Eldrazi Info Topic

ELDRAZI

A new empire rises! The Dominion of Eldrazi, or simply Eldrazi, is an amalgamation of countries in southern Asia under one doctrine, as well as the great floating island of Szalnor over the Indian Ocean—a sight that can be seen from the coast of India. Nozomi, the First Quincy, has subjugated the governments of all of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, replacing them with a more standardized system that all falls under her rule. For the most part they are still left to their own devices, but always give the last word to their leader, for good reason. In the advent of Eldrazi, she has swept away the old society and replaced it with a new utopia; a civilization of the future. With Eldrazi, Nozomi has sought to solve many of the greatest issues of the world, from the dependence on money to limitations on resources, standard of living to the complications of climate. These problems that plagued the world had always persisted, seeming impossible to resolve, but Nozomi would find a way by implanting herself into the structure of Eldrazi, using her power to produce the resources and direction that her Dominion needed. And with that, most problems seemed to subside in due time. Despite holding total control, she has developed a strong policy of putting her people first, sacrificing to make sure her population is more than content—a feat that had never been achieved by previous great leaders. Nozomi was a being whom could create resources from nothing, whom could address every individual of her Empire personally and perceive their desires. Whatever was necessary, Nozomi would create with her own power. Nozomi became more than just a ruler; she became Eldrazi. The Dominion is an extension of herself.

Eldrazi began in a very rushed state. Many countries were taken over at once, and as they were annexed their society would become changed over few days. Some were thrust from their homes—Nozomi proclaimed herself capable of reading the intentions of their minds, judging certain people to be undeserving of the coming Utopia, reducing the population of countries by no small percentage of 20%. Those that remained beheld the transformation of their architecture, standard modern structures being replaced with gleaming towers and silver streets. In conjunction, Nozomi would seamlessly terraform the natural elements of the land and incorporate them alongside the technological architecture of Eldrazi. She took the best of nature and the best of artifice and combined them to impose her vision of beauty. Yet, it was more than just aesthetic purposes; it had function. Throughout the substance of each and every inch of Eldrazi was a code beyond any that had ever been created before. It was both synthetic and organic in nature, with Nozomi as its heart. This code, coined as the Worldly Cooperation and Intervention Network (W.C.I. Network), was like a mind in itself, very fluid and adaptable like a living organism. Yet it was just as efficient as a machine. It allowed the structures of Eldrazi to shift and improve themselves, and for any one facet to communicate with another regardless of distance. Eldrazi comes out to be a well-oiled machine compared to systems of other countries. This, along with Nozomi’s own efforts, allowed for the transition into utopia to occur very quickly.

ECONOMY

People who once lived on the streets and foraged for scraps now lived like kings, and no man or woman was left behind in this way. Eldrazi’s economy works differently than in most societies in that there is a lack of one; there is no money and there are no price tags. A recognizable class system does not exist. People are allowed to have nearly whatever they desire, and if it cannot be found within Eldrazi’s borders, requisitions may be composed to import foreign items. That made jobs and businesses largely unnecessary, meaning that the W.C.I. Network would take care of the vacuum that that left. In short, Eldrazi held a monopoly over every single product within it, though with price being a non-issue and most designs being tailored to the customers every detail, it worked out rather perfectly. There were no imports besides the requisitions into Eldrazi, and Nozomi maintained the previous exports of the sub-countries only for the sake of not disturbing the rest of the world’s economy. It did beg the question, though, as to what people would aspire to if anything at all. With no need for money, and no real jobs to take, there was still an obvious void. It is true that should a person wish to do nothing with their life but revel in the gifts given by Nozomi’s utopia, they could. But it is when a person has aspirations to something that Nozomi listens, and gives them the resources to allow them not only to follow those aspirations but become great in them, even if unnecessary. When this happens, it is something born of passion, and not for the necessity of wealth. It eliminates the stress factor and allows a person to pursue formerly repressed dreams. And if they go above and beyond, they could even end up influencing the future of Eldrazi with their ideas or inventions.

