City-State of Axiom

The massive metropolis founded far from civilization, standing as cultural and trading hub of the world

Structure

The Major Factions of Axiom

The Factions that operate large chunks of the city are largely divided into two groups: The Traditionalists and the Radicals. These factions, divided up in the modern day Axiom political climate into 3 major factions each, are those groups who have the largest zones of influence in the city and command the most wealth, knowledge, law, or otherwise "influence" over the city in one way or another such that they have been considered one of the city's "major players".
Historically, rulership of the city was decided between the seven or so major factions by whichever one was able to secure the ruling seat by means of political intrigue and monetary influence, but with the arrival of the city's new ruler, The Daogui, that practice has ended in favor of the autocratic rule of the Daogui, who has reigned unopposed in any meaningful way since their takeover around fourty years prior to the modern day.

Traditionalists

The Traditionalists are the groups who trace their roots back to the city's founding centuries ago, who still hold the vision of the city-state's founder of a multicultural land rooted in the traditions and heritages of their homelands close to their hearts, believing heavily in the culture and ways of Axiom as it is and was since its founding. They believe the city's ways of free-thinking but with an identity all its own that is open to everyone but refuses to bend for others are paramount, and must be preserved at all costs - and as such, they want Axiom to stay the way it has been - free for anyone to travel to and enjoy, but ran by the Axiomi: those who have been around the city since it's inception. They see a fundamental difference in the Axiomi people between those who come to visit and stay for a short time and those who live there and have decades or centuries of history built into the city's foundations, loving both but thinking the city should stay in the hands of those in the latter category - those who they think truly understand the city's unique glory.

Radicals

The Radicals are those come to Axiom and make their roots there as immigrants after the city-state's founding - those who came from lands afar, drawn by the notions of Axiom's multicultural heritage and free market to make a name or new life for themselves on its shadowed streets. While many among them may treasure Axiom and its ways, they are primarily concerned with and share a deep love for its free markets, egalitarian society, and ability to change the life of any who enter its hallowed halls and streets, generally seeing Axiom as an amazing economic and life-changing place rather than holding its culture or traditions close to their hearts. They are primarily concerned with making more money for themselves and their people and bettering their lives in the process, though some among them are often just as concerned with the city's wellbeing as the Traditionalists, for wholly different reasons.

