Exildun

"Son, this is a dangerous place full of people who want kill each other, and that building right there, that is the bar I met your mother." -Brewmaster towards his son as they enter
Exildun is a town operating directly outside of the Collective's territory to welcome Collective exiles to non-Technocracy Soi. The town was founded in the early Golden Age as a means of gathering workers. When it is not the target of banditry, the city benefits from the large amount of commerce in the region, bringing in a large amount of money for itself and other nations who have taken an interest in the town. The city is now a melting pot of nations and cultures, the core population showing a heavy influence of unclaimed nations and the Inisfall Confederacy .
== History ==
In the wake of the Trade War the Family Hearth founded Exildun as a means of exploiting the Circle. Emigrants from the Circle that were exiled or escaped were welcomed and given new homes in return for information that could be used to their benefit in the Trade War. However following the Corpsebloom epidemic and the use of the township as the eastern hub for the distribution of Purgeroot, Exildun finally made it onto the map as the refugees filtered into the large village in search of safety and the cure. Many stayed, and the hub grew into a small town of initially tents and then more permanent structures. As the town prospered, other nations took an interest in the center as it was not under the say of any eastern power.
The Inisfall Confederacy was the first, and ultimately most influential of the nations to take an interest. Seeking to bring their economic and ideological philosophies to the eastern block as well as find their own prosperity, waves of settlers from the island nation settled into the region, bringing the village well and truly into a proper township and beginning to shape the local flavor. The Woag soon followed, much to the Merchant's ire, securing a place on the mainland to conduct trade where they would not be assumed to be interested in only raiding.
As the years ticked on, a large number of unclaimed nations took an interest in tapping into the prosperity of the now bursting-at-the-seams town, pushing the population well into the realm of a fully fledged city. Among the late comers to the township was the Broken Kingdom with the arrival of a Grand Parade, and most recently the Tallet themselves (for once without an army).
==Factions==
===Red Trail===
After the large scale growth of Exildun and Goran influence in the eastern block post Great War the city has taken the aspects of the Red Trail. The hub status of this large city gives anonymity, the distance away from Gor gives security and the Hearth Family present allows safe emigration worldwide. Free agents and government operatives alike take position in the trail. Members of the Circle to the Tallet and even political rebels of the Family Hearth operate the underground Goran liberation.
====Sea====
The Goran and the Family Hearth have a strong and powerful alliance. To the Goran recognizable Family Hearth members are Goran and not foreigners. Most Family Hearth ships have Goran on board providing security and manning the ships. Because of this close connection, The Family Hearth and Goran usually have a strong relationship even on an individual basis. Political dissenters from the Family Hearth have little qualm in transporting Goran “refugees” who are friends seeking a life free of slavery. The -Family Hearth rebels declare a loss at sea and note an official death for the refugee Goran, and they then transport them across the warm seas to the Broken Kingdoms where they make contact with Red Trail and are eventually transported to Exildun.
Red Trial
Legitimate members of the Goran Ministration of Light manage to make safe passage using the Red Trail. Once in the land not yet controlled by Gor they secretly use the infrastructure of the enemy to their advantage. Subtly or overtly the Red Trial seeks to bring Goran justice to all betrayers. This can take form of kidnapping the escaped betrayers and publicly burning them, taking high doses of Divinity to purge a den of Red Trail operatives or even just sending data collected back to the Goran nation for census data and vengeance.
====Underground====
Ever since the construction of the Wall, Goran have been constructing means to get over, around, or through it. One of the most successful means thus far are the tunnels . Under the Order of Gor the tunnels are not complete until armies can march through it shoulder to shoulder. This does not mean many of the tunnels have not emerged in the Circle's land. They are merely too small to fulfill Gor's orders. The Red Trail uses these tunnels as an active means of transporting Gorans out of the Goran Nation under the guise of random collapse and accidental death. From here they are transported through Circle land to Exildun. It is from this means of transport that the word underground is synonymous with escape from slavery.  
