The City

Summary/Setting

Rules: Use the following array for attributes: 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8.

Summary: Some worlds have cities and they have wilderness. This world is a city, that has districts and thoroughfares… The City has always been, always. The people there are merely guests, transient even while generations live and die there, for even the Elves with their long lives will fade away into dust before The City falls. The City is the size of a continent or more, spontaneously growing bigger by the year, it seems, streets giving birth to alleys and thoroughfares that stretch in every direction… Even up and down.

It is said that in most places the people are the lifeblood of a city, that without them it could not be as it is. This is not true for The City. Sometimes it is as if the people are merely guests upon the skin of this great and noble creation, that it exists symbiotically with them as they work to keep it's stone bones and metal veins clean and operational, but ultimately were they to fall then it would stand alone.

Characters

Races

• Dragonborn: The City in Its vastness plays host to many dragons nesting in Its Undercity, lurking in low sewers or making proud lairs in vast underground pockets. It is said that the dragons felt the need for servants, servants that were strong enough to undertake the demanding tasks of draconic kind and so they changed a group of humans, blessed some might claim, into the first Dragonborn. Centuries later some of them made it to the surface and have not looked back. Some still go into the Undercity but only to bring up more of their fellows into the light or to challenge the dragons directly.

• Drow: The descendants of a group of elves that were folded into the Undercity in a great cataclysm that claimed one of the early elven districts, the abysmal creatures known as Drow grow up in a bloodthirsty, hardscrabble society indeed. Mostly violent scavengers they prey on anything they can find in the Undercity that is weaker than themselves in order to survive. Those that find themselves on the surface often do out of accident and are usually shunned from proper society as savages, thieves and scum.

• Dwarf: Considered closest to the Builders along with Humans, the Dwarves are the second most numerous race in The City. They are industrious and no race is more dedicated to the maintaining of The City and the upholding of the One Edict. The only race who DIRECTLY attempts to worship The City are the dwarves, in fact.

• Elves and Eladrin: Elves and Eladrin are known not to be native to The City, which casts them in a somewhat negative light. It is said they came from another land across the western sea and settled in The City afterwards, finding homes in it's parks and avenues. At first it was a trickle of immigrants, not unknown even from early times, but then great fleets of the elf-folk appeared from off the horizon, ships of white wood flooding Harborland, escaping some great cataclysm from their homeland. From then on, Elves and Eladrin were permanent guests of The City. Both "races" are considered the Elven people, Eladrin are merely a branch of their people more in tune with the Fey realms, more in tune with mind than body. Children of Eladrin parents can sometimes be Elves and vice versa, there seems to be little genetic basis for the difference. Elves live in a very egalitarian society, currency is unknown amongst them and they all work together to ensure a high and consistent standard of living, which is made easy by the work of their leader, the Elf-Queen Reantiel, who resides within the form of the Edifice God Jinseiki, The Tree of Ages. They have spread to many districts in small numbers, but their home District is nothing BUT elves, the blessed floating park-island of Lorimrodel. Elves sometimes find it difficult to empathize with the shorter-lived races, leading to a rather alien outlook on life and the rest of The City.

• Half-Elf: The ethereal beauty of the fae peoples attracted humans easily and the fire and immediacy and industry of the short-lived mortal races did the same for the Elves. Half native and half foreigner, Half Elves are often a bridge between elven communities and the other people of The City as a matter of course. Their more alien Fey parents often plan in advance to have a half-elven child if they plan to trade or deal with the other peoples, meaning that half elves, while being affable, strong and attractive, are often also a put upon people, tied down by obligations to their parentage.

• Halfling: These clever river folk hold the secrets of traversing the canals and undercurrents of The City safely and make their livings by the water, guiding folks along and ferrying them for a fee. Halflings usually blend in with other races easily enough, being affable and simple, with humans seeing them as cousins of a sort. Halfling settlements are known to burst into song and celebration at the smallest convenience, halfling leaders often using the tiniest bit of good news as an excuse.

• Human: Along with the dwarves, the humans are the earliest known inhabitants of The City. In this generation, at least. Their numbers are comparable to dwarves but humans tend to be found spread out more, fearlessly integrating with any other race they fancy. They fill every possible strata of social positions, from lowly beggars to high lords of districts.

