Ardtheru City Zu'aan

History

The Aratheru zu'aan were a city of beings that believed even the mention of a god was blasphemy. To them, there was nothing but the zu'aan and the kin’toni, and nothing could change their mind. While it wasn’t something that was talked about a lot, it was a custom in the city that anything to do with religion was strictly prohibited and they weren't allowed to speak of it, unless they wanted to be put to death. Of course, there were always zu'aan that didn’t believe they would be killed if they talked about religion, and thus started the rebellions. There was a group of leaders in the city, called the Arathians, who would spend their time dictating the ways of the city from behind closed doors.

Since there were zu'aan that would stop at nothing to make sure the leaders saw to their demise, they had to stay in their offices to ensure they were safe. It had been years since many zu'aan saw any of the leaders of their city, but they knew they were there, because of the announcements. These announcements came every day, in the middle of the day, and typically consisted of the leaders telling the zu'aan who had been caught doing wrong, and anything else that would be going on in the city. During the announcements, the leaders would stand on a platform that was attached to their buildings, overlooking the city. They would wear garments that would hide who they were, but they would still be able to be heard.

Of course, the announcements that were made were always mandatory, and any zu'aan that didn’t want to participate would immediately be taken to jail. Because of the way the city was run, the zu'aan there would warn anyone else that thought to come to the city, wanting to make it known what they would face if they were to come and stay there. it wasn’t just that religion was against the law, it was that doing anything even remotely individual was against the law, and they needed everyone to know. Eventually, their hatred for religion was known by all of the cities that surrounded them. The other cities talked about the Aratheru zu'aan, gossiping about the things they knew and things they thought they knew.

When there was anyone that would visit the Aratheru city and come back to their city, they would talk about the things they saw there and warn the other cities they were close to. Because of this, Aratheru city had been exiled from anything to do with another city and they were forced to only interact with themselves, although it didn’t bother them not to have to worry about other zu'aan. Sometimes, they would send their military to check out the other cities so they could see if there was any chance, they were conspiring to attack Aratheru city. While it was typically uncommon, there had been instances of the military uncovering operations in other cities where they were planning on taking down Aratheru city and the operation had been able to be stopped in time to save the city.

There were some of the zu'aan that decided they wanted their religion, and thus their lives, kept intact, and so they decided they would move their religions underground, hiding them from the leaders of the city as well as the military, so they would be allowed to live and continue in their beliefs.

Psychology

With the amount of murder that happened in Aratheru, there was a distinct fear that ran through the minds of the zu'aan there. Of course, there were the zu'aan who were privileged enough to be the leaders of the city, or sitting in other positions of wealth and power, and so they were allowed to dictate how the city operated. These zu'aan would allow their power to go to their heads and they would abuse it against the zu'aan in the city. Since there were groups of zu'aan that would hide their religion from the leaders and practice it underground, they felt a deeper kind of fear, especially when they were going into hiding and openly practicing their religion in the spaces that they deemed as safe.

The groups of zu'aan that allowed religion to thrive were the same ones that would openly lie to the leaders, stating that they were doing their best to keep religion off the streets of Aratheru city. They were often higher city workers that had access to spaces regular zu'aan didn’t, which would allow them to access the spaces and let other zu'aan in when they deemed it safe. Aside from the underground practice of religion, there were the leader zu'aan who truly believed that they were the only ones able to properly protect zu'aan. In their minds, voiding their city of religion was the only way they would be able to keep their zu'aan safe, because without a god, there was nothing stopping the zu'aan from believing them.

It was an incredibly vain way of thinking, but since they didn’t have anything better to do, the leaders would band together and convince the zu'aan in the city that their way was the best way, and that they could prove their loyalty by performing tasks for the leaders. This was how they got things done. Not by going out and doing it themselves, but by convincing others that doing these things for them would gain their favour. Of course, once one thing was done, there was always another task being requested, and so the zu’aan would never truly gain the favour of the leaders, but would just turn into the lackeys of the leaders. The leaders themselves believed that they were better to be heard than to be seen.

They didn’t want to come out of their little room for fear that they would be attacked, and so they would open a small slit in their door to request the things they needed, and then they would go back to hiding once their needs were met. There was nothing they wouldn’t ask for, and since the zu'aan who followed them were gullible and trusting, they would do as they were asked without a second thought. There were always guards outside of the room and outside of the building, making sure the leaders were safe and taken care of, always seeing to their needs as they believed that the leaders weren't capable of coming out of their room, that they were confined to the room and could never leave.

