Marble Waifs
Marble Waifs are an average height (for waifs), but otherwise they are distinct. Unlike other waifs, which are merely pale, Marble waifs are white (and not the human ‘white’), but have flecks of gold, black, grey, or brown in their skin. Marble waifs are also the best magic users of all waifs, and create floating cities for protection from others. They wear long, flowing cloaks to protect them from sun exposure and ride flying creatures. Marble waifs consider themselves superior to other waifs, and general respect civilizations that utilize magic extensively more, considering those that cannot or do not inferior. Marble waifs have a very complicated honor code that leads them to conflict with other races that don’t have the same morals, and they consider compromise on cultural values to be foolish. In the eyes of a marble waif, they are the superior beings, and all others should change their cultures to match that of the mind waif. Those that cannot keep up with marble waif culture are given menial tasks or sold into slavery, though marble waifs will never sell other marble waifs, since they consider serving other races to be beneath them. In fact, a marble waif that rescues another from slavery can even be compensated by friends, family, superiors, or the government.
Marble Waifs have been crafting flying cities for many years, although the original cities were small and only enough for family groups. In time, the cities would grow and combine into smaller armadas which flew together. Eventually, enough resources were invested to craft the large flying cities which they primarily inhabit today, though that does not mean there are no small towns which have not integrated or which are working on integration. The number of cities does vary, with there having been a maximum of 9 and a minimum of 6 in the recent past. The seven cities which are currently functional are Arkópolis, Lamkíprous, Ouranzitís, Ateleísos, Palválous, Ierochónis, and Psychranó. Of these, Palválous is the most recent, having been completed only half a century ago. The oldest and grandest of the current cities is is Ateleísos, which was the second city ever crafted. Though the city has been rebuilt and refurbished several times, it still retains a vintage architectural look, as well as portions of the original rocks which it was made up of. Typically, the larger and older the city, the less mobile it is, with Ateleísos having been stationary for over 200 years. The smallest of the cities, Psychranó is the most mobile, closely followed by the more modern Palválous. Of course, smaller fling towns can overtake the large city-states in speed, but are not considered as important by the Marble Waifs. The large city-states are anchored to mountains when not moving, in order to keep them in one place so they are not blown by wind currents. They are too large to go close to the surface of valleys, not that the waifs would wish to get to close anyways.
All seven cities, and a good number of smaller towns have lifts which allow transport to the ground for trade purposes. These lifts usually bring traffic both ways, though outsiders are not allows within waif cities without reason. Moving the cities can be costly, as the increased strain on both the interwoven magic in addition to the natural and constructed cityscapes usually requires repairs that become exponentially expensive as a city grows and ages. However, for the more mobile cities, the trade income can usually make up for this cost of doing business. Still, the expense is what keeps the largest of cities from moving often, preferring to let smaller and more mobile cities come to them with goods from faraway lands.
Expansion of these cities is done through a complicated combination of magic, architecture, and engineering which allows their surface area to rise. Typically, cities expand upwards first, as this is generally far cheaper. However, building upwards too much makes it impossible to actually move it, so at some point horizontal expansion is necessary. This is where the more complex architechtificery is practiced, in order to bond materials together around the edge of the city. Depending on the primary focus of the builders, this may take varying shapes, with defense vs. speed vs. beauty always being something that must be balanced. In order to acquire the necessary resources, the cities must either fly to different regions or buy them from other floating cities, which balancesthem out somewhat. Essentially, the larger the city, the more it costs to expand outwards, the harder it is to go get those resources, and the longer such construction takes. Thus, cost compound. However, the increasing wealth, prestige, and space for population makes expansion necessary in the end.
For those marble waifs who do not live in one of the flying cities, there are several options. Smaller satellite towns often float alongside the larger ones, allowing them easier trade in return for flying in their wake (allowing them to go faster and further). Others simply float in place above towns, functioning more as strongholds or quarters for nobility than a true flying city. Finally, many marble waifs do reside on the ground. However, for these, the lure of flying cities is always great. Indeed, factions of nobles ruling over the marble waifs on the ground often band together, pooling their funds and building new cities. Thus, conflict between marble waifs often focuses on preventing one's rivals from gaining materials, gaining them for themselves, and then building a new city which will dominate the region and push their rivals into obscurity. Direct conflict is thus much less common, and Marble Waifs don't fear war as much as many do, since casualties are typically less than other races would suffer.
Except when the flying cites go to war.
Pretty much the only thing that can destroy a flying city is another flying city, and such destruction is total. When two of these cities come to blows, if neither accept dominance of the other, they may take drastic action. While destruction of another city is rare, it does happen occasionally. Over the years, this has led to many cities haven fallen. Even though it only happens about once or twice a century, that means 10-20 cities destroyed in the past thousand years. These city corpses are good places to source material for new cities, and scavengers often descend upon them rather quickly. Of course, inter-city war only accounts for about a 10-20% of destroyed cities. Sometimes magic use, hubris, or plagues cause disaster, reducing functionality of the city enough to make it impossible to keep afloat. While modern cities have far more wards, preventative devices, and autopiloting functions and constructs, ancient cities seem to have fallen much more often. This suggests that the marble waifs were not always so peaceful, if they were willing to risk floating rocks which could collapse at any moment. Such cases account for many of the more ancient fallen cities, and probably about 30-40% of total crashes. The final 40-60% of crashes are from attacks by dragons and other superpowerful entities. Whle larger cities aren't under much threat, smaller ones must fear them, which influences their choice to work under them. Such protection is invaluable, as attacks by powerful creatures, even if they don't destroy a city, may neuter it beyond viability for the future. If this happens in an inopportune place, the waifs on the city may be trapped there until another city can pick them up for a price, if this even happens and assuming they can even afford this price.