There remains a sizable vacuum even despite this system, leaving many people who wish to achieve nothing and possess everything. Nozomi has recognized a new form of currency arising in the world: Power. The existence of the spiritual realms is no longer a secret, and the masses are aware of the magic around them. Spiritual power is not a thing that can be bought; it must be unlocked from within, or granted by another. It is at the deepest roots of a human being to desire power, and yet for most, it seems like an impossible feat. In Eldrazi, Nozomi has created a system much like schooling, which develops powers within a person and helps them utilize them. Anyone can go, from the youths to the seniors, starting with or without powers, and they will spends decades honing spiritual power. This system shall always be maintained, and there shall be no shortcuts regarding it. Through it, there is always something people may choose to aspire to, and work towards for their lives. Nozomi urges the people of her Dominion to use this education and to enlist with her military force, to protect the utopia she has granted them. Those who take this path become a part of a new generation of Quincies.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Eldrazi architecture can be recognized easily, as it is so far different from that of any other place on Earth. It is comprised of two parts; silver and green, each color representing a different aspect of Eldrazi. Silver represents the metal structures that make up most residencies and functional buildings such as schools or outlets. This does not mean that everything is literally silver, for there are many splashes of blue or orange intermixed, and with residencies specifically people are allowed to customize the colors of their home much like they would paint an ordinary house. Now, silver architecture is very sharp and angular, utilizing many 45 degree turns throughout the structure. Another interesting aspect of it is its verticality, with Eldrazi cities rising high into the skies. Some of the structures seem to defy gravity by floating in the air without being connected to anything. Most of the time they serve only an aesthetic purpose though. The color green represents the natural aspect of Eldrazi, from plant-life to lakes, and animals and insects. It is a highly-controlled nature, especially cultivated to bring additional beauty to the land and remove the problematic elements that harm more than they help. This controlled nature replaces what once was—the middle-eastern deserts and their searing climate, as well as the overgrown jungles in southern Asia with their sometimes dangerous wildlife. Together, these two colors craft an exquisite utopia for the people of Eldrazi, almost too perfect.

Besides the looks, Eldrazi works like a very well-oiled machine, one that has access to nearly limitless resources. We begin with the source of energy, something needed by all modern civilizations. Nozomi has reached into the final frontier, picking out solar masses extremely far out; planetless, supergiant stars. Giving birth to a new era of solar energy, she has created power plants that house within them a highly stable rift connecting directly into these stars. Energy would be extracted directly from the core of the star, housed within powerful machines capable of containing it. Should the machinery ever be damaged, the rift would close immediately, to prevent a potentially worldwide cataclysm. That being said, the risk of this technique would easily produce enough energy to run everything within Eldrazi a billion times over, for a billion years. Even if the supergiant star would be exhausted of energy, a new one could simply be chosen as the next host. This energy would be transferred through the W.C.I. Network to translate it into most applications, and best of all there would be zero emissions to this energy. The biggest downside of these power plants is the size of the structures needed to contain everything, with each the size of a small town alone. Thankfully, few are needed and are spread far between.

The applications of energy are a great many in Eldrazi. Nozomi has already displayed her prowess in being able to create matter from energy; now, she's created machines that do that same thing, but on a more specific basis. A restaurant in Eldrazi would take a mass of energy from the W.C.I. Network and then convert it into a meal of the customer's preference. A library in Eldrazi would retrieve a book's 'blueprint' from an archive and then use the energy to create the book, in paperback, hardbound, or holographic. A toy store in Eldrazi would take specifications from the customer to create whatever toy they like, using the same energy. Any material object, save for certain restrictions, could be created so long as one goes to the right place. Energy is also expended in order to maintain Eldrazi's strange atmosphere: an aura abound with power. It has properties that energize its residents, keeping them in good shape and in a good mood. The air smells sweeter, the colors seem more vivid, and the temperature is just right. And those with spiritual power feel stronger than in any other place, for this aura enhances their abilities a great deal.

Regarding transportation, you'll find few vehicles. It is not a necessity in Eldrazi to have a personal mode of transportation, when most things are already in reach. Any place that one needs to be, they can get to using Rift Stations: There are hubs scattered about the cities of Eldrazi with portals, portals that take a person from any one place in Eldrazi to another instantly, provided they indicate where they are going before entering. Tickets are given out to bystanders by friendly Praetorians, with a specific ID coded to a place in the Dominion. This ID is scanned and expended when a person moves through a portal with it, sending them to their destination in a split second. Should a person be unsure of where they are supposed to go, they can always consult a Praetorian to educate themselves. Despite the existence of the Rift Stations, there are individuals who acquire and drive their own personal vehicles anyways. However, only hover models are allowed within Eldrazi as the streets are reserved for pedestrians (there are no roads for land-based cars). Additionally, people must either learn how to drive safely and acquire a license, or allow the car to drive itself based on speech, to keep the airways safe. Accidents are few, but have occurred before in Eldrazi.

