Expia

Expia is one of the four kingdoms of Galabrim, in the north of Galaz, founded in the third century BF. It lies on the South-west of Galabrim and west of the Land of the Nexus. It has historically been known for advancing science and technology ahead of all on Crux.

Legends

In the legend of the five hunters, the third hunter was able to build a prosthetic arm for herself with the powers of the Nexus and after she returned to her tribe, became the Foremother of the Expian Kingdom. Her inclination to technology and especially robotics would lead to the kingdom's special interest in the advancement of science and its applications.

Geography

File:Expia.jpg

This is from an outdated map, but it more or less gives the idea of what Expia looks like. The dark blue area is New Expia. Light blue is Old and mixed is the rest.

Expia is a country framed on both sides by mountains. On the West stretch the Magma Tops, on the East the western side of the Ainunen Mounts separate it from the Land of the Nexus, Aindalia. The Expian land itself, however, isn't particularly mountainous, consisting mostly of large valleys, low hills and woodlands. There are many small rivers and lakes, but no large enough bodies of water that could be called seas.

In modern times there are several terms that refer to different regions of the country:

North Expia

A major distinction is made between North Expia and South Expia. The people of the latter speak in thicker and heavier accents, with dialects more akin to those of the other lands of Galabrim. Most of the centres of great technology lie on the northern region and its people keep to that ideal most loyally, having great pride. It is planted with many post-digital large cities and has the greater population density compared to its southern counterpart. The landscape tends to be more hilly and most of the few tall mountains of the land that don't belong to the surrounding mountain ranges are there.

South Expia

South Expia is instead more influenced by the Figorani who used to dwell in neighbouring kingdoms as well as the Keltan peoples of southern Galaz and has corresponding accents and dialects. There is less passion in the more traditional pursuits of the Expian people in the south and that part of Expia has a more multi-cultural aspect, being surrounded by many other lands including Batheia, Gleswin, Zytheria and Galabrim, often serving as the passage from one to another. The landscape is more level and home to a number of marshlands and the country's largest lakes.

Old Expia

Old Expia refers to territories north of Expia that used to be part of the kingdom, but were lost to Dumania.

New Expia

New Expia refers to the region Expia seized to migrate its people to after losing a big portion of its to Dumania. It constitutes the largest part of South Expia. The world of Crux Prime hails from this region.

Other locations of interest include:

Botan City

Botan City is the capital of Expia and is located in the northern region.

Yorkanton City

Lying in South Expia and once a cultural melting pot as the centre of that region, Yorkanton City used to be the largest and most important city of the south. However, after closing its borders during the 20th century AF, shutting away the rest of the world and a large portion of the outer city with it, its popularity and influence dwindled until it faded into obscurity as that odd district lying inside Niuork.

Niuork City

Niuork is the name that the outer city of Yorkanton was called by when it was separated by the inner Yorkanton (though it is also sometimes used as an all-inclusive term for both cities, as Yorkanton was eventually overshadowed by Niuork). After recovering from the shock of the separation, Niuork began to prosper filling the spot Yorkanton had left vacant. During the Maelstrom War, Niuork was split into four worlds: one roughly corresponding to Yorkanton; a large part of Niuork remained part of Crux Prime and was renamed to Nexus City after the Nexus Force made it its base; Perith City, named after one of Niuork's most infamous districts that made up the majority of the world; and one last world that was lost to the darkness of the Maelstrom.

History

During the 3rd century BF when Aleros discovered Crux and brought drastic changes to Galaz, several Iksezp tribes were brought together by Ludmila Navrátil along with some Keltan tribes that lived in the same region. Those would become the foundation of the Expian kingdom in the next few years and with the knowledge and inspiration provided by Ludmila, lots of inventions would bring its technology very far very quickly.

Its early history after that would include a lot of wars with its Galabrim neighbours and sometimes Batheia, however, hindering its further progress outside of military affairs. However, during the second half of the 1st millennium AF when peace lasted a longer time, they quickly moved even further. Expia was the first country not affiliated with the Figorani to send spaceships to space, although it was still not able to travel to other star systems until the 10th century AF.

While the Figoranol civilisation lasted and its lands on Crux thrived, Expia had good relationships with the Figorani, neighbouring two of their kingdoms, Aindalia and Gleswin. Due to their frequent exchange and the Figorani's significant support during the first steps Expia and the other kingdoms of Galabrim took, Expia was very influenced by them, especially South Expia.

During the 11th century AF, Expia was one of the countries subjugated by the Daphtharian invaders who defeated the Figorani in the First Great Galactic War. However, after a brief period of being broken apart, unlike other lands, Expia maintained a good relationship with their foreign rulers, offering access to their infrastructure and research in return for increased freedom. As such, Expians were free to manage most of their own affairs if with some influence from the Daphtharians, including their continued attempts for space travel which had paused during the perilous times of the 11th century.

