Kyoz-Asgi World Power
From Axalon RPG
“The Company.” Created by: Tarantulas
Contents |
Capital City
Thurrum, ‘Fountain’. Built atop the magma canals above a volcanic crater in deepest Kyoz-Asgi.
Official Language
Nisszth, ancient language of the Hela-Gila; or ‘Tradetongue’, as they call the lingua franca of Lith.
Population
Indigenously speaking, Hela-Gila (‘Sun People’), a race of subterranean semi-mineral reptiles, as they are among the few who can withstand the extreme conditions that are the natural environment. Gila are born in the flames, earning them the apt nickname of ‘salamanders’. A dark hide is insulated by dense, pumice-like plates, pitted and rocky. Gaps become filled with a fibrous, spongy, fireproof fungal symbiote, the naturally secreted oils of which mix to form an icy cold substance that absorbs ambient heat. Their long legs propel them gracefully overland; their powerful tails steer them easily through the open ocean. If all that didn’t make them dangerous enough, some damn fool sold them energy weapons... Those fools being the human merchants one occasionally still sees about the place, wearing exo-suits at lower levels.
A few scholars come to Kyoz-Asgi (‘Cloud-Lake’) to study the art of this beautiful, decadent culture. Travelers often come to take in breathtaking scenes found nowhere else on Lith -- the magma gardens of Thurrum alone are worth the price of admission. Kyoz-Asgi’s entrance laws are very lax- but so are its laws on personal health, well-being and safety. You take your chances and so does everybody else.
Government
The Immortals. Kyoz-Asgi is a rigid hierarchy governed by the oldest and, theoretically, wisest among them, kept in luxury and splendour. It is to be noted, however, that the oldest Gila only live to an average thirty or forty year span, and that World Power itself is a highly corrupt ‘corporation’, with nepotism and graft running rampant. Mistakes are rarely tolerated, but there is no institutional legal system; offenders may be punished according to the whim of their superiors. Standard practice is usually demotion. The lowest working positions in Kyoz-Asgi society are so dangerous as to very nearly amount to a death sentence in the first place. Actual crime rates are thought to be low, though no reliable survey can be made. Still, when trying to follow the rules is so dangerous already, breaking them becomes somewhat less attractive.
Geography
Kyoz-Asgi’s outlying borders are relatively small -- its domains are primarily vertical, straight up and down. The District of Kyoz is one of the Lithian floating continents, and is unusual for several reasons. One, its geosynchronous orbit is alarmingly low in the sky, buttressed in part by the Company’s impressive antigravity tech; two, it is much taller than it is wide; three, it is largely hollow and riddled with its own peculiar seismic activity and weather, brought on by powerful natural magnets deep in the tunnels.
The District of Asgi, ancestral home of the Gila, is a desert atoll cast in perpetual shadow by the District of Kyoz. Small, twilit Asgi is ringed with power-stations, workshops, multiple harbours and massive ramps that act as a gateway to the better part of Asgi. Descending below the surface for leagues and leagues, under the seabed spread seemingly endless volcanic chasms and rivers of molten rock, interspersed with volatile factory-refineries and dark, unstable mines. The whole works is given to collapse and extensive flooding, leading to severe pollution in the surrounding ocean. Other cultures have set up chemical nets in international waters around Kyoz-Asgi, to stop the outflow of poisons from the Sea of Asasgi (‘Big Lake’).
Interestingly, the harsh caverns which spawned the Gila have given rise to countless other creatures just as tough, if not more so. The Gila often surmise the poison in the water will do the same for the fish as it did for them. Kyoz-Asgi also operates several small colonies in the floating islands above Kyoz, and has seagoing fuel tankers and aircraft carriers acting as World Power outposts around the world.
State Religion
With a limited imagination as concerns the supernatural, and no gods to speak of, they worship their celebrities, just like us, but at least they’re honest about it. And forgive me a bit of editorializing, but their celebrities tend to be warriors, athletes, wise thinkers and even the occasional hero, as opposed to the human equivalent of a paperweight in a 5000-dollar dress.
Economy
Booming, in more ways than one. The Kyoz-Asgi World Power Company’s employees are masters at converting the forces of nature into usable energy sources. Geothermal, electromagnetic, solar, hydro, wind, a variety of fuel sources... It’s all thanks to their human friends, who brought them the technology, showed them how to implement it and agreed to help sell the end product. Kyoz-Asgi was founded only a short time ago, and it is already more of a World Power than a Power Company. They export fuel in pressurized barrels, battery packs small enough to power a wristwatch or large enough to power hovercraft, an array of cheaply produced knockoff products – and weapons.
With the excess energy generated, they can easily maintain huge factories and mines, and build their infrastructure at a rapid rate; not to mention powering the laser and plasma weapons they have begun cranking out at an alarming pace. The country is remarkably self-sufficient, imports being, at this point, rare. At this point, pretty much everybody wants to be Kyoz-Asgi’s friend- or at the very least, no one wants to be their enemy.
Military
Kyoz-Asgi, in spite of their rapid growth, have not yet caught up to the other nations, though it is possible that this is not a priority for them. They have no lust for conquest, and are on friendly terms with most, except for a rare few which have already attacked them and been beaten back. Kyoz-Asgi vehicles tend to be somewhat old-fashioned, lacking the automated systems, speed or armour of their rivals. They are, however, rather better armed in many cases, with the aforementioned energy weapons, which punch through armour like so much wet tissue paper.
