The Four Cities 3. Neo-Arcadia

A series played using Palimpsest. This post is published under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 licence.

City 3: Neo-Arcadia

Descriptors: Arcane, Ethereal, Prosperous, Sepulchral.

Concept: Mystics seeking lost ruins for scraps of otherworldly lore to sell for profit.

 

Flaw: Avarice; they put profit above risk and took foolhardy chances that ultimately felled them.

Lenses: Inspiration, Merchants, Archaeologists, Wealth

Epoch 1

Keystone: What is of value here?

Inspiration: The lore of at least one lost civilisation can be mined for new insights and products.

Merchants: A foothold in new lands means access to new markets.

Archaeologists: The ruins and artefacts we can recover. Knowledge is the true value here.

Wealth: Everything here will be assessed, valued, and made into profit. No exceptions.

Flashpoint: The city was only ever seen as a resource to exploit.

Epoch 2

Keystone: What have we discovered?

Inspiration: [R] Ossuary Eternal is uncovered and becomes a space for meditation.

Merchants: [R] Crystal Array is stripped for metals. A mana overload quietly builds.

Archaeologists: [R] The Stone Circle and burial ground teach us about funerary practices.

Wealth: [R] Oubliette Tower’s records hold no value, the tower is sealed.

Flashpoint: The treasures of the past were mercilessly looted.

Epoch 3

Keystone: What price have we paid?

Inspiration: Our dreams are haunted by visions of angry ghosts who want their revenge.

Merchants: Start-up costs which have been recovered with vast amounts of interest.

Archaeologists: Preservation of the burial site came at the cost of many further excavations.

Wealth: Random equipment loss and failure occurs. No source can be found.

Flashpoint: The city begins to feel the first stages of its haunting.

Epoch 4

Keystone: What will we preserve?

Inspiration: [R] Sleepwalkers breach the sealed Oubliette Tower. No bodies are ever found.

Merchants: [R] We bury our Stolen Treasures for our children to one day recover.

Archaeologists: [R] We place the Crystal Array in our finest museum for preservation.

Wealth: [R] We discover Automata Schematics from an ancient vault and file them away. 

Flashpoint: Riots among the poor as the rich save themselves.

Downfall

The city becomes too tempting a target for invaders and is laid siege to. The rich flee, leaving the poor to become the servants of the invaders. After a short conflict of mere months, the city defences fall to the invading army.

Remnants

The Stone Circle where blood was shed in ancient rites at the centre of the burial grounds which have been studied and preserved.

The Oubliette Tower where dissidents are imprisoned the historical archives are stored and sealed.

The Crystal Array that harnesses the aetheric currents that power the city has been isolated and preserved.

The Ossuary Eternal where the dead are given voices that has been repurposed for secular use.

The Automata Schematics which have been locked away in a vault.