Post by Nina on Mar 28, 2023 14:42:23 GMT -5
The Azure Coast
Languages: Common (accented), Ningyoji
Population (souls): ~106
Population (proven sapients): 3
Area: Ranging between 0 square feet and the entirety of the land contiguous with the Tower (depending on the interpretation of ancient Ningyoji courtly script), with the latter estimate in itself oscillating sharply twice a day from zero to maximum depending on the tides. Commonly averaged to 'what ever one can see from the top of the Tower'
Location: Along the shore, half an hour's walk sunrisewards from Point Argentium.
Regime: Autocratic
Main locations (From the Sea, Landwards): Rocky Tide Pools, The Tower, the Cave, Cliffside.
Main trade goods and services: rope, thread, limestone, magic, adventuring, massage
Murders per capita: many
Religion: Animist-leaning, with shamanic and self-hypnotic practices
Philosophy: Very.
Culinary practices: Commonly relying on fish and other seafood, with freshly foraged fruits and greens, some insects, and a unique palette of poisons herbs.
History: The Azure Coast was founded as an expansion of the Azure Archipelago beyond the mists. A centuries-old Imperial Decree had offered the land around the Clocktower to the Kōshaku (Duke) in exile and, by means of diplomatic travel papers signed by the Duke themselves, technically speaking, ruling in Their Grace's stead is possibly not treasonous. Arguably, the Imperial Decree never quite mentions what would happen if a monstrous wave broke off the top in a Tower and landed it in a different location.
Standing military: Whenever not sleeping
People of interest: Nina, Gray, Piper, (the octopus)
Rocky Tide Pools
The pounding of waves has crafted cracks and crevasses in the rocks by the sea, inhabited by all sorts of creatures, shelled or tentacled, one more colorful than the other. It is a prime location for any hungry settler looking to gather easy seafood. Shorewards, a near vertical rock wall rises for about half chō (50 m).
The Clocktower
(also known as the Tower, or the Glasshouse of Poisonous Plants)
At high tide, the only curious thing about the tidal pools might be a glimmer among the waves. Glass. A roof of clear glass panes, embedded in a conical metal web. Underneath it, there are plants. From trees to tiny bonsai, from vines to flowers, most of the plants inhabiting the glasshouse have two things in common: they look cared for, and also they can cause death, pain, or both.
As the tide retreats, it reveals a building: heavy black stone set in a circular shape, supporting the glass roof, with narrow stained-glass windows. At the base it seems incomplete, as if it had been broken off and landed there rather than being built. From the roof, a wooden board hangs, proclaiming it 'Not a Wizard Tower'. It has no door. A regular sound, like a metallic heartbeat, occasionally reaches past its walls.
Past the black stone, past the curtains of poisonous plants, past a hammock and other hints that the Tower may be inhabited, one might glimpse an assortment of toothed, interconnected metal wheels that spin, spin ceaselessly, day and night. This is the Clocktower's mechanical heart – the artefact that gave it its name. Those who are attuned to magic might sense, beyond the wards in the glass and stone, the terrifying darkness at the core.
The first rule of the Clocktower: The Clocktower feeds on death and pain.
Underneath the black stone floor, in a gap between it and the rocky ground, lives one of the two beings that the Clocktower is afraid of: an octopus.
The Cave
Dug into the white limestone of the cliff face, the cave is the current home of the Azure Coast's inhabitants. It is located above the water edge just across from the Tower. Behind its weighed linen entrance, there is an entry room with a painstakingly crafted red-and-yellow tiled floor, and benches carved from the wall itself. The main corridor goes on forward, reaching what appears to be an immense reptilian skull encased in the rock, and then it keeps going between its upper and lower jaws. Smaller corridors darting to the side lead to other levels and/or private rooms. These may, too, host various curiosities. Nina's room is a large, well-lit space, with a basrelief of red flowers that she says had been encased in stone. There is a hammock and a brick bed that can be heated in the winter. Piper's room harbours a three-dimensional architecture, with platforms of wood and rope nets, a bit like an inside-out tree. Gray's room is arguably more mysterious still, by virtue of the fact that no one else has found it yet.
The Cliffside Garden
At the top of the cliff, reachable by a barely-guessed path in the rock, there is a small space for planting. Beans, spicy peppers, sorrel and wild garlic are among the plants growing in this half-wild garden. One particular tree at the cliff edge regularly hosts small items in its hollow for the nomadic dolls living in the forest.
