Book Swampopilis PDF

Swampopilis
THE ANSWER TO WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL

CIVILIZATION
Griffin Woodlief
Woodlief, Grifn Tuesday, June 3, 2014 2:29:01 PM Grifn Woodlief Pacic Daylight Time 70:56:81:af:f6:33
SECTION 1
In this shady, humid environment, the
gloomy and green water lays like a sleeping
dragon, waiting to awaken. It is silent all
around the swamp, from the still water to the
motionless branches on the tops of countless
trees. Even the drop of a single twig, smaller
than the sh that swim in the murky water, is
enough to disturb the peace. The trees shoot
up from the water into the sky, while
branches jut out of the sides. The branches
It is in this swamp environment that the civilization of Swampopilis will be born.
Introduction
1
on the trees come out the sides of trees, mak-
ing it look like a spiraling staircase. The
leaves from the branches cloud the swamp
with shade. They are dark green, matching
the color of the algae and moss below. There
is just enough space between the leaves to let
the harsh sun through and beat down on the
water like a middle school bully. The green
and brown of the swampy environment mesh
together like a key lime pie, the sun shining a
light like an oven on the dessert-like swamp.
It is peaceful everywhere, the swamp taking
a daytime nap. The water is quiet all around.
It is in this unfavorable geographic envi-
ronment that the civilization of Swampopilis
will be founded. It is a civilization whose de-
sign takes its inspiration from the study of
past civilizations such as the Arabs, the Az-
tecs, the Greeks, the Mayans, the Mesopotami-
ans, and the Romans, among others. This
book will document the necessary steps to
take in order to create a successful civiliza-
tion.
2
People are children of their environments
- Shinichi Susuki
CHAPTER 1
3
Modifications
SECTION 1
Part I - Analysis of the Problem
1. The rst step in building a successful
civilization is to secure basic human needs
such as food, water, and shelter. Due to its ge-
ography, the major challenges of the civiliza-
tion of Swampopilis including the following.
In the humid swamp environment, there is a
major struggle for food. There is very little
land, and the only land is boggy and fenny.
Human Changes to the Land
4
Because of this, farming is not an option. That
leaves hunting as the only option of obtain-
ing food. This is hard because of the murky
waters that surround my environment. Also,
the sh that would be caught would likely be
soaked in mucky water. There are also ani-
mals in the water that could possibly be
deadly. This makes hunting for sh much
harder. It if this problem remains unsolved, it
would mean the end of my civilization. If
they cant grow crops or hunt for sh, they
would have no signicant source of food.

2. Another important problem in Swam-
popilis is nding clean water. The water that
exists in the swamp is murky and undrink-
able. This water cannot be drunken because it
is dirty and full of disgusting moss, algae,
and possibly small animals. This can cause
diseases and sicknesses. There is no supply of
water that is signicantly cleaner than any
other. The water is all equally disgusting and
disease-ridden. If this problem goes un-
solved, it could wipe out an entire civiliza-
tion.
Part II - Proposed Solutions

In all civilizations, there are many prob-
lems that people face. These problems can be
easily solved with adaptations and modica-
tions. A modication is when a civilization
changes parts of their environment to make it
easier for themselves to obtain food, water,
and other human needs. An adaptation is
when humans adjust the way the act and live.
They do this so it is easier for them to live in
5
their environment. Humans usually adapt to
their environment so they can acquire basic
human needs. Adaptations and modications
are some of the most important parts of build-
ing a successful civilization. It will help a com-
munity to become better situated to their spe-
cic environment, and more importantly,
help the people of the civilization continue to
live and thrive.

