After the overthrow of the tyrannical king Vulcan XII. 8 months ago, by simulataneous independent overthrows in the cities of Renliss, Saranta Exi and Arx Fenestriae, the victors have gone separate ways. Geographical distances, ideological differences and personal disinterest among the new ruling elites begin to divide the big 3 cities, who are now independent from each other.
Population: 500k
Renliss is the oldest of the 3 cities and had been the capital of the Vulcanian Kingdom before the revolution has ended the monarchy. The revolutionaries consist of the National Liberals and the Red Army, two factions with very different ideas of an ideal world. Furthermore, Renliss is the most populous and technologically advanced of the 3 cities due to more direct access to precious resources such as metal.
Margaret "Gretchen" Rakowitz is a venture capitalist investor born on an island not far from the Twin Peaks. Her family can trace their origins back to Renliss. In her early life, she had built a corporate empire on the islands in the vicinity of the Twin Peaks before moving to Renliss. Her opinion on the revolution is surpringly muted, and critics accuse her of being a monarchist, which she vehemently denies. Within the city, she is the most powerful player not aligned with either Red Army nor National Liberals, given her capabilities and willpower to bribe her way into anything, even a small private army.
One of the few political positions she has publicized is written down in the pamphlet "True Freedom", in which she advocates for "truly free markets" as opposed to the "fake" freedoms offered by the National Liberals or even the Communists. But rumours say that her opinions aren't what makes her dangerous, but rather her lack thereof: It makes her flexible to ally with whoever it is convenient to ally with at the moment, playing all sides. To what end? No one knows.
The National Liberals are a coalition of various bourgeois, burghers, capitalists, democrats, freelancers, guild members, liberals, libertarians, merchants, non-communist academics and republicans with contrary goals, united only in their strive to establish a representative democracy and their disdain for the monarchy and communism. When the Red Party mysteriously had vanished, dedicated free-speechers of the National Liberals have opened key doors for the retaliating Red Army, while other members of the coalition seized the administration of Renliss. The National Liberals now provide what the Red Army is ill equipped to do: Administration, legislation and jurisdiction, while the Red Army steps in where the National Liberals have no strength: Defense, intelligence and keeping order. That isn't to say that these two factions get along. Observers say that the situation in Renliss is as if the revolution froze mid-way through. This state of affairs has been maintained – so far.
The Red Army is the military wing of the Communists in the 3 Cities and one of 5 factions capable of navigation in the equatorial and polar skies. They have been fiercely loyal to the civilian wing of the Communists, the Red Party, but ever since the Party had been somewhat mysteriously wiped out during the revolution 8 months ago, Red Army leadership has been without a clear goal, which is why they have entered a tenuous alliance with the National Liberals. Most Red Army Soldiers continue to hold vaguely Communist ideals, but since most have been recruited from simple working class men with mere tangential interest in politics and barely literate people, close to none have actually read the Communist Manifesto or know of the Party's plans for the future.
The Army is in possession of the most technologically advanced airships available, including hydrogen motorized airships. Their weapons include rifles for every soldier, which is unmatched even by the inquisition. Furthermore, at 24,000, their numbers far exceed any other armed force known to mankind, and their funding is secured because the Red Army owns the largest Vodka brewry of the world. These advantages, however, are countered by a lack of discipline relative to their rivals, weakness of sole individual soldiers and a leadership without a clear goal and plan. Within Renliss, however, the Red Army is the sole strongest faction without a doubt.
Terrorists who irrationally hate the National Liberals. When the Red Party had been still around, party leadership had appointed political comissars to control the Red Army. During the revolution, these political comissars had led the Red Army into battle, but since then, their influence has diminished. Most Red Army soldiers and ranks perceive political comissars to be nothing but a plague, bossing around the common soldier for no reason. While some political comissars have faded into obscurity, others have have banded together to form the "Red Army Fraction" to reinstitute their control over the Red Army.
