Water Towers

At the center of nearly every large city on Ulaan is a tower the size of a modern-day skyscraper. This Tower is used to generate all of the water that the city needs, as well as generate enough extra to sell or add to their reservoirs. The towers are ancient structures, most likely from civilizations from before The War That Burned. No one is exactly sure of their original purpose, or even exactly how they function, but their maintenance is vital to life in the city. Some view the towers as places of religious worship, and many religions include the towers in their dogma in some fashion. Most towers have an order of Hydromages maintaining it and performing religous ceremonies.

As the sands of the Mortis Ocean shift, sometimes new towers are unearthed and there is a mad dash by fortune seekers to plunder its ancient treasure.

The towers vary in shape and size across Ulaan, but they usually follow the same basic form. They are made of an impenetrable magic stone with no sign of bricks or stonework. To many who enter it seems like the tower was carved out of an impossibly huge stone with chisels rather than built by hand with bricks. The gigantic tower is hollow in the center, making it seem like a gigantic pipe with no top. The walls of the tower are a maze of tunnels and hallways dotted with mechanisms and magical items designed to draw water from the stone of the Tower. Pulling water from the stone is back-breaking labor in the same vein as construction or factory work. Workers are paid very little for the water they produce, with a majority of the water profits going to the Elves that claim to own the tower.

Water is extracted through many means, but many are physically taxing. One way is to use magical spells to pull water out of the stone, but excessive magic use can become tiring. If someone isn't magically inclined, they can use a machine called a Water Dowser that pulls water out through a corkscrewlike drill and a few basic enchantments. Even though there is nearly infinite water in the tower, when it is first extracted it isn't pottable and must first be cleaned and purified. This can be done through magic or the use of rudimentary chemicals and filters.

Much of the water is transported out of the tower through massive aqueducts cutting their way through the city like a spiderweb. Irrigation is incredibly important, and a broken pipe can mean life and death in some cases.

At the very top of the tower is often built an elaborate hotel of sorts, and serves as the main port for the airships visiting the city. The hotel also serves as the statehouse for many city-states. The ornate port hotels are built on top of the towers filled with overworked, underpaid laborers within the walls of the tower.