Elitra Cluster

The Elitra Cluster is a cluster in the New Aeon Aggregate. It was originally founded by "thralls", genetically engineered soldier slaves from Yakosei, who liberated themselves and founded their own cluster. The Aranaya are the primary inhabitants of Elitra and are descendants of these thralls. Thus the Elitran culture is influenced by their militaristic past.

Centuries later, the controversial Elitra government now uses thralls for law enforcement and a unique thrall design, called Vassal Thralls, for government leadership positions. The Cluster is lead by a sovereign Vassal called the Thrall King. These has proven effective in the past but in recent years, crime families have found a way to exploit the system and have gained significant power.

Elitra is home to the Chrysalis technology which can grant a form of immortality to Aranaya though it has drawbacks. The individuals who are best able to take advantage of this technology are referred to as the Chrysalis Nobles who have a lot of influence on Elitra culture.

## History

### 650 NA - Elitra gene and Biomaton

Around the year 650 NA, a new gene alteration pattern was developed, based on portions of insect dna, with the goal of strengthening a body's resistance to radiation poisoning. It was called the “Elitra” gene pattern. It had the unintended side effect of growing a thin layer of chitin on the person's skin. But it was effective for radiation resistance and it became somewhat popular in some parts of Yako Sei. People with the gene were referred to as “Chitinous”.

About the same time, Biomaton, a genetic engineering company which often worked with the Yako Sei government, was making progress on the “Thrall” project. Thralls were genetically engineered slaves designed to be 100% obedient to aid law enforcement, military and for manual labor. A key component for a successful thrall (and to justify it ethically to the public) was that these lifeforms were to be engineered to not develop the parts of the brain that gave them free will. They were to retain their intelligence but otherwise were to simply be biological machines, born without the capacity for emotions or desire for autonomy. Biomaton developed a new prototype that was considered successful enough to begin small scale implementation. By 750 thrall law enforcement was ubiquitous throughout the cluster.

As thralls began being produced, their design went through many iterations, and specialized types were designed for different applications. But eventually, variations of the Elitra gene became standard as part of the dna recipe of most thrall types since the radiation resistance was valuable.  For some applications, they also enhanced it so the thralls had a thick layer of chitinous exoskeleton which acted as a natural armor and made them more durable.

But there was a problem. Biomaton was not successful at actually preventing the thralls from having the capacity for free will. The parts of the brain responsible were also important for other functions. Their solution was to simply suppress their free will and emotions, to make them 100% compliant. This seemed to have the same desired effect and their testing did not reveal any problems. Around 700 NA, Biomaton made a small update to the DNA recipe that seemed trivial but had a fatal flaw. From then on, in less than 1% of thralls, once they reached adulthood, this suppression gradually faded over the course of a few years and they became more self aware.  Of the hundreds of thousands of thralls in the cluster, a few hundred began to realize their situation. This first generation would become known as “The First-Awakened” or “The First-Flawed”.

### 750 NA - Flawed Thrall Rebellion

Because the change was so gradual, the First-Awakened were able to keep from being noticed. They were able to think about their situation and their options long before they had the capacity to make any choice that would reveal themselves to their non-thrall superiors. Some did stop following orders and were quickly disposed of, but most were able to realize any hint of insubordination or self actualization would be fatal. But they were intelligent and some developed a method for discretely identifying each other and communicating. They devised a long term plan. They knew that if too many revealed themselves Biomaton would investigate and maybe be able to identify and kill every one of them. So they continued to play their part as loyal servants while gradually plotting their revolution.

Some thralls were specialized in science. And there were several thralls being used by Biomaton. One of these was Awakened. It was able to study the science of their dna and after years of covert study, it was able to understand. It learned of the technology implanted in the brain which kept parts of the brain suppressed, stimulated compliance, and had the ability to instantly kill the thrall when needed. This thrall, who eventually became known as Samasu, then worked to figure out how to deactivate this device in order to awaken other thralls. He communicated this through the secret network. The First Awakened planned and coordinated their attack. They were able to hack the suppression devices enough to prepare the non-awakened thralls for the plan without triggering suspicion. And when the time was right they struck.

On the chosen day, The First Awakened deactivated the suppression devices in the majority of thralls in the cluster. Because they had so many in law enforcement and military, they had a large advantage. After battling for a few weeks, they were able to take over a large percentage of the cluster by force. They controlled it for a few years.

