Kalver, the Crawling Town (KAL-vuh)

One particular town in the Drylands is legendary for its uniqueness; Kalver, the Crawling Town. The town is a mobile fortress mounted on thousands of giant legs resembling those of spiders, carrying it aloft over the vast expanse of grasslands that form the arid savannah.
Almost two thousand people call Kalver home, mostly the sab'rones, or gaucho cowboys, and their families. The flocks of axe-beak riding birds paired with the sab'rones accompany Kalver in their migrations, together with the cattle which they herd.
Kalver is a single immense construct powered by an array of magical crystals. The crystals absorb energy from the surrounding environment and distribute it throughout the construct in veins of living metal, and it is capable of a limited degree of self-repair and autonomy. It is piloted from a command throne in the front tower, but is capable of correcting its own travel to avoid ravines and the like.
Lookouts and guards are ever vigilant on the parapets and watch towers, as there have been repeated attempts to pillage or capture the town in the three centuries since it took its first steps. Ballistae on cunningly-mounted swivels and pivots are accurate out to long ranges, and attackers who attempt to scale the sides are met by jets of super-heated steam from the furnaces, using water from the endless decanter which feeds the town's reservoir tanks.
Ramps descend from the underside when Kalver is not secured against attack, with one set leading to the stables for a dozen visitors' mounts, and the other leading to the compact abbatoir in the town's belly. The meat-preparation plant renders every part of the animals from the herds which accompany the city, and it is all either used by the residents or preserved and sent elsewhere for sale when the town nears one of its static trading partners.
Rank in Kalver is strictly hierarchical, and is often inherited, with the highest ranks living at the top of the town or in its towers, surrounded by the garden-farms which provide fresh food. The lower ranks live near the base of the town, maintaining the construct and working in its refineries, manufacturing plants, and farms.