Aetera

Sitting on the edge of The Shatterlands, Aetera is a beautiful little village surrounded by thick jungle and some of the calmer islands in the archipelago. Large, twisting elfear tress stretch over boardwalk and masonry paths which weave between the various adobe, clay, and brick buildings. Athletic Aeterans and their less athletic tourist counterparts roamed the streets.
All of this sat nailed to the edge of a cliff, suspended miles in the air.

— Komius De Mako in Tserros Siira

None of the few settlements that dotThe Shatterlandsare more emblematic of the region and its people than Aetera, The Edge City. Its people act as guides and historians of the land and it's strange nature, giving tours and living entire lives on the cliffs and in the jungles.
The city is large, spanning a few miles across the cliff and jungle of the island it sits on. Its streets are complex and labyrinthian, owing to the entirely unplanned nature of the settlement's growth. Due to the numerous cliffs and ravines that shoot across the city, the architects of the past invented an ingenious system of clay and wood supports that can keep large structures up to 2 stories tall securely held over gaps. This mixture of clay, brick, and wood extends to the architecture of the city. Most buildings in the city are a mixture of adobe, brick and wood built in such a unique style that certain scholars have classified it all its own (Known as "Aeteran Utilitarianism").
Due to the suspended nature of the city and the difficulty of hauling large animals up to the heights of The Shatterlands, much of the city is built around exclusively foot traffic. This gives the city a cramped feeling, with some alleyways and streets only being 2-4 persons wide. This system of tight, claustrophobic buildings gives way at random intervals to large, lush clearings and squares. These tend to attract people and business due to their more open nature. One could even find resteraunts serving peculiar Shatterlands specific cuisine!

Demographics

About 30,000 people call Aetera their home. This is a mostly balanced populace of primarily High, Flora, and Desert Elves mixed with recent Human immigrants from the neighboring regions. Although the wealth distribution is relatively equal, the actual profession mixture of the city is quite diverse. A large amount of the populace operates as assistance to caravans and quest groups that use their town as a rest stop. Many of them hire out their services for entire expeditions, operating as phenomenally skilled survivalists, guides, and mercenaries.
Beyond the primary guide economy, there is of course the average mixture of commercial jobs ranging from restaurant to general goods owners. Above all of this, there is the major industrial job of mining clay from the claypits far below Aetera. These are usually processed at the claypits themselves and then either sent up to Aetera for usage or shipped out as an export.

Government

The cities laws and organization are rather scattershot, but it swears fealty to the Freymoor government due to their protection. Despite this alleged protection, the constables assigned to Aetera are widely known for their laziness.

Defences

Aetera is unique amongst its peers, due to its incredibly powerful natural defense. Nothing short of an all out airship attack could make the mile high warfare possible, and infantry sieging is all but impossible.

Infrastructure

The most wondrous piece of infrastructure built by the peoples of Aetera is the Floatship.

Floatship

The Floatship is a large platform that moves on a taught ropetrack between Aetera and the lands below. Using a combination of a PSYKE-Crystal battery and resistor combined with a bundle of specially arranged floatstone, this platform is easily able to haul massive amounts of material between the lands below and the city of Aetera. Although Airships account for a large amount of traffic in the modern era, this Floatship still moves heavy material and traffic every day.

Architecture

Aetera tends to build its infrastructure using a combination of the flexible yet sturdy Elfear wood and the orange-red clay of the Aeteran claypits below. Mosaics and graffiti art is incredibly common, with entire streets of the city being covered top to bottom in art of all subjects.

Aetera by IvyGM

Founding Date

7E 50

Alternative Name(s)

The Edge City

Type

Town

Population

30,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Aeteran

Location under

The Shatterlands