Nomadic city

“	A new urban system developed to cope with Catastrophes. Usually it only takes 2-8 weeks to completely evacuate from a Catastrophe area.	”
	—Loading screen tip

Nomadic cities, sometimes also known as mobile cities, are a type of settlement in the world of Arknights.

Description

A city built on a giant vehicle. The frequent and destructive Catastrophes have forced all nations to move their cities regularly to avert massive losses. The birth of the Originium engine made it possible to industrialize Originium, and that was when people started to build larger and larger vehicles. The concept of nomadic cities was realized after vehicles became large enough to move entire cities. With the help of the Multimethod Catastrophe Prediction system, it only takes 2-8 weeks to completely evacuate from a Catastrophe area depending on the situation.

Overview

A band of migrating nomadic cities

The concept of a nomadic city is very straightforward: an entire city that can be moved as a colossal vehicle. Each nomadic city is divided into multiple "land plots" or "city plates", mobile platforms that assemble with each other through a series of hydraulic docks and anchor pipelines, powered by individual Originium reactors. Generally speaking, every nomadic city (including independent city-states) bear allegiance to one of Terra's relevant nations, and can only operate in a designated area based on the country's capabilities. Nomadic cities usually establish a universal connection zone at the edge of each plate, but their assembly can be heavily affected by the area's geographical conditions, so ensuring mobility and complete edge alignment can be a difficult challenge. In more rugged terrain, the city plates might not be aligned seamlessly, and in extreme circumstances, may be completely separated—only connected through cableways.

An excerpt of Chapter 1 of "Metal Heart," a Victorian best-seller

Unofficial English translations provided by Jowett. "During the dry season, the Rim Billiton desert welcomed the first ray of sunshine that passed early over the mountains. Fowlbeasts, frequent visitors to the wilderness, appeared. They flew towards the rising sun, approaching the oasis looking for food, while plucking the only musical notes in the wilderness. In the distance, towering snow-capped mountains rose into the sky, delaying the time for the sun to completely rise from the mountains by a few minutes." "Alongside the fowlbeasts, a convoy of vehicles from a nearby nomadic city appeared at the water source. This convoy will fill up the water tanks here and complete the final preparations before the city's migration begins. The nomadic cities in the distance cut a stark contrast to the landscape, a group of silent metallic behemoths, lazing near the border of the grassland and the desert. But don't underestimate these silent giants that now stand like mountains on the land. When their hearts beat again, they will burst forth the most majestic roar in all of Terra." "At nine o'clock, the maintenance workers who have rested for several months have all returned to their posts to conduct the final inspection of the city's core systems. The children led by their parents return home, ready to face the hustle and bustle of the next few hectic days; The city's defense personnel, clad in PPE, notify the wastelanders who had built shacks against the outer wall of the nomadic city to leave one by one. The sunlight grows intense as noon arrives, and the most comfortable time of the day in the wasteland has passed. As the fowlbeasts gradually disappear into the sky, the mobile plate near the waterway issued several loud whistles, and the piercing sounds echoed across the vast expanse of the wasteland." "When the whistle rolled over the mobile plates for the fifth time, a gargantuan roar bellowed forth from the Originium Reactors as the city came to life. The entire plate began to tremble with the force of the reactor, belching up enough smoke and dust to reach the plate behind. The metal heart began to beat again as the behemoths awakened from slumber. The city slowly began to creep forward, and the word "nomadic" was truly worthy of its name in that moment —It carries not only the daily lives of ordinary citizens, but also our civilization. passed down from generation to generation."

The dissection of a typical nomadic city. The red area beneath is the power layer, the cyan area in between is the support layer, and the yellowish area on top is the lower ground residential layer.

