ooc OOC Thread

[Minescratcher452]

Apologies for the delay on these, but I'm getting through writeups now. I've left out writeups that I believe are still WIP; let me know if I accidentally overlooked one. The tacdocs awaiting approval should also have been discussed on discord and will go up in the opener.

 

On 4/6/2024 at 1:44 PM, bc_56 said:

Region writeup for Region 95:

The Iron-Clan Halls

Geography

The primary mass of the Iron-Clan Halls consists of a large asteroid which has been honeycombed with numerous twisting mines, tunnels, and galleries. A veritable fortress, the Halls were designed with defense in mind, both from external and internal threats, and many passages are guarded by traps, murder holes, and other unsavory surprises. The structures are utilitarian in design, with few of the artistic flourishes that characterize Industrial Coalition worksdwarfship.

Outside the main Halls, numerous smaller asteroids exist. Most are uninhabited and strip-mined for materials, but a few host small colonies of Iron-Clan dwarves.

People

The Iron-Clan Halls are inhabited by dwarves, but of a very different demeanor. Rough and embittered by centuries of civil war, the Iron-Clan dwarves are a cold and uncaring people. Their forcible reassimilation into the Industrial Coalition has only worsened these feelings, and they often express spite towards their "soft" cousins. Their culture is incredibly utilitarian, focused around gaining any advantage possible in their ongoing wars, with little time for art or leisure.

Government

The Iron-Clan is divided into a number of feuding governments, each led by a Mountain King, a Champion, and a High Priest of War. The Mountain King is the head of secular government, managing infrastructure and economic matters, as well as the ever-important military recruitment. The Champion is the head of the military, expected to be a charismatic personality leading from the front. They have high turnover rates due to combat fatalities. The High Priest of War is the religious head, performing sacrifices and other rituals to the gods of battle in order to ensure victory for their armies.

The interference of the Industrial Coalition has led to an enforced peace among these rivals, but it is not clear how long it will last.

History

In the late days of the Dwarven exodus from Veehra to Mekhala, a splinter faction arose, wanting to preserve the old ways of the Dwarven kingdom on Veehra. Coming mostly from the military, these dwarves split away from the main fleet and colonized a large asteroid. They built their fortress-mine here and established a new Dwarven kingdom led by the descendants of the old Mountain Kings and War Priests. This did not last long. Pretenders and new claimants to the titles emerged, and the Iron-Clan descended into brutal civil war. Shortly thereafter, the Industrial Coalition lost contact with them, and after some decades of silence, the Iron-Clan was considered dead by their kin.

Quietly, however, they survived, continuing their war and digging ever more complex tunnels and traps throughout their domain.

Resources

Laser Rifles constructed by the Iron-Clan are not elegant devices. There are no artistic flourishes. These are hardy, durable weapons built to survive centuries of warfare.

On the other hand, the Iron-Clan has lost much of its ability to produce Computers. What few examples they have left are jealously guarded by the factions that possess them.

Religion

The Iron-Clan halls are home to two related, but separate faiths, both deriving from ancient dwarven war gods of times past.

The Endless Battle honors warriors who die gloriously in combat with an afterlife where they can continue to fight gloriously for eternity. Dwarves who follow this faith are vicious and aggressive warriors, employing suicidal tactics and mass rushes, as well as participating in bloodsport and honor duels.

The Warrior's Rest honors warriors in another way, with peaceful retirement and peaceful afterlife, a reward for their service on the battlefield. These Dwarves are more cautious and tactically oriented, they often wind up serving as commanders for legions of the Endless Battle and giving them the direction their uncontrolled violence needs to be effective.

Short but comprehensive. Approved.

 

On 4/7/2024 at 2:22 AM, Stygian said:

 

Region 019: Taumaru

Geography

Unique among aerostats, the first thing any visitor notes about Taumaru is that it is constantly shrouded in a state of artificial nightfall—no matter what the Badalian horizon looks like. Artificial constellations dot the Taumaran sky, synced up to match the movement of the stars outside their shrouded world.
 

Taumaru features heavily stratified, vertical architecture that positions its population purely based on status and wealth—creating a distinct social hierarchy that ties one’s identity to altitude. Perhaps whomever had designed this place took the phrase “climbing the social ladder” too literally. When one takes in the sight of Taumaru’s main population center from afar, the sprawling clusters of skyscrapers, hab blocks, and guild halls resemble a synthetic mountain. Trains run at a near constant clip, connecting each layer of the aerostat in a fraction of the time it would take an outsider to navigate its labyrinthine architecture.
 

At the highest point rests the Veiled Palace—closest to their inscrutable deity and the cosmos at large. The king’s ministers live just below the palace in sprawling complexes, and so forth. One would think that the “lowest” would be those who live upon the flatlands. Unfortunately, they would be wrong. Subterranean levels exist—though they stretch far beyond where even the most desperate dare to dwell. Much of the industrial waste is deposited in the lowest parts of the aerostat for recycling—and only the Hand knows for sure everything that dwells within the deepest depths.

Creatures named vorax are known to roam some of the lower trenches. These gargantuan, spined reptiles are ravenous omnivores that will devour anything in their wake—organic, inorganic, alive, or dead. These creatures are indiscriminate—and do not seem to prefer live prey, which has become an oddly lucrative circumstance thanks to a strange side effect of their biology (see Resources, below).

There are some exceptions to the social hierarchy. Certain guilds have positioned themselves in more disadvantaged areas to be more accessible to the population—especially with many of the industrial complexes they have come to rely on being found in the flatlands.

People

Taumaru's population is primarily human, as most of Tekhum seems to be. The inhabitants of this shadowed habitat have ashen grey skin and typically seem to develop the lighter gamete of eye colors. This does not seem to cause any physical deficits thanks to the advances of modern science, but it does seem to be an almost aesthetic or ceremonial choice by the people who live there.

Taumaru's society follows something more akin to a guild structure. Trade work is highly valued, and promising apprentices spend several years under contract in guild halls—learning from masters of the craft. Most guild halls feature some level of exclusivity in their contracts—meaning that they are often barred from doing business outside of the guild for the duration of their training.

 

While these hallowed places allegedly accept talent from anywhere, most of the old wealth comes from those who once walked these halls—or those who know someone that has. Thus, there is a heavy element of favoritism and backroom dealings behind the scenes for many of the more lucrative professions that can act as a barrier to the unknowing or unworthy.

Despite this arrangement, there is not as heavy of a divide between the academic world and that of the labor pool as one might expect. Genetic engineers, industrial welders, aerostat technicians—Despite the difference in knowledge, they are considered artisans one and all. Indeed, the main prejudice in Taumaru seems to be against those who are actively leeching off of her riches without providing some sort of service in return.
 

Interestingly, the kanmarran population that resurfaced after six long years seems to have already shown some level of rudimentary adaptation to the sunless skies of Taumaru's aerostat. With the aid of some basic level of genetic tailoring, the kanmarra of Taumaru have developed slightly narrower builds, and lighter, near-white pigments in their shells. At times, they are known to communicate anger through a raspy, grating growl that emanates from the gastric mills in their stomach--a trait not found in their brethren in Anjahar. It is believed to have developed as a natural threat response--though none on Taumaru have exactly been forthcoming with what that could mean for the civilization there. 
 

Some among Anjahar's more traditional clans find their southern neighbors off-putting, even disturbing--but such prejudices are not spoken aloud, for they go against the very core of Soul's Expression and the Paradigm alike. Instead, they are treated with a strange mixture of awe and disquiet alike.

Government

The government in Taumaru had once been a tyrannical monarchy. The throne had once belonged to Puppetmaster Valix, a narcissistic despot who had largely retained control not by his own cunning--but by the checks, balances, and blackmail left to him by his queen mother. Whilst in power, he had maintained a small cabinet of ministers who would carry out his bidding and surveil the populace--keeping an eye on detractors and dissidents. Bureaucratic matters were largely divided between five ministries that preside over different parts of government and civil affairs.

 

Six years into the transition into an Alliance territory, Taumaru's power structures have proven hard to tear out from the roots. For the time being, Taumaru has been permitted to keep its monarchial structure--with a key addition. A chancellor has now been appointed to the king's circle of confidants as a two-way street. The chancellor will help to introduce certain reforms into Taumaru's constitution in order to bring them more in line with Alliance standards. In return, Taumaru will have a voice in the civilian assembly when meetings are called--just the same as any other annexed territory.

History

Taumaru’s current state is largely in thanks to a sinister and near total restructuring of government that took place over the course of sixty years.
 

These schemes came at the hands of a woman of many titles, Saphira—oft known in private, behind incredibly secured doors as Saphira the Manipulator, amidst other colorful epithets. Through a series of calculated gambits, underhanded tactics, and blackmail, Saphira had engineered a system of bureaucracy that gave near total power to the man—or woman behind the throne. So trusted was she that the current king had been persuaded to name her progeny as his heir.

Perhaps her only downfall was presuming that her son would inherit her wiles. The man who would be king had taken the throne right on the eve of adulthood—and those who knew him would likely say in private that he needed to bake a while longer.
 

Wholly glutted on the ideals of the Invisible Hand, Puppetmaster Valix was a man of many ideas—but very little foresight. Never did he dream that his position would be in true danger, for the Hand had placed him here.
 

Where Saphira had sought to centralize power and cement her son’s rule, Valix had thought to delegate through a small cabinet of confidants and co-conspirators. The result was largely stagnation and decline as these very men sought to improve their own standing—chipping away at Valix’s power until the Puppetmaster was nearly a puppet himself.
 

In the years since the Eucrus Alliance swept through Taumaru, there have been a few key revisions to the power structure—clawing back some measure of power to the monarchy, while introducing Taumaru’s people to some of the protections afforded to Alliance citizens.

Alliance officials have been largely wary with pushing too hard—recognizing that the elaborate web of corruption woven here will take quite some time to navigate.

Faith

The Invisible Hand (Majority)

The Invisible Hand is the (only) crowning achievement of Puppetmaster Valix during his time as monarch. Mostly owing again to nepotism, what began as a provincial cult soon became a fully-fledged religion and tool of the state.

Proponents of this faith believe in an unknowable force that guides all things in the universe toward their ultimate fate.

 

Followers of the Hand are taught to believe in a meritocracy that rewards ambition, hard work, and loyalty—while also encouraging its followers not to question their circumstances. One can always persevere to better their circumstances—but dissent against authority walks a razor’s edge. Go too far, and risk being seen as heretical—one who lacks faith in the grand design.
 

If one succeeds—particularly in an unforeseen way—it is because the Hand saw fit to elevate them. Those who fail were always meant to fail, for they lack these essential qualities—or worse, squander their potential and self-sabotage. There is almost a perverse delight ingrained in adherents when one seemingly destined for greatness suffers a meteoric fall.

Perhaps this is why, despite the success of the cult, there has been no overt rebellion in the wake of Puppetmaster Valix’s departure—both as head of the faith and as ruler of Taumaru.

Resource

Vernian Jewels - Luxury Goods / Art and Cultural Products

Few souls know the true, macabre origin of the Vernian Jewel.
 

These impressive gemstones are formed as a byproduct of the vorax that roam the lower trenches of Taumaru—devouring anything they can get their claws on, regardless of whether it provides actual nourishment to the vorax or not. Over time, rogue elements that survived the initial acid bath are compacted together into a bezoar during the vorax’s digestive process. Intense acids scour the bezoar again, filtering away pesky things like concrete, bone, and detritus. Peristalsis then creates intense pressure throughout the stomach and intestines, compacting the bezoar further until a precious gemstone is created.

These bezoars are often snatched by suppliers and taken to artisans so that remaining debris can be chiseled away. What often results due to the myriad of impurities are one of a kind gemstones that bear a myriad of colors throughout the different layers—often with a base pigment of red or purple. What ultimately survives the trek is what has become known as “Vernian Jewels” by the wider public. While the process is not wholly understood, it is heavily theorized that some manner of internalized magic helps to facilitate the transition. No supplier has ever been willing to get close enough to examine one via vivisection.

These jewels are seen as a luxury item for a few reasons. One is the relative scarcity of “authentic” gemstones on Badal—without true terra firma to guide the process naturally. The second reason is due to the skill of the artisans who work with them, setting them into jewelry and art pieces for the wealthy to admire.

Desired Import: Chemical Reagents

Due to Taumaru’s rampant overcrowding concerns, the Eucrus Alliance is looking into ways to add additional infrastructure into the aerostat. In the meantime, some vital—if basic—supplies would go a long way toward easing strain on existing critical points. Fertilizers for hydroponics, chemicals for sterilizing water supplies, and more.

 

Excellent! Approved.

 

On 4/7/2024 at 3:17 AM, FriendlyHeadcrab said:

 Craobhan Mòra (Waiting for Approval)
Region: Firmament 110

 

History

The Era of Eternal Bombardments is a legend. A mythos that warns the modern day of the dangerous of technology, and the cost of all-out war. The Firmament was not spared these consequences. After the last bombs fell, The Firmament was left isolated. Its elevators closed, any remaining ships lost leaving whoever, and whatever, was up there isolated.

In the time of war, a new breed of soldiers was created. The Reserve provided a standard of soldier beyond that which could naturally occur. The Bàsclan. Genetically modified super-insects plagued battlefield with a ferocity, cunning, and capability unmatched by the common soldier.

When The Firmament became isolated, a new era of horror began. Three legions of Bàsclan were stationed on the Firmament, clicking for deployment. Combat ready peak genetic specimen primed for war. And then the war was over. The Bàsclan would not be contained.

It is unknown what the people of that day may have called region 110, they didn't survive the passing of time. Unlike they people of the Reserve, they were hunted to extinction. Until only the Bàsclan remained. Victorious, the Bàsclan gave themselves a name, the A' fuireach.

Geography

Called Craobhan Mòra by the A' fuireach, Region 110 of the Firmament is huge, a scale that can hardly be comprehended. A third of this gigantic ring has a surface area nearly matching that of Sansar as a whole.

