The City of Brass

The City of Brass, also known as the Floating City, is an entirely metallic structure held aloft by ancient arcane forces that can still be seen at the very bottom of the city itself; should its presence ever disappear, the entire city would fall from the sky. The City of Brass has no geographic point of which to call home, the Floating City continues to travel around the world, oscillating north to south while always moving in a slight westward direction. At this point in time, there is perhaps no part of the world where the Floating City has not been over top of.

Government

The City of Brass is styled as a democratic oligarchy, where the nine members of the Alloy Council are voted into their positions to serve 6 year terms; every two years, three of its members are placed for election to ensure that the population of the Council is always shifting and "healthy." Its process of election follows a system where those living on the Gold and Adamantine layers of the city cast true votes in support of a member to the Council, all other residents' votes, if even counted, are only held as an advisory measure with its only purpose as to "gauge the relative popularity of a candidate." In truth, however, its is nearly impossible to gain a seat on the Alloy Council without the support of another member given the immense amount of political capital concentrated within the Council, making its population stagnant in direct contrast to the given reputation of the 2 year election cycle.
The Alloy Council is broken into nine different seats, referred to as Circles. The most prestigious Circle is that of the First Councilor, widely regarded as the face of the Floating City, first among equals, and commanding the tie breaking vote; the First Councilor is unofficially known as the Lord Mayor. The other eight Circles include the Circle of the Arcane, Arms, Coin, Interior, Justicary, Production, Skies, and Whispers.
Despite its facade for democracy, the City of Brass is a socially regimented society, with kith usually unable to leave their section of the city (but for those who live at the top of the city, there if little reason to travel elsewhere). The most common form of opportunity of advancement to another layer of the city is through service in Brass' Guard Service, a subsidiary to the Circle of Arms. It is because of this fact that the recruiters for the Guard actively attempt to dissuade kith from enlisting due to the sheer volume of applicants hopeful to move into higher positions of the city that are both unable and unwilling to accept them.

Defences

It is impossible to assault the City of Brass without some form of flight, which has made the city's two armed branches somewhat unneeded. There is the Guard Service, dedicated to the internal security of city, policing the expansive city, guarding the entrances into and out of the different layers of the city, and securing the various ports throughout the exterior of the city. The Guard is divided into five ranks, each equivalent to the layer that the guard is stationed on and then further subdivided by jurisdiction; the most senior member, defined by the time of service, of a jurisdiction is regarded to as the captain. However, physical position trumps all, guardsmen stationed on higher layers of the city hold greater authority than any guardsmen on a lower layer.
The most prestigious branch of the Circle of Arms is the Aerial Navy. The City of Brass is one of the few states in the world that owns a purpose built navy specifically for the use of combat. Commanding over thirty aerial warships, the Aerial Navy stands to guard the City of Brass from any foreign attacker. However, given that no state conceivably has any reason to attack the City of Brass, the relative lack of natural creatures to fend off, and the glaringly obvious lack of kith means to attack the city, the Aerial Navy is quietly mocked by the Guard as fat bird, feathers made of gold; only useful to stand and look pretty.

Industry & Trade

The City of Brass, being made entirely of metal, has no access to naturally grown or raised food; the wide majority of the food provided to the lower levels of the city is often magically created, often with little flavor with anything of substance or taste being prohibitively expensive. Imported foodstuffs into the city makes its way towards the top of the city first.
The City of Brass, however, holds a vitally important monopoly over the construction of new airships. Airships, supplemented with arcane artifacts, are sold to states in return for the raw materials that the city constantly lacks. The information surrounding the creation of new airships is a jealously guarded one, and rarely are any kith with this information left unguarded for their protection and also as a silent but glaringly obvious threat.

Infrastructure

The City of Brass stands at 20 km tall and 8 km wide at its widest point. The City of Brass is divided into five layers from the lowest layer to the top as follows: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Adamantine. There is, in fact, a sixth layer with no name, but it is the very bottom of the city where the ancient arcane secrets that keep the city afloat continue to function. A person's standing within the City of Brass is physically determined by the height at which they live and work within the city; it is a common saying within Brass that your life's worth is equal to that of the clean air you can breathe and the blue skies you can see.
The truth of how the City of Brass is held together is lost to the vast majority of its inhabitants who are happy to continue to live in blissful ignorance and the confidence that the city will not fall in on itself from its own sheer weight. Those from outside of the city can see the arcs of bright blue, almost white, lightning that jumps back and forth between the bottom of the city; proof that the city still soars. However the city is held together, it is aided by the great multitude of bridges, catwalks, and monorails that web throughout the city as well as carefully guarded platforms that lead into the other sections of the city.

Alternative Name(s)

The Floating City

Type

City

Inhabitant Demonym

Brasians