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Imagine you are a citizen of a vast city-nation called New Kyushu
You are devout, & the subjects of your devotion tend to be warriors, brands & below them, your gods
The air is toxic, so you have ample breathing apparatus but you long for the latest HeadGear model.. you long for it not just for its desirability (& improvement on survival chances) but because consumerism is part of your religion
You spend more money on your 3Moons Sports Channel subscriptions than your breathing tech because you also worship the warriors that grace the screen .. there are many stars of the battlefield, but the best of them are the ‘Ookami’ and you will have one for whom you reserve your most fervent reverence.. fighters like Yaeko, Piero, Goliath & Amaya are the pantheon - gods & goddesses of violence-as-entertainment
You still gossip about the disgraced Ookami, Koa, who, at the very peak of her fame, betrayed the Shogunate and whose hunt is the most entertaining thing on your vidscreen
Everything you own is made by a single corporation - 3Moons .. everything around you is too
Your district is ruled by a Baron, the whole city-nation by a Shogun.. you worship them too
You were schooled, like every child in the city-state, with access to education possible for all thanks to brand sponsorships .. there you learned the Mythological Histories, & enjoyed the stories about heroes like Kelak, rogues like Baiden & the sorrow of Irla & Elayda .. you studied diseases like Blackbone & read about the strange monks who embrace it, living in the open with only wooden facsimiles of breathing masks, who worship different gods, called The Oracle & The Exile
You decry the violence of the motorcycle gangs but secretly covet a sentient bike of your own
You tried to get in to The Dead Gods Garden nightclub but never made it past the first velvet rope
You drink Acid Cola even tho you know it’ll probably kill you .. But if the Ookami you worship drinks it in the ads, it must be ok, right?
You watch old reruns of The Yaeko Show & The Endling cartoon because the nostalgia makes you feel warm
You buy ‘Other Seas, Other Suns’ prints because everyone cool has them on their wall
You gaze at each of the three moons that hover in the noxious sky and wonder why it is you’re actually here, and how something so mundane as your life is possible .. you switch on your vidscreen to escape, basking in the intoxicating hunt of a former hero ..
Sometimes it doesn’t feel real at all.. but these thoughts are brushed aside as you browse the latest HeadGear catalogue and yearn, content that your wanting will be rewarded in heaven
Welcome to The Endling Saga.