Westward - Background

[Veldanya Venalla]

The last three hundred forty-three years…
A bit over three centuries ago, the founders landed
on Westward at Lake Chrysalis, a place reasoned
to hold freshwater. The next fifty years were spent
disassembling the colonial ship into pieces to
make the Capital City. An autocratic government
formed as the crew to ship disbanded and began to
try living outside the walls of the Capital City.
By the end of the first century on Westward, the
government conscripted two separate, but important
military groups, the Capital City Guard and the
Frontier Conscripts. One kept peace and order
within the confines of the Capital City with the other
charged with patrolling and protecting the people
at the edges of civilization. Eventually they created
the Marshal service, where individuals were assigned
jurisdiction over specific regions and prefects.

The Capital City Council commissioned the
tramlines by the end of the first century, meant to
help distribute and ease the work of outer territories
and frontier forts, but instead were used for collecting
resources and bringing them into the Capital City.
As we entered into the beginning of the second
Century on Westward, we realized that our resources
were limited. Folks outside the city rioted locally, and
many of the citizens in the Capital City were exiled
from within for inciting rebellion. The Capital City
Guard was accused of torture and murder during
the following Century, and not until the Capital
City formed the "council" did the unrest end. The
primary leader of the previously ruling government
stepped down and disappeared into history as a
tyrant.

Then the new government started slowly
and quietly, to change the way everything worked.
To live in the Capital City you needed an identicard.
Without a card, a person was not considered a
residential citizen. If a person left the city for more
than a month, the identicard data was erased, and the
citizenship was forfeit unless the person was under
government sanctioned work grants or military orders.
Much of the third Century, many people migrated
from prefects with tramlines. This made it more
difficult for Capital City guard to arrive and
collect resources. In some cases, smaller prefects
declared themselves independent of the Capital
City jurisdiction, but this never lasted long.
Secession from the Council and their rule was never
tolerated, and punishment was quick and harsh.
Learning their lesson, the folks who lived away
from the Capital City decided to quietly carry
out their daily lives. This worked well in the
grander scheme, until about five years ago.

Recently, the Capital City began stepping up
patrols into the Frontier and outer territory prefects
disconnected from tramlines. The Council
commissioned several air ships to make attacks on
the Ferals and raiders beyond the Frontier. This
aggravated these groups into attacking prefects,
regardless of their affiliation with the Capital City.
As the next five years passed, more and more attacks
occurred. As the people of the outer territory
and frontier became stuck in the middle, many
innocent deaths occurred amidst violent, guerillastyle
battles. When small militia groups formed
in various Prefects, hell bent on defending the
local populations, the Capital City, not fond of the
idea of independent militias, ordered Capital City
Guards to patrol and wander through prefects,
under orders to shoot anyone bearing arms.

These are dangerous times, only looking to get worse.

[Veldanya Venalla]

Manciple Primus
Manciple is tall attractive man who wears long black suits. He
has black hair and brown eyes, and normally keeps a mustache
and goatee well-trimmed, with the mustache ends curled
upwards. He often wears a top hat, in which he stores a small
gun of some kind, along with several other small arms on his
person. He also often wears a long black duster or dress coat,
and wears heavy boots that can double as steam jets. He never
goes anywhere without protection. He has a hypnotic smile and
charm, something that has obviously lead many people to trust
his judgment and governing style, however flawed. His skin is
very pale, and he always wears dark sunglasses or sun-goggles.
Manciple is a brilliant, power-hungry, and charismatic Capital
City noble and recently elected Capital City Magistrate. He has
pronounced many new laws, imposed embargos, and cut off much
of the civilization outside the Capital City from its resources. He
ordered anyone from outside the city (with the exception of official
military transports that identify themselves via specific methods)
to be gunned down on sight. There has been a ruling that bans
civilians outside the Capital City from possessing firearms. Now
people outside the Capital City must resort to the black market
for technology and weapons. He enacted these changes due to his
xenophobia, and because of reports that important Capital City
resources will run out in about 10 years due to the cost of supporting
the Prefects. Of course, he has ordered troops to continue collecting
raw resources from mining operations in the Territories. He is
the popular elected leader in the Capital City, and using this new
political power and influence, he was able to swiftly and forcefully
impose change on the surrounding Prefects. The Prefects at longer
distances have been slower to see lifestyle changes, though the
effects of cutting off the resources were felt fairly immediately.
Being an expert marksman, Manciple is responsible for the
invention of several weapon technologies and owns one of
the largest manufacturing facilities inside Capital City. He
moves around with a personal guard team, and goes nowhere
without means of escape. He is a dangerous and cunning
individual who seeks to enforce his will on all of Westward.