Moghes

The planet Moghes is the home of the Unathi, located in the Uuoea-Esa system. The planet is dominated by arid, harsh environments, littered with remnants of a long-dead Precursor civilization. Millenia ago, Moghes was a lush world filled with a complex, thriving ecosystem, with jungles and savannas dominating land surface. The planet is roughly the size of Earth, and the only sun is close enough to make it uncomfortable for non-natives. Despite the doomsday event that evaporated a large portion of water on the planet, Moghes came back, becoming home to new lifeforms.

Overview

Estimated population is just under three billion. Moghes does not have a centralized government in place – the power is divided in a feudal manner between a large number of independent clans and clan alliances. Most populated areas are rural in nature, although urban centers exist as well. Among those, fifteen city-states stand out, each controlled by a a coalition of powerful clans, with outlying settlements of varying sizes looking to these capitals for protection and trade, paying tribute in resources or military assistance. The largest of these city states is Mumbak, the Gateway to Moghes and the unofficial capital of the planet. Nearly thirty different clans form its ruling elite, and the city itself is a sprawling network of favelas, markets, rusty ports and even rustier vehicles.

The Star System

• Star/Sun: Uueoa-Esa, often translated as "The Mother of Fire".
• Moghes: the current home of Unathi species.
• Ouere (Oh-erie): Second closest planet to Uueoa-Esa, somewhat close to Moghes – a strange smaller planet with an ecosystem of its own, rich with flora but scarce on animal life. The surface is uncofortably wet, covered with fog and rainforests, insects and predator plants galore. The planet itself is suspected to have been terraformed by the Precursors. Since the discovery of the Gateways connecting two habitable planets, a great wave of migration to Ouere from Moghes has begun to take place.
• Yeora: A large blue gas giant with a trio of moons that's suspected to account for it's larger distance from the other 3 bodies. Some energy corporations speculated the possibility of harvesting the planet for valuable gasses, but the project itself seems far-fetched.
• Yoos: A tiny (1/8th the size of Moghes) frozen planet at the very edge of the Uueoa-Esa system of very little note.

Geography

Main Article: Regions of Moghes

There are five distinct regions on Moghes, including the poles. As well, mountains of diamonds line the ranges of Moghes, tall and strong many years after the apocalypse, though the gem is of no value to the Unathi. The deep crags are often filled with swamps and tall jungles, with the tops of the trees reaching just above the ground level and unknowing travelers falling to their deaths thinking it a forest. Great towers of metal and strange, glass-dunes dot the land. The glass-dunes are often admired by off-worlders due to their strangeness. Nearer the poles, vast savannahs cover the lands, with trees whose canopies fill out like giant umbrellas across the size. The irradiated lakes sprout up here and there, and the diamond peaks fill the horizon. The highest of the diamond peaks are taller than the Olympus Mons of Mars and is often used as a point of direction for Unathi. The swamplands near the oceans are filled with toxic gases and thick brush that is hard to get through. Beaches are hard to find, as they are usually swamps instead. The boater clans often call these swamps home, as they prefer them to the deserts, savannahs, or tropical poles.

• The Poles: The tropical lands of the far north and south, the Poles are the trade capitals of the planet, as off-worlds hate to travel into the deeper interior of the planet. The city states in these areas are often some of the more powerful and technologically advanced due to their trade with off-worlders, and they usually have the largest water reserves as well.
• The Savannahs: Another region, the Savannahs are great flatlands that are close to the Poles. They're often the homes of Clans due to their heat, and ability to grow food. As well, the Savannahs have the largest underground reserve of water, which is controlled by the most powerful clan of the region.
• The Deserts: The largest region of Moghes, the deserts cover most of the globe. The ancient ruins are often found in them, as well as the Metal Monuments and the Glass Dunes. The deep crags that the low jungles fill are often found here, and often are filled with decomposing corpses from travelers who aren't paying attention.
• The Swamp Beaches: As said, the swamps of that line against the oceans are often filled with toxic gas, with boater clans that live near them. None are entirely explored, and the salt water that flows into them makes that even harder. They're extremely dangerous to all who enter, but a wonder for zoologists and botanists of all kinds due to the many plants and animals that live there, such as the Dorak, a cap-headed, hairless jaguar with six legs.
• The Diamond Peaks: The diamond peaks are the coldest place on the planet besides the humid, moderate tropical poles. The Diamond Peaks are the home to many mining operations by off-worlders and travelers due to the deep reserves of diamond and other minerals beneath the ground. The clans of the mountains are a harsher people and are generally less open to off-worlders coming to their lands.

