Diaphane

Diaphane, the Crystal City

Also called the Crystal City, or the Invisible City. Diaphane is built of quartz crystal and clear glass and of transparent substances strong as or stronger than steel.

History

Unknown ages ago, the Twin Cities were founded by twin sisters.

One sister discovered a piece of reflective obsidian and was enthralled by her image. She gathered a group of artists and craftsmen to design mirrors, so that she may gaze upon herself. She founded the city of Narcissus.

The other sister discovered a quartz crystal. She was fascinated by its clarity and refractive properties. She, also, gathered interested people to craft wondrous, transparent objects. She founded the city of Diaphane.

As the two cities flourished, new materials were discovered that provided the same reflective and refractive properties. The citizens coveted and gathered these materials to glorify their two cities.

Some antiquarians mourn the advent of glass. They feel that it dilutes the cities's themes. They speculate that the architects no longer enjoy the reflective and refractive qualities, but the glass itself. The antiquarians hoard ancient obsidian and quartz relics to remind themselves of the "glory days of yore" and the cities's "true" themes.

-- by shanoxilt

Cityscape

There are degrees of transparency. The elite live in high towers of pure crystal. The middle class live in homes with large windows, some walls of translucent glass block, and maybe a floor of tile painted with a trompe l'oeil mural to make it look like it is floating on clouds. The peasants and tradesmen make do with large windows of paper in the summer months and open roofs in the dry season.

"Transparency" is also an ideal that philosophers and artist strive for, knowing that it lies somewhere beyond our clouded world. Common folk are less concerned with such abstractions and often view glass walls as a means of one-upsmanship against their neighbors.

-- by Glyptodont

It is said that when Diaphane achieves true transparency, it will fade from the material world and join the invisible world. This goal is sought through the city’s architecture, not only in its buildings of quartz, windows, and glass, but in its streets that are also paths in the spirit-world. Straight roads in Diaphane are probably also invisible paths, used by the invisible Neighbors and other invisible spirits. Curved roads, roads that cross water, roads interrupted by gated walls, or crossroads – all hinder invisible spirits, especially ghosts (the many mirrors of Narcissus accomplish the same effect).

Outsiders complain that the streets and buildings of Diaphane shift and change, roads that were crooked now run straight, or vice-versa. This is not so. Citizens know these are simply the effects of invisible paths. As their city develops in its transparency, the invisible world around it grows closer, and it is possible to accidentally wander into the sections where the invisible people dwell, which normally cannot be seen or found. Those who know and can see the right paths – cryptomancers and others – can use them as shortcuts through the City of Glass. Others run the risk of becoming lost in the Invisible World, or of annoying the Neighbors.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

Diaphane is home to some of the world's best greenhouses.

-- by shanoxilt

Grand Aquarium

Diaphane has a grand aquarium of x-ray fish, jellyfish, glass catfish, and icefish.

-- by shanoxilt

The Crystal Grotto

When she and her twin sister wandered the lands, the sister who founded Diaphane came to a place near the clear ice of the glaciers, and through which clear waters and winds flowed. She discovered or was led to the sacred crystal cave that no human had ever seen -- and there she found the Crystal Tree. That was how she knew where to found her city.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

The Holy Sphere

Optics are extremely advanced in the three cities, due to the high degree of precision and value placed on lessons, so that the sight of corrective lenses are fairly common, and this has been expanded to include spy-glasses, and large telescopes and microscopes of large size. It is said that these are used to track the motion of the heavens, predict the weather, the future, and even look into the past. The Guild of the Convex Passions and the Concave Faction work together creating common goods for export, and crafting singular works of art. The Ships of the Twins Cities also have very accurate maps and charts do to the extensive questioning of sources both spirit and material, salvaged maps and surveys from ruins, and taken from the very souls of spies. The largest example of this is a revolving crystal sphere that displays the movements of the clouds and the sky in the Planetarium, made possible by projecting the spirit of the World itself from specially designed lenses and mirrors. The effect is awe inspiring and is used to illustrate the power and ability of Diaphane. The projection is carefully studies with large magnifying glasses, and cities and towns are observed from Afar. It is said that the movement of armies can be tracked by looking for trails of dust, and that as explorers find new lands or ruins, they are added to the Sphere.

-- by stephen_dean

The Stained Quarter

During the time of the Second Shattering new advances had been made in tinting glass with vivid hues. New buildings and wonders were made, all of stained and colored glass, and the City of Glass took on translucent hues.

