Axis
Within the Shadow of the Cardinal Khan
"Axis is a tough place if you got nothin'... then again, if you have somethin' worth havin', you got a thousand hungry eyes staring daggers into your back. Scheming to make it theirs. But you don't get to worry about that until after you make it big, cause around here: if you ain't winnin', you’re losin'."
~ Paffik, Corporate Fixer
Thirteen Boroughs. Home to the hustle and bustle of Axis beneath the watchful eye of what was once the tallest mountain in all of Salt. The Cardinal Khan. Axis is a Nation-State with no official ruling government and only a single law, as can be read engraved on The Guilded Gate:
Commerce Is King
The Axian Boroughs are under the control of countless gangs, syndicates, and corporations with little to no oversight. Most Axians live their lives in the endless pursuit of Bling, a representation of material wealth, driven by a cutthroat society that places profit over all else.
Attribute Changes
The Axis Birthrite grants a +2 Charm Attribute Bonus.
Glitz, Glam, and Glitter; Axians live for a good time and love a well-thrown party. Entertainers, Artists, and Personalities wield massive influence over popular opinion among the working poor while socialites and aristocrats indulge in every hedonistic delicacy within their budget. However, most Axians have a positive outlook and a natural charm and openness that many find endearing.
The Axis Birthrite grants a -1 Power Attribute Penalty.
A shared trait among the populace of Axis is the irresistible urge to evade accountability and the responsibilities of one’s actions. Axians are frequently accused of cheating, running out on a bill, or scapegoating others. Often, an Axian will do everything within their power to push their responsibilities onto a subordinate. The average Axian citizen wouldn’t raise a finger if they didn’t have to. These bad habits of work avoidance have impacted their physique, making Axians softer in tests of physical strength.
The Axis Birthrite grants a choice:
+1 Skill Attribute Bonus
-or-
+1 Will Attribute Bonus
Gambling and games of skill or chance are prevalent in Axis. Every household is known to carry at least a deck of cards for the entertainment of guests, amongst other displays to signify their wealth and importance. A long history of barkers and hustlers running rigged street games to steal an unfortunate sucker’s last bit of Bling has instilled some Axians with a strong sense of weariness around swindlers and cheats.
The Axis Birthrite grants a choice:
-1 Grit Attribute Penalty
-or-
-1 Focus Attribute Penalty
Living a life without limits comes with a price. The extravagant lifestyles and hoarding of wealth have created massive levels of poverty within the Axian Territories. Many do not have access to proper nutrition, with most maintaining a diet of heavily processed foods and some without access to food at all. In addition, factors like the noise and stimulation from the bustle of the city, the constant barrage of advertisements, and unmitigated drug use cause many Axians to suffer in their ability to concentrate.
Class Abilities
The Axis Birthrite grants a choice:
Deception
-or-
Electronics
Your choice applies as an additional selection to your Studious Tenderfoot Class Feature.
Access To Resources
An Axian’s access to resources depends on which side of the Poverty Divide they reside. The poor Havents have access to whatever meager living they can scrape together while the wealthy Elites have their every whim and desire met with extraordinary fashion. Wealthy Axian Elites can have a team of highly skilled laborers address any of their slightest wants or needs at the push of a button. Unfortunately, poor Axian Havents usually have to rely on their wits to meet their needs, getting what they can from vendors and local artisans in exchange for their labor.
Beliefs
Axis societally believes that a person’s value directly correlates to wealth, which translates to the power at their disposal. The more Bling you’ve got, the better, more brilliant, more attractive, and virtuous you are, personally. Axians believe that currency is the key that drives action. If you want to get anything done, it better come with a mountain of Bling as a consequence. Bling is the primary motivator in an Axian’s day-to-day priorities. Obtaining Bling is paramount to survival in towns under Axian control. Food, Water, Medical Care. Everything in Axis has a price.
Bling is more of a state of mind than an actual currency.
Bling can be anything that could be of potential value in a trade. Most commonly, Bling refers to the small coins made of rare metals used as bartering tokens.
Climate
The Climate around the Cardinal Khan is that of high temperatures and humidity caused by rampant, uncontrolled pollution. Acid rains scorch barren stretches of untenable rocky terrain in the more hostile regions of the mountain. Winters are unbearably dense and dark, while summers bring dangerously high temperatures. It does not snow in Axis.
