WIP - I'll finish this eventually. :) Otherwise, feel free refer to it as an example group.
The Cizran Empire
. . .About
The Cizran Empire rests along an isolated filament of The Verse and sprawls throughout an entire galaxy. Many intelligent and heterogeneous species reside within, but the Cizran subjugated their rivals ages prior and their rule is absolute. As a consequence of a conflict-free era, bureaucracy, decadence, and ritual usurped further cultural maturation. Even so, technology is advanced and, through it, disease, death, and want are almost absent. Much less commonplace a solution to the universe’s difficulties is magic, regulated and relegated to state-sponsored objectives such as interstellar missions.
The Kr'Nalus—a cataclysm from beyond known space that splintered their hive mind and brought them to the brink of annihilation—marked the beginning of the second Cizran galactic expansion. Suddenly individuals, they were compelled to regroup, rebuild, and reconquer. While no specifics of the Kr'Nalus remain, it nevertheless influenced cultural resurgence, intertwining government with a peculiar brand of religious philosophy. In such, the gods, believed to dwell in houses set amongst the stars and threatened by the power of the Cizran whole, sent Heralds to dilute their strength. Over time, as secularism came into vogue, physical manifestations of divinity diffused to abstract concepts like beauty, acumen, and power. Many sites, such as the Space Temple and Shrine of Tsathoskr, were constructed in respect of these intangibles.
- Leadership—There is no official figurehead; instead, society is governed by members of the Av'sti, which is the religious, legislative, and executive branch; the Noema, which is the bureaucratic oversight branch; and the Durantaza, which is the judicial branch.
- Technology—Age and momentum birthed an era where subjects enjoy effective immortality, nigh-perfect health, and vast leisure time. Magic is almost unnecessary and money is the artifice of lesser beings. Instead, laws and regulations limit an individual’s impact on society. The Empire possesses colony-size spaceships, terraforms and destroys worlds, and harnesses almost all the energy of local stars. Superluminal travel is incredibly expensive, its price the spiritual energy of hundreds for a single jump, and as such is limited to gargantuan transports and military vessels.
- Magic—The transmutation of arcana into power, magic drains the life of the caster and indeed weakens the whole. As a consequence, it is forbidden aside from that officially mandated by the Si’ab. Likewise, high priests seldom cast spells during their lifetime, but instead rely on a system of misinformation, manipulation, sankuls, and konuls to isolate and transfer the heavy cost of magic from society to individuals.
- Religion—Jaded and sure of their place in the cosmos, Cizran religion is relegated to ritual and historical remembrance where gods and goddesses still exist, as do the millennia-old shrines erected in their honor, but they serve as symbols of intangibles that defy explanation or acceptance and as icons of mysteries beyond the scope of scientific knowledge.
- Inequality—Compared to a Cizran, other species possess few rights, holdings, or power. Especially on Cizra Su-lahn. Power begets power, and niceties of state are bestowed on the basis of knowledge gleaned. Yet inequality yields satisfaction of place, and beneath them are castes lower still, those of artificial life, that which is grown, that which is machined, and, at the bottom, that which is animated.
The Divine Animal
Throughout the vastness of the cosmos, in intelligent minds, lurks a tao of dread and desire that life on other worlds strives against its own unlikelihood with familiar tenacity and diversity of form. On most, it fails, for nature’s demands on evolution are harsh and unpredictable. Yet, on a few, life prevails, flourishes into civilization, and contributes to the timeless poem of creation its own transcendent verse. Species emerge from sea, earth, fire, or sky; worship nature, ancestral bones, or the intestate and unthinkable expanse of light-pricked night; then foment war and inevitably devour another in the frantic climb to the acme of ambition.
Occasionally, this chaos yields culture, but even then life is a volatile affair relentlessly hammered into shape and structure. The shapes it takes are innumerable, many weak while only a handful are strong. Amongst all these, there must exist an expression that is the ideal sum of its many facets. Somewhere there must exist the perfect form and a divine animal that embodies it.
With that form in mind, Cizran flesh became a holy book; scripture waiting to be written in the blood of the divine animal. Across the many systems of their empire, rare is it that two Cizran share the same physiology. Few even remotely reflect the form that was forged on their homeworld. They elected new bodies, and over time a greater number degraded their flesh for the sake of gaudy fashion and to flaunt their wealth and power. Most forgot the quest that sent them into the far reaches of space. Fewer recognized that, one day, the excess would be shorn if they are to adorn that sacred form.
Critical Points
- Shipyards of Zo—see Territories.
- Gareza Prison Complex—see Territories.
