
come, the defendant can shout outside
3.their house and throw items at it for 5
days.
4. If someone lies in court as a witness the
punishment would be a beating and con-
nement at home for three weeks with
limited amounts of water and food
V. MURDER
If caught in the act of doing so, or put
through trial and deemed guilty, the killer
would be impaled on a stake.
VI. TRESPASS
If land is trespassed or supposedly
claimed with out permission, the person
who trespasses has to let the owner of the
land that he invaded use the land he
owns for 6 months
VII. THEFT
If someone steals, the person who was sto-
len from would get his possessions back
and twice the amount of the items from
the person who committed the theft.
VIII. OVERCHARGING
If Shopkeepers overcharge or short-
change, the shop would be closed and
sold by the government and the money
would be collected as extra taxes, and the
26
shopkeeper would have to nd another
profession.
Omegicania created the laws they needed
for a successful society. The people and
council both decided that the punish-
ments for disobeying the laws were fair.
The Omegicanian citizens decided upon
this with there own votes, therefore it was
deemed fair. The water conservation law
helped conserve water. The laws against
felonies like theft, assault and murder,
were given more severe punishments that
would prevent them from
happening. And laws against land tres-
passing, absence of defendant in court
and misleading witnesses discouraged
those actions from happening. The laws
were set to discourage the people from do-
ing wrong. These laws created a success-
ful civilization because they provided
rules to follow. They provided examples
of what to do and what not to do, Laws
were essential for the success of Omegica-
nia, and with out these laws, there could
be no clear consequences for the citizens
to avoid, and no rules for citizens to obey.
Without laws the people would do what-
ever they wanted, which would result in
the fall of Omegicania. The laws were nec-
essary to keep order.Political leaders al-
ways have their strengths and weak
27
nesses. Caesars strengths beneted Rome,
more than his weaknesses degraded
it. Before Caesar arrived in Rome, it had a
government system called a republic. As
Rome grew, more trouble seemed to oc-
cur. Problems such as a lack of jobs, the in-
ability to collect taxes and similar con-
icts troubled Rome. As it got bigger
these conicts threatened the existence of
the Roman government. Julius Caesar is
the one who resolved these Conicts. in
45 B.C.E., the Senate made Caesar dicta-
tor for a 10-year period and he instantly
became the most powerful gure in
the Republic (Julius Caesars Rule as
Dictator). Julius Caesar did many posi-
tive things. He created
jobs by having roads and government
buildings built. He reduced taxes to make
them more affordable to the people. He
halted some of the uses of slavery in rural
areas and provided more jobs. He also al-
lowed the people in Sicily, Spain and
28
http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130606052821/spartacus/images/5/55/Juliuscaesar.jpg
A statue resembling what Ju-
lius Ceaser looked like.
Gaul to become part of the Roman soci-
ety. Julius Caesar created peace in Rome
and satised most peoples needs. His
creation of jobs for citizens, reduction of
taxes to make them affordable strength-
ened his reputation with the citizens so
that when he faced problems the people
supported him. His success was also his
downfall, because his strong leadership
threatened the power of the Senators and
their Republican form of government and
they killed him. The leaders of Omegica-
nia have learned much from Caesar in
many ways. They learned that for citizens
to support their leaders, their needs must
be handled. Julius Caesar also proved
that there must be work for civilians. If
there isnt, taxes cannot be paid and the
government cannot provide the supplies,
buildings and necessities needed to
survive. Julius Caesar is one of the strong-
est leaders in history. His decisions
showed his understanding of the needs of
his people. Many civilizations, including
29
http://www.biography.com/imported/images/Biography/Images/Proles/A/Caesar-Augustus-39561-1-402.jpg
a hand carved statue of
agustus ceaser when he
was in.rule.
Omegicania, have learned from the suc-
cess of Julius Caesar. The idea of every
citizen having the opportunity to gain
knowledge, and having the time to create
new methods is very important to a suc-
cessful thriving government and
civilization. Civilizations need for its citi-
zens to learn and specialize in areas, and
for them to innovate, and that re-
quires them having the time to do it.
Supporting knowledge makes a civi-
lization stronger, and advances its
technology. Augustus believed this
was a way to make Rome stronger,
so he built libraries and supported
artists and writers. He built Romes
rst library and he also encouraged
many of his wealthy friends to pro-
vide nancing for artists (Political leader-
ship of Caesar). The reason he created li-
braries and supported creativity is be-
cause he knew if he did, technology
would advance. Libraries allowed people
to develop new ideas from what other
people had discovered. And since all of
the citizens had different strengths and in-
30
Omegicanias rst library in-
spired by Julius Ceaser in the
pursuit of knowledge.
terests, they could specialize in what they
liked to create. Libraries were a source of
knowledge and gave information to citi-
zens. That information can be used to cre-
ate better things, and allow more brilliant
discoveries to occur. The information in li-
braries could also benet government as
a place where laws would be recorded
and systems of government
studied. Civilizations need governments
that use knowledge to create better pro-
grams and systems, and for government
appointees to have time to use the
knowledge. Agustus did this by appoint-
ing governors to longer terms in ofce, al-
lowing them to develop better policies
and programs (Political leadership of
Caesar). He gave them more time to come
up with new ideas using the information
to create and implement new methods
that would make life better for the
citizens. With governors having longer
terms to create and come up with ideas,
and the use of libraries as sources of infor-
mation to nd successful methods, they
were able to create much more efcient
programs and procedures. The Omegaca-
nians agreed with the ways of Agustus.
