Izweski Heartland

Overview

"This land is the heart of the Hegemony. So long as it and its people stand, the Izweski shall reign eternal!" -Abridged quote from Hegemon Sk'resti Izweski following the end of the Contact War

The region known as the Izweski Heartland, and surrounding areas

The Izweski Heartland, also known as the Sk’akh Heartland, is a region of Moghes in the Untouched Lands, stretching along the northern coast of the Moghresian Sea. Since the rise of the Izweski Hegemony, this region has been the centre of their power and influence, being nearly entirely spared from the Contact War thanks to Izweski anti-air and missile defence systems. The Heartland’s relevance continues well into the modern day, being the most populous and influential region of Moghes, and home to the Izweski clan themselves.

While one might assume that the Heartland is ruled by the Hegemon directly, this is not the case. While Hegemon Not’zar and his clan do primarily reside in Skalamar, his attention is dedicated to the Hegemony as a whole - and as such, the region lies under the rule of Overlord Trikzara Sirax; brother to the Clanmother Izweski and ruler of the Izweski Heartland, from his seat in Skalamar. With the flood of refugees from the Wasteland, Overlord Sirax stands in a difficult situation, as the region grows more and more overpopulated. To many, Skalamar and the Heartland are one and the same - it is the most populous city on Moghes, and the centre of power not just for the region, but for the Hegemony as a whole. The city, however, is overpopulated and dangerous, with large slum districts having risen outside the city’s walls, erected by Wasteland refugees following the Contact War. However, in the Gold District, home to the keeps and palaces of the nobility, some of the most elegant architecture of the city can be found. Rising on the hill that Skalamar is built around, Keep Izweski can be seen - the beating heart of the Hegemony, where Hegemon Not’zar holds his seat of power. A single road leads up to Keep Izweski, heavily secured by the City Watch and the Guwan Guard.

Skalamar is by far the place that aliens can be seen the most in the Hegemony - representatives from every brood of the K’lax dwell within the city, as well as hundreds of Vaurca workers and warriors from the Hegemony’s vassal hive. Many humans, usually mercenaries or Hephaestus workers, also make their homes in the city - as well as thousands of traders, tourists and drifters that can be seen in the Skalamar spaceport. While a few from any of the Spur’s species can usually be found in the city, Vaurca and humans are the only ones to make up a significant portion of the population, with Tajara, Skrell, synthetics and Dionae being rare sights. The city also marks the historical centre of the Sk’akh Church, being home to the Third Scept of Sk’akh - rebuilt from the rubble after the Second Scept was destroyed during the Contact War. The city has a vast majority of Sk’akh, with other faiths being barely practised within its walls. Since the exile of High Priest Unzi, however, the Church has been divided and leaderless, and many whisper that its power in the modern age of the Hegemony is gone, never to be recovered.

To the northwest of Skalamar lies the city of To’ha’dat, a sprawling and filthy city, home to most of the industrial base of the Izweski Heartland. While its industry does not compete with the larger manufacturing bases of the Southlands, it still produces much of the Hegemony’s consumer goods, and is a stronghold of many industrial guilds. However, as the Hegemon and Overlord Sirax continue to deal with Hephaestus Industries, more and more of the local guilds find themselves in a struggle for influence against the human megacorporation - one that, if it continues, they will surely lose. To’ha’dat is also a centre of Sk’akh, with its ruler, Lord Glatazk Yu'huni, being fanatically faithful. He has proven fiercely loyal to the Church, even to the extent of raising his banners against the Hegemony during the Izweski Civil War. While he remains a staunch ally for now, he is unhappy with the current state of the Sk’akh Church - and should the Church take action against Not’zar, one of the Heartland’s most powerful nobles may rise with them.

