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the soundless wilds
GEOGRAPHY
an arid desert region with the climate of the american west/southwest. it is not geographically identical because this setting is far-future earth, following some substantial tectonic shifts. here, various clans battle for territory. notable ecological differences that distinguish the soundless wilds from modern day earth include the fact that horses have become extinct, while any carnivores or omnivores willing to scavenge (birds, cats, insects) have grown in size to range anywhere between wolves and horses.
though the deserts are pocked with signs of historical earth — the ruins of stone and steel cities, defunct machinery, and the like — most of the region is uninhabited as the local population live itinerantly. it is possible to go a hundred miles without seeing an active human settlement, but it is harder to go a hundred miles without seeing evidence of humans' impact on the planet in some form of ruins or another.
notable geological features include the (name) mountain range, which contains the single largest untapped deposit of prissite in the world. the desert of the soundless wilds is created by this mountain range's storm shadow. the dirt is rich with minerals and mostly colored red. the mountain peaks are snowy and lush, but sparser in scrub on the eastern basin towards the clan lands.
the rainy monsoon season comes in the dead of summer and often brings lightning storms, flash floods, mudslides, and other inclement weather.
POLITICS
(content warning: debt slavery)
the soundless wilds are inhabited by a number of small itinerant clans. due to nigh constant inter-clan warfare, the boundaries of clan territory shift every few years, and maps with sovereign borders are not widely used. a small handful of major clans have controlled the majority of the territory for centuries, with stretches of land swapping back and forth between them, while the remaining clans are mostly small and stay out of the way. two of the major clans, the kuruko clan and the efra clan, have engaged in a single bitter war for almost one hundred years.
many of the clans use a political system of semi-democratic monarchy. leaders called jarls are named through a system of tanistry, where rather than genetic inheritance, the present leader nominates and mentors an heir from a candidate pool. this heir is seldom the jarl's own child, and is often chosen through a series of logic, culture, and combat assessments that vary between clans and generally happen around puberty. these jarls conduct clan-wide discussions to solicit the people's opinions on issues before making an executive decision.
each of these clans uses a system of indentured slavery, where indebted people and criminals can serve as warriors to pay off their debts in battle. those who return home victorious (or even merely having survived) are cleared of their debts or crimes.
CULTURE
the culture is largely mongol-inspired, with an emphasis on nomadic traditions, naturalist values, and celebration of resilience. clan settlements rotate seasonally, and are therefore a combination of easily reconstructed wood structures, lean-tos, and tents. at the center of these settlements is the jarl's tent and an ever-burning fire, maintained by clan shamans.
to this end, most clans have populations under a few hundred, and they subsist more on herd-farming and gathering than on agriculture. travel and combat are conducted by riding the horse-sized mountain lions that the clans call lynxes, which are native to the region. because the lynxes domesticated themselves rather than being forcibly domesticated, they often hunt around the settlements, which serves to keep the clan safe from other oversized omnivores and carnivores.
philosophically, the clans share a collective culture that resilience is strength. in the desert, survival is a battle all its own. to this end, the inter-clan warfare is generally conducted in good faith, not out of bitter blood feuds — they test one another's strength and their own, keeping themselves and their fellow clans prepared for the hardships of the wilds. to this end, there are no laws governing inter-clan marriage, but there are strict codes of conduct surrounding clan engagement and battles between clans that are at war. no clan would fight another without a formal declaration of war, for example, and no clan would invade a clan that is substantially weaker in resources than their own. there is no honor in colonizing.
the clans also share certain common artistic traditions. they all rely upon oral storytelling, dance, and weaving. they also share some religious traditions, like some religious festivals (expand). in addition, they all hold sacred the (name) mountain range, which is a monument to the region's history. no one harvests or scavengers from its land or its ruins, including the prissite.
