Thinos

Geography

Thinos is the largest of Elaris's moons and the most complex, a living sphere defined by its rhythmic half-year cycle of rain and drought. Vast equatorial jungles fringe a belt of sprawling savannahs that fade into dusty uplands and shimmering inland seas. The terrain is largely stable due to a strong tectonic core, though seasonal monsoons reshape the rivers and deltas with relentless regularity. Dur'Yeng burrows honeycomb the drier regions, while the Siasi inhabit the humid canopy cities to the south and east. The Strahki dwell beneath the waves of the moon's deep oceanic trenches, lit by the dim glow of phosphorescent reefs and geothermal pulses. Gold is ubiquitous in the crust, glinting even from ordinary stone—a blessing that has brought both wealth and woe. Despite its breathable atmosphere and pleasant gravity, Thinos's alternating extremes of flood and aridity ensure no part of its surface remains unchanged for long.

Landmarks

The Hundred Vaults

An interconnected web of underground cisterns carved by Dur’yeng engineers across the equatorial plains, the Hundred Vaults store precious water gathered during the rainy season. The largest chambers span miles, their walls lined with gold-etched runes denoting ownership and promises made. In times of drought, entire communities move into the Vaults, surviving months underground in cool humidity. Visitors describe them as cathedral-like—pillared by salt-crystal columns, echoing with the sound of dripping water, and adorned with “favor scales” hung like chimes. Legends say the deepest vault connects directly to an ancient aquifer inhabited by an immense, luminous leviathan worshiped by some as the Keeper of Oaths.

The Skyroots

Along the jungles of southern Thinos rise colossal trees—each nearly a mile tall and wide enough to host small towns within their hollow trunks. The Siasi have fused their technology with these natural titans, crafting luminous latticework towers hidden within their bark. Energy grids disguised as vines power defense turrets, communication relays, and retractable swing bridges. The Skyroots are self-contained city-states that drift between tribal spirituality and technological sovereignty. At night, their outer leaves shimmer with bioluminescent patterns that serve as coded messages between distant Siasi enclaves.

Prism Bastion

Deep beneath the eastern oceans lies Prism Bastion, the Strahki capital reef. Built around a triple-ringed sinkhole, its walls gleam with mirror-shell mosaics that refract even the faintest light into a shifting kaleidoscope. Prism Bastion functions as both citadel and parliament; here, the Triarch Councils deliberate matters of conquest and protection under the doctrine of the Law of Orderly Depths. Patrols of armored Strahki guardians circulate constantly through the trenches, enforcing the empire's decrees.

The Gold Steps

On the border of the Dur’yeng plains and the Siasi jungle lies a series of terraced cliffs that descend into a massive open gold seam. The cliffs glitter in sunlight, earning their name, but the wealth has poisoned the land with greed. Mining rigs, smuggler camps, and holy shrines all crowd the terraces, their occupants competing over claim rights. The Siasi see the Steps as a sacred wound, while Dur’yeng claim it as ancestral ground. Meanwhile, Strahki salvage teams scour the flooded lower tiers for metals washed into the depths.

Settlements

Korshal

The Dur’yeng capital and oldest subterranean city, Korshal sits in a fertile basin riddled with layered burrows and carved fortifications. Streets spiral downward in concentric circles, leading to the Hall of Scales, where favors are recorded, promises sealed, and judgments rendered. Trade routes to the surface connect Korshal to Elarian envoys, who marvel at its honeycomb architecture and gold-lined law chambers. Korshal is slow to anger but swift to act when its honor—or water reserves—are threatened.

Qet-Spire

A Siasi metropolis woven through three neighboring Skyroots, Qet-Spire is a wonder of vertical architecture. Walkways of living vines connect mirrored sanctums where engineers and priests debate over which inventions honor or insult the gods of the forest. Below the canopy, large energy collectors disguised as flowers harvest sunlight for power. Qet-Spire also houses the Council of Ten Thousand Voices, where representatives of each tribe gather to decide matters of migration, warfare, and resource defense.

Triarch Reef

The core of Strahki civilization, Triarch Reef encompasses three coral rings surrounding a sinkhole citadel. Each ring represents one of the Triarch Orders: Guardians (law and warfare), Artisans (craft and architecture), and Oracles (mysticism and history). The reef glows in coordinated patterns at night, serving both aesthetic and communicative functions. Its inhabitants live by rigid schedules of prayer, maintenance, and combat drills, viewing order as the highest expression of beauty.