They started to create their own library as
a source of knowledge for everyone be-
cause they saw the success that resulted
from having knowledge. Agustus also
saw that for growth to occur all subjects
must be supported. He allowed the gover-
nors and governmental employees to
have longer terms to come up with ideas.
31
The philosophy of Agustus that Omegica-
nia followed was that with longer time to
develop, the product was better. The ele-
ments of time and knowledge, result in a
product that is positive and favorable and
may help its civilizations economy and
government if citizens are given a
chance. Agustus set an example of how
important knowledge and time are in or-
der to thrive, and civilizations, like Ome-
gicania, should use his brilliant
methods.Decline of The Western Roman
EmpireThe western part of Rome, one of
the greatest civilizations, fell mostly be-
cause of the unemployment poverty and
lack of technology that lead to its
decline. Unemployment had a negative ef-
fect on Rome. Estates that were owned by
the wealthy contributed to the loss of jobs
on small farms. These estates used slaves
or very low paid labor. Smaller farms
could not compete with plantations, and
as a result the owners either lost or sold
their land and that drove many into pov-
erty. The unemployed moved to the cities
in a search for jobs. But the only thing citi-
zens of Rome found for themselves was a
life of crime and felony to get an
income. The jobless population just kept
32
Omegacanian aqueduct that transports water
from the mountains.
getting bigger. At one time, an emperor
made a shipment to feed one hundred
thousand jobless citizens in Rome (De-
cline of the Western Roman
Empire). Unemployment also made taxes
harder to collect because the majority of
the population, the unemployed, could
not pay them. And without taxes new
building of aqueducts, roads and many
other structures and systems could not be
created or maintained. When a strong
leader inuenced the large population of
unemployed workers a rebellion could
brew. The lack of improvements in tech-
nology was also an issue contributing to
unemployment. It became harder and
harder to create new products that benet-
ted people, and could be traded, that
would create more jobs. Since the Ro-
mans relied so much on human and ani-
mal labor they failed to nd new techno-
logical ideas that would help produce
goods more effectively(Decline of the
Western Roman Empire). The great civili-
zation of Rome was at a stand
still. Without new technology, new ma-
chines, arms, medicine and forms of archi-
tecture could not be invented. Military tac-
tics and weapons were not improved mak-
ing the borders of Rome even weaker. To
support the growing empire with large ar-
mies that were far away, the people were
over taxed taking money away from
Rome and adding to the
unemployment. The Romans became
weaker and weaker from all the problems
33
caused by unemployment, and eventu-
ally they could not hold the weight of all
the problems, and Rome crumbled to
ruin.
Omegicania, a blossoming civilization,
learned from the mistakes and failures of
Rome, and avoided
them. Unemployment was an issue that
deeply wounded Rome, made it weak,
and lead to other problems such as crime,
tax evasion, lack of technology, and pov-
erty. One way the Omegacanians avoided
the problems of the past was by abolish-
ing slave labor. By doing so wealthy es-
tates had to pay there employees, and
small farms were able to compete. In
Rome, wealthy estates used cheap labor,
and farmers who had to pay workmen
could not stay in business, and many
were forced into the large cities, and had
to commit crimes for an income (decline
of the western Roman Empire). Also to
make things more fair, as the estates land
mass grew, the amount of tax paid was in-
creased. Since many more jobs were pro-
vided, poverty was avoided and crime
did not frequently occur. There were no
mobs of unsatised citizens, and the
chance of rebellion was unlikely. Taxes
were paid. Therefore buildings, roads, aq-
ueducts and other systems were im-
proved. This provided even more jobs for
people. Technological improvements
were made because Omegacanians did
not have to deal with the problems of pov-
34
erty that the Romans did. Jobs were cre-
ated by new technology for certain tasks,
replacing ones done before by animals
and humans. Financial support was made
available allowing Omegacanians to ad-
vance their systems. Not allowing slav-
ery, taxing large estates and improving
technology prevented the problems of un-
employment in Omegacania, and it al-
lowed the people to inventing and create
new ideas to improve life and society.
