tohull is a port city, and was one of the first settlements made in the ghellen republic. thus, it has some of the oldest infrastructure in the country, much older than cars even being a consideration.
as a side note, cars are almost nonexistent as personal vehicles, and generally seen as a display of wealth more than anything practical. most long distance ground transport happens on trucks busses or trains, and all inner-city transport happens on foot or on bikes.
tohull's docks and shipyards are a brilliant mismatch of eras, with inconsistent upgrades done, especially to the better built sections that don't need replacing. some docks are small wooden walkways, others are large boardwalks with metal reinforcing. the shipyards are large and extensive, and they are what the rest of the city sprouted from.
a large rash of train tracks emit westward out of the shipyards, away from the shore, slicing tohull in two before spraying out into their routes to elsewhere on the continent. the monument line extends far enough south to meet downtown tohull proper at aore station, which is then a brisk walk to the northernmost shipyard entrance. however, the midtown has grown so much around it that a second stop was added, named moonlight station.
a common observation-turned-joke-turned-local-identity is that tohull has no uptown area. common responses are to guess what is uptown tohull. usually, the answers are:
- the murine district
- southern midtown
- litley, a different city two stops north of tohull on the monument line
- downtown tohull
- point ruby, which is part of the murine district
(for the record both of these are about different worlds)kiku and sophonti are both altruistic white-furred nomadic tribe species with average heights and weights hovering around 6'6" and 250lbs (200cm and 110kg).
kiku appear similar to mousefolk; pointed snouts and slender tails, though their feet appear to bear talons rather than claws. you'll often see them wearing little to no clothing and body paint, usually applied by another. they are relaxed and well-meaning, and disorganized yet synchronized. if a kiku notices something that needs doing, it gets done.
sophonti are similar to rabbitfolk, with blunt rounded snouts and large ears that tend to lay limp. they are disciplined and coordinated, waking up at dawn to don tunics and clean themselves before setting about daily tasks. in sophonti groups, nothing goes undone.
some believe that the kiku and sophonti are natural rivals, but nothing could be further from the truth. yes, they are incompatible in many ways, but ultimately they are both altruistic, wandering atheria in search of those in need of help. often, if two tribes meet and are going in the same direction, they will merge for a time. in a sense, they can live together, but not work together.
hybrid tribes are often more alive than the sum of their parts, filled with laughter and music and chatter, sharing stories and art and food and drink (and sometimes even bodies). even their cultures collide and merge; kiku wake up early to bathe with their sophonti tribemates, while sophonti engage in kiku bodypainting, sometimes even getting painted themselves.
if one of these hybrid groups does stumble upon a large issue, it comes down to two leaders to decide who is best to help, while the other tribe moves on. sometimes this is decided through simple discourse—kiku tend to start with treating small issues before working their way up, and sophonti will tackle the source of the issue before dealing with the fallout. both tribes know that sometimes the other method works best.
more often, however, there is not a clear advantage for one method over the other, at which point the leaders will play a short game to decide who helps and who carries on. this game can be anything at hand—board games, card games, sometimes even other forms of competition like dancing or arm-wrestling.