The Cities of Blue

Ancient wonders from another world.

There's something very special about the day the first of the blue cities emerged from the ground. It is the first day since the black riots, where not a single battle was fought. Every place of work closed for business and the working men and women spent this special day at home with their families. The first deposit of ether was discovered beneath the quantum field below the city itself. For the first time, the world was in agreement on what they wanted. They wanted answers. What are the blue cities, who built them, and why are they here?

— The Locksmith and The Watchmaker

by jasonjuta

The Cities of Blue are enormous structures and complexes that hover miles above the Earth. The most well known of these landmarks are used to determine the location and maturity of Aether deposits. They appear as floating islands with structures built upon them out of a smooth, dark blue metal or stone.
These structures are often much larger than they seem to be when looking at them from the outside. These complexes tend to run into subterranean corridors that weave throughout the base of the island. It is unclear where they came from, who built them, and what there purpose may be, if they have a purpose for being here at all. What lies inside varies depending on which city you are in. New complexes are discovered in cities that have been picked clean all the time and entire cities continue to appear from nowhere. The dark blue corridors beckon all explorers to come and seek its secrets, or perish in the attempt.

Emergence

When blue cities emerge from the ground they do so in spectacular fashion. Massive storms of ether rise to the sky as the city seems to appear from nothing as if materializing from somewhere beneath. Earthquakes are sent in all directions in the thunderous roar as the city enters existence echoes for many miles around. When it finally reaches it's chosen altitude, the quantum fields below begin to grow as the Aether materializes beneath the ground.When the first emergence of a blue city occurred, the greatest minds from all over the world converged to study it.

Behavior

There are so many questions that are still left answered, but some patterns have been studied and understood surrounding the cities of blue.

• Many move from place to place, some seeding Aether, others harvesting it.
• Some simply wander aimlessly in the sky showing up in the strangest of places where no blue city has been seen before.
• There are some that remain completely stationary hovering over Quantum Fields and the Aether deposits beneath them. The stationary cities tend to be the largest both seeding and harvesting the Aether below.

The Age of Exploration

When word got out that such a valuable resource could be found simply by following certain cities they became a way-point or landmark for many traveling in search of wealth. Some can predict the comings and goings of certain cities to the day. Small farming communities often plant and harvest crops based on the arrival of a seeding or harvester city. Explorers from all over the world began a crusade to penetrate the mysteries of these strange cities. Scientists, looters, treasure hunters and more all sought glory in their dark corridors. Most never returned.

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Navigation

Airship navigators often utilize The Cities of Blue almost as much as they use the celestial bodies when it comes to navigation. The time of year, direction of a cities travel, and a good idea of where you happen to be can make it easy to identify what city your looking at, where it is going to go, and whether or not it's safe to approach. Many of the blue cities that serve as seeders and harvesters have gardens filled with many fruits and vegetables, as well as livestock that grazes the outer areas of the island. Over the years, Travelers have used these moving cities as a place to rest and refuel, placing automated depots far away from the city proper. This is due to how passive seeders and harvesters tend to be. This passive nature is merely tolerance. Venturing to far into the city or to deep into its subterranean corridors just may result in corrective action. Few people make there homes on these floating islands. An occasional hermit, abandoned by their crew long ago, may be found from time to time but the city tends to make them disappear in one form or another. The cities do not want humans living anywhere near them.

.Protocol: Sword and Shield/

While most Cities of Blue are dormant, some are very much so alive. They are void of the sentient species that built them but that doesn't make them empty.
As it turns out the cities can have many forms of life. There are many beasts from elsewhere that pose dangers to those who venture inside. These beasts are isolated to the cities and few ever leave. Entering a particularly hostile City will often result in words hang in the air projected by some unseen source. The words are Written In A peculiar language that translates itself in the mind. It is a language that on its own can influence those who read it. The words the hang in the air are clear warning to any who would plunder the city riches:

.Protocol:Shield/active .Protocol:Sword/pending

A Friendly Warning

No one knows what the phrase means, but the cities seem to use it as a way of keeping people out. The cities are also littered with numerous defense from traps to key turrets. Many of these defenses are automated in some way shape or form. Should you survive its defense, you may get a chance to enter a Hall of Glass. Every city has them and the halls are a treasure trove no matter what resides within.

by jasonmckittrick

origins

The origins of the cities of blue are a topic of heated debate among all those that study them. There design is often nonsensical, having halls that branch off of a corridor only to rejoin the same corridor further down and thresholds that open to nothing but stone. This leads many to believe that whoever built it is far from human. The presence of the language, however, uses lettering and linguistic elements that while they are impossible to truly describe they do bear a striking resemblance to the way humans developed language.
The difficulty of studying the language itself comes from the fact that it translates in the mind, making it very difficult to maintain the image of the original phrase. This coupled with the size of the doorways, around 8 feet tall, leads others to believe that it has some distant human origin. The presence of the statues that often stand guard in the cities are often used as a counter argument to this conclusion.

It's Alive...

Every city of blue has a name, and even greets those that trespass within in the same manner as the warning. It projects a name in the air, or what many believe is the name as it doesn't translate like the letters in other messages. These names don't seem to have a similar origin, as the sounds one would make with such combinations of letter often differ dramatically in some cases. This has led many to believe that the origins of each city could be different from the others even coming from a different culture.

The Statues

Every city of blue bears statues depicting strange entities that best no resemblance to humanity in any way save for a select few are humanoid. They often feature grotesque faces and something feature a great many limbs reaching out as if to embrace the viewer. The statues are made of many substances and it's not always stone or metal. Some are made of a fleshy substance that, while not alive, certainly feels like it could be.
The strangest thing about these statues is that they often appear to move. Some disappearing and then reappearing in an entirely different location. Some accounts describe the statues as defense mechanisms capable of animating and attacking anyone who comes to close to what they protect. Many researchers believe that these statues depict the gods of whoever built the cities, given there placement and the poses they are often found in.

Directives

Each city has a purpose. While many are unexplored, those that have often reveal that the city has a single goal and its entire design is based on that goal. The amount of cities that exist is currently unknown. Almost every nation has at least three in their borders, not including seeders and harvesters that travel in and out.

Type of Cities	Directives	Examples
Seeders	Cities that somehow focus on building deposits of Aether. They never stay in the same place and travel all over the world.	Ikiji, Gbhat, Porutvi, Arqlin, Dorzahn,
Harvesters	Cities that seem to only want to harvest matured deposits of Aether. They never stay in the same place and travel all over the world.	Vexnum, Frsed, Tiltyin, Wekloa
Menageries	Large cities that have a large population of strange creatures. Reports claim holding cells can be found throughout the city.	Poi (Russia), Tulorut (China), Pirhg (france), Azibhan (Canada),
Bunkers	Believed to be focused on war due to the extreme hostility and well fortified walls. Few have ventured within one.	Juktlm (Portugal), Heimtou (America), Gerphlicgh (Russia), Tremkju (Congo),
Temples	Believed to be focused on religious life. Usually dormant but defenses are active	Hiughli (Iceland), Chixotle(Italy), Ourter(Germany),