Territories
Cizra Su-lahn
( Diplomacy ) Bathed in weird orange glow of the star, Bukan, is the birthworld of the Cizran Empire, the planet Cizra Su-lahn. Tranquil and clement, the entire world is a garden cultivated by an army of kukulls and slaves. No non-native species is permitted unattended outside the capital; indeed, most "inferior beings" are segregated to space stations in orbit around the planet or enslaved as pets and side-shows in villas. The remainder of the planet is sacred and has been utterly dominated and domesticated, everything the eye can behold is owned and by prominent Cizrans.
- Samarra—on either side of the river Sirnak sprawls the seat of galactic government, the city of Samarra. Within is the Ja'regia, where, over the course of centuries, bills become law; the Hall of Records, where homage is paid to bureaucracy and every moment transcribed; and shrines to various gods.
- Shrine of Tsathoskr—this holy abode concealed no corner suitable for quiet contemplation. Instead, it was simultaneously awful and exquisite. From its interior dome and bowed walls luminiferous flora assaulted the visual and olfactory senses with the story of creation, neither wholesome nor pleasant, but possessed of vivacious honesty and bewitching brutality. Each scene punctured the mind with its loud awakening and to refuse intimacy brought a mad cacophony of thorough debauch. Nature awaited no consent to mold life and, later, consciousness. Rather, time and the elements lustily collided and birthed from their orgies all that would ever be. Scenes of ravenous rape and devour flushed in wild juxtaposition to raw canvasses of stark birth; creatures fed their offspring the young of other species; storms surged, volcanoes erupted, and supernovae shown. Notably, not a single depiction of conventional romance presented itself in the decor. The place was one of singular purpose. It served as a reminder of all that wrought civilization, indifferent to modern contrivances. Life, mollified neither by elaboration nor banality, was thrust upon those who dared enter.
Such a scene splayed across one of numerous panels boasted millions of colorful carnivorous plants that writhed a presentation, with lifelike clarity, of two bears rutting. It emitted all the noises one might conceive: wind teasing the meadow grass, distant birds chirping, and each grunt, snarl, and howl of bestial union. With this colluded the musk of their mating, the dew on the verdance, and a vague essence of pine colluded and lanced directly into the viewer’s sensory cortex.
Just one of a thousand depictions.
Worship of such a deity requires to embrace with fecundity one’s base urges.
- Space Temple—in orbit around the planet, here alcoves can read somebody’s mind and virtually link them to that location, often far-flung spiritual sites or places from which they have been banished. It serves the purpose as a neutral territory where any sojourner might take sanctuary and feel the presence of their fellow believers as they virtually stride the grounds of their elected shrine with neither the labor nor consequence of a physical manifestation. This is done by linking their mind via a psylink powered by divine force.
- Cloud of Ghot -- blah blah blah.
Alcazar
( Trade ) A moon of endless astroblemes bearing enormous rifts in all direction as far as the eye can see.
- Gareza Prison Complex—isolated from the riff-raff of Alcazar is a heavily-militarized prison complex that houses both Wa'ali and Cizran alike. Here, every inch and moment are recorded and subject to audit. The more dangerous the prisoner, the more heightened the security, with a range of group cells to dimensionally-isolated sensory deprivation chambers.
Ganax'ab
( Production ) On the outskirts of the empire, this system is governed by Ec-shavar and comprised of two planets.
- Q'ab -- a verdant world and cultural seat of the Ganax'ab, most of its sapient denizens take refuge in the capital city of Zöld'nach.
- Ganaxavori -- a harsh and barely habitable world where the handful of the natives still live in caves and the atmosphere is toxic, it is here that Ec-shavar's flagship set down as a symbol of his dominance over these worlds.
Killimara
( Military ) Blah blah blah.
- Deimobos -- blah blah blah.
- Shipyards of Zo -- blah blah blah.
Politics
Located in a relatively isolated area of
The Verse, the Cizran Empire stretches across a whole galaxy. Within, relatively few species were sophisticated enough to challenge the might of Cizra. These were crushed. The dominant civilization for several thousand years, they are decadent and gaudy, often cultivating lesser species for entertainment and, ultimately, to harvesting their spiritual energy.
Allies
N/A
Enemies
N/A
Group Characteristics
Empathic Organ—What remains of the Cizran hivemind in the aftermath of the Kr'Nalus, a cataclysmic event that reduced a collective to individuals. The organ, a mineral structure, enables Cizrans to sense another's presence, communicate telepathically, identify members of their species in spite of physiological modifications, and assess the depth of the collective well.
The Well—All Cizrans have access to a shared life source, known as the common well, which may be manipulated and coerced in what is only describable as magic. Heavily regulated, this resource is not used casually, for each use weakens the whole.
