The Golden City
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the golden city
The Black City, once known as the Golden City and the heart of heaven, is a city in the Fade said to be the former seat of the Maker or the realm of the Old Gods, depending on the religious perspective.[2]
The Chantry teaches that after the Maker created His firstborn, He "called forth a city with towers of gold, streets with music for cobblestones, and banners which flew without wind".[3] It was a perfect, holy citadel[4] where He dwelled on His golden throne,[3] and spirits populated its many spires.[5][6] The Maker's mortal children entered the city when they died, returning to His side.[7] When His secondborn started to worship the Old Gods and thus committed the Original Sin, the Maker abandoned the Golden City and His ungrateful creations[4][8], and it sat locked and empty.[5][4]
Dissatisfied with spirits, the Maker expelled them from the Golden City, but there are conflicting accounts on the timing of this event: before the creation of men[5][6], directly after that ("sealed the gates")[3] or when He left the city.[5]
Some accounts suggest that the Old Gods began whispering to humanity from the Golden City in -2800 Ancient, three hundred years after the arrival of humans in Thedas.[9] People of ancient Tevinter believed the Creator had abandoned the city long before that and they were adrift, rescued by the Old Gods.[8]
In -395 Ancient (800 TE) seven Magisters Sidereal, each a High Priest to one of the Old Gods,[15] opened a gate into the Golden City with blood magic and entered it physically. The city turned black as soon as they arrived, and the mages were cast back to Thedas as the first darkspawn, triggering the First Blight.[16] The blackening of the city could be observed by any mage at the time, and the historical records predating the First Blight support the link between the colour change and the Magister's breach.[17]
Of note is that Corypheus, one of the Magisters that allegedly turned the Golden City black, mentions in his encounter with Hawke that the city was already blackened when he and his compatriots entered it, directly contradicting one of the most central pillars of Chantry canon.
Today the Black City is a home of darkness and nightmares[4] with cold and twisted spires[20], "its towers forever stained, its gates forever shut".[21] An island[22] with the city is the one constant geographical feature within the Fade. At any time, one can look up and see it in the sky, always in the distance.[23] Actually traveling to the Black City from elsewhere in the Fade is impossible. Even the most powerful spirits and demons seem to avoid the place[24][25] lest they become tainted.[5]
As the story goes, after the Maker abandoned the Golden City, leaving it to the Old Gods (or the elven gods, again depending on perspective), the Tevinter magisters known as the Magisters Sidereal, each a High Priest to one of the Old Gods, traveled directly into the Fade and physically entered the Golden City using blood magic. Once inside, as human legend goes, the city turned black and the magisters were cast back into Thedas as the first darkspawn.
Arlathan is the fabled elven city (literally translating to "Place of Love" in the elven language) that made up the heart of the ancient elven empire that spanned from Ferelden to Orlais and even the lands west of Orlais. Although the elves of old supposedly built many cities within the empire, most Dalish legends focus on Arlathan itself as a central hub of knowledge and elven culture.
Thus, when the Tevinter people began to try and conquer the elves, they focused they powers on Arlathan, using an army of mages, demons, and dragon thralls to breach the gates and storm the city. As the Dalish stories tell, rather than stand and fight, when the gates of Arlathan were breached the ancient elves chose to flee, and were consequentially enslaved by the Tevinter invaders. Tevinter magisters then used their magic to actually cause Arlathan to sink into the ground, effectively toppling the elven empire once and for all; due to their extended contact with humans, the elves' blood "quickened" and they became mortal.
Given all that, it's possible to draw some parallels between the lore of Arlathan and the lore of the Golden City--parallels that suggest Arlathan and the Golden city may even be one and the same, supporting the idea that the evanuris are trapped inside it right now, and may even be the main antagonists of Dragon Age 4.
Upon returning to Wakanda, Shuri was convinced of the coming conflict, feeling the necessity to prepare for a coming attack. She ordered her men to fortify all waterways into the Golden City, hoping to stop any means of Talokanil entering the city using sonic barriers.