1. In the civilization of Swampopilis,
there is a major struggle for food for two rea-
sons. One reason is because the water is
marshy and murky, so catching sh is all but
impossible. The bigger problem, though, is
that there is not land available for growing
crops. The only land that there is is too moist
and soggy. One possible solution to this prob-
lem is building household gardens. This is
similar to what the Mayans did in their
swampy lowlands. The Mayans, similar to
the Swampolians, were located in a swamp
and had a major lack of land. To solve this
problem, the Mayans ... used household gar-
dens in the cities to increase the amount of
6
The members of Swampopilis could follow in the footsteps of the
Mayans and use household gardens to plant crops.
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Video/130226/t
dy_home_garden_130226.jpg
land available for growing food. (Frey 268).
By constructing houses and building gardens
inside of them, the Swampolians would be
able to have much more land more growing
crops, which would help their civilization be-
come much more stable.

2. Another challenge that could poten-
tially wipe out all of Swampopilis is that the
water is all dirty and disease lled. It is lled
with a combination of algae, moss, and sh,
all of which contribute to the water being un-
drinkable. One thing that could be done to
help solve this problem is to create dams and
poke very small holes into the dams. These
holes would only be small enough for water
to come through, so there would be no
murky and disgusting algae, moss, or sh in
the water. The Mesopotamians did some-
thing like this in there civilization. The Meso-
potamians had a problem. They never had
the right amount of water. They either had
too much water, because of ooding, or too lit-
tle water, because there was little rain. To
help control there water supply, the Mesopo-
tamians built many irrigation systems, but
the one thing that they did that was the most
helpful was building earth walls, called
7
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levees, along the sides of the river to prevent
ooding. When the land was dry, they poked
holes in the levees. (Frey 36). The people of
Swampopilis could use this idea to help the
water become clean. The Mesopotamians had
an idea, and a use for it that they believed
would help their civilization. The Swampoli-
ans could use this idea in a different, yet still
helpful way.
8
The peoples good is the highest law.
-Cicero
CHAPTER 2
9
Law & Government
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SECTION 1
Lessons on Democracy
The most important lesson that can be
learned from the rise of democracy in the
Greek city-states is that political leaders need
to try to make as many people happy as pos-
sible. The Greeks did not do a good job of
this because at the start they had a monarchy,
but with a monarchy, there are always lots of
Source: http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/ancient-greek-warfare/images/ancient-greek-warfare-2.jpg
Maitntaining Civil Order
10
people who are not happy. Aristocrats then
took over the throne, which made even more
people upset. The people then trusted in ty-
rants who turned out to be different people
than the citizens thought. Then the Greeks
settled on a democracy, which listens to what
the majority of people think. As stated by
Frey on page 257, In time, the ideal of de-
mocracy would become one of the great gifts
of ancient Greece to the modern world. This
shows that a democracy is a better form of
government than others because it survived
for thousands of years. The civilization of
Swampopilis could use a democracy to make
the most amounts of people happy. Not every-
body can have what he or she wants, but if
the majority of people are happy, the citizens
will not be able to rebel against the larger
group of people who are happy.
The most important lesson that can be
learned from Athens and Sparta is that peo-
ple of many ages should be able to have a say
in the government. In Ancient Greece, Sparta
only allowed men over the age of 60 to make
political decisions. In Athens, men who were
over the age of 18 had a say in the govern-
11
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ment, and that led to the government hearing
more diverse opinions and ideas. This means
that the civilization will know what the peo-
ple want, and not only what men over the
age of sixty want. This would keep the civili-
zation from making poor decisions. The as-
sembly had very little power. Unlike Athens,
they could not debate issues (Frey, 265). This
shows that the people of ancient Sparta who
were under the age of 60 didnt have enough
power in the government. This could easily
lead to rebelling in civilizations. The civiliza-
tion of Swampopilis could learn from this
and not repeat the mistakes of the Spartans.
They will let all citizens over the age of eight-
een to vote for they want and they would all
be able to have there voices heard. There
were many important lessons that could be
learned from Athens and Sparta, but one of
the most important is that people over 18
should be able to vote and have a say in the
government.
