Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)

2026-05-10T12:41:40Z

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{{Infobox:TwilightAgeGroup
|Type = Zu'aan city
|Name = Keduk City Zu'aan
|Parent Groups = N/A
|Descended Groups = Unknown
|Areas Controlled = [[Chacer Temperate Plains]]
|Date Founded = 4E 482
|Date Disbanded = N/A
}}

==History==

Keduk city is set in the [[Chacer Temperate Plains]]. These plains are large and expansive which affords Keduk a large territory that can protect the city from intruders. The city is run by a government and a religion that is based on procreation and love. The city is welcoming to strangers and has a friendly standing with neighbors. The city is also very old and has seen many generations of families come and go through its walls. Since the outbreak though, things have changed for the city. It has different values now and a much stricter law based entirely on their religion.

Most people call the citizens of the city fanatical but despite this, they believe in their religious beliefs and know that following those beliefs are for the betterment of their society as a whole. Kedukians have dwindled in numbers, not only because of kin’toni attacks but also because a genetic disorder has left many men and women infertile. The strain of dna has affected thousands in the city making it so that the population has basically died out. The few remaining citizens were driven underground into underground caverns that had been built over the years in order to hide the citizens that were in danger.

The dangers from the kin’toni were not the only threat faced by the city. Unfortunately, the city was once known as an abundant and rich stronghold that could be looted by other cities. The fears that faced the city were numerous and as such, many of the citizens worked hard on producing their own underground shelters. During the construction of the city before the outbreak, they made sure they built an underground set of tunnels and caverns in case anything happened. Those tunnels became a lifeline for people during the outbreak. They sent most of the citizens there in times of danger.

Because the city is so exposed, it was always seen as a safeguard to have an underground area. The city doesn’t have the luxury of high walls. They had to find a different way of protecting their citizens from dangers surrounding them. During the last few years, the city has begun building fortified walls but it’s far more difficult now than ever before to get the resources needed to build the walls strong enough to withstand a threat. They never had to worry about any of that before the outbreak. Things have changed for them.

The empire has changed and the people within the empire has created a cruel world to live in. The need for better defences has become a vital need for any city and they will do what they can to build those defences. The most important need right now is the need for a wall and for population growth. That is what Keduk is focused on achieving. That is why their religious beliefs are now taking precedence. It is now more important than ever to attempt to boost the population so that they can recuperate their losses.

==Psychology==

The psychology of the city is closely linked to their religion. They now believe that certain women who are able to produce strong children are to be honored and placed in the temple. This is because a genetic illness has infected the bloodlines of the city. Women and men have become infertile leading to a decline in population and causing many of the citizens to die out during the attacks they suffered from the kin’toni. They have lost much since the outbreak and are only now rebuilding their population with the new laws instituted. They believe that individuals who are barren, both men and women, are to be banished.

This has created a social standing in the populace where only the fertile are classed as citizens. If a couple is deemed infertile they are believed to be cursed and are sent from the city with nothing. Because the populace only has about 100 to 150 citizens at any one time, it is vital that the population be boosted. Procreation is seen as an honor to the god and goddess that rules over the city. When a woman bears her first child she is treated like a priestess and kept in a temple with the others like her. The faith they have favors women more than men.

This is very much a feminist culture and they believe that women hold all the power. They will never mistreat a woman unless it is proven that she is barren and cannot have children. Even then, the barren female is simply sent away into the empire to find a home for herself where she can be accepted. It is widely accepted that children are to be raised extensively by men from the age of 4 upward. Until the children reach 4 years of age, they are kept with their mother. Men are made to be the providers and have to work hard to find resources as well as protect the city from any threats.

If a man cannot perform to standaard, they are rejected as mates by their female counterparts. This is why it is vital for men to learn to provide from an early age. Only the most reliable men are allowed to procreate. It is always the woman who chooses her mate from the men available. It is her that decides whose children she will carry. Monogamy in the city does not exist. They have even been seen to take travellers into their beds simply for the fact that they seem to be reliable enough, strong enough to be a good, compatible match.

For the most part, life in the city is calm and pleasant enough. Despite the genetic disorder that forced a change in the city, they are rebuilding and doing so effortlessly with the council of intelligent women. With women leading the city into each new generation, the city can only keep growing to the extent that they will meet the standards of their former existence when they were a strong and powerful city.

