Caelondia

"The City was the most beautiful place in th' world...we all knew that."

The Caelondian emblem.

-- Rucks, Prosper Bluff

Caelondia was a city in the Old World that stood for a hundred years before it was destroyed in the Calamity.

History

Caelondia was founded by pioneers from across the Boundless Sea.

In time, the city flourished and became a center of trade and learning. Caelondia's unique position was due in part to its control over Burstone Quarry, which had been purchased from the Ura at an extremely low price. The quarry not only provided the Caels with a source of valuable trade fodder, it also gave them unlimited access to Cores which powered the City and enabled its technological marvels.

As Caelondia prospered, the Caels began to expand. Caelondian Brushers and Slingers explored the Wild territories, seeding promising areas with Shards to cultivate the land. One particular area, Point Lemaign, was developed into a major transportation line called the Grand Rail.

Not only did the Grand Rail run through Ura territory, but it ran over their tunnels and homes.  The dispute over Point Lemaign triggered the Ura-Caelondia War, 50 years after the founding of Caelondia. In the end, the Caels' superior technology and impenetrable defenses led to an Ura surrender.

After the war, the Ura retreated further east to their main stronghold, The Tazal Terminals. Within Caelondia, martial institutions founded during the war retained a prominent position in city society, and the Caels continued to reinforce the city walls against any possibility of attack.

Despite the truce, Ura refugees who had been taken in during the war were denied permission to return to their homelands; instead they were granted Caelondian citizenship and legally restricted to the city's borders. The naturalized ethnic Ura were isolated by Caelondian society, which regarded these outsiders with thinly-veiled suspicion.

Relations between the two peoples remained "relatively peaceful after the War", despite the City's restrictions.

Plot

In the aftermath of the Calamity, Caelondia ceased to exist. Any Caels not immediately vaporised were turned to petrified ash where they stood.  Destroying any of these statuesque remains has no effect on the main plot.

Rucks, the Kid, and Zia were all native citizens of Caelondia; Zulf considered Caelondia a 2nd home.

Deceased Caels

• Rondy the Bartender
• Maude the Tutor
• Percy the Snitch
• Mr & Mrs Beckley
• The Tunder Brothers
• Nordy the Bird Boy
• The Jawsons
  • possibly descendants or distant relatives of to Slinger Jawson
• Grady Sr & Grady Jr