Promise to Warriors Myth

The Promise to Warriors Myth is a term that links various ideas and interpretations of historical events that is argued to constitute the founding myth of Camia. It is centred on the terms of military service whereunder free and enslaved Themiclesians were granted the right to live in Camia and to make use of its land and natural resources. The term came to prominence in the 1920s when Themiclesian historians began to pay attention to the history of Camia in the wake of the expulsion of its military dictator, triggering intense debate to explain Camia's apparent pre-occupation with its armed forces. The idea, though professed widely, is also criticized as a one-dimensional theory for Camian culture that seeks to explain far too much by a single idea or its exponents.

In its most basic formulation, the Warrior's Promise states that Camians possess the right to their national land on the basis of their defence of it by force.

The Warrior's Promise, in its Camian interpretation, is an ideology that emphasizes an "justly earned liberty" from an imperial government that has, at least subsequently, been viewed as tyrannical and despotic, to an extent approximating what modern writers call totalitarianism.

Basis in history

Starting in 1402, Republican Themiclesia enacted its first of several consecutive mass amnesties of penal slaves, who or whose ancestors were convicted of serious crimes and therefore caused their entire families to be seized into slavery. One such enactment, in part, read:

Let therefore each householder be liable to serve under arms and bring but three days' rations on his own account, or in default of ability, a child or nephew in his stead...

It is our will and decree ... not to summon him except to defend the frontiers where we shall separately award tenancies.

All their and their progenitors' transgressions are pardoned and forgotten; all other services and duties are renounced from generation to generation.

Similar amnesties were made again in 1421, 1427, 1434, and 1470, and similar language first appearing in the proclamation of 1402 was repeated in each occasion.

Land law

Themiclesian land law and related practices were complex and experienced evolution in Camia. As a remnant of feudal right, much of the arable fields in metropolitan Themiclesia had three superimposed titles on them, conventionally called the alodial or crown (公租) title, the senior title (), and the surface title. The crown title carried the crown rent, which was charged uniformly on every arable field at ​¹⁄₃₀ to ​¹⁄₆₀ of (the value of) yields. Despite its name, the Monarchy was not the only individual who held a crown title; certain princes and barons also held crown titles, and in such cases the crown rent was due to them, not to the royal exchequer.

A senior title was an intermediate form of land ownership created when new fields were opened. In view of the great investment in both labour and money to open new fields of substantial size, as well as the hazards involved, a successful development also created for the developer a permanent title in land. Like the crown rent, the senior rent was fixed permanently in the initial patent given to the developer by the crown. The rate is considered fixed to the land itself as its fundamental characteristic and cannot be altered by the title-holder. Technically, a decree could alter the rate, but in practice this was very rare. These two rents added together rarely surpassed 10% of crop yields and were together called the "two rents". As applied to Camia, however, since the Crown renounced his rents, the "two rents" added up to a normal 4 – 7.5% per year.

The third or surface title was created when a senior title holder promised to give a "perpetual tenancy" (永田, gwryang-lin) to someone in return for rents.