The Campaign Builder's Guild

So, finally some new material. There should be quite a lot of material here, which isn't that good when most people prefer short and concise. If anyone has ideas on how to cut off some details it would be nice; I could probably keep expanding on this one nation for quite a while even though it is little more than a city and some mountains. I have tried adding some appetizers by way of a "why you should read this"-list to keep you motivated.
But feel free to comment on this. I think this is rather well written - at least the two first parts. Hope you agree.    

Reasons to read: the Sovereign, the Flickering Angels, the Palace of Snow and Blood, Cult of the Weeping Maw,  the Wire and the Voltaic Fire.  


Kolyaev - the Old Capital
The Black Pearl of the North, The City of Statues, the Winter Gate, the Seat of the Sovereign

On the icy coast of the Sorkolis Bay, where the churning waves are stilled by both ice and sheltering peaks, lies the old harbor-city of Kolyaev. It was once the seat of a great empire, but has now become the last vestige of it; the center of the Remnant.  

Plagued by snow and frigid winds, the city has nevertheless always been an important trading hub as it is nestled between two seas: It rests on the verge of the Winter Channel - the small strait that connects the east and the west. This central location, along with its historical importance as the birthplace of the first Sovereign, was integral to it becoming the most important city of Northern Kherennem for 3 centuries.

The City
Fashioned from granite taken from the slopes of the Pale Mountains on which the city rests, Kolyaev is renowned for its steep, winding streets which navigate the cliffs and hills of the city.

Its architecture is grandiose and ornate and the city is dominated by massive plazas and tall towers,  testament to the wealth the city was once in possession of. But as the empire fell so did the city in a way, and many of the buildings are but hollow shells of what they once were, their magnificence being somewhat subdued by years of neglect. But the heritage of the city remains an everpresent part of the city, as the corroded copper eyes of past war heroes stare emptily at the passerbys and the crumbled remains of memorials to countless forgotten wars sit solemnly at the center of many plazas.      

Three edifices dominate the city: the palace, the bastion and the lighthouse. The Palace of Snow and Blood rests far up the in the foothills on the edge of a small cliffface overlooking much of the city, and is one of the greatest architectural accomplishments in the world. It was from this location that the north was once ruled unanimously, and it is still the domain of the Sovereign; the living embodiment of state and city. It remains a place of mystery even to this day; few but the members of the Praesidium and the Sovereign himself have even seen the inside of this snow-covered palace of red and white marble.

The Bastion is a far more crude structure; the oldest building of the city it is said. Fashioned from steel and layers of the most durable mountain rock, it was made to withstand any kind of punishment so it could forever stand vigil over the Winter Channel. It is thought to be impenetrable and is the headquarters of the imperial military. The fortress is also rumored to be the secret source of the voltaic fire which lights the streets of the city, but it remains but a rumor.

While the Bastion stands vigil over the Channel, the Lighthouse watches over the steam-shrouded harbor, its powerful flare sweeping the city and the sea with a changeless rhythm. A tall and imposing structure of white marble, this was the last work commisioned before the fall of the empire, and the completion of this project along with the fitting of the powerful voltaic light served as a symbol that Kolyaev would persist even if the empire didn't.      

The city serves as the end of the Forever Road which spans the continent, and ends appropriately in the Circle-at-the-End plaza; a massive open space circled by great oaken trees.

The Coiled Wire
There was little hope that Kolyaev would continue to prosper after the Empire fell. Many lost their belief in the virtues of the leader whose watchful eye they lived under and fled. But a second chance was soon to be granted to the Remnant nation as the scientist Ozmael Voltar discovered a thing that could change the world forever: electricity. Through esoteric and carefully hidden methods he released the searing, irradiant power of  voltaic energy and learnt how it could be controlled.

Now it flows freely through the great Wire that spans every single street of the city, showering the streets in a warming blue-white glow. Over the years the network has expanded until there hung above the streets a jumbled network of glowing copper and homemade wires, its lifeless tendrils penetrating into even the most common household as people found ways to leech away small fractions of the light and heat they saw suspended above their streets.    

The harbors also benefit from the bound flames as powerful voltaic heaters are lowered into the water until the steam boils up and the floating ice melts. The famous Kolyaevian icerenders employ the same technique to slowly carve their ways through the fields of ice that crowd the northern seas in winter.

The powers of the Coiled Wire is not without its price though. Only the enigmatic Keepers are allowed near the mighty receptacles which provide the near unlimited power the city feeds off, and few know the secrets of these strange machines and what their actual source is. And while one thing is the mystery of where the heat comes from, there are still stranger questions to ask about what comes from the heat. Mysterious human-like creatures have been sighted in the night; winged beings of electric luminescence which shy from the touch of man, and rest unseen in the wires during the day. The purpose and nature of these strange Flickering Angels, as they have been named by the populace, is still unknown.      

The Culture
Kolyaev culture is an intricate blend of northern tradition and imperial sophistication and patriotism.
They all live in the shadows of their glorious past, but approach this fact from various angles. Some embrace it; others, ashamed, reject their history and attempt to start from fresh. As the name implies, the Remnant is officially considered the remains of the empire and is more than just another outbreak state; they are a continuation rather than a fraction (although the size of their domain is quite a lot smaller).

The people of the Remnant take great pride in themselves and their kin, and children are met with high expectations and are expected to fulfill them to the best of their ability. Everybody has a place in society, and this is determined by the examinations made by the Guild of Censors who judge and measure every person in Kolyaev to the best of their ability.
Most come to terms with this rigid structure, but secret anarchic and anti-authoritorian societies are becoming common, their messages of dissent found fastened to rusting monuments in all corners of the city. There have even been violent riots, fought down by the military.      

Kolyaev has a well-trained and well-armed standing military, the members of which are hand-picked for strength and prowess by the Guild of Censors, and, although far smaller than it once was, the imperial army is still a feared military force in the north.

Foodwise nothing much grows in the north besides potatoes. Potatoes are thus a mainstay of their diet, with meat coming in a close second. The food usually somewhat drab by itself, spices from the south and herbs from the mountainsides are employed heavily, making their food unusually spicy. They are well-known for their spiced beef stews in particular.

Religiously the Kolyaevians prefer the larger and more prominent religions. The cults which emerged shortly after the fall of the empire never gained popularity. One cult remains though, but it is immensely old. The Cult of the Weeping Ravager is thought to be one of the remains of an ancient pagan faith once practised in the north, but in truth its origin has never been determined as it goes as far back as the Indeterminate Age by all accounts.