Education
A child’s options for Education in Axis are vastly different depending on their placement along the Poverty Divide. Elite children receive every advantage, taught by elite tutors and instructors at private institutions or within the luxury of their homes. Havent children are responsible for their education, many working jobs or trades to assist their household in making ends meet. Many Mercenary Syndicates make their base in Axis, grooming potential assets through various professions, including bodyguarding, bounty hunting, and contract killing. The Academy Imperica in the borough of White Bay, also known as the City of Free Thought, has been known to turn out some of the most capably trained Adepts, Mechanics, and Apothics in the world.
Fashion
Axians always dress to conduct business. They put pride in their appearance and the maintenance of their clothing. They often wear jewelry and accessories to complement their outfit. Many designs, artwork, and styles of dress are centered or themed around coins. In Axis, the rule of thumb is dress to kill. Fashion is a tool for expressing one’s importance and power. Axians will often wear a weapon as an accessory to an outfit and pride themselves on their customized, one-of-a-kind articles of clothing. The popularity of coins among the Axians reflects in the local iconography, with coins commonly represented in creative works, architecture, and statues.
Geographical Location
The core of Axis carves out of the collapsed remains of a mountain called the Cardinal Khan. Its Gilded Gate lies northwest of the great desert known as the Dust. Axis is bordered along Axead, its southern-most borough, by the twisting Veiled Forests. Axian Territory reaches northward from the Cardinal Khan, with its eastern and northern borders marked by the coastline of the Imiri Ocean.
Goals
The personal goals of an individual Axian can come from a wide variety of desires and interests. They may be interested in starting their own Business, Gang, or Company, they could want to perfect a particular craft, talent, or artform, or they have a convoluted plot to “rake it in.” Many Axians are just looking out for their next big score, not to say they are incapable of being sentimental. If anything, sentimental statements from the Axians are more meaningful, as they indicate that the Axian values something more than its trade value.
Grooming
The grooming habits of the average Axian are remarkably universal. Regardless of wealth, the Axians have consistently shown to put their appearance first. Axians love to punctuate their styles with perfumes, oils, and fragrances. Wealthy Axians bathe daily and will spend their time on long, lavish spa retreats pampered by exotic soaps and oils. Poor Axians popularized what is known as a ‘Bandit Bath’ using whatever water is available to relieve themselves of any dirt or grime. However, in some of the more unsanitary conditions, it’s just not possible.
Habits
Living in Axis can make a person develop some personal habits fueled by a mistrust of the people around them for their benefit. For example, Axians often check their wallets or belongings to see if anything is missing, keep mental tabs of debts owed by them or to them, and abandon a drink once they take their eyes off it. Other habits include checking between cushions and hard-to-reach places for potentially lost treasures, having a ‘lucky’ object, or having unattended valuables somehow end up in their pockets.
History
Before the fall of the Fonterra, the fate of the Cardinal Khan was a highly contested issue among the terraforming superstructure’s leadership and population. The most prominent mountain in the observable solar system, the Cardinal Khan, has a diameter of over 400,000 Paces with just over 17,000 Paces in height. Industrialists among the crew would have the mountain, along with its unfathomable caches of valuable resources, hollowed out and repurposed into useful materials to colonize the newly terraformed world. On the other hand, environmentalists wished to preserve the mountain splendor as a unique formation in the universe. As such, the people should conserve it for the generations that follow.
After the fall of the Fonterra, many survivors that made it planet-side knew of a place that was an easily identifiable natural landmark, water adjacent, and rich in essential resources. So, naturally, people began to settle at the base of the Cardinal Khan. Early life in the Frontierland was brutal. Countless tribes formed after The Descent, but many collapsed within their infancy. Lost to war, famine, disease, and at times, consumed by the wilds. In comparison, other early nations found strength in military might or unrelenting faith—those that would found Axis relied upon wits, ingenuity, and superior firepower.
Teams of laborers, engineers, and mercenaries under the leadership of what would later become the modern-day Corporations got to work in pulling what they needed to survive from the Cardinal Khan. As expected, their efforts met with a mixture of resounding successes and miserable failures. The edge granted by their specialized equipment and materials allowed the security forces to beat back any potential invaders with ease. Still, it made conflicts for local power all the more deadly.
The Syndicates of Axis found themselves able to take large swaths of land in the north, with no external threats able to compete with the advanced weaponry and material excess granted by the Cardinal Khan. As they took more and more from the mountain, its husk became the protective shell that towers over the modern-day Axis, the expansive metropolis becoming packed into the interior of the Cardinal Khan. But security against invasion did little to prevent internal conflict.
