VIZHOURI
O, Child of hubris, open your eye and find your place below.
-Placard of the Guiding Guild
SPECIES GUIDE
LORE GUIDE
DO'S & DON'T'S
Vizhouris are an entirely open species, and besides official content I do not plan on regulating what people do with their characters. I can't control what you do with your creations.Aside from this, I do have some things i'd prefer you not do with Vizhouri. Again, I can't stop you, no matter how much I wish I could, but I do not condone the following actions:Using Vizhouri or Vizhouri characters to spew bigotryCreating vizhouri characters with real life hate symbols as part of their design.Using Vizhouri and Vizhouri characters for the simulation or act of child exploitation. Dark topics are fine, as long as they are handled respectfully and are not depicted explicitly, and are not depicted for the purpose of self gratification.Falsely claiming you made the Vizhouri species.Using the Vizhouri species' name to limit the creativity of outside parties. Nothing is truly original. Do not harass someone for having a cyclops OC. This species is entirely open.Do not use AI.Do not claim the art or character of another as your own. You can take inspiration, but do not copy entirely.This is not an exhaustive list. It is only what I can think of at the moment.If there's any general rule to apply to the species if you're unsure about something, it should be this you refer to:The Vizhouri species should be a center for creativity, belonging and weirdo cyclops gremlin creatures. Do not turn this into a space of hate, exploitation and toxicity. And, importantly, remember to have fun.
Q&A
This is where you can message me to ask a question. If I find your question common or interesting enough, it will be posted here with an answer! Otherwise, I'll try to reply to your question privately by email.
STORIES
This is where you'll find any official Vizhouri fiction I've written.
MERCH
This is where you can find any links to official Vizhouri Merchandise.
WHAT IS A VIZHOURI?
Vizhouri are a species of secretive and intelligent beings created through Vizhium-induced mutation or alchemy. Mutant Vizhouri are drawn to The Downward, the origin place of Vizhium and the home of Vizhouri. Alchemical Vizhouri do not feel this draw as keenly, but know they are drawn to something nonetheless and search for whatever that is for their whole lives.
WHAT CAN A VIZHOURI DO?
Typically, the abilities of a Vizhouri vary greatly by their origins and physiology. For example, an alchemical Vizhouri created involving fire magic may have an affinity to the element of fire. Or, a mutant Vizhouri may be covered in oil they can ignite at will.
However, there are a few abilities all Vizhouri share. Their Sight, their venom and their resilience.
The singular, giant eye each Vizhouri has can see Vizhium, a substance invisible to all other species. It appears to them as a sickly green glowing gas, liquid or ore. The Downward is lit almost entirely through processed Vizhium, but to anyone who isn't a Vizhouri it would seem pitch black.
The hinged series of fangs in every Vizhouri's upper jaw connects to a special venom gland that can be sprayed or injected. What this venom does varies by Vizhouri. One might spit a healing salve, another could spray burning acid.
Finally, they all share a great resilience to many dangerous toxins, diseases and both magical and non-magical varieties of radiation. While exceptionally strong toxins, exceptionally deadly diseases and exceptionally high levels of radiation can harm them, they can still survive many pollutants that would kill anyone else. However, they lack resistance to the venom of their own species. They are also capable of living for a very long time.
One of the major downsides of the Vizhouri is their difficulty when it comes to conceiving children. Given each individual's often quite unique biology, and various origins from many different worlds with differing laws of reality, finding an individual compatible enough to have a kid with is extremely difficult. They have the most luck when matching up with someone also from their own world, but even then compatibility is far from guaranteed.
WHAT DOES A VIZHOURI LOOK LIKE?
Vizhouri are highly varied, but they all share certain traits in common. Their large singular eyes, their fangs, their ears and their long arms and wrists.
Every Vizhouri has a large, singular eye dominating their heads, situated sideways. They have nictitating membranes, and their eyelids close in from the sides instead of the top and bottom.
In the mouth of every Vizhouri is a series of hinged fangs. Like a viper, their frontmost fang can swing out from just outside of their normal rows of teeth. Behind this fang is a series of other fangs that follow behind it, giving the appearance of a saw-like series of teeth. Like sharks, when they lose their main fang, the one next in line moves up to replace it. A never ending conveyor belt of needle sharp, venom-shooting fangs.
