Post by 月老 on May 25, 2015 18:47:11 GMT -6
SHAM BALA
TERATAI
A carnelian blossom with folded petals magicked to open when the sun sets and close as it rises. A twirl of glass and colored tile hollowed into the shape of a grand lotus flower, the stairways inside lead up to a stage that looks out over the sprawling metropolis that is Ba'al. This is open to the priests, scholars, and astrologers who hide their elegantly-scripted texts and tomes in Teratai's bowels. Citizens pray at the massive altar, bronze and copper statues lining walls painted with scenes borrowed from epic poems.
CASSIOPEIA
Cassiopeia is the name of the great arch—sprawling, like the night sky and designed in a spider web of mosaic scenes stolen from poetry. Golds, navy, and vibrant royal purple have been etched into each individual tile until the colors fade to only sharp grays in the center. They outline the shape of a lithe and beautiful woman, still youthful with arms spread and black hair billowing at her shoulders. Massive ships and hovering air vessels—magicked, much the same as flying carpets—cross under Cassiopeia to enter Ba'al.
SCHOLAR'S TOWER
One of the Four Towers, it represents South and the pursuit of wisdom in Nibiran culture. Libraries and scientists—alchemists, sorcerers; whatever title they choose—have made a home here. Rows of stone seating climb the mountainsides, a ring around a stage open to public debate on politics and mathematics. Classrooms line open-air hallways under glitzy verandas, cushioned on either side by Ba'al's incredible archives. Medical wards hold demonstrations and take in the sickly, largely hidden underground.
CAPELLA'S CRADLE
A fountain, each curve and nook sculpted into the body of a massive shell cushioned by waves and crags. Water eases from the mouths of hollowed out caves in the stone, and men and women lay—perfectly carved—in tangles of vines, lotuses, and water lilly. Capella, the eyeless women who cries into her hands and is trapped in the body of shell, is one of the many faces of the goddess Nobu. Precious stones, coins, and floating candles drift along and below the water's surface.
THE BAZAAR
A lively place that spreads throughout Ba'al's Four Towers, each the spiritual representation of a cardinal direction. The Palace becomes the figurative heart of the nation, situated in the center and suggestive of the gateway to heaven. Stories speak of its colorful array of magicked carpets, and vendors sell their goods both on foot and in the air. Crops exchanged from all countries, machinery, alchemic potions and charmed items; the Bazaar is the center of commerce, and the lifeblood of the trade routes between Shambala and Nibiru.
THE DIADEM
"The royal family sits crowned at the top of the city"—above all else, in greenery and gardens designed by Shambala's finest. Seen from even the gates and carpets skirting lower Ba'al, Diadem is the name given to the palace in the heavens. Four white towers, each tied together by walls decorated in cream and cobalt glass, encircle the inner sanctum and its bright golden dome. Calligraphy slithers around curved gates, shaped like full leaves while in-ground streams trickle from the fountain Capella.