Wicht von Astert

[Unseelie]

Astert was a small village on the edge of Hamburg's Habitable Zone. Built mostly underground, it appeared from the sky a simple shipping and tram depot, with a sparse collection of sheds and some piles of coal radiating from the silver and black tarmac road which led to Lichte. Thin plumes of smoke rose from under the ice, and four open stairways led down, each on a corner of the main intersection. They spread like a borse's maw, with icicles and railings framing the entrance. Below, the stairs converged on a dimly lit plaza, often swept with snow and ice, a plaza filled with mining equipment, and lined with sealed doors

Behind those doors, the town glowed. Little side streets were lit by kerosene lamps and heated by fusion electricity, a place where the utilities were neatly packed into the walls and growth was well organized, never mind the empty homes at the far end of every row, places set aside for future generations. Children played in the open streets, running with mittens and coats done up, often out into the central plaza to skate across the patches of ice that pervaded the area. Greater Rhienland's economic crisis didn't seem to reach here, and the Gotkanzler's religion was catching on only slowly. The thousand villagers were folk of the old way, often unwilling to change, but a mite superstitious, in light of recent events.