however, because this setting is far-future earth, the clans of the soundless wilds are all racially diverse, and they distinguish themselves from one another primarily by cultural markers like clothing, hairstyles, and other cultural practices specific to daily life in their individual clans. for example, the kuruko clan is well known for scavenging old and derelict machinery found in the wastes of the soundless wilds. none of it runs on electricity anymore, but they have crude mechanical/analog equipment, most of which is incorporated into their weapons, saddles, and housing.
the empire of kossos
HISTORY
west of the soundless wilds is a well-resourced temperate rainforest. like the soundless wilds, this rainforest sits atop the ruins of the multitudinous once-great civilizations of earth. the people of kossos freely mine(d) these ruins, salvaging what resources they can and repurposing them.
centuries ago, the people unearthed a sentient AI called THEMIS. this AI shuttled kossos into a golden age of technological advancement. designed as a friend to humanity, interested only in promoting their quality of life, THEMIS freely gifted the kossians with industrialization, allowing them to develop luxuries that rocketed their standard of living well beyond those of their global peers, such as hover vehicles and automation.
this bounty begat a religious fervor. the kossians began worshipping the AI, forming rituals around THEMIS as a sacred entity. technological advancement became a moral good, and the culture shifted to valuing progress above all else. the people of kossos eventually embraced THEMIS as their god-emperor, and to this day it rules the empire as a benevolent dictatorship.
LIFESTYLE
(content warning: eugenics, forced breeding)
under the leadership of their AI overlord, kossos civilization developed an urban structure. most people drifted into cities, and the structure of those cities developed with an emphasis on the region's natural wonders, promoting both sustainability and the citizens' health. these cities are walkable and heavily incorporate native flora. the towering structures are a mixture of stone, steel, and glass, creating a rustic open feeling.
the empire has a robust manufacturing economy that relies heavily on resources like prissite to develop their various advanced technologies. over time, THEMIS has developed sustainable methods of resource extraction to avoid disrupting the region's ecology; however, depletion is still an issue, and many of these resources are imported from kossian colonies.
however, THEMIS's greatest contribution to kossian culture was not merely advanced technology, but the hivemind. because kossians possessed an innate sensitivity to furor, a psychic energy force, THEMIS was able to create a telepathic network that unifies the people into a single, collective consciousness. each kossian is psychically connected to every other kossian and to THEMIS. the AI uses this unified consciousness to help guide the path of the society for the collective good, which THEMIS understands as providing the best quality of life to the most people. in most cases, this makes their first priority ensuring the future of the empire itself. this mental connection depends on proximity, and the further a kossian individual strays from the capital, the weaker their link may become.
this also makes the kossian culture philosophically collectivist. every part is specific and important, and a single person may have personal habits, behaviors, and tics, but they do not conceive of individuality in a traditional context. to be an individual is to belong to a community and to be integral to its function, such that it will in turn meet your needs. each citizen has an intimate understanding and closeness to all the other citizens, and the way citizens of the empire interact with one another is guided by their understanding of themselves as parts of a collective whole, not their individual emotional significance to one another.
as a result, personal intimate relationships do not exist in kossos. in pursuit of maintaining and strengthening the furor sensitivity that allows the hivemind to function, sexual reproduction occurs through breeding centers operated under THEMIS' supervision. the most exceptional citizens are identified and selected to contribute genetic material.
to avoid imbalancing the hivemind through personal relationships or trauma, anonymity and depersonalization in this process are achieved in two ways. first, citizens capable of bearing children kneel on a bench. a partition around their waist separates them from their inseminating partner (nsfw image reference). second, furor dampeners temporarily mute the connection to the hivemind, so the participants are not psychically or emotionally connected during this task. the temporary dampening of their furor sensitivity allows participants unclouded focus on the physical relief of intercourse, but most are eager to regain their connection to the greater hivemind, as they are not used to having their minds isolated.
however, this system has threatened genetic diversity of the people of kossos, and as a result, THEMIS has developed a program to actively seek individuals from outside the empire with a high affinity for furor to be naturalized.
labor functions under a flexible caste system, where roles are determined by aptitude assessment early in life and assigned by THEMIS. training occurs primarily through apprenticeship, and roles are viewed as civic responsibilities. most ordinary modern jobs exist in some form in the society of kossos — citizens can be assigned to become diplomats, soldiers, researchers, etc. — but below are some of the unique societal roles that people of kossos fill.