• Tiefling: Originating with the heads of a great conglomeration of crime families belonging to an inter-district organization, the first Tieflings were the heads of the most powerful crime dynasties in The City, the transformation into a devil-touched being a privilege of power. In time these families began to see the superiority of Tieflings, some say it was the influence of Asmodeus in their blood spurring them to think this way, but soon they decided that ALL tieflings and only tieflings should belong to their organization. They called upon the powers of Asmodeus and Fierna and soon the tiefling transformation ran like wildfire through their blood, and unbeknownst to them through the blood of anyone related to them directly… The sudden rash of people transforming into devil-folk alarmed the dwarves, as did the call by the new Turathi Dynasty that all tieflings were superior to the other races, and that they would conquer The City and rule it as first-class citizens, with all others serving them. They grew quickly to power, but the dwarves couldn't tolerate such an imbalance of power in The City and they worked together to smash down what would be known as the Turathi Highborne Supremacy. Now Tieflings are a looked down upon, defeated people, even those who were transformed by circumstance rather than choice are discriminated against and feared. Any large grouping of tieflings is prone to be broken up by dwarven police for fear of them being terrorist cells. Tiefling bonus attributes are +2 Int, +2 Con or Cha.

• Deva: Sometimes the Edifice-gods find something, someone really, under their eaves… even they can't explain these strange divine children, but every now and then a beautiful young child will appear from the center of power of one of the gods and will wander into the lives of the people living there, carrying with them the echoes of many, memories of those who prayed to the edifice god during its "pregnancy" giving it a wealth of knowledge, skill and talent to tap into in times of danger. The Deva are as respected as they are regarded folk of mystery and kept at arm's length, seemingly untouchable and beyond the other folk around them. Deva bonus attributes are +2 Wis, +2 Int or Cha.

• Orcs and Half-Orcs: The Orcish folk are a hardy, open, competitive society that developed in the darkness and danger of the monster-filled undercity. They have a rich heritage of being the line of defense between the surface and the horrors below and their worth to each other and place in society is measured in muscle, sweat, blood and pain. The more monsters you bring home, the more you are respected. The more power you gather, the more you are fit to lead. The leader of the Orcs is the great Warmaster, and he is seldom in power for more than a handful of years before another takes his place, and she in turn prepares to defend her place until someone bests her. Orcs can breed true with humans and half-orcs come from interbreeding with the brave human men and women who come from the surface to support the defensive line, the unique combination of human ingenuity and orcish brutality making for natural unit leaders. Orc bonus skills are +2 Athletics and +2 Intimidate. Their bonus attributes are +2 Str, +2 Con or Cha. Half-Orc bonus attributes are +2 Strength, +2 Dex or Int.

• Githzerai: Some Githzerai came through a portal on Up Street once and settled in a neighborhood, caring for it in their disciplined way and turning it into a sort of monastery, gathering people who wished to learn of the martial arts and the Gith ways of focusing the mind and aligning it with the body. Gith, therefore, have a reputation of being teachers and masters which some of the less scrupulous members of their race use to gain trusted positions for easier lifestyles.

• Goliaths: Said to be the progeny of giants that once lived in the highest hanging gardens atop the tallest towers, Goliaths are massive and used to towering over others both in stature and in intellect. They are a cultured, ordered people who plan out very long term goals and are not above both getting their own hands dirty and manipulating what they see as the lesser races to get things they wish for done. They can be arrogant and overbearing but they aren't an altogether unfair or tyrannical people once they've gotten to know someone and realize perhaps they aren't as different from them as their size might suggest. Goliath bonus attributes are +2 Con, +2 Str or Int.

• Minotaur: The Minotaur are some of the native inhabitants of the undercity and they find an almost meditative peace in mapping and navigating its twisting, seemingly endless mazes. If one wishes to travel into the lost roads of the undercity to find the forgotten districts and plumb the secrets of ages past, one will need a minotaur guide for certain. Though they have their moments of wildness and rage they are stalwart and have incredible memories. Many members of the undernavigator guilds commit the paths they take to memory to make sure a map can't fall into non-minotaur hands, endangering their livelihoods.

• Shardmind: The Undercity grows many strange crystalline formations and at times the essence of the edifice-gods above drip and filter down into these formations, giving them the divine spark they need to form a personality, an identity, to pull itself away from a cluster of its fellows and move on its own and even realize a gender if it is so inclined. They find their way to the surface and live out their lives.

• Warforged: The Forged Folk can be found in many parts of the city in many roles, sturdy automatons tireless and loyal. Some Forged are set free of their tasks for long service or exceptional acts and become their own people, making them a community that focuses on merit above all else as only the great can become free and only the free are truly strong. Forged in The City are calibrated for many tasks but are always exceptionally good at physical work. Their stat bonuses are +2 Constitution, +2 Strength or Intelligence.

