The Crimson King
Return to the Earth.
The 757th Hierarchical City is the lowest out of all others, physically and spiritually, and is constructed more vertically than the average city, allowing it to reach deep down into the depths of the cave it was constructed in, districts often directly beneath one another. Cities are separated by the Grand Elevator, a massive clockwork construction. Traveling upon it is treated the same as traveling to another country, each city requiring a passport to enter. Residents are often members of a large family that has never left the city since the Revolution, possessing no blood relatives that reside in the cities above. The sky seen above the city is false, a magitek apparatus that creates the illusion that filtered light is passing through the cave ceiling; it works in tandem with the Kaien Weather Array, another magitek construction that periodically adjusts the vacant heat of the moisture in the air to create the illusion of a meteorological cycle, though it rains a little more often than it probably should and the feeling of a warm day is entirely simulated. Transportation can be fickle, as the railroad’s rates vary drastically depending on where you wish to go with seemingly no rhyme or reason and private vehicles are often too expensive for the average citizen, though most have little reason to not just walk everywhere they go.
Illegal dealings happen on the surface, unlike any other city in the Empire and are monopolized by the city’s many crime families. These families have a stranglehold on the city, their mere presence often inspiring awe and terror. Their foothold on the city is more or less for show, a means to procure funds to further their true purpose. They’re custodians.
Deep beneath the city lies vacant negative energy, in it’s nature dense and heavy, which gives way to Absence, the essence of darkness. From there, chaos springs. Spirits of the departed are made unable to pass on, and creatures not of this world emerge, preying on humans with high spiritual energy. They can take innumerable forms. One of the crime families’ most important jobs is to eliminate powerful aberrations before they get too ahead of themselves.
Ghosts are a common sight, often going about their business as if they were alive, the city paying them no real mind unless they have something to offer. They forfeit their material possessions to work off the debts they had in life in order to live peacefully in undeath. They often cut ties with their families after their death, to become vagrants who roam the city endlessly in search of it’s many vices. Many are consumed by sin, difficult to converse with, though some still have a semblance of humanity, and may seek help from a family if they get in too deep.
Magic is more or less considered to be a weapon that must be treated with care, exceptionally dangerous in the wrong hands, thus arms dealer often trade grimoires alongside firearms powered by steam. Drugs can be strange, as there are many, mostly harmless, but just as capable of being dangerous. Some experimentals incorporate spells to enhance their effects, though worth a lot of money.
In ancient times, the Guardians were chosen by the Powers That Be/The Heavens to assist mankind against the overwhelming force that is All Evil, to wage the War of The Fates, which would decide the future of the world. Typically, they were once human, made into a minor spirit/deity of the Land, with a past filled with evils of their own, but were given a second chance by The Heavens and were reborn as Guardians, made to serve their descendants in The War. They faced a second disgrace upon the death of the Constructed Carcass, Behemoth, whose massive body contained the World’s Evil, his fate upon imprisonment in the Primordial Sea would decide humanity’s fate; ultimately, his innards boiled the Sea and flooded the Land, and the World came to an end. Their current purpose within the modern Empire is to guide their once, current, and future Wards to the Second War of The Fates, which will lead humanity into salvation, and the Guardians to their redemption. The Once Mighty are now a pantheon of disgraced spirits who guard the crime families of Kaien. In exchange for patronage and worship, the families are granted their powers, in turn bringing glory to the guardian’s name. They are often treated less as deities and more as a means to an end by their families, not as something to be revered but something to pity and treat as an equal.
There are many theories as to the origin of the guardians, a mystery that remains unanswered even to them, their memories of past endeavors unknown, though the most common is that they originate from Absence, as the dark aberrations of the deep city do, or are reborn in a way once arriving there when their story reaches it’s end. They have been granted another life by the heavens, reborn with a boon of terrible power, in exchange they must atone. A family’s parent may call upon this power at will, manifesting the guardian’s body as their own or as an extension of their own self, and bestow a lesser form of their boon onto whomever they wish, though the strength of the boons will diminish considerably. Heirlooms in the form of magical Relics and/or weapons are a tradition in many families, with enchantments that compliment the boon of their patron. There was supposedly once a grimoire that detailed the names of each and every guardian that participated in the War of Fates, but it has since been lost to time. Perhaps a particularly brave scholar will be able to recreate it.
• Steam Monorail: In spite of the sorry state of Kaien’s public transportation system, the steam monorail is a marvel to behold, zipping around the railways of the 757th in record time. Good luck trying to catch one, though.
• Steam Automobile: While expensive, often prove to be comfortable, luxury-class vehicles with low maintenance and an easy-to-learn water boiling engine system.
• Grand Elevator: The one and only means of moving from one city to another. It’s like going through customs, basically. It’s next to impossible to get a passport unless you have official imperial business, though.
• Kaien Weather Array: The magitek apparatus responsible for the phenomenon that creates the illusion of there being a sky and a meteorological system. Shame it only ever seems to rain.