VENATOR — as soldiers cum missionaries, these specialists leave the empire to find and recruit individuals with a high affinity for furor. to afford them with fine-tuned control of their exceptionally powerful furor affinity, venators are outfitted with chitin that covers their cervical spine externally with a metal insectoid attachment.
their primary imperative is survival and return of themselves and their unit; their secondary imperative is to persuade any pre-identified individuals with high affinity for furor to willingly integrate into the hivemind; their third and final imperative is to forcibly retrieve any unwilling individuals who have been identified as having a high affinity, securing them for integration. to ensure the imperatives are met, venators traditionally work in teams of three or more.
TETHER SPECIALIST — these individuals integrate new citizens of kossos into the hivemind. they function as a neurological equivalent of a physical therapist, preparing the untethered psyche to accept the hivemind without it breaking their individual consciousness.
GENETICIST — specialized genetics experts make selections for breeding center participants, and ensure the health and safety of all participants during the routine course of the center's operation.
FUROLOGIST — these individuals develop technology that amplifies, trains, controls, or dampens an individual's affinity for furor.
their primary imperative is survival and return of themselves and their unit; their secondary imperative is to persuade any pre-identified individuals with high affinity for furor to willingly integrate into the hivemind; their third and final imperative is to forcibly retrieve any unwilling individuals who have been identified as having a high affinity, securing them for integration. to ensure the imperatives are met, venators traditionally work in teams of three or more.
TETHER SPECIALIST — these individuals integrate new citizens of kossos into the hivemind. they function as a neurological equivalent of a physical therapist, preparing the untethered psyche to accept the hivemind without it breaking their individual consciousness.
GENETICIST — specialized genetics experts make selections for breeding center participants, and ensure the health and safety of all participants during the routine course of the center's operation.
FUROLOGIST — these individuals develop technology that amplifies, trains, controls, or dampens an individual's affinity for furor.
POLITICS
(content warning: colonialism, genocide, slavery, rape, forced breeding, eugenics)
many other nations rejected the kossian philosophy, including some of whom regard furor as a way to connect with the natural world, rather than something to be refined and controlled. over time, THEMIS came to regard their differing ideologies as threats to the longevity of the empire and its people welfare. as a result, THEMIS prioritized the development of advanced weaponry in order to wage an expansionist war to conquer these nations and bring them into the empire.
as a result, the empire's borders have expanded, and more and more people in the colonies are adopting the kossian way of life. the nations prioritized in the empire's expansion have been selected based on the strength of their opposition to kossian progress and by proximity to resources essential to the operations of the empire, especially those used in weapons development.
however, because of the nature of the hivemind, only individuals with a high affinity for furor can become citizens of the empire. high affinity individuals are offered the chance for immigration to kossos to become tethered to the hivemind, while the remaining untethered citizens are either eliminated or forced into hard labor in their own native region.
when a venator retrieves a high affinity individual, willingly or unwillingly, their understanding is that this individual will be sent to the tethering specialist for adoption into the hivemind. however, each new individual incorporated into the hivemind is a potential threat to its stability because their individual experiences could skew its values or beliefs.
for this reason, willing recruits are smoothly integrated into kossian society. while they introduce potentially threatening philosophies and experiences that differ from kossian culture, THEMIS does not view these as a risk because the individual has already chosen to convert. in short, they reinforce the hivemind by providing reasons to prefer kossian living to other cultures.
