Above the cloudline
Steampuff was built around a source of energy deep beneath its streets. Two currents made life possible: Hot Flow powered its towers and transport, while Cold Flow cooled its reactors and held the foundations steady. Neither could simply be stopped.
Over time, the highest districts rose above the industrial clouds on vast turbines and thermal platforms. The Stratus called this a rescue of civilization. Its people gained warmth, greenhouses, hospitals, and a stable sky. The Great Thaw became a promise that the dangers of the old world could be overcome.
Below the promise
The lower city inherited the factories and the growing burden of cooling the system. Pipes froze. Metal fractured. Icy fog entered streets that had once been habitable. The people named their home The Frost, and learned to survive through workshops, improvised technology, and ties of loyalty.
From above, stability came first: if the Hot Flow failed, the platforms could fall. From below, that same argument sounded like a sentence to endless winter.
Two fears. One city.
The Stratus fears losing the structure that keeps its people alive. The Frost fears preserving a structure that is slowly destroying its homes. Neither can defeat the other and keep its own world unchanged.
Order and freedom, safety and responsibility: these are not simple opposites. They are questions the city has postponed for generations. The conflict becomes most dangerous when each side mistakes its own necessary truth for the whole story.
