Jamhediboga
The term jamhediboga is a term from Ziba which was used primarily to describe, motivate and justify the Aguda Empire, though it has also been applied in other contexts, such as in evaluating the Republic of Dezevau. The word is a compound of two parts, jamhedi, roughly meaning righteous, moral or holy, and boga, roughly meaning state, polity or government; the exact translation and definition of the term are controversial.
Broadly speaking, the premise of the Aguda Empire was that its conquests, hegemony and legality were legitimate, because they were highly morally beneficial, at least from the point of view of Badi. In this worldview, the Aguda Empire was a jamhediboga so long as it strove for and achieved righteous acts such as promoting public welfare, research and cultural exchange, and therefore its dominion had no natural limits: a remit to promote all which is ethical is effectively unconstrained territorially or politically.
The term predated the Aguda Empire, but it becamse most widely known and influential when it was adopted and propagandised by the empire some time after its founding. It continued to be a guiding part of the empire's self-conception until its decline and dissolution through Euclean—primarily Gaullican (see Saint-Bermude's Company)—colonisation. The term was used both during and after the empire to evaluate other regimes and their legitimacy, but because of its religious connotations and the decline of Badi in socialist Dezevau, it is not widely used contemporarily.
Terminology
The phrase jamhedi boga is first recorded in the medieval era, although only a collocation of two not uncommon words. Some early writers posited it as a kind of divinely inspired empire, comparable to the Heavenly Dominion or the legends that came from the direction of Xiaodong, which might create an earthly utopia. However, these sentiments were generally unusual, rare, and primarily inspired by comparison with empires to the east and south; while the phrase is of solidly Ziba construction, the idea was essentially a foreign analogy.
The compound word is most attested from the Aguda Empire itself, as it became a recognised term, and acquired a substantial presence beyond the meanings of its parts. At times, it was used as a title for the empire as much as a descriptor. It was mainly from the Aguda Empire that the term was translated into other languages: jamhedi was translated variously as moral, ethical, religious, divine, holy, sanctified, rightful, righteous or right, being the more controversial and operative word, while boga was taken as empire, state, polity, entity, regime, government or country.
In the colonial era, perhaps the most common complete translation in Estmerish was "moral empire", mirrored in Gaullican as empire moral. However, it has been suggested this translation was influenced by the imperialist ideology of academics of that time, and insufficiently conveys the sense of boga as a political entity which is not necessarily territorial, but regnant in some field, and an equal to other bogabo. Contemporary scholars have preferred translations such as righteous regime, or even government of good works, though the most common academic practice is now to explain and give various translations for the term at the beginning of a work, and then use it untranslated throughout the rest, to preserve nuance.
Goods of jamhedi
Someone or something which is jamhedi is not inherently holy; in Badi, it is primarily actions, knowledge, emotions, experiences, phenomena which are moral goods and deserving of reverence, and other things or people have religious importance in relation to these. The state that is jamhedi, then, promotes these religious goods; the term can be related to the idea of doing good works, or praxis, or ethical action (as opposed to the morality behind it).
Badist morality and ethics is complex, and had a variety of approaches, as well as a variety of beliefs about moral goods, even just within the Aguda Empire. However, on the whole, they tended towards consequentialism, and some widely recognised goods include knowledge about the world (especially practically or experientially), minimisation of unpleasant feelings or sensations, social connection and harmony, human life, development of culture, and reverence all of these therefor.
The Aguda Empire sponsored theologians to develop doctrines about moral goods which were in the direction of what it could or did provide, and also propagandised its own relevant deeds and achievements. In general though, its actions were designed to appeal to the breadth of the Badist ethos. For the purposes of discovery about the world, it sponsored religious institutes and expeditions. To develop culture, it funded monuments, local temples, festivals and other such initiatives. Its organisation of agriculture and rural migration were designed to maximise production as well as to balance the needs of peasants, migrants and urbanites, and thus helped create peace and prosperity. In general, the Aguda Empire was focused on issues of administration, and undertook much civil engineering as well as institutional foundation and reform; this was the driving motivation behind the empire as it expanded, at least overtly, as it moved beyond a model that derived legitimacy from producing prosperity in the metropole to the detriment of conquered territories.