The Talokanil begin their attack at the Border of the Golden City, attacking the Border Tribe, allowing for the fortifications into the city to fall weaker. This strategy allowed for the Talokanil to enter the city via the waterways where they could begin the next stage of their attack. Once inside the city, the Talokanil placed water-bombs at several key locations, also using unknown methods to create a slow flood to drift into the center of the city. The flooding was noticed by the people of Wakanda, including Nakia and Okoye. This was used most likely as a form of intimidation in preparation for the detonation of the water-bombs. Once the city was flooded, the water-bombs placed across the city were detonated, causing far more rapid and dangerous flooding, carrying objects and people into the rapids. The fast moving rapids would also be utilized as a means of moving across the city quickly by the Talokanil. Individuals such as Okoye, Nakia and M'Baku used their strengths to rescue as many people as possible from the attack in the streets.
Shuri was ordered to stand down and remain in her lab by the Queen; however, she disobeyed the orders, pretending that the attacked had caused a lapse in comms. Instead Shuri took the Sunbird with Aneka to try and fight back against Namor's attack. Queen Ramonda and Riri Williams would work together from the Wakandan Citadel, using their technology to spread aid across the city.[1]
Invasion was declared by M'Baku upon spotting Attuma and other Talokanil warriors riding Orcas into the city. The Wakandan fire and rescue groups were dispatched to aid as many citizens of the city as possible. They were, however, attacked by Talokanil individuals, harmonizing their voices to cast an sonic hypnosis on the fire and rescue group, causing them to throw themselves into the water where they would be torn apart and drowned by Talokanil warriors. The Dora Milaje were also sent out to defend the city, led by Ayo. The Dora Milaje were able to defeat the sonic hypnosis attackers, throwing grenades into the water, targeting the harmonized individuals.
The Talokanil would have been given orders to cause disruption and confusion, hoping to draw all defenses away from the Citadel and into the city, leaping from the water to grab innocent civilians and drag them into the water. On the ground, M'Baku would do his best to fight back against such attackers, defending civilians by throwing the Talokanil back into the water. Shuri and Aneka also defended the civilians, rescuing a tram using a grapple to lift it from the water away from potential attackers. Ramonda and Riri Williams worked together from the Citadel to dispatch and remotely control rescue ships across the city, picking up civilians. During the chaos, Attuma challenged Okoye, wishing to claim undeniable victory over the warrior; however, Okoye would deny Attuma the chance, instead evacuating a young boy from danger.
Namor appeared halfway through the attack, revealing himself to M'Baku who immediately attempted to attack. Namor was able to quickly defend himself, breaking M'Baku's knobkerrie and chest plate, defeating M'Baku in a single punch. Namora ordered the legions of Talokanil down, allowing Namor to take control of the attack from therein. The Dora Milaje had taken to air support, piloting Wakandan Crafts to attack Namor. Under attack from above, the Talokanil retreated into the waters of the city, leaving only Namor to face the Dora Milaje. Namor proceeded to utilize his vibranium staff to the best of it's ability, deflecting shots from the Dora Milaje and tearing through their ships, able to meet the ships in the sky using his mutant wings. Ayo attempted an attack run on Namor; however, she was unsuccessful and torn out of the sky, crashing into the city below.
A large tower positioned in the center of the city that has a large laser beam coming out of the top. That beam is what originally cloaked the City. It consists of three levels, the roof, the Golden City Computer room, and the Codebrick room.
Shrouded in mystery, even after the end of Exo-Force, there were several unanswered questions about the city. Its technology is still greater then that of the 2006 Exo-Force battle machines, and it was built several centuries before. It appeared to have used battle machines as defense, as shown in comic 26, but it's unknown what the power source of these were, or what weaponry they had. The city has several underground laboratories, one of which was explored by Ha-Ya-To in Book 4: Ghost of the Past. Also in this book, we saw more battle machines, some of them built and inlaid with real gold. Even through this book we still know very little of the city's past, though Joev14 tries his best to create a working idea of the city's past in Book 3 of his fanfic series. 041b061a72