Further to the east, at the foot of the mountains separating the Heartland from the Northern Wastes, the city of Imas’hi stands. This city has been the financial heart of the region since the days of the Sarakus Hegemony, when the banking guilds consolidated their power. Even following the Contact War, Imas’hi remains extremely wealthy - though more of this wealth is funnelled to the city’s ruler, the Lady-Regent Amz’izi Kiae, who many suspect of the murder of her husband in a bid for power. Lady-Regent Kiae and her clan have grown incredibly wealthy in recent years, even as the city falls into squalor, with refugees from the Wasteland being thrown into overcrowded slums. In large part due to the influx of Wastelanders, the city is now split evenly between Th’akh, Sk’akh and Si’akh, leading to high rates of religious crime in the slums. However, so long as the credits keep flowing, the Lady-Regent will consider her rule successful - and given her aptitude for the politics of her position, it would take catastrophe to see her unseated.

Near the borders of the Eastern Wasteland lie the cities of S’th and Baandr. These cities have historically been rivals - though following the Contact War, S’th has seized much of Baandr’s lands. While S’th is now the wealthier of the two cities, almost all of that wealth has flowed straight into the hands of its ruler - the corrupt Lord Karkatus. As trade over the Moghresian Sea, and wealth from the stolen lands of Baandr flows in, the Karkatus Clan and their lackey guilds grow rich, even while the peasantry suffers beneath the ongoing famine. While Karkatus is corrupt, and mismanaging his lands extensively, he toes the line enough that he has fallen beneath the notice of Overlord Sirax - at least, for now.

Baandr, ruled by Lord Mizaruz Izweski, is a smaller city - Lord Mizaruz is not a terribly effective ruler, and is easily overwhelmed by the difficulties of his position. Were he not of the Hegemon’s own clan, he likely would have been unseated by now - but as it is, he holds onto what remains of his lands, and makes plans to take back what is his from the upstart Karkatus to the west. Baandr was once the stronghold of the Marazilite Order, also known as the Iron Masks - but after the exile of High Priest Unzi and the disbanding of the Order, their presence has largely been replaced by Sk’akh Priests of the Warrior. The city is almost entirely and militantly Sk’akh - and while Skalamar is its heart, Sinta historians believe that the region around Baandr is where the religion has its origins. The city is also known for its peculiar vines that cover almost every building. During Versakh, they bloom colourful flowers and become a popular tourist attraction. They are carefully tailored by the local priesthood and inhabitants in general. While pruning is legal, clearing the vines entirely from a building is punishable by exile from the city.

Culture

"Sk'akh's scales, you sound just like those Coalition traitors. Alien influence, corruption of Unathi ways, so on, so on. Look around you! If this is what alien corruption is in your eyes, I welcome it." -Vharak Kssighriss, Hephaestus shuttle technician, on the prevalence of the human megacorporation in the Heartland

A group of citizens watch the Hegemon's wedding via holoviewer - one of the many modern conveniences widely available in the Heartland.

The Heartlands have been known for centuries for their wealth, since before the Izweski ruled, and that is the stereotype that persists about Heartland Sinta, even the lowliest of peasants. It has historically been the first to receive the benefits of any new modernisation, whether by Sinta or alien hands. As such, Unathi from the Izweski Heartland are usually perceived as being worldly and having access to the full benefit of modern technology - which leads many to paint them all as soft and lazy.

The Heartland is also known for its intrigue - it has been the centre of power on Moghes for nearly seven hundred years, and the intricate webs that have been spun between the noble clans of the region make the schemes of other Unathi look like child’s play. Even among the peasant clans, life in the Heartland is a constant struggle for advancement in life. As such, those from the Heartland are often viewed as being a proud and ambitious people - or, from a less generous lens, manipulative and untrustworthy.

The Sinta of the Heartland are, perhaps unsurprisingly, some of the most patriotic citizens of the Hegemony. To them, the Izweski are not simply far-off rulers, and they are not simply a part of the Hegemony - it is their Hegemony, and criticism of it is likely to see one ostracised. While there is some criticism of Hegemon Not’zar, in the Heartland he is generally beloved by the peasantry - even as the famine drags on. Izweski banners can be seen flying far and wide across the region, being as common as local clans’ heraldry almost everywhere. Similarly, the Traditionalist Coalition is hated with passion in the Heartland. They are viewed as backwards savages and treacherous cowards, who nearly brought Moghes to ruin by beginning the nuclear war. While many Traditionalist refugees have come to the region since the end of the Contact War, they are often discriminated against and derided by the locals as traitors and the spawn of traitors, and will often be treated as barely a step up from Guwan.

