An Incomplete Map of Terra Incognita
Below are 11 example cities to illustrate how The World can impact and shape our modern society.
In The World, the Athenian Acropolis is as much a place of worship as of tourism. Though most of its temples and monuments were ruined throughout history, the Theoi’s loyal devotees stubbornly rebuild every time. Athena graces caryatids across the city with the power to come to life as guardians, stepping down from their columns to attack anyone who approaches with foul intent. When Elgin took the Parthenon Marbles from the city in the early 1800s, one of the caryatids from the Erechtheum’s Porch was among them, and occasionally Athens’ stone maidens campaign for champions to rescue their lost sister.
Gates: The Sacred Way, a road that leads from Athens’ Kerameikos region to Eleusis, marks the route pilgrimages and processions take to honor the Eleusinian Mysteries. Those with knowledge of the inner Mysteries know the keys that let them travel this road directly into the Underworld — and back, if they follow Persephone’s strict rules. Strange Places: The Acropolis’ layers of forgotten temple foundations beneath those that rebuilt or replaced them have spawned eerie, timeless corners where visitors find themselves briefly transported to ancient festivals or hear whispers speak of prophecies soon coming to pass.
Touchstones: The Parthenon art museum in Nashville, Tennessee doubles as a temple to the urban Athena Polias, overlapping metaphysically with the original. Those who enact the procession of Athena’s Great Panathenaea festival, making proper sacrifices to the Goddess and bringing a peplos robe made by women’s hands to drape over her statue, can travel between the two. Every Olympic torch in The World leads back to the ceremonial site at the Panathenaic Stadium, where each Olympic flame begins its journey to the games’ host nation. The World’s Athens has hosted the games more times than anywhere else, as the Theoi consider the Olympics “theirs,” and their agents meddle to get them back whenever another city wins the bid.
The Irish diaspora’s roots date all the way back to mythic prehistory, when the Fomorians first banished the ancestors of the Tuatha Dé from the Emerald Isle. Since then, millions of Irish have sailed to make homes around The World, and the Port of Boston has long been a common destination. Their Gods accompanied them wherever they roamed to help keep ind iress (the faith) alive for their descendants. The Tuatha encourage Boston’s commitment to the arts, and appreciate its historical significance to the American Revolution — after all, they once fought a Titanomachy for similar reasons. The city’s long history of Irish and Irish-American politicians is no accident: Ever since a Scion of Ogma signed the Declaration of Independence, American Heroes of the Tuatha have taken an interest in places with significance to the nation’s founders, like Boston and Philadelphia. People who carry tokens of the Tuatha’s favor tend to get elected. Boston often hosts the Kami’s Worldly associates, as a sister city to Kyoto. This partnership has strengthened ties between the Kami and the Tuatha in recent times — in particular, Susano-O loves to party with Manannán mac Lir and the Morrígan, and their rowdy shenanigans spill over into the city occasionally.
Gates: Sídhe, or fairy mounds, generously litter Boston Common, the 50-acre public park downtown. Those who picnic near one hear fae songs on the wind. Follow a runaway balloon or savvy squirrel along the wrong path, pay the toll or answer the riddle when you reach a crossroads, and find yourself lost in a dreamlike garden with inhabitants that want to cater to your every whim (forever, but who’s counting?).
The Common also contains the Central Burying Ground, a cemetery that has graced the park for over two centuries. Here, the Irish dead cross through a gate that leads to Teach Duinn, the lighthouse for lost souls. But the metaphysical journey mirrors the vast distance between Ireland and Massachusetts, and souls get a little too lost more often than they should. Downtown Boston is known for its frequent sluagh hauntings.
The preponderance of sages among Irish deities gave rise to the plethora of universities and museums in Boston. Such institutions that carry original books or artifacts written in Old Irish, or a musical instrument made in Ireland, house gates that lead to the Dagda’s mystical library or Ogma’s ogham trail markers in the Otherworld. One only has to know how to read or play the item with proper reverence.
Kyoto was once the Imperial capital of Japan, before Kagutsuchi the fire Kami schemed to burn down the palace and chase the Emperor away to Tokyo. A God of uncontrollable emotion and frequent violence, Kagutsuchi wages a passive-aggressive prayer battle in Kyoto, employing yokai to help him arrange for raging blazes — “accidental” or otherwise — in his jealousy. He’s jealous because people pray more to Atago Gongen, the local Kami mantle of the Buddhist God Jizo, for safety from fires rather than bending over backward to appease him. These yokai spread chaos in the city by kidnapping Kami from the portable shrines that protect their shintai — objects and natural features that house Kami spirits — when priests move them from place to place for festivals, and coaxing out their darker, destructive souls to turn them wild. As a result, Kyoto’s holy places are some of the most heavily guarded in The World, and their miko (shrine maidens) and kannushi (holy men) are trained in divine protective arts. Temples are always on the lookout for trustworthy mercenaries and freelance exorcists to hire during festival times.
Gates: The torii arches that grace the entrances to Shinto shrines stand to demarcate holy places. Anyone who performs a piece of music or other artistic work beautiful enough to catch the attention of Benten may pass through a torii to Heaven. It’s a popular pastime to make love under a torii in the middle of the night to win Benten’s approval. Some torii also serve as Touchstones to one another, particularly between shrines that belong to the same network and are connected via the art of Kami division, such as the Hachiman shrines.
Strange Places: The oldest parts of urban Kyoto were modeled after the Chinese city of Chang’an (now Xi’an), according to mystical principles of harmony. Certain auspicious street corners, garden alcoves, and favorably placed rooms fall under the auspices of the Shén, and Kami who live there are considered part of the celestial bureaucracy (whether they know it or not). A few telephone poles, flagpoles, trees, and drainpipes serve as sky ladders that lead to the Chinese Heaven.
Monkey Park Iwatayama, on the slopes of Mount Arashiyama, is ostensibly just a wildlife park where visitors can watch and feed the many macaque monkeys that live there. But Sarutahiko’s personal monkey friends live there too, and guests who leave the right offerings at hidden crossroads can consult with them for decision-making advice, martial arts training, and passing messages to their Godly patron.
Lately, fishermen and tourists have reported an unprecedented number of strange sightings, and the police have a worryingly long list of missing persons to search for. Those who facilitate communication with the island’s dodaem caution that the misiginebig, the giant serpent sleeping in the underwater spirit cave that stretches between South Bay and Manitowaning Bay, has woken. Local authorities search for a Scion of Maudjee-Kawiss — or anybody else willing — to lead a hunting party to slay the beast, while the nibiinaabe merfolk beseech anyone brave enough to speak to them for help. A pall of dire things to come has fallen over the island entire, even to those who know nothing of the Manitou. But the Anishinaubaek here refuse, as they always have, to leave their ancestral land, and they prepare to fight to the last to keep it safe.