Since the Red Army Fraction is ideologically pure, they have so far recruited a few file and rank from the Red Army proper. However, their influence is still diminutive. Red Army Fraction leadership blames the bourgeoisie for their lack of progress and thus resorts to defamation and propaganda campaigns against individuals of the National Liberal administration and, in some cases, terror attacks. The Red Army proper rarely prosecutes any of the perpretators, since they are officially still part of the Red Army. With the National Liberals powerless to retaliate, the Red Army Fraction's actions are only limited by their relative lack of resources and their decreasing popularity among Red Army file and rank, who are alienated by the RAF's increasing violence.
Population: 200k
Saranta Exi is renown for its private sector service and artisan industries. While in the other big cities, intelligence, security, border control and other such services are largely a domain of the state, in Saranta Exi, these services are offered on the market, with anyone eligible to purchase them. The more lax attitude towards state enforcement has in the past attracted many artisans who had been persecuted for whatever art they practised.
The revolutionaries of Saranta Exi are an alliance of 90 nobles and well-to do oligarchs, who under the leadership of Nia Liban have couped against the monarchy on suspicions of the king supporting illegal slavery in Saranta Exi in an unprecedented scale, thereby undercutting free labour and thus the foundations of the city. Since the revolution, however, the victors have split into two factions with competing interests and believes, while under pressure from royalists and envoys from the other cities.
The defense of Saranta Exi is, as so many other things, an affair of private companies. Those aligned with the new regime are usually recruited from the clientele of the 90 revolutionaries or refugees from other cities who had been persecuted as heretics under the old government. A sizable company consists of freed slaves who are grateful for their liberation. All of these mercenaries combined are usually referred to as the 46th Armed Forces, short 46AF. They number around 6,000 fighting individuals.
Wary of potential Inquisition retaliation, the Lobby has established the 46th Bureau of Intelligence, short 46BI, as an intelligence organisation and a counter to the inquisition. While the 46BI is officially responsible for collecting taxes and census affairs (which the 46BI indeed does), its true specialisations are infiltration, intelligence gathering and covert special operations. While many tactics, general equipment and even the knowledge of equatorial and polar navigation are copied from or imitating the inquisition, other factors such as a different attitude towards the profession, more limited resources and manpower and the comparable lack of authority compared to its rivals have led the organisation to lean more strongly on infiltration rather than direct combat, leading to a different style of operation than the inquisition.
Members of the 46BI are mostly recruited from hired servants of Lobbyists, such as accountants, guards, butlers and maids. While the 46BI has developed unmatched abilities to infiltrate enemy organisations, its most glaring weaknesses compared to its rivals are the small number of members as well as the relative weakness in terms of combat.
While in certain neighbourhoods and among certain minorities, private education and policing exists, the public 46PD, short for 46th Public Department, provides these services for free, funded by tax money. Since the 46PD has little institutional or personal overlap with prior institutions for education and policing, primarily the inquisition, some argue that the existence of the 46PD is evidence that Saranta Exi plans to succeed. The matter is not helped by the fact that the 46PD is not only active in Saranta Exi, but also a few nearby islands, which critics argue to be equivalent to annexation by Saranta Exi.
A slim majority of 46 of the revolutionaries in Saranta Exi have found themselves to have different interests than Nia Liban and split from her faction as "The Lobby". They are the vanguard of republicanism and champion free trade and a flat income tax. Prominent figures of this coalition also promote a more aggressive foreign policy, aiming to grow Lobbyist influence to the other cities as a preventive measure to curb foreign influence on Saranta Exi. Being in charge of the city's governmental affairs, they currently face very little opposition in implementing these policies.
While their relations with the Libanist opposition isn't the happiest, both factions are united in their efforts to defend the city from foreign, especially inquisition influence. There are talks among the Lobbyists to share governance with their former co-revolutionaries to prevent any chance of a second coup so soon after the initial revolution, and rumours say that members of both parties are already negotiating an oligarchic compromise constitution that both sides are happy with. None of these constitutional negotiations are public however, since both the Court of Arx Fenestriae as well as the National Liberal parliament of Renliss would see this as a declaration of independence, and thus, treason.