Craobhan Mòra is home to giant verdant forests. Perhaps its most recognizable feature are the stage trees. These massive trees were clearly also the target of genetic modification. Rather than sporting a single overhead canopy, the Stage Trees sport many. The highest canopy still contains an overhead of thick fibrous leaves, but the lower canopies are a thick entanglement of branch and vine. These "stages" allow the trees to support each other, and form into flat surfaces that can be easily traversed or built upon by natives.

These many stages create an intense verticality to Craobhan Mòra. Any single stage feels like a ground to itself. The long-spanning branches create a floor and ceiling and floor so thick that vision cannot traverse. These sturdy branches do not bend even under the weight of hefty vehicles. Walking onto a stage feels like being transported into a different "ground" entirely. A new land where the world is held together by pillars of wood holding a brown sky aloft from the similarly wooden ground. Cutting your way into the ceiling allows access to yet another land of branches.

These trees cover the entirety of Craobhan Mòra. Ruins of ancient civilizations are built on the various stages of the trees themselves, and the trees have reclaimed them. Old housing, shipyards, and warehouses have been consumed by trees. Branches intertwining and cutting into the floor. Trees have grown around and into steel itself.

The trees provide cover and food for a numinous arboreal mammals. These creatures may have arrived here as pets, livestock, or simply stowaways. Now they serve as prey for the A' fuireach.

People

As time progressed, the A' fuireach matured as a species. Outgrowing their single nature as machines of war, the A' fuireach developed a language, culture, bonds. For the first time, the Bàsclan no longer lived in opposition to the sapient species that created them. They asked themselves, "Without war, what are we?" That single question expresses the uncertainty of purpose, fear, and freedom embodied by the A' fuireach people.

They found answers.

They are hunters. They are killers. They are parents. They are explorers. They are free. And they will fight for that freedom.

The Modern Day

The A' fuireach were none too pleased at the arrival of the STAR RATS. The war was fast and brutal. For all their natural prowess, the A' fuireach were unprepared for the impact of modern technology.

And yet, were they not created in a time with technologies far more terrible than this? Were they not warriors in an era where the weapons made these look like throwing sticks? There is only one answer, the A' fuireach have grown soft. The millennium of peace have softened their caprices and dulled their teeth.

And so two factions emerged.

Firstly, the A' fuireach that wanted to be more, that wanted to grow beyond the intent of their creation and grasp the fruits of technology into their hand. They wanted to be known and respected as a species. As a people.

Secondly, the A' fuireach that missed the old ways. They relished these new hardships, to bring back the grit in their claws, the sting of their teeth. They believed in the intent of the creator. They were created to be most terrifying monstrosity in existence. The was their purpose, and they would fulfill it.

For now, there is an uneasy truce between the elect, orgs, and the A' fuireach. 500 klicks in every direction from the elevator has been surrendered to outsider control, but all else belongs to the A' fuireach, and they will hunt all hunt trespass.

Religion - Minosians

The majority of A' fuireach worship their creators.  The arms-dealing bioartificers who breathed life into their bodies. It is ironic, considering how many of these same bioartificers were killed by the A' fuireach themselves.

The traditional A' fuireach believe that they were created as being of ultimate strength. And through the expression of that strength, they can connect with their heritage and purpose.

This belief system is opposed to a new belief system, that posits that the A' fuireach should grow beyond their original intention. But this belief remains the fringe.

And yet a third belief system exists. Fledgling and slowly growing, a belief beyond the A' fuireach. All around them, there is something greater, something powerful. Something not yet named. Something in the leaves, something in the trees, in the soil. An intelligence, a power growing in The Firmament. The great stage trees have been awakening, called to awareness and connection by a new force. Some unknown sapience. It is this force that the A' fuireach hear. It calls to them as it calls to the trees and calls to the mammals. All is called. But it is not the planet, it is above.

Resources

Export: Stage Trees - Flora
The Stage Trees are plentiful and have many uses in trade. The Trees were planted here by peoples of ages past.  When Chemically treated and compressed for long periods, they form a spaceworth building material. When left alone, they decay into fertile soil, which has led to the lushness of Craobhan Mòra.
Add Resource Category: Construction Materials along with flora.

Import: Specialists
The specialists aren't needed by the A' fuireach, but are needed to deal with them. Psychologists, negotiators, hunters, and warriors. People are needed to help forge closer bonds with the A' fuireach that wish to join modern society, and a very different sort of person is needed to put down A' fuireach that resent their new neighbors.

 

This looks mostly good, but I'm a little unclear on which belief system described is meant to describe the "Minosians". Clear that up and this is approved.

 

On 4/9/2024 at 8:49 PM, Rocket Relm said:

Alright, I rewrote the write up, added both clarity and some more details. Upon reread you were right, it did come off like I was up 24 hours and slammed the fluff in a frenzy of first draft writing. I've made it better now (I hope).



Region 8 - Fort Helios
 

History

Within their isolated bubbles and delusions of grandeur, these people have a significant difficulty dealing with the literal and figurative popping of their bubble for outsiders to stride inside. This resulted in their history being one in which they defensively kept to themselves. There were benefits to this, it meant that the other baldalan wars never seriously impacted them, and that the other noxious intoxicants never hampered them quite as much. This eventually evolved into them being a people isolated from the world, talking exclusively to them through cameras and tvs and the interplanet, prospering with a surprisingly high population count. Although socially they were barely functioning which left them open to being captured by invaders of a strong dedicated kind.

Exposure to the outside in such a violent manner has caused their insulated immune systems and culture to rapidly crash downwards. In the years since their region has been traded first to the Glorious Purifiers, and then to the Arkhive, their population has fallen to half its numbers a decade before. Right now the region is in relative prosperity for the half that survived, and is looking to stabilize at a more reasonable population level.
 

 

Geography

Bubbles and bubble like structures fill the air and the sky, being a high maintenance for scrubbing, but well worth it as a symbol of pride. In each one lives more people than you'd have expected out of a region, especially the more well off ones who can have 'high rise bubbles' and ones with exotic scenery. The groundwork is artificial with Cubic Masonry, and even further beyond that it is rounded out. Ships traverse and round out, it slightly circles but always remains in this specific sector of Badal. The usually filthy air is purified to an unreasonable degree on the inside, for non-natives unused to such measures the extra intoxicants and mild chemical elements added to the air through the process can make it a little painful to inhale. The natural denizens are used to it, of course, and even their physiology has adapted.

This has actually created problems as exposure to the outside has broken the purification systems, and then again much more deliberately by the Purifiers. In their efforts to allow outsiders to not be intoxicated by what some would reasonably call poison in the air, it caused the natives who had adapted to have trouble. Certain areas are still hyper purified in their air zones, and laborers who come in to these areas often wear air tanks or masks to stop from suffocating.

 

People

Lizzers and humies. In normal speak, humans and lizardfolk. The lizards are more elite, and the humans are lower class, but there's variety in both. It's a bit of a splash of society, insular, almost monarch like. There is a deliberate 'I'm the best' mythos presented here, and the humans play along and adopt characteristics of the shorter lizard folk. Famous lizards once upon a time even invented technologies, different things that reach out and splash everywhere, and their culture involves proving oneself through measures and metrics.

Self congratulatory natures of everything along with mandated religions make it shockingly easy to keep people compliant, one would be surprised how little rigor is applied. The natives do enjoy festivities and despite everything being silo'd, entertainment finds a way. Basic internet and television cement into a central part of the culture, Snaking Snews, Basu-Rahaman and even the Heliotrope Broadcast find their way into the lingo. Which results in sometimes words degenerating into weird pidgin languages, like is demonstrated at the start with "lizzer" and "humie" being cutsey and slip of tongue casual.

 

Government

Mimes. Mimes. All the mimes. So many mimes. Mimes makes up the government, ever since people learned how to communicate through symbols and tvs and automated things the religion of Homeostasis has taken over, making motion minimal. There is no specific reason it seems that things have turned into mimes, or why this is a central part of the government, but that's how it is. They sure like their black and white makeup, and that is a rare thing that breaks through the quarantine measures.

The rest of the governmental natives are the lizards, who insist that they are the best (the ones who aren't mimes, anyway). They're the ones who invented the sun, after all. The emperor is secretly one of them, but nobody bothers with proving that, they just take the propaganda as self evident. Their central locations are nuclear silos, old factories that made it the old fashioned way, which have been refurbished for people to live within. They're some of the biggest areas that don't have walls infesting their designs splitting things into subrooms, allowing many of them to gather and talk about how great their culture and media is.

Maybe the mimes have it right. Maybe they shouldn't be talking.

The two factions vie for control over the government as of current, while the Arkhive tries to maintain enough stability to stop things from being crushed down. The Mime faction has some religious passion, and doesn't quite like the fact that languages are being transformed into such hybrids that don't make sense. Honestly, many of the mimes that don't have a strict vow of silence will speak to governments like the Arkhive and the Purifiers, they just refuse to converse with the incredibly smug fellow denizens of the other population.

 

Religion

Universal Homeostasis

The religion of nullification. Pausing. Emptiness. The dominant force within the region, and part of the reason that things aren't as bad as they could be, but that they also aren't as good as they could be either. Freezing and inaction provide many different benefits, and with this religion it is an actual art form. Mimes are quite a good cultural thing here, and they even hold some positions of government.

Force fields and walls are the specialty, and Cubic Masonry is a technology that these people have developed quite early on. This has advanced into spacecraft too, although with said spacecraft they have remained insular. Durable like a nintendo gameboy, though, which is really the best way to describe most of their construction.

Universal Apootosis

The religion of cell death. Everything must progress towards implosion, which avoids the greatest evil known as 'cancer'. It's something to avoid, along with the outside intoxicants. Somewhat of a cult that causes people to die after a set period of time, and one that has seen an uptick in recent years due to the traumas. As well as a weird belief that because of more people coming in to help with labor shortages, the people must even out the population.

Of course, there are positives to this religion too, such as a focus on enjoying life as you have it and peace. An exceptional set of care for people at the end of life and ability to enjoy things in the time they have left. A lack of needing to pay for social security because of said lack of aging issues. A set of cells and minor bit of magic involving the literal splitting of 'atoms', which helps power things such as the scrubbers, making nuclear batteries quite a treat for these people.

There's also Paragonism, which is about being a good person and reaching your ideals or whatever. But they're such a minority so nobody cares about their little cult.

 

Resource

Resource: Atmospheric Scrubbers [Spacecraft / N/A]

Scrub scrub scrub the force fields near the edges of the colony. These planes are real good at that, and practically able to go into space themselves with the right measure. They have to constantly scrub around the bubbles of the area to let sufficient sunlight in to power some of the cells, and this has been done so much that there's a surplus of planes to go around, to sell, to give to whatever people. Which in large part is currently the literal Psycho Capitalists. It pays well and at least on an economic level has everything going squeaky clean.


Desired Import: Labor

The quarantines have always made it hard for people to go outside and do work, and the recent collapse and downturn of population have made it even more so. More than ever, people to do basic functions of society are necessary, the ins and outs of living and delivery. It's a mass thing, not quality but quantity, plus, somebody's gotta handle all of the filth and disease of everything.

 

This is more coherent even if still very weird. Approved.

 

On 4/20/2024 at 5:17 PM, TheDarkDM said:

Submitting some region writeups.

 

Zimbir, The High Court of Mekhala (Region 81)

History

Before the War of Eternal Bombardments, the enormity of the Empire strained even the capabilities of InterPlaNet and the more esoteric technologies of Ophon. Centralization of power within the Emperor's court led to sometimes-costly delays in response to crisis, and fomented discontent among those vassal states who felt they lacked a voice in the golden halls of power. In response, and to free the High Lords of the tedious mundanity of day-to-day administration, the Emperor decreed the creation of a number of local divisions of the Imperial Bureaucracy to better administer their far-flung demesne. Among these were branches of the Imperial legal system, district courts that could litigate matters unworthy of the Supreme Imperial Court. Though their authority was limited, each served as a repository for the vast body of common law, noble lineages, and Imperial Decrees that combined to form the bedrock of law in Tekhum. Zimbir was one such repository, the least influential and least prestigious, presiding as it did over the sparsely-populated hinterlands of Mekhala.

The War changed everything. Most outposts of the bureaucracy that survived the initial wave of catastrophe found themselves cut off from the aegis of Imperial power, their highest officials evacuated to Ophon while armies of subordinates and functionaries were left to fend for themselves. The mechanisms of governance were repurposed into mechanisms of survival, the great machine of Imperial oversight smashed apart to build crude states and fleeting dictatorships that were everywhere undone by the convulsive aftershocks of universal war. Everywhere, that is, save for humble Zimbir. Isolated from the intrigues of great states and the heaving aftershocks of thaumonuclear detonations, Zimbir and its priceless archive of knowledge endured.

Cut off from Ophon's guidance, the legal apparatus of Zimbir attempted to function for a time. Tentative relations were established among the surviving powers spread across Mekhala, the Imperial Magistrates passing down decisions they believed would lead to compromise and recovery. Decisions that were too-frequently ignored in favor of mercurial ambition. Without the backing of Imperial power, it eventually became clear that Zimbir was little more than a relic of a more civilized age, and as their neighbors turned towards conflict and avarice the people of Zimbir turned in on themselves. The cybernetic implants designed to interface with the systems of Ophon became the mechanism by which they survived the growing privation of Mekhala, while the automated court systems at the heart of the habitat grew old and unreliable, legal algorithms and analytic subroutines catching in recursive loops and logic spirals in the absence of any true legal matters to occupy their energies.