A Gang would conduct a bloody rise to power over years of brutality only to be toppled by an even more brutal gang within the next product cycle. Assassinations, turf wars, and sabotage were an everyday occurrence, even amongst the Elites and Aristocracy that found themselves removed from the daily struggle to survive. The cost of living in Axis was often your life, and some things never change.
One day, the entire nation paid the price. A massive bomb in Cogstyx meant to disturb the mining operations of a rival Corporation caused a chain of catastrophic fractures within the interior of the Cardinal Khan. The resulting fractures ignited what would later be known as The Collapse. Massive shards from the mountain came crashing down onto the city below. Entire structures toppled into each other, causing absolute chaos with hundreds of thousands of lives lost and countless more maimed or left in shambles. Scars from The Collapse still mark the interiors of the mountain to this day.
The day Axis opened the sky. Something had to happen if Axis were to survive. If the Elites wished to keep their place at the top of this nation, they would need an agreement in place to stop one of them from messing it up for the rest of them. And thus, the Vermillion Concord was forged, and VerCon set its foundation in a newly constructed Red Square. Members of the VerCon Board of Directors were granted total dominion over the borough they represented, with confrontations between Board Members and their holdings strictly forbidden. However, each Board Member was responsible for maintaining their power within their borough. Wealthy usurpers that displace a Board Member are customarily offered a seat at the table to keep a smooth transition of power. Over time, what were once massive sweeping campaigns made to destroy a rival business through force transitioned into shadowy backroom plots funneled through shell organizations for anonymity. The violence never honestly stopped, but violence alone would never be able to conquer the Axian people.
VerCon firmly locked the social structure of this society in place. With social hierarchies effectively set in writing, the social fabric of Axis began to take form. Corporations found immense benefit in being publicly popular and began increasing efforts to sway public opinion in their favor. Bling started to take the place of the goods exchanging hands among the prosperous. Businesses began minting their own branded coins and valuables to increase their influence among the public. As a result, a veritable horde of treasures started to flow through the streets of Axis daily. An unprecedented degree of trade, commerce, and material production swept the nation. Constant promotion for the newest, best, or most expensive items began to impact the way people viewed the world around them in a way that persists today.
Everything became commodified, and everyone had a price tag.
Language
The Axian Language contains the most extensive lexicon of words out of any regional language of Salt, with new products constantly being developed, the Corporate and Gang doublespeak utilized to mask operations, and the popularization of terms used by celebrities trying to invent new concepts. The various level of slang and specialized jargon makes Axian incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the culture. Axian naming conventions are often tied to perceived material values or the labor to acquire such materials. For example, Axian Parents often believe that big names make big people, granting their children a moniker that they could see plastered on a marquee or engraved on a plaque or statue. Axians become incredibly attached to their identity, but if it no longer brings them a profit, it is not uncommon for one to reinvent themselves, at times going as far as faking their death as a publicity stunt or avoiding their debts.
Politics
The proper seat of power lies within the Vermillion Concord, a board of 13 members, reserved for the wealthiest person of each borough, almost always a powerful Executive or Ganglord. While VerCon maintains total dominion over the Axian Territories, their influence permeates through all societies, spanning the farthest reaches across the land of Salt. The Vermillion Concord is effectively an agreement between the most influential person of each Axian Borough that they will not directly interfere with each other’s operations within their territory. In exchange, they are to operate as a unified force when faced with a threat to Axis as a Nation. This does little to stop power-hungry board members from plotting against each other while dancing around the rules of the agreement.
VerCon runs its global operations from the indomitable Crimson Tower in the heart of Red Square, where the Corporations manipulate massive landholdings and well-equipped armies of the best killers Bling can buy. Axis is considered one of the Four Great Nations, along with Kronin, Armistice, and Requiem on the World Stage. Axis boasts industrial superiority compared to other nations, centralized in the borough of Cogstyx. Axis is also the origin of countless scientific breakthroughs thanks to the uninhibited research conducted in the borough of White Bay.
