Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)

2026-05-10T12:41:28Z

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{{Infobox:TwilightAgeGroup
|Type = Zu'aan city
|Name = Lyduli City Zu'aan
|Parent Groups = N/A
|Descended Groups = Unknown
|Areas Controlled = [[Gugzyrdu Prairie]]
|Date Founded = 4E 36
|Date Disbanded = N/A
}}

==History==

Lyduli was once a place of sanity and normality. The city thrived on herds of elduk that they would rear and slaughter for meat. They made such delicacies as Lyduli sausages and cured elduk. The Lyduli sausage was a delicacy that many would travel far and wide for. Cured elduk was the best way to preserve the meat and it allowed the meat to be carried over long distances and still enjoyed at a later time because of the curing process. The city had a strong government and powerful military to lead them through growth and prosperity. They worked side by side with other cities to ensure the best for their future.

Then the empire created kin’toni and all hell broke loose. The cold war caused numerous losses to the city. It also saw the rise of a cult-like following called the kin’tonites. Where most of the citizens of the empire feared the kin’toni as monsters, the kin’tonites began to spread their rhetoric that kin’toni are gods who have come to the empire to cleanse it. The old government underestimated the strength of the kin’tonites and sent many of their forces to fight the cold war. This left the city weak enough for the kin’tonites to take control.

There was very little resistance to withstand the coup. More and more of the citizens began to believe in the cult that was formed and quickly began to join the side of the kin’tonites. They eventually overthrew the government, taking power for themselves. They then instituted a strict law on how to best serve the kin’toni. Ceremonies of sacrifice were held every month to sacrifice someone to the kin’toni. They would send the victim into the prairie at night and hope the kin’toni found the intended victim. It soon became a bi-weekly thing before becoming weekly.

Now there is a sacrifice every night but unlike before, most mornings, that person who was sacrificed returned. Though there are a meager amount of citizens left, there is even less to care for those citizens which is why the kin’tonites would have sent their people out daily in order to thin their population even more. The problem is that the promised ‘holy death’ will not come for those citizens so the plan is failing. There is no way to find more food or water in the prairie since it’s a barren place. Every passing winter brings harsher weather with it but the Lydulians are hardy people able to withstand the worst their environment can throw at them.

When the kin’tonites took power, they believed that the kin’toni would take all the weak from the city and leave only the strong. They believed that this was the new world. That things were changing and they would need to accept this new normal but unfortunately, the rest of the empire still fought these circumstances, fighting back against the kin’toni which in turn pushed many kin’toni further into hiding. The city is dying and soon there will be nothing left because the cult of kin'tonites have become a disease on Lyduli, destroying it.

==Psychology==

Where once, a city of peaceful, normal individuals lived, now only fanatics live. The psychology of the citizens in the city is deeply troubling. The kin’tonites, a group of kin’toni followers, have taken over the city and indoctrinated all the citizens into believing that kin’toni’s are gods and deserve their pick of victims from the citizens. Lydulians are dying on a daily basis and are being told that is what is meant to happen. Because they have no other sense of sanity, they have started believing that they have to perish in order to fulfill their fate.

They welcome death and even the turning of the kin’toni. They are mentally unable to believe that their lives are worth living. Resources are in short supply and the current government is too deluded to care for the citizens of the city. It has become apparent to anyone who has heard of the city that it is a dying race. With the belief that death has become a reward, when death does not come for those destined to achieve it, that individual begins to feel cursed and cheated. It’s easy for these people to fall into depression. The citizens are weak and lethargic because of lack of food.

They have no way of producing their own food or gathering their own water from the wells they have left to fall into disrepair. They have very little left to trade with and their reputation has preceded them, causing many individuals to pull away from even interacting with them at all. The city has fallen into disrepair. They were pushed to believe in something that has not come to pass. It took some time for the cities surrounding Lyduli to find their feet again but when they did, they forced back the forces of kin’toni that the kin’tonites have worked so hard to draw out.

Without the kin’toni, the kin’tonites have lost all hope of control. They have lost the very thing that brought them power. They have lost their identity and with no way of stopping the other cities of protecting themselves or luring the kin’toni back to feast on the weak of the city, the kin’tonites are losing control. The people have already given up. Many of them have retreated to their homes and now wait for death to take them without the kin’toni’s aid. They know that, should they be attacked now, it would be the end for them. They would all perish at the hands of their attacker.