===The Liberation Force===
The Liberation Force is a controversial Exildun faction that is comprised almost entirely of Inisfalli people. The goal of the Liberation Force is to ensure that Collective drones break free of their brainwashed slavery and become free citizens of the world, as is their basic human right as told by the Fili. The Liberators understand that the Collective brainwashing may be so intense that even if the slaves willingly leave that they may want to return. Therefore, the Liberators identify ex-Collective drones who are at risk of returning to their slavery (debts, low economic status, discontent with earning their livelihoods instead of being given it, etc.) and spirit them away to an Inisfalli city-state to better their lives.
Drone scientists or other useful drones who are unhappy with capitalism are given to the Druids , where their lives are much the same as it was back in the Collective (but with more emphasis on personal freedom and lack of government control). Few ex-Collective Druids find themselves unhappy in this situation.
Drones who desire power and wealth, but who did not easily gain it in Exildun due to lack of training find themselves apprenticed to a clan and work for a set period of years in return for food and shelter. During this apprenticeship clan lords train the Collective member in the art of business, and may eventually marry into and become a part of Inisfalli society.
If an Inisfalli city-state (or Exildun) requires more wards of the state, the less desirable ex-drones become wards of the state. If there is a surplus of wards, the drone is left to return to the Collective. Not every slave can be freed.
Within the Liberation Force there are two sub-factions, the Intelligence and the Drone Raiders. The Intelligence cuts out Exildun as the middle-man and kidnaps future Druids directly from Collective territory. The Drone Raiders aim to make life so unpleasant for drones that they realize how little their government cares for them, and raze Collective settlements whilst looting and raping their citizenry. Some Drone Raiders may take a wife or husband for themselves. Many Liberators find the Raiders to be doing no better than the Collective itself, considering these marriages slavery.
=== Technocracy ===
The Technocracy's response, to international surprise, was to include Exildun in their official policy. Encircled who wish to leave the Circle to join the Traders are encouraged to use this route, and given pamphlets explaining the outside world to them, including maps and advice on how to differently manage their money. They built a small office to exchange Credits for coins in the nearest town inside the Circle's border, and have used it to provide free transportation to the outpost along a Technocracy built road. The result was that both cities had a steady stream of immigrants going in and out.
"After all there's no policy against packing your things and leaving. If you don't want to live here, why would we want you to stay?" -Technocracy emigration aide
Unfortunately, as the Confederacy's presence grew and they noticed the problem of immigration into the Circle through Exildun, they took measures to shut down the path as firmly as they could. Today the flow to the Circle has slowed to a minor trickle, with any efforts by the Technocracy to open the valve meeting strong and armed resistance from the Inisfalli Liberation Force.
Significant numbers of the immigrants are interested in becoming rich without the Technocracy's restraint on their holdings and enter Exildun seeking to make their fortunes. Some of these enterprising Encircled end up wanting to return to the Circle once they realize that the pamphlets weren't lying about class rigidity, but this can take quite some time of living in relative poverty, or having to flee areas under the threat of death when their attempts at earning riches step on the wrong toes. These wealth-seeking emigrants (as well as highly skilled ones) often find themselves under an apprenticeship in an Inisfalli city-state, spirited away from Exildun and easy access to the Circle by the Liberation Force before a desire to return home can truly set in.
Some travelers simply want to see the world outside and understand what they're getting into and test the waters in Exildun. These sorts are generally happy with their new lives, though some who through lack of skill, motivation, or luck fall on hard times. Former Encircled who find themselves striking out in Exildun often find themselves taken as wards of Exildun or another Inisfalli city-state. In an attempt to "deprogram" the drones, Encircled find themselves essentially captive for a year before they are allowed to return home, if they still desire to do so after being given the more direct assistance.
The Circle has relatively open borders and most are typically welcomed back, though years of outside life means they may struggle to re-integrate into Encircled society.
