Thread: [WB] The 'Hub' World

EXPLORING THE CITY - THE PERILS OF NAVIGATION In a place that is the embodiment of passages, of changing, it seems almost natural that much of it is in flux. There have been no successful maps of the city ever made, as the specific routes from one place to another seem to change as soon as they are out of anyone's sight. The only way to navigate within the city is by landmarks, as there are a few major landmarks that never change, and people can always find their way to a place in the city based on where it's supposed to be in relation to the landmarks. The four major landmarks are the Mountain, the Castle, and the Sea, and the River that connects the three. Lesser landmarks are the seven Bridges that cross the River at various points. The Mountain and the Castle can always be seen above the fog, glimmering in the dawndusk, dim and distinctive shapes rising above the otherwise cloudy and indistinct mass of the city around them. The Sea has never been seen, just heard as distant waves beyond the widening at the mouth of the River. And the River, well, the River impedes travel from one part of the city to the other, but it can be another point of transition, based on the fact that cities and rivers go together throughout history. In turn, then The Mountain The Mountain is the only real variation in terrain greater than a gentle hill, and it also represents the only real terminus of buildings in the entire city. It's a steep forested slope, with a distant snow cap and a trickling brook that widens to a stream and widens further still to the head of the River, without a visible source of new water adding to the flow. Anyone who's been lost in the woods, or scrabbling down a rock-face, and turned around and found themselves somewhere unexpected may have stumbled through here at some point. This is where those who come through transitions in the wilderness end up. Moving up onto the lower slopes of the Mountain is also the only way to ford the water to the other side of the River without using a Bridge, but it's risky, because a transition could occur at any point when one is out of sight of the buildings, and that's most of the hike. One can climb the Mountain, but inevitably one ends up on a real mountain before one gets too far. Mind you, sunrises and night skies around mountains are generally spectacular, so if one is seeking natural beauty, it's rewarding, but if one is trying to explore the City's unique dimension, it really doesn't help. There are a few cave mouths dotting the slopes those provide as much opportunity from transition as the rock face does, and usually even more quickly than average. The Castle The Castle is the most impressive structure in the entire city. It's not actually a castle, but is more like a weird alien pyramid. It straddles the River like a gigantic bridge, faced with stone and metal whose colors cannot be entirely determined in the dimness. The buildings leading up to it on both sides of the River are taller than anywhere in the city, faced with smoother plaster, or shiny stone. If one squints a little, it can look like a modern city, and in fact, those neighborhoods are often the point of transitions to and from the more upscale neighborhoods one finds obsidian and smoothed plaster at one glance, gets distracted by nearly tripping over something, and looks up to find glass, steel, and poured concrete. The strange architecture of the Castle has not been explained it resembles, but not exactly, ancient buildings on literally millions of worlds, but the details are apparently unique. Wide gates admit anyone who cares to enter, and the passages and hallways and broad chambers are open to all, just as the rest of the City, though the higher one goes in the Castle structure, the narrower the passages get. A higher vantage point doesn't reveal much more about the city, as the borders are cloaked in fog, and no one's vision can see more distant details than the Mountain. And there is a limit to how high one can go the tallest central spires are closed off from the public, the only detectable entrance being the High Gates, and those are not only closed but guarded, as well, as will be described shortly. As this is the largest and most impressive building in the City, it has attracted more than its share of egotistical visitors seeking to claim it as their own. But taking up residence there as one would in any other building is discouraged, somehow many have tried, but most end up feeling unnerved, unwanted, and realize it's not as self-aggrandizing as they had thought. Those that are truly stubborn, who put up with the nightmares and feelings of dread and paranoia end up turning around and finding themselves faced with the Castle's guardians. The guards of the Castle and the High Gate therein, the only known true natives of the Transitional Dimension, are not beings as anyone has been able to define them. They appear to be oddly-proportioned, just-slightly-alien suits of armor, each one unique in greater or lesser degree from all the others. Some are simple to the point of being an abstraction of armor, others are as ornate as any Renaissance noble's personal ceremonial garb. Whether there are hundreds of them hidden somewhere, or only a few that change appearance as frequently as the City changes its street plan, it's true that no two of them look alike, and not one has been seen more than once. Two always stand, immobile and impervious to anything, at each side of the High Gates, tall spears in hand. When someone outstays their welcome in the Castle, two or three of them show up to evict him or her or it. A very few times in the known history of the City, as many as five have left the Castle to shut down particularly bad episodes of violence, destroying indiscriminately until the problem went away. And they are well suited for that duty, because nothing