Authadia, Kenoma – Cebrail 24, 1790 – The Socialist State of Sabaoth [1], a power culturally rooted in a Cassette Futurist ideology and headquartered in Authadia, is grappling with unprecedented levels of military overextension. Its ambitious foreign policy, characterized by relentless expansion and ideological imposition, has entangled the state in a complex web of invasions, hot wars, cold conflicts, and even a burgeoning civil war within its own borders. This multi-front engagement increasingly strains Sabaoth’s vast resources and challenges the sustainability of its “developed socialist” model.
Members of the Nakhielim of the Tree of Eyes, the Socialist State’s notorious secret police, conducting surveillance and operations from a dimly lit command center (Credit: Kenomitian)
The Socialist State of Sabaoth maintains control through a pervasive apparatus of surveillance and coercion. At the core of this system is the Nakhielim of the Tree of Eyes, a secret police force notorious for its cruel deployment of mundane and magical surveillance techniques, chemical brainwashing, forced augmentations, and subliminal epimorphism. This iron grip extends to its population through stringent Pardes laws, which mandate forced recruitment for military service, scientific projects, state-sponsored jobs, law enforcement, or black operations, often for minimal compensation. Higher-ranked Partzufim are subjected to even more extreme measures, brainwashed, biologically and cybernetically enhanced, and fitted with “kill-switches” in their brains, serving as the state’s ultimate “secret weapons.” Even female Sod are required to complete three years of military service, while female Partzufim must adhere to extreme standards of patriotism, feminism, and education.
This tightly controlled and ideologically driven state has embarked on widespread military operations, driven by a perceived need to expand its sphere of influence and assert its “developed socialist” model as a global hegemony. This mirrors historical parallels of a great power seeking buffer zones and economic expansion. However, the sheer scale of Sabaoth’s current engagements suggests a profound miscalculation, leading to significant internal and external pressures that threaten the very foundations of the Cassette Futurist empire.
Beyond the Written Words, the Story Unfolds:
Sabaoth’s strategic overreach is evident in its simultaneous military commitments across the supercontinent of Sige. Operations are currently underway against the Coalition of Thulean Jarls [2], the Holiest Principality of Sophia [3], the Manifest Teratopia of Ariouth, and the Liberated Peoples of Cyranides. Concurrently, Sabaoth is embroiled in a hot war with the ever-expansionist Confederation of Abbā də Rabbūṯā, locked in a tense cold war with the traditionalist Ouroboran Caliphate, and facing an internal civil conflict within its own southwestern region of Hyrcania.
In the western reaches of Sige, Sabaoth’s campaigns against Thule (Cymbria), Sophia (Hercynia), Ariouth (Cymbria), and Cyranides (Hodu) have encountered unexpectedly fierce resistance. The Coalition of Thulean Jarls, with their Teslapunk aesthetic and deeply ingrained martial culture centered on the worship of Ithaqua, the Implacable One, have turned their rugged territories into formidable defensive strongholds. Sabaoth’s highly centralized forces struggle against Thulean guerrilla tactics and advanced Teslapunk weaponry.
Thulean warriors, led by a jarl, defending their mountainous homeland against Sabaoth’s forces with Teslapunk weaponry and a martial fury inspired by the deity Ithaqua (Credit: Kenomitian)
Similarly, the decadent but resilient Holiest Principality of Sophia, characterized by its Gothic Punk governorates and a cult of personality around its blood-drinking nobility, has proven resistant to Sabaoth’s conventional tactics. The aristocratic command structures, while seemingly archaic, facilitate swift, localized responses that fragment Sabaoth’s grand strategy. In Ariouth, the Haemian theocracy dedicated to Quachil Uttaus, the God of Death, has mobilized its populace with a ruthlessness that matches Sabaoth’s own, leading to brutal, high-casualty engagements. The most vexing challenge, perhaps, comes from the Liberated Peoples of Cyranides. Their anarchist league, championing “elioud rights to automata, artificial lifeforms, embodied AIs and virtual beings,” presents a decentralized, fluid opponent. Sabaoth’s rigid command and control structures are ill-suited to counter Cyranides‘ network-based warfare, which leverages artificial intelligence and distributed resistance to devastating effect.
