Demetrea

**Demetrea** is the second planet in the Tenaian System home to two sentient, humanoid species, the Ventus and Gelum and is one of 4 terrestrial planets.

## Overview

> Wrought with conflict, oppression, and trickery, those of Demetrea huddle under the umbra of the stars. Their fragility for all to see.
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Despite the prosperous periods of the Efflorescence, Demetrea is only sparsely populated now. While hubs of civilization exist, most of the surface now sees Warlords vying for power amidst the native and alien power struggle. Using Maledicta in congruence with advanced technology, the surface of Demetrea is most incompatible for life.

Prior to the Efflorescence, Demetrea was rife with oppression, feudal control, and territorial wars constantly occurring. While not particularly untrue of the Efflorescence, too, periods of peace would generally be observed for a majority of the time period.

## Locations and Geography

Demetrea is classified as a terrestrial (rocky) planet and is of a moderate size. Global average temperatures are low, being around -15 °C. Biodiversity is lacking due to this.

Demetrea was at one point tidally locked. In this, one side was permanently fixed toward Tenai, causing it to be significantly hotter than the opposite side, which would be near frozen due to the lack of sunlight. However, due to atmospheric conditions, most regions on Demetrea are still hospitable for life with the exception of the farthest and closest points to Tenai. While the star-faced side would be mainly arid, there are regions that see significant rainfall due to the atmospheric activity. Conversely, the cold side of Demetrea was bathed in near constant weather events ranging from warm showers to blistering blizzards.

In the middle of Demetrea, the Tenaian Twilight, the Ventusians would be found. The twilight was primarily mountainous, but did vary between lush rainforests and steep canyon regions. The Gelumians, however, were more primitive in culture and technology, being outcast to the more extreme regions of Demetrea. Floral life is typically found to be red and exists in sparse patches through the planet, but is concentrated heavily in the mountainous regions.

## History

### Prior Ages

The Prior Ages, also known as the Warring States Era, saw the rise and fall of many major groups along Demetrea. War waging was typically a common practice between the groups of the Ventus, although they have seen periods of intense global war conflict to periods of global diplomatic cooperation. Nothing is static in the politics of the Ventus.

While the cultures were particularly diverse between different groups of Gelumians and Ventusians, all land territory was divided between the four great clans of the Ventus. This means, despite regions of majority Gelum population, they were ruled by Ventusians. The Gelumians were typically treated with regard to be of lesser intelligence, importance, and deserving of life. What separated these two anatomically similar peoples was that they did not exist on the same path of evolution, coming from different ancestors. While Gelumians are shorter and much more of a muscular stature, Ventusians appear lanky and lacking muscle definition.

Despite the diverse cast of tribes seen present from the Gelumians, they would be forcibly consolidated by the Ventusians into smaller groups, more easily controlled and puppeted. Comparing the clans of the Ventus, however, showed hierarchy. While all Ventusians were "more" than the Gelumians, they, the Ventus, did not consider each other on equal level. For most of ancient periods, the Solm existed at the center of Ventusian significance. Highly militarized, the Solm ruled with an iron fist. Originally, the Atreyu had the place of the Solm. Following the Avarice of Guilds, political turmoil would make way for Solm to obliterate the Atreyuan Court, leading to the annexation of the territory and the subsequent take over of political sphere.

Similarly to the Atreyu, the Ventus had many prior clans. Of note, there were the Gekkui, Haumea, Mercoyt, and Nessai, all of which were defunct by the time of the Solm rise. Apart from Atreyu and Mercoyt, the others were primarily behind in technology as well as economic standing. These nations were ruled similarly to feudal kingdoms rather than advanced societies or empires. While all had differing downfalls, it could mainly be attributed to unfortunate circumstances and timing. With intense political turmoil, naturally occurring disasters, and warring periods, the longevity of these clans was seemingly impossible.

Lonnos would become the most notable clan due to the discoveries of Senkiel of Lonnos near the end of the Warring States Era. Lonnos possessed the largest and most powerful territory, titled Yordenhold. Solm stayed of large significance due to the relative power they still held. Both Deimos and Ratriel owned less significant territories and mainly were allowed to own the land they do as it takes good portions of land from Gelumians.

### Efflorescence

Lonnos would continue to dominate, even into the period of Efflorescence. With the advent of space-faring technology, the Lonnos would come to Altum, exploring the gelatinous barrier.

Efflorescence was the period in which Maledicta, the power coined by one Senkiel of Lonnos spread beyond himself, leading to a Golden Age on Demetrea, mainly confined in Ventusian spheres. However, Maledicta remained mainly in the hands of Lonnos and Solm, only being seen in the courts and nobility of Deimos and Ratriel.

Gelumian oppression grew. Despite their fears of the power the Ventus now held, their fears paled in comparison to what would actually occur. As the Ventus enjoyed increased life spans, rapid advancement of technology, colonization efforts, population explosion, improved living climates due to weather changing abilities, and advancement of society, the Gelumians would experience only hardship. Genocide would befall many groups of Gelum, leading to the near extinction of the Southbloods. Ventus control over the Gelum moved from territory control to slavery of the people, leading to complete annexation of the regions they owned, rather than leaving them as puppets. Interspeci offspring would be executed along with the Gelumian involved. Those of the Northwind would be treated better, but this is because they already attempted to imitate the ways of the Ventus.