Upon the head of a Vizhouri are large ears, typically pointed at the tips, though not always. In a resting position, their ears appear pinned back, following the angle of the head.
Vizhouri have rather long arms, and they always have elongated 'wrists'. Sometimes these are actual really long wrists, and sometimes this is an extra joint entirely.Vizhouri tend to keep to the gendering systems of their pre-mutation lives, but overall their society doesn't care about gender.
RESOURCES
Vizhouri Species Base
Here is a free to use Vizhouri character base! You don't have to stick to the outline. Remember, Vizhouris are full of variety and you can get quite creative with them! Here are some example designs of mine:
VIZHIUM
Vizhium is a strange substance. It is formed through the congealing of various pollutants from multiple worlds and universes which have gathered in The Downward. When a world or an area becomes polluted enough, holes to The Downward begin to open. No matter which universe or world, these holes all lead downward, all take the form of tunnels the whole way through, and all lead to The Downward. Through these holes, pollution from the worlds fall down and congeal and compress into Vizhium. Then, the gas form of Vizhium rises back up to these worlds and pollutes the area near a hole.Given its nature as a strange material formed from many substances from many universes with differing rules and systems of existence, Vizhium has strange properties. It induces mutation into a Vizhouri no matter the species, as long as the species was of human-like intelligence, can be used in the creation of alchemical Vizhouri and is a powerful source of energy.What energy it exudes can be changed by refining the Vizhium in specific ways. In The Downward, it's most often refined into a source of light, party drinks, electricity, different kinds of magic and The Downward's currency, known as Beetles. Outside of The Downward, it can only be refined to exude energies that the world it resides in includes. The funny rock/slime/gas does not exude necromancy on Earth, but it certainly can exude gamma radiation.No matter the location it still keeps the property of mutating people into Vizhouris.
THE UNDERTOW
The Undertow, as it is known to the Vizhouri and the few outsiders aware of them, is the mutation that occurs after exposure to Vizhium. Everyone's Undertow can happen differently. Some Undertows are fast, some are slow. Some are painless, some are excruciating. Most forget much of their past lives after the Undertow, a lucky few remember everything.The Undertow tends to be a pretty traumatizing experience. It is extremely disorienting, and always occurs with a desire to hide away, which strengthens as The Undertow progresses.The very end of The Undertow, when someone is almost or at full Vizhouri, is the most disorienting time of all. It is always only barely remembered, and involves the new Vizhouri frantically and instinctually trying to dig or crawl as deep into the earth as possible. If a hole into The Undertow is nearby, they will always take that route, but if they are not near such a hole, they will settle for the deepest, darkest place closest to them. Sewer systems are not an uncommon place for new Vizhouri to find themselves in.Vizhouri tend to celebrate each others' 'Undertow Day', the day in their original world's year or other time period they finished undergoing The Undertow. Newer arrivals may get condolences, and older Vizhouris may have come to terms with it and actually party about it. It's equivalent to a birthday.
THE DOWNWARD
The Downward is the realm connected to a multitude of worlds and universes with enough pollution to start getting holes to The Downward. It is the origin of Vizhium, and where most Vizhouris reside. It appears to be entirely subterranean, and is not fully mapped, but it is at least the size of a continent. It contains forests of glowing flora adapted to feeding on the Vizhium, toxic subterranean oceans, crystalline caves and more.However, the most prominent feature of The Downward is Downward City, the capital of the realm and is the seat of power for every major guild. It is a scrappy place, full of sickly green glow, scavenged materials and neon signs. Rising from its 'skyline' are giant elevators, built by The Waymaker's Guild to ensure easier and safer travel to other worlds. It sits on the coast of a giant ocean teeming with deep Vizhium deposits.The Downward is inhospitable to any non-native life.Also their money is little pressed nuggets of Vizhium and various metals called 'Beetles'.Perhaps you are interested in exploring Downward City's variety of districts.
GUILDS
Vizhouri society is controlled by Guilds, and lacks an entirely centralized government. These guilds hold control over different parts of life.They enact their rule through blacklisting non-members that upset them, and banning members that break their rules, among other actions that make access to their services more difficult.Only one guild enacts prison sentences as punishment, the rest rely on the threat of someone losing access to whole markets to keep citizens in line.Each guild has different methods of internal governance, but are typically each represented by a singular leader or figurehead.There are minor guilds, and guilds stationed outside of The Downward, but these do not hold nearly as much power as the major guilds of Downward City.But hey, at least guild members get discounts when buying from their own or allied guilds.