As one of the only regions of Moghes untouched by the nuclear exchange, refugees from across the planet have flooded to the Heartland seeking safety and prosperity. The peasantry of the region have found this objectionable, with many deriding the refugees as useless mouths to feed, opportunists looking for a handout, or traitors seeking to hide from the sins of their land in the case of refugees from the former Traditionalist Coalition's kingdoms. Similarly, many of the refugees resent the locals for this treatment, knowing full well that the Heartlanders would do the same if their positions were reversed. Clashes of culture and religion are common between these two groups, with the refugee population largely being responsible for the spread of non-Sk'akh faith in the region. Many of the slums in the region's major cities are filled with these refugees, desperate for work, food and prosperity. To make ends meet, many of them turn to crime, a fact which only further incenses the local population's beliefs about them.

Many of these refugees can be found in Ima'shi, where the Lady-Regent has welcomed them with open arms in an uncharacteristic show of kindness. Through the city's banking guilds, loans and charters are often extended to these refugees to provide them with work or land on which to settle - however, these contracts are extremely one-sided, and many of the refugees who have come to the city have found themselves in enormous debt to the guilds and the city's nobility, winding up in a state of indentured servitude. This arrangement has aided the spread of Si'akh in the city, with many of those trapped by the guilds' predatory financial practices finding themselves in agreement with the Prophet of Flame's views on the greed and corruption of the nobility.

Hephaestus Industries has also extended a hand to the refugees, through a program partially funded by Overlord Sirax in the hopes of both improving the local economy and dealing with the refugee crisis. Hephaestus hires many of these Wastelanders, paying for training in new professions, before sending them to work on one of its offworld installations. The promise of good money and a better life leads many of the desperate to take these offers in the hopes of improving their own lot and that of their clan and kin. Through this arrangement, Hephaestus profits, the Hegemony makes more money from taxation of the megacorporation, and the refugees are no longer the Heartlands' problem. Though an efficient solution, many of the local peasants resent it, seeing these refugees being given what in their eyes are cushy positions with a human guild.

Faith

"And in those days, when the world was forged anew, the Three in One struck Their hands upon the ground and spoke. 'Here shall be Our temple, and from it shall Our faithful go forth" -Quotation from a Sk'akh myth, believed to refer to the founding of the First Scept

The Heartland is overwhelmingly Sk’akh, as the historic centre of the Church’s power. However, there is some presence of other faiths within the region. Imash’hi, due to the influx of refugees from the Wasteland, is evenly divided between Sk’akh, Th’akh and Si’akh - a state of affairs which has caused much tension, as the overcrowded slums frequently give rise to vicious religious violence, which the Lady-Regent seems unable or unwilling to quell.

Though one would not expect to find the Aut’akh in the Heartland, with the faith having been branded as a dangerous cult and outlawed across the Hegemony, one of the largest undercity communes of Moghes lies beneath the streets of Skalamar. The sewer system of the city, an ancient and labyrinthine construction, holds potentially hundreds of cybernetically enhanced Unathi, struggling to survive day by day and grow their faith. For Aut’akh seeking to get offworld, the Skalamar commune is their best bet, as the sheer size of the city’s spaceport makes it easy for them to sneak passage offworld with some of the less-than-reputable captains who dock there. Overlord Sirax has been trying, to little avail, to crack down on the Skalamar commune - however, the City Watch is already strained to keep the peace as is, and while the Aut’akh faith may be viewed as an abomination, the amount of trouble it causes is relatively small, leading to it being treated as a low priority by local law enforcement.

Holidays

Victory Day is a holiday of contrasts - a celebration of Izweski victory in the Contact War, and a subdued mourning for the lives lost to what the locals tend to consider solely the crimes of the Traditionalist Coalition. Traditionally, it is a day of rest and respite, with Sinta gathering with their clan-mates and loved ones to remember what they treasure, and spending the night in a quiet and subdued ceremony, to honour the souls of those destroyed in the nuclear exchange.