Secreted away on Treasure Island is a tree that reaches far higher than it should, though it seems like an ordinary tree to passersby. If someone performs a certain ceremony entreating a friendly Manitou to reveal the way, she can climb inside this tree to reach a vast network of branches and roots. Navigated correctly, it leads to Skyworld. A longer and more circuitous route can take a traveler to Yggdrasil and other such World trees.
Strange Places: The Anishinaubaek visit a majestic promontory called Dreamer’s Rock to fast for days on end in search of Manitou dreams. Here, youths receive blessings from their guardian dodaem for the first time, and the Gods may grant healing powers and secret knowledge to people who complete vision quests, as they once did to the great Scion Shawanosowe. Outsiders must request permission from the Whitefish River First Nation to visit Dreamer’s Rock.
The waterfall known as Bridal Veil Falls near Kagawong is home to a mysterious Manitou, small of stature, who wears a red feather. He grants food and fertility blessings to those who politely accept his hospitality and successfully wrestle him, and can help seekers of lost family or ancestors navigate the rivers of The World to find them.
A sharp aesthetic contrast divides Memphis, the shining modern metropolis of skyscraper spires and highspeed maglev trains, from Saqqara, its macabre next-door neighbor where tombs both ancient and newly built stand side by side with sprawling apartment complexes. Part of the Memphis municipality, the borough of Saqqara mostly operates as an independent accessory to the arts of the dead that dominate it. Here in its imposing office buildings, libraries, pawn shops, and temples, eerily self-possessed officials field requests and process paperwork from visitors to borrow or barter for relics, consult oracles, pass messages along to the dead via ghostly emissaries, or secure embalmers’ services for their corpses upon their deaths. Those who pass the secret trials necessary to live here reap the benefits of free access to Saqqara’s many mysteries and a peerless healthcare plan.
Strange Places: People across Memphis sign up years in advance to celebrate their 30th birthdays at the Ozymandias Club that stands at the feet of the colossal statue of Rameses II in the middle of a busy plaza downtown. One who turns 30 under its roof, and offers up a great personal sacrifice that represents her most triumphant victory to the eternal legacy of Rameses II and his endless Heb Sed festival, is Fated to settle the thorniest of her life’s conflicts that very year, either through achieving an impossible peace or defeating an impossibly strong foe.
Hidden somewhere along the dusty back roads of Saqqara is the tomb of Imhotep, which he built himself and concealed with magic as a final enigma to hand down to his eventual successor. The mortal who finds the esoteric clues scattered across the many layers of Memphis’ long history and pieces them together may be the first to set foot across the tomb’s threshold in almost 5,000 years. There, he must solve the puzzles and riddles posed by the labyrinthine halls to reach its innermost chamber, where Imhotep’s true ren is inscribed. Tales say that, should this person speak the ren aloud, he will inherit the God’s human soul and all his secrets — and perhaps even his Visitation.
Gates: The Mexica’s ancestral homeland of Aztlan contained seven caves that birthed the various Nahua tribes. From here, Huitzilopochtli led his favored people to the place where they would build Tenochtitlan, as the other tribes had gone from Aztlan to other homes. But Aztlan remains as a Midrealm in the Overworld, and one who digs deep beneath Mexico City can find waterlogged caverns that lead back to Aztlan’s lake island, if he denounces his old name and identity to take up new ones on the journey.
Strange Places: Archaeologists recently opened a sealed tunnel beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Teotihuacan, uncovering a passage lined with mercury and shards of pyrite that glow like the night sky in the darkness. Te tl Scions ready themselves for battle — the explorers stumbled upon a prison for a horde of fallen tzitzimime, now free. The cold power of the stars lives there still, confusing visitors’ senses and leading them astray into empty hollows where they vanish forever, devoured by the dark. Within Mexico City’s central downtown neighborhood, which stands directly atop Tenochtitlan, compasses spin uselessly and GPS devices fail. The literal center of the universe defies human navigation, exerting its impossible pull upon the Centro Histórico. But clandestine shops and market stalls displaying the black jaguar of Tezcatlipoca sell obsidian mirrors that can lead their possessors to their desires and show the way to places they will go in the future.
Touchstones: The Angel of Independence stands platedin shining gold at the top of a victory column downtown. The angel represents the Greek Goddess Nike, and the Teotl fight with the Theoi over ownership and use of it. The column is a Touchstone that connects to similar victory columns around The World when blood is spilled in triumph there, including those in Berlin, Copenhagen, Jaen, Saint-Denis, Chihuahua, and Saint Petersburg.
When Liberty Enlightening The World went up in New York Harbor to welcome immigrants from far and wide, Columbia, the Goddess of Democracy and America, declared the island on which the statue stood neutral ground. A meeting place, she said, where Heroes and Demigods, Incarnations and legendary creatures, agents of all kinds from every pantheon, and even titanspawn could come for diplomacy with the guarantee of personal safety. One or two of Columbia’s other Mantles vehemently opposed the plan — the young nation’s deity hasn’t yet settled into a single dominant identity — but in this the tides of Fate came down in her favor. The peace has lasted over a century, if only because it’s so easy for anyone with a grudge that can’t be talked out to take a ferry over to the Battery and duke out their differences on the grand urban playground instead. New Yorkers deal with the fallout constantly, in a million ways both subtle and blatant. It’s not unusual for a simple commute to turn sour when a pack of monkeys shouting in Hindi attacks a couple of ravens minding their own business for maybe being Odin’s spies, in the middle of a crowded crosswalk. (To be fair, they usually are Odin’s spies.) The city’s budget sets funds aside every fiscal year under the header of “Spiritual Matters” for municipal maintenance and repair in the wake of Scion battles, demon invasions, river serpents, frost giants, subway ghosts, and whatever else might befall it.
Still, it’s not all blood and mayhem in the City that Never Sleeps. For every supernatural tussle a New Yorker records on her smartphone and posts to YouTube, a wealth of cross-pantheon cooperation and R&R is happening just around the corner. An Incarnation of Èshù Elègbará owns a bar in Times Square — the Crossroads of The World — and welcomes any and all to drink there, whether they be mortal, divine, titanspawn, or anything in between. A freestyle hip-hop dance group in Brooklyn dedicates their craft to any God who loves dancing and doesn’t mind bestowing blessings now and then. Each line of the subway calls upon a different Liminal deity to ward off delays and signal malfunctions, and agents of each one engage in friendly competition for bragging rights. Anyone with divine connections knows NYC is the place to go when his own pantheon frowns on anything from romantic dalliances with titanspawn to rejecting outdated notions of what’s “acceptable.” Maybe he wants to disappear into the crowd, or maybe he’d rather find somebody to watch his back while he stands up for what he believes in — either way, the city’s got him covered.
