The Messenger Tower
"Imagine, if you will, that any message you want to send is a traveller walking on a path. Each traveller leaving a location is likely to be going to a different place. So which makes more sense; one hundred paths leaving one location spreading out to all others, or a single path leading to a decision of one hundred paths? That's why we have the Messenger Tower." - Jean AquilaThe Selfsame Stones are a phenomenal method for sending messages across vast distances. A pair of Stones are identical no matter the distance between them, even if one is on the Planet below and the other high in Layman's Belt. But as more and more people want to send correspondence across planetary distances, a new method had to be devised. A system was needed to take a message from one city and ensure it ended up at the other. First, it was suggested that every city create a Listening Post that would have a few Stones connected to each and every town and city. With the rapid expanse of the Belt, however, this method soon became unfeasible, and so people waited for another. Then along came a team of six with an idea that would revolutionise the way global communications worked. Together, they built the Messenger Tower. The principle behind the Messenger Tower is quite simple. Every single Selfsame Stone in every Listening Post connects to its twin in the Messenger Tower. Once a Stone in the Messenger Tower has a message, a Gossiper will move the aura of the Stone to one twinned to the intended location. This basic premise has allowed for communication ability across the world to sky-rocket with the Messenger Tower, situated near the centre of Caleb's Rest, becoming one of the most essential constructions to date. The Tower has been built to an enormous height, hoping to have enough space for any new towns and cities. Whilst this method still required a Listening Post in each major town, these buildings could be small and simple, manned by a skeleton crew in comparison to the central Messenger Tower, keeping the system cheap for any new developing location. The Messenger Tower takes the form of an octagonal skyward stretch made of orange and red brick, encircled with a fabric skirt under which citizens can come to send and receive their own messages. The octagonal tower itself is where the many Selfsame Stones are shelved, each sitting atop a small rune that glows when a Stone has an aura needing reading. Barring the ground floor, the Tower bears no floor not footholds, instead featuring a number of hanging ropes and chains. The Gossipers - the title given to the workers that transfer the message auras from Stone to Stone - are each required to develop their own way of ascending and descending the tower to reach each shelf. Of the original six, Jean Aquila and Francis Watersong, the two Water Eligni, used small mechanical devices attached to the hip to run themselves up and down the dangling ropes to reach each Stone. The two Fire Eligni founders, Marlyn Kindleborne and Ruth Pyralia, learned to utilise their innate ability to create high temperatures, crafting hot air balloon packs to lift themselves up and down. Kathleen Aerolina the Air Eligni founder also used flight, instead teaching herself to channel her element and make herself lighter than air to float up and down the tower. Finally, Betty Thundergale hung a handful of long chains from the ceiling, using her natural powers from her Lightning Eligni heritage to leap up and down the iron like a spark. Since the founders began working in the tower, many more Gossipers have been hired to keep the Tower running night and day, with many finding more and more ways to traverse the heights.
Purpose / Function
The purpose of the Messenger Tower is to be a location from which all communications can be correctly sent. Much like a crossroads, all messages are sent to the Messenger Tower to be directed along the correct path to ultimately end up at the Listening Post requested. This has allowed for mass communication to become affordable and effective.
Architecture
The Messenger Tower is built from orange and red bricks, looking much like the extended reach of the sunrise early in the morning, and as though it is a pillar of sunlight at midday. Despite the occasional, chaotically placed window, the central tower remains mostly undisturbed by detail until the bottom. At the base of the Tower, a large, circular fabric roof has been constructed, providing shade for those coming to send or receive any messages they may have. Under this canopy the Tower has eight desks, one on each side of the octagon, to allow for sending and receiving, and letting customers see as Gossipers rapidly rise and fall through the Tower's height.