A Cyranides combatant faces down a Sabaoth patrol in a ruined city, utilizing network-based warfare and her “elioud” automata to counter the invading forces (Credit: Kenomitian)
To the east, the hot war with the Confederation of Abbā də Rabbūṯā continues to bleed Sabaoth of vital resources. The Steelpunk khanates and nomadic tribes, driven by their doctrine of being “always at war against foreign nations,” present a constantly shifting, unpredictable threat. Their mobile city-states and highly adaptable forces frustrate Sabaoth’s attempts at decisive engagements, turning the frontier into a grinding war of attrition. This conflict diverts significant military assets that could otherwise be used to pacify the invaded territories or quell the internal civil war.
Adding to Sabaoth’s external pressures, the cold war with the Ouroboran Caliphate remains a constant, simmering threat. The Diesel Punk and traditionalist caliphate, unified by a singular Altifanist faith, represents a powerful ideological rival. While not in direct military conflict, the Ouroboran Caliphate actively engages in proxy conflicts, economic subversion, and propaganda campaigns against Sabaoth, forcing the Socialist State to commit considerable intelligence and counter-intelligence resources to its southern flank. This protracted cold war ties down crucial Nakhielim operatives and further stretches Sabaoth’s already thin logistical lines.
Perhaps the most alarming development for Authadia is the persistent civil war in Sabaoth’s southwestern region. While details remain scarce due to stringent state censorship and Nakhielim blockades, reports indicate that this internal conflict, fueled by long-simmering discontent over forced recruitment, harsh Pardes laws, and the oppressive presence of the Nakhielim, is escalating. The very citizens Sabaoth has forcibly recruited into service are now turning their clandestine skills against the state. The fact that the regime cannot swiftly suppress this uprising, despite its formidable internal security apparatus, suggests a deeper systemic weakness caused by its external commitments. The diversion of troops and resources to this internal front further exacerbates the overextension crisis, illustrating the profound cost of the “developed socialist” model.
Guerrilla fighters from the civil war in Hyrcania, some with animalistic features, engage with Sabaoth troops in a desperate urban conflict (Credit: Kenomitian)
Sabaoth’s sprawling campaigns have fundamentally reshaped the geopolitical map of Sige. The conflict redefines territorial control and accessibility across diverse regions, making the physical landscape itself a central element of the ongoing struggle. Transportation networks, already stressed by military logistics, are facing unprecedented strain. Critical resource zones are being contested, and the environmental impact of widespread warfare is becoming increasingly evident, from ravaged farmlands to polluted industrial zones. Even Sabaoth’s extra-planetary colonies in Hayyi Rabbi, Uthras, and Horos may feel the ripple effects, as resources and personnel are diverted to the terrestrial conflicts, potentially impacting their development and security.
Official statements from Authadia emphasize unwavering resolve. A recent broadcast by the Central Committee’s spokesperson proclaimed: “The minor disturbances on our frontiers and within our glorious state are but the last gasps of reactionary elements. The will of the developed socialist people is resolute. Our sacrifices today ensure the prosperity of tomorrow for all Kenoma.” These pronouncements, however, are often met with cynicism in the few channels of independent information that exist.
A somber, Cassette Futurist view of Authadia, the capital of the Socialist State of Sabaoth, under the ever-present red sun of the Kenoma system, reflecting the pervasive military mobilization and ideological grip of the regime (Credit: Kenomitian)
From the besieged nations, however, the rhetoric is defiant. A clandestine message, purported to be from a Thulean Jarl, stated: “Let Sabaoth send its Cassette Futurist legions. Our mountains are old, our resolve older. Ithaqua protects those who stand firm against the oppressor.” From Cyranides, an encrypted manifesto, widely disseminated through untraceable networks, declared: “The automatons of liberation will never bow to the organic tyrants. Our freedom is etched in code, beyond their grasp.” These voices, though disparate, represent a unified rejection of Sabaoth’s hegemonic ambitions and highlight the ideological chasm between the Socialist State and its diverse opponents.
