More before and after illustrations

Here are a few other illustrations that got re-drawn after a first draft. I had to re-draw each of these when I re-read my description of the knife. I either had to re-write the description or re-draw the illustrations. I chose to re-draw them because I liked my description better.

Blade of Takshaka Illustration Evolution

First Version

Second Version

I preferred the buildings in the first version to the second version, so I re-drew them.

Okay, one more. I had to resize it to fit the page better.

First Version

Second Version 

Third Version

Original Sketch on Graph Paper

Final Map

First sketch of penthouse floorplans on graph paper

Final map 

A Slight Revision to the Story of Zorin

I'm always second-guessing my in-game histories and back-stories, always coming up with better ideas or at least different ideas.

As-written, the xoogs were humanoid slaves created by the alchemist named Zorin, master of the art of Takwin, the creation of artificial life. Zorin created the xoogs to serve mankind. Eventually, he felt that he was not properly rewarded for his efforts and demanded to be made Emperor. When he was refused, he used mind control over the xoogs and turned them into an army. He also used biological warfare and monstrous creatures called terats to fight in his armies. Zorin was eventually defeated. The xoogs gained self-determination. Some xoogs lived among humans, others created their own societies, and others became feral.

One alternative is that the xoogs were never created as slaves. Instead, Zorin was an alchemist and master of Takwin (the alchemical practice of creating life and homonculi).  He cured disease, re-grew limbs, made everyone effectively immortal, and was essentially a medical miracle-worker. But, like Dr. Frankenstein, he wanted to push farther, to create new life forms and later existing life forms. For this, the practice of Takwin was banned and Zorin was banished.

Zorin vowed his revenge. He fled into the wilderness and began creating an army of homonculi called xoogs. Xoogs fill the same niche occupied by goblins, orcs, and ogres in other role-playing games. Small and cunning, man-sized warriors, and dumb over-sized brutes.

To his army of humanoid servants, he created a menagerie of frightening monsters. The monsters came in Three varieties: Chimerae, Gargantua, and Terats. Chimerae are bizarre cross-breeds combining elements of several animals. Gargantua are monstrous versions of ordinary animals. Terats are new monstrous species created from scratch.

All such creatures were capable of reproduction and many have established populations throughout Markania. All such creatures are effectively immortal. They will not die from old age but are as vulnerable to death from trauma as any creature. Many possess the ability to enter into suspended animation, allowing them to hibernate for years or centuries at a time.

Zorin used his monstrous army to attack the Nazarian empire. The resulting war lasted for decades. Eventually, Zorin released custom-designed plagues against his enemies, decimating the populations of the Nazarian cities. Eventually, Zorin's army was defeated but Zorin was never captured and his body was never found. He simply disappeared.

The surviving homonculi, the xoog, the terats, the chimerae, and the behemoths, scattered. They became the "monsters" found in other role-playing games. The intelligent ones formed tribes and clans. The monstrous ones sought shelter in caves or ruins or deep catacombs. They entered hibernation when food became scarce but can be easily awakened by a troupe of dungeon explorers.

Many of the xoog integrated into human culture as warriors, servants, and laborers. But these xoog will always be outsiders, and second-class citizens.

It's a minor change, I know. It doesn't really affect the setting's current status quo. All I'm really changing is the xoog origin as human slaves and a little bit of the War or Zorin. But I like the new history as it makes xoog slightly more monstrous and slightly more outsider, as opposed to being integrated from the beginning.

New Illustrations for the Blade of Takshaka

Can you survive the Pit of the Serpent?

Jumping from aero-carriage to aero-carriage

Swords of Cydoria re-added to Chaosium Catalog

A few months ago, Swords of Cydoria was removed from the catalog because it sold out.

Due to an oversight, it was not re-added after they got more stock. The error was noticed, reported, and Swords of Cydoria is back on the site as of today.

Energy Technology of Cydoria

Here is some more expurgated material that got left out of the main book. What follows is a completely unnecessary level of detail on some elements of Cydorian technology, or at least imported Rhakadian technology used in the Cydorian cities.

