Withers

## Creation

The Withers race was created as the control group of the Coven simulation, intended to be able to survive and evolve on their own without the interference and involvement of Coven. This is in contrast to the Llun, who do directly interact with Coven. The lack of involvement has allowed the people to be more free when compared to the Llun and so develop their own culture in many respects, but as time has gone by and both societies have begun to understand the presence of Coven in more realistic ways, it has begun to make the Withers more warlike in several ways as they believe they are the chosen ones of Coven as they have not been altered in any way, for they are supposedly the original perfect ones, and so believe that the entire world is destined to them. They are a feudalistic society and have a system of Civil and Military rankings for members to rise up in society, or at least to give people the idea that they could rise up in society, though this is often not true due to corruption and nepotism.

## Genetic Fall

As the Withers were the control group, Coven could not interfere when their flaws began to show. The most noticeable was their "devolution" alongside their struggles to reproduce; although the original generation of Withers were incredibly strong and had long lifespans, once they reproduced, the next generation possessed only a shadow of those same abilities. The original generation had the most difficulty reproducing, so as the newer generations came along it became easier for those respective generations to reproduce. At about the sixth generation, the devolution leveled off, and the people reproduced without the negative effects of any sort devolution; this group would be those who would eventually occupy Windercord.

## God-Emperor Hector

Said to be the most direct descendant of the forerunners, or the people from which the Withers are descended from a long time ago. He supposedly built up the Withers society using his direct connection with his direct connection with God, and it is said he has become with God, thus he is God-Emperor Hector. He later led the Wars against the Llun during the pre-Cataclysm period and even skirmishes post-Cataclysm. He is starting to show physical signs of aging despite supposed immortality.

A God was created by the people to explain creation and everything that was unknown as society developed, and though there were initially different sects and entirely different religions, as society has become more feudalistic and controlled by the upper-class original generation, most people, at least in name, "worship" God-Emperor Hector.

In some of the recent Coven developments, the Withers were created as the control in the scientist's development of the world, and their development has not been meddled with disregarding interactions with the Llun and those splinter people.

## Veil Rebellion

Led by John Veil of the Eldest 2nd Race( Twice Removed from the Elders), it was the bloodiest insurrection in the history of the Withers

The aristocratic society and its oppression cannot always succeed in keeping its people down. The Veil rebellion was the major rebellion in Withers history in which the lower classes rebelled against the higher generations in order to achieve an egalitarian society; the racism of the eldest generation could not see its children as anything besides slaves and so went to war against them, losing hundreds of thousands of the oldest generation and tens of millions of other generations in this civil war. The fear of another similar civil war is what inspires the eldest generation to start another war against other species in order to unite the Withers against a common foe in order to avoid extinction of the species.

## Geography

For most of their history, they have lived in relatively deserted and barren places, and in the present they live in a desert. This has exacerbated their war-like tendencies, for they believe they are the most natural and most beautiful children of God, and so their rightful, most productive parts of the Earth have been taken away from them and instead they have been given nothing.

## Demographics

About 300,000,000 people, but this is mostly concentrated in the lower generations, while the original generation has roughly 2,000,000 people left that are slowly dying out, and whose one last major goal is to achieve their birthright of inheriting the Earth, which is part of the reason why they are so war-like. Lower generations, namely 4th and 5th generations, have about 80 million people each, but they frequently die out due to their poor treatment from the higher generations. Middle generations fill in the gaps.

## Government and Politics

Feudalistic, again. Somewhat of a boss politics system, or a spoils system, where a person will reward those who help them get to power with lower positions, but it is a Civil and Military ranking system similar to the Table of Ranks introduced under Tsarist Russia. This means there can be some movement in the system where people can eventually get hereditary positions, so it is not as if the lower generations are forever stuck there.

## Law Enforcement and Crime

Boss politics ensure a fairly high level of corruption, and the war-like, love conquering, testosterone fueled culture does encourage things such as legal duels that only lead to more illegal violence that is not punished. However, there is a form of police that is controlled under the civil ranking system, similar to a normal police force that we might see in our society in the cities, more rugged in local towns considering the low resources of the desert areas of my society, but there is some decent law enforcement as long it does not succumb to corruption. Thus, crime is common, but not necessarily to the point of being rampant.

## Economy

Not a booming economy, but a sustainable one. Relies on trade with Windercord and Bevrijden and others for support in terms of agricultural output and the like, but the desert can be home to nice commodities such as oil.

## Education

Educational system is certainly not balanced, with the upper generations having access to private tutors and more intimate education. Lower classes are often forced into classrooms if they are given an education at all, and the system is one of the past with no technological integration nor any real value. It favors the upper classes heavily.

## Health

Incredibly poor in lower generations, despite longer lifespans. Very good in upper generations simply due to natural resistance to diseases. People, such as the original generations, sometimes explain it as moral degradation leading to shorter lifespans. Degradation of the environment can also have some of these effects.