Castella

The floating Gnomish city, where wealth is true power.

Curiosity has always been a trait the Gnomes possessed that was easily observed. Always seeking to create and to better their surrounding and their securities, the Gnomes of Mistbank believed their afterlife lied in the clouds on the surface of the planet Atmos.

Early inventions of theirs led to breakthroughs such as hot air balloons, and eventually the zeppelin that left the world in awe. But the Gnomes always dreamed bigger.

Smaller crafts could be enchanted, and left to their own flight, however enchanting a mass of land to defy gravity stumped the Gnomes for many generations. They eventually realized that to keep such a mass afloat, would requite a constant channeling of magical energy into strategic parts of the mass itself, in order for it to stabilize. They experimented on smaller pieces of land with strong enchantments, and were successful, leaving a half a dozen small floating islands above what would later become known, as The Crystal Range. Castella itself, would not take flight before decades of searching would lead the Gnomes to the most powerful innate magic users in the land. There were six of them, of mixed races although little is known about them, their combined magical prowess was able to pull the city itself off the ground, and into the air. Now that the city is airborne, the sorcerers must take turns in shifts of three constantly channeling to keep it stable and safely hovering above the mountains. The mountains themselves are a key to this puzzle, their location in particular allows the channelers to do so more easily.

The city quickly thrived, as word of it quickly spread throughout the kingdoms of the realm, and those who could afford passage on a quite expensive zeppelin, or tamed winged creater, could attempt to purchase property on Castella. When the hierarchy of the city formed, it was those with wealth who were able to bribe and campaign their way into the city's ruling council, and it remains that way to this day. If you want to sit on the city council, you simply outbid the seat you wish to hold. It is a city of politics and all that comes with it, blackmail, bribery, and all the things a fat purse can buy. It is, however, as they intended essentially impervious to outside harm.

What the Gnomes could not know, was the effect the launch of the city would have on the ground below. In the moments leading up to the flight of Castella, the earth around and below it could be seen dying and distorting as if time itself had sped up. The mountains nearby also seemed as though they wanted to break loose and follow, leaving floating pieces of rock behind and literally pulling the minerals from the deep within the mountain to the surface. Which is where the mountain go it's current name, The Crystal Range, because of the massive jagged shards of brilliant bright crystal jutting out all over the mountain covering almost half of it's mass.

Another side effect of the launch was the effect on the Surge. Magic in the area became unpredictable, sometimes absurdly powerful, while other times completely void, and shifting in between. The plants and animals of the area also changed with the touch of the Surge, and it has become a sight of much debate, and study.