yaosai | VERSE INFORMATION POST

SETTING

In 2259, there was the Great Exodus. The civilized galaxy as we knew it succumbed to mass anarchy, as rebellion after rebellion tore any standing laws to pieces. Entire planets were razed, polluted, destroyed. In an attempt to save himself, Commander Yu Canghai loaded up several barges of people, including his family, to escape to the far reaches of the universe. It turns out, there's not a whole ton of habitable planets, especially in any kind of clustering outside of the current solar system, so the wanderers fled farther than they planned. With no choice but to keep going, they pushed their resources to the limit and found a handful of planets in an unknown sector. Selecting the most stable and habitable planet of the bunch, Canghai founded the colony of Shileyuan (失樂園) ["Paradise Lost"] (As a note, people who identify as being born and raised on the planet are later known as Shilean. Racially, they are more or less those with connections to the royal family.) As the population grew and re-produced, they spread out to a handful of neighboring planets. However, to prevent the same lawlessness that had provoked the Exodus, an empire rose, strict and lawful and, more importantly, fit to survive the millennia to come. The Jiuen Dynasty (救恩) became the predominant power in what became known as the Liulang (流浪者) Sector ["salvation," "wanderer"].

After the Great Exodus, however, greater-than-light-speed technologies more or less fell into disuse. While great armadas full of bulky cruisers had previously been the expected, the Jiuen Dynasty streamlined their military power, with a heavy focus on leaner, fast vehicles that could be use practically in skirmishes with the ability to silence revolutions before without attracting the attention that sending in the fleet would do. The few rare overt executions were done with careful and purposeful intent at key points when uprisings believed their oppressors to be weak and spread too thin over the handful of habitable planets in their sector. Since the Jiuen Dynasty’s capitol was the most viable, it also centralized most of their power to a single planet. Other planets in the system include:

Diqiu (地球) ["earthen"] – Largest source of agricultural imports, besides Shileyuan. Known for having harsh poles, but a band of habitable territory near its equator.

Huo Zui (火嘴) ["mouth of fire"] - Extremely technologically advanced, due to existing on a planet that is a bit unstable and still terreforming. Peoples from this planet are known for being Rough with a capital R.

Yidianyuan (伊甸園) ["garden of eden"] - new capitol, home of the Union forces. Feng Li and Corporal Downs are currently stationed on this planet. It's a dusty sonofabitch. The economy is more or less stable, especially compared to what the Jiuen Dynasty had been imposing on the rest of the sector.

They all orbit a central star known as Xīwàng (希望) ["hope"]. Years were measured by Shileyuan's path around Xiwang, and many people still use this system (i.e. Feng Li). For simplicity’s sake 1 Earth year (365.4 days) = 1 Shileyuan year.

The Jiuen Dynasty was rife with corruption, favoring the rich and the royal to the poor, resulting in a crippling class war. The wealthiest lived in the capitol, Shileyuan, while those unable to afford it were often shipped off-world to the less stable colonies. For example, Huo Zui is a planet still in the process of being terraformed and was known to be one of the poorest planets in the sector. Crime rates are high, people who could get off the planet did so as quickly as possible. A regular hive of scum and villainy. However, it is on Huo Zui that the first whispers of a true rebellion were first heard. For centuries, strict laws held the non-Shilean populations in place, but tension grew with the mounting support from a rapidly-militarizing group known as the Union. They wanted nothing more than to throw off the tradition and oppression laid down by the Jiuen Dynasty for millenia.

Rebellion became full-scale war during the Great War as the Union amassed enough military strength to effectively fight back against the Jiuen Dynasty. Key skirmishes include The Battle of the New Dawn, The Bloody Friday, The Second Attack, and The Battle for the Union. The Battle of the New Dawn was the first victory of the Union and is the true turning point of the Great War. Jian Yu, the third of Cao Wei’s sons, was killed during this battle and truly signified that not only was the Jiuen Dynasty vulnerable but also stoppable. Previously, Jian Yu had been known as The Thunder (Léi shēng, 雷聲) and an otherwise unconquerable force in terms of his handling of artillery and the Jiuen Dynasty suffered heavy losses during the skirmish.

