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JADE CITIES

The eight Jade Cities of South-east Asia (Hòat, Trang, Quang, Huèt, Hò-Phang, Hò-Gang, Dièn-Phu and Nuèt) collectively make up the Jade Domain (Mièn Yuè), centered around the government seat of the Fortress of Jade (Phao-Dai Yuè). These sprawling metropolises are studies in contradiction - ancient temples crowned with holographic advertisements, street vendors selling steaming bowls of rice beneath crackling power lines, and traditional paper lanterns casting their warm glow alongside the harsh glare of security spotlights. In places like Dragon's Maw and Emerald Gate, narrow streets wind between skyscrapers like urban canyons, their walls alive with scrolling LED text and weathered propaganda. The scent of incense mingles with ozone and wet concrete as crowds surge through night markets where everything from black market combat stims to ancient relics can be had for the right price. Unlike the clone-dominated jungle beyond their walls, these cities harbor a more diverse population—natural-born humans, clones, and even Reborn men walk the neon-lit streets, though tension simmers beneath the surface of this forced coexistence. Jade Domain soldiers and corporate security forces maintain an uneasy peace in these concrete jungles, their armored presence a constant reminder of the military state that governs all aspects of city life. Each city houses millions behind massive containment walls designed to keep the murderous jungle at bay, the barriers constantly monitored for signs of biological contamination. When darkness falls, the cities transform into hunting grounds where mercenaries and assassins ply their trade in shadow-draped alleys, and underground clubs pulse with synthesized rhythms as people desperately try to forget that beyond the city limits, an endless war consumes everything in its path.

JADE DOMAIN

The Jade Domain, the Mièn Yuè in its native tongue, is a powerful nation, not governed by AI but by humans, which encompasses eight cities and several military fortresses in South-east Asia. Unlike the AI-controlled territories of the mud lands, the Domain maintains a strict hierarchical government centred in the impenetrable Fortress of Jade (Phao-Dai Yuè), where the Jade Queen and her military council rule with calculated efficiency. The Fortress of Jade is complemented by smaller military fortresses like Phu-Bac, which can be found scattered throughout the Domain. The Domain's military might stems from its control of orange sap harvesting operations in the jungle - the vital fluid that feeds Prime's cloning vats - granting it leverage in dealings with even the almighty Prime AI. Thousands of clone troopers die daily in the endless war against the Neo-Cong rebels, their bodies becoming fertilizer for the very trees they fight to control. The reach of the Jade Domain is less defined by geographical markers than by the range of its deadly Zhandou bombers, which can reduce Neo-Cong strongholds to smoldering craters within hours of their discovery. Beyond the cities' walls, the Domain maintains a network of rice fields and sap harvesting operations, each a small island of desperate civilization in the sea of Hell's murderous jungle. The Domain's relationship with Prime is one of tense cooperation - they need each other too much for open conflict, yet each constantly maneuvers for advantage, using the endless war as both leverage and distraction. For the average citizen, life in the Domain means relative safety at the cost of constant surveillance, mandatory civil service, and the ever-present knowledge that beyond the walls lies a horror that would consume them without hesitation.

JADE QUEEN

The Jade Queen rules the Jade Domain (Mièn Yuè) from the Fortress of Jade (Phao-Dai Yuè), a monolithic edifice housing central cloning vats, palace guard barracks, and vast war rooms from which all military operations of the Jade Domain are commanded. Unlike other rulers in the Desolation, the Jade Queen exists as an institution rather than an individual - a position filled by precisely engineered clones in eight-year cycles of sovereignty. Each Queen is assembled through calculated cloning and compressed neural programming that installs years of military experience and governmental doctrine in hours. The programming implants absolute belief in Jade Domain supremacy and the righteousness of eternal war against the Neo-Cong, the arch nemesis of the Jade Domain.

