Straylight

Straylight is one of Shireroth's more many-faced and unique subdivisions, although its published cultural development is nowhere near as deep as that of, say, Hyperborea. Since its creation somewhere around 976 ASC by Ari Rahikkala, its legal status has gone from duchy to dissolution, to barony under Brookshire, to another dissolution, to county under Yardistan, to county under Naudia'Diva, and finally to duchy again. Its most constant attribute during this time has been the semi-presence of its founder, lack of published culture and great activity (except for that whole Shirlan affair that we're still a bit ashamed about), and the use for tech support.

Original Duchy of Straylight

The original incarnation was largely inspired by David Brin's science fiction novel Startide Rising, and the many sentient dolphin characters in the book. Founding a duchy in the Shire Sea was unproblematic and provided a free token of cultural uniqueness for the fledgling duchy. Its founder had plans for significantly expanding its culture and connecting it to Khaz Modan - all that he ever actually got around to was postulating some pieces of Technomagi technology, mostly for allowing the dolphins to operate freely on land.

Straylight from the Barony age onwards

Later on, as Ari learned of Seasteading (originally from R. Buckminster Fuller's concept of a floating city, the culture got completely upturned. The dolphins were completely forgotten and a new backstory was drafted.

Straylight, in its current incarnation, is an extremely loose conglomeration of city-states, each of which is built on a floating platform. These cities are called sancts in Straylightian English. Most sancts are built on floating spar platforms, but the largest ones - specifically Discontinuity - are "simpler" constructions with platforms inside artificial or natural breakwaters.

Straylightian society is mostly governed by a form of "unenlightened anarchism" - most forms of leadership are ad-hoc, any contact with a bureaucracy might just as likely to be painless as a long race through dark places and traditions of bribery, and vigilante justice is common and generally accepted despite being known to not always be accurate. Obviously, there are exceptions - several sancts contain authoritarian or theocratic enclaves, Discontinuity has a relatively large yet efficient and transparent public sector, and Pohjankaupunki has a relatively large, inefficient and opaque public sector.

The only common thread through the government of all of Straylight is the general adherence to the feudal system. While the feudal system currently basically "stops" at the level of the Duke of Straylight, the will of the Duke of Straylight, of the Landsraad, and of the Kaiser *is* considered the law in Straylight.

In the "real" Shireroth, the Duke of Straylight is Ari Rahikkala (by tradition). In the "fantasy" Shireroth, the current Duke of Straylight is Pero Zermelo, a mathematician from the sanct of Incremental Search. Straylightian feudal leaders in the "fantasy" Shireroth are chosen according to the rule that the threat posed by a leader is relative to zir ambition, their power, and their incompetence. People chosen to be Straylight's feudal leader are usually accomplished mathematicians, physicists, or medical doctors. However, businessmen, COSAC members, actors and the occasional athlete have also found their way to the top in Straylight's fictional history.

Discontinuity

Discontinuity, located roughly in the economic center of Straylight, is alternately called either the Shining Bright Gem of Straylight or the Huge Wet Hog of Straylight. Certainly the quarter million people living there need a lot of space to live in. Discontinuity is entirely a human creation, built on top of thousands on tons of floating ferrocement, protected by an artificial breakwave that can withstand storms stronger than ever recorded in the history of Micras, fed and powered by a massive OTEC plant commonly called the Sampo. Perhaps the most appropriate nickname for Discontinuity is the city that's proud of its own existence - though this might just be because Discontinuitians often call other sancts "toy cities".

Aside its size, Discontinuity could be considered one of the more "normal" sancts, at least to an outsider. Since platform area on Discontinuity is much cheaper to expand here than elsewhere in Straylight, Discontinuity is slighly more spacious than other sancts (not much, however - all those people do need somewhere to live). Its government is relatively large compared to most sancts', having an actual system of taxes and welfare. Discontinuity's government is also quite popular among its people for its competence at maintaining public order and a steady flow of tourism.

However, if you actually get on top of a tall building (the POEL, or Peak of Eternal Light, which is a very fancy name the Straylightians like to use for the communication towers that ofter are the tallest point of a sanct), it's easy to see that the city does not have anything like the structure of a usual city on land. For one, there are no cars or wide roads - space that's not used for building blocks is mostly zoned as parks and even the occasional high-yield farm. The bicycle is the most common form of transportation in Discontinuity, and as such the most

(sheesh, got to take a little break from writing)

Except for the