Topwarp

Topwarp is one of the six warps of the Puzzlebox, an endlessly-refracting work of gears and astrology devoted to the Apollonian impulse: Rules and regulations, often arbitrary, and so many of them that they can't help but become self-conflicting.

Environment

If there were an "origin point" in Top, a central point to which everyone in the warp could at least provisionally agree both exists and is important, it would be Compass Tower. By some unspoken agreement, it remains the tallest building in the Warp, visible from almost any rooftop. Even on the cloudiest days, its silhouette looms overhead, its back-lit clock like a watchful eye gazing across the ever-unfolding cityscape. Many have threatened over the ages to build some structure glorifying one House or another that could dwarf the Tower, but to date, all attempts at such a landmark have ended in disaster, both for the structure and for those who've proposed it.

One such story tells of one of the original founders of Mars House, Katerin Wheel, who published a proposal to build an elevator that could reach the heavens, complete with blueprints and the materials research necessary to craft such a contraption, the better to gather stardust from the source. After three months of demolitions and ground-clearing, a prior from a nearby abbey arrived at the proposed construction site and asked the heads of Mars House to reconsider. The prior was rebuffed, and left. Soon after, work crews began reporting seeing other from the Order gathering near the site in larger numbers, pacing around its perimeter in packs. Then, one morning, the site was simply gone. The morning laborers arrived to find that all that their adamant scaffolding and gossamer cable — as well as the cabin in which Mx. Wheel had been staying while overseeing construction — replaced with several blocks' worth of parkland. Of Katerin, there was no sign and no word. Not even the psychohistorians of Saturn House could explain it. When asked directly, a provost of the Order said only, "we did ask they reconsider."

Sociology

Outside the Compass Tower and its gardens, if there's an "order," it's really the fractally complex intersection of geography, geometry, and personality. "Neo-Victorian favela" would be the best descriptor of the lay of the land, with buildings on top of buildings in a crazy-quilt pattern, cut through with back alleys and the occasional thoroughfare. The sky ranges from light grey to charcoal, and at night, the sky is lit from below by an endless sea of phlogiston-jet lamps. Steamstacks dot the landscape shooting jets of vapor and soot into the air, and at times the clouds themselves seem to be on fire. Blimps dot the skies, along with autogyros, ornithopters, and the occasional "tamed" dragon. Horse- and other beast-drawn carts roam the streets, interspersed with the rare spell-powered vehicle.

Keeping a commonplace is typical habit, detailing personal observations about the universe. Occasionally someone's commonplace will evolve into a House's codex, either as an addendum to someone else's or as a unique guide to itself. Visitors to TopWarp are, for the sake of politeness, sorted into a "Guest House," unless of course someone wishes to join one of the others.

Inspiration and Reference

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_the_Winds
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_compass_winds
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_clock
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_astronomical_clock
• http://www.thesecretknots.com/comic/the-gif-day/
• http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-keep-a-zibaldone-a-13thcentury-answer-to-tumblr