Power Generation

Until twenty years ago, the only practical means of producing power in Cydoria was through human effort, windmills, water wheels, or draft animals. Uruta possesses no fossil fuels. Relatively small amounts of combustible oils were obtained from whales or grass seeds. Cydorian scientists had produced a few wood-powered steam-engines, but for the most part these were considered impractical novelties. The ancient artifacts of the Sdara Vatra seemed to work on their own limitless internal power supply and these were understood only by the reclusive and secretive thaumaturges of the Order of Karak or especially learned university scholars. There was, therefore, simply no incentive to produce internal combustion engines.

Contact with the Rhakadian Empire of Malus introduced many new technologies, but most of these required some sort of power source to operate. As part of their commercial arrangement, the Rhakadian Empire provided the cities of the Vrildarian League with advanced energy generation facilities. These power generators broadcast their energy throughout the city without the need for a distribution network of conductive wires. Energy generation plants are immediately identifiable by the large conical power transmitters on their roofs.

In addition, efficient internal combustion engines, fueled by oils from grass seeds and cellulose, and chemically-based portable fuel cells were supplied to the Vrildarians for use in aero-ships, mobile fortresses, and remote military and industrial facilities.

Torium Power Cores

The primary means of generating energy to power Rhakadian technology is the torium power core. The torium core draws electricity from vacuum energy, free energy trapped within the very fabric of the universe. A cylindrical core made of metallic torium is surrounded by a heavy ring of nanocrystalline silicon. After an initial input of electricity to “prime the pump”, the torium generates a matching amount of electricity, creating electromotive force from vacuum energy even after the initial source of electricity is removed. The resulting electrical current can be harnessed to power electrically-powered devices.

The larger the torium core, the greater the electric current.  A one-ton small electric generator powered by a torium core the size of a brick can generate up to a megawatt of electricity, sufficient to drive four two-hundred horsepower aero-ship propulsion engines, while a  one-thousand-ton generator the size of a building can supply over a thousand megawatts, enough to power an industrialized city like Norukar or Vrildar. Generally, a generator will produce one kilowatt per kilogram or one megawatt per ton.

 Torium cores produce free electricity at a constant rate essentially indefinitely. Overloading a generator with more input energy than the torium core can safely generate will cause the core to burn out, rendering it inert and useless. For example priming a one-megawatt torium generator with two megawatts of electricity from an external source will destroy the torium core.

The energy output of a torium power core can fluctuate due to certain environmental conditions. Solar flare activity, regions of strong electromagnetic interference, and regional fluctuations in gravity can affect the output wattage of the generator, causing lights to flare or dim and motors to rev or slow.

Torium Power Cores are large power generators that generate electricity without fuel. These devices are highly restricted. Unauthorized operation of a Torium Power Core is a crime punishable by execution. These devices are not intended for ownership by a character but are listed here for purposes of comparison only.

SIZ	Size	Powers	Value
40	Small vehicle, palette of freight, 1t	Aero-ship, armored mobile-fortress	Restricted
75	Room, shipping container, 10t	factory, large aero-ship	Restricted
137	Small Building, 100t	Small city, industrial uses	Restricted
286	Large building, 1000t	Large Cydorian city	Restricted

Broadcast Power

The energy created by large central torium generators is, in turn, distributed throughout an area using broadcast power. Broadcast power transmits energy safely through the air from a spherical central broadcasting antenna perched atop tall conical towers. Receiver units transform the broadcast energy into useable electricity. The larger the electricity demand, the larger the receiver unit. A small hand-held receiver can supply a few kilowatts of energy, enough to power home appliances or small electronic devices. A large building-sized receiver can supply hundreds of megawatts for industrial applications.

The range of the largest power transmitters is about five kilometers, with most broadcasting to a range of about a kilometer. This broadcast energy is converted into usable electricity by receiver units. Receiver units range from the size of a small hand-held battery to power portable equipment to room-sized converters capable of providing massive amounts of power to industrial applications. These receivers, in turn, power the lights, heating elements, pumps, and electric motors of the city.

For most devices, power is transmitted from broadcast power stations and turned into useable electricity using receiving units. Broadcast power receivers vary in size and capability. A small receiver, a cylinder or flat bar the size of a finger, is sufficient to power most portable hand-hand devices and weapons. A vehicle can be powered by a receiver the size of a brick.

