The Great Obsidian Plaza is the founding plaza of Star City, capital of the gem-world Vala Cristalis: a star-shaped floor of black obsidian over a primordial Platform, under which the Ancient Giantess was sealed. Its cracks preserve the fall of Pope Borg in 1812 AE.
| Type | Place (plaza) |
| Location | Center of Star City, Vala Cristalis |
| Spanish entry | La Gran Plaza de Obsidiana |
Description
Common speech calls it “the star plain”; orthodox church writings, “the focus of celestial energy”. Mascor Blancarba, in the Caldero Gazette, describes it as venerated by the citizens. The star, of five or six points depending on the reading, is carved in massive black obsidian across the city center.
It is the geographic manifestation of a primordial Platform of the gem-world. The Platform below is stagnant but not fully closed; its residual energy shows in the star shape, in reflections under moonlight, and in what visitors feel on stepping on it.
The kiss
Traditions of Caldero and Star City taught that kissing the center of the star would open the way to a deeper plane, a magical test like the primordial platforms of the stars of Alpha Centauri — a remnant memory of the Platform’s function as a crossing between planes. The kiss, with prophesied intent, opened the descent, and was performed only at specific moments (major devotion, fulfilled prophecy, dynastic change). The successive Borg Popes forbade or discouraged it to keep the Platform closed, since its full operation could reawaken the Giantess.
The seal
Beneath the center lies an ancient underground sanctuary where the Giantess was imprisoned in remote times under a major seal of the negative pole. It could be broken only by the prophesied kiss, the relics of the people’s martyr-prophet, and a papal ritual in full progress, all at once. This triple coincidence occurred in 1812 AE: the Giantess was freed and carried out judgment on Pope Borg (see Sword of Judgment).
Scars and golden ash
The plaza was kept with its scars: the small crater where the Pope imploded, and cracks in the star from the Giantess’s roar and the collapse of the pedestal. The post-papal cult, founded by the pilgrims on justice and truth, defends leaving them unrepaired.
The trail of golden ash the Giantess left as she vanished into the volcanic vapors settled on the plaza. It serves as a sign of the judgment, a silent blessing, and a warning to any future Borg Pope attempting lichification there. People collect small amounts as a protective talisman.
In 1824 AE
The plaza hosts ceremonial markets, imperial proclamations, gatherings of the post-papal cult and daily traffic. Its center is still a focus of celestial energy, and any major cosmological operation in Star City resonates there. Rumor holds that the sealed laboratories in the Twin Towers of Tittiframe and Lord Valanthru may draw residual energy from the Platform. Should the negative pole raise a new industrial-magical papacy, the plaza could again become the site of a major ritual.