Unlike with the other factions, there isn't a clear leader of the Lobbyists. This, and the fact that their meetings are generally held in secret, has made it difficult to destabilize the party, since it's hard to influence them to pit them against each other and any assassination attempts don't have a clear single target. Furthermore, the Lobbyists enjoy sizable support from the populace and control the 46BI.
Since many services are offered by private companies rather than the state in Saranta Exi, the city attracts a lot of mercenaries from all over the world. Their loyalty is based on whoever is their contractor by the day. Saranta Exi has enough independent mercenaries for them to be able to shift the balance of power, should the situation arise.
When after the revolution, Nia Liban had lost support from 46 co-conspirators, she has ensured the support of the remaining 43 (her being the 44th of this coalition). While the 46ers (known as "The Lobby") would go on to take over most of the city's governance, the 44ers (known as "Libanists") have invested into their share of strategic assets, giving them a negotiating position with their former co-revolutionaries. Liban's 44 are generally more skeptical of free trade and prefer alternative forms of taxation (such as land ownership taxation), but their primary difference to the 46ers lie in their preference of a constitutional monarchy with direct democratic elements as opposed to a republic, as well as a more defensive approach to foreign policy.
Despite all their differences with the 46ers, the 44ers still work together with the 46ers, wary of foreign, especially Renlissian influence on Saranta Exi. Aside from sharing defense costs, rumours say that both 46ers and 44ers are collaborating on an oligarchic compromise constitution in secret, an act which certainly will be interpreted as treason by the other cities. However, in order to not be outdone by the 46ers, the 44ers have built parallel infrastructures such as the 44BI (theoretically an intelligence service, in practice an investigative journalists' news outlet) and the 44U (a trade union), recruited from their sizable number of supporters in the populace.
During the reign of King Vulcan XII., a few nobles and well-to-do people have been firm supporters of royal rule. Some have done this out of a sense of duty and loyalty to the old system, while others have had ties to the inquisition in hopes of strengthening their own powers. Fewer have had familial ties to the King. However, the vast majority of this group are grifters profiting from the former belongings of those the King disowned, including the freedom of those people.
When the old regime fell, many royalists from the other cities have fled the persecution in Arx Fenestriae and the Communist Red Army in Renliss to the relative safety of Saranta Exi, where, despite a lack of prior pro-King presence, the new rulers promise anyone (bar actual inquisition members) a new beginning. This move isn't simply for their own safety: By focussing on one city at a time, the Royalists hope to regain strength and prepare for the King's return, wherever he is now. Both 46ers and Libanists are highly suspicious of these newcomers, who however haven't formed a unified organisation so far.
During the revolution, the policing forces of the old order have been pushed aside, but they haven't vanished. While some have entered service with the 46PD or have found work among independent and 46AF-aligned mercenaries, the majority of guards are now in the employ of Royalist nobles, where their primary job is to train a new generation of radical recruits who are fanatic adherents to the old regime. While their overall numbers are relatively small, within the city, there are still enough of them to be a hindrance to both Lobby and Libanists in certain parts of the city.
Population: 200k
Arx Fenestriae has originally been built as a frontier fortress and a starting point for explorations, inhabited only by the most loyal and trustworthy subjects of the king. Thus, unsurprisingly, the revolution of Arx Fenestriae is the most conservative and most monarchist out of all the revolutions that have occured in the 3 cities. Prince Ilia de Sempery, Archduke of Arx Fenestriae, a cousin of the late king, has staged a coup together with ROOK and the majority of local nobles to declare himself King Vulcan XIII. of the Three Cities. He also has sizable support from the city's populace.
However, Arx Fenestriae is often central to the prophecies which are circulated by the Larry Ellison Cult. While the new king is generally popular, there are many in Arx Fenestriae who have unresolved disputes with the duelists of ROOK or are involved in a feud between noble houses. Many look at the prophecies of Larry Ellison with despair and others with hope, as the fulfillment of these prophecies may spell ultimate doom or ever-lasting prosperity for Arx Fenestriae, depending on who you ask.