Its priestesses are chosen from the most beautiful young girls and they carve tears into their cheeks to bleed blood for the being they worship. The being itself is said to be a vast creature dwelling in the sea and below the earth, which drinks the tears of widows and children. The serpentine creature is seen as an idol of power, and is a patron of war to the people of Kolyaev. None but the priestesses worship the thing, but everyone respects and fears it. The priestesses make blood sacrifices by the waterfront; in most cases animal, although rumors claim they go beyond that. They are known for their haunting siren song which they sing on the peers of the harbor while they gaze out across the ocean in trance for hours on end. Military men are more respectful of them than others, and before major battles it is common to make a ritual sacrifice.  

The Sovereign and the Enumerated
The Remnant is built on the highest of imperial virtues: sacrifice and dedication. The Sovereign rules supreme, being the nation incarnate, but his title didn't come without a price. He is a nameless and friendless entity, forever completely dedicated to the state until his last remaining property - his life - also becomes forfeit after 15 years of service.

The Sovereign is picked by his predecessor, chosen from a group of Candidates found and rounded up by the Guild of Censors. Every Candidate enters the court at age 15 to live besides the Sovereign and his Enumerated, where he spends 5 years as a servant to the court undergoing training, indoctrination, and frequent punishment before the Sovereign picks his favorite. Only the strongest and most dedicated continue their training that long.

The Sovereign has to obey only the most common of ordinary laws, but in addition he must never speak his name, must keep his flesh hidden behind mask and silk, and must never have children nor family. The Sovereign can under dire circumstances be deposed by the Praesidium; his council of 77 Enumerated. This has only been attempted twice before, though, and has terrible consequences for those who propose the idea.  

The members of the Praesidium do not sacrifice quite as much as the Sovereign himself, but they live double lives and keep their identities secret while in the palace, hidden behind iron masks marked with a single number denoting their identity (this is the reason they are referred to as the Enumerated).

After 15 years the Sovereign steps back and completes the training of his successor before performing the ritual of Era's End in the center of the Circle-at-the-End which concludes with his demise at his own hands. The mortal shell is thus destroyed, while the identity of the Sovereign is passed on. The old Sovereign is from then on referred to by a title; a specific incarnation of the state during that period. Examples are the Conqueror, the One who Aided and the Ivory Spider.          
Although the Sovereign is commonly a man, there are no rules preventing Candidates and Sovereigns from being female.

Very interesting. I got an impression of a hybrid between St. Petersburgh and Constantinople, with some industrial-age technology influences. I'm not quite sure how the geography works here. The city is supposed be on the slopes of mountains, yet it has a harbour?

Are the steamships actually powered by steam engines, or does the name refer to steam rising from the heated ice/water?

That's a great city. There an adventure PC game called Dreamfall, whose main city reminds me of this (this is a good thing. That city also had fantastic tavern names - the Salty Seaman and the Cock and Puss.) I really like the juxtaposition between a civilized, imperial city meshed with the more barbaric and wild elements commonly associated with the "North" - I think a Broken Verge version of Rasputin would be a great fit in this city. More BV?

I'm trying to avoid steampunk to some degree, instead focusing on electricity and, later, the powers of the soul. So the steamships are just that; ships which make the water steam as they burn their way through the ice floes. Geography-wise, the city rests on a rocky slope which connects the sea-shore with the foothills. It's a pretty rugged place, so the city is build around and on top of cliffs. It's not exactly in the mountains. There are just close by, so it's not exactly flat ground.  
Hmm, a Rasputin? Perhaps... :p And I'm going to make a quick write-up of the Voltaic Receptacle and the Keepers, and something on a few materials and chemicals soon (Malglass, Phlogiston and ambrosia).

very very much looking forward to new BV stuff. After reading about Kolyaev, I think I finally get the feel and "umph" of the setting - it's fantasy in the purest sense and doesn't build off of pre-existing troupes and archetypes.  

Yes! that is indeed much of what I'm going for. To create something new, original, and hopefully interesting and to avoid the common tropes :)

Any verdict on the steamship name? I could call them breakers or something like that instead.
Any places you guys feel should be trimmed or expanded?
Something that you found odd or inconsistent?
Anything else?

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowAny verdict on the steamship name? I could call them breakers or something like that instead.
Any places you guys feel should be trimmed or expanded?
Something that you found odd or inconsistent?
Anything else?

anything else besides more BV? :) I would go with a different name for the ships, steamship has too much connotation with it, not to mention the fact that it is an actual type of ship. Way-Makers, or something to do with the word Melt? I dunno, but I have faith young grasshopper.

Are there any other cities from the Old Empire of Kolyaev? A religious city? science city? a dead, ruined haunted city? Any particular beasts/fauna/flora of the north? Giant musk-ox-like beasts of burden would be neat, or something like that.

Most of the north was at some point under the rule of the Sovereign, excepting Khiere, the Whisperlands and Setch. Their closest neighbour is the Iron Union (name not completely decided upon as of yet) which was the old mining district of the empire. I might make a university city at some point, but that idea hasn't really grown to anything in my mind as of yet.
As to fauna... I'll have to think on that. But yes, most creatures that far north would be adapted to the climate with thick furs and such.

[spoiler=Ideas for ship names:]
Breakers
Icerenders
Tearcarvers
Seaknifes
Boilships
Thawhulks
Or any combination thereof?
[/spoiler]

Hmm, I'm not sure this is completely done, but it should be a good start. This country combines a lot of different references, and although it is not as "magical" as Kolyaev I think it came out nicely. Hope you like it anyway.

Why you should read: putrid rivers, the Metaltheurgy, Gray Rush, Hollow Cathedral, the chasms, air-baths and mock-bulls (and lots of mining and metal)

Solstheim - the Land of the River and the Mountains  
the (Ironbound) Union
Hidden in the snowy valleys of the Saltedge Mountains lie the many dirty mining towns that together constitute the Union. A cold, ugly, disorderly, and somewhat unimpressive country to many, Solstheim makes up for its many lackings by being an economical powerhouse with its thousands of tons of iron, precious metals, salt and mock-bull meat that is ferried down the river Umber that, to them, is almost as holy as the mountains themselves.

Lower Ferzest
Ferzest, The City of Black Snow, the Pitted City, City-by-Umber,
During the Gray Rush, many hopeful fortune hunters travelled to the dark and otherwise forboding peaks of the east in search of wealth only to find that the few measly wooden towns couldn't even hold half of them. They were left to find their own shelter, or flee their dreams to warmer lands.

Many decided to wait by the shores of the river Umber for a mountain miner to die so they could take his place, and they survived by taking coin from merchants for ferrying the ore downriver. Soon an industry grew up on the shores of the then-pure river, and the river became the second god of the mountain dwellers.

