Jordmässig
"The city seemed to change every hour I spent in there, and I'm not just talking about the crowds of people. The massive structure encasing the city, ere, I guess that technically is the city, is a massive hunk of metal which can't make up it's mind on where its plots of land should be. The city's obnoxious gears and pistons blocked out the sounds of rain that's for sure, however they decided to wake me up in the middle of the night to move some farming fields upwards! Even though the food and spas are some of the best in the land, I'd not get too comfortable if I were you; set up camp outside"
Demographics
As is with the rest of Vomethnda, the primary races making up this city are dwarves, duergar, goliath, and leonin, however creatures of all kinds are welcomed into the city.
Government
Much like the country's standing capital of Utdanning , the city of Jordmässig is led by a Jarl who enforces the important decisions for the city such as organizing a military fighting force, directing the Skaperen Workshop on what they should be researching, as well as optimizing the city's layout for efficiency of its waste reuse and disposal. The current Jarl, Jarl Skipavèl, hasn't been seen outside of their citadel for the last 60 years of their reign, and even some of the citadel's guards have never seen their leader's face in all this time. This Jarl declares its orders to their guard, whom enforce them whether they be military orders or public work's projects. The orders of this Jarl are rarely questioned due to their leaders astounding genius and forethought, and despite their Jarl's reported history of being a hyper-intelligent Warforged whom lived their entire life in the city, the citizens quite enjoy spinning rumors of their leader's identity being an intellectual creature from the Far Realms like a Mine Flayer or Sphinx.
Otherwise, the rest of the city's decisions are made on a yearly basis by the city's citizens, or Karls as they're called, in their yearly meeting called a "Thing".
There are particular laws which force the recycling of 75% of the city's waste in some sort of way, causing for recycling contraptions not seen anywhere else on the mainland. The city's laws also specify that the town's features must be rotationally symmetrical in order for the rotating pyramid design to work as a fluid machine, which makes funding public projects that much more difficult
Defences
The city's fifth internal floor is home to the city's private military, whom have direct access to the openings for the city's shipping ports on the outside floor below. These armed troops can not only paraglide onto enemy forces in a matter of minutes, but are also able to catch their enemies off-guard using such a tactic. The same can be said for the conclave of militaristic Varbor Makkina, which have been outfitted with parachutes in order to surprise their enemies with a two-pronged attack.
In addition to the raw forces of power within the city, its train entrances are some of its only entrances on the bottom floor (save for a few underground emergency exits), and are closable hundred-ton doors of wrought iron, making this a nice choke-point for the city if under-attack. The city's sources of energy are all protected by large barriers of glass, allowing for the city to not be crippled even by foes already on the inside.
Industry & Trade
The city sees roving bands of traders come and go through the city in troves thanks to the railway system, allowing for new and rare goods to always be available in the city's marketplace. A sizable 30% of this marketplace is made of the city's dwellers selling their surplus, including bulk foods, livestock, fabrics, weapons, armor, and more. In addition to the city's produced weapons, there are a plethora of salesmen whom excel in selling enchanted armor and weapons from trusted enchanters across the land.
Thanks to the city's hangar, the city also provides its neighboring Vomethndan cities with the goods (and even some of the waste) it produces. The city's luxury livestock, Fabrikkdyr, are commonly bought by private farmers due to their friendliness with humans, as well as their extremely tasty byproducts, even if they are commonly picked-off by predators (for these same reasons). The city's Varbor Makkina are sold to plenty of places around Vomethnda to be either used for their original purpose as farming equipment, or to be used as weapons of war to the other Vomethndan cities (and even on occasion to Promaticous).
Unfinished weapons and armor pieces, as well as metal slag are also sold to Vomethndan blacksmiths all around the country at a much discounted price, in compliance with the city's waste-recycling laws. Other recycled materials such as manure, tainted Fantasma Crystals, and even smithing ashes are sold to Vomethndans across the country as ingredients for weapons of self-defense.
