Theocracy is a form of government in which God or a deity of some type is recognized as the supreme ruling authority, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries that manage the day to day affairs of the government. The word theocracy originates from the Greek θεοκρατία meaning "the rule of God"; this in turn derives from θεός, meaning "god", κρατέω, meaning "to rule". Thus the meaning of the word in Greek was "rule by god" or human incarnation of god; the term was coined by Flavius Josephus in the first century A. D. to describe the characteristic government of the Jews. Josephus argued that while mankind had developed many forms of rule, most could be subsumed under the following three types: monarchy and democracy; the government of the Jews, was unique. Josephus offered the term "theocracy" to describe this polity, ordained by Moses, in which God is sovereign and his word is law. Josephus' definition was accepted until the Enlightenment era, when the term started to collect more universalistic and negative connotations in Hegel's hands.
The first recorded English use was in 1622, with the meaning "sacerdotal government under divine inspiration". In some religions, the ruler a king, was regarded as the chosen favorite of God and could not be questioned, sometimes being the descendant of or a god in their own right. Today, there is a form of government where clerics have the power and the supreme leader could not be questioned in action. From the perspective of the theocratic government, "God himself is recognized as the head" of the state, hence the term theocracy, from the Koine Greek θεοκρατία "rule of God", a term used by Josephus for the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Taken theocracy means rule by God or gods and refers to an internal "rule of the heart" in its biblical application; the common, generic use of the term, as defined above in terms of rule by a church or analogous religious leadership, would be more described as an ecclesiocracy. In a pure theocracy, the civil leader is believed to have a personal connection with the civilization's religion or belief.
For example, Moses led the Israelites, Muhammad led the early Muslims. There is a fine line between the tendency of appointing religious characters to run the state and having a religious-based government. According to the Holy Books, Prophet Joseph was offered an essential governmental role just because he was trustworthy and knowledgeable; as a result of the Prophet Joseph's knowledge and due to his ethical and genuine efforts during a critical economic situation, the whole nation was rescued from a seven-year drought. When religions have a "holy book", it is used as a direct message from God. Law proclaimed by the ruler is considered a divine revelation, hence the law of God; as to the Prophet Muhammad ruling, "The first thirteen of the Prophet's twenty-three year career went on apolitical and non-violent. This attitude changed only after he had to flee from Mecca to Medina; this hijra, or migration, would be a turning point in the Prophet's mission and would mark the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
Yet the Prophet did not establish a theocracy in Medina. Instead of a polity defined by Islam, he founded a territorial polity based on religious pluralism; this is evident in a document called the ’Charter of Medina’, which the Prophet signed with the leaders of the other community in the city."According to the Quran, Prophets were not after power or material resources. For example in surah 26 verses, the Koran quotes from Prophets, Hud, Salih and Shu'aib that: "I do not ask you for it any payment. While, in theocracy many aspects of the holy book are overshadowed by material powers. Due to be considered divine, the regime entitles itself to interpret verses to its own benefit and use them out of context for its political aims. An ecclesiocracy, on the other hand, is a situation where the religious leaders assume a leading role in the state, but do not claim that they are instruments of divine revelation. For example, the prince-bishops of the European Middle Ages, where the bishop was the temporal ruler.
Such a state may use the administrative hierarchy of the religion for its own administration, or it may have two "arms"—administrators and clergy—but with the state administrative hierarchy subordinate to the religious hierarchy. The papacy in the Papal States occupied a middle ground between theocracy and ecclesiocracy, since the pope did not claim he was a prophet who received revelation from God and translated it into civil law. Religiously endorsed monarchies fall between these two poles, according to the relative strengths of the religious and political organs. Theocracy is distinguished from other, secular forms of government that have a state religion, or are influenced by theological or moral concepts, monarchies held "By the Grace of God". In the most common usage of the term, some civil rulers are leaders of the dominant religion; these characteristics apply to a caesaropapist regime. The Byzantine Empire however was not theocratic since the patriarch answered to the emperor, not vice versa.