Traditionally, there are three main holy days of the Sk’akh Church, each dedicated to one of the Great Spirit’s three Aspects. The Day of the Warrior falls in the heat of Versakh, and is generally a time of wild contests of strength and skill, as well as a day when many young men seek to join with the City Guard or their local lord’s personal forces. The Day of the Fisher falls during Kasavakh, and is a day of feasting and merriment, in thanks for the labour of the fishers, which makes life possible for all. The Day of the Healer falls in Travakh, and is a day of reflection on how even in the darkest and coldest of times, Sinta are blessed with Sk’akh’s grace, and the power to bring life into this world.

The anniversary of a Hegemon’s coronation is also customarily a holiday within the Heartland - though the anniversary of Not’zar’s is a mixed occasion, as it reminds all too many of the madness of Hegemon Sk’resti, and the doom he nearly brought to Moghes. However, it is still a joyous occasion, with Izweski banners flying in the streets, many peasants and guildsmen being given time off their work, and celebration of the glory that the Hegemon is sure to bring to all Unathi, in time.

Education

A sunset over Keep Izweski, the center of power in the Hegemony for over four hundred years and a frequent subject of the Heartlands' curriculum.

The Heartland is one of the most prosperous and developed regions of Moghes, having seen heavy investment from first the Sarakus and then the Hegemony. As a result of this, it has one of the most comprehensive education systems of anywhere on the planet. Early into the reign of the Izweski, they worked to continue the Great Endeavor of their predecessors, establishing a system of public schooling across their lands. Schools in the Izweski Heartland are standardised across the board, running through to the age of sixteen in conjunction with the traditional on-the-job learning seen elsewhere. They cover Moghresian history from the founding of the First Hegemony through to the Contact War, though naturally from a very pro-Izweski point of view, as well as Sinta'Unathi literacy. This school system is part of how the Sinta'Unathi language initially spread so rapidly, with the Hegemony suppressing the use of other languages in the school environment in order to promote the cultural unity provided by Sinta'Unathi - a practice which has largely ceased due to the language's prevalence in the modern day.

The schools of the Heartland are viewed as a point of pride by many locals, as a sign of the Izweski's care for their subjects and of how their homeland has always been on the forefront of progress. They are viewed less favorably by Unathi from other regions, however, with many non-Hegemony subjects viewing them as little better than a propaganda-pushing vanity project of the Izweski. However, it is indisputable that the average Unathi of the Heartland has a better education than can be found in many less developed regions of Moghes.

After the age of sixteen, most young Unathi will head to work in the traditional trades of their clans - though the Heartland is somewhat unique in the range of opportunities offered, with many of the most prominent Guilds headquartered in the region with keen eyes for new talent, as well as the constant presence of Hephaestus Industries. The human megacorporation may be viewed with suspicion by more conservative Unathi, but to many of the peasantry Hephaestus represents a unique opportunity for bringing wealth and prosperity to their clan and kin. Unathi from the Heartland are seen nearly anywhere that Hephaestus operates in the Spur, with the corporation often shipping them out as migrant workers to their facilities in Biesel, Elyra or the Coalition of Colonies. This acts as another avenue for further education, with many Unathi workers gaining valuable skills in their employment with Hephaestus.

In terms of higher education, the Izweski Heartland is home to several prestigious universities - the most notable of these being the famed Skalamar University Of Medicine. Home to some of the brightest medical minds of the age, the Skalamar University of Medicine is the foremost medical institution on Moghes, tied deeply to the House of Medicine. Aside from this, Skalamar is also home to the Skalamar Academy of the Natural Sciences, one of the greatest centers of learning on the planet. Scientists from the Skalamar Academy have stood proudly at the forefront of Unathi progress for centuries, and continue to in the modern day, with exposure to alien technology having driven a new age of scientific innovation. It was Academy graduates who designed the crude rockets that bore the first colonists to Ouerea, and who designed many of the weapons used by Unathi military forces in the modern age. In recent years, the Academy has controversially invited several prominent K'lax workers in relevant scientific fields to act as lecturers - a decision which has angered some of the Academy's more conservative donors.

