Osina City Zu'aan

History

The city has always housed people of questionable values, since its founding in the year 4E 12, nothing has changed. The dangers of the city are that the men are like animals in the city. There is a great inequality between men and women in the city. The men are housed in one section of the city while the women are often housed with their children in another section. The men are the authority in the city and they are brutal and cruel. There is a lot of fighting and provocation going on. The men will often take what they want and become violent at the first sign of resistance.

They are not happy to hear the word no so they will use force. The men don’t tolerate strangers in their city. They will go out of their way to end the life of any threat they should perceive. Most travelers passing through the desert often don’t make it as far as the city. Scouts often loot the body and bring back what they found. The desert climate and their people are harsh and the desert has made them that way. The god they follow is called Udith and as this god is the god of thunder and warriors, their culture is based around being strong. Anything that is perceived as weak will be pushed aside.

Since they view women, children and family values such as love as weakness, they have sectioned the women and children away from them. This caused many of the women to hate their male counterparts and they will try and avoid being near men at all costs. The city’s resources are mainly given to the men. This causes the mortality rates in women and children to be very high. Most babies don’t make it to their first birthday. They will die of illness, cold or hunger most often. The mortality of the male folk is vastly lower. The food sources are basically available after a rainfall, making the city reliant on their thunder god to give them nourishment.

Unfortunately they don’t often receive rain in the desert and most often they will blame that on the women. They have even gone so far as to sacrifice a woman or a child in order to receive rain. It has become so bad that they will sacrifice a man if a woman or child does not give them rain within a fortnight. The level of cruelty in the city knows no bounds and the self proclaimed king along with his royal guard do nothing about it. As long as the king gets what he wants and needs he often pays little attention to his people.

The city has released the likes of Muvon and his band of raiders into the world to cause chaos as well as countless other dangerous and cruel individuals. The city is not a place anyone would willingly visit and even during the cold war, the place was avoided at all costs. It is a place that has seen more cruelty and hardship than any battle field in the empire.

Psychology

The psychological effects of the men’s behavior toward the women is very traumatizing for them. They live in a constant state of fear and hate because the men will often come into their section only to have their needs met, leaving another young girl broken and pregnant with a child she will struggle to care for with the limited amount of resources available. Many women will even try to drown any baby boy they have because they know that one less male is 10 to 20 less females abused. They do this knowing that if they are caught that they could face execution just for trying to protect themselves and their fellow females from harm.

Standing up to a man is forbidden and those that do get punished with life threatening beatings. Though the city where the women are is in disrepair because there is no one to help them look after it, there are many women that pass down the art of healing so the medical help here is greater than in the section where the men live. The section where the men are is full of ruffians. The men are constantly drinking a brew known as osaka which is made from a plant that grows abundantly in the desert. It is the only plant that can survive the harsh climate and it is often tall with large trunk-like growths.

The more water the Osinus plant gets, the fatter it will be. It stores water in it but it protects itself with sharp spikes which make it difficult to get to the flesh inside the plant. The plant is the city’s life blood and they need it to survive because it is all that they can eat. They make anything from soup to bread with it and it’s versatility is the saving grace of the women in the city. Over the generations, the women have learned a few tricks to help them survive. Those tricks they refuse to share with the men. The men, on the other hand, have become very reliant on the women that serve their sector.

The women know that the men have become more reliant on them and they will often use that to their advantage. They hate the men and would rather kill a man than allow him to have any sort of affection and care that the women often provide to each other. Because of the brutal treatment that the women endure on a constant basis, they have become reliant on each other for comfort. They build big family units together where they live and sleep together looking after each other’s children. Some even become each other’s lovers. They find more comfort in one another and that makes them strong enough to face the men and their horrible behavior.

The women have often whispered about finding ways to fight back and overthrow the city but they know that they are not strong enough to take this challenge and be successful so the talk is just talk for now. They fear making matters worse.