It's a city of filth, poverty, and greed, but also of thriving industry and faith. Fuelled by thousand furnaces the city keeps itself alive and prospers while it's rime-covered chimneys mark the snow with slag and soot, turning it black as it falls to the ground.
 
Rising above the low buildings of the commoners are the sturdy iron-clad towers of the union princes. The princes were once workers themselves, but as they rose to power they distanced themselves form their unclean past and colleagues and sequestered themselves in their hermetically sealed manors. There they enjoy the sweet smells of expensive perfume and the lavish joys of baths taken in alchemically purified air, only leaving their towers in rubber-clad palanquins.
 
Outside the towers, Ferzest is a of mess busy sweat shops, filthy marketplaces, and fuming factories. The icy, and soot-darkened streets are thronged with metalworkers, miners, and laborers of all kinds, and the desperate often journey to the City-by-Umber as there are always jobs and steady coin to be found, even if you'd accept neither if you had any other choice. Without a job and a furnace to warm yourself by, a man trapped in Ferzest is doomed to freeze to death in the streets; few there have the time or the money to help the unfortunate.
 
Lower Ferzest harbor a bustling place where wares in abundance are loaded on and off a plethora of barges and other river vessels, carrying merchants eager to barter for precious unionist steel. On the other side of the river lies Upper Ferzest, a barely inhabited disease-ridden slum even worse than its counterpart. Few Lower Ferzestians recognize it as part of the city. There are no bridges spanning the murky waters of the broad river.
 
A few shrines to Umber himself, the revered Slag Father, are found along the riverbank, and at night the river comes alight with the flames of dozens of floating pyres as the unionists send their dead into the arms of the Lord of Purification and All That Remains. 
 
The mountains and the river are worshipped more rigorously in the Hollow Cathedral in the center of Lower Ferzest. Constructed during the Gray Rush, it was fashioned piece by piece out of what little scrap metal the poor miners could afford. Its impressive but ramshackle iron girder structure supports the shell of a thousand rusty metal plates many of them inscribed with the names of the miners who bought them and fitted them to the church itself and it stands as a powerful monument to a will amongst the miners as strong as the iron they dig up from the earth. 
 
The Metaltheurgy
During the heights of the Gray Rush, miracles happened on a daily basis as poor turned rich with the swing of a pickaxe. It didn't take long before the first man claimed to be a prophet of the bountiful mountains and the metal the slept beneath them, and soon the mountains became more than just respected and treasured; they became worshipped. 
 
Two deities started to take form; the Motherload was the provider, whose treasures came from her womb - the earth and the mountains. The second was the river that flowed out from the mountains; he was called the Slag Father and became the great purifier who cleansed the land from the remains of both industry, mankind and death by taking their impurity on himself. The Motherload blesses prayers with wealth and fertility while the Slag Father grants peace, wisdom and atonement.
 
The Metaltheurgy is a prominent religion in Solstheim and is observed by many of the unionists. Shrines to the mountains and the river and small pigiron idols are found everywhere, and even the most poor of the miners from the most distant of mining towns attempt a pilgrimage to the Hollow Cathedral if they have the faith. 
 
The clergy are few, but even the Princes respect them. They serve as advisors, both on ethical and economical matters, and grant blessings and sanctify funerals. 
 
The Mountains and the River
Although Ferzest is what most consider to be "the Union", the real Solstheim is the mountains. The Saltedges are tall and slender peaks, throwing shadows across imposing vistas of dark-green pines and snow-covered rock. There is an eerieness to the mountains, a somber silence that follows you wherever you go, only broken on occasion by the howling of wolves in the distance and the sounds of the icy gales sweeping the valley floors. 
 
The mines are scattered across the mountain chain, east and west, north and south. All of the towns are small and nameless; they were built for a singular purpose, and never received a name beyond the number that the mine went by. Each mine is governed by a count who answers only to one of the princes. The counts often make their homes in castles or manors built above the small villages, so that they might watch over them. 
 
The villages are connected by a maze of small mountain paths which are traversed by caravans bringing goods to and from Ferzest, but not all of them are in good order and in winter the towns risk being sealed up for weeks - perhaps even months. 
 
The River, on the other hand, is not the center of the Union but rather the border. It snakes its way from a spring in the mountains, down a gentle slope, where it eventually empties into the Crucible; a large mountain lake to the south-east. 
 
The clean spring water once satiated the thirst of both Blacktawny and a multitude of small towns and villages along the riverbank, but in turn with the growth of Blacktawny the city became dark and murky with slag, chemicals, and ashes, and is now viscous, sluggish and only the poor and the mad dare drink from its rotten waters now. But even though the waters are dead, the river is always alive with the colorful bustle of merchants, travellers and the pyre-barges of the dead. The river never freezes over, even in the dead of winter when the winds and the snow come down from the mountains and cover the country in a white frigid blanket.
 
The corruption is diluted considerable by the time it empties out into the Crucible, but its influence is not unnoticable. Strange and deformed animals who have drunk from the lake have started appearing along the shores of the lake, and there are rumours of worse living at the bottom of the deep basin. 
 
The unionists do some minor farming on the slopes of the mountains, but they are mostly famed for their cattle; the mock-bulls. Created through alchemical breeding, these cow-creatures are unnaturally muscular and almost incapable of carrying their own weight. Their meat is known to be bland and frowned upon by high class chefs, but it's both plentiful and cheap which suits laborers and farmers nicely.

Glad to see this back. (See my signature for WHY I am glad to see it return! :))

The worship of Tawny's River and Mountain are perhaps the most striking part of that city.

The mock bulls are sort of hilarious. ... But a question here, why are the cattle muscular if they can hardly move? Did you mean they are very fat?

The mock bulls inspired me to read up on Kobe Beef: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_beef (Did you base what you did on that sort of idea-- of course changing it significantly)?


--

Suggestion: I sometimes have difficulty reading your pieces because the paragraphs are not always separated. Could you please separate them?

Re: Ship Names-
"Breakers
Icerenders"
Seem the best from a generic point of view.

For the electro-industrial feeling: "Seaknifes" seem suitable- so perhaps that is what you should go with?

