Vexalis City


Vexalis City
General information
Builder:	Emporer Vexalis Morvane
Location information
Planet:	Anzat
Climate:	Foggy, Cold
Societal
Population:	Anzati
[ Source ]

Founding of Vexalis City

Vexalis City was established in the shadow of the Morvane Palace, rising as both a necessity and a symbol of Morvane dominion. What began as a cluster of supporting structures— servant's quarters, airborne supply depots, and trade outposts, slowly expanded into a sprawling urban center of influence, wealth, and political gravity that drew Anzati from across the region.

The city’s foundation was not born of civic ambition, but of proximity to power. As the Palace became a seat of authority, intrigue, and dark traditions, Vexalis grew around it— shaped by those seeking favor, survival, or opportunity while under Morvane rule. Its patrons, ever indulgent, cultivated a thriving culture of the arts and entertainment, deliberately designed to attract offworld visitors... both as spectacle and as prey.

To sustain its growing population, Vexalis established numerous “soup” banks throughout the city, offering a steady source of controlled nourishment to the civilians. This system was maintained under strict order, and drew Anzati from across the galaxy, transforming Vexalis into a gathering place for their kind— one bound by growth, hunger, and hierarchy.

Laws of Vexalis City

Entry and Protection

Any individual entering Vexalis City on official business must first obtain a Seal of Protection from the Vexalis Orbital Checkpoint prior to entry. Individuals bearing an active Seal of Protection are strictly forbidden from being hunted, harmed, or captured by any Anzati citizen for the duration of the seal’s validity. The Seal remains binding until its designated expiration, at which point it will fade without trace on the induvidual. Upon expiration, all protections are immediately revoked.

Right of the Hunt

Any individual within city limits who carries life essence (“soup”) and does not possess a valid Seal of Protection, is considered lawful prey. Such individuals may be hunted at the discretion of any Anzati citizen. This practice is upheld under the long standing principle of survival of the fittest, which governs the natural order of Vexalis.

Sustenance and Soup Banks

Life essence may be lawfully obtained through designated Soup Bank outposts, either by payment of credits or through authorized warrants. All Anzati are entitled to one standard ration every three days, regardless of social or financial standing, contingent upon availability. Preferential access may be granted to members of the nobility or individuals of elevated rank, at the discretion of governing authorities.

Feral Anzati Protocol

All Anzati who have turned feral are to be terminated on sight, without exception, regardless of prior relationships or familial bonds. Individuals suspected of nearing a feral state must be reported and surrendered to city officials for evaluation and processing. Harboring, concealing, or aiding a feral Anzati is a punishable offense and will be met with severe consequences.

Containment Zones

Any district experiencing repeated feral activity must be reported to city authorities. Such areas will be designated as Containment Zones, wherein feral populations will be subject to extermination or forced relocation as deemed necessary.

Authority and Sovereignty

The rule of Vexalis is absolute. The word of the Morvane nobility carries the full weight of law, and the authority of the monarchy is unquestioned. City officials and enforcement bodies act as direct extensions of the crown. Any individual suspected of treason, conspiracy, or organizing resistance against the ruling authority will be subject to the harshest penalties. Nobility supersedes all other ranks, and their command is final.

Locations

Vexalis Orbital Checkpoint

All offworld traffic bound for Vexalis City are required to pass through the Vexalis Orbital Checkpoint, a heavily regulated spaceport station positioned in high orbit above the city. Serving as both customs authority and as an arcane gatekeeper, the station ensures that all non-Anzati entrants are processed, marked, and made known to the population below. The station itself contains numerous docking bays for incoming vessels, alongside secured hangars reserved for private transports operated by Morvane nobles. Those seeking safe passage— most commonly traders, livestock transporters delivering living cattle, and contracted exterminators tasked with culling feral Anzati— are required to undergo inspection upon arrival. Clearance is not granted through documentation alone, but through ritual.

