City of Stygia
THE CITY ITSELF
Every Necropolis has its busy spots and around them whole neighborhoods where a wraith may be all alone, with only glimpses across the Shroud and her own Shadow. The depths of the Underworld are much bigger than the world, and have even more empty spaces, and there are countless places where there may be lots of exotic creatures or Spectres but very few wraiths. Then there’s Stygia. Stygia is the city of wraiths, at least in the Dark Kingdom of Iron. Ancient beyond comprehension and constantly inhabited by millions upon millions of wraiths, it sprawls for miles across its original island, shallows of the Sunless Sea, and nearby islands. It is simultaneously altogether unlike any living city and deeply familiar in its parts, since it includes the memories of famous buildings, monuments, roads, and features from across the western world. It is the capital of Charon’s venerable empire and it is the place to see and be seen among the dead. It’s home to wraiths in a way no other place can ever be. Sooner or later, the ambitious, the powerful, and the lost all find their way here. Stygia rests on and around the Isle of Sorrows, a stable point within the Sea of Shadows. It’s at the mouth of the River of Death, which flows through much of the Dark Kingdom of Iron, and stands just a few miles from the top of the Veinous Stair, which runs all the way down into the Labyrinth. These are not things that could all be true of any place in the Skinlands. Rivers don’t flow through seas, for instance, except in the form of currents in special conditions. In the Underworld, geography is more accommodating. The River of Death partly flows from island to island like a current in a physical ocean, but it also descends through rapids, falls, and twists through multiple dimensions. Likewise, the sea around the Veinous Stair is sometimes like water, sometimes like a howling wind, and sometimes turbulent in complex ways all its own. The Underworld keeps reminding its inhabitants that it’s not like where they came from.
Almost all modern wraiths approach Stygia either by rail or by river. It’s certainly possible to fly in when there’s no storm blowing, but not encouraged. The city’s defenders always worry about what might come in airborne, and space for landing strips is in short supply. For decades, there was a regular zeppelin service along the river, but a series of four-bell Maelstroms in the late 1970s took care of that.
Tributaries of the River of Death flow through the Shadowlands in whatever direction they need to, and not always consistently at that — river sections that reverse their flow are commonplace. They take on more consistent directions as they converge. The main channel of the river traces a continentalscale arc like the shape of a sickle head — much like that of Stygia itself — starting at a northwest point, curving east and south, and finally flowing west as it empties out into the sea. For the last several hundred miles of its length, the river is always at least a mile wide, with countless islands large and small dotting the expanse. The river flows deep, too. It has shoals that may rest just a few feet below the surface, but the main channel is always hundreds of feet deep, often thousands, and in many places it is apparently bottomless. The largest relic vessels ever known can safely sail it, along with soulsteel constructs larger than anything the Skinlands could ever support. Famous relic ships work the channel regularly, along with strange agglomerations of a half-dozen relic vessels bolted together in ungainly fashion. The rafts of the Ferrymen also patrol the river’s course, and even the largest vessels will turn aside at the sight of the hood and lantern. The river is also home to some of the only living things in the Underworld, using the term loosely. Stands of withered and gnarled trees line the riverbank in clumps here and there, their long branches drooping down to almost touch the water. This is the only vegetation the river possesses, and few wraiths are brave enough to take saw or axe to them. Doing so is said to be bad luck, and more importantly, will incur the Ferrymen’s wrath. Also seen along the banks of the river and up into the great chasm that is Horse-Noose Canyon are the last few of the wild horses Charon tamed and gave to his Equitaes. Fierce and wildeyed, they run in herds of up to 20 at a time. Approaching them is foolish, as their hooves are as hard as Stygian steel and they don’t take kindly to strangers. On rare occasions they can be seen swimming from one side of the river to the other, daring whatever plasmic predators lurk in the deeps to try their luck. Few, if any, ever do. Docks surround the Isle of Sorrows, and also many of the smaller islands it’s now connected with. The docks are busy, but travelers have long waits for customs and inspections only in rare moments of crisis.
The Midnight Express is the most famous railway in the Underworld, but not the only one. Many groups of wraiths build and maintain rail lines for all sorts of reasons, from simple ambition to a desire to continue doing what one did in life. Some are small-gauge routes intended only to carry a few people at a time, others are more rugged tracks intended to carry the heaviest cargos that wraiths prefer not to send by other means. Most of the time, these lines and the trains on them have little to do with each other. There’s plenty of room and more, due to simple space-twisting tricks that let crossing routes never directly intersect. The one area they come together is in the last few miles outside Stygia. Tracks of all styles and gauges rise, fall, and bend as necessary to line up in parallel on trestles built from ancient ruins and storm debris. They skim across the sea, 100 feet above sea level, to arrive at the largest depot in the Dark Kingdom of Iron. Built largely from long-replaced pieces of Grand Central, Union Station, Gare de Lyon, and many more, it has an immense Victorian grandeur that both welcomes wraiths to the island and warns them that they should be on their best behavior.
Guilds of Stygia
Great / High Guilds
These guilds are required for Stygia and wraithly society to operate. As a result, they operate more or less openly as Arcanos-based organizations, even after the Breaking of the Guilds. Those who practice these Arcanos are respected by everyone, including the Hierarchy.
Artificers: Less required for their Inhabit Arcanos than for their mastery of Soulforging, the Artificers consider themselves the oldest Guild, and Guild founder Nhudri is arguably the most respected and well-known wraith after Charon and the Lady of Fate.