Deities

In truth, the only Deity of the City is… The City Itself. The City is mercurial and fickle; sometimes it gifts the people with bountiful harvest and plentiful water, other times it seems to callously fold in on itself, entrapping whole neighborhoods into the hellish Undercity or unleashes hordes of the vermin that infest it upon the people. But many believe the City is too busy or too beyond mortal ken to hear prayers. What do hear prayers are the Edifice Gods. There are many of these great sacred monuments and each has not only a form and function but a SPIRIT all it's own. They hear the cries of the people and grant their boons, for good or ill, when the proper rites or incantations are called. Some Edifice Gods have given their rites away willingly, some have been interpreted, some have even been coerced into giving their divine magic to those who have stolen it… The City doesn't seem to speak directly to the Gods nor do they seem to be direct expressions of it's will, if it has a definite will, but they are obviously linked nevertheless, for these sites wouldn't have such power if The City didn't want it to be so…

It should be noted that the Edifice Gods don't necessarily give edicts or conditions. The Gods simply follow their natures and their followers emulate or learn from these natures and use the rites they glean from them to cast divine prayers. The religions around the Edifice Gods are very much the work of the people, not of any holy books they create. As such they have followers of any and all alignments. Following an Edifice is very personal. Ignore alignment constrictions when dealing with the Edifice Gods, even the fallen ones.

• Fu Mei the Evergiving Fountain: Taking the form of a great alabaster fountain flowing with arcs of beautifully, eternally clear and pure water with healing properties, crowned with the statue of a beatific saint of a woman, Fu Mei is widely worshiped within her district and without alike. Many potent potions of healing include her waters as an ingredient and this she doesn't mind. However, she does not WISH to be worshiped. She cannot help but be evergiving, freely allowing her rites to be taught and her powers drawn upon just as her waters, but she doesn't want anything in return, not even devotion and prayer. She has often tried to tell her devotees that they don't need to make offerings or worship to her, but they often take her words as either being a test of their faith or as simple modesty, as a Goddess she is MEANT to be worshiped, isn't she? Some of her less virtuous worshipers also secretly fear that if they stop, her powers will go away. Her divine servants are known as Ewer-bearers and bring hope, light and healing wherever they go, showing mercy even to evil. Domains: Hope, Life, Justice (3e: Water, Good, Healing, Repose)

• The Wukong Observatory: A tall and beautiful orrery and observatory made of brass and other less identifiable metals and glasses, Wukong watches the heavens in a district of The City that knows no daylight, eternally shined upon only by the stars above. The Observatory is an engine of fate and prophecy, its tickers constantly churning out mysterious koans and poems that, if deciphered, foretell future events. Clerics and Star Warlocks alike attend the Observatory, keeping watch over the heavens and some slowly going mad in the attempt to read and interpret Wukong's many writings. Domains: Fate, Moon, Madness (Madness, Luck, Chaos, Air)

• Ellamae the Turning Wheel: A most unlikely Edifice God, Ellamae, or just Ella to those who send prayers her way, is a small river mill by a quaint halfling settlement. She is considered to be the matron of all halflings and as a deity she represents change and plenty. Her grinding stone provides an infinite supply of fresh meal and flour, a small handful of seed all that is needed to make an endless supply of ground product. She is mercurial and bends to the whim of fortune, making many, not just halflings, send prayers her way for luck. Domains: Change, Freedom, Luck (Luck, Community, Travel, Liberation)

• The Enkida Gymnasium: Enkida is a fighting ring, a proving ground and an exercise ground for those who wish to be mighty, who venerate strength of the body but also value discipline and justice! Enkida is a goddess of men and women who see their bodies as temples, her edicts all involve treating oneself with pride and care but also not using one's strength to push around those weaker than you. Enkidans are strong, protective and eager to display their prowess in competition. Anyone who trains inside of Enkida seems to get stronger faster, muscle building quickly even under layers of fat! Domains: Strength, Protection, Skill (Strength, Protection, Glory, Good)

• Up Street, Wonders Untold: There is a street in the city that became bored with always being flat just like all of the other streets around it. It sighed and hemmed and hawed every day, bored and contemplative and desiring change, and so The City granted its wish and it reared itself up and decided to sit at a 90 degree angle to the rest of the world, creating Up Street. People can walk onto up street and follow it just like a normal road, gravity pulling you towards the neighborhood instead of the ground you're leaving behind. The unique thoroughfare has led to many, many shops of magical inclination to open up on it and more outsiders live there than anywhere else in the City, coming in through portals set up to the Astral Sea and Elemental Chaos. Domains: Arcana, Luck, Freedom (Magic, Rune, Artifice, Trickery)

