Aether 2.0

The city drifts among a sea of clouds, silent and graceful as it floats with dream-like elegance. Its neon lights adorn its visage with the colours of a sunset sky, shimmering and glowing with prestigious grandeur. The collective design of a thousand veteran engineers, Aether 2.0 is the crowning achievement of modern day technology and ambition, pushing the limits of what was once thought impossible. Despite being a hyper-advanced marvel of engineering and perseverance, Aether 2.0 suffers the reputation of abandoning their own countrymen during the invasion of Blackwatch many years ago. Though a controversial decision, Aether 2.0 was left with a sizable population consisting of highly intelligent and wealthy people; their collective goal to gather more knowledge and improve on their technological expertise.

Geography

Unlike the other regions in Cier, the entirety of Aether 2.0 consists of man-made materials and complex architecture. Soaring high above the clouds and always moving, Aether 2.0 implements a complex weather system, simulating seasons and natural weather to the comfort of its citizens. The plant life on Aether 2.0 is highly regulated via growing centers for food and oxygen regulation. In addition, stress relieving projections of wildlife and nature are often simulated utilizing holograms to quell the claustrophobic citylife the people must endure.

Architecture

One of the most defining features of Aether 2.0 is its highly sophisticated architectural design evident within the majority of their infrastructure, an almost boastful show of their prosperity and intelligence. Utilizing Cierium, a blackened, strong, lightweight base used in nearly all of their construction; including the massive hull of Aether 2.0 derived from this synthetic material. The Aetherians display a magnificent, almost artistic design philosophy that is both beautiful and functional, this creates a visually striking architecture that is unmistakably identifiable and referred to as Neo-Aetherian. Angular, sleek, and accented by the glowing city lights, this extends to their skyline of tall buildings and housing units; all exuding perfection in enginuity, architectural prowess, and exceptional standards in quality of life.

Technology / Wealth / RICE

Aetherians pride themselves for being on the frontier of technological knowledge and exploration; their main strength lies in the highly complex, scientific methods of refining RICE with different chemicals to create highly efficient and powerful technologies. With these methods of refining RICE, Aether has been able to invent essential assets such as hyper efficient power cores that provide a near-infinite source of power to the city and their closely guarded technology, Cierium, a near indestructible nano-chain composite. Other notable discoveries include hovercraft propulsion and precision laser equipment that aid in transportation and manufacture.

Keeping an entire city airborn remains one of Aether 2.0’s crowning achievements in technology. Breakthroughs in computing tech such as hyper-advanced artificial intelligence have paved the way to automation of complex tasks such as piloting a complicated array of repulsion generators to keep the city stable in the air.

Favoring knowledge over anything else, the wealth in Aether 2.0 is distributed heavily based on an individual’s intellect and profession. The city itself is a wealthy, affluent society; the majority of its citizens enjoying a luxurious standard of living.

People and Culture

Similar to their Old Aether counterparts, the people of Aether 2.0 favor logic and reasoning in their fields of study and way of life. Aether 2.0’s population holds exceptional technological prowess and knowledge compared to those of Old Aether; thus, those who excel in branches such as the sciences, engineering, and architecture also excel in their social class and wealth. People of higher intellect are treated with utmost respect in Aetherian culture, and knowledge is fully embraced as power in Aether 2.0.

Government/Religion

Aether 2.0’s government is best described as an oligarchy run by a close-knit group with the highest of intellect and wealth. As the sole representatives of New Aether, many of these members were attributed to the breakthroughs in technology that secured New Aether’s position as the technological superpower of Cier.

Under this government and their belief in Systemism, the people of Aether reached a new, higher level of intelligence. Shunning away from religious deities and faith-based trust, Systemism apotheosized intelligence, truths, and applied sciences. Unified through this ideology, the people of Aether are heavily disciplined and are taught to be highly focused from a very young age, forcing kids into extremely difficult school programs that specialize roles that cater to the city’s agenda.

History

Originally stemming from the Aetherian Isles, both Old Aether and Aether 2.0 share a similar history as the only known region to have direct contact and involvement with the hyper-advanced Somnian Race in Ancient Cier. This resulted in Aether as a whole having far superior and advanced technology compared to the rest of Cier for the majority of known history.

Being financially but not militarily involved during the major Cierian War resulted in Aether’s booming economy while the other regions clashed. Taking advantage of their substantial return in wealth during the interwar period, the Aetherian government approved a major construction and renovation project of their main capital dubbed Aether 2.0; a so-called “new home” for all Aetherians.

Although renowned as the leaders in technology and wealth, the invasion by Blackwatch was a devastating reminder to Aether’s weaknesses in the reality of war. Aether’s vastly superior quality technology could not hold against the onslaught of Blackwatch’s quantity in numbers, and in a matter of four years, Blackwatch had Aether cornered into their capital.

Harboring the people of utmost importance, wealth, and intellect into Aether 2.0 while the rest of the population were kept away through the military’s “protection” orders, the government made the decision to prematurely launch their final resort. The capital shook itself away from the earth, taking off from the ground; It was Aether 2.0’s true purpose, ascended isolationism.