35
CHAPTER 3
36
Belief Systems
As a [person] believes, so will the person
act. -Sam Harris
SECTION 1
A belief system determines how a civiliza-
tion acts, thinks and the values it lives by,
which means what it believes is right and
wrong. It gives citizens a guide, some-
thing to follow on the correct way to live
in the society. For example it might ex-
plain how a citizen should act to try to
save another if he sees them drowning,
Figure 3.1
Impact Of Belief Systems
37
Muslims Praying to there monotheistic God Allah.
http://majesticislam.wordpress.com/tag/almighty-allah/
or whether or not a child should ask his
father for money. Beliefs give citizens
hope, a reason to behave or think in cer-
tain ways. Buddhism, Hinduism and Con-
fucianism are all belief systems that
taught morals and inuenced civiliza-
tions in their beliefs. To have a successful
civilization there needs to be a belief sys-
tem that inuences what happens in it.
To better understand the role of belief sys-
tems within a civilization and how they
can inuence the actions and decisions of
people, consider the following moral di-
lemma: In Europe. A woman was near
death from a special kind of cancer. There
was one drug that the doctors thought
might save her. It was a form of radium
that a druggist in the same town had re-
cently discovered. The drug was expen-
sive to make, but the druggist was charg-
ing ten times what the drug cost him to
make. He paid $400 for the radium and
charged $4,000 for a small dose of the
drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz,
went to everyone he knew to borrow the
money and tried every legal means, but
he could only get together about $2,000,
which was half of what it cost. He told
the druggist that his wife was dying, and
asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay
later. But the druggist said, "No, I discov-
ered the drug and I'm going to make
money from if." So, having tried every le-
gal means, Heinz became desperate and
38
considered breaking into the man's store
to steal the drug for his wife.
Different belief systems can inuence the
way that people make tough decisions,
such as the one Heinz is considering re-
garding the life saving medicine for his
wife. If Heinz believed in Hindu morals,
he would probably not steal the medica-
tion needed to save his wife. Hindus be-
lieve that doing any kind of harm to any
living being should be avoided.All life
forms have a soul, so Hindus respect all
forms of life and avoid hurting them
(Frey 148). If Heinz stole, he would be
hurting another soul, therefore he would
not do it. Another reason is that he would
be running the risk of getting bad Karma.
Karma is all the good and bad deeds of
ones soul (Frey 148). Souls are considered
to have many lives, and karma deter-
mines where someone will be in the cast
system (a ranking system that consists of
39
Karma: What goes around
comes around again.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ozb14r2tgLY/TS-V1p
NxzQI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uc7lSRxkiVk/s1600/
my-sleeping-karma.jpg
5 ranks) in their next life. He could be as
low as a farm animal or as high as a Brah-
min, depending upon the decisions he
makes. His choice to not break in and
steal would cause a great loss, the loss of
his wife, but his good Karma would be
maintained because of his honesty and
not doing harm to another, and he would
be ranked higher when reborn in the next
life. Because his wife would not be cured
with stolen medicine she also would be
ranked higher when she was reborn.
Hinduism is just one example of how a be-
lief system inuences choices. The moral
values of keeping peace and not harming
others are effective because they reduce
crime and conict. Karma makes people
think before they act, because they dont
want bad Karma. This results in better de-
cisions that pertain to the morals of Hin-
duism. Having less crime and citizens
making the right decisions helps create
prosperity because people dont have to
40
Rank System Of the hindu religion, one is put in one of
these places in there next life due to there karma.
http://oscareducation.blogspot.com/2013/07/traditional
-features-of-indian-society.html
worry as much about getting harmed.
With citizens making smart decisions
there will be less tension and stress leav-
ing more room for growth. Good Karma
and keeping peace are two of the essen-
tial aspects that make up Hinduism. The
example above shows how a belief sys-
tem affects the way a person might act,
think and make decisions.
Furthermore, if Heinz belief system was
Buddhist, the results of his actions would
change, in that he would probably steal
the drug for his wife. Buddhists believe in
having selessness and doing good deeds
for others. Being seless means to not just
care about ones self, but also for others.
Heinz would be seless by stealing the
drug and helping his wife, even though
he is risking his chance to reach nirvana.
By stealing he would be breaking one of
the main teachings of Buddhism. Heinz
would take the Middle way. To End Suf-
fering Siddhartha taught people to travel
the Eightfold Path. This path follows the
middle way (Frey 159). By stealing the
meds he was saving a life. He was solv-
ing two of the three forms of suffering for
41
his wife, sickness and death, and at the
same time he was concentrating on doing
what he considers the right practices and
teachings of Buddhism. Buddhism is also
another belief system that inuences deci-
sions. Morals such as being seless lead
the people in a civilization to be kind and
generous, and willing to make sacrices
for someone elses needs. This affects a
civilization positively in that citizens are
helpful to one another and work together.
Heinz stealing and using the life Saving
Medicine is an example of working to
help another on a most important need,
survival, and in the process he was being
kind and generous to his wife. With citi-
zens working together, more work can be
done efciently and progress in building,
preparing the military for defense, invent-
ing new techniques, creating in the arts
and all sorts of other things can be devel-
42
http://nichirenbuddhist.blogspot.com/2013/10/dr-shakyamunis-cure.html
These are the right actions to achieve the eightfold path.
oped because of the harmony. And in do-
ing so, a civilization will become stronger.
