Cicex

Great Ascended Cicex sCicex qoT'è Sex sCiqCexQoqTejzTefx
Flag
Anthem: sThoa qò ti Que' (sNgenguai) "Calling of Quei"
Capital	Qì (summer) Sè-K'io (winter)
Official languages	sNgenguai
Demonym(s)	Cicigean
Government	Absolute monarchy (de jure) Military junta (de facto)
• sòThaicè	Texzè
• Chancellor	Mimx Mà Nyi
Population
• Estimate	330,000,000

Cicex (/ˈsɪseɪ/ SI-say; /ˈsɪsɛks/ SI-sex; sNgenguai: sCiqCex sCicex [scícḛ]), officially Great Ascended Cicex (sNgenguai: sCiqCexQoqTejzTefx sCicex qoT'è Sex [scícḛ ʔə́tʼè sḛ) is a country located in Ashnan. It is divided into 17 provinces. It has an estimated 330 million inhabitants.

Though legally an absolute monarchy under a sòThaicè, Cicex is in practice ruled by a loose and unstable network of temple councils, clan armies, and competing warlord factions.

Cicex is among the oldest continuous civilizations in Ashnan. Its written traditions claim descent from the first Cicegeans, who were banished into Jotunnheim by the godlike entity Quei from a painless realm beyond mortal understanding. This founding myth has profoundly shaped Cicegean culture, law, architecture, politics, and warfare. Since antiquity, the state has more or less existed chiefly to appease Quei and to prevent another divine punishment. In modern times, this fear has hardened into an elaborate system of surveillance, military rule, and mass sacrifice of civilians.

The country is noted for its combination of ancient ritual institutions intertwined with modern technology. Railways, rifles, airships, armored trains, and industrial weapons are used alongside older systems of monarchy, shamanic authority, and human sacrifice. This combination has often been described by foreign observers as a technologically modernized ritual monarchy rather than a fully modern state.

Since the decline of central authority, Cicex has experienced prolonged warlordism, political fragmentation, famine, forced conscription, and factional conflict. Sacrificial practices, historically part of Cicegean religion since the bronze age, have continued under the various factions, particularly through the use of captured prisoners of war and political enemies. The scale and frequency of these practices have contributed to widespread social trauma and instability. Since 4607, various warlord regimes have been participating in the Cicigean genocide, which has claimed over 3.4 million victims as of 4627 CY.

Economy

The economy of Cicex is predominantly agrarian and has been severely affected by the ongoing famine. Most of the population is engaged in farming, herding, fishing, forestry, or other forms of rural labor. Although steam technology, firearms, railways, and airships exist in Cicex, they are unevenly distributed and are largely confined to military arsenals, temple workshops, mining sites, provincial capitals, and a small number of state-controlled manufactories. Cicex is therefore generally regarded as an agrarian country with limited industrial capacity rather than an industrialized state.

The current famine has greatly weakened this system. Crop failures, disrupted irrigation, forced requisitioning, military campaigns, banditry, drought in some regions, flooding in others, and the displacement of rural communities have sharply reduced food availability. In several provinces, fields have been abandoned because farmers have been conscripted, killed, displaced, or forced into labor service. Draft animals have also been seized by armies or slaughtered for food, further reducing agricultural productivity.

The famine has produced internal displacement and a small but growing refugee outflow. Large numbers of rural inhabitants have moved toward provincial capitals, temple towns, river ports, and military-controlled grain centers in search of food or protection. However, the number of Cicegeans leaving the country remains relatively small. Religious teaching, state propaganda, limited knowledge of foreign societies, and long-standing fear of the outside world discourage many from crossing the border. Foreign lands are often portrayed as spiritually unsafe, socially corrupting, or beyond the protection of Quei. As a result, many famine victims remain inside Cicex even when conditions are severe.

The refugees who do leave Cicex are often from border communities, merchant families, defeated military factions, minority populations, or groups already accustomed to contact with foreigners. Many depart irregularly through mountain passes, river crossings, ports, or caravan routes. Their reception abroad varies, as neighboring states often fear the spread of disease, instability, espionage, or religious conflict from Cicex. Some Cicegean refugees attempt to conceal their identity, while others remain in isolated communities and maintain strict ritual practices outside the country.

Demographics

Religion

Cicegeans worship Quei, a being which, according to the Cicegean founding legend, banished the Cicegeans to this world from its realm free of pain and suffering to atone for an unknown crime. Quei is known for being neither benevolent nor malevolent; its true motivations are ineffable to mortals. Cicegeans spend a great amount of effort to appease it, and pledge absolute loyalty out of fear and reverence.

Since the first bronze age cultures in Cicex, human and non-human sacrifice has been practiced, as a means to appease Quei. Today, this continues to be practiced by each faction within Cicex, as to gain favour to their cause. Tens of thousands of eligible captured POWs have been sacrificed every year since Cicex fell to warlordism.

Culture

Heritage

Cicegean heritage is strongly shaped by the themes of exile, endurance, obedience, sacrifice, and ritual continuity. The founding myth of banishment by Quei is central to national identity and is taught in households, schools, temples, and military institutions. Ancestor veneration is common, although it is subordinate to the worship of Quei. Families maintain genealogies, tablets, household shrines, and commemorative rites. These practices reinforce continuity between living communities and previous generations.

State ceremonies often emphasize survival through hardship rather than conquest or prosperity. Historical memory places great importance on dynastic collapse, famine, war, and restoration of ritual order.