• Steam Firearms: Ranging from pistols to high caliber rifles, a firearm is a nice thing to have hooked up in an unpleasant situation, and is a mainstay in every Kaien citizen’s residence. They must be connected an external boiler in order to function, which makes them quite cumbersome and difficult to transport without a portable tank.
• Landline Telephone: Rotary dial telephones with cup shaped mouth-pieces. Not an uncommon sight in most residences, often pre-installed alongside other appliances. There are also conveniently placed pay phones scattered around the city.
• It has been nearly five centuries since the construction of the Hierarchical Cities.
• In the Imperial Theocracy, The Emperor is never referred to by his given name, in order to uphold the Emperor’s image as the faceless collective of mankind.
• The most common religion is the Imperial Theocracy, or worship of the current Emperor.
• Magic is not for miracles. They often do small effects that can be amplified via thaumaturgic solutions. Grimoires contain one powerful spell that takes time to learn and often has a consequence. Technological advancements stand as a testament to finding a solution that isn’t wholly magical in nature. The crime families’ Relics are proof of their ignorance, powerful magic contained in a physical catalyst.
• The Mage’s Association, although thought to be long disbanded, is rumored to still have a presence in Kaien city in the form of surviving subsidiaries that still believe in their ideals. They believe that magic was bestowed unto humanity by the heavens and should be respected and maintained as a sacred art and not a means to an end to further industry, though their means of furthering their goals is often unnecessarily violent and cruel, people even associated with magitek research are slain in brutal fashion. Promising magi are often hunted down by the Association and killed for the vacant natural energy held within their bodies, used by Association agents to grow in strength, though it’s unknown how exactly it’s cultivated and preserved.
• Natural Energy: The lifeforce of all living things. It flows beneath us and all around us, inside our bodies naturally at all times. Natural energy is the most common kind of energy used to cast spells, is what powers all of the magitek constructions of mankind and can manifest powers of the elements and the body.
• Spiritual/Psionic Energy: The will of man made manifest. This energy is held within the soul, someone’s essence of being, their will to fight. People with strong wills have a lot of this energy and is what allows mortals to see spiritual entities such as ghosts, aberrations and guardians. It is used in common spells very rarely, and manifests powers of the natural laws and the mind.
• Celestial Energy/Energy of Wholeness: The energy of the heavens and the source of the guardians. It’s very difficult to obtain this energy through ordinary means, and is often bestowed upon it’s wielder by powerful cosmic forces. It can manifest powers of the cosmos and the heavens, and can also be channeled by skilled magi to amplify the effects of normal spells.
• Negative Energy/Energy of Absence: The energy of nothingness and the source of all Evils. It is naturally dense and heavy, as well as extremely unstable. Spiritual entities appear to be composed of a condensed aspect of it, granting them their incorporeal forms. Using it’s power is exceptionally dangerous, as it takes the form of antimatter. It is unknown what this energy could do should one be capable of using it’s powers for their own. It seems to incorporate other energies into itself, though too much and it will combust, which allows entities composed of it to be slain by silver (a metal charged with natural energy) and manifested energies (i.e. spellcraft).
Question
> is the only city in the cave the 757th or are the rest in or partially in as well?
> and is the surface that's talked about part of the city or above?
> is it like a district above the rest?
Answer
> The 757th resides in a cave system beneath every other city. Each city is built inside of or on top of the Grand Mountain. The surface is inaccessible by normal means, not that you would want to go out there, it’s not very hospitable.
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Question
> what's the crime family scene like and what is the general info ppl know about their guardians?
Answer
> It’s a lot like real world organized crime for the most part. Families have interpersonal relationships and rivalries. Family heads probably know as much about their guardians as the player does, unless they otherwise choose to be new at this.
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Question
> what's food look like in this world
Answer
> Probably grown in labs.
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Question
> are there specific named guardians or can we make up the families/guardians ourselves?
Answer
> Absolutely make your own.
> I might group together certain guardian’s I think fit together into their own groups once we have a couple, though.
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Question
> hey quick q, are all firearms steam powered in this setting?
> Also how big are these magazines?
Answer
> Yup.
> About the same.
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Question
> speaking of spells, do u have an example of what they could be?
> and is magic solely spells and/or guardian powers?
Answer
> Any one spell is a skill that must be learned like any other, and are often not very powerful by themselves, ideally they’re enhanced by something, like alchemy or thaumaturgy. Guardians on the other hand possess celestial powers, which may resemble magic, but are often completely unique in application and power, and often do not need any kind of enhancement to be useful in a fight.
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Question
> can Absence be used to power things or be contained to be released somewhere to do something?
> and can ghosts be physically touched or are they immaterial?
> what are aberrations?
> are ghosts created from dead dudes who happen to be near the chaos springs, do all ppl in the city end up being ghosts or is it by chance or something?
Answer
> Absence is basically antimatter. Trying to utilize it’s properties for something is probably a bad idea.
> Ghosts are immaterial. They can be touched by magic, silver and guardians.