A nomadic city's layout is composed of three designated levels:

• The upper level, known as the Living Deck, is where most of the city's inhabitants reside. This level primarily consists of residential zones, parks, roads, and bridges. Workers and cargo usually access the Living Deck via specialized elevators located at the outermost edges of each plate, each linked to the Support Layer through traction bridges. Beneath this surface level, the Residential Layers serve as vital infrastructure hubs, housing tunnels, cable lines, and water pipes that snake through the substructure. In colder climates, nomadic cities also incorporate heating pipelines and thermal regulation systems to maintain livable conditions. Despite frequent renovations and relocations on the Living Deck, remnants of older architecture—such as underground parking lots from long-demolished apartments—often persist through generations. Meanwhile, the downtrodden and homeless Infected commonly establish shantytowns within these underground spaces. Owing to their harsh living conditions and marginalization, these communities are frequently associated with eerie urban legends across nomadic cities.

• The Support Deck (also called the Support Layer) is the city’s middle tier. It connects each plate using mechanical docking mechanisms and ensures structural integrity. This layer also manages the flow of energy produced by Originium reactors below, providing power to propulsion systems while converting surplus energy into electricity for the Living Deck. It houses reinforced water facilities for purification and distribution, and contains key transportation hubs such as trains and service vehicles for the rapid movement of personnel and cargo. Critical infrastructure—waste disposal systems, intensive medical care units, and emergency provisions—are also located here. Newly constructed plates often include updated emergency routes, shelters, and elevators to enhance survivability during Catastrophes or other threats.

• The Power Deck, the lowest level, contains the infrastructure essential for a nomadic city’s movement. Most cities use mechanical crawlers, multi-legged mechanisms capable of handling diverse terrain. Some cities instead rely on massive treads similar to tank tracks, although these are most effective on flat land. During migration, these systems allow the city to move autonomously. While Power Deck personnel typically have lighter duties during stationary periods, the migration phase demands continuous vigilance due to the risks posed by Catastrophes and mechanical failures. Once the city becomes stationary, most workers are dismissed, and a small maintenance crew remains. This deck includes each plate’s Originium reactor, warehouses, and communications infrastructure. These reactors are vital to the city's operation, making their upkeep a top priority. During migration, unauthorized individuals are strictly prohibited from accessing this layer. Workers must enter through the Support Deck and exit during scheduled breaks. Most areas require ID checks, and only authorized personnel are allowed inside. Because of the layer's importance, even minor mistakes can lead to disastrous consequences.

Nomadic cities allow the people of Terra to avoid or minimize damage caused by Catastrophes by relocating based on environmental data. This concept represents a key element of selective survival in the setting of Arknights, with only a few sedentary settlements remaining. Kjerag is a notable exception, protected by mountain terrain and having no plans to transition to a nomadic model. Other regions such as the Ursus tundra and the Sargonian rainforest maintain fixed settlements, often with sizable populations. The presence of Catastrophe prediction systems and Catastrophe Messengers allows nomadic cities to forecast and avoid danger. In contrast, residents of immobile settlements must evacuate entirely, often without adequate warning or resources. The destruction of Chernobog demonstrates the potential consequences of a failed evacuation, while the volcanic eruption in Siesta prompted the city’s move onto a nomadic plate. Economically, this divide is stark. Static settlements face higher risks of loss, driving displaced individuals toward nomadic cities. Following the fall of Chernobog, many sought refuge in Lungmen's slums instead of rebuilding. Even those living in poverty within nomadic cities often fare better than residents of static towns, reinforcing the dominance of mobile settlements while contributing to the decline of fixed ones.

Origin

The concept of the nomadic city has a very long history, even before its realization at the dawn of the Crystal Age. In ancient times, large-scale migration was mainly done by human or animal power. The number of cities and other fixed settlements was low, and their scale rather small compared to modern-day metropolises. Due to the inability of fixed cities to resist Catastrophes, they were simply abandoned by their inhabitants, therefore building them was seen as a waste of resources and time.

Various Terran legends narrate a moving city fleeing from Catastrophe or imperialist expansionism. Only after the foundation of the Seven Cities Alliance were nomadic cities created, and they ushered in a new era across Terra.