==== The Mission ====
As usual, the Technocracy also sent missionaries offering to set up a school and clinic. At first, all of the anti-Technocracy factions that comprise Exildun did not approve, but they eventually relented and the structures were built. After the buildings were finished, all of the missionaries were never heard from again. Nobody knows quite what happened, but numerous Liberators were seen interacting with WARG gangs around this time.
Later, when the Technocracy received reports of potential immigrants being kidnapped, they responded by sending a detachment of guards to investigate. The Technocracy spent their own resources, a rare occurrence, to build onto the mission, attempting to make it into a safe point where potential immigrants could get a ride into the Circle under the guard's watchful eye. The Technocracy agents disappeared. Every time a pro-Technocracy member came in, they never returned. The Technocracy exchange office was razed to the ground, and a new credit exchange market rose in the city. Every time the Technocracy attempted to embrace the thorn in its side, Exildun reminded it of why the city was there to begin with.
==== The Symbiote ====
With open movement of the Technocracy not a viable option in Exildun, and direct military intervention deemed too costly to be an option as well, a new approach to helping Encircled re-enter the Circle had to be found. The Technocracy found that by planting their agents as plumbers in the Vahr Reitter Roadhouse they could live in safety, providing they kept their true status in the Circle secret and rarely left the grounds. These operatives have made it their business to help highly-skilled or successful Encircled who are unable to freely return to the Circle escape the well-meaning containment of the Confederacy. Individuals are carefully vetted and selected to be brought into the Roadhouse to stay as visitors and guests prior to the arrival of the armies which empty the Roadhouse's vault and take the gains to the Cathedral. The fugitive emigrants are then placed with those armies to travel to the Broken Kingdom in safety, where they can then emigrate to the Circle through normal channels in safety. The Technocracy operate in secret, and it is doubtful anyone save the Truest King and the Council of Royals know of the true nature of the Roadhouse's maintenance men. After all, who would willingly deal with pipes being backed up by people from the Broken Kingdom unless that was their profession?
WARG
In Exildun the WARG thrive on the blood of their enemies. Subtly and quietly Ravens and Pack Masters have been installed throughout the city many years ago. With the assistance of the Stalkers, random crime of the city has been slowly harnessed into one large maleficent force of the WARG. Extortion, murder and drug trafficking have become a silent but present form of trade. 
Landmarks
=== The Church of Iron - The Family Hearth ===
"One for the Warrior, two for the Warrior, three for the Warrior." -A Woag lifting multiple 'true' wheels
The Church of Iron is the name of the Family Hearth local power's guild-house located at the southern part of Exildun. While similar facilities are always found with The Family Hearth hubs as merchants will rarely reduce themselves to performing labor to stay fit, the Church of Iron's sheer dimensions and the fact it has been turned into a business suits the generally unique nature of Exildun. The Church of Iron is actually a converted three story warehouse which has been subdivided into the Halls of Muscle, the Halls of Stomach, and the Halls of Mind. It is worth noting that the lead weights used in the Church of Iron are all designed too look like the wheel symbol of the Family Hearth. While the Church is open to all, regardless of nation, only those hailing from the Family Hearth are exempt from the entry tithe. All others are required to pay a fee for entry, deposited into a guarded strong-box. There is an explicit rule of the Church that anyone who violates it as a neutral ground is banned for life and any worldly possessions they have on them at the time of the violation are considered forfeited to the Church.
* The Hall of Muscle - By far the the largest area of the complex, it is here that the real work is sculpting bodies. Through many trial and errors, the Church has managed to create two basic systems of weights. The first called "the wheels" consists of cast iron wheels all of which are in a standardize system of weights. The wheels generally range in five pound increments from a single unit all the away up to a hundred pound wheel. Each wheel is hollow at the center and is designed to have an "axle" or hardened steel bar passed through them where it can be gripped by the lifter. The second is that of the cart, in which the individuals either push or pull the wheels they select though a pulley system. This system has many variants allowing the individual to work on virtually any muscle group that they wish. After the first visit to the hall the option is given to become a member of the Church, which allows them to pay a lumped sump tithe on a bi-monthly basis in return for a stamped pass. The Family Hearth keeps the Hall of Muscle staffed with a number of experienced, and arguably professional, lifters who help guide the less experienced in the use of the equipment to avoid damages and injury.
