The Sky Tower

"And lo the darkness rises into light, and so we bow before the divine," as transcribed from a poetry fragment from some centuries ago.

Located off a coast, amidst grey-blue skies and the calls of gulls, a tower stretches up impossibly high. It rises from the rock itself, from the sea depths. There is no visible viable entrance or exit. It has existed as long as the people of this land can remember, there in their grandparents' childhoods, and beyond that, in their ancestors' ancestors' first memories.
The tower rises so high it disappears among the clouds, which rarely clear completely here by the stormy sea. But on those few crystal days, when the sky bends true blue, the tower seems to pierce into the very heavens.
Strange a structure as it is, many myths and legends abound. Yet no one would mistake this for a mere miracle of nature. Not a speck of moss nor vine grows upon the tower, distinguishing it from the rock it sprouts from. It remains similarly untouched by the tide or time, smooth and unblemished and unaffected. Stare too long and twines of lighter dark seem to run through its stone, a shifting fabric of pitch.
Up and up, just barely visible as the dark black rock starts imperceptibly turning greyer, or clearer, at the very edge of human perception, windows are visible around the circumference. No bird has ever dared approach these openings, even in the worst of storms. Neither has any creature ever emerged from these mysterious portals, in either the harshest droughts or the most bountiful of years.
At its furthest reaches, on the clearest days, the tower appears crystalline, yet opaque all at once. It is all colors and yet nothing, the sun shining through unimpeded. Stare too long, whispers pass down the years, and you will lose all sight yet never lose your way for the rest of your life.
The tower stands, as it has and as it will. The people take comfort in that.

Purpose / Function

For what reason did it form or was constructed or sung into being, this awesome pillar? The tower is the deepest mystery of this land. It can be seen for such distances that even those who know not of the tower know its face. A giant of the land.

Alterations

There have been queens and scientists and fools who have tried to infringe upon the tower, to drill through, or climb, or (even once, foolishly) conquer. But no person is exempt from the tower's contempt. After all, it turns away nature even as it dwells in her bosom. None have ever laid hands upon this behemoth.

Architecture

Best estimates grant the Sky Tower a circumference of one day worth of unceasing travel by foot from sun up to sun up on the longest day of the year (circumference 95 km). It appears dark, darker than the deep sea, yet gradually becomes more translucent as your eyes scan up, though it is impossible to pinpoint the moment of change. Even this color somehow pales to an impossible not-shade in the distant heaven, when the clouds clear and one dares gaze so far. Even lower down, rather than a solid color at any singular point, the black seems to shift like the ocean when one focuses, as if a thousand coils move about.

History

It had existed for time immemorial even in the oldest of tales.

I think if I could touch it, Ama would come back from the sky.

--said by a child of about 5 years, last seen wandering by the shore closest the tower.

Date built: Unknown

Architect: Unknown

Purpose: Unknown

Alternative Names

Uklekrupu

Type

Geographic Feature

Any who dare desecrate the great tower should have their bones dashed against the dark rocks at its feet and their blood fed to the waters of the sea, to appease its wrath.

--as proclaimed during a sermon by Haivha, third Eye of the Watchful.

The Watchful is only one of many sects and religions which look to the tower. Many such groups have been noted to form and dissolve through the years, some robust in their time while others whither as soon as they form.