Other Ideas: Steambreakers? Voltacruisers?

alright, more verge!

first off, this is good stuff. Not much I can really say - the writing is spot on, mechanics are fine (not that I really care about that) and the tone is good.

few critiques: reading about Kolyaev just made me feel cold, like something in the North should: I really didn't get that feeling of the battle with the elements with this. I would think mountaineers and miners would have even more problems with the weather than a civilized port city. Even adding some descriptions of rime-covered smokestacks, icy walkways, and drifting snow would go a long ways into trying it in with the north.  

this is just personal preference, as everything is, but there seemed to be TOO much pollution. It just seemed like an obscene amount of pollution coming from northern mountain mines, which I would imagine to be sparse and spread out. All and all, I got the impression that the nation of Solstheim and Tawny were bigger cities than Kolyaev was, which I presume is not correct?

also, do you have a world map for BV or the North? if not, I could definitely do one for you if you send me a basic layout

Made some linebreaks here and there were it seemed appropriate. Did it help, or are there still problems?
The pollution is not so much from the mines but from Tawny. Tawny is filled to the brink with refineries and factories, each of them spilling their waste into the river (along with the not-too-hygienic public). It is a sort of exaggerated Ganges. Ofc, I'm not dismissing that in my efforts to describe how the river was horribly polluted I went too far.
And Solstheim is a bigger country than the Remnant. The union pretty much took the Empire's entire mining district in their rebellion (reminds me I should write up some of the history). Whether Tawny is bigger as a city... I'm not sure. It might be actually. Has had more chance to grow and expand. Kolyaev is practicising a more isolationist approach, conserving their strength. But I'm not sure which one would be the bigger... Thoughts?
And Tawny is a bit more temperate than Kolyaev, but you're right, it seems a bit too warm now perhaps. I'll look into it given time.
And I had a world map drawn up by Lath, but just like you I have a tendency to want to rewrite everything... But I generally like your maps quite a lot, especially the old style of it instead of it looking like satellite images :)
I'll PM you about it.

Perhaps it's a little better, but this is what I was talking about:

Quote from: NewThe River, on the other hand, is not the center of the Union but rather the border. It snakes its way from a spring in the mountains, down a gentle slope, where it eventually empties into the Crucible; a large mountain lake to the south-east.

The clean spring water once satiated the thirst of both Tawny and a multitude of small towns and villages along the riverbank, but in turn with the growth of Tawny the city became dark and murky with slag, chemicals, and ashes, and is now viscous, sluggish and completely incapable of sustaining life (Tawny now survives off collected rainwater and what meltwater comes from the mountains). Only the fanatics of the Slag Father dare drink from its rotten waters now.

The corruption is diluted considerable by the time it empties out into the Crucible, but its influence is not unnoticable. Strange and deformed animals who have drunk from the lake have started appearing along the shores of the lake, and there are rumours of worse living at the bottom of the deep basin.

It looks like you may have tabbed it in another word processing program, then imported it here... where BB does not recognize tabs.

Hmm, perhaps I'm just accustomed to the larger distance between lines in word and OneNote. I usually only make those linebreaks for significant paragraph shifts. I'll try again.

EDIT: Attempted some heavy linebreaking both in this post and the Kolyaev one. Might indeed have made the paragraph easier to swallow, but the volume of the text also seems to have increased significantly. Don't know if that's as bad as a wall o' text. Probably not. Also decided on icerenders for the Kolyaevian ships. I think I'll post a list of cities/nations at some point in the future.

Thank you. I like the new formatting. I don't think it's too heavy. If you are worried, you might try to format it like I did with IC entries for Gloria (see signature).

Btw, mock-bulls were largely inspired by pictures like this supercow image (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tJ1sghBiuaU/SmL1wL6Xl4I/AAAAAAAAAMA/PXxqbCovw0k/s400/super+cow+1.jpg).
It is a breed of cow called Belgian Blue which has some kind of double muscling. Only mine are bigger and taste worse :p

Has the Coiled Wire made it into Tawny? Also, the name Tawny is kinda strange, it really doesn't scream industrial city, but than again, I used to have a dog called Tawny, so who knows. I could be wrong, but it seems like the Union was built quickly on new found wealth - I'm guessing the Gray Rush is like the American Gold Rush? - that being said, what if all the cities in the union weren't named, but instead numbered? City 13, City 6, etc. I think this would make some sense considering that most of the towns would have started as mines right?

Also, now that I thought about the Coil, it could be a neat juxtaposition if the Union had their own individual technology based on some kind of Broken Verge coal or fossil fuel. Nothing steam punk of course, but I think it might be a good contrast to Kolyaev's Coil. (maybe a type of "coal" that is the fossilized remains of an older, evil race, what when burned releases energy and their dark spirits that in turn find a way into the lungs of people, giving them the BV equivalent of Black Lung or cancer)

When I read about all the towns in the Saltedges, I had an image of a spider-like machine caravan pondering through narrow passes and along steed ridges.

haha, I hope I'm not taking too many liberties here, I just got on a roll with ideas. ;)

The Coiled Wire as a network is restricted to Kolyaev. Receptacles, of course guarded ferociously by Keepers, make their way into the world from time to time for a considerable fee. There might be a few heating some furnaces in Tawny.
And just picked Tawny because it sounded vaguely like a rust/gold color. English is not my first language, so not sure about the connotations the word holds :P (cool you had a dog with that name in some sort of weird metagame way)
And I'd rather not all my countries have access to easy electricity. And having a fuel power source would make the electric mummies of Kolyaev rather redundant.
Hmm, I'm not sure about how many big machines I can put in before it turns too steampunky. Of course, it might make sense once I get to tinker a bit more with my artificial souls and the technology that goes with it.
Numbering the towns sounds cool though :D
And the Gray Rush is indeed like the Gold Rush, only for a massive vein of iron.  

EDIT: and thanks for the input by the way!

haha, yeah, Tawny is a fairly common dog's name, at least where I'm from.

and if you're worried about making it too steam-punk, you could always have huge, spider-like mounts for traversing the mountains. and I'm glad you liked the town numbers, i really dug that idea.

Well, I guess it fits the color of a Golden Retriever nicely :P
What about renaming it Blacktawny? Sounds more industrial while staying true to the roots.

EDIT: I've attempted several improvements to (Black-)Tawny. I renamed it (perhaps prematurely depending on what you guys say), and added some sentences focusing on the cold and the snow. Also added some details on the Slag Father and the princes, and wrote in that part about the numbered camps while also adding a sentence to the river so it seemed less bereft of life and made the consequences of drinking it less lethal (although I can imagine alchemists making poisons out of its water :p ).
Is the Saltedges a good name for this mountain chain? Not sure if it sounds too... nice. I could always move it. But I can only use Iron [something] so many times before it gets dumb.
Oh, and entirely forgot the question about the mock-bulls because I was busy finding pictures of them! They indeed have very muscular legs capable of supporting a lot of weight, but their body bulk is also vastly bigger than it rightly should be, so the strength-weight ratio might not always be high enough for them. But they manage. Most of the time.

the little bit of ice and snow really tied the city together. It's melding together in my mind's eye as a mix of Dickens' era London and industrial Isengard. Still not down the name Tawny though, I still vote for numbered cities.