The Factions

The Cobblers: The personal agents of the city's ruler, the Daogui, often likened to the city's secret police. Altogether little is known of them, and they are often attributed to being everywhere and nowhere at once - with ears and eyes all over the city and beyond with which to enforce the Daogui's edicts and protect Axiom as a whole. They are tasked with keeping an eye on the rest of the city and its factions to ensure they are not going against the Daogui, and act as the Daogui's personal agents to achieve his aims and goals. Unlike what might expect, they do operate in the open occasionally - appearing in their trademark onyx-black Kimonos with red accents and wearing fearsome Hannya masks alongside wide-brimmed metallic Jingasas to cover their heads with the mark of the Daogui emblazoned on their Jingasa and Kimonos. They move virtually unopposed through the city, as no faction either Traditionalist or Radical would dare provoke them and earn the ire of their master, long-feared for his wrathful punishments on those who defy him such that he earned the eponymous nickname "The Hand Nailer".
The Enduring Armada(The Axiomi Navy): One of the three Traditionalist powers of Axiom, the Enduring Armada is run by the illustrious House Jisilruth and its first and ruling lord, Lord Vinic, which stands as the only remaining Githyanki-founded Noble House founded during Axiom's inception that remains active in the modern day. Together with the Wayfarer Guild and Kamos Shipyards, their navies patrol the waters of Axiom and beyond safeguarding its vital shipping lanes from threats both internal and external.
The Vaulters' Union: The largest of the Worker's Guilds in Axiom(See The Rasmanthus Guild for more information on "Jobbers", also known as Workers), the Vaulter's Union is the richest and strongest of the Radical Faction - run by the free-spirited man known as Lord Shakir or Shakir the Silken, the Vaulter's Union aids in the defense of the city, the handling of countless internal tasks and jobs, and has historically handled the city's infrastructure(Roads, Sewage, Etc) after recieving the contract to do so from the city's previous ruling merchant families: One of the incredibly rare agreements allowed to stand with the takeover of the city by the Daogui. Most notably, they handle the mass-transit lines that carry travelers from the outer rings to the inner rings of the city as well as the elite "Skycarpets" used for fast transit around the enormous city of Axiom by the rich.
Websheets Guild: The smallest of the Radical Faction, the Websheets guild was sponsored into the Major Factions of Axiom by the Vaulter's Union after it replaced the previous Traditionalist Organization known as the Crier's Guild as the new information source of the city. Led by the reclusive but brilliant Sir Grigori Borisova - inventor of the miraculous "Stamping Press" that allows for the pressing of information onto Vellum or other information mediums, allowing for quick and repeated creation of information sources like the "Websheets" the Guild has pioneered as the main way for the common folk to inform themselves of the city's goings-on, replacing the town criers the Crier's Guild once organized. Unlike his close friend Lord Shakir who sponsored his guild into the Major Factions, Sir Grigori(So called for his status as a Knight of the Danzou Theocracy) is a reclusive man who prefers to leave business matters to his peers in favor of creating and inventing.
Immurean Stonemen: The second of the three Traditionalist powers of Axiom's major factions, the Immurean Stonemen are the famous and well-respected creators and maintainers of the titanic walls of Axiom - the nearly 350ft tall outer walls that are nearly 150 feet thick alone require a monumental degree of time, resources, and energy to maintain and keep in excellent repair, such that almost none can truly fathom or understand how much work the Stonemen put in everyday to keep them defendable and intact. Led by the group's founder and leader, the towering Cyclops known as Lady Ladelle, the bulk of their work happens within the walls themselves and along the wall's massive exteriors - hooked up to massive rappels and scaffolding inside and out to patch, smooth, and maintain the walls as needed. Much about the stonemen is unknown, as they rarely draw attention to themselves - though they are beloved by the populace and are believed to be constantly innovating new defenses for the city and ways to reinforce its walls. The methods by which they built the massive outer walls and smaller inner walls are largely unknown, and considered state secrets.
The Gangplank: The last of the Radical Faction in Axiom's Major factions, the Gangplank is the wealthy organization that runs the city's docks and seaside districts - working begrudgingly alongside the Enduring Armada to control and run the docks of the city. It is they who organize the flow of goods going into and out of the city, and are thus hugely rich - growing ever richer off the taxes on imported and exported goods. They are led by the brutish but eloquent Lady Yolanda hailing from the Kassau Matriarchy, they are rapidly becoming one of the city's premier Radical powers pushing against the ever hardline Traditionalists.
House Imperiana: The most illustrious and powerful as well as the well-beloved leaders of Axiom's Traditionalist faction, House Imperiana stands as the inheritors of Axiom's Founder's legacy and final wishes - they control and oversee a truly enormous host of businesses, workshops, districts, churches, parishes, and other power centers across the enormous city such that with good reason are they regarded as the lords of Axiom's traditions and history. Led by the much beloved Lord Giovanni Domenico Imperiana, they are a faction within Axiom that holds great sway and power - when they speak, none but the most foolish ignore their words.

Societal Classes

Visitors: Those who come to the city purely on business, visitation, tourism, or on some otherwise temporary business. They are allowed to move around the city as they wish but are somewhat restricted on various rights in the city such as land ownership, taxes, etc. Many must pay for "passes" that grant them entry into the city which serve as proof of identity.
Citizens: Those who are born as children of citizens or those who come as visitors and take the citizenship test to become fully-fledged Axiomi citizens. They are allowed to hold land, spend money, pay normal taxes, own and run businesses, and much more, but are barred from openly bearing or wielding weaponry in the streets of Axiom outside of dock areas or specific "intake yards" designed for immigration processing much like visitors.
Knights: Citizens who have been sponsored by either the Government or one of the many guilds or other powerful factions that exist within axiom. They are given more open freedoms and the ability to carry and openly wield weapons on their persons in the city-streets, though they typically must openly bear the symbol of their sponsor and perform tasks for them in exchange for knighthood, as Knighthood without strings attached is extremely rare in Axiom. Some Knights sponsored by law enforcement organizations are even given the right to arrest and detain other citizens and members of nobility. Unlike traditional countries, knights do not have to be strictly melee-based warriors - a citizen can be sponsored for their martial prowess, crafting skill, or any other number of reasons by any number of groups.
Nobility: Citizens who have passed a certain wealth threshold and hold a certain level of understanding and influence over Axiom politics and intrigue. Typically aligned to a faction within the city, though rare independent nobles do exist. They have the rights and freedoms typically afforded to nobility such as different taxes, the right to collect taxes from any districts they may hold sway over, and the privilege as well as the means to get in contact with the seat of Axiom's ruler(Currently the Daogui) to make demands or ask things of him for various reasons. Unlike many countries, very few titles of nobility are passed down by bloodline - even children of nobles are not made nobles by default unless their families have been given special exemptions to be designated a "House" by the city's ruler(Of which there rarely double-digit amounts).