appears to be able to damage them, nothing can hold them for very long, and while they can be avoided and dodged, they possess an unstoppable strength that cannot be resisted indefinitely. One of the recorded uses of nuclear weaponry within the City involved these armored guardians, and while the buildings around the bomb were obliterated, the warriors themselves simply picked themselves up and proceeded on their mission, unimpaired. When they are seen in motion, it's always bad news for someone. In this dimension, they the ultimate authority. What cannot be explained is why they exert that authority so rarely, and only in extreme circumstances. All known detection methods, human or alien, technological, mystic, psychic, or biological, can determine nothing about them. They are not living creatures, not machines, not magical, not elemental. Their armor cannot be analyzed, they make no noise, and don't seem to communicate in any detectable way. In human language, someone once nicknamed them Janissaries, and it somehow stuck. They are the only known representatives of whatever it is that keeps the City in existence, and they don't communicate anything with those who visit. And whatever else it is that resides here, whatever it is that gives the Janissaries their orders, has to be behind the High Gates. That golden portal, inscribed with ancient designs that have defied identification and translation for all the time they have been in existence, stay closed to all. Some have claimed to have seen the Gates open, but they have either been lying or have been tricked in some fashion. Supplicants come to ask the presumed masters of the dimension for favors, to make demands, to plea for guidance or assistance. They speak to the closed gates, under the impassive gaze of the Janissaries, and when they're done, there is no answer, and they must leave. Sometimes, luck befalls them, more often it doesn't. But no one could really say whether or not it's an answer to their pleas statistically, there's no proven advantage to asking the Gates, as local slang would have it. But still, asking the Gates is better than having no hope at all. The Sea The Sea has never been seen, but downstream from the Castle, one can hear the sound of waves lapping an unseen shore. The River widens to where one cannot see the other side in the mist, and those either walking or sailing on the River toward the sound of the Sea inevitably make a transition before they actually reach them. On occasion, a vessel of some sort will come sailing into the River from an unguessable sea, and may stay a while, but it has been nearly unheard of for the same vessel to make the unexpected voyage twice. The River The River is just that a river, flowing from the Mountain to the Sea. Its channel is narrow in some places, making the waters fast, and broad in others, making the current lazy, but it always flows steadily and cleanly. It passes under seven Bridges and the Castle which acts as an eighth Bridge, but is too massive, and the passage across too indirect, to really count as a true bridge in its path, and then empties into the Sea, as described above. Of the Bridges, all are high enough to allow what few ships are on the water passage, but there is much more water traffic downstream from the Castle than upstream. The flow of the water under the Castle is frequently through small channels and passages, almost caves or lava tubes, with only a couple of relatively narrow tunnels allowing surface traffic through. The Bridges Each Bridge has its own character and style. The Wooden Bridge is closest to the Mountain, and is a primitive wood-and-pilling bridge crossing the river at its relative narrowest point within the city itself. The apex of the Wooden Bridge is a covered bridge structure straight out of the tale of the Headless Horseman. The Stone Bridge is fieldstone and slab, and always seems to be crumbling, though it has appeared that way for time immemorial, and has never quite collapsed. The Market Bridge has stalls and stands for vendors selling wares, and they do, constantly. Some call it the Noisy Bridge from all the salespeople trying to get passerby to purchase their wares. This broad bridge, and the buildings and squares on either end, comprise the major market area of the City, whatever passes for the main bazaar of the place. The Magic Bridge also called the Rainbow Bridge, or the Viking Bridge by some humans is a flattish arch that seems to need no supports or pilings, stretching simply from one bank to the other. It is no more than a few inches thick, yet appears impenetrable and impervious to anything. It also glows very faintly, and upon examination, displays distinct color bands, of the ROYGBIV variety. Between the Magic Bridge and the Grand Bridge sits the Castle. The Grand Bridge sometimes called the Gothic Bridge is a large stone span with three uprights, all decorated or overdecorated with carvings, gargoyles, alien bas-reliefs, and other baroque accouterments. Outside of the Castle, it is the most decorated native structure in the City, and it can be extremely creepy. The Steel Bridge is the longest of the bridges, and it seems to be the most modern in design, made of rusty but never rusted through metal and stone. It's a suspension bridge, with three tall spires from which chains descend to support the actual span of the bridge. The Port Bridge is the bridge closest to the Sea, and it is the longest and most solidly built, short of the Castle itself. It has moorings at water level, docks and simple cranes and winches build into the structure of the bridge so that the few ships that find their way here can moor and load and unload cargo. A sailing vessel lost at sea is the only way more than a handful of people can arrive at one time, and unfortunately no guide has managed to reliably gimmick a transition for a whole boat at once.