Outside of Skalamar, the city of Baandr is home to the Baandr College of Spirits, a Sk'akh institution focusing primarily on theological education and consideration of the higher mysteries of the Three in One. Many of the higher-ranking priests of the Church are graduates of this institution, as well as many of the nobility who consider themselves particularly devout. Outside of the city, the College is often considered to be an outdated institution of mysticism and prophecy, but the Church maintains its benefit to society at large in ensuring the spiritual knowledge and well-being of the Unathi people.

In Imas'hi, the banking guilds have long operated the Imas'hi School of Business, an institution that has shaped the course of Moghresian economics for decades. Members of many of the prominent Hegemonic Guilds have studied within its halls, with the Merchants in particular favoring it for obvious reasons. Among its most honored graduates is the controversial Yukal T'zakal, Hephaestus Industries' Sector Administrator for the Hegemony - a man who is despised as much as he is admired, and indisputably the architect of Hephaestus's influence in the modern Hegemony. His niece, Azihoa T'zakal, is a recent graduate, who came to prominence in Izweski society after an attempt to court the Hegemon in 2465 - though it remains unclear whether she will follow in her uncle's footsteps and seek to rise within the ranks of Hephaestus.

Lastly, S'th is home to the University of S'th, one of the oldest institutions of learning on Moghes - having existed in one form or another since the fall of the Kres'ha'nor Hegemony. This university has, in recent history, largely been viewed as a place for spoiled noble children to waste their family's money on frivolous pursuits - though it has seen a rise in prestige with the ascent of Hegemon Not'zar, unquestionably the university's most famed graduate. The University of S'th has a focus on Sinta'studies, with many of the greatest philosophers and intellectuals of the Hegemony having at some point passed through its doors.

Entertainment

"My name, my honor, my birthright... all is stripped from me now, save my vengeance." -Jharak Guwandi, The Waste Hunter(2460)

The Heartland has a thriving entertainment industry, having been the centre of Moghes’ television networks since their invention. The Keepers of Heirlooms oversee large parts of this industry, producing most of the movies and television series of the Izweski Hegemony. Some of the most notable productions of the Heartland are:

Last Days of Kres’ha’nor - A historical drama series, focusing on the dying days of Hegemon Kres’ha’nor, in the moments before the First Hegemony collapsed. It follows a large cast of courtiers, including the Hegemon’s many vassals and children. The show has become wildly popular among both nobles and peasants, with strong arguments being held on Extranet forums as to which of the Hegemon’s children is most worthy of seizing his power. The show is currently awaiting its third season, with Hegemon Kres’ha’nor having finally died in a shocking moment at the end of the second season, with his heirs and rivals alike now preparing for war.

The Waste Hunter - An action movie, focusing on the seasoned warrior Jharak Illisk, turned Jharak Guwandi. Drugged into unconsciousness as his own father, the lord of his city that he was sworn to protect was murdered by his corrupt and villainous brother, Jharak is made Guwandi and exiled to the Wasteland. Swearing to clear his name, he fights against raiders, Traditionalist holdouts, and assassins of the Shadow Service as he works to bring down his brother and restore the rightful heir to his lord’s seat. The film has received generally positive reviews, though some feel that it is too sympathetic to Wastelanders and Guwandi in its depiction.

Venom Hearts - A television series primarily made for women, Venom Hearts is a story about the hardened spy and investigator, Zo’kaa Lhesk Yiia, as she runs her investigative business in the heart of Skalamar, solving crimes too tough for the City Watch. In the show’s many seasons, she has had numerous lovers both male and female, and come up against all sorts of adversaries - from the Shortclaw Clan to corrupt nobles and the assassins of the Shadow Service. The show’s seventh season recently aired, ending with Yiia’s desperate flight offworld, pursuing her arch-rival, a villainous noblewoman turned criminal mastermind, to the Republic of Biesel.