This, in their religion, is seen as a sin but the religion is dying a slow death with the disappearance of the kin’toni, the gods they have built their entire existence around and there is nothing they can do to stop it. Many citizens have come to realize that they have made a grave mistake following the kin’toni. There is no hope left in the city. There are barely any children left since many of them don't survive past infancy. The people are just waiting for the end now.

==Culture==

By far, the most terrifying culture in the whole of the empire, Lyduli is obsessed with kin’toni and worship them like gods. Lyduli citizens will go out of their way to become an offering to the wandering kin’toni. Their entire culture is based around the kin’toni and they have an unhealthy obsession with becoming kin’toni themselves and joining the ranks of the monsters. That is why it is such a scary city that most people tend to avoid when they travel through the Gugzyrdu prairie. The Lydulians sleep during the day and come alive during the night to welcome any kin’toni that venture into their prairie.

They will often send one of their citizens to either be killed by a kin’toni or receive the gift of becoming a kin’toni so that they may themselves return to the city and claim their own victims. Lydulians will even leave their own blood as offerings to the kin’toni. The kin’tonites have taken full control of the city and now have many of the Lydulians believing that kin’toni are the gods that have come to judge the empire and their people. They will willingly walk into danger and offer themselves up to be judged by the kin’toni. Most often these sacrificial lambs will lose their lives.

This is seen as an honor. They believe that anyone who loses their lives to the kin’toni has been given a gift to die at the hands of a god. Their culture revolves completely around the kin’toni. They do not herd elduk anymore. They live only for the kin’toni now. Children are even taught from a young age that kin’toni are not to be feared. They are taught to surrender willingly. Because they do not fear the monsters lurking in the darkness, the city does not have any defense against a threat. Every night they hold festivals to try and lure the kin’toni out of the dark and into their city.

These festivals begin at sunset and end at sunrise. They will often send out scouts during the day to go and collect food that can be cooked to serve the few remaining citizens of the city. To outsiders, the city seems welcoming and warm. The city seems a jubial place full of singing and dancing but the sinister truth soon reveals itself when the kin’toni come. Lucky for Lyduli, it is in the middle of a prairie which means that many kin’toni avoid it. If they are caught by anyone that is not in the open, chances are that they will meet their end.

So despite the constant festivities of the citizens to try and pull the kin’toni, the monsters are very much aware that there are other cities ready to eradicate them should the need arise. On the rare occasion the kin’toni will join the celebrations in their honour but they will come in numbers and many citizens will not survive the encounter. It is the lucky individuals who pass away because then they don't struggle with the hunger festering inside each kin'toni.

==Government==

There was once a government in Lyduli. It was a good government with good leaders. They cared for the people they governed and made sure their citizens were safe and kept well. The cold war and the presence of the kin’toni brought a dark shadow over the city. It brought with it the fanatics known as the kin’tonites. These fanatics started with only a few individuals but during the war, when city control was at its lowest point, the kin’tonites were able to take control without any resistance. Because the government couldn’t protect them, the people began to believe in the words of the kin’tonites.

A new wave hysteria swept the city and a new religion and culture was formed to replace the existence of the old one. The kin’tonites formed their own government and military. Non-believers were sacrificed to the kin’toni every week. The kin’tonites grew so powerful in a city with no defense against them that they overthrew the government and took control. People were forced to follow their new laws, their new religion or they would be sacrificed. The city was chaotic and all the peace and control was lost. The new government began instating its laws.

Kin’toni were welcomed into the city to take what they wanted and many lost their lives. During these days many attempted to flee the city but the new government sent their military after these deserters, labeling them as cowards. They soon formed a new culture and for a time, the city was at peace. The kin’toni began to respect the hands that fed them and only took what was given by the city. As time passed and old herding practices were abandoned, the government of fanatics found themselves unable to keep the city stable. The people are starving without food.

The scouts sent out do not bring back enough to feed everyone. This meant that more people would be sacrificed but with the other cities protecting their areas, kin’toni are not taking the victims any more. The victims return to the city. People are sick without healers. The government didn’t see the need for healers to be trained and without them. People are dying but not fast enough for the thinly spread resources to keep the healthy fed. There are people who are spreading rumours that the gods have abandoned them. That they have displeased the kin’toni so that they do not frequent the city anymore.

Just like before when the kin’tonites took over the city, it is crumbling and the citizens are finally realizing that what they believed in is not the entire truth. Slowly but surely, the city is dying. The kin’tonites are losing control of their dwindling citizens and followers. There is no one to pick up the pieces or rescue the city any longer. The old goverment's rule was generations ago and many of the citizens who remembered how to run a successful city has passed away. This new generation only know of the kin'tonite's laws and rule. The city is doomed.

