The Citadel - The keep of the seers and home of 'Mother'
Before you read the real story, you must read the information so that you can understand some of the stuff that happens hehe. So read the info below about characters, locations and sects then you can uh.. I'unno... get into the story possibly?
I might make 'The Citadel' into a proper RP later on too. It has all of the potential!
I'll begin with the main characters:
Aisha -
She is one of the cloning personnel at the College for Information Technology and Artificial Human Genome Research Laboratory, better known as the Citadel. The Citadel is a place where as a child Aisha spent her life, running tests, acquiring knowledge and even becoming a part of the examinations herself, after dying once in an experiment gone wrong she was cloned and her genes modified by some freak error in calculations. There is no true way to tell her age because nobody is sure when her old life ended and her new life began.
Aisha is a highly commended Student of the Citadel and also a valued Seer for the High Council, her knowledge in cloning technology has earned her a high position in the Seer ranks but her secretiveness of late has aroused suspicion in regards to her intentions for the College.
Turialim -
He is a quiet Merchant in his late teens, a member of the River Folk, the Rina-tei, and loved fondly by his family; quiet traders who travel on their barge bartering for supplies and exchanging news with the people residing on the land. Turialim may be quiet but his temper is easily tested, more often than not he is pushed just far enough and when the moment demands, he will unleash his temper upon those within the vicinity.
He knows very little of the Citadel, only that some traders who entered the huge steel gates never returned and those who did return were ‘different’. Those who venture close to the walls rarely come back in the same state of mind as before. Stories are all Turialim had heard of the great concrete walled College and stories they remained until he met the Keeper of the Clones.
Axle -
A young boy in his early teenage years, he has been a Student of the Citadel all his life. He works in the Information Technology department on the CAI Program (Citadel Artificial Intelligence Program) writing the codes for the cameras and doors. Not a very exciting occupation but it’s much better than some other Students who have been experimented upon and used for hard labour. Some students have even been used by the High Council to entertain those of higher position, Students are to obey without question or they are executed.
Axle knows nothing of his family; he was born in the labs and never left the computer screen he was sat in front of at the age of six. He is more an outlet for information to pass through; a converter, extremely intelligent and his reflexes have become lightning fast. He notices change in the way things work in the labs and begins to notice strange occurrences while recalibrating a faulty surveillance program, he saw the unbelievable.
Now for the different sects. Each have differing beliefs and many have their own specific level of power. They are separated into Bandints/Scavengers, Outcasts, Merchants, Students, Seers, The Cleave and The High Council.
Bandits and Scavengers -
These people are loathed by the Outcasts; their stealth abilities and small packs make them difficult to track, even the Outcast law enforcers have trouble spotting them out. Bandits are organised and good at aggravated burglary, quite often they will escape with food or small amounts of cloth, those who are captured are tried and prosecuted under the law of the Prophets. Scavengers are far less organised and only specialise in begging or pick pocketing, they usually lurk around the Mos-Bailen marketplace and the outskirts of Red Waters, very rarely will a Scavenger risk entering another village in fear of meeting Bandits along the way.
Outcasts -
Unwanted in times of war, considered as low class people of very little value, the Outcasts were banished from the more built up landmasses by the High Council of the Citadel. Their possessions stripped, the Outcasts were forced to survive without basic things like currency, clothing or trinkets of personal value, this separated the Outcasts to separate areas where the once nomadic people, settled and formed small colonies. These colonies are as follows;
River Folk: Also known as the Rina-tei, the River Folk settled along the banks of the Niger River in Africa. Consisting purely of traders and merchants who carry supplies and information along the Niger, the Rina-tei are renowned for their goods and are quite often praised for becoming the links between the other colonies.
Forest Dwellers: Also known as the Furies, the Forest Dwellers reside in tall trees not far from the Sky Tamers of Mt. Vogel. The forest dwellers provide most of the fruit trade as well as the medicines for the Outcasts and tradespeople. They have become great warrior people and have a special connection with the wildlife they share their environment with. Their ‘tribes’ are mainly of women, the men only provide muscle for the creation of structures within the forests and guard for the women of the village.
Swamp Stayers: Also known as the Suni-rei, the Swamp Stayers live in mostly dampened mangrove huts along the Coast of Nigeria, only venturing into the sloppy swamplands to hunt for semi-aquatic reptiles to strip of meat and trade for clothing and medicine. The Suni-rei are very diseased and their dialect is hard to understand, few dare enter their domain without a good supply of soaps and antiseptic for the deep mire hides many broken machine parts. If cut in this place, infection is almost certain.
Ocean Riders: Also known as the Ocera-Siera; the Ocean Riders live in floating huts which sit tethered to the docks of Port Harcourt. They rise and fall with the tides and fish offshore providing oil and shells for the inland people; they are admired for their beauty and grace as well as their trade value. Of course the Ocera-Siera are quite adapted to their living conditions and can swim very efficiently in strong currents.
