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Overview​

A city of golden gears and sparkling steam, nestled high amidst the safety of the Mhearan mountains. Cloud’s Keep is made up of four boroughs, each a walled county in its own right. The Four Boroughs are connected via the Spider’s Way, a vast network of cable lines that span the peaks and valleys that make up the Dove’s Range of the Mheara, and act as vital infrastructure to Cloud’s Keep proper.

The hum and whir of shroud engines is never too far from the sounds of everyday life across the Keep. Be it the crank and turn of crawler trolly’s mechanical legs, knitting across a span wire, or the zip of a sky-skiff’s wings buzzing in the distance, Cloud’s Keep is alive with the sounds of Magitech.

Governance​

Beholden to the crown of Altalusia, Cloud’s Keep was once the seat of its own dominion, until pressure from the far reaches of the Empire saw the two kingdoms unite. Since that time, the relations between Cloud’s Keep and Crown’s Hold have endured the hardships that have come to pass.

Historically, the Keep acts as a bastion for the people of the Kingdom’s southern territories. The city proper is divided into four sprawling Boroughs, spread across the peaks and vales governed by the Countess Lavieenrose.

Each Borough is represented by a delegate, given the title of Viscount via election held by a coalition of noble and gentry. The Count of the Keep acts as mediary between the Electorate and the Crown. Once the title is granted, it is to be held for life, the family given holdings and privileges worthy of their station. Ultimately, the decision comes down to the Crown’s decree, but few and dramatic are those times where the Sovereign of the Hold and the Keep’s Electorate come to disagreement.

Modern to the point of conflict with more traditionalist holdings, Cloud’s Keep’s size and style of governance is oft criticized as a threat to the Crown itself. While amidst the Keep’s Electorate, the Countess is whispered of being a Crown lackie, not having the wherewithal to do what needs must for the people of the Keep.

Due to the unique frame of governance within Cloud’s Keep, much of the martial power commonly due to a noble lord is bequeathed to the Count of the Keep, and , in exchange to rights and holdings of production. Thus, no lord save the Count and those they or the Crown see fit, may hold a standing army within the Keep. Conversely, the Keep may not move its army or ships of war to action, without approval of the Electorate.

The Four Boroughs

Nobility

The Electorate

Culture​

A city often at odds with itself. At once modern to the point of ostentatious, confident to the point of radical. Yet its history speaks to traditions honored, duties kept, and a pride in the part it has played thus far in the grander play of Altalusia’s history. Acting as a mountain pass and a vital artery of trade between greater Altalusia and the Free States, what Cloud’s Keep guards and why its people labor changes depending on who you ask.
One thing is for certain, the people of the Keep stand together. A truth seen as a point of strife in the current era.

Block Barons and Gentry have found bands of commoners rallying behind teachings of the Eight. Demands for rights, and fairer conditions a common point of conversation across many a table. A cry heard atop a soapbox and amidst warehouses and mills. Some of the Electorate sympathize with the common Keeper’s plight. Most, hold on to what power and influence they can whilst they can. By any means they can.

Proud artisans. Skilled laborers. Keepers of the Cloud, as many of the small folk call themselves, rally around the culture they take such pride and joy in.

From painters to poets, musicians to culinarians, Cloud’s Keep’s identity is deeply tied to the traditions of craft and artistry so rife with influence from the greater world beyond its borders. Once it welcomed all unto the safety found within the Gates, and offered the Promise of the Keep, now a burgeoning nativist movement has taken root amongst the people of the Keep.

Calls to preserve the Cloud’s traditions - for Keepers, by Keepers - growing, with such signs being painted outside of establishments famed for their buttery confections and drinking chocolates:


All whilst refugees from conflicts throughout Ilica, make their way to the Gates. Where upon the great stone drums, neath Dragon’s gaze and Pegasus’ wings it reads:

Notable Landmarks​

The Dove’s Range
Cloud’s Keep is nestled within a branch of the Mheara Mountains known as the Dove’s Range. Craggy uplands carved from white limestone fall into the gentler greens of fertile foothills. The Range is a natural border between Altalusia and its southern neighbors, though the mountains are not difficult to cross. Airships flying through the Range are a common sight, from sleek windriders built for leisure racing, to fat-bellied merchant wagons barely held aloft by their balloons. Altalusia’s control over the airways is maintained by scouting sky skiffs, backed by the might of a ring frigate docked in Cloud’s Keep.


The Spider’s Way
Less of a place and more of a liminal space between the Boroughs. Borough walls are thick and high, with only a handful of gates on the ground connecting them. Waiting at these narrow checkpoints oft takes too long for industrious Keepers. Gondolas powered by magitech are the most comfortable - and safe - way to travel across the city.

However, not all can afford the ferryman's toll. Many other unsanctioned routes have been established over the years, for those brave or desperate enough to run them. Ramshackle and hazardous constructions of wood, rope, and stubborn gumption. Same ingredients that make a Hisser-Spitter Sled. What the locals call the things they try and hook up to the gondola ways. Highly unsanctioned.


Aresenal
Smoke hangs thick and hazy over the hilly Borough of Aeresenal. A mountain waterfall has been split and braided into cords that power mills and cool shroud engines throughout the foundry blocks. Once, when the first Altalusians came to the valley, Aresenal was nothing more than a huddling of smithys and storehouses for the garrison. It grew as the needs of the valley did, attracting smiths, shroudwrights and weavers from far and wide. There is ruthless competition for apprenticeships at the most famous ateliers - such as Kamakadi Ruha, a workshop at the cutting edge of shroudstone prosthetics, or the Ninth Moon, whose cookware and cutlery never dulls.



