The Dušavjdski Confederation

## NAME

The Dušavjdski (Doo - zav - yids - kih) Confederation | D.Z.C.

## FLAG/SYMBOL

   The blue-black background represent space, the white bone and red the Kostrvari's revolutionary past. The three circles symbolise he planet of Duša and moons of Stariji and Mlađi, while the white band represents the Zajednica asteroid belt. A red revolutionary band runs through the centre, with a stylised "D" - "Z/S" - "C" for the initials of the Dušavjdski Confederation.

## GEOGRAPHY/ASTROGRAPHY

Plavimodar is a binary star system consisting of the larger, duller star Modar and the smaller, brighter star Plava. From the centre moving out, Plava and Modar are orbited by the planet Ad Pakao, the planet Amethyst and its satellites, the Zajednica asteroid belt, and the planet Duša and its satellites.

The Dušavjdski Confederation consists of the planet Duša , its two moons Stariji and Mlađi, and the Zajednica. Despite its position at the very edge of the system, the Duša is arguably the planet most hospitable to life due the extreme heat output of the system’s dual stars. It is a large temperate world formerly home to variety of distinct fauna and flora, now reduced in number due to urbanisation.

Duša's two moons are Stariji the Elder and Mlađi the Younger. Stariji is the larger moon with a denser atmosphere better capable of sustaining life, while Mlađi is smaller and requires the construction of habitats.

Between the Kostrvari and Rascavent worlds lies the asteroid belt Zajednica, rich in various metals and resources.

## BIOLOGY/ETHNICITY

The primary species of the Dušavjdski Confederation are the Kostrvari, a translucent slime-like species lacking in any discrete organs, with the gelatinous substance that makes up their bodies instead serving as a dual decentralised nervous and muscle system. They are omnivorous creatures, descended from scavengers, that engulf their meals entirely before a slow digestion via dissolution. In their base state Kostrvari are without sight, instead communicating through vibration/sound and a combined sense of smell and taste.

Kostrvari are able to shape their gelatinous bodies to imitate the musculature of a skeleton they’ve ingested thus mimicing a member of the skeleton’s species, albeit a hairless member with no organs and translucent skin. The Kostrvari’s scavenger ancestors did this to scare away larger predators, but the modern Kostrvari utilises this ability to perform actions they are incapable of in their base form such as hold tools and run.

They are also able to derive a low level of information from absorbed bones such as muscle memory and vague impressions. This enables them to instinctively know how the foreign musculature of an ingested skeleton should be structured and quickly learn its operation. Young Kostrvari typically learn early skills such as movement and language this way, being granted access to bones deemed of their level by community elders.

Kostrvari reproduce asexually, with it growing harder to maintain their sense of self as a single being in their later years until they eventually release control and split into a multitude of new Kostrvari, the exact number depending on their size at time of division.

## HISTORY

The Kostrvari reached the space age roughly 300-450 years ago, with their first expeditions tasked in exploring their own system. It was in these early years that they made first contact with the species they shared the Plavimodar system with, the Rascavent. Early relations were tentative but promising, featuring a healthy exchange of culture and knowledge. Present corporate representatives were also able to convince the Rascavent to sign over sole mining rights in the Zajednica asteroid belt to the Kostrvari, partially due to the small rodents not understanding why they would need the belt’s resources when their own world was so large and plentiful.

Progress with the Rascavent stalled, however, when other expeditions beyond the Plavimodar system saw the Kostrvari encounter the Iyezi Commonwealth. This larger power was happy to greatly advance Kostrvari technology by sharing their own designs, in exchange for subtly but firmly bringing the Kostrvari into their sphere of influence. Relations with the Rascavent for the most part ceased as the Kostrvari instead dedicated their focus to members of their new bloc.

The next century in the Iyezi sphere of influence proved prosperous with the Kostrvari quickly growing in power thanks to their aid, with the caveats that their native research was neglected and their industry was built centred around being a member of an interstellar market. The century after that saw Kostrvari workers increasingly exploited to meet export demands as the Iyezi engaged in increasing wars with their rivals, religious and labour tensions eventually boiling in the first of a series of revolts in the offworld colonies. These revolts were suppressed, albeit with increasing aid from the Iyezi, culminating in the establishment of a permanent Iyezi garrison on one of the colonies to protect their interests.

Ultimately home turmoil saw the Iyezi retreat from the Plavimodar system, and without their military aid the Kostrvari state was unable to quell the final, successful revolution. A new confederated union was declared between former colonies and homeworld, with 1CY seeing the second generation to come into leadership of the young state.

## SOCIETY

The Dušavjdski Confederation is a confederation of the former Kostrvari home and colony worlds, from which the member planetary bodies can on paper withdraw from at any time. The base societal unit in the D.Z.C. is the Zavjd, a workers’ syndicate modelled after the older Zajednica, a village community. Although the prominence of the Zajednica was lessened during the rule of the Dual Monarchy and the rise of industrialisation, as urbanisation and the growth of cities destroyed many of the villages the Zajednice were centred around, it saw a resurgence in the company owned offworld colonies. The abysmal working conditions fostered a sense of shared identity similar to the Zajednice of old, but with class and occupation now as the primary unifier, coalescing in the modern Zavjd.