==Culture==

The culture is firmly based on the religious beliefs of the city. Where religion dictates that women who can bear children should be honored, the citizens strictly follow such a rule. Any man or woman that can not produce a child will be banished from the city. Often a couple is given just two chances. If a child is not produced at that time or the child dies in childbirth or even in infancy, the couple will be banished from the city. For the women and men that do find it easy to produce a child, they are honored and welcomed as true citizens of the city.

It is with pride that a pregnant woman walks among her peers and she is given the best treatment, gifted with luxuries and presented with the best food the city has to offer. Children are also treated like treasures and protected throughout their lives. Children will stay with their mothers until they are around the age of four. Then they will be given to their fathers to raise and care for. If they are boys, they are taught all the important tasks they will need in order to win the favor of a female in the future to procreate with. If they are girls, they are given back to the temple of priestesses so that they may learn to be proper leaders among the community and city.

Females leave their father’s house at the age of 13 whereas boys only leave when they are first chosen as a mate by a female. They will stay with their female as her chosen mate for 2 months. If there is no sign of pregnancy the male is sent from the city. If, after a second mate, the female does not fall pregnant, she is sent from the city too. This is for the city’s survival more than anything else. They need fertility. They are a small city and can only grow if they have enough citizens to do so.

As it stands now, they are very limited in what they can do and they will not be able to protect themselves if a large group of kin’toni comes to attack them or if a large army comes to attack the city. They do not have enough men to launch a defense. They have sent too many men away for being infertile and now they are left with only a small number of able bodied men to help with whatever needs doing. They are struggling to recuperate their losses and the women are demanding the best from them. The women are demanding that they perform to their standards.

The women are very much entitled to be strong minded and willed and this is even encouraged in this culture. It shows how strong a woman is if she is strong willed and determined to have the best. Keduk has changed from what it was over the years to what it is now but it is obvious that nature forced the change and will continue to drive that change for better or worse.

==Government==

The government was mainly run by men before the war happened. Those men ignored the shortcomings of the population deterioration. It was the danger of total annihilation of the entire city that forced a change in how the city is run. Because so many men lost their lives during the war, there were more women than men and that made women the stronger power among the city. New rules and a new religion was instated. This religion allowed women to take the seat of power for themselves and rule the city like they were meant to do before the war. They began to change things according to the new religion that they followed.

One woman in particular took charge as the high priestess and she produced over 11 children during her lifetime. Her eldest daughter took over as high priestess when she passed away. They followed her mother’s teaching with her at the helm making sure nothing gets foregone. Many decades later and Keduk still has a very strong female authority in the city. The whole religion and many of the laws is based around females and their ability to procreate. Men are seen as only useful based on what they can provide for a woman and the city overall. They are seen as assets, pets or slaves most of the time and are treated as such.

It is the females that matter more and only those females that can provide offspring. It is incredibly important for them to boost the city’s population and they know that only females are able to do that. That is why men will willingly take a step backward and allow for females to be dominant. Over the years the gender population has somewhat leveled out so that men and women are more or less equal but the cleansing of the bloodlines is still a work in progress. They still have to get rid of the genetic strain in order to make the gene pool strong again.

The priestesses have got a good council in place in order to grow the city to the strength it was before. Men are growing stronger in the military over the years and fighters are training in combat to grow stronger. The men of the city are able to rebuild it a lot faster than they had in the past but the city and it’s growing population still has a long way to go. Many have frowned upon the way the city is run and the women that run it, believing that the current government is not as strong as it would be were it run by men. The way the city is now is testament to all the citizens within the city that it can be done.

A feminist government is what the city needs to survive and the men of the city will defend their women to the death if they have to. Whatever the outside world believes in regards to Keduk, they have crawled out of the ashes and proven that they are more than capable of surviving with the government they have.

==Military==

The military used to be a strong and powerful force in the city but a certain genetic strain began to circulate in the bloodlines making the citizens weak and infertile. Children were born with birth defects and all sorts of abnormalities that would affect their adulthood. This caused a weakening in the population with fewer men to train in battle so that they could make a good army base. This became a problem during the war since many lives were lost as a result. The city was forced underground and the military was barely strong enough to protect the few citizens that were left.