OUTPOSTS
Outposts are worlds connected to The Downward that currently lack a non-Vizhouri presence. These are used as settlements for research, storage space, trash dumping, resource collection and more. These outposts can vary from typical post-apocalyptic worlds to giant floating god heads in some sort of endless space.
Traversal to these places from The Downward isn't as heavily regulated by The Waymakers as worlds with a non-Vizhouri population.
CENTRAL INTRA-TER TRANSPORT
The Central Intra-Ter Transport, named such because it is both intra and inter, is the center of The Downward's transportation systems. Whether it be to other parts of The Downward or other worlds entirely, it is a fast, somewhat reliable, and kinda safe way to get around.The Waymakers own and manage this part of Downward City.The primary method of officially supported travel to other worlds is through elevator shafts encased in glass. It looks a lot like hamster tubes. The Central Intra-Ter Transport is located in the middle of Downward City and is a giant 'tower' of elevator shafts all bunched together, like a bundle of roots. There are other, more solitary elevators poking up from other parts of the city, but the central ones are most noticeable.There are also smaller, non-enclosed elevators used to traverse within the city. Other methods of in-city transport are subways, trolleys, and upways, which are like if a subway and a gondola lift had a child that was very jarring to ride on the first few times.For transport outside of Downward City that still resides entirely within The Downward, there are also multiple options. Most commonly are airships and trains. Centi-Roaders, train-like offroad vehicles with legs, are also a popular option due to their ability to climb walls and haul goods to and from places without good transport infrastructure.Boats and submarines are also a thing.Aesthetics are; Subway stations, airships, dieselpunk, trains
THE GUIDESPOT
When you've just mutated very painfully and have found yourself in an unfamiliar underground world surrounded by people speaking an entirely different language, it's at least a little comforting to have a spot dedicated to helping you out.The Guiding Guild owns and manages this part of Downward City.The Guidespot, partially surrounding The Central Intra-Ter Transport, is an area of temporary housing, language schools, map brochures and over-eager members of The Guiding Guild looking for newcomers to assist. Once somebody's learned the language well enough and a guild has decided to pick them up as a member or associate, they're moved out of The Guidespot's housing and are given some funds to either get themselves G'thilg guild housing or housing for members of their own guild.Aesthetics are; Infographics, town plazas, enthusiasm and brochers
THE BARRACKS
The Barracks aren't welcoming. They're a giant complex in northern Downward City made up entirely of military barracks for I.G.E. members, prisons, enforcement offices and training grounds. It is highly reinforced, both inside and outside, making sure that nobody gets in or out without I.G.E. permission. Even I.G.E. members need permission from others of their guild to go in or out.The I.G.E. owns and manages this part of Downward City.Despite containing enforcement, military and prison services, The Barracks lack any open courts of law. All guilds, including The I.G.E., handle violations of their rules within their own personal guild courts. Only one guild works with court cases involving issues between guilds, and it's not The I.G.E.The Barracks does also extend to some posts outside of official city limits as a means of defense.Aesthetics are; spikes, military, bloody, discomfort, prison, sandalpunk
STORAGE & ACCOUNTING
Storage & Accounting is as boring as the name suggests. While it has no section of the city on the surface, it takes up various large parts of the city's foundation. It's common to see cellars that are actually entrances to wider Storage & Accounting.The Beetlers own and manage this part of Downward City.This place is a massive labyrinth of storage units, vaults, beetle-printing rooms, cargo crates and stuffy custodians. It is barely lit at all, save for the Beetle printing rooms and the occasional oases that are the actual bank parts of Storage and Accounting. Vizhouri have probably perished here from getting lost or eaten by giant pest infestations.One can find their way by listening for the whirr and clanking of Beetle printing rooms, rooms wherein Vizhium and various precious metals are heated up and pressed together into little semi-melted blobby nuggets that are used for currency.Aesthetics are; Brutalism, Catacombs, Dungeons,
THE CRAMPLINES
The Cramplines don't exist in one single section of the city. Rather, they exist along the lines and roads that divide them. Between any district and another, save for The Central Intra-Ter Transport and The Guidepoint, are cramped together apartments and homes that somehow stay intact despite the fact that many of them look like they'll fall apart at any minute. Such is the mystery of G'thilg architecture.The G'thilgs own and manage this part of Downward City.The Cramplines are used for housing that isn't provided by any particular guild. Any guild member, any Vizhouri, can reside in a home in The Cramplines, even if it is rather... cramped. These homes aren't made of the best materials Vizhouri society has to offer, but they're affordable and accessible. Many homes in The Cramplines are also used as storefronts by the residents.Aesthetics are; Shantytown, cramped apartment complexes, farmer's market