Geography

While a number of substantial orbiting bodies occupy Zimbir's territory, life in the region is centered on a massive, pre-war habitat constructed by the Imperial Court. Its opulent exterior a monument to the prosperity of the pre-war period, High Court Zimbir contains living quarters for its magistrates, litigators, and support staff, their judicial chambers and legal offices, court rooms of enough size and spectacle to be worthy of the Emperor himself, and the labyrinthine warren of databanks, autoscribes, and evidence vaults that jurisdiction over an entire orbit demands. Over the centuries of abandonment and independence from Ophon many of the nearer asteroids were also colonized, serving as additional housing at first but eventually evolving into the feudal territory of the most renowned Litigator Clans. Now returned to the fold of something approaching Imperial authority, many of these far-flung fortresses and boltholes have been repurposed as additional storage for the business of the Court, and as holding cells in the event of a criminal trial.

People

While genetically human, the people of Zimbir bear the mark of their ancestors' cybernetic integration into Ophon's pre-war bureaucracy. With so many of the systems in the High Court reliant on these integrated machine interfaces, time and necessity only expanded the ubiquity of these implants, while isolation demanded the slow regression of their beauty and grace. Where once the magistrates of Zimbir enjoyed the regal simplicity of skin-sheer golden implants, the current generation makes do with utilitarian metal protrusions passed down from grandparent to grandchild, each one slowly accumulating a collection of minor flaws that is woven into a family history. While the average inhabitant of the habitat may only boast a few obvious prostheses, such as a mechanical limb or the ubiquitous bulge of a spinal neural port, the great Litigators and Magistrates are a biomechanical symphony, a strange beauty emerging from the grotesque asymmetry of their forms. The imposition of the House of Fire's authority over the region promises an influx of technology and resources beyond anything the region has previously enjoyed, and already some children have reached the age of majority with sleek black implants derived in the depths of Gunzir Massif, but it will take some time before the archaic living sculptures of Zimbir disappear completely.

Born into a society founded on the precepts of Ophons laws, the people of Zimbir gradually became a microcosm of those laws as decades turned to centuries. Titles that were once simple professions have evolved into ceremonial positions of growing power, the law offices that once balanced the work of representation factionalizing into Litigator Clans claiming rulership over different areas of the habitat. While the Imperial Magistrates (and their descendants) are the figureheads vested in traditional authority, in practice their judgements are tempered by the very real power of the Litigator Clans who rule in their name. Or at least, so it was before the House of Fire finally broke the power of the Litigators after a decade-long campaign.

Government

Following the conquest of the region by the House of Fire, the military might of the Litigator Clans was officially disbanded. While the domestic functions of the station were not meddled with by the Ducal Armada, the presence of qualified technicians as well as an influx of foreign materials and spare parts only further diluted the authority of the reigning warlords. This may have precipitated further bloodshed and uprising, had Litigator Prime Apil-Sin not emerged from Ducal custody as a voice to bridge the gap between the two cultures. Made fully aware of the terrible wrath the House of Fire was capable of as well as the deep charity they were prepared to offer Zimbir, Apil-Sin convinced many of the other Litigator Clans that prosperous submission was preferable to the brave futility of rebellion. For his efforts, he was named the first Governor, ruling in the name Esarhaddon III.

Meanwhile, the powers of the Imperial Magistrates has been reinvigorated. While Litigator Prime Apil-Sin attends to the domestic reorganization of the region and the Ducal Corps of Engineers carries out desperately-required maintenance, the Imperial Magistrates have new case loads to consider. Integration of Zimbir with Dur-Shalkhir's legal apparatus has resulted in the resolution of many age-old deadlocks in the archive systems and among the Magistrates themselves, and new precedent has begun to emerge at last from this surviving bastion of Imperial order.

Resources

Resource: Lawyers (Specialists, Information and Data)

Trained from birth, the chosen members of the Litigator Clans possess an encyclopedic knowledge (in many cases aided by their cybernetic implants) of Imperial Common Law and are trained in rhetorical techniques ranging from the high civility of Ophon's court to the lethal simplicity of trial by combat. Freed from the demands of internecine strife, these legal experts are now available to any Elect with the fortitude to embrace their legal code.

Desired Import: Arts and Cultural Products

As systemic shortfalls are reversed and the tensions of inter-clan rivalry dissipate, many inhabitants of Zimbir are free to pursue the higher callings of art and beauty for the first time. However, for all its apparent majesty the habitat is a poor place for free expression. Too much of Zimbir is dedicated to the dry work of case law and contract, and so the people look to the Empire at large to satisfy their souls.

 

Bīt Ereshkigal, The Hexacrypt Wilds (Region 22)

History

Located punishingly near to the site of the White Pawns' apocalyptic resistance to the Empire, much of what once stood atop the Hexacrypt Wilds has been irrevocably lost. The corpses of vast cities and staggering infrastructure projects endured no better than bone or sinew against the radiant fires of the War of Eternal Bombardments, and were abandoned as cursed earth by those who survived. While none were so foolish as to abandon technology as a whole in the wake of the war, none who scrabbled to survive the aftermath wished to return to the days of madness. A sleepy, forgotten culture grew up in the cracks of the apocalypse, and might have remained so were it not for the enterprising work of one young woman. Her name is lost, scrubbed from living memory and digital record, but she was an engineer in a land of farmers. Somehow, she rediscovered a means of interfacing with the infrastructure that had survived the war, burrowed under her peoples' feet like the work of a trillion ants. At first, she used her "powers" subtly, re-engaging water filtration systems or the uplinks to the few surviving weather satellites, but as the prosperity of her town and those near it grew so did suspicion. Too knowledgeable of her peoples' prejudices to risk the truth, the woman vanished into the wilderness, and the brewing scandal died. Until she began to appear in their dreams.

Taking refuge in a central hub of the old world, the first Baba was not content to leave her work half-done. She envisioned a brighter symbiosis between her people and the quiescent technology beneath their feet, and was dedicated, perhaps obsessed, with realizing that dream. Tapping into the water filtration system, she unleashed a flood of tailored nanobots into the region's water supply, and within a month enough of the microrobots had embedded in the brains of her people to establish contact. Drawing the from their dreams into the first datastream, she plucked recruits from among the exceptional and the disaffected of a hundred communities, training the first generation of data witches even as the wider populace slowly awakened to the shared reality of their new lucid dreams. Some, fearing some outside force, tried to resist, but they quietly disappeared into the mists of history. Whether the first Baba eventually died or became something more than human is not known, but from their first generation the data witches have watched over the people of the Wilds as unpredictable, sometimes capricious guardians.

The arrival of the outside world threw this balance of power into chaos. While some witches and their allies among the local councils welcomed the might and majesty of the Empire, others resisted it with bitter will. The ancient technologies that had connected the people to their digital reality were repurposed to create legions of cyborg warriors, and though their homunculi were defeated the witches remain. Now they wait and watch, hiding in plain sight, as a new domed palace rises from what was once old growth forest and sorcerers with fiery eyes turn their attentions to the datastream.

eography

Stretching along the eastern coastline of Zabava, Bīt Ereshkigal descends from a sinuous line of western mountains through towering deciduous forests into coastal lowlands that frequently give way to swamps. Once jagged and wild, the terrain has worn down under the weight of millennia, becoming a rolling tapestry of green, grey, and black. Not so the forests it embraces, however - the wilderness of what was once known as the Hexacrypt Wilds is the equal of any on Sansar, save perhaps the untamed nightmare of the Reserve to its south. The bright lights of sparsely-scattered civilization are almost swallowed by the arboreal gloom, and a complete catalogue of the mutated flora and fauna has not been attempted in the post-war period.

For all that hostility, civilization does thrive in Bīt Ereshkigal. Small towns and villages thrive in forest clearings and along lazy rivers, while rugged mountain camps draw wealth from the black earth. This wealth flows down to the coast, where a handful of small cities thrive on trade and the quiet indifference of more bellicose neighbors. To the naked eye, it might seem quaint, but the naked eye can only perceive half the truth of Bīt Ereshkigal. Hovering above the towns and cities in an invisible haze is the datumplume of its inhabitants, an augmented reality tended to and ruled by the unseen data witches that command fear and respect in every household. In this second sight, towns become glistening towers of light and shadow, and the humble cities are transformed into soaring digital metropolises. This digital reality stretches along the subterranean ley-lines of fiberoptic cable and circuit left behind after the War of Eternal Bombardments, the arcanodigital circuitry alive with digital ghosts.

People

The people of Bīt Ereshkigal exist, much like their civilization, in two worlds. In the real world, the largely human inhabitants nurture an insular culture of extended family ties and old grudges, though these rarely give rise to violence. Rather, the small communities dotting the Hexacrypt Wilds give little thought to the people living outside their immediate sphere, tending their own fences rather than peering through them. However, this provincial attitude is turned on its head in dataspace. Divorced of the reality of the physical world, the inhabitants of Bīt Ereshkigal manifest avatars reflecting their inmost selves (and those who seek to deceive or dissemble with their True Face are invariably punished by the Data Witches). Through a wireless connection that manifests as REM sleep in the outside world, the inhabitants of Bīt Ereshkigal skim the length and breadth of their digital paradise, indulging in revelry and debauch that does the High Lords of Ophon proud.

Government

The communities of Bīt Ereshkigal are organized around democratically organized municipal councils, a collection of reeves and mayors that only rarely come together to form anything resembling a centralized government. While this fractured jumble of authority would normally leave the region vulnerable to exploitation or attack, there is another power at play that acts to unite the scattered communities. The digital realm is also divided along more esoteric lines, each datastream overseen by the dictatorial will of one of the Data Babas. These elder data witches wield staggering power over the constructed reality overlaying Bīt Ereshkigal, to the extent of manifesting phenomena in the physical world if they are sufficiently angered. While they are insular and inscrutable, the Babas are aligned in a singular coven that protects their ambitions and their interests. Though their power waned in the days of occupation after the Eucrus Alliance defeated their warrior Mechadea, the House of Fire has made tentative overtures to bring the Babas more securely into the fold. Certainly, the ancient circuitry that fuels their powers is a miracle of the old world, and greatly of interest to the Imperial Cult. Meanwhile, the regional councils have bent the knee to a Ducal Governor installed in the quickly-growing new city of Irkalla.

Resources

Resource: Roleplaying Games (Art and Cultural Products, Magical Items)

While the reality of the datastream is ever-shifting, there exist rites and rituals to capture a facsimile of it in a set form. This form of protean code carries with it the echoed thoughts and desires of every inhabitant of Bīt Ereshkigal, and is capable of reacting to fulfill the fantasies of those who interface with it through the potency of those echoes.

Desired Import: Planetary Vehicles

While the people of Bīt Ereshkigal enjoy limitless mobility in the datastream, that freedom is far harder to find on the material plane. The dangers of the Hexacrypt Wilds are manifold, and if the region is to prosper beyond the digital phantoms of its inhabitants dreams then a reliable means of transport between mountain, forest, and coast will need to be established.

 

I love both of these concepts a lot! However, I would like to see a bit more of a Faith section in both writeups before approval.

 

On 4/20/2024 at 10:34 PM, BladeofOblivion said:

Mraza (Region 55), Veehra

Body

 

Geography

Mraza is the eastern lowland of the Crater Lake, a place of rolling plains and crystal cities. Polished surfaces gleam in the sunlight, and during the night great assemblies of mirrors are used to bathe the places where people reside in light. The population is densely clustered in major cities for this reason, as it is considered deeply unlucky to walk in the darkness and concentrating the light is far easier in one place than many. The largest of these cities are Farkas and Mincir on the coast, followed by the Dome-City of Kazha in the east where it guards the pass across what desert-dwellers know as the Serpent's Spine. Much outside the cities is automated farms and preserved wilderness, so most travel is in special carriages with mirrors on the inside to keep them well-lit.

People

Long ago, the people of Mraza fell into a torpor after overthrowing a brutal sorcerer-king. Needing a strong, honorable protector and lawgiver, rather than appointing one, they built them instead. Though most of the common people of Mraza are human, it is the Mrazite Golems who rule and administer. Crystalline perfection and symmetric mirrored forms with complex magical circuits grant them unique magical abilities centered around imagery and represent a multitude of perspectives and informational processing. Though both intelligent and powerful, constructs like the Thotron have little in the way of ambition or material needs, and so corruption is uncommon. There is only the orderly acquisition and distribution of resources and needs by an enlightened tyranny of the illuminated.

The human population has known little of conflict until the emergence of the elect - insulated from everything, afraid of the dark. Mrazite culture is the pursuit of pleasure and ideals - philosophy, entertainment, sometimes excess.

Faith

Plurality: Anticlericalism

The people of Mraza have long held a collection of superstitions regarding light, darkness, and mirrors. Creatures of the light must remain in the light, and creatures of the darkness must remain in the darkness...normally. Mirrors are portals through which the light may touch the darkness, and an anti-self may emerge from the other side. Anti-Clericalism, despite the name, is an informal clergy of those who maintain and protect the sacred mirrors and safeguard the rituals for trading places with one's mirror self for a time, when the need is dire.

Resources

Resource: Mrazite Crystals (Magical Items/Precious Minerals). These local crystals are an unusual magical component highly useful for ritual magic involving projected images and other illusions. Basu-Rahman used them extensively for special effects and budget visuals.

Required: Information and Data.

 

 

I'd like to see a sentence or two about the region's Desired Import, but once you have that, Mraza is approved.

 

On 4/21/2024 at 7:17 AM, xanxosttheslaad said:

Region 86, The Amiant Cluster (Mekhala)

The Amiant Cluster

Geography:

As with most of the rest of Mekhala, the cluster is dominated by empty space and smaller asteroids, which are of little note -- although that has begun to change since the arrival of the custodial units of C.A.S.S.I.O.P.E. and Basu-Rahman Affiliates, as some of these minor bodies have become host to relay infrastructure and other bases of operation. The largest asteroid in the cluster, an irregular siliceous mass approximately 150 clicks across known as Amiant, is home to the majority of the region’s life and activity. Amiant is subdivided into two major regions, colloquially referred to as the dark and light sides in accordance with their appearance at the surface (with one being a gray several shades darker than the other). In addition to the shade, the dark side is also significantly less bumpy, more consolidated (almost no dust and very compacted, despite the asteroid-scale gravity), and has no signs of inhabitants whatsoever. Much of the light side is little more than a loose aggregation of dust and small rocks at the surface, simply settled into place by the weak pull of gravity. In select areas of the light side, flat, circular landing areas dot the landscape, the surface concreted together by the recent newcomers using a cement mixed with vacuum-resistant kelp mucus. Wide semicircular gateways stand at the edges of these circular landing pads, where visitors can descend into the heart of Amiant: the tunnels. 

