Cidium

***I could see the air quotes out of the corner of my eye.***

*The following is an extract from* Worth the Candle: A Brief Description of Aerb*.*

The continent of Widders is notable for being tilted, with its eastern edge three miles in the air, and its western edge gently descending down into the ocean. The Cidium Cliffs on that eastern edge present an enormous sheer drop, and it is within a crook of this cliff that the city of Cidium is located, spanning three vertical miles.

Aside from its verticality, Cidium’s claim to fame is being not just a city, but a City, a population center that has existed for either millions or billions of years, or, possibly, since before the dawn of time. Within Cidium, this is taken as a bare fact, but elsewhere it is regarded as simply being myth. There are, however, a number of ways in which this has been partially corroborated, namely through postcognition entads, a survey of local flora and fauna, and archeology. It is difficult to determine whether these amount to anything, and many of the postcognition entads seem to be affected by power-of-two limits with regards to items from Cidium, but there is enough evidence to suggest that Cidium’s extreme age is not simply a matter of local folklore.

The other claim that citizens of Cidium often make is much more contentious: they believe that Cidium is possessed of a magic which is the secret to its continued existence, one which ensures that a city will always exist at that location, no matter what might happen in the wider world or what calamity might befall the regions around them. There is no firm evidence for this claim, nor could there be short of a complete apocalypse that left only Cidium standing, but it is commonly believed by the citizens of Cidium, and informs at least some of their institutional recklessness.

Cidium has different policing for its various levels, but the most effective and widely feared are the Vespers, police that are inducted at a young age, then trained at stationed at the top of Cidium, just above the cliff edge. Vespers have a special entad-made armor that allows them to ‘air dash’, moving horizontally through the air in a short burst which completely and safely kills downward speed. When there is a call to action, the Vespers will step out on their sky dock and jump off, dropping down to the desired location and then air dashing onto buildings or walkways to avoid death or serious injury. Vespers are noted as one of the most effective police forces in the world, though attempts at copying their model have proven unsuccessful in other cities. Lower down in Cidium, more mundane police are used, with the Vespers being called in only for serious matters.

The majority of Cidium fits within the Grand Crevasse, a natural V-shaped section of the Cliffs of Cidium. The city covers both walls of the Crevasse, with bridges connecting the two sides close to the crook of the Crevasse. Transportation up and down Cidium is accomplished through several enormous elevators which run continuously, and whose sounds are one of the primary background noises of the city.

Cidium is divided into loose "tiers", which number either five or three depending on who you ask. In the narrow scheme, there are three tiers: Uptown is the top level, where Vespers are more common and faster to respond, where buildings tend to be in better repair because there's no risk of things falling, and where the best views of the Grand Crevasse can be had; below that are the Midlands, where cliffside caverns are much more common, where tradesmen and lower-class merchants make their business, and where everything is much more modest, though still mostly protected from the winds and ocean; at the bottom are the Tidelines, home to the worst elements of Cidium and the highest crime rates, where policing is mostly done by corrupt guards and Vespers are infrequently called down, where sailors proliferate, where trash from above gathers. Cidium is large though, and each of these areas has its own neighborhoods with their own flavors, cultures, local legends, and businesses. The two tiers that are sometimes not counted are Cliffside, the upper part of Cidium where the city creeps out onto flat ground, and the Undertide, a place where buildings have been built below the tideline.

Cidium is beset by a carefree attitude, and one of the highest accidental death rates among the imperial cities, owing in part to the dangerous heights of the city and a lackadaisical attitude toward building standards, especially in the city’s lower half. Some of this can be attributed to successive waves of weak government, because while Cidium has seemingly existed for a very long time, the last five hundred years have been particularly turbulent in terms of changes of power. This has left the city far behind on many metrics that other great imperial cities take for granted, especially with regards to standardization and order. The current city government consists of a nine-member city council, which is generally ineffective outside the top third of the city.

In terms of demographics, Cidium has relatively more amphibious and aquatic species than elsewhere, even more than other port cities. Similarly, the few mortal species capable of flight are disproportionately represented in Cidium, often used as couriers.

*Extracted text ends here.*