Crux

Summary: Crux

Magic: Oaths, Divination, Probability, Spatial

Titan: Fulcrum Hala’gon, the Crux Calculus

Capital: Crux

Location: South-eastern Menechtarun savannah

Exports: Banking, engineering, mechanics, law

T he heart of the Group of Eleven was the nation of Crux - a bastion of law that bound the disparate nations into a single cohesive alliance. The cyclopic city-state drew on Daanvi and the tenets of Aureon, driven to impose order on themselves and Xen’drik at large. Their society revolved around probability and divination; by constantly generating divinatory outcomes, they could direct scores of constructs to automatically perform the most optimal foreseen path. In this way, the people of Crux defined their present based on the future, automating their entire nation towards the best possible course.

From there, they wielded their unshakeable reputation of law to influence their neighbors; cyclops judges, lawyers, and engineers spread out to assist other city-states with development and infrastructure. Before long, their neutral reputation and flawless morality won them unique respect. When the Titan Cul’sir rose to infamy, they called in their favors, summoning representatives from across Xen’drik to a conclave. There, the Group of Eleven was born, its balance resting on the Titan of Daanvi - the immortal Fulcrum Hala’gon.

The cyclopes of Crux drew on all aspects of the plane of Daanvi for their civilisation. The efficiency of modrons inspired metaclockwork constructs that performed daily labors. Citizens were subject to constant surveillance without qualms, the imperative of such laws unquestioned as they worked like cogs in the machine. For agents of chaos, judgment was swift; Panoptic Knights empowered by their own oaths hunted criminals before they could even begin their crimes. For those who served Crux, the ultimate reward came from true clockwork perfection. Organic bodies were flawed, and doomed to fail. The true embodiment of law came through mechanical transhumanism, with the city’s leaders converting themself into timeless metal forms.

Capital: Crux The cyclops capital is a masterpiece of civic design. The city is radially symmetrical, with the tower of Iex Mekina at its heart. Every building reaches the same height, with flawlessly cut blocks of stone and marble pillars engraved with geometric patterns. The flowerbeds are perfectly maintained, the roads and canals evenly spaced, and the rooms all equally sized. Bizarrely, the effects of the Shattering seem to have left the city untouched.

Unlike its peers, Crux is not marred by acidically melted rubble or scorched stone, for the constructs of the city have brought it back to a perfect state of order. Unfortunately, adventurers have a natural tendency to disrupt that order. Crux’s districts each focused on a singular aspect of its work. Perhaps the most interesting to adventurers is Mallium Domini, home of the city-state's artificers and gearwrights. Other sectors might be based around law and governance, contracts and diplomacy, and banking - for it was Crux that held the Group of Eleven’s central mint.

Any who can make it into the city’s deep vaults of platinum and silver are guaranteed to strike it rich, assuming they can get past the whirring guards and magical alarms. Navigating through the city is incredibly easy as a result of its flawless planning, especially since the street signs both predict where observers need to go, and flawlessly translate their directions at the same time.

Ambience

• The entire city ticks in tandem to mark the hour like a vast synchronized clock.
• The streets smell medically clean - a result of magically self-cleaning paving stones.
• The buildings of Crux are stark white, geometric, and angular. Every single one is the same height, except for the tower of Iex Mekina at its heart. Many have simple fractal patterns engraved into them.
• The bright savannah sun illuminates the city. The instant the sun sets, the perfectly spaced streetlights switch on, each containing the same bright continual flame.