The mysterious ledges of the Chasm-Canyon system.

Deep down the Chasm ( the famous part of the Canyon that has a very narrow top opening) is lit by sparse sunlight breaking through the narrow slit, and by the sidelights illuminating the Yellow Brick Road. The major feature in this picture is one of the ledges that are found all over the northern peninsula. These ledges protrude out of cave floors, mountain valleys. This part of the Chasm is over 800 feet deep, shows no traces of erosion or natural arch formations, and has no debri to suggest that the ledge was a part of an arch that collapsed.

A glimpse at the upside down life of the Chasm

This is the monkey bat, or the troll bat as they call it here in the north of the island. The bats often stay topside after the daybreak, foraging for fruits. The rest of them form a formidable swirling animal jetstream entering any major opening of the Chasm.

These are the mushrooms of the Chasm. First they grow down and then curl upwards. They are edible, and somewhat more tasty than the typical cave mushroom you can buy at your local Trader Joe's, Publix or Kroger.

Brog Corporation's giant hi-tech recycling complex

This is the flagship plant of Brog Coproration's hi-tech waste processing complex in the company's own Brog City (which is also the largest -6 million strong - company town in the world). Nothing goes to waste on the island: the household waste, sewage, recycled materials get sorted out using the latest technologies and reprocessed into new cardboard, plastic, metals, even gold and vitamins.

The entrance to the lightweight organics reprocessing plant of the complex:



A plane is heading to land at the Brog City's Central Airport (there is also the industrial-military Southern and a cargo-transhipment Northern Airport). Note the Tokyo City symbol on the building at left. The City of Tokyo has several joint projects running at the complex.
This is no ordinary sand pile. It is a precious catalytic sand used and recycled frugally to treat sludge accumulated and concentrated from liquid waste:

Brog technology allows the plant to separate the stubborn solid mixtures of different recycled materials that are often made into park benches. Here the polymers are treated and separated.

Graves of medieval europeans draw impressive pilgrimage

Ilya Murometz, or the Elijah the Marom

The Three Olafs:
Olaf Haraldsson (died 934) was son of Harald Fairhair of Norway

Olaf Tryggvason (Old Norse: Óláfr Tryggvason, Norwegian: Olav Tryggvason), (960s – September 9? 1000), was King of Norway from 995 to 1000.

Olaf Haraldsson (Old Norse Óláfr Haraldsson, 995 – July 29, 1030), was king of Norway from 1015–1028, (known during his lifetime as "the Big" (Óláfr Digre) and after his canonization as Saint Olaf or Olaus)

Small river that roars (with industry)

This is where Balgrey River widens into its minidelta entering Yahalma River in Miklasgard. The delta in the late 19th century has been made into a Balgrahaven (Belgravia) port, an impressively huge river multi-modal port served by a cargo airport, hundred of railroad tracks, truck terminals, transshipment barge docks, and manufacturer's private docks - like auto assembly plants, chemical, aircraft, steel and other industries. Balgrahaven neighborhood's residential high rises are in the backdrop. These are modest test buildings for what is now called superblocks, or skyblocks, each a home to 4-10 thousand residents. The tower on the left is an apartment house -residential hotel. - Now I stand corrected - it is an automated parking tower, the photo below is the view of an interior.

The mystifying view from the Moon Rock Mountain

The Moon Rock Mound tops the Moon Rock Mountain that has one of the most picturesque views of the Emerlad Valley. The Moon rock Mound is a mysterious formation comprised of the island's typical minerals. Almost perfectly spherical, it is 23 meters in diameter, and appears as if it was cut out of the rock, but it is monolithic with the rest of the monolithic mountain, and shows no marks of hand tools, or other meaningful images, except the man-made lines that have been overgrown with mossy vegetation. Nearby Lookout Castle and a sky temple of sorts (see one of the Valley's real sky temples) has been cut out of a convenient pillar. On the bottom of the Valley you can see the Yahalma river and the 130-ft. Moon Rock waterfalls.

The monasteries that the nature claimed back

After the 27th King (see the list of the Monarchs) allowed the Europeans on the island, all the more to build almost anything they desired, the French and German religious orders hurriedly built these unique cathedrals partially cutting into the most convenient mountain side using the sites of the former Queen Linga temples. Using their European skills and being in a hurry to start their proselytizing, which never succeeded, they were purposefully not left in the dark about construction methods in this rocky, uniquely jungle-like craggy mountain scape.

The wild and quickly growing trees, the torrential rains cascading down the cliffs and steep mountain stacks quickly conquered and destroyed the cathedrals. In the bottom picture, new river streams and waterfalls ran through the continuously accumulating dying vegetation, and broke through the walls of the cathedral. The stone-digesting, climbing vegetation has weakened the masonry, causing the collapse of the main structure.

The islanders say that even thought they learned the lesson of not worshipping Queen Linga (back in 11th century) nevertheless G-d of Noah would not permit the prized historical site to be used by a religion that worships another human.