"The Mad King's Moving Castle"

"The Mad King's Moving Castle" is a Gaulish folktale that narrates a certain "moving castle" owned by King Charles the "Mad King." According to the legend, there was an unnamed kingdom under Gaulish vassalage which was believed to be located in the former Basse-Gaule region, and King Charles was the ruler of the kingdom who, despite his laziness and disinterest in politics, was a genius in Originium Arts and a brilliant architect. In order to showcase his wealth and status, he ordered the construction of a "mobile palace" which was seen as impossible during his time, hence his epithet. Nevertheless, his achievement was overshadowed by his tyranny, as he cruelly forced his subjects to take part in the construction and spent lavishly to hire intellectuals from all across Terra to visualize his plan. There are various endings to the legend; some said that King Charles was eventually overthrown by a violent peasant rebellion, while some said that his kingdom exhausted all its resources and was finally brought to collapse by an invasion of foreign countries.

Historians have been debating the authenticity of the story for decades. On one hand, the story is filled with exaggerations, and archeologists have not found any ruins that could relate to King Charles' mythical castle. But on the other hand, the only archeological evidence of its existence is a blueprint labeled Hand Drafted Plan of the Moving Castle. It is currently stored in the Royal Museum of Victoria. The blueprint reveals that King Charles' castle was not just a mythological moving building but a mobile platform with precise calculations. Some debate that King Charles might never have ordered the construction; he only visualized them in the blueprint. Those who believe in the existence of his "moving castle" suggest that it might either be buried in unexplored regions, or it might have been purposefully destroyed at some stage of its construction.

According to the manuscript, the castle was to be divided into two section: the upper section being his palace, and the lower section being the basement, housing the means of mobility. The construction featured two unique aspects: it was built with a specialized material altered by Originium Arts that could carry the weight of his building, and it was constructed in the manner of openwork structures to spread out the weight to an uncanny degree. The engines for the castle were purely powered by Originium energy, unlike Victorian steam engines in which Originium was only used as fuel. Although these engines could fully utilize Originium energy to lengthen uptime simply by hiring casters to power them, the design was deemed too crude by relevant experts. The utilization of Originium in the design held potential to cause severe Originium pollution, making the building exceedingly hazardous.

Despite being a myth, historians unanimously agree that King Charles' "moving castle" might be the basis of inspiration for modern nomadic cities in Terran history. Although they could not find relationship between the "moving castle" and the first nomadic city of the Seven Cities, their designs share many similarities. On the other hand, there are suggestions that both King Charles' "moving castle" and the creation of the Seven Cities might be of independent origin since the former's design is too crude to be realized based on the technological advancement of King Charles' era, and there are no replicas of his original blueprint held by later generations.

Seven City Alliance

The Seven Cities Alliance was a confederation of independent city-states who are believed by historians to have built the first modern nomadic city ever built in human history with well-documented historical accounts despite its location remaining uncertain. The alliance originated from its attempt to resist the major superpowers' expansionism during the 8th Terran century. On paper, the idea of a completely mobile city was proposed by a group of scholars in response to the alliance's inability to launch a counter attack due to their lack of resources. The construction began in 747 by uniting researchers from various independent settlements across Terra with a single goal in mind: to help Terrans get rid of geographical limitations and live in the vast lands how they pleased. Their dream came into reality in 797 when they constructed three giant mobile platforms that could travel around the wilderness unabated.

Throughout fifty years of construction, the alliance took in refugees from all corners of Terra who had lost their homeland to the superpowers. In the meantime, the founders of the alliance saw their megaproject as their sole motivation to maintain their sovereignty. However, as years passed, the remaining members of the alliance exhausted all of their resources into the project, making them unable to defend the Seven Cities that formed the core of their standing. After several wars, the alliance was quickly annihilated, and the Seven Cities were scrambled by the major nations in order to research and construct their own respective nomadic cities.

Despite the Seven Cities having passed into history, their legacy lives on. Many cities across the Terran nations carry the names of the Seven Cities. Some of these notable cities carrying the names of the Seven include Sette Colli of Siracusa. The Seven Cities Alliance also lives on in common culture, a standout example being a Columbian restaurant titled "Seven Cities" run by a Victorian man who was inspired to recreate the near-lost culture of the city-states. In the meantime, the technologies of the Seven Cities have spread across Terra, kick-starting the industrial revolution of the Crystal Age. Ironically, the widespread usage of nomadic cities only nourished the expansionist tendencies of the superpowers the Seven Cities Alliance were trying to stand against.