Masquers: Along with the Artificers, the masters of Moliate are responsible for the majority of Stygia's plasmic goods. As a result, the Masquers Guild is well-accepted within Stygia, even though the Masquers often use their abilities to skirt extremely dirty business, particularly through operatives such as Slander.
Pardoners: Acting as everything from therapists to exorcists, the Pardoners control and manage the shadow inside of every wraith, they are invaluable members of Stygian society because without the Pardoners and Castigation, Stygia would collapse into Oblivion in a fortnight.
Usurers: Usury is an extremely useful Arcanos which allows the trade of pathos and other goods from one wraith to another, while extremely useful the Usurers themselves still struggle to recover from their fall following the Breaking. Trying to regain their reputation and respect.
Working Guilds
Guilds in this category are considered "working-class"; that is, they consist of wraiths who earn a day-to-day living through their Arcanos. These Guilds are still illegal, but do not boast Arcanoi that violate the Dictum Mortuum and are therefore granted a varying degree of tolerance, ranging from nobody in the Hierarchy caring about membership towards not excessively hunting for members. These guilds are often less forthcoming with their Arcanoi as well.
Chanteurs: The guild of Keening is generally grouped together with the Sandmen as the entertainers of the dead; Able to affect and manipulate their voices to give life and passion to the hallow emptiness of the shadowlands. They are offered a wider berth than afforded to less fun guilds, Because after all, who wants to exist in a silent afterlife?
Harbingers: Masters of the Argos Arcanos, the Harbingers are the primary transport and messenger service for the dead. Without the Harbingers, Stygian outposts would be unable to communicate and many wraiths would be lost in the Tempest. However, as the majority of Harbingers focus more on their personal work rather than Guild affairs, and the Guild itself is loosely organized, they are not considered a Great Guild.
Oracles: The Fatalism Guild is the Arcanoi of seeing the past and future, draped in tarot cards and astrology they are looked at with suspicion and fear as the ones who always know too much. They have powerful patrons and a reputation for playing Cassandra to Charon. As a result, the guild occupies a quasi-legal state – well-organized, but nobody admits it in public.
Sandmen: As with the Chanteurs, the masters of Phantasm work the theatre of dreams and sleep, Their art is more subtle then most and it is one they love above all. They are afforded a high degree of independence because eventually, everyone in Stygia visits them for entertainment.
Criminal Guilds These guilds are not only illegal, but they violate the Dictum Mortuum or are otherwise known for egregiously violating Stygian law. Membership in these Guilds may not result in outright soulforging, but too much familiarity with their Arcanoi can be unhealthy. However, familiarity is difficult to come by, as most of these guilds will not let their secrets loose to just any ghost. That is not to say they do not have their own influence in Stygian society; they are probably the closest thing to an "underworld" in the Underworld. Haunters: Practitioners of Pandemonium fled to the shadows because their entire purpose is to violate the Dictum Mortuum. They have spent their time cackling like maniacs ever since.
Monitors: Lifeweb is a critical Arcanos for the maintenance of Fetters allowing the Monitors to watch, visit and protect the Fetters of themselves and others but regardless the Monitors are mistrusted due to the encouraged abuse of their Arcanos by the Guild. If they were not so paranoid and generally unpleasant, they would likely have an easier time in Stygian society.
Spooks: The closest thing to a New Jersey Mafia among the dead, the Spooks are a confederation of adoptive families united by their mastery of Outrage, their control of Pathos-running and other quasi-legal enterprises, and their willingness to do head-busting favors as often as possible. They are much like the Mafia of the living; you don't know they exist until you need a favor from them.
Proctors: Like the Haunters, Spooks and Puppeteers, the entire purpose of Embody is to visit the Skinlands. Unlike these other guilds, the Proctors have always been intensely self-absorbed. While a criminal guild, they are considered a nonthreatening criminal guild.
Puppeteers: The Puppetry Arcanos allows control of living bodies, and of the criminal Arcanoi is the one that has found the most unofficial use throughout the history of the dead. That said, the Guild has always been barely tolerated at best, and these days, they hide out in the Skinlands as much as possible. They also have strong ties to the Risen.
Forbidden Guilds
Also called the Lesser Guilds as they were not invited to sign the Compact of the Guilds, these groups are hunted by the Hierarchy and feared by wraith society. Membership in one of these Guilds supposedly carries an automatic sentence of soulforging. Some members manage to subvert their punishments somehow, but must still carefully hide their talents, lest the wrong person find out.
Alchemists: Flux masters were historically considered something of an appendage to the Artificers. With the Breaking, the institution of the Dictum Mortuum, and the loss of support from their parent Guild, the Alchemists had no place to go but underground.
Mnemoi: Once the judges of Stygia, the masters of Mnemosynis used their mind altering powers to interrogate and investigate, but were found corrupt and banished from Stygia with a vengeance far before the Breaking. Any which are left use their powers now as "Mind Robbers" stealing and selling back the memories of victimized Wraiths, They are spoken of in frightened whispers and have no place in open Stygian society. The punishment for Mnemoi membership is soulforging, no questions asked.
Solicitors: Never part of the guilds per se, this cabal of Intimation masters could change and manipulate the desires this power has fearsome potential as in the wrong hands it could change someone's entire identity in a mere instant. Despised by Stygian society they have continued illegally since the Breaking as if nothing had happened.
Faction: The Dark Kingdom of Iron
Inhabitants: Wraiths
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