Life in the Sky

THE SKYLOFT

Introduction: Not everyone in this world is confined behind the wall of the Neovictorian Change Cage cities. Now we're going to take a look at the Skyloft cities - mighty platforms, built to escape the Great Apocalypse - and the Free Peoples who live among them. The evolution of these cities is described, then some of the common charactaristics that the Skyfolk tend to share.

Despite their similarities, the independence and the distance between them has led to each Skyloft city developing its own unique mode of living. Two of these individual cities are detailed below, as examples of the kind of arrangements that can be found aloft.

The first, High Tortuga is a pirate-infested stronghold, where few rules apply. Danger lurks in the maze of twisting alleyways, the low, sleazy bars and at the tables of the hard-drinking pirates who live upon the rum-soaked platform. The second, Isla Aether is a wondrous mercantile city - wares from Isla Aether are coveted by Free Peoples everywhere and her reputation is second to none.

If you wish to create your own Skyloft cities, draw it up and submit it for approval.

Taking to the Skies: By the year 2050, Emperor Victor II and his forces had begun the process of depopulating the earth. Some people hid, some fought and died. Some tried to run, but found they had nowhere to run to. Some merely waited, hoping that things would not turn out so badly after all - their hopes were dashed as the world they once knew crumbled around them.

Others found a different solution - they worked together to build Skyloft homes in which they could take to the skies, abandoning their former dwellings forever. In some areas (those among the last to suffer at the hands of the Emperor and his bio-engineered predators), this building work took decades. In other places, the urgency was such that hastily-built structures were floated just in the nick of time. Some of the proposed creations were destined for failure from the start. Scuppered by unworkable design, the apathy of the citizenry, the lack of funds and resources, botched building and a whole host of other circumstances that conspired to doom them in their infancy.

For those that did make it, the early days were still hard. Of the hundreds of platforms that were built throughout the globe, over half were downed within a decade. This was not the work of the Imperial Air Navy (in its infancy and preoccupied with other, more urgent battles), but rather due to an inexperience in living in such a novel environment. Some were abandoned as their residents fell victim to hunger. Some fell due to social turmoil, the inhabitants wiping themselves out. Most just crashed - intrinsic weaknesses; adverse weather conditions; a lack of suitable materials for repair and maintenance; a failure to calculate the necessary propulsion, fuel and weight ratios; navigational difficulties; pr simple ineptitude, all taking their toll. Aside from such material hazards, adjusting to a whole new way of life was simply too much for many - for the first few decades, jumpers were a common sight, people plunging over the sides of their new homes, choosing death over a life in the skies.

But many of the cities did survive. Some even prospered. Their peoples learned the skills with which to tend their new homes and with which to make a living. Those who came through the trauma and excitement of the early days became stronger. They, in turn, began to be joined by new generations, each becoming more attuned to life in the skies. Independent and adventuresome, these Free Peoples dwell in the sky cities and are proud to call themselves the Skyfolk.

The Balance of Power: The Skyloft cities are all independent of each other. Some even survive primarily by raiding others (although this piracy might be directed at the merchant shipping of a rival Skyloft city, rather than direct attacks upon the city platform itself). Nevertheless, all the skyloft agreed very early on that they would band together if the Emperor ever turned his attention towards their homes. The result of this was the Declaration of Allegiance Pact.

In the early days, the Imperial Air Navy was relatively small. The Emperor's efforts were concentrated on the ground below - beasts were released, populations decimated, the wilderness overtook civilization and people awere either killed or herded into the Change Cage cities.

This was not a quick process, and the Emperor's forces were stretched to the breaking point. By the time Victor II had finally consilidated his control over the land, the Skyfolk had begun to properly adapt to their new homes. Each Skyloft city found its own place in the skies. To his chagrin, the Emperor found he simply did not have enough resources left to clear the skies of the mavericks. That did not stop his admirals from urging their leader to give them the authority to finish the job, but he refused to sanction the move until the time was right. That time never caem.

The Declaration of Allegiance Pact set out, in no uncertain terms, the intended response of the Free Peoples to any attack against an individual Skyloft city launched by the Imperial Air Navy. In short, they pledged to band together and make war on the Change Cage cities if such an assault were to take place. Victor II had hoped to take down the cities piecemeal, but this agreement prevented him from doing so.

