Gamma

Gamma is the third-largest city and the fourth-largest island in Waveside. It is a founding member of the Grand Islands Alliance. It's also considered the most beautiful of the stable islands, and has the largest tourism industry in Waveside.

Gamma is home to dozens of pipes connecting to both Heartside and Ventside. Unlike its larger sister cities, the tubes of Gamma are extraordinary in two ways: one, that not a single vent there has ever decayed; two, that every single one of them stands perfectly straight up and down. This means that the Gamma pipes are well-suited to being used as landmarks, which has led to them all being decorated and built upon in ways that make them look very visually distinct, so that even a tourist can get around without too much difficulty.

The city is a marvel of magical engineering, its every street delicately shaded by a canopy of trees that are constantly in bloom. The color of a neighborhood corresponds to the pipe it's built around, meaning that from above, Gamma is a patchwork of color, almost like a living work of stained glass.

Geography

A peculiar fact of Gamma is that it is naturally completely flat (except where architecture or landscaping has been done, of course). This means the only way to get a good view of the city, if you need a frame of reference, is to climb the pipes. Fortunately, much of the city is built branching off the pipes, the style of halfling settlements but on a scale only ever achieved by dwarven architects.

To keep Gamma fairly easy to navigate, most buildings on the ground cap out at three stories tall. Exceptions are usually related to the canopy - in areas where the trees are the tallest, buildings may be made as high as the branches. Very rare buildings, with the approval of the Gamman government, even poke above the canopy to provide beautiful floral views to their inhabitants.

The city is structured similarly to a honeycomb, a hexagonal grid being the most efficient way to connect the assorted vents. Buildings are more tightly-packed closer to pipes, and thin out at the borders of neighborhoods.

Inhabitants

Like its sister cities, Gamma is a fairly mixed population center, but it has a few population peculiarities.

Dwarves: dwarves consider themselves the sole architects of Gamma. Many of them only interact with other races as is necessary, whether that's through their work or just in being polite on the street. Gamman dwarves are more likely to avoid marrying other races than in Alpha or Bertol.

Orcs: there are very few orcs living in Gamma. The city's somewhat touristy, cloying niceness grates on many orcs, whose culture prefers a friendliness borne of honesty and straightforwardness.

Ventsiders: Gamma has the largest halfling population anywhere, representing nearly a sixth of the city. Most are native to the Gamman pipes above (unlike most other residents, who immigrated to the city). Although some areas of Gamma (especially those highest up) are primarily halfling, overall they are fairly well-integrated into the city.

Gnomes: as gnomes prize innovation, invention, and aesthetic work, many of them are attracted to Gamma. Gamma has the largest unified gnome population in Waveside.