City of the Saved

The City of the Saved was a metropolis the size of a spiral galaxy located between the end of the universe and the beginning of the next which was actually the timeship Compassion. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...) The City was inhabited by every single human being that ever existed - from Aa, the "Great Mother of Humanity", (PROSE: The Long-Distance Somnambulist) to the very last ancestors of humananity from the far future - resurrected after death in an immortal, invulnerable body. Those that were partially human were treated as second class citizens known as "collaterals" who were also forbidden from holding public office.

Whenever history was rewritten by the War between the Great Houses and their enemy, the City's history was retroactively rewritten with it to include any new human beings or versions of them that were brought into existence by the change. This meant that the population of the City was much larger than anyone on the outside suspected. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)

The only entrance to the City was the Uptime Gate. (PROSE: The Book of the War) Iris Wildthyme once attempted to get into the City by ramming her Celestial Omnibus into the Uptime Gate. (PROSE: A Hundred Words from a Civil War)

Many believed the City itself was a goddess that they worshiped under the name Civitata; in reality, it was constructed by two mysterious "Secret Architects" (actually the Universal Machine and Compassion V).

The Rump Parliament was Faction Paradox's stronghold within the City. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)

Grandfather Halfling set up House Halfling to campaign for the rights of those who were not quite human. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

Behind the scenes
The City was originally created by Philip Purser-Hallard for his proposed 2001 novel Iris Wildthyme and the City of the Saved. Many of the major concepts in the City of the Saved stories can be seen in the outline for this novel. The novel remained unproduced because Big Finish Productions decided that a series of Iris Wildthyme novels would not sell well.

The short story A Hundred Words from a Civil War payed tribute to Iris Wildthyme and the City of the Saved by including a cameo from Iris as well as the character Rex Halidom, who would have been a main character in the novel.

Over a decade later, the City once again almost appeared in the Iris Wildthyme series. Paul Dale Smith considered writing a short story for The Perennial Miss Wildthyme which would involve Iris Wildthyme encountering a dead companion in the City of the Saved. When Smith received enough short story submissions to fill the anthology, plans for the City of the Saved story were scrapped.