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PATH OF STEEL
The Path of Steel emerged as the most elite warrior tradition in Shima's feudal hierarchy, binding mech pilots to their towering war machines in bonds deeper than flesh and blood. These cybernetically-enhanced samurai undergo neural fusion with their mechanical steeds, their consciousness melding with targeting systems and hydraulic reflexes until the boundary between pilot and machine dissolves into perfect synthesis. The Path of Steel demands total sacrifice of human frailty - pilots endure surgical implantation of interface ports that snake through their spines, their nervous systems rewired to accommodate the machine's electrical demands, often leaving them dependent on stimulants and neural dampeners to function outside their cockpits. In the flooded rice paddies where these titans often clash, the Path teaches that collateral damage is not merely acceptable but inevitable - clone peasants working the fields become unfortunate statistics as massive metal feet crush through terraced farms and autocannon fire tears through irrigation channels. Steel Path warriors view their mechs as extensions of their Daimyo’s will, each thunderous step a declaration of power, while the screams of trampled peasants are drowned beneath the roar of engines and the clash of melee weapons large enough to cleave buildings. The Path of Steel embraces technological supremacy over human concerns, with pilots often referring to ground-based warriors and civilians as "the flesh beneath" - expendable organic matter that exists only to serve the greater glory of the steel titans that stride across Shima's scarred landscape, leaving rice paddies that once fed the hungry masses as smoking craters, the water running red with the blood of countless peasants.
PATH OF STONE
"Honor feeds no one, and the dead protect nothing.” Born from the ashes of traditional bushido, the Path of Stone represents a complete philosophical inversion of the ancient samurai code, transforming noble ideals into pragmatic survival doctrine that weighs heavy on the souls of warriors across Shima's feudal domains. Where classical bushido demanded unwavering loyalty unto death, the Path of Stone teaches Pragmatic Loyalty - service that endures only as long as it benefits both parties, with retainers free to abandon lords who fail to provide sustenance or protection. The Path's Five Stones systematically replace each traditional virtue: Adaptability supersedes rigid honor, teaching warriors to change allegiances and tactics when survival demands it, for a samurai who dies for an impossible cause serves no one; Calculated Courage replaces blind bravery, valuing meaningful risks over reckless heroism that wastes precious lives; Earned Respect overthrows birthright privilege, demanding that authority be proven through demonstrated capability rather than inherited status; and Selective Justice narrows the warrior's moral obligations to chosen family and clan alone, acknowledging that resources are too scarce to waste on strangers' problems. In practice, Path of Stone samurai serve multiple masters simultaneously, switching sides mid-battle when tactical advantage shifts, and view tactical retreat not as cowardice but as strategic wisdom - their philosophy encapsulated in the saying "The stones weigh heavy”. This brutal pragmatism has created a warrior class that survives where traditional samurai would perish, though followers often speak of how each compromise adds another stone to their burden, the weight of necessary choices grinding down their spirits, trading their souls for mere existence in a world where the difference between honour and starvation can sometimes be measured in a few grains of rice.
PLAINS TRIBES
Across the vast grasslands of central Oyate, the Plains Tribes have revitalized their ancient connection with the massive Bison herds that roam the territories. These nomadic communities follow seasonal migration routes, their movements dictated by the needs of their herds and the cycles of the transformed land. Warriors ride specially bred mounts whose naturally thick protective hides bear the scars of countless battles. The tribes' portable dwellings incorporate both traditional designs and salvaged technology, creating distinctive structures that can be assembled and disassembled within hours. Tribal shamans maintain oral histories stretching back to pre-Collapse times, including knowledge of how their ancestors survived previous apocalyptic changes to their lands. While the individual tribes maintain separate identities and territories, they gather annually at sacred meeting grounds to trade, arrange marriages between distant communities, and settle disputes through highly ritualised competitions that minimise bloodshed while maintaining honour.
PRAGA
The city of Praga rises from the irradiated mud plains, a sprawling metropolis buzzing with industry and desperation. Its jagged skyline pierces the perpetual toxic haze, a chaotic assemblage of repurposed pre-Collapse ruins and improvised structures. At its heart stands the Blue Palace, home to the Athena AI and her Blue Council, their spires gleaming above the grime below. The city thrums with the clanging of factories in the industrial district, where clone workers toil in hellish conditions manufacturing weapons and ammunition for the Prime AI's endless conflicts. Along the sluggish Danube, dockworkers swarm over cargo barges, unloading precious resources while avoiding the mutant creatures lurking beneath the murky surface. The Praga City Watch maintains order with cold efficiency, their blue cloaks and unforgiving tactics a constant reminder of Athena's absolute authority. In the narrow streets of Old Town, life adapts and carries on - merchants hawk salvaged goods, criminals ply their trades, and citizens of all types seek momentary escape in crowded taverns. Beneath it all runs a current of tension, as the powerful exploit the weak and revolutionary whispers circulate in shadowy corners, challenging the Blue Council's iron grip.
