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 humanity 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.

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)

Protocols of the City
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. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)

The City's relationship with outsiders
The only entrance to the City was the Uptime Gate. (PROSE: The Book of the War) During the Civil War, the Uptime Gate was cut off, preventing travel in or out of the City. (PROSE: A Hundred Words from a Civil War)

Many time travellers made visits to the City, (PROSE: The Book of the War) including Iris Wildthyme (PROSE: A Hundred Words from a Civil War, The Book of the War) Marcus Americanius Scriptor, (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia Prologue) and Theo Possible. (PROSE: Happily Ever After Is a High-Risk Strategy)

The City tried to remain neutral during the War. (PROSE: The Book of the War, Of the City of the Saved...)

The Osirians once made an attempt to influence the City through Remakes of the ancient Egyptian gods. (PROSE: A Hundred Words from a Civil War)

Knowledge of the City
Because of its protocols involving changes to history, the population of the City was much larger than anyone on the outside suspected. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)

Due to the City's location beyond the end of time, the Great Houses had little reliable information on it. (PROSE: The Book of the War) Robert Scarratt believed that the Houses only discovered the City during the War; he was not aware of it at the age of 19, but considered it a possibility that the Houses may have just neglected to inform their soldiers of the City's existence. (PROSE: The Brakespeare Voyage)

A large number of the time travellers who made trips to the City were secretive or "fantastically unreliable" on their visits. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

The Shopkeeper hinted at the City's existence to Michael Drake when the War came to Samhain in 1643, he said that whether or not Drake had reason to worry about the War depended "very much on [Drake's] view of the afterlife". (PROSE: Michael Drake)

The Book of the War had information on the City, but noted that it may not have been entirely accurate. (PROSE: The Book of the War) Indeed, the Book was ignorant towards the Civil War which had started in the City two years before the book's publication. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)

The Thousand and Second Night contained a mention of "Civitata, who was a city and woman both and the embodiment of Allah's mercy". (PROSE: Head of State)

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 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.