Culture

Osina is a world away from any other city in regards to their home. The desert made them ruthless and hard against anything they perceive as soft. In fact, to them, softness is a weakness. They will not allow for that kind of behavior in their presence. This pertains to children too. They have a section of the city devoted only to women and children. Some women who show strength and the warrior’s gift are allowed to join the ranks of the men and the section where the men live. This area is better kept with better food and supplies. The houses are sturdier and warmer.

The inequality is prevalent in the statistics shown by the mortality rates. Children and women are far more likely to die in their section of the city than the men are and that’s acceptable to the Osinians. They have no family values which is also seen as a weakness among them. They have been known to be quite cruel to women as well as children and there are very few of them that will actually try and show love towards their own children or mates. When a man wants his needs met, he can go into the section where the women are and take whoever he wants.

The women have no say and they are often taken by force. Many women have attempted to escape and a lucky few were successful. The rest were hunted down and slaughtered by the same brothers, fathers and sons that they had cared for before. Many of the women are often brought to the male sector to cook and clean and care for the men folk. Needless to say, the women hate the men and in their separate culture to the men they will try and drown any male child they have. This is seen as a crime punishable by death. Mothers take a huge risk attempting this but they also know that one less male in the city will mean one more woman saved from torture.

Osina’s culture is mainly based on the thunder god called Udith who is a cruel god that stays away from them for months at a time. When their god does approach and rumbles across the sky, he normally brings with them the much needed rain. It is thus vital for the people of Osina to please the god that they follow wholeheartedly and do whatever is needed in order to bring the rain. They will sacrifice virgins, babies and even other men every month in a brutal ceremony that only the men attend, in order to try and get rain into the city. The desert is punishment enough and they see the sun as their eternal enemy.

The only way that they can survive is to grow a plant that is plentiful in the desert but it is not the most appetizing thing in the area to eat. That is why they try so hard to gain the approval of their god even if he is a god that is cruel and uncaring.

Government

The government of the city is basically the king and his royal bloodline. They don’t care about the city at all though and they will often do whatever it is that they want when they want. Not unlike the citizens. The men in the city don’t have a concept of authority at all anyway. They will listen to no one and do what they wanna do. Because their culture is mainly centered around who is the biggest baddest fighter in the city, with the worst reputation, the men are constantly piting themselves up against each other to see who is the better fighter.

The stronger the fighter, the better their reputation becomes. Most of the royal guards are chosen from these individuals. The king always gets what he wants and that includes the best fighters with the worst reputations. It is widely understood that every citizen is responsible for themselves. They need to provide their own food sources and take care of their own needs with the exception of the men who are cooked for and cleaned for by the women every single day. This allows for the king to not have to take any action towards the city as a whole.

He doesn’t instate government or rules and just allows everyone to do what they want. The only laws he has are the laws he makes towards women where he forces them to live away from men with the children and he will keep them separate because he believes that is what his god wants. This law is mainly to benefit the god and they will keep this law because they need to please their god. They believe this god is the only way that they will get rain in the city. The city depends on rainfall to survive. Though recently, rainfall has become more frequent and the storms have started causing a change in the landscape which is becoming more fertile.

This means that there is a lot more to help replenish dwindling resources. The women have been able to survive a lot longer and help their children grow and prosper as well. To get past the king’s royal guard, a lot of citizens have to find ingenious ways to hide their share of the resources and give the king only half of what they have. The women are especially educated in the ways of hiding resources from the king and that is how they survive their hardships. They will also often take from the men that they housekeep for. They have found ways of thwarting authority figures.

Most of the men also have to find ways around what their king takes from them and they do so by bribing the royal guard to only take a certain number of resources gathered by them. The government might be non-existent and the king doesn’t have the best interests of his people at heart but the city is still there and has survived for many generations being run in a similar manner. Despite the terrible king that the people of Osina have, they have the best teacher for surviving: The desert.