Infrastructure
The city's grand design stands as a showcase of the inginuity of the Vomethndan people, as the city itself is a giant pyramidal machine of pistons and gears the size of buildings which move the city's properties depending on current conditions. In the city's center turns a giant gear shaft whom allows for rotation of the city's farming plots throughout the day, turning upon its axis for optimal growing conditions for all of the produce depending on the position of the sun, as well as weather and other factors. The city's Jarl manages the city's rotations, and seems to be able to almost predict weather events due to the city often moving to its optimal rotation before inclimate conditions occur.
The 200 ft x 200 ft plots of land on the outer pyramid's shell all sit upon piston platforms whom are powered either by the city's generated wind power or its Fantasma Engine, these pistons all allow for the city's plots to even move between floors, however most of these platforms have not seen use in years due to the optimization of the city's current formation.
Districts
The city's districts are divided up by the city's pyramidal floors, totalling 7 floors on the outside, and 6 on its inside. Due to the piston platforms that each plot of land sits on, these floors can have their makeup change if a technological optimization is found. Thanks to the optimizations made by the city's past few rulers, the floors typically contain very similar structures whom can all be accessed by the city's gondola system. These floors are as follows:
Outside Floors:
Floor 1, Aqua Farm: A wetland area making up the very bottom level of the pyramid's outside; Consists of 24, 200 ft x 200 ft x 30 ft tanks which all contain varying levels of water, however all are used as wet farms for a variety of different modified aquatic creatures and crops. The biomes of these tanks vary widely from vibrant saltwater coral reefs, to shallow rivers, to deep and active ponds/lakes. These farming plots are also host to a wide variety of subsurface crops, from kelps and seaweeds to literal sea cuccumbers and even sea fruits, to edible coral and anemone; the sky's the limit when it comes to the variety to these undersea morsels. Floors 2-4, Farming plots: These 200ft x 200ft plots of farmland efficiently pump out produce and livestock using top-of-the-line techniques and creatures researched in the city's Skaperen Workshop. These plots of land rotate to offer the optimal amount of sunlight for their respective crops, having the warmer-climate crops like tropical fruit trees, melons, and corn stalks always be facing the sun, while the more nocturnal crops like mosses, lichens, and even mushrooms always face away from the sun. These farms also have two sides with wind vanes on opposite sides of the structure, in order harvest the power of the winds for the temperature control system in the Skaperen Workshop. The 2nd floor's plots are structured in spirals, as a way to use the cascading waterflow runoff from the above floors, however this floor does not produce livestock. The plots on the 3rd and 4th floors also farm crops, but farm their livestock in very similar methods to how crops are normally farmed thanks to the genetic modifications made to them: The livestock on the 3rd floor have had their brain and motor capacities severely hindered to allow for more efficient farming, now almost taking the form of tall braindead legless (blob-like) masses which offer tons of meat, referred to as Avfälldyr. The 4th floor livestock are offered a much more humane treatment, having their genetics optimized to allow for crops to grow on these creatures outsides, with these crops enhancing the traits of the creature's meats and other byproducts. These creatures, referred to as Fabrikkdyr can produce a variety of interesting combinations, such as cows growing strawberry bushes to create strawberry milk and sweetend meat, large chickens with flowering hedges on their sides whose meat and eggs are naturally sweetend with honey, and even sheep whose wool is replaced with bountiful cotton bushes who take the best aspects of both materials. Floor 5, Bekvinneget Hangar: Home to the city's airport, whose Rutschaflyga Planes carry both passengers and mail, or are suited to specifically carry heavy-duty cargo, such as livestock or the city's Varbor Makkina. The floor's explosive propulsion charges are harvested by the Forge above, while the ashes created from these charges are used to create fertile soil for the farms below. Floor 6, Jernbadstue Forging: Though much less technologically innovative than the lower-floors of the structure, the forge at Jordmässig is focused on almost robotic consistency of its part output as well as its speed. The staff of this floor number in the couple hundreds, and primarily work as linesmen in a standard assembly line which is spanned by massive conveyor belts and dotted with claw-like hooks which transport produced goods between stations. These belts and the hooked