Education has largely been cut out of the nation, unrecognizable from the systems of other countries. There are no schools for general education anymore, as they have been replaced by a far more efficient and effortless program, publicly available to all residents. Nozomi has the capability to transfer complicated thoughts into the mind of another near-instantaneously, and thus, she can also create machines to do the task in her stead much like she did with her matter creation ability. Taking only about five to ten minutes per subject, willing individuals can imprint years' or decades' worth of information into their mind. This imprinting method also makes it harder to forget the lessons learned, so that the information sticks. There are restrictions to this system, however, as it can only be done so many times a day, and overall, so that the recipient's mind isn't overloaded. Praetorians firmly uphold these limitations to protect their citizens.

CULTURE

Living in Eldrazi is as much the same as it is different from life outside; at first the changes stand starkly. Starting with the citizens, the people of Eldrazi are much more likely to feel worry-free of situations, knowing than anything bad would likely be taken care of automatically by the mechanisms of the Dominion. Crime has long fallen by the wayside due to the systems in place, and the empire's defenses would surely protect them from any outside attacks. They are also provided nearly anything they could want, and thus are more likely to just go with the flow and not bite the hand that fed them. Eldrazi's citizens are much more civil and friendly than outsiders would be used to, for it has been the focus of their leader to improve their lives. One can assume that any person living within Eldrazi will be friendly, content, and passive, due to an environment that efficiently and effectively gets rid off crime and hostility. These people are often seen in public if they are the social type, taking advantage of the pedestrian-only streets to go to the parks or community hubs scattered about the land. The introverts of Eldrazi are more likely to stay inside their own homes, as they can acquire anything they need without needing to even move. Also being the home of the Quincy, many can be found here in Eldrazi.

Besides the people, the synthetics of the Dominion are also often seen: From the friendly Praetorian drones that hover about, to the occasional Draken that can be seen far overhead like a plane in the sky. They patrol primarily, but also have their own specific tasks as well. The Praetorians function as the citizens' guides should a terminal not be nearby, or as police should a situation call for it. Draken make sure everything is in order, and wait to be called upon for more dangerous tasks that the Praetorians cannot handle. One thing to get used to will be the shifting structures of cities, constantly optimizing the layout of the land, or otherwise creating new structures for the cities. Through one night, a library you frequented could be replaced by a movie theater; thankfully, friendly Praetorians would always be available to direct you to the library's new location. This aspect makes people consider Eldrazi as alive in a way, which would be accurate. It makes the idea of utopia feel more real.

Speaking of perceptions, it is every individuals right to believe in whatever they want, with no doctrine or religion forced upon them. In fact, Eldrazi will support them in their religions, constructing shrines or places of worship for them if they want it, and recognizing their beliefs as partially substantial. Many people kept the old religions of their old countries, without any repercussions. However, such drastic changes in culture have created new beliefs within Eldrazi. Given the deeds of Nozomi in creating this new utopia, doing the impossible things she did to achieve it, some have changed their views to regard her as some sort of deitic figure. She publicly refutes it, but certainly does not mind the religion she's spawned. Additionally, due to some encouragement on Nozomi's part, a resurgence of the Manifest Destiny way of thinking was created. She, along with a sizable group within Eldrazi wish to spread the Dominion all across the world, sharing with all their utopia.

DEFENSE

Eldrazi comes up short in no regard, especially not its defense. It is vested greatly in protecting its utopia with whatever means necessary. At the core of its security is the W.C.I. Network, Eldrazi's answer to the Yuudeshi Network. As previously stated, the W.C.I. acts like a sort of living code; the currents are very fluid and adaptable. For example, if a section of an Eldrazi building is destroyed or otherwise corrupted or hacked, the flow of information will be able to circumvent and find a new path without hindering the whole of the system. Inversely, as new structures are formed or expanded upon, then the current will pervade it in response. There are, strangely, no signals involved with any information produced by the Network, or otherwise the air would be clogged up with too many of them. Instead, if there is empty space between two ends, then the information will immediately be warped between sides as if they were connected. The data stream created by Nozomi for this network instinctively teleports through a modified garganta only functional for such a case as this. As a result of this method, information travels much faster through the Eldrazi Dominion, able to connect the two farthest points of the Dominion by no more than a handful of milliseconds. Additionally, this method also makes peering into the system difficult, as its combination of technology and spiritual powers require a technique utilizing both to access it. It also must come up with a way to 'catch' the necessary information, for it goes extremely fast and any unauthorized presence into the system will cause the currents to move out of the way and consider the hacked area as "corrupted".