After about a kilometer of walking, the newly built, mucus-cemented tunnel walls merge into a much older tunnel network, which appears to have its walls reinforced with a strange sort of fibrous mineral, laid across and within the rocky material in all different directions, in a manner which seems to bind the tunnel wall together (and also provide a slight springiness in the floor). The tunnels, no less than ten meters in diameter, form a complex, sprawling network running under most parts of the light side of Amiant. The inside of the tunnel network is a vacuum, and typically pitch black (within the visible light spectrum, at least). Occasionally tunnels intersect or open up into larger chambers, tens or hundreds of meters across, which are often criss-crossed with the same fiber matted into sheets that subdivide the space or bridge across it. Some of these chambers are also largely without this fiber, instead opening into unconsolidated cavities where mining takes place. 

Amiant has an extremely slow rate of rotation. A typical point on the surface might see Ophon for three hundred hours before an equivalent time facing the relative darkness of Outer Tekhum. As a result, the tunnels of Amiant that are home to the Fibrils see a wide range of temperature variation, an effective ‘day’ and ‘night’ that transpire despite the consistent darkness to the eyes of most organics. During the day, when the light side of Amiant faces Ophon and the temperature is warmer in the tunnels (entirely unsafe for most anything not in protective gear, ranging from 50-100 Celcius) are periods of activity, where the Fibrils go about their work and their rituals. During the ‘nights,’ temperatures drop as low as -100 Celcius, and Fibrils go to sleep, typically in large groups with others of similar size, within ‘nests’ of thick, matted mineral fiber found in some of the chambers. This temperature change is less drastic as one goes deeper into the asteroid, where it gets uniformly on the warmer end. In the very deepest parts of the tunnel network, the tunnel density decreases, leaving at the end only a pair of 10-meter tunnels, winding helically around one another for the last few kilometers leading to the Final Chamber, the only portion of the Fibril tunnels located underneath the dark side. 

Recently, many of these chambers have begun to also feature outside presence, such as in media receivers that allow BRG relay stations on the outside to reach their Fibril viewers. These are often in dedicated rooms, which isolate these outside broadcasts somewhat from the bulk of Fibril society, although not by much seeing as how packed the screen rooms tend to be.

 

People:

 

Amiant is inhabited exclusively by creatures known as Fibrils, a type of lithoid entity composed of stone suffused with either magic or a biology so alien so as to enable intelligence and motion like that of organic life. A Fibril’s body, itself divided into a rotund thorax with a smaller beady-eyed head and rather small abdomen at the ends, is entirely obscured by a loose, fluffy cloud of mineral fiber, typically a light gray but sometimes also in faint, pastel-esque hues of blue, green, brown, and yellow. Emerging from the mostly spherical cloud are eight appendages -- round, flexible tubes with surfaces like a high-grade fabric hose densely woven from the same fiber, arcing up out of the thorax and tapering on the way back down to meet the ground with gripping pads composed of hundreds of fine fibers. The Fibrils live a peaceful, communal existence for the most part, under the mostly-ceremonial rule of a council of their largest elders (Fibrils continually grow throughout their lives, starting the size of a space-golf ball and having the potential to grow to the point where they barely fit through the narrowest tunnels; the average adult has a body about four feet in length, but appears much larger with cloud and legs included). 

As a mostly air-evacuated atmosphere tends to be insufficient for using sound to communicate, Fibrils have developed a language communicated through taps and scrapes against whatever stone floor/wall/etc they may be standing on (or alternately, sent as vibration through tensioned mineral fiber structures). Additionally, Fibrils naturally emit light as part of their digestion, by which they are able to see. This light, however, is not within the typical visible spectrum for humans and some other organics, and the primary visible spectrum for humans is not visible to Fibrils.

 

Resource:

The Fibrils are natural weavers, and are extremely proficient with all manner of fiber arts. This is most used in their own application of natural mineral fiber for construction and all manner of personal wrappings, and for their most sacred rituals. In recent years, with the import of fibers and fabrics less injurious to organic life, they have taken to sharing simulacra of the projects of their Star’s End rituals with outsiders, oftentimes to the instruction of a particular patron requesting a fanciful garment. One of their favorite new fabrics to work with has been fine kelp filament, which they have developed novel ways of spinning, weaving, knitting, matting, and sewing into the highest known quality grades of thread, fabric, and wearable art. 

Naturally, high fashion is also high art. Haute Couture has the resource categories of Luxury Goods and Art and Cultural Products. 

The Fibrils, as no surprise for a lithoid species, have a diet consisting largely of mineral ores. Many of the tastiest and most filling of these are becoming increasingly rare within Amiant after centuries of extensive mining, and thus more ores are a necessary import.

 

Faith:

 

Star’s End is the most important ritual of the Fibrils, performed once per cycle at the end of the Amiant day. Thousands upon thousands of Fibrils will spend several hours crafting and donning protective garb to insulate themselves from the heat of the Final Chamber (unbearable even to Fibrils, and even then only Fibrils of a certain size can survive the journey, making it a sort of coming-of-age experience), and a lucky few will contribute to that cycle’s Stars. Typically these are humanoid dolls knitted lovingly from mineral fiber, draped in clothing of the most fanciful arrangements of color, texture, and geometry. Suspended like puppets between ropes held by the extra-insulated Fibrils, a procession of these Stars pursued by no less than half of the Fibril populace descends toward the Final Chamber at the deepest point of the tunnels, rhythmically tapping the tunnel walls along the way. Upon arrival, the ceremony as well as the rhythmic chant-like stomp-singing reaches its culmination, as the helical approach tunnels open into a wide chamber, where the stone is magically stained to a pitch black across all spectrums of light. At the center of this chamber floats a perfect, lightless sphere of incomprehensible size -- although that is not to say that it is particularly large or small. The orb pulsates with magical energy, felt by the Fibrils in a manner not dissimilar to the pounding bass at a rock concert (although of course the latter would typically not be able to travel through vacuum). One by one, the Stars of Amiant are given a final refrain of the chant, and hurled toward the orb. Upon contact, the doll and its magnificent outfit instantly disappear, leaving no trace and making no sound. 

Sometimes, the doll Stars will be joined by a Fibril Star, the largest elder having made the decision to retire in the most honorable and spectacular manner possible. Similarly, they don their custom high-fashion garment, fitted for their arachnoid form, and lead the procession and its song. Once at the final chamber, these living Stars leap gracefully down to meet their End.

Asbestos fashion! Approved.

 

On 4/21/2024 at 11:06 AM, Syntax Error said:

Wikus Plains - Region 39

Geography

The southwestern corner of Chonkia is dominated by the Wikus Plains, getting cooler and wetter as the distance from the deserts of Davis Port increases. Most of the population is in cities along the coast, but smaller communities exist throughout the region. Aba, the capital city, is built around the ruins of a space elevator near the southwestern coast.  Large wildlife is in abundance in the interior of the Wikus Plains, with towns often being menaced by magical beasts. Off the coast lie two large islands, Lesser and Greater Sybellia; these are covered in treacherous jungle with cities along the coasts. Much of the interior of these islands are unexplored, but the parts that are have contained ancient buildings stretching far below the surface. It is prohibited for people outside the Adventurers' Guild to venture into the ruins, but criminals have occasionally made dens in their upper layers.

People

Outside of the islands, the majority (around seventy percent) of the population is composed of the native wikusians, winged draconic humanoids capable of breathing fire. Wikusians tend to be shorter and thinner than humans, averaging around 1.4 meters, with dull grey scales covering their bodies. The rest of the population is twenty percent human and ten percent other races. The coastal cities trend more diverse, with the interior being almost entirely wikusians. Island settlements are primarily human. The beasts in the area occasionally attack towns for unknown reasons; dealing with these threats is in the purview of adventurers. The Adventurers' Guild, based in Aba but with branches in other major cities, trains teams of adventurers to fight these threats, explore ruins, respond to emergencies, and generally deal with unexpected disasters.

Religion

The majority religion in the region is known as The Great Nail. Originally brought to the region by human settlers in the islands, it posits that metal is a divine gift, and that it should be used only in things intended to endure, not wasted on temporary things like metal cans. The Great Nail doesn't tend to congregate, but its followers put up metal statues and artistic pieces that one can say a prayer to. The Great Nail has been rising in prominence recently, especially along the coasts, as the fire-based tenets and rites of the native Magmatic Soul have proven difficult to reconcile with species other than wikusians.

Resources

Resource: Heroic Adventurers (Soldiers/Laborers). Desired Import: Weapons, Armor, and Munitions.

The Adventurers' Guild sponsors parties of skilled heroes going to foreign lands, collecting a portion of the rewards earned. It's common for these teams to take on side quests while out, doing assorted labor and filling temporary positions. The merchants in the area are always looking for more and better gear to outfit adventurers with, and such goods are in high demand.

 

I'd like another sentence or so about Magmatic Soul, but no other notes. With that, this would be approved.

[aerin13]

[Minescratcher452]

On 4/20/2024 at 1:00 AM, Zayuz said:

Behold, the first Bironian conquest!

This region writeup comes with the formal request to change the resource name of region 14 from Yinasse Plants to Yinasse Flowers. It was interesting to write a flora species that filled that category yet no others, from valuables to food to textiles.

 

edit: Resource complete: Requesting Chemical Reagents as the secondary category for Kinella's Yinasse Plants.

 

Region - 14

Region Name: Kinella

 

Geography

The Kinella Aerostat is an aerostat of lush greenery, bearing the most consecutive forest and jungle of any Badali region. Originally designed as a place of harvest and sustenance for the planet, it has long since departed its role when a ban on harvesting natural resources came into effect with the arrival of the Imperial Court. Recognizing the inspirational beauty of an agricultural ecosystem on a man-made system, yet entirely distinct from the interference of sentient life, it was designated a protected zone on a bill so old as to be practically unreadable. Since then, the encroaching wilds have gone unabated until formal lines for civilization were drawn up in only the last two or three generations by necessity.

 

Due to the lack of interference and pooling of the solar system’s most beautiful and interesting plants in a single space, the Kinellan greenery is rather unlike any other. It is primarily a single immense platform that tends to be larger than most countries of the non-elect on other worlds, kept aloft by not-quite-blimps, but magical clouds that hover both above and below the land to shroud it in a sort of mist and keep it from descending into the depths. It has long been suspected that powerful generators lie at the core of Kinella, but mining operations have and shall always be entirely forbidden. Speaking of forbidden things, hunting and killing of wildlife under any circumstance violates the land’s purpose and the culture that’s developed. Not because all life is sacred, but because preserving this life is an imperial decree, and is more important than any others. As such, Kinellans are known to import all animal products.

 

The cities and towns on Kinella are in designated zones along the edges of the land, teetering on the edge and often leading to smaller aerostats that technically are not a part of the mainland to get around the strict regulations in the region. The Imperial Court is as such, as is much of the largest city of Araku on the southern tip of the aerostat. 

People

It is known that the Empire’s loyal are mainly humans, and Kinella reflects that with the presence of the Imperial Court. About 80% of the population according to census data confirms this to be the case, while the remaining fraction of native inhabitants identify themselves as Yinasse.

 

Yinasse are distinct from humans in that they tend to form a hybrid between plant and animal. Remaining humanoid in shape and build while their body is weaved of plant cells and the associated materials that compose them. Often, Yinasse find their physiology keeps them from participating in the world in the same way that humans do, and they live in separate societies because of this. Because they technically fall under the imperial edict of protection on Kinella, they are allowed to live among the wilds despite their sentience. Not all of them do, but many communities of druids and peoples free from the structure of the Empire thrive among the abundant wilds in clans that tend to keep to themselves. They still reproduce sexually, making them ‘compatible’ with other mammals despite being unable to create offspring with them.

 

For the Yinasse, fire is abhorred and feared. Their myths claim that a great spirit of nature created them to represent its will to humanity, and aid them against the God of flame and industry. This mission has been a highly successful one within the sphere of Kinella, creating a fascinating dualism that had long influenced the land's culture and traditions, which focus around the question of what the balance should be between artificial construction and wildlife. Where one ends, and where the other begins. Tradition states that this should be based on needs, where the industry is prevented from becoming too strong by taking only what is necessary. Were it not for the inter-aerostat trade and tourism the land receives, it might be very poor indeed.

 

Human culture on Kinella is based on honor and warfare, quite unlike the Yinasse. Following the will of the Emperor as sacred and above all else, they have shaped industrial civilizations on the edges of the aerostat and warred among themselves many a time. Further details about their traditions can be found in the faith section, but they have always been one of the prominent militaries upon Badal and quick to force the will of the emperor on their peers. It is a wonder among them that the Imperial Satrap was not chosen as a member of the elect when the call was made, but they trusted in him to keep the best interests of the solar system at heart - even when it lead to their conquest at the hands of the Bironian Bulwark and their Glix allies. 

 

Having a strong tourist presence, safaris and other sightseeing activities are some of what Kinella is known for as well. Good food comes with the lush atmosphere, as private farming is granted an exception to the edict for sustenance that goes into famous local cuisines of salads and pasta dishes. Due to the heavy military presence and the lack of turmoil in the world, it can be considered a safe destination to bring the family as long as recent history does not shake things up too strongly.

Religion

Imperial Traditions are the culturally significant faith of Kinella. Until recently, they were also the only faith, now overcome by trends of Paragonism and Soul’s Expression.

