Republic of Bastion - Locations of Interest:
Cities and Regions: There are six main cities of Bastion, with each being the capital for their region. Fortune, Parnassus, Fault, Waithe, Hylan, Cere were the six remaining city-states of the original twelve that fought against the Empire.
As each city was originally an independent entity, the smaller cities, towns, and hamlets in the region are culturally smiliar, with border towns having attributes of whoever they trade with more often.
While there is a standing Bastion army, each region has state guards, who answer only to their council member, but not Bastion officers or officials. They do not have navies however, and the Bastion Navy functions as regional coast guard. Currency is standard, and there are both Region and Republic taxes. Trade and borders are open, and the primary language is Republic Basic for all regions, which has largely supplanted local languages.
The only exception is the Imperial Remnant, colloquially known as "The Wastes" which is treated as a shared region between cities. The local guard is the Bastion Army, and the taxes are levied by the Republic and not the region.
Fortune:The port city of the west, with three distinct areas: the marketplace, financial district, and the theater galleries. An area of entertainment and leisure to many, it's home to some of the most ruthless businessmen, and one can both make and lose their fortune in this city.
In the marketplace one can buy anything from anywhere for the right price. Despite the fact that Cere boasts the majority of shipments from Waithe, Fortune still has the most variety of their products. From local goods like potent Parnassian healing salves and Imperial relics from the wastes, to various creations from far away lands, Fortune has it. Due to the great amount of wealth, Fortune is a giant honey pot for every thief, thug, and other unsavory within the world. However merchants don't worry, as the local guard is ruthlessly efficient and almost omniscient. After a long application process and careful screening, those chosen for the guard become masters of observation with a hint of both precognition and insight into the past. They can read mouths, hearts, and most languages. As a testament to their abilities, their officers cross-pollinate with government agencies.
Thievery still happens, and not every promising young candidate works for order. While straight thuggery is easier to deal with in the city, the society known as the acrobats are much harder to tame. With almost unnatural grace they can slip into any area, charm even the most puritanical guard, and frighten with fantastic illusions. While their opposition can read into the future and past, they can create surprise in even those circumstances.
Fortune is known for its great shows and lively diversions, and every showman, jester, magician, artist and actor ply their trade in the streets and theaters of the city. Rich merchants are quicker to patronize the arts than the denizens of the other cities, and culture and art flourish. There are seedier sides to entertainment as well, and greasing the right palm can get you just about any desire fulfilled.
Tale of Fortune:Except from report 511-b, regarding the recent theft of “Seer of Light”:
Officer MA reported at dawn that she had a premonition of an attempted robbery of the “Seer of Light”, an art piece that was on display in the Museum of Technical Curiosities. She stated that the robbery was done by none other than an Acrobat member, and that two green, freshly recruited officers were successful in subduing the thief.
Officers TF and RK were at first reluctant to trust this vision, however MA was certain of what she saw, and thus Recruit YM and GL were placed in trust of guarding the object. Certainty enough, at midnight a figure leaped through multiple security barriers and confronted YM and GL, who they then subdued with ease. They then alerted the rest of the security detail, who then went and escorted the would-be thief out while YM and GL continued to guard.
As they were out of the museum, the suspect was damasked, to reveal none other than a heavily drugged Officer MA. As they ran back to check on YM and GL, both they and the work had vanished.
Parnassus: A city of universities and gardens, specializing in the life sciences. Located midway between the capital of Fault and Fortune. Centered around an ancient water creating tree known as “Mother”. The tree's roots form a network of many square miles under the city, and has a limited degree of intelligence. When the Empire of the Sun tried to eradicate the ancient citizens of Parnassus, spikes of wood shattered through the ground and destroyed an invasion force of hundreds of thousands in an instant. The connection between the locals and the tree is immense. Each family has a sapling that has sprung from Mother growing in their home as hybrid of shrine as well as a source of water, and whenever a young member leaves the home they will plant seeds where ever the may make a home. All Parnassians when they die are buried next to the tree, and great effort is taken to ship those who died far away from home back.
