Laknor (Lack-nor)

Summary

Immensio and Lophern share a single, generally large land connection. Toward the relative southwest, a V-shaped mountain range begins forming. One of many offshoots from Mount Skyreach, it is in the deepest heart of the range that Laknor stands. Upon the backs of miners, gem collectors, and others drawn to the richness of mountains, a ramshackle mining town grew. Their wealth far outstripped everything else, to the point of wanting for common goods and food enough to survive. Such a lopsided situation drew endless merchant caravans, shipping in vast amounts of mundane goods for a queen's ransom of riches in return.
It would be from the muurun Stoneshatter family that Laknor's fate would change. A family of miners who long ago became quarry owners, they were one of a dozen who held Laknor's reins. Inda Stoneshatter, matriarch of the family at the time, had a hunger for engineers. Anyone who could cobble together new inventions for what Laknor needed would be more than set for life on her payroll. Of the many prospective candidates her grasp extended toward, one of them was named Khaaestra.
Although rocked by scandal, Inda recognized Khaaestra's genius as something far beyond others. A genius among geniuses, so she boldly proclaimed once. No one really knows how much she paid to draw Khaaestra's attention, but it must've been a fearsome sum. The Stoneshatter coffers were, for the first time in generations, counted on one paw for a while. By the time of Khaaestra's arrival, Laknor was already changing.
Gripped by a dream for a place of her own, Khaaestra had spent years drafting the plans for a city. Everything from the sewers upward had been designed, redesigned, thrown out, and remade by her. An ardent observer of holism, for Khaaestra to reach great heights, she needed to stand upon greater foundations. Inda, captivated by the design of it all, set the Stoneshatter's upon Khaaestra's vision. So their properties were torn asunder, reshaped, and then built upon.
The other families took note of what happened immediately. Their skepticism turned to disbelief as Khaaestra's (then) advanced workshops were completed. Efficient sewage, homes for commoners a noble would be jealous of, streamlined and productive foundries, and so much more became their hallmarks. Rather than risk civil war or subterfuge, Khaaestra had Inda work on shaping a more cooperative council. Her talents would be available to the entirety of Laknor, but others had to listen.
Diplomacy, coercion, greed, and so many more tools unfolded to ensnare the other families. In the end, Khaaestra got her council, and so her grand design unfolded across Laknor. Her workers proceeded with the slow, methodical dismantling and rebuilding of the land. What existed before awaited only to be destroyed to make space. Such sudden changes stirred no end of discontent, especially among the many long lived families of the region. Whether convinced or forced to, they were powerless to impede Khaaestra.
The work would take decades to fully realize, but Khaaestra had the time. The mortal-lived peoples around her were the ones that did not. As Inda and others succumbed to age, they left with a hopeful belief of Laknor's future prosperity. It was what Khaaestra promised them, and thus far she'd ever delivered on her exacting promises. The newer generations, lacking in wisdom and experience both, were entirely pliable to Khaaestra's machinations. She maintained the privy council, creating a governmental body that was ostensibly democratic. All of Laknor, however, would invariably serve her interests.
Vast walls were built up, ridiculously fortified even by Veltrona's standards. Designed to deter any kind of Relentless herd or pack, it also posed a nearly insurmountable challenge to invading armies. Laknor's geographic position made it a long corridor with myriad small approaches that Khaaestra exploited to their maximum potential. The many mountain roads and passages spun out like a spider web, ushering traders and people with certain safety on their stable roads. Woe be to those who tried exploiting these same routes, for no end of destructive traps awaited them.
Because of that same sloping geography, Laknor turned into a layered city. Twelve massive terraces defined it, bottom-to-top, with many smaller ones branching off of them. Much of Laknor built directly into cliff-sides of the surrounding mountains, fusing construct and nature together. Where horizontal space failed, taller buildings arose instead. A land that once struggled to hold thousands grew to support tens, then hundreds of thousands instead.
Khaaestra spared no expense in trying to attract people–her future workers–to Laknor. Advertising merchants, paying for travel and arranging the caravans herself, and reputation all formed her reasonably effective campaign. Reliable food, safety, work, and prosperity certainly helped her cause in that respect. Perhaps more than she herself expected, for many of the struggling villages and tribes around Laknor slowly joined within it as well.
In the hundreds of years since Khaaestra's settling, Laknor's past self became nothing more than a distant memory. Exacting detail and controlled quality mark everywhere Khaaestra's people worked. A city of designed perfection, marred by the demands of its citizens and all their imperfect, chaotic needs. Miles of workshops, mining quarries, space-efficient houses, vertical farms, entertainment venues, and more all sprung up. Colorful parks, planters, and cultivated gardens met performance plazas, theaters, and venerated places of worship. Were it not for its remoteness of location, Laknor would be a jewel of Lophern–and a great many consider it so anyway.
For Khaaestra, it is a safe haven entirely under her control, something which few baarham can confidently claim.