An important lesson that can be learned
from the rise of the Roman Republic is that
laws should be written down. In Ancient
Rome, laws were not written down and be-
cause of this the Plebeians thought that the
Patricians were changing laws to favor them-
selves. They demanded that the laws be
written down. That way, Patricians couldnt
12
change them at will, (Frey, 318). This shows
that the majority of people wanted the laws
to be written down. In the civilization of
Swampopilis, they believe that if the majority
of people want a law to be passed then it is a
good idea to listen to them. In the Roman Re-
public most of the people wanted the twelve
tables to be written created, it was for the bet-
ter. Because of the success that the Roman Re-
public had with writing laws down, the civili-
zation of Swampopilis would follow in their
footsteps and write down the laws of the civi-
lization.

13
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Code of Laws
In the civilization of Swampopilis, there
are many problems that could potentially
ruin the entire civilization, but the main prob-
lems have been narrowed down to justice,
property, respect, personal behavior, and
health/safety. These problems all can be
stopped if the civilization makes laws to keep
people from committing these. One major
problem that really stands out as potentially
the most harmful is the protection of prop-
erty. In the swamp, there is very little land,
and there are very few resources besides
moss and wood. This makes theft a very big
problem that needs to be contained. Two
other problems of the civilization that could
wipe out Swampopilis are personal behavior
and health. In a small civilization like Swam-
popilis, every person needs to be on the same
page and work together. If someone is acting
crazy or suicidal, the whole civilization could
crumble. Also, in the swamp there are many
diseases that people can easily get die from. If
nobody is paying attention to his or her per-
sonal health, it could affect the entire civiliza-
tion. The last two problems that need to be
controlled in the civilization of Swampopilis
are respect and justice. Both of theses are very
important factors in whether or not the civili-
zation of Swampopilis can thrive. In Swam-
popilis there is a big need for respect because
there is a big difference between the jobs of
citizens and people need to be able to respect
people with better or higher paying jobs. This
could help prevent potential ghts and out-
breaking with citizens. Also, people would
have to be able to respect the justice system.
A justice system would be important because
14
people need to know that they cant get away
with crimes and that if the commit a crime
there will be consequences. In the civilization
of Swampopilis there are many issues, but all
of them can be solved if laws are made to
help solve the problems.
It is written that all people shall follow
these laws:
I. If you are found guilty of committing any
crime three times, you shall be executed.
II. If you are found guilty of lying in court
then you will be sent to jail for life.
III. If you are found guilty of not listening to
the law enforcement you will be sent to jail.
IV. If you are found guilty of theft you will be
forced to return the stolen items, pay a ne of
10,000 fnerns, and then be sent to jail. If you
cannot afford to pay the ne, your family
members will be forced to pay for you.
V. If you refuse to obey the courts ruling, you
shall be killed.
VI. If you are found guilty of killing another
person, you shall be forced to pay a ne to
the family members of the victim and you
will be sent to jail. The judge will determine
the ne. If you cannot afford to pay the ne,
your family members will be forced to pay
for you.
VII. If you are found guilty of trying to com-
mit suicide you will be sent to jail for life.
VIII. Dead animals and people will be buried
or burned in a hole together outside of the
city. If you are found guilty of housing a dead
person or a dead animal, you will be forced
15
to bring it to the hole, pay a ne of 7,500
fnerns, and go to jail. If you cannot afford to
pay the ne, your family members will be
forced to pay for you.
IX. If you are found guilty of endangering the
workplace, you will be ned and forced to
spend up to 6 months in jail. The judge
will determine the ne. If you cannot af-
ford to pay the ne, your family members
will be forced to pay for you.
The laws above have been created to help
the civilization of Swampopilis become more
safe and stable. In Hammurabis code, there
was too much violence, which wouldnt work
for the civilization of Swampopilis. In the
Twelve Tables, there wasnt enough violence,
so it wouldnt send a message to the citizens
of Swampopilis. A happy medium was found
and the laws for the civilization were born.
