The Lost City of Saxon

The Lost City of Saxon is a settlement hidden on Jotun's North Sea where Fire Giants and Geit appear to live in harmony. Those intrepid enough to find the city will see a wondrous civilization with technology far more advanced than current civilizations living on the spheres. Highways of pure light snake between towering skyscrapers, creating a neon skyline beneath Jotun's northern lights. A large ziggurat sits at the center of the city housing a core that provides free power to all in the city to power their wondrous technology. Cybernetic implants and flying vehicles are commonplace in Saxon, and largely accessible to all of its residents. Fire giants and humans walk amongst one another on the streets, although their interactions are usually fairly limited given a language barrier that remains largely unpierced despite centuries of cohabitation. Only one Geit, called the Speaker of Saxon, can communicate with the Fire Giants and serves as a bridge between the two groups of people. While isolated, the city sustains itself and expands through scavenging for fuel and artifacts on Jotun's North Pole left over from wreckage of The Saints' War. The city's scouts--who also act as a police force of sorts--travel around the city and go on scouting missions riding flying kayaks called zodyaks.
Among residents of Jotun's North Sea, the city has a mythical reputation. Some scouts who have ventured to Jotun's far north might report seeing its skyscrapers in the distance or encounters with strange individuals claiming to hail from the city who appear half-Geit and half-machine. Few ever have the privilege of seeing the city, however, as it sits behind Jotun's most dangerous kayak rapids, Broken Skull Pass. On the rare occasions when the city does receive an outsider, they are taken to meet the Speaker of Saxon and shown videos explaining the city's history. After the first Geit civilization fell and was scattered across time by the Shrikevind, several Geit were left behind on Jotun. The Fire Giants of the city took pity on them and adopted them into their settlement. For millennia, fire giants and Geit lived in harmony in the city. Visitors are then encouraged to keep their dealings with the city secret, as they do not wish the current Geit civilizations' acrimony with fire giants to interfere with the same species' peaceful co-existence in the city.
Of course, all of the city's utopian appearances are a smokescreen for a darker truth. The city is ruled by a cruel Fire Giant named Saxon, who enslaved the Geit long ago to build an army that will one day take The Forge and allow the Fire Giants to conquer the spheres. The quality of life that the Geit residents enjoy is a product of compromise after a failed slave rebellion. The Fire Giants are still in control and could easily overpower the Geit who live among them with their stature and advanced technology. Nevertheless, the ruling faction of Fire Giants have found that allowing their slaves access to advanced technology has improved morale and productivity, so they let the ruse continue. Many of the residents born in the city today grow up without even understanding their status as slaves and subservient to the fire giants, as the Speaker of Saxon keeps these dark truths under wraps. However, a resistance movement called the insurgency lingers on after the rebellion, plotting to end the fire giants' reign over the city and prevent them from achieving their ambitions of conquest.

Broken Skull Pass

Broken skull pass is a rapid near Jotun's North Pole considered to be impassable. However, every now and then someone chasing the legend of the Lost City of Saxon will attempt to brave the rapids. In truth, the city's scouts are able to pass through the rapids' many obstacles with ease thanks to their zodyaks' hollow beam headlights, which can turn obstacles ahead of them intangible. However, a few pieces of infrastructure remain from before the invention of the zodyaks that could allow a very skilled group of kayakers access if they were quick on their feet or had foreknowledge of the pass's obstacles.

Exterior

The initial leg of the pass appears much like any rapid on Jotun, albeit littered with treacherous icebergs that will smash any kayak who loses control amidst the raging waters. Most explorers' voyage through the pass meet their end at a wall (literally) that separates the exterior from the outer cave. A statue of an owl perched upon an iceberg holds the key to passing this obstacle. It holds a hollow beam in its eyes that can be activated by pulling on a lever further up the rapids that depicts a sculpture of a sun. Attaching a grappling hook to that sculpture will flip it over as the rapids pull the kayak forward revealing a statue of a moon on the bottom and activating the owls' eyes.

Outer Cave

Travelers who pass into the cave beyond the owl statue will find calmer waters but even more deadly obstacles ahead of them. Scout drones patrol the cave, alerting residents of the city to any who come through the pass. Another wall separates the inner cave from outer cave with a scout drone standing sentry over the only opening. However, another hollow beam owl floats atop a raft near the wall, and with speedy action and a little forethought, a sneaky intruder can adjust its angle so their kayak passes through the wall rather than through the drone's line of sight. Alternatively, the beam can be adjusted over the scout drone itself to temporarily render its sight inoperable.

Inner Cave

The entrance to the inner cave sports a promontory where a Fire Giant guards is posted to keep watch over the city. If any of the scout drones sent forewarning of the intruder's arrival, the Fire Giant standing guard will be ready to bring their expedition to a fiery end. However, even without advanced warning the city still has a final defense mechanism. A clutch of boulders sits perched near the city entrance ready to be launched at any kayak who makes it that far. Escaping the barrage requires some quick reflexes as well as reorienting the final hollow beam owl statue that remains intact and perched upon an iceberg.

