Bloom

The roots of the World Garden Empire all return to one place on Arith: the grand metropolis of Bloom. It sits at the heart of the continent, just at the foot of the Jever Range and overlooking The March. Though it is landlocked, many companies have invested heavily into the numerous skyports within the city to trade within its massive walls. The Battlebrand Company in particular owns The Hooks, a very large skyport within The Petals that can house hundreds of airships at the same time. The city itself was originally one of the few Old Dratarian cities left intact after Zero Year, but unlike the reverant citizens of Voletaria, the imperial industrial machines pays little attention to preserving the historical importance of such a find. While they recognized the impressive roots the city could provide, they built atop it for decades, eventually raising the city to its current impressive standing today. The city is seperated amongst different districts: The Seeds, The Stem, and The Petals. The Seeds is where a majority of the industry within Bloom takes place, built within the Dratarian roots of the city itself. Smithies, cobblers, stonemasons, and other craftsmen all set up shop in the lower levels of The Seeds, while different mercantile groups and guilds take the upper levels. The Stem is primarily made up of residential buildings, as well as essential services such as markets for food and basic needs. This allows people to avoid having to take the long trek down the lower levels of the city to buy food like they would have to for tools and equipment.   The Petals are the peak of imperial culture and architecture. Grand spires pierce the skyline while great domed buildings serve as public libraries and eateries. The wealthy live in the petals, each competing to hire the greatest architects to make their manors the most beautiful in the city. The schools, magic shops, and military buildings all reside in the highest levels of the Petals, enjoying the rare luxury of sunlight that the rest of the city does not have the chance to feel. Some merchants have begun to commodify access to The Petals, building cable elevators to take citizens from The Stem all the way up to observatory decks on the top level, basking in the sunlight until their time runs out.   At the center of the city lies The Citadel, a grand palace that serves as the center of the imperial government. Its towers reach to the low hanging clouds above, and the view from the highest point allows you to see far off cities on a clear day. However, the skies are always thick with airships designed for inner-city travel. Civilian transports travel up and down the levels, ferrying those wealthy enough to avoid the completely packed public train system. Dozens and dozens of trains cut across the openings inbetween the disctricts, carrying the laborers to their place of work and back again when the day is over. Great bridges that can be raised or lowered connect the different city-stacks that have formed over time, and horse drawn carriages carry the wealthy from their homes to attractions like museums, parks, and libraries.  

The Imperial Academy

One of the oldest and most important buildings in the Petals is the First Imperial Academy, the center of imperial knowledge, culture, and history. The building itself is the same ancient annex used when the city was once a Dratarian Strongold, and has been manually lifted up over the ages to keep it above the rest of the city. Within its walls is every scrap of information and lore the researchers can get their hands on, which is a considerable amount. For the past thousand years, the scholars here have been travelling the world and making written recordings of every book and scroll they laid their eyes on, many of which were meant to be forbidden or secret. It was an Academy scholar who accidently uncovered the Court of the Unseen's early plans, and without the message he sent to the Wolven Swords, The Chain would never have been able to stop the Red Sky from occuring.    This flagrant disregard for the laws and wishes of different natiosn and cultures around the world has not helped the World Garden's reputation, and its only made worse by the Imperial Academy's trove of "liberated" artifacts. The Stormlord's first crown, Govensh's Fang, the Scepter of the Dwarven Might, all important historical artifacts to their cultures of origin, all taken by Imperial Scholars. The Crown was "carelessly" left on a pedestal in Voleker Luxenklinge's Tomb, the Fang "left to be weathered down by the elements" as a marker of the battle in which he lost it, and the Scepter "was thankfully rescued" from the ruins of a dwarven thaig, sealed away with all its dead as a mauseleum to remeber the dwarven golden age. The fight over the crown nearly brought Voletaria to war with the empire, but thankfully to all citizens within each of the massive nations, it was returned after fierce negotiations. Other nations that do not have the military might of the Stormlord's holy land are out of luck, as all they can do is ask the massive continent spanning empire to return what they stole.   

Government

The Empress reigns above all with absolute power granted by a seemingly divine source: the hall of faces, a mural originating some time during the Dratarian Age that depicts the likeness of every emperor and empress that has reigned since the empire's founding. She, like her predecessors, is referred to as the Child of the Divine, and she is venerated almost like a god by the people she rules over. She leaves much of the day to day operations to her Court of Roses, a group of career politicians who are each given governance over a specific section of the city.