• Jinseiki, Tree of Ages: The great Old Oak sits in the center of a most beautiful park, once a shining beacon of fertility and lustrous natural bounty, always offering fruit and those who slept beneath his branches could dream of things they'd never learned and know them when they woke just as if they'd studied in school. But one day the Elves came and set up the seat of their empire there in the park, hollowed out the Tree of Ages and connected his spirit to the soul of their great, eternal queen and she used her powers to raise the park up into the sky. Jinseiki is mostly silent now, prayers to him no longer reaching him from how far he's gone from his once-followers. His power greatly stifled by the ravenous elf-queen. Those who still follows Jinseiki are the greatest elf haters in The City and plot to bring down the park and restore their god by tearing the elf-queen out of him if need be. Domains: Earth, Life, Wilderness (Earth, Healing, Plant, Sun)

• Mjrngrinn, The Furnace Eternal: Rising from the undercity is a column of smokestacks ever bellowing a curiously white smoke, this is the top of mighty Mjrngrinn, edifice god of crafting and the firey sun and industry. The Dwarves love Mjrngrimm more than any other edifice god as he embodies the sort of perfectionism, hard work and rewarding labor that they so admire. Mjrngrimm seems to have nor need any source of fuel to keep his flame alive and anything forged in his flame just seems BETTER. Metals become better alloys, angles become sharper, curves become smoother and all things seem to flow towards their creator's vision of their perfection. Domains: Civilization, Creation, Sun (Sun, Fire, Artifice, Destruction)

• Tetela of the Skyrim: Tetela is the edifice god of storm, wind, rain and theatricality, a great amphitheater perched atop a high mountain overlooking the sea above the district of Harborland. Here great performances are given and the weather punctuates every moment, the wind amplifying just the right actors, lightning flashing to place a shadow over a scene, without even a crash of thunder if it wouldn't be appropriate. Tetela is prayed to to bring down showers upon The City as well as for creativity and performance skill. Tetela is the reason that weather patterns tend to conform to the mood of major events. (It's sunny on wonderful occasions like holidays and always rains on funerals for beloved people, etc.) Domains: Storm, Sea, Fate (Weather, Air, Charm, Glory)

• Cucirca the AllScribe: Cucirca is a massive library, almost alien in its technological superiority to everything around it. Reams of paper on massive belts are written on by automatic quills day in and day out then snipped and edited and shuffled into books and albums and periodicals and newspapers by mechanical servitors and then shelved by a precise system that means even those without a scholarly bone in their body can find what they need if they wish to travel to the proper stacks. Domains: Knowledge, Skill, Arcana (Rune, Law, Knowledge, Magic)

• Benaa the Dragonsgate: The greatest entrance to the undercity is also the home to the majority of the Orcish peoples and it is both supported and bounded by Benaa, like a massive war pavilion stretching outside of a gaping maw into the abyss. Benaa is a beautiful series of extremely tall red lacquered pillars and supports made of wood with magically enhanced gold, silver, brass, bronze and copper brackets holding up a black and gray marble ceiling draped with similarly colored silks. Nothing is strong enough to break down or knock over the pillars and the brackets never rust or weaken. The structure is essentially long barracks, armories, strategy rooms and large It offers perfectly cool shade at all times, resisting the heat from the sun outside or the hot air wafting up from the vents of the undercity. The other beings that can't cross Benaa are the dragons locked in the Undercity, hence the name. Benaa acts as a perfect barrier to them, though it does seem to give succor to the Dragonborn and other scalefolk. Benaa is called upon by anyone who desires shade, as protection against dragons or for glory in battle. Benaa is also the patron god of orc-kind. Domains: Darkness, Protection, War (War, Protection, Darkness, Glory)

• Penda, The House of Ivory and Silk: Penda is the world's greatest house of love and other pleasures. Within her walls art is fine, wine flows freely, the finest foods are cooked and of course the sex is the BEST. Her priests and priestesses believe that physical congress is their prayer and that every act of love, whether carnal or innocent, is a tribute to her. Life is sacred to her, whether its creation or its continuance, so among her followers are not only patrons of beauty and art but also doctors and nurses and midwives. Penda blesses those who rest within her walls with great fertility or virility and they may even find their… assets are enhanced. A common comment towards one who is well endowed would be something like "Well, she/he must be a pendite, eh?" She is sometimes considered 'sisters' with Fu Mei since though they both work and exist in very different ways they both promote good health and beauty in their followers and supplicants. Domains: Love, Protection, Skill (Charm, Nobility, Healing, Plant)