These laws will help solve the problems that
this civilization faces because it sends a mes-
sage to people that if they dont follow the
laws, there will be consequences. The conse-
quences do not involve a lot of death because
the citizens of Swampopilis should be able to
learn from their mistakes. After correcting
their mistakes, citizens will be able to return
to being helpful members of the society. How-
ever, some crimes are so serious and people
who commit them are so dangerous, that the
16
civilization cannot afford to let certain people
back into the civilization. Because of this,
some crimes are punishable by death. The
laws above were created with a sole purpose
of solving the problems of justice, property, re-
spect, personal behavior, and health/safety in
the civilization of Swampopilis.
Lessons on Leadership from Julius Caesar
The main idea that can be learned from Ju-
lius Caesar's reign is that political leaders
should make as many people happy as possi-
ble, and they should also make sure the peo-
ple of their civilization like them. If people
dont like their ruler, they will likely rebel,
which will be bad for any civilization. Also, if
people are not happy in their civilization,
they will either rebel or become non-
productive citizens of a civilization. When Ju-
lius Caesar become the dictator of Rome,
there were many problems with the civiliza-
tion. He did his best job to x them, and one
of the main ways he did it was by making
sure people of his civilization respected him
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and liked him. Another thing that he did was
to make sure that the people of his civiliza-
tion liked the civilization that he was ruling.
To keep the poor happy, he staged gladiator
contests they could watch for free. (Julius
Caesars Rule as Dictator). This shows that Ju-
lius Caesar was trying to make the people of
his civilization more happy so that they
wouldnt have a reason to rebel. He wanted
to protect his civilization, and he thought that
if he made sure people were happy, he would
be able to keep his civilization safe from re-
volts and rebellions. He took many steps to
make sure the people of his civilization
would like their civilization and like the man
who ruled it. He did a few things that were
not appreciated by the people of the civiliza-
tion, such as wearing royal purple and hav-
ing his name stamped on coins. Despite these
few questionable decisions, Julius Caesar was
almost always thinking of new and improved
ways to make the people of his civilization
happy. There are many different things that
can be learned from Rome when it was being
ruled by Julius Caesar, but the most impor-
tant thing that can be learned is that if the
people in a civilization are happy, that civili-
zation will succeed.
18
Lessons from the Decline of Rome
The main reason that there was such a
great decline in Ancient Western Rome is be-
cause of political corruption. In Western
Rome, the people never decided on one par-
ticular way to determine a political leader.
They eventually started choosing political
leaders based on whoever was willing to pay
the most money. The people of Rome were an-
gry at the civilization for not letting them de-
cide who their leader got to be. During the
next 100 years, Rome had 37 different emper-
ors 25 of whom were removed from ofce
by assassination. (Decline of the Western Ro-
man Empire). This shows that the people of
Western Rome were upset with the way their
civilization determined leaders. They were
trying to send a message that they should get
19
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8aef3d7725f28ef571-s6-c30.jpg
a say in who ruled their civilization, but
Rome wasnt listening to them. Political Cor-
ruption led to a rapid decline in Western
Rome.
The main way that the civilization of
Swampopilis could avoid the problem of po-
litical corruption is by always letting the peo-
ple vote on who they want to rule the civiliza-
tion. In Ancient Rome, there was an intense
bidding war to determine who would lead
the civilization. The people did not like that,
and they often found ways to show it.
Rome had 37 different emperors 25 of
whom were removed from ofce by assassina-
tion. (Decline of the Western Roman Em-
pire). This is an example of the citizens of
Western Rome sending the message that they
were not happy with their government sys-
tem. If the people of Swampopilis got to vote
on who rules their civilization, they wouldnt
have a reason to kill that person. Citizens will
be much less likely to rebel if there is a leader
they like and respect ruling their civilization.
