The League of Free Thinkers

LEAGUE OF FREE THINKERS

Leader: Chief Engineer Zhao Mengfu - he has designed some of the most amazing structures in the world, including the many-tiered balloon city of Chang'an and the Forbidden City of Zijin Cheng. Summary:
 * Motivation (abstract want): To fill the world with wondrous constructions.
 * Goal (concrete want): To visit all of the nations lands for inspiration in his work.
 * Conflict (obstacles): Countless projects to oversee, an ever-growing network of balloon labs and causeways threatening to break free, and a series of murders to investigate.

CHANG'AN : L.O.F.T. capital - A massive, multi-tiered city of platforms held aloft (and together) by balloons of various sizes. Reaching hundreds of feet into the sky, the city is anchored to the ground by four massive steel chains attached to immense stone blocks. Between the blocks lies a vast market filled with supplies of all sorts, and many of the Freethinkers inventions. The central column rises through five tiers, one thousand, eight hundred, six hundred, four hundred and two hundred feet square in ascending order. The first tier contains a series of warehouses and basic shops for those who wish to shop without leaving the city proper. The second tier contains administrative buildings and a top-notch healing facility. The third tier contains the living quarters of the city's residents. The fourth tier contains advanced research labs. The fifth tier contains the Freethinker Monolith, situated inside of a grand temple.

Countless smaller balloon-lifted laboratories and shops have attached themselves to the tiers since the city was originally floated. Lacking the full stabilizing magic employed to hold the five tiers in place, these offshoots can be extremely difficult to get to. Not to be kept from their work, the Freethinkers usually build multiple approaches to their laboratories to ensure access, however convoluted.