The post revolutions ideal sees the Zavjd at the core of Kostrvari society. Every Kostrvari of working age is automatically a member of their local and industrial Zavjd, through it able to freely engage in local governance while having their class interests represented on the planetary and interplanetary scale.

In practice this ideal is better achieved on the former colonies, growing out of former company workforces and being more possessed of revolutionary spirit as the revolts birthplace. The former homeworld of Duša, meanwhile, bears more similarity to its pre revolutions society. Community and occupation are not as intertwined as they are in the former colonies, and logistically its many multitudes larger populations requires more specialised governance structure, with several pre revolutions institutions still existing as a holdover while replacements are argued over.

## CULTURE

In their final weeks, Kostrvari will typically undergo a feasting period to rapidly increase their mass before division. Upon their splitting the new Kostrvari do not inherit any memories or skills of the person they once made up, but may learn of them via the bones they leave behind. The life experiences imparted into bones over their years of use is the greatest gift the Kostrvari leave behind for the next generation, with passing down of bones holding great cultural and religious importance. Zvajski, and the Zajednice they draw from, take great care in safeguarding the community’s collection of bones so they may be used when collectively raising young Kostrvari.

The traditional mark of a Kostrvari’s adulthood is when they no longer need organic or inherited bones to perform motor functions. When this is true, they are to craft a set of artificial bones from a material of their choosing and impart their own experiences into them over the remainder of their life to benefit the next generation, adding to their Zajednica’s collection.

This practice of growing a Zajednica’s collection of bones to aid the community was originally core to Dušost, the ancestor to the modern Kostrvari religion. It was however supplanted by Dušobtelj, the doctrine endorsed by the Dual Monarchy which sought to elevate the importance of the wisdom inherited from past Kostrvari, as it was from their own bones’ unbroken line of ancestry that the claimed legitimacy.

The revolutions were in part a rejection of this doctrine and the hierarchy it enabled. The modern Dušavjd is branded as a return to form, elevating the importance of the Zavjd in the way Dušost once elevated the Zajednica.

## OCCURRENCE OF MAGIC

The Kostrvari’s innate ability to change shape and discern memory from bone is part biological, part magical in nature. When these natural abilities are pushed further they transcend biology and form the basis of the three main branches of Kostrvari magic.

The Transformative branch of magic is driven by further advancing the Kostravri’s ability to change shape. It produces feats such as changing the properties of their slime, generating functioning organs such as eyes, and creating new limbs without any bones as a base. Their is a danger that in pushing transformation too far beyond the norm a Kostrvari can weaken their sense of self, hastening the time of their division, so official mage Zavjdski pair magical tutelage with philosophical to maintain a strong mind.

Meanwhile the Empathic branch concerns itself in the limits of Kostrvari ability to derive information from bones and other simple materials. This branch is focused on deriving greater information from objects, its practitioners able to derive complete memories of a bone’s previous users and the location a tool was crafted and the identity of its crafter. Learn this information necessitates the Kostrvari be quiet and patient, a bold Empath is mutually exclusive with a skilled one.

The final branch of Kostrvari is the Transmutative, which seeks to combine the other two. Its users seek to connect to a material to the same depth as Empathic mages, but rather than understand it they utilise Transformative methods to command it instead. In doing so they are able to impart instructions for an object to carry out, or change its matter outright from one material to another. In a similar consequence to Empathic mages, a Transmuter must by design develop an arrogant and domineering personality to successfully impart their will upon the world.

These branches of magic are not mutually exclusive, and Kostrvari can in fact negate the worst side effects by maintaining a balance between them. However the greatest feats of magic are achieved through exclusive specialisation, and the most prominent mages utilise this.

## TECHNOLOGY

The Dušavjdski Confederation’s research sector was greatly neglected during the years in the Iyezi sphere of influence, and the years following the revolutions have seen them try but ultimately fall short of remedying that. Much of their technology is either imported or behind the cluster standard, with most of new Dušavjdski technology being into ever more esoteric fusions of technology and their own Kostrvari magic. Particular focuses of the new insular magi-science Zavjdi are pushing Kostrvari Transformative magic to create the perfect form for the modern post-revolutionary Kostrvari, expanding viable Empathic targets to glean unforeseen innovations by communing with circuit boards, and combining the two schools to create the perfect intelligence agency able to mimic the appearance and memory of other peoples should the D.Z.C. need to be pre-emptively defended.

## MAJOR INDUSTRIES, IMPORTS, & EXPORTS

The Dušavjdski Confederation’s industry is focused heavily on the mass production of simple, commonly used base components and mass manufacturing of rank and file firearms, although they have been attempting to diversify post revolutions. These goods consist their primary exports, in addition to raw mined resources.

As a result of their long neglected research sector and sudden loss of their primary trading partner post revolutions, they need to import much of the high end technology necessary to run a spacefaring state.