A cozy park along a service drive

This is a part of the mile-long Terrace Park, snuggled between a freeway service drive and office buildings in the newly developed North Sheyokey (or Sheyokee), an impossible-made-possible area devoted to combining industrial, warehouse, high-tech, research and health care services.

Electric waterbuses of capital's canals

This is a painting of a canal scene on the supercity's Broya Canal in Brithwold. The freeway, a city train (subway), freeway access drives stuck to a side of a building, and the Brithwold Station's tower are all easily viewable. The star attraction, however, is the electric canal bus, which used to be a surface streetcar. Miklasgard dismantled all streetcar lines, and mounted most of the streetcars, especially vintage double deckers, on to small barge hulls. This resulted in pollution-free, quiet canal transportation. All of Miklasgard's canals are clean, despite the urban overcrowding.

This scene is on the canal in Miklasgard's Tokyo Gardens next door to Belgrahaven. The electric water (canal) bus, with the skyscrapers of Brunnholn in the background.

I am making my way through the UCICS

I have just realized the breadth of what UCICS is: it stands for the Unified Computer Information and Communication System. More than a system, it is also an FCC-like authority that regulates all things technical in TV, telephony, radio, mobile phones, cable TV, satellite communications, data over electric lines, and data over other media.

Usually shortened to U6, the system sets standards and requirements for programming languages by specifying these 5 core languages:

LUICS ( or Linguistic User Interface Command System) Logic-code Uniform Interface Command System is an U6 uniform (OS) language that incorporates the following languages:
AIPL – Artificial Intelligence Programming Language - real-time adaptive, scripting, self-writing program, also used as a development tool.
ICICL – Information and Computer Interface Command Language – incorporates a network OS and related functions; it is the primary interface with other network formats.
SLATRAN – Symbol-to-Logic Array Translator- used by the OEM to make changes in processing and memory of optronic (Photonics) and electronic interfaces, i.e., translation of databases and other operating systems, debugging, and seamless interfacing with the Photonic environment.
MACOL – Machine Access Object Language - an engineering language that is used to upgrade an I/O, thin client type of Luxon computers up to a full PC or even a server. Also the standard OS for mobile phones authorized for use in Attland. Coincidentally, MACOL is also the language (sometimes referred to as MacOL) used on iPhones and iPods manufactured by Koborg Photonics jointly with Apple. The lnaguage also controls and provides for smooth interface and easy upgrades between the U6connect uniform standard with international mobile system standards and generation versions.

Foreign manufacturers are stuck in a Catch 22: like everyone lese, they can't have the LUICS code embedded into their electronic devices, and to have the code they need to purchase ready made photonic hardware, for which they can never get the license.

The U6 headquarters and the central operations center are located in the thick of the square blocks of Brunnholn giant city of the Miklasgard megacity.

King Yarl was the first to conceive such a unified standard system which became U6net, an ADSL-like country-wide internet in 1979. The same year it created a compact information, reference and commercial information network that used telephones equipped with video displays as terminals.

The U6 also was the first system that regulated the pioneering, GSM-like mobile phone system in 1975. 1983 U6 ushered in telephony and U6net transmission over electrical power supply.

The Canyon Fjord

I love how a trip up every gloomy, abysmal fjord ends with a nice surprise of discovering a friendly habitation. This fjord lives up to its name, the Canyon Fjord. Unlike Scandinavian fjords which a re wide, this fjords is very typical - only 5 miles long and no more than 25 meters wide. The island's overcrowding is felt even at this forbidding place - people built into the cliffs.

Next to the picturesque fisherman's house you can see one of the famous vine trees, and a relatively young one, since they hibernate each winter for the first 60 years till they mature: they gather strength, juices and develop their famous vine-like roots and start growing tall in earnest. They are expected to live more than 800 years and reach heights of 1400-1600 feet.

A pile of freeways

This is Glada River, looking at Brithwold from Broksness just past the Mielborg Island. Looks like Tokyo, doesn't it?

Backstreets of Miklasgard

Rooftop water tanks and parking problems is the typical theme of Miklasgard's backstreets.

Bulgra, Bulgreya, Balgrey, Balgrahaven, Belgravia

In the lnaguages of the island they call this river Bulgra, Bulgreya, Balgrey, and it gives the name to Miklasgard unique Japanese-Chinese industrial-suburban district of Balgrahaven. The British in their trading outpost tried to Anglicize it to Belgravia (just as Brunholn - Brown Hills, Brithwold - Bridewell, ect) Here the river is at the outskirts of Balgrahaven, offering its banks for use as a playground and picnic area.

The Japanese Lantern Park of the Emerald Valley

When the whole island became fascinated with the Oriental culture (back in the the 10th and then again in 12-13 centuries)the kings have built several Japanese and Chinese temples. After King Kleist restored the national rule, the temples were partially destroyed, and then opened again nut without the attributes of Oriental worship.

These are one of the views of the famous Japanese Lantern Park in the northern section of the Valley, where the Braided Rivers area starts. This is water lilies on the Yahalma river branch.

This setting is almost identical - on Glada River:


And these are the famous lanterns of the Lantern Park.Many of the lanterns have been brought to the island during the period between 12 and 15th centuries.