THE COLLECTION & REDISTRIBUTION POINT
The Collection & Redistribution Point, or The C&R, in the south end of Downward City, is part port, part farm, and part truckyard. When workers under House Manuabor come back from long journeys mining under the ocean, or in trains or Centi-Roaders from extracting the land, or from the vast underground and underwater hydroponics farms, they come to The C&R.House Manuabor owns and manages this part of Downward City.Despite the large amounts of traffic, parking for vehicles used for transport and material extraction is scarce, because a vehicle left parked is a vehicle left unused when it could be out transporting workers and drilling at deposits. Vehicles and their crews are expected to make a quick stop, drop off their spoils, change work teams, and drive right off again to work. The Waymakers aren't too fond of their commissioned vehicles being used in such a rugged manner with such little time for maintenance, but it's hard to argue with the guild everybody's so dependent on. Most of the C&R is dedicated to the collection and, well, redistribution of resources.That is, that's what most of it would be dedicated to if you're not counting the farms.Far larger than the rest of C&R is the hydroponics section, sprawling caves dedicated to the growth and harvest of myriad crops and livestock. Some of these are 'exotic' breeds hailing from outside of The Downward kept in entirely sealed and climate controlled sections to ensure that they don't die from exposure to The Downward's environment. Collection, transport and the safekeeping of these exotic foods is quite expensive, so the vast majority of the hydroponics section isn't used to house them, and is for the farming of native, or acclimated, species.While it's rare, some crop and livestock species get exposed to the environment of The Downward, and it's soon found out that these species are actually intelligent as they undergo The Undertow. There are some Vizhouri who used to be intelligent plants or animals being kept in the hydroponics section, who were previously unrecognized as intelligent due to communication difficulties. It's very difficult to notice the trees and bug-cows are intelligent when they speak entirely in chemicals and express their intelligence in an alien manner.Aesthetics are; Mining equipment, heavy machinery, hazard stripes, large ports with big crates, sterile hydroponics
THE VIZH-STACKS
The Vizh-stacks, located just north to The Collection & Redistribution Point, is where many resources are sent. These are the factories, the refineries, the slaughterhouses and the food processing facilities. Named for the smoke-stacks spewing Vizhium-tainted glowing smoke, this place isn't pretty, but it's a vital organ of Downward City.R&P owns and manages this part of Downward City.Any resources brought into the city that need to be processed are run through The Vizh-Stacks. Raw metal into ingots, chemicals into more useful chemicals, lumber into planks, animals into meat and plants into ingredients for food or medicinals.That, and if anybody wants anything mass-produced, they take their request to The Vizh-stacks and R&P. Those commissioning such a service would still get a cut for their product, but R&P gets a larger one. Can't argue with R&P's practices when they're the only ones able to provide such a service.Aesthetics are; Oilpunk, glowing chemicals, smog, fire, industrial, factory lines, oil barons
THE TOWER
If there's any structure more prominent than the giant bundle of elevators in the middle of Downward City, it's The Tower. A giant, steampunk-looking chemical power plant and clocktower all in one, it rises through the very middle of that bundle of elevators known as The Central Intra-Ter Transport. A giant fluid-filled lamp at the top sits at the center of where the elevators begin to diverge from their towering routes.The 4th Weavers own and manage this part of Downward City.Metal support structures run along The Central Intra-Ter Transport elevators like bones and scaffolding all at once. These structures double as veins for chemicals and electricity to run through. Bulging out from these structured, like galls on tree branches, are various offices and housing for the 4th Weavers.Power is generated through various chemical liquids infused with vizhium, pumped from The Vizh-Stacks. This is also set up in such a way that there is a constant, cyclic chemical reaction occuring from different chemical mixtures coming in at different rates and times. This cyclic reaction changes the color of the glowing liquid held in the lamp at the top of The Tower.Each phase of color lasts for the same amount of time, and each phase follows a set cycle. These phases each