So the Emperor bent his will to preventing the populations in his own cities from communicating with the world outside. His propaganda flooded the Neovictorian streets, claiming that the wilderness outside was deadly and completely devoid of any continuing human habitation; the Chuno Ggun and the Peelers enforced his dictums and silenced dissent.

Now, if war was to come the outcome would be uncertain. the Imperial Air Navy has the bigger ships, especially the feared sky dreadnaught <i>HMS Leviathan</i>, but the Skyfolk have an abundance of smaller vessels as well as thousands of individual planes, dirigibles and other craft, along with the well-trained pilots to fly them. The Emperor does not wish to provoke a war he may lose - after all, such a result could possibly pave the way for a movement wishing to once again tame the wilderness. In turn, the Skyloft lack the desire to launch their own attacks on the Empire, wishing to live out their lives independently, without interference and in relative peace. But no one doubts their committment ot the Pact, were it to be invoked, least of all the current Emperor.

So an uneasy truce holds. the Imperial Air Navy patrol the skies - hunting pirates, checking the intentions of the Free Peoples and flexing their military muscles. The Skyloft tolerate the Navy, while always ensuring they do not overstep their authority over them, threatening to invoke the Declaration of Allegiance Pact if they do. Occasionally a suspected agent of the Emperor assumes a position of authority in a skyloft city, but they seldom last long. Only an agent deeply undercover and vocally critical of the Empire might escape undetected. Having escaped to the skies, the Skyfolk have no intention of compromising their hard-won liberty.

Born to Fly: Before we examine the differences between the various cities, perhaps we should look at some of the things their inhabitants have in common. The cities all developed independently from each other, only tied by their trading links and an allegiance to be invoked in the last resort. This has resulted in each Skyloft city adopting its own unique culture and organization. Likewise, they have some differences economically; some of the Skyloft cities are primarily markets, some are primarily small scale manufacturers, and some are pirate havens. Nevertheless, there are certain attitudes and lifestyles that most of the Skyloft share (although, being the Skyloft, there are exceptions to every rule).

Independence: The SKyloft are a fiercely independent people. They have seen what has happened to those who tried to hang on and survive down below, and they are determined that they will never share that fate. Although they are governed in a variety of ways, they share a deep suspicion of authority in geneal. If their administrations appear to be attempting to bring in authoritarian or draconian rules, designed to diminish the power of the freeborn Skyfolk, aloft, the people soon start muttering "We may as well have an Emperor" - and when that happens it is often a sign that the regime is about to change. That is not to say that tyranny does not rear its head - but it tends to be nipped in the bud fairly swiftly. The last thing the Skyfolk want is for an ambitious individual to begin a war of conquest over other Skylofts - any such move would weaken the Pact and be tantamount to handing victory to the Emperor.

There are sky cities where slavery is tolerated. The Skyfolk see no contradiction in this. The slaves are assumed to have lost any rights to independence - rendered property at the point of their seizure or sale. ON the platforms where slave-holding is legal, slaves are seen as almost a different species to the free citizens, even though nearly any of the Skyfolk could ahve the misfortune to share such a fate, through abduction or birth.

Defense: All of the Skyloft cities are wary of being overwhelmed by the Imperial Air Navy, and are also aware that they are tempting targets for raiding pirates (even, or perhaps especially those cities run by other pirates). Some of the cities raise taxes and pay for their own defense force - paid specialists. SOme of the Skyloft administrations demand that all residents of their city practice aviation skills, in order to be able to quickly assemble a volunteer force (usually in the form of an Air Militia). Their thinking is that in the event of emergency, disaster or war, the population will be able to rally together and have the skills to respond. Such an official approach is hardly required - wealthy residents, in all the cities, like nothing more than flying their own dirigibles, and many of the poorer residents spend all their free time tinkering with ramshackle lash-ups, most of which are airworthy, others less so. The pirate cities just rely on the fact that there will be enough pirates in port at any one time to rush to defend the place.

Pioneers: The Skyfolk were brave enough to find a daring solution to the genocide the Emperor perpetrated against the human race. Although some of the sky cities are all but permanently moored, the people who dwell on the platforms like to think that they could take to the skies at any time and relocate as needed. For many this would be, in practice, impossible, but belief in their ability to up sticks and start again is a source of pride for the Free Peoples of the Skyloft cities. Their cultures tend to celebrate life in the skies; most of the sky cities hold yearly festivals to commemorate their first launching. At these gatherings, individuals show off their piloting skills, often in lashed-together contraptions, competing in feats of daring and balance, such as wing-walking. (Many of the Skyfolk seem to have an innate sens of balance - perhaps being born and raised on a platform in the sky will do that for a person).

