Muvon City Zu'aan

History

Muvon is another city that did not exist before the war. The people of Muvon came from all different kinds of other places. The name didn’t even exist before it was founded shortly after the cold war started. The city is actually inside the cave system called the Frib-kada caves. Long ago, before the war and the creation of war and the creation of the kin’toni, the caves were used as mine for many gemstones and minerals by a neighboring city. The threat of the kin’toni forced the caves to be abandoned but when a band of raiders happened across it during their escape from a particularly horrible pack of kin’toni, the raiders claimed it immediately as their safe haven.

They built it up, working together to create a home in the caves. The precious metals and gemstones were enough to keep them there too. Once they had made the caves livable and created a tiny holding outsider of the caves, they decided to name the city after their leader. Muvon was born. Muvon had fresh water, the ability for crop growing because of the fertile soil and offered protection in case of an attack. This place was paradise. As soon as the city was fairly established, Muvon, the man, sent out parties of raiders to capture women and slaves.

They grew more powerful with each raid and the masters of the city had their own group of slaves to farm, fight and breed with. If they needed something, they would send out a group and raid other cities for whatever they needed. Generations and generations have lived their lives this way, raiding and stealing from others to survive. There is no ultimate goal in mind. The slave trade in the city is very strong and many Muvians will trade high prices for new slaves brought from raiders, especially young woman. Each master or mistress of the city knows how to put their slaves in their place and often control areas of the city or caves with five to ten slaves at a time.

They put their slaves to work and trade with labor or produce for other resources that they might need. Compared to other cities, Muvon is one of the most successful settlements on the map. They fear nothing and any traveller who has the misfortune of happening across the city will instantly be captured and put up for auction as a slave. Muvon has developed its own culture and currency even. They trade in certain precious gems that are controlled by the masters of the caves. The masters of the cave have even developed a way to control the market by flooding it or drying it up to make some precious gems more valuable than others.

This was another idea that Muvon had developed. His bloodline is now one of the main controllers of the cave. They are valued above any other citizens and often make the decisions needed for the prosperous future of the city and the survival of its people.

Psychology

If you would like to delve into the psychology of the people living in the city, it would most definitely depend on who you asked. There are two sides to the city. The masters and the slaves. From the master’s perspective, they are safe, well cared for and they want for nothing. They have slaves to tend to their every need, want and desire and they are in positions of power. They are content and happy. They have goals, families, wealth and they are generally well looked after which makes them happy individuals. The slaves, on the other hand, have to endure many hardships.

The first of which is when their city is being raided and they are taken as slaves to be traded off like animals all to work for someone else. They never have a choice in who they end up with. They are stripped of their dignity and often made to endure cruel treatment. The lucky slaves are the slaves who are ignored for most of their servitude. The slaves often try to do their best to follow orders but they live a hard life. Many of the slaves have attempted to escape. Those slaves are torture and killed for their insolance. The masters and mistresses of the city are free to do what they please with their slaves and there are very little rules protecting those slaves from harm.

There are very few exceptions to the cruelty that the masters have. Those who are said to be exceptions to the rules, often end up ridiculed by their peers. They are told that they are weak for having kindness. There is also another side to the city. The raiders who them become slave traders. Raiders are brutal men and even those in the city fear them. They are the ones who go hunting for cities to rob and destroy. They go out of their way to hurt and cause pain wherever they put their feet.

Raiders are ready with weapons and the skills to take on cities and take what they want and need from that city. Even the name, Muvon, has been known to spread fear and angst in many parts of the surrounding area. It is a place to be avoided. Some raiding parties have even forced other cities into servitude. Those cities provide them with good men to join their parties, women to sell into slavery and food to trade for currency back in the city. These raiding parties will often visit the cities they have enslaved and demand a sort of tax in exchange for not attacking the city.

They are known as the collectors and are the most feared of all the raiding parties. At the drop of a hat, these mad men can turn around and decide the tax isn’t enough payment. These instances cause the collectors to destroy the city, leaving only a few people alive. The collectors call these instances, lessons. The experiences earned at Muvon are dependent on status but there is whisper of an uprising.

