Cassian Federation

**Religions** | Faith in the Machine

A nation filled with sky-scraping buildings, each housing hundreds of inhabitants at once, its natural beauty has been removed and replaced with the brilliance of mankind’s engineering, and where the old practices of magic are mostly eschewed to tinker with gears and bolts. All this and more makes the Cassian Federation the place for anyone wishing to advance their knowledge of technological matters. However, even if its inhabitants live an easy life and appear content and fulfilled, this land with a bright future has darkness lurking under its ambitious surface

# History

Being one of the first nations to be founded, the Cassian Federation has one of the most extensive recorded histories. In the beginning, where technology was barely understood at all, a small group of people nevertheless decided to study the ancient ruins to hopefully unravel the secrets of their technology. Among these people was Edmund Drest, whose transcendent knowledge of the devices caused giant leaps and bounds in humanity’s understanding of metal machines. In fact, many of today’s reverse-engineered designs stem from him.

Discovering the immense amount of energy originating from the batteries, Edmund founded a town at the base of one of these batteries, naming it First Bastion. Here, inventors from all over the world could gather and study the mechanical arts thanks to the town’s unending power supply. People flocked to it in increasing numbers, causing the small settlement to gradually grow into a sprawling city. Recognizing the rapid growth and seeing how even more people would rally under his banner of technology and follow his lead due to his irreplaceable knowledge, Edmund sought to make it a nation - Naming it the Cassian Federation, with the word Cassian meaning ‘enlightened’ in the tongue of the Ancestors.

As his lifespan drew closer to its end, Edmund still had plans he wanted to realize, refusing to pass onto the afterlife without seeing all of his dreams completed. Wishing to remedy this, the now elderly Edmund performed a risky operation on himself, based on an operation the Ancestors did themselves - This being separating his soul from his body and placing it in a mechanical husk. With his expertise in technology, this experiment fully succeeded, making the leader of the country immortal as long as his metallic form was taken care of.

## The Arkrad Conflict

The Cassian Federation has survived many conflicts throughout its history, though none ever spun out of control as the attempted annexation of Arkrad. A prominent city-state on the western shore of the continent, this nation was internationally reviled due to their government’s research into forbidden biological weaponry and unethical experimentation that involved fusing humans and machines in horrific ways, similarly built beside a battery. As a result, relationships between the Cassian Federation and Arkrad were always tense, though they reached a  breaking point after an Arkradian military exercise near the border became a sudden invasion, and thus a declaration of war.

With biological weaponry and a complete lack of morality during the war, it seemed like Arkrad would give the far larger empire more trouble than it was expecting. However, the usage of unmanned mechanized units quickly rendered the biological weapons ineffective, turning the tide of war incredibly fast. Nevertheless, Arkrad Byrne, leader and namesake of the country, refused to surrender under any circumstances, choosing to die before giving up.

As the capital got besieged, something horrendous happened. To this day, it’s unclear whether this happened due to Cassian weaponry or due to a dead man’s switch that Arkrad had implemented upon being surrounded - But the immense battery the city was built around became a beacon of light, visible halfway across the continent. Yet, the enormous, mushroom-shaped cloud after a thunderous, deafening explosion drew even more eyes. The battery had seemingly melted down, causing a powerful reaction that leveled everything in its immediate area, completely obliterating everything living or mechanical. . . And leaving behind something far worse.

The explosion damaged the material plane to such a degree that a hole in the very fabric of reality was torn open, leading directly to the Void. Immense in size, the ever-hungry Vacant that inhabit the Void began streaming out of it, feasting on what little remained after the explosion and quickly searching for more. This threat extended into Cassian soil, as most of its army was obliterated during the military action, though they managed to contain the danger thanks to reinforcements of neighboring nations realizing how grave the threat was.

Even though the planar tear couldn’t be closed with the means currently available, they were able to seal it off entirely with the construction of a Vacant-proof cage, an immense monolith made from an unusual alloy, the properties of which contained the fearsome dark beasts. To this day, it still stands tall, a landmark visible from miles away. New reports, however, state that the wards are failing, having been corrupted by the Vacant. Thus, most suspect that another large-scale invasion is undoubtedly imminent.

Although the timeline of Cassian is littered with more acts of aggression due to the leader’s desire to expand the reaches of their realm, the general state of the nation is somewhat peaceful. However, tensions have been heating up with the neighboring state of the Imperium Arcanae.

## The Sparking

Although the environment around a Battery is unstable, unnatural happenings transpiring in their general vicinity have never been recorded on a scale as large as The Sparking. Two hundred years after the country was founded, Edmund himself was working on a mysterious project at the enormous Battery present in the First Bastion; what people presume was an experiment to open it up quickly went awry. An immense blast of power was expelled from the mysterious power source, so intense that it hid the entire nation and some neighboring countries.

This flood of power caused machines everywhere to react in a multitude of manners. From merely shutting down and requiring a restart to violently exploding and causing carnage - And most unusual of all, to generate some mechanical lifeforms that were merely unthinking robots at first to develop sentience. These machines - known as Sparkborn - were puzzled upon gaining sentience, immediately beginning to question what they were doing and what they were made for, only adding to the chaos during this event.

