Opis Luma, where Lise is from, is in the immense ruin of an ancient city. Cracked buildings run through with silver are maintained and repaired by the people living in them. Towards its fringes the buildings are more broken and remain uninhabited. Half-merged with the great forest (called Kata Luma) reclaiming it from the north, its people still enjoy more space to live in than they’ll ever need. There are so many structures, to traverse the city to count just the tallest, centermost buildings would take several cycles to complete. Even at its busiest, the city is so big there are whole segments of the city that remain empty although the buildings are habitable. At dawn people arrive from foreign places all across the continent and beyond, coming to trade and live among the people of Opis Luma for the day. Some stay through the night and make their residence more permanent, others are not as fond of the more melancholic moods of the city when it goes dark and its people seclude away to weather the extreme cold. When dawn arrives again, its jubilance is earned. Though to outsiders their jubilance may appear rather reserved. In a city so vast, despite being integrated in a sturdy support network, people develop relatively independently due the distance between. At the height of day, when the heat is nigh unbearable, there flashes a light so bright it penetrates bone.
The Dwelling is a dense city covered by a sapphire dome, set between two sprawling cities to its north and south (Loh Corone and Seretremane, respectively). In The Dwelling, a government run by its most learned Students dictates the rule of law within but maintains a non-interventional relationship with the two cities outside it. Only those who already dwell in the dream reality called the undermind are permitted into the dome. This restriction is ostensibly meant to create a sanctuary for dwellers, a place safe from fiends and the other chaotic imaginings of those who cannot control their dreams. As long as you are a dweller, wherever you come from, you will receive the same privileges and be subject to the same laws as all others who take sanctuary there. A culture of quiet, self-serious study developed across centuries dominates. Dwellers from far and wide come to study with and under other Students, and eventually turn to teach if they remain in study there long enough. No information is privileged to anyone within the dome but subjects may be taught in a particular order per their most learned Students’ discretion, which ultimately privileges some information to those who study long enough. Study at your own risk.