Also, this is out there, I was thinking the fact that Tawny didn't sit on the river, which struck as strange the more I thought about it. North of where I live, there was a big iron boom in the early/mid 1900s, also in the mountains.

I've been up there, and even the really really rich veins of iron were only mined by make-shift and ramshackle towns that lasted until they moved on to the next vein. The big towns, however, were always on waterways. What if Tawny was actually on the Umber? It makes more sense for a big industrial city to actually be on the water - for transportation, commerce, and industry. Just a thought (Also, the mock-bulls in the industrial city made me think of Sinclair's The Jungle, which is really creepy and fits perfectly with the city.)

Saltedges are good, except I always read it as Saltridges. You could always just make up strange words to describe them, like calling them the Gibbenmauls or somehting.

Yeah, I wanted to place it next to the city but then I couldn't really have the whole pockmarked chasm-filled thing. But essentially, it extends from the foothills to the harbor, it just takes some time to get to the outer suburbs.
And I did make all the mining towns numbered; only Blacktawny is named, and I'd rather keep it named.  
Blacktawny isn't much of a mine anymore; it just used to be a large one. Then when the iron came down from the mountains it just came through Blacktawny and it grew and became the place to refine the ore, forge it, and ship it out.
If you think it's a better idea, I could remove the chasms and just place it by the river. But then it's one quirk short.

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowYeah, I wanted to place it next to the city but then I couldn't really have the whole pockmarked chasm-filled thing. But essentially, it extends from the foothills to the harbor, it just takes some time to get to the outer suburbs.
And I did make all the mining towns numbered; only Blacktawny is named, and I'd rather keep it named.  
Blacktawny isn't much of a mine anymore; it just used to be a large one. Then when the iron came down from the mountains it just came through Blacktawny and it grew and became the place to refine the ore, forge it, and ship it out.
If you think it's a better idea, I could remove the chasms and just place it by the river. But then it's one quirk short.

I think you'll have plenty of opportunity to use bottomless chasms and giant strip mines in all the other mining towns, I would go with river focus, especially, like you mentioned, Blacktawny was a place to refine and transport the mountain ore. Sometimes too many quirks work against a setting too - I think air-baths, mockbulls, and the pollutants are plenty.

And I think I can deal with Blacktawny if you're set on that name. Still, what about things like Blackport, Blackiron, Rustholm, Forgeport, Torque, smthng like that?

Torque is not bad actually! It just needs a pre-/suffix and then it'd be good. And I'm not set on Tawny in any way.
And I'll do some rewriting after my exam tomorrow then.

Possible names:
Graventorque
Embertorque
[name]torque
Torqueriver
Torquequay (perhaps a little overkill?)
perhaps something with cast, tarnish, blister, dull, ingot, or wrought?
Or one of those british names where you hyphenate a sentence.

EDIT: or maybe not Torque after all... It sounds a bit modernish doesn't it?
Damn those important names...

Torquemada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%A1s_de_Torquemada)? :D

For a more serious suggestion, you could add a suffix to Torque, perhaps replacing the final -ue: Torqton, Torquay, Torqdale, Torqford, Torqbourne, Torquester, Torqwick...

I rather like Graventorque and Torqford.
Torquett? Toiltorque?

the more I think about it, I would say just keep it at Torque. Or make up a name, like Kolyaev. Kolyaev's name was one of the reasons it was so cool. This is just personal opinion, but I'm kinda tired of the World of Warcraft/DnD naming schemes of Adjectivenoun.

Hmm, I was actually thinking it was kinda the opposite; most fantasy names really seem to be made-up while many real names are composites. Not that I'm planning to do that with all my cities, but I think that sort of name suits an industrial city well.
I'm liking Tarnish all of a sudden, I just don't know what to combine it with.

EDIT: otherwise I was thinking of ending the word with either chant, toil (good idea Jaerc) or ken. Or perhaps church/chapel due to its religious importance.

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowHmm, I was actually thinking it was kinda the opposite; most fantasy names really seem to be made-up while many real names are composites. Not that I'm planning to do that with all my cities, but I think that sort of name suits an industrial city well.
I'm liking Tarnish all of a sudden, I just don't know what to combine it with.

I think 'Tarnish' by itself would make a fine name. Combining it with another word could easily make it uncomfortably long and complex, something that might over time lead to it being shortened anyway - people generally don't like it when they have to spend much effort pronouncing words they say very often.

I'm going to use Tarnish for now then :)
I'll get around to rewriting it to be next to the river soon.

EDIT: Okay, I lied. I can't really stop looking for that "perfect" name.
But I have a suggestion: Ferzest. Possibly with a Lower thrown in front or a -mere or a -toil stuck to the back if it suits you. It sounds gritty and has a tinge of mountaineous East Europa and could also well be an industrial place. It was created as a mix of ferrium (iron) and zest (enjoyment), and could quite well be the name of a hopeful young city before it turned bad.
If Ferzest or any derivation thereof doesn't suit you, here is the full list of words I've gathered:

[spoiler=list of words for industrial city]
Name:
Toil
Prayer/chant
Blister
Forge
Metal/gold/iron
Black
Church/chapel
Tarnish
Wrought
River
Dull
Ember
Graven
-ken
Chain
Torque
Tackle
Furnace
Ingle
Vent
Under
Lower
Side
Fuse
Mellow
Zest
Mere
-age
[/spoiler]

I thought I should perhaps post a list of the countries I'm currently planning on implementing

EDIT: I will do some edits here as things change.

Besmakia
[list=1] Kolyaev
Descendants of the Winter Empire; tenaciously holding on to the memory of their former glory.
* Vennem- The Ironbound Union
An industrial state of iron and steel, where they worship the river and the mountains.
* Kingdom of Khiere
The oldest and most corrupt kingdom in the north, hidden in the bogs beyond the crucible.
* Tide
Stuck between many powerful nations, Tide is an important port wanted by most and claimed by none.
* Berend
A theocratic democracy where the churchstate hungers for the approval of their flock.  
* The Harvest Commonwealth
A peaceful if plagued nations where the earth is rich and the fields are abundant.
* Ramshackle - the Great Slum
The greatest city on the planet, Ramshackle surrounds the overgrown ruins of the old city they were once ruled by.

