Paratomb
Paratomb was an underground city, one of the famous seven Foundation Cities established at the beginning of the age of Foundation. It is best known as the site of the second parliament of the New Sophisticates
Government
Paratomb was always ruled according to the precepts of the New Sophisticates but until they moved their capital from Aberstone to the underground city in 1328 AF at the start of the late period of the Foundation Age, it had maintained a relatively modest local administration. At this time, however, a grand new cave was opened up and the construction of the Parliament building with its surrounding civic and judicial buildings brought new wealth and power to the city.
The Parliament was the primary ruling body for all cities that still acknowledged the rule of the New Sophisticates, although ironically, their power had already begun to slip even as they made this place their capital. In 1720 AF when the city fell to the House of Thorns, it was ruled by Nikolai Yarris, who was the last of the Principle Speakers of the New Sophisticates.
Paratomb Parliament by DMFW with Stable Diffusion
Industry & Trade
In the lower levels of the old Vaults, an alien fungus known as High Hat, and once part of the Gene Sea had found a way to break through the sterile floors into the mineral layers below. The fungus extracted and concentrated trace elements of gold and silver in its stems, whilst the caps were not only edible but delicious. Paratomb conducted a trade based on both of these valuable features of High Hat, benefiting from mineral extraction and dried and fresh caps for eating obtained by farming the fungus.
Paratomb Farm by DMFW with Stable Diffusio
Infrastructure
Mountain passes lead West from Paratomb to Anoomenon, although they are often impassable in winter. The city had better communications down the river Sildon to the sea from the time of its foundation. In later years, good roads were built going South to Kingcardine.
A dam in the mountains, known as the Paradam was constructed in 310 AF during the early Foundation Age to act as a resevoir for the city. In the image below, we see the twin streams of the main supply going underground.
Water flowed from the Paradam through the city via a number of artificial streams, chanelled into many small canals such as the one shown below in the upper districts of the city.
In the lower levels the water was used to irrigate the mushroom fields, and finally left the city via a tunnel to rejoin the natural tributaries of the river Sildon.
The Paradam Outflow at Paratomb by DMFW with Stable Diffusion
Paratomb Canal by DMFW with Night Cafe
History
Paratomb began as a relatively small city, compared with its peers and it grew only slowly. Deep under the mountains, the ancients had once built vaults to protect some unknown treasure. Possibly it had been a seed bank or possibly an information storage facility. The details were lost during the Great Forgetting.
The vaults had already been looted even before the settlement of Paratomb, but it was the hope of finding something interesting in the remains, combined with limited mining operations for copper and tin that drove the early settlers to make their homes in the caverns above.
The advantages of an easily defended site became more obvious as the age of Foundation progressed and latent hostilites began to break out.
In 1328, the New Sophisticates moved their capital from Aberstone to Paratomb and established their second parliament here.
In the ages of the Succession Empires in 1720, the Thin Princes found a way to break through Paratomb's defences in a long seige which ended with the flooding of the lower levels and the slaughter of most of its residents. The catastrophic end of the Siege of Paratomb, effectively marked the end of the New Sophisticates, who had dominated politics in the Foundation era but had become increasingly weak and irrelevent since the rise of Modyran and the recreation of the space elevator in 1622 AF. It also led to the abandonment of the city.
Paratomb Vaults by DMFW with Night Cafe
Paratomb Vaults by DMFW with Night Cafe
Geography
Paratomb was a city build on and under Oprin hill, only a relatively short distance from Anoomenon. The geology of the region was dominated by old stable shield rocks and here the ancients had built a vast complex of secure Vaults designed to preserve knowledge, biological specimens and valuable artefacts into the far future against any unforseen catastrophe that might affect the Earth. The Vaults were empty. Whether it was because the plans for populating them had never reached fruition, because (as some evidence suggested) the site had been badly chosen and abandoned, because the Guardians Of Earth had destroyed the contents after the Vow of Earth, or for some entirely different reason, no one knows.
RUINED SETTLEMENT
1720 AF
Founding Date
9th of Leafall, 63 AF
Type
City
Population
~300,000 in 1720 AF
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Comments