Gates: The Statue of Liberty functions not just as a relic referee for the Godly neutral zone but also as a Gate to Columbia’s Godsrealm for anyone who has made a sacrifice for any kind of freedom — their own, or someone else’s. It’s also a hub for other Liberty Enlightening The World statues across the globe, all of which lead back to Liberty Island.
Strange Places: Some say the graffiti palace of 5Pointz — a factory building in Long Island City transformed into a beloved monument to street art — was sold off and painted over a few years ago. Others say it’s still there, and they have recent photographs to prove it. Gods of Artistry from every pantheon, including Brigid, Sarasvati, and Khnum, watch over the place and preserve it against any effort to snuff out its creative fire, but only for those with inspiration in their souls and a passion for self-expression.
The wild places in and around this city are home to a staggering number of legendary creatures — elves and trolls are just the tip of the iceberg. For the most part, the people of Reykjavik and the hidden folk simply stay out of each other’s way. Urban expansion regularly routes around known álagablettur, or places of power, and elf habitats. Subtle clauses in the Althing’s legislature take magic, prophecy, and other extenuating mystical circumstances into account. Draugar might occasionally rise after a botched funeral or a troll might snatch a purse from a tourist who doesn’t know the right ways to appease it, but by and large everyone coexists without fuss. Some dwarves even offer workshops in various crafts at local schools and universities to people willing to pay in gold or favors.
Worship of the Æsir has persisted as a quiet but constant undercurrent since Reykjavik’s founding in the ninth century, and in recent years it’s experienced a considerable resurgence. Some devotees built a brand-new temple to pay their respects, and preside over daily public ceremonies on the Gods’ behalf. Others prefer more direct methods of worship, tying themselves to greater Fates through emulation. A biker gang styling themselves the Wilder Hunt roams highways and back roads in the Alfaðir’s name, each wearing an eyepatch to cover their sacrificed left eye, seeking ways to preserve Reykjavik when Ragnarok comes — and if their seers are right, it won’t be long at all now.
Strange Places: In the northwest of the city, the Neighborhood of the Gods features streets named after many of the Norse pantheon’s luminaries, and those who live here see their Fates bend in ways reminiscent of the God whose name graces their address. Dedicated academics and scientists compete to grab apartments on Óðinsgata, while those seeking the courage to face hardships move to Týsgata. Nobody lives on Lokastígur unless they don’t mind making trouble and laughing at the occasional “neighborhood watch” gathered as a thinly veiled attempt to ward off their potential misdeeds. While others might question the wisdom of deliberately leashing their Fates to doomed deities, residents shrug and go about their lives — Ragnarok comes for us all, they say, so what’s a little doom compared to achieving greatness?
Though the pantheon has devotees all over the globe, Salvador is where the Incarnations of Èshù Elègbará — Exû, here — spend a lot of their time. It’s the ultimate ever-evolving cultural crossroads, and it’s where his beloved àshe (axé in Portuguese) manifests directly through the musical style of the same name, invented right here and taking The World by storm. It’s also a home to capoeira, equal parts deadly martial art and vivacious street dance, which soteropolitanos — people from Salvador — still use to this day to protest injustices and fight discrimination of all kinds. Scions of Shàngó (Xangô) especially like to gather capoeiristas to protect their neighborhoods, take loud stands, and stop other pantheons from bringing their Titanomachies to Brazil.
Strange Places: Many endangered species of flora and fauna inhabit over 40,000 square miles of forest that surround Salvador, stretching up and down the Bahian coast. Anyone visiting — especially Scions of Oshóssí (Oxóssi) and other hunters — must be careful not to let the capricious Curupira lead them astray, for the childlike, flame-haired creature protects the forest, and cares nothing for mortal concerns or divine agendas. It uses its backward-facing feet to lay down false trails, imitates natural sounds and changes shape to mislead and confuse, and even transforms people into harmless prey animals or steals their shadows.
This ancient complex has a history of quietly standing up to powers that would destroy its way of life. The clergy here staged effective protests when agents of the Cultural Revolution came to force them out of their temples. To this day, the undercurrent of the jianghu — the hidden world of outsiders and common folk to which many martial artists belong, taking care of people when mainstream institutions can’t — runs in Wudang’s veins, always redefining itself but never forgetting its roots.
Strange Places: In the cave of Grandfather, or the Bee Daoist, a reclusive priest has achieved such perfect clarity and stillness in his meditations that he has tamed a massive swarm of bees. Time literally stands still here — no one inside the cave will age or die until the priest and his bees are gone. Wounds don’t bleed out, diseases don’t progress, and nothing changes. So long as they’re respectful, visitors can consult Grandfather and the bees both on questions of spiritual or physical health, the future, love, life, war — anything with which flawless memory and peace of mind might help.
A sizable kitsune population makes its home here, ever since the city’s recent partnership agreement with Kyoto, Japan. They act as messengers and advocates of the kami’s interests. Varanasi’s criminal underworld has lately come under the leadership of several gangs of rakshasas who steal relics and smuggle them back to the island city of Lankapura, where titanspawn and other supernatural groups vie for supremacy in an urban wilderness. Whether the rakshasas act at the asuras’ behest or for their own purposes, no one knows.
Strange Places: In the oldest neighborhoods, continuously inhabited for millennia, the streets are little more than cramped alleys packed with pedestrians, and nothing is ever truly lost here. Multifarious strange places abound in forgotten nooks and crannies, from indoor forests populated by monkey people to street corners where the same game of dice has been in progress for 3,000 years. Anything lost in the city can be found again eventually by wandering here, though not always easily.
Touchstones: In nearby Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, a pillar stands bearing four lions, which also appear on the national emblem. Emperor Ashoka, who converted to Buddhism to atone for misdeeds, erected these pillars all over India, inscribing his edicts thereupon. Today, one who commits a truly selfless act before a pillar may travel to any of the others. Many only survive in fragments or less, and traveling to a broken pillar is possible but dicey; doing it wrong can get someone trapped between layers of reality.