Selessness and the eightfold path are a
few of the teachings of Buddhism, and
they can affect many people. Heinz
choice to save his wife, as a Buddhist,
shows how religious beliefs can inuence
people in a civilization to act according to
the morals and values of that religion.
A belief system is important for a civiliza-
tion because it can inuence the way peo-
ple think and act within it. In the moral di-
lemma, Life Saving Medicine, the
choice to steal or not depends on what be-
lief system Heinz follows. If a Hindu, he
follows the rules of karma and does not
harm others. If Buddhist, he follows the
eightfold path, and is seless. Both im-
pact how Heinz thought and how he
acted to save or not to save his wife.
Thats why it is so important to have a be-
lief system in a civilization, so people can
make decisions based on what the society
values. As stated above, Hinduism gave
peace and harmony, and Buddhism gave
selessness, kindness and generosity, all
very important traits. For a successful civi-
lization that helps citizens make wise deci-
sions, and the civilization to have good
and constructive values, there needs to be
a belief system.
43
SECTION 2
The Roman Catholic Church in medieval
Europe grew in both economic and politi-
cal power after the collapse of the West-
ern Roman Empire in 476 C.E. Before the
Church took control, the Roman empire
was in a devastating state. The Roman
citizens were taking building materials
from the old Roman structures for their
Figure 3.2
The Role of the Catholic Church and its
Belief System in Medieval Europe
44
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Christianity_of_the_Middle_Ages The Christian inuence after the fall of the Roman Empire
own use. In the small villages people
were barely making enough to live, not to
mention that they lived in fear of the Vi-
kings that would invade their land. The
Church revived the civilization, creating a
new one, using the rule of God, and the
goal of going to heaven. The Divine Right
of Kings is what mainly started the civili-
zation. The Divine Right was the right of
a monarch to rule granted by God (Frey
23). The Church supported the kings rule
and his ideas, and convinced the people
that he was given the right to command.
In return the king protected the Church.
The Church had a lot of political power
over the king. The reason they did was be-
cause they were the people who knew
most about god, and they were already
high in the rank system for supporting
the king. But they had even more power
because if they stopped supporting him,
for everyone would lose trust in him. A
good example of this was the conict be-
tween Pope Gregory VII and King Henry
IV. What started the disagreement was
when Gregory banned the practice where
45
Image of where King Henry had to wait three days bare
foot in the snow before Pope Gregory forgave him.
http://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2013/05/morning-offering-for-all-zwho-have-left.html
kings could appoint Church ofcials.
Only the pope could appoint them. Greg-
orys ruling angered Henry IV. Henry con-
sidered it his duty to appoint church of-
cial so He declared that Gregory was no
longer pope. Gregory responded by ex-
communicating Henry he said his sub-
jects were no longer obliged to obey
him The inuence of the Church was so
great that Henry begged forgiveness
(Frey 33). Church ofcials were the only
people who could read and write. As a re-
sult they kept records for monarchs and
became trusted advisors, making them
even more powerful. The Church also
had a lot of economic power. They col-
lected something called tithe or tax. A per-
son was supposed to give a tenth of his or
her money, to support the Church (Frey
33). The church was also the greatest land-
owner in Europe. Some of that land was
granted to the Church by monarchs and
some was taken by force. The Catholic
Church developed a successful civiliza-
tion because it created wealth to maintain
the civilization and its people, and power-
ful guide which the people could follow.
The wealth that the church provided
meant that people didnt have to ght to
survive, making the civilization more
peaceful. Also, the advancement in tech-
nology grew faster because the people
did not need to concentrate as much on
getting essential elements to live. The
power of the Church made the civiliza-
tion even more peaceful because the peo-
46
ple could depend on it to support them.
In sum, The Catholic Church has a lot of
money, and systems to supply the people
with the essential needs, and the power
to support and help them through trou-
bling times.
While the Church was providing a sys-
tem to help secure wealth and support, it
was also providing a spiritual motivation
to follow its scriptures, centered on the be-
lief in an afterlife. For following its teach-
ings and its beliefs, anyone could achieve
heaven in the afterlife. Evil thoughts and
deeds led to hell. The motivation to
please God and achieve an afterlife in
heaven was what drove people to make
47
Representations of the Seven
Sacraments.
http://theimplantedword.les.wordpress.co
m/2012/07/baptism.jpg
the decisions they did. But the process of
salvation was not so simple. There were
seven essential parts called Sacraments
needed to achieve the afterlife (Frey 34).