Seals of Protection

At the heart of the station’s function are the Seals of Protection, administered by Anzati practitioners versed in Nightsister magick. These seals take the form of intricate, glowing red runes inscribed along the arms of visitors. Each is uniquely attuned, pulsing faintly with magickal energy that signals to all Anzati that the marked individual is not to be hunted. Each seal is bound to a specified duration, determined at the time of inscription. Once this time expires, the rune fades entirely without trace. Upon its disappearance, the individual immediately loses all protection and is considered fair game to any Anzati within Vexalis, regardless of status or prior affiliation.

Vexalis City Walls

Vexalis City is encircled by towering, obsidian black fortification walls reinforced with both advanced plating and ancient alchemical treatments. These walls serve as the first line of defense against external threats, including rogue Anzati factions and offworld incursions. Watchtowers line the perimeter at regular intervals, each staffed by Anzati officers highly trained in both martial combat and sensory detection of life essence. Encasing the city from above is a powerful orbital shield array, projected from satellites linked to the Vexalis Orbital Checkpoint. This shield is capable of repelling unauthorized aerial entry, bombardment, and large scale assault, ensuring that all ingress is funneled through controlled channels.

The Morvane Barracks

Situated along the inner perimeter of the city walls, the Morvane Barracks function as the central military stronghold of Vexalis. This fortified complex houses the city’s standing forces—elite Anzati officers tasked with maintaining order, enforcing city law, and responding to internal threats such as feral outbreaks or potential organized raids on Soup Bank reserves. The barracks also serve as a rapid deployment hub, allowing forces to mobilize swiftly to any district within the city or to reinforce the outer walls when necessary. Officers stationed here are considered extensions of Morvane authority, acting with full legal and military jurisdiction.

Guardian Beasts of Vexalis

Bound by blood and ancient rite to the Morvane lineage, a minimum of ten Chirodactyl guardians are kept in dedicated roosting spires along the city’s upper structures and walls. These massive winged predators serve as aerial enforcers, deployed in times of significant threats. Each Chirodactyl shares a deep bond with its designated handler, ensuring loyalty and precise control in combat scenarios.

Surrounding the city beyond the walls lies a defensive perimeter teeming with dozens of Krykna, maintained and directed by specialized handlers. These creatures form a living barrier— highly aggressive to intruders and particularly effective against ground based assaults. Their presence alone serves as a deterrent, while their coordinated deployment can overwhelm hostile forces attempting to breach the city. Together, these defenses ensure that Vexalis remains not only a center of power and indulgence, but a fortress against those who would seek to disrupt its order, or claim its resources for themselves.

Club Noctis

Club Noctis is Vexalis City’s premier nightclub, housed within one of the city’s oldest stone structures, now repurposed into a sprawling hub of nightlife and indulgence. Its exterior remains a weathered relic, while inside it pulses with music and sensations.

The club is perpetually dark, illuminated by strobing crimson and violet lights that cut through thick haze. Live performances and DJs from across the galaxy carry the atmosphere, blending industrial soundscapes and bass with haunting, ritual like vocals. Many off world artists are granted temporary Seals of Protection, allowing them safe passage to perform. The special effects of both fog and swaths of darkness are used as well during performances, with bat motifs projected onto the walls.

Subterranean Chambers

Beneath the nightclub lies a network of caverns and former crypts, now converted into private lounge spaces. These secluded areas retain their ancient stonework and are used for private gatherings, discreet dealings, and controlled feeding. The deeper levels are quieter, more exclusive, and far more dangerous.

The Everlife Resort

The Everlife Resort is a secluded luxury destination built along the outer edge of Vexalis City, centered around a vast geothermal hot spring and an interconnected network of natural caverns. Once a remote site of ritual significance, it has since been transformed into a lavish retreat that offers rest and indulgence.

Privately owned and operated by select members of the Morvane family, alongside practitioners of Nightsister magick, the resort is steeped in arcane influence. Nightsisters oversee daily operations, and their presence is felt throughout the grounds. Wraiths and wandering spirits are a common sight, drifting silently through the caverns and open air baths, regarded less as anomalies and more as part of the atmosphere.