The South

* Halegate - the new crossing
Located by the Isthmus seperating south and north, here a cabal of merchants try to create a channel to rival the Winter Channel of Kolyaev.
* The 5 Gray Gates
Sitting on the border of Ieshyn, the Gray Gates are places of trade and depravity.
* Ieshyn - the Empire of Black and Green
The largest and most exotic nation in the known world, currently enrolled in a brutal civil war.

Itelghast

* Whisperlands
A religious union of cities on the edge of the world
* Setch
 A nation destroyed by itself, its inhabitants now wander the world as cursed refugees.

Distant places:

* Farlands
The Farlands lie beyond the South; that is, far away. The nations of the North have only recently sent expeditions to claim land and found colonies.  
* Beyond the Sea
No known sailor has ever crossed the violent Leviathanic Sea. Only the corsairs dare sail it, and in their wake follow the rumors of their home on the other side.
[/list]

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowEDIT: Okay, I lied. I can't really stop looking for that "perfect" name.
But I have a suggestion: Ferzest. Possibly with a Lower thrown in front or a -mere or a -toil stuck to the back if it suits you. It sounds gritty and has a tinge of mountaineous East Europa and could also well be an industrial place. It was created as a mix of ferrium (iron) and zest (enjoyment), and could quite well be the name of a hopeful young city before it turned bad.
If Ferzest or any derivation thereof doesn't suit you, here is the full list of words I've gathered

I kinda like Ferzest, kina. Ferrzan? Ferrizahn? or how about New Ferrzahn? but that would obviously imply that an "old" Ferrizahn exists. I like Lower Ferrizahn/Ferzest, as it brings to mind things an industrial city should have. Hell, you could call it Ferrium and totally get away with it. Pherrium even.

Hello, I wasn't annoyed by any of the cliches (you mentioned we should look for them)

But:

>>The Open Republic of Visille
A theocratic democracy where the churchstate hungers for the approval of their flock.

Theocratic Democracy? Or did you mean an oligarchy? A republic? Everyone can vote on their representatives? or only members of the church may? They change their religion's tenets by democracy? Or just leadership? What happens when politics and Religion collide?

8 may be a bit cliche.

Visille will be the next one I'll write something on.
The idea isn't fully formed, but essentially there is the Chamber of Men in which laymen can be given a place by vote, and then there's the Chamber of Saints which is reserved for the representatives of saints who've again been voted to join the chamber.
Because they believe that mankind has some divinity as well the church are quite liberal with naming people saints, and more or less anyone can be anointed to become a priest/representative of said saint.
The sect is called the Vox Populi (voice of the people/not so subtle reference) and is a break-away sect from one of the larger religions called the Therennial Cycle. They adapt the religion to suit the people, so if they "ask" for a deity of wine a saint with that portfolio will pop up, and if the crops go bad, a devil will be invented to take the blame.  

EDIT: And I might replace Mirrorwane with a Royal Society-esque organization.

Ugh, I had a long post here but the stupid web browser ate it. Reconstructing...

I think "Solstheim" is a familiar name. Wasn't that some town in Morrowind?

Mirrorwane and Sarathea kind of bug me a bit, and it's the religion vs. science thing that's doing it. Admittedly my personal biases are in place, here, but "monks hate science"/"church squashes reason" think has never appealed to me.

My own dislikes aside, I think you're going to have to work to reconcile "scholars who run a university and an archive" with "anti-science".

I also think anti-religious iconoclasm is a pretty flimsy premise to hang a nation on, so I'm worried about Sarathea unless you've got a little more in the pressure-cooker for them. Right now, Sarathea and Mirrorwane read like an exaggerated exploration of the tired old "science versus faith" business, and even in the best of circumstances that always seems hamfisted.

I am really looking forward to when the nations of the South get big writeups; I am tantalized by the one-sentence previews.

As noted, Mirrorwane might be dropped and the archive relocated.
And besides the iconoclasts, religion, magic and science coexist quite peacefully in my setting. They might actually merge in places (the Keepers have a somewhat religious view of electricity).
And the iconoclasts is not so much an attack at science vs. religion as it is an attack on atheism itself. I wasn't sure I wanted to give them a nation for themselves. Might be better to make them operate in cells scattered across the world, like anarchists/terrorists. I think my reasoning was that I wanted them to be able to field an army, but it might actually work better without.  
And damn about Solstheim. You might very well be right. Why are all the good names taken ^^ Should I find another -heim or should I just make it the Ironbound Union?

"-heim" is a suffix associated with Norse settlements, isn't it? Personally, I think I would try to stay away from it unless you're deliberately trying to evoke a Nordic feel for the city. Based on what little I know of the rest of the world, if there's an intended Nordic connection in place already, I'm failing to notice it.

The iconoclasts might work better as an underground movement of some sort, sure. But whether you convert them to a guerilla organization or leave them with their own nation, I think it will be a lot easier to appreciate them with some more knowledge about why they're doing what they're doing, what their goals are.

Are they trying to usher in an enlightenment and a golden age of reason? Are they trying to break the power of regressive theocratic tyrants? To avenge great thinkers unfairly "silenced" by The Church? Right now, they just read as "radical atheists", and I guess I have personally never met a radical atheist who wasn't a huge jerk.

Quote from: Luminous Crayon"-heim" is a suffix associated with Norse settlements, isn't it? Personally, I think I would try to stay away from it unless you're deliberately trying to evoke a Nordic feel for the city. Based on what little I know of the rest of the world, if there's an intended Nordic connection in place already, I'm failing to notice it.

I had the same thought too.

I might go for a different name then. And exactly LC. Atheists are mostly pretentious jerks, and yet most claim it to be superior to religion. So the atheists are not enlightened here (even if they might think so), they are merely self-righteous radicals bordering on a personality cult for the founder. They believe religion is irrational and holds the nations back and therefore should be destroyed.

[spoiler=a brief digression]I want to clarify my above statement: it's not just radical atheists who I think are huge jerks. Radical religious-folks also qualify for the title (often in very big ways), and if I had ever heard of radical agnostics, they'd probably also fit the bill.

I have also met some surpassingly pleasant atheists![/spoiler]

I would like to hear more about the founder this personality cult is based upon, really. I am also curious about whether "irrational and holds the nations back" is extended to other concepts besides religions; there are certainly other things that fit the bill, or could be argued to.

Well, yeah, I would be an idiot to call all atheists jerks ^^ I*m just generally not in agreement with their view of the world. But I know some nice ones as well to be sure.
And in their current incarnation they are mostly anti-religious, but that could certainly be changed if you have any ideas? I will write something on their organization, but I'll probably put it in a separate thread with history and organizations.  