SIZ	Size	Powers	Value
1	AA battery, pack of gum	Hand-held device, computer	Average
1	Baseball, 6V battery, candy bar, 1kg	A cyberslave or cyberdroid, plasma hand-weapon	Average
4	Brick, 12V car battery, 10kg	A small vehicle, plasma cannon	Expensive
8	Backpack, suitcase, 50kg	Shop, laboratory	Expensive
16	Bale of hay, standard shipping box,100kg	Small building	Priceless
40	Small vehicle, palette of freight, 1t	Large building	Restricted
75	Room, shipping container, 10t	Large factory, industrial uses	Restricted

Electrochemical Voltaic Fuel Cell

A less expensive alternative to the torium core generator is the electrochemical voltaic fuel cell. Fuel cells are heavy-duty rechargeable batteries. Fuel cells can be recharged simply by entering the range of a broadcast power station. Most long-range vehicles that are expected to travel away from broadcast power are driven by fuel cells. Many less expensive aero-ships forego expensive torium core generators in favor of affordable fuel cells to power their electric engines. A typical aero-ship driven by fuel cells usually has just enough charge to travel thousand kilometers. 

A Fuel Cell is a more mobile alternative to the broadcast power. Although they are larger, they do not need to be within range of a broadcast power transmitter. However, a fuel cell eventually loses its charge. Fuel cells can be recharged in two to sixteen (2d8) hours using a broadcast power receiver. Fuel cells are usually installed on long-range vehicles and aero-ships. Cyberdroids are also powered by a SIZ 4 fuel cell.

SIZ	Size	Powers	Value
1	Baseball, 6V battery, bar of chocolate, 1kg	Hand-held device, computer	Average
4	Brick, 12V car battery, 10kg	A cyberslave or cyberdroid, plasma hand-weapon	Expensive
8	Backpack, suitcase, 50kg	A small vehicle, plasma cannon	Expensive
16	Bale of hay, standard shipping box,100kg	Shop, laboratory	Priceless
40	Small vehicle, palette of freight, 1t	Small building	Restricted
75	Room, shipping container, 10t	Aero-ship	Restricted

Internal Combustion Engines

Because the atmosphere of the planet Malus is poor in oxygen and lacks fossil fuels, the Rhakadians developed little in the way of internal combustion engines. The internal combustion engines used on Uruta are primarily of Phanosian design. Phanosian internal combustion engines are designed to operate on fuels derived from the grass seeds and cellulose. Compared to fuel cells and torium power cores, internal combustion engines are loud, smelly, and dirty. They require difficult-to-produce and relatively rare fuel. As such, internal combustion engines are generally only found in remote settlements that cannot afford a torium power core. Such settlements grow their own grass for fuel and broadcast the power out to one hundred meters. Since internal combustion engines are not of Rhakadian design, they are considered contraband by the Vrildarian Inquisition.

SIZ	Size	Powers	Value
1	Baseball, 6V battery, bar of chocolate, 1kg	Hand-held device, computer	Inexpensive
4	Brick, 12V car battery, 10kg	A cyberslave or cyberdroid, plasma hand-weapon	Average
8	Backpack, suitcase, 50kg	A small vehicle, plasma cannon	Average
16	Bale of hay, standard shipping box,100kg	Shop, laboratory, village	Expensive
40	Small vehicle, palette of freight, 1t	Small building, town, Aeroship	Priceless
75	Room, shipping container, 10t	Large building, small city	Restricted

The Energy Economy

All torium core electric generators and fuel cells are manufactured by the Rhakadian Empire which uses them to power their mining operations and industrial facilities. Many are traded in exchange for access to mine Uruta’s resources. The Rhakadians provide no more than a two hundred fifty generators of various sizes and five hundred fuel cells a year. Of these, two hundred are assigned to the Vrildarian military while the remaining fifty are awarded to nobles as gifts from the Emperor. In addition, The Phanosians supplied nearly a thousand to the Coalition of Timan before the Ill-fated War. At least half of these have been found and confiscated by the Vrildarian inquisition. Illegal smuggling since the war also introduces another fifty generators to Uruta a year. The end result is that there are roughly seven thousand five hundred torium core electric generators on Uruta.

