Highguard people

The Highborn have always known their destiny. From the first, they brought civilisation, and carved a nation from the wilderness, driving the barbarians before them as they expanded. This civilisation, intimately connected to their notion of Virtue, has only grown and strengthened over the years, finally reaching its maturity at the birth of the First Empress and the formation of the Imperial Creed.

Most dwell in chapters, fortified settlements spread across the plains and linked by roads, rivers and canals. The oldest chapters are amongst the most heavily fortified, with concentric rings of stone built over the centuries as the settlement has grown. Inside the walls are beautiful stone buildings dressed with marble frescoes depicting scenes of the lives of the prophets or Imperial triumphs. Every chapter has a degree of autonomy, but they are unified by their heritage, their faith and their belief in the Empire.

At the centre of each chapter is the chapterhouse, a beautiful edifice constructed of hard granite dressed with white marble. The chapterhouse is a place of devotion, but it is also the heart of the community, serving as a meeting hall and storehouse and as the final line of defense if the chapter is attacked. The Highborn pride themselves on the strong sense of community within a chapter. They work together and often eat together, meeting daily in the chapterhouse for prayers and to break fast. The people of a chapterhouse are brought about by a shared purpose and belief. There tend to be few social barriers within a chapter as craftsmen, soldiers, scholars, labourers and priests come together regularly to affirm their bonds of loyalty, or eat together, or celebrate. The tensions within Highguard, where they exist, tend to be between differing chapters whose beliefs and attitudes may conflict.

The first chapterhouses were built inside existing fortifications constructed on the borders of Highguard. These chapters carry the burden of protecting the nation against barbarian raids and incursions and include hundreds or even thousands of experienced soldiers. Later chapterhouses were constructed in interior where there is less need of constant vigil so these chapters tend to include more scholars, philosophers and craftsmen.

The Highborn are a purposeful people. It is said – only half in jest – that every Highborn, no matter what their calling, is also part-soldier and part-priest. The grain of truth at the heart of the proverb is that the Highguard are raised from a young age not to take what they have for granted, but to be constantly alert to threats both martial and spiritual.

As the founder of the Empire, Highguard is a distinguished nation. Their days of rapid change, hurried conquest and shifting rulerships are behind them, and their culture has reached a pinnacle of insight and stability. The Highborn are fiercely proudly of their accomplishments, and, if they are wary of change, it is because they have worked so hard to achieve what they have. This caution has served them well through the founding and expansion of the Empire, allowing them to spread their culture and faith without the dilution of barbarian customs. Their love for Imperial civilisation drives them to defend it from those who would diminish it – whether invading foreigners, well-meaning Imperial converts or the sinister Eternals.

Although the Highborn are justifiably proud of their role in creating the Empire, they are vigilant against the vice of hubris and indulgence. In Highguard, everyone must do their part to ensure the triumph of Nation and Empire, but those that are raised up to positions of power are expected to do more than most. To the Highborn way of thinking, Senators and the like are the servants of the Empire, hand-picked by the citizens to display moral rectitude and provide leadership. With power comes a tremendous responsibility, to be decisive and proactive, to use the power you have been given to benefit all. Those who use such positions to make themselves wealthy or idle are regarded with contempt.

Highguard’s glorious history is the foundation on which their nation, and that of the Empire, is built, and so is profoundly important to its people. More than the dry recording of facts, Highborn history is explicitly written as a chronicle to inspire future generations, and elements such as an invigorating narrative, a strong hero and an enlightening lesson are considered far more important than useless – or worse, negative – details. Highborn scholars consider speculation over the accuracy of any given historical account (all of which are by their nature subjective) pointless, and instead focus on its relevance as a lesson to the present and future. This has been known to bring them into conflict with the Urizen historians, whose indiscriminate approach to source material comes with a refusal to apply any moral judgement to what they record and propagate.