Flora

The majority of plants in the Deserts are hardy, tough, and not really much to look at. Most are bush with thick, waxy leaves and tough grasses that sprout in unexpected places. Arid, waterless areas do produce plants. These are very hardy, do not require much water to be kept alive, and are about as pleasant to eat as fake ferns in an office. However, those that grow near the water-rich soil of Oases are another matter entirely. These may bear fruits or flowers that are used in Unathi cuisine and are brightly colored to attract herbivores. Many of these fruits taste sour and juicy or are milky like coconuts. The great trees of the Savannahs are massive and height, and their canopies very, very vast, almost like a football field in size across the sky. The Tropical Poles are very similar to rainforests and have everything from massive trees to vines across the ground, and man-eating traps. The Swamps are even more mysterious and dangerous but brightly colored with many different hues due to the poisonous variety of the flora that exists there. The Diamond Peaks has almost nothing besides hardy, leafless trees.

Fauna

Furred animals are rare on Moghes. Most are either scaled, covered in sharp quills, or feathered. Threshbeasts are one of such creatures. They resemble large canines and come in at around 1.4 meters tall, with an average weight of about 160 pounds. They are quadrupedal and are entirely covered in sharp, poisonous quills, which is what makes them so desirable as cavalry. Threshbeasts follow a pack mentality and are predators by nature, though they can be domesticated given enough patience and time.

Another animal native to Moghes is the duneworm, that resemble large, pale-colored worms that favor hibernating in the sands. Completely blind, they slumber until they wake to mate or if a nearby creature disturbs the area round them, at which point they snatch them up in a quick lunge before returning to their sleep. They are often hunted by Unathi for their meat, who will usually track them by gathering threshbeast puppies, or by letting those brave enough to stomp around outside dunes. When the creature lunges out of the sand, it will be met with a hail of grenades or javelins.

Sissalik are large, gecko-like creatures that serve as the workhorses of Unathi society. They are used as cavalry mounts, and while not as dangerous as threshbeasts they are far quicker on their feet. Their main use, however, is much like that of oxen to humans. They are often used as transportation as well as animals to pull caravan wagons or simply domestically raised and then slaughtered for their meat.

Ogashes are great beasts, somewhere around the size of half a football field. They have great, outer shells, somewhat like turtles, and the rough, hairless skin of a furless mammal. Their eight-eyed heads with giant maws are a sight to be hold, and their ability to cover great tracts of land with great weight on their backs is an ample aid to the nomadic tribes of Moghes. Though are often rare, there as many as 500 Ogashes domesticated by clans. The killing of Ogashes is completely forbidden by all Clans, as they are such an important part of some Unathi culture, that their deaths would be like burning a Clan's skein. Ogashes themselves live for around 300 Earth Years, and are often called "Giant Spider Turtles" by Human Tourists.

Stoks are a small species of reptile native to Moghes, ranging from two, to three feet tall with colorful scales and feathers adorning their head, they stand on two legs and have short arms, the legs being digigrade. They keep to oasis's due to their colors which provide camouflage and distance from predators such as duneworms. Keeping in packs so that when they are threatened, they will swarm an attacker and take it down by sheer flanking and numbers. They're an omnivorous species, keeping themselves fed on either predators, or oasis fruits, also been known to be kept as pets for both Unathi on Moghes, and other species with taste in exotic animals.