Vas’Tar Basin

A rare surface settlement jointly operated by Dur’yeng engineers and Siasi diplomats, Vas’Tar Basin began as a neutral trading post for water and metal. Built atop a drained floodplain reinforced with gold-brick levees, it now serves as the closest thing Thinos has to a cosmopolitan hub. Disputes between races are common but rarely violent, as mutual dependency keeps tempers contained. The Basin’s central plaza hosts weekly markets where you can buy anything from Strahki coralsteel blades to Siasi holo-feathers.

History

Thinos’s deep past is fragmentary, recorded in murals and bone carvings more than written words. The Dur’yeng claim to have been shaped from the golden dust of the plains by the hands of the first Lawgiver, while the Siasi say they descended from spirits who fell from the Skyroots when the heavens wept rain. The Strahki’s chronicles speak of emerging from the “First Wave,” when volcanic vents birthed their ancestors fully armored beneath the sea. For ages, the three races existed in cautious ignorance of one another until resource pressure—and offworld intrusion—forced contact. The first recorded conflict, the War of Rain and Dust, saw Siasi and Dur’yeng forces clash over control of aquifers. It ended in stalemate, leading to the formation of the Treaty of Three Seasons, a tri-species accord regulating surface, canopy, and oceanic domains. While direct wars have since waned, competition for territory, water, and honor continues to shape Thinos’s destiny.

Residents

The surface is primarily home to the Dur’yeng—massive, scale-armored humanoids who build subterranean halls and gold-lined tunnels beneath the savannah. The Siasi dominate the equatorial jungles, arboreal primates renowned for their dexterity, four-armed agility, and thunderous throat calls. Below, in the abyssal oceans, dwell the Strahki, a disciplined crustacean-like empire with strict hierarchy and an almost religious devotion to order. Other minor species—Gnomes, Halflings, and visiting offworlders—occupy diplomatic enclaves and research outposts scattered across Thinos, though they are all subject to the volatile politics of the moon’s three great powers.

Society

Dur’yeng culture is built around promises, debts, and repayment—a structured honor code ensuring no favor goes forgotten. To them, law is not oppression but balance; each promise made and fulfilled maintains the world’s order. The Siasi, by contrast, value freedom, adaptability, and self-expression. They worship both sun and storm, seeing emotion as a manifestation of the planet’s living soul. The Strahki’s society is militaristic and hierarchical: duty, clarity, and unity are their sacred virtues. While the Dur’yeng and Siasi share a mutual respect built on hard-won cooperation, both regard the Strahki as dangerously overzealous in their interpretations of “protection.” Offworld influence has introduced new philosophies—trade guilds, academic missions, and religious evangelists—but Thinos’s societies remain largely insulated, bound more by pride than by law.

Conflicts and Threats

The Gold Rush

Thinos’s rich veins of gold have become both blessing and curse. Offworld syndicates, lured by profit, deploy mining automata across the Gold Steps, often violating local treaties. Dur’yeng claim these acts desecrate ancestral veins, while the Siasi decry the ecological ruin caused by toxic runoff. Strahki mining expeditions, operating underwater, argue they merely collect what “falls naturally into their domain.” Skirmishes between automated drill teams, Siasi strike units, and Dur’yeng burrow guards are frequent, though rarely escalate into full-scale war. The real victims are the local ecosystems, now collapsing from chemical contamination, forcing the Ceridian biologists of Cerdox to intervene diplomatically.

The Season Wars

Every six months, the balance of power shifts with the rain. During the wet season, Siasi dominance expands as their canopy cities bloom outward, while the Dur’yeng retreat underground to protect their Vaults. In the dry season, the roles reverse—Dur’yeng caravans reclaim the plains while the Siasi withdraw. Strahki naval patrols exploit the chaos by extending their “protection zones” further inland each cycle. Border violence flares when irrigation lines or sacred groves are flooded or burned, and each race accuses the others of deliberately manipulating the weather. Scholars believe these conflicts are ritualized echoes of an older, forgotten war, but the toll in lives remains very real.

Shadow Incursions

Dark rumors persist of Drow and operatives infiltrating Thinos through concealed portals in the Gold Steps. Survivors tell of shadow-cloaked miners and invisible assassins who harvest gold not for wealth but for ritual. The Siasi recall their ancestral hatred of these invaders, and Strahki commanders have already declared “shadow quarantine zones” along the continental shelf. The Dur’yeng, bound by old grudges, have begun reforging war-scaled armors once sealed away. While the truth remains uncertain, recent disappearances in both canopy and trench suggest something more than rumor—perhaps the opening moves of another subterranean invasion.