City of the Saved The City of the Saved was a metropolis the size of a spiral galaxy located between the end of the universe and the beginning of the next . The City was actually the interior of Compassion , ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) a Type 102 TARDIS . ( PROSE : " The Shadows of Avalon " ) The City was inhabited by every single human being that ever existed , resurrected after death in an immortal , invulnerable body . Those that were partially human were treated as second class citizens known as " collaterals " who were also forbidden from holding public office . Many believed the City itself was a goddess that they worshiped under the name Civitata ; in reality , it was constructed by two mysterious " Secret Architect s " ( actually the Universal Machine and Compassion V ) . ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) Protocols of the City . The City had a number of protocols governing its operation , some of which were natural to all timeships , not exclusive to the City . The most obvious were the invulnerability protocols , which kept Citizens from being physically harmed . They were still affected by force , but it could never cause external or internal breakage — even a gun could only disorientate at best . Citizens could still be killed if they left the City , but they would just be re - reconstituted on Resurrection Day . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " , " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) Time travel was also impossible in the City . ( PROSE : " A Hundred Words from a Civil War " ) However , natural precognitives retained their abilities . ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . Prologue " ) All Citizens could communicate with each other , regardless of the language of their original culture , in the Civil Tongue . Variants such as Gestural Civil and Radiant Civil existed for those who communicated non - verbally , and had equal universal intelligibility . The History Protocols stated that changes to the history of the Universe affected the City only by adding to it , never by taking away . Whenever history was rewritten by the War between the Great Houses and their enemy , the City ' s history was retroactively rewritten with it to include any new human beings or versions of them that were brought into existence by the change , but individuals removed from time continued to exist unaffected in the City . ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) History . Founding . After she was cut off from the caldera , the 102 - form timeship Compassion instead derived energy from human biodata . She had a scheme to generate power using two women with witchblood and a time loop , but she had to find another source when the loop broke down . ( PROSE : " Warring States " ) Compassion made contact with the Universal Machine , and together , they meticulously built the City of the Saved within Compassion ' s interior dimensions . On the day which became known as Resurrection Day , Compassion simultaneously reanimated every human , protohuman , posthuman , and part - human ever to have lived . ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . " , " Salutation " ) Diplomatic contact with Mictlan . In the AF 240s , ( PROSE : " A Hundred Words from a Civil War " ) the City exchanged ambassadors with Mictlan : Amanda Legend Lefcourt went to represent the City ' s interests , while the Celestis sent Lord Foaming Sky to the City . Foaming Sky brought with him a worldofme device , which he used to create an army of duplicate Foaming Skies . He intended to personally drive all the citizens out of Spinegrove District , declare it a Celestis protectorate , and have his people begin filling it with Investigator s . From there , the Celestis planned to attack the Ghetto of the Damned , capture its inhabitants , and take them back to Mictlan for interrogation . However , Spinegrove District was the seat of the Rump Parliament , who had the Order of the Iron Soul slaughter the extra Foaming Skies . Their originator returned to Mictlan in disgrace . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) The Timebeast Assault . In AF 262 , Lord Mayor Verrifant betrayed the City to the Great Houses by opening the Uptime Gate to Lady Mantissa ' s fleet of timeships . The timeships appeared in Snakefell District , and began devouring citizens whole . Inside the timeships , the citizens were no longer protected by the City ' s invulnerability protocols , and were killed . Some person or group — presumably Compassion herself — took control of all of the City ' s ( normally useless ) weapons stockpiles , and used them all on the timeships simultaneously , turning the City ' s state of grace off momentarily during the impact . This only stunned the timeships , while killing twenty - million citizens , but Compassion then completely excised the section of Snakefell District from her interior , and threw it into the universe immediately before the Big Crunch . All but eleven of the timeship pilots were able to escape alive , and the citizens who had been killed were promptly resurrected again . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) Civil War . Compassion ' s first timeship child , Antipathy , harboured an enormous amount of resentment against his mother not only for giving birth to him in the first place , but also for letting every human except him and his siblings into her interior . He created the Manfolk as an Oedipus - complex - made - flesh , and since they were created from humans they were resurrected inside her . He lodged himself between Compassion and the next universe , so that when UniMac helped dissatisfied Citizens establish a colony apparently in the next universe , accessed through the Downtime Gate inside the " Lost Planet of Erath " in RealSpace , they were actually entering his interior . In AF 291 , Czn Lon Shel returned from the colony with part of Antipathy inside her mind . He steered her to Manfold , where he emerged and began infecting the City with his mass . His influence acted as a wavefront , disabling the invulnerability protocols wherever it spread . Although Godfather Avatar was able to kill Antipathy ' s conscious mind ( leaving the " next universe " colony a brain - dead shell ) , the invulnerability protocols were still disabled . A Civil War erupted : Gnas Gortine destroyed the Timebeast Assault Memorial , Manfolk resumed their violence - focused lifestyle , Lucius Cassius Ignotus imposed martial law everywhere he could reach , Melicia Clutterbuck led a rebel army against him , and every possible difference of opinion , rivalry , or vendetta established in the Universe or after was given a new dimension in which to play out : violence . ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) Lord Mayor Ignotus began arresting Roman emperor s in AF 291 , targeted those who had been considered deities . He also tasked Resident Akhenaten with arresting Remake s of gods , claiming that the Egyptian deities could be used as personality uploads for the House - allied Osirian s upon whom they were based . After Pope Beatrix II and the Sons of Tepes sent agents to infiltrate the Villa Ignota , the Mayor ' s Blemmye was converted into a mal ' akh and , in turn , converted the Mayor into one . In retaliation , Ignotus had a pseudosun crashed into the headquarters of the Sons , but found that the Sons were killed by the heat rather than their weakness to the sun . Ignotus was destroyed when Akhenaten brought him to a Remake of the Aten . UniMac gave blueprints for a new Downtime Gate to Cousin Edward . A Citizen made contact with the Rump Parliament . Cousin Rahman used a worldofme left by Lord Foaming Sky to create a paraspherical pocket universe . Cousin Darren tattooed the blueprints onto the Citizen . Inside the parasphere , the Citizen travelled back in time to Resurrection Day . They were killed in transit , but their remains were found by the residents of Bonehall District , who used the plans to begin building the Metalith . Keth Marrane placed the final stone , and a new Downtime Gate was created , but it opened too far into the next universe , and what came through was the ultimate , singular descendant of humanity . ( PROSE : " A Hundred Words from a Civil War " ) This Anonymity began consuming City and Citizens , hoping to finally become " all " of its ancestors . It consumed until there was nothing left but Compassion V , in the form of Civitata . She informed the Anonymity that , without her timeship children , it was no more a compendium of humanity than her watch . And , though her children were never inside her City , she had still resurrected them , as thousands of backups for the City . Compassion disappeared and the Anonymity consumed her watch , but humanity was again resurrected , this time in a far stranger City , surrounded by a sky of stars . ( PROSE : " God Encompasses " ) Inhabitants . Although the City of the Saved was limited to the human species , it was still far from homogeneous . It contained hominid predecessors of humanity like Australopithecene s and " cousins " of " Homo sapiens " like Neanderthal s . There were innumerable types of posthuman , including cyborgs like the Order of the Iron Soul and the final living species of human . The majority of Citizens were resurrected , but there were also many City - born , who never lived in the Universe unless they visited through the Uptime Gate . Those of only partial human ancestry were the City ' s only consistent underclass , derogatorily referred to as " collateral s . " Collaterals were not allowed to hold public office , regardless of the customs of their home district . There were some non - human visitors to the City , such as Handramit , and there were a variety of pets , clones , and androids brought in through the Uptime Gate , but the only sapient non - human native was UniMac . As the embodiment of all human inventions , UniMac included every sapient robot ever made , and it built bodies for them where necessary or wanted . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " , " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) Aa was widely regarded as the person from the earliest point in human history to be resurrected in the City . ( PROSE : " The Long - Distance Somnambulist " ) Humans from parallel universe s - such as Roma I - were not resurrected in the City . ( PROSE : " Warlords of Utopia Prologue " ) Direct human lineage was not a requirement for resurrection in the City ; Boston Xialanthi was reborn in the City simply due to a few gene enhancements she received which made her 0 . 0037 % human . ( PROSE : " The Smallest Spark " ) Major factions . The City ' s diverse heritage and diverse set of connections to the Universe — in particular the War - time powers — led to a number of major interest groups . The Piltdown Mob was a political and criminal organisation which represented pre - human interests in the City . Its acts of vandalism made it somewhat disreputable , as did its founder : Arr Ri , a Neanderthal known in his first life for masquerading as a shaman to obtain art , food , and sex . The Mob claimed to be motivated by a culture which predated the idea of personal and private property and a religious dedication to ancestors . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) The Sons of Tepes were the main organisation of human mal ' akh . Unable to satisfy their natural bloodlust , they redirected their inherently subversive nature and became a criminal cartel . Their namesake , Vlad III , was not in fact a vampire , and had been actively opposed to the mal ' akh during his lifetime , so after his resurrection , he became a recluse and had nothing to do with " his " Sons . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) House Halfling was founded in Godsdice District by Grandfather Halfling to combat the systematic marginalisation of the partially - human . Its ultimate goal was the complete equality for those with alien heritage . Its membership was open to the fully - human as well as part - humans , and Amanda Legend Lefcourt represented its interests in the Chamber of Residents . In AF 84 , House Halfling successfully lifted the ban on part - humans competing in the City Olympiad s . Although its opponents spuriously accused the House of aims ranging from the combination of all humanity into a single individual to resurrecting all aliens , it was a more respected faction than either the Piltdown Mob or the Ghetto of the Damned . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " , " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) The Order of the Iron Soul was a quasi - religious group dedicated to the superiority of machines , composed of Citizens who had been converted ( often by force ) into cyborgs by pre - resurrection groups . Not all such Citizens were resurrected in machine form , so it may have been dependent on personal preference . The Order was used as a proxy force by the Rump Parliament , seemingly because of links to Cousin ( later Godfather ) Pinocchio . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) Due to their penchant for recruiting members of the lesser species , Faction Paradox was the only major War power to have a significant direct influence on City life . The resurrected - Faction was named the Rump Parliament , in relation to the Parliament of the Eleven - Day Empire . Unable to use the Faction ' s two primary tools , time travel and death , the Rump Parliament instead perfected subtlety and propaganda . he Rump Parliament ( in particular its Acting Speaker , Godmother Jezebel ) deliberately built mystique by spreading rumours of lurid blood sacrifice s and secret violations of the time travel protocols , amplified by obscure and ambiguous statements . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " , " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) The Ghetto of the Damned was originally a District composed of the human servants of the Celestis , apparently beyond the effects of their Marks of Indenture and re - resurrected after their recorporation in Mictlan . The implication that Mictlan would someday fall was partially responsible for originally attracting the attention of Lord Foaming Sky to the City . The Ghetto ' s first leader , Gargil Krymtorpor , advocated direct action against the Celestis ( or at least , their agents outside Mictlan ) , but his successor Nathaniel Wain steered the Ghetto toward diplomacy and politics , accepting all humans " royally shafted " by the War - time powers , like regen - inf soldiers and the Remote . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) Geography . Gates . The City had four Gates in the cardinal directions , immense structures through which entire stars could have been transported into the City . However , they were entirely ornamental , serving only to define arbitrary compass points . Behind them was only an empty void . The South Gate was a tourist attraction for attempted suicide , even though the void beyond was no more lethal than anything else . The City Council eventually had to install a net over it , to save the money that was being spent retrieving suicidees . The West Gate was associated with explorers , who built precarious structures reaching out into the void . Entire cultures grew up around it . The North Gate was a place for ascetics and hermits . It had monasteries built into its structure , recreations like sitting on poles for extraordinary lengths of time and gazing into the abyss were elevated to art forms . The City Council designated the East Gate a Civil Architectural Preservation Area . The entire area became Eastgate District , and the allowed visitation was through remote drone s and astral projection . ( PROSE : " God Encompasses " ) The fifth , most important Gate was the Uptime Gate . It was the City ' s only link with the Universe , a time corridor stretching back to the frontier in time , where a civilization called Ascension sprung up . Its location meant that it was only barely accessible to the War - time powers , keeping the City insular with respect to the Universe and its powers . At Ascension , there existed almost a state of truce between even the Great Houses and their enemy , partially due to fear of reprisals if any aggressive action were taken in the vicinity of the Universe - terminus of the Gate . The Uptime Gate was closed , apparently permanently , when the Civil War began . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " , " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) The sixth and last gate was the mythical Downtime Gate , the Uptime Gate ' s counterpart leading into the next universe . When a real Downtime Gate was constructed on the " Lost Planet of Erath " , it led to the interior of Antipathy rather than the true next universe . ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) A new Downtime Gate was constructed , and it let in humanity ' s ultimate descendant — the Anonymity . ( PROSE : " God Encompasses " ) Districts . The City was divided into many Districts , each of which had its own cultural and architectural theme . Districts included the Central District , the site of the City ' s government ; the Watchtower , a pillar one astronomical unit high , which actually composed " three " distinct Districts ; Teletopia District , a Hollywood - like media - focused District populated with Remote and Remake s ; the Romuline District , a politically influential District modelled on the Roman Republic ; Manfold , a secessionist District which was turned into a free - for - all battle site during the Civil War ; Kempes District , an often - rainy seaside town , but on City scale ; Paynesdown District , a film noir where every Citizen carried a useless gun ; and Godsdice District , the only place where collaterals were treated as equal Citizens . Every District chose a single Resident — through means ranging from hereditary matriarchy to gestalt consensus — to represent it in the Chamber of Residents . One thousand Residents made up the City Council , and every decade they chose one of their number as Lady or Lord Mayor . ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) The City ' s relationship with outsiders . The only entrance to the City was the Uptime Gate . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) During the Civil War , the Uptime Gate was cut off , preventing travel in or out of the City . ( PROSE : " A Hundred Words from a Civil War " ) Many time travellers made visits to the City , ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) including Iris Wildthyme ( PROSE : " A Hundred Words from a Civil War " , " The Book of the War " ) Marcus Americanius Scriptor , ( PROSE : " Warlords of Utopia Prologue " ) and Theo Possible . ( PROSE : " Happily Ever After Is a High - Risk Strategy " ) The City tried to remain neutral during the War . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " , " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) Lord Mayor Verrifant became universally hated by the City ' s inhabitants after he attempted to ally the City with the Great Houses . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) Lord Mayor Lucius Cassius Ignotus claimed that the Osirian s tried to influence the City through Remake s of the ancient Egyptian gods . ( PROSE : " A Hundred Words from a Civil War " ) Knowledge of the City . Because of its protocols involving changes to history , the population of the City was much larger than anyone on the outside suspected . ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) Due to the City ' s location beyond the end of time , the Great House s had little reliable information on it . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) Robert Scarratt believed that the Houses only discovered the City during the War ; he was not aware of it at the age of 19 , but considered it a possibility that the Houses may have just neglected to inform their soldiers of the City ' s existence . ( PROSE : " The Brakespeare Voyage " ) A large number of the time travellers who made trips to the City were secretive or " fantastically unreliable " on their visits . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) The Shopkeeper hinted at the City ' s existence to Michael Drake when the War came to Samhain in 1643 , he said that whether or not Drake had reason to worry about the War depended " very much on [ Drake ' s ] view of the afterlife " . ( PROSE : " Michael Drake " ) " The Book of the War " had information on the City , but noted that it may not have been entirely accurate . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) Indeed , the Book was ignorant towards the Civil War which had started in the City two years before the book ' s publication . ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) " The Thousand and Second Night " contained a mention of " Civitata , who was a city and woman both and the embodiment of Allah ' s mercy " . ( PROSE : " Head of State " ) Behind the scenes . The City was originally created by Philip Purser - Hallard for his proposed 2001 novel " Iris Wildthyme and the City of the Saved " . Many of the major concepts in the " City of the Saved " stories can be seen in the outline for this novel . The novel remained unproduced because Big Finish Productions decided that a series of " Iris Wildthyme " novels would not sell well . The short story " A Hundred Words from a Civil War " payed tribute to " Iris Wildthyme and the City of the Saved " by including a cameo from Iris as well as Rex Halidom , who would have been a main character in the novel . Over a decade later , the City once again almost appeared in the " Iris Wildthyme " series . Paul Dale Smith considered writing a short story for " The Perennial Miss Wildthyme " which would involve Iris Wildthyme encountering a dead companion in the City of the Saved . When Smith received enough short story submissions to fill the anthology , plans for the City of the Saved story were scrapped .