Deeproot

Note: Deeproot is not part of Horizon lore, and has been made up entirely for Skyline.

Deeproot is the largest Utaru city, capital of the Plainsong territory. Much of the city is a large market, exhibiting every kind of fruit, vegetable, herb, machine part, domesticated animal, skin and fur, wood, stone, gem, art, craft, and anything else which could be bought, sold, or traded. The market runs all year, even in the dead of winter and covered in snow.

While most of the population of Deeproot is Utaru, the second largest group is Oseram, especially women. This leads to an aspect of Deeproot that is surprising to some visitors: it’s more industrial than many would expect from a land full of people who mostly seem to be farmers. The city does not suffer from the smoke and haze of Mainspring, but the clatter of forges and machinery can be heard at all hours. Much of this machinery is in the service of goods processing: automated solutions for sorting and crushing grains, machine-driven tool forges, and on and on. All of these are run by Oseram women, with a steady queue of Utaru merchants.

Nora traders, generally of furs and carved woods, occasionally make it as far as Deeproot, but it is rare. Tenakth are even more rare, only seen in Deeproot every few years. Carja nobles travelling with their families are more common, showing up every year in warmer months and disappearing in winter. Banuk seem to have an ebb and flow to their presence — years may pass without a single Banuk in Deeproot, only to be followed by dozens of Banuk trading all manner of brightly-colored arts and crafts.

Deeproot is home to The Evergreen Fields, a large trade school dedicated to agriculture, animal husbandry, and botany. Villages throughout Plainsong send their teens to “The Green” for three years — it’s not compulsory, but it’s so positively viewed that it would be uncommon to find a farmer or tradesperson who had not attended. There is no fee to attend, but the curriculum is entirely practical, with the students producing enough goods and labor to cover expenses. The first two years are spent learning, while the third year is spent teaching. It’s also not uncommon for graduates to spend a fourth year in Deeproot, apprenticing for a chosen trade, before returning home.

Government

Like all other Utaru settlements, the government in Deeproot is elected annually at the end of the spring wheat harvest season. There is not a single leader of Deeproot, nor of the Utaru. Instead, Utaru petition to be given the authority and responsibility for some aspect of society for one year. This petition always involves some kind of proposal, and there may be many overlapping proposals. Petitioners are given two weeks to evangelize and debate their proposals, which are then voted upon by anyone present, regardless of tribe, age, or gender. A petitioner whose proposal is accepted is given an Executor title to match — i.e., “Executor of Nora Relations” — for the one-year duration of the proposal.

Newcomers to Deeproot may find this confusing, as there’s no single person in charge. Sometimes it can be unclear who has ultimate authority if a request seems to apply to the domains of multiple Executors, but this is expected — it is the responsibility of each individual to ensure they have sought out all appropriate Executors. Utaru appreciate that finding an authority figure requires one to explain what they want, making for open discussion of goals instead of back-room deals.

In practical terms, this annual proposal cycle is not as chaotic as it may sound. Utaru generally avoid making fast, sweeping changes, instead preferring a more iterative, incremental approach. Most proposals will only differ from the previous year by small degrees, and even modest changes are not guaranteed to get favorable votes. For every progressive Utaru who would like to see and try new things, there’s a conservative Utaru who would prefer to stick with what is already known to work.

Geography

Deeproot is located to the northwest of Wichita, Kansas, along the Arkansas River, which the Utaru have named the Sunrise River. This puts it approximately 480mi (ca. 770km) from Mother’s Watch (Pikes Peak, Colorado), and 950mi (ca. 1,500km) from Meridian (Eagle Canyon, Utah). On foot, the trip to Mother’s Watch would take around 160hr, or 16-20 days.

The following table shows distances and travel times between Deeproot and major places and waypoints:

Destination mi km Human Walk Machine Walk Trot Gallop
Hanuli’s Heel 220mi 350km 8d 6d 3d 1.0d
Meridian 950mi 1500km 35d 24d 13d 4.4d
Song’s Edge 1020mi 1640km 38d 26d 14d 4.7d
South Embrace Gate 410mi 660km 15d 10d 6d 1.9d
South Weave 340mi 550km 13d 9d 5d 1.6d
Tapwash 430mi 690km 16d 11d 6d 2.0d
Winter’s Fork 415mi 670km 15d 10d 6d 1.9d