Synoro

The Synoro Council's latest data, based primarily on employee data from Astral Depths, and General Engines, as well as passenger data gleaned from a recent audit of Free Skies Transport:   Total Population Estimate: 2000 sophonts

• Trian - 65% (1300)
• Human - 12% (240)
• Tenna - 8% (160)
• Daerpon - 6% (120)
• Ave - 5% (80)
• Vinuul - 5% (80)
• Other (Feln, Baetal, Euso, etc) - <1% (<20)

See Synoro Council.

In addition to its walls, Synoro is defended by a regiment of federal soldiers as well as mercenaries and adventurers who work on short term contracts for the settlement. Many of the citizens of Synoro, even if untrained in formal combat, have some level of experience with fighting off monstrosities that occasionally breach the outer defences of the town.

Synoro's primary export is raw sym-biomass that has been mined from the nearby Phoenix Tree. The town also has some local symbiote refineries but these are primarily used to process the sym-biomass for further use in Synoro rather than for export. Although there is some local agriculture, most of Synoro's food is imported from other towns as is the vast majority of its more complex products and medical supplies.

Tall, thick walls surround the main residential and commercial districts of the settlement. Smaller walls and fences, aimed more towards deterring grazing beasts than keeping out predatory species, surround the agricultural land that extends beyond the main walls.   In conventional Trian style, many of the living and working structures are built under ground. This includes almost all of the mining, manufacturing, and other industrial work done at Synoro.   On the northwestern wall of the settlement is an airship terminal which also serves as the top endpoint for Synoro's massive industrial elevator. The elevator has several stops at various industrial levels as it descends just behind the cliff face until it reaches its other terminus at the base of the cliff where large, land-based vehicles come and go to ferry workers, equipment, and ore back and forth from the mining site at the Phoenix Tree.   Not too many frontier settlements have functioning sewage systems but, due to Synoro's unique placement, the founders opted to include a full sewer system and water treatment plant when expanding the settlement beyond its first few structures. Storm sewers throughout the streets and the majority of homes and workplaces drain their wastewater into a series of naturally formed tunnels found beneath the settlement. After some minor engineering, these tunnels have been made continously slope downards and wind their way westwards, slowly merging together, until they reach a large subterranean cavern about 200 feet from the cliff face. Utilizing a standard Trian design, the sewage passes through several layers of Acra Coral mesh to clean and purify the water before it rushes out through a fissure in the side of the cliff as a spectacular waterfall. Some say the wastewater-fall can be picked out amongst the numerous waterfalls that can be seen spouting from the Synoro plateau as it is the cleanest looking fount of them all.

Prominent corporations include the Astral Depths Mining Co., General Engines, and Free Skies Transport.

Trian construction is largely underground using modern corespindle design (think inverted skyscrapers) that is influenced by their burrowing heritage. Above ground, the structures appear to be primarily a single level that ranges from a simple lean-to (essentially just an entrance) to a larger, multi-room rancher style with one or more A frame/lean-to styled entrances. Wealthier Train domiciles can be determined by the quality of materials used in the above ground structure but not necessarily the size of it. Trian mansions can extend up to 20 floors deep underground (not too prevalent in Synoro).   Some Trian homes and many Trian public buildings are constructed with high, spacious ceilings (by Trian standards) to accomodate other species, however these are often still just barely comfortable to most medium sized races (the tallest may have to duck/hunch a little bit).   Human homes in Synoro are generally wooden structures ranging from rough one room shacks, to small log cabins, to medium-sized two storey, planed lumber homes.   Ave homes tend to be ornately trimmed ranchers with rooftop gardens/patios. Elegant detailing within and without regardless of the medium of construction.   Tennae tend to cluster together. Individual's / family homes are small, 1-3 room ranchers. These homes however will be built in close proximity to each other, often in a hexagonal pattern, to form micro communities with a central open air (or sometimes covered) courtyard for mingling, leisure activities, communal cooking, etc. These communities are generally colony-clan centric, a Tennae from a clan not already represented may have trouble joining one of these courtyard communities.   Vinuulae structures are often grown and sculpted out of living trees using their own tradional methods. Some who do not plan to live in Synoro long enough to grow their own home will live in structures built by other species.   Daerpon homes will often be built out of clay bricks, if they have an option, but they can just as easily be found in homes of all sorts.

Synoro is situated at the cliff's edge of a large plateau that overlooks a grassy plain to the west that eventually transitions into sprawling forests. Sprouting up from the plain is the gargantuan Phoenix Tree that keeps much of the plain in the mottled shadow of its spreading branches.   On top of the plateau to the east of Synoro is a lake that is fed by a large river. The lake is rather turbulent with several whirlpool-like sections where water is draining from the lake into the natural tunnel network that permeates the plateau beneath the settlement. It is speculated that the tunnels are leftover from a previous incarnation of the Phoenix Tree whose roots extended even further than they do today. The water flowing through these tunnels eventually spouts out from the side of the cliff face to form numerous smaller streams that continue to flow westwards, eventually reforming into a single larger river again.