Category: Roleplaying Page 3 of 12

Gossamer is now half complete, with the Withered Quarter – the section of Gossamer which lies in Annwn, realm of eternal winter and land of the dead, ruled by the dread Arawn – now looming brumous and frostbitten east of the Wilting Quarter.

Link to a more detailed image.

Crookhollow

The sinister little village of Crookhollow is a settlement of woodwoses, a rare colony of mortals in Elfhame. Once denizens of the Gnarl, these woodwoses are unusually settled, unlike their nomadic kindred of the deep woods. The wildmen are worshippers of Arawn, lord of the dead, and practice regular sacrifices by fire, setting ablaze vast effigies containing captive enemies – often mortals kidnapped from the woods at the borderlands of Faerie. Such burnt offerings ensure a place of honour for the denizens of Crookhollow when they die, as they shrug off their rude hides and furs for the resplendant finery of the elfin dead, joining the Fair Folk in their subterannean palaces of stone to live afterlives of langour and gloomy opulence.

Drakesworth

Before Gossamer sprawled to its present size, the district now known as Drakesworth was a barren country shadowed by a dark crag, lair of the horror known as Svafnir, a dragon said to hail from the giant-world of Jotunheim. This monster, naturally, possessed a vast hoard of treasure, and slew all who tried to plunder his trove. The beast, however, had grown somewhat lazy over the long years, spending much of its time dreaming of its lost homeland on its bed of gold, and over time the city spread nearly to its doorstep. Eventually, the Fair Folk struck a deal with the dragon – rather than sending in an endless series of hopeless champions to slay Svafnir or steal its treasures, they would simply borrow from the hoard, repaying what they took with interest. Though initially sceptical, the dragon was intrigued. Thus the Hoardsbank was founded: now the foremost financial institution in Elfhame, the size of its assets having increased many hundreds of times over since its founding. Tunnels wind endlessly into the earth, filled with the gold earned by the bank, while Svafnir has recovered somewhat from his planesickness, taking to his new life as a moneylending wyrm. Some whisper that the dragon is the true master of the Withered Quarter, having grown far richer even the the Horned King. Whatever the case, Drakesworth is now one of the most salubrious districts in all of Gossamer, filled with fine buildings of stone and marble, the offices of much of the city’s professional class. Also within Drakesworth is the Temple of the Royal Sepulchre, resting place of the Royal Family of Elfhame. Here can be found the shades of the former monarchs of Faerie, resting after their centuries of rule, dispensing wisdom to heroes of renown and Faerie’s present rulers.

The Gnarl

Though currently in a state of uneasy peace, Annwn and Tír na nÓg have not always been so. During the War of the Trees, Annwn launched an invasion of Tír na nÓg, and Gossamer – usually neutral even during conflicts – became a battleground. After Queen Titania’s armies drove the Shade-Horde back into the Winter Realm, she launched a counterattack, calling on the forest itself to rise to her banner. Thousands of treefolk marched at the behest of the Queen of Flowers, invading Annwn. In Gossamer, this incursion was turned back at the Gullet and the central canal, but for all their efforts, the armies of Arawn were unable to fully repel the treefolk invaders. Thus the southern edge of the Withered Quarter has become the Gnarl: a sprawling wood in the heart of the city, full of twisting, labyrinthine paths, mossgrown ruins, and secret glades. Though most of the treefolk have since fallen back into slumber, some still stand sentinel against any future invasion, including their general, Grandfather Yew. Rangers sworn to Titania’s service, known as the Petal Guard, also patrol the shifting trails and lurk in wait should intruders seek entrance to the Blooming Quarter without leave. Within the depths of the woods it is said one can also find the tower of Myrddin, a mortal mage native to the wizardly city of Hex, whose manse has many doors and many manifestations, and whose knowledge of matters arcane rivals even that of the Fair Folk themselves.

