Golden Tower
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The Golden Tower is the capital city of the Empire of the Sun, founded in the year 1670 by Eladi Minerson. The Golden Tower is named for the capitol building of the Empire, but also includes two small towns on either side of the Great Rift and four other floating towers.
Construction
The town on the western side of the Great Rift is called the Sun District, the other town is called the Sand District. Both districts thrive on the trade, pilgrims, and traffic associated with the Empire, and primarily cater to service needs. Sand District is known for being somewhat rougher around the edges than Sun District, and attracts budget travelers and adventurers. Sun District caters to the higher classes, and provides increased security but higher prices.
The five towers hang in the air, suspended by Eladi's powerful magic, over the Great Rift, one thousand feet above the constantly-erupting chasm bottom. Each is shaped like an elongated tear drop, and has a surface of polished gold paint. Each tower is three hundred feet tall from base to spire, and has thirty floors within its walls. The north tower is reserved for the Acolytes, and is spatially devoted to sleeping chambers, classrooms, laboratories, and libraries. The south tower is reserved for the clergy, and is spatially devoted to the Cathedrals of the Gods. Each God maintains a church here, though some are more active than others. The west tower is devoted to politics, and provides living space for visiting royalty and dignitaries, as well as entertainment and research areas. The east tower is devoted to the military, and provides living space for generals and admirals, as well as aviaries for the Golden Tower's defensive air force. It houses collections of plans, maps, and intelligence on matters of military importance.
The central tower, the namesake and original Golden Tower, is elevated one hundred feet above the rest, and houses the Grand Wizard himself as well as his core council of Great Wizards, the Golden Oracle, private research areas, the throne room, portals to other locations, and the Eladi Sunstone.
Transport between the districts and towers is managed by swarms of floating platforms. Each platform carries one individual between destinations on a programmed route. The platforms are marked with a colored band indicating which destination they will fly to next. The platforms fly into the base of the towers, or into the district circles.
Politics
The Golden Tower is still finding its place in continental politics despite being the technical supreme power. Eladi Minerson is attempting to forge the tower into a peacekeeping advisory role that judges disputes between mostly-autonomous city-states impartially, but many of the others involved in the unification have different visions. Eladi's public intent is for an elite family of mages to benevolently supervise the affairs of an otherwise autonomous and republican empire. To balance power, the new Golden Senate has the ability to unanimously vote a new family into wizardry – should this occur the old wizards must train the newly chosen and go into exile. Following such an election, every senator must resign his or her seat on the senate and new senators must be elected from each city. The wizard family collectively makes up the Golden Council, and are led by the Grand Wizard.
