Name change - "Colliding Worlds" to "Venture"

Yep, title explains it all. From now on, the "Colliding Worlds" series will be referred to as the "Venture" series. Big deal, I know, but you'll get over it.

I'm Jake Dixon, and I approve this message.

Setting Summary: City of Gold

This is the main Jincari City in my "Colliding Worlds" series (Still subject to change; still don't like that name).

The Making Of
The Vard were the original founders of this city, intended to be, as a whole, a monument to all the Vard could accomplish. To the Vard, it was a testament to the glory of their nation, spanning across the entire solar system. To the other races, it is a city built from the blood and anguish of their ancestors.  The Vard designed the city, but ordered labour from millions of slaves to construct it. It is uncertain how many slaves died in the production of the city, but it is estimated that the average lifespan of a slave working on its production was about 21 days. Known to be the largest city in the solar system, the City of Gold can hold almost two billion citizens, and is now the capital city of the Jincari Empire. The city features stunning scenery and landscapes, extravagant golden buildings which touch and even surpass the clouds, and is home to 97% of the Jincari elite, and roughly 55% of the entire Jincari race. At the very centre of the city lies the Imperial Palace in which the royal Jincari family lives. It is, undeniably, the most spectacularly designed building in the entire city. Among the numerous balcony gardens in the palace, it features a many secret passageways, along with the solar system's most extensive library. Of the Jincari empire, the only bloodline to serve as emperor is the Vos family. The current Emperor is Mallian Vos II, age one hundred and ten.

The Uprising
(This is a favourite tale among the Jincar, and many renditions of the story have been created. The most historically accurate rendition is as follows)
The final job for the slaves in the City of Gold was to construct a massive Colosseum from which the Vardic citizens could watch as slaves would be forced to fight a plethora or fearsome creatures until they were killed. About halfway through the construction process, Sala Vos, a young Jincari slave working on the Colosseum (before her eventual ascension to the throne as the first Jincari ruler in over 3 centuries), saw a unique opportunity to give herself and her fellow slaves a chance to resist their masters and fight back. Many unwary Vard overseers watching over the production of the Colosseum would forget or leave their weapons laying about the construction site after the day was over. Sala eventually stole enough of these weapons to distribute to most of the slaves working on the Colosseum. One morning, the unsuspecting Vard overseers had their weapons turned against them by their own slaves. The battle, planned out by Sala,  lasted less than one hour. This took the Vard by such surprise, that the city leaders did not find out until after the entire sector was under the control of the slaves. After such a decisive victory, Sala took it upon herself to lead a liberation of the entire city. In the many years that followed, the rebels retained their grasp of the arena sector, using the Vard's secret passages and reluctance to destroy their own city against them. During the day, the former slaves would defend the walls of the sector. At night, they would use their knowledge of the city's numerous secret passageways to carry out elaborate hit-and-run surprise attacks throughout various other city sectors. Seven years later marked the death of the Vardic empress after a successful ambush staged by the rebels on palace grounds. Three months later, the leaderless and disoriented Vard were forced to retreat entirely from their city, and Sala was hailed as a hero among the Jincar.

Character Summary: The Vard

The Vard are a race from my "Colliding Worlds" (Title will very probably be subject to change) story universe. This is a general history of the race.

Generic Overview
Before the mass extermination of the Vard from the galaxy, the Vard were a proud, brutish, and cruel race. They created the City of Gold many years ago, a city from which the Vardic leaders would rule with an iron fist. The Vard have always been a violent race, and their bodies have evolved and adapted to their violent and ancient history. The Vard are believed to have evolved from a cunning species of amphibian. Their  bodies and eyes give off a bio-luminescent glow well suited for vision in low-light environments. Their teeth are long and jagged, as are the claws on their hands and feet. Virtually everything about them, both male and female, was adapted for one purpose: to dominate their foes. Discerning gender among Vard is quite simple; Vard females have long, spiny tails, while males possess no tail. The evolutionary reason for this dissimilarity is unknown, though it does give Vardic females a distinct advantage during traditional duels for power and status, thus, most great Vard warlords were female.

Species Origin

The amphibians the Vard are believed to have evolved from show interesting characteristics, some of which the most recent living Vard maintained. These amphibians, known as Zzglock (named after legendary Vardic Warlord Zzglock'a), had a similar head and spinal structure to the Vard, though they walked on all fours, unlike their more advanced evolutionary successors. The Zzglock were mainly aquatic, native to Ghasha (now known as Silonis under Jincari regime), the planet in which the City of Gold was built. What made the Zzglock so sophisticated compared to other primordial species was their ability to rapidly adapt to a vast range of living conditions. Jincari storytellers tell of Vardic warlords who were capable of similar feats, being capable of adapting to the environment before your very eyes. Though this is most often seen as merely an embellishment for their tales, Jincari biologists speculated that  roughly 30% of Vard still possess the "rapid evolution" gene, allowing the Vard to settle and even thrive on foreign planets that would be otherwise inhospitable.

Hierarchy

The Vard by nature enjoyed violence, and had built up a sophisticated hierarchical rule based on this. The Vard did not see any purpose for laws, and thus none were ever strictly enforced. Most of their society would abide the will emperor/empress/warlord out of fear of being destroyed. The emperor is in charge during times of "peace" (the term is used loosely in this context, as Vardic culture was seldom peaceful), and the Warlord is in charge during times of war. Initially, both roles are fulfilled by the most senior and wealthy Vard. This rule is only broken when A'zzshali ga'ghash (Literally translated from Vardic to "the weak shall die") is invoked. This was an ancient and often very gruesome duel to the death between the current leader and one challenger. This rite was seen as glorious for both the winner and the loser, for both dying in battle and culling the weak was considered honourable. As for currency and ownership of property, currency was used, though it was seen as a cowardly means to acquire your desires, the more favourable option being to simply take the object of your desire by force. Many of the physically weaker Vard would become very rich and purchase their societal status through deception and subtlety. These Vard were not very well respected among their fellows, often referred to by the derogatory term, a'mhalsz'a, or "one that purchases his honour".

Selective Breeding
Vardic females would only mate with the strongest of males. It is believed that the Vard do not have any emotions relating to "love" or "affection", and, if any exist, they are only based around physical prowess. This form of selective breeding has further increased the Vardic race's physical competence over the generations. The strong thrived, and the weak would be eventually rooted out.