First of a series of concepts from a small personal project 'Etherna'. Overall look at the capital of the kingdom.
As always, all my personal stuff has some background story behind it :) For those interested, here it is:
In a distant future, a society of Etherna, ruled by Medieval-like noble houses, lives peacefully and prosperously. Leading House of Lanthium, whose research focuses on bionics, eugenics, rejuvenation and nano-technology, a couple decades ago managed to invent a supreme artificially created energy, called ‘Unipower’, and practically has monopolized technological industry.
Unknown to the rest of the population, House of Lanthium for decades experimented with interstellar travel, particle transfer and teleportation, keeping their research in secret in order to avoid mockery and possible damage to their hard-earned reputation. During one on countless experiments, accidentally, a gateway to a distant planet has been established. Quickly assembled research team was sent through but gravitational anomalies, radiation and lethal weather conditions on the surface killed almost all members of the expedition. Only few managed to come back (to succumb to their injuries soon afterwards) with an artefact found in ruins of some sort located near the portal. Artefact proved to be a source of almost immeasurable energy that, if carefully extracted and controlled, allows for things seemingly impossible in common physics like energy fields, telekinesis, even shape-shifting. Since the artefact’s energy flow respawns by itself, it became Lanthium secret weapon - fused with sophisticated machinery and encapsulated in small solid beads became the acclaimed ‘Unipower’.
Unfortunately, Lanthium scientists were unable to fully shut down the portal to the distant world. It has been thwarted and kept under control by the most powerful of royal psionics but their powers are slowly diminishing, in spite of advances in rejuvenation and longevity potions the House of Lanthium is known for. In the recent years, the portal grew almost three times in its size and now elements of alien radiation start making their way into Etherna. For now, they are contained within the underground ‘Portal Chamber’ but it won’t last forever. Few unfortunate scientists, exposed to the radiation, mutated and died soon afterwards in horrible agony. House of Lanthium, aware it may never be stopped, secretly started preparation for an exodus to one of the nearby planet.
