Aeradale

Of all the cities in Veridia, none match the splendor and awe of the illustrious flying city of Aeradale. Originally a small gnomish village, Aeradale became a hub for knowledge and invention, attracting the brightest minds of the world to perform great feats of magic and artifice. The city's greatest achievement, and arguably the world's, was in 1420, when the city took flight for the first time, becoming five islands suspended in the sky through a combination of magical stones enhanced by science. It was a remarkable moment, and a true testament to civilization's progress - for the first time in the modern era, mortals brought an entire city closer to the heavens with their own ingenuity.
Making an entire city fly is no small feat, but it was not purely to show off what civilization is capable of. The ever-lasting war between the Dithian Inquisition and the Vertox Monarchy was growing more violent, and these rowdy neighbors would often infiltrate the city's laboratories and steal technology that would give them an edge in their war. Not only that, but there was a significant and growing divide among the people of Aeradale - those with the smarts to become leaders and researchers, and those who were not who were seen as less privileged. As the city took flight, it not only broke itself off from the world, but also from the chains of the less fortunate who were left behind in the crater that once held the city.
While the Aeradale council thought they could simply leave their problems on the earth, it became obvious that avarice flowed through the city's core. Even here, the fortunate live as wealthy scientists and leaders, and the rabble slave away underneath the city, maintaining the devices that keep the city afloat. The council that publicly rules is merely a façade for the true leaders - an anonymous and mysterious cabal of influential figures that pursue their own interests. Each individual is out for themselves, and underhanded and cutthroat policies are as common in the upper echelons as they are in the underbelly of the city of progress.

Demographics

Originally a gnomish population, the city brought about all the brightest minds of the world without discrimination. Today, the city consists of wealthy and intelligent aristocrats and scientists, but also less fortunate laborers who struggle to get by.

Government

Aeradale's government is a subject most like to ignore. Officially, the city is governed by a council of 11 aristocratic individuals ranging from wealthy nobles, to business tycoons, to well-cited researchers. The 11 members meet in the capital building, with their 11 chairs situated around the tip of the magical crystal that keeps the city afloat. Ten of these councilmembers each represent an area of their own expertise, but primarily push their own interests. These usually contrast with other members, and so Aeradale's political debates get quite heated and borderline violent. These rivalries between councilmembers persists beyond just council meetings. They constantly try to one-up each other with heavily one sided deals, blackmail threats, outright espionage, and even assassination.
The 11th seat of the council is reserved for the Grand Cabal, a mediary between the high council and a shadow organization known simply as The Cabal. No one knows the true identities of those in The Cabal, and many even doubt their existence in the first place. The council exists to give off the illusion that The Cabal listens to the people. In truth, The Cabal plans the outcome in advance and ensures that all parties play their part. So deep and careful is their influence, that not even the councilors are aware of this manipulation, even when said manipulation is aimed at them.

Defences

Aeradale's best defense is obvious. Flying at about a mile above any land, Aeradale can only be reached by skyship or aerial mounts, rendering it immune to any army or navy that seeks to conquer it. In the unlikely event Aeradale does face an aerial assault, it is equipped with a network of ballistae, cannons, and magical defenses designed to disable flying vehicles and opponents. 
Aeradale's internal defense is managed by the police force: The Curators. They are intended to keep the peace within the city streets and protect its citizens from internal threats. The Curators are one of the first groups to gain access to new technology, and this is reflected on their advanced gear including their armor and weapons. Many have access to and are trained in the use of firearms and special units use prototype weaponized armor suits providing enhanced defensive and offensive abilities. Another division of Curators utilize domesticated Dragonnel mounts, a distant relative of true dragons, to patrol the city's skies, and are able to rapidly respond to any disturbance.

Industry & Trade

Aeradale has almost everything it needs to be self-sufficient. It is able to farm its own food and collect rainwater to drink. If it runs low on anything, Aeradale can rely on its two neighboring nations, the Dithian Inquisition and the Vertox Monarchy. Both nations are eager and often compete to trade with Aeradale in the hopes they would gain the city's favor and support in their war against each other. In return for raw materials, Aeradale sells its advanced manufactured resources and weapons to the highest bidder. War is profitable after all. 
Aeradale's high tech industry produces many end products that the rest of the world covets, including machinery that improves the efficiency of manual labor, to complex devices that are rumored to have beneficial effects on those who use them, to advanced technological weapons that make conventional weaponry look like children's toys. The design of these creations and the means to create them are heavily guarded secrets. If such information were to get out, the rest of the world would rapidly catch up to Aeradale's edge.

