Motometro

The Striding City

A bipedal automaton able to navigate the obstreperous landscape, Motometro is, in essence, a city on legs. This mobile township is a relic from the age of the Schism, and home to the race of learned Slenders. Assisted by its qualified occupants and caretakers, it traverses the Continent, sourcing supplies and interacting with various settlements to trade, for research, diplomacy, and to recover resident Slenders required to work on site.

The story of its origins are still unclear, even to those of us dwelling within. Motometro was reputedly built from appropriated Deumana devices to house the Slenders, and the storehouse of knowledge their former rulers charged them with. Its construction was performed by the Gardeners and Frost Giants, and overseen by the Slenders, who were still adjusting to their new-found autonomy. It was the platform - with the Slenders serving as the voice - which the Giants used to convey their message of liberation to the other fledgling Races. Partially due to this, and also owing to their altruistic nature, the Slenders aboard their Striding City are a sight welcomed by all but the most xenophobic occupants of Lume.

The Strata of Motometro

This towering construct is divided roughly into three levels: the above deck city affectionately referred to as the Works, the Plumbing midsection that contains the maze of machinery powering the city, and the Shanks, two enormous legs dedicated entirely to propulsion.

The Works

The top-side of MM is a sprawling amalgamate of architecture spanning the many cycles since the Schism. Roughly 1000 spans (or 800m) in diameter, this roaming metropolis boasts rows upon columns of workshops and studios, residential and commercial areas, an observatorium, and of course, the Great Library itself (within which this compendium is currently written). From here the Slenders ply their respective crafts, living out the majority of their lives consumed by their chosen pursuits. When one visits our prosperous city, it is on this level that they reside. The perimeter is ringed with balustrades, and boasts multiple cranes for convenient transportation of goods. This level is by no means cut off from the machinations below; elevators travel occupants and small stores between the levels, the Library has many storerooms that permeate the city's crust, such as the one in which this silicon relic was uncovered, and accessing Motometro must be done from underneath. Many residents also utilize the machinery neath their feet to power their workshops.

The Plumbing

The true mechanical organism of the city. Within the bowels of the Plumbing resides a gyro that assists in minimizing the rocking movements of the city's rolling gait. The controls are so vast they required the builders to equip Motometro with limited sentience to manage its intricate sense of balance and locomotion; necessitating only a modest crew of technicians to oversee details and provide navigation. This area houses some of the more technically-minded residents, within a maze of pipes and access tunnels filled with the whistle of steam and splatters of lubricants. A team of round the clock navigators attend the cognitive core, filling out the spectrum of decisions and providing coordinates. Whilst primarily an industrial area, it houses many individuals who rarely go top-side, and who also view with disdain those sunny-side peers who rarely, if ever, venture below.

The Shanks

Below the immense furnaces and mysterious chambers of impossible clockwork are the uninhabitable metal legs; towering hydraulic colossi dedicated solely to their function. This underside is riddled with broad, prehensile pipes and chutes that conveyance minerals and resources for sorting within the Plumbing. The Striding City can be said to 'graze' different areas, the great Shanks folding down to secure resources from the various creeping metal tentacles that siphon necessary minerals from predetermined areas. The Slenders are careful to scout such areas first, never overdrawing from a region, and replacing mined spaces with materials from onboard deposits that were previously filtered. MM only settles to feed in arguably barren landscapes, and well away from communities and forested areas, even during diplomatic engagements. For this reason, among others, the Slenders prefer to navigate the Verge Plains and outskirts of the Inland Forests, the ground-shaking footsteps providing plenty of warning for any stray creatures who might happen to idly be in their path.