Red Steel is a first-person shooter video game published by Ubisoft for Nintendo's Wii console. It was developed by the Ubisoft Paris studio and was unveiled in the May 2006 issue of Game Informer, it was released on November 2006 in North America, the date of the Wii launch. It has spawned a stand-alone sequel, Red Steel 2, released on March 23, 2010; the game takes advantage of Wii's motion-sensitive controller, along with the Nunchuk attachment, to control a katana and a firearm. The on-screen gun hand points the gun in the same direction. Players can push objects to use them as cover by pushing the controller forward. Shaking the Nunchuk attachment or pressing "right" on the D-Pad reloads the gun; the player can throw grenades underhand or overhand, by moving the Nunchuk as though it were the actual grenade. The AI characters can "care for themselves" according to project leader Roman Campos Oriola; the AI allows enemies to surrender, rather than fight to the death. The player can shoot the weapon out of an enemy's hands, causing him to raise his hands in surrender.
Alternatively, disarming the leader of a mob of enemies will cause the entire mob to surrender. Once an enemy has surrendered, the player has the option to either shoot his helpless foe or direct him to kneel with hands behind his head by waving the gun at him. In the sword fighting aspect, a similar option exists. After winning a sword fight, the enemy gets on his/her knees and the player has the choice of whether to deliver a coup de grace or to show mercy. In both sword and gun fights, sparing a defeated enemy removes them from the gameplay, they can no longer attack the player nor be hit by gunfire. In addition, the player is awarded respect points. Slaying an enemy who has surrendered has no gameplay benefits. Recklessness is discouraged by limited ammunition supplies and a system that adds "freeze points" for accuracy/efficiency while using one's weaponry; when a certain number of points is accumulated, the player is able to momentarily freeze time, thus allowing for more accurate attacks.
In story mode and multiplayer "Killer" matches, the remote acts as a telephone using its internal speaker. It rings for the player to place it against their ear; the mission objectives are given without the other players being able to hear what they are. Up to four players can play together on four different maps: Dojo, Restaurant and Docks; the multiplayer mode is split-screen with traditional deathmatches. According to the project leader, "Perhaps most impressive is the fact that although split-screen reduces the amount of on-screen space you are playing in, you don't have to make smaller movements —you can gesture as wildly as you want, it won't interfere with the other player's on-screen quadrants." Red Steel features three multiplayer modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Killer. In Deathmatch, each player must score as many kills as possible to win. In Team Deathmatch, the players are in two teams; the team with the most kills wins. In Killer, each player fights for herself; this mode consists of rounds.
At the beginning of each round, each player receives a secret objective through the speaker of the Wii Remote. A timer is set; the first player to complete the objective wins the round. Depending on the difficulty of the round, players will be rewarded different quantities of points. Killer mode is only playable with four players. Another feature of multiplayer is the notion of "bonuses". Before beginning play, each player chooses one of three bonuses: More Damage, More Life, or Unlimited Ammunition. During play, the bonus meter increases for each enemy killed. Once the gauge begins to fill up, players can press the "1" button on the control to activate their selected bonus for a period of time proportional to how full the meter is. There is no multiplayer mode for sword fighting. Scott Munroe, the protagonist of the game, is engaged to daughter of Isao Sato. At a hotel in Los Angeles, Scott is to meet Isao for the first time. A gang manages to open fire on Sato's room. Scott is knocked unconscious.
He awakens and grabs a pistol off a dead bodyguard and meets up with Sato, injured, on the roof. Scott learns the ways of the katana from Sato after being attacked by a waiter with a sword. Sato and Scott retreat to Sato's personal suite, where Scott covers Miyu and Ryuichi, one of Sato's guards, as they head to their car in the parking lot. Scott meets up with them, but Ryuichi turns on them and kidnaps both Sato and Miyu. Scott saves Isao after shooting the car and besting the driver in sword combat. Ryuichi manages to escape with Miyu. In Little Tokyo, they meet up with Sato's friend in Los Angeles. Sato is revealed to be the Oyabun of one of the largest Yakuza families. To track down Ryuichi, Scott raids the Angel's Heaven, which Ryuichi's mistress Angel owns, Extreme Wheels, Ryuichi's car workshop. Ryuichi bests him in combat, but spares him, he escapes to Japan with Miyu. The yakuza will only hand Miyu over if the Katana Giri, a katana once used to execute dishonorable godfathers, is given as ransom.