Marble Waifs have been crafting flying cities for many years, although the original cities were small and only enough for family groups. In time, the cities would grow and combine into smaller armadas which flew together. Eventually, enough resources were invested to craft the large flying cities which they primarily inhabit today, though that does not mean there are no small towns which have not integrated or which are working on integration. The number of cities does vary, with there having been a maximum of 9 and a minimum of 6 in the recent past. The seven cities which are currently functional are Arkópolis, Lamkíprous, Ouranzitís, Ateleísos, Palválous, Ierochónis, and Psychranó. Of these, Palválous is the most recent, having been completed only half a century ago. The oldest and grandest of the current cities is is Ateleísos, which was the second city ever crafted. Though the city has been rebuilt and refurbished several times, it still retains a vintage architectural look, as well as portions of the original rocks which it was made up of. Typically, the larger and older the city, the less mobile it is, with Ateleísos having been stationary for over 200 years. The smallest of the cities, Psychranó is the most mobile, closely followed by the more modern Palválous. Of course, smaller fling towns can overtake the large city-states in speed, but are not considered as important by the Marble Waifs. The large city-states are anchored to mountains when not moving, in order to keep them in one place so they are not blown by wind currents. They are too large to go close to the surface of valleys, not that the waifs would wish to get to close anyways.
All seven cities, and a good number of smaller towns have lifts which allow transport to the ground for trade purposes. These lifts usually bring traffic both ways, though outsiders are not allows within waif cities without reason. Moving the cities can be costly, as the increased strain on both the interwoven magic in addition to the natural and constructed cityscapes usually requires repairs that become exponentially expensive as a city grows and ages. However, for the more mobile cities, the trade income can usually make up for this cost of doing business. Still, the expense is what keeps the largest of cities from moving often, preferring to let smaller and more mobile cities come to them with goods from faraway lands.
Expansion of these cities is done through a complicated combination of magic, architecture, and engineering which allows their surface area to rise. Typically, cities expand upwards first, as this is generally far cheaper. However, building upwards too much makes it impossible to actually move it, so at some point horizontal expansion is necessary. This is where the more complex architechtificery is practiced, in order to bond materials together around the edge of the city. Depending on the primary focus of the builders, this may take varying shapes, with defense vs. speed vs. beauty always being something that must be balanced. In order to acquire the necessary resources, the cities must either fly to different regions or buy them from other floating cities, which balancesthem out somewhat. Essentially, the larger the city, the more it costs to expand outwards, the harder it is to go get those resources, and the longer such construction takes. Thus, cost compound. However, the increasing wealth, prestige, and space for population makes expansion necessary in the end.
For those marble waifs who do not live in one of the flying cities, there are several options. Smaller satellite towns often float alongside the larger ones, allowing them easier trade in return for flying in their wake (allowing them to go faster and further). Others simply float in place above towns, functioning more as strongholds or quarters for nobility than a true flying city. Finally, many marble waifs do reside on the ground. However, for these, the lure of flying cities is always great. Indeed, factions of nobles ruling over the marble waifs on the ground often band together, pooling their funds and building new cities. Thus, conflict between marble waifs often focuses on preventing one's rivals from gaining materials, gaining them for themselves, and then building a new city which will dominate the region and push their rivals into obscurity. Direct conflict is thus much less common, and Marble Waifs don't fear war as much as many do, since casualties are typically less than other races would suffer.
Except when the flying cites go to war.
Pretty much the only thing that can destroy a flying city is another flying city, and such destruction is total. When two of these cities come to blows, if neither accept dominance of the other, they may take drastic action. While destruction of another city is rare, it does happen occasionally. Over the years, this has led to many cities haven fallen. Even though it only happens about once or twice a century, that means 10-20 cities destroyed in the past thousand years. These city corpses are good places to source material for new cities, and scavengers often descend upon them rather quickly. Of course, inter-city war only accounts for about a 10-20% of destroyed cities. Sometimes magic use, hubris, or plagues cause disaster, reducing functionality of the city enough to make it impossible to keep afloat. While modern cities have far more wards, preventative devices, and autopiloting functions and constructs, ancient cities seem to have fallen much more often. This suggests that the marble waifs were not always so peaceful, if they were willing to risk floating rocks which could collapse at any moment. Such cases account for many of the more ancient fallen cities, and probably about 30-40% of total crashes. The final 40-60% of crashes are from attacks by dragons and other superpowerful entities. Whle larger cities aren't under much threat, smaller ones must fear them, which influences their choice to work under them. Such protection is invaluable, as attacks by powerful creatures, even if they don't destroy a city, may neuter it beyond viability for the future. If this happens in an inopportune place, the waifs on the city may be trapped there until another city can pick them up for a price, if this even happens and assuming they can even afford this price.
Lifespan
240 years
Average Height
3'6
Prodigious
Physical Strength
Miniscule
Societal Organization
Above Average
Birth Rate
Low
Lifespan Classification
High
Technological Progress
High
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