The Bloody Friday, three months later, however, was a critical counterstrike against the rising power of the Union. Thousands of Union soldiers were more or less herded into a vicious pincer attack where Feng Li herself led Jiuen forces into what was eventually termed a massacre. The Union forces there were not in any way prepared for the strength of the strongest of Cao Wei’s armies: The Southern Army. The rebellion was nearly crushed then and there if not for The Second Attack a couple weeks later. The Union stopped the Jiuen Dynasty’s momentum and turned it against them, resulting in a swift and sudden string of victories against the Dynasty. At the cost of many Union souls, they overtook the final Shilean outpost on what was to become the new Union capitol: Yidianyuan. The war effectively ended with Union victory at the Battle of the Union, where Feng Li herself was nearly mortally wounded.

In the months after the war, the Union spread its influence over the sector and became the dominant power, easily stepping into the vacuum provided by the fall of the Jiuen Dynasty. The change in power was so fast, many of those in remote areas of planets did not know it had happened until new flags were erected at outposts. However, in the shadow of the Great War were the issue of the number of Shilean prisoners of war, including Feng Li herself. Many were summarily executed or otherwise exiled from the sector. One of those were believed to be exiled was Cao Wei himself (“believed” being a key word there). For important, potentially valuable POWs, however, the Union created the Deacon Project, a top-secret military program designed to protect the newly-acquired assets of the Union. In exchange for their lives, important POWs would vow complete loyalty to the Union and a hand-selected “Deacon,” who basically served as a warden for the Shilean inmate. Every year the POW would stand at a hearing in which the contract would either be renewed or terminated. Throughout the meantime, however, if the Deacon felt that his or her inmate was potentially conspiring against the Union, that inmate would be executed instantly. No hearing, no judgment, instant death. While it held many of the POWs in check, over the five and a half years between the end of the war and Feng Li’s current canonpoint, more than half of the Shileans enrolled in the Deacon Project were killed, leaving around 20 still serving, including Feng Li. Six months into her sixth year with the Union, the Deacon Project was revealed to the public, to the fury of Union veterans.

In an attempt to completely throw off the Jiuen Dynasty’s mantle, the Union attempted to completely wash away the previous culture entirely. Traditional symbols and temples were torn down and instead replaced with the Union’s choices and culture. Shileans were largely considered outcasts, even in cities where the two groups had co-existed peacefully before. However the names of planets and cities were not changed to prevent confusion of residents. Still, this lead to a great deal of resentment that came to a head during Feng Li’s sixth year serving the Union. Growing rumors of a resurgence of the Jiuen Dynasty’s power emerged at the same time that talk of a second revolution to a third unknown power. In an attempt to keep the sector stable, the Union entered into talks with the remnants of the Jiuen Dynasty and Cao Wei himself emerged from the woodwork from where he had been in “exile” years before. In a show of good will and forgiveness toward the Jiuen Dynasty, the Union held talks in an attempt to bridge the gaps in its power. Suspiciously, Cao Wei agrees.

However, all is not good in these talks, there is a great deal of tension and the announcement of a formal disbanding of the Deacon Project is believed to ease some of this. The evening before this a formal dinner with the Shilean POWs serving in the Deacon Project was planned by Cao Wei, but results in the poisoning and deaths of nearly all of them.

TL;DR: An alternate version of the American Civil War and Reconstruction in space, with a bonus cameo from the Wei Empire from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

TL;DR Timeline of the Setting:
2259 – Great Exodus and establishment of the colony of Shileyuan/Jiuen Dynasty
Thousands of years of relatively peaceful reign. Some rumors of revolution. Nothing bad.
2565 about – the Great War begins (important skirmishes: Battle of the New Dawn, The Bloody Friday, the Second Attack)
2569 about – The Battle for the Union ends the Great War and the Union becomes the primary power in the Liulang sector
2570 – the Deacon Project is established
2575
February - The Deacon Project is accidentally revealed to the public. People are pissed off.
March - Rumors of a third power come to light.
June- The Union begins talks with Cao Wei to try and bridge the gaps between the Union powers
July – Feng Li is going through personal things mentioned in her history and her own life is attempted by someone mysterioussssss. She arrives in teleios right after this.

THE DEACON PROJECT

The Deacon Project was originally a top-secret Union military project, designed to protect the newly-acquired assets following the War. While it is technically separate from the military as a whole (i.e. the rankings don't coincide with those of the military), they work directly with them most of the time. For example if General Soandso needs a strike team in secret, he'll go to the Deacon Project to get it done. Most assignments are assassinations of those who are believed could disturb the peace following the war, including both Shilean and Union targets. These assassinations are very rarely overt and usually blamed on a Shilean extremist group.