Thus, the Expian Space Exploration Boom began and would last for many years to come. Many missions across the galaxy were planned and more than one group joined the ventures, some of them even civilian. One such group was that of the Exploriens, who grew very popular back home when rumours spread that one of their members, a robot by the name of Ann Droid was in fact created by the very Ludila Navrátil, legendary founder of Expia. Based on Ann, Explorien Bots would become a significant symbol of the Expians, often imitated and remembered up to the years of the Nexus Force.

However, the quickly growing Yorkanton City founded in the 11th century, disagreeing with the pact made with the Daphtharian conquerors, would not wish to be reunited with the rest of Expia when it was pieced back together in the 12th century and become independent. After a few failed attempts to stifle the rebellion, it was decided it was too small a place to justify such high cost and it was left to be. Yet, the Expian-Daphtharian government did not anticipate the great growth and prosperity the city would experience and would come to regret such decision, although it was too late at that point.

During the 15th century AF, the Expians supported the Dumanians' effort to overthrow their Daphtharian government and bring back their old reign, in the process destabilising Daphtharian rule all over Galaz. They did not, however, made any such attempts themselves, as due to their special circumstances the Daphtharian high class had come to mostly mesh into one with the Expian folk and would continue to do so in the future.

The Space Explorarion Boom would come to an end, though, soon during the turmoil of the Second Great Galactic War that broke apart the Galactic Empire in the 16th century AF. The galaxy in shambles after it, the Expians would scarcely attempt to travel the now far too hostile-looking foreign space. After that, they would attempt to increase their power by expanding their lands on Crux, but following some military failures they would face decline and see their seniority over Galaz lost to Batheia. Some small colonies they'd set up in the corners of Galaz, mostly abandoned after the fall of the Figorani, would consequently become independent.

Following the rise in popularity of anti-technology beliefs in Yorkanton City that had been brewing since the arrival of the Daphtharians and the Northerners' giving up of Expia to them as well as a growing disapproval of the effect foreigners had on the "traditional" Yorkantonian ways, drastic changes would be made to the city during the 20th century. In a swift manner, the Mayor of Yorkanton would announce the eviction of a good number of foreigners and Northerners as well as the closing of Yorkanton's gates, isolating old Yorkanton inside the walls built since the 12th century to almost all outsiders, barring some controlled trade. The rest of the city would then be renamed Niuork and become even further of a multi-cultural spot than it was before.

The 3rd millenium AF would mostly pass uneventful for Expia in comparison to the former two, with the country mostly using its technology to exert power over Crux through the global market. However, its financial prowess would be hurt somewhat during the latter half of the millennium when turmoil caused by the disarray of the magical community and the resurgence of magical creature appearances and attacks.

During the Maelstrom War, a lot of Expians joined the Nexus Force, with a clear favour for the Assembly Faction, and any Expian worlds near or inside the Nimbus System were closely associated with the organisation. Most notable of all, although Crux Prime, once part of South Expia, quickly became desolate at the hands of Maelstrom, the part of Niuork City still left on it became the Nexus Force's base of operations where the Nexus Tower was built, leading to it being renamed Nexus City.

Language

The official language of Expia is Expian, but Galazian is also very dominant as a secondary language, especially in South Expia.

The Expian language's roots are in the Iksezp and Keltan tribes that the country was founded on, but has also received heavy influence from the Figoranol language and the ones of their Daphtharian invaders.

Important Figures

Ludmila Navrátil

Ludmila was a cyborg that according to legend used the power of the Nexus to build a prosthetic arm for her missing limb and with the knowledge she was granted led her people to found Expia. Throughout her life she continued to perform modifications to herself, becoming more and more machine-based. It is said that at an old age she passed on completely to the robot side, forsaking her human nature. However, her trace was lost at that point and having disappeared, no one truly knows what happened to her. Even still, rumours of her still being around in one part of Expia or another continued to be for a long time, including when it was said she created Ann Droid. None of them have been confirmed, though.

Ann Droid

Ann Droid was a female-identifying robot created during the 12th century to be fully functional per human standars (o beyond) physically, intelligence-wise and emotionally. Of what is left of the research made to build her shows that her creator was at least in part influenced by similar projects of the Figorani. Rumours had it that Ludmila Navrátil created her, but Ann Droid never confirmed this. She only ever said that her mother had poured her own Creative Spark into Ann in order for her to become truly alive and as a result her mother soon passed away.

According to some reports, another droid by the name of Andy Droid was Ann's brother, but the droid was kidnapped by an alien race and reprogrammed by them, later known as Techdroid II. Unlike Ann, Andy did not possess a transplanted Creative Spark.

Ann herself joined the Exploriens, a civilian group that aimed to explore the galaxy and she became famous for her achievements as well as the rumours surrounding her. She became the inspiration for many Explorien Bots and Explorien Bot suits to come.