Anya City Zu'aan

History

The Anya zu'aan used to be a heavily prosperous community, taking every opportunity they had to help others and improve their quality of life. There wasn’t a thing they wouldn’t do if it meant helping others and aiding in their life’s improvements. The Anya zu'aan were what could be considered “people pleasers” as all they wanted to do was to help and to make other zu'aan happy. They were this way for many generations, and then something that happened that changed everything they knew. When they were scouting the lands around them, searching for things they could use and other resources that could be helpful to them, they found an herb that they thought could be useful to them.

It was believed that this herb was going to be used for healing the sick, that was, until it was realized that the herb brought back was not the one, they were looking for, and instead of healing the sick, the herb began to give any zu'aan who consumed it powerful hallucinations. Consumption of the herb became a highly addictive practice, which lead to the zu'aan forgoing their plans to continue to help other cities, and instead choosing to cultivate the herb that allowed them to experience what they called “heightened senses”. With the newfound herb, it was as though the Anya zu'aan no longer wanted to participate in being zu'aan. Everything they were revolved around the herbs now, instead of around their community as they used to.

No longer were they going to prosper and give back to the other zu'aan, but they were going to chew their herbs and allow the hallucinations to take place. The problem with the herb they chose to chew, was not only that it caused hallucinations in them, but also that it turned their teeth a sickly green colour because of how much they were ingesting. Since the herb wasn’t meant to be swallowed, they would continuously chew on it until it turned into a paste in their mouths and they would have to spit it out, usually saving it in jars so they could try and get more of the same effect out of it when they didn’t have fresh herb to chew. The more vibrant the green in their teeth, the more they were chewing the herb, and so it was easy to find the zu'aan that had been chewing more frequently than others.

There was no way to reduce or remove the staining either, so once the herb was chewed, even if the zu'aan never touched it again, it would remain on their teeth as a reminder. As well, there were many zu'aan that had the staining on their fingers from picking and harvesting the herb, as the oils it gave of stained anything they touched. The longer the Anya zu'aan succumbed to the addiction of the herb, the farther their city fell from what it once was. Zu'aan all over the city stopped caring about their personal appearances, jobs, or even their own children if there wasn’t a direct correlation with the herb. It was a devastating sight to behold, and the longer it happened, the more the city died off without a single act of retaliation.

Psychology

The more the Anya zu'aan chewed on the herb that caused hallucinations, the more demented they became. It was as though there was nothing in their lives if they couldn't have their herb to chew, and that in itself caused more than enough issues in the city. With the growing popularity of the herb, there had to be set rules governed around it, keeping the zu'aan safe from themselves when they didn’t know to quit. Since it was such a highly addictive herb, leaders in Anya city tried to govern how much each of the zu'aan was allowed to have. The only problem was the more they cracked down in the herb, the more the zu'aan would riot and revolt against the leaders. They just wanted their herb, but they would do anything it took to get their hands on it, no matter the cost.

When they consumed the herb, the zu'aan would become like zombies, only acting on their most primal urges and allowing the herb to control them completely. When they woke up from their “herbal coma”, they found that there was no memories of the things they had done while they were high, meaning they could get away with anything while they were high because there was nothing there for them to sit and remember. They didn’t have to worry about going to the leaders and confessing to crimes they committed because they couldn’t remember committing them in the first place, which meant that even if someone was a witness and turned them in, them being high was more than enough of an excuse to let them go free.

Before long, it became a well-known fact that any and all zu'aan that were high needed to be avoided, as they were considered highly dangerous. They needed to be kept way from the sane zu'aan in the sense that the leaders of the city wanted to make sure there weren't too many zu'aan murdered just because they liked to get high. Despite them being unable to do anything about the murders, the leaders told the public to keep their doors locked or to make their way to a sanctuary so they could keep themselves and their families safe. The highest priority was to make sure that the children were kept safe as they weren't allowed to consume the herb, and they were too young to understand what was happening.

As well, they were the next generation of zu'aan that were meant to take over the city, so keeping them safe and sheltered when there were dangerous zu'aan prowling around that could kill them without a second thought was the highest priority. Beyond the obvious issues with the zu'aan being violent while they were high, the Anya zu'aan were a complacent and kind people. When they weren't high, they would typically be as nice as they could possibly be to each other, always allowing the other zu'aan to have the benefit of the doubt. There weren't many fights where non-high zu'aan were concerned, and if they were to stop their consumption of the herb, they would go back to being the same courteous and kind zu'aan they were before.

