Kardakouk

Due to the lack of real atmosphere most of Kardakouks inhabitants and introduced life live below the surface in vast underground oceans, including the Founding species of The Concord of Mutual Disdain, the Tar'et, the Queltl and humanity.

Attributes
A place to go into more detail on the 'Attributes' as found in the sector map. These include atmosphere, temperature, biosphere, and the like.

Culture
A variety of Kardakouk's cuisine can be found here Kardakouk Cuisine

Vigasz - the Jellyfish City
Whilst most of the cities in the oceans of Kardakouk are as stationary as is commonly expected of cities Vigasz is the notable exception. Constructed within a huge and constantly moving jellyfish the city of Vigasz is one of the few outdoor places on Kardakouk with enough naturally occurring oxygen to allow humans to walk around unassisted by breathing apparatus. As such the city serves as a major tourist attraction now that the Concord has grown more accustomed to off-world visitors.

Situated within the mesoglea of the mighty medusae the population of the city is carefully controlled to ensure that the oxygen the living city creates doesn’t run out. It has long been debated whether the ability of the enormous jellyfish to create oxygen is an entirely natural phenomenon or if it was an ability implanted in the ginormous creature by the jailors. Whatever the origin of this ability, it is central to the city's continued survival. With a maximum liveable population of around a million inhabitants most of the time the city maintains a level of 700,000 permanent inhabitants for a few reasons. Firstly in times of peace it allows for a large tourist population to generate funds for the Concord. Then in times of war the 300,000 population gap allows for a large number of military assets to be stationed inside the city.

The city itself is composed of a few distinct components. At the base of the hood of the jellyfish on opposite sides are the main ports of the city and one of the few places that needed to be directly carved out of the enormous creature. They are maintained with a vigorous security checkpoint as any dramatic issues at the ports could potentially flood the city with ocean water. As such the temperature, pressure and speed of all ships and goods are carefully monitored to prevent such a situation. The ports themselves then open into the main thoroughfare of the city, where each port mirrors the other in opening out into two of the three major areas of the city. With the gastrovascular cavity of the jellyfish serving as the natural centre the area built on top of the gastrodermis of the cavity is known as the upper city and the areas tucked in below the cavity as the lower city.

The upper city is the main tourist hub of the city and the least populated to allow for space for the tourists to enjoy the local delicacies. The lower amount of local homes, natural oxygen and controlled population mean that the upper city has a host of open spaces to enjoy compared to many of the other cities on Kardakouk. Lavish and ornate the upper city is host to a wide variety of artisanal crafts, many constructed out of corrallite. Some of the work commissioned by the Lacuvia and Mobu’nacar, the most prominent of which is a depiction of the Peace Garden ship, in a public park of the same name. It stands as a monument in front of the Con’cordat palace where the royals of the concord reside. Lavish and beautiful it serves as another grand tourist attraction with several enormous telescopes emerging from its many rooves to provide the inhabitants with a spectacular view of the oceans and wildlife outside the jellyfish.

The lower city has another split in its purposes but both sections are commonly known as the lower city. The upper section of the lower city is situated underneath the gastrovascular cavity and hangs between the central structure, the gonads and the outer section of the cavity. Known as the Underhang this is where the majority of the local inhabitants live. The hanging homes of the inhabitants are made out of very light materials to prevent undue stress on the jellyfish despite how many people live there. There are quite a few regulations specific to the Underhang including the collection of waste materials in specific locations where it can be collected and sent to the city dump to prevent any waste being dumped onto the buildings below.

Below the Underhang lies the industrial heart of the city. Also known as the Dregs the majority of the city’s less artisanal and more mechanical industry takes place here. Equipped with advanced adaptations to raise and lower in accordance to the movements of the jellyfish the factories rise and fall while maintaining a level workspace inside. As such work can continue barring only the most extreme of movement from the host city, Also located within the Dregs are the entrances to the third major area of the city.

Well guarded at all hours of the day are entrances to the high speed lifts to the vaults of Vigasz. Located within the tentacles of the jellyfish the vaults make use of the natural stingers of the beast to provide security to the buildings as a whole. The only entrances are the lifts extending down through the interior of the tentacles making the vaults the most well guarded locations on Kardakouk and the stored of much of the wealth of the Concord both in the form of the riches of the Lacuvia and Mobu’nacar and in the private earnings of the citizens.

Sejtblokk - the Cell Block City
Whilst the capital of Kardakouk is Vigasz the largest city on the planet is Sejtblokk. Without the limiting factor of the jellyfish to consider the city isn’t beholden to any of the same space or population restrictions. Composed of a collection of the old prison cell blocks as a base with more modern constructions on the outermost edges the city of Sejtblokk is large, industrial and urban. While many places on Kardakouk can be considered quite beautiful, Sejtblokk stands as the testament to the purpose of the Jailors' use of the planet. Large black rectangles that are as spartan as most of the Jailors architecture these cell blocks are nor arranged in a cohesive manner. Instead they are haphazardly arranged on the seafloor, if the jailors ever had a system in place to organise them it has since been abandoned with the unplanned addition of other cell blocks that rest simply wherever they ended up when their propulsion systems failed.

With the addition of newer sections of the city Sejtblokk remains the largest city on the planet and a representation of how far the species of the Concord have come since their emancipation. As with most of Kardakouks population centres the city is at the bottom of one of the many oceans and as such not well suited for human habitation. Many of the cell blocks have an airlock to enter with the interiors being filled with air for human habitation. Others however are entirely filled with water for the Tar’et and Queltl inhabitants. As such buildings are required by law to be clearly marked at the entryway as to whether they contain air inside to avoid as many accidental drownings as possible. The city itself is divided into 4 major sections which are each regarded with separate characteristics that distinguish them from each other but together comprise the city of Sejtblokk.

