Description: Cieloretta Spire is one of four ancient arcologies surviving into this age. The soaring, slender tower is made of an unknown metal alloy and unbreakable glass. It is said the tower is indestructible, and it will stand long after humanity has gone.
Closest to the ground are the fungus farms, Cieloretta’s primary food source. On the levels above are the workshops of Cieloretta’s craftsmen and residential districts. On the highest level are the governmental offices and the residences of noble families.
Ruler: Cieloretta is a democracy ruled by an elected council. All citizens over the age of 20 are eligible to vote, including the women. However, the system of election is a very convoluted affair of designated voters who appoint councils who appoint electors, which means that in reality the outcome of elections is controlled by a very small group of influential patriarchs. The current chairman of the council is Arturi Lorenzia, the charismatic son of a minor noble house. Lorenzia is very popular and seen as a strong leader, but he’s nothing more than a figurehead for the council.
Population: The Cieloretti are the result of carefully controlled breeding programs rigorously executed over a period of centuries. This artificial evolution maybe can best be described as survival of the most beautiful, for a very narrow definition of beauty. Cieloretti are tall, skinny, and young-looking, and prefer an androgynous look. Men are frail and grow their hair long; women have slender, boyish figures and short hair.
Cieloretta is an isolationist nation, and most of the inhabitants never leave the tower. The arcology is entirely self-sufficient and has no ties with the outside world. The Cieloretti revere a small pantheon of sky gods unknown outside the spire. Religious services are held on large plazas open to the sky.
The Warrens: Cieloretta Spire was built in an earlier, more crowded age, and the arcology is big. In fact, it is much bigger than is needed for the 70,000 people who live there now. Whole regions, some the size of city districts, are abandoned and forgotten. This is where the outcasts of society make their home. The ugly, the deformed – either by birth or as the result of an accident – and even overweight people have no place in Cieloretti society, but are taken in by the residents of the Warrens. Here they lead a meager existence of poverty, invisible to the general populace.
Excellent!
ReplyDeleteBased on the second picture I'm picturing the population as being overall technologically primitive, like jungle tribes living in a spaceship... though if they reverted to that state or were squatters who took over the tower at some point (from vanished builders) I'm not sure.
Good inspiration here, as always!
Gmail indicates knobgobbler commented on this post, but it fails to appear on my blog. I'm copy-pasting it so I can answer it here:
ReplyDeleteknobgobbler wrote:
Excellent!
Based on the second picture I'm picturing the population as being overall technologically primitive, like jungle tribes living in a spaceship... though if they reverted to that state or were squatters who took over the tower at some point (from vanished builders) I'm not sure.
Good inspiration here, as always!
Thanks!
DeleteI see them as an ancient culture living the same way of life for a very long time. Like, forever. They have many customs and rituals nobody knows the origin or purpose of anymore. Their level of technology is somewhat lower than in the rest of the world, but not too primitive. However, they're stagnating: They use the same technology they used 1000 years ago, without really understanding how it works, and without making any new innovations or progress.