 

These traditions manifested in the strict adherence to imperial code and near-worship of the empire. Through trade with the empire were the needs of the people met, and the identity of the governments that vied for control over the aerostat all fashioned themselves in their own image of the emperor. Leaders were called Imperial Satraps, and cities functioned similarly to the empire’s relationship to the elect does currently. The emperor will create decrees, and the elect obey. The most loyal and powerful help decide the direction of the empire, and those that disobey lose their legitimacy and are conquered. These traditions followed through in ceremonies and priorities, making having an extensive standing army a first priority so that they may defend the empire. Not only that, but the would-be elect known as the Duchies of Kinella fought among themselves with blade and magic. This fostered strong martial traditions, most effective and repelling outsiders.

 

To love and trust the guidance of the real Emperor was implicit and expected of all, and even today with these traditions entering the background the people still feel a fierce loyalty to the father of the solar system. Most spectacularly are the grand balls held each half-decade, in the ‘Emperor’s Summer Palace’, though the emperor has never been there. 

Resource: Yinasse Plants

Due to harsh restrictions on farming and tampering with the abundant flora of Kinella, the potentially lucrative harvests of Kinella are forbidden to harvest. Potentially life saving medicines, beautiful fabrics, and exotic fruits all sealed away for the sake of tradition and environmentalism. What can be taken, however, are the flowers that fall from the Yinasse people throughout the region. As a willing gift or property to be sold by sentient flora, these flowers naturally grow, blossom, and fall every 2-3 weeks. They often happen to be multicolored blossoms, resembling lilies with greater ‘poof’ and grow from the heads in place of hair. Known as fine, seasonal decorations or edibles for salads, they cannot be regrown on other worlds and that makes them a valid export for the restrictive Kinellan economy. Fascinatingly, they happen to create significantly more oxygen than most other plants - making them a highly sought after aid for space travel and life support. Or better, just bring a Yinasse as crewman.

 

 

 

I'd like to see a little bit of detail on the Paradise Builders faith as well. No other notes before approval!

[farothel]

Themis Space Station Write-up

Layout

The base started as a ring with six drydocks for building battleships, connected by a ring.  Now some of the drydocks were expanded to build fortress ships up to 5km in length and two of the six have been converted to Activated DarkMatter production facilities as these can be more easily seperated from the main base.  While the ring is mostly manufacturing and laboratories, inside the ring they build a giant sphere to house people.  When finished, it can hold about about 80 million people, but nowhere near that number live here yet.

People

Themis is colonised by Volethans.  Most are construction workers, finishing up the construction of the base as well as spaceyard workers, administrators and military staff.  Some families already live there, mostly from military personal and spaceyard workers stationed there.  As soon as more production will be started up (some products are easier constructed in zero-G, more workers and their families will move to the station. The maximum population is 80 million, but it will take years to get to this number.

Government

Currently the station is under military governance, although in a few years a civilian governor is slated to take over.  The base will have a local council to handle local affairs, and will send representatives to the ducal council as well as the parliament. It will also have local communities and they will handle local affairs, just like towns and cities in Bafatis.

Religion

The Mind is considered the most important thing, as for everything else the Mind can create a machine to do the work for it.  Some priests are on the base, mostly in the military, although a larger presence still has to be established.

Resource

Activated Dark Matter: While the base will build most ships for the Bafatis Space Navy as well as civilian ships, in its labs Bafatis scientists have created Activated DarkMatter, a form of matter that decays into regular matter releasing tremendous amounts of energy.  While its properties are not yet fully understood, it needs zero-G production facilities protected by the best armour and shields.  Two of the orginal six drydocks have been rebuild to produce this resource while scientists keep studying it.
categories: exotic matter, fuel

Desired Import

Ores and Alloys: With all the construction that is going on in the base, they always need more material to build with.  Also the creation of the activated Dark Matter requires materials to begin with.

picture

 

[Rocket Relm]

On 4/14/2024 at 2:36 AM, Rocket Relm said:

 

(After some time to refresh and take a second touch up, might be worth taking a first pass. I'll also ping moos here for commentary, though not sure that works in an edit post. Ideas might change slightly or significantly based on further input. Resource still needs to be done, but currently too low on creative energy to do that and I don't want to force it.)

Region 37 - Gloria (aka Glorialfheim)

Posting this here so I can ping @moossabi for reference, comment, and to interject ideas. I'm fine crafting it on my own, but given the state of things, an opportunity to collaborate and mix ideas is more than welcome.

[The_Murgen]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I hate to do this, but I will have to resign from the game. Continued problems with Mythweavers through my company's internet security and my antiquated cellphone make it hard to keep up. Also, so much back-channel on Discord that I cannot keep up with (my fault mostly- I have over 2 dozen discord servers I regularly visit).

In game, it is likely the humans who were dissatisfied with their religion being diluted in order for it to spread have mounted a coup.

[bc_56]

I'd like to request a tactical doctrine:

Undermine their Defenses:
Negates bonus from fortresses and casualties from landing in hostile territory

General Cumbria is an expert in sapping and siege warfare. He sends advance forces to stealthily enter a region before battle even begins, undermining fortifications and sabotaging defensive emplacements in preparation for the main assault.

[MadMapManPK]

Region Submission (53)

 

Ipatida

Geography

In the shadow of towering skeletal remains of once-great factories, a vibrant community thrives amidst the rusted metal sheets and skeletal frames that litter the savanna of Ipatida, especially in the coastal towns by the Great Sea. Here, long after a forgotten industrial era, resourceful scavengers eke out a living by salvaging these relics of the past for essential supplies. Similarly to the neighboring Agbada, gardens of vibrant greenery thrive in the cracks of the concrete, with vines and moss covering entire structures from top to bottom. Even children play in the ruins, their twittering and chirping echoing off the rusted walls as they haphazardly design toys from discarded scraps. Unlike the great cities around Castle Kiniun, however, these remain in disrepair. Flashing neon lights and computer service are nowhere to be seen, and streets are merely a result of many a talon walking the same path.

 

Further out, however, it becomes the sandiest and dustiest region in which the Animals of the Confederation have been able to settle. A smattering of small villages is painted across the western wastes, where supplies from the south are regularly transported in. These regions are primarily inhabited by the Vultures, adhering to the moral code of Dustbound Chivalry.

People

Most of the citizens of the region are anthropomorphic birds, including the aforementioned Vultures, as well as Hawks, Ostriches, Roadrunners, and Ospreys. Due to laws of thermodynamics, however, none of these peoples are able to fly, leading many to feel jealous of the simpler creatures around them. There are no grand aviaries or soaring towers where communities come together. Instead, they make their homes in the abandoned factories and warehouses, fashioning nests and beds from scavenged materials and fortified with whatever scraps they can find. Life here is harsh and unforgiving, at least relative to the rest of the Confederation's holdings. Indeed, they scavenge tirelessly through the ruins, searching for anything of value that can be traded or repurposed. Metal scraps, mechanical parts, and anything else that might fetch a few scraps of food or clean water from the occasional oasis are highly prized commodities in this harsh landscape.

 

These Houses have been integrated into the government system of the Confederation, each ruling over its newly defined territory as set by the Holy Presbyter’s Council and gaining a seat at the table among Agbada’s elite.

Faith

The Cult of Avva is the faith of the majority now that the Confederation has taken Ipatida under its wing, and it is welcomed with open arms, as the daytimes are peaceful and productive under the watchful eye of the Sun God. 

From dust all rise and to dust all return. Dustbound Chivalry is a code of morals, ethics, and ideals followed by those living near the dusty borders with Narsai and Vesper. Many claim that their historical homeland may actually lie somewhere among these border regions, not defined by today’s national boundaries. Indeed, wherever the dust is most present is where they belong. However, their lineage has yet to understand the secrets of Dust Hardening, and therefore can only make futile attempts at charging headfirst into the dusty deserts with honor at stake. An underground tournament is held on a yearly basis: the strongest non-cheater receives the blessing of the Grandmaster to attempt returning to the dust.

Resource

Sorcerous Swords (Weapons, Armor, and Munitions & Exotic Matter) are among the strangest living(?!) beings on Tekhum. Believed to be ancient animated automatons no longer bound to any known charging station, these levitating and often rusty swords are approximately two feet long and, when dissected, are unable to be classified as any known modern metal. They can be found in the basements of the ancient structures littered throughout the region. A single eye rests near the hilt, which can blink and look in any direction it pleases. Looking into the eye of a Sorcerous Sword for too long results in a burst of shadows in all directions, knocking over anyone unlucky enough to be nearby. Only by beating one of these weapons in a duel can a soldier gain the right to wield it in battle. Grabbing its hilt otherwise results in one’s life energy being drained. (Salmon Steve and the Grandmaster, among others, are able to wield a sword.)

 

The power of the swords cannot be understated. Therefore, qualified soldiers willing to tame them are necessary. Else, the swords will inevitably drive out those who call these lands home. Mercenaries to protect stashes among the ruins are also welcome.

 

 

[The Snark]

The Orochon Shieldplains (Region 63), Veehra

Geography

At the western edge of the northern highlands stands the ancient shield volcano of Mons Orochos, the tallest mountain on Veehra - indeed, the tallest in all of Tekhum, barring some colossal peak hiding in the outer system. Despite this, Mons Orochos is not impressive to look at; it's simply too big for the human eye to properly grasp its scale, save perhaps when looking down from orbit. Stand at the lip of the caldera, and the base of the mountain will be beyond the horizon. There are no jagged peaks or breathtaking clifftop vistas, as one might expect to find among Sansar's violent tectonic upthrusts, just hundreds upon hundreds of klicks of the land sloping ever upward.

Like many of Veehra's mountains, Orochos offers a refuge from the desert. The dust storms that plague the open plains are buffered by the slope and gentled by the thinning atmosphere; the higher one rises, the weaker they become. Fog, rain and snow are common at higher altitudes, as the mountain catches whatever moisture escapes from the northern oasis, and ancient glaciers nestle on the upper slopes, feeding rivers and streams. Barren dust gives way to rich volcanic soil. With water and soil comes life: the native flora and fauna of the Orochon shieldplains must adapt to thin air and bitter cold, but adapt they have. Gnarled trees and thick brambles form a girdle of sorts around the lower slopes; burrowing mammals make nests in snow and soil; flightless birds stalk the rocky scree. Humans dwell here too, farming the fertile slopes during the warmer seasons and huddling in underground communal dens when winter comes. Notable flora and fauna include:

Wildlife

• The rootspine tree bears bears more resemblance to an oversized creeper vine than a typical tree. It rarely rises above head height; its woody trunk grows along the ground rather than standing upright, resulting in a sprawling, knotty mess of thorns and branches. Its namesake roots extend downward to pierce the earth in a dozen places, fixing it in place against the storms and allowing it to draw more nourishment from the soil. On the upper slopes these trees are uncommon, as the locals cut them down to make room for farmland, but on the lower slopes it grows wild, forming a thick, thorny girdle around the mountain - an impromptu wall against desert raiders.
• The redthistle plant is a local staple crop, better known as Veehran wheat; see Resources for details.
• The olmy is a rangy red-furred omnivorous scavenger about a foot or two long. Known for their intelligence, their eerie high-pitched cries, and their disquietingly floppy-looking limbs, olmies are capable of squeezing their bodies into crevices far narrower than their body, which helps them both to elude predators and hunt down small burrowing creatures. Some of the locals keep them as pets, but most regard them as pests - they're very hard to keep out of places where they're not wanted, such as granaries and poultry pens, and nearly impossible to train.
• The yddrik is a predatory flightless bird close to the size of a human, alarmingly fast and agile on the boulder fields and rocky scree that make up its hunting grounds. Fortunately for the locals, these are solitary creatures, and generally prefer to avoid humans... though wise humans avoid them in turn, especially if traveling alone.
• The pygmy mastodon is a docile creature used as a beast of burden by the local farming communities.
• The whitefin is a massive flightless bird akin to an oversized penguin... if penguins were terrifying ambush predators. In summer, it hibernates above the permafrost line. When the winter snows arrive, it ventures downslope to hunt, burrowing beneath the surface of the snow and waiting for prey to venture close before bursting forth to seize it, maul it with its cruelly barbed beak, and drag it under the ice.

The highest reaches of the mountain are uninhabited, save for lichens and one implausibly hardy species of microscopic arthropod; the atmosphere here is too thin to sustain human life without an oxygen mask. The stars are visible even by day, the blackness of space creeping into the meager sky. The caldera itself contains a frozen lake; Loop-born surveyors suspect it is artificial, given the total lack of rainfall at this altitude, but no trace is left of whatever city or aqueduct it might have once fed.  Strange fish and algae live in the depths, many as yet uncatalogued by Tekhum's scientists.

History

Like most of Tekhum, the Orochon Shieldplains suffered badly in the War of Eternal Bombardments (referred to in local stories as either the Eleventh or Fourteenth Great War). The glittering domed cities of High Orochos were easily shattered by orbital strikes, dooming hundreds of thousands to death by suffocation and exposure; carefully targeted bombardments of the great glaciers unleashed catastrophic floods on the densely populated middle slopes. A few escaped unscathed by taking refuge in the massive bunker complex buried beneath the mountain, built for just such a purpose - among them the very lords and princes whose hubris had brought the sky's wrath down in the first place. Yet even they had only delayed their fate. The war lasted longer than they ever imagined it could, and over the course of decades starvation and infighting thinned their numbers to nothing, leaving only a mausoleum dedicated to their past and future glories.

The story of Orochos since the war is one of long, slow decay. Though the people were nearly wiped out, the land itself remained alive. The survivors regrouped and rebuilt as best they could. City-states arose in the ruins, dreaming of reclaiming the glories of the lost age... but the trade networks that had allowed the metropoli of the pre-war era to flourish were gone. The devices of the old world became precious relics, hoarded jealously and passed down from generation to generation until something broke that they had not the knowledge or resources to fix. Ancient steel buildings wore away to nothing under the endless assault of rain, snow and dust, to be replaced by stone huts and underground warrens. Petty kings and would-be tyrants fought with spears and slings as often as guns - and as the long centuries passed, even that grew rarer. Mons Orochos passed into a twilight era, its people content to eke out humble lives beneath the great glaciers...