==Military==

Before the cold war and the outbreak of kin’toni Lyduli’s military was strong, filled with men who were trained in combat and tactics but when the outbreak happened and the kin’tonites took over, that military was not there to protect the city. Many speculate that if they had been there, there would not have been such great losses. Instead, the military would have dealt with the coup. This would have changed almost everything. Since the city has fallen into the hands of the fanatic, people have dropped like flies. Generations upon generations have been ruined.

Now there is no protection for the people of Lyduli. Their religion forbids it. They are brainwashed into thinking that their new gods will their death, so they have given up fighting. Unfortunately this mindset had stopped them from allowing a military power in their city to be formed. Now Lyduli is left without protection and there are very few citizens left in the city to even begin to think of forming a military. The city is empty and in ruins. The people are left without a leader or guidance. Everything they were led to believe they now know to be wrong.

The city who worshiped the monsters is now left without anything to believe in. Luckily, other cities have realized the dangers of the kin’toni being in the area and have stepped up to rid their home land of the threat. Now that there are very few kin’toni to worship and feed from their own people, Lyduli has a chance to rebuild the population. The other problem is the shortage of food and protection. The city is in a dangerous situation now all thanks to the religion they chose to follow. Without a military, they have no way of bartering with their neighbors for food.

It is often seen as polite to trade military power for supplies and food but since Lyduli lost that and various other things in the process of following a fanatic, they don’t have that kind of leverage. Left without any strength to help them, it is up to the remaining population to finally leave the tragic disaster of the religion they follow behind them and learn new ways of protecting and managing the city. If they don’t, they will all be annihilated. The few remaining citizens will have to join together and scour the prairie for food and water.

They will have to learn to make weapons and find a way to develop a training program so that they can have a military capable of helping other cities in exchange for food. It will take time for people to recover from their traumatic past and the fact that there are no longer many kin’toni surrounding the city to fuel their religion seems very much like a positive thing. Thanks to the help of the military of their neighboring cities, it seems that the last of the terrible religion is dying out. It also has driven home how very important a strong military is for any city.

==Religion==

There was a time when the Lyduli had a god that would only bring them good things. This god was the sun god. They based their lives on honoring the sun god and they had a strong love for their religion which encompassed celebrating their god with gratitude for all he gave them. But then the cold war came and kin’toni was released into the empire to change the lives of thousands of people forever more. That was when a young man called Wryner came face to face with one of these kin’toni. Where others saw monsters, Wryner saw … his wife. Wryner had lost his young bride only months after taking her as his wife to an attack on the city.

When she returned as an immortal creature, Wryner saw a monster no longer. He saw a goddess in his wife. She spared him that night and were it not for that twist in fate, Lyduli might have survived this new world. Because kin’toni was now the talk of the city due to the attacks made on the city, everyone was talking about the monsters. Many citizens had lost family members in tragic ways. There were also some who had seen their family members return. Wryner targeted these people. Because people are often willing to believe the best about their family, they began to believe Wryner’s theory that the loved ones that suffered at the hands of kin’toni were not lost.

Instead, those family members had been given a gift. They had become gods. Wryner began to hold talks. People came to listen. Between the cold war and attempting to keep their people alive, the government didn’t see the growing power Wryner was developing. When citizens began to follow Wryner, he decided to create a religion around the kin’toni. He even began encouraging people to volunteer to offer themselves to the kin’toni. Citizens who had seen their family members as kin’toni readily bought into his speeches and wild theories. His following gathered speed and strength until it was able to overpower the current government.

Once they had enough power behind them, the kin’tonites set to work to overthrow the weakened government in a coup. It was successful enough that the city, under Wryner’s rule, became a feasting ground for the kin’toni. The religion was taking shape and they were starting to control people’s lives. The citizens were completely swept up in the new religion following every single word that fell from Wryner’s lips. As he created laws, the citizens followed them without question. Many more lost their lives becoming prey to the kin’toni on the rules of the new religion Wryner created.

Many more will lose their lives in the future as the fanatical leader will become more obsessed with bringing back the kin’toni to the area. The current leaders of the kin'tonites follow the rules set into place by Wryner but those rules are no longer helping the city. They never did in the first place. This whole religion has brought the city to ruin.

==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:1st-century Twilight Age zu'aan cities]]
[[Category:angelsonggd's contributions]]

Lyduli City Zu'aan - Revision history

Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)