Hive Sibellus is obviously a sprawling mass of humanity. I have a question about the layout and distances within the hive. The semi-spoilerish question I have is this - in what spire is the Alabaster Court located in? I am not our GM, so I don't own a copy of PtU. Where is the spire in relation to the spaceport, the Tricorn, and the Lucid Palace? Are any of these locations within walking distance of each other, or would some fort of transport be required? And for that matter, what sort of transport would the hivers use? Specifically hive nobililty.

These questions have nothing to do with our PtU campaign, which ended several months ago. This is for some fan fiction I'm working on for NaNoWriMo, and I'd really like to get the details down accurately.

Hive Sibillus is described as being a huge sprawling mega-city covering the better part of an entire continent (the northern one if memory serves). The tallest spires literally tower above the cloud layer, and slope down for many km like huge pointy semi-random pyramids. The city is massive enough that there are many (uncounted in everything I have read so far) such spires. Now tack on mind-bogglingly impossible quantities of manufactoria, hab-blocks, water pumps, sewage systems (epic in itself!), roadways, landing pads, monorails, elevators, epic staircases, gothic statuary, marketplaces and harbors. If you are a Judge Dredd fan, think of Mega-City One stacked on top of itself a few times (Described as the east coast of the US roughly from New York to Georgia as one massive city).

The Tricorn is located in a very northern portion of the hive (described in "Innocence Proves Nothing" by Sandy Mitchell).

The Lucid Palace is thought to be older than Hive Sibellus and is built on a massive pillar of stone in the ocean (but close enough to the shoreline to allow for bridges).

The Strophes' estate and the Alabaster Court are both located in the same (unnamed) spire. The location is not precicely established, but the Strophes' landing pad has a distant view of the Lucid Palace. Note that the Strophes' estate is MUCH higher up the spire than the Alabaster Court.

For getting around it is possible to walk assuming you are going somewhere fairly close. If you are in a city that covers a substantial percentage of an entire continent and stacks several km tall in several places how would *you* get around? Trains, monorails, massive elevators that hold hundreds at a time, aircraft, cars, shuttles, monster staircases, ladders, servitor-drawn rickshaws, tunnels, corporate-exclusive transports, bus, cyber-horse, serf-borne palanquins, mutie-with-a-saddle and Emperor only knows what else! Criminal-minded individuals likely make occasional use of repulsorlift gliders (like Elyria uses in "Scourge the Heretic", admittedly on Sepherus Secundis) or even grav-chutes (like Elysian IG use). Gretchin would probably add catapults to the list, but fortunately we are spared that particular indignity.

Hope this helps some.

That did help quite a bit. My character's family came from the same spire as the Strophes, though she was not familiar with them, so I've been trying to determine how she would make her way from one place to another on a bodyguarding assignment. I can certainly work with what you laid out for me. Thank you, and may the Emperor's blessing be upon you.

Aye, that was a good post

I'll add that in Edge of Darkness it was mentioned that the most common means of transport, at least in the mid/lower hive, was the railway. Trains, Metro, subway, whatever floats your boat. Makes sense, too. Few public transport methods move more people with less resources.

Ophilia Midkiff said:

The spire is at the western end overlloking the ocean whereas the Tricorn is more to the north if I remember correctly. I always thought the Lucid Palace is in Hive Sibellus itself and not in the ocean. In my campaign (we are at the end of RfyaT) some kind of archaic steam-carriages (looked like the very first cars from the 19th century) handled by an ancient Carter Guild was used for transportation by most nobles in the hive spire.