Chapter 9: The City Phase

The City is the center of the Wide World; the navel of creation. It is at a crossroads, twin-faced, staring east and west. It is equidistant to Alfheim, the Steppes of the Dragons, and the mountainous Delvings of Eight Cities. In majesty it is unmatched. In wealth, unequaled.

Anything can be bought in the City for the right price. The most skilled craftsmen in the Wide World perfect their arts in the City. For the very rich, even the powers of the Underworld might be traded. These wealthy patrons tempt guilds of adventurers to brave life and limb for the treasures hidden underneath the great metropolis.

The City has been claimed by many kith and kin, but today it is the seat of humanity. A handful of powerful human houses struggle continuously for power. Enclaves of distant powers and races seize toeholds in the City and pursue their strange designs in their embassies.

Like skin, it is made of folded-over layers. Each era of the City can be found buried below the others. Dig down into your cellar and find the potsherds, runestones, idols, rusted machinery, diaries, lamps, and bones of those who came before. Like skin, it has scars. Terrible pits boring holes into the Underworld—blighted cankers on a beautiful face.