Burning Archipelago

Burning Archipelago

(City)

World

Sun

Population

63,510

Demographics

45% human, 16% efreeti, 7% android, 5% ysoki, 27% other

Government

Oligarchy

Alignment

Neutral good

Ruler

Archipelago Senate

Source: Pact Worlds, pg(s). 12

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The Burning Archipelago is a collection of inexplicable and (until roughly a century ago) abandoned cities encased within magically protective bubbles that are tethered together and float unburnt within the Pact Worlds sun's flaming corona.

Geography

The Burning Archipelago consists of numerous large and small bubbles with cities or large platforms suspended inside. The largest ones (in alphabetical order) are Asanatown, Chroma, Corona, Dawnshore, Fireside, Stellacuna, and Verdeon (see below). Unknown mechanisms, likely magical, keep the bubbles habitable and shield them from the sun's radiation and blinding brightness. When a starship approaches the appropriate area of the sun, a narrow tunnel opens an entrance to the Burning Archipelago, specifically to the Dawnshore Spaceport; the outer end of the tunnel is guarded by the Sunrise Station, which is garrisoned by the Sarenite Dawn Patrol, who checks whether visitors have legitimate business in the Burning Archipelago or not, and keeps watch on the suspicious. Scientists have been studying the platforms for centuries in the hopes of learning how they function, but so far have not come to any definite conclusions. This research has produced several incidental advancements, however, including the development of heat-resistant materials to better withstand the sun's temperatures and improved solar sails.

Bubbles

Each of the Burning Archipelago's bubbles has its own unique flavor and is connected to others in a static formation by energy tethers. At the ends of each tether are magical membranes which all vessels must go through if they want to enter or exit the bubble. Linecrawler ferries hug the tethers, while those in a hurry can charter sunskimmers, vehicles built to harness solar winds.

Asanatown

Populated largely by lashuntas, this smaller bubble is home to the Church of the Burning Mother, a pilgrimage site for Sarenrae-worshipers.

Chroma

One of the smaller of the main bubbles, Chroma houses several sporting venues whose competitions are broadcast throughout the Pact Worlds.

Corona

Because the sun often opens portals to the Plane of Fire, the Burning Archipelago has become a second home to many elemental beings who congregate on Corona, and who trade with the locals in the Brass Bazaar. Other places of interest there include the Temple of the First Ones, dedicated to the mythical creators of the construct anacites of Aballon, and the headquarters of the Corona Artifact Divers who explore the "deep cultures" found in the sun's lower layers.

Dawnshore

Dawnshore was the first bubble to be explored and is now the local headquarters of the church of Sarenrae. It contains the Radiant Cathedral, the Archipelago Senate Chamber (where the local government meets), and the Dawnshore Spaceport.

Fireside

A business and industrial bubble, Fireside is home to the local AbadarCorp Hypermarket, Fireside Foundry, a factory that produces enhancements for robots and androids, and NatuReal Solar Bureau, a company that controls much of the Burning Archipelago's agriculture.

Stellacuna

Stellacuna is the intellectual hub of the Burning Archipelago, housing all of its institutions of learning. These include the Deep Cultures Institute, which studies the native species of the Sun, Solar University, a small, prestigious college that is known for teaching astrophysics and planar studies, and the Sun Atlas, who believe the Sun to have "deep cultures" that live within beneath the star's surface.

Verdeon

The Verdeon bubble contains numerous greenhouses and parks, including the Floating Gardens, Greenbelts, and the Vestrani Gaming Complex.

Government

The Burning Archipelago is a collection of self-governing cities, each with its own law and police. Each city sends an elected representative to the Archipelago Senate, which only has jurisdiction on issues affecting the entire Archipelago (like maintaining the peace between bubbles or preventing residents from interfering with the bubbles themselves) and very little authority in the affairs of each individual bubble's inhabitants. When the Senate does intervene, it inevitably has to go through significant bureaucracy, infighting, and political grandstanding. Many large guilds and organisations handle their own affairs and can freely speak at senate meetings.

The Burning Archipelago as a whole is a self-governing protectorate in the system-wide Pact Worlds government, with the right to send non-voting representatives to the Pact Council on Absalom Station.

History

The Burning Archipelago was discovered in 223 AG by Sarenite scholars orbiting and observing the sun. Shortly after its discovery, the Sarenite priestess Imryll Novaheart had a vision of walking through its streets and knew that Sarenrae was calling her there. She came to Sunrise Station and managed to convince some of the crew to travel to the Burning Archipelago according to Sarenrae's will. As their ship started to fail due to the extreme heat and gravity, the tunnel into the Burning Archipelago suddenly opened, allowing them to pass into Dawnshore safely. Sister Novaheart discovered and named the Radiant Cathedral in her "Speech Under the Prominence". As the speech was broadcast to the Pact Worlds, it triggered a mass migration to the Burning Archipelago. Although it's still not known who, or what, originally built the cities or why they were abandoned, the bubble cities quickly became the Church of Sarenrae's most sacred settlement.

Inhabitants

Daily life in the Burning Archipelago is not very different from other cities, despite its strange location. Its residents are inured to the threat of instant death should the bubbles fail, but are less comfortable with other mundane problems, like crime or protests.

Humans make up nearly half of the Burning Archipelago's population and hold most of the power as corporate executives and high-ranking members of the Church of Sarenrae. The Fireside Foundry is home to androids who design heat-resistant bodies for new androids to inhabit the lower stations build beneath the Archipelago. Many kasathas have turned small bubbles in the fringes of the Archipelago into solarian monasteries. The lashuntas inhabiting the Burning Archipelago are psychically beset with a feeling of impending doom consuming the Archipelago. Unknown to them, this feeling is the result of telepathic warnings from the anassanois inhabiting the deep-sun city of Kahlannal. For this reason, the lashuntas in the Burning Archipelago are cynical, paranoid, and isolationist, and have taken over an entire bubble-city, naming it Asanatown.

Efreet from the Plane of Fire are common visitors to the Burning Archipelago as well.