Important places for Straylightians to know

[Ari Rahikkala]

Aagh, lots of free times and little time used online are a dangerous combination... you actually get stuff written... but I still need to do historical research to find out... stuff...This is just a list that you'll read through in no time and possibly find interesting, possibly not... the entries that have been marked with an asterisk are ones whose existence I'm not quite sure of yet, that is, this storyline I've been dropping a mad amount of hints about includes them but I'm not sure if the historical research I still need to do contradicts my plan at some part. This means that they're still up for pretty thorough revision and/or a sentence to be thrown into the bowels of inexistence. Handle with care. Note that the other descriptions are up for revision, too, but I don't think I will need to change more than some details.Dexter Ewing's cottage: Located on a rocky, windy cape on Goldshire's coast, Dexter Ewing's cottage is the only building in an area of several kilometers' diameter. Its only inhabitant, Dexter himself, is a descendant of the Ly'Technomaezj and one of the more powerful users of technology disguised as magic nowadays. Although his cottage is small, it is packed with huge amounts of extremely high-tech equipment, all working together in harmony but in seemingly unexpected ways so that Dexter is the only person who has never been surprised by how things around him work. Dexter is mostly visited by Straylightian dolphins who have business outside the seas and also the occasional human who needs to visit Straylight. These are provided with floatation fields and artificial gills respectively. Although he is a hermit, Dexter is known (and often befriended) by most of the humans and dolphins that would ever need his help, and for a long time he's been the foremost way to create channels of communication between Straylight and other parts of the world. It isn't known why he is so helpful to Straylight, but then again, he knows so much about technology that his provision of services takes probably about five seconds per beneficiary.The Porpoise Jumps (note: name up for revision, the original was "The Hot Spots" but was changed after I decided that all of the volcanoes were inactive): A chain of inactive volcanoes going straight through the traditional central areas of the Barony of Straylight. One of them is believed to be located where the Isle of Volsung exists nowadays, there are three more in unremarkable places on a line through Straylight, and one to the east of Yardistan. Straylight Reef: The source of the name of the Barony. Straylight Reef is a large coral reef that is grown on the Porpoise Jump near to Yardistan. It is known for the exceptionally clear water, the large, complex caves, the fantastically brightly coloured corals that cover the walls of these caves, and most importantly what the combination of all of these causes: The sunlight that eerily seems to be present even after diving around several corners in the caves. Straylight Reef is, obviously, populated with lots of the sorts of fish that you would expect to see at reeves, and dolphins that consider the place a paradise for the great availability of food and for the many places to hide from predators. The unique ecosystem and the extraordinary beauty of Straylight Reef have made it a place worth protection, so fishing and all other sorts of disruption of nature are disallowed, and only limited amounts of tourists are let to witness the ever moving colours and patterns of the Reef.Zhaki's Palace (*): While not lofty enough to be called a palace by normal people's standards, the stronghold of power of this thousands of years old creature is nevertheless intimidating. It consists of a couple of simple structures built of driftwood, kelp and rocks to the form of a rudimentary Airside house, in ways that make it apparent that they've been built by creatures that had almost no idea of what tools were or what they were building (or even that they were building anything). Even more remarkable than the existence of these structures, however, is the fact that the floors of this "palace" are littered with dozens of dolphin carcasses and skeletons, many of them mangled as if stricken by punches more powerful than most natural creatures can deal. Their source is currently unknown. Zhaki's palace is hostile to life and few people or fen have ever visited it - and few want to.Ops Center: Built during the age of Kaiser Gaelen II (the last before Kaiser Ari 0), Ops is one of the most important - and perhaps the best guarded - of Shireroth's military bases. Ops watches the seas all around Shireroth twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, organises espionage of its own kind all around the world, provides training for two different species in the Shirithian military, and carries through several different forms of marine operations with its armed-to-the-teeth elite dolphins. It does all this with remarkable efficiency and stealth by being no more than a submerged base (it is not called a submarine since it can't easily move by itself) that houses a crew of elite specialist people - mostly trainers and high-ranking military officers - and some stores for equipment and weaponry. Most of the more open activities happen in the open sea, often close to the nearby Porpoise Jump, while more clandestine affairs are usually placed inside special curtained off caves. All the dolphins involved live in the sea around Ops, and very few of them actually bear any signs of even knowing about the existence of the place.The Burnt Arena (*): An area of seafloor that is, quite simply, burnt. Its diameter is about a kilometer and its center is about two hundred meters lower than its edges. Nobody's ever bothered to study the Arena because nobody bothers to figure out how an area of seafloor could be burnt without the involvement of magic...Palace of the Representatives: A recently built corporate HQ style tower in the southern fringe of Musica, this Palace is no palace but it is called one anyway because it's supposed to be the place where whoever is currently representing Straylightian affairs to the Landsraad does his or her business. It's mostly populated by bureaucrats who try to do their best to keep Straylight a reasonably normal place as far as citizenship and census affairs are the area of concern to be involved in. The another important reason why it exists is that there was no official and commonly known way to let any dolphin who wants it to get represented as a citizen of the Imperial Republic and experience life out of the sea. Although originally designed for humans and dolphins to use, the Palace is currently being renovated to facilitate the dragonkind's use of the building after the needs of the current Baron. However, by those who know what they want, Dexter Ewing's help is considered much more useful and comfortable than what the PotR can provide.Undersea City (*) (yes, Shyriath, there *is* an underwater city in Straylight... I'm not sure if this is its final form, though. Oh, and one thing, somebody please think up a name for it): Being rather hastily built, the Undersea City would win no contests as far as its architecture is considered. However, it pleases the eyes and the echolocation of Straylightian dolphins. More importantly, aesthetics does not really matter since few dolphins actually live here. The Undersea City is an industry center instead of a residential center (the locals would hate cramped city environments anyway). It consists of [Ari suddenly mumbles something about having to think more about the Undersea City before being able to tell about the industries in the city - especially because some of the ideas I've had this far would be rather spoily...]Shyriath's Lair: Well, obviously writing this description is Shyriath's job :).Hmm... I probably forgot something... ah well, I'll write more stuff up later... "I believe they just installed Gentoo Linux."

