<br/><div class="floatright">(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a0/42/97/a0429768a1b37bcb7d5ae90678f6fcd9.jpg)</div><strong>Sebastian Van Carlyle (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=313925.msg15196499#msg15196499)</strong><hr/><br/>Sebastian gives Ikuko another megawatt smile, enjoying the attention of both women while he had it.<strong>"I've been plying the trade lanes in the area for the better part of a decade, so I've got a decent view of the picture. If nothing else, I can confirm firsthand about the gun-running, some of my cargoes have been of that nature."<br/><br/>"Nueva Castile is the older of the two - significantly older, settled before the Star League was even formed, and frankly they still act like the techno-barbarians they started out as. It's a super vertical caste system, with each tier of nobility having total life-or-death authority over whoever's next down on the ladder. Art, science, and education don't mean anything there; only things of value are the blood you were born with and how good you fight - particularly the latter, they treat duels and assassinations like party favors. Pretty good fighters individually, but all that blueblood squabbling means they suck at the strategic level; they outnumber the Caliphate almost three-to-one in troops and are barely on par overall."<br/><br/>"The Umayyad Caliphate's a little better on the 'caring about the little people' front. Outside the military, they're crazy meritocratic - an Umayyad's status is entirely dependent on his or her loyalty and skills, whether martial or political. Inside the military is the same, but you have to trace your ancestry back to one of the original invaders to join the army at all, which limits how many troops they can field. Their military in general is one of the weirdest setups I've run across, more like a collection of independent warrior bands than anything with a centrally unified command structure. Somehow this works out for them way better than it should, and they're real big on honor and bravery. Taking up a dead guy's sword - or his 'Mech - is taking up whatever honors and deeds of valor he had to his name, and it's practically sacrilege to act dishonorable or cowardly when you've inherited a weapon with renown behind it."<br/><br/>"One of the weirder things they both have in common is a lack of money or currency - everything is barter in Castile or the Caliphate. Both are pretty chill towards outsiders, since they need whatever help they can get to break the stalemate."</strong>