Gadgeteers: When it comes to mechanical wizardry, you'll be hard-pressed to find better than the Skyfolk. Their willingness to find a technological solution to the Apocalypse has instilled a culture of enthusiasm for practical experimentation. Even those who do not work as engineers tend to include mechanical construction amongst their hobbies. Those that can a afford it build small private workshops. Those that can't can often still be found tinkering away at some pet project or another. Much of this building is done using scavenged parts and home-drawn designs. Oftne these inventions have an aerial focus (E.G. ramshackle microlites, simple devices for harnessing wind power or new twists on the classic self-sighting telectopic pilot's goggles design). Sometimes the devices seem to have no practical use at all. But be careful suggesting that to the Skyfolk - they will usually take exception to the notion that the have built anything less than a work of genius!

Pride: As the means of their deliverance from the Emperor's clutches, the Skyfolk tend to have a fierce love of, and loyalty to, their homesteads. Each Skyloft city has its own distinct culture with unique flags and symbols, and they are physically often very different in appearance - even though the platformsare often round structures, the buildings that have been built upon then vary considerably. The Skyfolk tend to believe their own platform is the best of all - in terms of structure, beauty, and the abilities of its people - and will react with hostility to any slight against their city's good name. Occasionally pride can turn into rivalry. Relations between the individual Skyloft cities are not always completely harmonious, but generally the Free Peoples realize that they cannot afford to be completely divided. So they usually try to reserve their opinions about their own superiority (both over the "primitive" Neobedouins and other rival Skylofts) to themselves.

Overpopulation: Nearly all of the SKyloft cities suffer from chronic overcrowding. Although some of them, mainly those that are permanently moored, have expanded their platforms, it is a simple fact of life that space is limited. The populations aloft have resisted any attempts at enforced birth control. Partly this is due to a simple failure to agree how a reduction of numbers could be achieved, but mainly ecause of an innate hatred of the concept. After all, the Emperor's genocidal policies, which depopulated the lands below were the reason people fled to the skies in the first place.

One solution has been the development of a tradition of younger sons and daughters leaving the cities when they reach a certain age (as adults in some cases, children in others). Their fate varies according to the traditions of the city. The unlucky are sold as slaves; the luckier are cast adrift to become traveling entertainers, merchants or, more commonly, pirates.

Sometimes they leave to join an existing pirate crew, sometimes they leave en masse, ceremoniously waving goodbye to their home from a new airship provided by their city. Pirates tend to live short, if exciting, lives, but those that do survive to retirement usually settle on those Skyloft cities whose main function is to act as a pirate base. These pirate cities suffer from overcrowding too, but the attrition due to a life spent fighting and a culture in which suicidal bravery is held in high regard, means that there tend to be just about enough vacant moorings for the new young pirates to find a place aloft amongst the new community. A few, a precious few, if they have made their fortunes, to manage to return to their home platform. There they are usually feted as celebrities.

(Nearly) Everyone Loves a Pirate: The SKyfolk love pirates. Well, more precisely, Skyloft children are obsessed with the tales of their pirate heroes and even as adults they tend to retain this enthusiasm. Even the more serious-minded defend piracy as an understandable response to the state of the world. This is probably a result of so many young people leaving the Skyloft cities to pursue such a dangerous, and often short-lived, career - their families are quick to defend their offspring and those who share their fate.

Of course, not everyone has such a rosy view of piracy. Merchants often bitterly resent their losses, although they are hesitant to publicly complain. At times, pirates have even raided the Skyloft platforms themselves. They live through a variety of nefarious means - most through traditional piracy, plundering airships, barges and tribes, some primarily as smugglers, moving goods to the Bargefolk; some are slavers, transporting their unfortunate cargoes to work on terraced farms or in the households of the wealthy. One crew has even been reported to stoop as low as to supplement their income by forming a mime troupe, although this terrible practice is only referred to in whispers. But nevertheless, the Skyfolk geneally defend pirates; at times harobring them, trading with them and emulating them. If ap irate action oversteps the mark and an atroity is committed, then the general view is that those are the actions of villains who aren't "real" pirates or that the situation has been exaggerated.