Infrastructure

Aeradale is an unequaled feat of engineering and has the infrastructure to compliment it. At its core, Aeradale and its five islands are each levitated by magical crystals, but their true power comes from the network of mighty engines below the city's streets, effectively making Aeradale a gargantuan skyship. The surface streets are cleanly paved, but there are many access points to the underworks below, including an elaborate network of ventilation and sewage shafts.
The city brought a new logistical challenge: vertical transportation. However, the bright minds of the city eagerly developed a solution, developing the Skylines. The Skylines are Aeradale's iconic mode of transportation: a network of suspended rails used to transport cargo and people through the city and its layers. Specially designed vehicles travel through these Skylines, but criminals realized they could use it for individual transport, developing the Railhook - a handheld device that magnetically attaches to the Skylines, allowing someone to ride the Skylines. Soon, not just criminals were using the Railhook, but law enforcement and thrill seekers also took a liking to the idea. 
The Skylines however do not travel between the islands. For that, there are airship ferries that bring people back and forth, as well as cable car gondolas from the main island to the outer islands. The gondola and the cables are specially designed to not break or sag if the distance between the islands changes slightly. They also act as a tether, ensuring the islands do not veer off too far away from one another.

Districts

Aeradale the city covers all five islands. Each island, however, is its own district with its own specialty, but each also have the same mechanisms within to keep them afloat.

Terradrift

Terradrift is the central and largest island of Aeradale. It is where the seat of the council resides and also where the most researchers live. Bright and clean, at least on the surface, Terradrift is often referred to as Aeradale, as it is the main hub of the city's action, and the first place travelers step foot on when they come to the city. The island is further split up into four districts, with its elite few walled off from the rest of the rabble.

Ashpoint

Ashpoint island is the smallest island but also the closest to Terradrift. It contains the heaviest concentration of industry and is where much of the infrastructure of the city is manufactured. Many of its workers live on the west side of Terradrift as there is a cable car that allows quick transportation between the two islands.

Gaffton

Gaffton is a beautiful island dedicated to farming. It has a clean lake in the center, which spills over the west side of the island, creating an endless waterfall that disappears into the clouds below.

Cinderhaben

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Astrogue

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Underdale

The unpleasant underbelly of Aeradale is where those rejected and forgotten by the Academy and the Council go. "Underdale," as its denizens refer to it as, is a network of buildings and infrastructure which keeps Aeradale afloat. This includes all the engines, power plants, and maintenance rooms that power much of the city's devices and its all important floatation devices. While the magical crystals are what allows the city to fly, their power is regulated by these engines, and it is also supplemented by steam powered jets and propellers. These require constant monitoring, so to compensate, the workers ended up having to live in close proximity to these power plants. They made their homes in the hollowed out caverns that these plants were constructed in, forming their own little city underneath the splendor of Aeradale. The already thin air of the upper atmosphere mixed with the toxic pollution of the power plants and engines in the hardly ventilated caves make Underdale a dangerous place to visit. However, suffocation is the least of one's worries, as all the undesirable elements of civilization are flushed away from Aeradale and sent down to crime ridden Underdale, where even the Curators dare not to go.

History

Once, long ago, Aeradale was a simple gnome village. An intelligent and creative race, they developed their own little trinkets and technologies to help them live, such as odd contraptions that help them farm or automatically groom animals and the like. When colonists from what would become the Dithian Inquisition arrived, they were fascinated by these technological marvels and paid hefty sums of gold to use some of these tools. The spread of these tools throughout Ituin, and through later trade, the rest of the world, gained the attention of bright minded people with similar aspirations. They flocked to Aeradale, as rumors spread about a city that was centuries ahead of the world's civilizations.
While only rumors at the time, the gathering of the world's brightest minds turned that into a reality. From the dawn of the new millennia, Aeradale rapidly grew as more and more people came to the famed academy where the future was being developed. Aeradale's scientists were weaponizing gunpowder a hundred years before the rest of the world even knew what it was. They had achieved the dream of flight while the rest of civilization watched birds with awe. They were harnessing the power of electricity while the Veridian Empire's people feared thunderstorms.  
Such progress, however, has a cost. If you couldn't keep up with the speed of innovation, you were doomed to be left behind. Almost nothing of the original gnome village remained. The wealth of knowledge brought its own problems. Not only the threat of spies stealing classified research, but also the fact that so many people came to the city's academies that they were forced to implement much stricter acceptance criteria and restrict access to the academic resources. Without access to these resources, anyone not a researcher or student fell behind and became less important in the eyes of the city council. The city had a growing pile of rejects and it was becoming ever more difficult to keep them content. During this time, the rest of the world was beginning to catch up. Other nations had reached their enlightenment age and had begun putting resources into researching gunpowder weapons and harnessing new forms of power, as well as the combination of magic and science. 
Aeradale was losing its edge and faced the one of the worst class divides in history. They needed a radical solution or the flame of innovation would burn out, along with the city. In the spirit of innovation, they devised the most radical solution the world has ever known: make the city fly. This would serve two purposes: to bring back Aeradale as the famed city of progress and advancement as it once was, and also to rid Aeradale of its excess weight by simply leaving the rejects behind in a giant crater. Aeradale's best scientists and mages went to work, forming a multi-disciplined team under the leadership of the academy's (and by extension, the world's) greatest minds: Prof. Gimble Pilwicken, Dr. Zara Sylvan, and Dr. Elias Welber.

Type

State

Population

~11,000

Related Historical Events

• 1420 CE
  City of Aeradale Takes Flight