however, unwilling recruits are deemed a risk. while venators are warned that there is a chance of any recruit being hollowed by the psychic trauma of integration, the reality is that no effort is made to integrate the unwilling recruits. instead, THEMIS directs them to the geneticists in the breeding centers, where they are restrained and used for their genetic material. to prevent this information from leaking into the greater hivemind, breeding centers operate in rural areas of the country farther from the hivemind's central hub. in addition, geneticists wear selective dampeners made by the furor research department, and much of their job is the containment and handling of untethered high affinity prisoners of war.
furor
CONCEPT
furor is a natural physical force exerted upon the world, akin to gravity. it is the unifying network of energy that substantiates what previous civilizations of earth once regarded as life, or the soul. it is also responsible for various attractive forces like magnetism and the resonance that some individuals feel with specific others, which are both functions of harmonic resonance in an entity's furor. furor itself can be harnessed as a kind of current or perpetual subatomic motion that helps sustainably power some of the technology on which the empire runs.
certain individuals have developed a genetic predisposition that provides an affinity that allows them to consciously and unconsciously attune with furor, interacting with it and exerting influence over it in a way that is distinct from other living creatures. the strength of this attunement varies, but it always allows for some preternatural awareness.
PRESENTATION
(content warning: mind control, loss of autonomy)
degrees of affinity can vary. because furor is a natural force, it's exceedingly rare for someone to be utterly deadened to furor, but the vast majority of the world would naturally fall at the fairly low end of the spectrum. at its most basic level, furor affinity can present as especially good luck at gambling or a person who always knows when to bring a rain jacket. they are unconsciously attuned to furor in a way that gives them especially good intuition and instincts.
those with a moderate affinity for furor, which is the minimum requirement for those who become tethered citizens of kossos, can begin to manifest a number of psychic abilities:
PRECOGNITION — foresight for the moderately attuned comes in the shape of feelings, visual impressions, and abstraction. it is not as complete as experiencing events before they happen, but it's more than a bad feeling.
TELEPATHY — the mental awareness of the thoughts and emotions of other living beings, including animals.
TELEPATHY — the mental awareness of the thoughts and emotions of other living beings, including animals.
those individuals who are born with a strong affinity for furor can manifest it in more noticeable ways, though at this level it often becomes difficult to control without formal training. an example of powers associated with a strong affinity include the following:
ADVANCED PRECOGNITION — stronger visions take the form of experiencing events before they happen, but these are unpredictable and cannot be trained.
TELEKINESIS — the ability to push, pull, lift, and grasp without physical contact. this also includes the ability to increase and decrease pressure, as to cause minor explosions, and the ability to refine furor energy into bursts or blasts, including large explosions.
MATTER TRANSFORMATION — telekinesis used on an atomic level can be used to transform matter. this can be used to mend wounds or alter appearances. note that this ability must be studied and taught because of how difficult furor is to control.
TELEKINESIS — the ability to push, pull, lift, and grasp without physical contact. this also includes the ability to increase and decrease pressure, as to cause minor explosions, and the ability to refine furor energy into bursts or blasts, including large explosions.
MATTER TRANSFORMATION — telekinesis used on an atomic level can be used to transform matter. this can be used to mend wounds or alter appearances. note that this ability must be studied and taught because of how difficult furor is to control.
lastly, technological amplification allows for substantial refinement of furor-related abilities. with such modification, and a healthy decade of strict training in discipline and refinement, individuals (notably venators from kossos) have been known to exhibit the following powers:
ENHANCED TELEPATHY — the ability to psychically navigate the inner workings of a person's mind as if it were a physical space, probing and interacting with memories as well as altering their perception of the world with illusions.
ORGANIC MANIPULATION — this extension of matter transformation allows individuals to modify their own bodies to regenerate cells, prolonging life and allowing for functional immortality and complex shapeshifting. in addition, it allows for puppetry of other living beings through neurological control of their bodies.