Sky Tamers: Also known as the Valkyries of Mt. Vogel, the Sky Tamers specialise purely in the development of flying craft, still no major discoveries have been made as to how one would become airborne but the still existing knowledge combined with stories shared within the sect have led to very close discoveries. Even though human flight hasn’t been achieved, their falcons and eagles work as their messengers to other Outcast colonies. A new breed of Falcon being developed by the people of the sky is fast becoming popular as a guard like beast, its massive body and broad adaptability makes it perfect for carrying large amounts of trade. These falcons are used mainly for scouting and trade but eventually once large enough will be used to guard the mountain fortresses.
Cave Prophets: Also known as the Cora-Onei, the Cave Prophets have taken the Old burial caves above the ruined Dogon villages and transformed them into underground fortresses, being careful not to disturb the resting spirits under the soil. The cave rats are a wise people and often have a tale to tell the traders, their leader, an old and tattered man who knew the world how it was before the New Age began, would often sell his knowledge of the past (mostly to the Valkyries and Merchants) for food or building materials. The Cora-Onei sell minerals and salts to other colonies In return for information on the world’s events above ground. The burial caves are protected by cave-dwelling spirits of times gone by; only special passage allows one to pass.
Merchants -
Originally thought of as only meddlesome traders and some still believe they are, the Merchants meet in a small trade village named Mos-Bailen situated on the junction between the Niger and Benue Rivers. This village is a higher ranked Merchant settlement than the Rina-tei or even the Furies; they are even allowed to have some restricted trade with the Citadel and its staff but under close surveillance.
The Merchants originated from Outcasts who enjoyed travel, they then moved on to larger enterprises and developed more advanced craft for travel, far more efficient motors have made it easy to get from The Citadel end of the Benue River (also named ‘Red Waters’) to the junction and along the Niger River in less than two days. This ability is extremely important because those who moor on the edge of the river alone run the risk of being looted by bandits or scavengers.
Students -
They are the lowest and hardest working members of the Citadel, they are only identified by their unique seven digit code sequence and their intelligence can only be matched by the computers which programmed and coded them. This intelligence that the Students possess is not the same that a natural child would have; this intelligence is more relayed information from the Motherboard. The Motherboard is the mega unit of the Students, constructed by the High Council as a teaching tool directly inserted into the Student’s cerebral cortex, information is translated into grey matter and learnt; this was known as ‘Cerebral Jacking’. The effectiveness of Cerebral Jacking all depended on the individual’s Cerebrexterity or ability to adapt and initially survive the process of connecting to the Motherboard. Those who do not possess the adequate adaptability, perish or are executed, some are even used in Laboratory experimentatio
n.
A few Students have separated from the Motherboard and begun living amongst the higher ranked Seers, learning and doing more the natural way rather than programming a computer to do it for them. Simple tasks such as dressing and eating are frustrating to the Students because everyone around them can do these things but they cannot. These Students, once they have gained the skills needed, are named Independents but still carry out tasks a Student would, like detecting movements through the security network or sounding alarms when a security network is disrupted. Additional tasks include entertaining the Seers and High council, cleaning, cooking, laundering and a range of other errands within the Citadel. No student is allowed into the Laboratories once Independence is achieved.
Seers -
The Seers are the elite of the Citadel; they are composed of gifted Students, Independents, highly intelligent and appraised ‘Selected’ members of the industry. This sect of the Citadel also spreads to another smaller settlement outside of the Citadel and to the East along the Benue River. This is called the Development Institution where all of the Seers live their not so private lives. They are quite often seen in the artificial environments made by the Students.
Seers are the main breeding unit for the Citadel, they are to pair and reproduce within the time they are given, if they do not, the Seers aren’t punished, they are merely ‘counselled’ and told that they are to reproduce at a later date. Seers never see the outside world, but most have dreamt of what it would be like, some have tried to escape and those who do are often recaptured and sent to the Laboratories to be cleansed.
The Cleave -
The Cleave are the unmoving protectors of the Citadel and deliverers of punishment for non-conformists. Not to be trifled with and far shorter tempers than some of the Seers, The Cleave will not tolerate incompetency.
High Council -
Not much is known about the mysterious High Council; they reside in the tallest spires of the Citadel and rarely venture down to be with the Seers or Students. All that the Seers know of the High Council is that they possess extreme power over the entire land; they are the ones who began the New Age’s reign. They designed the Citadel to suit their living needs and thus have them at their leisure, so they need not come down to the level of the middle and low class people. The High Council is composed of twelve members as well as their guard who are known as the Cleave. Some speculations have arisen as to whether or not the High Council actually exist but nobody has ever dared to test them.