Vianne Tributaries
Vianne Tributaries is a sleepy mountain community nestled in the high valleys and depressions of the Medial Tesseract A1/A4/A5 mountain range. Aside from it's appeal as a winter playground for wealthy Voxelian vacationers, the Tributaries hold strategic value, as they lie at the heads of several rivers, which in turn feed numerous important reservoirs in the surrounding lowlands. The town also plays host to an extension of the Voxelia Academy of Sciences, who have installed numerous small observatories and the particle accelerator loop of the Vianne Tributaries Facility (VTF) - the previous home of the Menger Catalyst.
Demographics
Almost all of Vianners are New Voxelian by ethnicity, though around 10% of the population are Vale Verdials who work in the tourism industry in boutique service or retail roles. Poverty in the Tributaries is extremely low, with the average median income being much greater than that of the surrounding country.
Government
The local government is the Vianne Tributaries Municipal Authority, an city council elected by locals.
Defences
The Grand Army of Voxelia maintains a local garrison at all times due to the sensitive nature of the research being conducted at the Vianne Tributaries Facility, especially as it relates to the Menger Catalyst. Voxelia College of Bards agents are secretly embedded alongside the locals with authority to detain, interrogate, or assassinate any suspected foreign agents who might be working to infiltrate the VTF. Similarly, potential human intelligence assets are occasionally feted at the local resorts as a means of securing their cooperation.
Industry & Trade
Before an extension of the Voxelia Academy of Sciences was established in the town to build the Vianne Tributaries Facility, the primary source of income for Vianne Tributaries was tourism, with furs, lumber, and fish being notable exports.
Infrastructure
the town is typically reached via a winding mountain road; aircraft larger than autogyros would have a difficult time finding enough room to take off and land due to the mountainous terrain.
The municipal authority stores water in artificial reservoirs embedded in the central mountain to help maintain municipal water pressure; sewage is handled via septic systems connected to fuel biosynthesis reactors. Baseline electrical power is supplied by power lines from the Voxelian Medial A grid and by hydroelectric dams further down the mountain, but most local resorts also have dieseltech generators for emergencies.
In town, a ring road with numerous branches provides automobile access to the resorts, commercial squares, and residential neighborhoods. An aqueduct and a series of smaller canals also provides scenic transit routes for shallow-displacement riverboats, with the tourist boats fitted with runners to skate atop the ice surfaces of frozen canals during the winter months. The mountainside is crisscrossed with well-maintained walking paths for recreational purposes.
by Mael Balland
Assets
The resorts and their wealthy visitors have brought fine art, wine, food, and other luxury goods to the community. The Municipal Authority's tax coffers are well-filled at all times.
Guilds and Factions
The local tourism, aquaculture, and logging industries all have lobbyist groups who work in opposition with one another to influence the Municipal Authority's decisions in local affairs, with the tourism industry being the strongest faction by far. The Voxelia College of Bards and Voxelia Academy of Sciences also have lobbyists, though the former are far more discreet in their ministrations than the latter, and these groups seek mostly to conserve the status quo in local politics. The Navigator's Guild has a small guild hall in town for use by travelling dignitaries from that organization.
Architecture
Vianner architecture tends to incorporate high-sloped roofs or A-frame construction to deal with the frequent snowfall. Hotels and resorts tend to have ski lifts which travel directly from a high point on the building to a central station at the peak itself. Because of the vagaries of gravity in this location, the effective slope of the mountain is not as steep as it appears, making the engineering involved with this setup easier.
Geography
Vianne Tributaries is located at the vertex between Medial A1, A4, and A5, nestled into the depressions and hanging valleys surrounding surrounding the mountain peak at the vertex proper. The town is named for the various tributaries that flow outward from the mountain snow melt to contribute to the boreal lakes below. A ring-like formation of river tributaries (previously an open loop before the construction of a municipal aqueduct) connects all sections of the community together and forms a concentric inner circle relative to the Viann Tributaries Facility particle accelerator ring. The town lies mostly above the snow line, and the central peak has at least some snow on it year-round, though hiking trails have been carved through the wilderness to keep visitors coming even in years when skiing is not practical.
Natural Resources
Downhill from the Tributaries is a dense conifer forest that is logged for both commercial purposes and to create firebreaks. The local logging industry is regulated by the city council to prevent overly aggressive cutting, as the trees are part of the town's "rustic mystique" as promoted by tourism industry lobbyists. Certain species of fish, considered delicacies to Voxelian chefs, swim up near the eponymous Tributaries to spawn, making the local aquaculture operation quite wealthy. The surrounding woods were once packed with meat- and fur-bearing animals, but their populations have declined in recent years due to a variety of factors including overzealous hunting.
The tributaries around Vianne Tributaries feed into the Blue Silk River that sustains agriculture in the hills and plains below. While snow melt from around the Vianne Tributaries is not the only contributor to the Blue Silk's flow, it is amongst the largest. The Vianne Reservoir at the base of the mountain is a popular end-point for white water rafters brave enough to navigate the tributaries' rocky, winding headwaters. Far down the river lies the another reservoir in Silkenvault giving the Vianne Tributaries a great symbolic importance for the Council of Liars in residence at the capitol as the 'winter father of Voxelia'.
Alternative Name(s)
Vianne, The Tributaries
Type
Town
Population
5000
Inhabitant Demonym
Vianners
Included Locations
Owning Organization
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