ATHENS, GREECE
The modern-day capital of Greece, Athens has been Athena’s pride and joy for millennia. The World’s Athens is a seamless blend of modern and ancient, with temples and shrines that Theoi worshippers have used continuously since they were built, coexisting on the same streets — and sometimes in the same buildings — as flourishing galleries, restaurants, churches, mosques, museums, and nightclubs. Athens’ long and turbulent history, particularly the repeated desecration of its shrines during wars and invasions, has prompted Athena and her Scions to take a firm — if backseat — hand in watching over the city. The Goddess’ Incarnations visit frequently, and her periodic phases of meddling in mortal affairs have led to extensive governmental policies regarding how to handle Heroes showing up and making demands. Athens is the starting point of pilgrimage paths that wind throughout Attica, making stops at places like the Temple of Apollo Zoster, one of Apollo and Artemis’ birthplaces; the Amphiareion of Oropos, site of a cult to an oracular Hero; and the town of Eleusis, home of the Eleusinian Mysteries.In The World, the Athenian Acropolis is as much a place of worship as of tourism. Though most of its temples and monuments were ruined throughout history, the Theoi’s loyal devotees stubbornly rebuild every time. Athena graces caryatids across the city with the power to come to life as guardians, stepping down from their columns to attack anyone who approaches with foul intent. When Elgin took the Parthenon Marbles from the city in the early 1800s, one of the caryatids from the Erechtheum’s Porch was among them, and occasionally Athens’ stone maidens campaign for champions to rescue their lost sister.
TERRA INCOGNITA
Axes Mundi: Four mountains surround the basin Athens occupies. Throughout these ranges, countless uncharted roads and caves open to networks of Earthways and mythical mountain passes. Those who gain permission, or sneak in, can descend to Hades or ascend to Olympus this way. A set of mysterious caves beneath the Acropolis serves the same function, although these are easier to get lost in.Gates: The Sacred Way, a road that leads from Athens’ Kerameikos region to Eleusis, marks the route pilgrimages and processions take to honor the Eleusinian Mysteries. Those with knowledge of the inner Mysteries know the keys that let them travel this road directly into the Underworld — and back, if they follow Persephone’s strict rules. Strange Places: The Acropolis’ layers of forgotten temple foundations beneath those that rebuilt or replaced them have spawned eerie, timeless corners where visitors find themselves briefly transported to ancient festivals or hear whispers speak of prophecies soon coming to pass.
Touchstones: The Parthenon art museum in Nashville, Tennessee doubles as a temple to the urban Athena Polias, overlapping metaphysically with the original. Those who enact the procession of Athena’s Great Panathenaea festival, making proper sacrifices to the Goddess and bringing a peplos robe made by women’s hands to drape over her statue, can travel between the two. Every Olympic torch in The World leads back to the ceremonial site at the Panathenaic Stadium, where each Olympic flame begins its journey to the games’ host nation. The World’s Athens has hosted the games more times than anywhere else, as the Theoi consider the Olympics “theirs,” and their agents meddle to get them back whenever another city wins the bid.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
In Boston, fairy mounds dominate the numerous city parks, and any pub that honors Irish culture and music with old traditions can count on continued good fortune. Bostonians know it’s best to listen closely to the busking fiddler’s music at Faneuil Hall and leave cartons of milk behind on the T late at night, because they could easily anger the aes sídhe otherwise. The Boston Globe has run a satirical column written by bards and poets since its inception, laying down subtle curses on public figures who behave badly. Catholic churches across the city double as Tuatha sancta with sacred trees growing anywhere they find room, and the Irish Catholics who devoutly attend Mass there every Sunday handily dismiss accusations of hypocrisy when they also invoke the name of Nuada to help them run a good meeting at work Monday morning.The Irish diaspora’s roots date all the way back to mythic prehistory, when the Fomorians first banished the ancestors of the Tuatha Dé from the Emerald Isle. Since then, millions of Irish have sailed to make homes around The World, and the Port of Boston has long been a common destination. Their Gods accompanied them wherever they roamed to help keep ind iress (the faith) alive for their descendants. The Tuatha encourage Boston’s commitment to the arts, and appreciate its historical significance to the American Revolution — after all, they once fought a Titanomachy for similar reasons. The city’s long history of Irish and Irish-American politicians is no accident: Ever since a Scion of Ogma signed the Declaration of Independence, American Heroes of the Tuatha have taken an interest in places with significance to the nation’s founders, like Boston and Philadelphia. People who carry tokens of the Tuatha’s favor tend to get elected. Boston often hosts the Kami’s Worldly associates, as a sister city to Kyoto. This partnership has strengthened ties between the Kami and the Tuatha in recent times — in particular, Susano-O loves to party with Manannán mac Lir and the Morrígan, and their rowdy shenanigans spill over into the city occasionally.
TERRA INCOGNITA
Axes Mundi: Boston Harbor lies along an Axis Mundi that Manannán counts among his routes between The World and Tír na nÓg. Sailors who carry a piece of wood or stone from Ireland, inscribed with the right ogham runes, can find the entrance, but Manannán’s capricious fairy minions might require anything from a poetry slam to a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party as payment in exchange for passage.Gates: Sídhe, or fairy mounds, generously litter Boston Common, the 50-acre public park downtown. Those who picnic near one hear fae songs on the wind. Follow a runaway balloon or savvy squirrel along the wrong path, pay the toll or answer the riddle when you reach a crossroads, and find yourself lost in a dreamlike garden with inhabitants that want to cater to your every whim (forever, but who’s counting?).
The Common also contains the Central Burying Ground, a cemetery that has graced the park for over two centuries. Here, the Irish dead cross through a gate that leads to Teach Duinn, the lighthouse for lost souls. But the metaphysical journey mirrors the vast distance between Ireland and Massachusetts, and souls get a little too lost more often than they should. Downtown Boston is known for its frequent sluagh hauntings.
The preponderance of sages among Irish deities gave rise to the plethora of universities and museums in Boston. Such institutions that carry original books or artifacts written in Old Irish, or a musical instrument made in Ireland, house gates that lead to the Dagda’s mystical library or Ogma’s ogham trail markers in the Otherworld. One only has to know how to read or play the item with proper reverence.
KYOTO, JAPAN
In Kyoto, beloved of Amaterasu the sun Goddess, thousands of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines pay respect to the Kami. The World’s greatest weavers and textile companies make homes here with Amaterasu’s blessing. Heroes with a penchant for urban planning and archiving are in high demand here, as the city’s many guardian Gods resist modern change at every turn, and their priests try to entice Scions and other Fate-touched builders to help preserve Kyoto as it has been for centuries.Kyoto was once the Imperial capital of Japan, before Kagutsuchi the fire Kami schemed to burn down the palace and chase the Emperor away to Tokyo. A God of uncontrollable emotion and frequent violence, Kagutsuchi wages a passive-aggressive prayer battle in Kyoto, employing yokai to help him arrange for raging blazes — “accidental” or otherwise — in his jealousy. He’s jealous because people pray more to Atago Gongen, the local Kami mantle of the Buddhist God Jizo, for safety from fires rather than bending over backward to appease him. These yokai spread chaos in the city by kidnapping Kami from the portable shrines that protect their shintai — objects and natural features that house Kami spirits — when priests move them from place to place for festivals, and coaxing out their darker, destructive souls to turn them wild. As a result, Kyoto’s holy places are some of the most heavily guarded in The World, and their miko (shrine maidens) and kannushi (holy men) are trained in divine protective arts. Temples are always on the lookout for trustworthy mercenaries and freelance exorcists to hire during festival times.