The fortress itself functions as both government center and war memorial, its corridors adorned with Jade statues of Jade Domain Troopers, to remind the queen that the commands she gives will cost thousands of lives. It is her duty, to ensure the sacrifices on the battlefield are for the better of the Jade Domain. Her authority flows unquestioned, but not without council, from herself to the high command and from there to the lower echelons of the Jade Domain’s army. After eight years, the reigning Jade Queen joins the ranks of Handmaidens in their ceremonial green robes, her experiences and strategic insights preserved to guide future queens. A queen that is seen to be failing in her duties and makes continuous poor command decisions, will find her reign cut short in a violent manner. When this happens, one of the Handmaidens is chosen to assassinate the Jade Queen. The ritualistic murder cannot go unpunished, and the chosen assassin will always be “caught” and publicly executed, a sacrifice the chosen handmaiden must make for the greater good of the Domain. This system makes the Handmaidens of the Jade Domain the true power behind the throne. The regular replacement of the Jade Queen ensures continuity while ritualised assassination prevents any single personality from dominating or endangering the Dominion.

JADE SENTINELS

The Jade Sentinels stand as the living embodiment of the Domain's martial power, their gleaming gold-accented armor and synchronized movements creating an unsettling display of lethal precision. Unlike standard Jade Domain troops, these elite warriors are cloned exclusively in specialized facilities beneath the Fortress of Jade, their genetic templates and neural programming considered too vital to risk outsourcing to Prime AI's mass production. Each Sentinel undergoes accelerated growth and relentless conditioning before earning the right to guard the Queen, emerging from their training with combat reflexes honed to machine-like perfection. Their tactical neuro-programming is overlaid with absolute loyalty to the institution of the Jade Queen rather than any specific embodiment, allowing them to seamlessly transition between sovereigns - and, when necessary, to stand aside when the Handmaidens are removing a Queen deemed unfit to serve. Under the direct command of the Jade queen, the Jade Sentinels operate in small units, teams of warriors moving with uncanny coordination that makes them seem like a single entity. Within the fortress, they maintain a code of silence, communicating through a sophisticated sign language indecipherable to outsiders. Though rarely deployed beyond the Fortress of Jade, Sentinels occasionally accompany the Queen during ceremonial appearances in the eight cities, their mere presence enough to silence crowds and inspire fearful reverence.

JANGWA

Where the lush nightmare of Hatari's jungle abruptly ends, the Jangwa begins - a scorched testament to nature's cruel versatility in the post-Collapse world. Heat shimmers above cracked earth stretching to a dust-hazed horizon, broken only by the skeletal remains of ancient buildings half-submerged in windswept dunes that shift like predators stalking prey. By day, temperatures soar high enough to melt the soles of inadequate footwear; by night, they plummet so severely that the moisture in a traveler's breath crystallizes before their eyes. Desert raiders brave these wastelands in search of untouched caches of pre-Collapse technology, their specially modified vehicles kicking up dust clouds visible for miles. Competition among these scavengers is fierce, and deadly vehicular battles are a common occurrence - damaged vehicles are stripped for parts, their injured crews left to die. No quarter is asked among the desert raiders, and none is given. When the fighting is finished, local scavengers move in and strip the dying of the very last of their possessions. Other scavengers prefer animal mounts to vehicles - these raiders call themselves the "Kifaru," moving in small groups or tribes that, like any other scavengers, are just as likely to fight each other as they are to share a precious meal. Unlike the biological horrors of neighboring Hatari, the Jangwa's threats are more elemental - sand-dwelling predators that surge from beneath the dunes without warning, flash floods that tear through bone-dry ravines with apocalyptic fury after distant storms, and the dreaded Dust Devils, swirling vortices of wind-borne toxins that scour flesh from bone and corrode metal within minutes. Scattered throughout this unforgiving terrain lie the true prizes that draw risk-takers despite the peril - unexplored dead cities and underground facilities containing untouched caches of pre-Collapse technology, their entrances revealed and concealed by the desert's constant reshaping, promising either unimaginable wealth or agonizing death to those brave or foolish enough to seek them.