From the corpse of a God, the Free City of Kasarkand carves the steps to heaven.

Kezaranth, Behemoth of Dust, Old God of the Zulain and its peoples, was just one of many casualties of the End of the Cycle. Yet even a Dead God possesses immense power - power that the Kasarantines, the culture that developed in the Behemoth's bones, were only too eager to use.

Today, the Free City is the capital of the Four-Fold Alliance, and to many, the center of the world. While Kadudad of Bilu and Volograt of Sharz are where civilization and the engines of industry were rediscovered, Kasarkand is the Mother-City of the Void Age.

Several times a day, the remains of the Corpse-God shake from the thrust of rocket engines that race up the Behemoth's ribs to begin their journey into orbit. Hundreds of lotus-shaped stations surrounding the city light up, warming their propellant with heatrays. There are many voidports across Turema and Isico these days, but none as busy as Kasarkand. The Dead God's still-beating heart serves as power for the world's greatest ray-launch array, as well as for the immense cluster of humanity that surrounds it.

Many of the Alliance's neighbors covet and detest the Corpse City in equal measure. Yet all, like Bilu's Northern Expedition, have failed to seize or raze it - the sands of the Zulain providing a natural barrier that provides shelter for resistance, and punishes invaders.

Illustration for New Cycle, my sci-fantasy mecha worldbuilding project.