Culture

Given that they had leaders that were apt to hiding in a room and not coming out for anything, on top of not being allowed to practice religion unless they wanted to be put to death, there was a lot of routine that surrounded the culture of Aratheru city. When it came to birthdays, weddings, funerals, and any other celebrations, the zu'aan would be watched closely by the military that worked for the leaders so that there was no mention of religion in the slightest. Their guest lists would be watched, and a cap would be set on how many people would be allowed there, since the leaders wanted to make sure there was no way for a distraction to be caused and religion to be practiced.

Everything they did needed to be completely monitored, no matter what it was they were doing. To the leaders of Aratheru, there was always the possibility that religion could be brought into the city and they would have to eradicate it, so they spent their time making sure it never had a chance to enter the city so they didn’t have to take measures to get rid of it. After all, it was much easier to prevent something, than it was to get rid of it once it was already there. With the limits on them, the Aratheru zu'aan spent much of their time going through the motions of their lives. Since there were some that would practice religion under the radar of the leaders, they would make sure there was nothing abnormal about their lives so no suspicion would be raised against them.

Some of them even held jobs higher in the government, allowing them to monitor certain risks to the laws they were breaking. If ever there was a chance they could be caught, these zu'aan would be the ones that would alert the others, allowing for all of them to prepare themselves. Since there was no religion allowed in the city, there were on restrictions on clothing and other superficial nuances in the zu’aans lives. They were free to behave, dress, and eat as they pleased, although the leaders of the city would change that if they could. While they knew they couldn’t make the zu'aan of the city conform to their ways without mass retaliation and the risk of war, the leaders did what they could to make it known that these zu'aan were from Aratheru city, even if only that they would tell others about the ban on religion in their city.

If the leaders could have it their way, they would require the zu'aan to adhere to a specific dress code and colours, which would allow them to decipher which zu'aan worked for the government, which zu'aan were of age, and which zu'aan worked which jobs. They had tried to implement a dress code before the Shattering, but with the amount of fighting and overall chaos that ensued, the leaders decided that it would be best to allow the zu'aan in the city to follow their own rules when it came to clothing and food, given that it allowed them to move on from the mass tragedy much easier.

Government

As was previously stated, the leaders of Aratheru city hid behind the walls of a closed room that no one could enter, but the leaders could leave if they so chose to. They did this because when the Shattering happened, the leaders bore witnessed to the loss of many of their zu'aan, and they wanted to keep themselves safe so they could continue to rule over the city. It was an entirely selfish move on their part, which enraged many of the zu'aan in the city, who believed their lives should come before the selfish views of their leaders. Because of the events of the Shattering, the leaders believed that any and all gods had forsaken them, since there seemed to be no help for them when kin’toni were plaguing their streets and killing off zu'aan in droves.

Because of what they had witnessed, the leaders called for all religion to be banned from the streets of Aratheru city and that any and all zu'aan found practicing religion would be taken and murdered for all to see. It was considered a delusion to believe in a higher power, since there was no definitive proof of their existence, so the zu'aan who chose to believe, openly or not, were considered mentally ill and would need to be “put out of their misery.” Since they would hide in their room, high in the government tower, the leaders would put on “protective” masks so they could go out and make their announcements to the zu'aan of the city each day. They would announce any new laws or taxes, as well as oversee any murders that needed to happen if there were any delusional zu'aan caught that day.

These announcements were mandatory for every zu'aan to attend that was able to do so, as the leaders believed every zu'aan should bear witness to everything they needed to say before they were allowed to continue with their days. Of course, there were always exceptions to the rule, but it took a long time to get a pass from the leaders, or extraordinary circumstances to be allowed to miss the announcements. Since the leaders would stay in their tower and would not leave, they would appoint guards to stand at the door to their room, as well as the entrances to the tower so they wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked. Any zu'aan wishing to gain access to the tower would have to go through a screening process, done by the guards, before they would be admitted to the building and allowed to speak to the leaders through a window in their door.

This window in the door was how the zu'aan would receive tasks from the leaders that they would have to perform, as well as where they would access the meal requests of the leaders. There were typically “favourite” zu'aan that would get the more preferred tasks, although most of them were on a “first come, first served” basis.

