Oksida Syndicate

Oksida Syndicate banner

Early photo of the syndicate headquarter's main causeway

From humble beginnings as a mining colony-commune and tunnel diggers' union, Oksida Syndicate would go on to be one of the most important entities in the Ashlands and give rise to the Oksidan exodus diaspora, which eventually led to the establishment of Carcosa.

### Founding and early history

Starting in -60E0, the miners in the south of the Kumaq region began to take residence in the depleted sections of their mines, rather than return to Kumaq proper. Though it wasn't until -51E0 that there'd be a petition by these "oeq'sida" [Trans: *people who live underground*. Lit: of the earth residers] for recognition as an independent commune in the Ashlands with a seat at the Council of Kumaq.

Though for unknown reasons, Kanuq Chiefslayer intentionally stalled efforts for Oeq'Sidan independence, though the need to maintain her influence over the Chenoeq and Makhnoq delegations through the sheer volume of Ashlanders she represented is likely to have played a role. It wasn't until her grandson, Kenuqse Giver-of-Letters took the position of councilor of Kumaq that formal recognition of Oeq'Sidan independence was granted and the budding commune formally got a say in Ashlander politics.

### Postwar Syndicalization

Not directly involved in The Winter War, Oeq'Sida still played a substantial role in providing residency to refugees and resources for the war effort. Overstretched, the small commune's logistical abilities collapsed and the Ashlands saw its first famine since before the Long Night.

Spreading out throughout its tunnel network, the collapsed Oeq'Sida Commune turned towards smuggling and controlling transit throughout the underground of North Natum to survive. By the end of the Winter War, a young Oksida Syndicate, organized by New Oksidan Syndicalism, declared itself to the Council of Kumaq and began to operate entirely independently of the rest of the Ashlands until an aging Kenuqse Giver-of-Letters was able to negotiate a re-normalization of Ashland relations with his daughter, and the emergent head of Oksida Syndicate, Nanuq of Oksida.

### Year Zero Event and later Natum history

Despite normalization and membership on the Ashlands council, Oksida continued to operate largely independently of the rest of the Ashlands, maintaining its own emerging practices and economy as it had since the Winter War. This separateness was exacerbated by the technological difference between the still primarily hunter-gatherer core of Kumaqoq society and the smugglers' wealth of access to the best available on Natum. Already strained following to the rapid gains made following the collapse of the Logocracy Ochlocratique in 0E-8, this separation both culturally and technologically exploded with the discovery of Object 48, thereafter referred to as the Year Zero Event. Classified and with much of the information intentionally lost between shifts in dimensions, what Object 48 actually was remains uncertain, though the rise of techno-occultism following its discovery and the emergence of transdimensional contact among the Oksidans imply it was tied to either an Old One or transdimensional civilization.

Whatever it was, its discovery and study led to the great divergence between Oksida and the rest of Natum technologically, with the Oksidans pouring vast and ill-gotten resources into furthering their power and understanding via emerging technomancy. This resulted in an increasing tendency towards isolationism, with the city going largely untouched by events such as the Great Natum War. Ultimately, few in Natum outside the criminal elements that'd come to rely on their smuggling services even noticed when the Oksidans disappeared prior to The Dragon's destruction of the realm.

### First Exodus to Lyta

Despite whatever differences had emerged between Kenusqe and Nanuq, the latter made arrangements for the former's remains to be exhumed for the the exodus from Natum. The initial flight of the Oksidans and their few relics led them to a brief stay on Lyta, where they would live in Qyra amid the Qyranian, or Esyari, people. Mixing of the two peoples was limited, with both practicing a degree of open discrimination against the other due to profound technological, religious, and cultural differences. Still, the Oksidans' stay in Qyra was what led to a refocusing of their culture towards conflict, with one of the few means of employment available to the majority of the population being a role akin to that of a mercenary warrior caste to settle differences among Qyranian nobles and protect the realm against outside threats between bouts of expedient and transactional interference. The lessons of this time would prove pivotal in later periods of the Oksidans' existence.

### Second Exodus to Dis

Far from an ideal new home, Qyra would prove decisive in shaping the Oksidan and later Carcosan culture despite the former's brief residence there. Finally abandoning the realm in 1E37, the Oksidans next travelled to Dis, also known as the hell realm, in a further effort to escape the Dragon. By this point the egalitarian and industrialist roots of the Oksidans among the Ashlands had largely been forgotten, replaced by a complex that centered them as rightful survivors assimilating the worthy from each realm they encountered.

This attitude would see the Oksidans go on an unambiguous offensive for the first time in what would be called the Oksidan Crusades. Increasingly dominated by the militant syndicates, the crusade was nominally aimed at "liberating" the native Dissian underclasses from Diabolic rule headed by Baal. Readily finding recruits among former slave populations, this period saw the beginning of the end of the Ashlander identity, the majority of Oksidans, even those who were ethnically Ashlander despite how quickly they were shrinking as a portion of the population, having been born after the first exodus. Warped by the arcana of Dis and thoroughly intermarrying with Dissian recruits, humans would become a minority among the Oksidans by 2E26 and the collapse of Baal's Archdiabolate.

Dissian became the lingua franca of much of Carcosan affairs, with some languages such as Tiberic, Old Norlundic, and the Kumaqoq dialect becoming functionally extinct. Among the languages still spoken from prior to the second exodus, the Makhnoq and Oeqsideoq dialects along with Qyranian largely abandoned the Kumaqoq script and Qyranian abjad, instead being written in modified forms of the Dissian writing sytem. Indeed, scholars remain divided if the Oksidans assimilated the Dissians or *vice versa*, with the claim of Oksidan identity becoming one of prestige and honor for a population of formerly enslaved persons seeking to avoid association with their prior cultural identity. Despite this, it cannot be ignored that the majority of the most influential figures in Oksidan and later Carcosan society would continue to be ethnically Ashlander humans or their direct descendants well after the identity was largely abandoned in favor of that of Carcosan, with Oeqsideoq remaining the primary language of even the avCinnaetti court until Cinna III.

### Conquest of Carcosa

It's not clear if there was any connection between last ditch efforts of Baal and the approach of The Dragon, but yet again the Oksidans found themselves needing to flee their new home by 2E27. Seeking a realm unlikely to garner the attention of The Dragon, Oksidan leadership settled on Carcosa. Expected to be a repeated of their conquest of Dis, Carcosa instead proved a disaster for the Oksidans and only Nanuq's death prevented complete collapse in the first weeks of the invasion. Collapse would come for the Oksidans all the same, however, with the identity quickly becoming abandoned in the first years of the fourth era in favor of that of the Carcosans.

### Legacy

Though effectively extinct as a culture, the consequences of the Oksida and its exploits continue to be felt among the Carcosan people to this day and may well be the reason the Dissian people have a second chance to build a future for themselves. Their Oeqsideoq language persists among a minority of the Carcosan population now five generations removed from their arrival in Carcosa and nine from their abandoning of their origins in the Ashlands, while syndicalism, originally of their import, remains a significant current in Carcosan politics. Just how or if their culture will be remembered in the coming ages remains a mystery, whether it be as conquerors, uniters, innovators, or explorers is for future generations to decide.