New Prism

[Neo Eternity]

Over half a millenium ago, there existed a place called Prism City, a city of angels living in the mortal realm. Not angels as in divine beings, but mortals with a sort of exalted state of being. Its location was very far from the planetary capital of Rhy'Din, but availed itself of an ideal level of mana density to balance equal potency of both technology--though limited at the time--and magic.

The angels of Prism City, known as Prismite Angels, were beings of incredible potential, who collectively had the power and ability to challenge the gods themselves by way of their powerful transformation ability. Though it is where angels called home, it also served as a safe haven for many oppressed and marginalized people of all kinds to live in cooperation, compassion, and harmony.

Then one angel grew frighteningly powerful, and was driven mad by his power. Recognizing that he alone was strong enough to ostensibly kill any god he wanted, he desired dominion over the planet. He also recognized that the collective of angels in Prism City, who in their ideals would definitely stand against him, could defeat him together.

So he obliterated the city and everyone living in it.

Only four other angels survived, and together they were just barely strong enough to stand against him and seal him away, but could not truly defeat him. As the only four beings at the time with any hope of defeating him should he become unsealed, they swore an oath that granted them immortality so that they could fight him again should the need arise.

But the pain of losing their home was too much to bear. They migrated across the universe to a planet called Terra, where they hid their powers until half a millenia later, when two of them had a pair of children together. However, a foolhardy soul unsealed the rogue angel, and that rogue angel then hunted down and killed the angels who sealed him. But he had no idea they had children, and inadvertently allowed them to survive in his ignorance. Those two children eventually made their way back to Rhy'Din and finished the job their parents couldn't. That is a long story for another time.

The ruins of Prism City stood undisturbed for half a millenium. The monsters there, empowered by the might of the departed souls, were so strong that they killed every tomb raider who sought treasure there. Save for one. One of the two angels descended from the survivors went into the ruins and claimed a sword forged by Hephaestus that was arguably his birthright: Hyperion. And in so doing, he killed the hell out of nearly every overpowered monster there, inadvertently making the ruins safe for exploration and study.

Enter an intrepid museum curator, accompanied by a trio of capable mercenaries. She had discovered an artifact that had somehow made its way out of the ruins of Prism City, and grew curious of its origins. Now that the ruins were much safer to explore, research on the city's past was able to prove much more fruitful, even despite the relative dearth of information on it across the continent. The curator's sheer determination allowed her to put together a clear image of what the city used to be, and ended up knowing more about it than even the angelic descendants.

The curator, living in a city where marginalized people were oppressed with the encouragement and support of the bigots living in it and governing it, recognized the need for a safe haven of inclusiveness and compassion to exist once more.

So she found like minds and hearts to help her rebuild Prism City.

The two angelic descendants, having not visited the ruins since the younger brother claimed Hyperion, were so pleasantly surprised to find that regular old people of all races and creeds had turned what used to be ruins into a functioning new city and civilization of incredible diversity, compassion, and cooperation. And more than that, they were proud. The museum curator was excited to find that Prismite angels actually still existed in the world, and was excited to bond with them, learn with them, and share her own findings and teach them the histories of their ancestors that even they didn't know. And more than that, involve them in the city's growth and governance.

The descendant angels, while they even more arguably had birthrights to take some sort of ruling role, responsibly recognized that as adventurers and warriors, they were ill-suited to hamfist themselves into the working governance structures that the people of the rebuilt city had made. They instead chose to provide the new residents of the city, now called New Prism, with their blessing and pride by deciding to live there among them as regular citizens. The two of them started up an adventurer's guild there and gave it a name with a deep and meaningful history: the Seraphim Knights.

That was then. This is now.

Those who visit this city nowadays will find a nascent, promising city-state built on ideals of inclusiveness, compassion, and cooperation.

The intrepid rebuilders used what structures were remaining, refortifying them and then building anew on top of them in a manner greatly inspired by kintsugi, in order to have deference and respect to the city's original form. They could not possibly know what all the structures used to look like because imagery was so sparse, but they decided that this was the best way to move into the future while respecting the past. The result is a striking blend of immaculately preserved and restored ancient structure that crosses over golden lines, running like rivers through the cracks of destruction, into modern styles reflecting the present day that complement the ancestry they sit on top of.

Guilds provide pretty much every service one can think of in the city. Guilds for multiple branches of governance. Guilds for medical responsibility. Guilds for education. Banking. Telecommunication. Power (as in electricity, etc). Guilds for city watch and emergency response. Every guild is equally accountable to one another, as well as to other guilds and organizations that don't directly serve toward the city's function.

The city's governance guilds form a horizontally arranged power structure to ensure that no individual or group of individuals can gain too much power. Proceedings of all manner related to city governance are conducted with complete transparency to create great confidence and trust in those governed, regardless of whether they are just residents, or members of guilds, governance-related or non. The horizontal power structures ensure that no special interest can take too much control, or sneak anything through that disproportionally benefits an individual or group over the general population.

New Prism, up until now, has operated with limited interaction with surrounding cities for trade to procure goods that can't be obtained or created by its own residents, in order to limit outside influence on its autonomous operations. The city's governmental structure was very experimental, after all. The experiment has proved successful, and the residents are ready to make its existence more widely known to the rest of the planet.

To that end, the descendant angels--leaders of the Seraphim Knights--have built a portal inside their own headquarters, that links to a portal inside the Tower of Air, as the current Keeper of Air is an adventurer among their ranks. Specific adventurers in the guild will travel freely between New Prism and Rhy'Din by way of Twilight Isle, and will use the myriad spare rooms of the Tower of Air as lodging.

And then, as long as that proves successful, the portal inside the Tower of Air will be moved out to join the portals to Cadentia and Rhy'Din, and the portal inside the Seraphim Knights HQ will be moved to the custody of the travel center guild of New Prism, the Wayfinding Wings, to be freely used by all residents.

Until then, anyone who wants to explore this nascent city of great promising kinship should either prepare for a day trip, or get real comfy with the current Keeper of Air.

[Neo Eternity]

The Eternity brothers spent the weekend of November 14, 2020 disassembling the portal to New Prism from its testing space in the Tower of Air, and reassembling it at its permanent home on Twilight Isle, near the portal to Cadentia. The efforts of the Seraphim Knights testing the portal during Elina Luisante's reign as Keeper of Air successfully ascertained the portal's safety and suitability for public use. The portal now goes to the headquarters of the Wayfaring Wings travel guild to help visitors get their bearings.