Ophidia

‘Ophidia’ as a name refers to many things: the plane, the country (full name: the Women’s Republic of Ophidia), and its founder, Empress Ophidia, now Demigoddess of Revolutions. It has come to be associated with the Orochijin, the snake-like species who make up around 85% of the population. All Ophidians speak Orochigo which resembles the Terran language Japanese.

The plane itself is comprised of a whole universe, of which only one planet is habitable and all known portals to go this planet. It’s an approximately Earth-sized planet with a lot of water underground and not much above ground. The planet produces a wide variety of food and minerals. In the past, it did not grow coffee, chocolate, or sugar, though Ophidians have started growing them since the end of the Candy War.

Prior to the Ophidian Revolution, the country was a patriarchal kingdom called Orochi. At the top was a king and below him were eight advisors called the Heads of Orochi. All these positions were inherited by blood.

Male Orochijin must drink blood, and in the days before the revolution, men had the right to drink their wives’ blood any time they wished. It was their right to demand sex or blood at will. A mother was also expected to allow her son to drink her blood if he wished. Women had no rights and could only get jobs that required no education. They were expected to obey their fathers and husbands. There was no divorce, either.

I could spend a whole topic just on the Revolution, so I’ll skip it for now. Fast-forward to the present day (in the era of the Merchants novels), and Ophidia is the extreme opposite of how Orochi once was. Women enslave men and other people they deem “not women.” Out of the 88 sapienti species, 8 do not have biological sexual binaries. For each, Ophidian authorities had to decide whether they would consider them “female/master” or “male/non-female/slave” species. Bacchantes, Solues, Maberas, and Carinians were declared “female/master” species for generally appearing feminine or not having any biological purpose as a slave. Sounites, Domovye, non-breeding Hymenopterans, and Ruomalaiset were declared ‘male/non-female/slave’ species. In the case of Sounites, it was because they are a masculine-appearing species and are capable of reproducing with females of other species. With the other three, it was pure greed and a desire to ‘own’ individuals of those species for their use as slaves.

Ophidian society is strongly stratified between classes: High nobles, low nobles, soldiers and mikos, full citizens, commoners, and slaves. There are 36 high noble families, and these families exist ‘outside’ individuals. If the head of a household dishonors or shames herself, she can be cast out of the family even if she is the only member of the family. In that case, a noblewoman from a lower house will be raised to become head of the upper family. Nobility is not based on blood (though you can be born into it), but rather by property. Any woman born a commoner can become a full citizen by owning a house, a slave, a katana, and a horse. To be raised to the status of a noble, she must have a house worth a certain amount of money, twenty slaves, a katana made by the Yuribana family, a gun made by the Higangaoka family, and ten horses. Ophidian authorities regularly perform inspections to make sure citizens and nobles have all the things they claim they do.

Having a higher rank gives a woman opportunities for better jobs and grants her more votes (as in, she can cast more than one ballot). A woman can also purchase votes with money. In politics, however, only nobles are eligible for most high-ranking positions. At the top are the Heads of Orochi, a position that remained from the old days of the Orochi Kingdom, except now all Heads are elected noblewomen. Below them are the governors of the various regions, also elected and also noblewomen.

Noblewomen are held to an even higher standard of conduct than commoners. A noble who breaks the law can expect to be punished worse than if a commoner had broken the same law. The exception is for bribery, since everyone engages in bribery. The courts are notoriously corrupt. In fact, one of the few ways of a noble getting out of a harsh sentencing is to bribe the judge. Some skeptics believe the harsher sentencing of nobles is because the judges want the noble to bribe them for a lighter sentence.

The Ophidians have two militaries: the Shinkou Sueba, further divided into six branches, serve as police, slave-catchers, patrol, and private investigators. These are also the people who perform regular inspections of houses to make sure slaves are behaving as expected (and to make sure they didn’t have a revolt inside their house and are keeping their master locked up.) Their uniforms are resemble that of a certain fascist police/military group from Terra, with each branch having a different symbol on their armband. The Mikazuki are a more combat/war-focused military. Women in Mikazuki take drugs to make them big, tough, and aggressive. Their armor resembles a Japanese samurai and they are equipped to the teeth with weapons. Their name means ‘crescent moon’, referencing their helmets with a crescent moon crest.

Only women can join the actual ranks of the military, though they have plenty of slaves performing certain tasks. Officers are gifted a slave upon promotion. It is illegal for a man to touch a weapon, however. Even things like axes to chop firewood or knives to cut food are forbidden unless their master permits it. It’s not uncommon for a woman to chain certain tools to workstations, so long as the chain does not interfere in the slave’s ability to use it. Women are taught to be absolutely paranoid about slave revolts and will go out of their way to make sure their slaves are under control. It’s normal for men to wear collars their whole lives, only getting bigger ones as they grow bigger, and for them to sleep in cages or with an ankle tied to a bed post. Some places and cities have even more restrictive laws, such as mandating what slaves must wear, eat, or how they must be marked (such as by a tattoo or brand).