The Grimdowns

On the surface, the misty mounds of the Grimdowns seem but a few snowy crags, topped with the tomb-markers of the dead. In fact, the district is by far the most populous in all of Gossamer, for each and every mound leads down into the grand Necropolis of the city, a seemingly infinite warren that sprawls throughout the Withered Quarter, deep into the earth, filled with the uncountable souls of the dead. All who die in Elfhame manifest as shades in Annwn, and many come here to the Withered Quarter for at least some of their endless days and nights. Despite its vastness, however, the Necropolis is a quiet, dusty place, for the shades lack the energy of life – without the thought of their own deaths motivating them, most shades are slow, contented beings, either tranquil or melancholic, mere echoes of their previous selves. Entry into the catacombs of the Necropolis is granted only to the dead; the living may visit the tombs and leave offerings, even trading certain objects with the dead, but they may not walk the unending tunnels or gaze on the subterannean wonders of the city of the dead that lies beneath their feet.

The Gullet

Before the realm of Annwn was ruled by the Dread Lord Arawn, the Horned King, it had a different sovereign: the dark being known as Crom Cruach, the Head of the Mound, the Devouring Worm, an entity said to be one of Chthonic Gods, demon-princes of the Netherworld, and rumoured to be brother of the Charnel Goddess Mordiggia. Crom Cruach’s rule ended many centuries ago during the reign of High Queen Nicnevan, when he was sealed deep in the bowels of the earth, buried alive by the Elves. Despite his defeat, however, Crom Cruach is still worshipped in the Withered Quarter by a small coterie of cambions, half-elfin and half-demon cultists. The Cult controls the district of the Withered Quarter known as the Gullet, whose buildings are older than almost any in Gossamer – warped and twisted into quasi-organic forms, their very stones seem to grow and reshape themselves like living things. Though the Cult of Crom Cruach acknowledge the sovereignty of Arawn, they keep their own laws and customs, and have been known to bicker with the neighbouring folk of Crookhollow, sometimes snatching woodwoses who stray too near to the tenebrous avenues of their fell domain.

Howling

Rising above the Grimdowns is the dark castle of Caer Sidi, fortress and home of the Dread Lord Arawn himself, Horned King of Annwn. Carved from never-thawing ice, this grim citadel has never been taken in war, manned by an unblinking garrison of the dead, the formidible revenant-warriors known as the Cauldron-Born, who were raised many centuries past by the Sacred Cauldron, one of the legendary Thirteen Treasures of Elfhame. The area around the castle is known as Howling, for it perpetually echoes with the bestial voices of the Cŵn Annwn, wraith-hounds of Arawn, who form part of the legendary Wild Hunt, which, as part of the terms of the peace with Hell, returns souls from the Netherworld who escape the bounds of Hell for Faerie or the mortal realm. Some claim that those who hear their fell voices lose a year of their allotted lifespan.

The Sty

Enclave of ogres, trolls, and their half-mortal kindred, the Sty is a ramshackle sprawl clustered on the western edge of the Withered Quarter, and one of the poorer districts in Gossamer. The district is named for the hogs raised and slaughtered in the abbatoirs here, chief industry of the neighbourhood. A rare few such swine are not killed, for all pigs are first subjected to tests when they are young to determine whether they possess oracular abilities; hogs born in the Withered Quarter, here at the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead, can sometimes exhibit divinatory power. Such beasts can prophesy the weal or woe of many things, and upon dying their entrails and bladders are inspected by the district’s sage haruspexes and choriomancers to discern secrets of great import. Also of note in the Sty is the gigantic mead-hall known as The Golden Hog, a gilded statue which some claim is in fact a petrified dire boar from Jotunheim; though a rough and tumble place, its feasts are the stuff of legend. Those who venture into the Sty are advised to go armed and in groups after dark, for bands of unsavoury giantkin such as the Needleteeth, the Rednails, and the Gutprickers roam the shadowed alleys at night and are rumoured to snatch the odd visitor for their stew-pots; separating the truth of such rumours from anti-troll prejudices is difficult, but certainly the neighbourhood has been the site of many blood-feuds and street-brawls.

After a couple of months of sporadic work, the Wilting Quarter is now complete, making Gossamer 25% done. Next up will be the Withered Quarter, Arawn’s domain, the wintry section of the city directly east of the Wilting Quarter, across the osseous Spinebridge. In upcoming posts, I’ll also be detailing how I populate districts with additional details; below is just a rough outline of the major landmarks and purpose of each neighbourhood.

Link to a more detailed image.

