Dorchacht

Dorchacht is one of the two Major Settlements in Geardagas, alongside Aefenglom. Characters can visit Dorchacht using a teleporter in the Aefenglom Coven that links to the New Coven in Dorchacht and vice versa. Dorchacht is a city with a dark history, and the Mirrorbound were deeply involved in its liberation -- so player characters will find themselves especially welcome here by many.

# History

Dorchacht was once known as The Black City outside its imposing walls. Its known history is very short; the former ruler, a powerful Witch called Morgana Drummond, erased all records of the city before her, and used powerful forbidden magic to remove any memories of before or elsewhere from the citizens' minds. Under Drummond, Dorchacht was blanketed with a thick fog that blocked out the light of the twin moons - and the light of the sun, covering Dorchacht in a perpetual, foggy dreariness and oppressive atmosphere.

Under Drummond, Monsters were seen as dangerous and inferior beings, and kept collared, leashed, and shackled by human or Witch 'Masters'. Magical mind control and compulsion methods were widely used to keep the Monster population docile and brainwashed, obedient, so they could be bought and sold like property. Drummond's Coven of Witches kept the human citizens in line as well, so most went along with her cruelty, lest they be whisked off to be executed or experimented upon like many Monsters were. Dorchacht was Morgana Drummond's dark utopia, ruled wholly by her iron fist.

The people of Dorchacht were not all complicit in Drummond's horrors. A Resistance whose members marked themselves with three stars operated in secret, in the city's sewers, for years before Mirrorbound ever learned of Dorchacht's existence, freeing Monsters from auctions, dispelling mind control runes with graffiti, and building networks of escape routes for those who found trouble with Morgana's people.

When Mirrorbound came as dignitaries in Septeril, following a shared dream that left many Dorchacht citizens in strange comas, those who came in secret as spies and saboteurs began a violent revolt that helped to distract Drummond and tip the scales in favor of the Resistance. While the Mirrorbound could not stay to witness the end of the fighting, the tales are widespread and easy to hear in the city itself these days: the fighters drove Morgana Drummond and some of her supporters out through the gate into the Wilde, and seized the city for themselves, liberating Monsterkind from their shackles and humans from their fear.

More recently, Morgana Drummond surfaced once again in an attempt to take back the city on Dorchacht’s one year anniversary of its liberation, putting Dorchacht citizens into a deep unwakeable slumber. The Mirrorbound traveled into a nightmarish dreamscape in a successful if costly effort to save the city. This time, Drummond was seized and executed -- and many citizens hope that that will be the last they hear of her name.

## Present Day

With Morgana's rule behind them and the reign of the Circle of Three begun, Dorchacht is growing and beginning to prosper with its people freed. The fog is gone, allowing Monsters to go through the natural lunar cycle as those in Aefenglom do. The mind control runes have been scrubbed from the walls and replaced with more normal wards against Cwyld. Bars and chains have been removed from windows and doors. The triple stars of the Rebellion are everywhere, worn openly on clothing or painted on signs and buildings. There are efforts put toward proper education, agricultural independence, trade with others, developing a culture of their own, and exploration into the Wilde.

Of course, Dorchacht is still no utopia. While many of Morgana Drummond's followers died in the fighting, and some left with her, there are those who still prefer the Old Ways, who maintain that humans and Witches are superior beings and Monsters are dangerous if left unchecked. Those who express these views openly and cause trouble are often shunted away to a poorly kept, barricaded corner of the city where the control wards have been left on the wall, and are used sparingly. Guards man the barricades constantly, and contact between the people housed in this slum and those outside it is monitored. **Some punishments for certain criminals may still be considered draconian:** hands chopped off, tongues excised, all to ensure that those who approved of Drummond's horrors can never be a danger to the city's Monsters again.

Dorchacht also contains a sizable number of orphans who are Monsters, having lost their parents under Drummond’s rule. Many of these children live in orphanages or with kindly neighbors who have taken them in. As a result, toys and entertainment for the children are always an appreciated thought in the city.

A memorial has been built to the fallen made of Forget-Me-Nots. Characters who visit the memorial will find themselves reliving fond memories, an effect of inhaling the flowers’ scent. Handmade wreaths can occasionally be found placed at the memorial, and the Mirrorbound are welcome to add their own wreaths if they like -- especially those who also suffered under Morgana.

## Culture

Dorchacht culture is not too different than Aefenglom's, but due to its history, Witches can occasionally be more closely scrutinized and crimes that evoke shadows of Morgana's old ways can draw especially harsh punishments. While Dorchacht uses the same currency as Aefenglom (cunes), the value of a single cune in Dorchacht goes a longer way as a result of Dorchacht's lower economic prosperity.

### Festivals

Dorchacht celebrates many of the same festivals that Aefenglom does. Their celebrations may be more limited in money and extravagance, but their enthusiasm is not: after so long under Morgana’s oppressive rule, its citizens are eager for a chance to enjoy music, food, and drink.