The Fallen Edifices

These dark gods were once Edifice Gods like the rest, however they grew to RESENT their purpose, hating their functions and the static forms their creator The City had made for them. It is not known how, some speculate deals with Devils or creatures from the Far Plane or perhaps help from rebellious mages, but somehow the Fallen Edifices transcended the forms they were given to become free-moving entities… Despite being entities rather than structures, the religions that rise around them are very similar in structure to those of the Gods, with a vital difference… While the Fallen have their own clerics who simply adhere to their philosophies, there are also people who honestly want to lay The City low because they believe as long as the people live there they will never truly have their own destinies, so they draw power from the hate of the Fallen and use it against The City, these are the Wasters.

• The Old Stagnant Malaise, Poisoning the Deepest Waters: The Malaise was once the spirit of a water treatment plant, drawing the taint from the sewage waters of The City and bearing the pain of all the disease and malignancy it purified. Over time it broke the great taboo of the edifice gods: It became very unhappy with its position. Mad with pain and hatred and unwilling to keep working Malaise began to turn on those who relied on it, inflicting pollution and horror on all who it deemed worthy of the pain it felt. Now it flows as a brackish tide down the canals of The City, bringing its venom with it. Domains: Poison, Madness

• Reese of Sharp Angles: Once an alley where gamblers could go to win against each other in a neverending cycle, Reese became unsatisfied with the constant flow of gold through him, never a drop of it falling out of place, especially not to him. He was a place where nothing really happened, it was all in good fun, all for practice games elsewhere. He grew tired of it and began to sow resentment in those who played in him, reveling in argument and pain and the blood of fistfights landing on his cobbles. Now he manifests in alleyways where he makes sure gangs pull knives and the homeless go hungry. Domains: War, Strife

• Viola, the Heaving Cemetary: Accepting the dead was once Viola's only desire, interring them in her cool and quiet earth and letting them sleep the eternal sleep, happy with her station… Until her curiosity got the better of her and she started to make the dead walk again, watching them cavort, delighting in life returned, in a way, even laughing and singing as her undead charges lurched forth to embrace their loved ones and by miracle and blood making them like they were and Viola's heart grew and burst with love for her charges until she could not be contained, travelling from graveyard to graveyard to continue the great dance macabre and show everyone her special brand of love. Domains: Love, Undeath

• Barren Kao Lon, Death of Parks: Being an irrigation system was great at first! Kao Lon made things grow, he made things prosper. He watched the earth bend to his waters but… He rusted. It happens to many pipe systems in their time but he rusted and no one noticed, no one rescued him and he grew lonely, and bitter and angry and they he KILLED the park just to let everyone know he was there, that he existed and people lamented and moved on and left him there still, not moving even a pound of earth to find and clean him. Now he slithers through the earth like a metal serpent, taking root in new parks to let loose his rust and hate and kill it as well, declaring his fate will never happen to another poor, beleaguered set of pipes. Domains: Destruction, Vengeance

• Mishka, the Attic Rusalka: Attics are quiet, peaceful places of repose, like graveyards for old things, for the things we still love but that have no use. Mishka cared for these things in her attic, reading every old album and chapbook, looking over dusty portraits and needlework, brushing off ancient furniture and letting it feel useful, not wanting anything to feel left out or forgotten, reminding them that they were there and not out with the garbage… Then she witnessed something unusual, a human coming up not to store a thing, but to store themselves at the end of a knotted rope… And this kept happening in many attics all over, people would come up and hang themselves and Mishka became obsessed… Why would they do this? What was the purpose? So she began luring people up to her attics, finding herself in many, and watching them die, observing the process with a clinical precision. Like a spectre she can be found, passionless and full of dark interest, waiting beside an oddly alluring noose and promising the freedom of death to those she swears she will watch over, and dust off and keep company and not let feel left out or forgotten. Domains: Death, Darkness

