The water never stopped, and neither did the city. Duck-built, probably.
Three days before the IdesVol. MMXXVI · Water SpecialPrice: two copper coins
Docket No. W-001 · Filed from Fountain Square
Water, everywhere, beautiful.
Romulan engineers moved water like it was music. Fountains sang in every square, carved lions and dolphins pouring silver streams into marble basins, and on hot afternoons the whole city gathered around them. In Romula, even the plumbing was art. Especially the plumbing.
Fountain Square at golden hour. The water never stopped, and neither did the city.
Engineering · Sixty miles of stone
The Aqueducts
The great aqueduct at sunset. Note the ducks. Plinius did.
Stone giants marched sixty miles across the countryside to bring the city its water, arch after arch, precise to the finger's width. It is among the great engineering feats of the ancient world, and Plinius the Nosy insists it was built by ducks. Large, highly organized ducks.
"The evidence," he says, tapping all forty of his scrolls, "is overwhelming." The Senate declined to comment. The ducks could not be reached, though several were observed flying in formation near the site, which Plinius calls "a site inspection" and Livius the Boring calls "birds."
Landmarks · A connoisseur's guide
Famous Fountains
The Fountain of Second Lunch
Forum plaza · Est. time immemorial
Legend says if you toss in a coin and wish for a bigger lunch, Flavius Fullbelly appears and agrees with you. The coins collected fund the Third Lunch Program. The program is Flavius's favorite charity, and also Flavius.
The Fountain of Adequate Soup
Bathhouse approach · Regulated temperature
By law, the water here is kept at the temperature of a good soup. Not great soup. Adequate soup. The law is extremely specific and nobody remembers why, but every attempt to change it has been voted down, because everyone agrees the current temperature is, in fact, adequate.
The Whispering Fountain
Lovers' corner, Pantheon walk
Stand on one side, whisper, and someone across the square hears you perfectly. Used almost exclusively for lunch invitations and nap coordination. Once used for a marriage proposal. She said yes. He had whispered "lunch?"
Statute · The Water Code of Romula
The Water Laws
Title VII: On Water, Fountains, and Splashing
All fountains must sing. Silent fountains are fined one copper coin per day of silence.
No swimming in the Fountain of Adequate Soup. The soup lobby objected, and the soup lobby always wins.
The Minister of Fountains may declare a Grand Splash Day twice a year. She declares it monthly. Nobody minds. The pigeons filed a complaint and then withdrew it after being splashed.