Culture

Before the herb, the Anya zu'aan were a much different city. They liked to spend time with each other and make sure they were being kind and courteous above all else. If they were alone, they weren't nearly as happy, and if they were surrounded by as many zu'aan as possible, they couldn't be happier. Once the herb was introduced, it was as though no part of their culture interested them anymore. They didn’t want to participate in anything that didn’t involve the herb, and so, in an effort to get more zu'aan to participate in the events around the city, there were zu'aan that would bribe them with herb so they would be there. If they didn’t resort to bribery, events would be empty and the people planning them would be sad that they weren't able to get anyone to come.

Of course, there were times when the zu'aan wouldn’t allow the herb to be present at their celebrations or events, but that was usually because of religious practices, as well as when the zu'aan were required to participate and they had to be clean to do so. It wasn’t a frequent occurrence, but when it happened, there were always zu'aan that weren't happy with it. Of course, they wanted free access to the herbs at all times without any limits, but given that they were still religious zu'aan, they would always give in eventually and attend the event. There were many jobs around the city that required the zu'aan to be clean of the herb, otherwise they would be fired.

Most employers didn’t want their workers to be high and mindless while they were working, especially for some of the more dangerous jobs around the city. There were no exceptions and when a zu'aan was caught being high at work or trying to get high, they would be asked to leave the job and never return. Furthermore, the firing would be added to their record so any future employers would know what that zu'aan did and would be able to decide if they wanted to risk the same thing. Employers would often talk amongst themselves about problem zu'aan, and they knew they had the upper hand because there was no unemployment fund in the city that kept the zu'aan afloat at home if they didn’t have a job, which meant they could not afford to lose their jobs if they wanted to continue living like they were.

This was set up by the government as a way to dissuade the zu'aan from relying on free money when they wanted to get high more often. Their choices were either to work and use the herb when they had a day off or other free time, or they were going to lose their homes and access to the money they needed to acquire the herb. It wasn’t a hard decision for many of the zu'aan to figure out, but there were some that wanted the herb so badly that they would risk being homeless if it meant they were able to consume the herb 24/7.

Government

The government of the Anya zu'aan were a strong group. They always did what they could to make sure that their zu'aan were taken care of, given that they had lost enough of them when the herb was first found. For the leading zu'aan, they wanted to be as close to the herb as possible without consuming it as frequently as the other zu'aan did. Because they were on call at all times, needing to mediate fights that happened in the city, they weren't able to partake in the hallucinations of the herb as much as they wanted, which meant most of them dried themselves out from it. This vow of abstinence became a crucial part of who the leaders were as a group. If they were able to experience the effects of the herb even once and pull themselves back from it completely, they were seen as truly worthy to be a leader because they were able to truly abstain from the herb.

They were seen as strong and therefore they were fit enough to lead the city. Despite the zu'aan feeling the need to do anything to get a hold of the herb, when it came to the leaders of the city, the zu'aan that were able to abstain from the addiction, the zu'aan of the city would always do their best to listen to them. Any laws that were made were typically upheld, as even the most addicted zu'aan knew that there was a great strength in fighting such a strong addiction. Even if they didn’t like that there were laws that prevented the consumption of the herb, the zu'aan knew that their leaders were only trying to do what was best for their city in keeping everyone safe.

When it came to the murders that continued to happen around the city, there were many zu'aan that called for an answer as to what they were supposed to do about it. Zu'aan were being killed by enraged, high zu'aan, and there was nothing that could be done about it aside from tightening the restrictions on the herb. The leaders themselves had found that they were at a loss of what to do, given that the herb wasn’t something they were willing to risk taking away completely, given that it would likely lead to an all-out war in the city. Of course, something had to be done, but that didn’t mean they knew WHAT it was they wanted to do. How were the leaders of the city supposed to stop murders that inebriated zu'aan didn’t even remember they were committing without taking away the herb completely?

The answer was simple, even if they didn’t want to admit it, they would have to find a way to punish the zu'aan that were murdering others, especially if there were witnesses that could attest to what happened, and the best option they had for that was to dry out the offending zu'aan and strictly limit their supply of herb until such a time as they were seen as “clean” and could resume their lives.