Culture

Though the Axiomi as a people are a hard to define or pin-down people by their very nature that makes it easy for them to lose their cultural identity in the constant sea of tourists, immigrants, and new inhabitants, the Axiomi people are hardy and enduring. They have much with and similarly tend to respect the Narixian people as both peoples have fought hard to retain their culture in the fact of constant cultural assimilation, and have successfully done so despite countless odds to the contrary. As a people, Axiomi tend to have a culture of paranoia and political intrigue, as even the most rural of farmers in the great city of Axiom tend to be dialed into the city's politics and are often suspicious of those they don't know and trust.
Oftentimes, as a consequence of the extraordinary size and scale of their home city, Axiomi are often dissatisfied with other cities and countries - giving them the appearance and vibe of a 'wanderer' or someone who cannot be satisfied, ever on the move in search of a place that cannot possibly exist. However, this same home allows them to often be incredible familiar with a wide varied of cultures and traditions all over Zheng-Kitar and beyond - they are often knowledgable about countless foods, traditions, and more and often enjoy them all vicariously, making them often very worldly.
Overall, their appearances, much like their palettes, tend to be worldly and ostentatious.
For more information on Axiomi culture, read the 'culture' section of the Axiomi ethnicity.

Public Agenda

Axiom is fairly far removed from the politics of Zheng-Kitar - they tend to remain uninvolved with others with a public agenda mainly concerning the state of their country and themselves.

History

See the Axiomi ethnicity for a brief history of Axiom.

Demography and Population

Axiom's population is almost impossible to define by demographics and population counts - the simplest reason of which is the mere fact that the city alone has well over a million citizens, and is one of the biggest multicultural hubs in the world, meaning almost any race can be found here in small numbers.
The biggest and most common races in Axiom, however, are the Pale Elves and Humans - two of the biggest populations who helped found the city.

Territories

Though Axiom has a large amount of holdings around the shores of the lake it sits on the shores of around the center of the Untamed Plains, the city itself covers a truly titanic amount of land easily over one hundred miles in diameter, making it the single biggest "city" on Zheng-Kitar. These lands were initially conquered and claimed by the city's founder, Giancarlo Vandire De La Imperiana III, who was part of the first wave sent out at the beginning of the Age of Expansion in the wake of the collapse of the Shaoshu Empire. Having driven out the barbaric tribes, monsters, and roaming Orc tribes that once dwelled in the area, Giancarlo and his initial allies the Forest Elves(Who would in time become the first and only Pale Elves) and many Humans all came together to claim the newly unclaimed lands as theirs, reward for the land cleared for their patrons.

Military

The Axiomi Military is largely divided into four groups, listed below:
The Hammerers: The internal police force of Axiom as well as its military reserve. They are equal parts military police as well as laborers, as they primarily wield massive great hammers and carry a wide variety of versatile tools and armor capable of helping them not only keep the citizens safe, but aid in large scale crafting and engineering projects when their guard services are not needed.
The Geoclade: The rank and file soldiers of the Axiomi military - focusing primarily on the city's external threats and keeping its outside lands safe and protected. As they are all trained engineers and are often skilled masters of Geokinetic Magic, they are also capable of repairing Axiom's city defenses as well as creating structures and power centers within Axiom's controlled lands given enough time and effort. As Axiom rarely goes to war, they are primarily a peacekeeping force and engineering corps.
The Feathermen: A unique special-forces military clade in the Axiomi Military, making up the country's "Air Force" and more mobile police force that acts as Town Guards for the city's more rural outer district, where rank-and-file infantry would have a harder time patrolling such massive tracts of land. Equipped with light armor and given training from a young age to bond with massive dire hawks, great eagles, and even such beasts as griffons and wyverns, they are both an invaluable internal defense force, scouting unit, and military force in combat situations.
The Enduring Armada: The navy of the city of Axiom, and its largest military force - equipped with the latest military advances Axiom produces before ANY other military force in the country, the Armada patrols the waterways, rivers, and lakes that Axiom sits on the shores of and beyond to protect the city's vitally important trade from external threats, piracy, and more. One of the more important Axiomi military forces, as without them the trade that Axiom relies upon to survive would rapidly dry up and fall to piracy, weather, ambushes, monsters, and more.
The Cobblers: The secret police of Axiom - operating strictly within the titanic city's limits to protect it from external threats and ensure its continued governmental and societal stability. Little is known of them, but they are a much-feared force by all both citizen and faction alike for their seemingly omnipresent nature and terrifyingly effective subterfuge, assassination, infiltration, and similar abilities which let them move unseen and unopposed through the city.

