Great Bridge
Note from Chris – This is an update from an older version, expanded on and tweaked a bit. The Train system will be detailed in it’s own article, fingers crossed next week. As with many of my other EH articles, the names are, for now WIP/placeholders.
Main Features
- “Made” from a form of elemental earth that can grow, adjust and repair most damage, given time. The secrets of this process are a tightly kept secret, but remuors persist that a deal was made with some powerful entities from the elemental planes. This material , on appearance , has an equal amount of black and white stones within, with the occasional smattering of coloured material. If any is removed, it loses its regenerative properties and turns into an inert stone. Alterations, drilling for support and so on is possible and appears so far to not be rejected , leading some to belive that there is something that , in a way, approves of the bridge being used in this way
- Vertical Settlements – Along each of the main supports, at around the 10 mile mark, settlements have grown up that reach from the ocean to the top of the bridge. Whilst each of these is unique, they follow a similar pattern, with docks for ships at the bottom, a series of lifts (both for cargo and for people) that can take anyone from the bottom to the top for a small fee. There are ramps and steps to allow passage to each level as well. A few settlements are large enough that they have started to merge from opposite sides of the bridge
Train System
There are two main lines, both going north-south along the bridge. One on the west side, the other on the east. They are seperate and not connected by main lines, but there are aprroxmatly 10 places where sub lines connect the various stations in an east-west direction, but they are more for cargo use, but paaying customers can hire them. They are refered to as, as you might expect, the Eastern line and the Western Line. Both are pratically identical, with any difference being cosmetic in nature. The train itself is one of the few publicy known and accepted examples of techno-magic in Easthalen. A combiation of the arcane and engineering excellence. The fact that The Bridge is considered to be neutral territtory worked in its favour, as a regular system seen on other worlds would have issues with refueling and so on.
Purpose / Function
A combination of way for those to travel to and from Franner Island and the mainland in Guldaria. It has a secondary purpose as a psudo-country , goverend , for want of a better term, by both Franner and Guildica .
Alterations
Over the years many settlements have sprung up on the bridge. They can support themselves easy and act as places of trade and transport between Guldaria and Franner Island. The biggest and most impactful alteration was of the addition of a public transport system, devloped primarily by the Imperial Engineers ., with two lines going north and south along the bridge, with a road of sorts alongside those, there are settlements and outposts at around every 10 to 15 miles, with numerous provate residences in the more choice locations.
Architecture
Due to the nature of how the bridge was formed/grown, the architecture has a rather alien look to it. Those who have travelled to other planes, especially the elemental plane of earth would say it resembles the architecture found there.
History
The bridge was made/forged just after the founding of Franner as a city. Before that, travel to the crater island was difficult and time consuming, but not impossible.
Tourism
The bridge itself is a mavel to see, with multiple vertical settlements on its supports strecthing from the ocean to the top of the bridge. The various train stations and settlements alongs its length provide viewing platforms and trading opertunities. In many ways, the Great Bridge is considered to be one of the few “neutral” locations in Easthalen not beholden to any-one House-nation and traders, merchants and many others have been using this to their advantage, keeping themselves away from the OTT psionic security of Guildica and the powerhouse that is Franner .
World Anvil Page for the item listed above can be found HERE.
My World Anvil page/game world, Easthalen, can be found HERE. It is updated often , as and when I can.
