Herculae

*"A desert world with ash clouding the sun. The warlike Herculs fight in tournaments for glory."*

## Herculae

Ash and Strife

An Hercul

### music

The Binding of Isaac: Antibirth OST Gloria Filio by mudeth

## Planetary Data

Many races would effectively consider Herculae the graphical depiction of Hell. This planet under the rule of the Sekhayan Empire is a smaller than average world, but has a dense atmosphere choked with volcanic ash, sometimes shrouding the surface in shadows or covering it in dark dust as it falls to the ground. The atmosphere is breathable, although the ash could lead to respiratory problems in races not adapted to breathing in toxic materials.

About 50% of the world are large depressions, dried basins filled in sand. The basins are home to violent sandstorms making voyages through them dangerous, but the sands are rich in minerals such as gold, titanium and silicone. Due to that most outposts live in the borders of the basin, allowing easy mining and shelter from the sandstorms. The other 50% of the planet is covered in spiky red rocks of igneous origin. There are frequent earthquakes in these areas, and fissure volcanoes erupt from time to time, making it an area unsafe to live in.

The single most important landmark of the planet is a single shield volcano, rising over 400 km above the lowest point of the planet into space, a mountain the natives call Mount Gloria. This gargantuan formation is thought to be the main reason of the planets harsh environment. The volcano is constantly spewing ash and volcanic gas, and its so tall the particles enter orbit around the planet, creating a plume that precipitates into the planet. Most of the ash is burned away in reentry, creating what the natives call “Sparkstars”, but some of it survive reentry and stay in the atmosphere as ash clouds.

It’s worth noting that this planet is extremely fossil rich. With multiple petrified skeletons of large creatures and tree trunks, as well as salt being found in the basins, its thought that Herculae used to be a lusher and wetter planet. However, strata analysis show that most of the water evaporated at the same time volcanic ash began to appear, hinting that whatever cataclysm made this body such a hellhole had to do with Mt Gloria.

As perviously mentioned, this planet is under Sekhayan rule, and as such its not uncommon to see species from the Empire in the surface. They have built multiple mining outposts, yeast food factories and barracks for their armies, as well as a single city at the crater of Mt Gloria.

### *Inhabitants*

The extremely warlike Herculs are one of the most fierce and aggressive races of the Norma Arm. They are not too tall bipeds covered in a scaly bronze skin, with their head covered in a metallic carapace resembling a helmet, with a single blood red eye. They have a large horizontal crest made out of feathers, and are asexuals.

Herculs also have relatively flimsy arms, but at birth these are replaced with strong, red, chain-like prosthetics, and most of the times with an inbuilt shield and blade in each arm, although other weapons such as ball and chains, whips, axes, tridents or even metal nets are also common. It’s currently unknown how these chain prosthetics are installed nor how do they function, since there’s no physical way Herculs could move them.

These beings are highly aggressive, passively releasing a massive amount of pheromones in the air that increase hostility between each other. Immature Herculs have short crests, are prone to fights and aren’t too disciplined, usually disobeying orders from higher ups. Those who learn how to obey and control themselves are the ones who survive to adulthood.

Adult Herculs are more collected and calm, and are considered to be more intelligent than their young counterparts. They are highly disciplined, and despite releasing as many pheromones as their young, they have learned to restrain themselves for their own good. They have longer crests that indicate maturity, although they are usually cut to shorter sizes because they impede head movement in battle. Despite being more mature, they’re considered more dangerous than youths, as they are and sometimes even more brutal (and possibly sadistic) when they want.

Herculaean culture is based around strife, specifically dueling. In every Hercul settlement there’s an arena built specifically for fights between them. Although mostly used for sparring, this kind of infrastructure also hold one of the most gruesome and violent spectacles of the Norma Arm: the Gloria Championship.

This tournament (sponsored by the Sekhayan Empire) gathers the best warriors of the known universe, and make them fight in duels. The rules are simple: fight to the death until the other forfeits; although this has resulted in many casualties as many figthers would rather die than to give up in front of a spectating crowd. The Championship is held in Herculae itself, in the settlement at the top of Mt Gloria, with the winner gaining a large sum of money and the glory of having won, essentially becoming a celebrity. It’s an open secret that the tournament is made to satisfy the bloodlust of the Herculs, as the bloodshed in these battles is enough to calm even the most rowdy youth. It's also known that this activity is considered barbaric by many governments, although it's a very popular show in both Herculae and Sekhay Shixa.

Despite some of them working in the mines of their planet, the majority of these beings are enlisted in the Sekhayan legions, where their brutality and discipline would have their best use.

## Game Data

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