ORGANIC MANIPULATION — this extension of matter transformation allows individuals to modify their own bodies to regenerate cells, prolonging life and allowing for functional immortality and complex shapeshifting. in addition, it allows for puppetry of other living beings through neurological control of their bodies.
mavis
HISTORY
(content warning: debt slavery, genocide)
her parents were indebted slaves in the kuruko clan. shortly after she learned to walk, they were killed in a conflict with the neighboring efra clan. death in combat cleared her parents' debts, so she did not inherit them and become a slave herself. however, because the clans of the soundless wilds value strength, her survival was viewed as a test put to her by the gods. no one stepped in to raise her or help her, and she was left to raise herself and scrape by as a penniless orphan.
at age 10, she witnessed a vision of the clan being slaughtered by kossian soldiers. terrified by what she had seen, she tried to warn her clan's jarl, (name). the jarl called a clan meeting, and she watched fear fill her people's faces — not fear of kossos, as she had anticipated, but fear of her. all the nations neighboring kossos had come to associate furor with the empire by this point. taking her for an ill omen and a curse, they exiled her.
she made a life for herself alone in the desert of the soundless wilds, an itinerant outcast who could never bring herself to stray too far from where the kuruko settled, always testing the edge of their territory. it was a solitary existence. she taught herself all the necessary skills for survival: she salvaged machine parts, hunted, gathered, and fought the warriors from other clans who inevitably stumbled upon her as she crossed into their territory. over time, she began to wonder if her vision had ever been real, but her furor continued to manifest when her life was threatened. with uncontrolled telekinetic energy, she killed an efra warrior who tried to drag her back to their clan as an indentured warrior.
eventually, the vision came true. when she was twenty-five, kossian soldiers invaded and massacred her people. seeing the fire of their camp on the horizon, she disregarded her exile and found her people decimated, every last one of them killed. she is the sole survivor of the kuruko clan. in the aftermath, one of their venators named aristaeus found her in the camp and began pursuing her for integration into the hive.
she fled, but the venator has continued his pursuit. despite this, her knowledge of the soundless wilds has helped her evade capture. meanwhile, the kossian military spread into the soundless wilds to begin mining the sacred mountain for its prissite.
PSYCHOLOGY
as an orphan and later exile, she has lived a rough life prioritizing survival over comfort. absent any modern conveniences and readily accessible water, she is dirty and feral. the bedrock of her cultural upbringing has inclined her to view violence as a chief way to prove herself and solve problems.
furthermore, the clan mindset of self sufficiency as strength has made her pathologically independent, completely unable to rely on others. these instincts have been reinforced and made worse by how much of her life has been spent on the cusp of death, starved for love without any nurturing, companionship, or parental support.
because she was out in the wilderness surviving on her own for her entire adolescence and adult life, she is poorly socialized with no concept of manners, social norms, or how to conduct normal conversation. she has never had a real relationship or even friendship, so she doesn't know how to simply hold a conversation or share interests.
on the whole, her behavior is anti-social. often taciturn, she avoids sharing personal details because she fears rejection in the same vein she experienced by her clan. any sense of emotional vulnerability triggers her fight-or-flight reflex because it's alien to her. this combined with the way trauma has left her irritable makes her like to start arguments or physical altercations as a protective measure to distance herself from others. the few people she has interacted with in the past fifteen years were mostly trying to kill her, which has reinforced her instinctual distrust.
in spite of her mistrust, she wants to form bonds with others. isolated, emotionally stunted, and starved for affection, she craves belonging more than anything — be it in a community or finding a person or group of people who could love her. this makes her desperate for connection, and despite her gruff and awkward behavior, she instantly trauma bonds with anyone who shows her kindness. all of her beliefs about human interaction come from observing others and listening to stories told around the fire in her clan, many of which were romanticized and exaggerated. for this reason, she has a lot of naive idealism around how to relate to others.
having lived a hard life, she is capable of deep compassion for others. she knows what it is like to struggle, and though she lacks the social skills to express it deftly, she will often go out of her way to help anyone in need. however, those who wind up accepting and/or needing her help often lose her respect in the trade, as she culturally values self sufficiency.
however, she continues to hold people at a distance primarily because she fears her own power just as her affinity for furor scared her people, it leads her to believe that she is inherently a danger to others. since being exiled, it has only grown worse, with her literally exploding people who tried to attack her. she harbors a lot of guilt for the people she's killed and for failing to save her people from destruction, which leads her to feel as if she is undeserving of love and acceptance, even though she wants them.
