Still Atoll
Still Atoll is an isolated, secretive municipality of the Hermitage Island Fellowship located on the Western B cube layer. Famous for its massive exportation of pink and red salt, it is also locally infamous for its hidden industries: slavery and the harboring of remote branches of the Avarix Corps pirate crews.
Demographics
Still Atoll is somewhat unique among Rostran-held settlements in that it's population is almost 2:1 Ovinex-to-Rostran in makeup. Civil Ovinex comprise the majority of the population, with a smaller number of transplanted Native Ovinex on the outlying islands. Nevertheless, unlike settlements within the Rostran Archipelago Confederacy, these ovinex form a sizeable underclass of exploited workers and warriors to serve the interests of their Low Rostran masters.
Government
Still Atoll is ruled by an oligarchy formed by the major salt barons of the city, known as the Circle of Salt, with each being a member of one of the original founding families of the settlement. The most powerful member of the Circle, known as the Lord of Salt, has ultimate executive power. From the Spire Keep, the mile-tall central tower that supports the Central Still Dome, the Lord and his Circle oversee all major affairs of state.
Defences
The outlying islands of Still Atoll are set with numerous watchposts, anti-air flak emplacements, and villages of Native Ovinex who will be handsomely payed for any slaves (A.K.A unannounced visitors) they bring to their masters on the main island. A little further in, several rings of shallow reefs form breakwaters which make directly approaching the island from the sea difficult. In addition to the (primarily Civil Ovinex) island militia, visiting crews of Avarix pirates are fed a steady stream of tribute by the Circle of Salt to provide covert assistance in repelling any attack from airborne foes (i.e. New Cobalt Protectorate vigilantes looking to recover lost bretheren).
Industry & Trade
The primary legitimate industry in Still Atoll is sea salt, with other associated products (i.e. seafood) being other notable exports. The lagoon within the Central Still Dome, known as Saltfloat Harbor, becomes incredibly briny over the course of the year, as the daylight the dome focusses down onto it evaporates water away from the salt. When it gets salty enough, massive locks are closed across the inlets to the lagoon and the water is allowed to completely evaporate, leaving the city with vast amounts of condensed water and a mile-diameter field of rock salt ready to be harvested. For smaller batches or to produce other products of solar distillation (i.e. fertilizer from solid waste), lenticular, glass-roofed 'lens-ships' are dispatched into the Central Still Dome to quickly evaporate off portions of water to achieve a similar result.
While nominally part of the Hermitage Island Fellowship, the lords of Still Atoll prefer to remain aloof from outsiders. To this end, traders from other regions of the Fellowship are restricted from entering the city beyond designated trade districts on the outer perimeter of Forge Harbor. Outsiders who wander outside of this district - and who might not be missed - occasionally 'disappear' only to 'reappear' as day-laborers beneath the blazing heat of the Central Still Dome.
Though they are required to disguise themselves to come and go without scruitiny, Avarix Corps pirate crews know that they can treat Still Atoll as a safe port-of-call. Trade district market stalls are famously reticent to ask probing questions about where a cargo - whether living, elicit, or legitimate - originates from. In return for fencing Avarix booty, the Avarix are willing to act in the defense of the island and its interests.
Avarix Corps Deathshead Symbol by BCGR_Wurth
Infrastructure
The most notable piece of infrastructure in Still Atoll is the Central Still Dome. The Dome, a massive, lenticular canopy of geodesic glass panels caulked together to form a vapor-tight seal, spans the entire diameter of the mile-wide lagoon at Still Atoll's center. The canopy is supported by observation towers at intervals to prevent it from collapsing as a result of it's own weight or inclimate weather events.
The water in the lagoon is heated by the light focussed through the lens, eventually condensing against caulked glass Dome; this condensed water then trickles down to be collected via an expansive system of troughs and pumps, supplying the island's burgeoning population with fresh water to drink and to irrigate their rooftop gardens with. Open-topped receptacles around the coast expose liquid waste to the heat of the dome, allowing these to be rendered down into clean drinking water and fertilizer. The Spire Keep, the seat of the Circle of Salt, also uses the heat of the water at the Dome's focus to operate what is, essentially, and island-spanning solar-thermal power plant. As a result, Still Atoll is somewhat unique among modern Rostran settlements in that it could persist as a settlement without a single drop of biodiesel.
Assets
Through the power of trade and slavery, Still Atoll is one of the most fantastically wealthy settlements in all of The Rostran Arc, albeit one which must expend much of that wealth on imported glass and various supplemental foodstuffs. Though dense, the residential districts of Still Atoll are externally rich in fancy architecture and internally rich in furnishings and decorations. The tall, khaki towers of the Atoll upper crust would draw throngs of tourists - if they were ever allowed to visit.
Guilds and Factions
The Navigator's Guild maintains a limited presence in the Forge Harbor trade district.
Architecture
Because of the city-state's relatively large population relative to its gound territory, architecture in Still Atoll is very vertical in nature. Tall, square structures of khaki, fire-baked bricks reach into the sky, terminating in broad rooftop gardens. The lower structures of the poor districts are located nearer the inner coasts of the main island, trapped in the opressive heat and oceanic stink of the Central Still Dome.
Geography
Still Atoll is actually comprised of several islands in a chain near the foot of one of the edge 'mountain ranges' (volcanic islands in the context of the waterlogged Western Tesseract).
Natural Resources
Early in its existence, Still Atoll was a prominant source of silicate minerals and lumber in addition to its current products of salt and seafood, but the former resources have long-since played out. There is some evidence that a pocket of petroleum oil may exist beneath the Atoll, but the ultra-isolationist nature of the island's inhabitants has prevented outsiders with the appropriate skillset for oil exploration from setting up shop in the region.
Hermitage Island Fellowship Flag by BCGR_Wurth
Type
City
Population
Approx. 180,000
Inhabitant Demonym
Stilov(s)
Location under
Owning Organization
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