TERRA INCOGNITA
Axes Mundi: The Tadasu no Mori is a primeval forest, never pruned or constrained by human hands, home to the Kamo clan of tutelary Kami who protect Kyoto from malevolent forces. Its pathless depths, braved with the proper rites and gifts for its ancient Kami guardians, lead to the forests of Heaven and can take travelers to similar places elsewhere in Japan, such as the haunted Aokigahara near Mount Fuji.Gates: The torii arches that grace the entrances to Shinto shrines stand to demarcate holy places. Anyone who performs a piece of music or other artistic work beautiful enough to catch the attention of Benten may pass through a torii to Heaven. It’s a popular pastime to make love under a torii in the middle of the night to win Benten’s approval. Some torii also serve as Touchstones to one another, particularly between shrines that belong to the same network and are connected via the art of Kami division, such as the Hachiman shrines.
Strange Places: The oldest parts of urban Kyoto were modeled after the Chinese city of Chang’an (now Xi’an), according to mystical principles of harmony. Certain auspicious street corners, garden alcoves, and favorably placed rooms fall under the auspices of the Shén, and Kami who live there are considered part of the celestial bureaucracy (whether they know it or not). A few telephone poles, flagpoles, trees, and drainpipes serve as sky ladders that lead to the Chinese Heaven.
Monkey Park Iwatayama, on the slopes of Mount Arashiyama, is ostensibly just a wildlife park where visitors can watch and feed the many macaque monkeys that live there. But Sarutahiko’s personal monkey friends live there too, and guests who leave the right offerings at hidden crossroads can consult with them for decision-making advice, martial arts training, and passing messages to their Godly patron.
MANITOULIN ISLAND, ONTARIO
Also called Mnidoo Mnis in the Odawa dialect of the Ojibwe language, meaning “spirit island,” Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron is sacred to the Manitou and their people. On this island is a smaller lake, Lake Mindemoya, and in that lake is a smaller island also called Mindemoya, or sometimes Treasure Island — a slumbering Incarnation of the grandmother Goddess Geezhigo-Quae. Because of her presence here, many believe Manitoulin Island may be the original Turtle Island. Its bountiful crops and natural prosperity support this belief, but darker things lurk beneath the serene waters of its many lakes and rivers.Lately, fishermen and tourists have reported an unprecedented number of strange sightings, and the police have a worryingly long list of missing persons to search for. Those who facilitate communication with the island’s dodaem caution that the misiginebig, the giant serpent sleeping in the underwater spirit cave that stretches between South Bay and Manitowaning Bay, has woken. Local authorities search for a Scion of Maudjee-Kawiss — or anybody else willing — to lead a hunting party to slay the beast, while the nibiinaabe merfolk beseech anyone brave enough to speak to them for help. A pall of dire things to come has fallen over the island entire, even to those who know nothing of the Manitou. But the Anishinaubaek here refuse, as they always have, to leave their ancestral land, and they prepare to fight to the last to keep it safe.
TERRA INCOGNITA
Axes Mundi: Manitoulin Island’s many lakes and natural waterways connect in their darkest depths to the Underworld, though titanspawn infest these waters and make the trip dangerous even to Heroes who know the way and can survive underwater long enough to traverse it. Occasionally, travelers on the water’s surface encounter spirits of the dead who float up from the deep with cryptic warnings about strange Manitou making plans to visit The World for reasons unknown.Secreted away on Treasure Island is a tree that reaches far higher than it should, though it seems like an ordinary tree to passersby. If someone performs a certain ceremony entreating a friendly Manitou to reveal the way, she can climb inside this tree to reach a vast network of branches and roots. Navigated correctly, it leads to Skyworld. A longer and more circuitous route can take a traveler to Yggdrasil and other such World trees.
Strange Places: The Anishinaubaek visit a majestic promontory called Dreamer’s Rock to fast for days on end in search of Manitou dreams. Here, youths receive blessings from their guardian dodaem for the first time, and the Gods may grant healing powers and secret knowledge to people who complete vision quests, as they once did to the great Scion Shawanosowe. Outsiders must request permission from the Whitefish River First Nation to visit Dreamer’s Rock.
The waterfall known as Bridal Veil Falls near Kagawong is home to a mysterious Manitou, small of stature, who wears a red feather. He grants food and fertility blessings to those who politely accept his hospitality and successfully wrestle him, and can help seekers of lost family or ancestors navigate the rivers of The World to find them.
MEMPHIS, EGYPT
In The World, Memphis is alive and bustling, although it’s no longer the capital of Egypt. Ancient Scions Ptah, his son Imhotep, and Menes all had a hand in building Memphis and raising it up to become one of the most prosperous metropolises in The World. The city is widely known as a place where Heroes are made and as a global leader in architectural and technological innovations. Would-be students clamor to attend the cutting-edge Imhotep Institute for Technology and Engineering. Throughout history, Memphis has steadfastly stood as a haven for Netjer worshippers even when it was dangerous to be one. Nightmarish tales depicting armies of the mummified dead rising from the necropolis of Saqqara persist to this day, discouraging anyone from trying to take the city away from the Netjer’s faithful. While Christianity and Islam share in Memphis’ spiritual landscape, Ptah and his fellows remain a priority in the city’s prayers and dedications.A sharp aesthetic contrast divides Memphis, the shining modern metropolis of skyscraper spires and highspeed maglev trains, from Saqqara, its macabre next-door neighbor where tombs both ancient and newly built stand side by side with sprawling apartment complexes. Part of the Memphis municipality, the borough of Saqqara mostly operates as an independent accessory to the arts of the dead that dominate it. Here in its imposing office buildings, libraries, pawn shops, and temples, eerily self-possessed officials field requests and process paperwork from visitors to borrow or barter for relics, consult oracles, pass messages along to the dead via ghostly emissaries, or secure embalmers’ services for their corpses upon their deaths. Those who pass the secret trials necessary to live here reap the benefits of free access to Saqqara’s many mysteries and a peerless healthcare plan.
TERRA INCOGNITA
Axes Mundi: The pyramids and other tombs of Saqqara serve as a network of passages to Duat for those who know the right spells and how to cast them. Mummy guardians stand sentinel to judge a visitor’s worth, and anyone found unworthy is not only cast out, but subsequently arrested by Memphis police for trespassing.Strange Places: People across Memphis sign up years in advance to celebrate their 30th birthdays at the Ozymandias Club that stands at the feet of the colossal statue of Rameses II in the middle of a busy plaza downtown. One who turns 30 under its roof, and offers up a great personal sacrifice that represents her most triumphant victory to the eternal legacy of Rameses II and his endless Heb Sed festival, is Fated to settle the thorniest of her life’s conflicts that very year, either through achieving an impossible peace or defeating an impossibly strong foe.