Territoriality of boga
In modern Ziba, a boga (plural bogabo) is a state, in the sovereign sense. The word was used in a different sense prior to contemporary notions of sovereignty; in medieval Dezevau, it was essentially any independent polity, with the connotation of comparability to other such polities. The numerous city-states of the region were referred to as one sort of boga, as were kingdoms and empires further afield. This notion is not necessarily incompatible with the contemporary idea of a state, but it was not as well developed, and notably, it did not imply anything about territoriality.
A Dezevauni city-state was a juboga; they were polities which were defined by a ju, a city, or metropolis. The significance of the city, in a sense, was what legitimised the existence of the state. Some temples, such as the Temples of Eternity of great significance and independence were bogabo, where the religious significance of the institution justified its status as an independent and recognised political entity. States further afield, such as the Jiao Dynasty and Toki Dynasty in Xiaodong or the Heavenly Dominions, were often taken as bogabo; they were not necessarily well understood within Dezevau, but what seemed to be substantial religious or philosophical commitments, and great wealth, size or development seemed to merit the title.
In contrast, the domains of warlords, and petty kingdoms or rural communes or republics did not merit recognition, and found it difficult to participate in cultural or political life in the region, in terms of attracting skilled labour, being bestowed religious favour, negotiating with powers, finding recognition in or favourable terms of trade, and so on. The fact of their territoriality and local sovereignty was pragmatically important, but could impart no prestige, which contributed to most of them being short-lived, with their legacies absorbed by the most proximate boga. The term vau may be provided for comparison; it is often taken to mean "country", or "land", as in the name of Dezevau, but it does not convey a sense of political prominence.
The jamhediboga, in its mature conception, took the jamhedi concept as the justification for its existence. It deserved recognition, not because of a religious or developmental prominence, but because of its ethical strength, which naturally had a broader remit than the claims of other bogabo. Of course, this was not necessarily an easy claim to make or to accept, but as the Aguda Empire grew, and the scale of its works and propaganda increased, the natural way to view the empire became as a jamhediboga. As noted, the idea was strengthened by foreign analogy; while jamhediboga was a unique title, albeit from a Badist perspective, other empires following other traditions seemed comparable in grandiosity and ambition. As the early modern era dawned, the Aguda Empire could claim legitimacy as not just the guardian of the moral community of the known world, but as the defender of the conception of the moral community as its people understood it.
Usage
The term was used by various writers, in contexts such as utopian fiction, descriptions of faraway places and religious-political theories, prior to the Aguda Empire. It was almost always in the sense of Badist religion. The doctrine became widespread and was adopted in the empire during its expansion, in particular as it invaded and annexed the oldest, most prestigious city-states in the Buiganhingi and Bugunho basins. The Aguda Empire's longevity and strength came as much from its surprising military success as from its ability to forge, adopt and spread ideology which legitimised it in a way that city-states did not; when powers managed to expand their territories, usually they broke off along old faultlines within a couple of generations.
As the idea of the jamhediboga entered mainstream consciousness in the Aguda Empire, it also affected the way it was run. Despite its centralisation, the institutions of councils which chose, advised and administered for leaders were based on the organisational principles of temples, and the strength of the Badist clergy grew throughout the course of the empire. There is ample evidence to suggest that devotion and duty along these lines played heavily on the mind of the government of the Aguda Empire, in its civic works and bureaucracy. Neighbours to the empire, generally Badist, often accepted the title, and gave tribute in recognition. It has been said that the word was the Aguda Empire's subtitle.
To some extent, the ideal became moribund, and more of a nostalgic rallying point as the institutions of the empire decayed and were seized by colonial powers. The Aguda Empire legally existed until the 19th century, but for its last years, its affairs largely came to be run by Saint-Bermude's Company, a Gaullican company with a mind to profit and extending Gaullican political power. As newer, often more radical ideologies (socialism, national functionalism, anarchism, etc.) percolated into the region of Dezevau, jamhediboga became a relative footnote with the abolition of the Aguda Empire. Some attempted to apply it as a kind of historical analogy to the Republic of Dezevau, neighbouring states, the functionalist colonial regime and such, but this usage gradually also faded with the decline of Badi in socialist Dezevau and its neighbours.