... until outsiders began to visit - not to rob and plunder, but bearing precious metals and furs as gifts, and offering word from beyond the sky. Some of the Orochons are wary of the newcomers, believing that this is the first step on the road to the next great war. Others believe the long night has passed, and it is time for Orochos's people to wake and join the wider world again. The wise suspect both may be true.

People

Most of the inhabitants of the Orochon shieldplains live on the middle slopes, high enough to avoid most dust storms, but below the snow line. They are akin to their desert-dwelling neighbors in form: human, or close enough that it's hard to tell the difference by sight. Unlike the desert clans, they are not nomadic: the bitter cold and rocky terrain makes traveling arduous, while the rich volcanic soil is fertile ground (literally) for agriculture. Small towns and villages dot the mountainside, each one laying claim to dozens if not hundreds of terrace farms.

Violent conflict is much less common among the Orochon tribes than their desert-dwelling neighbors. Food and water are plentiful, removing the need to fight over basic necessities; conversely, they lack the technology to easily travel long distances. Trade is arduous, conquest difficult. No polity claims more territory than they can walk across in a day or two. Some of the lower villages feud with one another, engaging in ceremonial raids to seize captives and luxury goods. These ritualized clashes bear little resemblance to the life-or-death raids of the open desert, but they do keep some semblance of a martial tradition alive, which is useful on the occasions when desert marauders make their way onto the slopes. The higher villages shun these customs, believing the mountain herself frowns on it - tradition holds that she will bury her children in snow to stop them from fighting one another.

The Orochon communities are primitive by Tekhum standards; although not wholly unfamiliar with modern science, they have almost no industrial capacity of their own. What little technology they possess is either salvaged from ancient ruins, or made by hand: water-driven mills, flintlock rifles, electric heaters, solar power collectors. They favor simple, sturdy tools that anyone can take apart and put back together with a little trial and error. What good is a fancy calculating machine if you have to travel a thousand klicks to find the parts needed to keep it working? Better to rely on something the local smith knows how to make, using what can be dug out of the mountain. Their knowledge and history is passed on largely through oral tradition; writing is impractical without paper or parchment.

There are stories of people living above the snow line, inside ancient sealed habitats. Most of these sound more like fanciful tales than historical accounts: ancient warlords biding their time until they can unleash their nightmarish war machines on the world once more, savage frozen-hearted marauders who kidnap unwary or disobedient children... Of particular interest to the Castaways is the tale of the City-in-a-Bottle, which on the eve of the war sealed itself away from the world; legends say that they relive the halcyon day before the war endlessly, although whether they saved or damned themselves depends on the teller.

Government

There is no unified government among the Orochon shieldplains; each community has its own leader, typically either a chief or a council of elders. How much power these rulers hold, and how they choose to exercise it, varies widely. Some villages pass authority down family lines, while others select based on merit (typically determined by contests of wits, strength or skill) or by polling the leaders of respected local families. None can claim leadership over more than a handful of towns or villages - the difficulty of traversing the slopes without vehicles or beasts of burden (both in short supply) makes it hard to exert authority farther than a day's walk or so. The days of kings and empires are long gone in Orochos, and most of its inhabitants feel that's probably for the best.

Faith

Like many cultures on Veehra, the Orochon people revere the land around them and the cycle of death and rebirth; but where their lowland neighbors see Mother Serpent as the embodiment of the land, the Orochon focus on the mountain herself and the slow passing of Veehran seasons. Snow yields to rain; flowers bloom and rivers run; crops spring from the ground and bear fruit, then wither again; rain yields to snow. Human history is no different; its arc is longer than any one person will live to see, but no less inevitable. What once was, will be again. Everything that may happen, has already happened. To think otherwise is folly.

Though the Orochons lack any formal religious structure, every community has at least one Storyteller, responsible for keeping the oral history of their people. These histories are extraordinarily long and detailed, though they do not always agree with one other across communities; the Orochons themselves simply shrug and say their neighbors have remembered the same events from a different cycle. Storytellers are also the keepers of practical knowledge - few Orochons are literate, and the basic principles of electronics, metallurgy and agronomics must be encoded in song and verse alongside myth and history.

Most of the Orochons regard the cycle of history as an inevitability, to be celebrated or at least accepted with good grace. A few disagree, viewing the structure of the cosmos as inherently cruel and injust. What comfort is there in knowing all the tragedies of the past will inevitably repeat? A few - mostly those living among the majority faith- rage against the cycle but see no hope of escape. Others believe in a promised path to freedom: that if the right people undertake the right actions at the right time, the shackles of history can be broken forever. This messianic belief is typically in the few towns where this is the majority view. Unsurprisingly, the two sects get on poorly; there hasn't been (much) overt violence in the last hundred years, but wars and pogroms have been waged on both sides in the past, and neither side has forgotten.

Resources

Veehran Wheat
Though the volcanic soil found on the slopes of Orochos is richer than anything outside Veehra's greenlands, not many plants can withstand the thin air and the bitter cold. The most useful of those plants is the redthistle plant, colloquially known as Veehran Wheat. The grain it produces is small and bitter-tasting, but edible; as a result it is widely farmed, and forms the bulk of the local diet.

Veehran Wheat has an unusually high mineral content, due to the iron-rich soil it grows in; this often leads to long-term health problems among the Orochons. Loop-born scientists speculate that it was one of the base organisms the Sorcerers of New Kildora altered to create their famous Silver Serpent crops.

Desired Import: Fabrics and Textile Products
Thin air and frigid temperatures are a constant hardship on Mons Orochos, especially in winter. Orochon homes are well-insulated, built into the mountain itself and heated by fire or electric heater... but eventually, one has to venture outside. There are few local animals large enough to yield useful furs, and the flax-like plant the Orochons use to weave most of their clothing is poorly insulated. The best cold-weather clothes they have use downy feather linings to keep body heat in, but there's rarely enough of these to satisfy demand.

Still tinkering with some details, especially regarding faith and history, but this should be mostly ready for review.

Edited Wednesday at 04:09 PM by The Snark (see edit history)

[Elemental]

Here is the proposal:

Shield Generators
Effect: +1 to battles
Slot: Armour and Shields
Requirements: Nuclear Fusion, Conductors and Circuitry.

An Ishtahn Shield Generator is a surprisingly simple device, once you look past the complicated electronics required and the seemingly counterintuitive modifications to a standard fusion reactor needed to power it.

In essence, the modified fusion reactor produces infinitesimally small quantities of exotic particles that then self annihilate in the high temperature environment of the fusion plasma. Through as yet poorly understand physical processes this causes the creation of an unusual energy field of limited range that at its outer edge creates a shield interface that blocks the movement of physical matter above a certain mass or energy level. This effect, however, has a vanishingly small range and even if the reactor is overclocked to dangerous levels the barrier only extends a few metres beyond the plasma.

Fortunately, a workaround was uncovered. Using special Energised Chrysoberyl matrices a resonant field can be produced that, although is in opposition to the initial field, has the same effect and can be projected over a greater distance. This does draw a significant amount of power and requires at least an entire additional fusion reactor, optimised for power rather than particle creation, keeping the matrices charged. Through a series of conduits this resonant field can be directed from around the reactor far away to a series of directional emitters at the periphery of whatever was desired to be shielded. Experimental designs using Haematite, Crystal Weave and even standard high grade electronics were proven to also be viable with only some redesign needed.

In short, generator makes a shield, resonating electronics copy the shield and send it via conduits to emitters. The emitters project a shield outward around the thing you want protected.

This technology is not without limits however. The energy of whatever strikes the shield has to go somewhere and it is born directly by the emitters and conduits causing them to overheat when put under sufficient strain. Failure to de-energise their circuitry will result in it melting and potentially damaging adjacent systems. It is also incapable of being effectively used in a planetary atmosphere as the shield causes air molecules to become highly charged and generate a strong electrical current which disrupts the shield and renders it permeable, an effect made even worse whenever there is even a little weather. The exhaust from thrusters and engines has a similar effect, but this is not considered too much of an issue as a ship's primary engines are already a weak point in armour.

But otherwise, in the near vacuum of space, the shield is the ideal defensive system. Lightweight, impervious to anything more hazardous than a laser pointer. Finally those large windows aren't a complete drawback.

[farothel]

I'll be on holiday from tomorrow until next saturday. I'll normally have internet access (the hotel should have Wifi), but I might be slower to respond. So expect me only to put something up in the second week of the next round.

[aerin13]

Edited Saturday at 03:23 AM by aerin13 (see edit history)

[TheDarkDM]

Responding to notes.

 

Zimbir, The High Court of Mekhala (Region 81)

History

Before the War of Eternal Bombardments, the enormity of the Empire strained even the capabilities of InterPlaNet and the more esoteric technologies of Ophon. Centralization of power within the Emperor's court led to sometimes-costly delays in response to crisis, and fomented discontent among those vassal states who felt they lacked a voice in the golden halls of power. In response, and to free the High Lords of the tedious mundanity of day-to-day administration, the Emperor decreed the creation of a number of local divisions of the Imperial Bureaucracy to better administer their far-flung demesne. Among these were branches of the Imperial legal system, district courts that could litigate matters unworthy of the Supreme Imperial Court. Though their authority was limited, each served as a repository for the vast body of common law, noble lineages, and Imperial Decrees that combined to form the bedrock of law in Tekhum. Zimbir was one such repository, the least influential and least prestigious, presiding as it did over the sparsely-populated hinterlands of Mekhala.

The War changed everything. Most outposts of the bureaucracy that survived the initial wave of catastrophe found themselves cut off from the aegis of Imperial power, their highest officials evacuated to Ophon while armies of subordinates and functionaries were left to fend for themselves. The mechanisms of governance were repurposed into mechanisms of survival, the great machine of Imperial oversight smashed apart to build crude states and fleeting dictatorships that were everywhere undone by the convulsive aftershocks of universal war. Everywhere, that is, save for humble Zimbir. Isolated from the intrigues of great states and the heaving aftershocks of thaumonuclear detonations, Zimbir and its priceless archive of knowledge endured.

Cut off from Ophon's guidance, the legal apparatus of Zimbir attempted to function for a time. Tentative relations were established among the surviving powers spread across Mekhala, the Imperial Magistrates passing down decisions they believed would lead to compromise and recovery. Decisions that were too-frequently ignored in favor of mercurial ambition. Without the backing of Imperial power, it eventually became clear that Zimbir was little more than a relic of a more civilized age, and as their neighbors turned towards conflict and avarice the people of Zimbir turned in on themselves. The cybernetic implants designed to interface with the systems of Ophon became the mechanism by which they survived the growing privation of Mekhala, while the automated court systems at the heart of the habitat grew old and unreliable, legal algorithms and analytic subroutines catching in recursive loops and logic spirals in the absence of any true legal matters to occupy their energies.

Geography

While a number of substantial orbiting bodies occupy Zimbir's territory, life in the region is centered on a massive, pre-war habitat constructed by the Imperial Court. Its opulent exterior a monument to the prosperity of the pre-war period, High Court Zimbir contains living quarters for its magistrates, litigators, and support staff, their judicial chambers and legal offices, court rooms of enough size and spectacle to be worthy of the Emperor himself, and the labyrinthine warren of databanks, autoscribes, and evidence vaults that jurisdiction over an entire orbit demands. Over the centuries of abandonment and independence from Ophon many of the nearer asteroids were also colonized, serving as additional housing at first but eventually evolving into the feudal territory of the most renowned Litigator Clans. Now returned to the fold of something approaching Imperial authority, many of these far-flung fortresses and boltholes have been repurposed as additional storage for the business of the Court, and as holding cells in the event of a criminal trial.

People

While genetically human, the people of Zimbir bear the mark of their ancestors' cybernetic integration into Ophon's pre-war bureaucracy. With so many of the systems in the High Court reliant on these integrated machine interfaces, time and necessity only expanded the ubiquity of these implants, while isolation demanded the slow regression of their beauty and grace. Where once the magistrates of Zimbir enjoyed the regal simplicity of skin-sheer golden implants, the current generation makes do with utilitarian metal protrusions passed down from grandparent to grandchild, each one slowly accumulating a collection of minor flaws that is woven into a family history. While the average inhabitant of the habitat may only boast a few obvious prostheses, such as a mechanical limb or the ubiquitous bulge of a spinal neural port, the great Litigators and Magistrates are a biomechanical symphony, a strange beauty emerging from the grotesque asymmetry of their forms. The imposition of the House of Fire's authority over the region promises an influx of technology and resources beyond anything the region has previously enjoyed, and already some children have reached the age of majority with sleek black implants derived in the depths of Gunzir Massif, but it will take some time before the archaic living sculptures of Zimbir disappear completely.

Born into a society founded on the precepts of Ophons laws, the people of Zimbir gradually became a microcosm of those laws as decades turned to centuries. Titles that were once simple professions have evolved into ceremonial positions of growing power, the law offices that once balanced the work of representation factionalizing into Litigator Clans claiming rulership over different areas of the habitat. While the Imperial Magistrates (and their descendants) are the figureheads vested in traditional authority, in practice their judgements are tempered by the very real power of the Litigator Clans who rule in their name. Or at least, so it was before the House of Fire finally broke the power of the Litigators after a decade-long campaign.