The Wilting Quarter is the section of the city ruled by Queen Mab, the Autumnal Sovereign, and thus lies in the realm of Logris. Its districts are dedicated to pleasures and skullduggery, dark delights and forbidden knowledge. Practices the Seelie Court find unsavoury can be celebrated openly in the Wilted Quarter; the laws are few and enforced but rarely by the Queen’s rancid guards, with most disputes being settled with jocular duels which become yet another form of public entertainment.

The Brambles

Originally grown as a defensive fortification to repel invaders from Mag Mell, the Brambles have become a den of iniquity and vice. Poisons are openly bought and sold throughout the district, most notably from the garden of Caprice the witch, which sprawls at the neighbourhood’s pungent heart – a verdant grove of hemlock and nightshade. Blades for hire and assassins can also be found throughout the Brambles, including the near-mythic Nettles, an ancient guild of professional killers whose opulent, temple-like headquarters lies just a few blocks east of the imposing towers of the Thorn Gate. Most infamous of the Nettles are the twin sprite assassins Hellebore and Belladonna, known for such gruesome escapades as the Pigeon Pie Massacre, in which the pair hid themselves in the hollowed-out ceremonial pigeon pie at a banquet in Mag Mell, only to spring from the crust and slay half a dozen elfin nobles before the wine was poured.

Goblin Town

As a rule, the Fair Folk shun most modern technology, scorning the steam-engines and clockwork used by mortals. Goblins, however, are a notable exception, and their shambolic ghetto in the midst of the Wilted Quarter is a seething, stinking swelter of acrid smoke and hissing machines. Though far short of the industrial capacity of cities like Hex and Erubescence, the factories of Goblin Town churn out all manner of strange devices, from repeating crossbows to fireworks to crude pistols to mechanical traps to clockwork toys. Many of these are built from scrap metal and other oddments salvaged from the junkyard in the southern part of the district, the city’s garbage-tip for inorganic waste. The west side of Goblin Town also features a number of fighting pits and monster-gardens, populated with creatures from the wilds of Elfhame and beyond; many such creaturea are bought and sold in the Beast Market.

Grosscastle

The Fomorians used to number among Mab’s favoured peoples: giants, originally hostages in the Enormity Wars between Elfhame and Jotunheim, become the soldiers and servants of the Unseelie Court. They lost their status when their chieftain, King Balor, sought to depose Mab herself and claim Logris for his own, a plan foiled by Mab, resulting in the exile of Balor and his people to the mortal realm. Their ancient fortress of Grosscastle, once the primary military fortification in the Wilting Quarter, now lies empty and moss-eaten, for Mab cursed the castle such that any who slumbers in its depths will be driven mad with nightmares, waking in a frenzy and attacking those about them as if they were monstrous imposters; such was the fate of many Fomorians who succumbed to the spell on the eve of Balor’s would-be coup. Though the fortress remains ungarrisoned, adventurers sometimes venture into its shattered halls in search of the forgotten treasures of the Fomorians, for the giants were renowned for their craftsmanship and magic, and many of their wondrous creations can still be found within the cyclopean bowels of Grosscastle.

Horripilation Circus

Elves and Demons have never quite seen eye to eye, not because of their differences but rather their similarities – a narcissism of small differences often intrudes on relations betwixt Faerie and Hell, and due to the Truce and the Tithe of Souls Elfhame pays the Archdemons, the two are largely content to ignore one another, save for the occasional bickering between Annwn and infernal psychopomps over the fate of certain shades of the dead. Of the various Elfin realms, however, Logris maintains the strongest relationship with the Netherworld, as evinced by Horripilation Circus: a demoniac carnival, put on as entertainment for Queen Mab, a kind of gift to the Lady of Logris from Hecate, one of the dethroned sovereigns of Hell usurped by the Commonwealth of Pandemonium. The circus is a multiversal menagerie involving conjured horrors, otherworldly delicacies, surreal magical specatcles, and a panoply of other pleasures both subtle and gross. Many of the performers are demons; others are damned souls, mortals who have made pacts with the fell powers, and other outcasts, grotesques, and oddities culled from the dark corners of the cosmos.

