The social centerpiece of Shinyama Peak and its most select district, Springwater Square is an ornately-carved half circle of arches, that surround a grand gadget-driven fountain at its center. An elaborate set of metal fences adorn an upper walkway, where statues of various deities converge, their pondering gazes ever watchful over the Lhavitian citizens that gather below.
The gathering area comprises a large open expanse of land that sits before the fountain, most noticeable for it's cerulean blue skyglass flooring, which shifts to a deeper azure by night. This open plaza finds itself home to a makeshift market of sorts, where traders and merchants arriving by sea offer their wares from carts and stalls. Likewise, performance artists inhabit the area mostly by night, inciting laughter and entertainment with a variety of acts and displays. While the night time vibe is one of joyous frivolity, a looming sentinel of a building sits to the east. The Shinyama Pavilion serves as both home to the city's formidable guard, and a constant deterrent to would be trouble makers.
The fountain though is the main attraction, and is perhaps Springwater Square’s most beloved and recognizable feature. A true work of art, the intrinsically designed fountain hurls myriad jets high into the air from elaborately-carved figurines, most of which resemble the more popular denizens of the Misty Peaks, such as wolves and bears. There is of course a smattering of Lhavit's own heraldic beast, the okomo. The overseeing statues higher up consist mostly of Zintila, Syna, and Leth, with a few notable Ethaefal for good measure. Thousands of gallons of water churn about the fountain, falling elegantly in tumbling streamers before being thrust forever skywards by the blind striving of hidden, secret machinery.
Indeed, quite aside from serving as a focal gathering point, a place for the citizens to congregate, to chat and lounge on the wide lip of the fountain bowl and to paddle in the sweet, clear water, Springwater Square's fountain serves a rather more vital function. Much of Lhavit’s water is abstracted from the mighty Amaranthine as it thunders between the Sharai and Shinyama peaks on its way to the sea near Port Tranquil, and the fountain serves as the wellhead.
It's a very visible barometer of the pressure in the enormous animated pumps, that perpetually haul water from the river and into the myriads of underground cisterns and pipes that keep the city plentifully supplied with its lifeblood. The city government keeps a careful eye on the height of the fountain’s jets; any real discrepancy is cause for a select team to enter the labyrinth of pumps and pipes below-ground to search for any damage or foul play.
The Fountainhead, underneath the Square itself, is accessed through a small, unprepossessing domed building on the westernmost side of the Square. A short descent via ladder ends in a gently sloping, spiraling skyglass tunnel, blasted out of the mountain by House Dawn’s reimancers when the peak was first settled, curving around a core of, currently, sixteen enormous pumps and two vast cisterns containing emergency water supplies.
Due to the magical construction of the caverns, all regions of the Fountainhead are spacious and also light due to the glowing skyglass reinforcement, creating a good working environment for the gadgeteers and animators who maintain the machinery on which the city depends.
Location credit: Elysium & Shem
The gathering area comprises a large open expanse of land that sits before the fountain, most noticeable for it's cerulean blue skyglass flooring, which shifts to a deeper azure by night. This open plaza finds itself home to a makeshift market of sorts, where traders and merchants arriving by sea offer their wares from carts and stalls. Likewise, performance artists inhabit the area mostly by night, inciting laughter and entertainment with a variety of acts and displays. While the night time vibe is one of joyous frivolity, a looming sentinel of a building sits to the east. The Shinyama Pavilion serves as both home to the city's formidable guard, and a constant deterrent to would be trouble makers.
The fountain though is the main attraction, and is perhaps Springwater Square’s most beloved and recognizable feature. A true work of art, the intrinsically designed fountain hurls myriad jets high into the air from elaborately-carved figurines, most of which resemble the more popular denizens of the Misty Peaks, such as wolves and bears. There is of course a smattering of Lhavit's own heraldic beast, the okomo. The overseeing statues higher up consist mostly of Zintila, Syna, and Leth, with a few notable Ethaefal for good measure. Thousands of gallons of water churn about the fountain, falling elegantly in tumbling streamers before being thrust forever skywards by the blind striving of hidden, secret machinery.
Indeed, quite aside from serving as a focal gathering point, a place for the citizens to congregate, to chat and lounge on the wide lip of the fountain bowl and to paddle in the sweet, clear water, Springwater Square's fountain serves a rather more vital function. Much of Lhavit’s water is abstracted from the mighty Amaranthine as it thunders between the Sharai and Shinyama peaks on its way to the sea near Port Tranquil, and the fountain serves as the wellhead.
It's a very visible barometer of the pressure in the enormous animated pumps, that perpetually haul water from the river and into the myriads of underground cisterns and pipes that keep the city plentifully supplied with its lifeblood. The city government keeps a careful eye on the height of the fountain’s jets; any real discrepancy is cause for a select team to enter the labyrinth of pumps and pipes below-ground to search for any damage or foul play.
The Fountainhead, underneath the Square itself, is accessed through a small, unprepossessing domed building on the westernmost side of the Square. A short descent via ladder ends in a gently sloping, spiraling skyglass tunnel, blasted out of the mountain by House Dawn’s reimancers when the peak was first settled, curving around a core of, currently, sixteen enormous pumps and two vast cisterns containing emergency water supplies.
Due to the magical construction of the caverns, all regions of the Fountainhead are spacious and also light due to the glowing skyglass reinforcement, creating a good working environment for the gadgeteers and animators who maintain the machinery on which the city depends.
Location credit: Elysium & Shem
