Carcosa

A raider city that floats out at sea, around Araste and the Sarogan Islands, where it is strategically near isolated trade routes. From the town, raiders can prey on unsuspecting convoys and also return to refuel.

## Etymology

Named by President Alphonse Madram, the city was named after the mythical lost city of Carcosa.

A tale that dates back to the Umran Empire, Carcosa is said to be a city made up of hundreds of parts of other cities. Its inhabitants are as diverse as the city itself. Built on knowledge drawn from all corners of the world, the city is said to be rich and prosperous. They pave their streets in gold and wine pours free instead of water.

The fabled city has been a quest for explorers for millennia. Such notables like Sir Ingram Key and Federico Falla dedicated years of voyages and searching for the hopes of finding it.

For President Madram, it was a fitting name for his city. Not only was Helgoland once attacked in the search of the lost city, but their new home is to be as elusive as the myth is to its explorers.

## Origins

Carcosa was put together after the disintegration of Helgoland on the Arastean continent. In the final days of the invasion by Raleon forces, the president of Helgoland, Alphonse Madran, went into exile aboard the naval battleship *Speranza*.

At sea, Madran set up a government and began rescuing countrymen who have fled Helgoland and the onslaught of Raleon. Slowly, the city was built around the *Speranza*, using her hull as the base of the city. Other smaller ships were used to support the growing network of wooden passageways that divided the individual abodes.

Airships were also integrated into the town, being used as cover for repair hangers, etc.

The city can move across the sea with its engines, catching currents that would pull it faster along trade routes. Each morning, the 18-inch cannon turrets on the Speranza are moved towards the direction where Helgoland once stood. A reminder - as it is written on the barrels of the massive guns, "We Shall Return."

Since the Great Exodus, Carcosa has fallen onto hard times. The constant maintenance necessary to keep the city afloat ate away at the city's supplies. As a result, Carcosans developed a raiding culture as a means of survival.

## Life in Carcosa

One cannot imagine the smell of the city. That of decay. Years of moisture from the great sea has eaten wood, gnawed metal, and festered mold. For the "city between sky and sea," Carcosa is anything but a beautiful city.

Perfume is a high commodity, as is clean water and fuel.

Carcosan culture is focused on survival. With so much maintenance work to do, everyone must do their part in keeping the city afloat. Obligatory service to the Engineer Corps gives every citizen the necessary skills. Raiding groups run under orders of the President to attain supplies and resources.

Food is gathered from the sea and supplemented by traded or stolen goods.

## Notable Locations

### Speranza

The backbone of Carcosa, this Helgoland Battleship is the Flagship of the Carcosan Fleet, even though it may never be free from the web of streets and favelas that surrounds it. It is the headquarters for the Carcosan government. Officials, including the president, live and work in the ship, never stepping foot off of the ship itself.

In the bowels of the ship is the Carcosan prisons that hold criminals and captured sailors. A common saying is "abandon hope, you who enters Speranza." These prisoners are left in near darkness, ankle-deep in water, and forced to maintain the engines and systems of the ship.

### First Moors

The First Moors is a district that immediately surrounds the Speranza. This was the first part of the city constructed. The ships *Espino, Rinai, Helgo* and *Jalia* make up part of the district. Here, streets are wide and installed with rails for transport.

The district of the wealthy, the First Moors is well maintained. Extravagance has somehow found its way into the city, with intricate architectural designs that mimic those found in grounded cities.

### Fringes

The outer edges of Carcosa suffer from a great deal of disrepair. Often, pieces of the city would be ripped away and float as flotsam across the sea. Once an airship came across an abandoned house floating in the middle of the Caelian Sea.

### Gara

In the southern Fringes, there are dockyards built around the *Gara*. Once a cargo transport, the *Gar*a has been repurposed for general maintenance of the city and its vessels.

### Twelve Cannons

The Twelve Cannons is a taverna that is named after the guns of the Speranza. Its sign depicts two crossing cannon barrels with the number 12, in red, beneath them.