Government

Following the conquest of the region by the House of Fire, the military might of the Litigator Clans was officially disbanded. While the domestic functions of the station were not meddled with by the Ducal Armada, the presence of qualified technicians as well as an influx of foreign materials and spare parts only further diluted the authority of the reigning warlords. This may have precipitated further bloodshed and uprising, had Litigator Prime Apil-Sin not emerged from Ducal custody as a voice to bridge the gap between the two cultures. Made fully aware of the terrible wrath the House of Fire was capable of as well as the deep charity they were prepared to offer Zimbir, Apil-Sin convinced many of the other Litigator Clans that prosperous submission was preferable to the brave futility of rebellion. For his efforts, he was named the first Governor, ruling in the name Esarhaddon III.

Meanwhile, the powers of the Imperial Magistrates has been reinvigorated. While Litigator Prime Apil-Sin attends to the domestic reorganization of the region and the Ducal Corps of Engineers carries out desperately-required maintenance, the Imperial Magistrates have new case loads to consider. Integration of Zimbir with Dur-Shalkhir's legal apparatus has resulted in the resolution of many age-old deadlocks in the archive systems and among the Magistrates themselves, and new precedent has begun to emerge at last from this surviving bastion of Imperial order.

Resources

Resource: Lawyers (Specialists, Information and Data)

Trained from birth, the chosen members of the Litigator Clans possess an encyclopedic knowledge (in many cases aided by their cybernetic implants) of Imperial Common Law and are trained in rhetorical techniques ranging from the high civility of Ophon's court to the lethal simplicity of trial by combat. Freed from the demands of internecine strife, these legal experts are now available to any Elect with the fortitude to embrace their legal code.

Desired Import: Arts and Cultural Products

As systemic shortfalls are reversed and the tensions of inter-clan rivalry dissipate, many inhabitants of Zimbir are free to pursue the higher callings of art and beauty for the first time. However, for all its apparent majesty the habitat is a poor place for free expression. Too much of Zimbir is dedicated to the dry work of case law and contract, and so the people look to the Empire at large to satisfy their souls.

Faith

Spacer Supremacy

Though it initially served primarily as a societal bulwark against chaos, the original purpose of the High Court and its heritage of Imperial significance gradually degenerated into a more discriminatory mysticism. With little knowledge of the inner orbits save vague snatches gleaned from long-haul traders and the uncertain claims of InterPlaNet, the inhabitants of the High Court came to regard themselves as the last remaining bulwark of Imperial civilization throughout the wider expanse of Tekhum. Convinced of the corrupting influence of atmosphere and gravity, they married their presumptive enlightenment to their isolation in the void. This gave rise to a monastic obsession with the purity to be found in emptiness and weightlessness, and the supreme moral authority that accompanied liberation from gravity. So girded by their unassailable virtue, the people of Zimbir had no doubt of their ultimate victory against the incursions of the House of Fire, until the myth of their invincibility was cruelly shattered. Left now to reckon with the rule of those touched by gravity, if not atmosphere, the tenets of Spacer Supremacy seem doomed to a lingering descent into irrelevance.

 

Bīt Ereshkigal, The Hexacrypt Wilds (Region 22)

History

Located punishingly near to the site of the White Pawns' apocalyptic resistance to the Empire, much of what once stood atop the Hexacrypt Wilds has been irrevocably lost. The corpses of vast cities and staggering infrastructure projects endured no better than bone or sinew against the radiant fires of the War of Eternal Bombardments, and were abandoned as cursed earth by those who survived. While none were so foolish as to abandon technology as a whole in the wake of the war, none who scrabbled to survive the aftermath wished to return to the days of madness. A sleepy, forgotten culture grew up in the cracks of the apocalypse, and might have remained so were it not for the enterprising work of one young woman. Her name is lost, scrubbed from living memory and digital record, but she was an engineer in a land of farmers. Somehow, she rediscovered a means of interfacing with the infrastructure that had survived the war, burrowed under her peoples' feet like the work of a trillion ants. At first, she used her "powers" subtly, re-engaging water filtration systems or the uplinks to the few surviving weather satellites, but as the prosperity of her town and those near it grew so did suspicion. Too knowledgeable of her peoples' prejudices to risk the truth, the woman vanished into the wilderness, and the brewing scandal died. Until she began to appear in their dreams.

Taking refuge in a central hub of the old world, the first Baba was not content to leave her work half-done. She envisioned a brighter symbiosis between her people and the quiescent technology beneath their feet, and was dedicated, perhaps obsessed, with realizing that dream. Tapping into the water filtration system, she unleashed a flood of tailored nanobots into the region's water supply, and within a month enough of the microrobots had embedded in the brains of her people to establish contact. Drawing the from their dreams into the first datastream, she plucked recruits from among the exceptional and the disaffected of a hundred communities, training the first generation of data witches even as the wider populace slowly awakened to the shared reality of their new lucid dreams. Some, fearing some outside force, tried to resist, but they quietly disappeared into the mists of history. Whether the first Baba eventually died or became something more than human is not known, but from their first generation the data witches have watched over the people of the Wilds as unpredictable, sometimes capricious guardians.

The arrival of the outside world threw this balance of power into chaos. While some witches and their allies among the local councils welcomed the might and majesty of the Empire, others resisted it with bitter will. The ancient technologies that had connected the people to their digital reality were repurposed to create legions of cyborg warriors, and though their homunculi were defeated the witches remain. Now they wait and watch, hiding in plain sight, as a new domed palace rises from what was once old growth forest and sorcerers with fiery eyes turn their attentions to the datastream.

Geography

Stretching along the eastern coastline of Zabava, Bīt Ereshkigal descends from a sinuous line of western mountains through towering deciduous forests into coastal lowlands that frequently give way to swamps. Once jagged and wild, the terrain has worn down under the weight of millennia, becoming a rolling tapestry of green, grey, and black. Not so the forests it embraces, however - the wilderness of what was once known as the Hexacrypt Wilds is the equal of any on Sansar, save perhaps the untamed nightmare of the Reserve to its south. The bright lights of sparsely-scattered civilization are almost swallowed by the arboreal gloom, and a complete catalogue of the mutated flora and fauna has not been attempted in the post-war period.

For all that hostility, civilization does thrive in Bīt Ereshkigal. Small towns and villages thrive in forest clearings and along lazy rivers, while rugged mountain camps draw wealth from the black earth. This wealth flows down to the coast, where a handful of small cities thrive on trade and the quiet indifference of more bellicose neighbors. To the naked eye, it might seem quaint, but the naked eye can only perceive half the truth of Bīt Ereshkigal. Hovering above the towns and cities in an invisible haze is the datumplume of its inhabitants, an augmented reality tended to and ruled by the unseen data witches that command fear and respect in every household. In this second sight, towns become glistening towers of light and shadow, and the humble cities are transformed into soaring digital metropolises. This digital reality stretches along the subterranean ley-lines of fiberoptic cable and circuit left behind after the War of Eternal Bombardments, the arcanodigital circuitry alive with digital ghosts.

People

The people of Bīt Ereshkigal exist, much like their civilization, in two worlds. In the real world, the largely human inhabitants nurture an insular culture of extended family ties and old grudges, though these rarely give rise to violence. Rather, the small communities dotting the Hexacrypt Wilds give little thought to the people living outside their immediate sphere, tending their own fences rather than peering through them. However, this provincial attitude is turned on its head in dataspace. Divorced of the reality of the physical world, the inhabitants of Bīt Ereshkigal manifest avatars reflecting their inmost selves (and those who seek to deceive or dissemble with their True Face are invariably punished by the Data Witches). Through a wireless connection that manifests as REM sleep in the outside world, the inhabitants of Bīt Ereshkigal skim the length and breadth of their digital paradise, indulging in revelry and debauch that does the High Lords of Ophon proud.

Government

The communities of Bīt Ereshkigal are organized around democratically organized municipal councils, a collection of reeves and mayors that only rarely come together to form anything resembling a centralized government. While this fractured jumble of authority would normally leave the region vulnerable to exploitation or attack, there is another power at play that acts to unite the scattered communities. The digital realm is also divided along more esoteric lines, each datastream overseen by the dictatorial will of one of the Data Babas. These elder data witches wield staggering power over the constructed reality overlaying Bīt Ereshkigal, to the extent of manifesting phenomena in the physical world if they are sufficiently angered. While they are insular and inscrutable, the Babas are aligned in a singular coven that protects their ambitions and their interests. Though their power waned in the days of occupation after the Eucrus Alliance defeated their warrior Mechadea, the House of Fire has made tentative overtures to bring the Babas more securely into the fold. Certainly, the ancient circuitry that fuels their powers is a miracle of the old world, and greatly of interest to the Imperial Cult. Meanwhile, the regional councils have bent the knee to a Ducal Governor installed in the quickly-growing new city of Irkalla.

Resources

Resource: Roleplaying Games (Art and Cultural Products, Magical Items)

While the reality of the datastream is ever-shifting, there exist rites and rituals to capture a facsimile of it in a set form. This form of protean code carries with it the echoed thoughts and desires of every inhabitant of Bīt Ereshkigal, and is capable of reacting to fulfill the fantasies of those who interface with it through the potency of those echoes.

Desired Import: Planetary Vehicles

While the people of Bīt Ereshkigal enjoy limitless mobility in the datastream, that freedom is far harder to find on the material plane. The dangers of the Hexacrypt Wilds are manifold, and if the region is to prosper beyond the digital phantoms of its inhabitants dreams then a reliable means of transport between mountain, forest, and coast will need to be established.

Faith

Data Witches

More than a faith, the presence of the Data Witches is a reality for the inhabitants of Bīt Ereshkigal. Though they recognize, intellectually, that the Witches must live among them in the physical realm, they reach so close to the divine within the datastream that their avatars are the subject of fearful reverence. Names are never used, both to avoid offending a Witch through tempting their true name and to instill in the Witches an immortal quality. Rather, the Witches are believed to embody broad aspects of life and force to be found in Bīt Ereshkigal, with the inscrutable tides of the datastream attributed to such figures as Baba Sorrow or the Crawling Tree. The witches themselves seem to favor this arrangement, which affords them a degree of anonymity even within their anonymous existences, and it is whispered that a number of minor covens, subordinate to the coven of Babas, have united in common cause to better pursue the tenets of these digital phantoms.

 

[Elemental]

Anso-Chor
Region 67

 

History

The History of Anso-Chor goes back to the foundation of the Imperial Embassy in times long since gone recorded by calendars forgotten by all who live on Veehra save for the most pedantic of Imperial Bureaucrats, but the triumphs of that history have left no markers on the land save the Embassy itself for when the War of Eternal Bombardments came not even the proximity of so important an Imperial institution served to shield the peoples of the land as fire rained from the sky and undid all they had built. Untold thousands flocked to the gates of the Embassy for shelter and huddled in its direct shadow they were spared death by fire and sorcery, only to face disease and starvation. Perhaps out of kindness or merely the desire to prevent having to view something as unsightly as a plague ridden tent city outside their office windows, Imperial officials distributed aid and with this seed a city began to grow.

Thousands more across Veehra made the trek to the Embassy seeking salvation and safe haven in the years of chaos and as the land recovered the population grew and prospered. Eventually other cities were founded and alongside the surviving Sindra and Vekanen populations a network of small states developed. However unlike elsewhere on Veehra these small states never coalesced into anything larger. Despite the fertile soils and growing prosperity that could have fuelled dreams of conquest, local rulers were unwilling to act the part of conquering warlords, afraid that such an act would bring a repeat of the fires that destroyed the old world.

Today Anso-Chor is a patchwork of small monarchies, tribal confederations and leagues of city states, passed over for Electoral power as a result of this decentralisation and eclipsed by the demon summoning wolfmen of the west, the hydra cult of the south and the isolationist thinkers of the north.

Geography

Anso-Chor is a particularly low lying region lying between the Highlands to the west and the Great Sea to the east. Several rivers lazily cross the plains, their banks often lined with swampy ground that is inundated on an annual basis with the Spring thaws in the Highlands. The lowest slopes of the Highlands extend into Anso-Chor's western frontier and a range of hills extends roughly along the southern border with Nadiratna. Beyond these regions and isolated hills, the landscape is extremely flat and extremely susceptible to flooding as a result. Vast networks of flood walls and levees crisscross the land to protect cities and towns given the scarcity of high ground.

These annual floods combined with the rain coming off the Great Sea to the east has resulted in Anso-Chor being one of the lushest regions on Veehra. Woodlands once covered most of the land with their remnants still being among the largest forests on all Veehra, especially those in the hills of the west and south. Along the coast of the Great Sea these woodlands give way to what may be Veehra's only rainforest, The Jade Wood. Though hardly tropical and as snowbound during the Winter months as the rest of the region, this tangled, primordial forest merges seamlessly with coastal marshes and extends for almost two hundred kilometres inland.

Over the centuries much of the land has been cleared, though the Jade Wood remains more or less untouched, and given over to the cultivation of all manner of moisture tolerant crops. Perennial rice fields are in particular quite common as if the fields are being flooded every years it seems sensible to grow something that doesn't mind that so much.

Anso-Chor is colloquially known as the Land of a Hundred Cities. This is an exaggeration, but its cities are indeed numerous. Each seems to have worked to set itself aside with grand monuments and extravagant festivals, but the rise of industry has caused most cities to become somewhat overshadowed by great manufactories that somewhat spoil their aesthetic value, damaging ancient stonework and spreading clouds of pollutants through the land.

The largest city is Tanevi-Nur, the City of Forges. The great Corbomite foundries stand at the heart of this city and dominate it both visually and economically. They in turn support vast secondary industries that utilise the Corbomite or piggy back off the thousands who move there looking for work.

The most important city, however, and also the second largest, is Juran-Nur, The Imperial City. Towering above the ancient heart of the city are the brilliant white spires of Veehra's Imperial Embassy. The Embassy complex itself is almost a city in of itself and it soars high to reach the sky, an undeniable symbol of Imperial might. Its gardens, those on the ground and elevated high on roofs and platforms, are full of exotic species from across Tekhum.

