Metal Slinger

In Metal Slinger, the Alaha people have spent centuries banished from a life on land. As the trainee guards note on their trip to the Market in the early chapters, the brief visit to Kenta’s shores might be the only time they see land in all their lives. Instead, Alaha is built on a series of enormous trees that grow directly out of saltwater. This is something that, in the real world, only mangroves can do; mangroves are common in tropical and subtropical climates.

In the real world, many communities exist on bodies of water. Rather than being treated as lesser communities who have been ostracized due to violent political history (as is Alaha in the novel), proponents of floating communities argue that living on the water permanently offers many benefits. Water-based communities are seen as a way to maximize space along crowded shorelines, providing housing and businesses that enjoy picturesque water views. Floating agricultural centers (the first of which floats in Rotterdam, Netherlands) offer more space for needed food production and gathering sustainable energy sources like water or solar power, and they provide an eco-friendly alternative to land reclamation (Novenario, Celine. “Reasons Why Floating Development Is Set to Take the World by Storm.