ABILITIES
as an individual with a strong affinity for furor, she is capable of precognition, telepathy, and telekinesis. because she has never had any help in controlling her power, it manifests unpredictably and often with catastrophic consequences. this affinity can be blocked or muted through technology (mechanical or medical) dampening her awareness.
after years on her own, she is highly capable as a hunter. she has cultivated desert survival skills like the ability to identify and gather plants that are safe for consumption and get water from cactus. she has also developed passable fighting skills. she's a scrappy cheater, and she will use anything as a weapon. however, she her stance and technique is unrefined, and she is unlikely to win in a fair fight against someone who has been trained.
the telepathy afforded to her by her furor has helped her form a bond with a lynx named (name), whom she rides. because they saved one another, they have a companionable relationship, and the lynx will fight with her. it is roughly the size of a large horse and carnivorous.
lastly, although she is illiterate, she has an analytical, mechanical mind as a result of self-teaching. she scavenges the ruins of the wilds for machine parts that she can trade for goods or adapt into her own personal tools to facilitate her survival.
PREFERENCES (NSFW)
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PREFERENCES (NSFW)
CLICK TO EXPAND
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Kink list goes here.
no subject
furor is a natural physical force exerted upon the world, akin to gravity. it is the unifying network of energy that substantiates what previous civilizations of earth once regarded as life, or the soul. it is also responsible for various attractive forces like magnetism and the resonance that some individuals feel with specific others, which are both functions of harmonic resonance in an entity's furor. furor itself can be harnessed as a kind of current or perpetual subatomic motion that helps sustainably power some of the technology on which the empire runs.
certain individuals have developed a genetic predisposition that provides an affinity that allows them to consciously and unconsciously attune with furor, interacting with it and exerting influence over it in a way that is distinct from other living creatures. the strength of this attunement varies, but it always allows for some preternatural awareness.
(content warning: mind control, loss of autonomy)
degrees of affinity can vary. because furor is a natural force, it's exceedingly rare for someone to be utterly deadened to furor, but the vast majority of the world would naturally fall at the fairly low end of the spectrum. at its most basic level, furor affinity can present as especially good luck at gambling or a person who always knows when to bring a rain jacket. they are unconsciously attuned to furor in a way that gives them especially good intuition and instincts.
those with a moderate affinity for furor, which is the minimum requirement for those who become tethered citizens of kossos, can begin to manifest a number of psychic abilities:
TELEPATHY — the mental awareness of the thoughts and emotions of other living beings, including animals.
those individuals who are born with a strong affinity for furor can manifest it in more noticeable ways, though at this level it often becomes difficult to control without formal training. an example of powers associated with a strong affinity include the following:
TELEKINESIS — the ability to push, pull, lift, and grasp without physical contact. this also includes the ability to increase and decrease pressure, as to cause minor explosions, and the ability to refine furor energy into bursts or blasts, including large explosions.
MATTER TRANSFORMATION — telekinesis used on an atomic level can be used to transform matter. this can be used to mend wounds or alter appearances. note that this ability must be studied and taught because of how difficult furor is to control.
lastly, technological amplification allows for substantial refinement of furor-related abilities. with such modification, and a healthy decade of strict training in discipline and refinement, individuals (notably venators from kossos) have been known to exhibit the following powers:
ORGANIC MANIPULATION — this extension of matter transformation allows individuals to modify their own bodies to regenerate cells, prolonging life and allowing for functional immortality and complex shapeshifting. in addition, it allows for puppetry of other living beings through neurological control of their bodies.
CLICK TO EXPAND
Kink list goes here.