The City

The Streets of the City

The City is a realm bordering the Abyss that is ruled by the mysterious Archons and their Officials. Formerly a pre-Solomonic city that was attacked by a powerful Demon of Darkness, it has since become active after several millennia of inactivity. As such, its existence is fairly unknown and the powers that rule it wish for it to remain that way.

## Entering the City

Due to its location and rather detached nature, the City is very difficult to enter and even more difficult to invade. Uninvited guests or visitors might find dead ends where entrances might be, with their attempts to penetrate its defenses either failing outright or being violently rebuffed. Those that are invited in can gain entrance through several means:

* A ticket purchased from the Ticketkeeper located in the Terminus. Difficult to acquire, these are sold to those that the Ticketkeeper has thoroughly vetted beforehand as he has a vested interest in keeping the City active.
* Being invited in by an Official, or someone sent by an Official.
* Being lead or lured there.
* Being "invited" or allowed to invade with the goal of usurping or subverting the invader as soon as they enter the City's grounds.

## Geography

The City has no set geography as the majority of it is shaped and changed by the Archons and Officials that rule it. While it borders the Abyss through its connection to the Abyssal Train Station known as the Terminus, the City itself is its own separate realm with its own rules and usually cannot be entered through mundane means.

Despite its ever-changing and ever-shifting nature, several landmarks exist in the form of its "Districts" which act as pseudo-realms that spread their motifs and aesthetics to the surrounding areas. The Theater might cover the surroundings in worn posters or glittering neon, while the Factory might cover its surroundings in dense piping and haphazard electrical wiring. Above all else however, regardless of where you are in the City, the Spire is always visible in the distance. Infinitely tall and formed of black rock, it stretches upwards into the dark skies of the City with the Monarch's sun perched at the very top.

While the City itself has no borders, several Districts such as the Outskirts, the Harbor or the Train Station surround its edges.

## The Rulers of the City

### Archons

The Archons are the rulers of the City and the gods who shape it. In a certain sense, they *are* the City and work in tandem to create and protect the realm. Each fulfills a specific role in the City, and each has a specific Official that manages their affairs. Districts in the City are "categorized" based on the Archon or Official that the District is "closest" to.

#### The Mother

The Mother is the oldest of the Archons and represents the City itself. The Mother is a City Spirit that ascended to godhood due to the influx of worship and sacrifices made in her name, the Mother (like the City) is now a ruined shell of her former self. Vaguely and dimly aware of the City's situation, her body shifts and changes to accommodate those that dwell within it, creating new buildings and streets to help travelers on their way. Unfortunately, due to being maimed by the demon, she often forgets key pieces of information such as "people need air to breathe" and "people can't survive when they're suddenly transposed into a concrete wall". While she has been slowly and steadily filling in such gaps in her knowledge, her condition would have rendered the City uninhabitable were it not for the aid of the other Archons. Hard to find and even harder to gain the notice of, she entrusts the majority of her mundane duties to her "High Priestess", the Caretaker who takes care of her "children". She loves them utterly, but knows that her touch can bring forth great ruin and so she prefers to watch from a distance (When she remembers).

Her motifs are the color white, the dark cracks that break through concrete and the misshapen and warped buildings of the City.

##### The Monarch

Second oldest of the Archons, and arguably the most powerful. Formerly the god-king of the City before it fell, he raised it in status by negotiating deals with mysterious entities known as "the Painted Lords". Due to his own pride, he declared war on a neighboring city of peaceful traders and farmers, butchering their gods and crafting a crown out of their bones which was used to attain godhood. Unbeknownst to him however, the gods of that once peaceful nation were holding back something dark and poisonous beneath the earth which was directed at the City in retaliation by the survivors of his attack. As such, the City was sunk as the price for his hubris.

Now he sits and watches from his throne atop the infinitely tall black spire at the heart of the City, acting as the ever-present sun that burns within its skies. Those within his light are spared from the worst of the Mother's mistakes, and though the City does not have spirits in a conventional sense, the Monarch has filled in that space. Most active of the Archons, he works in tandem with his "Heir" the Magistrate. Where she manages mundane laws and rules, the Monarch manages the metaphysical and spiritual side of things.

His motifs are light in all forms, along with the sun that burns at the City's center. He stands for the Pillars of Fate and Fortune, and those within his radiance are subject to his whims and decrees.

##### The Moth and Light

Not much is known about this Archon, and even his "Official" knows little about him. Dressed in rags and crowned in a gas mask

## Points of Interest

#### Marketplaces

Things tied to the abyss to urbanity and things outside reality can be found here.

#### Dark districts

Colloquial and general term for all those places that are even more dangerous then general. it would not be unknown to have a dragon rampaging through it, chopper gangs frequently prowl here looking for spare parts; tech minerals plants flesh etc.

## History

Dating well over twenty millennia old from antediluvian times, that flood is believed to be the first battle between devourers and architects of creation with the broken winners being swept away in the deluge.

Having been washed past the underside of reality much has found itself here over the years.

The first

### Modern Day

It was held together by Archons, the survivors of that ancient battle Mother, Monarch, with later additions in Moth and Martyr. The city is in their keeping and them in its.