Hidden somewhere along the dusty back roads of Saqqara is the tomb of Imhotep, which he built himself and concealed with magic as a final enigma to hand down to his eventual successor. The mortal who finds the esoteric clues scattered across the many layers of Memphis’ long history and pieces them together may be the first to set foot across the tomb’s threshold in almost 5,000 years. There, he must solve the puzzles and riddles posed by the labyrinthine halls to reach its innermost chamber, where Imhotep’s true ren is inscribed. Tales say that, should this person speak the ren aloud, he will inherit the God’s human soul and all his secrets — and perhaps even his Visitation.
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
Here at the center of the Te tl universe, the ruins of a mighty empire rise to claw their way back into The World over the steel bones of demolished supermarkets and tattoo parlor basements. Where the conquistadors once buried the great capital of Tenochtitlan and used its stones as foundations to build their own churches and homes, the devotees of the Teotl now reclaim what once belonged to Huitzilopochtli and his brethren. They orchestrate archaeological digs, dedicate regular open-air tianguis markets to their Gods in the Zócalo, play their ancient ritual ballgame of ollamaliztli in newly built courts, and petition the government to tear down aging Spanish architecture to expose the temples and relics beneath. They re-enact The World’s creation and their sacred city’s founding through ceremony at the dig site where the uncovered remains of the glorious Templo Mayor once again honor Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc under the Fifth Sun. Te tl Scions, historically hidden in plain sight among the many quiet, modern dedications to their pantheon across Mexico City, now step into the light to strengthen the city’s Fatebinding with the Gods in preparation for the darkness’ return.TERRA INCOGNITA
Axes Mundi: Northeast of Mexico City, the ruins of Teotihuacan stand as evidence of what the Te tl consider their people’s greatest city from the previous age. Three pyramids dominate the ancient central boulevard, called the Avenue of the Dead, or Miccoatli in Nahuatl. Beneath these ruins, piles of bones attest to Teotihuacan’s close proximity to Mictlan. Each year during the Dia de los Muertos, Miccoatli leads directly there for those who honor the dead with offerings or carry marigolds, and can overcome the Underworld trials. The spirits of the deceased walk its length in the opposite direction to seek their living loved ones.Gates: The Mexica’s ancestral homeland of Aztlan contained seven caves that birthed the various Nahua tribes. From here, Huitzilopochtli led his favored people to the place where they would build Tenochtitlan, as the other tribes had gone from Aztlan to other homes. But Aztlan remains as a Midrealm in the Overworld, and one who digs deep beneath Mexico City can find waterlogged caverns that lead back to Aztlan’s lake island, if he denounces his old name and identity to take up new ones on the journey.
Strange Places: Archaeologists recently opened a sealed tunnel beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Teotihuacan, uncovering a passage lined with mercury and shards of pyrite that glow like the night sky in the darkness. Te tl Scions ready themselves for battle — the explorers stumbled upon a prison for a horde of fallen tzitzimime, now free. The cold power of the stars lives there still, confusing visitors’ senses and leading them astray into empty hollows where they vanish forever, devoured by the dark. Within Mexico City’s central downtown neighborhood, which stands directly atop Tenochtitlan, compasses spin uselessly and GPS devices fail. The literal center of the universe defies human navigation, exerting its impossible pull upon the Centro Histórico. But clandestine shops and market stalls displaying the black jaguar of Tezcatlipoca sell obsidian mirrors that can lead their possessors to their desires and show the way to places they will go in the future.
Touchstones: The Angel of Independence stands platedin shining gold at the top of a victory column downtown. The angel represents the Greek Goddess Nike, and the Teotl fight with the Theoi over ownership and use of it. The column is a Touchstone that connects to similar victory columns around The World when blood is spilled in triumph there, including those in Berlin, Copenhagen, Jaen, Saint-Denis, Chihuahua, and Saint Petersburg.
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
It might be labeled as one city on maps, but Gothamites know it’s really 1,000 cities in five boroughs, and each one has its own relationship with the divine. Some think of New York City as the ultimate secular paradise, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Pockets of every faith in The World flourish here, from the busy daily grind in supplication to Mammon, the patron God of Wall Street, to stately churches and temples dedicated to well-known Gods sandwiched between skyscrapers and neon lights, to the storefront shrines where everybody on the block comes to pay their respects to the God or saint their families have been venerating for generations, since before they ever came to America. New York’s Scions run a similar gamut — some love to glam it up and get famous, strutting their stuff on runways and plastering their faces across the digital screens in Times Square; but for every one of those, two neighborhood Heroes just want to protect their own from the constant divine infighting in the streets. No single pantheon claims primacy here, and if one ever tried, it would have a war on its hands to rival any Titanomachy.When Liberty Enlightening The World went up in New York Harbor to welcome immigrants from far and wide, Columbia, the Goddess of Democracy and America, declared the island on which the statue stood neutral ground. A meeting place, she said, where Heroes and Demigods, Incarnations and legendary creatures, agents of all kinds from every pantheon, and even titanspawn could come for diplomacy with the guarantee of personal safety. One or two of Columbia’s other Mantles vehemently opposed the plan — the young nation’s deity hasn’t yet settled into a single dominant identity — but in this the tides of Fate came down in her favor. The peace has lasted over a century, if only because it’s so easy for anyone with a grudge that can’t be talked out to take a ferry over to the Battery and duke out their differences on the grand urban playground instead. New Yorkers deal with the fallout constantly, in a million ways both subtle and blatant. It’s not unusual for a simple commute to turn sour when a pack of monkeys shouting in Hindi attacks a couple of ravens minding their own business for maybe being Odin’s spies, in the middle of a crowded crosswalk. (To be fair, they usually are Odin’s spies.) The city’s budget sets funds aside every fiscal year under the header of “Spiritual Matters” for municipal maintenance and repair in the wake of Scion battles, demon invasions, river serpents, frost giants, subway ghosts, and whatever else might befall it.
Still, it’s not all blood and mayhem in the City that Never Sleeps. For every supernatural tussle a New Yorker records on her smartphone and posts to YouTube, a wealth of cross-pantheon cooperation and R&R is happening just around the corner. An Incarnation of Èshù Elègbará owns a bar in Times Square — the Crossroads of The World — and welcomes any and all to drink there, whether they be mortal, divine, titanspawn, or anything in between. A freestyle hip-hop dance group in Brooklyn dedicates their craft to any God who loves dancing and doesn’t mind bestowing blessings now and then. Each line of the subway calls upon a different Liminal deity to ward off delays and signal malfunctions, and agents of each one engage in friendly competition for bragging rights. Anyone with divine connections knows NYC is the place to go when his own pantheon frowns on anything from romantic dalliances with titanspawn to rejecting outdated notions of what’s “acceptable.” Maybe he wants to disappear into the crowd, or maybe he’d rather find somebody to watch his back while he stands up for what he believes in — either way, the city’s got him covered.