Military

The military of Anya city were a different constitution altogether. While most militaries would spend their time making sure their cities were safe, the forces of Anya city would often spend their time regulating and farming the herb that was so precious do their city, ensuring it was kept safe and was growing properly. Since they worked so closely with the herb, always having access to it, they would have to report to the leaders of the government every day, as well as take specialized tests that would tell the leaders if they had been consuming the herb while they were working. Each day, the herb was checked and counted, making sure that it was the same, or more, than the day before, and they would make sure there was nothing that was tampered with in the growing of the herb.

Of course, there were always repercussions that would come to those that tampered with the herb, given that it was their job to grow the herb for distribution, instead of tampering with it for their own personal gain. If there came a time when any of the military zu'aan in charge of growing the herb were found to be consuming it on the job, hiding, or stealing any of it for their own redistribution, they would have all of their privileges stripped of them and they would then be forced to wean off of the herb in specialized cells in the prison. They would be weaned until they were completely clean, before being released and unable to consume herb anymore, given that they would be branded as untrustworthy, and even the homeless dealers wouldn’t give them any access to the herb.

There was nothing they would be able to do from that point on, forced to be clean of the herb for as long as they lived. It wasn’t something that happened a lot, but when it did, the entire city knew about it and would frequently talk about it, always curious as to what happened and what the rumours were surrounding the situation. Other than cultivating the herb, the military zu'aan were also in charge of breaking up any fights, and patrolling the city to make sure high zu'aan were contained and weren't being a bother to other zu'aan. It wasn’t an easy job to uphold, and it led to there being a lack of zu'aan willing to do the job. It was much less fun than cultivating the herb and being personally involved in the upbringing of it, which meant the military zu'aan that did it were often forced to do so.

They would often bicker about who’s turn it was to work the patrol shifts and many of them would do whatever they could to get out of it, choosing anything over being away from the herb. There had even been some zu'aan that were fired from the job completely because of their refusal to help with other parts of the job. Many times, zu'aan would have to be forcefully recruited to be in the military, since there was so much that came with the job. Most zu'aan didn’t want anything to do with all of the responsibilities, so the leaders would have to go around and seek out physically fit zu'aan to become a part of the military, whether they liked it or not.

Religion

The only thing the Anya zu'aan were religious about was their precious herb. Since they had found it, they were always thanking the land for growing such an herb and their founders for moving them to a land where they had access to it. Of course, they didn’t turn this gratitude into a set religion, because they found that they didn’t want to take much time away from the herb to focus on religion, but otherwise, that was all they did. There were some zu'aan, those who were so reliant on their herb, that believed that they could talk to the gods when they chewed the herb. They believed that when they chewed it that the gods would be able to create a link with them and they would be able to communicate.

To the inebriated zu'aan, this was considered the highest honour and they would spend most of their time trying to create that connection so they could receive the most information and guidance from these supposed gods. From the outside, the zu'aan that truly believed they were talking to the gods would typically be sitting in a corner, talking to themselves or to a wall, and answering questions that no one was asking. There was typically nothing going on that could be seen, aside from the perspective of the inebriated zu'aan. Building on the idea of the inebriated zu'aan that believed they were able to talk to the gods when they were high, there were some that also believed they could become a god if they consumed enough of the herb and tried hard enough.

To them, there was nothing truly better than becoming better than the other zu'aan in the city, given that they believed in “proving” they were gods, that they would be praised and exalted as such. This wasn’t the case, however, as the leaders of the city would typically intercept the zu'aan who was preaching as a “god” and would take them to a hut where they would be allowed to “preach” without actually being able to talk to anyone. This was because the leaders didn’t want anyone to think that these zu'aan were actually the gods when they were delusional. Aside from intercepting zu'aan trying to tell others that they were gods, and that the public could be too, the city of Anya didn’t have any religious beliefs.

There was nothing in them that made them want to be religious, given that they didn’t have the time to be. The way they saw it, was if they were spending all of their time being religious, then they wouldn’t have the time to sit down and cultivate their herb, and thus they would lose who they were as a people. Nothing was more important to the Anya zu'aan than their herb, and they made it known every day that this was how it was always going to be.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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Anya City Zu'aan

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