SETTING

[trodemods]

◊ GENERAL ◊

Premise

The ten-meter high digital readout outside the grey-stone City Hall in the Capitol states that it has been six hundred years since Earth was destroyed. Six hundred years since humanity took to the stars, preserved in a colossal Ark. The clock counts with atomic accuracy, the seconds ticking away one by one by one, as it has for centuries past. Six hundred years, and the story of how Earth was destroyed has long since faded into legend. They say that it was an invasion, or an accident; they say that the Sun turned into a hundred stars and burned the life off of our home planet; they say that humanity drained the world of all that we could use and then we fled. They don't know the truth. The truth is that the human race died, that day. A tiny few survived, alone and lost, and they gathered their strength, and they cast a spell that changed everything. These few were chance-witches, thaumaturges and manipulators of chance and probability. They shifted the entire human race from dead to alive, within a ship that was never built but was pulled into a universe where it already existed. That ship was the Ark, and those dead humans, over six hundred years, turned into the population of the Ark today. The result is that reality inside the Ark is worn somewhat... thin. Things happen here, impossible things, things that shouldn't be. This is the place where what might happen does. Welcome to the Ark. Welcome to the Road of 'Trode.

Setting Overview

◦ The Ark. Physically, the Ark is shaped a little like a rounded pea-pod, with an axis through the middle. Artificial gravity is constantly generated by the ship's rotation around the central axis. The interior of the ship is modeled after an Earth-style planetary surface; the axis generates weather, day and night, and atmospheric conditions, and the hull of the ship encloses billions of tons of soil, water and stone. One point faces 'forward', towards the ship's destination (whatever that may be). Facing forward is 'north', backwards is 'south' and when you look north, your right is east and your left is west. Culturally, the Ark spans a wide variety. The surface area is nearly a sixth that of Earth itself, and with the thinning of reality through the Ark, the cultures are wilder and much stranger. There are two large urban areas and a scattering of smaller cities, cultures and regions. The cultures only have a couple of things in common: first, information access is widespread and nearly free, and second, resources are scarce and living is difficult. In some areas, food is strictly rationed by the government; in others, it's a brutal, constant struggle to survive at all. The Ark can't stop and refuel. It's in the vast void between stars, and there's no way to get more material. The people who pay the price for that are the populations inside. On the other hand, the entire ship is wired for network access, through devices, terminals, and direct jacks that interface straight with your mind. This creates a culture where technology, coding and encryption are an everyday part of life, but your clothes might be worn through or home-made, and you haven't a clue where your next meal might come from. ◦ The Network. Think the Internet, only more awesome. The network allows for any kind of interaction: voice, video, text, or you can plug in completely and go VR, which feels like you're meeting someone in person, only the setting can be anything you like. Bandwidth is free. You can transfer information all you want and access information all you want. However, information storage and actual file hosting is very expensive. In other words: if you want to video-chat with someone on the other side of the Ark, it's no problem. If you want to host your blog, it'll cost you. The network is wild and unregulated. There are different subcultures, exchanges of goods and services, and the black market thrives in cyberspace. You never quite know what you might encounter next.

Map

◊ ZONES ◊

The Capitol

The Capitol is the primary urban center of the Ark, a massive, sprawling, rarely-colorful city of metal and glass and grey stone. The culture is one of extreme conservation: resources are preserved preciously and obsessively. Regulations are stringent, and punishments are severe. The Capitol has control over the Ark's axis, and thus the weather and circumstances of every other region of the Ark, as well as the travel and the overall Ark maintenance. There is no real system of currency; each citizen has a certain number of credits provided by the government (not by employers) that may be redeemed for necessities, such as food and clothing. Each person is provided for according to their need, as calculated by an elaborate equation based on genetics, occupation and circumstances. Essentially, it's a functional form of communism -- not oppressive or dystopian, but stable. The people in the city aren't necessarily happy; their lives are devoid of frills or luxuries. But they are alive, and they do carry on what seems to them an ordinary existence. The city more focuses on science rather than magic, though magic is very much present, though licensed, regulated and available only through official channels. Children and reproduction are regulated. Except in rare exceptions, each family is only allowed two children. They are allotted standardized apartments except for dangerous or difficult jobs or jobs requiring extra education, which are given greater rewards. Education is provided, required by law and standardized among the various districts. Law enforcement is not perfect, though it is omnipresent and intimidating, with individual policing conducted by golem-robotic drone hybrids and higher-level agency policing conducted by both uniformed and undercover officers. A black market exists for rare luxury goods, mostly conducted by trade between citizens and the occasional non-citizen sneaking in from the outside. The government of the Capitol is ostensibly elected, but the same President (a man named David Stone) has been elected for three decades now and no real opponents have arisen in fifteen years. No one expects him to be ousted any time soon. The military needs of the city are fulfilled by the Militia, which has a nearly 100% overlap with law enforcement personnel. The Militia is less of an actual military than it is a group of people ready to become a military should it be required. There is a Navy employed in patrolling the seas, and it's got a whole spectrum of ships from the rigid, formal commissioned ships to informal contracted pirate ships who are charged with attacking other pirate ships and unauthorized shipping. Entertainment is rare and for the most part officially sanctioned. There is a Capitol film industry, somewhat censored on political topics but not much more oppressively than the MPAA. Travel is conducted by train. Smaller systems spiderweb through the individual neighborhoods, connected by main lines. Those main lines connect to Ark-wide train systems which provide transport anywhere in the ship. These lines are cost-free if you have a Capitol job that requires travel, but otherwise, they can cost a prohibitively high number of credits. Agriculture zones spread outward from the city. Plants are cultivated in huge glass pyramids, with the plants that need the most light on the outside. Agriculture workers are almost uniformly citizens of the Capitol, but since they are outside the city's borders, the black market is much more common and available than within the city. The population of the Capitol is somewhere on the order of thirty-five million. Terminology: Months & Days. January : Jenery February : Febley March : Martz April : Haper May : Main June : Juin July : Jowie August : Oxst September : Skept October : Oxstber November : Nove December : Dekley Early in a month: Nigh Mid-month: Height Late-month: Aft Sunday : Nonday Monday : Oneday Tuesday : Twoday Wednesday : Threeday Thursday : Fourday Friday : Fiveday Saturday : Sixday

