Setting Info

We start in a farming village a third of the way from the left edge from center, and a bit south from middle. The town is called Algeras, and is known for producing a large amount of the continent's crops, as well as a healthy supply of hides. Many are the farmers in this town, who take pride in their work, feeding everyone on the turtle. Many too, are the trappers, hunters and herders, though not as many as the farmers. The few craftsmen in the town proper spend most of their time doing small work repairing farming implements or doing basic weapons work for the trappers and hunters. Magical shopping is mostly limited to whoever is passing through at the time, but also includes the local chapel, dedicated to Ceres, goddess of harvest. A few of the local barkeeps also experiment a little with alchemy in their spare time. Common projects include potions that work as fertilizers, but magical brews that work on people are more of the chapel's domain.
The population consists of a healthy mix of humans, half-elves, and halflings, with a few dwarves and full elves intermingled. Racial tensions are very low.
Important features in the town include the chapel of Ceres, the town plaza, wall, and districts. The town plaza is a large space dedicated to festivals, performances, and forums. This space is often utilized by travelling salesmen and performers. Buildings lining the plaza include the council house, the chapel, and some of the higher-end shops: clothing, toys, and custom smithing. A few of the districts include the shipping, residential, and crafters areas. The defining lines between them are blurry however.
The government is headed by a council of elders who hold final sway in decisions via vote. However, the current administration is keen to listen to the voices of their people, and issues are often put to a public vote. Such an event is conducted via ballot box, with a member of the council watching it at all times. Townspeople sign their names to their vote, and the names are compared to the last census to avoid cheating. An individual's vote is known only to the council. Issues brought to the council that require a vote are usually held until after harvest festival, and voted on in batch, but a sufficiently urgent issue might call for a special vote. A small force of guards holds the walled inner portion of the town, and can be dispatched to solve problems in the fields. Criminals and wrongdoers are tried and sentenced via jury, with the council acting as arbitrators.
It is harvest time, which comes around every three months, due to lack of real seasons. It's treated as a festival that everyone helps out with, and a banquet follows a large harvest, complete with dancing, shows, and games in the town's center. However, crops have been harder to maintain, and animals often refuse meals and refuse to breed. The last harvest festival was a muted affair, with the town producing much less than was planned. An air of worried suspense has been hanging over the town at the approach of this harvest. To make matters worse, the last earthquake was three days late, and some of the council have been treating it as an omen.

Aspidochelone was alone in the cosmos, knowing all and seeing all, but having no one to share with. She decided to create children to share in existence, to keep her company, and to create to learn of life. To this end, she created children in her own image, colossal turtles. Having nowhere else to put them to enjoy their new existence, she decided that they should walk upon her back. She then observed them, and found that their lives were cold, dark, depressing, meaningless, and without end. So, Aspidochelone separated from herself portions of her great cosmic energies to form Lunar and Solar, who would become sources of light and warmth, as well as keepers of time. As they circled her, she was satisfied, and resigned herself to watch her new creation.
Lunar and Solar, in appreciation for Mother Turtle's gifts, decided to take it upon themselves to watch over her children. Solar created the steadfast flora that draw their energies from him, so that the children may clothe and decorate themselves in vibrant color. Lunar created the intelligent animals to keep watch and preserve the cycle of life and death for the plants. Both deities had a hand in creating the various races of man, in order to cultivate and preserve both the flora and fauna. Finding that watching over such a complicated system of life was a daunting task, the two deities further split their power to form a pantheon of gods, including (but not limited to) Gaia, goddess of cultivation and life; Ceres, her sister goddess of harvest and death; Neptune, god of water, specifically of lakes, rivers, rain and storms.
This eventually led to the many societies that ride on the backs of turtles today. Children are taught the creation story, and as adults tend to carry a few beliefs with them. Principles like not causing undue harm to the earth, and using all parts of your kills are common. It is common to have a priest bless fields or harvests, new children, and graves. People and animal remains are buried, where it is believed that the materials that gave them life will serve to give life to the next generation.
Many people practice these traditions out of habit, though there are certainly pious individuals and churches. A few cults have arisen here and there, claiming connection to some kind of darker, evil gods, but these have been quickly put down or died out. War is rare, and when it does arise, normally occurs between two societies that can't see eye to eye for one reason or another, often ending because the two turtles have ended whatever they came together for and separate. Such contacts don't always result in war, but often actually result in trade of culture, ideas, technology, and even people.