These seven aspects provided a way to
prove loyalty to the religion, which in
turn meant that one was making choices
according to God and the Church. The
Crusades are a good example of the dedi-
cation to the Church, and its inuence on
thought and behavior that pervaded the
Middle Ages. The Crusades originally
started when the Holy Land was cap-
tured and controlled by Muslims. The
Muslims destroyed sacred sites, robbed,
harmed and sometimes killed Christian
pilgrims, which started the affair. The Cru-
sades were an unspeakably horrible time
in history with many deaths. But knights
were not the only ones who fought. Many
citizens joined in the brutality. As stated
by Frey, Pope Urban II promised en-
try to heaven to all who joined the ght
(121). The opportunity was a once in a
lifetime, and since Christians believed
that the whole point of life was to get
evaluated to go to heaven or hell, many
went on the Crusades. It is a good exam-
ple of how the Catholic Church inu-
enced and manipulated the ideas and ac-
tions of many people. Having people fol-
low the beliefs of the Catholic Church
lead to a successful civilization because
people were able to justify decisions ac-
cording to Gods commandments, as
stated by the Church, in order to please
48
him. This allowed for teamwork because
everyone wanted to please God, and
therefore they worked together with acts
of kindness toward one another. In sum,
the Christians manipulated thinking
through the belief in God, and by trying
to make good decisions that would pro-
vide entry to heaven.
49
SECTION 3
A belief system is important for a civiliza-
tion because it can inuence the way peo-
ple think and act within it. In the moral
dilemma, Life Saving Medicine, the
choice to steal or not depends on what be-
lief system Heinz follows. If a Hindu, he
follows the rules of karma and does not
harm others. If Buddhist, he follows the
Figure 3.3
Belief System of Omegicanians
50
the Omegacanians statue in honor of God his power and wis-
dom.
eightfold path, and is seless. Both im-
pact how Heinz thought and how he
acted to save or not to save his wife.
Thats why it is so important to have a be-
lief system in a civilization, so people can
make decisions based on what the society
values. As stated above, Hinduism gave
peace and harmony, and Buddhism gave
selessness, kindness and generosity, all
very important traits. For a successful civi-
lization that helps citizens make wise deci-
sions, and the civilization to have good
and constructive values, there needs to be
a belief system.
Belief: Religious Discipline
The rst, obligatory belief the Omegacani-
ans must follow is called Subdern. Sub-
dern holds the meaning of dedication to
god, and stresses the idea that god should
be thanked for all he has given to the hu-
man race. Subdern is practiced in prayers
3 times a day, sunrise, noon and dusk.
During this process the Omegacanians
are supposed to pray on a black mat wear-
ing white robes, with eyes closed. They
are supposed to get on their knees and
bow their head in the direction of the Obe-
lisk of Command. The Obelisk of Com-
mand is where the diend or prophet of
god prayed for 7 days and 7 nights to get
gods message. They pray in the direction
of the obelisk to show their loyalty to
god. The most important part of prayer
51
for Omegacanians is the communication
with god. Omegacanians must tell god
about their thoughts, thank god for the
opportunities in life, and then recite a say-
ing or sing a song from the Aklave (the
book of holy scriptures and songs) to
show god that they know his role in creat-
ing life. The daily ritual prayers to prove
dedication to god is very similar to the
second pillar called Salat in Islam.
As stated by Frey, throughout Mus-
lim communities people are called
to prayer ve times a day: at dawn
noon midday sunset and after night-
fall (97). Salat also has other prac-
tices to show their dedication to
god, such as washing their hands
and feet before ritual practice, and
praying in the direction of Makkah (frey
97). As the ambition of Salat is to be de-
voted to god for Muslims, so is Subdern
for Omegacanians. The practice of Sub-
dern allows civilians to be strong and
stubborn in difcult situations, and it
makes Omegicania more efcient, be-
cause men and women will be devoted to
work hard and make benecial products
52
This is the magnicent structure called the obilisk of
command in which the Omegicanians pray toward.
to prove themselves worthy to
god. The devotion also allows for
teamwork because people are de-
voted to working together to get
things done. In sum the reason Sub-
dern, the practice of religious disci-
pline is important for Omegicania
is because it allows for teamwork
and efciency.
Belief: Generosity
Almslat is the second faith or belief the
Omegacanians must follow. Omegicani-
ans meaning is to give, to be generous
and kind to people in need. It also sug-
gests that one should be thankful for
what one has by donating at least 6% of
his or her earnings to a charitable cause
that will help the needy through Almslat.
Also there are alms boxes around the city
so people can donate extra if they like. An-
other aspect of Alsmlat is that one must
whisper Ashad while passing someone
who is in poverty. This means god help
them. God intended this to be a prayer
of sympathy and compassion on the
needy persons behalf. Emdone is the nal
53
Almsboxes that were around the city so people could donate
when ever they felt like it.
part of Almslat. Emdone is the holiday in
which one must fast, from late morning
to sunset for one week. On the last day
there is a grand feast, and the Omegacani-
ans, after the feast, are supposed to walk
around the city giving donations to any
poor person they see on the streets. Em-
done is supposed to inuence generosity,
and sympathy towards the poor which is
very similar to the ethics of Ramadan
from the Islamic religion. Almslat, the act
of being generous and kind to others is
very similar to zakat. The word Zakat
means purication. Muslims believe that
wealth becomes pure by giving some of it
away and sharing that wealth controls
greed (98). The main obligation of zakat
is to become generous and kind towards
the needy and poor, as is Almslat for
Omegacanians. This is good for Omegaca-
nia because people will be more giving
and kind towards others and the poor.
