Highacre
Highacre, the City of Plants, is one of the thirteen Cities of Norn, founded in the former territory of Aolcedae the Jagged. Highacre is thought to be the only city in the world that is constructed solely from inorganic material. Its many skyscrapers are made of only metal, stone, and brick, down to the tables and chairs inside. Along with humanoids, the city is home to many sentient Awakened plants. It is a common occurrence to share the bus with a walking elm tree or wait for the elevator with a rose bush on wheels.
The current champion of Highacre, Alder Amelor, holds the powers of Aolcedae.
History
Unlike the forces of many Lords, which were slaughtered in bloody combat by humanoids and refused surrender, the hundreds of Awakened plants bound to Aolcedae’s service lowered their weapons[1] once their master was defeated. These sentient plants had neither love for Aolcedae nor animosity for humanoids[2], so they took up residence in the newly founded city and aided in its construction.
To this day, many Awakened plants are seen as members of society, carrying out various tasks and in turn ensuring sustainable treatment and farming practices for their Unawakened brethren. An ancient representative, the Elder Pine, serves as an advisor for each Champion of the city.
Champion Challenge history
Alder Amelore is the current Champion of Highacre. Past champions include:
- Cosmo Nebulae
- Devin McCarthy
- Fitrobella Cooke
- Lucretia Wren
- Fruitcake
- Jean Battier
- Nadia Borowiec
- Pimnan Briebucket
- Larissa Zelipea
Geography
Highacre, situated at the center of Norn, is the largest of the thirteen cities of the isle by area. While it has a massive urban center, the city also boasts large swaths of rolling hills and stone quarries in the center. Highacre’s eastern boundary is also lined with fields and gardens, the bounties harvested within serving as a primary food source for residents of the continent. The plants’ participation in the construction of Highacre is evident in the urban section’s design: Shrubs and cacti care little for efficiency, and thus the city eschews neat grids for long, flowing districts that mold with the shape of the hills and valleys themselves.[3]
Districts
Highacre is divided up into nine districts: four Branches and four Roots each numbered #1 through #4, and the Stem, a mile-long series of freeways that connects each area.
Roots
The roots are the beating heart of the city. Root #1 is Highacre’s financial sector and Root #2 is full of geothermal energy plants and solar energy processing facilities that power all activities in the city, whether humanoid or botanical. Root #3 is a Charborough-esque sea of factories dedicated to manufacturing and Root #4 is the agricultural district, connecting and expanding into the fields to the east.
Branches
The Branches are less industrial and more welcoming to residents and tourists, so the vast majority of creatures who live in Highacre are distributed in these four districts. Branch #1 is dedicated to the government, and contains all the city’s municipal buildings as well as Alder’s Judgement Jungle, a massive combination of stadium and rainforest where Challengers undergo his trials and get rewarded for success with a crossbow bolt from the shadows of a kapok tree.
Branch #2 is a wealthy residential district with a subdistrict to the north: the Orchid Garden, a haven of vice for the city’s elite. Fine dining restaurants line the golden streetlighted avenues, mixed in with casinos, pool parlors, and speakeasy-like dens serving exotic spirits and hallucinogens. The Garden is rumored to be outside of Alder’s jurisdiction, as his green thumb has been replaced by the iron fist of the Kudzu Clan, a mob run exclusively by plants.
Branch #3 has no such moldy underbelly, and is best known for its focus on education. Highacre University is one of Norn’s better public universities, but the district also boasts Chlorophyll College, a school where all classes are taught by plants. Graduates typically excel in the fields of agriculture, biology, medicine, and strangely enough, international finance.
Branch #4 blurs the line between the urban sector of Highacre and the unspoiled hills and grasslands to the east. Many of the larger hills have been hollowed out into apartment buildings that house mosses, ferns, and anti-social humanoids who loathe natural light. The tip of Branch #4 is Perennial Park, a beautiful expanse of forests and meadows that is explicitly protected from any humanoid construction. Legal battles have raged for years over this prime real estate, though there are whispers of developers and contractors backing down after receiving various unmarked packages stuffed to the brim with poisonous spores.
Notes
- ↑ ...And thorny arms, and bundles of poisonous spores, et cetera.
- ↑ What affection or hate would the sequoia hold for those short-lived creatures that swirl around its roots, who will pass a hundred generations in one of their own? They will arise from the soil and do what they will, and one day they will collapse and become as feed for the roots of the tree.
- ↑ Shrubs and cacti clearly also care little for creativity.
