Lux Gravare

Lux Gravare
Map of Lux Gravare and part of the Greenbelt
Faction	Church of Humanity, Repentant
Planet	Cabina
Population	~2 Million

Lux Gravare is the capital city of Cabina. It is located in the temperate band that surrounds Cabina's equator, around the Canomere river and the western edge of the Cambalt hills, and just north of the eastern shores of the planet's main continent and the ocean. It is by far the largest city on Cabina, with a population of around two million inhabitants.

In addition to being the capital city of Cabina, it was also the de facto sector-wide capital city of the Church of Humanity Repentant, as Lux Gravare was home to all the major branches of CHR government. It now houses the administrative and bureaucratic headquarters of SERAPH and its composite entities, which coordinate the society's efforts across Cabina and throughout the sector.

The City itself has been reinforced to handle even the larger of the Cah-Binn exoframes, as they often traverse its streets. The Cah-Binn refer to this city as "Zhamm-Est-Vol" or "Place of cooperation and promise." It is often spoken, and many individual Cah-Binn make use of this phrase loudly and liberally when traversing the city and either follow them up with, or they get a response from another Cah-Binn traversing the city usually separated by several kilometers, who will shout the words "Zkaat-kit-t Cah-Binn" back which roughly translates to "I am here in this Place of promise," followed by the reply "give back the stars to the Cah-Binn."

There has been much debate as to what exactly is meant by the outburst, but so far nobody has gained an accurate consensus on exactly what it means.

Central District

The Central District

The Central District of Lux Gravare is one of its two main residential and economic areas (along with the Southside District). In addition, most government buildings, for municipal, planetary, and SERAPH administration are located here, as are most charitable and corporate headquarters, embassies, and so on.

Zkaat-kit-t Memorial Plaza

A large statue of a hulking quadrupedal Cah-Binn, with magweapon pointed to the heavens, serves as the centerpiece of this tree-lined plaza. It is the center of the Central District, and surrounding the Plaza stand the Governor's Mansion, the headquarters of the SERAPH Secretariat, and municipal parks constructed over the ruins of the former House of Exarchs and Hall of the Concord.

Every March, the Plaza is occupied by various pavilions, vendors, events, and artistic spectacles, in preparation and celebration of Lux Gravare Founding Day.

In the summer 3200, the plaza was the encamped location of the Concord of Peace, then later in the year the Liberatory Coalition and its allies.

Governor's Mansion

The Governor's Mansion is the official residence and workplace of the Cabina planetary governor. The responsibilities of the Cabina governor are primarily the coordination of the largely independent communities and governments of Cabina's three major cities and the thousands of frontier communities. The governor has few de jure political powers, instead their power comes largely from being assumed to have the trust and confidence of the population and major societal institutions. In the past that institution was the Church of Humanity, Repentant, and this influence was exemplified by the Governor's Mansion being on the same plaza as the House of Exarchs and the Hall of the Concord.

SERAPH Offices

The government and bureaucracy of the Church of Humanity Repentant was divided into ten departments, each led by a High Exarch of the Concord. Each department has its own office building somewhere in the Lux Gravare Central District. The Department of Special Circumstances was the only one to have its office located at Zkaat-kit-t Memorial Plaza. This regularly fueled conspiracy theories, by those so inclined, but the Concord simply noted that in cases of crises, the people you most want close by are the people whose job it is to solve crises.

After the dissolution of the Church of Humanity, Repentant, the offices of the Ten Departments were overtaken by the various charitable and corporate entities that would later come to form SERAPH. These entities include Cabina Cups Tea Company, Ankhayat Coffee, the Maajid Memorial Foundation for the Education of Humanity, the Gran Panacea Charitable Foundation, and A.I.D.S.E.R.F.S. The former headquarters of the Department of Special Circumstances, located at Zkaat-kit-t Memorial Plaza, has been converted into the headquarters of the SERAPH Secretariat, and serves as the consolidating administrative and diplomatic office of SERAPH.