Culture

The culture in Muvon is very much the fact that the strongest will win. Power and strength are celebrated in the city and it is seen as a status symbol to have slaves. The more slaves you own, the higher your social status is. That is why masters and mistresses will go out of their way to get as many slaves and assets as possible. The highest on the social ladder is the owners of the mine since they control the flow of currency into the city. Many of the miners are treated better than any other slaves. The mine owners know that if they lose one skilled miner, it would be a lot less gems and currency than before.

They are greedy and don’t want to invest too much in new miners who will need training. They prefer to keep the ones they already have. The culture here is full of greed and pride. It is very difficult to fight any humble slave masters or mistresses. That is seen as a weakness by other slave masters and mistresses. Strength is shown in how badly you can treat your slaves. The ones that are well trained are as such because they had a cruel hand to guide them during the learning process. This is the culture of the city and this is how they live.

The masters and mistresses are use to getting whatever they want and the slaves are always expecting punishment but nature requires balance and when there is an imbalance, nature will correct it. The slaves are sick of their lives as servants and punch bags. There are a few among the slaves that have decided that it is time for change. They have started recruiting others in order to join their cause. They are ready to fight for their freedom. The current culture of ownership and slavery is about to come to an end.

The slaves have started whispering behind their owners’s backs. They have started realizing that they are not as hopeless and helpless as they seem. If they were to band together, they could overthrow the current city’s elite and win freedom once more. One of the slaves has begun to bring together other slaves in order to acheive his goal at freedom. The masters and mistresses rely too much on their slaves and even trust in their power to control their slaves. They do not believe their slaves would go against their wishes. They have become fat and complacent believing the slaves fear them too much to do anything to them.

The slaves have access to weapons, treasures and each other where they severely outnumber the masters of the city. They will bide their time until every slave in the city is standing with them to revolt and win back their freedom. Many of the slaves are fed up of the abuse, hardship and cruelty that they have to endure day in and day out. They will be rising up soon to take their freedom back.

Government

The government in Muvon is basically centered around the many masters and mistresses that run their households. Other than that, the raiders often control what goes on in the city by how often they go out and what they return with. There are many different facets to the city under the control of various different individuals around the city. The control of the wealth of the city is mainly down to those that control the mines. They are the ones that grow the economy, providing their own currency, mined directly from the mines by slaves owned by the mine owners.

The food and other necessities are controlled by the farmers who have land around the caves, using slaves to farm their land and then bringing it to market to be sold off to other individuals. Lastly, the protection of the city falls under the control of the raiders. They are a group of powerful men, capable of crafting weapons with which they defend the city from any threats. They will often go out in large groups to attack other cities and bring back loot. Most of these raiders are trained from a young age to fight and taught that whatever they want they can just take, depending on how strong they seem.

These are seen as the city’s military and they are very dangerous individuals. They are not afraid to kill and do so willingly. Apart from that, it is widely known that Muvon, despite not having a government, is one of the most well developed cities as far as infrastructure goes. They have their own currency and have also developed ways of protecting and providing for the city as far as food and supplies go. They don’t really have a system and everyone just does what they want but apart from that, the city seems well run, with everyone in their place, doing what must be done.

The city was mainly run in the past by Muvon’s children and grandchildren but as time went on, the way Muvon wanted things just clicked into place and individuals began to do what he’d have wanted them to do. These days everyone has their place in society. The masters and mistresses control their slaves and their lands and households but things are about to change. Rumours of slaves coming together to cause an uprising have been spreading and there is a believe that these things might actually happen. The slaves in the city were taken by force from their homes and cities to become slaves in Muvon.

They have been treated badly and they are starting to come to a realization that there are so many more of them then there are of the masters and mistresses. If they were to band together and start a revolt, no one would be able to fight them. Without a government the city has proven that it can be successful anyway. Unfortunately they have no equality in the city and those that are being suppressed are not going to stand for it any longer.