Rotting Hill

Queen Mab herself is often found in the Wilted Quarter. When Her Moldy Majesty is present in Gossamer, she dwells within the Putrescent Palace, a grotesque fortress perched atop Rotting Hill – a reeking mass of lichenous rock, fruiting bodies, and decomposing vegetation. The Palace itself is a madhouse: crazed corridors loop and twist at impossible angles, packs of wild dogs roam from room to room in search of carrion, inscrutable clocks count the hidden hours of Elfhame, and the mad, laughing, blood-stained Queen herself presiding over it all, along with her numerous fetches, supernatural doubles through whose eyes she sees. The dungeons of the Palace are said to be a labyrinth of impossible depth and complexity, a warren of oubliettes and torture chambers in which prisoners and gaolors hunt one another in bizarre cat-and-mouse chases, sometimes seemingly changing roles and identities as all sense and sanity break down.

Shroomsbury

A district of alchemists and physicians, Shroomsbury is absolutely infested with gigantic fungi of every conceivable variety (and several inconceivable ones), their spores used to produce medicines and potions, as well as many of the poisons sold in the Brambles and the drugs sold in Wormwood. The district is notable for Napping Nog, a giant attacker who was laid low by soporific spores, fallen into a seemingly eternal coma; fungi have grown over his slumbering body, which has also become the centre of its own small neighbourhood. A stonesthrow from Nog lies the Collegium Gargantua, one of Gossamer’s few institutions of higher learning, founded with the mission of studying the sleeping giant; the Elfin enchanters at the Collegium have performed a wide variety of experiments on their softly snoring specimen, including entering the creature’s dreams to quite literally pick its brains for secrets of the primordial Jotnar. At the southern edge of the district lies the Red-Juice Sickhouse, a kind of hospital and laboratory where patients are treated with cures generated from the bodies of fungoid nurses – often with bizarre magical side-effects, to the continued fascination of the Fair Folk chirurgeons. Patients have been known to emerge from the Sickhouse with broken bones set or illnesses treated, while also beginning to age backwards, or acquiring strange phobias, or losing their shadows. Some have reported continuing to grow far beyond the heights typical of their species; others have complaned of developing “backup” ears and eyes; of being afflicted with wereslug therianthropy; of losing their childhood memories in exchange for those of others; of discovering the physicians have produced clonal copies of their bodies for disreputable purposes; and a myriad of other complaints. Still, there’s no arguing with results.

Wormwood

Little remains of the enchanted forest of Wormwood that preceded the Wilting Quarter, but one small neighbourhood preserves something of its eerie charms. Gossamer’s pleasure district, the place is home to numerous theatres, most notably the magnificent open-air Grove theatre, where plays older than some planes are regularly performed with elaborate ceremony, along with the latest bawdy satyr-plays and other lewd comedies, often skewering Faerie’s elites. Taverns, drug-dens, and cafes also abound, many serving absinthe, the signature drink of the district, in honour of the Green Fairy, an ancient member of the Fair Folk who can often be found roaming the verdurous streets, bewitching passersby with intoxicating illusions. Undoubtedly the centrepiece of the district is the gorgeous Nymphaeum. To call this temple of sensuous delights a “brothel” would almost be slanderous, for it is a shrine to hedonism, run by the descendants of the nymphs and satyrs who once dwelt in the ancient wood and have now adapted to city life; the overgrown pleasure-palace is an opulent world unto itself, as expensive as it is decadently luxurious. Finally, Wormwood is also the location of the Nest, a wyvern-aerie. The beasts have long ago been tamed by the locals, becoming far smaller in size and less ferocious in demeanor than their forebears; indeed, it is practically a faux-pas for a well-to-do Elf not to own a jewel-scaled dwarf wyvern, used much as mortals do a hunting hawk.

Gossamer begins to take shape. I moved south from Shroomsbury into Wormwood and the eastern edges of the Brambles. With 8 pages done, I am now nearly halfway through the Wilting Quarter, and 10% through the city overall.

Wormwood is a sort of urban forest, and also a pleasure-district – a maze of roots and mossy bridges and winding streets, ornate spires emerging from a miasma of perfume and psychedelic mist, all of it overgrown with trees and foliage. As with Shroomsbury, I decided on a few landmarks. Firstly, I wanted a wyvern nest, the beasts domesticated so that their venom would be milked and diluted into one of many potent drugs consumed in the district, many others coming from Shroomsbury to the north. Second, a theatre – I went with an Elizabethan-looking structure, the Grove. Finally I put in the lavish, over-the-top Nymphaeum, somewhere between a shrine and a brothel.