Religion

There is no central state religion in the city of Axiom - its sheer size(Clocking in at nearly 100 miles in diameter) does not lend itself well to a single centralized religion coming to rule over the city in its entirety. Instead, it is accepting of literally every religion on the face of Zheng-Kitar - even the more vile ones - so long as they can keep their disruptions to a minimum and obey the city's laws.

Foreign Relations

Axiom is relatively neutral in foreign relations - most trade in central and western Zheng-Kitar flows through it at some point, meaning many countries have a natural reason to stay on at least neutral terms with them.

Agriculture & Industry

Though the agricultural power of Axiom is unfathomably massive, it is not as large as many may think due to the sheer size of Axiom's population that numbers well over a million citizens - larger than the biggest Ezdhûlian Mountain Citadels. The benefit of Axiom's agricultural industries, however, is that they are entirely self-contained within the city itself - locked behind the titanic Outer Wall and safely protected by the city's innate defenses, meaning that Axiom's agriculture is mostly untouchable by its enemies.
In regards to its other industries, they can best be described as "Well versed in virtually all, but experts in none" - the sheer size and scale of Axiom as a city nearly one hundred miles in diameter means that almost every Industry is present and functions at large partially well in the city to one degree or another, though Grandmasters of any particular craft or industry are rare in the city.

Trade & Transport

Trade and Transport in Axiom, as one might expect for a city so unfathomable gigantic, is a crucially important matter - and its central Trade and Transport networks are twofold:
Roads: The average roads that sprawl across Axiom, made of laid and smoothed cobblestone mixed with cat's eye gems to allow for the roads to be seen at night or in dim environments.
Mass Transit Lines: The massive earthen transport shuttles that ferry passengers quickly between the districts and through the city's walled rings, powered by a mixture of Geokinetic Mages and Guīmogoan workers. These shuttle cars move much faster than average walking speed, but run on a set schedule - meaning that many who arrive at a platform, such as those arriving in Axiom from lands afar, must wait until a shuttle car arrives back in the station. Most commonly used by the peasants and working class, though is still somewhat of a luxury for them - used to visit family or friends in other districts or to travel distances too far to travel on foot.
Skycarpets: The premier method of travel in Axiom - the quickest, most constantly accessible, and most expensive means of travel across the city via these wondrous, flying carpets imported from parts unknown and operated exclusively by the The Vaulters' Union, who viciously guards the secrets of the Skycarpet Network. With these wondrous items, travel across the city can be made in minutes compared to hours or even a day - though their sheet cost means only the richest(Or those who work for them) can afford them.

Education

Varies wildly - though formal education is still a long ways off, some form of simple teaching or training is relatively common across the districts, if only trade schools or informal worker's educations.

Founding Date

4238 ASK

Type

Geopolitical, City-state

Capital

Axiom, City of the Great Game

Alternative Names

Axiom, The Untamed City, The Unconquerable Country

Demonym

Axiomi

Leader

Daogui

Head of State

Daogui

Head of Government

Daogui

Government System

Dictatorship

Power Structure

Unitary state

Economic System

Market economy

Currency

Somewhat contrary to their multiculturalism, Axiom uses its own currency exclusively - the Axiom "note", a paper-printed currency used in place of all other forms of currencies, which they accept as tradable tender at any bank in the city.

Major Exports

Anything and everything. Nearly everything passes through Axiom at one point or another.

Major Imports

Anything and everything. Nearly everything passes through Axiom at one point or another.

Legislative Body

The city's ruler the Daogui is the sole legislative body of the city.

Judicial Body

The city's ruler the Daogui is the sole judicial body of the city.

Executive Body

The city's ruler the Daogui is the sole executive body of the city.

Controlled Territories

• Axiom, City of the Great Game

Notable Members

• Daogui

Related Ethnicities

• Axiomi