Zaxiri Exile & the Marixi Purge

After waking over 18,000 marixi in in Yulitat, 2023, Femitokon and the Shored take their 13-year-old sisters to the surface. Here the marixi live apart from the others as Femitokon knows the other castes are uncomfortable with their violent and combative natures. Shortly afterward, at the start of 2024, hizak subject Wramtol orders zaxiri out of the settlements around the Femaki’xirpaxul. Armed with evidence that the young zaxiri cause social distraction amongst hizaki, she is aided by others in forcing them to the manufacturing villages and mining camps of Gulidox Hills.

Sexually mature and somewhat promiscuous at age 13, the zaxiri clash socially with the subaki at Gulidox, most of whom have developed romantic feelings for the bizaki living there. Subaki leaders Veldag and Yiravi petition bizaki leader Pekada, to oust the zaxiri, prompting zaxir leader Jyrulix to demand more respect for her caste; she suggests that subaki leave Gulidox and reside with the hizaki around the research settlements. When Pekada considers sending the subaki to the hizaki, her bizak sisters protest; many start rounding up zaxiri and forcibly turn them out.

Faced with mounting hostility, zaxiri leaders turn to Fusofitakil.

The prime hizak sat with leaders Jyrulix, Crizatol and Lozkul, and shared a plan to send the subaki to the surface; she presented a fictional report from Femitokon, complaining about her marixi feeling lonely. Crizatol and Lozkul decried Fusofitakil’s plan (as she hoped they would) and declared it a zaxiri duty to care for the marixi. Jyrulix, however, did not believe Fusofitakil, and demanded to speak with Femitokon herself; but Fusofitakil ensured that this false narrative spread among the zaxiri by way of bizaki working on the surface. Many zaxiri ventured up on the ice without consulting Jyrulix; finding the pre-teen marixi on the surface exciting and unpredictable, they remained. Word spread, and soon nearly every zaxir migrated to the surface.

Femitokon is initially grateful; many lonely marixi (along with the hizak brave enough to join them) considered returning below, but the arrival of the robust zaxiri causes social issues. Intellectually territorial and emotionally thick-skinned, hizaki insult one another verbally without issue, but marixi, prone to physical fighting, perceive hizak rivalries over zaxiri very serious.

Despite zaxiri presence threatening social cohesion on the surface, it is the rivalry between two hizak that leads Femitokon to cull her numbers.

After the Femaki’xirpaxul detected pressure build-up in a Northern American super-volcano, Fusofitakil anticipated the return of helovx to the south. She ventured to the surface to formulate a plan with Femitokon on how to deal with the impending influx, but her sudden involvement in marixi command decisions angered the leading surface hizak, Ulatbant.

Contention between Fusofitakil’s tribe of surface devotees, and Ulatbant’s peers soon sowed discord amongst the marixi and zaxiri close to them. Things came to a head in Ixax when Ulabant confronted Fusofitakil over a trivial plan to send temporary battalions to the western coast. Unlike other hizaki, Fusofitakil grew angry and struck Ulatbant during their argument. Tulaxakil, the marix friend of Ulatbant, assaulted Fusofitakil, who managed to hold her own against the marix until the arrival of Balrusok. Balrusok attacked Tulaxakil, their intense fight broken up by Femitokon and Dagitat.

Shortly after the incident, an attempt on Fusofitakil’s life (the intentional collapsing of her sub-snow quarters) killed her advisor, a bizak named Tavridox. Femitokon demanded Ulatbant to come forward, and when she didn’t, Femitokon sought her out and found her in an ice cave. Tulaxakil denied Femitokon access. Soon, those loyal to Femitokon rushed Tulaxakil and dragged out a defiant Ulatbant. When Tulaxakil and her followers demanded Fusofitakil be brought before them, Femitokon lost control and killed Tulaxakil. This turn of events stunned witnesses, and sensing their apprehension, Ulatbant attempted to rouse sentiment among those loyal to Tulaxakil. Tired of the strife, Femitokon took hold of the hizak’s head and snapped her neck. Surface hizak soon demanded Fusofitakil hold Femitokon accountable, and when she refused, they turned against her.

In Jixak 2024, Fusofitakil recalled all hizaki from the surface for a meeting with those hizaki living below. Along the western shores of the Vosktulak, Femitokon arrived and decreed that the tribal warfare among hizaki must no longer involve the marix-caste. Though they all agreed, Fusofitakil sensed the issue unresolved; she purposely leaked Femitokon’s plans to cull her problematic sisters. Those hizaki disloyal to the twins acted on the information, thus affording Fusofitakul a list of the surface hizaki sowing strife among marixi.

On Yulitat 15, 2024, all 18,425 marixi subjects, armed with a variety of weapons, marched to a secluded area on the ice. Here, pack leaders agreed to engage in hand to hand combat under the watchful eyes of the 4,085 hizaki living on the surface. The violence lasted over twelve hours, with Femitokon and roughly 5,400 surviving. The troublesome marixi eliminated, Fusofitakil handed the written names of the rebellious hizaki over to Femitokon. The surviving marixi then set upon those hizaki until only a 1,000 remained. The hizaki elite below the ice never forgave Fusofitakil for turning on her own, but the surviving one-thousand above swore their allegiance.

Fusofitakil’s fears of the helovx returning became realized when a helicopter sailed overhead, capturing thirteen-year-old Femitokon, with Fusofitakil at her side; they are first femmar seen by millions of helovx.

VOSKADULAK