Parnassus is the only city that teaches the manipulation of life, and the knowledge of biology and chemistry by the local professors are unsurpassed. Everything from medicine to synthetic chemistry can be learned from Parnassus, and even a year of study in the city can teach one to mend quite a few wounds or create useful substances. Those who spend a lifetime there bring life from when there was none or concoct materials that can withstand any insult.
The abuse of this knowledge is not tolerated.
Hylan: Sister city to Parnassus, specializing in the physical sciences. North-east of Fault and south of the forges of Waithe. Located in a temperate climate, vast underground tunnels house the numerous laboratories that call Hylan home. It should be noted the local soil is highly resilient and can contain even the worst catastrophe. The tunnels themselves were forged by what was assumed to be a long extinct arthropod species of unknown intelligence. As those of Hylan are less keen on the study of ancient insects than Parnassus, any relics are quickly destroyed or sold off to create new work space.
Many scientists have their homes and basic laboratories in Hylan, and conduct more dangerous experiments in the land between them and Waithe. Being close to the great forges allows an unlimited supply of materials for work, and the surrounding mountains house multiple observatories. In Hylan the knowledge of physics are key to manipulation everything from earth to fire, and the myriad tunnels below are perfect areas to work with little worry of collateral damage (while at the same time safe from prying eyes).
The proximity to Fault means that the military has ready access to promising experiments occurring in Hylan, and it isn't uncommon to see large men in uniform go to and fro, conducting unknown business. While Parnassus shuns militarization of their efforts, Hylan depends on it for funding, and the tunnels below are filled with more than just engines and reagents.
Fault:The capital, lodged in a giant fissure within the ground. Heavily defended, both the military and civilian center of Bastion. Surrounding the gaping maw is a “living wall” that changes at the will of the thousands guards that staff it. Inside the wall is an organized grid of housing that contains families of the countless bureaucrats and officers that work within the gap. Highly efficient, the city bears the scars of a decade long siege by the Empire before it was broken by allied states. Every year security drills are performed by even the youngest citizen, and the city motto is “Always Ready”. At every block there are security lockers filled with tools and weapons, and every ten square miles has a bunker for safety.
Those of Fault are physically trained from a young age in the martial arts and use of all kinds of weapons. While not as skilled at finer manipulation, their application of powers is a sight to behold. The most powerful usually go on to lead expeditionary forces, showcasing the strength and discipline of bastion. In close proximity to the weapon labs of Hylan, each individual citizen of Fault is a force to be reckoned with.
Fault proper is a deep crack in the earth, created by unnatural methods that have since become the stuff of myth and legends. It is classified how deep it goes, but the bottom is shrouded in darkness, with no light escaping from the pit. Housed in numerous honeycombed offices near the surface are those of ambassadors and local representatives from the states. Deeper are the barracks and other military installations, and further still are the chambers of the council that rules bastion. What lies at the very bottom is unknown.
Waithe: Processing center for raw materials gathered in the north, home to remarkable works of engineering. Built around a volcano, they harness its geothermal power for their forges. Surrounded by tundra and many failed experiments, the people of Waithe are a hardy bunch, who have survived in their mountain warrens ever since their homes were razed by invaders centuries ago. The only survivors of the catastrophic war were the engineers who crafted weapons of war and the miners who were toiling in their caves. This has left them a rather conservative culture who are suspicious of outsiders who came very late to help their dying culture, and at that point only in exchange for their knowledge and materials.