And money that is donated can be used
for many useful things such as hospitals,
housing and soup kitchens. People will
be able to work together because every-
one is kind to each other. Also less crime
will occur because of the teachings of
Almslat, which emphasizes being kind
and generous to one another, making
Omegacania a peaceful place. Almslat,
the belief of generosity makes for a suc-
cessful civilization because it inuences
generosity, teamwork, and peace.
54
Belief: Peace, and Self defense
The nal belief that holds a space in the
Omegicanians belief system is called for-
tus. The context of this belief is that one
should solve inner and outer issues. it
also suggests the meaning of justice.
There are two types of evil that fortis
speaks of, one internal, in the mind, and
one against a sinner, or external. If these
two types of problems occur in ones life,
they must follow the pejjah while solving
them. These rules are called pejjah (the
rules of justice). There are 3 main rules
that the pajjah consist of, which are, one
must not steel, lie or kill. One must con-
trol frustration and anger. And one must
ght to fend against oppression. An exam-
ple of an internal problem might be if
ones mother asked her child to clean their
room. The child wants to protest. But he
doesnt because he be ghts the evil of dis-
obedience in himself. Instead he fullls
the obligation of fortus, following the
rules of pejjah. If the second or external
problem occurred, the rules of pejjah
would also be used to solve it. This strug-
gle to keep evil out of ones sole, and the
society is very similar to jihad in the Is-
lamic religion. As stated by frey, jihad
represents the human struggle to over-
come difculties and do things that
would be pleasing to god (101). Jihad
also states that Muslims should protect
themselves from people who want to do
55
them harm or terribly wrong ( Frey 101).
The principle of jihad is to overcome dif-
culties. In the same respect so is fortus.
The last tenant of the Omegicanian belief
system, called fortus is important because
it encourages peacefulness. What accom-
plishes this is the rule in the pejjah, that
states no stealing, lying or killing. But just
because they are peaceful does not mean
the Omegicanians are defenseless. The
reason Omegicanins are prepared to de-
fend themselves is because the pejjah
teaches to defend against evil, and they
deal with that every day either externally
or internally. In summary, the reason
these beliefs are important is because
they encourage peace within, but also
teach its people to ght evil inside, and
from those who threaten from outside.
56
CHAPTER 4
57
Ideas
A person may die, and nations may rise
and fall but an idea lives on
-John F. Kennedy
http://listden.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/share-ideas1.jpg
SECTION 1
he humanist mindset was a proud stand-
ing system during the Renaissance that
made many changes which improved the
technology of Italy. Humanists believed
in the balance between religious faith,
with an emphasis on individual dignity,
and an interest in the nature of human so-
ciety. They always asked questions. Hu-
Figure 4.1
a beautiful painting created during the renaissance to represent the commerce and communication during that time.
Untitled
58
manists were fascinated by new knowl-
edge and craved it. For instance, an Ital-
ian poet named Francesco Petrarch
loved books. He encouraged his friends
to bring him any they found (Frey 320).
Humanists had great ideas, but those
ideas didnt have anywhere to go. This
was so only until Humanists started pro-
moting their ideas in the open markets or
trading centers. Florence, as an example,
was a great city with prosperous thinkers
such as Leonardo Da Vinci. There was a
reason behind it though. Florence was
an important center for trade and com-
merce. It was the hub for woolen cloth
trading for all of Europe (Frey 342). Trad-
ing valuable items wasnt what really
made Florence so successful. It was
mostly because there were people of all
cultures and classes. With different kinds
of people there were always diverse inter-
pretations of life, lessons, morals, or basic
knowledge that could be learned from
59
http://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/114704/f
lashcards/655407/jpg/031203petrarch.jpg
Painting of the geniuses
named Petrearch during the
renaissance.
someone else. Thats why it was a
great place to preach the humanist
messages and teachings from which
other people could learn. The ideas of
the humanists were denitely under-
way, but once the main concept of indi-
vidual dignity was accepted, its inu-
ence started to help Italy prosper. The
meaning of individual dignity was
all people had the ability to control their
own lives and achieve greatness (Frey
320). Once the concept was grasped eve-
rybody started learning and specializing
in the subjects they wanted to. This cre-
ated more development and helped
change the old permanent job placement
system to a more exible one. Science,
mathematics, art, literature and history
were the subjects which people special-
ized in and became deft at, but the hu-
manist teaching of asking questions is
what created more opportunities and
knowledge. The art of asking questions
lead people to suspect old information,
and they began to perform experiments
to nd more accurate or new intelligence.