#10 sounds really neat, but I frankly don't like the name. Hale sounds like hail, which makes me think cold. It also looks like Hellgate at a quick glance. I think a vaguely tropical, Spanish-y name would be neat.

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowAnd in their current incarnation they are mostly anti-religious, but that could certainly be changed if you have any ideas? I will write something on their organization, but I'll probably put it in a separate thread with history and  organizations.  

I have a couple of ideas. I'll avoid posting them in this thread if you want; I've derailed it enough already, I think. Or I can just keep piling on the semirelevant tangents right here, if you prefer.
:yumm:

I'm not sure if this should be in another thread, but thought I'd post here for now.
This is not done since history is something I have trouble fleshing out in my mind but this should give a nice overview and something for you to comment on/complain about.

EDIT: I'm retracting the history below as I'm attempting to make it less linear. I'll leave it up, though.  

[spoiler=outdated history]
Indeterminate Age
As you go back in time, the details of history start becoming vague. Documents turn to dust, stories are forever silenced, and witnesses of history in the making perish. Eventually next to nothing is left and history becomes myth.

This speculative period of the human past is known to historians and sages as the Indeterminate Age.

 The stories told of this period are mostly just that; stories. Truth and fiction are seamlessly interweaved, and historians are at a loss.

Indeed, there seems to be a tacit agreement amongst historians to leave this darkened period alone and not speak of it. It will probably remain a period of obscurity forever.

The Old Age
The Old Age consisted mainly of feudal kingdoms, existing in a near-endless state of grudge-and-alcohol-fueled war. Often seen as the darkest period in human history, the Old Age was allegedly full of torture, betrayal, blood debts, human sacrifice and plain generic violence.

The snow of the north turned red with the blood of both friend and foe, and civilization was at a standstill. Only in the south was there any sign of progress. Many stories have been told of this period, romanticized to allow for their larger-than-life heroes and cunning heroines. But the truth was far from glamorous. For many centuries this continued, but then came the advent of the empire.

The Rise of a Monolith - year 0
Like all great events, it all began with a single person. He gave up his name to serve a greater purpose, and he is thus only known to mankind as the Conqueror.

He was, as his name suggested, a warlord, but he was more than just that. He forged an army out of savages, tricked and influenced hostile warlords to join him, and instigated new and innovative reforms that'd eventually form the foundation of the modern empire.

When his empire stretched almostfrom sea to sea, he named himself Sovereign of the Great Empire of the Hidden Throne. And thus began the Imperial Age.

The Imperial Age
A time of general stability and peace (at least in the empire itself), the Imperial Age brought great advances in both science and art, as well as the spread of the major religions of the Cycle and Jananism to all corners of the empire.

Most Sovereigns were content with this, while others attempted to follow in the footsteps of the Conqueror, expanding the nation. This led to many wars with Setch, the Whisperlands, and Khiere, and under the leadership of the Glutton it almost came to war with Ieshyn at one point.

The Schism
In 443 the empire was coming to an end. A series of escalating insurrections, the Wildfire Rebellions, were spreading throughout the countryside as people defied the ancient and rigid system of the empire and the religions that continued to support it fervently.

When Jesrem Reven, later to become known as the Godkiller, assassinated the High Hierophant of Janan on the 4th day of Waiting, it all took a turn for the worse.

In the east, an uprising amongst the miners was put down violently by the military in the Torchlight Massacre, while in the west it came to outright civil war, as the nation now called Visille tried to free itself from the empire. With the army occupied with the miners and keeping peace at the Khierian border, there was little the Sovereign could do but watch his empire tear itself in half. The empire was left  smaller and decidedly weakened.  

In 497 the miners tried again, this time succeeding as they worked in unison in the first incarnation of what'd later become the Union. Thus the empire was reduced to Kolyaev and a few loyal cities scattered along the coast and down the border separating east and west.

During all this, the churches were left helpless. They had always sided with the Sovereign, and this had not been forgotten by the public. Only the few faithful remained, while most abandoned their gods in the search for new meanings in life. The faiths were left to slowly decay, and when no new priests could be found, the older clergymen took the ancient secrets of the faith to the grave.

The Pale Thirst
Not three days into the year 513, the first body was found in Tidescale. Dessicated. Pale. Horrible. The Pale Thirst had claimed its first victim. Soon, more felt the Thirst and the disease spread at an alarming pace crippling the east in the span of a few months. The new nations were not prepared for this catastrophe, and panic erupted in the streets.

Cities were abandoned as the streets became thronged with the dried husks of the dead, and those showing the first symptoms were forced to gather in camps were they faced an uncertain fate at the hands of both the genuinely diseased and the doctors trying to help them or, if they were unlucky, examine them.

The plague was only barely kept in check by the camps, strict quarantines, and the dreaded Grinning Knights. Touched by disease themselves at some point, these warriors and executors were sworn to the church of the Lady of the Sweetest Breath, and were sent to battle death itself; with blade and torch they put down the sick with cold-blooded zeal.

Kolyaev went through the crisis relatively unharmed as they fenced off the small peninsula on which the city and the Remnant subsisted, and set the Grinning Knights to burn every single person showing signs of disease. They cut off contact to the outside world, and their few allied cities were either abandoned or fended for themselves.  
No cure was found, but after four years of terror the disease mysteriously died out and humanity emerged again to a world in ruins.

The Reflorissance
After the Pale Thirst died out, and rebuilding had commenced, the world came to look very much like it does in present times. Visille flourished as it set to rebuilt a nation in its own image, becoming something unto itself rather than just another break-away state.

South of Visille the fertile lands became the Harvest Commonwealth. They had suffered greatly from the Thirst, and the Remnant had sent little help their way.

Further to the east, what had been a powerful city-state became a monument to human folly as Ramshackle grew around it and proclaimed its independence. And in the far north Kolyaev opened its gates once again, and found that visitors were rare.

With values put to the test and death faced head-on for four year, religion reemerged from its slumber. A myriad of cults and sects had developed during the plague, and, in what is known as the Second Coming of Faith, people flocked around the churches and prophets.

This also became a period where the limits of knowledge and human skill was put to the test. The electricity developed by Voltari during the plague became more commonplace in the world, and the skies were conquered by ungainly balloons and blimps. And with the development of the first artificial souls, Thymic science emerged from the obscure and into the mainstream.
[/spoiler]

The day has come! An actual update for Broken Verge! This nation has been underway for quite some time, but it was only today that I had a moment of inspiration of sufficient size to put all my ideas together in a way that I was content with. Basically, this started with the premise "theocratic democracy" and I think it turned out quite well. Nationally, I'd say it has some weak greek-scottish kinship, but nothing major and mostly incidental.    
And now I should probably get back to studying for my exams... Enjoy.

