Racolta 20, 231 A.C. (After the Crossing)

By Kamitria Tiron

It has been a year since this Datachannel has seen a posting. The fireworks of the annual Khemaru end-of-summer festival were last night. Here at Datawell 47, media priorities change, and people's commitments change as well. But life in Surakosai goes on, and we still want visitors to our fair city. The Nouergic Institute still sends out its newsletters, the Keilians continue to wage clan-wars, and the tourists flock here to enjoy the casinos and the seaside resorts. There's plenty to talk about in Surakosai, and plenty to look at, too. So here we are. Have a look at a panorama of Surakosai, sometimes called the "City of Crystal."

The harbor that you see here, with its glittering entertainment buildings, used to be a simple Keilian fishing village, with a line-up of colorful boats with painted eyes on their prows. You can still see those vessels, but not in the city's "Inner Harbor," which has been rebuilt with casinos and resorts. You can rent a Keilian sailing ship complete with crew, and sail the coastlines as if you were one of the First Settlers, or at least in the first century after the Crossing. But you won't find much good fishing here in the Harbor.

The egg-shaped building you see just at the pier is the Crystal Harbor Convention Center. To the right is the Piscina, or large public swimming pool, which is drained and covered in the winter. Around the Convention Center is the Crystal Harbor resort and casino complex, with room for thousands of people to stay and enjoy life while conventioneering. Recent conventions have included the annual meeting of Aon Aviation corporation (which included an exciting jets-in-formation flyover), the Mesembria Natural Resources Coalition, and the Middle Sea Anthropological Association, whose numbers hardly filled even a quarter of the available space.

This view features a number of famous buildings in the central part of Surakosai. The tall pointed one in the center is the "Tananoantri Tower," built in the last century by the Tananoantri insurance industry and designed by renowned Khemaru architect Memnon Gebnut. The Tower has 108 floors and is the tallest building on the North Shore of the Middle Sea. It has elaborate earthquake protection and has been through a number of shocks undamaged, including the heptadic earthquake of 215 AC. The three green crystalline buildings are the Aquamarine Plaza, built before the Tower as the first tall buildings in Surakosai. They started as a commercial center but are now equally occupied by cultural groups. Aquamarine Plaza was designed by the theophora architect Apsou-Ari, who later became Head of State in Eridu. It is said that the buildings contain theophoric "retained effects" which cause unusual perceptions among the more sensitive visitors. In the late night, even when the lights are turned off, you might see a mystical glow hovering around the tops of the towers.

Last but not least, up on the hill is the brilliantly lit white complex of the Nouergic Institute of Surakosai. This campus is quite new, fully completed and initiated only about eight years ago. Surakosai has been a center for esoteric Nouergic (theophoric) studies ever since the great nouergist Enlil settled here with his apprentices. His successor, the Khemaru Tanheu, is the current director. The complex was designed by another Nouergist architect, the Khemaru Mereth Kahn. The Khemaru ethnicity has attained an increasing cultural prominence here in Surakosai.

And here is how to arrive at Surakosai in style. This is the cruise ship "Star of the Sea," gliding in to her berth right outside the convention center. The "Star" can only host about fifty elite travelers (and the crew and servants). She makes the voyage between Saida in the Khemaru Levant and Surakosai, about every two weeks during the summer and early fall months. The voyage is truly a luxurious trip, with gourmet food on board and plenty of play, entertainment, and relaxation for the guests. When they arrive at Surakosai they may disembark to stay in one of the resort hotels, or they can use the ship as a floating residence while they tour the city during the day and gamble and attend performances by night. The "Star of the Sea" is maintained by Khemaru, as is her sister ship, the "Star of the East," which keeps to a more Levantine route, stopping at Ionian and Tarsi cities. Just recently plans have been released for two new cruise ships, the "Star of the Night," and the "Star of the Western Horizon," which will be much bigger and able to make transoceanic crossings to the Western Hemisphere.

I hope you enjoyed my pictorial ramble about Surakosai. I will be back, along with my colleagues, to provide bits of interest about our center of civilization here on the shores of Trinacria, the Island of Light. Stay tuned to Datawell 47.

Posted at 1:51 am | link

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