heres a description of how I am envisioning Arbor as i write. The drawing to be determined.

  The world I envision, dominated by a tree of impossible scale, finds echoes in the grandest myths and the most imaginative fiction. This colossal tree, forming the very foundation and structure of the city of Arbor, is a marvel of natural architecture and a testament to a unique way of life. Arbor is not merely built amongst a great tree; it is an integral part of its existence, a living, breathing metropolis intertwined with a life force that dwarfs mountains.

  The Living Foundations: Base and Walls

  At its genesis, Arbor is defined by the titanic roots of the Great Tree. These are not mere subterranean anchors but colossal, gnarled tentacles, each comparable in size to a substantial building. Spreading outwards for miles, they interlock and weave together in an intricate, impenetrable lattice. This forms the city's primary defensive perimeter – a living wall of ancient, hardened wood, pulsing with the slow, deep life of the tree. Over centuries, the roots have been carefully guided and encouraged by the city's earliest denizens, creating a natural bulwark that is both immensely strong and constantly, subtly, renewing itself. The very ground of the lower city is a tapestry of these lesser, yet still massive, root structures, creating an uneven, organic terrain upon which the first layers of Arbor are built.

  The Lower City: A Bustling Embrace of Roots

  Nestled within the protective embrace of these colossal root-walls and at the very foot of the impossibly wide trunk lies the Lower City. This is the most ancient and perhaps most vibrant part of Arbor. Buildings, crafted primarily from the fallen branches of the Great Tree, cured and carved with intricate designs, or made from other organic materials like hardened fungal plates and woven fibers, huddle amongst the giant roots. Markets sprawl across the wide, relatively flat expanses where the largest roots meet the earth. Here, one can find an astonishing array of goods: rare medicinal herbs harvested from the upper canopy, bioluminescent fungi cultivated in the shadowy under-root caverns, intricately carved wooden tools and sculptures, and exotic fruits and nuts found only within the Great Tree's unique ecosystem.

  The air hums with activity. Open-air workshops of carpenters, weavers, potters (using clay deposits found within the root systems), and strange artisans working with exotic resins and insect chitin, fill the spaces between root spurs. The sounds of their labor – the rhythmic tapping of chisels, the whir of simple wood-powered lathes, the calls of vendors, and the chatter of a diverse populace – echo and are amplified by the massive wooden structures surrounding them. This district is a melting pot, where traders from far-off lands (who must navigate the treacherous outer forests to even reach Arbor's roots) mingle with the city's inhabitants.

  The Vertical Ascent: Climbing the World Trunk

  Arbor's ambition, however, is not merely to spread but to ascend. Gazing upwards from the Lower City, the true scale of the Great Tree and the city carved into it becomes breathtakingly apparent. The trunk, miles in diameter, rises like a living cliff face, its bark a rugged terrain of fissures, plateaus, and ancient wounds that have become part of the city's geography.

  Into this colossal trunk, and along the equally massive primary branches that extend like new horizons, the city climbs in a series of gigantic, tiered platforms and organically integrated structures. These are not simply attached to the tree but are often carved into the living wood itself, a testament to generations of symbiotic architecture. The city's districts are thus arranged vertically, each layer possessing its own unique character, resources, and inhabitants. Intricate systems of rope bridges, carved stairways that spiral around smaller branches, and even manually operated lift platforms facilitate movement between these layers.

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  Mid-Levels: Residential Canopies and Branch-Top Gardens

  Higher up, where the primary branches – themselves the width of terrestrial valleys – spread outwards, lie the residential areas of Arbor. Homes, often multi-storied and featuring wide balconies, are built along the tops of these massive limbs, nestled amongst the secondary branches and giant leaves that provide shade and shelter. With more homes running along the outside and some even nestled inside the tree itself, only accessible through the inner elevator systems. Here, the Sciurians, the agile, squirrel-like humanoids, are most at home. Their dwellings are marvels of arboreal engineering, often incorporating living wood and featuring intricate networks of walkways and climbing poles that connect different family units. They share these verdant neighborhoods with Elves, whose own elegant structures, often lighter and more open to the elements, blend seamlessly with the tree's natural forms.

  A defining feature of the Mid-Levels are the magnificent, cultivated gardens. These are not planted in the ground, but in enormous bowls and depressions carefully carved from the living wood of the branches. Fed by rainwater channeled through intricate wooden guttering systems and enriched by compost from the tree's own sheddings, these gardens produce a variety of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs. Imagine entire valleys of lush greenery, vibrant with color, carved into the living boughs of the Great Tree, creating a patchwork of cultivated beauty high above the world. The air here is fresher, filled with the scent of blossoms and damp earth.

  Upper Reaches: Knowledge, Magic, and Majesty

  Ascending even further, towards the sprawling canopy that kisses the clouds, Arbor becomes more specialized and rarefied. This is where the intellectual and mystical heart of the city resides. Great libraries, their structures towering and ancient, are carved directly into the main trunk and the largest, oldest branches. These repositories are filled with scrolls, tablets, and bound volumes containing the accumulated knowledge of ages – history, science, philosophy, and the unique lore of the Great Tree itself.

  Grand academies of magic and scholarship occupy the highest accessible levels. Their towers, often adorned with living, flowering vines, reach towards the unfiltered sunlight above the main canopy. It is said that the air here is clearer, thinner, and more saturated with a subtle magical resonance emanating from the Great Tree and its proximity to the sky. Students and masters of arcane arts, natural sciences, and celestial observation gather here, their pursuits often intertwined with understanding the deep magic inherent in their living city.

  It is also in these Upper Reaches, amidst the highest platforms and most secure structures, that the Queen's chambers and the grand throne room are situated. From this vantage point, the ruler of Arbor can oversee the entirety of her vertical domain, her connection to the Great Tree both symbolic and, some whisper, literal.

  A City Aglow: Night and Light

  As dusk settles and stars begin to pierce the sky far above the canopy, Arbor transforms into a spectacle of living light. Swarms of giant fireflies, each easily larger than a human head, emerge from their daytime resting places among the leaves and branches. Their soft, pulsating bioluminescence – ranging in hue from warm yellows and gentle greens to rarer, ethereal blues – illuminates the city. Walkways, plazas, and the facades of buildings are bathed in this gentle, ever-moving glow. These are not just random insects; their patterns and concentrations often seem to respond to the city's needs, almost as if they are an extension of the Great Tree's will or guided by an ancient understanding with Arbor's inhabitants. The effect is breathtaking: a city of a thousand moving lanterns woven into the fabric of a colossal, living tree, a beacon of light and life against the vast canvas of the night.

  Arbor is an infant World Tree; in infancy she is growing a few feet every one to two centuries. They say world trees are so massive once fully grown, that instead of oversized fireflies, they are orbited by their own planets that light up the trunk and leaves in the wider cosmos.