Iron Ring
Overview
The Iron Ring is the structural and mechanical foundation of the city. It is dominated by the Mekanos Infinitum, a massive sprawl of technology that made Novus's capabilities as a flying city possible. Many areas of this Iron Ring are dominated by this machinery to the point of being impassable, and its labyrinthine nature makes continues to be explored to this day.
The Iron Ring sustained heavy damage in the fall and collapsed sections of the ring are everywhere. To this day, shifting and structural instability are concerns. The ancient machinery of the Iron Ring melds into stone and earth of Mount Abregoth's substrata. For this reason, the Iron Ring is not divided into residential or industrial districts as the other rings are, but is rather populated by various outposts, communities nestled amongst cavernous chambers of rock and machinery that dedicate themselves to serve various functions withing the Iron Ring. Some operate as waystations for expeditions into the Mekanos Infinitum, others as outposts and mining villages.
People who choose to live here are strong willed, sturdy folk. They are used to the lack of fresh air and absence of light within the cavernous chambers of the Iron Ring. Many choose to live here for the sense of adventure, of being on the frontier or to live far away from the machinations of the guilds or government. Outpost mayors and deputized wardens are the law and order in the Iron Ring.
The largest of the outposts in the Iron Ring is Steelclaw, a small bastion of civilization, importing workers from the upper rings to serve various functions of the city. The Brass Spears of Novus keep a presence here to guard officially sponsored expeditions to the Mekanos Infinitum and the Calyx Arcaneum, protecting outposts of the Deerai Collective or temples from The Council of the Hallowed Abbey. Steelclaw hosts the largest prison in Novus, which employs the prisoners as laborers in efforts to excavate large sections of the Iron Ring.
The Iron Ring is held in high regard by the Gearforged, who often travel to its depths in pursuit of finding inactive, dormant gearforged and reactivating them. This is functionally how the gearforged reproduce given that the knowledge of how to build new gearforged is lost. This can be a difficult task as there is always a risk that the gearforged may come back wrong or that they may encounter the Forgotten, gearforged whose degraded components have turned them in to mindless, ravenous husk who consume technology or leech of of Novus's power supply to unnaturally maintain their lifeforce.
The Iron Ring is beset by other threats that make it a difficult place to live. Monsters of all kinds from the depths of Vespala make their way into the Iron Ring and threaten the heart of Novus without the inhabitants of Novus on the rings above knowing any better.