The humanist mindset was very success-
60
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EeKNnkddzCo/Uinr-QSgeVI/AAAAAAABigE/cBWovRmfT4E/s1600/Pieter+Aertsen+(Dutch+North
ern+Renaissance+Painter,+c+1508-1575)+Market+Scene.jpg
The rennisance market the center of ideals trade and commerce.
ful for the Italian civilization because it al-
lowed it to prosper and excel in many sub-
jects. The humanist mindset also was
greatly successful because it created an at-
titude that would allow future genera-
tions to keep the civilization going and
still have a steady technological improve-
ment. For a civilization to be as successful
as the Italians were, it must have an open
place where people can express ideals
and knowledge, and a mindset that val-
ues excellence and motivates people to ex-
cel
The Renaissance had many ideas that
prospered and were very successful.
While the people of Italy were striving,
the Church was becoming corrupt, and
new ideas were spread to challenge and
threaten its teachings. During the Middle
Ages the Church was the political and eco-
nomic power, as well as a religious amal-
gamation. The Renaissance Church, much
different then the middle age Church,
was falling under its own weight. Some-
thing that made corruption evident was
that many religious leaders who where
supposed to maintain the ideals of the
faith started to slack off. As shown on
348, Frey states that, Priests, monks and
nuns made vows, such as not to marry or
have children. Yet many broke these
vows. People were also irritated that the
Church tried to get money through indul-
gences. If one paid his or her indulgences,
one would be bereft of all sins allowing
61
him or her to go to heaven. Many be-
lieved this was wrong because to achieve
heaven it had to be hard earned through
faith, not just paid for. In addition there is
a practice called simony. As opposed to
being chosen as a religious power by faith
and loyalty, one had to pay to get an of-
ce or leadership position. This just in-
creased the outrage in the Catholic peo-
ple. Not only did the Church allow indi-
viduals to buy salvation, they were also
allowing people who were unqualied
for leadership to have it. These question-
able practices led the people of the Renais-
sance to abandon some of its teachings
and to create new ideals that went against
the Churchs. They were concepts that
made more sense to the general public
and seemed less corrupt. Martin Luther
was a good example of someone who de-
ed the Churchs teachings and carried
on with his own beliefs. He was a monk
and a strict Catholic, but his studies of the
bible led him to a different theory. Frey
states that, no one, he believed, could
earn salvation. Instead salvation was a
62
http://www.internetmonk.com/wp-content/upload
s/sellingindulgences-410x307.jpeg
Church ofcial selling indul-
gences to get rid of sin for
money.
gift from God that people received in
faith (353). Luther also came to this con-
clusion because of his outrage over indul-
gences. This happened when Pope Leo X
was raising money through them to build
a church. Luther then started presenting
his thesis against indulgences. This thesis
caused much controversy between the
Church and Luther. It began a
crude rivalry. The people were
excited about Luthers ideals
and how he thought. But as
time went on the arguments
between the Church and him
got more serious. Luther also
suggested that the Pope and
Church leaders were not the
true source of leadership. He
believed that the bible should be used as
an example, and thats what drove his
thinking. Finally the Church forced him
out and banished him once and for all. Lu-
ther could no longer print or sell his writ-
ing. They also suggested brutal action to
get rid of his ideals. As stated by Frey
the Church also pressured the authorities
63
http://cp91279.biography.com/1000509261001/1000509261001_2163219489001_History-Martin-Luther-Sparks-a-Revolution-SF-HD-76
8x432-16x9.jpg
Martin Luther the creator of Lutherenism, an alteration of Catholic
Christianity.
in Germany to silence him once and for
all. It was never pursued and Luther
went into hiding for the time being, but
even after that Luthers ideals spread and
grew more popular. As shown, ideals
such as Luthers, are very hard to kill If
people follow and are excited by them.
They can severely threaten a belief or gov-
ernment system. The Church was an ex-
ample. They tried to kill an ideal and they
could not. Yes the Church was corrupt,
but what mostly threatened it was the
new ideals that the corruption spawned.
The Omegals are well brought up, estab-
lished, creative people and have a bene-
cial government and belief system. But as
shown in the Renaissance, there can be
ideals that threaten those systems. That is
why Omegicania developed a system to
test ideals. The rst thing they did was to
have the Council question the beliefs and
government in Omegicania, to create an
example of questioning. They did it as the
humanist did. One of the rst plausible
questions they thought of was against the
donation of 6% of ones income or belong-
64
Omegicanian Council of Elders who decided on
important decisions, laws and also tested ideals.
ings that was part of the Omegicanian be-
lief system and government. The reason
the Council thought this was question-
able was because in the past, during the
Renaissance, there was something called
the selling of indulgences. An indul-
gence was a payment that gave a release
from punishment for sins. These were
used to raise money for the Church and
make it wealthy. The tax, that was part of
the Omegicanians belief system, had an
undened purpose that made it also seem
like it was just beneting the religious
leaders. Truly it was not. It was used to
make benecial structures to help the
poor and needy. If its use was misunder-
stood, then new ideals could possibly be
spread to threaten it. Once the Council
and leader presented their budget to the
people showing where the funds were
spent, it was accepted and supported.