* The Hall of Stomach - A small cafe and grocery run by the Family Hearth, it sells a variety of foodstuffs that have been powdered, dried, and otherwise processed. If one desires they can purchase the prepared version of these foods from the cafe. The staff claims that each of its mixtures when consumed under their directions will help increase the results and potency of each visit to the Hall of Muscle. There seems to be a never-ending supply of extremely fit individuals around the cafe sipping on the mixtures who are ready to proclaim their realized benefits of partaking.
* The Hall of the Mind - It is here that Church researches and manufactures their products. The area is off-limits to all outsiders save for a small shop-front at the entry. The shop offers visitors the chance to purchase any of the equipment they wish, to take back to their home countries with them if they are able to transport it. Naturally for a fee the Family Hearth is more than happy to deliver the purchases for the newly converted fitness freak.
=== The Vahr Reitter Roadhouse - The Broken Kingdom ===
"What happens in the Vahr Reitter stays in the Vahr Reitter, unless it doesn't. Fortunately they'll teach you to defend yourself while you're there so you can fend off the ball-and-chain when she finds out." -Exildun local
A massive military-industrial complex complete with keep and ringwall, the Vahr Reitter Roadhouse was originally built on the outskirts of Exildun. The city has since grown to surround the enclave, making it appear as one of the city's defenses to the uninformed outsider. The space inside the walls is considered to be the private property of the Truest King, and thus subject to the laws of the Broken Kingdom although it is open to the public. Visitors are fully informed of the rules prior to entry, the only true oddity among them being that all business conducted inside must be done using the King's Cubes currency of the Broken Kingdom. Conveniently all national and international coinage can be exchanged for King's Cubes at the keep.
By extension of this, anyone who has been granted entry to the Roadhouse is considered to be under the Kingdom's protection. The garrison forces work diligently to keep each and every guest resting and spending coin safely, as every violation of a guest's person is a dishonor on their heads and a failure in their service to the Truest King. This conviction does not extend to what a guest does to themselves however, and much like in the kingdom drug use, suicide, and personal choices are only regulated should they begin to harm others directly.
Tallet nationals are turned away at the gatehouse unless they are willing to publicly profane the Emperor. As the laws of the Broken Kingdom stand inside the walls, suspected followers of Gogalith are expelled from Roadhouse unless they pass the Broken Kingdom's vetting process for such individuals. Service likewise grounds to a halt every sixth day each week as the staff and garrison fulfill their training-day obligation to the Truest King.
Inside the defensive wall there rests a number of structures to support the enclave, but the most notable are the immense stables and the three thirteen-story buildings which each rival the size of the keep itself. The first of these buildings is the Roadhouse itself with its pub and eatery, gambling hall, brothel, and inn (which offers more than a hundred rooms). Second is the towering House of Crafts, the huge structure consisting of workshops where master craftsmen can sell their goods to visitors or be hired for custom work. The third is the apartments of the civilian workers in the Roadhouse and is closed to outsiders unless they are brought as guests of the residents. The immense stables are a novelty to most outsiders, as true to Broken Kingdom style they are multiple stories high and horses must be lead up exterior ramps to reach the stalls in the upper levels.
The Vahr Reitter Roadhouse offers nearly every way imaginable for a visitor to spend their coin and more than one wealthy traveler has bankrupted himself after being drawn in to what some would call a devoted den of sin. Weapons, armor, furniture, clothing, wagons, horses, women, drink, food, and even training are for sale to all comers. Jerry Parrot is known to not only perform at, but indulge in the pleasures of the Roadhouse.
Category:Eastern Block
Category:City-State