last about two hours, and cast the entire city in their hues, the colored glow of The Tower magnified and bent by the glass elevator tubes surrounding it.There are seven phases in whole, cycling through the ROY-G-BIV spectrum, from R to V. A full cycle in Downward City lasts fourteen hours.While this cycle is used to measure time and mark days, with two cycles per official twenty eight hour day, this doesn't tend to have any affect on the sleep schedules of the inhabitants. There is no daytime or nighttime at which everyone sleeps.The Downward City official calender consists of fourteen months, one month per officially recognized guild, with each month lasting twenty five days. As such, Downward City's years last for nine thousand and eight hundred hours, compared to Earth's eight thousand seven hundred and sixty hours per year. That's one thousand and forty more hours! In cycles, a year in Downward City lasts for four thousand and nine hundred cycles.Aesthetics are; Clockpunk, Steampunk, electricity
THE POSTLINES
The Postlines, in Downward City's western area with various small offices posted around the rest of the city, may seem like a combine of post offices and warehouses, but it contains more than just mail services. It also has courthouses and studios for news coverage.Touchblinx owns and manages this part of Downward City.When diplomacy needs managed, when inter-guild court cases need presided over, when scheduling for anything needs to be managed, when mail and packages need delivering, and when communication infrastructure and technology needs to be managed and distributed, The Postlines are where all of that happens. Presenting like humble post offices, warehouses, courtrooms, communication centers and news studios, this district, and Touchblinx overall, are far less humble than they actually present.Covering everything communication, mail, diplomacy, law and news makes for a very powerful part of the city and a very powerful guild.While Downward City residents don't tend to have personal televisions or equivalents, public televisions are used for broadcasting Touchblinx news coverage. Besides that, newspapers are commonplace. These newspapers are sent to buyers through a network of underground tubes connected to the heart of the Postlines and various connected offices, which are also used to transport mail.Every home, or at the least every neighborhood, is connected to this network and has a personal tube entrance for the sending and receiving of mail and news. Mail is labeled with the address it needs to go to, then reaches an office, and is sent down the proper tube to its destination. This journey can involve multiple offices, which act like junctions.For wealthier buyers, long-distance scrying devices can be bought, which act like phones, if phones looked like cut jewels that projected holograms.Aesthetics are; Old televisions, newspapers, those tubes at the bank, courtrooms, mailmen
FUNTERTAINMENT DESIGNATED FUN ZONES
FUNTERTAINMENT DESIGNATED FUN ZONES, as is obvious with the name, are FUN.FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED owns and manages this part of Downward City.Like oases dotted all over Downward City, these practically glowing plazas and alleys are centers for recreation and amenities. The contents of these FUN ZONES also depends on where they are placed. FUN ZONES within The Barracks may involve arenas and shooting ranges. For the C&R Point, well, when any resource transport vehicles are too banged up for work, but not banged up enough for The Junkyards, large recreational tanks and explosives are provided. So on and so forth, FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED is as adaptive towards local audiences as it is insistent towards anyone writing about them that FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED must always be fully capitalized, lest consequences ensue.FUNTERTAINMENT DESIGNATED FUN ZONES also often intersect with the industries of other guilds to acquire products to sell. Products those other guilds don't find useful or 'on-brand' enough to use or sell themselves, but are still entertaining enough to draw in customers. Those FUN ZONES in The Barracks not only provide a violent way to blow off steam, but easy access to 'toy' weapons that are just safe enough to make any injury easily seen as the customer's fault. That, and The Barracks is where they may acquire some more volatile 'fireworks' to sell to eager customers waiting to celebrate with them. Or use them 'off-label'. All injury resulting from FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED PRODUCTS will not be compensated for.Of course, there are still original FUNTERTAINMENT ARTISANS in the FUN ZONES who will sell goods and services no other guild will provide.FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY GIANT NEON SIGN RELATED INJURIES IN FUN ZONES. FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED IS ONLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE FUN THE OTHER GUILDS WILL ALLOW.Aesthetics are; Cyberpunk, faires, advertising, bright colors, parties, substances
THE GARDENS