Military

There is no military in the city as such. Instead, there are raiders who help protect and defend the city. The raiders create weapons and learn to fight in order to both defend the city and to go out to raid other cities for food, animals and slaves that the city might need. There are various different raiding groups that are responsible for different things. The collectors are often the ones that go out and find cities to bring under their control. They then use these cities for slaves, resources and other valuables. In exchange, they only come in and collect instead of raid.

Then there are the normal raiders who go far and wide to raid vulnerable cities, taking anything they find to bring back to Muvon to trade with. Lastly there are the raiders who stay in the city and will defend the cities from the threats of other cities or from the dangers of kin’toni. Because there are so many different raiding groups, many of them take turns in staying or raiding. There are always two or three raiding parties that stay in the city to help defend it. There are also about 5 or 6 raiding parties out in various directions at any given time.

There is no lack of potential victory in any situation. The city has learned over the years that you can never put all your eggs in one basket. It is encouraged for raiders to teach others and take new generations under their wings. It is also encouraged for young raiders to form their own bands and groups that they can lead into raiding various different cities like their forefathers. Many of the young raiders will form their own groups and break away from the older men. That way, there is never a lack of fresh, young blood to take the reins and keep raiding alive for generations to come.

Despite the presence of raiders within the city ready and willing to keep it safe, the slaves have been planning a coup. They have come to realize that this sad excuse that passes for the city’s military will be easy to overthrow if they stand together. They are lead by several different slaves that have a drive to succeed and take their lives back from the slavers who took it from them in the first place. The lack of an organized and structured military is a deficit to the city. It doesn’t really matter that there is no government. The city can survive without it because there is an understanding among the people that they all have tasks and goals.

The lack of a military is an entirely different matter. The slaves just need to make a fool proof plan and they will succeed. They know this and they also come from cities where there was military presence. Most of the slaves know how this would have to work. Most slaves also know how to fight. They know where their masters and mistresses keep their weapons.

Religion

You would think that religious beliefs are not very prevalent here in the city but Muvon, the founding father of the city, did have a religion that he followed whenever he could. He honored the war God, Kintain, and would often make animal sacrifices to the god in order to please him. Kintain is a god that believes in war and fighting. The honor code of a warrior is what his religion teaches. Only the strong survive and as such Muvon believed he had to be the strongest. His religious teachings and followings paid off and made him a strong opponent, able to take the respect of his men as he led them on raids and founded the city he settled in.

He taught his raiders to follow the religion too and to this day it is the most prominent religion followed by many in the city. The slaves, on the other hand, each brought their own religion but because they were slaves, they were unable to follow their religions as they desired. They were, instead, forced to give up their religions and cultures all together. Despite the diversity of religions that the slaves brought with them, the only religion that is followed is the religion of the war god. Each successful raid brings with them a celebratority sacrificial ceremony in which an animal or even a person is sacrificed to Kintain in order to ensure his good fortune upon the raiders.

Apart from the odd ceremony after a successful raid, the religion doesn’t have any important rules or other laws that need to be followed. This suits everyone much better considering they have no time to spend on following such laws or ceremonies. Instead, they tend to carry on with their lives and do what they want. This frees up a lot of time to make the masters and mistresses even more wealthy. They use their slaves that they believe are given to them by the war god to offer them more wealth and prosperity.

Religion and the god Kintain is meant for only the wealthy masters and mistresses of the city as well as the raiders. Any slave caught practicing their own religion or even showing mild interest in Kintain, is severely beaten and starved for a certain number of days in order to teach them a lesson. Slaves are not allowed to have an identity or a religion. There is no such thing as free time for a slave and without free time, there is no time for religion. Slaves will often warn each other not to try and have a religion to protect each other from punishment.

Despite the slaves not allowed to follow their own religion, the city as a whole is not terribly religious. Instead, they will only seek out their religion and their god when they are in need of something or celebrating a victory. The city has no idea what prayer is and what it means to pray but when the slaves rebel against the masters and mistresses, they will soon learn the meaning of prayer.

Miscellany

Zu'aan cities in the Twilight Age