If the people of Swampopilis were able to
vote on who ran their civilization, there
would much less rebelling and the citizens
would be much happier. If the people of
Swampopilis were able to vote on who their
political leaders were, it would all but elimi-
nate the problem of political corruption.
20
As a [person] believes, so will the person act.
- Sam Harris
CHAPTER 3
21
Belief Systems
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SECTION 1
Importance of Belief Systems

The main way that a belief system can
help a civilization is by making it easy to
make challenging decisions. A belief system
can be benecial to a civilization because it
can help people know what decision to make
without having to think twice about it. Peo-
ple can learn from Buddhism and Confucian-
Imact of Belief Systems
22
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ism. These civilizations had strong belief sys-
tems, and as a result, people in these civiliza-
tions were able to effortlessly make the right
moral decision. A belief system is important
to a civilization because it can help make it
less challenging to make the correct moral de-
cision.
To better understand the role of belief sys-
tems within a civilization and how they can
inuence the actions and decisions of a per-
son consider the following dilemma:
The Overcrowded Lifeboat
In 1842, a ship struck an iceberg and more
than 30 survivors were crowded into a lifeboat in-
tended to hold 7. As a storm threatened, it became
obvious that the lifeboat would have to be light-
ened if anyone were to survive. The captain rea-
soned that the morally right thing to do in this
situation was to force some individuals to go over
the side and drown. Since the only possibility for
rescue required great efforts of rowing, the captain
decided that the weakest would have to be sacri-
ced. They, after all, would be the one most likely
to die anyways.

In this situation, if someone on the boat were
a practicing Hindu, the correct moral deci-
sion for him or her to make would be to not
listen to the captain. Hindus know what the
correct moral decision is because they have a
belief system that they all follow. A Hindu
would easily choose to save as many people
as possible because their belief system tells
them to. Hindus believe that all life forms
have a soul, so Hindus respect all forms of
life and avoid doing them harm. (Frey 148).
This shows how a belief system can make de-
cisions easy. The Hindu belief system states
23
that Hindus should respect all life, and as a re-
sult, a Hindu would do just that. The Hindu
belief system says that Hindus should safe
the people on the boat, so they would easily
know what to do. A Hindu would know
what the right thing to do would be, some-
thing they wouldnt know if they didnt have
a belief system. Because Hindus have a clear
belief system, they are able to make the right
moral decision without having any second
thoughts.
A Confucianists belief system would tell
them to listen to what the captain says. The
Confucian belief states that Confucianists
should listen when someone of authority
gives them orders. Because their belief sys-
tem tells them to listen to the captain, Confu-
cianists wouldnt have any second thoughts.
All people must respect and obey those
above them. (Frey 208). This shows that it
would be an easy decision for a Confucianist
to make. A captain ranks above an average
Confucianist sailor, so a Confucianist would
choose to listen to a captain. Confucianists
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have a belief system that they listen to, so
they can easily make the correct moral deci
sion. Because of their strong belief system,
Confucianists quickly know what the right
thing to do is, and it is to listen to the captain.
The main reason that a belief system is im-
portant to a civilization is because it takes
away the hardships in making the correct
moral decision. Hindus have a strong belief
system, and because of it they are able to
make tough decisions as a civilization. There
isnt disagreement when civilizations with be-
lief systems make decisions, because every-
body knows what is right. The same thing
goes for Confucianists. Because they have a
belief system, they can make decisions easily.
Without a belief system, civilizations would
fail to recognize what the right thing to do is.
Having a belief system makes it easier to
make the correct moral decision, which is
25
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.jpg
why ultimately, a belief system is important
for a successful civilization.
Role of the Catholic Church and its Belief
System in Medieval Europe
The Roman Catholic Church in Medieval
Europe grew in both economic and political
power after the collapse of the Western Ro-
man Empire in 476 C.E. The church grew eco-
nomically because of two major reasons. The
rst is that they collected a tax, or tithe, from
citizens, and the second reason is because
they received gifts of land from wealthy
lords. The more important reason was be-
cause they collected a large tax from every-
one in the civilization. Each person was ex-
pected to give one tenth of his money, pro-
duce, or labor to help support the church.