After Ilia de Sempery's coup, local nobles who have supported him have been appointed to positions in his government. To coordinate them and keep them loyal, the new king regularly organises parties in his royal residence, known as The Court of Arx Fenestriae. While the nobles at The Court often have feud against another, the presence of their king usually keeps their infighting to a minimum and provides an opportunity to solve disputes.
Centuries ago, when king Plutonius I. had ascended the throne, he had asked his close friend Jason Dalt and his band of undefeated brigand duelists to become the royal guard in exchange for their religious freedom and very good, inflation-adjusting pay. They had accepted. Even now, after dynastic and name changes, this ancient deal is in force and well-respected. Even to this day, while almost all government institutions are tied to The Church in some form or another, the duelists of ROOK are all Purposers and Oath-Bounds and non-members of The Church. Historic attempts by The Church, primarily the Inquisition, to remove them from this position of power have always ended in total victories for ROOK in stunning shows of their fighting prowess.
Besides guarding the king and his family, the duelists of ROOK had historically played a significant role in exploring the skies, leading to the discovery of the Twin Peaks by duelist Maurice Lahad and the first circumference of the world by duelist Susanna de Coat. They have also pioneered metal working, primarily in creating swords. Duelists are capable of equatorial navigation and often intervene on the outer islands pursuant to their own, personal oath. However, on their missions, they often disregard collateral damage, leading to affected people holding a grudge against ROOK. Current Order Master Jones Dalt is particularly notorious for creating "side-effects" on his missions.
Membership to ROOK is open to anyone, although in practice, only Oath-Bounds and Purposers start an apprenticeship under a Master Duelist. After years of training, a duelist must take a final exam, which starts with taking a (religious) oath at the Great Window of Arx Fenestriae. From there, the duelist has to sail to the Twin Peaks on a single-person airship, alone and without navigation instruments. They must not use the portals of the 3 big cities for this part of the exam. After arriving at the Twin Peaks, the aspiring duelist must gather metal and other requisite material and then craft their own personal sword, created to suit their own personal needs and tastes. The last leg of the exam sees the duelist returning to Arx Fenestriae and, after vetting, being knighted by the king.
John Dalt is powerful. He will overthrow Jones Dalt.
~Larry Ellison
Ever since the Oracle, Larry Ellison, had written this prophecy down centuries ago, the Dalts, a prestigious duelist family, has been the topic of speculation and conspiracy theories. Officially, the family affirms that they are Oath-Bounds, not Ellisonian in belief, and that they are thus not intimidated by the scribbles of a long-dead man. Rumours however tell a story of individual duelists who have been sent on a chase for ghosts and interviews with wise philosophers on the symbolic meaning of Ellison's words. Things have changed however when in the criminal underground of Arx Fenestriae, a man known as "John Dalt" has made his first public appearance in the midst of the revolution.
This John Dalt claims to have a personal vendetta against ROOK Order Master Jones Dalt. He has vowed on his glory and honor to use all his accumulated wealth, resources and assets to bring down Jones Dalt and anyone who stand in the way. With unanimous support from the new king, the Court and ROOK itself, Jones Dalt has been frantically looking for John Dalt, but to no avail. John Dalt remains extremely elusive even to veteran investigators, while interrogating informants and even senior criminal bosses has yielded only vague descriptions of an extremely powerful, undefeated gladiator with a numerous and loyal following. John Dalt's origin, while unknown, are the subject of many rumours in all manner of circles in Arx Fenestriae.
The Church had been the state religion of the Vulcanian Kingdom until the revolution ousted not only the king, but also sent the pope, leader of The Church, into exile. Other than the numerous believers who congregate in Church buildings once every 7 days, the only visible Church institution still active is the Inquisition. Church membership is more prominent in the outlying islands, but a sizable proportion of the populace of the three cities still adheres to this faith.