Functionality

A sketch of the Control Tower from an Ursine nomadic city, published in the Ursus Construction News magazine in 1092

Operating and maintaining a nomadic city represents a titanic, laborious task that often exceeds the capabilities of any individual, company, or general organization. When a nomadic city enters migration, the plates will separate and move individually to a designated position. Due to the difficulty to move across regions on a large scale, with natural formations such as rivers and mountains presenting unique challenges of their own, nomadic cities aim to follow a fixed path throughout the year in order to ensure stability and survival, establishing rest stops along the route. The Control Tower, located on the core city plate, represents the backbone of the entire nomadic city, and is directly connected to the main Originium reactor. The personnel staffing the Control Tower are responsible for monitoring the concentrated amounts of Originium within the city, as well as formulating migration routes based on real-time analysis of climate change patterns, recompiled data, and past experiences. Furthermore, the power of Originium provides the enormous energy needed to power these metal giants, with other energy sources falling short. On the other hand, the over-reliance on Originium has spread Oripathy throughout Terra, especially affecting the poor and disenfranchised. As a matter of fact, many Infected live within the cities' slums or in underground structures, and there is frequent class divide between the Infected and non-Infected. Other tasks such as waterway management, power operation, urban maintenance, and local liaison administration also contribute to the city's functions.

The existence of nomadic cities and sedentary settlements also differs from nation to nation and region to region due to cultural, economic, and geographic reasons. Thereby residents of different regions have their own perception of what a nomadic city is. For example:

• Due to economic inequality between cities and villages, Kazimierz seems to consist of fewer nomadic cities than most other nations. Kazimierzian nomadic cities can also dock with each other to form a single, unified metropolis, as seen with Kawalerielki.
• Yan has managed to build nomadic cities along valleys or even migrate entire mountains onto mobile platforms. A notable example being Shangshu.
• Despite Sargon's frequent Catastrophes, most prefer to stay in sedentary settlements. Some Lords Ameer employ wooden RVs pulled by burdenbeasts to travel across the mountains, which can also be considered a sort of nomadic city by definition.
• During its Golden Age, Iberia relied on oceanic nomadic cities equipped with special amphibious structures on the bottom, which lined its southern coastline. Most of these were destroyed during the Profound Silence before even being finished. One such example is the former royal capital, Real-Iberia, considered one of Breogan's most famous works.
• To endure harsh environments, Rim Billitonian nomadic cities are built much sturdier than usual.
• Some Columbian nomadic cities are actually pioneer mining platforms that were retrofitted through expansions and renovations. However, this sometimes came at the expense of bypassing federal regulations, even though the platforms' owners deny their involvement.
• In some cases, natural landscapes can also be built on top of the residential layer. The city of Dossoles is a particular example of this, albeit excessive in scale, thanks to its artificial sea.
• Some of Kazdel's city plates work as improvised warships, equipped with artillery batteries. However, their performance is far from notable. A similar example can be seen with the Duke of Wellington's flagship, the Gastrell, which was once a city plate from Lingones that was later retrofitted as a high-speed warship. Chernobog's Core City is also noted to be designed as a warship in style, following Ursus' trend of brutalistic, war-focused designs.
• Being the largest nomadic city on Terra, Londinium's city plates are bigger in size than most large/medium-scale nomadic cities.

The nomadic city poses an intriguing question, as it is in complete defiance of the square-cube law, which dictates that the volume of an object inflates exponentially proportional to its increase in surface. Most real-world cities require a lot of planning to prevent them from sinking into the earth from their sheer weight, and those are static. Just how nomadic cities manage to remain above ground while seemingly unaffected by Terra's gravity and nonetheless being capable of moving with several billion or even trillion tons of structures upon them remains unexplained. It can be inferred that the Originium reactors that power nomadic cities also provide some form of anti-gravity mechanism to counteract their colossal weight, as Originium is stated to have properties affecting the laws of physics.

