The Sites - Air (TIP)

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A visitor to the Boundless Blue will probably want to pass near the many fascinating locales of the plane, if only to see such splendor for himself. Some of the following sites are places of sanctuary, while others are dangerous and should be avoided by anyone without a good reason for going there.
==Borealis==
Borealis is a magnificent spherical structure built around a vortex that links it with the Quasielemental Plane of Radiance. Extending from the core of this glowing palace (which is itself several hundred yards across) are nearly a hundred spires. These reach heights of over 1,000 yards and make the whole of Borealis look like a spiny sea urchin or dandelion seed. No two spires are identical in color, and the whole of the spectrum is represented.
The palace appears to be made of stained glass, but the chant is that the panels are actually solid light. No one knows exactly what magic might have been employed in the creation of this mysterious stuff. At the same time, no one's ever been able to put so much as a crack in the place, so there's clearly more to it than just glass.
From a distance, Borealis lights up the sky with a blaze of shimmering colors. These ripple and scintillate, producing a spectacle more wondrous than any display of fireworks or pyrotechnics. As a body draws closer, the glory of the place becomes even more impressive.
The inhabitants of Borealis are not natives of the Elemental Plane of Air. They're a race known to primes as nyth, radiant creatures similar to the deadly will o' wisp. Normally, these scintillating beings are solitary hunters that roam their domain looking for living prey. Here, however, at this point where the plane of Air meets that of Radiance, a large number of nyth have gathered.
It is said that others dwell at the heart of Borealis, that the nyth are little more than guardians. This may or may not be true, but even planewalkers who've banged around the place for a while have seen no sign of any keepers other than the nyth.
Visitors to Borealis are neither welcomed nor turned away. As long as they keep to the tops of the spires and do not attempt to make their way into the heart of the palace, the nyth leave them alone. At the first transgression, however, a sod finds himself surrounded and attacked by the glowing guardians. Troublemakers don't live long when the defenders of this place tum against them.
==The Citadel of Ice and Steel==
Planewalkers often marvel at the fabulous floating cities of the djinn, which are spoken of with wonder throughout the multiverse. By far the greatest of these is the Citadel of Ice and Steel. It's here that the Grand Caliph of all Djinn lives, along with his council of six times six advisors.
The Citadel is an immense, wind-sculpted oval several miles across, forever hurtling through the plane of Air. The constant motion fills the entire Citadel with a permanent rush of air. Since the structure is perpetually falling, no gravity can be imposed upon it by any will other than that of the Caliph. Only flying creatures can move through the Citadel, due to the rushing winds and the fact that the place has no stairs connecting the various levels. An escort always accompanies nonnatives (in other words, nonflyers).
The Citadel of Ice and Steel draws its name from the wondrous substances from which it is crafted. One such material-known as eternal or unmelting ice-is a transparent substance mined in the paraplane of Ice and transported here specifically for the construction of the Citadel. What's more, fabulous, multihued steel plied from the quasiplane of Mineral makes for graceful archways and elegant buttresses throughout the egg of glacial rock.
Within the Citadel, numerous fountains feed a delicate lattice of canals that crisscross the strange structure, bubbling musically at all times. Galleries of fantastic art are scattered about, each dedicated to the work of a single djinni artisan. The pieces on display range from traditional paintings and statuary to more exotic flame-sculptures and chromatic-symphonies.
Smaller spheres of rock and chunks of ice orbit the Citadel, housing various visiting djinni nobles or the Caliph's own court. Towers rise up from the gardens that cover these slowly rotating globes.
Secreted away in the Citadel of Ice and Steel is the mysterious Invisible College, a group of sorcerous djinn who use deception and illusion to help defend the Citadel-and the entire caliphate-against its enemies. Chant has it that these bloods possess magic unknown to the rest of the multiverse, but an enlightened soul might learn the dark of it should he somehow infiltrate their ranks. Be warned, however, that a secretive group like the Invisible College's fairly suspicious. No one's on the watch for a trick like a trickster.