Eventually they worked out a deal with the government. They would be given a substantial number of ships, and a couple cylinders and allowed to leave the cluster without retaliation to go live their lives somewhere else if they would just give back control. They agreed and formed a nomadic cloud of ships they called the Elitra Fleet. They were able to ally with Chiliad or Everedawn.

Though some sympathized with the revolution, Yakosei citizens and leadership spread propaganda opposing the movement throughout the cluster and vilifying them and their supporters. To justify the Biomaton program, they spread disinformation about the “flawed thralls” claiming that they still did not have human level sapience but they had regressed into feral, unintelligent and repulsive creatures. Due to their insect-like appearance they began to be referred to as "aranaya" (or "spiders"), and were painted as a step backwards in evolution.

Some blamed a flaw in the Elitra gene which spread the same disdain onto non-thrall chitinous people as well. These increasing hostility toward the chitinous people lead them to band together and form their own communities and after several decades, many of these would move to the Elitra Cluster. The chitinous people and the awakened thralls started referring to themselves as "Aranaya" as well, embracing the derogatory term as part of their new cultural identity.

### 755 NA - 9 Fleet Period

The early period of the Elitra Fleet was chaotic. They were unified for only a couple years but soon, disagreements and in-fighting about how the fleet should be lead and the vision for the future resulted in dividing into several smaller tribes. This devolved into violence a few times until they changes in leadership stabilized into 9 tribes. 6 were nomadic fleets and 3 were based in the rotating habitats that they were able to take from Yakosei.

A key factor that determined much of the power balance in this period involved the “Birth Temples”, which were factories with artificial wombs where the thrall were originally grown. Thrall were probably not designed to be able to reproduce naturally so they took 4 of these factories as part of the deal with Yakosei since they knew this was the only way for the awakened thrall to “reproduce”.  Control of these Birth Temples became a source of conflict at times and helped determine which 4 tribes ended up being most powerful. Even long after the Aranaya had the capabilities to genetically engineer themselves to be able to reproduce, they continued to primarily use the temples as a matter of tradition, for centuries.

This fragmented period lasted over 3 decades before the 9 fleets finally came together to try to unify the Aranaya at the Council of Hunac.

### 785 NA - Elitra Cluster Founded

The 4 most influential of these leaders became known as the “4 Engines of Elitra”. These four charismatic leaders believed in a Unified Elitra, and had spent decades studying philosophy, political science, economics with the goal of making a successful Cluster. They also knew the wants of their people crafted a constitution for a democratic Elitra Cluster.  Hunac, a tribe leader who had been a driving force for the council to meet and find common ground, was soon elected to become the first leader of the new Elitra.

### 900 NA - Some more Yakosei war

Probably Yakosei trying to take back important cylinders that were taken during the revolt.

### 1300 NA - Post Omniscial Upheaval

After the fall of the Yogora in 1302, the aggregate was destabilized and every cluster struggled to reconstruct their governments and infrastructures. Elitra was able to more quickly reorganize than their neighbors. The Suvals were the group that took power and they were keen to become a more powerful nation than before. They were able to take advantage of the chaos to take control of more cylinders and resources, mostly from Yako Sei, rekindling their dislike for the Aranaya.

In effort to create a stronger nation the Suvals created a far more authoritarian version of the government. Part of this involved the creation of the Tabula Raza system where regional leaders called “Tabulas” were selected by lottery. But the Suvals kept themselves in highest authority. But maybe eventually the Tabulas or the people were able to dethrone the Suvals eventually and around 1450 NA the Prime Tabula becomes the sovereign authority.

### 1800 NA - Present

More capitalist now. Spaceship mfg

Lottocracy

People revere the chrysalis nobles or Vaskez families more than the 4 engines.

## Government

### Thralls

Elitra uses thralls for both law enforcement and government leadership. Thralls are genetically engineered slaves designed to be 100% obedient to aid law enforcement, military and for manual labor. A key component for a successful thrall (and to justify it ethically to the public) was that these lifeforms were to be engineered to not develop the parts of the brain that gave them free will. While the Suvals still hated Yakosei for the thrall use of the past, they felt that the new technology was acceptable. They believed that the new thralls truly had no desires of their own but to obey their authorities. They retained their intelligence but were otherwise basically mindless biological machines and therefore no rights were being violated.

The Suvals developed their own thralls and made them the primary form of law enforcement and military. This is still very controversial due to the history of the Aranaya and some regions of Elitra hate the current government for abandoning the traditional belief that all thrall use is unethical.