Doraks are a species of the Salt-swamps, and they resemble the ancient Earth animal of a jaguar, if a jaguar had six legs, no fur, and a bone cap on its head. They range from three to five feet tall, and around six or seven feet in length, with their six legs causing much of this length. The split tail on the back is usually a variety of colors, and is a common sign of being in heat. They're solitary animals, but pups can often be seen with their mothers. They're carnivorous as well, feeding on other animals in the Swamps.

Gnars are a hardy animal of the Deserts, usually found around Glass Dunes. They're similar to centipedes in shape, but in size they're nearly three feet long, and much thinner. Often, clans will capture them and use them for ritual ceremonies, as they are a delectable meal. They are scrap animals mostly, going after decaying carcasses more than anything else.

Losseks come from the diamond peaks entirely, never venturing far out. They somewhat resemble gorillas in shape and size, but their fur is far thicker, and their face makes you think more of a spider than an ape. The giant, red beasts are known to live in caves in small groups of six or seven, and very very aggressive to non-Losseks. They're omnivores, and are keen to eating unwary adventurers.

Yuums would be comparable to a hairless, sand-colored monkey, whose tail is more like a scorpions, and whose body is the about the size of a large dog. Often in packs of 10-30, Yuums thrive in the industrial waste, and trash of Mumbak, running across rooftops, occasionally killing off-worlders with their dangerous tails, and causing a ruckus among the markets.

City-States

Vast cities filled with a variety of different clans dot across the landscape, 15 of these esteemed capitals exist. The largest of them is Mumbak, currently controlled by the Skalwa Clan, and it houses dozens if not hundreds of different Clans inside of it, or near its borders. The city itself is a sprawling thing, covering a great swathe of land. Old style factories sit in the city, filling the air with smog, shipyards and docks filled with rusted old things and brand new merchant vessels from off-world lay in the city. Favelas filled with the homes of millions of Unathi sit next to the great markets where off-worlders trade with Unathi merchants, and travelers can rest and recover. This is common for each of the polar city states, as they offer relatively the same services but with different clans and even things for sale. The city states of the interior of the planet, such as the great Boating City Wasgaelli, the Diamond Peak Fortress of Durzakrag, the Bunker Town of Lo, or the Thriving Moving Cities of the Savannahs atop their great Ogashes. The 15 City States are as Follow:

• Mumbak
• Si'gek Nel'sthar
• Instha
• No'lesk City
• Durzakrag Fortress
• Bunker Town of Lo
• Morr Bunker Town
• Pak Bunker
• The Moving City of Barra Gei
• The Moving City of Lemo
• Saris Nirz Fortress
• Wasgaelli
• Gaza'lor
• Sen Uuma Fortress
• Koja

Mumbak, Si'gek Nels'thar, Instha, and No'lesk City all exist in the Poles, each great trading ports for off-worlders (though none as big as Mumbak in terms of Inter-regional, Moghesian Trade).

Durzakrag, Sen Uuma, and Saris Nirz are the City States of the Diamond Peaks, the largest settlements of the region. Often resembling great castles due to their sturdy, defensive walls. They're described as fortresses by off-worlders.

Lo, Morr, and Pak are Precursor Bunkers which are now home to Desert Clan City States. The vast, empty bunkers are filled with homes, shops, and escape from the harsh surface above.

Wasgaelli and Gaza'lor are both Floating Cities of the Swamps. Everything in them is built on great boats or platforms or rafts, anything, and rarely land. They could be compared to rinky-dink versions of Venice, but much more heavily defended.

Koja is the sole standing City State of the Savannahs, built out of one of the Great Trees. Koja is surrounded in farmland and ranches whose meat and agriculture are brought to market in Koja or in the Poles for sale.

Barra Gei and Lemo are nomadic settlements, the largest of their kind, each with nearly 100 Ogashes of their own. They travel throughout the Savannahs, Poles and Deserts, living from place to place and rarely being in the same place twice.