> Aberrations are a general term for things that are unnatural or unwelcome. I use it to describe the creatures created by Absence.
> The presence of Absence prevents spirits from moving on, so yeah, it’s a machine that turns dead people into ghosts.
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Question
> what additional creatures do absence create? like what are they like? blobs of black gas?? shadowy monsters? also, can absence only be detected with tools or can it be seen or felt or something?
Answer
> I imagine weird Shin Megami Tensei type monsters that look like someone tried to make something out of someone’s subconscious fears but scrambled all the pieces together on accident. In short, boggarts, kind of.
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Question
> now that I think about it, can ghosts use magic?
Answer
> No, ghosts cannot use magic.
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Question
> random question, but does some variant of darwin exist in this world?
Answer
> I’d imagine the same theory of evolution exists. This is a very science heavy setting. Though I wonder where all the animals are? Maybe there’s an livestock farm in one of the upper cities. Nothing really naturally lives in this mountain.
> Probably just urban animals.
> But because of how enclosed the city is, I would think that not much is known about what lives outside the cities, since the world was devastated when the Evils burned away the land. Then again, it has been almost six centuries, maybe nature has recovered a bit.
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Question
> My very first, not-fleshed-out-at-all ideas for characters were a ghost and a magi running from the Assosciation. Would those fit in with the lore and stuff you have? It's ok if not, I'll think of something else
> Is there any way to kill/destroy abberations?
> Are ghost translucent or do they look just like normal or somewhere in between?
> Are magis born with their powers? What kinds of powers do they have?
Answer
> Both could work just fine, although ghosts are not particularly powerful compared to magi and wards (people with power bestowed by a guardian), who are essentially their antithesis, and cannot interact with corporal objects without complete calm or blind rage, so playing one could prove exceptionally interesting if you’re willing to go through with it.
> Aberrations can be killed by all the same things spirits can: silver, magic and power bestowed by guardians.
> It depends on the person, actually! It’s linked to how much spiritual energy is withheld in their body, so some people can see ghosts better than others, and those same people have a higher proficiency with magic.
> A mage, magi or magus is a general term for anyone with the capability to cast spells using natural and spiritual energies. Anyone is capable of using magic, as it is a skill that can be learned like any other, and with sufficient effort and skill, it can be mastered by most anyone, though some people are born with greater natural talent for magic. Magic can perform a large multitude of small wonders like powers of the psyche, body and control of the elements, though none are typically very potent to the average magic practitioner and have drawbacks for frequent use, though since the Revolution, magitek has evolved to the point that technology can actually enhance the effects of spells through means of artificially combining spells and using alchemy to improve the outcomes of spell casting.
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Question
> how old is kaien
> as a city
Answer
> Kaien was constructed at around the same time as all the other Hierarchical Cities, which is to say, five centuries ago. The ancestors of the crime families predate that by nearly two centuries, though most of if not all of the crime families have been doing crime for only about three generations, so yeah, about that long.
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Question
> Oh yeah, do we have a defensive perimeter that separates the city from where the Absence is? Cause I assume that's like the breeding ground for Aberrations?
Answer
> I imagine it’s unreachable from within the actual city, but the aberrations can enter from beneath with relative ease because of their incorporeal bodies. Imagine a fish tank beneath the city that the aberrations are jumping out of.
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Question
> Is there a limit as to how many underlings can be given the lesser version of the guardian's boons?
Answer
> No, but the boon decreases in power depending on how many people have it.
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Question
> Are there other languages aside from English in Kaien city?
Answer
> Yes.
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Question
> What’s the Grand Elevator made of?
Answer
> Nothing special.
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Question
> Can we bestow our guardian's lesser boon even to unwilling recipients?
> And can you give it to a person who already have a guardian?
Answer
> No, only the willing can receive a guardian’s boon, and other wards cannot have lesser boons bestowed upon them.
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Question
> would the Parent be able to take away the boons they granted at any time?
Answer
> Yes.
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Question
> so how was the last leader of the mage’s association eliminated? was it through the effort of only the fumikage or with the help of the other Parents?
Answer
> I figure it was a war of attrition from multiple parties that lasted over several decades, which eventually led to their leader’s assassination by the Fumikage,
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Question
> Can a ward converse with their guardian?
Answer
> Yes, they can.
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Question
> So the guardians are just in your spirit or something? You don’t have to go to like a shrine or anything?
Answer
> Yeah, physically they’re basically running through your nervous system, since what they’re composed of is celestial energy, so when they’re intangible they coerce with your other energies, in your magic circuits.
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Question
> What does using magic feel like?
Answer
> Different kinds of magic obviously feel like whatever they’re doing (flame magic is warm, ice magic is cold, etc., etc.) but all magic leaves a lasting pins-and-needles feeling when used repeatedly, and extreme overuse can vary from a very strong feeling of numbness, pseudo-paralysis, scarring and, very rarely, magical recoil corresponding to their effects.
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