A Host of Cities: Having looked at some of the things the SKyfolk have in common, it is worth reminding ourselves that their independent development has led them to progress in a myriad of different ways. Certainly they tend to have different political systems, economic focuses and social customs. Sometimes these differences are subtle, sometimes more marked.

Getting By: The Skyfolk tend to follow specialized professions. Mercantile, engineering, combat and aviation-related trades domiante, although a general obsession with flight means that even wealthy traders might have some piloting skills. The main economy of each Skyloft city varies. Some have developed farms with which to feed themselves, such as the terraced farms of Isla Aether; some specialise in buying salvage and repairing or manufacturing machines (which might, in turn, be sold back to the salvagers); some specialize in artisan work, transforming the raw trade goods from the Neobedouin gatherers into finished goods; and some facilitate trade between other Skyloft cities and the Neobedouins - sometimes offering permanent moorings at which traveling merchants and caravans can gather, others flying between various places to conduct their business. Many Skyloft cities dabble in a mixture of the above trades - merchants buy and sell, artisans manufacture on a small scale, while others dabble in smuggling, slave trading and piracy.

Some Skyloft cities function purely as pirate havens. These platforms are often in the most inaccessible or remote areas, or else keep on the move. The Imperial Air Navy often play a "Cat and Mouse" game where these haunts are concerned. If they hunt down such a haven they will set up a blockade, picking off pirate ships and effectively shutting down the platform. Of course pirates develop their own ruses to cope with such situations, and some of these ruses are enshrined in tales that have come to count among the most famous legends of the Free Peoples.

If you wish to create your own Skyloft city, please take into account the following.

Shape, Size and Population, Floors, Mooring, Primary and Secondary Economies, Governance, Taxation, WEalth, Facilities, Docks, Defenses, Law and Order and Population Satisfaction.

High Tortuga:

Shape: Octagon
Size and Population: Large/5000 people
Floors: 1
Mooring: Permanent but airworthy.
Primary Economy: Piracy
Secondary Economy: N/A
Governance: None
Taxation: Low
Wealth: Wealthy
Facilities: Poor
Docks: Very good
Defenses: Mountain Stronghold
Law and Order: Pirate Code
Population Satisfaction: Disgruntled

The habitations aboard High Tortuga are a maze of low-level, sprawling structures. These residences are crammed onto the main platform - they are mostly dosshouses and inns (many of which double as brothels). Their pirates may be wealthy, but space is at a premium. The rat-infested octagon is a dangerous enough place to walk around in the daytime - at night time it is murderous, but the taverns and inns of High Tortuga are filled with salty sky dogs looking to join a crew and in spite of the danger there's more than enough debauchery to go around. The Tortugans don't keep slaves, although some of the pirate ships that stop over carry them, en route to the terraced farms of Isla Aether.

There are a few wealthier homes, owned by ex-captains, scattered around one side of the donut-shaped platform which is attached to one edge of the octagon, and there are plenty of extra spaces for mooring on the other side. Among the most notorious pirates aloft are "Roaring" Bill Halfshanks and Kray "The Carver". Also, rumor has it that "Peg-knees" Hammerstand, the expert pirate gadgeteer is looking for work, a handy recruit for those who can afford to take him on.

Every year, Tortugan pilots compete in the deadly "Best Pilot Aloft" competition, a daredevel race through the mountain passes. Few survive, but the winner lives like a king for the next twelve months.

[b]Isla Aether:[b]

Shape: Donut
Size and Population: Massive/18,000
Floors: Multi
Mooring: Permanent
Primary Economy: Mercantile
Secondary Economy: Farming
Governance: Governor
Taxation: Medium
Wealth: Very Wealthy
Facilities: Excellent
Docks: Excellent
Defenses: Small Skyloft Navy force
Law and Order: Basic but fair
Population Satisfaction: Very Satisfied.

