Papilla

On the wings of a titanic mechanical butterfly sits Papilla. This eclectic city drifts above the Wilds of Daglaci. Papilla is a flooded city, surrounded by embankments that keep water flowing on its platforms. The city runs on solar and hydroelectricity, the water surprisingly warm. Inhabitants navigate the city on boats, over bridges, and hover platforms.

Papilla is one of the most popular tourist cities on the planet. The night life, the city's extravagant architecture, and the Papillon Royal Family's siren orcas are just some of the reasons tourists are drawn to Papilla.

Districts & Divisions

Papilla can easily be divided into the East and West Wings. The East wing is geared more towards tourism, while the West favours residential areas. The two Wings sit between the Column, a massive arcology designed to support another million residents.

East Wing

Papilla's East Wing brings in around twenty billion charms each year, thanks to its impressive set of sightseeing destinations. The flooded streets on ground level are rife with nightlit bars and clubs, siphoning money by coaxing partygoers to purchase expensive drinks and drugs.

Visitors are encouraged to take a ride on a rickety boat, up and down the artificial rivers that weave under and over the East Wing's skyscrapers. The East Wing also features rich culture and history, inviting a different kind of tourism. Museums, art galleries, and other classy establishments bring in a more formal crowd.

West Wing

Less time and money is devoted into the upkeep of the West Wing. 80% of residents living in Papilla are found in the West Wing. Most residents dislike tourists entering the West Wing, as tourist reputation has taken a great hit in recent years. There have been thousands of reports of anti-social behaviour in the last five years, tourists insulting residents, mocking culturally significant buildings, among other insensitive acts.

There are tight restrictions on what tourists can and cannot do, and where they can and cannot go, in the West Wing. Tourists can wander ground-level streets, but buildings above a certain level are off-limits, except for residents.

Column

Eggy Placeholder by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

The Column was initially designed as an architectural project, showcasing the brilliance of Daglaci's most skilled architects. The space between both Wings had been poorly utilised up until this point, and billions were given to a small group of architects to design a structure capable of bringing in millions of tourists.

These architects spent six years designing the Column, a massive triangular prism stretching from one side of Papilla to the other. It took ten years to build, requiring the destruction of five factory complexes and a number of residential buildings and corporate offices. People living in these buildings were compensated by given apartments within the Column, with halfed rental prices.

The north-facing tip of the Column remained as apartment complexes, while the rest was transformed into an array of facilities - fast food joints, high-end restaurants and cafes, casinos, arenas, museums, galleries, and countless leisure centres filled the Column. Annually, the Column brings in almost eight billion charms from tourism.

Antenna

The Antenna of Papilla are less independent districts, more government watch drones. The Antenna are a pair of gigantic, crew-operated drones orbiting the city, observing Papilla's surroundings. They are equipped with long-distance weaponry, often shot at the ground in order to scare off potentially dangerous creatures.

These drones fit five crew members, each operating their own nozzle, steering the craft in tandem with one another. Both Antenna have built-in heat sensors, infra-red sensors, and can also see in UV light, allowing them to detect threats from many miles away. They are magnetically tethered to Papilla, so they cannot stray far.

Layout & Geography

From above, Papilla resembles a generic butterfly. The city rests on a supermassive platform, levitating roughly five hundred metres above the thick ice of the Wilds. This platform is flooded with warm water, designed to generate hydroelectrical power at all times, using both hydromancy and electromancy.

With limited space to expand, Papilla can only grow upwards. Most buildings are constructed using modules, designed to magnetically clip together. Modules can be mixed and matched, to create unique buildings that can always be expanded upon. Glass tubes connect building to building at great heights.

Architecture & Infrastructure

Papilla has one of the most clever infrastructures on the planet. Thanks to the majority of the city being built from modular pieces, new buildings can be slapped together in a matter of hours.

Factories on the underside of the city pump out hundreds of modules every week, powerful gripping drones pulling them up into the air and sliding them into place.

Eggy Placeholder by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

The city is remnant of many cyberpunk cities across the Milky Way. Papilla was constructed long after Daglaci entered its Space Age, so the city uses many design techniques seen in settlements across the galaxy.

Daglacian buildings are designed to trap as much heat as possible. Temperatures outside the city can reach minus forty Celsius, but buildings keep to around minus ten degrees, toasty and warm for a typical daglacian. In co-species buildings, temperatures are slightly higher.

Daglaci has next to no water readily available. Despite the entire planet being covered in ice, the only water that is available is used as drinking water. The water on Papilla was shipped from Rubrinea, a neighbouring planet. It is naturally tinted pink, and the water constantly flows through filters to prevent bacteria buildup.

History

Papilla was founded almost five hundred years ago. Daglaci was several hundred years into its Space Age, and daglacians had established themselves quite well in space colonies in orbit in the Cheem System. Papilla's blueprints were meticulously crafted by a team of over a hundred architects. The city was inspired by the success of Chryselopea, Daglaci's first floating city.

Siren Orca by Mochi

Thick plates, built from lightweight metal alloys, make up the bulk of Papilla's structural stage. The platform was decked out with water filtration systems, internal heating units, waste disposal systems, and every other utilitarian system a sky city might need. Once this platform had been fully constructed, it was carefully lifted into the sky using over two hundred technomagical levitation nodes that push Papilla high into the sky, stabilising it at a certain altitude.

As a modern city, it relies on magic much more than others on the planet. Both hydromancy and electromancy are crucial for this city and its survival, both helping generate enough energy to power Papilla. The city's platform was flooded with warm water as part of an architectural installation. As Papilla was originally designed by a large group of inspired architects, it became a hub for unusual installations. Few lasted more than a month, but the flooding of Papilla's platform was, for some reason, extremely popular.

Papilla was flooded around four hundred years ago. This bizarre move by amateur architect Brilla Storm, who moved to the city from Rubrinea five years prior, was incredibly well-liked by the daglacian community. Daglacians of all ages, of all classes and cultural backgrounds, were beyond excited to be able to splash around in water after it was such a scarce resource.

The city has soared in popularity since, tourists from around Daglaci and from other planets flocking to admire this wonder of science, magic, and technology.