Members of The Church believe in a variety of things, such as the veneration of saints (but not the Lorian saints), the veneration of icons, the purgatory and the virgin mother. Doctrine is generally determined by the pope. In very unclear cases, an ecumenical council is called to determine doctine, although inner-Church critics often accuse either the pope or the councils of being politically manipulated.
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(Excerpt from the Lorian holy text)
Lorians affirm that centuries ago, a man named St. Lores discovered the Path. Where this Path leads to is somewhat unclear, as well as what the Path entails. St. Lores wrote down his discoveries in a cryptic holy book, nowadays known as Lorem Ipsum. Several versions of Lorem Ipsum exist, often leading to confusion among adherents and non-adherents alike. Over the centuries, other Lorians apparently also discovered the Path and followed it, thus attaining Sainthood, such as defender of the Path St. Vincent and the great decipherer St. Barbara. To outsiders, it remains unclear how Lorians distinguish saints from non-saints. Lorians generally do not discriminate people.
Lorians are a sizable minority in all three cities and the Twin Peaks, but are rarely found on any of the outlying islands. In the past, they have been subject to occasional persecution, although not as often as Hand Washers. Some National Liberals in Renliss are openly Lorian and Margaret Rakowitz's father is known to be descendant from Lorians.
Larry Ellison, the Oracle, basically Nostradamus of this world
Centuries ago, an Oracle going by Larry Ellison had walked among the three cities. He had written down his rather cryptic prophecies himself and published them in books. Then he had vanished, although his corpse remains undiscovered to this day. His followers have so far struggled to find the time and day of his death, since he had not predicted it. Even after his sudden end of activity, his followers have unearthed new prophecies occasionally.
There is a small number of adherents all over the world. Recently, due to the appearance of John Dalt, the number of Ellison's followers have surged.
While there are a few people who actually religiously wash their hands, the vast majority of people categorized as Hand Washers adhere to a very diverse array of religious (and non-religious) believes, united only in the fact that they wash their hands and generally regard hygiene seriously.
Due to the fact that several regimes of the past have persecuted the practice of hand washing on the basis of unbased conspiracy theories, often but not always alleging that the act of washing hands is a dogwhistle of some kind of hostile religious order, outsiders have begun to perceive these people as a religious unit, while "adherents" don't share this view. The conspiracies have in the past been strengthened by the fact that Hand Washers tend to live longer than their non-hygienic co-citizens for no apparent reason.
Purposers and Oath-Bounds, while present in the populations of Arx Fenestriae, Saranta Exi and the Twin Peaks, are primarily associated with ROOK. Purposers, usually after going through years of training, subordinate their entire being to a sole purpose and thus attain incredible power. Oath-Bounds are similar, but they make their goal explicit by swearing an oath to uphold their goal. Another difference is that Purposers believe that their purpose comes above everything else, while Oath-Bounds uphold that their loyalty to the king can not be compromised over the pursuit of their goal.
Yes, they also exist. Primarily among the communists.
In antiquity, king Basileus III. had asked the pope for aid to combat popular unrest against his regime. The result was the inquisition, which has been a reliable force to suppress dissent and heresies, except when the dissenters had the support of ROOK or when king and pope were at odds. Before the revolution, large parts of the inquisition also performed some (but not all) functions of the secret police, military, press censorship, healthcare, church services, public supply and infrastructure, archive conservation, judiciary and, last but not least, basic education for commoners. All of these duties had been amassed over time as the influence and scope of the inquisition grew.
The Inquisition is composed of 4 divisions. The holy order which is the actual core of the inquisition is known as the Ordained Inquisition, which administers the resources and finances of the Inquisition and generally has a part in all kinds of Inquisition operations. Church functionaries outside of the holy order who still aid the Inquisition on a regular basis form the Irregular Inquisition, which generally is more active in press censorship and archive conservation missions. The Lay Inquisition consists of simple Church members who hold no office within the Clerical hierarchy. They are most active in military, healthcare and public supply and infrastructure operations and generally tend to be kept in the dark about the true goals of their missions (which most Lay Inquisitors accept). Finally, the Unofficial Inquisition is run by those inquisitors who are on long-term or permanent undercover, usually secret police missions.