Sato gives Scott the Giri, before dying of his injuries. At Tokyo, Scott makes contact with Otori, a former samurai, Harry Tanner, an American nightclub owner who assists him in tracking down Ryuichi. Harry leads Scott to a waste processing plant off the coast of Tokyo, where Ryuichi delivers Miyu to Tokai, the true antagonist of the game. Ryuichi duels
Abu Ja'far Muhammad, was the ruler of the Bavand dynasty from an unknown date until his capture and defeat by the Kakuyids in 1027. In 1006, the Bavand dynasty was put to an end by the Ziyarid ruler Qabus. Several Bavandid princes continued to rule in small local parts of Mazandaran. Abu Ja'far, a son of a certain Vandarin, is mentioned as the ruler of Bavand dynasty, it is not known. Abu Ja'far, during his reign, was a vassal of the Buyid ruler Majd al-Dawla, himself of Bavandid descent through his mother Sayyida Khatun. Ibn Fuladh, a Daylamite military officer, who claimed Qazvin for himself, revolted against Majd al-Dawla in 1016. Majd al-Dawla, refused to make him governor of Qazvin, which made Ibn Fuladh threaten him around the countryside of his capital in Ray. Majd al-Dawla requested the aid of Abu Ja'far, who managed to defeat Ibn Fuladh and repel him from Ray. Ibn Fuladh requested aid from the Ziyarid ruler Manuchihr. Ibn Fuladh agreed to become Manuchihr's vassal in return for his aid.
The following year, a combined army of Ibn Fuladh and Manuchihr besieged Ray, which forced Majd al-Dawla to make Ibn Fuladh the governor of Isfahan. In 1023, the Kakuyid ruler Muhammad ibn Rustam Dushmanziyar, himself of Bavandid descent, revolted against the Buyids, seized Hamadan from the Buyid ruler Sama' al-Dawla, he spent the following years in protecting his realm from invasions by the forces of Abu Ja'far. Five years Majd al-Dawla sent a combined Buyid-Bavandid army under Abu Ja'far and his two sons against Muhammad. Muhammad, managed win a great victory over the Buyid-Bavandid army at Nahavand, managed to capture Abu Ja'far including his two sons. Abu Ja'far died one year in prison, after his death, the Bavandids disappear from sources, are first mentioned in 1057 under the Bavandid ruler Qarin II. During his reign, Abu Ja'far ordered the construction of the Mil-e Radkan near Gorgan, where he was buried; the building of the tower was completed in 1016, between 7 September-5 October—several inscriptions are written on the entrance, both in Arabic and Pahlavi, which states.
This is the palace of the amir, the important lord, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Vandarin Bavand, client of the Commander of the Faithful. in the month of Rabi II of the year 407. Another inscription, states the following; the ispahbad Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Vandarin Bavand, client of the Commander of the Faithful, may God honour him with forgiveness and satisfaction and paradise, ordered commencing the construction of this shrine during the days of life in 407. It was finished in the year 411 of the hegira. Madelung, W.. "The Minor Dynasties of Northern Iran". In Frye, R. N.. The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 198–249. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6. Madelung, W.. "ĀL-E BĀVAND". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 7. London u.a.: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Pp. 747–753. ISBN 90-04-08114-3. Bosworth, C. Edmund. "EBN FŪLĀD". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VIII, Fasc. 1. London et al.: C. Edmund Bosworth. Pp. 26–27. Bosworth, C. Edmund. "KĀKUYIDS".
Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XV, Fasc. 4. London et al.: C. Edmund Bosworth. Pp. 359–362. Babaie, Sussan. Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I. B. Tauris. Pp. 1–288. ISBN 9780857734778