 Why you should read this: Saints, paraphernalia, the bone market, theocratic democracy, the green city  
[note=On references] There are a few words that appear in the following which are not otherwise explained so I will do you the favor of explaining it beforehand: Besmakia is the new name for my main continent. Therennial refers to the Therennial Cycle, a major religion with a base in pagan-ish fertility/harvest cults. Arch is the capital city of faraway Ieshyn.    
[/note]

 Berend - land of Saints and Rain
In the north-west of Besmakia the mountains turn to broken highlands of stone and grass and the swamps become thick labyrinthine woods with trees far older than any living nation. In amongst these ancient primeval landscapes, farmers toil in weathered fields and pray to the many saints of Berend, as this is the nation that lays claim to this part of the world. Known for its odd views on religion, skilled mapmakers, near-incessant rain, and the invention of the writing press, Berend is a nation on the rise, where old and new ideas come together and become something altogether different.

 Saints and Paraphernalia
Practitioners of a syncretic pagan-Therennial cult, religion pervades much of life in Berend. The Berendians observe a much closer link between humanity and divinity than most, and they believe that some people do cross this border; the saints. Over the centuries, the apostle-chroniclers of the church have recorded the lives and doings of no less than 501 mortals who have been raised to sainthood, each bestowed with a title of his own, and his name listed in the Codex Sanctus.    

The gods themselves fade into the background in Berend, as each saint has his own domain and prayers are directed at them, not the gods. Depending on interpretation, some see them as messengers between man and the divine while some see them as gods unto themselves.

Only two of the 501 saints remain alive; Saint Dominicus, saint of Coins and Rivers and Saint Havelholm, saint of Mazes and Clockmakers. The dead saints rest in cathedrals, barrows and unmarked graves across Besmakia (Saint Lae Ahk Aman even rests outside Besmakia, in the city of Arch), while bones and relics taken from their resting places change hands in "the bone market"; a religious black market dealing in saintly relics.

More legal and less morbid religious paraphernalia, such as small engraved plaques and amulets, are sold on streetcorners and in markets in most cities where they are attributed with everything from healing powers to auspicious blessings.

 The Rule of the Benevolent Parliament
Even the government is not outside the religious sphere of influence. In many ways, it's actually in the center of it as church and state are one, but while Berend still observes this antiquated tradition, their way of government is in fact one of the more radical ones in the world as it contains elements of democracy.

The 501 saints constitute the candidates for the Benevolent Parliament, the primary governing body, and are elected by vote once every 7 years by the people of Berend. Since most of the saints are long dead, priests known as Anointed serve in their place and can be voted into parliament to speak on behalf of the saint they represent. Since saints can have more than one Anointed, some priesthoods form political parties to further their goals. Only the most popular saints can count on getting one or more of the 233 seats, so the priesthoods take great steps to please the people in whatever way possible, bordering on sycophancy.    

Some saints have never been part of parliament. The unpopular saints, the forgotten saints, such as Saint Castille of the Mold, and Saint Abar, saint of fevers and birds, are reserved for the scholarly and rarely surface into common usage. But it has happened that a forgotten saint has resurfaced and claimed a seat. The two living saints always have two honorary seats available in the Parliament whenever they should wish for it.

 Visille, the Green City
Visille itself is a hospitable city, sequestered behind solid walls and with broad tree-lined boulevards spanning its width. While a center of civilization, it is marked by nature like everything else built around the ancient woodlands: crawlers have spread across the city walls and the city itself, the many parks seem largely untamable, and the roots of the ancient oaks built along the road have broken through cobbles and stone. Visille is known for its many parks, and the Berendians are famous for their botanical knowledge and predilection, so you can hardly turn a corner in the summertime without being faced with something that hints at what lies behinds the houses and the cobblestones.
 
The trees are also used as a place to spread and gather news and stories. Even before the advent of the writing press, the trees often served as posts where posters and decrees could be nailed to. Since the press, especially due to it being a Berendian invention, posters and notes and messages are spread across the city, nailed to trees and doors and walls. Half of it does happen to be largely illegible, as the frequent rain often makes the ink of unsheltered posters run while turning the paper itself soggy. Writing and drawing in general is a common craft, and Berend is known to make some of the finest illustrated maps in the world and the Cartographer's Guild possesses some power in the city.
     
Aside from this, the cityscape of Visille is of course dominated by hundreds of church towers and streetside shrines, while prophets of forgotten saints preach on street corners. Towering over all of this is the austere Council Cathedral which houses hierophants of the church, the original Codex Sanctus, and the Benevolent Parliament. The facade of the great building is built from sleek crenellated white stone, but as most other buildings creeper plants have long since taken hold of the building. On the front are carved images of each of the 501 recognized saints.

There are 501 streets and parks in the city when added together; each of them is named after an appropriate saint. It goes without saying that the streets belonging to the greater saints are very popular with the more prosperous members of Visille's population.        

Not surprisingly, quite a few holidays are observed in Visille and Berend in general. Most of them have to do with the birth or death of a few select saints, although a few of their accomplishments are celebrated as well. The people of the city often also decorate their street when the birthday of the saint comes along, so if you walk around long enough you'll usually stumble into a minor celebration somewhere in the city.

The politics of this city could be absolutely fascinating... I love the idea that different saints might have different dogmatic positions, and that realpolitick and power struggles would get cloaked in an aura of sacredness.  Very cool.

You also do a great job of giving the city a very unique and evocative look... I picture a ton of ivy and ancient stone, beneath a dark sky.

Are any of the relics functionally magic, or is it all charlatanism?

That is more or less exactly what I went for! I'm glad to hear that it worked out.

Mostly, the relics are magical in the same way that real relics are magical; people believe in them. So no, they do not possess any inherent abilities as of yet. That said, if I ever make a game system I might implement a placebo mechanism to reward the players who observe local superstition in their country.

A few of the relics might be Inspired Objects, a little thing I have in the works where "ordinary" items suddenly find themselves infused with a strange magical ability, often contrary to the original purpose of the item. (this would be in the vein of the Lost Room tv series, although with no real origin).  

Depending on how it all turns out, I might consider giving relics powers on a more regular basis, since magic bones are cool in many ways. But it would detract a bit from the charm of the bone market as they'd no longer deal in religious curiosities but in magic items.

EDIT: Some questions for you. Do you have any good examples of political debates where the populism of the government might become readily apparent? And if any of you have any interesting ideas for saints, feel free to contribute.

a mi me gusta. mucha.