equipment are built to withstand the weight of all produced goods, from lightweight fabrics and metals for the city's Rutschaflyga Planes, to the heavier metals used for weapon blades and armor plating (and even train tracks in the past), to even the 500-lb Varbor Makkina machines and their attachments. These factories can output nearly 10-15 Varbor Makkina machines a day, enough parts to build 3 Ruschtaflyga planes a day, or enough raw material to forge upwards of 500 weapons, or 150 sets of armor a day. Floor 7, Jarl Skipavèl's Citadel: This towering monolith sits as the lone structure at the apex of the city's pyramid, and has an extremely threatening presence. The citadel is a 100' cube which is formed from scraps of obsidian and iron, and is home to the city's mysteriously unseen Jarl, as well as their 25-30 guard members who are kitted out with firearms and Arcsthetics out the wazoo. The reason for the citadel's size is rumored to be for their Jarl's comfort, reportedly containing a sauna-like bathhouse using rainwater filtered from the building's roof which the Jarl spends their days lazing around in, with the rest of the room having a humongous arcane circle control panel to allow its leader to control the movements of the city's floors by simple flicks of their wrist.Inside Floors:
Floor 1, City Marketplace & Depot: The bottom floor of the city is one of its most bustling regions, with the edges of the floor's insides having two entrances on each cardinal direction for the country's trains to drop-off and pick-up supplies to/for the city. Around this border, a giant circle of weaving rails allows the trains to easily redirect themselves to their next destination, while also containing cast iron walkways overhead for visitors to enter the city's marketplace and other amenities safely. After passing through the couple-hundred-foot rail district, one will spot the city's Gondola system, whose 50 ft x 30 ft cast iron interiors allow plenty of visitors to gracefully ascend to the higher internal floors using the power provided by the city's Fantasma Engine. In the center of the base floor is a marketplace for vendors from all over Vomethnda, their primary customer-base being travelling militia, travelling adventurers, and wealthy tourists. These travelling parties could expect to see a wide variety of goods produced within the city, including fabric wingsuits, weapons and armor from fashionable to functional, food from cheap rations to expensive luxury foods from the plant-infused livestock. One may also notice large iron pipes separating market stands and diving into the ground below, these being the city's geothermal pipes, allowing for energy production and temperature control in the City Galley on floor 5. In the very center of the city is a massive gear-operated clock covered by a multiple foot-thick sheet of glass. This clock is the oldest feature of the city, and a showcase of the city's early technological innovations even before Jarl Datamorska. Floor 2, Relief Chambers: These are the city's housing quarters, which consist of rows of identical skinny but deep 2 story houses located in a grid along asphalted streets. These houses are "optimized for their owner's efficiency", and their owners think these structures are plenty spacious. Though the structures are mostly identical on their outsides, the people of Jordmässig very much enjoy customizing their interiors in their free time, and have been known to hold frequent block parties since work in the city can be exhausting. Floor 3, Service Shaft: This is the second-most active portion of the city in-terms of foot traffic, as plenty of tourists and adventurers alike visit this portion of the city for all of the different services provided here. All of the city's service jobs are located on this massive floor, with services ranging from banks, to luxury restaurants who cook dishes with the city's own Fabrikkdyr, to watering hole bars which attract all sorts of folks, as well as businesses focused on rest-and-relaxation and beauty (such as spas, hairdressers, and bathhouses), and even themed shops (such as supermarkets, board game stores, soap shops, clothing stores, etc.). This service market has a mix of businesses for both the rich and the poor, and services which one may consider a luxury often have cheaper clones who provide the same service at a lower quality and a drastically lower price. This floor is also known for a street called Arcsthetic Alley, which is home to Teknomancer businesses, whom primarily excel in Mystek Arcsthetics. These Teknomancers have surprisingly cheap rates due to the competition between each of these businesses, but the quality of these businesses is not skimped one bit. Floor 4, Skaperen Workshop: This floor acts as the city's higher-education institute, as well as the premiere research institute for the scientists/inventors/geneticists in Jordmässig . The Workshop takes up the entirety of the 4th floor, and is separated into three distinct portions, those