The Twin Towers are the seat of House Frame Rhivadi in the upper noble quarter of Caldero: two identical towers joined by a reception pavilion. In 1824 AE they are the residence of Titti Frame, the lady of the House.
| Type | Place |
| City | Caldero |
| Owners | House Frame Rhivadi |
| Built | Caldero’s high noble phase |
| Spanish entry | Torres Gemelas — sede de la Casa Frame Rhivadi |
Architecture
Two paired towers of identical height and plan, seven levels each, roofed in dark slate, with stained glass on every odd floor. Between them, at ground level, stands the reception pavilion: an open gallery, symmetrical gardens and a central fountain with a matte silver figure that the Decadian apparatus has not catalogued.
The complex follows a mirror doctrine: whatever happens in one tower is reflected in the other; whatever is accepted in one is disputed in the other. For the family, the double tower stands for the House’s double register: public and private, orthodox and heterodox, doctrinal and operational. Visitors know the pavilion; very few have crossed both towers.
- North tower: the public seat of the lady Frame Rhivadi. Reception rooms, a formal library with orthodox Decadian scholia, high-society apartments and a gallery of family portraits.
- South tower: the covert operational seat. Suspected sealed laboratories where “plans are hatched to consolidate the power of a few”, an arcane workshop and private apartments.
The matinée
Titti Frame held a morning reception in the pavilion. Seeking a unique touch, she hired a time sorcerer, a charismatic young man of Blue House of Vala lineage identified as Vitalis, to work as barman, though her real aim was to observe him closely. Caldero’s high society, with some guests from Star City, drank his exotic mixtures: foams with tiny ephemeral ice, scraps of other times in the glasses, glimpses of the future whispered to curious ears. Among those captivated were the adventurers who would become the other seven of La Jabalina.
At the end of the matinée, amid the commotion, the sorcerer joined the group demanding fairer treatment for the people. They carried a bag of holding with collectible erotic novels from the north tower, family ancestor portraits and silver candelabra from the pavilion. The next day Vitalis received a telegram of dismissal: “No toleraré subversiones en mi casa. Adiós.” (“I will not tolerate subversion in my house. Goodbye.”). The group’s members were expelled after the matinée.
Mechanical arms
The House’s most significant project is mechanical arms for maimed warriors; Teo is a candidate for one. The workshop is suspected to be in the south tower, and the origin of its technology is a mystery. Hypotheses, not mutually exclusive:
- import from Star City through Miles Corp;
- a pact with a minor cosmological entity of the intermediate negative pole;
- coordination with Lord Valanthru from the Obsidian Tower;
- technology developed in the Towers since an earlier magical-industrial phase.
Role
The Towers act as a node parallel to the Obsidian Tower:
- coordination with Valanthru through formal visits and correspondence;
- a link to the Cageewrights prophecy: the arms would carry zodiacal marks into warriors who receive the ritual prosthesis;
- magical-industrial work preparing the technical-arcane body of the next Borg Pope;
- social surveillance of Caldero: who visits, who keeps away, who accepts an arm and who does not.
La Jabalina knows the pavilion but not yet the towers from inside.