In the later years of the Efflorescence, Ratriel would grow in power following a brief conflict with the Solm, seeing the Ratriel take sweeping amounts of territory, adding those with the capability to wield Maledicta to their populous, causing power to move from nobility to general populations. The Solm would finally fall from relevance with Ratriel completely taking their prior place. Shortly after this conflict, the Trial of Mattius saw the burning of the Solm capital, Uordya, execution of the Solm nobility and court, and complete annexation of its territory by Ratriel. The Solm were no more.

The Lonnos would be the first in the efforts of colonization. Landers arriving to the satellite, Cassus would use biodomes to create colonies and cities. However, the properties of Maledicta allowed for something spectacular, terraforming. Due to the nature of Maledicta at the time, control was not fully awarded. For this, Cassus was not terraformed in a way completely hospitable. While an atmosphere would come to be as well as the growth of botanical-type plant life, it would have a flaw. Cassus would become rife with storms. Rain was near constant for the planet, of which the plant life seldom mind, it would seem. However, massive storms would occasionally ravage colonies.

The Yuhol system would prove unique. Yuhol was not discovered until after the space-faring age of Demetrea. While Yuhol itself was little more than a mostly barren icy waste, the moon would be that of marvels. While Yuhol did harbor life, it mainly consisted of non-intelligent hostile creatures. Dubbed Nomads, these were beastly creatures. Although they varied immensely, the Ventus would lump them all together and would hunt the creatures for sport, dwindling the population as it was settled by Ventusians. Yuhol would be used extensively in the pursuit for energy, harboring massive wind and solar farms, making energy the main export of Yuhol, of which was settled by Ratriel, Lonnos, and Deimos all at once.

Umbra, the closest moon to Yuhol had a thick atmosphere of greenhouse gasses, with methane being the most prominent. Light levels on the surface were low and it nearly constantly rained hot methane back to the surface. Temperatures on the moon were always high and the methane storms could grow to super-hurricane sized levels. Originally, crews landing on Umbra were unauthorized craft, not permitted to create their own colonies. However, after development of the moon, a sort of psuedo-sovereignty from Lonnos would be granted. For the reasoning of poor conditions, Terraforming Generators infused with Maledicta would be used on the surface by Lonnos. While the goal of these machines was to rid the atmosphere of methane, this task soon proved improbable due to the poor quality of the machines used. Instead, they were used to climate control the environments and divert storms away from camps and biodomes. The export of natural gas from Umbra would prove it to be an immensely wealthy colony, but rife with the corruption associated with those in leadership.

Tikan was a centaur need the edges of the Tenaian System. Located in a region of mainly dead asteroids, Tikan would become a tourist destination due to it's variance. Owned by one Razerk Corporation, they would fund their own private military groups and would control the centaur much like a government that controlled their own nation. However, despite the popularity, this would decline significantly following the passage of Gelumian civil rights in the territory. As tensions rose with their original governments on Demetrea, the Razerk Corporation would ban travel to the centaur as it heavily militarized. While no conflict would occur externally, internal political collapse left the centaur's powerhouse defunct.

Although the Solm fell there would be those who left Demetrea still wavering the Solm banner. Although it was undocumented where they ended up, it was last transmitted their location to be near the coreless ruins of Zephyr. Expeditions to the moon typically were rife with challenges due to the Titanyo's abnormally high mass, interfering with basic controls to most space-faring craft.

Following the Riot of Sarenguard, in which multiple Ratriel space facilities were raided, it was reported that multiple space craft, both passenger and cargo, were launched without sufficient planning, allowing multiple Gelumian sects to defect off Demetrea. Hearing of the legend of the lost Zephyran Solm colony, this new sect of Gelumians, titled the Halphas, were bound for Titanyo. During their travels to the far-out planet, interference from the gravitational pull caused a split. Most of the cargo fleet with few passengers was pulled more toward Titanyo, failing to break free from the pull it had. The other fleet, mostly passengers with few cargo, found themselves landing on the Eyeball moon of Salgur, which they would go on to form only one colony along the habitable strip down the middle. Titled Patriam, the colony would experience mass famine and corrupt leadership. Following the rule of one Xi-Yam, The Deathcaller, to keep the colony alive, people were selectively either executed or exiled depending on traits that could be beneficial. In another executive decision by Xi-Yam, all deemed Halphas were banished from Patriam, leading to the creation of yet another sect, the Penum. Patriam would not develop far outside of their biodome, mainly living for the sake of doing so.

Those trapped in Titanyo's gravity were met with a planet of intense winds. Tall structures on the planet were an impossibility. Beyond the biodome the colonists had, all subsequent expansion largely existed below ground due to this fact. Along with these winds came rain, seemingly as sharp as knives as the wind moved at such drastic speeds. Plant germination was found on the planet as a series of pre-existing tunnels revealed a system of bioluminescent fauna as well as non-luminant black fauna, leeching off the light provided from the vines. Among the large amount of cargo obtained by this sect of Halphas was a sample of Maledicta material from Altum. Among the people to receive it was Ya'r Singdal, the Legend, who was deemed Baron by the people. Under Ya'r, the colony of Xi-Raux would take up expansive projects below the surface, creating a mining based economy that became well developed. Ya'r would share his gift among the people of Xi-Raux near the end of his lifespan, of which allowed most residence to at least conjure a small amount of Maledicta, although hardly anything in comparison to the man himself. The Singdal dynasty would continue to rule Xi-Raux for the entirety of its lifespan.

## Relation

Cassus: Satellite of Demetrea formed in dissimilar fashion to Demetrea, evidenced by surface materials, causing it's highly valued status.

Cruxus: The system in which Demetrea exists.