The Gardens are like growing mycelium networks trying to sprout up in whatever space they can, and whatever space they are allowed. These lines and pockets of native Downward ecosystems, while great for calm recreation, are in no way affiliated with FUNTERTAINMENT DESIGNATED FUN ZONES, though they will often intersect.The Wardens own and manage this part of Downward City.The Wardens are growing tired of kicking drunk people out of their gardens for littering and being nuisances. The Wardens are tired of FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED always setting up shop outside of their gardens because the 'atmosphere' the gardens provide draws more customers. The Wardens nonetheless appreciate the money they're able to make selling some of their plants and animals to FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED.The Gardens function as natural sanctuaries, outdoor parks, and places to breed new kinds of plants and animals all at once.There are also Gardens outside of Downward City, within the jurisdiction of The Wardens, but with more room to grow with little interruption from other guilds.Downward ecosystems presented within The Gardens include;Glowing Root Forests, places of twisting, glowing wood, vines and leaves are dense and vibrant. They offer small oases of light within The Downward. They often have a 'Rootheart' at the center that the rest of the forest depends on.Vizhium Boils are networks of liquid Vizhium geysers, home to extremophilic microbes and specialized animals that feed on them. Swimming in these is the opposite of recommended.Stalactite Reefs are clusters of dripping Stalactites hosting colonies of creatures that both live within and build upon them.Stalagmite graveyards are swampy areas of decay, reliant on dead creatures falling from Stalactite reefs. They also rely on clumsy creatures falling and getting impaled on the stalagmites. Bioluminescent microorganisms feast on the dead in every stagnant pool of water, or other liquid.Crystalline Ovens are hot and dry regions filled to the brim with giant crystals, which occur from the combinations of chemicals beneath these areas which also cause the heat. Sometimes, the chemical reactions are strong enough and go on for long enough that they can lead to volcanism. Crystalline Ovens are often associated with Vizhium Boils. Besides strong endothermic chemical reactions, the tectonics of The Downward are often inconsistent and largely unknown.Black Freezers are parts of The Downward that are so distant from any chemical or Vizhium sources of light and heat that they are extremely cold and dark. Nonetheless, life exists here, slowly and steadily. This life is often quite fragile due to its isolation from the typical chemicals and Vizhium of The Downward, and explorers must be careful not to kill everything around them in these places. They must also be careful not to perish themselves from the cold.Pseudo-Surfaces are ecosystems formed around sources of light so bright that they mimic sunlight. These look like ecosystems seen outside of The Downward, with photosynthetic plants and animals that rely on them. As these giant light sources are often due to massive sources of Vizhium mixing with something else leading to typical visible light, these ecosystems are threatened by Vizhium extraction. Pseudo-Surfaces may be found subsisting off of the heat sources of Crystalline Ovens and Vizhium Boils.Vizhium Oversaturation Sites are ecosystems so suffused with pure Vizhium that it is even hazardous to Vizhouri to travel to these places. There are few Gardens based around these ecosystems, even less than Black Freezers. The only life here are extremophilic microorganisms, and rumored shifting monsters lurking deep within that feast, not on Vizhium, but a relative lack of it, from whatever outside of these places happen to wander too closely.Gentle Swamps, when Glowing Root Forests meet Stalagmite Graveyards, are great sources of life. Sustained by both the liquid and rot of Stalagmite Graveyards, and the concealing plantlife and sweet fruits of Glowing Root Forests. These, like the estuaries of Earth, hold much of The Downward's biodiversity.The Underwater ecosystems of The Downward, while so far largely unexplored, seem to often hold uncanny resemblances to the ecosystems on the land.Aesthetics are; bioluminescene, biopunk, plants, animals
HOSPIVERSITY ACADEMIAS
Hospiversity Academias, located in the Northeast part of Downward City, or HA, is the primary educational and medical institute of Downward City. For general education, education relevant to Knowledge United, and medical attention, this is where anyone goes.Knowledge United owns and manages this part of Downward City.This place consists of cramped gothic colleges, strange hospitals, open plazas and housing for students and guild members... You'd almost thing there's be constant lightning around h- ah, right. Giant tesla coil. There IS constant lightning. Now all that's needed is a homonculus... on top of the hundreds we have already.There are also a lot of labs, both public and personal. These labs are not necessarily separate from medical facilities. When everybody's a weirdo mutant hailing from who-knows-where with who-knows-what laws of reality, every medical issue is a case study! Except for eye problems. Eye problems tend to stay oddly consistent across the board.The laboratories also range from being more mundane to maniacal, and from being more grounded to magical. The same campus housing laboratories for the engineering of new kinds of glasses also, of course, has the spell towers of eccentric alchemists.Each other guild also has their own Knowledge United sponsored colleges across the city for more specialized learning relevant to the guild's work.Aesthetics are; Dark academia, alchemy, sorcery, low lighting, campy sci-fi, mad science, raypunk