Owner	Approximate Number of Generators	Use
Rhadkadian Empire	100	A few large industrial-sized generators to power their mining and refining operations and several dozen medium-sized generators on aero-ships and land-vehicles
Vrildarian military	4000	A few large industrial-sized generators to power the larger military bases; many medium-sized generators to power smaller bases, aero-ships, and armored mobile-fortresses; many man-portable units for recharging plasma weapons
Vrildarian nobility	1000	A few large industrial-sized generators to power the large cities and industrial facilities of the east; several hundred medium-sized generators to power aero-ships, and  a few remote settlements and agricultural colonies; a few dozen small man-portable units for personal noble use
Demetrian Resistance	300	A few dozen medium-sized generators to power aero-ships; over two hundred easily hidden man-portable units for recharging plasma weapons or powering small secret hideouts
Dazumi Pirates	200	A handful of large generators to power secret bases; several medium-sized generators to power aero-ships; a few easily hidden man-portable units for recharging plasma weapons
Other	500	Predominantly small-to-medium-sized generators, easily hidden, to power villages, farmsteads, or secret Techno-mystic laboratories

Okay, NOW I'm done writing! This time for reals!

Okay, I finished writing the introductory guide to Norukar. The manuscript is up to 32,665 words.

Now I'm ready to start layout and illustration.

Here's another excerpt.

Norukar: The City of the Gods

Geography of Norukar

The city of Norukar is built on an island in the archipelago of Mnatta. The island takes the shape of eight circular land-masses linked by narrow isthmuses and a common flat plain. Each land-mass is outlined by an almost perfect circular ridge surrounding a flat interior, like eight shallow craters. The ridges form natural walls around the each of the city’s eight neighborhoods. The ridges and the walls constructed atop them are therefore called “Ring-Walls”.

The city is subdivided into eight walled neighborhoods called “Quarters”. Each quarter has its own history and character.

The Old Quarter

The Old Quarter is home to the earliest buildings of Norukar. For many centuries, this neighborhood was Norukar. The Old Quarter contains hundreds of narrow twisting pedestrian streets and cramped, crumbling buildings. The architecture tends to be many centuries old with few reaching higher than ten levels. Within the Old Quarter, one can find most of the city’s small merchants, shops, and services. Hundreds of thousands of the city’s lower class freemen live in tenement houses. The many narrow streets and alleys of the old quarter also provide shelter to the city’s criminal class.

The Harbor

A section of the flat plain south of the Old Quarter’s ring-wall forms the city’s commercial waterfront facing the harbor. The waterfront is lined with docks and warehouses. Here one can find many shops and services that cater to maritime shipping. The criminal guild known as the Hidden Hand controls much of the illegal activity that happens in the harbor.

The Xoog Quarter

The Xoog Quarter is a ghetto devoted to the city’s thousands of free Xoog inhabitants. The Xoog Quarter has its own independent Xoog mayor, administration, and constabulary. The Xoog Quarter is an exotic place of strange customs, spicy foods, intriguing aromas, and startling sounds.  

The New Quarter

The New Quarter is entirely composed of skyscrapers built within the last two decades. It is a glittering display of architecture, power, light, and technology. Buildings reach hundreds of stories into the sky. A monorail wends its way through the canyon-like streets. The buildings are connected by a network of sky-bridges. Spotlights pierce the heavens and holograms dance through the air. Personal electro-vehicles zip around on wide boulevards wile aero-coaches fly from tower to tower.  Hundreds of aero-ships converge on the massive new terminal, the tallest structure yet built by Cydorian man, carrying passengers and freight from across Markania. The Academium Octavium, where new initiates into the brotherhood of the Octavium are trained in the secrets of science and engineering, is also located in the New Quarter.

The Towers

The Towers of the new Quarter are modern marvels of technology, engineering, and architecture. The Towers are skyscrapers built like vertical step pyramids. Many are reinforced by heavy flying buttresses. Most directions and addresses are given in relation to the name of a specific tower. For example, one might be told to look for a specific location on level twenty-two of “Tower Hune”.

Towers vary in height. The smaller towers stand ten to twenty stories, medium-sized towers reach forty to fifty stories, and the tallest soar one hundred to one hundred and fifty stories into the sky. Each tower is connected to the others via sky-bridges on the twentieth, fortieth, and eightieth stories.