Masote is situated as close to the center of the shell as possible. The buildings are built into the rough edges of the ridge-mountains, with bridge walkways connecting districts and levels. Due to the high elevation, this is one of the few environments that is truly cold. As such, agriculture is negligible, and generally restricted to what a household wants to grow indoors, if indeed they can manage even that.
The city is ruled by a mayor, with several lieutenants working under him. There is a separate lieutenant working in several departments: one each for human resources, finances, maintenance, and another for general day-to-day issues, which is halfway jokingly called the "complaint department" by locals. Each of these lieutenants has men working in their departments, their guards, which handle most everything hands-on, but keep to their department. Every now and then, an issue comes up that overlaps departments, and this results in so much confusion between guardsmen that oftentimes, little to nothing gets done.
Here, the central lineway is the main attraction. The lines that run from head to tail of the colossal turtle start and end here. The people grow up knowing how to operate the mechanisms that cause the cars to move. Many become guards, riding the lines with passengers to ensure safe passage, and eliminating threats to the lineway. Others become the mechanics and craftsmen responsible for making and installing the parts that maintain the lines. Still others find work as land transporters, caravans that take people from the station laterally, to other settlements not linked to the lineway.
A place of rules, rates, and regulations, a visitor might think it easy to anger the guards. The guards would say that such rules are in place to protect everyone. (For U.S. people, think about the TSA) Regulations on things like specific items allowed, number of people per car, pet policies and the like often cause issue with passengers. Rates are often calculated by weight, which wouldn't really make sense to an outsider either. But the lineguards have their reasons, and more importantly, their weapons.
There also exists a small shell-mining operation here. Miners take small bits of the outer shell for smiths to process and work into metal. Such miners are under extremely strict regulation, specifically on points such as depth and amount, to ensure that the turtle is not harmed.

Torrana lies on the left cliffs marking the edge of the turtle. As such, it is one of the two usual points of contact, where the shell of a new turtle come closest to the edge of our own. This series of contacts with foreign cultures means that this city is either the front of a years long war, or of great cultural and technological trade. It also means that one can occasionally find someone from another turtle here, though the reasons someone would abandon their land for another are wildly varied. The last contact was fortunately one of trade. Our turtle received and influx of magical and alchemical recipes and advancements, many of which are still in the process of being understood by the city's magicians, and are not readily available to everyone else.

The city's architecture is designed to guard against attacks. Buildings nearer to the edge are built farther apart, and lower, to give archers toward the interior of the city opportunity to pick apart an invasion. Despite not being used in many years, siege weapons on the tops of buildings, like ballistae, are well maintained by the guard here. The exterior buildings are a collection of storehouses near the center line, rimmed by auction halls, and outlined by extensive slums. Such slums aren't regularly occupied in any large number, except during trade times, and house the poorer porters and warehouse workers, who usually leave when the trading ends. Interior to these lie shopping districts and squares, positioned so they can be closer to their storehouses. Many of these have a second story which houses the shopkeepers. Tailward and most interior is a walled off section of the city, reserved for magicians and alchemists doing research or dangerous experiments. Many rumors circulate around the city's bars and inns about what goes on there, with screaming and growling being common. Central to headward, residential districts give rise to governmental buildings.

The government usually is headed by a noble family long ago appointed by the King in the capitol. During times of war, a general is sent from the capitol, and they relieve the noble family of their duties for the duration of the war. The noble family usually defers to the judgement of advisers, usually friends of the family. Thus, social parties, favors, and agreements are often tools to gain political power, in swaying these advisers. The common merchant might enter into an agreement with several others to pressure an adviser into taking a certain position. The guard does their best to keep the peace, but their captain has been part of the socialite structure for a long time. This means that many honest guards exist, but appearance often matters more to the top brass than anything else. Bigger cases mean better results. It's not uncommon to see the average person carrying a weapon on a day-to-day basis. A simple mugging simply does not turn heads after all.

The people are more mixed here than anywhere else on the turtle, every race is represented here. This mixed bag means that people generally see past race. Many children of mixed heritage can in fact trace their lineage back here. The volatile political scene does mean that the occasional gang pops up, recruited from the slums, usually paid by a group of merchants to quiet others or intimidate an opposing party. Gang fights are uncommon, but not unheard of. These organizations can be short lived, but others realize that already having their people together means better opportunity for employment.

As mixed as the people are, it is understandable that the religious sector of city is splintered. Many people tend to worship their favored god using a small home altar. The two large temples in the city echo the city's history. One each is dedicated to Mars and Mercury, though the temple to Mars has seen better days.