"Traveler's Essays. Axis: the Most Boring of Cities"

Item · 10 gp · Weight 0

"Axis. The eternal, perfect city that takes up an entire plane of existence. Grandiose, pompous, epic in its equanimity and sublimity. Many a traveler dreams of visiting this fascinating place just once in their lifetime, and many leave it disappointed. Where else can one witness a plane-sized city? Or more accurately, a great number of cities consolidated into a single urban organism. One cannot help but marvel at the sight of the Citadel of Resplendent Clockwork, home of the goddess Brigh, the patroness of inventors. This veritable labyrinth of cogs, lenses, and pendulums exists in perpetual motion, and as such, the observer may well lose track of time. It is impossible not to tremble while walking the streets of Aktun, Axis's 'capital' of sorts and Abadar's very own domain, whose broad avenues all converge at a single point — the fabled central First Vault, the forever sealed repository of copies of all the things that were ever created. No one is allowed to enter and look upon the exhibits therein. The most a traveler can hope for is to lay a hand on its walls and be awed. Ah, Axis! The ideal, the utopia! Your thoroughfares are perfectly symmetrical, and one can never get lost on the way. Customers will never be swindled at your markets, for the prices are approved and set by the government. Your streets are spotless. The guards are polite and attentive — even if a crime were to take place, it would be thoroughly investigated and the criminal punished. Safety is your guarantee. Then why is it that this article bears such an unflattering title, you ask? If you were paying attention while reading my essay, then you already know the answer. Axis is a great city, a perfection reached. It has nothing to improve, nowhere to grow, and that's what makes it incredibly boring. Here, you can't get lost in the backstreets, you can't haggle at the market, and even the local theaters and museums exist more for existence's sake than as a creative space for actors and artists. The freedom of self-expression here is dead — it simply expired on its own, quietly dying of old age, in its sleep, unnoticed and unwanted. And yet I would gladly come back to Axis. Some other time, in the distant future. After all, I doubt that there exists a better place in the world to spend your golden years in peace and quiet.{br} Rhye Shellix for Traveler's Essays{br} A word of warning: gnomes are advised against visiting Axis. In this city, more than anywhere else, they stand to face either prompt Bleaching or just as prompt run-ins with the law as a result of extreme attempts at Bleaching prevention."