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Ajira
"There are two reasons to exist: to resist all who would usurp our Time of Self, and to use that leisure to experience all the pleasure our technologies can conceive. Defending our leisure for pleasure — that is the reason for the System."
— Lorex Redwing, The Teachings of Beauty and Bliss
The Oldest Histories...
Tell of the Ajira being a militant species whose mountainous home planet, Nefal, contained warring clans who fought with each other and themselves for honour and glory. Great battles ravaged the territories. They were strong, fierce and noble warriors of the sky. Many champions lived with fame and died as heroes. But that was a long time ago: a history almost mythical, and that few can now even believe.
It is known that the Ajira in the First Age, before the Ancients discovered them, divided Nefal into Territories. Each Territory was ruled by a Clan and its Chief. These chiefs decided what territories to invade and plunder. Their economies thrived on spoils and increases in Territory governance. The Ajira were once minimalists, and austere, eating what grew easily in the few valleys of the planet, and living in the natural caves and habitats carved by nature.
A Stately Pleasuredom Decreed...
There is no record of how Ajirans became so indolent. But all can see how they grew idle and pleasure seeking. While not aimless and hedonistic, the majority of Ajiran histories record a marked development of their social systems, mating rites, and knowledge of pleasure. Ajiran society was transformed by the invention of the first Pleasuredom: a utopian ultra-spa-resort of titanic scale. Lorex Redwing, who legend says had fought and bled till his feathers were stained red, began to teach as though Enlightened... in a way. His message was this: Ajirans should stop fighting and rather find their noble fulfillment in pleasurable things. While there were Clans that resisted this movement, the economic and political transformation of Ajiran society had begun with Clans competing to develop ever improved Pleasuredoms and pleasurable activities. Natural health and self-care became a central virtue of the race: a practice called by Lorex Time of Self -- without the Time of Self there is no virtue, for Ajirans must exist to experience beauty and bliss. A bastion of escapism and satiety, Pleasuredoms were developed prolifically, quickly, and the warriors and champions of the skies grew addicted to "leisure for pleasure": the motto of their mountainous retreats. The feathered folk lived in bliss instead of at war, and saw that it was good.
The Ke'Ras Came...
The demonic Infestation was devastating. In the time of this First War the winged angelic races had grown lethargic and inactive; their fighting skills and armies debilitated. Their goals and clans focused on supporting the Territory's Pleasuredom and developing the necessary resources and technologies to sustain it. Even though their technology and science had leapt forward since their agrarian past, the developments were all but military, and there was no resistance to the Ke'Ras. In a last attempt to survive, the scientists — usually in development of leisure life-style and pleasure products - scrambled to design hundreds of AI's for tactical, administrative and combative purposes. The planets' chiefs slowly transitioned to AI ruled systems of bureaucracy and technocracy which they called the System. The System's purpose was to sustain Ajiran lifestyle, which once more required military might, however, no longer for the sake of nobility and honour, rather to protect their security and Time of Self: the pursuit of "leisure for pleasure."
The System is Satiety...
The System consists of many AI's which have taken over the Territories and replaced the Chiefs - who now fill a position of class rather than power. The System communicates across the many planets that have been inhabited to maintain the necessary resources for upkeep of the hundreds of thousands of Pleasuredoms. The System now assigns jobs, carries out all organizational and governmental roles and maintains justice and legality. But while the System is artificial, synthetic and organized, the Ajira have kept their focus on Time of Self. Whatever work an Ajiran does is done to sustain their rights to visit Pleasuredoms. An average Ajira may visit a "Dome" perhaps three times a week. While the affluent may even live within a "Dome": the goal of most Ajira. Having used up all agricultural and organic resources (except for mineral and chemical), the Ajira depend on other races for many forms of foods and materials. This is afforded by the System, which has capitalized on the pleasure products now developed over thousands of years.
Today, the Ajira are strong militarily, though entirely dependant upon their technocratic life-styles, even for the ability to fly, as their wing development has atrophied over centuries of ever diminished use. The many Pleasuredoms destroyed in the Infestation have been rebuilt and improved by the System's vast technologies. Many say the Ajirans' once aerial utopias have become technocratic dystopias of sin and slothfulness. The Ajiran planets have become the cosmic nexuses for vacationing of all races and peoples, bringing wealth, power and influence to the once Spartan Ajira. Perhaps the once white-winged celestials have simply become augmented horrors of a darker beauty.
The Future is Coming...
The most recent step by the System has been the development of a Pleasuredom that is designed to travel interplanetarily. The intent: to hit the market gap of all those who have avoided travel to an Ajiran planet, whether due to stigma, lack of resources, or otherwise.
"Soon 'leisure for pleasure' will be coming to a planet near you: don't miss this chance to come... discover your beauty and bliss."
— The System, Pleasuredom Campaign
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