The Stilted City — Place Blog

Geography

The Stilted City is a city on New Albuquerque, built in a lake bed that remains dry through half of the local year, but during the local wet season, fills to form a temporary lake. The two river valleys that fill the basin are the basis for major trade routes, and the city is built at a natural crossroads where they meet. The Stilted City is located on the northern edge of the planet's southern rain-band.

People and Government

The Stilted City was built by the native Vorgon people of New Albuquerque, and they make up the majority of the population, though many others can be found there as well. The city is constantly being settled by new groups who travel along the trade routes that intersect there.

The city is divided into eleven districts plus the Grand Water Tower that stores the water supply during the dry season, and acts as the seat of government.

During the wet season, the government consists of an informal council, with a member elected from each of the eleven districts. This council has little power, and the wet season is relatively lawless. This state of affairs is sustainable because, during the wet season, the city is situated in the middle of a lake, and is connected to land only via three pontoon bridges that are easily defensible, and can be disconnected in an emergency.

At the start of the dry season, a gladiatorial tournament is held in the central market, and the winner is declared the Drought King. The Drought King rules from a palace atop the Grand Water Tower, and exerts absolute authority. Generally, the Drought King levies taxes on trade in the city, and in exchange defends the city from invaders and bandits, who generally attack during the dry season, when the city is most vulnerable.

Locale

New Albuquerque is an arid, terrestrial world near the center of the galaxy. Situated in the middle of a “stellar graveyard” where black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs and magnetars slowly decay. Orbiting the star known as Saurex, New Albuquerque has an 18-hour day and a long and checkered history.

History

Orbiting in the warmer part of Saurex's habitable zone, New Albuquerque is dominated by desert biomes. Two large seas, one in the northern hemisphere, and one in the southern, hold most of the planet's water. Each of these seas has an associated "rain band", an area spanning around the planet, at the latitudes of the sea with increased rainfall and corresponding biomes. Several large mountain ranges cross the planet, mainly oriented north-south. New Albuquerque has three significant moons.

A rare tripple-full moon with the Copper Moon, the Chalk Moon and the Jade Moon all fully visible.

Life evolved on New Albuquerque, finding its most complex expression in the race of Vorgons (also known pejoratively as Gobblins, little green men, etc) that originated in the jungles around the southern sea. Life is densest right around the seas, with the rain-bands being dominated by grassland with scattered forests. The deserts that dominate the landscape are not entirely barren, but have a sparse covering of life.

When the Vorgons were a new species, still in their paleolithic age, a large piece of debris struck the ocean, rapidly removing most of the water on the surface of New Albuquerque.

Because of its location, New Albuquerque is at the center of a lot of cosmic storms, and spaceships often crash there. The first real contact with interstellar civilization was during the 1,000 Years War, when the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns military set up a base on the planet. At that time, the vorgons were living at a tribal level of organization, and had some limited interaction and trade with the Empire.

New Albuquerque was the location of the Battle of the Three Moons during the 1,000 Years War.

After the war, the E1MS used New Albuquerque as a scrap yard. The Gobblinoids (Vorgons) rapidly took to scavenging and re-purposing the cast-off technology they found.

Midway through Era-1, a colony ship from the Planetary League crash-landed there, setting up an impromptu colony, and giving the planet its name. The original name of the planet in the most common Gobblinoid language translated to "The Teeth of God", and referred to the sharp and forbidding mountains surrounding their homeland.

Because of its isolated location and harsh environment, New Albuquerque remained as a holdout of the Planetary League throughout Era-2. During the Great Reckoning, the population ballooned from the stream of refugees from the Planetary League. On a few occasions, there were skirmishes with, and raiding parties from the Holy Empire of Man. The Empire of Man even occupied the planet for a few brief periods, only to be repulsed by uncooperative locals and asymmetrical warfare.

During the War of Galactic Unification, the people of New Albuquerque elected to join the Galactic Republic.

Landmarks

The Main Debris Zone is a place that has been used as a scrap-heap since late in the 1,000 Years War.

Reactor Springs is a place where natural reactors underground heat a system of hot springs.

The Stilted City is a city built in a lake bed that is dry half the year, and is built on stilts.

Tornado Point is a place where a standing atmospheric vortex persists year-round.

The Valley of the Avatar is the local center of the Cult of Troniac.

Life-forms

Vorgons are the most numerous (and only native) intelligent species, though humans and cielioids tend to dominate the affairs of the planet.

The Orgaff is a large pack-animal that stores water and nutrients to traverse the desert.

The Saurexian rock-toad is a descendant of Earth toads.

The vase-tree is a source of both food and water to those crossing the planet's extensive deserts.