House of Exarchs

This building burned down in 3200 during the Unveiling and suicide of members and allies of the Liberatory Coalition. The area is currently being converted into a municipal park. While it stood, however, the building housed the meeting rooms and offices of the Council of Exarchs, the main deliberative body of the Church of Humanity Repentant, composed of 222 exarchs and responsible for electing the CHR's 22 High Exarch's.

Hall of the Concord

This building burned down in 3200 during the Unveiling and suicide of members and allies of the Liberatory Coalition. The area is currently being converted into a municipal park. While it stood, however, the Hall of the Concord held the meeting rooms and offices of the Concord of High Exarchs. The Concord was the primary executive body of the Church of Humanity Repentant. It was made up of 22 High Exarchs, whom were always chosen from the ranks of the Council of Exarchs, and retained their position as Exarch in the council alongside their position as High Exarch in the Concord. From their offices in the Hall of the Concord, the High Exarchs of the CHR ran the ten departments of the church, and thus the church as a whole across the sector.

Parallel Dawn Hotel

Lux Gravare's premier hotel, dedicated primarily towards noble and wealthy corporate guests. The Parallel Dawn is the hotel to be at when you're done for the day. Suites are provided individually, or in groups. The hotel has all the facilities a noble has come to expect around the sector.

Grand Agora

A plaza dedicated to public debate and the sharing of ideas. A massive native tree acts as the centerpiece, its canopy covering the entire plaza.

Southside District

The Southside District

The Southside District of Lux Gravare is one of its two main residential and economic areas (along with the Central District). In addition, most temples and churches are located here, as are most gardens and museums.

High Temple of the Infinite Chant of the Soul Indivisible

The High Temple of the Infinite Chant of the Soul Indivisible stands on a small bluff overlooking the river. Robed acolytes scurry about, hauling strange pieces of alien technology, while congregants mill around the large meeting hall in the center.

Fakri Maajid Memorial Library

Main article: Maajid Memorial Foundation for the Education of Humanity

This headquarters of the Stewards of Knowledge is noted for its combination of Velan and alien architecture. Shelves of paper books and data terminals line the multistory library, while patrons read quietly. Following the dissolution of the Church of Humanity, Repentant, the library's Board of Directors secured funding from additional Repentant sects, nobility, and secretive donors, took over multiple bureaucratic departments formerly part of the CHR, and expanded and coordinated efforts across Cabina and the sector as part of the Maajid Memorial Foundation for the Education of Humanity.

Ishaans Café

This cozy cat café serves a wide variety of local tea and fresh bread, all sourced from Cabina's own homestead-monasteries. Its employees are all cosmetically modified to appear as cat-people and the cats who live there frolic about desperately wanting your attention.

Gran Panacea Medical Center

Main article: Gran Panacea Charitable Foundation

Cabina's and Lux Gravare's main hospital and medical facility. During the years of the Church of Humanity, Repentant's existence it was run directly by the CHR, with funds provided both by the CHR and the local Cabina nobles. Following the CHR's dissolution, the center secured its own funding from multiple independent Repentant sects, took over multiple bureaucratic departments formerly part of the CHR, and expanded and coordinated efforts across Cabina and the sector as part of the Gran Panacea Charitable Foundation.

The center's medical staff is dedicated to treating all who seek their aid. It is one of only a handful of places in the sector where doctor's may specialize in the treatment of alien patients.

Up until the War Against the Artificials, Gran Panacea Medical Center also maintained a large number of staff and facilities for the treatment of synthetics. This was officially abolished during the War Against the Artificials, but rumors say it was never abolished, merely taken off the books and that it continues to be run out of closed or secret sections of the hospital. Church leaders have publicly condemned the spreading of such rumors.

In truth, and absolute secrecy, this is indeed the case. The Gran Panacea Medical Center is a key thoroughfare in the Vigil's Railroad, providing both medical aid as well as cosmetic surgery and related services to incoming refugees before they are resettled on the Cabina Frontier or send back off-world to some other part of the sector.

Riverside District

The Riverside District

The Riverside District of Lux Gravare is its youngest district, and the main site of continuing city growth and development. It has large warehouse blocks servicing the Central and Southside Districts, but also newly made high-class residential neighborhoods, a hip nightlife scene at the river shores, and more.