The Company has another advantage -- while their army is not as large as it might be, thanks to the demand for workers and the expendability of same, Gila do mature quickly, and they breed even faster. They have a low age of majority and are naturally resilient. Even an untrained Gila can pose a threat to an armed human soldier. Of course, ‘untrained’ is the key word here -- only recently exposed to the world at large, Gila can be naïve in battle, and that’s not only corporate warfare. History shows that natural viciousness, while helpful, is no proof against superior tactics. It is yet another area in which the Gila look to their foreign friends for advice.
Culture
Hedonistic is the world -- the wealthy inhabit plush, palatial spires in Thurrum or Maag, but even the poorest revel in nightly festivals, most just pleased to have survived another day in the perilous factories and mines. The Hela-Gila like to party. All of that accelerated breeding happens for good reason, and the Company likes to encourage it with rationed food, liquor and drugs, all provided free of charge. There are no laws against them of any kind, and indeed, the Immortals hardly have room to object -- the same substances are a fixture in the Immortals’ public baths, banquet halls, boardrooms and seraglios. Old, yes -- dead, no. Gila may be led by ‘venerable ancestors’, but they worship the strong, and virile, and if all three are one and the same, more’s the better.
While they have no priesthood and no written, recorded history, the Gila’s oral tradition is still a force to be reckoned with. Gila tell stories of great deeds and heroes, and model their lives after them - because only heroes are typically singled out to join the ranks of the Immortals. So a great warrior might be ‘The Mighty Nop Come Again, Who Drives Back The Baraka!’, but by that same token, the clerk who stayed up for a week straight and saved the Johnson Account could be known as the resurrection of ‘Fli Blindeye, Master Librarian, He Who Remembers!’ Like most things about the Gila, they are not overly picky - any excuse for a holiday.
Gila have earned a definite reputation for not being very bright, though whether this is a measurable phenomenon or simply an interpretation of natural Gila directness is difficult to say. One might point out that the Gila have never needed to be smart to achieve their particular goals; especially not with the outside help they have received. Not to mention the speed with which they adapt as a culture, their childlike openness to progress and change...
History
The tribal Gila only emerged from their smoldering caves in past several centuries, and were most surprised to see a massive fire in the roof high above- their word for sun originally referred to the heat generated toward Lith’s seismically charged mantle, and to this day they cannot be persuaded that the universe is mostly empty space. They insist there must be a wall somewhere.
These early explorers soon set across the Asasgi, paddling over the mountainous waves, towing a barge by ropes tied around their tails. They were first discovered by a human fisherman, where they were taken back home as curiosities and only revealed to be intelligent by dint of effort- it was thought they were mere beasts of burden, pulling their strange raft for some other unseen master. A novelty at first, it would some time - two of their generations - before the Gila were able to return home. They did so with the help of certain human sponsors, whose families would later go on to become the merchants behind the Gila’s meteoric rise in influence and at last, their triumphant arrival on the world scene.
Relations
As World Power has only very recently been acknowledged as the world power that it has truly become, its diplomatic standing with other countries is frankly nebulous at best. There are few official ties between Kyoz-Asgi and any outsiders, but their vendors' electronic trinkets, gadgets and gewgaws are appearing with increasing frequency in ports the world over. Many an international citizen has been asked the time, and proudly held a KA-brand sportswatch aloft his wrist, or given his daughter a (garish and frightening) talking doll for her birthday, or perhaps has even gone so far as to purchase a boxy little KA musicbox, picking up five stations of radio news, music, and episodic entertainment courtesy of newly installed lunar broadcast towers. The marketing department forecasts that it is only a matter of time before people start to wonder about the company behind the KA logo.
- The Rat Lands - No prior contact, though ships from other nations have harboured in the Lands and sold a number of curious items with the monogram KA.
- The Pemen Order - Reciprocal trade agreement between Pemen medical and Kyoz-Asgi energy resources. Pemen professionals were invited to practice in Thurrum to raise the Gila's general quality of life. However, their time seems to be largely occupied with research into added longevity for the Immortals.
- Shanters - A few encounters, mostly in international waters. Shanters occasionally cross paths with Kyoz-Asgi tankers, who invariably try to sell them things, up to and including refueling or repairs at sea. This is considered highly suspicious behaviour by the majority of Shanters.
- Dispaterland - With the Kyoz-Asgi national character, one would expect this to be a match made in heaven. The Dispaterland Wizards certainly expected to have an immense cash cow on their hands for years to come, and had actually gone to considerable trouble bracing the facilities for additional capacity. It was not to be, however - the original company delegation, while enjoying the park in abundance at first, had to be settled down considerably, to protect against accidents or damage to the attractions. Soon after that, the delegates grew bored, eventually leaving early. Few Hela-Gila have returned since, much to the Wizard's personal (and financial) disappointment.
- Hiranipra - The Wuanshu’ani have heard only scattered tales of the subterranean reptilians, but what they have heard has interested them greatly. Kyoz-Asgi sounds to be as rich in minerals and ores as Hiranipra is poor in it; the Hirani are understandably eager to open negotiations with the Kyoz-Asgi for access to their underground wealth. The Kyoz-Asgi, for their part, may be considered eager and willing to expand into foreign markets, and are interested in Hirani's business, as opposed to anything more material than hard currency.
- The Pol' - Still gathering information.
- The Solaris Empire- Still gathering information.