Skyard
Home of the skydocks and the shipyard, those who call Skyard their home oft do so with head held higher than most. Braggadocious, maybe, but its a confidence that comes with a respect well earned by generations of craft, trade, and engineering. That Makari College finds its foundation amidst the borough of wind and stone, only adds another feather in a cap already set to fly.


Panier
The breadbasket of Cloud’s Keep. Tiered terrace gardens spill out into the valley, where they turn to rolling fields of millet and rice. Jute and cotton are also grown as raw material, transported along the Spider’s Way to shops and artisans in the Boroughs above. Most laborers in Panier never see the luxury goods their crops are made into. Trips into the mountain Boroughs are costly and only made a few times a season, reserved for festivals and market days.

Life is not dull in the valley, however. The first restaurant in Altalusia was said to have been founded in Panier (though there are establishments in White Port who contest this claim). Its doors open even into the night, a generous cook served soup and bread to travelers too far from their homes to make the evening meal. Panniers take pride in this tradition of host and guest. Fried breads, sourdough, sweet and savory, served with yogurt and honey, pickled fruits and fresh greens. The dining experience is nearly as important as the flavor of the food in Panier - visitors can dance along to musicians, watch dangerous animals led by audacious tamers, or take quieter strolls through public gardens.


Viapari
The streets of the Viapari Borough are deceptively quiet. Benches and fountains provide reprieve along the public ways. Brightly colored buildings - stone in foundation but with warmer wood fronts - welcome shoppers in. But within these shops and guild halls, business is as cutthroat as any Arshakan market. For as many fine craftsmen as are in Aresenal, there are just as many merchants, dealers, and dream-peddlers buying and selling, striving for their next big break. Spurious claims of cure-alls and priceless artifacts are neighbor to authentic goods – sometimes even on the same shop shelf.

Perhaps the strangest thing one can buy in Cloud’s Keep are securities - not physical goods, but certificates that promise a share in successful ventures. If the ventures succeed, of course. All manner of investments can be bought and sold at the Bhandaar, a many-leveled building carved into the marble of a high cliffside.


Makari College
Named after its founder, recorded as once having been a sage of the Spire of Wind, Quiensabo Makari, the College of Makari is touted as the premiere place of learning regarding all things magitech. Outside of Miraj’dah, of course, but you would be hard pressed to have an alumni of Makari ever admit to such. Once a place restricted only to those of noble birth, or of diplomatic importance, now, any student found with enough promise may attend its campuses, spread throughout the Four Boroughs.


The Shield Tower
Predating the founding of Makari College, the Shield Tower is home to the Third Ring of Weavers. Once fierce rivals of Makari, now it is seen by many a Keeper as an auxiliary campus to the College, much to the chagrin of the Shield’s Weavers in training. There are, however, ample opportunities for cross disciplinary learning, and many a ship is in need of an aspiring Shroudmaster, freshly robed in their Mastery Shroud.


Dragon’s Gate & Pegasus Gate
The Keep’s Boroughs and Vales are protected by the gargantuan walls of the Southern Dragon’s Gate, and the Northern Pegasus’ Gate. Works of wonder in their own right, magitech and masonry wrought into the mountains themselves, the Gates of the Hold have repelled many an invader, and are believed to be of ancient Devahni tech in origin. Each gate is manned by a garrison of Gate Wardens under the Count’s command.

History​

Once a secreted valley, locked away by its ancient Gates, it was ruled by a would-be king of goat herders and farmers. Until the day that the First King of Altalusia, and his First Ring of Weavers came unto the gates, and bade them open. So the Dragon’s Maw came wide. So the Pegasus’ Wings’ spread free.

• EoM
  • Believed to be the year in which the Gates were opened by the Weavers of the First Ring.
  • Cloud’s Keep, a fortress, is carved into the stone of the Dove’s Range.
  • The Shield Tower is raised, and the Third Ring of Weavers is gathered to Cloud’s Keep.
• EoU
  • A key figure in the War of the Ten Penny Barons, Cloud’s Keep acts as a bastion to many of the displaced peoples set to scatter during this conflict, remaining loyal to the Crown.
  • Cloud’s Keep acts as a way station for the mountain pass betwixt Altalusia and the southern Free States. The fortress settlement rapidly grows in both size and importance.
  • Quiensabo Makari is sent from Miraj’Dah as an envoy. Is instrumental in bringing Airship technology to Altalusia by working with the weavers of the Shield Tower.
  • Altalusia’s newfound Airships, wrought in the Keep’s Skyard district play a pivotal role in support efforts against the Dead Wave.
  • Makari College is founded toward the end of the Era.
• EoD
  • Competition between the Keep and Whiteport in securing position within the Crown’s council nearly come to armed conflict.
  • The Electorate is established, midway through the Era.
  • Cloud’s Keep withholds its fleet from the War of the Petty Barons, citing the importance of maintaining trade relations with the world beyond, and aiding efforts against the Empire and rival Free States.
  • The Title of Warden is stripped from the Keep’s Lord at the end of the Petty Baron’s war.
  • With the crowning of Queen til Alexandros, Cloud’s Keep is governed by Countess Lakshmi Lavienrose.