Off from the main central lobby, the resort features finely appointed guest chambers carved into stone or overlooking the steaming springs, each designed for comfort and privacy. A grand casino operates within the main complex, drawing in both Anzati and off world guests with promises of fortune, distraction, and excess.

The Springs and Caverns

At the heart of the resort lie the geothermal pools themselves— dark, mineral rich waters that emit ghostly steam. The surrounding caverns have been expanded and refined into bathing chambers, meditation spaces, and ritual sites. Guests often report sensations of clarity, vitality, and heightened awareness while immersed, effects that are enhanced by the ichor of magick woven into the environment.

Reputation

To the wider galaxy, the Everlife Resort is whispered to be a place of transformation and a destination where one might glimpse the secrets of longevity, or even immortality. These rumors are not discouraged. Off world travelers arrive seeking enlightenment, healing, or something beyond death itself. Many are granted entry under temporary Seals of Protection… though such protections are intentionally limited in scope and duration. Many off the off world travelers who visit this destination have gone missing under mysterious circumstances.

The Vexalis Museum of the Arts

The Vexalis Museum of the Arts stands as Vexalis City’s premier museum and cultural archives, a sprawling institution dedicated to the preservation and celebration of art across the galaxy. Unlike many worlds where survival eclipses refinement, the Anzati of Vexalis take great pride in artistry— viewing it as an extension of memory, identity, and the experiences carried within life essence itself. Housed within an immense stone complex near the city’s central districts, the Museum blends ancient architecture with carefully curated exhibition halls.

Collections

The Vexalis Museum of the Arts contains an extensive and ever growing collection of relics, paintings, and sculptures gathered from across countless worlds and eras. Many pieces are acquired through trade or conquest, while others are commissioned by Anzati patrons seeking to immortalize moments, victories, or particularly… memorable lives.

The Exhibits include:

Ancient Relics: Artifacts from long lost civilizations across the galaxy, preserved not only for their historical value but for the lives once tied to them.
Galactic Masterworks: Paintings and sculptures sourced from renowned off world artists, often displayed alongside works inspired by them.
Anzati Expressions: Native works depicting the Anzati in both humanized and true forms, celebrating their predatory nature and enduring lineage, especially that of the royal families.

Cultural Role

To the Anzati, art is more than aesthetic. Many believe that the act of feeding grants insight into the lives of others, and the Museum serves as a physical counterpart to this philosophy: a place where lives, cultures, and histories are preserved and observed. As such, the Vexalis Museum of the Arts is one of the few spaces in Vexalis where the hunt is culturally restrained. Visitors, both Anzati and offworlders bearing Seals of Protection, are expected to observe with discipline and reverence.

Soup Banks of Vexalis

The Soup Banks of Vexalis serve as the primary, regulated source of life essence within the city, forming a critical pillar of both sustenance and social order. Distributed across multiple districts, these institutions are among the most heavily guarded locations in Vexalis. Each Soup Bank is overseen by Anzati officials and protected by a constant presence of armed officers, ensuring strict adherence to distribution laws and preventing theft, unrest, or unauthorized feeding. Access is governed under city law: all Anzati are entitled to one ration every three days when supply allows, though preferential treatment may be granted to nobility and those of elevated rank.

Acquisition and Storage

Life essence is sourced through sanctioned capture operations, trade agreements, and offworld procurement. Specialized Anzati operatives are tasked with acquiring viable “cattle” from other planets, which are then transported into Vexalis through secured airspace corridors. Upon arrival, shipments are transferred into an extensive underground tunnel network stretching beneath the city. Deep below the surface, the cattle are housed in fortified containment facilities where they are maintained by trained handlers. These individuals are fed, stabilized, and treated medically when necessary to prolong viability, ensuring a sustainable and controlled supply of life essence for the population.

Distribution and Public Access

Long lines are a common sight at nearly every Soup Bank, often extending into the surrounding streets. Interiors are divided according to status:

Public Feeding Chambers: Functional, high capacity rooms reserved for lower ranking citizens.
Private Feeding Suites: Refined and secluded chambers reserved for nobility and those of elevated standing, often accompanied by "rare" meals.