being the Skaperen Institute for the Gifted, Datamorska University, and the Workshop Proper. Parents in Jordmässig are encouraged to educate their children through elementary classes, so the Skaperen Institute for the Gifted acts as a high school for the teens of Jordmässig. Datamorska University is the newest addition to the Workshop, having been created and funded by the city's previous Jarl, Jarl Datamorska, and is a free (to encourage student admission) collegiate school which many outside of the city even visit if they have an interest in engineering, animal sciences, or teknomancy. Despite its lack of cost, the program at Datamorska University is extremely difficult, limiting the enrollment to just a few thousand students. Finally, the Workshop Proper is the city's hi-tech research center for technological advancements (primarily improving existing Mystek technologies) and geneticism, with the workshop featuring a tinkering hall to allow for inventors to test and share their ideas. Floor 5, City Galley: This section of the city is entirely dedicated to the city's military property; housing the city's armed forces and all of their equipment including their Varbor Makkina. This floor acts as troop housing, a military planning center, and a training grounds for these elite soldiers. Thanks to the city's internal lighting structure, its residents are able to train in the same conditions around the clock, being trained in all sorts of skills such as in-the-field crafting, firearms skills, and of course military strategic skills. This floor also acts as a temperature control system for the whole city, as it harnesses cold air coming from the wind turbines outside, as well as geothermal heat from below the city. Two iron bulwark training rooms, one called "Hell on Earth" and the other called "Hell Frozen Over" are storages for both heat and cold repsectively, allowing for free control of the city's temperature. Floor 6, Fantasma Engine: At the top of the inside structure is an experimental energy source which involves the supercharging of the tainted Fantasma Crystals from the soul farm using a combination of magnetic field-producing sigil magic and electric rune magic (along with force and mending runes to harvest the waste and to repair the broken equipment respectively) to create a seemingly infinite energy resource as long as a steady supply of crystals is maintained. This Fantasma Engine, a technological marvel courtesy of Jarl Skipavèl's leading team of scientists, is the primary source of energy for the city, allowing for the city's gears and pistons to operate, each district to receive lighting and have working plumbing, and even for the city's forges to fire up and lift their heavy goods.Guilds and Factions
Maskinbevakare, the Cult of the Machine: A group of religious extremists whom inhabit Jordmässig and are completely obssessed with the city's design. They believe their Jarl to be an incarnation of the harvest goddess Froúda due to their oversight resulting in the city's unparalleled farming efficiency. The men and women of this religious group can be identified by their transluscent clockwork arm and leg arcsthetics which make nearly-constant clicking and turning noises. These arcsthetics are synched up to the cyclical movements of the Jordmässig pyramid's gears, supposedly bringing them closer to their goddess.
During days of harsher weather, where the pyramid rotates and adjusts more frequently, the cultists often make "pilgrimages" to the highest points they can reach, whether that be the Citadel or the repair walkways around the higher-floor gears. Most of these cultists work either in the city's marketplace or on its farms, and while they aren't too pushy about their agenda, many around the city are vocally concerned about the cult members who spend nearly all of their free time staring up into the gears in an almost mesmerized state.
The Shopteks: A collective term for union workers of Jernbadstue Forging, as well as mechanics of both the City Galley and the Fantasma Engine. These blue collar workers wear pairs of dirty overalls with a patch depicting a step pyramid with a gear behind it. These workers are the highest-paid in Jordmässig while also having the most dangerous jobs (which they believe should have more safeguards), leaving them to be very vocal members during the "Thing" meetings.
The Trader's Guild: In order for traders to hold a space for their business in the city's bustling 1st floor marketplace, they must join the city's Trader's Guild by speaking to its head leaders. The heads of the trader's guild price-fix the goods inside of their marketplace in order to avoid bad blood between competing businesses, and instead focus on the diversity and quality of a good to make a sale. These traders often engage in friendly rivalry because of these terms, making the inventories of these sellers a mix of dirt-cheap local goods for the travelling adventurers, and some more expensive foerign wares for wealthier patrons.
