Zahara

Zahara is a holographic program suite within the Hirogen complex near what is left of Ha'Dara. It was the setting for S02Ep10 The Saviors of Zahara on Star Trek Eternity. A meager program at the start, developed from Voyager's library of medieval fantasy holo-novels, Zahara was later reworked into the scope of encompassing the entire holographic facility, as it was the only viable program left after the Machine Wars destroyed Ha'Dara.

History
In 2374 Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager bestowed upon the Hirogen a Optronic Data Core, which enabled the Hirogen's the ability to creating realities using holodeck technology. It was considered a new stage and a new standpoint in the otherwise nomadic hunters. Hirogens began to create complexes devoted to creating holographically generated worlds, works that would allow them the ability to hunt learned prey while maintaining a more localized relation to one another. After, Iden's Rebellion, in 2377 however, the Hirogen people returned to their nomadic way of life, subsequently scattering themselves to the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant, once again, in search for the hunt.

The Machine Wars broke out sometime later, the Borg King and his invasion of the quadrant taking root heavy handedly. Many of the Alpha Hunters of the Hirogen people were assimilated into the Collective while others were killed. The small few that turned to survival did so in Ha'Dara, a colony of the Hirogen that, at the height of it's stability, was considered the home world.

What was left in the abandonment of holographic technology still remained scattered, unlocalized in Ha'Dara. Left with nothing more than a handful of technological scraps, the Hirogen created a world using what bits of data was present. The amalgamation became the starting stages of Zahara, a medieval world. The first Kingdom, Undine, was created and held the starting block of programing that would blanket the entirety of the eventual Nine Kingdoms of Asgard.

As this reality became so much more welcoming than that of what was left in reality, the Hirogen race became suited into the culture subjectively prevalent in Zahara. Months, if not years time were applied in sessions, each Hirogen slowly drifting from reality psychologically. The program was added onto more and more as new Hirogen began to localize at Ha'Dara at the promise of the race finding a new foothold outside of the Borg's attention. Those Alphas that had survived the Machine Wars found themselves as Kings of the Nine Kingdoms with both holographic subjects and Hirogen royals.

A New Zahara
In 2381 Hirogen occupancy in the program of Zahara had reached its zenith. More than 30 Hirogen Hunters had found the reality in comfort staying within its hold for the years to come. However, the program had reached its limitation with holographic projection. Power consumption and the pitfalls of constant operation had began to devolve Yroth, an eastern desert kingdom, to the point of the program's code being under threat of corruption. Zahara was closed momentarily, the Hirogen being forced to leave the program.

New methods of technology were developed, using the Borg's ability to neurally link to a consciousness supplied the building blocks for the new Zahara. In this fashion, holographic projection wasn't needed, and the power consumption that it yields. Ha'Dara was reworked, Zahara recoded, and the Hirogen race augmented to fit into this new consciousness. Through this new interface, a new development in the code became apparent as some Hirogen catered the ability to manipulate the fabric of Zahara's reality, breathing fire from their fingertips, summoning creatures effortlessly out of nothing but will alone. Magic, as it was deemed, became a practice in Zahara society, the act studied in the Kingdom of it's birth, Undine which eventually held the College of the Arcane.

Through magic, through its development and use, the world of Zahara could be reworked without the need of leaving the program. To this, there wasn't a need to exist in any other reality. As time was spent in the program, the side-effects of its exposure became all too real. The neural linkage into the Zahara program began to rework the minds of the Hirogen linked. Eventually the reality they had used to escape became a prison, they no longer understood that Zahara was a fabricated reality. They were immersed too deep.

In the years to come, a plague began to appear, a blight in the programing code, though, with so much invested in the reality, the Hirogen inside the program did not know the reason beyond that of interpretation from Zahara's standpoint. What was preserved by them was a invasion, a development Kingdom in the North that had now assumed to conquer the rest of Asgard and the world.

In its current state only four kingdoms still stand in survival of the approaching blight.

Geography
Zahara is a optimized Pangea land, set in the continent of Asgard which has a number of rivers and large oceanic bodies with a number of dotted islands around the coast. Mountainious regions blanket the frozen north of Asgard, emptying into the plains and grasslands of the middle and southern empties. The Red Star river is the larger of these streams and begins the landmasses of the southern islands that dot off the base of the continent. A desert of the eastern landmass stretches on over to large volcanic crags, the scars of the land left after the first shutdown of Zahara. The western edges of Asgard empty to Undine and Fairfax and, generally, is considered the proper of the continent. Villages, Castles, and farmland fields exist in the expanse overshadowed by the towering white marble of the College of Arcane which exists ever so precedence in the sky above.

Cave systems begin in the northern frost mountains. A lot of the earlier settlers used these existing cave systems to fabricate their homes, carving them out of the rock and using the earth itself as a means to supply heat during the most trying of blizzards. It is said that these cave systems are integrated enough in Asgard that its possible to use them to travel through the Northern region.

Undine
The oldest of the nine, it is the birthplace of Magic and is still the source of those wanting to learn the Arcane arts. Its College of Arcane was built with Magic and white marble. It floats above the Kingdoms Noble Quarter, high above the rest of the Western Providences and can be seen even in the neighboring kingdom of Fairfax. Undine is under rule of Prathandor, High Priest and Grand Master of the College of Arcane.

Fairfax
Composed mainly of farmland and villages, the Kingdom of Fairfax is ruled by the might of its army and its King Calmest who is said to be one of the first Kings to rule the lands of Asgard. Fairfax isn't a kingdom of magic, they hold it in detest while associating might in the sword and shield. This creates a slight animosity towards it's neighboring Kingdom Undine. Fairfax Castle and the region of Bromsteid are the biggest pockets of civilization while dotted villages and farmland set towards the middle of the continent.

Winterspell
At the dawn of Zahara, two Kingdoms held prevalence. Undine, the first, and Winterspell, the region of the mountainous north where the winds howl and the weather is unforgiving. Its a harsh land and its residents live deep underground in a collection of cities and outcropping far from the eyes of the sun and snow. These cities are carved from the stone by hand and by magic called "Tuning," which allows a practicer to formulate the rock however he or she sees fit. It was this art of Tuning that allowed the greater of the underground cities, Grenthorn, to be built as carve the white marble stone of the College of Arcane. Salt-Heart rules the underground, his keep in Grenthorn one of the largest and most elaborate tuned.

Merkath
Existing in the plains of central Asgard, the Kingdom of Merkath is flanked by forests to the west, desert to the east and mountains to the north. A bevy of markets and shops allocate themselves in the Central City, which stands as a circle within the center form of the Tantarium Plains. Considering it's closeness to the Red Star River and emptying tributaries, Merkath is the trade center of Asgard. The localization of Merkath is actually programed as a "spawning point," for the program of Zahara; thus, it was never made into rule by one King and stands independent among the others.