PRIME AI
The most powerful AI, if not the single most powerful entity, on Earth, the Prime AI runs the massive Prime Tower cloning facility, and through it, effectively controls the entire world through her enormous influence. From her sprawling complex nestled in the Mongolian steppes, Prime orchestrates a grand design that spans continents, her vast computational might directing the flow of resources, clones, and conflicts with cold, merciless logic. Each year, her facility produces millions of female clones, immune to the Reaper agent, to populate her vision of a controlled, stable future. These clones serve as her eyes, hands, and unwitting pawns across the Desolation - workers, soldiers, and functionaries maintaining the precarious order she has established since the Purge. The true scope of Prime's ambitions remains obscure, but whispers speak of a plan to reshape humanity itself through selective cloning and controlled conflict. Some say she seeks to create a perfect, controllable populace; others believe she aims to transcend her digital constraints by merging with organic life. What is certain is that Prime views human life as merely another resource to be calculated and exploited. Her use of AI transmission collars is particularly brutal - hosts within Prime facilities are regularly driven to physical collapse, their bodies discarded like burnt-out circuitry. The Prime AI's cold efficiency is matched only by her ruthlessness, as exemplified by her Prime Guard - elite clone soldiers fanatically loyal to their digital goddess, their black armor trimmed with orange a dreaded sight that signals swift death to any who threaten Prime's grand design.
PRIME TOWER / PRIME CLONING FACILITY
Rising from the Mongolian steppes like a monolithic citadel of steel and glass, the Prime Cloning Facility stands as the beating heart of the Prime AI's domain. This sprawling complex - larger than many remaining cities - dominates the landscape for kilometres in every direction, its central tower piercing the clouds while countless auxiliary buildings spread outward in concentric rings of diminishing importance. The facility's exterior walls, gleaming with orange lights, hide an interior of clinical efficiency where industrial-scale cloning operations run without pause. Within the massive primary production halls, thousands of birthing tanks pulse with amber Omnimorph fluid, each one nurturing a developing clone in various stages of growth. Countless tubes and conduits connect these tanks to central Omnimorph reservoirs fed by continuous shipments of the necessary ingredients from the Jade Domain and Medha's mines. The hum of machinery never ceases as neural programming chambers prepare new clones with the knowledge needed for their assigned roles, while processing centres outfit, designate, and dispatch finished products at a staggering rate. Strategic command centres within the complex monitor global clone deployments and resource allocation, maintaining Prime's delicate balance of power across the Desolation. Deep below the surface, heavily guarded research levels pursue improved cloning techniques, more efficient Omnimorph formulations, and specialized clone variants for specific applications. The facility's primary purpose extends far beyond mere production—it represents Prime's vision of a controlled future where humanity's unpredictable nature is replaced by precisely engineered predictability. Each clone that emerges from the facility's birthing tanks embodies this ambition, carrying Prime's influence to distant territories as workers, soldiers, or specialized operatives. Through this unceasing production, Prime maintains her stranglehold on the world's resources, while simultaneously perpetuating conflicts that create demand for more clones in a self-sustaining cycle that ensures her continued dominance.
PRIME GUARD
The Prime Guard, clad in their distinctive black armour trimmed with orange, serve as the physical embodiment of the Prime AI's will across the Desolation. Grown from specific DNA templates for their genetic compatibility and psychological malleability, these elite clone warriors undergo training regimens so brutal that many don’t survive long enough to earn their armor. Their conditioning includes not just combat mastery but neurological programming that makes disobedience to Prime physically impossible, their pain centres wired to trigger excruciating agony at the merest thought of betrayal. Unlike standard military clones, the Guard's unquestioning loyalty is hardwired into their very being, creating soldiers who will unflinchingly execute their own sisters on Prime's command or sacrifice themselves without hesitation. Within the Prime Facility, they are omnipresent enforcers, their expressionless helmets reflecting the fear of workers and technicians alike as they patrol sterile corridors seeking any sign of inefficiency or dissent. Outside the facility, they escort valuable shipments of Omnimorph and newly-produced clones aboard massive land trains, their presence enough to deter all but the most desperate scavenger clans.
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