Demographics

Baarham

Baatari

Humanity

Muurun

Nebubis (minority)

Gehurm (minority)

Harpy (minority)

Rachtoh (vast minority)

Laknor's open door policies make it an easy hub for interspecies cohabitation. However, its remote location means people have to go out of their way to visit, let alone live there. That and its mountainous environment is exceedingly harsh, even with its innovations.

Infrastructure

While Khaaestra's questionable sense of aesthetic design has its fans and opponents, Laknor undoubtedly hosts incredible infrastructure. Fully functional sewage systems and water-pressure tanks have lines running to every household, building, and even communal locations like parks. Meticulously arrayed roads and walkways allow for continual traffic, from those simply walking to hugely drawn carriages and caravans.
Alongside these things run mana current lines, delivering all the differently processed manas that machkin technologies require to work. Built to the immortal baarham's standards, these basic foundations emphasize durability and quality almost unmatched on Veltrona.
To Khaaestra and her architects, their goals were defined by two chief concerns: longevity, and expandability. A tunnel once carved through stone can only do what it was designed to do. To expand on that means destroying the existing tunnel and carving open even more stone permanently. Hence, Khaaestra designed Laknor to not only suit its immediate needs, but have room to grow without repetitious busywork.
The massive underground tunnels that support Laknor are, even in its current form, only at half-capacity. Once expansive, desolate roads eventually filled with caravans and industrious people as the city grew. Hence, Laknor itself is quite large, but its population hasn't fully hit capacity yet.
The over-engineering from this perspective is quite comical, and absurd by the standards of mortal species. It is a project even multi-generational queens would have trouble fulfilling; if not in the people-power required, then the politics of the actual management. Thanks to the 'expandability' clause of Khaaestra's planning, existing infrastructure can be retrofitted with newer technologies as they're made. Considering the impossibility of knowing exactly what those new technologies are, that alone is something a lot of aspiring engineers come to study.

The Four Bastions

Twelve enormous terraces are the bedrock of Laknor as a city. Khaaestra, very early on in her 'rule', reclaimed and sculpted as much available land as possible. That which couldn't be was quite literally solid mountain rock, and too costly to shave away. While she initially envisioned giving each terrace a dedicated purpose, it didn't mesh with the populace at all. Furthermore, her designs were too inflexible for other people to work with. No one was going to travel the entire city just to get to their job. Her 'each to a purpose' ideas were shelved in the face of such immense disapproval.
Instead, Khaaestra sorted the twelve into four separate groups of three. Each group would have its own internal needs handled, while still being interconnected to its neighboring sisters. The idea was that each 'bastion' could govern its own wants and needs, growing and changing better to meet them. It also helped to satisfy her privy council, who distinctly wanted their own territories to rule over. A happy coincidence emerged in that such a design helped to better subdivide and handle demographics as well.
Eventually, the four bastions took on differing identities. Whether because their leaders wanted to or the people naturally gravitated toward certain specializations over others. While they maintain a sense of uniform features, these unique deviations helped shape Laknor for generations to come. The four, respectively, are:

Angha

The 'entrance' bastion to Laknor, Angha houses the bulk of its military personnel, their on-site armaments manufacturing/maintenance, and everything else they'd need. Conveniently, most of the trade guilds and anyone dealing with merchants also live and work in Angha. It is an extremely busy bastion as a result, and arguably one of the noisiest to live in (or next to).
Angha adheres to Khaaestra's efficient and purpose-oriented architecture almost to a fault. Smooth, sheer black surfaces meet with sharp or meticulously rounded edges. Surgical cuts and grooves save on material expenditure without compromising integrity. Special inlays house magical devices, either to reinforce defenses or offer a means of attack. From those entering the outside, or otherwise unfamiliar with the bastion, its aesthetic can be politely called 'intimidating'. It's something that hence informed the attire of the military, who exploit the fearsome aesthetic.
Two distinct walls surround Lankor. A general security wall acts as a deterrent to small-scale problems, such as newly formed Relentless and wandering beasts. Effort was made to build it across things like chasms, so it is a 'complete' wall. The second wall is specifically the one built onto Angha that faces the 'open' side of Lankor. In other words, its a wall built to withstand invasion from outside powers on the 'one direction' they could come from. Its size and height are so grand it could be likened to a small city instead of a mere stone-and-metal fortification. Deservedly named the Unbreakable Gate, no invasion force has ever succeeded in passing through.