The roots of the towers reach hundreds of meters below the streets of Norukar, into the under-levels of the ancient city. The under-levels are home to the slaves that maintain the building and its facilities. Tower facilities such as boilers, pumps, power receivers, etc. can be found in the lowest levels.

The towers at street level are bustling bazaars filled with merchant tents, live animals, and itinerant traders. The first few levels after that are home to the city’s free servants, laborers, and skilled workers. The living conditions at these levels vary from tower to tower from rowdy, raucous places rife with crime to clean, quiet, communities with a strong rule of law.

The twentieth level contains a commercial sector with retail shops, services, theaters, parks, etc. From the twentieth level one can travel to other buildings via the network of sky-bridges. Inhabitants from the lower levels are not allowed onto the twentieth floor or above without a passport.

The towers from the twentieth to the fortieth levels are restricted to the upper class, wealthy merchants, business officers, and other well-to-do members of society. These levels are well patrolled by the city guard and feature many amenities. The levels are mixed-use, combining residential apartments, shops, and commercial offices.

One can find additional shops and services on the fortieth level where the taller buildings connect via an additional layer of sky-bridges. Access to this level is even more restricted than the lower levels.

The higher levels, those above the fortieth levels, are reserved for the nobility and aristocracy of Norukar. These are the largest, most luxurious, most expensive residential apartments in all of Norukar. They are usually well-defended by household guards and maintained by dozens of domestic staff.

On towers with flat roofs, one can find penthouse mansions. These spacious residences are the homes of the most powerful nobles of the Norukarian aristocracy.

The Industrial Quarter

The district known as the Industrial Quarter was once the location of the city’s stock yards, tanneries, smithies, and stone carvers. Today, it is the site of a Torium power plant and broadcast power generators as well as hundreds of large industrial factories producing steel, chemicals, and manufactured goods. Though individual components might be put together by slave-workers in long assembly lines, comprehensive knowledge of the methods of design and production are secrets that are strictly maintained by the Octavium. Industrial waste is dumped directly into the sea off the west shore of the island. Pollution and particulates belch forth from tall smoke-stacks which the prevailing winds carry west towards the mainland. Thales Tower, the largest tower in the Industrial quarter, belongs to the powerful Brotherhood of Lightning guild.

The Ruined Quarter and the Bone Trees

An entire section of the city on the northern section of the island consists of ancient Nazarian ruins. One of the most interesting aspects of these ruins are the Bone Trees, strange white branching spires that protrude from the top of a small hill like stark metal pine trees with no needles. Some of the bone trees are dozens of meters tall. The bone trees are surrounded by a circle of Nazarian standing stones and menhirs and are considered a sacred place. The ruins are a known shadow zone (see Cydoria page 155) and are haunted by psychic ghosts. For this reason, the district has remained abandoned.

The Royal Palace

The Royal Palace is an entire district of the city put aside for the home of the monarch, presently Queen Chador, daughter of Charol. The palace is an ancient walled castle estate surrounded by a lush green woodland park and pond.

The Rhakadian Quarter

The Rhakadians have been given an entire island north of, but in sight of, Norukar. The island is home to thousands of Rhakadians living and working on Uruta. The island has been converted into a Rhakadian city complete with a spaceport capable of receiving and servicing the giant discus-shaped vessels capable of traversing the void of interplanetary space. Rhakadian buildings resemble towering metal cones covered in pipes, grilles, and exhaust stacks. Norukarians find the Rhakadian architecture visually unpleasant. Refined torium, zephyrium, and other resources are delivered via aero-ship and transferred to Rhakadian space-ships for transport elsewhere in the Rhakadian interplanetary empire. Access to the island is strictly controlled. Traffic to and from the island is monitored at all times and subject to interception and inspection by Norukarian the aero-navy.

History of Norukar

City of the Sdara Vatra

It is well established that the city of Norukar pre-dates mankind. The islands of the Mnatta archipelago were once the site of an important city of the Sdara Vatra. The raised foundations and circular ridge-walls, as well as the mysterious Bone Trees, are all that remain above ground of what must have been magnificent cities. Below ground, one may find ample evidence of the Sdara Vatra. The raised circular foundations beneath the city are riddled with passages connecting thousands of subterranean chambers and galleries, some impossibly huge with ceilings supported by massive columns. The sub-levels, as they have become known, descend deep into Uruta. Some shafts have no known bottom. The sub-levels closest to the surface have been explored and colonized by the people of Norukar, using them for slave quarters, boiler rooms, and conduits for air ducts and steam, water, and sewage pipes. The deeper sub-levels remain untapped and unexplored.