[Shyriath]

Quote:originally designed for humans and dolphins to use, the Palace is currently being renovated to facilitate the dragonkind's use of the building after the needs of the current Baron.Remarkably little renovation would be needed, actually... I am, as dragons go, rather small... little more than human-sized, so I should fit through doors and everything. :)Quote:Undersea City (*) (yes, Shyriath, there *is* an underwater city in Straylight... I'm not sure if this is its final form, though. Oh, and one thing, somebody please think up a name for it):Well, the picture I did has the name of "K'kriiai Nrra'ayu", which is just something I was trying to make sound vaguely Delphinese. It means "Stars-Under-Wave", referring to the multitude of lights in the chasm. So, assuming it's the same underwater city, there's a name right there!Of course, if there can be more than one undersea city, then the picture could be of a different one...Quote:Being rather hastily built, the Undersea City would win no contests as far as its architecture is considered. However, it pleases the eyes and the echolocation of Straylightian dolphins. More importantly, aesthetics does not really matter since few dolphins actually live here. The Undersea City is an industry center instead of a residential center (the locals would hate cramped city environments anyway). It consists of [Ari suddenly mumbles something about having to think more about the Undersea City before being able to tell about the industries in the city - especially because some of the ideas I've had this far would be rather spoily...]Just a thought... mightn't it be possible that the City wouldn't be all that cramped, even if it was residential? The fact that it's underwater makes a big difference... things can be done easily in all three dimensions, not just primarily in two, because dolphins aren't bound onto a flat surface by gravity. Although there would be a relatively high concentration of dolphins in one place, the city could be designed in such a fashion that it would be very spread out, giving even a large number of residents a lot of individual space. It would be made especially easy in an area like that in the picture; the chasm has very tall, steep sides that extend for miles in either direction. If those walls were to contain a lot of caves and crevices for extra living space...Quote:Shyriath's Lair: Well, obviously writing this description is Shyriath's job :).Righty-o!Unfortunately, I'm not sure about the details yet. The first thought was that the lair would be under one of the domes in the picture... probably the one in the foreground, which is biggest. But then I realized that, indeed, given the scale, it's probably much too big for the needs of one roughly-human-sized dragon. So maybe one of the smaller domes; the big one can be where any human population lives, or else a tourist resort of some type.But, yes, a smaller dome would do. And underneath it, probably a fairly complicated maze of caves and tunnels, part air-filled, like the dome, and part water-filled, so that I could get the full experience of life on land and at sea.