Members of the Inquisition are part of a strict hierarchy with clearly assigned ranks. While Women are eligible to serve in the Inquisition, ranks higher than Officer are exclusive to men. All Inquisitors begin as Footmen or Footwomen, regardless of their prior status in society. The rank of Sergeant is awarded to Footmen and Footwomen who either have provided a noteworthy service to the Inquisition or have served the Inquisition for at least three years. Sergeants who have studied the teachings of the Inquisition and are ideologically firm are promoted to the rank of Chaplain, while Chaplains who have passed strict ideological examination and a thorough background check are promoted to Guardian. To this day, no attempt to infiltrate the Inquisition made it beyond the rank of Guardian, although apostasy of loyal Inquisitors of higher ranks rarely happens. The next rank of Pilot is reserved for those Inquisition members who can fly an airship across the equator. Inquisition Pilots who pass exams for administration, finances, advanced combat and espionage are promoted to the rank of Ordained Quaestor, Irregular Templar, Lay Knight or Unofficial Spy, depeding on the division of each respective inquisitor. The higher ranks of Officer, Marshal and Agent have less well-defined requirements, but give the respective inquisitors increasing responsibility over subordinates and more decision-making ability, to the point where Inquisition Agents operate basically autonomous. The leader of the Inquisition is the Grand Master, who is selected by the pope among active Ordained Inquisition Agents.
Current Grand Master Raúl Iglesias Díaz has kept the Inquisition loyal to the old king Vulcan XII. even after the inquisition. Under his guidance, the inquisition evacuated the HQ in Renliss. Their new base of operation remains unknown, while the inquisition's popularity on the outer islands remains unbroken. Rumour has it that both the king and the pope are hidden and protected by the Inquisition.
Criminals have existed on the isles for as long as humans lived on them, but with limited land, it has always been difficult to find hideouts. The rise of the Inquisition and later ROOK had made it nearly impossible for criminals to run sustained operations. However, during the reign of King Iovis XXV., a feud between his Queen Ceres and ROOK order master Ernst Ernst led to the expulsion of the latter. Legends say that Ernst, who had previously discovered a new island that he had not reported yet, convinced some of his friends in the criminal underground and among sea monster hunters to come with him to this new land, which they then called Lo Marn. This is how the first successful pirates since the days of Basileus III. came to be.
Since those times, all criminals have had a safe haven in Lo Marn, access to which is tightly controlled by the pirates. No expedition by ROOK nor the Inquisition has ever managed to find a route to Lo Marn, although experienced navigators project that place to be somewhere near the Southern polar regions based on pirate attack patterns. The fact that pirates are capable of equatorial navigation makes their services to smuggle goods and people away from the Inquisition's prying eyes a service in high demand.
Three great portals, each a giant tetrahedron with 300 meters on each side, built from an unbreakable, black rock-like material, connect the three cities of Renliss, Saranta Exi and Arx Fenestriae. Furthermore, a quadratic frame of 100 meters on each side, dubbed the "Great Window", built from the same material as the portals, stands at the edge of Arx Fenestriae, where criminals sentenced to death tend to be defenestrated. Unconfirmed rumours speak of similar structures on Noeve, a large island just north of Renliss. Scholars have asked a yet unanswered question: Who built these things?
Records from the first settlement of Renliss under King Jonathan indicate that the great portals have already stood in place back then, with no mention of who built them. Since the Renliss Chronicles indicate that the first settlers had come from Noeve, some believe that the first humans had been able to build these monumental structures, but are unable to answer the question of how the knowledge on how to create these had been lost. Thus, most scholars as well as the Inquisition believe that there must have been an Ancient Civlization predating human settlement that built these portals.