This led to great debates in the Crystalline Agora, as citizens argued that the hues were a perversion of true Translucence. Eventually rabble-rousers whipped mobs of citizens into a frenzy, leading to the destruction of the colored glass in the Second Shattering. The surviving proponents accepted exile under the guise of founding the colony that became Iridos. The records, of course, were purged for the good of all.

The ruined Stained Quarter was never rebuilt. But it is still inhabited by squatters and the poor, since the broken shards there did not fracture the spirits of the Invisible World as they did in the other places of Shattering. No spirit-storms of invisible shards occur there to strip flesh from bone as they do at the other Shattered places.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

Geography

Each of the Twin Sisters walked an equal distance away from the Thousand Flowing Waters, their original homeland, to found their cities. Diaphane is at higher latitude, on the coast of the eastern ocean, a harbor city.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

Culture

The city is ruled by the Worshipful Archons, dictatorial lawmakers elected for life for the embetterment of all. The Archons see to it that sacrifices are made for the good of all – such as the sacred albinos being pampered so as to benefit the sacred trees. The Archons have abolished both police and military, in favor of the glass golems which enforce peace and trust. To keep secrets, to speak lies, to hide and obfuscate – these are crimes. The city also has a population of invisible citizens that only natives of Diaphane may see. These invisible citizens are part of the Invisible World, the spirit world that is always manifest in Diaphane, but never seen.

The Worshipful Archons are aristocrats anonymously elected to office. Highest in rank are the chief archons – the hierarch (nominal chief), polemarch (oversees the city’s military), navarch (oversees the city’s navy), hagiarch (oversees religions), xenarch (oversees foreigners), cryptarch (oversees relations with the invisible world), and others that have varied over time. Lesser archons serve as judges, magistrates, and officials of the city – and one of the most influential of these officials are those who license magicians for the practice of magic-for-hire in Diaphane.

Only magicians skilled in pellucid magic are licensed in Diaphane – barbarous magics such as chromatic or shadow magic are not prohibited per se, but working them for-hire is against the law. Most licensed magicians hold degrees from one of the schools of the eikonic arts (though rarely at the level of magister or doctor of the eikonic arts). Professions such as lens-wrights or glass-wrights need not be licensed (they create for sale, but are not for-hire).

-- by Kakita Kojiro

Schools of the Eikonic Arts

The Invisible College is not the only school for the teaching of the eikonic arts in Diaphane. Because it teaches foreign magic, it is obviously the better known to foreigners – but for the same reason is of questionable reputation in Diaphane. Schools change over time: older schools become unpopular, newer schools schism from established schools, or merge, or even go into exile in one instance. Membership in most of the schools is secret, in theory – only other magicians will recognize the school of another, or know the location of the schools.

the Invisible College: The only school that teaches more than one type of magic is the Invisible College. Originally founded just prior to the Second Shattering, it was an ambitious attempt to unify pellucid, reflective, and chromatic magic. Although that goal was never attained, it is the only place to learn all four types of magic. Its students, having split their studies so widely, tend to be broad generalists rather than thorough specialists.

the Paramanteion: Oldest and most traditional of the schools of Diaphane. Its students learn in the Aeologion – the temple of the wind god. To outsiders they are not distinguished from the temple’s priests, and many of the priests are also students of the Paramanteion. The school’s magisters focus on the philosophical ramifications of pellucid magic, and tend to neglect the practical. The school often accepts foreign students from the Silent Brotherhood or from other friendly cults.

the Calyption: This school meets in the Crystal Grottos, where the crystal trees were first discovered. It disbanded during the Second Shattering, at which time it was known as the “Cryption,” but was refounded after the Third Shattering in its current form. Originally the school studied and tended to the crystal trees, and transplanted groves of crystal trees elsewhere for cultivation. In its current incarnation the school teaches glass-wrights, and led the development of glass golems and similar automata.

the Glass Libraries: The Glass Libraries are not as formal a school as others – it is more a loose alliance of various repositories of lore in Diaphane. By agreement, each allows the students of the others free access to study from the crystalline plates inscribed with various lore. This agreement dates back to the construction of the first helioscopes (which focus sunlight as weapons) before the Second Shattering, and students of the Glass Libraries tend to specialize as lens-wrights and the design of telescopes, microscopes, and helioscopes. It is said that the Glass Libraries stole the idea for their helioscopes and Sun Towers from the Mirror Towers of Narcissus – an accusation that they angrily refute.

the Agoric College: The only school officially sponsored by the Worshipful Archons of Diaphane, and one of the few whose students are known and registered. Its masters teach openly in the Crystalline Agora, and the unlearned who listen nearby are either discouraged, or invited to join as students, according to their aptitude. The school focuses mainly on interacting with the invisible Neighbors that also inhabit Diaphane, and there are always rumors that one or more of the school’s magisters are actually Neighbors made briefly visible.

