World, Noron

The planet has but a single supercontinent upon its face, which is divided into three large nations that have warred for most of the planet's recorded history. The largest of these is Luracayn, which covers almost the entirety of the continent's northern half. Sethii, located primarily to the southwest, is the next greatest in size and economic influence. The smallest of the countries is Kamir, which occupies just under one-eight of the area available on the continent and is landlocked.

The planet has no great mountains or mountain ranges, only high, rounded hills a few thousand feet tall. Noron's single ocean is smaller than its landmass, with small, shallow secondary seas dotting the landscape. Wide rivers course from sea to sea and finally out to the great ocean, where they empty.

History

The people of Noron have, in the past, traveled in space, explored the depths of the sea, and accomplished great things in medicine, structural engineering and physics. For thousands of years now, though, things have remained virtually unchanged. Noron is a stagnant society. Even most of those who had ventured into space returned here long, long ago, abandoning the bases they once built on other worlds simply because it is easier to live here.

Their minds, once noble, became clouded by a vicious moral decay. Over time the mental skills that built their great cities turned in their entirely toward creating newer, better, and more inventive forms of depravity. Cruelty of an intensity one cannot imagine swept the world. Each man's hand was raised against his neighbor. Sexual atrocities that would sicken any sane person became commonplace.

They almost destroyed ourselves. Weapons of incredible power wiped out whole cities...whole nations...whole cultures. Unceasing warfare laid waste the entire world. Mutations were born. Huge men, violent, disfigured giants without compassion or mercy exploded exponentially into the populace and struck terror into all who saw them. The monstrosities roamed the land in huge numbers, killing and raping and maiming. Because of their wickedness, severe and fatal birth defects took more than half of the newly born. Combined with the losses due to war, the population, once numbered in the billions, plummeted until there were no longer enough living to bury the dead.

Government:

The High Ones leave the people to themselves for the most part, without laws or enforcers to regulate them. The strong and charismatic prosper by preying on those who cannot defend themselves. It is believed that if one cannot protect his life or property he deserves to lose both. It is survival of the fittest taken to the extreme. Citizens are left by the State to devour ourselves. But any time a citizen appears to threaten the government or any High One, the Watchers act.

Society

Women on Noron are second-class citizens and never hold any positions of power. Even the wealthiest of them are seen only as reflections of their husband, through whom they maintain their status. The others are treated as little more than property.

The planet's most common diversions are the purely physical and very temporal pleasures of sex or drug abuse, and markets on almost every street corner features a wide variety of alcoholic beverages, chemical stimulants, and narcotics.

Religion

Working hand in hand with the government, Noron's theological leaders have long before crafted a false faith that guarantees maximum financial gain for both the High Ones and the priesthood, while at the same time keep the population so morally empty and self-centered that no organized overthrow can ever be possilbe. The teachings of a mother goddess named Drosha and her child-husband-god fill schoolbooks and popular literature with urgings toward drug use, spiritism, and self-deification, guaranteeing that all would go to their deaths believing that spiritual paradise await them, provided they have kept up on their payments.

Cannibalism

Cannibalism is not prevalent among the Noron people, but it does occur under certain circumstances.