Additionally, a celebration is held on the anniversary of Dorchacht’s liberation. The celebration lasts several days and involves copious amounts of food, as well as plays from the children and reenactments of some of the famous battles during the Uprising (with many desiring the role of the fearsome Dragon). The Mirrorbound were invited for the first celebration, and while things didn’t go *quite* as planned, it’s expected that the Mirrorbound will be welcomed during its subsequent years, as well.

### Cuisine

Unlike Aefenglom’s wider culinary options, the cuisine in Dorchacht is still somewhat bland and practical, but shows more variety as trade and agriculture improve. Many more frivolous items are imported from Aefenglom, and tentatively from elsewhere on the continent. Meat is uncommon and more expensive but as livestock grows healthier and easier to keep, it may become a bigger thing in the future. Sweet pastries are a huge hit with the people, and a few new patisseries have popped up in the year since the uprising, along with many more small businesses as freed Monsters try to make their living.

## Important Locations

### The New Coven

The New Coven is located in a repurposed mansion seized from one of Morgana's people -- perhaps even Morgana herself. Large and spacious, with an actual yard, this is where Witches learn practical forms of magic (mind control magic is no longer taught, and one can be punished or permanently barred from the city for practicing it outside of specific approved circumstances), and Monsters can come to learn to control their instincts. Several rooms of the mansion are dedicated to different parts of Coven business, including a sparse library that contains the little they managed to salvage.

**The New Coven building contains the teleporter device in the main foyer.**

### The Old Coven

The Old Coven is a much larger, grander compound, but now is burnt out and in ruin. A few Witches maintain it to some extent, but much of the destruction it suffered has been left. This compound now serves as a museum and a place to remember the fallen Witches and Monsters of the Resistance - plaques engraved with names are placed all over its halls and rooms where freedom fighters died. Anything that speaks to the old Coven's knowledge that could be salvaged -- books, artifacts, etc. -- have been removed.

### Orphan Row

Once the main blocks where orphanages served as cover for hellish breeding houses, Orphan Row has been torn down and rebuilt kinder, friendlier, and overall a more pleasant place to be, even compared to Aefenglom's orphanages. Parentless young Monsters and humans both live in the new group homes and attend small schools set up wherever the space can be found. Many of the buildings even share a new playground. Caretakers can often be seen taking the kids for trips around the city, exposing them to the new Dorchacht as it changes and grows with the intent to prepare them for lives of freedom, where they can truly be and do whatever they want. There is also a concentrated effort to have the kids adopted out to newly forming families around the city.

### The Slum

The darkest corner of Dorchacht, the slum is a set of adjacent neighborhoods tucked into a back corner of the city, up against a section of the wall where the mind control runes remain. They are rarely used, but remain as a precaution in case of a violent uprising from the people within. The whole section is cordoned off with wards and guarded 24/7 by members of the Resistance, though citizens in good standing may come and go if they consent to being monitored. In a sense, it's a lighter security prison.

The people within do not lack for the necessities and are allowed visitors, but they aren't allowed as much freedom as the rest of Dorchacht. This is because this section is where the remaining loyalists to Morgana Drummond, those who want to return to the old ways of Monster slavery and Witch superiority, are forced to make their homes. Many have committed serious or violent crimes against fellow citizens as well.

## Politics and Government

### The Coven (Dorchacht Branch)

The Dorchacht Coven is somewhat different from the Aefenglom Branch in that they officially rule Dorchacht, as well. More specifically, the three most prominent members of the Rebellion also belong to the Coven: two Witches named Bryn and Hilda, and Morgana's formerly enslaved Bonded, a fearsome black Dragon whose real name is unknown. Witches in the Dorchacht Branch are carefully vetted and are staunchly allied with the Aefenglom Coven and the Mirrorbound.

The Dorchacht Branch currently operates out of the New Coven, after the Old Coven fell into ruin. Currently, the Old Coven is maintained by a few Witches as a memorial to hold the history of the Uprising and remember the fallen.

## Technology and Development

Dorchacht’s technological developments have been stunted due to the deep slumber the city was placed under for many years. Many of the advancements in science, research, and magitech have been introduced to them through Aefenglom and the Mirrorbound only after the city was liberated.

Nonetheless, they do enjoy some conveniences, although things such as automobiles -- already rare in Aefenglom itself -- have never been seen in Dorchacht. Even travel by horse is considered a luxury, as many don’t have the money nor real estate to own and care for a horse. Wagons are a common sight, although the roads are rough, some still paved with gravel or dirt.

## Ecology

Dorchacht shares much of its ecology with the rest of Geardagas, although some of the wildlife can be stranger than what's often seen closer to Aefenglom, with more mutations affecting the plants and animals.

*See Flora and Fauna.*