Two-Bit Con Artist
[SIZE=11pt]OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Intent[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: To add to the “From Beneath You’ story arc the Sith Empire started at the Dominion of Gravlex Med and submit a contest entry.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Image Credit[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: [[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]x[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]] | [[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]x[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]] | [[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]x[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]][/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Canon[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: /[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Links[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Dominion of Gravlex Med[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt] | [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]The Stones of Pho Ph’eah[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt] | [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Whispers in the Dark[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]City Name[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: The Sunken City of Gravlex Med[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Classification[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: Subterranean City[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Location[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Gravlex Med[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Affiliation[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: Those From Beneath | Anx[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Demographics[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Anx[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Wealth[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: Low. The orbital bombardment of the Anx’s civilization caused so much destruction- what is left is cobbled together from the remains. And while the Anx might have normally worked harder to regain what was lost, the denizens of this city have [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]other [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]concerns on their mind. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Stability[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: Low. This is not a city recovering from a war. This is a city still at war, simply of a different sort. The survivors of the planetary bombardment have done what they can to take care of themselves. But the currently situation prevents any chance of true rebuilding. They are pressured on one side by the infected, forcing them to be vigilant at all times. On the other side there is the constant threat of the infection suddenly appearing and growing out of control before they can quarantine it. This has led to intensive checks and controls on the remaining population. They live in constant fear, of losing more loved ones, of losing themselves and no peaceful end seems to be coming for them. Held together more by grim determination than any official government, they do what they can and what is needed to get by from day to day. Currently, the few remaining Doctors and scientists are looked to for leadership. For answers. While they are doing the best they can to provide those, they know in their hearts of hearts that it is only a matter of time before those remaining lose faith as no answers emerge. The question is only when.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Description[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]: It had a name once. But now they just called it ‘The Sunken City’. There is only one, so far as the survivors know, so that is all the name it needs. Partially destroyed by the collapse of the mountain, what remains is in shambles, but habitable. Walking the streets is a chore, debris and fallen stone everywhere one minute. But then the next one might turn a corner and find a perfectly preserved storefront, or a lone statue that no longer looks as though it belongs. One city. Two halfs. One path to the surface. The Sunken City has been divided into two separate districts. The largest part is filled with infected Anx. It is chaos there with seemingly no functional society. The smaller part is centered around the entrance to the sole shaft up to the surface. There the uninfected have chosen to make their stand. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]POINTS OF INTEREST[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Divide[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]- A no-man’s land enforced by only one side. The Divide isn’t static. A series of streets cleared to offer full line of sight, it shifts as the tides of the infected do. Because it is still not entirely understood how the contagion spreads, and small outbreaks can crop up anywhere along the edge, there is no permanency to this line. It changes to suit the needs of the day. Sometimes stable for a week, sometimes for no more than an hour, the line is watched, both on the map by what ad hoc leadership there is, as well as on the ground itself by those tasked to monitor it. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Fountain at Blackmore Square[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]- One of those lone places that oddly survived. Nearly pristine, the Fountain at the center of Blackmore Square still burbles with water, clean and fresh from a deep reservoir beneath the city. It as a source of clean water is not what makes it noteworthy- there are other sources, though no others that embody the soul of the Anx in the time before that this one does. No, the Fountain and Blackmore Square is the one place where the uninfected can watch their infected loved ones without risk. It is the one stable location on the Divide, and not a single survivor has yet been able to resist the draw of perhaps seeing, if only for a minute or two, those that remain but have been lost to the contagion. There is no interaction- an invisible line down the center of the square, an unspoken agreement to a zone of peace that taunts the survivors with hope that their loved ones are still in there somewhere, separates them. A trio of young Anx have taken it upon themselves to monitor the location at all times, and send alerts when known family of survivors have come to drink the waters there. Sometimes the person arrives in time for a glimpse. Sometimes, they do not. But it maintains a hope that is not easily extinguished. That somewhere behind those dark, thirsty eyes and the whispers of ‘From beneath you, it devours’, somewhere something of the Anx they knew remains[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Shaft[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]- One path to freedom remains. One remaining ray of sunlight. One road towards the surface, to everything they have lost since the sickness and the Empire’s ascent. It is guarded heavily, as many as they can spare from the guard rotations of the Divide. What only a few are aware of is that the path towards the surface has been turned into one big trap. Explosives have been salvaged together and line the shaft. If the Anx fall to the infected, the last resort will be to trigger those explosives and bury them all. Ensure that the rest of the Galaxy will be safe from this menace. That no other people will be haunted by the whispers. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]HISTORICAL INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]When Darth Carnifex sent his emissaries to engage with the Anx, he considered it a riskless endeavour. Calm, evolved from herd animals, what could possibly go wrong?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]He did not expect the heads of his emissaries to be sent back to him in a box. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]There was no question that the Sith would respond to such insult. After rescuing their survivors, Carnifex ordered the mountains that housed the Anx civilization be destroyed. Raining down fire from the heavens, the stones melted and cliffs shattered. The Anx that survived were sealed off and left to their fate- a testament to what could be expected of those who insulted the Sith with the blood of those loyal. The Sith at least, protected their own.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]For the Sith Empire, that was the end of it. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]For the survivors, it was a different story. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The initial intergalactic incident was spurred by a strange infection. Normally placid Anx growing aggressive and hard. While many of those infected died in the bombardment, it took only one in the Sunken City to rekindle the plague. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]It started in a single quarter. By the time it was spilling into the streets it was too late to stop- all the remaining Anx could do was contain it. They didn’t know why their brethren turned feral and angry. Why their blood ran black. Why when they were killed it pooled and solidified into beautiful onyx stones (don’t touch, they whispered, never touch). All they knew was that those that remained were all that was left between the tide of this plague and the safety of the rest of the galaxy. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]They focused their attentions on the sole shaft back to the surface. Gazing up into the light, they used that as their resolve to continue to fight. Despite the enemy at their doorstep- brothers, sisters, parents, lovers- there was also the ever present weight of knowing that at any time the Sith could return. In a way, it would almost be better, so long as it was to finish the job. Better to die in an instant than to change into those dark eyed monsters. But if they returned and somehow unleashed the contagion into the rest of the galaxy? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The gods must surely laugh at us, they whispered in their homes, heads pressed together. None of them wanted to die. But now they stood between that single shaft of light…. And a slowly growing horde of those who wished nothing more than to reach the surface. They didn’t know what they wanted beyond that. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The whispers ‘From beneath you, it devours’, echoes in the darkness. [/SIZE]They just don’t know what it means.
[SIZE=11pt]Only that they are the line between it and the rest of the galaxy. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]If only they knew how wrong they were.[/SIZE]
Created with [member="Jairus Starvald"]