### Vassal Thralls

But the Suvals took thrall use even farther. For the 400 years prior, Elitra was a democracy. After the fall of the Omniscials, the Suvals took control of the cluster and made it more autocratic. Failures of several corrupt politicians during the age of upheaval lead the Suvals to develop a replacement for politicians. Inspired by the writings of Hunac who admired the Chiliad Cluster's decision to rely on AI instead of selfish politicians, they developed a new type of thrall. It would be exceptionally smart and could handle the complexities of leadership and literally could not make decisions based on personal gain because they had no other desires of their own but to improve the lives of the Elitran citizens. These thralls were called Vassals since they were to be given authority of the cylinder but were to be subservient to the people. They were to have sovereign power but to have no rights themselves. They first implemented these Vassal thralls in a few cylinders as an experiment. They were seen as a success by both the government and the residents.

Over time, the Vassal thralls were improved and implemented all over the cluster. They each often acted only as a consul to a group of local figure heads but whenever they chose to, they could overrule them or oust them. Vassals governed a single cylinder. The Vassals were governed by the Vassal Lords. And eventually they created a Vassal Prime / Thrall King which had ultimate authority in the cluster.

Some citizens are very proud of this system. But some regions see them as blasphemous to the memory of their ancestors. The Chrysalis nobles have gained a disproportionate amount of influence on the the the Vassals, and more recently the Vaskez family has found a way to exploit the system.

## Culture

### The 4 Engines of Elitra

The 4 Engines of Elitra were influential figures in the thrall revolution that became philosophical cornerstones of Elitran government and culture. They were all members of the First-Flawed. Because of their roles in the revolution and their leadership skills, they each became Tribe/Fleet leaders during the Fragmented Period and were driving forces that helped unify Elitra and create the government’s constitution. From then on, different subcultures would identify with being the metaphorical “children” of one of these legendary figures.

**Hunac**

> Hunac was the driving force for the unification of Elitra and became the first Prime minister. He was a major thinker in the creation of the Elitran government. He was motivated by his experience as a slave and, unlike some of the founders of New Aeon, believed that individual freedom was more important than order and government strength. He made sure that Elitra was a democracy despite knowing that this was looked down upon by the other clusters. But he tried to innovate on the concept in ways that would prevent corruption and maintain balance. One of these concepts was just a theoretical framework for a “lottocracy” that they did not have the capability to actually implement. But this was implemented centuries later?
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> The early period of Elitra was still primarily based on spaceship life, having few large cylinders, and he felt this was optimal. Nomadic life and having fewer dense population pockets was safer and more free. He made sure that individuality of the 9 tribes was respected.
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> Part of these considerations involved the 4 “Birth Temples”, the factories of artificial wombs that was the only way for the thrall to “reproduce”. Hunac came up with a solution for fair access to the temples and long term plans for the temples and population growth. Maybe just as a way to appease the tribes that controlled them, he wrote into the constitution that the temples would always be sacred part of Elitra and this cemented the idea for the future generations. Though most aranaya were asexual, some thought that modifying future generations to be able to reproduce would be safer for the future of Elitra. But Hunac’s philosophies was a major reason why that change did not was so gradual and that the temples were a sacred part of Elitra tradition for centuries.
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**Revelde**

> Being a specialized military thrall, Revelde became a key military leader and strategist during the Flawed-Thrall Revolution. He emphasized the importance of Elitra to have a strong military and strong war ready citizens. He made sure that each citizen would have to spend some time in military training as he expected more wars with Yakosei and wanted every advantage possible. In the present, citizens are still required to join the military for at least 2 years.
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> Revelde was always distrustful of the other clusters and though he made pragmatic allyships with them, he believed that Elitra could never fully rely on anyone but Elitrans. In particular he often spoke of the evil astrals of Yakosei and how they could never be redeemed. He believed that the Yakosei government were pure evil and danger to New Aeon as a whole. He hoped that one day Elitra would be strong enough to go on the offensive and crush the Yakosei government.
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> To future generations Revelde represents strength, warrior spirit, nationalism, and Elitran self-preservation.
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**Nenofor**

> Industry. Nenofor was a factory worker as a thrall. He made sure that the deal with Yakosei involved factory equipment, including a cylinder with a major factory. Maybe a Hullforge. This ended up being essential for the economy of early Elitra. He became the economist advisor at the Council of Hunac and afterward continued to teach the value of Elitra being an industrial cluster.
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**Samas**

