Bellows
Location: Air / Core Air
By the Lady’s shadow, cutter, I’ve never seen a burg like Bellows! It’s a massive, sprawling contraption held together with spider silk and cloud giant’s hair, creaking and groaning as it floats in the endless sky, shaping the Trade Winds of the Plane of Air. At its core lies the Great Bellows, a monstrous device worked by a team of elemental air dragons. The dragons pump the machine in rhythmic unison stirring up winds that ripple across the plane and beyond. The whole burg hums with eerie vitality, and the air here tastes sharper, fresher, almost electric. Somehow the burg remains in place despite blowing out gales in all directions. Chant goes that the dragons are either talented at calculating the geometries needed to balance the winds, or the burg is anchored in place by giant immovable rods.
Running the show—or so it seems—is a djinn lord named Sheik Sirocco (planar djinn [he/him] / CG), a silver-tongued blood who oversees the dragons’ work, directing which gust should blow in which direction. He struts about like he owns the place, all charm and bluster, but don’t let his honeyed words fool you—there’s a cold calculation behind those glowing eyes. The chant is that Sirocco’s just a puppet; the real power lies with an ancient wyrm called Zephyrax (planar elemental air dragon [she/her] / N), a blood so old and cunning she remembers when the wind was still young. The invisible Zephyrax rarely shows herself. Some say she’s not just seeking to keeping the winds fresh but weaving them into something darker—storms with purpose, stirring up distant reaches of Air for purposes only she knows the dark of.
Life in Bellows: The Forge of Winds
Bellows isn’t just hot air though cutter. The currents that it creates has meant the burg has become a bustling hub of planar travel, thanks to its ingenious use of giant gas-bag balloons that ride the winds generated by the Great Bellows. These enormous, translucent balloons are filled with lighter-than-air gases and tethered to gondolas, allowing passengers and cargo to traverse the Plane of Air at breathtaking speeds, and relative safety. The winds from the bellows act as highways through the endless skies, carrying these vessels to distant earth-motes, cloud cities, or even interplanar borders. The balloons are steered using adjustable sails and rudders that catch and redirect the powerful currents, though a skilled navigator is still essential—one wrong gust could send a balloon spiralling into the void. Getting to the burg is still slower than getting away from it, although the backdrafts created by air going in to the Great Bellows do pull flying vessels in as well.
The town itself thrives on this unique transportation system, with businesses springing up to cater to travellers and merchants alike. The burg has grown up around the Great Bellows itself into a chaotic sprawl of floating platforms and suspended structures, all tethered together by ropes and bridges that sway alarmingly with the winds. The locals—an odd mix of djinn traders, air genasi artisans, air mephits and planewalkers—buzz about like bees in a hive. Taverns like the Sky’s Breath offer drinks brewed from condensed storms, while the street stalls sell everything from bottled hurricanes (useful if you get stuck in a windless sargasso) to enchanted feathers that allow temporary flight. Bellows also boasts a thriving market for exotic goods imported through the gas-bag docks—djinn-crafted silks, blazing gems from the Plane of Fire, and even rare fruits from Arborea or Arcadia.
The inhabitants of Bellows take the safety of their balloons seriously, as they are the lifeblood of the burg’s role as a travel hub. The vessels themselves are crafted from enchanted, nearly indestructible fabrics inscribed with protective runes to withstand the chaotic storms of the Air. To ensure safety, every balloon is equipped with emergency pressure relief valves and reinforced gondolas that can withstand unexpected turbulence. Windwrights—engineers specialising in gas-bag maintainance—inspect and repair the vessels regularly, checking for wear and tear caused by the plane’s unpredictable conditions.
Navigation is another critical aspect. Each balloon is piloted by a pair of experienced skyhands, who uses enchanted sails and rudders to steer with the help of Bellows’ powerful air streams. These pilots are trained to read the winds generated by the Great Bellows, anticipating shifts in currents or potential storms. For added safety, balloons are often accompanied by small elemental guardians—minor air elementals geased to protect the vessel from rogue winds.
The Neighbours
But not all is breezy in Bellows. What do the air elementals think of this set-up? Well, they hate the burg with a passion that blows colder than an arctic gale. To them, Bellows is a double affront—a machine forcing the free-flowing essence of Air into artificial patterns, and the enslavement of their kin to crew the vessels. You might see ’em lurking at the edges of the city, whipping up small tempests in silent fury as they watch their home’s wild freedom turned into something… tamed. They don’t dare challenge the dragons outright though; even elementals know when they’re outmatched. Some whisper that one day they’ll rise up against Zephyrax and her kin—but until then, Bellows churns on, pumping out the winds on demand across the endless skies.
Of course, the Planar Trade Consortium has sunk its claws into the economy here too, controlling much of the trade that flows through the docks. Officially, they’re just another merchant guild, but everyone knows they play behind the scenes, manipulating prices and leveraging debts to maintain their grip on power. While Sheik Sirocco claims to oversee the burg’s economy, it’s an open secret that the Consortium pulls the purse-strings. They leveraging debts and manipulate prices to maintain their dominance. Some whisper that even Zephyrax tolerates their presence because they funnel a percentage of the wealth they generate into her schemes.
Source: Jon Winter-Holt and John Kastronis