A Trader's Guild membership is signified by a medal certificate which is given to them upon the completion of their application and payment of 25G; the medal features two pairs of hands splayed against eachother, with one holding a bundle of seashells and the other holding a cooked animal leg.
The People for the Freedom of Unlovingly-Cared Critters: An animal rights activists group consisting of farmers from around Aekko and concerned locals of Jordmässig who can be seen picketing and protesting on the 3rd and 4th inside floors of Jordmässig. They spend day-in and day-out trying to bring to light the "cruel" treatment of the outside 3rd floor's farming livestock, the Avfälldyr (and the 4th floor's Fabrikkdyr to a much lesser extent) by shutting down foot-traffic to service businesses that use the animal's byproducts, or by their protests in front of the very research institution who made these creatures and their conditions possible. There have even been situations where members of the FU-CC have trespassed on farmlands and freed these creatures from their captivity, but thanks to the creature's genetic modifications making them easy hunting targets, they don't last long in the wild.
History
The city began as a farm town with barn houses dotted for miles outside of the current city limits. The city's pyramidal structure was built over 35 years in the early to mid 1500's by a former Jarl whom believed that the future of the city would be its verticality, however it was Jarl Datamorska who implemented the city's massive gears and pistons in the mid to late 1500s. Modernly, the city's limits contain abandoned plots of crops which have began pushing into the forest itself.
Architecture
The inside of the city's pyramid is a weaving nest of metal between its pipes and its multi story-tall gears and pistons. Each floor of the city has a stone center which supports metal walkways near the floor's borders. The service buildings and marketplace are open-faced fabric-covered stalls, while the city's housing and Skaperen Workshop are extremely rectangular monoliths reminiscent of Mesopotamian structures made of polished stone. The city's factories are extremely tall (almost reaching the citadel above!) rounded warehouses made of primarily slag iron and dark stones, with 6 smokestacks poking out which slightly obscure the Jarl's abode above. The inside of the city is lit by a network of Mystek bulbs whom make the city's fake skyline appear a faint murky blue, while painting the city streets and marketplaces with off-white blue lightposts
The Citadel: Opposed to the city's blue spectrum, the Citadel is a dark and forboding perfectly-shaped cube of obsidian and steel, who sits on top of the city in ominous silence. Information from the citadel's guards confirm that the building's interior is extremely busy with hanging wires weaving between layers upon layers of metal scaffolding, with most of this space serving the purpose of diverting massive amounts of energy to the building's control room. Otherwise, the hallways bordering the control room are reflective obsidian surfaces creating 50ft tall oddly unnerving corridors.
Geography
Jordmässig sits in a clearing in the Southwest portion of the Dulspeki Forest, North of the Frida River. The clearing is a craggy forest dotted with tall pine trees, where one can hear the blaring of distant train horns. This portion of the forest is somewhat dynamic, with large boulder outcroppings rising out between the rolling hills like spikes on an animal's back.
Climate
This portion of Vomethnda is a coniferous forest whose temperatures range from harsh -30 degree Winters to moist 70 degree Summers. This section of the country has long Winters, where the many inches of snow stick around even into the middle parts of the Spring, and with the frequent rainfall year-round, the city airs always smells of rust, smoke, and wet brush.
Natural Resources
The city's limits are home to a few roaming Fabrikkdyr whom have yet to get picked-off by predators like dire wolves, rocs, and grizzly bears. These outskirts are home to plenty of rocky outcroppings containing both iron and aluminum, as well as a few spattered wheatgrass cropfields from the early days of the city.
Founding Date
1142
Alternative Name(s)
The Stairway of Ingenuity, Little Farm of Horrors
Type
Large town
Population
Just shy of 1 million
Inhabitant Demonym
Karls
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
Comments