Kazik'tar (Kah-zik-tar)
Kazit’kar, also known as the Jungle Moon or the Contemplative Moon, is the fifth celestial body in orbit around the gas giant Beltizan in the Kazik’tar system. Its perpendicular orbit, compared to the gas giant’s other moons, means Kazik’tar is bathed in the life-giving yellow-white light of the system’s primary star. This, and more, makes Kazik’tar one of the more unusual inhabited worlds in the Voidrealms.
This is home to both the colossal Alonix and insectoid Thri'zel. It’s a humid garden world of deep valleys, natural stone pillars, and a lush sub-tropical jungle that covers most of the world. As Kazik’tar is a moon, the large ringed orb of Belzitan is a constant sight in the sky, day or night; a large blue-purple orb beyond the clouds.
Belzitan’s other fourteen moons are also visible from Kazik’tar, but only in certain seasons of the year. To the natives, these moons are called the ‘Immortal Cousins’. For the locals, each one is a home for an individual member of the Thri’zelian pantheon.
Tilzmiar, the closest neighbor to Kazik’tar, holds a special significance for the Thri’zel. According to Thri’zel beliefs, that is the home of their great philosopher and head of their pantheon, Zhi-gi. This companion moon orbits the closest to Kazik’tar, looming large in the sky during the summer months. It comes close enough that it causes seasonal flooding along the Jungle Moon’s coastlines and rivers.
Geography
Kazik’tar is a garden world, with two continents surrounded by ocean. Both continents share similar, but not identical, terrain. Since both continents lie along the equatorial zones, they are thick with sub-tropical jungles and wide, green forests. The thick atmosphere of the world and the powerful light from the system’s primary star result in a warm climate, year-round.
The eastern continent is called Eazagon. This landmass, while comparable in size to its western neighbor, is a few miles larger and more mountainous. It’s also the more populated of the two. Here, branches of the nomadic Three-Hook tribes of the colossal Alonix wander the continent. On their backs, nestled in their thick, fibrous fur, are communities of the near human-sized Thri’zel.
Past the western shore, across the Ozan-ai Sea, lies the continent of Shantou. Like Eazagon, this continent is also thick with broad jungles, cobalt blue rivers, and steep mountains split with long valleys. Those valleys are home to the natural, pillar-like. stone columns that rise like mammoth stone trees to form a ‘petrified forest’ of white-stone mesas peppered with jungle.
On Shontou, like on Eazagon, long rivers snake through the region. They cut through the jungles connecting mountains to lakes and other shorelines. Both continents, even though they are a primarily sub-tropical environment, contain a small desert and some savannah regions. They aren’t easily seen or found, as the jungle canopy on Kazik’tar is more plentiful. The arid regions are small sand or grassy dots among the carpet of green.
This growth pattern is because of the bright sunlight from the system’s star. As a result, the jungle, like all Kazik’tar life, has developed ways to store that light as energy. Some use it as food, others as fuel, using it only when needed. Plants, such as trees, flowers, and ferns, are giants with deep root systems that extend over 150 feet or more beneath the soil. Meanwhile, those same trees can reach 350 feet or more in height. Simple ferns or flowers reach 20 feet tall or more. Together, they act as a natural sunshade against the excessive light, helping keep temperatures livable.
Shontou is also home to tribes of Alonix and Thri’zel. This continent is home to nomadic Alonix Two-hook tribes who play host to devoted Thri’zel communities that live on them.
Alternative Name(s)
the Contemplative Moon, Jungle Moon
Type
Planetoid / Moon
Location under
Notable Locations
Residents
The most notable inhabitants of Kazik’tar are the Alonix: gentle, titanic, slow-moving beings that are a mix of Earth’s sloth with mounds of flowering vines. They grow to massive sizes, with the largest reaching 1500 feet, or 457.2 meters in height. Nomadic, the several tribes wander the world of Kazik’tar. Alonix are divided into two major groups: the Three-hook people and the Two-hook people, which is based on the number of fore claws common to each group.
These Alonix, who live up to 1300 years, are quite intelligent but rarely communicate with anyone outside their own people. Likewise, they take little interest in the people and worlds of the Voidrealms at large.
Along with the Alonix, is the insectoid Thri’zel. These humanoid, beetle-shaped folk live in communities built in the fur of the Alonix. They are near-human sized, but are more open and talkative than their Alonix hosts. Also, like any living on Kazik’tar, they prefer to move slowly and use their keen powers of observation to plan well before taking action. But when the Thri’zel do act, they react with lightning speed. Sometimes as if they could almost sense the next few seconds of the future ahead of them.
Society
The contemplative nature of the Thri’zel and the slow, thoughtful Alonix are what gave rise to the world’s societies. There are dozens of Thri’zel cultures across the moon, each tied to the Alonix they ride and live on.
In addition, those cultures are bound by traditions stemming from the Alonix tribes on each continent: Three-hooks and Two-hooks. These form two distinct schools of thought, traditions, even religious focus for the Thri’zel, which result in energetic, for the Thri’zel, debates across the year.
It’s the more numerous, and talkative, Thri’zel cultures that play an active role in the societies of Kazik’tar. The Alonix rarely express an opinion. If they do, its to the Thri’zel monks in the Archive of Light, or in one of the many Garden Shrines high atop elder Alonix.
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