The Lighted City of Pearls
The Lighted City of Pearls is more of a legend then a place. Most often spoke of by
Yi, she claims that it is a city that is quite deep in Top, without modes of convenience travel to or from it. Still, there is quite a bit of information about the city, despite its apparently isolated and inaccessible state.
Topography
By all accounts, The Lighted City of Pearls is founded by a source of water, though it neither lies on the Arha River or the
Ocean. The area surrounding the City is described as being a perfect collection of elements, situated with perfectly balanced lung-mei currents. What is known is that the area does contain well known hot springs, high and sharp forested mountains, and more curved, sloping open fields perfect for farming. The city itself has a meticulous lay out, and from an aerial point of view, it is said to mimic the Hexagram of the I Ching.
Society of the City
The City itself is dedicated to the exploration of the various arts that the Terran culture of China, and the city itself is self awarely modeled some what after a mix of pre and post colony Hong Kong. The city openly embraces some of the post scarcity trappings of the rest of the Mess, and there is certainly no poverty or crime within the walls of the city, but technology has developed more towards biological engineering then mechanical or electrical ones. The origin of the City's name comes from the large cultured pearls that are engineered to contain enhanced chemiluminescent materials that bathes the city in blue light during it's night time hours. People dedicated to the art of cultivating the land constantly strive for better and more interesting medicines, not for the body, but for the well being of the mind and soul. It is thusly that Doctors still exist, physicians whom job it is not to cure disease, but instead to help ease issues with qi imbalances and mental peace and stability. Though the city is at peace and would have no reason not to be so, martial arts are still heavily practiced, more so for the art portion of the term, as well as a way of mediation and maintaining spiritual health. Competitions of skill in martial arts are still held regularly, and the various schools the arts are quite competitive in demonstrating the superiority of their stylings, but the emphasis is upon the spirit of the art, not on its superiority strictly on the field of combat.
The technology of the City is a mixed bag. As mentioned before, bioengineering is far more popular then mechanics. The city itself contains no motors, no electrical based computers or even a means of electricity distribution. Instead, the city has a great variety of engineered life forms for specific niche roles. Communications are handled by a form of Mynah bird or Carrier pigeon, for example. The largest array of engineered life forms are of the aquatic variety, such as the city's namesake pearls and it's wireless network system, which is created by an odd interface of the household water supplies and the dolphins of the area. As a consequence of this focus, many various forms of flora and fauna inhabit the city, creating a living canvas of motion for most of the day.
Finding the City
Finding the City is difficult by many means. First of all, most transportation technology is banned from use within a very large perimeter of the city. This ban is passively preserved by a odd phenomenon in which people attempting to use forbidden technology, such as internal combustion powered engines or magic mirror, end up lost, confused and usually finding themselves standing on the docks of
Elysium some how. Second of all, it is very distant from the other parts of
Top, remaining disconnected from the main access from the Mirror into the warp and the
Ocean. Third of all,
it may not exist at all.