The Piercing Spire

At the center of the continent of Meiritol stand the current pinnacle of Aethitek engineering, the crowning achievement of the Gaelin Meritocracy, and the building which halted the raging War of the Skies. A massive tower that managed to pierce the heavens with such ferocity that it caught notice of the gods. The Piercing Spire

Purpose / Function

The Piercing Spire was the joint effort of the major human civilizations of the Gaelin Meritocracy and the Mergel Confederation. The workmanship of the Mergel metalsmiths and the technical prowess of the Gaelin Teknikari combined under a pressure that can best be described as desperation for survival and rage at the warring gods above.
This drive saw the Spire - a 60 foot-tall spike of metal pipes, coolant systems, exhaust vents and Aetherium boulders that focused massive glass lenses into a focused Aetherium beam - built in three years' time.

Architecture

The Piercing Spire is, at its most obvious from a distance, a sort of metallic, brass spike not unlike the quill of a porcupine rising out from the center of the Meiritol continent. Along its surface are numerous plates of brassed, studded steel that form into a hollow-point tip, its peaks now blackened with the damage of the first firing. Running up the length of the spire are a number of tubes snaking from massive tanks that form the majofirty of the Spire's base, with large vents spread at important junctions up the middle section of the tower.
All of this metal-work frames an immense chunk of Aetherium that stands approximately 45 feet tall, which sits in a massive metal housing to anchor it in place and focus its energies. Numerous, braided metal cables wrap and tendril around the crystal, attached at random points like a tentacled sea monster. Set above the Aetherium crystal are a series of four circular frames that used to house glass lenses, each one growing smaller in size as they reach up to the Spire's hollow-point tip.
Surrounding the Aetherium crystal housing are a number of stations, each carefully and dutifully manned by Teknikari and guarded by the best soldiery available from both the Gaelin Meritocracy and the Mergel Confederacy.

History

The first firing of the Spire was all at once a success and a failure. The resultant blast of Aether energy was so violent that it literally tore a wave through the Celestial Sea that envelops Gaelinar, tearing through one of the celestial battlefields that the gods above were warring upon. At the same time, the force was so potent that most of the materials that focused the firing of the beam withered under the immense forces, rendering the Spire all but useless.
Still, the humans rejoiced as the darkened skies began to thin and the rumbling of conflict overhead stopped. Both sides began to set to work once more, applying the lessons learned from the firing of the Spire into new Aethitek as well as devising ways to reinforce the Piercing Spire to allow its next shot to be more directed and thus annihilate all of the gods above.