Profession
There is no shortage of careers to be had in a busy Axian’s life. Many civilians manage two or three jobs just to put food on the table. A Craftsman, Mechanic, or Apothic would not have to look far for a factory ready to extract their labor in these parts. Mercenary work is also a prevalent trade, frequently routine security, with specialists being paid more for advanced missions. Entertainers, Artists, and Personalities play to packed crowds at taverns, stadiums, and dens of iniquity, frequently requiring an entourage to assist them. Those with special skills or talents have also placed their hopes on lives as Adventurers.
Relationships
Relationships in Axis can be a dramatic, scandalous affair. Shifty communication and a transactional mindset between family members or romantic partners and an environment with strains on mutual trust or household resources can cause interpersonal tensions to run high. In addition, Axian families and couples often have a well-polished public persona that masks internal strife behind closed doors. Lack of accountability can also cause tensions to erupt in intense violence. It’s not uncommon for a story beginning with two Axian Teenagers in love to end with five dead and twice as many injured.
Religion
Those that Walk the Path have found some successes in the creation of chapels and temples in Axis. The Galvanique sect finds itself at home among the Axian Elites, indulging in extravagance with a great appreciation for art and beauty. Many common laborers and Engineers find solace from their daily toil in the philosophies on Creation and Discipline of the Fourneau sect. The Unchained provide charity and alms for some of the needy of Axian Havents, often against overwhelming odds, as if trying to halt the tide with a pale.
Social Caste
There are two primary social tiers that the civilians of Axis will fall under along the divide of wealth. The vast majority of the population makes up the poverty-stricken Havents under the exploitation of wealthy Elites. The Elites can maintain their lives of gluttonous luxury at the expense of everyone viewed as beneath them. As a result, biases often develop into hostilities between the two groups, with Elites making their home in the luxury provided by boroughs within the Gilded Gate; the Havents have only the ravages of the Frontierland.
Traditions
There are traditions in Axian towns that stand out from other locales and may impact interactions with different cultures. One such tradition is the Free Market. Every hub of civilization within the Axian Territories houses a public square for free trade. There are no rules or regulations placed on products offered in the Free Market. Axians also hold a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to conducting business. Come to the counter ready to purchase. Wasting time is wasting Bling, and if you waste an Axian’s Bling, they may be considering ways to kill you. Be punctual, be professional, and always adhere to your contracts. Axis is known for being the center of operations for many merchant fleets and caravans, bringing their goods and influence to far expanses of the world. Marketing would have you believe that it’s not a real town until an Axian Caravan shows up to make some scratch.
Values
The people of Axis hold many values that together showcase the generally accepted ideas of this society and its potential compatibility with a foreign culture. Axis has a culture that values competition. Axians love to win and often view situations through the lens of “Winners and Losers.” Losing is particularly harmful to an Axian’s reputation, which can be devastating for their prospects. Axian society values individuality and self-expression. Art, creativity, and discovery are celebrated and encouraged to hope that they could be wildly popular. An Axian will always take a moment to appreciate artistic expression.
Everyone in Axis can understand the value of a secret. They are incorrigible gossips, constantly aching and angling for the latest details about anything and everything within their scope of interests. Axians hold little value for conservation, nature, or the environment. They are frequent polluters and can be very careless when given access to communal resources. Axians value the power of positive thinking. Axians can compel to act when they feel the odds are in their favor and will bail out on a losing bet. Axians like to approach challenges by envisioning success and working backward.
Vices
Vices are just the way of life in Axis. Fast-paced lifestyles fueled by unhealthy foods and the heavy use of recreational chemicals are the norm for a majority of the population. A work-obsessed corporate culture pushes its people to their absolute limits, and they indulge in everything available in a land without limits to cope with the stress.
Wealth
Wealth plays a more significant impact on the lives of its citizens than any other nation in the world. Aside from the apparent disparity of the Poverty Divide, your ability to produce an income is essential to one’s survival. The destitute and poverty-stricken, disabled, and unable to work would be at the absolute bottom rung of societal wealth. Civilians left in this state face a high mortality rate, and starvation and disease represent a direct threat. Above that are the working poor. These laborers are the lifeblood of Axis. The work put in by the capable poor allows Elites to live such lives of luxury. Some workers may even be decently compensated as individuals but kept poor due to supporting disabled families or recovering from an injury or addiction.
On the other side of the Poverty Divide are the service Elites. These are well-compensated members of society that provide services and highly skilled support of the upper echelons of society. Finally, at the top of the chain is the Elite Aristocracy. Generations beyond wealth are heavily concentrated in few hands that may or may not have earned a single bit of the massive Bling fortunes at their disposal.