That’s what brought on the change in religion and encouraged procreation as well as the value of fertility. Women began to take control and take charge. They made up the governing body of the city and instituted laws that favored population growth. As the population grows and young boys become men, they are trained in combat, scouting and building in order to provide a safe and nurturing environment for future generations. The military comprises of all the men in the city and it is growing yearly. The loss of lives during the cold war put a dent in the military’s power and strength but that is slowly being rectified.

Only the strongest of the men are allowed to stay within the city walls which means that the military is made up of strong warriors and builders. They even make their own weapons now and are in the process of building a wall around the huge city they have come to call home. Since the city is so huge, it will take a number of generations to complete the wall and make repairs to the houses that have been damaged in the war but the men tend to work together much better now than they did before considering they are now goal driven towards success.

Though men are generally not given positions of power, there are sectors in the military dictated by an individual’s natural talents and skill sets. The older men are divided into various different sectors such as builders, trainers, scouts and fighters. There are also some men that are only there to provide for the temple of priestesses, fulfilling any need that may arise among the females living within the temple walls. It is therefore seen as vital that these men are positioned in the different sectors according to their various strengths.

This is the only position of power a man can have. That is as a conductor to the various sectors. A man in this position of power is carefully chosen by the council to lead his men. He is as good as a general in the army but is still bound to the authority that the council of priestesses hold. That is why a man is very carefully chosen from among his peers. The man must have certain qualities to lead the other men into their placement positions. Without these carefully laid plans, the city of Keduk is as good as dead.

==Religion==

The main deity of Keduk’s religion is a Goddess called Imaeve. She is the goddess of fertility and gives life to the entire world, or so the Keduk zu’aan believe. This goddess blesses those she deems worthy with offspring. If a woman produces a son she is favored by the god who is made of Imaeve called Latar but if the woman falls pregnant and gives birth to a girl, she is blessed by the goddess and she will be offered a seat on the council. The council is where women are given the opportunity to help run the city. Their voices may be heard and even followed if that woman gives sound advice.

Many women pray to the goddess as much as possible for a girl. Some even pray to fall pregnant at all. The consequences of not falling pregnant are banishment from the city. Women who are banished often don’t survive on their own without a man to provide for them. They are kept by a man all their lives so being banished is a death sentence overall. Only rarely lucky women may find themselves rescued by travellers and taken in. It is often seen as a sin to keep anyone infertile within the city walls. Everyone has to do their part for the growth of the city.

If they do not help add to the population by providing offspring, they are seen as a drain on society and there are so very little resources to go around. The rules are strict but they are there for a reason. They are meant to help keep the city safe and prosperous. Constant growth is believed to be needed in order to move forward. The city is very much aware that the colder climate could pose a threat and there is a sense of urgency within the city to make Keduk as strong as it can possibly be. The religion therefore dictates that during a full moon procreation ceremonies must take place with women who are not carrying a child already.

If a woman does not have a child within her after her first full moon, by the next one, the man she mated with will be banished from the city. If after her second full moon she is still not pregnant by the next full moon, she will be banished from the city. It is a very unfair law and sometimes it’s even harder on the women who are banished from the city only to find themselves pregnant, lost, alone and dying within a week of leaving the city. For the men their training often helps them survive the challenge of being left to fend for themselves.

Though it may seem unfair at first, their religion often warns against having a barren individual within their wall. Purely by chance, terrible catastrophes have fallen upon the city during a time when they had taken pity on an infertile individual. It happened often enough for them to develop the idea that infertility is a curse sent by the gods.

==Miscellany==

{{NearbyGroups
| Centre = {{PAGENAME}}
| North = Unknown
| Northeast = Unknown
| East = Unknown
| Southeast = Unknown
| South = Unknown
| Southwest = Unknown
| West = Unknown
| Northwest = Unknown
}}

{{CrossSiteAttribution
| User = [https://www.royalroad.com/profile/222890 angelsonggd]
| Holder = angelsonggd
}}

[[Category:5th-century Twilight Age zu'aan cities]]
[[Category:angelsonggd's contributions]]

Keduk City Zu'aan - Revision history

Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)