The Twin City

The Twin City is mirror of the Capitol. Equal (or better -- no one's ever managed to count) in population, but their government's control is weak and distant, law enforcement barely present and mostly-overwhelmed. The buildings here are ill-maintained and overpopulated, squalid and half-falling down. There are buildings on top of half-ruined buildings, little housing units perched between those, and stretched shelters tucked in the crevices between those. It is colorful, chaotic, crowded and vibrant during the day, dark and dangerous and unpredictable during the night -- the epitome of the urban jungle. Survival in this city is up to the fittest. Crimelords battle petty politicians battle would-be businessmen. The few rich lord over the masses of poor, while the poor claw to become one of the rich. Art is common and vibrant, extremely emotional, and the Twin City has a rich oral tradition and a deep, family-based culture, but existence is brutal and life is often disease-ridden, violent and short. Magic is more common in this city than any kind of science. Thaumaturges, hedge magic and little hexes are common and for hire on any street corner. Higher orders of magic are rare and highly prized. The best magic school on the Ark is rumored to be somewhere in the Twin City. Finding it would be the precursor to admittance.

Chasm Cities

Far distant from the other cities, across desert and ocean, there are the Chasm Cities, located on the edge of the former nation of De La War. 'City' is something of a misnomer; these are more like villages, towns, stretched out and built of flimsy wood and stacked stone. These groups have never submitted to the will of the Capitol, and as a result, the weather is unforgivingly dry, leaving them in a dusty, empty desert. Huge chasms break the dry ground, stretching down so far that it seems they even go past the ship's hull. (But that isn't possible, right?) They are steep and deadly, and the closest the inhabitants ever get to them are the flimsy rope-and-wood bridges from one clifftop to another. Rumor has it that there are ancient gods who walk the deep in those chasms. And, indeed, if you stay long enough, you will be able to feel the thundering footsteps of something huge passing below. It is said that none who have traveled down have ever survived.

The Ocean

Salt-water and algae provide the boost that balances oxygen production with carbon dioxide in this ship. Chains of islands are connected by spiderweb-links of train lines, connecting isolated seafaring towns dependent on the sea for food. Those who live on the islands are strong, rugged and willful. Sail too far from the islands, and you go into wild territories, dominated by pirates and scavengers. The sea is rumored to be the only place you can truly best the Capitol's reach.

The Teeth

A mountain range that forms a ring all the way around the interior of the ship, and an insurmountable barrier between the pyramid farms of the Capitol and the sprawling Twin City. There is something peculiar about this range, though; no matter how far you go, the mountain peak to the East is always taller. You may travel East forever, circuit after circuit, and always be climbing up -- but never truly going anywhere. The gravity around this mountain range is something of a peculiarity. No one understands the phenomenon, as of yet. The mountains are almost impossible to cross without the train system. Without them, emigration from the Twin City to the Capitol would be out of control. As it is, illegal immigration from the Twin City to the Capitol remains a point of contention in both cities.

The Weaving

Some cults worship it as where the world begins; some scholars denounce it as remaking and thaumaturgy combined and gone mad. Whatever the truth, the very north tip of the Ark is the land of the Weaver. It is a dark place with little sunlight, tangled with old web and the husks of prey. Rumor has it that the Weaver, the creator of all, sleeps there among her nests and her webs, with her eight legs and her inhuman eyes. She is something like a spider, they say. Something, anyhow.

Former Nations

Regions that were in the past powerful nations within the Ark include: ◊ Tesh, a frozen zone around the Weaving, now divided into primitive and brutal tribal lands. ◊ De La War, once a prosperous trading nation, now collapsed into the Chasm Cities and a few groups of desert nomads. ◊ Medinat, formerly occupying the fertile area between the Butterfly Sea and the Freshwater Ocean. For an unknown reason, their crops simply don't produce the way they used to. Over the period of centuries this resulted in a collapse of their economic system. ◊ Sjorb, devastated in a war 200 years ago. Former Sjorb territory is now dominated by the Thaumic Zone, where a catastrophic storm of magic constantly rages, distorting everything in its path.

Unmapped Locations/Rumored Zones

Some areas are simply marked as 'unknown regions' on maps. Rumors about those areas include several perhaps mythical places. These wilds are available for player characters to explore, though you do so at your own risk. ◊ A land of the dead, where the merest breath can drain the life from your body. ◊ Floating cities or underwater cities out in the ocean, the refuge of cults and the insane. Some of them worship the kraken, or other beasts of the deepest seas. ◊ A rebellion -- but it is forbidden to speak of it, even in the furthest reaches of the Capitol's influence. ◊ A race of clay men who sleep and wait for a warrior to awaken them. Various stories say they wait in mountains, or underwater, or are the clay where a swamp was made. ◊ Watch here; we may add more!

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