cover image by dall-e

Xipilian Society

The Xipilians have built one big and ever-expanding city, Xipilia, in which they all coexist. They have created this big city in which all the Xipilians live. The environment of the deserts is harsh but they have managed to cultivate it, and they do their best to protect all the natural life that they come across. They use the scarce sources of water they find to cultivate the plant life that needs it and is always scouting for a different life that Sotechli and Tenril have created. The scouts are the only ones to leave Xipilia since it is the only truly safe stronghold in the desert. They stay in contact with the city by use of smoke signals since they can be seen from far away and the deserts are mainly flat lands. There are small camps set up by any source of natural life, like an oasis, for the scouts and those who want to travel around, all with a specific signal that is sent up into the sky every hour. 

Duty of the Individual

The Xipilians believe that the strength of every individual helps make them stronger as a whole. They value individual strength and during childhood, there is little generalized education and a lot of focus put on what kind of magic the individual excels at. They look for natural talents and interests and then the individual gets to learn from someone that already has a specialty in that specific field. These teachers are charged with cultivating the strength of every child in their care and will need to give regular updates to the members of the royal court that oversees their faction. There are multiple factions in their society and each has its own role to play and is responsible for performing its task well.

Faction system

The factions all live in different sections of Xipilia, and the very center holds different halls for each of them where practitioners can come together to collaborate or meet up. Upon becoming an adult the child will leave their parents and start living in the faction they have trained for. The houses are all shared and have common rooms, the only ones to have private sections are those who have proven themselves worthy of this. These private sections are seen as a symbol of status and anyone is able to challenge the current owner of a private section, but failing to beat them will result in a period of time in which the challenger is seen as thinking too highly of themselves and they will have to do something to prove themselves again. Losing to a challenger can be different depending on the circumstance. If the challenger is from a younger generation and the current owner of the private section has held that position for a long time then it is seen as the younger generation taking control and the loss is seen as a sign that they should retire their position. 

Scouts

There is a faction of scouts, one of the biggest ones, that will go into the desert and explore, mapping every move they make and recording every form of life they see. They navigate using their shadows and the sun and will note down any solar flares they see while on their journey in order to see if Sotechli is sending them in a certain direction. The scouts also look for areas in which they can find sandstone, the main resource used in the building of Xipilia. They are typically the ones with horns that have a large surface area since they spend a lot of time in the open deserts. The larger size of the horns lets them regulate their body temperature better, and so this gives them a better chance for survival. They are also the most practiced in manipulating the heat created by the fires they make so they can create signals that are the clearest to read by others. Any meteors that land in the deserts are taken by the Xipilians and seen as gifts from Sotechli and the metal and crystals that can be gathered from it are given to the members of the royal court and those who have shown exceptional feats. 

Messengers

There is a faction of messengers that will keep their eyes on the sky for the different signals given out by outposts and scouts, as well as traveling between the different outposts and the Xipilia when truly necessary. They deliver specimens of different plants to be investigated by alchemists and herbalists. The messengers are also in charge of making sure that the members of the Royal court are always brought up to date on current events so that they can discuss them with the current Monarch. 

Farmers and Herders

The farmer and herder faction is in charge of keeping the plants and animals that they keep healthy and alive. They are the ones that plow and plant the seeds, keep an eye on the progress and harvest, as well as taking care of the animals, and making sure they breed, as well the butchering process. For butchering, there is a ritual that one of the members of the religious faction is needed for so that the meat can be eaten. The farmers need to make sure that everything that is being sent out can be eaten without any other preparations. There is a small designated group of people from this section that stays in each of the houses that know how to cook and prepare the meals properly. The best caretakers can apply for a position in the internal garden of the royal palace, and they need to do many tests to see if they know enough and enter a training program to be able to do so since the garden even contains certain plants that aren’t found in the wild anymore by scouts.

