Ikk-ett-Saleth

The city of Ikk-ett-Saleth, which translates to mean City of the Sad Ones, was an Ice Warrior settlement on Mars and was an example of Giis-lon dynasty architecture.

This underground settlement was approximately seven kilometers across and lay at the bottom of a huge deep bowl which had been smoothed from Martian rock; there is speculation that it was formed through the use use of Ice Warrior sonic technology. A type of genetically engineered, bio-luminiscent fungus was used to light portions of the city, with a concentrated patch at the top centre of the cave which served as an artificial sun for the populace. Just beneath the sun was a thin golden pyramid, about five hundred meters tall, along with additional structures that resembled low flattered cylinders arranged in circles around the pyramid. The majority of the settlement was devoted to parks and woodland which were filled with orange moss and purple bushes. It also made use of a areothermal geyser to warm the region. Hexagonal dwelling units provided optimum space for its inhabitants.

Hieroglyphics were used to tell the story of Ikk-ett-Saleth with half a million years worth of events etched on its surfaces. These spoke of the various wars, alliance, famines and plagues that afflicted the settlement. Around ten thousand years ago before the 22nd century, a civil war erupted which saw the city burning after bombardment from the Proud Warriors, a wave of bacteriological backlash and the execution of the Eight-Point Table. The civil war devastated the city and left it soulless, which was one of the saddest traditions amongst the Martians.

At some unknown point, Ikk-sett-Saleth was subject to an Interdict of Oras which prevented any Martian, were they builder, warrior, pilgrim or serf, from entering the boundaries of the city. A Human expedition in 2115 journeyed to the City of the Sad Ones and found it abandoned. Later, in 2157, the Seventh Doctor travelled through it in his journey to the planet's North Pole. During this time, Abbot Aklaar and his pilgrims had been given special permission from the Parliament of Seers to travel through the abandoned settlement. (DW: GodEngine)