Cosmic Observatory

The Cosmic Observatory is a city built around a research/holy site called by the same name. This observatory is a tower with a telescope on top to view the expanse of Neih. It was made for scientific purposes in 296 by the paraclete of Tuth and Frit of the time. Tuth was looking for chaos, and Frit was looking for order. This tete-a-tete rivalry inspired the construction of the tower, and research was conducted there for approximately a century. It was at a later date, during the Sundering of the Church, that the place received its religious significance. A mineosian holyman (whose name was never known, so people just called him the Holyman) dedicated the site to Virtue and prayed that the stars would shine with celestial light. It started as a mineosian tradition, but it quickly spread to the other branches of the Church, all with different interpretations of the events. But, during the Veritian Golden Age, it remained largely a tourist site.
In the year 1102, the Eternal Empire's Fourth Fleet led a bliztkrieg operation over the region, with the Ram Division being in charge of the subjugation of this city. They were successful after a couple months of inner city combat, but the bliztkrieg was halted as the city held an imprisoned emisary of Truth which was unleashed. This started a Truth plague within the Ram, decimating the division. Even in their weakened state, the Church did not attack the Eternals in their city as they almost had a Truth plague outbreak a couple decades prior that was stopped by a mercenary guild called the Rat Catchers. This event was kept from the public in order to limit potential panic. The emissary's later freeing and turning on the Eternals proved in the Church's favour, but nobody wanted a Truth plague to spread throughout the leaf.
After the Winter Contingency, there were about a couple years of mediocre attempts to rebuild the city, but the fear of infection made most abandon any such thought of rebuilding.

Demographics

As it is a religious and tourist site, people from all races congregated here.

Government

In its founding, it was run by the branch of Tuth and Frit as their bet was still in play. It switched to the domain of Mineos when it acquired its religious significance. When the Eternal Empire invaded, it was under the domain of the Branch of Hah, and thus had little governemental structure.

Defences

As it is far from the border, it has no walls. Its only defense is its anti-bug cannons meant to scare off hungry starflies. Powerful tools in their own right, but not equiped for more intelligent attackers. A more secret weapon they had availble was built into the observatory itself. A few decades prior, a group called the Rat Catchers had to trap an emissary of Truth, an angel from Mineos, in the observatory. Ussaire cultists, always interested in weaponizing their tools against great threats, harnessed the radiant power of this angel into a devastating cannon.

Industry & Trade

While tourism is their main industry, it did also hold a sizable shipyard built for research and development purposes. Though never a hub of trade, convoys from Acre to the south east (a region recently developed to curtail the advances of the Shogunate of Eastern Dakath) would stop in the Cosmic Observatory before heading to the more populated interior.

History

In 1074, a group called the Ratcatchers came to the Cosmic Observatory seeking a mystery found in children's tale called The Wish, the Elixir, and the Philosophy. They believed they could summon the Philosophy character at the edge of the world here and learn the great truth he held. Unbeknownst to them, the titular character Laern was right to reject the Philosophy. It turned out to be the summoning spot of an Emissary of Truth, a harbinger of a controling message. They lost one of their members, Xylene, briefly to the its spell, but eventually rescued him and trapped the emissary in the observatory. While they nearly unleashed a terror on the world, the Church of Veritas strangely praised the adventurers for their bravery, and had good relations with the mercenaries from then on out.
This city was the first to be attacked by the Eternal Empire in 1102 of the Veritian Calendar. It was conquered by the Ram Division and never reclaimed for an outbreak of the Truth plague broke out in the region. After the Winter Contingency of 1103, the city was left to ruin, haunted by the echo of Truth.

Points of interest

The Cosmic Observatory is the main attraction of this city. This majestic tower used to see the worlds outside the Veritian Leaf has attracted many a scholar and theologian, being a site of pilgrimage for the mineosian zealot.

RUINED SETTLEMENT
1104

Founding Date

296

Type

City

Population

100,000 (25,000 locals, 75,000 temporary visitors)

Inhabitant Demonym

Veritian

Location under

The Tip of the Leaf

Owner/Ruler

Council of Paracletes

Owning Organization

Church of Veritas