Lodestone Mountain

Elements: Lodestone
Sealed away from the rest of the world, this craggy black peak is the locus that compasses point to. Most lodestones come from pebbles from its flanks, and they are very valuable far away from it. on the mountain, the intense force that effects Lodestone and metals, known as the Flux, is the basis of miraculous technology that allows for a greater quality of life for even the middle social strata than is afforded kings and princes elsewhere.

Demographics

outsiders are not allowed upon the mountain - and those inside rarely leave. as such, the population is an extremely homogeneous infusion of Lodestone.
Their religion/life-philosophy is based around the 17 Truthful Aspects, although the Mountain is often personified and seen as semi-divine itself. the 17 Aspects are guiding principles that must all be present to be a truly great and complete person. they are generally understood to be acquired in the order listed below.
these aspects are:

1. curiosity
2. obediance
3. solitude
4. thoroughness/fastidiousness
5. ambition
6. sensible compassion
7. inner calm
8. perception of nature
9. authority
10. restraint
11. perception of others
12. decisiveness
13. perception of self
14. inner union
15. perception of all
16. comprehension of all
17. union/completeness/death

Government

Lodestone Mountain is a Gerontocracy, with tiers of social power that are moved through as one ages, supposedly coming to understand each of the 17 Truthful Aspects more thoroughly. greater rights are conferred the older one gets, with the youngest of the ruling class being in their seventies.
As a result of this, social and technological change and development are nearly non-existent, with Lodestone Mountain existing locked almost in stasis.

Defences

Defenders of the mountain are allowed to wield lodestone weaponry – uzi-like guns that are fairly common on the mountain but much rarer elsewhere, where they are only given to agents of Mountain business. If stolen, they are extremely prized and deadly, until the bullets run out.
the population of Lodestone Mountain is kept ignorant of the wider goings-on in the world, but those higher up have extensive networks of agents and informants and take an interest in changes happening half the world away if they have any chance of affecting the Mountain.

Industry & Trade

the magic-technology of the Flux has many applications that revolutionise life atop the Mountain:

• moving components, allowing for automated doors, lifts, guns, and industrial and domestic machines.
• flying elements such as messenger drones, carriages, and shipping vehicles, collectively known as Fluxriders.
• long strands and loops of lodestone-infused fabric allow automation, although only very simple and repetitive steps can be taken, without complex trigger-points, choices, or anything - in this way they are actually less advanced than Strawmunculi, though far more robust and reliable.
• swirling iron-filing clouds act as movable barriers, three-dimensional displays, and much else

as well as being device-based, the Flux can also be deliberately manipulated by those with Lodestone infusions. Whilst most have only a few basic techniques, some individuals specialise in particular types of Flux-magic, some of which are listed below.

• basic techniques: interacting with existing devices to create effects like doors and fluxriders, attract small metal objects to oneself, that sort of thing.
• metalshaping: bending and working metal objects using Flux-lines. also involves locking Flux-lines into metal to reinforce it, especially in building-construction.
• instructing: creating the ribbons and loops that automate devices
• manipulating clouds of filings, often usable as weapons as well as micro-manipulators.
• scanning within bodies to identify illnesses and the like.
• navigation: very rare, currently practiced only by Rephen

In general, the Flux rapidly diminishes as one gets away from the Mountain, rendering these techniques much less potent as they rely on one's own inherent lodestone infusion for power.

Architecture

the architecture of Lodestone Mountain, as with all other aspects of life there, is advanced. Flux-supported towers reach for hundreds of metres into the air, with automated doors and landing-platforms for fluxriders at every spot. the arching, focussing loops of magnetic field lines define their aesthetic.

Geography

a single huge mountain, Lodestone stands a short distance from the shores of the Quicksilver Gulf. the lower flanks of the city are automated farms, with plants growing along flux-lines raising food for the population, guarded by warriors and walls. higher up the slopes, the buildings begin - a dense metropolis of impossibly tall, flux-supported towers.
As one approaches the peak, the buildings give way to parks and gardens, then to wilderness, and finally to the exposed and thin-aired Lodestone of the mountain peak.

Natural Resources

• Lodestone
• Natural Flux

Type

Metropolis

Population

800,000

Related Historical Events

• 8 LF
  Rephen leaves the mountain
• 22 LF
  Birth of Rephen