The Book Of Earth/Ogeode

In the High First Age, few among the Blessed Races created by the Exalted were doubly-blessed with Celestial Exaltation, and perhaps none were so successful as Gabbro, of the People of the Earth.

Gabbro, who devoured all learning he could of the Mountain Folk tutors who nursed his race in the ways of the world below, Exalted into the Twilight Caste of the Solars. He soon used his formidable talents at crafting, learning and beaurocratic management, to train and organize the best among his people into a corps of engineers who rivaled the Mountain Folk themselves.

After much dedicated service to the Deliberative, Gabbro successfully petitioned for his own Principality, albeit in a daring new direction. The Deliberative approved his plan, and he and his people moved out to the far Threshold to establish their new homeland: Ogeode.

Ogeode was the first Principality to exist entirely underground, many miles down. Gabbro strategically located it in a system of caverns between a confluence of powerful Terrestrial Demesnes of every element to provide a comfortable existence. As fortune had it, there was also an enormous quantity of White Jade in the area as well, which the Earth People used in the construction of many of their most important buildings and a gigantic surrounding circular wall, enscribed with wards designed to keep out the dangerous Underfolk and Dark Broods...

Miles above, visitors arrived at a pleasant waystation, within which were large tubes that contained various sized Essence elevators that carried them quickly to the city in the glowing caverns below. And what a city! Ogeode, also known as Inner Creation, was fitted with every convenience and amenity of any First Age city, and was hailed as one of the crowning achievements of the Blessed Races (and, incidentally, their creators).

Then came the Usurpation. Gabbro, never a great warrior, was among the first struck down. Fortunately for Ogeode, no Solars reached its sanctuary; although the Terrestrials wanted to lay siege to it anyway, the Sidereals decided not to create a massive Shadowland that would be difficult to monitor just to sate the Dragon Blooded's thirst for revenge. They satisfied themselves with destroying its links to the surface world, burying the legacy of the People of the Earth, forever. Or so they thought...

Over the centuries, the People of the Earth found it harder to maintain the glories of their society, esp. after the Great Contagion arrived, via tiny burrowing insects, cutting the population of the city down from millions. Fortunately, the presence of so much White Jade and reality stabilizing magitech meant that the relatively few Fair Folk who burrowed into Creation gave the city a wide berth. Still, even after the Raksha Invasion was over, life became a struggle to survive, made slightly easier by pacts of chimerage with local Elemental Spirit Courts...

Today, Ogeode is far fallen from its former graces. Most recently, its nearly impregnable Ward Wall was breached by the passage of Annelos, The Worm What Chews Continents Asunder. As their city quaked, most panicked, some fled, and one sought to make a mad, last-ditch effort to create enough digging activity to lead the miles-long Behemoth away from his city. Surprisingly, by the grace of Luna, he succeeded.

The citizens of Ogeode see the first Celestial Exaltation among their people in eons as a sign of hope, and the new Exalt (who has the Spirit Shape of the Eight-Tailed Mole Hound) finds himself in the middle of a new cult of personality. He does not know that he needs to fix his Caste, and has never set sight on the true sky, let alone his patron, but burns to do so. His growing popularity gives him power, but he does not yet have enough to go against the ruling council who are all traditionalists, upholding the ancient creed that the sky, once willfully forsaken by their people, must never again be seen (a somewhat biased account of their imprisonment). The new Lunar, however, is certain that only through regaining the real sky, can the People of the Earth regain their former glory...

OGEODE is a subterranean metropolis much like the underground cities of the Mountain Folk. Over the centuries, much of its magitech has ceased to function, although many (jealously hoarded) personal devices still do. The walls of its largest caverns are skillfully treated to mirror the sky's changes, although in an unreal, impressionistic manner. Skillful architecture of passages between powerful Fire, Water, Air, Wood Demesnes provide for the people's warmth, water, oxygen, and food, while the center of the city is a fortress-like Manse of Earth (level 4). The denizens regarded it with a superstitious awe and haven't set foot within in centuries; the new Lunar has claimed it for his own.

The Ogeodans are divided into three classes: The upper class, which consists of those with strong Earth Elemental blood and Awakened Essence; the middle class, who are normal People of the Earth; and the lower class, the descendants of the normal mortals who were trapped beneath the earth during the Usurpation (there were Mountain Folk there as well, but as they died, their Essence went into the uncarved Jade around the city, where it waits to be freed to this day...). Tho there is definitely social inequality between them, most are satisfied with their lot in life, as none are treated too badly...

The large amount of God-Blooded in the population is a result of the dealings with local spirit courts the Ogeodans were forced to make to survive. In particular, they are lorded over by a Gemlord, who formed some distance above them centuries ago. Fortunately, the Gemlord is far enough away that dominating them is impractical, but its increasing demands for veneration and sacrifices as the price for Enlightening their ruling class is beginning to grate upon them. There is also the fact that it is right between them and the surface world...

The Ogeodans have domesticated many animals indigenous to the underground, such as Mercury Ants and Ox-Worms, and use many of these in their civic engineering projects. Thaumaturgy is widely taught, and a few have even self-initiated into Terrestrial Circle Sorcery. Since the Warding Wall has kept out enemies, they have not had much use for fighting skills, and so they have no army to speak of...But now that the Wall has been ruptured, strange sounds and sights have been heard in the city. Time may now be running out for them to learn...