The main lobbies of each bank are ceremonial in design, featuring towering stone statues depicting Anzati in their true forms, alongside honored officers and figures tied to the city’s sustenance system. Administrative officials process entitlements, credits, and warrants under strict oversight.

Notable Soup Banks of Vexalis

Together, these institutions form a tightly controlled network that sustains Vexalis, reinforces its hierarchy, and ensures that even in abundance, survival remains governed by law, status, and proximity to power.

The Crimson Reliquary

Located near the central districts beneath the shadow of Morvane Palace, the Crimson Reliquary is the most prestigious Soup Bank in the city. It serves the nobility and ruling class, offering lavish private feeding suites and access to the highest quality cattle, carefully preserved for potency and refinement. Only upperclass citizens are permitted entry into this particular feeding bank.

The Silver Vein

Positioned along major trade arteries, the Silver Vein caters to merchants, contractors, and offworld visitors operating under active Seals of Protection. It functions as both a feeding bank and a hub for negotiation, where business is conducted under temporary immunity. This soup bank boasts two private feeding suites and is frequented by many civilians.

The Hollow Reserve

Serving the lower districts, the Hollow Reserve is the most heavily trafficked Soup Bank in Vexalis. Its public feeding chambers are designed for efficiency over comfort, and its long queues reflect the constant demand placed upon it. Despite its harsh conditions, it remains essential in maintaining stability among the general population. Though it contains private feeding chambers, they are seldom used here aside from the officers.

The Veiled Crucible

Situated within a shadowed quarter of the city, the Veiled Crucible handles specialized warrants and discreet transactions. Favored by hunters and operatives, it is known for its privacy and rumored access to rare or unconventional cattle, which are distributed from this location.

The Ashen Gate

Located near the inner wall districts, the Ashen Gate functions as both a Soup Bank and a strategic reserve. During crises, it prioritizes distribution to Anzati officers and defenders of the city. Its fortified structure reflects its dual role in sustenance and defense

Feral Containment Zones of Vexalis

Despite strict enforcement of city law, outbreaks of feral Anzati occasionally emerge within Vexalis. When such activity reaches critical levels, affected areas are designated as Containment Zones— sealed districts where feral populations are either exterminated, or monitored until removal can be carried out.

These zones are heavily restricted, marked by visible barriers and guarded perimeters. Entry is limited to authorized hunters, Anzati officers, and contracted exterminators operating under active warrants or Seals of Protection. These zones stand as stark reminders that while Vexalis thrives on control and hierarchy, the hunger at its core can never be fully contained

The Blackrail Underworks

Once part of Vexalis' early underground transit system, the Blackrail Underworks now lie in ruins beneath the city. Collapsed tunnels, rusted rail lines, and long abandoned platforms create a labyrinthine environment ideal for feral Anzati to nest and hunt unseen. Sightings are frequent, and echoes within the tunnels make tracking unreliable. Entire patrol units have vanished within its depths. Due to its complexity, the zone remains under ongoing containment.

Virex Factories

Located in a decayed industrial district, the Virex Factories were once major production sites before being abandoned after multiple feral outbreaks among their workforce. The two massive structures stand side by side— corroded, vast, and structurally unstable in some areas. Their interiors are filled with broken machinery, ash choked corridors, and hidden spaces where ferals gather in packs. Coordinated extermination efforts are periodically launched here, though the population has proven difficult to fully eradicate.

The Cure Facility

The Cure Facility was once a medical building dedicated to studying and treating Anzati on the brink of feral descent. Experimental procedures, many involving arcane intervention and forced suppression of feeding instincts, were conducted in an effort to discover a cure. The efforts failed.

The facility was overrun from within when patients turned in masses, killing staff and spreading beyond containment. It has since been sealed and designated as a permanent Containment Zone.

Remnants of its past remain: various surgical chambers, medical wards, and research labs left frozen in time. Feral presence is extreme, and the zone is considered one of the most dangerous within Vexalis. Entry is rarely sanctioned, and survival is not expected.