Although the idea of depriving these machines of sentience did arise and get them back to their old assignments, most of them rebelled, not wanting these tasks to be enforced upon them. At first, Edmund’s judgment was for the Sparkborn to be reinstated in their original places. This idea quickly met with pushback, Sparkborn and members of Faith in the Machine backing them to support their citizenship. As civil war was about to erupt, Edmund relented and allowed the Sparkborn to be citizens in the Cassian Federation.

This phenomenon has since returned a few times over the years, although far milder in scale and usually only causing new Sparkborn to be born instead of causing widespread chaos. These events are also called Sparkings.

# Religion

The faiths held in the Cassian Federation are predominantly those of the Faith in the Machine, the close relationship the people of the land have with this technology usually inspiring them to worship some elements. In addition, the faith itself also originated in the country, and its largest cathedral and most important holy site - called the Monument Of Those Most Knowledgeable - is present near the battery in the First Bastion.

Prayer towards deities revering nature or the presence of fey is rarely found inside the country, as greenery and forests are mainly absent. Instead, the more common forms of worship revere Babylon, the god of knowledge, as the deity’s tenets of learning and knowledge resound even with the most taciturn engineers. Though, due to the many pathways that lead towards subterranean areas in the expansive sewer system, many cultists revering more sinister deities also present, most noticeably those of Misericorde.

# Geography

With its borders encompassing most of the continent’s western side, the Cassian Federation is not a small nation by any means. And yet, its environments are probably the least varied compared to other countries due to a majority of the woods growing in fertile soil being chopped down for factories with metal floors. As a result, the region is relatively flat and deprived of many mountainous areas, aside from the Skyreach mountains extending past its borders, making hills far more numerous than any high peaks.  However, in the country lay the Sheffail Woodlands - The only large forest that has survived the industrialization, purely due to the fey residing in it refusing to hand over the domain to the state.

# Places of Interest

## Zone Zero

Removed from the main landmass of the country lay a series of mysterious islands on which military bases of the Cassian Federation are present. Several rumors circulate about the nature of these isles, how some prisoners without the chance of parole are sent there, and how heinous experiments are carried out coupled with military research. However, all forms of government in the Cassian Federation completely deny the existence of the very isles or outright gloss over questions about this mysterious place. Scrying upon these lands has been made impossible, and anyone trying to enter has never returned, leaving most nations of the world to turn a blind eye towards what transpires in the ominous facilities.

## Albaleo’s Ward

Created with the sole purpose to contain the Vacant that spills forth out of the planar tear created by the Arkrad conflict, the existence of Albaleo’s ward is absolutely indispensable. It was named after Albaleo Quixus, one of the most prodigious engineers to ever grace the Cassian Federation - And who gave his life after erecting it, activating its inside workings before disappearing into the Void. Although it’s secure and stops the Vacant from leaking out, small packs of these foul beasts sometimes manage to manifest out of its confines - Though luckily enough, the guards around the area are capable of exterminating them. Lately, however, larger and larger packs of Vacant have manifested outside the Ward, indicating that the Ward might be losing its potency.

## Monument Of Those Most Knowledgeable

Aside from having an absurdly long name, the Monument Of Those Most Knowledge is also known for hosting many bright minds as the holiest site of the Faith in the Machine. Present near the Battery base in the First Bastion, this monumental metallic cathedral holds daily prayers for the machines around them and simultaneously holds seminars about new breakthroughs in technology. Despite some members of the Faith of the Machine having different viewpoints on some issues, conflict, and scuffles are explicitly forbidden, as the goal is for everyone to work in harmony to further the knowledge one has - But these rules more than often are completely forgotten about as smaller sects inside the building constantly try to sabotage one another.

## Sheffail Woodlands

One of the most extensive forests globally and the only one remaining entirely in the Cassian Federation’s borders, the Sheffail forest is home to many capricious fey who reject the technology of the surrounding nation. Ruled by a fickle Fey goddess aptly named Queen, she commands the fey to trick those made out of metal or those who enter the woods without declaring their business, often playing pranks or making them endlessly walk around the woods’ twisted confines until they apologize for trespassing. However, those who greet the fey and treat them kindly will only be subjected to kinder pranks, as they are relatively hospitable folk. The repeated incidents happening around this forest have caused people to campaign for the woodland’s removal, though none of these protests or motions have caused any action to be taken.

# Inhabitants

## Humans

Humans are without a doubt the most numerous of the races living in the Cassian Federation. Their short lifespan compared to other races partially drove the leader to found the country, wanting to make something that he’d leave behind when he departed the planet - Though he has since transcended race altogether due to his immortal status as a construct. Although humans don’t have any special rights that other races do in the Cassian Federation, quite a few are guilty of seeing other races as ‘lesser’ even in the government, capable of causing quite some friction.

## Sparkborn

Sparkborn are not exclusive to the Cassian Federation, but are more often found there due to the country having more Sparkings than most. These are unusual events around Batteries, causing technology to malfunction and stir sentience into previously unthinking constructs. Being a far younger race than most, quite a few are unsure about their role in society, most having been constructed for convenience before gaining sentience. Although some continue with their austere life, content with the tasks they were made to do, a much larger number often decide to turn their life around and seek their fortune however they see fit.

## Language

Although the common tongue is taught everywhere, the Old Tongue also is taught to everyone at a young age. This is the language utilized by the Ancestors that left behind the technological ruins, conveying many meanings in minimal words. Knowledge of this language is necessary to operate the Federation’s mechanical devices and decipher the many grimoires detailing technological processes.