When the project first came into being, about 100 Shilean POWs were approached with a contract. In exchange for their lives and relative freedom, they will serve the Deacon Project with undying loyalty, perform any missions asked, and otherwise be entirely obedient to the Union. Every year, a hearing would be held to determine the POW's further use to the Union. If a POW was found to be lacking or otherwise giving hints that they planned to escape or destroy the project, then they would be executed. However, the only person who can execute a Shilean POW under the Deacon's Contract is the Deacon responsible for that POW. Traditionally, this is only done at hearings when the jury of Deacons finds a POW unworthy of their life, but a Deacon can choose to execute their POW instantly if necessary. Only half of those originally approached accepted the contract, Feng Li included, albeit her acceptance was extremely controversial due to her role in the deaths of thousands of Union soldiers. At Feng Li's current timepoint, about 20 of the 50 who enrolled still serve.

The project is set up in hierarchical fashion with the Cardinal as the head of the Project and the one who has the most direct connection with the Union military. Usually assignments are filtered through them. The current Cardinal is General Douglass Howser and he does not attend hearings directly, as a few have become violent after a verdict of unworthy is handed down from the Deacons. Under him are three Bishops: Lieutenant Skyla Paris (in charge of 8/20 of the remaining teams), Captain Reid Arbor (6/20), Lieutenant Catherine Genosa (6/20). Bishop Paris is the next in line for becoming a Cardinal and is also in charge of the Feng Li/Downs strike team. Shilean POWs are not allowed to speak to the Cardinal or Bishops without express permission from said Cardinal/Bishop. Since Bishop Paris has been going directly to Feng Li for missions (i.e. killing her brother Zi Hao) and going over Lee's head, this rule has been relaxing slightly for Feng Li.

Deacons were hand-selected from the Union military following the war. Soldiers with excellent records and with a fervent loyalty to the Union were chosen to serve. Few Deacons were selected after the first year of the program, usually only to replace Deacons who were killed or when reassignment occurred (which is again very rare). Since Deacons are essentially on the clock 24/7, they are to abstain from alcohol and any sort of illicit substances at all times. Those that break this rule are immediately removed from the program.

[more about quarters/how the strike team pairs work]

HER BROTHERS

Zi Hao ("heroic son")- THE SWORD (Liàngjiàn, 亮劍) {DECEASED}
Known assassin. Still active after the War. Killed when Feng Li and Corporal Downs were sent after the Heian.

Guo Zhi ("may the state govern") - THE FALL (Qiūjì, 秋季)
A strategist like Feng Li, he is the one closest to her. Known for planning battles throughout the beginning of the war until he was injured at the Battle of the New Dawn.

Jian Yu ("building the universe") - THE THUNDER (Léi shēng, 雷聲) {DECEASED}
Unstoppable warrior on the battlefield. Marvel with artillery.

Tao Rong ("the way of honor") - THE WARDEN (Jiānyù zhǎng, 監獄長)
Remained with Cao Wei after the War and resurfaces when his father does. Known for being a "tank" on the battlefield. In contrast to typical Shilean warriors, Tao Rong is known for his strength rather than swiftness. Also known to wield a warhammer.

PERSONAL HISTORY

In 2259, there was the Great Exodus. Thousands and thousands of years later, Emperor Cao Wei, known as The Justice (正義, Zhèngyì), became the leader of the Jiuen Dynasty. He raised a long lineage of warlord sons and his only daughter Feng Li Wei. With four older brothers, she had a lot to prove. Her father attempted to push her off onto her nannies, like was traditionally done for centuries with the women of the royal family, but she refused to participate. Instead, she frequently followed her brothers to training. Each year on the day of Shileyuan's founding, there is a week-long celebration, known as the Festival of Wandering. Throughout the week, there are many plays and re-enactments, telling the story of their history after the Great Exodus and culminating in a tournament to commemorate the end of the Great Wandering. It was there that Feng Li was finally able to prove that she was fit for battle, beating each of her brothers and her father's best lieutenants. Her father refused to watch any of her fights, but when she was crowned the victor, he re-considered his stance. She was selected to serve as her father's righthand lieutenant and military strategist for the strongest of his four armies, the Southern Army. (Nevermind that there's no North/South/East/West in space.) Over the skirmishes leading up to the Great War, she became known as The Fortress (要塞, Yàosài), for never losing a position to rebels, whether she was on the battlefield personally or not.

