Cities on Maja

The planet Maja is naturally not the most forgiving place to colonize. As settlers arrived they quickly understood that the ground was rich in resources, yet dangerous, tricky and often unstable enough to be deadly.

In few areas the settlements stood the test of time. Today there are six major cities that make up almost the complete population of Maja, they are called "the Överlevande", "the surviving cities".

## The Överlevande

### Crohnskrona

Crohnskrona is the largest city on Maja and was named after the original inventor of the first Spike Drives back on earth, Dr. Tiberius Crohn. As this place was to be seen as the pinnacle of Dr. Crohn’s invention, the drive that allowed humanity deep space travel and to arrive at a place like Maja, to colonize and prosper on it, it was named as his crown. In old Scandinavian fashion, it was Crohn’s Krona.

Current population: 11 million

### Tialstad

One of the most important aspects of spaceship production is the right usage of metals, alloys and the like. The rich surroundings of titanium oxide, aluminium flakes and pegmatitic minerals containing lithium made an excellent start to constructing refineries for the rare substances.

Originally named Allistad, due to the early processes of aluminium lithium, the giant reserves of titanium found later gave the second biggest city on Maja its logical name after titanium aluminium.

Current population: 8 million

### Litholm

Always competing with what is now Tialstad was the city of Litholm, named after their abundance of minerals that contain Lithium in the ground around the city. Early settlers wrote stories of children playing in the dirt and coming across flakey ores never seen in Terran history. Those harbored so much Lithium, that Litholm quickly became the main producer of the alkali metal.

Current population: 7 million

### Carborg

Named after the element of carbon, highly needed and used in everything around spacecrafts. Rich in diamonds, the are around Carborg was quick to work the element in every way possible and needed. Different to the other big cities on Maja, Carborg got its name not only from old “scando” tradition (as the Scandinavian language mix is called lovingly by the people of Maja) but also from an actual castle built out of slate and metal by one of the first families to get rich through diamond processing and trade.

Even today the old noble family resides in the castle, even if only in spirit and serfs, as like all Fornax nobility they live in the Aeternus' Chain.

Current population: 5 million

### Graphå

Starting as a small settlement and almost given up on when Tialstad and Litholm dragged high amounts of settlers in, a few brave souls remained in Graphå, named after the incredible amounts of small and up to gigantic flakes of graphite in the earth. The semimetal was so abundant, the flakes were easy to spot purely by eyesight. In writings of the beginning of the settlement, there is talk about ‘cliffs of pure graphite’ and the omnipresent hexagonal shapes giving the area an almost surreal feeling.

Only due to Carborg’s ever rising need of carbon did Graphå emerge as one of the big cities. Those who left soon were to look back in sentiment, as the original settlers who stayed got richer and richer.

Current population: 4 million

### Aramsvall

Aramsvall is the odd one out. The least populated of the six big cities it is also the youngest. In fact, would House Fornax not have built the Aeternus' Chain and the gigantic Aeternus Links, the pillars of the habitational ring spanning around Maja, functioning as a transport medium to and from the planet, the city of Aramsvall would not exist.

As the Chain was built and the Links were buried deep into the planet’s crust, the very last link was drilled too deep for the highly volcanic area. Standing and functioning, the Link was usable. But the surrounding environment saw lava flowing like never before. The construction did shake the environment, so to protect the Link, Fornax engineers devised a plan to build a bulwark around it. Made out of modern aramids, this bulwark not only saved the Link and its functionality, it also drew in people from small surrounding settlements who did or where about to lose their homes due to the newly increased seismic and volcanic activity.

In a never-ending cycle the high temperatures of the surroundings combined with Fornax’ ingenuity allow for a growing city based on strong synthetic fibers. The engineers used natural heat to create stronger and stronger aramids, renewing and improving the literal Wall of Aramids, the Aramsvall, that protected the people. Factories were built, shipyards were opened, money was made. And always the Aramsvall rises.

Current population: 4 million

## Composition of the cities on Maja

With the creation of the Aeternus Links, the cities crawled more and more towards them. The closer you get to the Links that can transport you to the Aeternus' Chain spanning around the planet, the higher the buildings and apartments become.

All the cities are surrounded by domes of the most indestructible plastics, to ensure a breathable atmosphere and regulated temperatures.

The lower levels of the cities usually don’t have a lot of greenery. In the upper levels are blooming terraces of shops, parks, etc. Air filters always provide a fresh and healthy feeling.

Those terraces are popular meeting spots, have lots of shops, malls and restaurants. Most offices that work under the noble administration are also located around them. Closest to the Link are the most beautiful streets and buildings. Outwards the beauty fades and less and less varying stores are found.

Naturally those who have the most live in the highest levels and as close to the Link as possible.

Seeing little natural light, having bad traffic connections and being the least well maintained, the lowest apartment blocks closest to the Link are usually inhabited by the poorest. Due to the horrible traffic opportunities, workers living in the depths of the cities need to leave hours before their work shifts start and will only come home after work well into the late evening.