The Orchid Club

Bral caters to almost every vice, from grand scale corruption, via most types of imaginable gambling, to lotus addiction, with each sin having its own venue. There are countless dens, dives, clubs, and brothels, catering to every level of wealth and depravity. The rock's constabulary is primarily concerned with ensuring that the corpses don't stack up and that the necessary bribes are paid, preferring not to disrupt what is a most lucrative business unless the security of the settlement is at risk. This has resulted in a symbiotic relationship between the administration and the underworld, and most will admit that this system is more than a small contributor to Bral's charm.

Hinterverse, a Glossary

Antikytheron, the
Core prognostication device of the Great Machine, origin unknown.

Arcturean Arm
A minor spiral arm of the Hinterverse.

Argos
The birthplace of the human race. Bane Hostile entities native to the vacuum; see also: Umbrood.

The Commonwealth: A Primer

Millennia ago, three rulers led their peoples out among the stars to escape a great evil that had corrupted their homeworld. After they departed, this world, Argos, birthplace of the human race, became sealed off from the rest of the multiverse.

Enders the Great built a city in the empty reaches between the stars and named it Corregidor. His people prospered and reached out to other worlds. This was the birth of the community of worlds that was to become the Commonwealth.

Agripios the Red settled his followers on Varanger, a hospitable planet among the Antediluvian Stars. Here they built a great civilization that eventually fell under the sway of dark powers. When their world was consumed by an Old One, the survivors retreated into the vacuum, led by the cult known as Ordo Ultima Thule.

Assani the Wise led her people deep into the hinterverse. Where she settled is not known, but in the ages that have passed since the exodus, stories of encounters with people claiming to come from the world settled by the lost ships have become part of sailor lore. This world has become known as Magh Meall, a reference to an idealised mythical world of ancient Argosian lore.

Travel in the Hinterverse

All transport between the worlds of the Commonwealth happens through space. The vast, empty expanse of the Hinterverse is an inhospitable place, and travel is not without jeopardy. For one, a human body lost in the empty sky will freeze to death within minutes. If they have access to air.

The Pearl of the Severn Belt

Celaeno, a bright star located far out in the Arcturean Arm, can be seen l throughout most of the Commonwealth. The Celaeno system’s three inner planets are ringed in by the Severn Belt, a wide asteroid belt making astrogation along the galactic plane in the outer system hazardous. Outside of the belt, Caliban, a massive gas giant orbits its sun with lonesome majesty.

The Godmachine

In the bowels of Corregidor resides the greatest machine ever built by man. Its towers and mills make up most of the subterranean mass of the construct world. Its sheer size is such that the mere attempt to grasp it boggles the mind. The machine was built as an integral part of the construct when Corregidor was first created.

NPC: Weekly Roundup No. 3

Asop van Galgen, prosecutor at the Reichshandelsbureau, is very much the image of the new generation of Wezellian technocrats, carrying his authority with pride and enjoying the trappings of his status.

He achieved his Awakening while enrolled in the chantry-school in the Rederhafen's Academic Quarter and entered public service immediately following his dissertation.

As a student of the Three Pillars of Power, Fate, Prime, and Mind, and with a magister's degree in Juris Arcanum his career naturally lies within the Aktorate. His first office lies within the Reichshandelsbureau, the body charged with regulating international trade.

The Pyre Dancers

For more than a year, the villages of Northern Pendrell have been terrorised by a brood of spirits named the Pyre Dancers. The close proximity to the enormous Verge that is the Aelvinwoode means that there are more spirits roaming this realm than perhaps anywhere else. The Pyre Dancers are more than just roaming spirits though. These malicious entities have developed a terrible way of acquiring  the Essence they need to feed and grow stronger.

They create witch trials.

Chapter Two: We're only here for the book . . .

In which Captain Geheulitzer, Herr Kunzelzeger, and Ganda set out to retrieve a book from a preacher and get caught up in a delicate situation; in Rederhafen Onkel Engelbert tries out a new tool.

The following takes place on the night of the 15th day of Septium in YE 1053.

NPC: Weekly Roundup No. 2

Boudewijn Houdemakers, first mate of De Goudende Ezel, comes from a long line of sailors. He himself started as a cabin boy at age nine and by the time he was 19 he was the third mate on a Wezellian skytrader. The calm, quiet, always impeccably dressed man could probably have made quite a career for himself, but he seems to carry some dark sorrow in his soul.