Military

The only military presence in the city is the royal guard made up of only men. The royal guards are there only to protect and care for the king. They are made up of the king’s extended family like his sons, nephews and brothers as well as those citizens that have such a bad reputation that they have reached the king’s ears. He will often take the worst of the city and force them to be in his employment paying them far more resources than the rest of the population. Because the royal guard will go around the city collecting any resources the citizens have collected, all resources go through the palace before being redistributed out to the city.

The royal guards are ruthless men who wouldn’t blink an eye if they had to end a life. They are the hardest and most dangerous men in the city. The other men are very aware that these men are not to be messed with. Because the royal guard is so feared in the city, they are given what they want wherever they go. They are basically treated like royalty and given absolutely everything they desire. The royal guard are greatly feared because of their training. Unlike other militaries, these men are taught, not in combat, but how to kill. They are taught the various different ways to kill a man and they have often shown their skill in murder for all to see during street fights with various citizens.

The royal guard is armed with weapons and poisons to put down the most dangerous foes. The other men are often powerless to protect themselves were they to get on the wrong side of one of these guards. That is why most of the guards get what they want when they want it. They are treated like royalty everywhere they go and they are genuinely feared among the citizens of Osina.

It is because of this that men fight with other men. The life as a royal guard is so vastly different and far more beneficial than those ordinary citizens.

Royal guards are also one of the few citizens that can venture into the desert with supplies and come back unharmed. Because the desert is such a harsh place, it is well understood that you would need supplies to be able to survive the desert. Most citizens do not have these supplies to just spend on a venture into the desert but the royal guard are not denied any request. They see it as a test of strength to spend a week or two in the desert. Royal guards are also permitted to take on females as constant caretakers of their households or boys to help them by tending to their every desire.

They are exempt from the rules of the rest of society. They are allowed many advantages that normal citizens lack. But don't be fooled. The royal guards are not there for the city. They are there to protect the king. Only the king.

Religion

The religious beliefs of the city are mainly based around a god called Udith. Udith is a god of thunder. He is most often portrayed with a thunderbolt in hand and a cruel grimace on his face. He is a god that has a violent temper and he takes it out on anyone in close range. He will also make the sky weep with his anger and it’s said that only then will he bring rain that the city so desperately needs. Keeping Udith happy means the survival of Osina. It is said that when he sees the men fight and the cruelty in the city, he will in turn offer his own cruelty and bring down the rain for the city to have some relief from the hot desert sun.

Udith takes what he wants when he wants. That is where the men learned their behavior. Udith has no female at his side but instead will take the females sacrificed to him and in return, if he is pleased with his follower’s selection of virgins, he will send the thunder to bring the rain. Udith demands bloodshed and the men oblige him. They will often engage in street fights with one another and make bets on who will be the winner during these fights. They have no fear of losing their lives if something goes wrong and they often willingly provoke whoever they find on the other side of their bad temper.

Udith encourages anger. The heat of the desert sun doesn’t help soothe the natural anger inside each and every individual in the city. The men, especially, are always fowl tempered and this is acceptable behavior, even encouraged by the religion itself. Udith is said to support the king and the king’s bloodline is said to be directly from Udith. That is the main reason everyone still hasn’t usurped the king. They believe he is the blood of a god and as such, they would encounter the wrath of the Udith. His wrath comes in the form of lack of rain.

Because Udith has never had a mate and never showed respect to females, the men follow his actions and will also refuse to offer any aid to their female counterparts. Their religion expects women to obey and submit to a man. Many of the women, for this reason, have strayed away from the religion, choosing instead to follow atheism. Because women have chosen to stray from the religion that the men follow, it has created a deeper divide between the men and the women. In fact, the women have begun fighting against the men at great risk to their own lives.

It is vital for all women to submit but the newer generation have begun arming themselves with weapons and learning how to defend themselves. Women in the sector have become self reliant a long time ago and it has gained traction in the new generation too. The women are sick of the religion that tell men that they are entitled to whatever they want.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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Osina City Zu'aan

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