All I have time for today, trying to incorporate elements of the setting overall into the City with enough variation and diversity as possible. If I get this finished I would love to have other players drop elements of their faction into Lugal for some plot lines. I've already decided that I want Lugal to be obliterated by the ____ as the Salished Empire wains in power. Obviously a lot of this depends upon GM approval and whatever the Salished Empire ends up being. Totally up for changing any aspect of the city as it is now, but I have plans for a map I want to draw in the next couple of weeks. Looking forward to this setting! [hider=WIP] [h2]The City of Lugal[/h2][hr][h3]Zuag-Si, The City of Quarrels[/h3] Government Type: Abhuman Hegemony , "The Skinless Ones" Faction Specie(s): Ethnic Salisheds, Drathans, Trollkin, other various Beastkin, Mutants and Barbarians [h2]Species Descriptions:[/h2][hr] [h2]Location:[/h2][hr] https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/01e1cf0d-e45d-4f92-a29e-4e964a1356f2.png [h2]Faction Religion/Ideology:[/h2][hr] [i]No one religion or ideology is represented in any great number in Lugal, instead serving as a haven for various fringe societies, sects and cults. The dissonant ideologies have given the city its well known alias: [b]The City of Quarrels[/b]. From the ichor-crystal ingesting cult Leviity Sin, to the Fever-Dream obsessed Somnambulists, the Murderous Gorgon Sisterhood or the weird Flesh & Beastkin fringe Augmentites, Lugal is known across Azoth as a haven for heretics, lunatics and madmen...[/i] Augmented Abmen It is a rare thing to find an Abmen that has not altered his physical body, whether by crude street-transmutations (piercings, flayings, skin stretching, etching, burning) or by alchemical or ichor ingestion or mutilation. It is suggested that the proximity to the Gardens of Chella, (and the residual whisperings of the Old Ones) have left a hint of insanity in the peoples minds, and drives them to alter their worldly flesh, others attributing the fad to the Skinless Ones themselves, who wear painful cloaks of ichor that continuously rends the flesh from their bones in exchange for arcane prehension. The Somnambulists The Sisterhood of Gorgons Leviity Sin Lead by an outlaw half-Drathan, half-beastkin, 'Flay' as he is known among certain circles has refined a process whereby the narcotic properties of lesser-ichor crystals are brought to the forefront in the distillation process, sacrificing latent power for mere pleasure. A dozen or so followers have followed Flay down to the Slain Quarter with the promise of endless ecstasy in return for , where they are holed up in an abandoned cistern from time immemorial. Every once in a while, a few of the ashen faced followers will venture to the merchant quarters to purchase more ichor. Regarded as simple degenerates by everyone but the Skinless Ones, rumors abound that Flay is in fact practicing an ancient pleasure ritual in an effort to summon a particular salacious and tenebrous Red God. The Membrane The membrane is the occult society obsessed with Lugals ruling class, the Skinless Ones, The Membrane are perhaps the only real token of ideological power [h2]Faction Description:[/h2][hr] [color=khaki][i]...a black spear jutting from the scabrous wilderness of the valleys around the Godsfang Mountains, the road lined with the disemboweled, the crucified, the vivisected, and the punished, all product of the feared Skinless Ones. One particularly abused Drathan had his lips curled back from his face and pierced with.... ...at last reaching the fabled gate of Zuag-Si, carved in the likeness of the moment of The Mad King Chella's Death, eyes wide and black teeth gnashing. His horrible deathglare fixed upon all that pass through that threshold.. ....immediately found myself accosted by all manner of vagabond, reject and mutant upon entering the Slain Quarter; the narrow halls of the Salished Empires revered (ha!) dead. I found instead a cesspool of debauchery, robbery and sex. For a moment I doubted the sovereignty of the Skinless Ones but this sentiment was fleeting, and would be laid to rest upon greeting the Masters of Lugal...[/i] [indent][center]-From [i][u]Travails and Travels At the Borders of Empire[/u], By Mertron Golb,[/i] published posthumously by Rex, Rox, and Chyron, [/center][/indent][/color] Rising from the low hills footing the ominous Godsfang Mountains and the scabrous wasteland Erg is the fortified merchant city Lugal, once a Cairn-Tower for long-dead Salished Rulers. From the lower quarters that house the sepulchres and tombs of long dead royalty, to the prospering merchant quarter above, the city of Lugal has a multitude of conflicting populations, cultures, races and The city reaches into the sweltering sky, a tower of strange cyclopean architecture and improbable geometry, with cruel, pointed spires and thick tangles of barberous wire at its feet. The cities only gate is carved in the likeness of Zuag-Si, one of dozens of Warrior-Death dieties of the ancient Salished Empire, his black stone fangs threaten to gnash down at any who cross the threshold. The lowest quarters of the city are walled with round stone, pulled from quarries along the Godsfang Mountains centuries ago. Some are carved with glyphs and runes of protection, the secret to activating long since lost... The ancient, blood stained stone walkways of the terrestrial quarter are a labyrinthine complex of guarded tombs, graves and temples devoted to Salished Royalty. Many of these tombs were robbed centuries ago, but a few lay untouched, guarded by horrors even Lugal's masters fear. In the narrow corridors of the Slain Quarter a turf war has broken out between a particularly voracious Gobbler known as Stain and Abmen.. [h2][u]Faction History:[/u][/h2][h3]Founding of Zuag-Si, The Cairn of Mad Kings[/h3] It is said that Chella, the mad King of the ancient Salished Empire, upon crossing the Godsfang mountains with his army ordered scouts into the desolate wasteland known as the Erg. None returned and Chella ordered the army to camp in the low hills of the Godsfang. Legend tells of an Old One beckoning Chella into treacherous caverns beneath the Godsfang, where his lieutenants discovered their King whispering in the dark. At sunrise, Chella ordered every other soldier in his army to slay the man next to him. A handful of men fled, and swore that the whisperings of an Old One were carried on the wind blowing off the Erg that day. For those that remained, the murderous work took all of that day and as twilight descended, an army of beastkin descended upon the remaining soldiers. In a fit of bloodlust, Chella's own bodyguard, severed the Mad-Kings head from his neck. This he carried into the caverns below the Godsfang and was never seen again. The next few Kings of the Salished Empire began (and eventually finished) [i]Zuag-Si[/i] or Lugal as it is known today. [h3]Middle Period: Fortification of The Cairn Tower[/h3] ...in which Beastkin Hordes are continuously broken upon the Cities back. [h3]Recent History: Rise of the Skinless Ones[/h3] ...With the Drathan slave revolt bloodily put down, the Salished Empire regained control of the city once more, but failed to rebuild Lugal to its former glory, due largely to economic depression within the Empire. Lugal would remain a tributary, but not under direct control of the Empire. [h2]Important Characters:[/h2] Flay, Gorgon, Stain, The Skinless Ones Chellas Important Holdings/Territory/Possessions: The city of Lugal and surrounding lands, including a portion of an old Salished Empire trade road. Relation to other Factions:[/hider]