Knowledge. Death. Perfection.
Life is Death.
Death is Immortality.
Happiness is Us.
The Empire is a tool.
The League is also a tool.
The Astral is cognizable.
The official name for their race is now the Arisen, but they call themselves the People of Zem (or simply "Zem"). Others, often less kindly, have referred to them as "the Comebackers," "Zemlings," "Tinheads" or "Clankers." However, in recent years, mockery has quieted — the People of Zem have carved out their place in the Sarnout, and they are a force to be reckoned with.
They are the most minor race of the Empire.
Long ago, thousands of years in the past, the Zem were ordinary mortals — tall, slender, with dusky skin and amber eyes. But now, their bodies are mostly mechanical, their faces hidden behind ceramic masks. The reasons behind this transformation lie in their tragic history, for the Zem died millennia ago — only to rise again.
The Arisen are citizens of the Empire. In the three centuries since their resurrection,
they have climbed from slavery in Hadagan mines to becoming respected and full-fledged citizens, the ones who gifted the Empire with astral ships and mana-tech. They are the mind of the Empire.
The Hadaganians and orcs have accepted their new brethren. They may still joke about them — their cold demeanor, their focus, their aloofness — but the truth remains: these strange beings, with mummified flesh half-replaced by prosthetics, are one of their own. An orc will tear an enemy apart for the Arisen friend, and a Hadaganian will slip poison into a foe’s drink on their behalf.
To the League, the Arisen are just as dangerous as any other Imperial citizen — perhaps even more so. The Empire’s military dominance during the First Astral War was largely thanks to the Arisen. Some in the League even regret their past mistake: when the gaunt, rust-rattling corpses first crawled from their tombs, the League, without understanding what they were, attempted a genocide of this 'new kind of undead'. Perhaps, had the Zem sided with the League, the Empire would never have survived.
Whatever the past may have been, the Arisen Zem are now an inseparable part of Sarnout — as much as any other nation. And the future of this world depends on these grim, distant, and unwaveringly self-assured beings just as much as it does on any other race.