Rumors speak of a flying castle owned by Sardior, the ruby king of all gem dragons, which comes to the Citadel for lavish banquets. These same rumors mention the Grand Caliph's displeasure at the approach of the castle, for the ruby king demands much of his time and treasure. Nonetheless, Sardior's too important an ally to make an enemy.
One other bit of chant about the Citadel says that it can apparently do more than plummet-it can move about in other ways as well. The structure's said to have been spotted in entirely different planes, in fact. No one knows the dark of it, though.
==Taifun, the Palace of Tempests==
Taifun is an immense palace of stone built upon a great floating mountain near the border of Air and Lightning. Here, where the air lashes constantly at travelers, this citadel looms like a warrior's worst nightmare. The shipyards that surround it make the sight of Taifun even more impressive. Spreading out in every direction from the towering stone walls is a spiderweb of docks, and tied to these are dozens of airships.
Both the aerial armada and the fortress about which they gather are ruled by a tremendous basher named Haalifith (Pl/♂ air genasi/F 18/CN). Most folks refer to Haalifith as a ~wind duke," and he's certainly that. But the fact that his nonelemental parent was obviously a storm giant makes him a creature of exceptional power and intelligence.
From the shelter of Tai fun, Haalifith sends out his fleet of airships, each of which is suspended beneath a great bag of lifting gases. Chant is that Haalifith has decided that he is the only true wind duke and has set about the task of destroying all other air genasi. At first, most bashers considered him a bit barmy, but in recent years he has been recognized as an extremely dangerous blood.
==The Waterspout==
Not far from the Citadel of Ice and Steel is a magnificent place known as the Waterspout. This structure is unique in the multiverse, at least so far as anyone knows, and is a subject of many debates among the lanned and the learned alike.
The Waterspout is a pair of vortices, both of which open into the Elemental Plane of Water. A great torrent of water cascades out of one, thunders through 500 yards of intervening space, and then disappears into the other. Ripples of mist roll out from both vortices, so the Waterspout appears to hang between two billowing clouds.
As fascinating a sight as this is, however, its very existence poses a number of questions. Perhaps the greatest is simply this: Why does the water move from one vortex to another? The plane of Water has no gravity, and thus no pressure, so the liquid shouldn't be forced into the Boundless Blue. But the plane of Air has no gravity either, so the water shouldn't just fall from one vortex to the other.
The fact that the vortices exist in such close proximity and seem to be tied together in some fashion is also a mystery. Some graybeards claim that the Waterspout is nothing more than an amazing natural phenomenon. Others insist that it must be a construct of some sort, though they don't offer any explanations for the thing's origin.
The truth about the Waterspout may never be known, but that hasn't stopped berks from trying to exploit it. A warriorwizard of elven and elemental descent named Brahmas Pulivuin (Pl/♂ air genasi/F9,M9/LN) is in the midst of building a series of giant water-wheels that wrap all the way around the Waterspout. He hopes to use them to generate power, which he plans to store in a magical energy accumulator called the inverted sphere. Brahmas employs natives and nonnatives alike in the construction, even including a few water elementals that can dwell safely within the spout itself.
The cost of the project's said to be enormous, but no one's seen a hint to the end of Brahmas' jink yet. Fact is, no one knows the source of the cutter's money or even his ultimate goal. Some folks see the whole undertaking as sinister, while others dismiss it as merely self-serving. Despite the fact that no one really seems concerned enough to try to stop him, Brahmas has hired a good number of minders to protect and watch over the operation. Marids and djinn come and go, using the Waterspout as a transport between their two planes as they have for countless eons, but Brahmas and his servants respect them and don't hinder their passage. Chant has it that the construction crew has suffered from a few hostile attacks, but the problem doesn't seem to be a serious one-at least, not according to Brahmas.