6 days before the vault.

Sebastiane Fontaine wins a most unusual box in a game of cards. Its previous caretaker, a local underworld figure named Landers, is obviously agitated and leaves quickly. Hours later, at Fontaine’s bar The Dockside Doxie, a small group of assassins tries to steal the box and kill Seb.

Seb’s crew stop the rice row gang members and recover the box. Seb suspects that the box has secrets, and tasks his crew to figure out more.

The City

Home. The steaming of the tar roofs in the summer heat is the earliest smell you remember. Some say that this was the first city, built by the Angels thousands of years ago, before they left and the world began to rot. You’re currently living near the dockyards, east of the chasm. The city is home to millions, and you make up a single spec of life in that petri dish. The eastern docks are one of the seedier pieces of the city–home to crooked merchants, thieves, drug runners, and the disgruntled poor.

The heart of the city lies a few miles inland, across thousands of shacks, warehouses, and stone-walled taverns and shops. The ground slopes increasingly upwards as the city climbs even higher, one and two story buildings giving way to fading towers and eventually to The Ring. Surrounding the houses of nobility is a set of 6 towers, wrought of white marble and bound in rusting steel. Since time immemorial these towers have stood, and the rich of the city built their homes among them.

Seb

Anyone who’s anyone around the docks is “friends” with Sebastion Fontaine. The myteriously young Seb owns and operates a large set of underworld-friendly establishments in the area, as well as acting the part of loan shark. This includes your favorite haunt in the area (pick one):

• The Dockside Doxy (bar and whorehouse)
• The Anvil (a smithery and minor artificery)
• Mr. Margusto’s Magical Manticore (a dive bar)
• Lawrence and Son’s Traders
• The Gaslamp (a bar)

Sections of the City

The city is made of of two halves, devided by a great river known as “The Chasm”. The western half is newer and far more liberal than the “old city” on the east bank. The west tends to be richer due to newer and cleaner industries. Is is smaller, barely half the size of the eastern piece.

The Eastern Docks (“Eedy”)

Eedy borders the steelworks to the north and the fishery to the south. Most of the ships coming through are of older build, and carry people, spices, small goods, and items of the arcane. The northern portion of the docks was recently refit to handle newer large cargo ships for bearing ore to and from the steelworks.

The eastern docks are also home to thriving smuggling trade, and (with the right contacts) one can find almost any good they desire.

The Western Docks (“The Westies”)

Newly built steamcranes tower over the wide berths of the west side of the chasm. High tech steamworks constantly load and unload construction goods from the stream of ships southern trade ships.

The Ring

While officially the ring refers to the six towers surrounding the wealthy district, among the common people it is used to mean that entire area. Low walls have been built between the towers, with guarded gates being the only entrances to the rich quarter. Within, the houses rise 3-6 stories above the streets, which are swept daily. The whole area reeks of wealth and privilege.

The Grey Line

The Grey line is one the the Great Lines, and runs north-south along the eastern side of the Chasm. It starts at Storm Watch in the north, and runs through The Steelyards, The Eastern Docks, The Fishery, The Arsenal and ends at Dust Watch in the south.

The Merchant’s Loop

The Watches

Dust

The southern tower and gate. It looks out on The Fog, and much of the foot travel to the city passes through it. Dust is the most heavily guarded and fortified of the watches, and is the first to be closed at any sign of attack or plague outbreak. In recent years it earned the nickname Death Watch after barring entrance to those fleeing a particularly bad outbreak in the Fog.

Storm

Power

The Crown

The official seat of power for The City. The Crown encompasses the royal family, as well as a small set of governers close to them. It also has an elite standing army for defense of the bloodline.

The Plague Guard

Tasked by the Crown directly to keep the city from being overrun by sickness and disease. The Plage Guard has total authority at any time. Public opinion on them is scared but appreciative.

The Arcanum

The Arcanum encompasses both the mages themselves, as well as their keepers and the various groups responsible for distributing goods.