Upon descending into the valley surrounding Waithe, one sees a metropolis of glass and metal, rimmed by hulks jutting out of the permafrost. These vary from failed airships to mechanical suits that were too heavy to move, and everything in between. Creations such as these are common, and as quickly as they are smelted, another scrapped experiment replaces it. This is not to say the craftsmen of Waithe are failures, as their city proper is connected by a spiderweb of trains, filled with many mechanical marvels, and their skyscrapers above are a hybrid of both form and function. Some are the products of single engineering genius over the course of years, while others are collaborative efforts. While not outwardly expressive, those of Waithe channel their emotions into creation and invention. Every Waithe child builds a custom watch as part of their coming of age ceremony. They can manipulate metal and other resources with great ease, and the most skilled can create fuel and materials from even the most unlikely of items. It is said that all those from Waithe need to get out of any situation is a paperclip, some chewing gum, and their own sweat.
Cere: The second port city, Cere is closer to the more industrialized areas of bastion and the finished creations of Waithe and Hyland are present in strong numbers. While it lacks the luster of Fortune, it's a far more relaxed environment. Unlike the places of their construction, Cere uses their mechanical imports for leisure and relaxation, and almost every house has some form of metal device to aid in their overall lackadaisical approach on life. As the only city untouched by war, those of Cere are the most carefree of all the cities.
Located on a peninsula, surrounded by ocean currents, and in a tropical climate, the people of Cere take constant holidays and engage in every form of water based sport that currently exists. As the only threats to Cere have been tsunamis and hurricanes, they are adapt at manipulating both wind and water in order to protect their coastal community. Everyone from Parnassus to Waithe consult Cere on issues ranging from irrigation to steam power, and the mark of Cere is present on almost every aqueduct, waterway, and dam.
Underneath their cheerful and laid back demeanor is a cool calculating nature they use in business. While the merchants of Fortune bluster and boast, the barterers of Cere will leave customers relaxed in both mind and coinpurse. Skilled in the art of both charm and deception, negotiators from their calm port have been used to placate violent criminals, and mediate tense negotiations.
Their coastal city is mostly made of low lying houses and numerous city squares, with fountains and parks abound. With Cereians surfing everything from wind, water, and land, and mellow trumpets from various corner cafes filling the air, one gets the image of supreme and lasting peace. However, one but wonders why a port city has been free of conflict since its inception, remaining completely untouched by every war that has ravaged the continent.
The Wastes:Officially known as the Imperial Remnant, remainder of the Empire of the Sun, invaders that were destroyed by the forces that went on to later form Bastion. Every city they had was burned, bombed, and carved out by the vengeful united forces of the Republic. However, despite the rage they felt, the states stopped short of complete genocide, leaving ten percent of the civilian population alive among the ruins of their empire. Now living as nomads and almost reduced to hunting and gathering, Sunnites have fallen far from an empire that stretched across multiple continents and to the walls of Fault.
Unlike the people of Bastion, they drew their might from both natural and other sources. A select few could tap into energies that were not of this world, and they worshiped a sun god which gave them their powers. It was this blessing that allowed them to carve an empire, slaughtering many surrounding civilizations. The survivors fled to the Bastion states, who in turn began to think of ways to stop an empire where each soldier had the power of a hundred men.
In contrast to Bastion where the people understand and work with their born talents, the highly religious empire manipulated the world around them through brute strength and intuition. They still maintain their old religion, and the warlocks of the sun can still crush any resistance. Despite the mercy they were shown, they bear much resentment to Bastion. The republic for its part feels some remorse at the destruction, and allows willing students to travel their cities.
There are no cities in the wastes, as the earth itself has been shifted to almost geometric impossibility, and every inch of farmland burned and salted. Their ports have been turned to seas of jagged rocks and their rivers dammed with rubble. The laws of physics have been stretched to breaking, and in parts are almost broken. Reality and other planes are almost confluent in this area, and many scholars from Bastion would love to study the sundered environment their ancestors helped create. However, the land itself rejects them, and those who don't perish return mad or haunted. Harsh, humorless, and highly bitter, the Sunnities are highly resourceful and efficient. Living in eternally mobile caravans, they seek to find a stable area where they can begin to rebuild their ruined civilization.