BELIEF NEUTRAL ZONE
When you've got new people coming in from a whole bunch of different realities, they're inevitably going to bring religion with them. Whether the religion is being brought from home or developed in The Downward, there is only one place for places of worship within the city. That being, the Belief Neutral Zone, patrolled by Z-Watch.Z-Watch owns and manages this part of Downward City.In the eastern side of Downward City lies a massive grouping of many, many different churches and other places of worship. All of these places of worship are both protected and contained by Z-Watch. Here, belief is protected, and others are protected from it. Of course, grouping a whole bunch of belief systems together who may or may not like eachother tends to be recipe for conflict and disaster, but at least it's all in one place, and more conflict means more work opportunities for Z-Watch to gain money from.Spiritual activities outside of the Belief Neutral Zone are tolerated, but once they get centralized into consistent groups and places, then they have to move that stuff to the Belief Neutral Zone. Believing their personal beliefs shouldn't be policed and forced into an unfamiliar area that may even be separate from a historically significant place of worship outside of the Belief Neutral Zone, many Vizhouri refuse orders to move their worship.That, and things get awkward when there's a known population of Vizhouri who, before they experienced the Undertow, were actual gods and other divine or spiritual beings.Most Vizhouri claim that forcing religions into one singular, oppressive area away from their original places of worship is callous and cruel, and does not put in any effort to separate cults from healthy belief systems and even oppressed belief systems.Z-Watch claims that such complaints come from those who do not remember its founding.Aesthetics are; Southern gothic, monster hunters, secret societies, G-men, chainlink fences
THE JUNKYARDS
The Junkyards are absolutely vital organs within the body of Downward City, and everybody wishes they weren't. Anywhere where anything deemed 'trash' or scavenged from the surface is dumped off is deemed territory of the raucous, disorganized Scavvitallz Parties. As the name suggest, these are the various junkyards and dump sites scattered about and around Downward City.Scavvitallz Parties own and 'manage' this part of Downward City.They also act as recycling and sorting centers. Any trash is broken down to its absolute base materials or reused, and anything that's scavenged from outside of The Downward is sorted and either kept by the Scavvitallz, or 'thrown away' into Downward City for everyone else to use if it doesn't suit their fancy.The way things are recycled are through the 'Breakdowners', hodgepodge machines thrown together randomly that somehow are able to efficiently burn, refine and use chemicals to get the base stuff out of trash. These hodgepodge machines also act as 'headquarters' for their local Scavvitallz party. They're also noisy, somehow smell worse compared to the rest of The Downward, and beat the G'thilg's housing in terms of keeping together despite looking like a breeze would make them break down. These machines each look unique depending on which party owns them, and are even sometimes renovated into villages, housing built into their rusty shells.Mobile Breakdowners are possible, and there are documented cases, but they're generally seen as things to destroy on sight ever since the incident involving the 'rampaging runaway Breakdowner village'.Aesthetics are; post-apocalyptic dieselpunk, alt music, alt fashion, scrapped together things, urban fantasy (fantasy scavenging from the urban)
THE RATHOLES
The Ratholes are the broken down bits of Downward City, the tight and winding tunnel networks that connect the organs of Downward City's criminal underbelly together. They're not owned by any of the main fourteen guilds.This tunnel network often leads into secret passages into unknowing buildings, secret sub-subterranean towns and villages, and passages into the buildings of residents who do happen to know about them. The headquarters of many criminal guilds are hidden within these tunnel networks.These aren't typical catacomb or sewer tunnels, either. These tunnels are wiry and thin, so small at certain points that one's breath must be held in order to pass through. There are also many dead ends to trap anyone who isn't 'in the know' or affiliated with the crime scene, so there are definitely a lot of corpses down there from those who got trapped or lost.The underground party and club scene is absolutely wild, though, if you manage to squeeze through all those tight cave systems to get to them.Aesthetics are; Caving, noir, underground clubs, rattle em boys