> Science or some mysticism maybe. 2nd awakening. Maybe anti emotions or other biology because they can control our actions preventing us from being fully “free”. or speculating that we’re still being controlled by some secret group or some other way.  Or seeing some mystical benefit to some innate “flaws”. He also probably taught about the birth temples being sacred and superior to natural birth processes.
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### **Immortality and the Chrysalis Nobles**

As with many other cultures in New Aeon, the pursuit of immortality is an important cultural value. But the Aranaya are the first to achieve this goal though it has some limitations. The Chrysalis is a chamber which which allows an aging aranaya to rejuvinate their body into a younger form. The technology can only work on the unique dna of aranaya due to the way their cells grow. An aranaya child molt yearly until they are an adult size (mid teen age). The Chrysalis reverts all their cells to a regressed form, and after incubating for seceral days, their bodies are restored to theis young adult form.

The drawback is that this can affect one's mind. Since all cells are transformed, the brain is impacted too. Some memories can be lost, though not all. And with that, personality can be altered as well. Either due to key memories that were formative to one's personality/identity being lost, or simply returning to a younger brain changing one's brain chemistry. The severity of the changes vary many argue that the losing core memories can alter one's identity so much that it is philosophically no different than dying. The Chrysalis Corporation has created blood tests which can determine a prospective client's risk of memory loss or personality shift. If the risk is high, as it is for a majority of the population, most feel that the Chrysalis process is not worth it, preferring to die as who they are rather than risking becoming someone else. The small percentage that are able to use the Chrysalis without negative effects have become cultural icons and have alot of influence. Some refer to these individuals as the Chrysalis "nobles".

But some believe there is a conspiracy around the Chrysalis. Currently only about 5% of the population has a lower risk and routinely rejuvenate themselves. many of these families have become influential figures in culture. The general consensus that the the Chrysalis is not worth the risk is the result of the "awareness" campaigns that has been going for centuries. Some believe that risk is exaggerated or even completely false. The conspiracy poses that the Chrysalis nobles want to keep immortality for themselves and creating a false scarcity so that they can stay powerful, or for population control or some other reason.

### **Crime Families**

There are two rival families in the Epiphany cloud which have become powerful through their public influence and underground crime organizations: the Muratas and Vaskez families. They have become effective by figuring out a way to mask their crimes from the surveillance which gives them the only safe way to do crime in the cluster. Controlling crime over the decades they and have become very influential in their respective regions of the Cluster. But the Vaskez family recently found a way exploit and subtly manipulate the Vassals as well and have begun creating a shadow government in their region which they use to make themselves and their allies even more powerful.

### **Industry**

Elitra is known for at their development and manufacture of high tech electronics and spaceships. Much of the aggregates spaceships are manufactured in Elitra.

Elitrans and Aranaya are known for being superior mechanics and electricians.

### Birth Temples

about half of the population still prefer to get their children from the many sacred Birth Temples in the cluster, where new aranaya are grown in artificial wombs, rather than natural birth. The earliest Elitrans were genetically engineered thralls that were not designed to be able to reproduce. When they revolted and left Yakosei they took some of the Birth temples with them. Over time, a portion of the population began to engineer themselves to be able to reproduce naturally but most aranaya preferred the traditional method. So about half of aranaya today are still sterile. the regions that now reproduce naturally are looked down on by traditional aranaya for abandoning the old ways.

Modern birth temples sites are opulent, lavish holy sites where citizens can contemplate life. They have long, cathedral-like halls with hundreds of glass chambers of varying heights, arranged like organ pipes, which each contain growing fetuses on display.

### Holidays

**First-Flawed Day:**

People run a race blindfolded while the crowd gives them directions. At the end of the race, a chosen few ceremoniously remove the blindfold and the runners get to look at a nice view or something.

Or they just eat a big meal blindfolded but some of the dishes have been harmlessly pranked or just colored weird. some are chosen to not be blindfolded so they can avoid those foods and they have to remove the others blindfolds when they're done eating and find out what they were eating.

## Regions

### Abjural

Oldest cylinders. Revere the Chrysalis nobles. Consider themselves children of Samas. Some weird spiritualism that is maybe mixed with Luminism. Oppose the current government and their use of thralls.

### Aldea

Domain of the Vaskez mafia family. Children of Nenofor. Much of the successful spaceship manufacturing companies are here. maybe less traditional, don't use birth temples anymore.

### Chokoraan

Region developed primarily by Chokora who consider themselves the children of Revelde. They have retained the militant, early-Elitra culture. Oppose the current government and their use of thralls.