Ulocrity - Stationary City

The oldest section of the city consists of former prison cell blocks.. Whilst some of the blocks originated where Sejtblokk now stands, many more were moved here from other prisons during the emancipation of Kardakouk. The Ulocrity is now stationary as the blocks that once moved have lost that ability, whether by design or from the consequences of time.

Since most of the buildings in the Ulocrity are a result of time and circumstance rather than planning, most of them are between one and three stories, with the buildings with multiple stories being improvised. Less like proper street blocks and more like building blocks clumsily strewn about on a playmat As a result many of the egresses between cell blocks have been added in convenient locations rather than the standard positions on the blocks. One of the few points of architectural differentiation of the generally monotone cell blocks of the Ulocrity are in how the entrances of buildings and connections between cell blocks are decorated and even where on the block they are located. These differing entryways are often the basis of markers for locals to orient themselves given the lack of traditional streets or organised swimways.

The exception to the generally low sky(sea)line of the Ulocrity is the Városlekvár Complex. Originally an administrative building for the Jailors prison it has been converted into a mix of city hall, administrative centre and official cultural point for ‘protests’ against ‘the crimes of the Jailors’ by various interest groups. Most of these protests consist of angrily shouting about the various wrongdoings of the Jailors, some real and documented and others entirely fabricated conspiracies, including but not limited to: assassinating the various members of the Council Broadcasting subliminal messages from the Bernard 1 refueling station Reducing the number of fish in the oceans Poisoning bread Draining Kardakouk and replacing the water with slightly saltier water Burning all the trees Ruining 3 citizens lawns

The structure of the Városlekvár Complex itself towers above the rest of the city, including the modern sections. Even so it matches the haphazard nature of the rest of the Ulocrity, with multiple cell blocks having been at various points rammed into the structure at various heights, which have over time been reinforced and incorporated into the complex. In the past disorganised attempts have been made to bring down the Complex with these cell blocks used as piloted ammunition, but none of these attempts were ever close to successful. Compounding the disfigured nature of the Complex the various cell blocks sticking out of the structure at odd angles are complemented by the remnants of battles of the past that also scar the building. Before the arrival of the peace garden, the Városlekvár Complex was the site of many skirmishes between Tar’et and Queltl. Their battles among the Complex at the heart and the cell blocks below occurred throughout history with neither ever managing to gain complete control over the complex. Eventually Sejtblokk became the site of the first communities where Tar’et, Queltl and humans all lived together.

Mozgócrity - Moving City

Similar to the Ulocrity, the Mozgócrity consists of blocks that were either part of the prison or created afterwards to match the style and measurements of the original blocks. These blocks however remain mobile and are moved every so often as needed. Unlike the other parts of the city this section is constantly shrinking as the architectural style of Kardakouk had long since abandoned harping the prison based style and blocks lose movement functionality, becoming part of the Ulocrity. The sections of the Ulocrity with relatively organised upper stories are often the result of planned movement of the Mozgócrity. As the Mozgócrity shrinks it has become more likely for sections approaching the end of their capabilities to have their resting places planned to avoid crashes and thus prevent injuries.The Mozgócrity specialises in moving factories which make use of the movement of the blocks to assist in deliveries of both raw materials and the finished products. Many of the planets top corralite crafters make their wares in their famous moving workshops which may be the one hope to keep the Mozgócrity moving and functional instead of being totally incorporated into the Ulocrity.

Ujcrity - New City

The second largest section of the city, most of the modern construction is located in this area. A result of urban sprawl the Ujcrity is built the furthest from the Városlekvár Complex and marks the outer ring of the city. Clearly demarcated by the change from monochrome black to coloured buildings, the Ujcrity began to be constructed only after the arrival of humanity to Kardakouk. Whilst certainly more utilitarian than the architects of Vigasz, the Ujcrity is still where the artistic styles of the concord have begun to take shape. This section most resembles cities that would be found on land but still lack major roads on the seafloor, instead opting to have only simple swimways while vehicles make use of being submerged to travel up rather than across. Whilst not as industrial as the Ulocrity and Mozgócrity the nature of the city as a whole means that industry is not entirely absent from the Ujcrity either, albeit less pronounced. As time has gone on the Ujcrity has a majority of the population of the city simply from how much it has sprawled in the centuries of peace.

Kapszulacrity - new moving city

The newest section and technically not actually composed of buildings, the Kapszulacrity is a never ending swarm of personal ships and open ships in the manner of stalls that constantly buzz above the other sections as birds would a terrestrial city. Making use of the verticality afforded from being underwater, the Kapszulacrity is a symbol of the prosperity brought about by the concord and is constantly shifting as people come and go from the city. Whilst there are no actual buildings the need for city officials to organise the traffic of ships and the needs of the stall ships as they anchor in various locations have caused the Kapszulacrity to become recognised as a separate section of the city whole.

The highlight of the Kapszulacrity is the collection of ships turned stalls that form the Cuppansaima Bazaar. Whilst they move every few days the Cuppansaima Bazaar is formed from thousands of small ships, often owned by single proprietors that form a great market above the main city. Whilst most of the city is industrially focused the Bazaar is the tourist attraction of the city. From first time corralite artisans, to aspiring artists, to the greatest variety of stream vendor foods on the planet, if it can be bought or sold you can find it at the Bazaar. The constant moving of individual stalls means that there is no uniformity to the Bazaar and every week you could find a new selection of stalls to browse. Over time the Bazaar waxes and wanes above the rest of the city, forming the thickest section of the swarm of ships, and the largest concentration of people swimming among the vehicles.

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