The Network turns the whole of Eldrazi into a massive living entity, with special abilities of its own. Through the medium of code, it can transform any section of a structure, or even the terrain, into a sensory device. It can greatly harden the substance of a wall or create energy shielding around the edges. It can cause the structures to move and mold itself for whatever purposes it sees fit. And often, it can combat any hostilities by creating weaponry. With the combination of the massive energy circulating through its circuits, and its capability of self-rewriting, nearly any weapon can be formed from the bits and pieces in Eldrazi. Most commonly, it creates what has been coined as the Helion Cannon to fire a refined beam of solar energy from its barrel in a straight line, capable of cutting through the hardest metals on the first go. It possesses a heat equal to the temperature of the core of the supergiant star that it retrieves its energy from.Beyond physical combat, the W.C.I. Network is proficient in cyberwarfare, or the sabotaging and hacking of other electronics systems remotely. It can run its code through other networks, using its superior, almost organic complexity to take them over. Purely synthetic code has a limit, so that no matter how complex it becomes, it can not advance beyond the organic variance of the W.C.I. It can resist for a time at best, which causes the takeover to be slow. A unique side effect of this organic code is the creation of the holographic avatar of the W.C.I. network, or Virtual Interface. Named Vi, this virtual interface can appear in any two-dimensional or three-dimensional space as a holographic image made of light particles. It appears as a female woman, though its visual may be changed at any time.

Praetorians — The W.C.I. doesn't work alone in Eldrazi's defense; there are the Praetorian Drones, whom serve as internal defense and general assistance synthetics. There are almost as many Praetorians as there are people within the nation, and it is easy to spot them flying through the airways by just looking up from the ground. These machines are fully integrated into the W.C.I. and act as its arms and legs.

Draken — In addition to the Praetorians are the Draken, serving as the main part of Eldrazi's air forces. True to their name, these synthetics take the form of dragons, and are a much more fearsome sight than the simple drones. Half of them fly so high in the sky that they are specks in the air when seen from the ground. The rest are either deactivated and grounded, only to be restored for war purposes, or otherwise watching over the cities like sentinels. Unlike the Praetorians, Draken may travel outside the boundaries of the Dominion.

Quincies and Graustrom — Eldrazi could be known as the land of the Quincies, not only because its leader, Nozomi, was the first Quincy, but because it originally had begun as a haven to the Quincies who rejected the heretical Vandenreich. It still is in a way the home to the Quincies, for Vandenreich has disbanded. Nozomi welcomed whoever would come into her land's borders, doing her best to give them the life of their dreams. In addition to that, new Quincies would be cultivated through Eldrazi's "Power economy". Irregardless of their origins, Nozomi would strongly urge these Quincies to join her military and help defend Eldrazi from would-be enemies. Given everything that her utopia has granted, this call would not go unanswered. Thus, an army of Quincies would make up the majority of her ground forces, though compared to others this would be much smaller in strength. As a solution to this problem, the Graustrom would be introduced—all the of the Quincies that had been killed during the Quincy-Shinigami war were resurrected in a distorted form, almost like zombies. It still did not expand her army further than other major contenders, but it allowed her to rival them.

Titans — The Eldrazi Titans are Nozomi's nuclear deterrent, an alien organic race created by Nozomi for one thing: Destruction. These mindless beasts are held on a leash by the First Quincy and made to do her bidding, and they wield the power to bring unbridled devastation. These gigantic amalgamations of flesh are kept outside of the borders of the Dominion, wandering around them so that they are safely kept apart from the population. These titans are only called upon during wartime or with special need by Nozomi herself.

The Emerian Barrier — A part of the Dominion's defenses, though much more static than the above. The Emerian Border is a modern day Great Wall; it is an incredibly thick and tall wall that surrounds the entirety of Eldrazi's lands in Asia, with only a set several entrances for people to travel in and out of. They do not rise up high enough to block airways, but that space is patrolled constantly irregardless as no foreign vehicles are allowed to land within Eldrazi. The wall itself is made of the same technology as the rest of the Dominion, fully-integrated with the W.C.I. network. It can shift and transform if need be, or repair itself when damaged. The walls will move with Eldrazi's borders when it expands or shrinks. The materials it uses are of hyper-condensed titanium, using the Quintessence force from Eldrazi's power plants to compress the metal a thousand times over. The few openings in the wall are guarded heavily as the only way in or out of the Dominion. Should a person wish to get in, they would need to be screened by Nozomi personally, and it would be difficult to gain rite of passage unless it was to join the society and live in Eldrazi. For anyone leaving, the screening would be more lenient. If a person no longer wished to live within Eldrazi, so long as they left behind their belongings gained from the country, they could go. Otherwise, trips such as vacations would be allowed as long as they returned.