In the higher echelons of Edenlon, where the air grows cleaner and the architecture more ornate, dwell the city’s affluent. These are the titans of industry, the master merchants, and the inherited elite whose fortunes have swelled with Fergeria’s rapid ascent. Their homes, often soaring villas adorned with gleaming brass and intricate clockwork facades, line boulevards where polished aether-carriages glide silently past manicured gardens.
Their days are a ballet of commerce, culture, and quiet influence. Discussions over delicate tea sets in sunlit conservatories might seal deals worth fortunes, or subtly reshape the city’s political landscape. Evenings are dedicated to lavish balls where the latest fashions from distant lands mingle with bespoke designs incorporating glowing aether-gems, or to evenings at the opera, where the soaring voices resonate through halls of polished marble.
For this class, the echo of the “Long War” is often muted by the clinking of crystal and the rustle of fine silks. Yet, a shrewdness born from generations of navigating shifting currents remains; they are quick to spot opportunity, and equally quick to safeguard their burgeoning wealth against any potential storm. Their comfort is hard-won, a testament to Edenlon’s prosperity, and they are its most ardent, if sometimes aloof, patrons.