THE CITY OF STRATA
LOCATION - DESCRIPTION - ARCHITECTURE - PROMINENT BUILDINGS/SIGHTS
THE UNDERGROUND - ROADS AND PLACES - HISTORY
Ancient port of the Barthavos Desert, located near the southernmost point of the Gaian Continent, nowadays one of the major cities in Gaia. Founded by refugees from the ravages of war. Infamous for its crime but well known for its large harbour and trade district. Though certain conflicts have caused a decline of Strata's former importance and wealth, it is still a magnificent sight. Coming from the sea and arriving in the harbour or from the desert entering through the grand Northern Portal every visitor agrees that in front of his eyes lies the "Beauty of the South".
The dry heat presses down on the town. The air is shimmering in the brilliant light of the air. The hot winds coming out of Barthavos carry a fine sand which covers everything with a fine layer. But on the bottom of the canyon the tall houses are forming, the shade is deep, the wind cut out and life is possible. Archways border the broader roads and precious trees give shade to those who have to follow their affairs during the heat of the day. But those are not two many. The town comes to life when the sun is sinking into the sea far in the west and the winds are ceasing to blow, lamps are lit all over the main places and roads, and the times for business other than that during the day has arrived. The traveller is advised to avoid the darker sideways and hopefully he knows already where to put his head in the night. But which newcomer to Strata can withstand the market down at the harbour, where goods from all over the world can be looked at - or even bought. Or the colourful places all over the town, where shops are lined up, in between taverns of all kinds and where you find musicians at every corner who compete with each other.
- Location:
The southernmost point of the Gaian continent, Cape Strata, is a flat rocky region which is covered by a thick layer of sands which gets thinner the further south you travel. While the rocky underground is still quite dense near the Mesa's, which are a two days travel north of Strata, it contains a lot of caverns near Strata. These flat rocks elevate near the southern tip just a few, maybe six feet over the sea level when the tide is high, farther north in the town it has raised already to about 10 to 17 feet. Strata slightly rising from south to north and from east to west allows therefore a magnificent view for those ships coming from other parts wanting to sell their goods in the harbour near the north-east side of the town. Due to the water currents of the sea, Strata has only few beaches or sandbanks. One is near the southern point, the other north of Strata on the eastern side.
Description:
People are arguing about which approach to Strata is the more splendid one, coming from the desert and looking onto the town stretched beneath ones feet, framed by the blue sea, or approaching by ship sailing along the front of beautiful houses lit by the sinking sunset, or - entering the harbour in the east in full sight of the town, preferably when the sun just rose above the horizon.
The Approach from the East
Few travellers endure the hardness and dangers of a voyage through the Barthavos, most arrive by ship. Arriving in the morning and approaching Strata slowly, travellers see a town lying before their eyes which just seems to have arose from a tale told by the elders or a distant myth:
Built on the very edge of the headland of the Gaian continent, it takes the whole space of the hook. The land is slightly rising from south to north, and even a bit more from east to west, so the view is just fantastic. Tall houses in the colour of the sun, from a light yellow, over a deep Strata orange to a dark red are standing side by side, framed and divided with a splendid white colour. Down at the old harbour side are some bigger houses used for storing the valuable goods coming from Northern Gaia. A broad road is leading from the old harbour straight to the western end of the town, passing the great harbour gate and the town wall and running through the central market, around the famous giant Dar'ii Tree. On the left edge the splendid Temple of Water draws the eye towards it just sitting on an small island outside the town wall, which runs around the town just behind the houses belonging to the harbour quarters. The city wall is another prominent feature of the town, and though it is of strong built and was never torn down, it doesn�t look threatening. The light yellow of the stones gives it a friendly touch, though the pointed pinnacles demonstrate the ability to protect its citizens. On the other, northern side, outside the town, the magnificent, pure white, round temple of Falis is greeting the traveller with its golden shining spherical roof and its three tall, slender towers.
Few of the arriving ships call at the old harbour which was destroyed during a big flood and only partly reconstructed, most moor in the new harbour outside the town in the northwest of Strata.
There, down the beach in northwestern direction near the new harbour, a very tall, huge lighthouse is standing. It doesn�t fit very well to the whole town of Strata, and the fascinated visitor soon averts his eyes and concentrates on Strata again.