The economic function of the Wilting Quarter is taking shape. Drugs, reagents, poisons, potions – the district is about transformation and liminal states, which fits with the autumn theme of Logris, the fairy realm of Mab. I’m thinking this theme will be echoed in a different way in the part of the city ruled by Titania, Queen of Spring, in the southeast, opposite Mab’s domain.

Next up will be finishing off the bottom corner and the Brambles, a thorn-swathed slum, district of assassins and thieves. It’s also going to include a sprawling witch’s garden where various poisonous herbs are cultivated.

The city as a whole now looks like this:

I was also thinking about how the Quarters will connect to one another – I may end up putting a big bridge between the Wilting Quarter and the Withered Quarter, the wintry section that will be directly east of this part. There’s a nice untaken spot off Deepshade square that would be easy to graft the bridge to without a lot of finnicky re-drawing. Once I’m finished with the Wilted Quarter I’ll likely move clockwise, moving through the Winter, Spring, and finally Summer sections of the city.

Four pages into mapping, the results look like this:

Even at this stage I needed to make some adjustments to the image – tiny misalignments, a paper slightly askew here, a scanning margin there, all meant that to make the images mesh I needed to expand and contract parts of the map, add a stairway here and a cluster of fungi there. This can be fiddly, but in some ways there’s a silver lining – these sorts of realignments tend to further disguise the gaps between pages and give the final result a slightly more organic look while still preserving the overall design.

With the images digitally sewn together, I then started adding names. I sometimes have a list of street ideas jotted down, but generally I make them up as I go. I named the giant (Napping Nog) and labelled a few especially important landmarks. There was some space left around some larger structures, so I decided retroactively to make these notable locations, labelling them the Wheezing Tower and the Collegium Gargantua – I’ll figure out details for these locations later, but the Colelgium will likely be a school focused on sleep-magic and psychedelic enchantments, while the tower might belong to a wizardly cabal. Making “discoveries” like this preserves a certain sense of spontaneity during the process.

Up next I’ll be starting a new district – possibly Wormwood, Rotting Hill, or the Brambles.

I’m drawing a new city – Gossamer, capital city of Elfhame – and thought this would be a good opportunity to show my process for desgining and mapping fantasy cities. This is something of a companion post to “How I Run a Citycrawl Campaign.”

Overall Concept

I start by thinking of the overall concept for the city – who rules it, what its economic and political purpose is, what its overall shape should be, its overall aesthetic, and which historical cities I can take as models. For Hex, I knew I wanted to create a magical university town, I knew I wanted the city to be shaped like a hexagon cut through by a river, and I took some broad inspiration from cities like London, Rome, and my home city of Vancouver. For Erubescence I knew I wanted to construct a vampiric capitol where the Night Queen traps her nobles at court with water (since vampires can’t cross it), and the idea of a pentagram stuck in my mind; my real-world references were Venice and Paris, with a little bit of St. Petersburg.

Gossamer, the Big Cobweb, is going to be the central metropolis of Elfhame, placed at the converge of the four realms of Logris, Annwn, Tír na nÓg, and Mag Mell (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer). I want it to be literally cut into four, with two rivers carving the realms up, their confluence serving as the site of the city. Since I like giving cities a distinctive shape, and since I’ve picked the name Gossamer for the capitol, I’ve decided to make the city look like a giant cobweb, with canals taking the place of the webbing. This design is partly inspired by Amsterdam and Bruges, the two cities that I’ll be taking most of my visual cues from this time. The canals of Amsterdam were originally a series of defensive moats that slowly transformed into commercial waterways, which I’ll use as the basis for the web-like design in Gossamer.

Getting Started

The idea of the city will be that there are four major “quarters” to it, each technically a different country. Gossamer will thus have a bit of the vibe of somewhere like East/West Berlin and other “divided cities” (this is partly inspired by The City and the City, which I’m teaching this summer). Each of the four quarters will have a different ruler, different laws, and a starkly different feel to it. They’ll also need a unique visual identity, so that while the map looks like one city overall, the quarters also feel quite distinct from one another. In the very middle of the city where the quarters meet will be a dockyard and bazaar.

