SkyReach
The courier looked at the address again. It did not make any sense. There was no Skydistrict street in the southern part of the city, or any part of the city. He jumped a bit when he saw a winged figure fly over his head. His eye followed the figure up to the tall towers above the buildings. He had seen them over city the city. He thought they were decorations. He was wrong. Scratching his head, he wondered how he was going to get up there.
In the south quadrant of the city, there are tall towers springing up from the squarish one to three story buildings normally found in the city. These "towers of poles" are a good fifty or sixty feet tall above the roof line below. They are made of wood or bamboo poles spliced together, sticking up from the buildings below. On these tall towers of wood live the BirdFolk and other flying peoples.
These towers are tall, light, and topped with small roofs. Some towers have some lateral supports made of the same light wood/ bamboo. The towers of poles are light and designed to sway in the winds, but if they do break they are so light that there will be little damage below.
Strung between the towers of poles are tents of sorts that act as rooms and apartments. These "tents" are usually inside the tower, but some are strung between towers. Off the towers the various folks hang colorful streamers and flags. In addition to general decoration, the flags are used to mark "addresses", neighborhoods, and "pathways".
The "people" live in "tents" of sorts strung between the rails and struts of the towers. Since all the various skyfolks have little in the way of personal possessions, there is little weight in these towers. The only heavy rooms are the few skyfolk temples there. They are not much more than larger and heavier canvas tents with a few built in alters and braziers.
There is a tower standing tall from the south district gate. That tower has only one thing, a large hoop. This hoop marks the gate to and from this quarter. It is manned at most times. There is a token drop there, so comings and goings can be measured and a district ledger kept. All the skyfolks are supposed to fly through the gate when they leave their quarter, so they can be in compliance with city law.
The skyfolks descend to the ground for the various other services they need.
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? Responses (4)
This is another of those Woah Moments where you see something that makes total sense, but you never thought of. I like the bird folk marking neighborhoods with streamers and flags in the wind.
I do like the gate detail.
Ok, it's a cool idea, and a great summary, but I'm having some trouble visualizing the city. I can't imagine (1) not being able to see the tents as was stated in the summary and (2) holding up a home with 60 feet of bamboo. I think it's a great concept, I would just personally need a picture or some more details to see it clearly.
I want you to think of these "tents" as box kites.. They are cubes of space defined by some canvas. One part of the canvas has a side split so you can slip into it. These people are also living light. Figure the occupant is the heaviest thing there (at 60 Kgs on average) and about 5-25 Kgs of personal stuff (at maximum) for each person. Remember these are sky folks. Their home environment does not lend itself to encumbrence and much 'stuff'. This is reflected in their living.
If you need images, You can also image.google.com search on climber's tents, as they have similar parameters. Another good one would be the researcher tree tents of the people who study the Amazon jungle.
The power of bamboo in construction is great. Do not underestimate it. If you do a google search about it, you will see that they are used for scaffolding for construction at much greater distances.
You can see the towers, you just see light colorful towers. (Two or three 'tents' on a given tower.) It might not 'register' as a tent/ living space.
And I need to do an edit. It should be 50-60 feet above the ground, towering high above the roofline (as most buildings in most time periods are 15-25 feet tall).
And to defend my poor courier, 1) how many people look up and 2) if you don't know that is the neighborhood, it is just additions to the buildings.
I was editing some spelling and some mistyped numbers and I erased it. So I put it all back in. Sorry.
Nifty.