Hong Lu Houses

Hong Lu Houses are somewhat questionable places serving largely seedy crowds, but advertised as offering authentic Hong Luan cuisine and services: from tea to Cardinâlis risotto, from Wànnéng Wǔjutsu exhibitions to holographic concerts of the Nine Treasures.

There a several Hong Lu Houses in the Riverside District, all run by Xun Hui Man, a Cabinan notable publicly known as a self-made freeman, philanthropist, and a pillar of the local Hong Luan community

Not so publicly, Xun Hui Man is a ruthless crime boss, and Hong Lu Houses are fronts for all manner of illegal activities, from drugs to brothels to gambling. Their legit services are cheap, because their products are gained through extortion of a number of frontier communities firmly under Xun Hui’s sway.

In the backrooms of certain Hong Lu Houses, people can order Shatter Tea, made using the extremely dangerous Shatter Drug. To the clientele, the houses say that mixing Shatter with Hong Lu-style tea lessens the dangers of Shatter use. This is a lie, there is no safe way to use Shatter. Shatter Tea is safer, but this is because there is greater control and precision as to the dose of active substance in each cup as compared to ingesting Shatter raw. With some regularity, things still go wrong, and for this purpose all Hong Lu Houses serving Shatter Tea are located at the Canomere riverside, for easy and anonymous disposal of the bodies of more unfortunate clientele.

Lux Gravare Stadium, aka the Vardome

Main article: Lux Gravare Stadium (The Vardome)

The Lux Gravare Stadium is the official stadium of the Cabina Fever Psiball team. The stadium has recently undergone extensive renovation after a friendly match against the team from Shān ended with the stadium in ruins. The renovations were funded by Church of Humanity Repentant member Dr. Lyra Quinn Vardom, as a result of his patronage Cabina Fever fans have nicknamed the renovated stadium ‘The Vardome’.

Soul ex Sol Amphitheatre

The old amphitheatre was built early on before the major successes of the restoration project. It used to be under a protective see-through dome that let 99% of sunlight through for those who came here to pray to the Stars and Sun or attend communal meditations and sermons of the solstice. Now the dome is long gone and the hard stone slabs of the amphitheatre are replaced with soft dark earth on which all children of the Stars may grow. Larger trees and bushes are usually replanted elsewhere so they don't block out the Light. There are no real buildings around other than Haqani-style pavilions and tents that the Soul ex Sol uses as a local base of operations. The locals aptly named the area Tent Town.

Tent Town

The Haqani cultural district built up around the Soul ex Sol amphitheatre.

The Teal Lotus

The Teal Lotus is an underground bar in an earthen hillside, with an elevator and stairwell that take guests down to the bar proper. It is part of the sector-wide Lotus Bars Ltd franchise.

Mox Aquamarine

The Mox Aquamarine is located so far and deep into the Greenbelt past the Riverside District, it by all accounts is more part of the Greenbelt than it is part of Lux Gravare itself. More of a functioning pit stop for the Bumbumast exterminators and wranglers than anything, the Mox Aquamarine caters to the rough and tumble of Cabina's society. Providing stiff drinks and Bumbumast extermination and wrangling equipment to those who are interested, the bar tends to attract those who want to get away from the public eye for a while. It has numerous backrooms for private parties of many varieties.

Bureau Office for The Coeus Group

Located in a renovated warehouse near the recently built high class residential neighborhoods in the Riverside District, the Coeus Group office on Cabina is run by former Sheriff Josef Underwood. The warehouse district where the office can be found serves as a crossroads between the upper class establishment of SERAPH and the criminal underworld lurking in the shadows, making it one of the few places in Lux Gravare where both groups of people can be found.

Port District

The Port District

The Port District of Lux Gravare is its connection to the rest of the planet and the sector at large. It contains both several huge ports designed to house and service interstellar freighters, as well as dozens of more modest shuttle ports aimed at smaller trips to destinations on the planet or in the local system.

Pilgrim's Landing

The main and largest spaceport of Lux Gravare and the planet. The majority of off-world visitors and shipments come through this port.