Miners

There is a faction of miners that are in charge of mining the different natural resources that Tenril provides them with. They mine sandstone for the construction of houses and other necessary buildings, as well as the ore that is used by the Xipilians in their armor and weapons. The miners are typically those who have smaller horns, since the deeper a mine gets the colder it can get, and smaller horns are more beneficial. They cover their horns with cloths since the Xipilians lose most of their body heat through their horns. The miners have a stricter work cycle than most other Xipilians, working in shifts so that they can spend a portion of the time that Sotechli is in the sky outside of the mine to make sure they don’t get too weak and cold. The miners need a lot of physical strength and are amongst the more muscular Xipilians. If there is ever a big need for more soldiers, the military faction looks to the miner faction first as they already have strong individuals that would need less training due to their physical strength. 

Military

The military faction is by far the biggest one, as they encompass the hunters, the guardians, and the soldiers. They are in charge of protecting grazing cattle, all the different mines, and the outposts in the desert, as well as fighting in the war against the Lunaegans. They are what most young Xipilians initially want to be a part of since it offers the greatest possibility to prove their strength to Sotechli. In this faction are the ones with a strong connection to their pyrokinetics and the more in tune with their ancestry. They are in a constant training regiment from the moment they join the faction in order to become the strongest version of themselves they can be. The training includes religious ceremonies to honor and give thanks to the past generations of Xipilians to call on their strength, and before battle, they pray to their families' ancestors to give them extra strength. The ranks of the military hold a lot of power and they are given older houses in order to be closer to their ancestors. This is because of the religious belief that the unseen force that causes fires to spread is the spirits of deceased Xipilians. The generals and colonels are typically the older Xipilians with a lot of success and experience in battle. In more recent times, the alchemists and herbalists have become more prominent in helping the military factions, changing the way the war is fought. 

Alchemists and Herbalists

The alchemist and herbalist faction has become increasingly important as well with recent discoveries. The alchemists have begun focusing their efforts on preserving the solar energy from the flora in weapons and medicine that Xipilians can use to power themselves up while Sotechli is not in the sky or as an extra boost to their power. In the past, the alchemists were mainly in charge of farming and preserving nature as well as finding ways to utilize it to help in the growth of other plants and animals even at night.  There have been others that tried but failed to incorporate herbology and alchemy for the military but due to the failures, the royal court had ordered a stop to this to keep the focus on preserving the plant life. There have been new tests done that have helped in recent battles, and some alchemists have gotten special permission to continue their testing to help the military. In contrast, the herbalists have kept the responsibility for the preservation of life and healing the wounded that come back from battles. They are currently still under the leadership of a singular member of the royal court, though he is a herbalist and thus prioritizes this aspect of the faction. The fact that the alchemists working with the military have the blessing from King Lukairon himself means that the alchemists are starting to be treated as their own faction, causing tension within the royal court and the faction itself. Due to this, there are many that presume that this faction will be split, separating the alchemists and herbalists.

Religious

The religious faction is a smaller faction but one of the more important ones together with the military faction. They are the ones responsible for making sure everything is going according to the rules and are the ones to decide on the punishment any criminal gets. They are responsible for ceremonies and events like weddings, funerals, and festivals in honor of Sotechli. They are in charge of predicting weather to make sure that scouts and messengers have the best chances of making their trips, as well as blessing battalions as they go out to battle. The religious faction holds the records of the histories and is the keeper of most of the knowledge. They are typically the best public speakers and are able to read the older texts that are kept in the guarded library of the royal house. Only those of high rank in the religious faction is allowed to learn and read these texts as they are seen as sacred. 

Retirees

There is also a faction for retirees that house those who have become too old to practice their factions' profession. They typically take care of the farmland, keeping an eye on cattle, or keeping the youngest children that aren't in school yet company, teaching them about the ways of their different sections so that the children know what to expect. Retiring as a personal choice is seen as a sign of weakness and thus not often done since most Xipilians are too proud. Most of the Xipilians that do retire are outperformed by the newer generation, which is seen as an honorable way of retirement. The scouting and military factions have very few people that make it to the retired faction due to the danger of their jobs. Those who get injured and are healing typically take up this role, though they do still live and sleep in their own respective section of the city.