Thank you for an outstanding entry to kickoff the contest! It moves me that you would spontaneously embrace a crossover between worlds. Riccoli is a multi-dimensional place. I have mentioned aliens live there so I love the fact that a fragment of Terrenden could potentially make it there.
Creating the citizens/need, then create the city
This is a simple and elegant way to put it. The soul of any city is its citizens, without them, you end up with runes which are also quite amazing.
Irola reminds me a lot of Kowloon walled city which used to exist in Hong Kong. There, water pipes were broken and leaked throughout the mega-structure causing health problems which no doubt tipped the scale in favor of the destruction of this sacred artifact.
In this rare instance where industry has coexisted with residential and commercial spaces, the service industry was represented by a daycare and an legion of unlicensed dentists. Pigeons were bred on the roof where you could see planed land from up close.
This week, I wrote the first legend regarding the portals that are located in Terrenden. Now, the Guardians responsible for overseeing these portals will examine your heart to not allow unsavory types (aliens or whatever) in - but there's nothing to say that people, having arrived, won't become corrupted and cause problems - even corrupting a Guardian...
So, yes, my world definitely fits in with others - in a way. (It was either that or space travel, which I'm not quite nerdy enough to utilize - plus it didn't feel right for my world at this time - or any of the times I've written for it yet.)
Sorry, but the legend isn't to be published just yet! It's scheduled in about two months now. (We have a move and a trip to work around - when I won't be writing so much.)
Your example of industry coexisting with residential and commercial is awesome. I suppose, in some ways, that's where I've been going with my world in many situations now. I used to live in a medium-sized town in England that used to be self-sufficient in everything that could be made/grown in England. These days, one has to wonder why it's there at all except that it supports the local military base (where Harry was stationed for awhile before we got there, actually.) In fact, my end of the town (only 1 mile away) was almost self-sufficient itself.
These days with our global economy, no one is self-sufficient anymore and that's quite terrifying to me!