TERRA INCOGNITA
Axes Mundi: On the downtown 6 train, the end of the line is Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall in Lower Manhattan, but those who stay on beyond that point pass through the old, closed-down City Hall station, with gorgeous tiled arches and a curved platform. Those who carry a talisman of any God with the Journeys Purview and make the proper offerings or prayers while passing through City Hall can ride the train beyond the boundaries of The World onto the Via Incognita, a railroad that runs through Midrealms of many pantheons — including a few hidden ones where abandoned creatures and lost souls dwell, and that have no other way in or out.Gates: The Statue of Liberty functions not just as a relic referee for the Godly neutral zone but also as a Gate to Columbia’s Godsrealm for anyone who has made a sacrifice for any kind of freedom — their own, or someone else’s. It’s also a hub for other Liberty Enlightening The World statues across the globe, all of which lead back to Liberty Island.
Strange Places: Some say the graffiti palace of 5Pointz — a factory building in Long Island City transformed into a beloved monument to street art — was sold off and painted over a few years ago. Others say it’s still there, and they have recent photographs to prove it. Gods of Artistry from every pantheon, including Brigid, Sarasvati, and Khnum, watch over the place and preserve it against any effort to snuff out its creative fire, but only for those with inspiration in their souls and a passion for self-expression.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND
Few places in The World have their fingers on the pulse of Fate as firmly as the capital of Iceland. From the beginning, the Æsir guided its founder’s landing to indicate where he should build it. Where Fate operates in the background like white noise for most people, folks in Reykjavik have developed countless daily traditions designed to avoid or encourage Fatebinding themselves to Scions, mystical places, and divine relics of all kinds. They know the rhymes to speak to keep the wolves at bay, and they know what kinds of choices will lead them to lives worthy of a saga or let them go about their business in peace. Scions stand out like sore thumbs here whether they want to or not, and most people are too savvy to let themselves get swept up in Heroic shenanigans — unless they want to be.The wild places in and around this city are home to a staggering number of legendary creatures — elves and trolls are just the tip of the iceberg. For the most part, the people of Reykjavik and the hidden folk simply stay out of each other’s way. Urban expansion regularly routes around known álagablettur, or places of power, and elf habitats. Subtle clauses in the Althing’s legislature take magic, prophecy, and other extenuating mystical circumstances into account. Draugar might occasionally rise after a botched funeral or a troll might snatch a purse from a tourist who doesn’t know the right ways to appease it, but by and large everyone coexists without fuss. Some dwarves even offer workshops in various crafts at local schools and universities to people willing to pay in gold or favors.
Worship of the Æsir has persisted as a quiet but constant undercurrent since Reykjavik’s founding in the ninth century, and in recent years it’s experienced a considerable resurgence. Some devotees built a brand-new temple to pay their respects, and preside over daily public ceremonies on the Gods’ behalf. Others prefer more direct methods of worship, tying themselves to greater Fates through emulation. A biker gang styling themselves the Wilder Hunt roams highways and back roads in the Alfaðir’s name, each wearing an eyepatch to cover their sacrificed left eye, seeking ways to preserve Reykjavik when Ragnarok comes — and if their seers are right, it won’t be long at all now.
TERRA INCOGNITA
Axes Mundi: In English, Reykjavik means “Bay of Smoke,” and was named thus thanks to its generous hot springs. It perches on the Icelandic coast just on the cusp of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, atop Iceland’s subterranean hot spot, surrounded by lava fields, faults, fissures, and active volcanoes. Anyone venturing down into the earth here by any means with true rage in her heart, cursing the name of one whom she despises and wishes to destroy, can descend all the way to Muspelheim.Strange Places: In the northwest of the city, the Neighborhood of the Gods features streets named after many of the Norse pantheon’s luminaries, and those who live here see their Fates bend in ways reminiscent of the God whose name graces their address. Dedicated academics and scientists compete to grab apartments on Óðinsgata, while those seeking the courage to face hardships move to Týsgata. Nobody lives on Lokastígur unless they don’t mind making trouble and laughing at the occasional “neighborhood watch” gathered as a thinly veiled attempt to ward off their potential misdeeds. While others might question the wisdom of deliberately leashing their Fates to doomed deities, residents shrug and go about their lives — Ragnarok comes for us all, they say, so what’s a little doom compared to achieving greatness?
SAO SALVADOR DA BAHIA, BRAZIL
The state of Bahia’s raucous capital of Salvador is a vivid, exuberant Afro-Brazilian city that lives each moment of each day to its fullest, fighting all the time to heal the deep, bloody wounds of its tragic history. Once a major hub for the transatlantic slave trade, Salvador is now an enduring Worldly home for the Òrìshà — or Orixás, as they’re known here, in Portuguese. It’s a city of boundless music and dance thanks to the Yorùbá Gods’ influence, host to the biggest celebration in The World every year at Carnival when the trio elétrico ride through winding streets, piled high with stages for live performers and towering sound systems, followed by hordes of ecstatic partygoers. It’s a city of proud worship, where Candomblé Ketu practitioners dance to sacred drum beats and make offerings of acarajé to the Orixás as they have done since their ancestors first founded the religion here, cloaking their Gods in the guise of Catholic saints to keep the faith alive in the face of oppression. It’s a city of blended cultures, combining Portuguese, West African, and Native American traditions into a wholly unique — if not seamless — Bahian fusion. And it’s a city of ancient ways undergoing constant reinvention, fully embodying both of the Orixás’ Virtues.Though the pantheon has devotees all over the globe, Salvador is where the Incarnations of Èshù Elègbará — Exû, here — spend a lot of their time. It’s the ultimate ever-evolving cultural crossroads, and it’s where his beloved àshe (axé in Portuguese) manifests directly through the musical style of the same name, invented right here and taking The World by storm. It’s also a home to capoeira, equal parts deadly martial art and vivacious street dance, which soteropolitanos — people from Salvador — still use to this day to protest injustices and fight discrimination of all kinds. Scions of Shàngó (Xangô) especially like to gather capoeiristas to protect their neighborhoods, take loud stands, and stop other pantheons from bringing their Titanomachies to Brazil.