Military

The military of Aratheru city was typically a different organization than that seen in other cities. Of course, they did have an army that would do battle on their behalf, but there were also many military zu'aan that held positions which kept them in the city indefinitely. Some of the militaries were responsible for the safety of the leaders, which meant they were to stand guard outside of the room and/or tower that the leaders lived in. It didn’t matter what time of day it was or what the weather was like, they had to stand there and address any threats that came their way, no matter how small they seemed. The duties the guards had to perform typically consisted of monitor the zu'aan that would come and go from the tower, as well as what their tasks were if they were assigned any.

They would have to make sure to question and examine any zu'aan wishing to enter the tower, as this way they would be able to assess any risks to the safety of the leaders. And finally, the guards were responsible for rousing any zu'aan requested of by the leaders, as they would have to escort them back to the tower and present them to the leaders at the door to their room. Other than seeing to the safety of the leaders, the military of Aratheru city was tasked with ensuring the safety of the city as a whole. Unfortunately for them, that meant patrolling the city, at the direction of the leaders, to investigate any and all zu'aan that were suspected of performing religion within the city.

They would do their best to show up unexpectedly in the hopes that they would be able catch any zu'aan in the act of breaking the law. While there were many military zu'aan that hoped they wouldn’t catch any zu'aan performing religion, they knew it was their job, and so they performed their tasks every day without fail. If there were zu'aan caught by them, they would be taken to holding cells in a jail next to the leader’s tower so they could be taken to be murdered in from of the rest of the zu'aan at announcement time. This was considered the best time to murder them, and there was a zu'aan tasked with performing the murders each day. When the Shattering happened, Aratheru city already had a military force, even though it was small.

With the onslaught of kin’toni that were raiding the city, the military took up arms against them to potentially save their city from desecration. Sadly, they weren't successful, and many zu'aan were lost, prompting the leaders to reformat their training to better suit the needs of the city. Training happened each day in Aratheru city, and new zu'aan were always encouraged to join the forces of the military to protect their families. If ever the number of zu'aan in the military got too low, there would be a mandatory reaping of eligible men and women to join the forces, all without a choice in the matter. The safety of the city was at the forefront of the minds of the leaders, so if they had to force zu'aan to participate in the safety of the city, they would do so without hesitation.

Religion

Religion was strictly banned in the streets of Aratheru city. Because of this, members of the military would patrol the streets and capture any zu'aan found practicing religion so they could be murdered as a demonstration as to what happened to zu'aan caught practicing religion. It was an effective punishment, or so the leaders thought, as the number of zu'aan caught each day quickly deteriorated until the public murdering of them was down to less than one a month. It turned into a rare occurrence to have zu'aan caught for performing religion, so much so that the leaders believed they had done the right thing in outlawing religion. What they didn’t know was that there were several groups of zu'aan that were taking to underground tunnel systems and darkened rooms to practice religions they believed were a benefit to them.

Each of the groups of zu'aan were comprised of about a dozen members, each group believing in a religion that suited them best. The groups knew of each other, and each zu'aan in participation had a code they would stick to that would keep them safe from the leaders of the city in the event that they were suspected of practicing. Some of the zu'aan in these groups were members of the government themselves, zu'aan that would perform tasks for the leaders so they, in turn, could keep an eye on the plans of the leaders and warn their fellow religious zu'aan in hopes that it would prevent them from being caught, and it typically did.

Some of them, as well, were members of the military, so they would be able to warn each other when zu'aan were suspected, as it would give them the best chance of hiding their religious paraphernalia as best they could before the military would show up. None of these zu'aan had been caught warning each other of the possibility of being caught, since they were able to keep their signals so discreet and unnoticeable. Before the Shattering, religion was widely practiced in Aratheru city. There wasn’t a zu'aan that didn’t have a belief system to follow, and they typically made it known which religion they believed in. There were religious holidays, as well as celebrations and other cultural events that brought them all together.

Sadly, this changed when kin’toni flooded the streets and began to kidnap and slaughter the zu'aan of the city. The leaders deemed religion a ruse, and zu'aan were then murdered for believing in gods that refused to help when things got tough for the city. The leaders wouldn’t listen to reasoning about any of the religions, and any zu'aan that tried were murdered as a spectacle for the rest of the city to see. It was a sad time for the city, and so they made their own rules to keep them safe.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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Ardtheru City Zu'aan

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