People

Anso-Chor has a population of approximately of one hundred and eighty million people (or whatever number keeps it below Agbada). The majority of the population, about two thirds, are Ansos, an ethnically mixed grouping of settled humans who trace their history to shortly after the War of Eternal Bombardments. They can trace their lineages all across Veehra as the Imperial Embassy attracted thousands of refugees to its shadow in the chaotic years after the Bombardment, however they are predominantly of roughly the same stock as their fellow northern greenlanders. Most of the remainder, or approximately forty million people, are Vekanen, lizard people with green scales, twelve million are Elves, one million are Ishtahn frontiersmen and and the remaining seven million consist of more recent migrants from across Veehra in the past few centuries who mostly retain their own cultures.

The Ansos, as stated, are regular Veehran humans, mostly of northern greenlander ethnicity with a fair admixture of blood from elsewhere across the planet. Culturally they value art and craftsmanship, loyalty, service and tend to be enthusiastic supporters of The Empire even if mostly they aren't strict followers of the Imperial Traditions. Historically they were primarily engaged in farming, but with the rise of industry most have moved to growing urban centres to benefit from the ready availability of work.

The Vekanen are viviparous lizard people who are green in colour. They stand on average at around six foot six inches and are powerfully built. They have a row of spikes that start from their head and go all the way down their back and along their tail. Despite being reptilian, they are well adapted to the cold temperatures of Veehra and need no protection from the elements and wear clothes only for reasons of modesty, culture and self expression. There is little in the way of obvious sexual dimorphism among them save for slight variations in skull shape and proportions that one would either have to be very observant to notice or have spent enough time around them to become used to. Many of them still live tribal lives as their ancestors did within the Jade Wood, but most live in coastal cities and towns from where they fish and ply the trade lanes of the Great Sea as part of an ancient maritime tradition. The Vekanen reject any notion of Imperial Divinity and are as one firm Chorbists whom they believe sheltered them in the Jade Wood during the Bombardments.

The Elven population, or the Sindra, live more or less entirely within the wooded hills of the south, keeping themselves mostly apart from the outside world. Through their magic they were spared the calamity that befell their kin in Nadiratna and when in their native land will never die of sickness and none can recall the last time someone died of old age. Elsewhere they find themselves subject to the ravages of time and as a result they rarely leave for more than a few months at a time and view it as their highest taboo to bring sickness or death with them on their return. They value art and beauty as their highest ordeals and are liberal in their use of magic in pursuit of this goal. Despite their isolation they worship Chorb, something they claim to have always done.

The Ishtahn population of Anso-Chor are merely an offshoot from Ishtahnos who used to range across the frontier lands, ended up settling there as farmers and herders and eventually converted to Chorbism.

Magic

The arts of magic are much more prevalent in Anso-Chor than they are in Ishtahnos. Though nowhere near sufficient to rival the sorcerers of Kildora, the Ansos do possess a number of sorcerous adepts who have delved into many aspects of ritual magic using what they've managed to glean from Kildoran texts. The Sindra possess great magical powers, but these fade quickly beyond the borders of the enchanted forest they call home.

However the principle form of magic is that performed by Chorbist priests/shaman. Through an as yet unknown process that may or may not prove the existence of Chorb and the primacy of their faith, these individuals are able to effect rapidly accelerated recovery from injuries and illnesses in others through various sacred ceremonies. Despite initial assumptions that they are related to the ritual practices of Kildoran style sorcery a closer analysis indicates that there is no relation.

Government

Anso-Chor is divided into a number of smaller polities that previously vied for political and economic influence. Traditionally disputes would be resolved through combat between champions with outright war beyond skirmishes being extremely rare. There are eight polities of significance listed in rough order of population alongside several minor states not listed.

The Jade Confederation is, as expected, a confederation of small chieftaincies and coastal cities situated in the Jade Wood. The populations is primarily Vekanen and they are very traditionalist and fierce adherents to Chorbism. The capital is the port city of Nak, known for the Tower of Pearls, and they are ruled by a confederal council.
The Kingdom of Olan-Sul dominates the west of Anso-Chor. It is furthest removed from the affairs of the Imperial Embassy and has a tendency towards belligerence. The inhabitants are mostly Ansos who have adopted some Ishtahn customs, such as the riding of Nightmares. They are ruled by the House of Sul from the city of Malevenos.
The Kingdom of Tanevi is a relatively small kingdom centred on the City of Forges and its outlying metropolises. It is very densely populated and very heavily industrialised to a level that even the other industrial states of Anso-Chor are growing concerned. They are ruled by the House of Tanev.
The League of Hurun is made up of small city states and feudal demesnes stretching across the north of Anso-Chor. Each state is quite weak individually and so despite their fierce independence they have banded together for mutual defence for fear of being absorbed by stronger polities. The chief, but not largest, city of the League is Hurun, selected mostly due to its centralised location and comparative unimportance.
Sa-Sindra is the name given to the Elven state hidden away in the wooded southern hills. It is a mystical place that abounds in natural beauty where time seems to stand still. Outsiders are not forbidden, but they are discouraged. At the heart of Sa-Sindra is the City of Dreams where their unnamed King holds court.
The Pentapolis is the name given to five great cities that joined together in order to flex their already prodigious economic might. They are roughly spread evenly throughout Anso-Chor and consists of the cities of Janek-Nur, Luriem, Viccandra-Nur, Ban-Sadru and Vaylenore. They head themselves with a five member council elected by the nobility of each member city.
Juran-Nur, or The Imperial City, is perhaps the strangest polity. They control no territory beyond their city limits and it has remained virtually unchanged for centuries despite the growing industrialisation and booming populations elsewhere. The local nobility are made up of those whose families have worked as low level support staff in the Imperial Embassy for generations. They wear their red-purple uniforms with pride and put their work within its walls above all other worldly concerns. The custom of painting one's house purple to show one's affiliation with this class spread throughout the old city as the artisans who provided luxurious goods to the Imperial Bureaucrats at the Embassy claimed the status for themselves.
Kavendrinore is the smallest state both in population and territory, even compared to the Imperial City. It is a city built on an island in the sea near the southern border with Nadiratna. It was once a pirate stronghold but they have since done their best to present themselves in a more positive light as a hub of trade despite all the evidence of their past and their still non-existent approach to prosecuting people over dealing in stolen goods.

Resource

Corbomite (Ores and Alloys, Fuel)
Corbomite is a complex alloy of steel produced at extremely high temperatures under bombardment by exotic thaumionic radiation not found naturally within Tekhum. Though it is far from lightweight, it is extremely strong and almost impossible to bend without unreasonable amounts of force. Corbomite itself is brilliant white, but most people believe it is iridescent as few people have ever seen a non-anodised piece. Indeed for almost all applications Corbomite must be anodised under a mix of argon and krypton gas to produce an inert layer of Corbomite Argides and Kryptides as without this protective layer on the surface Corbomite has a tendency to burst into flames. Violently. It will even react with nitrogen gas to produce volatile nitrides and strip the oxygen from carbon dioxide. Fortunately the anodised layer is harder than even diamond and tougher than the underlying Corbomite and not liable to get disturbed.

Corbomite's primary applications are as support beams in large structures and as plating for armoured vehicles, though it is also used for ornamental purposes and has also been forged into weapons and armour on occasion.

Unfortunately due to the unusual conditions required, there is only one facility on all of Veehra capable of producing this material, a series of ancient pre-bombardment foundries in Anso-Chor built atop even more ancient leylines that route arcane power from across Veehra. These foundries are responsible for all stages of the production from refining of raw materials and Corbomite scrap to casting to anodising. The only change in this process in the past thousand years is that sometimes small pieces of Corbomite are stopped before they reach the anodising chamber and are shaved down with Corbomite and diamond edged tools. The shavings make for brilliant, if dangerous, rainbow fireworks and are great for jumpstarting other furnaces and forges.

Conductors and Circuitry
The cities of Anso-Chor are heavily industrialised, their manufactories constantly churning out products as fast as they can make them, but the demand for electronics outstrips the available raw resources available to produce them locally. Without a supply of suitable materials or imported electronics the industries will eventually grind to a halt.

Faith

Plurality: Chorbism

Chorbism is a non-centralised religion that reveres the deity Chorb. While the exact specifics of religious practices and rituals diverge greatly between the urban and tribal cultures of Anso-Chor, there are several common features. Chorbist priests/shamans, the word is used interchangeably locally, act as conduits of Chorb, entering trances and engaging in secret rituals to reach a higher state of consciousness they believe allows them to hear the whispers of Chorb and see his faces to receive guidance and insight into the future which they then pass onto the lay folk. They also dispense blessings, healing and perform sacred ceremonies. Beyond this the practices of Chorbist priests/shamans are for them alone and they don't take kindly to outsiders trying to unravel their secrets.

What they aren't secret about is 'what is the deal with Chorb', this they will expound on greatly. Chorb is the spirit of the land and sky, bringer of wind and rain, shepherd of wild beasts and grower of all things green under the Sun. He is also a five faced, five armed, ten winged cherubic abomination that looks and moves always in five directions, sings constantly in five angelic voices and knows five secrets about everyone who has ever lived. In one hand he bears a shepherd's crook wrapped with vines; another an ever-flowing golden jug of water, plain and unornamented; the third is raised perpetually in blessing; the fourth holds a trident stained with blood and ichor; and the fifth and final hand holds life itself. He has the face of a falcon, a serpent, a jackal, a bear and a creature known only as a "kindness" with no additional explanation given.

The teachings of Chorb as followed by his people are quite simple, "do no harm to others and to the land" is the best way to sum them up. This latter point has caused some consternation due to the spread of polluting heavy industry through most of the urban centres of Anso-Chor, especially among non-urban populations who benefit less from the generated wealth and suffer more from the spread of pollution.

Minority: Imperial Traditions

The Imperial Traditions are less a strict religion and more a series of cultural norms and codes of protocol and etiquette that grew around the Imperial Embassy. Followers do revere the Emperor, though less as a god and more as the supreme arbiter of truth and justice in Tekhum.

Edited yesterday at 03:36 AM by Elemental
Done until I'm told otherwise. (see edit history)

[FriendlyHeadcrab]

 Outerock (Ready for Review)
Region: Mekhala 99

People

The people of Outerock are humanoid, but with a very strange differentiating feature. A large grey blob rests upon their head, like an oversized hat. These are headcrabs, and every person on Outerock is mounted by one. The combined person of headcrab and host are called the Outerockians.

Long ago, before the time of the bombardment and following isolation, headcrabs were unleashed upon Outerock. The people of the time fought and resisted, but ultimately were overwhelmed by tide of parasitic space crabs. As time passed, the isolation led to adaptation. The two organisms, headcrab and human, evolved specifically for the other, eventually creating new species of headcrab and human.

The human part of Outerockians have smaller brains than the normal species, while the head itself is slightly larger. They are born nearly braindead, and cannot function without a headcrab for direction and thinking. The skull itself has adapted with specific grooves for the headcrab to directly attach to the top of the scalp.

The headcrabs themselves have become more civilized. Their method of attachment relies far less on the gnawing of teeth, and a softer meld. They have lost the ability to attach to non-Outerrock humanoids, as their biology evolved in tandem with the Outerock population. However, this loss of predation features is not a loss. Instead, the headcrabs themselves have gained intelligence. They have created a functional society that looks not unlike that of Humaniod populations all across Takhum. Just as it was with single-celled organisms long ago, parasite and prey evolve together, slowly merging into a single new organism.

While headcrabs are not birthed directly on the Outerock humans just yet, but that point seems near. Headcrab and humanoid birth occurs simultaneously, the mounted headcrab gives birth just as the child is born. The babe headcrab usually attaches to its new host within minutes of birth.

Every headcrab is female, creating its offspring using by pulling genetic data from their host. The headcrabs perform the mating rituals of humans, using their human bodies. With the new crab being birthed as an afterthought.

 

Outerockians now refer to themselves as a single entity. And consider this cycle of life to be natural and wholesome. The human body is their own, and is created to be inhabited by the head. The fact that the head is created from the headcrab means little. They expect to be respected and treated just as any other sapient spacefaring species.

Geography

The Region of 99 is primarily empty, save for a singular large asteroid. This asteroid has been carved to the point of near complete hollowness. The inside a giant cavity in which the peoples of Outerock live.

The inside of Outerock is a web of walkways, interior circular buildings, and décor. The cramped space creating a heavy density of constructed homes and buildings that are held in place by a series of long bridges.

Religion - The Sisters

The Outerockians worship the Six Sisters of Pleione. The theology dogma states that long ago, of all the headcrabs deployed on Outerock, six found success and bore childcrabs. These crabs form the heritage of all modern crabs.

The sister of one's is difficult to track, but is important culturally. The crabs declare their believed ancestor, and follow the virtues of civilization defined in their image. The six sisters represent and control domains of existence, from kindness to life support.

 

There is also a minority that believes in the Seventh Sister. This cult believes that one other headcrab survived to produce children. These children believe that they are meant for more than to be confined to the simple domain of the existing humaniods on Outerock. The Domain of the Forbidden Seventh Sister is expansion, to devour and control the brain of non-Outerock humanoids. Of violence and growth. This cult seeks to leave Outerock and expands to all asteriods of Mekhala and beyond, and to replicate the success of Outerock headcrabs in all sections of the system.

Resources

An interesting biological feature of the headcrabs is the creation of biological silk. Historically, a headcrab could ambush from above, swinging on silk to improve accuracy and range. Nowdays, the weaving of headcrab silk is tied deeply into the religious rituals of the Outerockians, leading to the creation of beautiful Embroidered Fabrics. Along with being Fabrics and Textile Products, these handcrafted garments are also Luxury Goods. Simply amazing both in comfort and in fashion.

The Outerockians desire soldiers, primarily as they fear discrimination from the humanoid races throughout Tekhum, who they expect may be less than understanding of their unique and valuable bond with the headcrabs. For this reason, soldiers for defense are greatly required.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:03 AM by FriendlyHeadcrab (see edit history)