Genetic Remapping—Expert geneticists, Cizrans are able to modify their physiology at will. This is the cause of their vast dissimilarities in appearance. With little more than a thought, a Cizran may sprout wings, grow armor, and so on. The possibilities are limited by only imagination, energy, and a comprehension of what changes will result in what forms.
Members
OOC Leader—there is no official leader; we just discuss the plot and our ideas in a Skype chat.
@Circ as Eti Naris, Nenegin zar-Taliļ, Nirak mul-Siyé
@Gattsu as Domnik, The Kukull
@apathy as Xo'pil, Plangó Felho'Te-vesztø
@Liaison as Silexies, Kaan, Eel Sermonde, Cigány Cnidaria
@Alucroas as Kirri, Aredemos, Zeptir
Appendix I - Characters
- Ec-shavar—governor of Q'ab and Ganaxavori, he is a powerful Cizran and member of the upper-caste. His exterior like basalt, dark and rough, it is only broken by veins of variegated luminous crystal that shift in hue in accordance with his temperament. Concentrated around his skull, it is this crystal organ that facilitates his empathic bond with other Cizrans and allows him to draw from the common well of spiritual energy. He stands four meters tall, supported by four powerful legs while another quartet of mantis-like limbs serve as arms, ready to strike at a moment's notice. His head lacks eyes or ears, but boasts a powerful mouth, clenched like a bud until it blossoms with concentric rows of translucent teeth.
- Potan Mul—Cizran assassin employed by the empire's high inquisition; owner of Eti Naris.
- Eti Naris—synthetic companion and spaceship pilot; owned by Potan Mul; looks like a red panda in a gunslinger costume.
- Nenegin zar-Taliļ—Cizran admiral charged with patrolling the sector of space containing Killimara and other planets; is large, white, and has eight legs.
- Ulu'gol—arachnid artisan; he exists for comic relief.
- Bajaga Garul and Tarhara Maka—echinoderm artisans working on a commission for Potan Mul; Ec-Shavar didn't appreciate Potan Mul's gift and murdered the pair of artisans.
- Nirak mul-Siyé—Cizran member of the Noema and information conduit, she seldom moves, much less departs the Ja'regia.
Appendix II - Terminology
- Konul—war device deployed in orbit around a planet that drains the spiritual vitality of the inhabitants.
- Sankul—coffin-shaped device that restrains heretical or criminal Cizrans and separates their spirits from the common well; their vitality is then drained and channeled towards the execution of high-level magic, such as FTL travel.
- Kukull—spirit-infused matter, much like a golem or an elemental, bound to a Cizran's will and purposed for specific physically-demanding tasks, such as farming or mining.
- Kr'Nalus—the splintering of the Cizran hive mind that led to their new culture, need for bureaucracy, and subsequent re-expansion across the galaxy.
- Ci’zaria su-to Tóth—sacred tome deemed heretical and officially banned within the Cizran empire.
- Xo'Xan—a Cizran still alive from the time shortly following the Kr'Nalus who sought to use genetic modification to achieve deification; these are now deemed heretics.
- Av'sti—inquisition branch of the Cizran religious arm of government.
- Av'llys—member of the Av'sti.
- Si'ab—highest body of the Av'sti.
- Noema—head council of the Cizran bureaucratic arm of government.
- Durantaza—an hierarchical caste-structured system of courts.
- Shalam—an atheractive and radioactive mineral.
Appendix III - Species
- Cizran—although typically just under four meters tall, there is no end to Cizran variety and morphology due to their obsession with genetic self-modification. The only unifying factor is their empathic organ, a crystalline mineral substance that allows them to recognize one another and pull spiritual energy from the common well.
- Killimaran—These insectoid aliens stand at 2.5 meters, their skin is a mixture of ruddy orange and sandy brown that allows them to blend in well with both the rainforests and desert. Their heads are somewhat squid-shaped, with black, ovular eyes set nearly on the sides, their mouths are horizontal insect mandibles, and their arms feature short retractable as well as regrowable spikes that curve upwards along the humerus and downward along the forearms, possessing a second pair of vestigial limbs near their hips. The nails on their fingers split in two small extensions which aid in a variety of tasks from gripping, piercing, and tearing into the objects of their desire.
- Q'ush—between 1.5 and 2 meters tall, these are lizard-like in appearance.
- Azot—a bipedal monkey that stands around 1.5 meters tall.
- Alakast—arachnid beings with a hard carapace and as many eyes as legs, these stand around 1.5 meters tall.
- Echinomorph—one-eyed, under 10 centimeters tall, these ambulate on five tentacles and reproduce by spores (similar to starfish) that fall off their sexually dimorphic bodies.
- Ganaxan—the submoronic rift and cave dwellers of Ganaxavori, with their course hides and bulky bodies these blend in quite readily with the rocky landscape they call home.