The Magistrate

The functional government of the city. The magistrate runs the city watch, public transportation, utilities maintenance, etc. They employ mage hunters (both internally and hiring outside contractors). The magistrate is highly corrupt, with many vying for power.

The Underworld

The are numerous criminal organizations throughout the City, all intertwined and constantly shifting in power.

Weapons

Black Powder Firearms

Smokeless powerder has not been discovered, so all firearms are loud and obvious. That said, black powder technology is relatively advanced. Jacketed bullets are the norm, and revolvers are extremely common.

Some fancier weapons use steam to drive cycling the bolt and the hammer (similar to gas-powered modern firearms). These allow close to automatic fire in a compact package, though they tend to be impractival because of the amount of smoke they produce.

Bows & Blades

The weapons of the old world are still very popular, due to their low price and high-reliability. Street children often use cheap or makeshift bows to hunt dogs, sewer rats, and other animals. Many citizens will carry knives with them at all times, and it is not uncommon to see swords or axes worn openly in the seedier parts of town.

Steam Guns

These use small steam-cores to built up high pressures and then release them to throw a projectile at similar speeds to powder weaponry, but with much less noise and no lasting visual effect. They tend to be more expensive, and require build up time before firing. As one goes up in price it tends to cycle faster, be lighter, or have a higher maximum pressure. The most powerful guns in the realm are steam based.

Kink Spring Guns

Replacing crossbows in many circles, spring guns use cranks or steam cores to tension high strength springs, which then can throw a variety of projectiles. The springs are not tensionable by hand, due to how compact and high-tension they are. These guns are quieter and smaller than crossbows, and can be kept tensioned for long periods before degrading.

Some more advanced spring guns achieve consistent medium to high cycle rates by rotating through barrels while re-tensioning the springs with steam-cores after firing. The Plague Guard is known to have a set of these miniguns on their sky ships.

Lightning Guns *not available

Rumor on the streets is that there have been sightings of these mysterious firearms within the City. Without an obvious source, these rifles project arcs of lighting for extreme distances. There is no known dealer.

Magic

“Magic” refers to the study of the arcane. It is not a talent or a gift, it is the result of years of toil and study, akin to higher mathematics. Some minds take to it easier than others, but any can learn, given enough effort. Unlike mathematics (for many), studying the arcane is addictive–an addiction that only grows as one learns more.

Invariably, greater understanding will lead to madness. The human mind cannot properly comprehend its complexities and even the attempt will slowly break the greatest minds in the world. This is not to say, however, that madmen cannot craft wondrous things. Once a Mage reaches a certain rank he is imprisoned within one of the Arcanum’s great prison-workshops, left to experiment and forge until his last days. Some of the greatest steam cores ever built came from men on the edge of sanity, locked away within those hallowed halls.

Glimmers of an outside world

As The City sits in a world geographically similar to earth, it would be useful to detail the differences in major landmarks:

North America - The Burned Lands

It is said that the Angels made their last stand here, and for that the land is blighted and forsaken. Both the east and west shores are barren and covered in ash, with grounds pitted and scored as if by meteors or explosions. Excursions have returned from around 40 miles inland, reporting the same terrain, sometimes broken by arid hills. Deeper expeditions have not returned. The most notable of these was the Murkford journey, undertaken with 3 airships. Their course started on the eastern shore, and lead 300 miles west. 2 of the ships were never seen again. 8 years later a ground expedition came upon the gutted wreckage of the flagship. It appeared that the ships powder stores had ignited from within, destroying most of the ship and causing its steamcore to rupture and do more damage still.

South America - Antremhas Jungles

The rainforest, but bigger. The entirety of this southern contentent is covered in lush (and dangerous) forest. The native peoples, known as the Antremhas, trade with westerners, but can be hostile if found deeper in the forests. Most travelers do not go beyond the beautiful coasts. That said, much of the major landmarks (rivers, mountainranges, larger settlements) have been mapped by explorers.