(Frey, 33). Because of everyone in the civiliza-
tion giving 10% of their wealth to the church,
the church claimed one tenth of all of Romes
money, plus everything else that they had on
their own. This made them by far the most af-
uent group in Western Rome. The Roman
Catholic Church had the most political power
26
The Roman Catholic Church was one of the most important
buildings in Ancient Rome
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ed_at_1419_V_Street.jpg
in Western Rome during the dark ages, and it
was because they could read and write. Dur-
ing the middle ages, very few people could
neither read nor write, and it was very expen-
sive to gain access to this kind of education.
Church ofcials were often the only people
who could read. (Frey, 33). Because the
church could read and write, it opened up
lots of new opportunities for them. The
church could take advantage of citizens who
couldnt read and write. They could easily do
this by changing laws in their favor. If the
church needed more money to renovate the
church, they could just change the tax to get
more money. The church had incredible politi-
cal power in Western Europe during the Mid-
dle Ages, and it was because of the fact that
they could read and write.
The primary way that the Catholic
Church inuenced people during the Middle
Ages was by promising citizens entry into
heaven if they went on a crusade. Gaining en-
try to heaven, or salvation, was especially im-
portant to Roman Citizens in the middle ages
because it was a dark and disastrous time,
and people had little to look forward to be-
fore they died. Turks and Arabs were invad-
ing Rome in 1095, and Pope Urban II had
had enough. He wanted citizens to go forth
and ght the growing forces in the east. Pope
Urban II proclaimed that all citizens who
died while ghting in the crusades would
gain entry to heaven through salvation.
When they were given an opportunity to im-
prove their next life, they jumped on the op-
portunity. All who die in battle against the
pagans, shall have immediate [cancellation]
of sins. (Two Sides in a Crusade/Invasion).
27
When Ancient Roman citizens heard what
they had to do, they immediately started
marching east, risking their lives for the guar-
antee of better one. Just by offering people sal-
vation, Pope Urban II was able to convince
thousands of citizens to ght the Turks and
Arabs. This shows the inuence that the
church had on the rest of the Roman Empire.
The church was an incredible force in the Mid-
dle Ages, and it was mainly because of their
ability to grant people salvation.
The Belief System of Swampopilis

In an effort to create a successful civiliza-
tion, the people of Swampopilis have estab-
lished their own belief system. It shares simi-
lar religious beliefs and teachings with other
world religions, and it helps the people of
Swampopilis make challenging moral deci-
sions more easily. Here are some examples:

28
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When Muslim people pray for Salat, they often do it in groups.
The rst tenet in the belief system of the peo-
ple of Swampopilis is called Originel.
Originel stands for religious discipline. The
people of Swampopilis carry out Originel by
praying for 30 minutes, from 5:00 to 5:30 each
night. Due to the daily prayer, the people of
Swampopilis must schedule their lives
around that sacred time. Consequently, they
are more committed to their belief system.
The way the people of Swampopilis show re-
ligious discipline through Originel is akin to
the people of Islam displaying religious disci-
pline through the Islamic teaching of Salat,
which requires prayer at ve specic times a
day. As stated by Frey, Salat emphasizes re-
ligious discipline, spirituality, and closeness
to god (97). The mere act of praying ve
times a day forced Muslims to focus on their
belief system. Salat requires Muslims to pray
at dawn, noon, midday, sunset, and nightfall.
It forces them to focus on Islam because they
had to shape their entire day, and entire life,
around their daily prayers. Another reason
that Salat was important for Muslims was be-
cause followers always prayed facing the city
of Mecca, where Muhammad, the founder of
Islam, was born. By facing he city, they were
showing an understanding of Islamic history.