the Skolomanteion: The only school to have been exiled from Diaphane, in the Time of Clarity when the albino cult was reestablished in the city. The offense or heresy committed by the Skolomanteion was purged from the records of the Worshipful Archons, so none now know what it was. Rumors as to where the school went in its exile are wild and endless, but it is not even certain that the Skolomanteion even survives in any form at all.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

Sky Day

The city of Diaphane celebrates Sky Day... by going sky-clad. No native of the city wears clothing on that day -- they hide nothing of themselves from the world. Although outsiders and children find the celebration strange and titillating, to citizens it is a solemn occasion for introspection.

It is said that on Sky Day those who shed all concealment to walk naked gain the ability to see what is concealed in the Invisible World, as well -- they can clearly see the invisible spirit-citizens of Diaphane on that day. Outsiders occasionally attempt to participate in the festival, but rarely succeed; they lack the secret lore of transparency that allows natives to comfortably walk unclothed. Sky Day occurs in the dead of winter, and most non-natives who go sky-clad usually see visions because of hypothermia, not enlightenment.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

The Feast of All Colors and None

This holiday was popular in the time up to the Second Shattering, but has fallen to the status of minor festival in Diaphane, while becoming the major annual celebration in Iridos. Food is the focus of both festivals, but it is a specific, day-long meal. In each course of the meal, the foods served are always of one dominant color. It is said the lesson of the Feast is that it reveals the transience of colors, which all fade into blessed translucence.

The first course is white foods -- generally simply, bland dishes of polished rice. There are fewer following courses; often reduced to red, green, and "blue" courses. But there is another, final course -- the course of translucence. Crushed ices, crystal sugars, gelatins, and delicacies such as rare jellyfishes and transparent cave fish are served with clear and pure water.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

Magic

Magic in the Twin Cities is learned informally (for petty magics), or most often as an apprentice in a guild. There are schools for advanced study of magic, which confer degrees of magister, or doctor of the eikonic arts.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

Pellucid Magic

Transparent magicians use their magic, not to respond to assaults, but to allow danger to pass them by harmlessly. Extreme transparency is invisible to the unenlightened. Transparent magic allows one to pass through obstacles and walk without being seen. (Though some claim this concept is dangerously close to the "hidden power" of the Opaque.) Their are powerful, defensive, introverted and fragile.

-- by Glyptodont

Pellucid Magic is the magic of transparency, of invisible things. Transparent magic makes things clearer, reveals hidden things, allows seeing of things that otherwise could not be seen, and allows light into darkness.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

mantra: “perception goes through”

spirit-world: the Invisible World

tools: lenses

talent: Pellucid Magic (10 pts/level)

spells: - see clearly (IQ/Average) - fade (IQ/Average) - see unseen (IQ/Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 1+) - see through objects (IQ/Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 1+) - see small things (IQ/Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 1+) - see distant things (IQ/Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 1+) - allow danger to pass through (IQ/Very Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 2+, at least one other pellucid spell) - pass through obstacles (IQ/Very Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 3+, allow danger to pass through, at least two other pellucid spells) - translucency (IQ/Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 2+, at least one other pellucid spell) - invisibility (IQ/Very Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 4+, translucency, at least three other pellucid spells) - enter Invisible World (IQ/Very Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 5+, invisibility, at least five other pellucid spells) note: using pellucid magic to enter the spirit-world generally makes you permanently invisible and intangible. presumably there is another pellucid spell that would allow you to leave the spririt-world and return to the material world again.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

Glass Golems

Since the first smiths created the primitive glassware many generations ago, there has been the relationship between Man and Machina. This relationship is best represented by the silent watchers who defend our way of life. The Glass Golems not only provide exquisite beauty and an artistic ideal, but also provide defense against the insanity that infects some outlanders into defacing our city. They can never know which piece of art is watching them, or whether the statue of the Thousand Barbed Flowers will skin them for there transgression. We do not debase ourselves with men wandering down the street accosting citizens or thieves lining the watchman's pockets. We are a city of trust, and clarity. Is it not better to know that Justice is always watching. The statues are of a gift from the Temple, and have proven there worth in the past. Of course, some of the other cities has similar creations, however, they are far more base constructions. It is lucky we have so many criminals who are willing to pay for there crime by imprisonment with-in our Constructs. As there are no criminals in our society, many outlanders and heretics make up the majority of those imprisoned with-in them. A perfect sytstem for a perfect city.

-- by stephen_dean