Surrounding Areas

Lux Gravare Greenbelt

The Lux Gravare Greenbelt is the largest area of restored biosphere on the planet. It surrounds the capital city, and represents both the oldest and the largest of the biosphere restoration projects on the planet.

Most of the Greenbelt is covered by fields and crops, but a significant part has been set aside as a recreational wildlife preserve. This part features grassy fields and open forests of slender young trees and undergrowth. The majority of native Cabina flora are fruit-bearing bushes and trees, as these had priority in the Cah-Binn seed bank and conservation projects that form the basis for native biosphere restoration. The remainder of flora is made up of species originally native to Earth or Acheron Rho. All species have, to a greater or lesser extent, been genetically modified to be able to survive the trace levels of toxic dioxins present even in reclaimed areas of Cabina soil.

In addition to nature, the Greenbelt is dotted with small shrines. In the early days, many Repentant settlers to Cabina wanted to be buried in the middle of the nature they worked so hard to restore. As Cabina’s population grew, this soon became untenable as it would’ve turned the Greenbelt into a Gravebelt. However, the many graves made before the practice was banned remain to this day. It is a common practice among Repentant sects with old or founding members buried in the Greenbelt to organize short, day-long, pilgrimages to visit the grave-shrines of their honored forebears. Less well-remembered people find their graves tucked away and overgrown, reclaimed by the nature they themselves helped plant.

Cambalt Hills

The Cambalt Hills are a range of hills to the east of Lux Gravare. A considerable part of it lies within the Greenbelt, and hikes up the hills are a popular outing for Lux Gravare residents. The remainder of the hills extend into the wastes for many miles, before transitioning into the Scarvon Mountain Range.

Canomere River

The Canomere River runs through Lux Gravare itself, but also extends further west and east, running roughly parallel to the ocean shore for dozens of miles before finally turning into it. A few miles upstream from the city, to the east, the Lux Gravare Dam sits in the river flow. Though it generates some power, its main reason for being built was to install filtering devices that clear the water flowing towards the city from toxic dioxins.

As a result, the water of the river flowing downstream from Lux Gravare is purer than most natural water on the planet, leading to a higher than normal density of frontier towns situated along the river. This in turn has led to some modest but regular river shipping traffic going back and forth between the city and these settlements.

Ocean Shore

Lux Gravare is situated just a few miles north of the eastern shore of Cabina's main continent and the ocean. Parts of the coast near Lux Gravare are the site of continuing biosphere restoration projects, and are now flush with bright coral reefs and aquatic fauna. These areas are another popular destination for day trips from the city. A small port town services the rare water-based ships sailing the oceans.

Further away from the city, the coast is infested with poisonous Tiger Mussels and deadly black water algal blooms. Few venture into these areas except to fly over them during a shuttle ride to some other part of the planet.

Haakom Homestead

This bustling village consists of a dozen or so buildings, sitting in the center of a large expanse of farmland. People work in the fields, harvesting tea leaves by hand, while large harvesters reap a field of wheat. A bridge crosses a swiftly-running river, and a large, steepled monastery building, the Bastion of the Sanctified Soul, stands on a hill overlooking the rest of the village.

Haakon Homestead is technically part of the Cabina Frontier, but being less than a day’s hike from Lux Gravare it could also be considered a suburban neighborhood of the capital site itself. Visitors regularly go back and forth between Haakom and Lux Gravare. Many visitors make this trip solely to visit the Tao-Lu ramen shop, which has gotten quite popular amongst some circles in the capital.

Bastion of the Sanctified Soul

Close to the Haakom Homestead, and thus less than a day’s travel from Lux Gravare, stands the Bastion of the Sanctified Soul. This is the main temple of the Repentant sect known as the Concord of the Sanctified Souls.

Notable Lux Gravaran NPCs

Main article: Notable Cabinan NPCs

These characters were explicitly made to serve as NPC's in Lux Gravare, reflecting the culture and setting of the city. Anyone writing Cabina lore or playing a role-playing game set on Cabina should feel encouraged to reference these characters or have them cameo.