Hal'at'ah'ash

Hal'at'ah'ash, The Scuttling Golden City

Ruled by the harsh Gonakk people, whose name is only whispered among the tribes of desert barbarians, Hal'at'ah'ash is a remains of that which came before the rule of the gods, and that which was believed destroyed and locked away. They bow their heads in adoration to Celcelyne, and to her lesser self, the Second Circle demon Ahseniel who rules the Gonakk as an infernal god-queen. Ahseniel is indescribable. The high priests of Celcelyne, who have all had their eyes replaced with orbs of golden sand, do not speak of her likeness. Those who dare look upon her monstrous, insectoid visage as she implants her horrible Children in their bellies go mad. They can only gibber about mucus, golden scales and eyes everywhere, as the Child within devours their body. She controls the great automaton that serves as city, fortress and home for the Gonakk, and she creates the millions of eggs that hatch into their golden scarab warriors, the Children of Ahseniel.

In the temples of Celcelyne, moonsilver and orichalcum is alloyed by thaumaturge priests, forming the liquid gold which are used to make the flowing, shifting armor of the Children. The Children are implanted in prisoners, wounded, the elderly; anyone deemed worthless by the harsh Gonakk priests. The human incubators, known as August Mothers, are sent into her chamber for the egg to be placed in their bellies. There, for a year, the larvae hatch and grow, until finally the victim dies as a newly formed scarab warrior feast on her innards. The Child, naked as it is borne from the corpse, soon has liquid gold injected into it's caraspace before it hardens, causing the Children's armor to be internal. A single Child is no match in battle for a prepared Dragon-Blooded, but a dozen Children can kill hundreds of mortals without taking a scratch. They fly across the battlefield, impaling men on their long wicked golden tridents.

The secret of the Gonakk people is that they have not always lived this way, treating the Children as inhuman demigods, serving Ahseniel as their divine commander. Once, they were merely refugees from a forgotten war, driven into the desert. There, they found the Scuttling City, and awoke the sleeping demons inside. Ahseniel enslaved her unknowing benefactors, and had them repair the City, teaching them of the wisdom and rightousness of Celcelyne. In her name, Ahseniel will make the deserts of Creation spread in all directions, encompassing and devouring everything, until they reach Celcelyne's edge under the black infinite sky.

--KingLeon