Isla Aether is one of the largest of the Skyloft Cities. Located atop Mount Whitney, the huge donut-shaped platform runs right round the mountain peak. When the city was launched it was a true marvel to behold, a feat of amazing ambitionThe platform was raised, and floated hundreds of miles to the mountain top, where it descended and has stayed ever since. Many of the buildings were erected after the event, but most had already been designed and the blocks constructed, the pieces ready to be lifted and fitted to a pre-arranged pattern of assembly. Whereas most of the Skyloft cities were raised for function first, desperately floated to escape the Emperor's forces and the beasts roaming the wilderness, Isla Aether was also built with beauty and aesthetics in mind. The risk paid off, and the result is a spectacular Skyloft city, the "Diamond in the Sky". A nickname that even the most fiercely prideful denizens of the other sky cities find difficult to argue.

The city has a large circumference, the edge of the "donut", a mass of mooring sites and platform extensions. Some of the extensions are large enough to count as extra floors. Many of these permanent attachments are virtually smaller cities in their own right, lashed onto the great ring. The buildings atop these extensions were built after those on the main ring, and although they include many of the homes of the wealthiest citizens, they are still considered as inferior "new city" dwellings, a nod to the pride of those living in the "old" original city. Yet, some of these new dwellings are spectacular - shrines to the wealth of the inhabitants living there.

Underneath the platforms are vast gasbags, representing an unimaginable fortune. Whether there would be enough helium to raise the city is a constant source of speculation. Most people are of the view that the newer levels would have to be untethered for the old city ot rise. Around the outer ring the air is usually filled with light craft, including individual Portnoys, tri-planes and micro-gliders, as well as several larger airboats belonging to the wealthiest merchants, and a few, small, Skyloft Navy patrol airships.

The airdocks along the outer edge of the ring are warrens of moorings and hangars. There are also an abundance of airside asloons. Further into the center of the ring are private houses and the larget complexes - twisted towers, mushroom-shaped palaces and stately mercantile bazaars. The bazaars are the lifeblood of the city. Isla Aether is a large, teeming marketplace. Free People from all over the world have heard of the souqs of Isla Aether, and it is said anything can be acquired therein, for the right price. There are no banned goods on the platform, and although many merchants specialize, it is possible to pick up fine foods, textiles and machine parts alongside hallucinogenic drugs and slaves, all in the same souk. Trade occurs twenty-four hours a day, and the noise of clamoring merchants fills the air.

Although law and order is fairly minimal in the city, market regulations are strictly adhered to. Isla Aether's reputation as a place of business is one of the most important things to the Aetherian citizenry. To protect this reputation, all goods are expected to be of excellent quality and design, and regular market inspections take place.

The slopes below the mountain have been terraced, and extensive farming takes place on these levels - the back-breaking work carried out by a large slave labor force. Although the city buys in vast quantities of meat from the Neobedouins, the farms produce a lot of food - the terraces extend in every direction down the mountain slopes. Many of the terraces are home to wide greenhouses, massive, heated affairs. The produce of these market gardens has allowed the growth of the city above to exceed that normal for a Skyloft, but the work is not without risk. Huge mesh walls nearer the bottom of the slopes have been constructed to keep out the predators. These walls aren't completley effective, but reduce the number of losses to a level where the farmers are prepared to take the chance. The farm overseers tend to live on the platform itself - the slaves are left to sleep on the terraces and fed the meanest fodder. The farm plateaus are connected to the main city by clockwork-powered cable cars. These cars are suspended from the city edge and service both the farms, and the Neobedouin tribes who gather below to sell their produce.

The city is ruled by a Governor, who is answerable to a Council of Oligarchs (generally the richest merchants). The Aetherians are really only interested in their Governor being a figurehead and shrewd accountant. Unfortunately, the current incumbent, Vladimir Cumulo-Nimbus, has lately developed a poor reputation as a bit of a dilettante, lacking the serious head for figures a man in such a position requires, preferring late nights and questionable company. Worse, people are beginning to worry about helium supplies, as well as Vladimir's decision to reduce the Sky Navy and hire more privateers. Many are dissatisfied with this and there has been talk in Council of passing a vote of no confidence. Vladimir is also known to be a fan of all things piratical, but that at least is a common enough obsession aloft.

Another NPC of note is Windward Altostratus. Windward is the chief administrator of the city. A mild-mannered, nervous-seeming man, Windward in fact wields a lot of power in Isla Aether. From his offices in the looming Customs Rooms it is usually Windward, with the Council's blessing, who has the final say regarding who gets the best mooring spots, who can apply for a docking permit, and even whether planned extensions to the platform may go ahead. Few know how great his influence is, and he is keen not to let on.