The Omegicanians came up with a way to
deal with new ideals, without getting rid
of potentially good ones. Instead of just re-
jecting new ideas and disapproving them
automatically, as the Catholic Church had
done, the Omegicanians gave all new ide-
als a chance. This allowed them to be
tested, to see if they were benecial. If
they were great discoveries they would
be kept and implemented. Now of course
there were going to be harmful ideals, but
even those had to be tested. What Omegi-
canians realized was that for there to be
advancement in knowledge and technol-
ogy, there needed to be risks taken. Giv-
65
ing all ideals a chance was risky because
some could present an inuence different
than the teachings of Omegacania. Dur-
ing the Renaissance a man named Martin
Luther had many beliefs different from
the Church. The only true sacraments,
he said, were baptism and the Eucharist.
The Churchs other ve sacraments had
no basis in the bible (frey 353). And of
course by defying the Church, this idea
was dismissed immediately. But if they
had given it a chance, maybe it would
have worked out better than the Churchs
old teachings. But the risk was never
taken by the Church to nd out. In Omegi-
cania, if the ideal has been tested and has
been seen to be harmful, the creator
would be asked to alter or change it to
make it t more appropriately, and then it
would be tested again. Now if they re-
fuse, then the person would be banned
from the Omegicanian homeland for 2
years. They should go away, start anew
somewhere else, spread and possibly al-
ter their ideal. If one has altered it in a
way that can now be accepted in Omegi-
cania, one can come back, and welcoming
arms would be waiting. This is helpful to
the Omegicanians because it allows good
ideas to be tested, and provide the Omegi-
canians new technology and ideas so it
can prosper. It also creates the possibility
of changing or tweaking potentially harm-
ful ideals to make them good as well.
And if worse comes to worse, it opens a
new path which completely abandons an
66
ideal so that it does not harm the Omegi-
canian systems. The Omegicanians need
this system to adapt their ideals when nec-
essary, to judge and test which are harm-
ful and which are good ideals, and to al-
ter all ideals to make them benecial to
the society.
Omegicania is a very successful civiliza-
tion as it is but if there were Renaissance
geniuses contributing it could be im-
proved. Leonardo di Vinci was a good ex-
ample of person who advanced civiliza-
tion signicantly. He not only was as a
great artist, sculptor, architect, engineer
and inventor, he was also a true human-
ist. He cared for all life, and particularly
loved animals. Sometimes he bought
caged
animals at the market and set them free.
(Frey 344) As a vegetarian he lived his ide-
als. Through his brilliant art and inven-
tions he demonstrated to people what he
felt was truly important, beauty and hu-
manity. He also showed what imagina-
tion could do to simulate a prototype of a
new idea. Many of the inventions he
67
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oad/c_ll,g_face,h_300,q_80,w_300/MTIwNjA4N
jMzNTM4NTEyMzk2.jpg
A portrait of Lenardo da Vichi one of the
most brilliant inventors of the Rennaisance.
drew, such as the helicopter and a subma-
rine, were centuries ahead of their time
(Frey 344). He was a leader who surpris-
ingly was not threatening to the Catholic
Church or Italian government, but got
them to support his demonstrations of
beauty and new thinking, also introduc-
ing his ideas of humanism. He worked
as artist, architect and engineer for
kings, popes, and wealthy patrons.
(Frey 344) Leonardo da Vinci as an Ome-
gicanian would inuence the arts and
make everything creative and innova-
tive. He would be a great inuence on
bringing benevolence and true beauty to
all life. Also his curiosity would lead
him to discoveries in his subjects to im-
prove Omegicania as a whole. Since one
of his professions was mechanics, he
could build machines and weapons to
benet the military. Also his architectural
skills would allow him to make sturdy
and beautiful designs for Omegicanian
structures. He also might use his genus to
study in depth biology and discover more
68
Sketch of Lenardo Da Vichis
ying machine.
http://0.tqn.com/d/inventors/1/0/w/x/Flying
Machine2.jpg
about how the human body works, to
cure diseases. These are examples of
some of the wqys in which Leonardo
could improve Omegicania. But the most
important thing he would be doing is
very general, improving technology. If
technology improves there are more ideas
and knowledge. People can become edu-
cated and discover new knowledge. A cy-
cle would be created where new innova-
tions are continually discovered and infor-
mation spreads from generation to genera-
tion. But most important Leonardo di
Vinci would benet Omegicania by inspir-
ing its people with the creative and artis-
tic spirit. People would be more excited
about learning because of him and what
he does.
69

Julian Collins - Omegicania

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