How do I move 4 islands set on turtle shells?

[SoulsFury]

I'm coming up with a way for a city of gnomes who have interlocked 4 giant turtle shells (think oval shaped but about 3 square miles each) and turned them into a nomadic city. How can I get it to move? I'd like a spell that could be controlled from a tower point that utilizes a touch sensor orb.

 

[Aeolius]

Perhaps begin with the summoning of an Elemental Water Monolith, from Complete Arcane:

Alternately, reanimate the massive turtles as gargantuan undead.

 

[SoulsFury]

Having undead would mean there is probably an evil cleric powerful enough to do such a thing, and I don't see the gnomes being that way.
I do like the idea of the Elemental Water Monolith though, the backstory could be a powerful gnome wizard is at the helm of the center tower and used an orb to control the elemental to take the city wherever.

 

[earthbinder]

Take a look at the Magic of Eberron book. have a elemenal (water bound to each turtle shell)
one large (possibly undewater tower) with four Elemental control points. each a magic item designed for a gnome 1.Cleric only "so that the gods may advise where the city travels" 1. Wizard/arcane caster only " so the creators have a say in where the city goes" 1. controlable only by a member of the Ruling class/royal bloodline/Chairman (make this the Director able to move the city by itslef in the event of a tie) and 1. controlled by whomever holds the amulet of the head of the merchants guild.
Each point controls the motion of the elemental.
plenty of politicking goes on The wizards vs the Clerics, the Merchants vs the Clerics, the Wizards vs merchants. all of course sponsored by the crown so that the ruling blood gets to take the city where they want.

and then theres plenty of opportunity for City movement related sub-plots:

Cabal of Artficer wizards "hack" into the control and begin to take the city to their destination.
the church forms a alliance with the new head of the Esoteric order, who has "dominated" the Merchants guild leader .... the crown wants it destabilized agin but without anyone knowing
a Charasmatic Gnome with the ability to commune directly to water elementals insted of burrowing animals makes friends with one of the bound elementals and set up a cult to free it or break away from the city
The spells fain and the elementals begin to sink the city ... Atlantis anyone?
Saughauin Clerics herd the city toward a whirlpool using their rebuke/turn elementals.
The offspring of the turtles want their ancestors holy remains back.

just some ideas

 

[MarkB]

I'm possibly taking a WoW-influenced view of gnomes here, but I can imagine them building giant mechanical turtle legs into the shells, then extruding them when the city needs to move. A more D&D-esque variant of this is to convert the turtle corpses into turtle flesh golems.

If you want to avoid the undeath connection, a similar solution would be some form of sympathetic magic, evoking the shells' 'memory' of being tortoises so that they extrude phantasmal limbs.

 

[Drowbane]

I kinda like the Eberronesque approach...

Bound water-elementals.

 

[diaglo]

I'm coming up with a way for a city of gnomes who have interlocked 4 giant turtle shells (think oval shaped but about 3 square miles each) and turned them into a nomadic city. How can I get it to move? I'd like a spell that could be controlled from a tower point that utilizes a touch sensor orb.

a series of pulleys and unseen servants. have the gnomes build the shells like a heart. with chambers causing the flow of tidal water thru the shells. the action of the waves moving the city. it doesn't have to be fast. just directed.

 

[Quartz]

Just hand-wave it. Do the players really need to know how it works?

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I summon Maxwell's Demon!!!

A series of bronze tubes with bound unseen servants commanded to always push water in one specific end forcing it out the other. These can be mounted in clusters inside the parts of the shell where the head/tail/legs, passed through. And controlled via a command word to stop or start with directional control via dragging sea anchors.

 

[howandwhy99]

Sympathetic magic could work. Use smaller shells as the orb and as they are moved, so moves the larger shells. It would be extraordinarily fragile though (a good trap) in that a strong sweep with the small steering shells/orb could rip the bonds of the 4 massive shells apart against the water.

I have something similar to this concept in my own game I'm DMing, but it is designed in a different manner. Can't really go into it on ENWorld.