I decided to start with Mab’s quarter, the Wilting Quarter, a borough of eternal autumn and decay. I jotted down some prospective names of districts: Rotting Hill, Grosscastle, Shroomsbury, the Wartward, the Brambles, Wormwood, and Horripilation Circus. For each of these I made notes on how I wanted each district to look, and its purpose within the city. For example, Shroomsbury, the district I’m starting with, is going to be the fungoid district, will have giant toadstool structures, and will be a significant manufacturer of drugs and potions – the alchemist’s district as well. This means it’ll include lots of wizard’s towers, laboratories, and similar places, but it will also be an organic sprawl of buildings and fungi (I picked this first because I figured it’d be fun and easy to draw – a good starting point).

To make sure that the map coheres, my first step is to find a pattern that fits my picture of the city. After some quick googling I was able to produce this:

Which, when resized and printed off, becomes this:

Each of these sections is numbered so that I know how they fit together. I now have a bluprint for the city and can begin actually drawing, placing the map over each section so that the shape of the canals is maintained. I began in the top right-hand corner. After some consideration I’ve decided that the Wilting Quarter does not have walls, but like Bruges uses waterways for defense (I think the Mag Mell and Annwn sections – names not yet determined – might have walls). I want this part of the city to be a sprawl, with structures throughout even the large sections without canals along the edges – indeed, these hinterlands will be the location of the Fairy Queens’ and Kings’ palaces, as far from their rivals as possible.

With a blueprint ready, I then sketched out roughly where each of the seven districts within the Wilting Quarter would be placed. The four “inner” districts will be the Wartward, Wormwood, the Brambles, and Shroomsbury, while the “outer” districts will include Rotting Hill, Grosscastle, and Horripilation Circus, since those districts will benefit from having more space – the first will be a mansion-encrusted hill, the second a series of gigantic ruins built by the exiled Fomorians, and the third will be a sort of demonic amusement park.

District 1: Shroomsbury

With the basics sketched out, I started drawing.

As each section is completed, I scan the results and tweak contrast. The result looks like this, for one page of the map. This section will take 20 pages, which means the overall map will be 80 pages.

One down, 79 to go. Shroomsbury needs some more landmarks, something to make it stand out apart from just being made of fungi. I brainstormed some ideas, including:

• A giant who has been lulled into sleep by the psychedelic spores and now has buildings and fungi built all over him. I do have a giant head already in Erubescence (a zombified trophy), but I like the idea that this visual links the two cities, who were frequent allies in wars with the Giants before the Seven Years’ Mischief sundered the peace. I also like placing “passive threats” in my cities, like swords of Damocles – things that PCs could “set off” if they disturb, like the infectious Thornmaze in Erubescence or the protoplasmic monster in the Warded Ward in Hex.
• A giant compost heap/garbage tip, essentially the cesspits and mass graves of the city, which can of course spawn all sorts of monsters and threats.
• Since this is the alchemists’ and apothecaries’ district, a fungal hospital or leper house could be interesting, where patients go to have experimental cures involving bizarre growths and drugs.

I then drew the next page of the city, adding in the fungal hospital. This requires some care, lining things up with the precious page, like so:

Scan, boost contrast, reduce light a little, and the second page looks like this:

Now I simply edit these two pages together. I like to perform some minor tweaks at this point to make sure the pieces segue smoothly. I place broader streets at the join between areas, while occasionally interrupting those streets with diagonal canals or long buildings to disguise the fact I’m piecing the maps together as a series of 8.5/11″ pages.

When I add the first two pages together they look like this:

Looking back to the blueprint, I’ve now drawn the first two pages on the top right corner.

In subsequent posts, I’ll share progress on this map as I complete districts and quarters. I’m going to be starting with Shroomsbury in its entirety, and then we’ll spread out from there. Once Shroomsbury is done I’ll get into labelling and naming things, and then start to brainstorm more ideas for the adjacent districts – I have thoughts for each of them, but the specifics aren’t fully worked out, which is part of the fun.