TERRA INCOGNITA
Gates: Salvador’s old colonial neighborhood of Pelourinho is both a treasured cultural center and an ongoing symbol of racism and oppression. Its name literally means “pillory,” named after the place where slavers imprisoned and whipped people here. Candomblé practitioners who play sacred music and dance to catch their ancestors’ attention on the spot where the pillory once stood can speak to these spirits through possession. If they can ease the ancestors’ suffering for a time, the way to òrun may open for them.Strange Places: Many endangered species of flora and fauna inhabit over 40,000 square miles of forest that surround Salvador, stretching up and down the Bahian coast. Anyone visiting — especially Scions of Oshóssí (Oxóssi) and other hunters — must be careful not to let the capricious Curupira lead them astray, for the childlike, flame-haired creature protects the forest, and cares nothing for mortal concerns or divine agendas. It uses its backward-facing feet to lay down false trails, imitates natural sounds and changes shape to mislead and confuse, and even transforms people into harmless prey animals or steals their shadows.
WUDANGSHAN, CHINA
Wudangshan is not a city, but a mountain range in Hubei Province where one particular cluster of peaks — also referred to as Wudangshan, or the Wudang Mountains — is home to The World-famous Wudang martial arts, an ancient Daoist tradition, and an unassuming dedication to righteousness that cuts like a knife when tested. A serene and breathtaking complex of temples, martial-arts schools, and dormitories clings to the slopes, surrounded by greenery and waterfalls. Atop the highest peak, the Golden Pinnacle Temple shines in the sun, made of copper and painted with gold; a Scion of Zhenwu the Perfect Warrior, Wudang’s guardian Shén, dropped it directly onto the mountaintop from Heaven because the mortals didn’t know how to transport it there from where it was built. The Purple Heaven Palace, farther down the slope, boasts large temples and training courtyards, and endless hidden niches to discover. It houses Guan Yu’s own weighty Green Dragon Crescent Blade, which Heroes can use if they gain the Gods’ stamp of approval on forms in triplicate. Wudang masters teach internal styles that rely on fluidity and momentum, and are highly sought after for their skill with sword forms. Daoist monks welcome pilgrims and offer their services to visitors, from divination and feng shui readings to healing and the exchange of new ideas. Daoists from all over The World travel here to learn and teach in kind.This ancient complex has a history of quietly standing up to powers that would destroy its way of life. The clergy here staged effective protests when agents of the Cultural Revolution came to force them out of their temples. To this day, the undercurrent of the jianghu — the hidden world of outsiders and common folk to which many martial artists belong, taking care of people when mainstream institutions can’t — runs in Wudang’s veins, always redefining itself but never forgetting its roots.
TERRA INCOGNITA
Axes Mundi: The Wudang complex watches over two paths to Heaven: The Sword River Bridge, which crosses the river Zhenwu created by cutting a line in the ground with his sword to prevent his mother from stopping his journey up the mountain to reach enlightenment; and the oldest staircase, which runs all the way from the foot of the mountain up to the Golden Pinnacle Temple. In either case, those who wish to visit Heaven must perform enough righteous deeds and report them on a form they submit to any of the temples. They can earn deeds not just by being unselfish and defending the weak, but also by learning new things, and by lighting incense on the stone dragon’s head at the end of a narrow ledge that juts precariously out from Nanyang Palace over a long drop. Once a petitioner has reported the requisite deeds and received approval, she must either climb the stairs all in one go without a break, or cross the bridge on the ninth day of the ninth month of the traditional Chinese calendar — the same day that Zhenwu ascended to Godhood.Strange Places: In the cave of Grandfather, or the Bee Daoist, a reclusive priest has achieved such perfect clarity and stillness in his meditations that he has tamed a massive swarm of bees. Time literally stands still here — no one inside the cave will age or die until the priest and his bees are gone. Wounds don’t bleed out, diseases don’t progress, and nothing changes. So long as they’re respectful, visitors can consult Grandfather and the bees both on questions of spiritual or physical health, the future, love, life, war — anything with which flawless memory and peace of mind might help.
VARANASI, INDIA
In holy Varanasi, the City of Light, with its ancient temples rising along the banks of the sacred Ganges River, the Gods linger close to The World. The hand of Fate binds the city and its Devá tightly together through Heroes, religious festivals, a wealth of relics, and the powerful Axis Mundi that flows along its riverbanks. Its spiritual patron, the Kashi Naresh, is always a Scion of Shiva and lives in the Ramnagar Fort across the river from one of the city’s many ghats — wide sets of stairs leading down to the water, upon which devotees perform cleansing and cremation rites. The Devá’s Incarnations visit to bathe in the river themselves each year during the Dev Deepawali festival, affording mortals the opportunity to light a sea of diyas, or oil lamps, in their honor. But for all that Varanasi belongs unquestionably to the Devá, the Gods only show themselves in strictly traditional ways that the city wrote into their Fates long ago.A sizable kitsune population makes its home here, ever since the city’s recent partnership agreement with Kyoto, Japan. They act as messengers and advocates of the kami’s interests. Varanasi’s criminal underworld has lately come under the leadership of several gangs of rakshasas who steal relics and smuggle them back to the island city of Lankapura, where titanspawn and other supernatural groups vie for supremacy in an urban wilderness. Whether the rakshasas act at the asuras’ behest or for their own purposes, no one knows.
TERRA INCOGNITA
Axes Mundi: The waters of the Ganges wash away sins and promise salvation. The river’s tutelary Goddess is Ganga, she who rides a makara and presides over travel between worlds via an Axis Mundi leading to Shiva’s abode and various Otherworld layers. During Diwali, those who hang a lantern from a boat’s prow and row upstream can reach the Axis Mundi. Those immolated upon a ghat here, or whose ashes after death are cast into the river, bypass Naraka and journey immediately to a higher level of the afterlife, possibly to transcend reincarnation. Stories pass from ear to ear about the Ganges’ divine power, transforming people who bathe in it into Scions. Lack of proof doesn’t stop thousands from trying it every day on the off chance it works. Makara — chimerical creatures that are part mammal, part fish — swim in the river’s depths; anyone brave and quick enough to catch one can train it as an aquatic mount.Strange Places: In the oldest neighborhoods, continuously inhabited for millennia, the streets are little more than cramped alleys packed with pedestrians, and nothing is ever truly lost here. Multifarious strange places abound in forgotten nooks and crannies, from indoor forests populated by monkey people to street corners where the same game of dice has been in progress for 3,000 years. Anything lost in the city can be found again eventually by wandering here, though not always easily.
Touchstones: In nearby Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, a pillar stands bearing four lions, which also appear on the national emblem. Emperor Ashoka, who converted to Buddhism to atone for misdeeds, erected these pillars all over India, inscribing his edicts thereupon. Today, one who commits a truly selfless act before a pillar may travel to any of the others. Many only survive in fragments or less, and traveling to a broken pillar is possible but dicey; doing it wrong can get someone trapped between layers of reality.
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