Modyran (Mod-eye-ran)
Modyran was one of the seven Foundation cities, an equatorial metropolis located on the site of an ancient space elevator hub.
Government
Before 1446 AF, Modyran was ruled according to the laws of the New Sophisticates. Local government consisted of a Management Council appointed by the Parliament which met at irregular intervals whilst for more important matters, the city had five elected representatives within the Parliament, first at Aberstone and then (after 1328 AF) at Paratomb. These were called the Voting Citizens (or VCs) and because Modyran was a Foundation City they had greater rights than the OCs (Observer Citizens) of the more junior Cities of the Awakened World.
After 1446 AF when Modyran became independent, it adopted a constitution with regular elections. This broke government down into a series of wards, reflecting different areas of concern, with each consisting of a committee of wardens whose duty was to guide the policies of the First Warden. For example, there were energy wardens, technician wardens, education wardens, security wardens, agricultural wardens, garden wardens and sky wardens, just to name some of the more important groups.
The office of the First Warden co-ordinated the activities of the others and made the final decision when there was any conflict of interest between the different arms of government.
History
In 1446 AF Modyran became the first of the Foundation Cities to declare itself independent of the parliament of the New Sophisticates, under the rule of the first of the First Wardens, Bandile Molefe. It had always been remote from their centres of power, whether at Aberstone or Paratomb and its own growing strength and self confidence flowered into full autonomy before any of the other cities. The New Sophisticates were already in decline, in truth, but this was the first open acknowledgement of that historical process.
In 1622 AF the technician wardens of the city, aided by engineeers from Anoomenon, and led by Aberash Zibbaipha succeeded in restoring the elevator, a feat of such momentous significance that it is considered to mark the end of the Foundation era and the start of the age of the Succession Empires, although this is a somewhat arbitrary choice.
In 1650 AF, agents of Modyran re-established the Orbital Guardians. Travel to low Earth orbit was now easy and under sole control of the city for many years, until Allport established independent launch technologies in the 20th century. Whilst the Allport systems were more expensive and less reliable than the use of the space elevator, they did have the advantage of offering much more flexible flight plans and for the first time the moon was accessable again.
Modyran and Allport formed an alliance to keep exclusive control over space access which lasted until the demise of Allport at the end of the age of The Trade Wars. The Modyran city fathers may have assumed that their city would become the dominant force on Earth after that, but in fact the first half of the era of the Succession Empires proved to be the height of their power.
It was the Shining City of Anoomenon which assumed the mantle of the pre-eminent city state on Earth during the start of The Long Northern Peace and especially in that first part of the Long Northern Peace called the Golden Age of Anoomenon. This was because the Grey Kings of Anoomenon assumed control of independently launched spaceflight, taking over the technology from Allport exiles who made their home there.
The power of Modyran was reduced still further when Helsporan constructed a second space elevator in 2851. Nevertheless it was still considered an important city until it was destroyed on the day that the space elevator fell in 3092.
Tourism
Modyran was a beautiful city, the wide gentle steps sculpted into Mt Modyran offered many terraced gardens and artfully managed cascades of flowing water. Here, too, in a few carefully crafted cliffsides were the eyries of the silver dragons, a delicate and wonderful species belonging to the Gene Sea and distantly related to the alegoyle. Even before the restoration of the space elevator it was a place that drew travellers and afterwards its fame and attraction as a destination for the curious and wealthy only increased.
Geography
The city was built in terraced layers around Mt. Modyran, with the space elevator ascending from the flattened peak of the mountain. The geo-engineering to craft the location was beyond the technology of the new ages but came as a gift from earlier work before the Season of Innocence.
RUINED SETTLEMENT
3092 AF
Bandile Molefe by DMFW
Aberash Zibbaipha by DMFW
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