Languages: Common (accented), Ningyoji
Population (souls): ~106
Population (proven sapients): 3
Area: Ranging between 0 square feet and the entirety of the land contiguous with the Tower (depending on the interpretation of ancient Ningyoji courtly script), with the latter estimate in itself oscillating sharply twice a day from zero to maximum depending on the tides. Commonly averaged to 'what ever one can see from the top of the Tower'
Location: Along the shore, half an hour's walk sunrisewards from Point Argentium.
Regime: Autocratic
Main locations (From the Sea, Landwards): Rocky Tide Pools, The Tower, the Cave, Cliffside.
Main trade goods and services: rope, thread, limestone, magic, adventuring, massage
Murders per capita: many
Religion: Animist-leaning, with shamanic and self-hypnotic practices
Philosophy: Very.
Culinary practices: Commonly relying on fish and other seafood, with freshly foraged fruits and greens, some insects, and a unique palette of poisons herbs.
History: The Azure Coast was founded as an expansion of the Azure Archipelago beyond the mists. A centuries-old Imperial Decree had offered the land around the Clocktower to the Kōshaku (Duke) in exile and, by means of diplomatic travel papers signed by the Duke themselves, technically speaking, ruling in Their Grace's stead is possibly not treasonous. Arguably, the Imperial Decree never quite mentions what would happen if a monstrous wave broke off the top in a Tower and landed it in a different location.
Standing military: Whenever not sleeping
People of interest: Nina, Gray, Piper, (the octopus)
Rocky Tide Pools
The pounding of waves has crafted cracks and crevasses in the rocks by the sea, inhabited by all sorts of creatures, shelled or tentacled, one more colorful than the other. It is a prime location for any hungry settler looking to gather easy seafood. Shorewards, a near vertical rock wall rises for about half chō (50 m).
The Clocktower
(also known as the Tower, or the Glasshouse of Poisonous Plants)
At high tide, the only curious thing about the tidal pools might be a glimmer among the waves. Glass. A roof of clear glass panes, embedded in a conical metal web. Underneath it, there are plants. From trees to tiny bonsai, from vines to flowers, most of the plants inhabiting the glasshouse have two things in common: they look cared for, and also they can cause death, pain, or both.
As the tide retreats, it reveals a building: heavy black stone set in a circular shape, supporting the glass roof, with narrow stained-glass windows. At the base it seems incomplete, as if it had been broken off and landed there rather than being built. From the roof, a wooden board hangs, proclaiming it 'Not a Wizard Tower'. It has no door. A regular sound, like a metallic heartbeat, occasionally reaches past its walls.
Past the black stone, past the curtains of poisonous plants, past a hammock and other hints that the Tower may be inhabited, one might glimpse an assortment of toothed, interconnected metal wheels that spin, spin ceaselessly, day and night. This is the Clocktower's mechanical heart – the artefact that gave it its name. Those who are attuned to magic might sense, beyond the wards in the glass and stone, the terrifying darkness at the core.
The first rule of the Clocktower: The Clocktower feeds on death and pain.
Underneath the black stone floor, in a gap between it and the rocky ground, lives one of the two beings that the Clocktower is afraid of: an octopus.
The Cave
Dug into the white limestone of the cliff face, the cave is the current home of the Azure Coast's inhabitants. It is located above the water edge just across from the Tower. Behind its weighed linen entrance, there is an entry room with a painstakingly crafted red-and-yellow tiled floor, and benches carved from the wall itself. The main corridor goes on forward, reaching what appears to be an immense reptilian skull encased in the rock, and then it keeps going between its upper and lower jaws. Smaller corridors darting to the side lead to other levels and/or private rooms. These may, too, host various curiosities. Nina's room is a large, well-lit space, with a basrelief of red flowers that she says had been encased in stone. There is a hammock and a brick bed that can be heated in the winter. Piper's room harbours a three-dimensional architecture, with platforms of wood and rope nets, a bit like an inside-out tree. Gray's room is arguably more mysterious still, by virtue of the fact that no one else has found it yet.
The Cliffside Garden
At the top of the cliff, reachable by a barely-guessed path in the rock, there is a small space for planting. Beans, spicy peppers, sorrel and wild garlic are among the plants growing in this half-wild garden. One particular tree at the cliff edge regularly hosts small items in its hollow for the nomadic dolls living in the forest.