Since the fall of the Sdara Vatra, the city fell into ruin. Over thousands of years, mankind returned to the site, building layer upon layer of city over each successive civilization. The last major civilization to leave its mark were the Nazarians. It was the Nazarians that gave the island the name Norukar, though some evidence suggests that the name is much older, pre-dating even the Sdara Vatra. The Nazarian city fell over fifteen hundred years ago during the War of Zorin. The ruins on the northern tip of the island remain as testament to that lost civilization.

The modern city of Norukar was established by Targan sailors and colonists nearly a thousand years ago. It began as a sea-port, its harbor protected from the strong winds and rough seas of the Targan coast. The city was built along what is today the Old Quarter. The original walls were constructed soon afterwards.

Over the next millennium, the city of Norukar became a center of trade, industry, and technological advancement. The Octavium Order perfected many modern construction and engineering principles, making it possible to build towers reaching ten, twenty, sometimes thirty stories into the sky. The relatively recent concept of assembly line mass-production allowed Norukar to become an economic power-house among the other City-States. Prior to contact with the Rhakadians, Norukar was the commercial, architectural, and technological center of Cydoria.

The Modern City

The city underwent a major period of growth following the arrival of the Rhakadians twenty years ago. Advanced alien building techniques were shared with the Octavium, allowing them to create taller buildings in half the time. New technologies created new industries and markets. The city quickly expanded. The New Quarter was built over the site of an older agricultural district. The Industrial Quarter was completely rebuilt to accommodate new manufacturing techniques and technologies.

Politics of Norukar

The city-state of Norukar is a hereditary monarchy ruled by Queen Chador. The title of Sovereign is passed to the oldest legitimate child, male or female, of the previous monarch. The queen herself makes key administrative court appointments. Such positions are typically awarded to ranking members of the nobility. Although administrative positions are hereditary, the queen reserves the right to revoke a position and award it to someone else. The queen is advised by a privy council of trusted friends. The privy council holds no actual official political powers. Instead, they wield indirect power through their influence on the queen’s decisions.

Politics in Norukar is competitive and cutthroat, sometimes literally so. Assassination attempts between rivals are commonplace despite being outlawed. Norukarian politics is also traditionally corrupt. Officials use their position to extract gifts, payouts, and favors. Bribes are an effective way to sway an official’s opinion or to expedite or remove any bureaucratic impediments.

Technology of Norukar

Even before the coming of the aliens with their advanced electronic technology, the city of Norukar was renowned for its technical sophistication. Norukar was the first city to have towers built from steel-frame construction and the first city to have indoor plumbing connected to a city-wide sewer system. A generation ago, one would see horse-drawn carriages navigating the streets between twenty-story towers, a few primitive internal combustion engines, ballistic pistols powered by compressed air, complex clock-work mechanisms, and industrial automation driven by water wheels and wind turbines. Today, one is more likely to see aero-cars floating between massive towers half-a-kilometer high, street cars propelled by broadcast power, deadly plasma pistols and vibro-swords, and massive electric motors powering high-speed industrial machines.

Octavium

The design and maintenance of all technologies in the city of Norukar are overseen and controlled by the mysterious order known as the Octavium. The Octavium is one part monastic religious order, one part secret society, and one part trade guild association. Each of the eight brotherhoods of the Octavium oversees a different specialty. One brotherhood is responsible for heat distribution, another for plumbing, and another for iron-work and architectural construction. There are no towers built that were not designed by, whose construction was not overseen by, and that are not maintained by the Octavium. The Octavium is therefore an incredibly powerful political and social force in Norukar and across Cydoria. The Octavium Tower is one of the largest towers in Norukar, second only to the aero-ship terminal tower. Within the Octavium Tower, the organization initiates new members and trains them at the Academium Octavium.