• Koorimaru, Frozen in Aspect: Koorimaru spent all day and all night staring at the flayed and naked sides of butchered cattle and sheep and goats and chickens, an eternally frosty, wintery land encased in a warehouse the locals prayed to him for preservation and eternity and he gave it to them with their food. But in the summer, the outside world was so hot, everything spoiled, everything withered and died under the cruel, hateful sun… So Koorimaru started to reach out, expanding and floating as a bank of shrouding mist, covering the land in soothing shadow, encasing people in the SAFETY and ETERNITY of his ice, happily watching them frost over and become perfect, locked in an agonizingly numb prison, conscious but helpless and doomed to a fate of bone-deep solidification. Better to be perfect and beautiful and suffering to death than to spend the rest of your short life rotting, believes the Frozen One. Domains: Torment, Winter

• Jagaina, the Hunger that Never Ends: There are buildings in areas of The City that have no land for cultivation called 'Automats.' Mysteriously these places are supplied with food in great machines with clear windows that open with just a handful of coins placed into a handy slot! The simpler the meal provided the less expensive it is and vice versa. One such Automat, though, never felt as if it was doing ENOUGH. It lowered its prices and everything but people tended to leave after just one or two meals! They HAD to still be hungry! So Jagaina reached out and started to MAKE people hungry. They could eat and eat and still not feel full even after their stomach was bulging fit to burst. Wasn't that wonderful? They would eat until they were immobile and then, she supposed, they finally had enough. Especially if they stopped breathing, those people should probably moderate. But that's not her problem! Jagaina has since escaped her bonds and exists as a plague of gluttonous hunger.

Factions

As the City lacks an overarching government, instead being broken up into Districts, the only inter-district political links are with the factions, philosophical guilds that bridge across the City and hold their meetings in offices and guild halls all over the place. Not every district hosts every Faction, but it's not difficult to find your way to them no matter where they're meeting up. Every Faction wants more members, after all.

• The Maintainers: The predominant faction, the Maintainers are all about continuing the symbiotic relationship between The People and The City. They don't change anything, but they do make repairs, like antibodies flowing through the City's metal veins, the primarily dwarf faction seeks out problems and ailments with the City's structure and fixes them. They also maintain maps of the city and try to be present when new roads, alleys and buildings are being 'born.'

• The Architects: The Architects are considered heretics in the eyes of the Maintainers. Whereas most residents of the City are content to know that the City spawns them new buildings and thoroughfares over time, the Architects want to control this growth and build their own structures, which is considered taboo by many. The City doesn't seem to have an opinion one way or another as it tolerates these new structures just as it does its own.

• The Alienists: Also known as 'Xenophiles,' Alienists believe that more Outsider traffic into The City is vital for its diversity and survival. Many of them live in or near Elven districts and Up-Street. Alienists tend to adopt outlandish styles, trying to emulate Outsiders, they attract many 'punky' younger members.

• The Migrationists: The Migrationist credo is that the city may one day be overfilled and the best way to serve it is to be able to leave it. While they may not believe they need to leave NOW few people study methods of travel and try to develop vehicular travel more than Migrationists. Even tales of Elves of the horror they fled from the West isn't enough to quench the Migrationist thirst to see other places in their world. The City can't be all there is, can it?

• The Underworlders: This Orc-run faction is the core of the line of defense in the Undercity. They believe less in protecting the surface from the monsters in the deep places and more in pushing forward to take back the undercity, taking and repairing Districts Below as they move on, fortifying them as places to fall back when things get bad.

• The Wasters: A faction that is oft-reviled by other factions for their terrorist actions, but if you ask THEM they're just guerrillas. The Wasters believe that The City isn't an overdeity-made-manifest or a semi-sentient inorganic life-form, they think it's a CANCER. A thing that has been devouring the world, stretching deeper than anyone knows and enslaving the People to its whims as well as creating the Edifice Gods, some who become miserable and transform themselves into Fallen Edifices. Wasters often become Divine servants of the Fallen Edifices, and even ENCOURAGE normal Edifice Gods to Fall, despite the horrors these beings tend to wreak on the People.

• The Free: A faction who believe that keeping a home limits one's spiritual growth and that travelling the city freely is the true way. They're almost universally physically fit and eschew shoes or heavy belongings, mastering ways of running and movement that allow them to traverse the urban sprawl. They call this way "Freerunning." For them adventure is their life. They leap up the sides of tall buildings just to see what it looks like up there, then jump down awning to awning to run down the street and do it again. Their lifestyle is almost monastic in the way they contemplate meditatively over the many cityscapes they lay their eyes on.

Geography

Districts

Analogous to cities in places where there is more than just The City, districts are often what you claim when you hail from somewhere.