Arshia Kishk (CivBE)

Al Falah

Arshia Kishk

Introduced in Rising Tide
Titles	First Waker "The Tireless"
Civilization	Al Falah
Preferred victory
Language	Arabic
Voice actor/actress	Nervana Hesham Ali Hafez

Arshia Kishk is the leader of Al Falah.

Civilopedia entry[]

History[]

Despite the broad socioeconomic equality found throughout the burgeoning Al Falah communities, in any closed system of limited resources, there will always be a demand for those things the government cannot provide. Living for generations aboard the lumbering colony ships, the Al Falah were left to trade and barter amongst themselves for those things that could be crafted or built in space. In time a thriving black market grew to control the flow of nearly everything outside of the mandated rations, leaving a powerful syndicate capable of challenging all but the highest authorities.

Arshia Kishk rose to both infamy and acclaim at the age of 23 for having wrested control of this powerful syndicate from the Director’s Council. Unlike her predecessors, Arshia used the syndicate’s resources to redistribute goods and services to the under recognized lower wards of her home ship. Her restraint and calculating demeanor left some uneasy, unsure of her true motivations, yet her popularity soared as word of her generosity spread. Although she had every opportunity to accumulate vast personal holdings, she instead used her power to ensure the ongoing stability of the Al Falah communities spread throughout the fleet. In this way, her authority grew directly from the will of the people, a rare feat in governance.

Early Life[]

Arshia Kishk was not born a part of that life, although she grew up surrounded by it, deep in the bowels of the Golden Shah -- a moderately sized transport vessel of the Al Falah fleet. With her mother having died shortly after childbirth, Arshia’s upbringing fell to her father alone. Nasum Kishk considered himself something of an amateur historian and orator, spending his days in a public park, passing on the stories of their ancestors to anyone with time to listen and change to spare. Although many of the Old Earth names were long since lost, Nasum never seemed to have trouble coming up with one on the spot. Anything he managed to earn was spent on holodiscs and the occasional old book.

A Distant Seed[]

With the Al Falah having sent ships off into space before the advent of advanced cryogenic stasis, the first to leave knew they would only lay the groundwork for a future generation of settlers who would eventually make planetfall. Arshia was among the fifth generation of colonists born during the voyage, long after the fleet left Earth. Whether it was fate or fortune, she had the honor of seeing her people’s voyage finally end, while leading efforts to begin establishment of their new home.

Loading Screen Quotes[]

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Civilopedia Quotes[]

On Diplomacy[]

“All things that live create and destroy. From the creation, wonders. From the destruction, relics. Everywhere we see treasures in abundance, waiting for a hand to pluck them.”

- Arshia Kishk, The Eye Flung Open

Trivia[]

In-Game Quotes[]

(Upon meeting for the first time) "Greetings from the people of Al Falah. I am Arshia Kishk of the Golden Shah."

To ARC[]

(Upon meeting for the first time) "Greetings, I'm Arshia Kishk of Al-Falah. My father told me stories about America. It's… interesting to meet you."

"Hello again, Chief Executive. Is it true your infrastructure failed because of using precious metals in construction?"

"Hello again, Chief Executive. I'm curious, why wasn't your country a home for all of the braves?"

"Hello again, Chief Executive. So, who was this 'Uncle Sam,' and why was he so needy?"

"Hello again, Chief Executive. Why were your doctors also musicians? And why did they teach you smoke trees?"

Official teaser[]

From Release Info

A Letter from Arshia Kishk, Leader of Al Falah

This undated message from Arshia Kishk to her daughter, Firyal, was preserved as part of a repository of pre-landing Al Falah letters. It represents one of only a handful of private communications that can be definitively traced to Kishk. Archivists date the letter to approximately 3-8 standard years prior to Al Falah’s planetfall.

Daughter, let me tell you a story that my father told me, now that you are old enough to understand both the story and its meaning.

Once, long ago, on Earth, when we walked under the stars instead of through them, there lived a princess in a hotel. Hotels were a grand habitation module, surrounded by a fabricated river called a moat, and topped by fortification from which soldiers would assail invaders with snaphaunces and carbines. This princess lacked for nothing. She owned three dresses made of firstuse nylon in scarlet, aubergine, and cyan, representing the colors of the sun, the soil, and the sky. She owned a llama, which was imprinted upon her and protected her with its acidic spit and the coiled monofilaments of its pelt. She feasted twice a day on the flesh of chickens.

One day a suitor approached her hotel, and by the forbearance of the guards and the llama was allowed to approach the princess. “Dear princess,” said the suitor, “I come from another land, where I am the third son of a king in a great hotel. Permit me to marry you, and I will protect you from the dangers of that land.” And he described a great many dangers that might assail the princess’ hotel. He described a giant death robot with one great railgun and an optical port to the fore, which was immune to the bullets of the snaphaunce. He described a phage which preyed upon llamas, and caused their wondrous monofilament pelts to molt, and their spines to bend into humps. He described the vulpix, which was a small predator whose hide was made of fire, and which hungered endlessly for chicken. The princess was greatly afraid of these threats, and agreed to marry the suitor at once.

But within a year of her marriage, the suitor’s brothers from that distant hotel sent demands that the suitor yield gifts to them. “Send us three dresses for our wives and queen mother,” they said, “or we will send the llama-phage.” The suitor sent the princesses’ dresses to them, and she made do with a worksuit made of ripstop. Then they demanded the chickens. “Send us chicken-meat,” they said, “for we in our hotel are reduced to eating algaesofts and it is unfair that you eat fresh protein twice a day.” And so the chickens were all sent there, for the princess was moved by obligation. Then they demanded the llama, saying: “The vulpix of our land have grown bold with the influx of chicken, and we fear that they will ambush us and acquire a taste for our flesh.” So the llama was sent away, singing a mournful song, as llamas did when they were sad unto death.

Then the suitor left one day, for he no longer found the princess attractive, clad as she was in a plain worksuit, and the food now simple stock, and the llama no longer there to delight the eyes as it gamboled. The princess traveled after him, and when she came to the border of her hotelhold, she saw the giant death robot approaching. It scanned her with its targeting optics, and she was alone, utterly alone, without even the llama or her carabinieri to defend her. She heard the railgun charging, and knew her failure was complete.

My daughter: Do not listen to those who will fill your ears with fear. Had the princess rejected the suitor, she would have kept the dresses, the llama, and the chicken. Had she not tried to clutch the falling knife, she would not have run across the giant death robot. Through fear she rushed headlong into an alliance which cost her all, and in the end she did not even have her dignity.

When we walk under the stars instead of through them again, there will be others who are not of our people. They will see us as means to their end. They will say: “Together we are stronger, together we can help each other.” This is false. The strong do not pool their strength, but use it to hold what they have. We are strong, we who traveled with our eyes open. See that you are not beguiled by their words. What we have we have kept. What we will take will be ours, too.