Kapazand (/'kæp ə zænd/ | KAP-uh-zand)
The Enlightened City
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Kapazand is a city-state in the World Below that tries to maintain a balance of power between Vampire, Human, and Elf. Unlike in Aszaryn or Adar’ul, there is no "slave caste" here; nominally, all peoples are considered equals under Kapazandi law. However, this is not a glittering utopia either. It's just that the Kapazandi distribute labor and resources in a different way.
The Kapazandi tend to take a pseudo-scientific view of The Spellburn and the changes wrought in their world. Vampires are believed to have been created by some form of alchemy. Unlike both the other known city-states, becoming a Vampire here is often a sacrifice made willingly. While Undeath might still be a sentence pronounced on dissidents and criminals, many people choose to undergo the process as a way of serving their city, family, and people. This is more often a decision made by Humans than Elves, who sometimes find the extended "lifespan" attractive.
All blood of the deceased is saved for the city-state's Vampires, before the bodies are harvested for crop fertilizer, especially for their vast mushroom farms. The Kapazandi, above all, believe in duty; and their final duty is to give their bodies to the preservation of future generations.Demographics
Roughly 30% Human, 30% Elf, 30% Vampire, 10% other.
The citizens of Kapazand hold to a rigidly-enforced doctrine of equality. This means that jobs are assigned by need, as opposed to desire. A Kapazandi can request a new assignment every three years. This request, however, can be denied by the Chamber of Service , meaning that someone who is particularly valued in their assigned job can end up stuck in the role for decades, as long as the Chamber believes that they are especially gifted at the assigned task, or that their skills are needed.
Creative roles, such as artists, poets, and thespians, are limited to a small fraction of the population. Every three years, these positions open to auditions -- and competition is cutthroat and fierce. Artists and artisans rarely step down, so pressure to perform in a skillful way is high, and a poor review from the Chamber can result in the end of a dream. Politics, of course, also have an influence. Attrition is, therefore, high, as Artisans either burn themselves out in the crucible, or resort to dark deeds and sinister manipulations to protect, or gain, a position. Naturally, Artisans who depict themes that threaten the political structure of the city-state are also removed from their position. Most people dabble in the arts, but professional Artisans, especially musicians, are extremely rare.
Even clothing is mass produced, and therefore, variations in style are limited. Some rebellious youth choose to flaunt these limits on their personal choices by getting exotic piercings or tattoos to express their uniqueness, or by vandalizing public structures to exercise their frustrated artistic expression.
Government
The government of Kapazand is run by an unusual process. A Council of Nine rules the city-state, made up of three Vampires, three Humans, and three Elves. These representatives are chosen by lottery from the official census, with one Council member of each group stepping down each year. Each representative, therefore, serves a three-year term.
Naturally, powerful guilds and other influential organizations of each species work to influence these Councilors. These groups have a great deal of covert power that operates independently of the Council, and some even joke (half-resentfully, and half-seriously) that the Council of Nine are merely figureheads. While that isn't exactly true, it is a fact that the authority of the Council is not absolute. Trade, for example, is governed by powerful guilds, and the all-important rituals that create Vampires are carefully managed by a mysterious cabal of alchemists known as the Shadow Council . There is also some competition between significant racially-focused criminal gangs.
Industry & Trade
Kapazand has four major assets: their enormous, well-tended mushroom farms, a store of coal and related hydrocarbon products, diamonds and related gems, and Radiant Crystal . They trade these items for other goods, including the extra bat saliva they need to maintain the health of their Vampire population, the silver required to defend their surface food-crops from the mutants of the World Above, and the zinc needed for bronze and other significant metal alloys.
Kapazand also manages ranches of giant bats and giant spiders, but they do not have sufficient numbers of either to maintain their population without trade.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure in Kapazand is carefully planned, with any expansion being monitored by the Chamber of Public Works . With geological stability being a local concern, building is more likely to happen in an upward direction, rather than an outward one.
Kapazand is primarily illuminated by locally-sourced Radiant Crystal , which form "street lights" and gentle illumination from the roof of its great cavern. The light given off by these crystals in the stone ceiling superficially resembles stars -- although only the Vampires, who are the only ones who spend any time in the World Above, recognize the resemblance. It is the most illuminated of the three known city-states.
Assets
The greatest assets of Kapazand are its vast mushroom farms, its proximity to a geologically active underground area, and its mines of Radiant Crystal . Mining coal and kerosene are dangerous jobs, but are viewed as essential to the well-being of the city.
History
Like most of the city-states of the World Below, Kapazand's history is less than stellar. Originally a Gnome city, it was overrun by Human and Elf refugees from the World Above. The Gnomes did their best to accommodate their new inhabitants, but resources were desperately limited until the secret of creating Vampires was re-created (or stolen) from the city-state of Aszaryn.
In the meantime, a custom of rigidly sharing equal portions of the resources was implemented. If the city starved, everyone starved together. This was not without its problems; riots over limited rations broke out frequently, and cannibal cults became endemic. To this date, cannibalism in Kapazand is an offense punishable by death -- except, of course, for the blood required to sustain Vampires.
The original Gnome inhabitants, however, quickly died out, as diseases brought into the insular community by the former surface-dwellers tore through it in waves of disastrous, epidemic plagues. In modern Kapazand, there is still a small Gnomish presence, but Gnomes did not survive the contact well, and are nearly extinct.
Architecture
Critics of Kapazandi architecture claim that the careful management of resources, and the attempt to equalize the social castes, creates a uniform sameness in their building style. Every apartment in every stone highrise looks like every other one, with some minor variations to adapt to the differing sizes of families. It is true that dwellings in Kapazand are primarily geared for functionality as opposed to aesthetic, but the Kapazandi claim they prefer things that way. Every structure is designed to survive even strong earth tremors.
Natural Resources
Kapazand's most significant assets come from "fossil fuels" -- the coal they mine fuels a variety of important industries in the World Below, and kerosene is mined and widely distributed for heat and light. Living in relatively close proximity to a geologically active region of the underground world leads to occasional earth tremors, necessitating their advances in structural integrity. They also mine the gems that result from such activity, especially diamonds.
Kapazand by Artbreeder
Type
Large city
Population
About 25,000 people
Inhabitant Demonym
Kapazandi
Characters in Location
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Kapazand by Worldspinner
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