Axia

At the heart of the islands is Axia, an artificial island created to house the dragon born capital. Built on a vast, submerged table mount at the geographical heart of the Ladonian archipelago, Axia is a city of six layers, from the deep catacombs to the conclave palace above. What it has in splendour it lacks in growing land and resources, however, and Axia is almost entirely dependent on imported food and goods.   The great foundations of the city are rooted in the mountain top, breaking the waves to support the rest of the city. A vast ring of almost seamless stonework, enspelled against erosion, the foundation is not solid, but is shot through with infrastructure - passages, storerooms and vaults, and the vast and terrible mysteries of the Axian sewage and waste disposal network. Below this, cut into the rock of the table mount, are the catacombs, where the great figures of Ladonia are laid to rest, and where, deepest of all, the bones of Elder Wyrms lie entombed.   On top of the foundations, three tiers rise. Shallow ramps corkscrew around the tiers, while shorter stairs cut into them. Each tier consists of an outer wall, with several levels of housing set into it. Behind the residences, great vaults provide further usable space and support for the tier above, with each tier being smaller than the one below. At the centre of the vaults, the movers - a series of platforms raised and lowered by ancient mechanisms - permit the carriage of bulk goods and large groups between tiers. On each tier, the most affluent occupy the upper surface surrounding the next, where large houses with gardens mingle with public parks and markets.   The lower tier has five levels of occupation: four of residences and shops, and the lowest given over to the garrisons of the Axian military. It is the largest tier by far, capable of enclosing the middle and upper tiers entirely, but still many of its occupants have no home but the inner vaults, which are given over to a mixture of anonymous storage and minimalist housing, and in the cavernous central vault, the Great Axian Market. The upper surface has few residences, instead being given over to a patchwork of allotments where residents can grow small quantities of food, for themselves or for sale.   The middle tier has three levels of occupation. Behind the residences and businesses, the middle vaults are a city of their own, where the lower middle classes live and work, and where the entire middle tier come to play. Many of the more famous - or infamous - night spots in Axia lie in the middle vaults, and are frequented by middle and upper tiersfolk. The upper surface of the middle tier is occupied by a mix of public parks and the estates of those wealthy enough for the upper tier, but lacking in connections, except in the west. The west side is given over to the officer training facilities of Axian College.   The upper tier has only two levels of housing, although it is almost as tall as the middle tier. The vaults house the Scale Market, an exchange for goods of high value only, as well as the Ladonian Mint. The estates of the upper surface are the home of the elite of Axia: representatives to the Conclave, high merchants and prime scholars.   Above all of this rises the Palace of the Conclave, the greatest meeting hall in all of Ladonia. Here the Axian Conclave sits; the supreme court and mediating body in Ladonia. The Conclave numbers only thirty five representatives - three from each of the islands, save the Grey Islet and Axia itself - but also has a staff of almost three thousand clerks, secretaries and advisers, as well as five hundred members of the prestigous and occasionally elite Conclave Guard.