City Core

The city core houses most of the city's Geit and Fire Giant residents. Its architecture includes a mix of ancient stone structures from the city's founding as well as brilliant neon skyscrapers that have been built as its technology advanced over the years. Any who inhabit the city can draw free energy from the core built within a stone ziggurat at the city's center, allowing them to live comfortable lives in Jotun's inhospitable environment. Most residents of the city use clothes with heating cells powered by the core that keep them warm using fabrics that are both lightweight and stylish. Fire Giants regularly walk among the city's populace, and are generally regarded warmly by those unfamiliar with the city's true nature. Many pay the arrival of a Fire Giant on their street as little mind as a passing train, just another piece of their city's ecology.

Zodyak Mechanic

At the north end of the city sits a dilapidated garage operating out of the back of a seedy tavern. The mechanics there can fix any damaged vehicle you bring in, including the scout forces' vaunted zodyaks, and they won't ask where you got them. The bar is a well-known watering hole for members of the insurgency. However, the scouts in charge of policing the city allow their activities there (within reason) as the mechanics provide an invaluable service to the city.

Scout Headquarters

The scout headquarters functions as the city's primary law enforcement and military outpost. The most prestigious section among the scouts are those who undertake expeditions to the North Pole to locate fuel and artifacts for the city to scavenge. The Scouts' law enforcement section patrols the city itself to maintain public order and root out insurgent activities. Both sections make use of zodyaks, flying kayaks, that can hover over difficult terrain and use their hollow beam headlights to turn obstacles intangible.

Speakers' Office

The Speaker's Office houses the administrative wing of the city. Most Geit travel there to visit the Speaker of Saxon, Hakkon. Beneath the office sits the throne of Saxon itself as well as the city's core. The stone ziggurats, hundreds of meters thick, provides ample protection for the power source. Additionally, the prevalence of technology--including heating apparatuses, flying highways, and cybernetic limbs--has fostered a dependence on the core's power that deters would-be agitators from attacking, since even a successful attack on the core would lead to mutually assured destruction of both the Geit and fire giants living in the city.

NaNo Clinic

The NaNo clinic offers free healthcare and cybernetic implants for any Geit citizens of the city. Residents visit the hospital for both medically necessary and voluntary operations. Cybernetic limbs and organs are commonplace among the residents of Saxon and improve their lives in innumerable ways. The only downside is these augmentations cease to function if the city's core cannot power them for extended periods of time, fostering a certain dependence on the city's infrastructure among those who are substantially augmented. However, most citizens of the city lack either the ability or desire to leave the city for the outside world (which they are told is technologically primitive and filled with conflict), and view these drawbacks as a reasonable tradeoff.

Fire Giant Nursery

The Fire Giant nursery on the south side of the city is where young fire giants are reared. While these towering creatures give live birth, they do not appear congregate in traditional family units. Rather, the young are raised communally. In secret, Saxon has the city's scientist experimenting on the Fire Giant young by infusing them with technology scavenged from the North Pole. While this has resulted in some fatalities, he sees it as a necessary evil for to improve his people's capabilities and get them ready for the day that they will march from the city to conquer the spheres.

Fire Giant Agora

At the southernmost part of the city, many fire giants gather and converse in an agora. While their conversations remain indecipherable to the Geit citizens of the city, many of them still visit the Agora as a form of entertainment--finding their whale-song like language aesthetically pleasing.

Saxon Heights Apartment

The Saxon Heights apartments are a luxury tower housing most of the city's administrative and law enforcement officials. While few of Saxon's residents live in squalor, the Saxon Heights residents enjoy superior amenities as a reward for their service to the city. It also has the added benefit of allowing the Fire Giants to surveil Geit who hold government positions and are therefore more likely to know the truth about the relationship between the Geit and Fire Giants in the city.

Saxon Skyway

The Saxon Skyway is a suspended highway that snakes around the entire city core. Flying vehicles hover across the skyway's hard-light lanes, allowing quick transportation of people and goods across the city. As the roadways are powered by the city's core, law enforcement have the power to bring all traffic, allowing only their flying zodyaks to move through the traffic. This makes catching criminals and insurgents very easy, and avoids dangerous police chases that might endanger the populace.
Passenger vehicles and freight trains alike share the same roadways on the skyway, the latter of which haul in salvage from the North Pole that the city's scouts locate. Many trains are equipped with mounted turrets to protect their cargo while travelling outside the city and also to assist law enforcement apprehend fugitives and insurgents should the need arise. A few of the City's insurgents use the trains to slip around and in and out of the city unnoticed, including the Party's own futuristic hobo, Pops.