Engarma

The Engarma is a semi-sentient ball of swirling magical energy at the heart of Lokator. It was created with the intent to hide the city away from the outside world during the Shardell Invasion. The city's inhabitants were afraid the war would be lost, and they convinced their resident Maker to find a way to save them. The Engarma was her solution. It powers a spell to hold the city within a piece of space folded in on itself and made virtually undetectable from the outside. This spell required a tremendous amount of power, however, and the inhabitants agreed to provide this power. Their lifeforce was tied to the Engarma, and the spell was complete.

Tying the life force of so many sentient beings gave the Engarma itself a sense of intelligence. It isn't properly sentient, but it represents the combined will of every inhabitant in the city. This also gave the inhabitants a weak hive-mind-like bond.

The spell takes its toll on the inhabitants. They tend to live shorter lives, roughly 2/3rds their normal lifespan. Therefore, elders are uncommon within Lokator. However, when they die, their remaining life fore is drawn into the Engarma, taking with it the entirety of their knowledge and memories. Inhabitants occasionally have the ability to tap into this library of knowledge and memories, but few are able to control it well. Those who can are known in the city as Preservers.