Therqin

Therqin (pronounced /ˈθɛərkɪn/) is the Norgan capital world of Faghllal, goddess of consumption. Its inhabitants exemplify the principle of consumption in both the literal and the figurative sense. They eat and drink voraciously, but they also spend and purchase freely, not to say indiscriminately. This latter tendency has transformed Therqin into the mercantile capital of the empire, its markets famous all over the known universe. This has also made Therqin among the wealthiest of the capital worlds, rivaled only by Numlle, the World of Civilization. (This does not, of course, necessarily make it the most powerful of the capital worlds; while not as economically prosperous, the other capital worlds may be just as influential in other ways.)

History

The empire colonized Therqin only recently, relative to most of the other capital worlds. It was a lush world before its colonization, replete with and fertile forests and jungles, its seas teeming with life. It had no human inhabitants, but it did have inhabitants of other ellogous species, primarily upright crustaceans that called themselves khori.

The Norgan settlers saw Therqin as a tropical paradise, and exploited it accordingly. They grew fat from the fruit and fauna that were free for the taking, and lazed about with little need for labor. As the world's bounty attracted an ever-growing (in more ways than one) population, however, it required more order and infrastructure, and needed to take more and more from the land to support its burgeoning populace. The time came when it became clear that Therqin's seeming plenty was nonetheless finite, and that if its people continued as they had been it would soon be expended. Their immediate reaction was to open conasters to the other side of the devare, in hopes that it was as abundant as the side they knew and would provide them with another world's worth of resources to plunder.

This turned out to not be the case. While the other side of the devare was by no means barren, it didn't approach the uberty of the first side. The second side of the devare was a more or less normal terrestrial world, and already densely populated by people who weren't eager to cede their land to the empire. The empire, of course, conquered this world anyway, but recognized that it could do less than hoped to sustain Therqin's population. Fortunately, by then, and aided with the diversity of the vanquished peoples of the world's second side, Therqin had already become something of a trading center, and it was a small step to cement this pursuit and use it to focus the world's prosperity. Then, too, by this time wizards and crystal gardeners of Therqin had developed methods to quickly replenish the world's ransacked riches and keep it fertile and provident. The self-indulgent lifestyle of Therqin's inhabitants was allowed to continue.

Given how much the average Therqinian was already given to consumption, when it came time for a capital world to be chosen for Faghllal, Therqin was an obvious choice. And this, of course, increased its inhabitants' devotion to consumption, turning the already profligate world into a near-parody of its former self.

Geography

Like all the capital worlds, Therqin is a devare, with prominent conasters connecting its two sides. Despite their original differences, Therqin's sides are now more or less the same, both covered with plenteous forest and jungle on almost all unsettled spots of land, the vegetation having been transplanted between sides of the devare. Therqin's population tends to be clustered in densely-populated cities, with a lot of forested open space in between for exploitation and recreation.

The inside of the devare, too, is developed, to a greater extent than most of the capital worlds. Gardens of fungi and other subterranean flora are grown there, and fleshy spelaean fauna are hunted and harvested. Many of Therqin's people live in subterranean cities, the better to leave the surface free to provide them with the goods and luxuries they desire.

Inhabitants

Most of the inhabitants of Therqin are human, or once-humans transformed into some variety of Faghllalite. The khori that populated the world before the arrival of the empire still exist there, integrated into imperial society, and there are smaller numbers of other Norgan races such as cai and wengels.

Given the doctrine of the church of Faghllal, and the value it places on consumption, both literally and figuratively but especially the former, it should come as no surprise that the inhabitants of Therqin are characterized by a high level of obesity. The majority of the residents of Therqin are overweight, and a large proportion of them so much so that they can move under their own power with difficulty or not at all, relying on conveyances such as hoverclouds. The archprelate of Therqin, Manochim Raich, weighs almost three metric tons; like many Faghllalites, however, he has divine gifts that make it possible for him to survive in his condition, and almost certainly couldn't have reached nearly that weight naturally.

Government

As a capital world, Therqin is, of course, a theocracy, with the church of Faghllal holding ultimate sway, and the archprelate ultimately in command. The archprelate of Therqin delegates most of the day-to-day business, however, to two exarchs, each of which rules one of the sides of the devare. In turn, the territory of each exarch is divided into prelacies each governed by a prelate who reports to the corresponding exarch.

Economy

Therqin is renowned for its thriving markets, where goods from all over the empire are bought and sold. If it may not be quite true to say that if it can't be bought on Therqin, it can't be bought anywhere, it isn't far from it.

Not all of Therqin's trade is open and legitimate; the World of Consumption also has a thriving black market, where things are bought and sold that the governments do not officially countenance. Foremost among the illegal goods for sale are various kinds of drug, some of which are available nowhere else. Some of the black markets boast goods possibly even more sinister—dark and foul magics, instruments of torture and assassination, and ellogous beings sold as slaves.

While most of Therqin's income comes from commerce rather than production, it does have some exports, mostly exotic fruit, seafood, and other produce of its tropical lands. Therqin also exports some unusual talismans made by techniques pioneered by its preimperial inhabitants, such as shockwhips and the divinatory showstones.