The immediate fallout of Sabaoth’s overextension is a visible drain on its military capabilities and internal stability. The protracted nature of the conflicts means higher casualties, increasing logistical nightmares, and a growing depletion of materiel. Reports from defectors and intercepted communications suggest a growing weariness within Sabaoth’s forcibly recruited ranks. The vaunted Nakhielim, while still potent, are stretched thin, struggling to maintain control over a disgruntled populace at home while simultaneously infiltrating and subverting resistance movements abroad.
Geopolitically, Sabaoth’s actions have inadvertently fostered a nascent, if unofficial, coalition of resistance among the invaded nations, united by their shared opposition to Authadia’s “social imperialism.” Even rivals like Abbā də Rabbūṯā and the Ouroboran Caliphate, despite their own conflicting agendas, find themselves indirectly benefiting from Sabaoth’s overextension. The empire, much like an overinflated balloon, appears to be approaching its breaking point, its expansive ambitions threatening to burst from within and without, leaving a trail of geopolitical instability across Sige and beyond.
A landscape in Sige, marked by the scars of trench warfare and military transport, with fires from recent conflicts burning under a perpetually red sky (Credit: Kenomitian)
Notes extracted from the Kenomitian Compendium
[1] The Socialist State of Sabaoth is a cassette‑futurist, Soviet‑sci‑fi‑inspired communist power (capital: Authadia/Moscow) speaking Ruya (Russian, Cyrillic), with colonies on Hayyi Rabbi, Uthras, and Horos plus extra‑dimensional outposts. Its dreaded Nakhielim “Tree of Eyes” secret police wield mundane/magical surveillance, chemical brainwashing, forced augmentations, and subliminal epimorphism, while even granting limited elioud rights to virtual beings. Under Pardes, Peshat/ Remez/ Derash are citizens (higher rank, higher taxes), Sod are assigned “right jobs” by Kochos hanefesh, and Partzufim are brainwashed, kill‑switched, bio‑cyber enhanced “secret weapons” (incl. Drakes/ Archangels), with Cambions executed. Cryptids/ monsters are mage property; homunculi/ golems/ familiars belong to the state; epimorphism is reserved to officials; mundane AIs have full personhood with temporary guardians while uplifted/ parasapient tlavati are state property; only state necromancers may create/bind ghosts, and only officials may use hypnosis/ eliomancy/ possession/ panopticon/ mindscaping/ epimorphism on elioud. Emmakha are treated as Derash; slavery is abolished except for concentration camps; extraterritoriality is denied (though Hadit, Hoor‑paar‑kraat, Hurtaly, Mendes, YEQON operate); Sabaoth invades Thule/ Sophia/ Ariouth/ Cyranides, fights Abbā də Rabbūṯā, cold‑wars Ouroboros, and faces a southwestern civil war; EM Rank 5; flag: scarlet with golden double‑headed eagle with hammer‑and‑sickle; anthem “Song of the Workers.”
A glimpse into the Socialist State of Sabaoth (Credit: Kenomitian). See more
[2] Coalition of Thulean Jarls: a neofeudal and Teslapunk alliance of sci-fi Viking territories, ruled by Noble Houses of warlords, raiders and slavers: the Jarldoms, who attain their positions through lineage, bidding wars and extremely ritualized and regimented duels; and exert tremendous sociopolitical control over magically powerful commoners.
A glimpse into the Coalition of Thulean Jarl (Credit: Kenomitian)
[3] Holiest Principality of Sophia: a decadent and monarchist alliance between five Gothic Punk governorates: the Empire of Lidérc, the Dynastic Republic of Lubia, United Kulshedra, the Kingdom of Stihi and the Free State of Lugat, the Banate of Zduhać (Sophia’s extra-planetary colonies) and the Dragùa Confederacy (Sophia’s extra-dimensional colonies). Its society functions as a cult of personality around the nobility, and hematophagy is as common as wine-drinking there.
A glimpse into the Holiest Principality of Sophia (Credit: Kenomitian)
