Editing Lotus and Allium:Ysbruck (section)

==Description==
'... an old city spread beneath her feet, cobbled streets and canals, bridges and barges, plazas and palaces.'

Ysbruck appears as a grey Old World city with a crystal sky. Dimly scintillating light creates shadows where things hide or disappear; the colours follow the inhabitants into their far-too-vivid dreams. The citizens are usually silent in the streets, but faint echoing voices can still be heard. Behind closed doors, some lead lives of quiet contemplation, while others occupy themselves with drug-fuelled debauchery, for both such paths are considered valid routes to enlightenment. Much of the city's business revolves around the various colleges of alchemy and sorcery.

The sky is the city's most striking feature, though it is often obscured by fog. Vague shapes of various colours gradually move across the sky, somewhat like a lava lamp seen through frosted glass. Indeed, many of Ysbruck's astrologers now believe that the city is covered by a dome of crystal, beyond which is a many-coloured sea (considered a remnant of the celestial waters of Genesis). Some claim that occasional gaps appear between the fluid shapes, revealing a second dome of crystal with a dark sky beyond it; these claims have not been widely accepted. 

Although no sun can be seen, the city does currently have a day-night cycle with the brightening and darkening of the sky. The colours and shapes in the sky are unpredictable, but the trend is for yellows, oranges and reds to appear in the morning, moving from east to west across the sky in front of blues and greens through the day, followed by darker blues and purples into the night. The frequent mists diffuse the colours of the sky, creating a Turneresque atmosphere.

The conventional technology of the city is roughly comparable to that of Europe in the late 19th or early 20th century, but the extensive application of magic and alchemy provides equivalents of many more modern conveniences.

The majority of the Chancelfolk are [[Lotus_and_Allium:Amonism|Amonist]] Christians. The main centres of worship are the cathedral in the city's centre and the five district chapels.