Metera
Physical - City - Galbar The Voice of the Painter has prophesied that a city will be given unto the people of the Composer, and that it will be taken away again, ruined by war, gods, and anarchy. This prophesy was fulfilled by Jvan in exchange for Chiral Phi's abstinence from her affairs. Self-constructed by the rain of warped space upon the ash cloud of Mount Bormahven, harvesting the volcanic energy of that cataclysm, it is a gigantic, mobile construct capable of feeding and sheltering the Meteran people until their prophesied end. Phi's signals control its many active processes.
Appearance: The city of Sky appears to float upon the coastal waters. In fact it is walking on three colossal tentacles. Made of the same deep grey basalts as the rest of the city, they are segmented and, though slow-moving, tremendously strong. Each is over a kilometre long, but typically coiled over itself, and by steady rotational movement the whole city can travel with barely a tremor felt by the people above. All three tentacles are hollow. Two are filled with water, one siphoning up and the other spilling down. The third is empty, and when the city walks on land, it transports men and goods and beasts.
Upon the tentacles sits a vast and shallow bowl. Like the lower twelfth of a sphere perfectly severed, it is filled with water and the boats and gondolas of Metera, as well as their euryhaline aquaculture. Waterfalls spill down into the bowl from the city, and water also flows up from the bowl into the myriad channels and aqueducts that turn its mills and transport its goods (and wastes). Channels are everywhere in Sky City, and most of the city's water is flowing to or from the bowl. The rest is still- reservoirs of caught rainwater.
It may not look it, but this bowl
is actually a sphere- it is the petrified lower tip of an atmospheric bubble maintaining a relatively constant gradient of temperature and pressure. The city's inhabitants could theoretically survive should the city be ejected into outer space, as there is a lower limit of air conditions that the sphere will permit. On Galbar, the bubble is barely noticeable and about as permeable as any other air.
The city itself is vast and grand. It is larger than any city of its age ever needs to be, and much of its interior is abandoned or even derelict, though Sky is quite resistant to erosion and as such will not be a ruin any time soon. Somewhat similar in design to naturally occurring clusters of basalt pillars, the Sky City is divided into many many rooms and halls and towers, temples and shrines and baths and channels. Despite its size it is surprisingly airy. Gaps between the towers permit light, and even parts of its interior are kept lit through other means.
The distortion did not end when Sky City was finished, and it remains a site of tremendous warp. Gravity pulls every way imaginable, such that one thoroughfare may be on the floor and another floating in a canal on the ceiling. Other puddles of gravity have formed permanent singularities, and, fed by streams of water, illuminate large rooms with halos of sunlight.
Non-gravitational anomalies are less common and substantially less dangerous than those in the Submaterium, but may still catch a foreigner unawares. Most are three-dimensional translations of shapes that can only be possible in two-dimensional space, such as Escher stairs. The city's shadow tunnels open mostly into Penrose triangles.
Life: Metera is a garden city. Many of its roofs and walls are suitable for agriculture and utilised as such. Trees grow gladly in niches all over the city, as do weeds and flowers. While the food output is not great, it is helpful for sustaining the population.
Even more lively are the waters of the bowl. Aquatic produce of every kind is grown here. Shoals of fish flourish in the shallow water, as do molluscs and crustaceans. Beds of seagrass abound, and edible seaweeds are a staple.
Yaks, horses and llamas are common livestock in the city, all used to carry goods, though grazing is obviously impossible and as such fodder must be imported constantly. Chickens and pigeons are somewhat easier to keep, although the mobile nature of the city makes pigeon post impossible, and stray cats tend to do well for themselves (as always). As Metera's influence grows, new animals will make their appearance.
A handful of djinni live in the city, and are given their own temples. Chief among them is Mysa, a firedjinn who is kept fed with coal at all times, who warms much of the inside of the city and knows many recipes. Others include Syokoy, the water guardian, who may be seen anywhere in the city's million water-channels and always where he is least expected (mostly to tease women), and Lumikki, the forgetful and melancholic bringer of snow. Several sons of Phlegethon live here also.
Other spirits, smaller ones, tend to pop up and attempt to instate themselves. These poltergeists, as they have come to be known, must be dealt with respectfully but prudently if the peace is to be preserved.
Three Bludgeons, the survivors of the quartet lost by Tauga at the battle of Xerxes, have been caught in Chiral Phi's song. They shine high above the city and protect it. Meterans venerate the ophan colony as a noble spirit.
Vec
Timemaster