Still, the Great War raged for years. Feng Li organized and planned some of the crucial conflicts during the war, such as The Bloody Friday. Said massacre was noted in her file as being one of the more brilliant strategies she had put together. During the final strife of the War, the Battle for the Union, Feng Li was nearly mortally wounded and left to die on the battlefield by her father as he retreated. Within a few months, most of Cao Wei's lieutenants were executed, except for the key assets believed to be important to the future of the Union. Feng Li was one of about a hundred POWs who were initially approached about joining the Deacon Project. Of those that were approached, she was one of about 50 who accepted the contract. She was paired with a soldier from the war, Corporal Ulysses “Lee” Downs. For the first couple years, they butted heads more often than not, but they still managed serve successfully as a team. Their initially antagonistic relationship became more of a friendship over time with tense moments when either stepped over the line. This was primarily due to an intense mission during their third year that was interrupted by Shilean extremists who nearly killed her when they recognized her. Corporal Downs stepped in and effectively saved her life again, despite having every opportunity to leave her to die like her father had. Within the past year or so of Feng Li’s service, their superiors began going directly to Feng Li to give assignments and leaving Corporal Downs in the dark, such as one within the last year. Her commander gave her the order to kill her oldest brother Zi Hao in order to bring down an emerging sect of Shilean resistance known as the Heian (formally the 黑暗的心臟, Hēi'àn de xīnzàng or “Heart of Darkness”).

While Corporal Downs was not to know of the true target, however, he found out when he discovered Feng Li in media res killing her brother. Before the Corporal could identify the body, Feng Li disposed of it, much to the Corporal’s anger. Matters only got worse as they continued to investigate the Heian and Corporal Downs was kidnapped and tortured by them. Feng Li was ordered to not rescue him and to focus on stopping the Heian’s plot to reveal the then-secret Deacon Project to the public in an attempt to instigate a public outcry against the Union. Using the loophole that only her Deacon could execute her, Feng Li chose to rescue Corporal Downs and the Deacon Project was eventually revealed to the public. However, the outcry was not what the Heian anticipated and instead the Jiuen Dynasty’s remnants came to light with the reveal and Cao Wei became a power again in the sector.

Amid the tension between the two powers of the Union and Jiuen Dynasty, rumors of a third power began to emerge. While Corporal Downs recovered, he and Feng Li were placed under a strict lockdown and suspended from missions for several months. Cao Wei and his ambassadors arrived on Yidianyuan at the request of the Union and talks about forming an alliance against this mysterious third power began. Enraged by seeing her father again, Feng Li decided to take matters into her own hands. During one of the summits, she snuck out of her quarters and planned to assassinate her father. At the last moment, she decided against killing him and that stooping to his level wasn’t something she wanted to do. However, agents from this third power, beat her to the punch and nearly killed her father. During the investigation surrounding this attempted assassination, it became revealed that Feng Li’s attempt to fool the surveillance cameras in her room had been tampered with and that she had run looped footage through the system while she had left the room.

Any positive public sentiment regarding the Deacon Project disappeared quickly and Cao Wei, then, called for a formal dismissal of the now-hated project as a gesture of good will from the Union. Any remaining Shilean POWs were to be returned to Cao Wei and to serve underneath him in this new alliance. With the intense political and public pressure, it began to look like disbandment was the only option left for the Deacon Project. On the eve of said disbandment, Cao Wei called for a ceremonial dinner with the POWs still on contract with the Deacon Project. During the dinner, Corporal Downs and his fellow Deacons went out to “celebrate” the end of the Deacon Project. However, it turned out that someone poisoned the food of the dinner of the POWs, including Feng Li’s. When she attempted to contact Corporal Downs, he was too drunk to answer his phone and was not aware of the situation until several over Deacons received calls from their POWs.

CHRONOLOGIC ORDER OF WRITING SAMPLES

"Awake in a new day our fears have come to pass." - Feng Li is introduced to the rest of her life.
"No different from the blood we’ve come to hate." - During their third year as partners, Feng Li and Corporal Downs hit a snag on a mission.
"Awake to the fact there's no going back to this world in which I was living." - Corporal Downs confronts Feng Li about a target on Huo Zui.
"Does anyone care it ain't right where we're going?" - Feng Li reveals some heavy secrets to the Corporal.

VERSE INFORMATION POST

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