Vein and Nerve and Street
Mmrdene, the homeworld of the esseli, is assuredly one of the most interesting worlds of the Principalities for an unprepared visitor to experience.
The starport, you see, is relatively conventional, and while the architecture of the terminal naturally defers to local aesthetics, the port's primary facilities should be familiar to anyone used to the designs favored by the Imperial Starport Authority. As one moves through the terminal, however...
Gentle reader, it is one thing to read about the artificial, or at least heavily modified, ecosphere that gives the Reengineered Esseli Biosystem its name, especially when one considers examples from the "wilderness" areas of the planet. It is quite another to experience its meaning by visiting an esseli city.
The starport, you see, makes use of our dry technology because for all their biotechnological miracles, the esseli have yet to be able to produce a biological platform capable of withstanding a full-bore starship landing. As you walk through the terminal, though, you are delivered to the city - whose name most approximately translates as Heart of Hearts¹ - proper. While certain clues are available to the discerning of nose, as a distinct scent of salt and metal drifts on the air, it is easy to be surprised when you first feel the warmth and squish beneath your slippers, look down, and realize that you are walking over a carpet of living flesh.
Typical Imperial biotechnology on the building-scale, after all, is usually plant-based, beginning with shaped tree structures, or the use of cultured biomaterials; occasionally making use of animal symbiotes, or sessile creatures hidden discreetly within the structure. The esseli, however, did not dream so small.
Rather, the entire city of Heart of Hearts, and every other esseli city, is a single living creature in its own right. Every building, and every other component of the municipal infrastructure, is an engineered organ designed to serve as a home, a business, a factory, or some other essential function; and rather than standing alone, they grow from or self-graft into the underlying city, a carpet of biomatter - of living flesh - which links them all together and to the city's brain and heart and lungs with artery and vein and nerve.
Take a deep breath. Breathe in the scent of life all around you. Feel the city's pulse thrum under your toes. Remember that no city in esseli history has ever eaten anyone, and this one in particular isn't going to start with you.
Welcome to Mmrdene. Look up at the eyeball and say hello.
"Around the Fringe in 48 Bottles", Octavia Dalastel
- A name selected as more aesthetically pleasing than its literal translation, "Primary Circulating Pump".