Editing Draconis Combine (section)

== Society ==
The Combine's society is, as stated above, influenced greatly by Feudal and Imperial Japan, and is separated largely into what is called the "Five Pillars" of Draconis society, each with it's own symbolic meaning, which largely helps people within those pillars define themselves and define their worldview. They are:

# '''The Pillar of Gold''': The head of government, known as the Coordinator of Worlds (or more commonly just "Coordinator"), and all their myriad ministries and bureaus that help govern the Combine and keep it both loyal and under the Coordinator's thumb. 
# '''The Pillar of Steel''': All Combine military, sometimes referred to as the "Arm of the Dragon". While nominally led by the Coordinator, most Coordinators have their Tai-Shu, or Warlords, deal with the day-to-day running of the various military ops of the Combine, specifically to allow the Coordinator to cover their ass in case their orders turn out to not work. Most of the Combine's military adhere to some form of the Bushido code, and all are expected to follow a superior's orders to the death. Given that they place an emphasis on hard and fast [[BattleMech]] assaults, as well as the open threat of death looming, it's not especially hard to get with the program. If you survive however, you'll be a capable warrior and well-respected within Draconis society, as regardless of position, military members are treated well.
# '''The Pillar of Teak''': The non-military sector of Draconis life, combined with cultural indoctrination. Basically a caste system consisting of nobles, warriors, craftspeople, common laborers, and then the vestiges of society consisting of outcasts and criminal elements. If you know anything about Imperial Japan or the Sengoku period, just assume much of Draconis society follows that because everyone who lives within their borders is the biggest fucking weeb to ever exist, to the point of openly demanding any government official or noble learn the Japanese language just to make sure they keep up to date on it.
# '''The Pillar of Ivory''': Religious and Spiritual leaders and advisory. Unsurprisingly, Shinto, Buddhism, and any collectivist philosophy does especially well within Combine space as Shiro intended it to be, and every non-eastern philosophy, and especially any individualist or egalitarian philosophy gets pretty tightly controlled.
# '''The Pillar of Jade''': The manufacturers and merchants. The Combine has historically never been especially big on resources, and the succession wars didn't do that any favors, so most of the economy is run by the state. There are independent companies, but they pale in comparison to the vast number of powerful state-backed companies that have been cut into two categories; Military and Civilian, ensuring maximum exploitation of what little the Combine has.

In general terms, the Draconis Combine could be best be described as a Feudal Fascist Empire (not unlike the Japanese Empire with a twist of state-sponsored mega corps) being authoritarian, reactionary, militaristic, nationalistic, chauvinistic (including being rather sexist) with tight cooperation between the state and corporate power blocks and a mentality that it is the highest honor to die for Coordinator and Combine. While it may be limited in scope, marginalized by the nobility, corrupt, ineffective or simply a sham, the other four successor states make at least some pretext to democratic government. Even [[The Clans]] have representative elements. The Draconis Combine does not. The Coordinator Reigns, the Nobles and Warlords rule and command on his behalf, the people obey.

This is not to say that more liberal minded individuals don't exist in Combine Space, see Theodore Kurita. But even when a reformer reaches the height of power in the Combine they would face significant resistance and push-back from entrenched conservative blocks up to and including Civil War.