The Eternal City
Metropolis
A place of fallen splendor. A monument to the past. A tomb of wonders. No description of the Eternal City can do it justice.
Metropolis is the totality of ingenuity, architecture, knowledge, and technology. Twisted spires of iron and glass scrape the sky while endless tunnels hum with aged servers maintained by servitors of flesh and metal that have been left behind. The sun never rises on the city (or maybe it has burned out) leaving the city in perpetual dusk. Both time and space have broken down, becoming as ruined as the city itself. One might spend years in the city and return home before they left. They could travel thousands of miles in seven steps or spend a lifetime trying to cross a room.
Metropolis stretches on for eternity. Its size is beyond comprehension. There are no signs of the people who built and inhabited, whether they abandoned their home or were killed off is a mystery which might be solved through exploration of the ruins. The ruins touch the abandoned places of our world, the broken and neglected. People sometimes find their way here by accident but more often explorers looking to pick over the dead coming seeking treasure.
Points-of-Interest: The center of Metropolis is dominated by the Iron Palace. It was here that the last ruler, the Hanged King governed the fall of his people. The palace is still guarded by a pair of silent sentinels that witnessed the fall of the city.
Forming a perfect circle around the Iron Palace are the 10 Citadels. Each is 100 miles out and thousands of stories tall, though they are dwarfed by the palace. The lower levels are abandoned but as one climbs, they encounter more and more inhabitants. It is rumored that the top of each citadel is still occupied by a former governor of the Eternal City.
The Machine City covered a third of Metropolis. The pistons and gears now silent, it is still possible to bring sections of it on-line, but whatever it’s original purpose was is forgotten.
The City of the Dead is built on one of the 10,000 hills of Metropolis, where monuments and mausoleums rise thousands of feet. Here are interred the dead, many of whom quietly meditate as they wait for the end of everything. Gods and demons also are here, their worlds dismantled to build Metropolis. They rage at their mortality, seeking to bargain in a hope of returning to life.
These are just a few of the sights. The wonders, like the city itself, are endless.
Why people come: People are drawn to the Eternal City on quests of knowledge and wonder. Some hope to discover who built the city and what happened to them. Others seek Esoteric and Scientific lore which can bring power, wealth, and prosperity. For Metropolis does not contain just knowledge, but understanding as well.
But for most, they seek items of power, devices left behind in abundance which have the power to prevent death, open dreams, and reshape reality.
How to get there: It is not uncommon for the careless to slip into Metropolis by accident. Such trips are almost always one way, as the unlucky explorer is unable to find a doorway home and unprepared to survive the dangers.
For others, Spirit 3 or 4 will open a door directly to Metropolis. The individual should cast their spell in an abandoned and dilapidated building. If surrounded by broken machinery the spell is coincidental, even if Sleeper witnesses are present. Returning home is simple, but visitors are cautioned not to get lost, for they must depart from the city from the place they arrived.
Notes: Correspondence magic is always coincidental.
Time magic is always vulgar.