The houses in their beauty and variety are enough to astonish the foreign visitor, but what catches his eyes most are not the splendid buildings, but the green in between, where you didn�t expect it. Strata is know for selling fresh water as one of the valuable goods here . Water is a resource which is rare and therefore restricted for everybody, even the rich ones. And so the trees which grow everywhere in the town are valuable and very cared for. The mightiest and oldest tree is the Dar'ii tree in the middle of the famous Stratanian market place, but there are rows of other trees running down in the middle of every of the main four roads, each tree belonging to a certain house of which it is cared for. And every house itself, most of them build in a rectangular way with a inner courtyard, has its own tree in the middle of the house. This is the way the Stratanian's can survive in the heat of a summer day, when a hot dry wind is blowing either from the southeast or coming out of the Barthavos.
As the ships comes nearer, more details can be seen. The white colour on the houses turn out to be complicated white ornaments and white shutters in front of the plenty windows, with balconies and porches the houses try to surpass each other. The trees show more of their gracile beauty and the promise of a cooling shade, and suddenly the traveller can�t wait to set his foot on the landing docks of the "Beauty of the South".
The Approach from the North
Coming from the north the town promises relief after the heat of the day, the green of the trees are balsam on the tortured eyes, the air seems to be cooler now and the ears longs for the sound of running water. Like a coloured jewel lying on blue-green silk it matches the sea which surrounds it here by all other sides. The beautiful Northern Gate, ornamented with blue shining tiles, welcomes the traveller.
Architecture:
The houses in Strata are up to seven, eight stories high and built out of dried clay bricks.
The wall is covered with plaster out of the same, fresh material and coloured while the plaster is still fresh. The Strata orange is the most seen colour, but yellow and the red are common as well. Few houses have a pale blue, but this is a new habit and the Stratanians still don�t know if they like it or not. So far this colour was only used for the temple of Water or for interiors and seeing it on the outside of a house divides the citizens.
Though the houses would look great, tall and slender as they are, built together or standing close with only small lanes between them, they get their characteristics from the ornamentations running like a baize around the bottom of each story and around the plenty windows which are the pride of every owner of a house. Each of this ornamentations is built from the plaster the wall is covered with and highlighted and enriched with the brightest white colour available in the south.
The roof and the upper story is painted with a white chalk mixed with a binding agent which protects the claybricks and plaster from the wind, the burning sun and a very rarely rainfall.
The windows are mostly small, but high, sometimes stretching from the bottom to the ceiling. The upper part is often curved. Sometimes they are divided in a lower part with shutteres which can be closed or opened, the upper, curved part which can not be opened. A very thin sliced special stone which allows the light to penetrate sometimes covers this openings. But big pieces are very fragile, and so small pieces are set in a framework creating a special look to these windows. To guard the windows, they have small gracile balconies in front of them, delicately build out of the same material as the houses themselves.
To shut out the early heat of the sun in the morning, every window has white painted shutters which allow the air of the western sea to bring a cooling breeze to the interior of the houses, in the middle of the day however they can be closed to prevent the hot air coming in. Some noble houses have imported glass in their windows, but it is often blind due to the sand carried by the desert winds into Strata which finds its way into every c***k.
The roofs are flat, surrounded by a wall to prevent people from falling off. In the late evenings, when the air is pleasant, the winds have ceased and the tasks of the day are done they are the meeting place of the families and their guest, from neighbours and friends.
There are two different types of houses in Strata:
One is the common rectangular house with an inner courtyard. The rooms are mainly oriented to this courtyard, except the rooms which are facing the main road. In these courtyards the pride of the family has its place, the shade giving tree, in most cases a dar�ii tree.
The other type of house is found mainly in the Eastern Lane. The houses built directly on the town wall and facing the western sea don�t have an inner courtyard, but are built simply rectangular with the rooms facing either the sea or the road. These families set their pride in a "high garden" and care for a diversity of plants which they grow on the roof.
All houses on the main four roads have archways at the bottom level, each house connected with its neighbors, so that walking in the shade is possible. The same is to find at the houses standing around one of the various markets of Strata.
Actually this particular fellow tended to avoid her whenever possible. Orange eyes went wide as Alphonse's hand wrapped around her arm, and she was tempted to tell him to let go, but she had better control than a year ago.
"He has red hair, a prosthetic leg... lots of scars of late." Raven seemed quite annoyed at that thought, as if her friend was being silly to get himself hurt so badly on a regular basis.