Similar to the way the people of Islam use Sa-
lat to enforce religious discipline, Swam-
popilis leaders use Originel to help impose re-
ligious discipline on Swampopilis citizens.
This tenet assists in forming a successful civili-
zation because it forces everybody in Swam-
popilis to act as one when it comes to pray-
ing. Nobody in Swampopilis argues about
the amount of time people should spend pray-
ing or questions the level of dedication some-
one displays toward Swampopilis. As each
citizen prays from 5:00 to 5:30 every day,
29
every individual worships for the same
amount of time and is equally dedicated to
Swampopilis.
The second tenet in the civilization of
Swampopilis is Sagwyg. Sagwyg stands for
generosity, and it is carried out by people
who have an average amount of wealth or
more. Sagwyg is a weekly ritual in which
those citizens invite a person who is less fortu-
nate over to their house for dinner. This helps
the people of Swampopilis by encouraging
them to learn both compassion and generos-
ity, and by feeding those who need it the
most. The people of Swampopilis gain com-
passion from Sagwyg because they start to
see rsthand what it is like to be less prosper-
ous. It also provides citizens an opportunity
to be generous, since by engaging in this prac-
tice, the people of Swampopilis share their
riches with a person in need. The act of Swam-
popilis citizens participating in Sagwyg is
similar to the practice of people of Islam tak-
ing part in Zakat, which requires Muslims to
give 2.5% of their wealth back to the commu-
30
nity. Muslims believe that wealth becomes
pure by giving some of it away and that shar-
ing wealth helps control greed (Frey, 98).
When they donated their money, it was to
help build hospitals and schools and orphan-
ages. By doing this, Muslim people felt better
about themselves and their community be-
came stronger. Although the money goes to
different causes, both of these practices re-
quire citizens to share what they have with
those who are less fortunate. This aids in cre-
ating a successful civilization because it al-
lows wealthy people to participate in the
lives of the less fortunate. When citizens of
Swampopilis experience compassion, they
want to support the poorer citizens of Swam-
popilis, thus lowering the number of citizens
without large amounts of wealth. In addi-
tion, the generosity of the wealthily citizens
allows the poorer citizens of Swampopilis to
see their needs met, which enables them to
survive the leaner times. This betters the lives
of every person in Swampopilis, and obvi-
ously, the more people alive and well in
Swampopilis, the better. When Swampopilis
citizens engage in Sagwyg, they are helping
the poor, which helps to save lives and make
Swampopilis a better place to live.

31
http://www.english.fgs2.ca/sites/default/les/images/EightfoldPath.png
Buddhists followed the teachings of the eightfold path, much like
Swampopilis citizens follow the religous teachings of Shoaltney.
The third and nal tenet in the civiliza
tion of Swampopilis is Shotney, and it stands
for honesty. The people of Swampopilis carry
out Shotney by not lying. It is a simple and
easy thing for Swampopilis citizens to do but
it is extremely benecial to Swampopilis.
When everyone in Swampopilis is telling the
truth to each other, there are no questions or
concerns about anything. Everybody knows
what is happening in Swampopilis and no-
body is in the dark. Swampopilis citizens tell-
ing the truth in Shotney is similar to Bud-
dhists Eightfold Path requiring honesty.
Right Speech - Be careful and truthful in
what you say. Do not lie or gossip (Frey,
159). For Buddhists, The Eightfold Path was
meant to make sure everybody lived in har-
mony and obtained self-awakening by living
in wisdom, and behaving and thinking the
right way. They believed that everything
changes and nothing is ever the same. As a re-
sult of Buddhists telling the truth, their civili-
zation became better because people can trust
one another and, therefore, can feel more free
Swampopilsi Bible
Holy Bath
Benches
Holy Cross
32
and comfortable in each others presence. In
similar ways, there are many benets to
Swampopilis implementing Shotney but the
most important is political leadership. When
people of Swampopilis are voting for their
leader, they know what they are voting for.
