Hekaitor
From Shahara
Contents |
Overview: The Deadlands of Hekaitor
They were not always known as the Deadlands, twenty years ago it was considered one of the most terrifying countries in the world. Not because of any particularly powerful military, or an awesome naval force the likes of which had never been seen, but because of its society. It is widely believed, even today, that Hekaitor's society was the result of brainwashing on a national level, but those who study its history in depth will learn the more horrifying truth. Hekaitor's governing body was made up entirely of those with extensive knowledge in psychiatry and psychology, hundreds of years of experiments and policies and study yielding a final product that they found satisfactory- A country with no discrimination, no internal hatred, of any form. Something they promised to bring to the entire world, that their perfection would dominate all other societies eventually, even if they didn't appreciate it at the time. Truly, a poor choice of words..
Society?
All races that adhered to the written and unwritten rules, male or female or both, found haven in what was globally considered a Dystopian 'utopia'. The style we would be familiar with would be the equivalent of 1950's White Suburban America; identical homes with identical families with identical children and identical mindsets. Now take out the 'white' part, add in every civilized race of this world, allow for a few of the 'positive' religions as opposed to a singular one, encourage lots of sex-after-marriage for nice big families, and put a big pleasant smile on everyone's faces. Rigid conformity in an extremely controlled social environment, individualism heavily suppressed, in favor of expressing oneself through ones job, family, and standard of living. Raised from birth to accept a specific way of thinking and living, mixed with moderate brainwashing and heavy propaganda, everyone was happy. The absolute lack of bigotry even on a subconscious level allowed for a true harmony between varying races- a goblin businessman had the same chance of getting that big promotion at the office that a human, or an elf, or a catfolk, or any other race had. A halfling and a half-ogre pair of teenagers making out in the back of Sparrow drew no second looks or second thoughts, just a couple kids in love. Everyone was expected to have achieved certain goals at a certain age, such as a driver's license at 15 or entering college by no later than 20. Communist-like social programs mingled with pseudo-Democratic legal systems ensured that everyone had a job to do, Big Brother making sure that they were happy doing their jobs, always striving to do their best for the sake of everyone. If you happened to get a promotion or a raise in the course of doing your job, that took second place to -doing- a job so well that you earned such a promotion/raise. Everyone was happy, Big Brother told them so, and he was right. Crime was almost always accidental or a matter of misunderstanding, Hekaitor's punishment system involving a severe regime of psychological reprogramming and brainwashing to make an offender into a proper citizen ensured this.
The soldier-priests of Hekaitor were another form of control. Psychological control hiding behind spirituality. And acting as a backup military force, like the National Guard.
Economy
It was rumored that Hekaitor had phased money out of their society due to their perfect self-sufficiency. This could just be true since even families on the lower end of the social scale were rather large. A household where dad is a city janitor and mom is an elementary school teacher couldn't possibly afford 10 children all on their own, and there is evidence that supports the idea that they had an extremely careful and rigid system to allocate resources to make sure every family got exactly what they needed to thrive. Their meticulousness in the allocation of resources is almost so perfect that it was unbelievable.
Death of Perfection
Alas, all this will never be confirmed, due to the Horror that struck the country.. Hekaitor had never been all that friendly with its neighbors or the world at large, portraying the rest of the world as a filthy place full of hate and crime and suffering, which the rest of the world didn't take kindly to. Tensions escalated, Hekaitor said if they would just give their way a try, everyone could truly prosper, and then the most likely scenario occurred. A national pride day where the Hekaitor government made a broadcast to the entire world. All but the most necessary functions were ceased so that the majority of the population could attend huge rallies and parades while listening to their President make a speech. He swore to his people and the world, and to the Gods above, that he'd someday bring their peace to the entire world. Needless to say, it could have been phrased much better. Midway through the speech, the country's nuclear arsenal was shown off in an ostentatious display of power... And doomed them all. Five minutes after these weapons were shown off, the music ceased, and the screams began. Every major power in the world- even Sharaha- launched nuclear and biological weapons, the Hekaitor President's choice of words and display of power instantly interpreted to mean that they were launching their arsenal right then and there. Out of seven million some-odd people, only a few thousand managed to escape, either by plane or boat or by fleeing past the Northern or Southern borders. Though Hekaitor had an impressive stockpile of fortified bunkers, purification machines, food and water processors, septic systems, and more or less every necessity to survive an NBC holocaust, they hadn't expected it to come quite so soon. Caught entirely off guard, their society was entirely wiped out. No one ever knew what happened after the transmissions stopped. Many attempts were made by low flying planes or satellite cameras to see what had happened, but the sheer level of radiation and enormous amounts of electromagnetic interference made it impossible. Every so often, one country or another would send in people to see if they could find traces of survivors, or at least some of the secrets Hekaitor was rumored to have, but every expedition disappeared without trace or word.
Present Days
20 years later, the radiation has died down to the point where parts of the country could feasibly be inhabited again, though there are still a few major hotspots, it is to the point where the radiation could be cleaned up. A few survivors managed to escape from Hekaitor two years ago, each one taking a large boat stocked full of supplies to different countries, and.. Disappeared. Everyone knows a few people got away, but they all vanished as soon as they reached civilized lands. As if someone had made them disappear. There are many conspiracy theories as to what happened to them, but none can as of yet be proven true. Perhaps they just wanted to be left alone, to live their lives as best as possible, and forget..
The place is full of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of undead people, millions of undead -animals-, oozes, otyughs, and a few aberrations that are adapting to the radioactivity.
Survivors of Hekaitor end up in three categories: They're insane, and ended up in asylums. They were rich, and bought themselves new lives. Or they're lucky as all hell and trying to forget.
Tours
For your safety, and the safety of your group, minimum level should be five. And even then...
