Vajra

City of the Silver Roots

“Stray not from the Silver Roots; Reach together for a good life.”

• Vajra proverb

DESCRIPTION

Vajra is the largest city, marked by the metal tree and deep, winding tunnels. These tunnels follow the tree’s metal roots, intersecting ancient ruins and earth where the Vajra live.

• The Rootspire: The most prominent feature of Vajra; a massive, mechanical silver tree that stretches as high as the Empire State building, to the edge of the dome. Around the tree hover various abstract, geometric, metal objects that shift and flutter to different-sided shapes, almost like hives of glassy blue insects. The Rootspire houses The Temple of The Silver Roots, where the Rootspeakers and clerics convene to interpret the messages from their god. 

• The Silver Roots: Thick, metal roots that stretch from the tree and arc around the city before burrowing deep underground. These roots have deep striations across their otherwise flawless, steely grey metal. They have bluish-purple lights that pulse and move along the roots during the Veil. On the surface live the poorest or most pious of the Vajra, exposed to the elements, but huddled around the roots for warmth during the Veil. Winding tunnels dug by the Vajra follow the roots underground, intersecting ancient metal structures from The Before.

• The Dome: Stretching across Vajra, a barrier that protects the city from Sandstorms, Reliquary Synth attacks and rogue Terras or Calls.

• Tunnels: Most people in Vajra live and work in the tunnels beneath The Rootspire. This is where you will find homes dug into the clay, shops and facilities built into the Metalhomes, and Mycofarms to cultivate fungi or Timbershrooms. Architecture in Vajra thus is a mix between makeshift use of ancient structures (for foreigners and those not too superstitious about them) and earthen (for everybody and everything else). The tunnels are always getting deeper, but can never stray too far from the roots that they trace, as they then have a risk of collapse.

• Deep Dangers: The deepest, newest tunnels of Vajra provide occasional rare resources, like metals, new Fungi and Animal species, or even newly discovered ruins. However, these tunnels are restricted as they are said to contain dangers in the form of giant insects, strange monsters and even possibly burrowing Terra.

CULTURE

“We are each extensions of The Silver Roots. Connected to a common seed, we grow together, or not at all.”

• Vajra Rootspeaker 

Vajra are simple, traditional people who value family and community. Of the three city-states, they are the closest to traditional religion, whereas Nexis or Kishmet see their god as a leader.

• Their god: Most people see The Silver Roots as a benevolent goddess who gives them food, shelter and comfort. Their communities are structured such that the few Rootspeakers and clerics who get to speak to The Silver Roots directly are at the pinnacle of society. No one else sees or hears The Silver Roots, although some claim to have seen her visions when they pray. When a typical person from Vajra imagines The Silver Roots, they think of an ancient, caretaker spirit who lives in The Rootspire and appears as a beautiful woman of pure argent light, her hair stretching as the roots throughout the land. People pray daily to The Silver Roots by placing their hands upon the roots and speaking aloud. The faith of the Vajra toward The Silver Roots is more an intense gratitude and duty that they should reciprocate her generosity to their community and fungi they grow near the roots.

• Beliefs and values: Vajra are traditional, family-oriented, and quite superstitious. They tend to focus more on their own community. Below are some examples of typical Vajra beliefs / values:

• Vajra must come first; your family and your community above all else.

• You should never forget where you came from.

• Most ruins, structures and Reliquaries from The Before are dangerous distractions.

• Aside from abandoning your people, damaging the roots or her lands is the worst thing that one can do.

• The Roots guide us deeper to a better, safer life. We mustn’t stray from the roots.

• Appearance: Most Vajra tend to be paler of complexion with darker hair due to living underground; there are many in Vajra who have only been topside several times in their life (or not at all). As a rite-of-passage, all Vajra on their 400th cycle (~18 years old) get a silver Embed (similar to a tattoo, but textured; applied with a PR by an Embedder) that signifies The Rootspire or The Silver Roots. These silver Embeds - if visible with clothing - can easily identify a Vajra.

• Accent or dialect: People from Vajra don’t have a specific accent. Their language is often coloured with idioms, expressions and proverbs that guide their decisions and thoughts when in doubt. The superstitions of the Vajra tend to permeate their language; it might come across as irrational or flawed when discussing explicit or logical decisions with Nexans or Kishmettans.

WORK AND LIFE

“I’m a Mycofarmer, my father was a Mycofarmer, and his father was a Mycofarmer before that. And you know what? My son is gonna be a Mycofarmer, too. Is it glamorous? No, of course not. But we must do our part.”

• Vajra Mycofarmer 

Like the other city-states, all activities in Vajra strive to support the Icehaul and their peoples’ survival. However, they still have a bustling, lively economy.

• Rootspeakers: The most important people in Vajra society are those who interface with or serve The Silver Roots directly. These elites share wisdoms from the god that motivate decisions, laws, and many other aspects of society.

• Icehaulers: The Icehaulers are the next most important roles in Vajra. These are caravans of people who travel to Abzuicil every cycle to retrieve ice for water, needed for many essential aspects of daily life from sustenance to medicine and The Silver Roots, herself. They also include the people who negotiate and trade with the other city-states to get essentials like Anthra and Ventus Vials. Icehaulers consist of drivers, haulers, traders, diplomats, guards, and miners (among other, minor roles). The Vajra Icehaul is marked by a dangerous passage, first through the Pillars of Vaul and The Rotten Roots. However, the journey across Vamana Bridge is most memorable, a colossal metal arm that stretches from one continent to another, with jutting, spikey stones protruding on either side, and a steep fall beneath to salty softsand.

• Mycofarmers: People who work to grow edible, medicinal or practical fungi.

• Tunnelers: People who build, reinforce and maintain the tunnels and Earthen constructions beneath Vajra.

• Secondary and Tertiary goods: There are plenty of shops that sell things like foods, tunnelling equipment, clothes, etc. Most of these are made from natural materials found in the Tunnels or processed from clay, fungi and other nearby resources.

• Health, Education & Wellbeing: Most people prefer to be healed by clerics or Rootspeakers, but seek Alchemists for cures made of fungi and rare herbs from Nexis, and Medics for cures from Reliquaries. Children are mostly educated at home, though monasteries, colleges and other private institutions do offer tutelage, generally from within one of the ancient ruins that have been repurposed for another function.

• Leisure & entertainment: Vajra greatly value the Bardic arts, and see their Gift as something valuable for sharing and connecting with one another. They prefer dramatic performances, stories and plays above music and other acts. Generally, Vajra entertainment centres around a particular moral, belief or parable. Vajra bars are family establishments with no alcohol, but are very popular. Some subpopulations occasionally consume light doses of toxic mushrooms to experience a cathartic “high”. This can become problematic, as these fungi are addictive, expensive, and damaging to health if not grown properly.