Because of this, the person who is best t is al-
ways being selected to lead the civilization of
Swampopilis. Overall, when citizens of
Swampopilis carry out Shotney, they are help-
ing Swampopilis become a more successful
civilization.
33
A [person] may die, nations may rise and fall, but an
idea lives on. -John F. Kennedy
CHAPTER 4
34
Ideas
http://rappingmanual.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/BrightIdea.jpeg
SECTION 1
Starting around the 1300s, the Catholic
Church began to lose power and respect, and
this was because they were becoming increas-
ingly corrupt. There were many ways that
the church had become corrupt, but the big-
gest and most important way was indul-
gences. An indulgence was when the church
would release a person from punishment for
a sin in exchange for money. Because of the
lack of interest in the church, they needed to
Power of Ideas
35
http://vedux.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Idea.jpg
come up with new ways to make money.
People who received indulgences did not
have to perform good deeds to make up for
their sins. (Frey, 348). This shows that the
church was corrupt because it was making
the civilization as a whole worse, and they
were doing it for their own personal gain. In-
dulgences make for an unsuccessful civiliza-
tion because it allows citizens to commit
crimes free of serious punishment. Also, peo-
ple who dont have great wealth will become
upset at the civilization for making poor peo-
ple go to jail for doing the same thing that
rich people do, despite the fact that the rich
people got disciplined. In the early 1500s,
there was a man named Martin Luther who
though that what the church was doing was
wrong. He openly feuded with the church,
and in 1517, he had nally had enough. The
church needed money to nish building St.
Peters, so preachers went around the town
36
To make a point to the church, Martin Luther
made a list of all of his ideas.
http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780570035190_p0_v1_s260x420.jpg
selling indulgences. Martin Luther decided
that it was time that people should stop listen-
ing to the Catholic Church because they
didnt know what they were talking about.
He claimed that the church was selling false
salvation to uneducated people. (Frey, 352).
Because Luther had so many new thoughts
and ideas, he decided to make a list of all of
them, and so he did. It was called the Ninety-
Five Theses and he nailed the list to the doors
of the Catholic Church and sent out many
copies to numerous church leaders. The
church was so upset that they excommuni-
cated him, so he was no longer a member of
the church. He went into hiding, but not for
long. When he returned, no longer fearful of
being killed, he started his own church and a
new Christian denomination, called Luther-
anism. Although the church had temporarily
stopped the spread of his ideas, they could
do so no more. His church began to grow in
popularity each and every day. People were
in-
37
Martin Luther was morally opposed to the
Churchs teachings.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Lucas_Cranach_d.
trigued by his new way of thinking, and he
had accomplished his ultimate goal of teach-
ing the world about the proper way to live
out their lives according to god. Despite the
churchs extreme and immense efforts, their
evil and corrupt past had nally caught up
with them, and Martin Luther was taking ad-
vantage of it by making his own church.
The civilization of Swampopilis will deal
with people whose ideas are a threat by kill-
ing them. The rst thing that will happen
when a person in Swampopilis has an idea
that could potentially be harmful is that the
government ofcials and high ranking of-
cers of Swampopilis will look over and dis-
cuss it to ultimately decide whether or not it
is harmful. If it is deemed harmful to the civi-
lization, as most ideas will be, then whoever
came up with it will be immediately sent to a
dark place where they will be eliminated
from the civilization forever. In the Renais-
sance, a man named Martin Luther had an
idea that ended up being harmful to the civili-
zation, and if he had been quickly and quietly
killed, then his idea would not have spread
as much and as a result the Catholic Church
38
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/St_Paul_Catholic_Church_-_Burlington_Iowa.jpg
would not have lost as many followers. The
citizens of Swampopilis will not repeat the
mistakes of others. By looking at the past, at
the failure of the Catholic Church, the citizens
of Swampopilis can better prepare them-
selves for the future and kill all citizens with
harmful ideas.
39

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THE ANSWER TO WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL

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