Construction

A nomadic city does not appear in a single day. Indeed, building a new nomadic city requires an incredible amount of construction planning, let alone the allocation of resources and acquisition of materials and manpower. Construction is often undertaken in two ways: Fixed and Mobile. Fixed construction is the most commonly employed strategy, as it only needs basic conditions: An area where Catastrophes don't compromise the work, and the ability to transport all the required materials for the Power Deck. Once it's completed and checked that it can move properly, the Support and Living Decks can be gradually built on top. The hardest part lies in the preparation time for each stage, and the component's production heavily depends on highly-developed Originium industrial production lines, thus becoming increasingly difficult for less-developed areas. Mobile construction, on the other hand, is relatively more simple, but only feasible in more developed countries such as Victoria. Some nomadic cities have special industrial docks made by dividing already-existing plates, thereby creating new ones. In recent times, mobile construction has gradually become a much easier and standardized way to build mobile plates. Besides the aforementioned two methods, nomadic cities can also be built in a more informal way. According to disclosed information from local governments, a considerable amount of small/medium-scale nomadic cities were originally mobile facilities (i.e. mining platforms or landships) that were transformed and expanded. These type of cities can be commonly found in the pioneering areas in Columbia.

Notable

• Baizao (capital of Yan)
• Chernobog (Ursus, rebuilding)
• Lungmen (Yan, mostly autonomous)
• Wolumonde (Leithanien, absorbed into other nomadic cities)
• Kawalerielki (capital of Kazimierz)
• "New" Siesta (Columbia, nominally)
• Sal Viento (Iberia, abandoned)
• Shangshu (Yan)
• Tkaronto (Columbia)
• Trimounts (Columbia)
• Londinium (capital of Victoria)
• Volsinii/Nuova Volsinii (Siracusa)
• Vyseheim (Leithanien)
• Yumen (Yan)
• County Hillock (Victoria, under Dublinn's occupation)
• Zwillingstürme (capital of Leithanien)
• Davistown (Columbia, decommissioned and purchased by Blacksteel)
• Dzwonek (Kazimierz)
• Dossoles (Bolívar, independent)
• Deity Grypherburg (Capital of Ursus, relocated in 1033)
• Dahuang (Yan)
• Kazdel (since 898)
• Laterano
• Wrankwood (Columbia)
• Max D.C. (capital of Columbia)
• Real-Iberia (capital of Iberia, flooded)
• Reefsteep (Sargon, abandoned)
• Lingones (capital of Gaul, destroyed)
• Trapani (Siracusa)
• Brunello (Siracusa)
• City No.9 (Columbia-Kazimierz)
• La Unidad (Bolívar, aligned with the Coalition government)
• La Plata (Bolívar)
• New Richmond (Columbia)
• Ultramassive (Capital of Rim Billiton)
• Shiraziberg (Ursus)
• Florentia (Siracusa)
• Locomotiva (Siracusa)
• Kirara's hometown (Higashi, aligned with the Mitsumoto)
• County Skyes (Victoria)
• Trieste (Siracusa)
• Ognisko (Kazimierz)

Trivia

• The idea of a nomadic city likely derives from Mortal Engines where cities were built on wheels to avoid natural disasters and political conflicts.

Navigation

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Arknights setting

Universe

Aetherside • Zobeide Nebula • Talos

Terra

Concepts

Factions • King of Sarkaz • Nomadic city • Starpod

Geography

Black Flow • Bleached Wasteland • Foehn Hotlands • Infy Icefield

Life

Races • Fauna (Beckbeast • Burdenbeast • Cloudbeast • Gloompincer • Manglerbeast • Musbeast • Originium slug • Sandbeast)

Objects

Aethergate • Güldenesgesatz • Little Handy • Preserver • Rhodes Island • Sarcophagus • Sighs of Kings • "The Law" • The Shard • Transmitter

Originium

Assimilated Universe • Catastrophe (Catastrophe Messenger) • Infected • Infection monitor • Originium Arts • Originium Prime Vein • Oripathy

Events

Kazimierz Major • Silenced Edict • Timeline

Pre-1097

Battle of the Four Emperors • Bloodpeak Campaign • Great Hunt • Great Rebellion • Kokusen Shouran • Profound Silence • Revolutionary War • Septemberaufstand

Post-1097

Chernobog Crisis • Snowcap Incident • Victorian Crisis