Munnu

The second bastion, situated after Angha but before Nomm. The civil homes of the military, households of traders, and many people whose business is outside of Laknor live here. It's a generally rich bastion, loaded with entertainment venues from quiet libraries to an enormous gladiatorial colosseum. A lot of different spires dot Munnu, acting as the central storehouses for most of Laknor's goods. Between and around these spires do different buildings grow, exceeding their original foundations in doing so. While it verges on being cramped, strict public policy means the pathways remain clear for traffic.
Thanks to its 'central' location, Munnu offers a lot to everyone of any kind. Small to great things are born upon its terraces all the time. It could reasonably be called the heart of Laknor as a result. It eventually pushed the limits of its terraces, and the edges of Munnu stretch into the surrounding mountains. There, veltron mages sculpt the stone, literally carving out new homes and buildings directly into it. The richer and more affluent citizens move into these mountain villas, and so a lot of attention goes into creating them.
A titanic statue stands upon the 'northern' edge of Munnu. A humanoid figure, devoid of any species identifying features, holds aloft a hammer and a pickaxe. The symbols of Laknor, it honors the heritage of the miners and workers who helped to tame the mountains. At the statue's feet lay huge doors, which leads to an enormous tomb complex. There, said miners and workers from throughout the ages are interred. Everything but their skulls is cremated, and the skulls are affixed to the jars containing their remains. So it is the space-efficient method means the many thousands from throughout the centuries can rest together quite comfortably.
Various other tombs and graveyards are erected around the worker's statue, so the whole area is regarded as the "northern resting grounds".

Nomm

The third bastion, situated between Munnu and Zadar. In many ways the sister of Munnu, much of the overflowing wealth fed into Nomm's development. However, its many families have long upheld their mining, labor, and worker traditions. It is here many who work the mountains or till the vertical farms live, along with all kinds of artisans. Nomm shows the greatest diversity of architecture, with all sorts of aesthetics sculpting its solemn stone. Because of their need for land to do their work, a lot of Nomm's surrounding mountains have open pathways into it.
Thanks to that same open space, a lot of parks, gardens, and other recreational areas fill Nomm. Most are usually situated in areas too complex or unwieldy for larger buildings or workshops. A few dedicated, open-air 'grand' parks act as ceremony grounds and luxurious locations to visit. A water park in the southern reaches is the most popular one to visit. Khaaestra, having seen desolate beaches and their elegant beauty, sought to recreate them in Laknor. While it lacks the unbound horizon of the endless ocean, she captured everything else. Well, maybe except the heat; Laknor's weather is normally cold. Special heating pipes help to create 'hot water' tubs and pools, though.
The central roads through Nomm and their immediate surroundings are quite strict. These vital connections ensure high capacity traffic between Munnu and Zadar, but also let raw resources flow toward Zadar. They could be likened to artificial rivers, and all sorts of people or machkin constantly travel through them. Above them await food stalls, small-scale workshops, and anything a person might need in their working day. Much of the residential areas are then built off or around these areas.
Nomm at large can be called a charming mixture of work and livelihoods, and it is one of the quietest places in Laknor. Quiet from industry, at least.

Zadar

The fourth bastion, and the one at the 'back end' of Laknor. Built upon the mountain range Laknor once mined, Zadar is stranger than its three sisters. The exterior portions of Zadar, built upon the conventional terraces, houses light industry, small to medium scale workshops, laboratories, colleges and universities, and certain types of magical research. Business-oriented residential districts squeeze in-between the work areas, making it a high-strung environment built to purpose. Quite a number of people live next door in Nomm itself proper as a result.
As one goes toward the mountain range, an immense fortified wall is carved into the face of it. Upon said wall await great, yawning gates that devour countless caravans of materials. For it is within that the legendary heavy industry of Laknor awaits. Massive underground facilities house foundries, machkin workshops, dangerous magical research, heavy ore reprocessing, deep mining, and much more. This is Khaaestra's home, and she spared no expense in designing it to her fancy. Not to mention the incredible security measures built in and around it.
Her desire for cleanliness and efficiency gave birth to all kinds of new magical arts and machkin technologies. Special cleaning rooms, on-site filtration, sanitized air recycling, and more found themselves created to suit her sensibilities. So, despite the immensely filthy work that is involved, much of underground Zadar is exceedingly clean and sanitary. In fact, the controlled environment is so comfortable it's an ideal refuge from a Veltrona storm season.
At the heart of underground Zadar is Khaaestra's palace-home-laboratory. A considerable complex, unbridled by the concerns of other people, it is a living manifestation of her overly active mind. Huge libraries of technical designs, magical arts, and esoteric knowledge take up the bulk of it. Workshops, quasi-factories, and machkin development areas make up most of the rest. Only a very small portion of it is suited for Khaaestra's actual living needs. It could be called a comfortable mansion compared to everything else.
Although unknown to most of the populace, there is a special level in the upper reaches of the mountain range. Originally a testing laboratory for aerial designs, the hangar bay was retrofitted with an enormous weapon. Khaaestra ordinarily doesn't care for weapons–destruction is an easy, foolishly simplistic thing to achieve. However, this particular weapon was also a test bed for her experiments on magnetism. By creating an exceedingly long barrel, and exploiting principles of magnetism and lightning magic, she created an extremely powerful coil cannon.
Nicknamed the 'Thunder Splitter', she regards it as the 'bigger sister' to the legendary Sky Splitter despite never having seen the spear herself.

Type

City

Population

750,000+

Location under

Lophern

Owner/Ruler

Khaaestra zahd Machkin, the Grand Architect