Constellation City

Constellation City, also colloquially known as Constellation, is the capital city of Aphelia, as well as its largest and most populous, also making it the largest settlement in northeastern Tevhetra. It is located on the eastern coat along the Drifting Sea and serves as a major hub of trade and culture.

Districts

While the city is not officially divided, several areas are distinct enough to take their own names. Well Plaza, at the center of the city, is identified by its yellow and blue tiling around a now-unusable well. Most of Constellation's in-town agriculture occurs in Garden Circle. The Wall Markets are a series of sheltered alleyways populated by merchants who vanish with the next flood - or the arrival of a city official. The Nest was one of the apartment walls that grew outwards as other buildings were built off of it, taking its name from its wild appearance and its high Voiced population. The Wanderer's Landing is an artificial psuedo-cliff constructed off of one of the oldest, partially collapsed walls overlooking the harbor; its height made it ideal for the Grand Observatory, as well as the call-of-port for anyone arriving by air.

History

While the exact date of Constellation's founding is debated, archeological evidence indicates that a permanent settlement existed as early as 35 pre-Nightfall. While it started life as a small village of fisher folk and lightning glass traders, surviving pre-Nightfall documents describe it from the violence of the Aphelian Plains, to the point that it was spared from almost all of the Dusk War.
When the Nightfall hit, refugees flocked to Constellation, as not only did it have an available source of food in the sea, but some of the only crystal available from miles around thanks to some very lucky trading with the south. The previously laid-back and loosely governed population scrambled to adapt, the much more strict Council of Five replacing the assembly and organizing people to build new infrastructure and find new sources of food and heat. A lucky sprouting of weeds around the crystals at least proved that crystal-lit agriculture was possible, but the population also had to defend itself against attacks by desperate outsiders, leading to the construction of the first walls. The shift in oceanic behavior post-Nightfall also devastated the settlements attempts to improve itself until they adapted to survive the floods.

Architecture

Stelly architecture builds upwards to raise itself above the ragetide flooding. Almost everything is stone, ceramic tile, and glass, most of which is harvested locally, though population growth has reduced the amount of quarry-worthy stone around Constellation. Different traditional styles of human tower-building now mix with Setret and Nuanat technique. Several layers of walls have formed around the city throughout the centuries to protect it from land attacks, but the settlement always grows past it. These walls are thick enough to contain apartments, once for guards but now for anyone who can't afford anywhere else, and are built with arches beneath to let floodwater flow through rather than fight against it. The piers of the docks are made of jointed planks of metal. Some are designed to come loose from the land and rise with the water, kept from drifting out to sea by long anchoring chains, while others wait out the floods beneath the surface. Garden Circle has the most recognizable architecture of any place within the city, with crystal-embedded walls to sustain the vines grown outside and high above the flood line.

Geography

Constellation City is built around the Stellar Bay from which it takes its name. For all the bounties that the ocean provides, the strange temperament of the Drifting Sea leaves it prone to storms and ragetide flooding.

Natural Resources

The ocean provides Constellation City access to seafood and shells, though these are no longer enough to feed the population, necessitating exportation of food. Fishing folk must also be careful not to lure creatures from the deeper sea back with them. The nearby beaches provide sand and the occasional lightning glass. The sea itself is harvested and purified for salt and clean water, especially since population growth means that the rainwells can't sustain them either.

Alternative Name(s)

The City of Stars, The City of Sea and Starlight

Type

Capital

Inhabitant Demonym

Stelly (informal)

Owning Organization

Aphelia