Twenty years ago, a ninth brotherhood was created. The Brotherhood of Lightning specializes in electricity and electronics and has quickly become the most powerful guild in Cydoria. All electric motors, broadcast power transmitters and receivers, and electrically powered devices were designed by, purchased from, and maintained by the Brotherhood of Lightning. The Brotherhood of Lightning is nominally a part of the Octavium, but the new order is highly independent and is distrusted by the eight other traditional guilds. The Thales Tower, headquarters of the Brotherhood of Lightning, is located near the broadcast power transmitters in Norukar’s industrial quarter.

Strict laws protect the monopoly of the Octavium and the Brotherhood of Lightning so a thriving black market of underground engineers and technicians known as techno-heretics exist as an alternative. Techno-heretics believe that to understand technology is to understand the mysteries of the universe. They reject the orthodoxy of the Octavium and strive to share technological innovation with the masses. Techno-heretics are considered rebels and criminals so many claim false affiliation with the Octavium in order to work more openly.

Broadcast Power

By far the greatest of the Rhakadian technologies is that of broadcast power. In Norukar, torium reactors generate electricity which is radiated wirelessly throughout the city via massive conical transmission towers in the Industrial Quarter. No electric transmission wires are used. All one needs to power any electric device is a broadcast power receiver. The larger the receiver, the more electricity provided.

Powered Lifts

Powered lifts are a kind of elevator used in Norukarian towers. Instead of ascending and descending using steel cables and winches, Norukarian powered lifts use four small lift engines. Powered lifts operate like miniature aero-skiffs constrained to a shaft. The powered lifts are attached to a scaffold of four rails and safety brakes which halt the platform should the power receivers fail. The advantage of a powered lift over a cable-based elevator is that the height of the lift shaft need not be limited to the length and strength of the cable.

Aero-coaches

Aero-coaches are small personal aero-ships meant to transport anywhere from two to twenty people over short distances. They can be enclosed, covered by a glass canopy, or open like a convertible. They usually feature comfortable leather seats, wood paneling, and interior heating and air conditioning. Aero-coaches are expensive and private coaches remain the domain of the rich and powerful. Aero-coach taxis are available for hire on the landing platforms of most tower sky-bridge concourses.

Aero-ships

Aero-ships are aircraft that float through the sky using the anti-gravitational properties of zephyrium to provide lift and ducted fans for thrust, powered by rechargeable fuel cells. They skies above Norukar swarm with aero-ship traffic from all over the continent of Markania. Most aero-ships converge on the newly constructed aero-ship terminal tower, the largest building in Norukar and the dominant feature of the city’s skyline. While docked at the terminal, an aero-ship can recharge is fuel cells using broadcast power in two to twelve hours.

The Monorail Network

With the rapid expansion of the city, it soon became difficult to walk from one part of the city to the other in a practical amount of time, and few merchants and traders could afford aero-coaches or elecro-carrriages. So fifteen years ago, Queen Charol, Chador’s predecessor, ordered the construction of a monorail network to connect each of the various districts of the city. The monorails and cars are of Rhakadian design. They are long rounded cylinders of glass and steel suspended from an overhead track. There are, in actuality, three monorail networks: one blow ground and two above ground. The first above-ground network operates just above street-level, roughly ten to twenty meters off the ground, and is accessible from stairs that lead to terminal platforms. The second above-ground network is suspended below the sky-bridges. The sky-bridge mono-rails are reserved for the middle and upper classes. The sky-bridge mono-rails literally pass through the center of the towers. The below-ground system is located ten to twenty meters below the street-level and is used exclusively by the city’s slaves.

Electro-carriages

The most common form of street transportation is the electro-carriage, tear-drop shaped wheeled vehicles propelled by an electric motor powered by broadcast energy. Electro-carriages are the vehicle of choice for the merchant class. The streets at ground-level are often too crowded with pedestrians and animal traffic for efficient electro-carriage traffic. Instead, most electro-carriages are found zipping from tower to tower on the sky-bridges.

Communication

Telecommunication, either via radio or cable, is not a technology that exists on Uruta. The energy field known as the Oudh disrupts the wavelengths of any such transmission. Communication in Norukar is handled via couriers, generally young human or jinx slave runners who carry hand-written messages to their recipients. Couriers are available for hire on every street corner and in every public place. Couriers wear special uniforms and carry passes granting them limited access normally restricted public areas in order to deliver their messages.