THE CEILING
The Ceiling, like The Ratholes, is not officially affiliated with any particular guild. However, that's because these luxury suites, ballrooms, and more hanging from the cave ceiling of The Downward are entirely neutral to guild affiliation. All that matters here is if you're rich enough to get in. Literally above everything, these glowing chandeliers of living space made with wrought metals and stained glass are uniquely dominated by businesses and families not affiliated with any guild.These groups either originate from before the guild system, and thus had a very long amount of time to accumulate wealth outside of their control, or newer independent businesses that either got incredibly lucky in terms of finding a niche that's both successful and not currently sucked dry by the guilds. That, or they built their wealth outside of Downward City and managed to be of enough means when they moved into the city to support themselves without guild help.Or they gained their great wealth through sketchier or crueler means, but are so good at burying it that it is almost impossible to prosecute them.The only way to get to The Ceiling or off of The Ceiling are unique hovering vehicles. These are absolutely decked out in decorations, and belong to no guild. They only belong to those living in The Ceiling who have decided they can lend a few to those wanting to vacation there.The Ceiling and residents of it aren't very well liked. Pretentious chandelier towns...Aesthetics are; Decopunk, wrought metals, glowing behind stained glass, chandeliers
WAYMAKERS
GUILD LEADER
Halthriy
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
The Waymakers guild is led by a council of powerful guild members, surrounding the member they currently have voted in as their leader. If the current leader does something the council dislikes, they are demoted back down to the council and a different council member is elected in their place. Guild members typically gain a place in the council through social capital and a good record of work.
JURISDICTION
Central Intra-Ter Transport
LIKED GUILD
The I.G.E.
DISLIKED GUILD
4th Weavers
FOUNDING
Originally a monastic society from before Downward City's founding, The Waymakers took new Vizhouri into their monastaries to get them back on their feet in their new life. Once Downward City was founded, The Waymakers put great effort into establishing a presence there to help all the new Vizhouri that would inevitably show up.During the Outsider's Invasion, the Waymakers took up the mantle of leading and governing Downward City when House Manuabor was unable to.After the Outsider's Invasion of The Downward, The Waymakers used their new power and expanded their duties from simply welcoming, to also gatekeeping and preventing knowledge of the Vizhouri from making it out of The Downward. This monastic organization expanded into an overarching theocratic state in the chaos after the invasion to keep things under control and to prevent another invasion. In response to this tyranny, a rebellion group, 'Z-Watch' was founded, and overthrew the original Waymakers and killed their leadership.After their fall and the reorganization of Downward City's governance into the guild system, The Waymakers reformed themselves into the guild they are today with their remaining political power and members. While much more secular in nature these days, The Waymakers that remained after the original society's culling are still suspicious of the worlds outside of The Downward, and still retain some of their old power and infrastructure when it comes to transportation into and outside of The Downward.
DOMAIN
The Waymakers manage movement in and out of The Downward as well as customs. They guide the development of transportation networks, manage vehicles, and restrict the construction of outposts. They also make sure no information about The Downward and Vizhouri gets out into worlds with no previous knowledge of those.
THE GUIDING GUILD
GUILD LEADER
Eiituiik
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
The Guiding Guild, on paper, chooses a new head of linguistics based on exceptional knowledge and empathy shown during a guild member's work. Currently, it has been having a nepotism problem, with Eiituiik planning on choosing one of her daughters or granddaughters to take her place.
JURISDICTION
Guidespot
LIKED GUILD
The G'thilgs
DISLIKED GUILD
Waymakers
FOUNDING
Originally a sect of the monastic Waymakers responsible for linguistics, after the Outsider's Invasion happened they were sidelined by the rest of the Waymakers in favor of focusing on gatekeeping instead of welcoming. Once the Waymakers had taken control of Downward City, what eventually became The Guiding Guild split off from them due to ideological disagreements and joined Z-Watch's rebellion, helping Z-Watch by giving them insider information on the Waymakers.Once the original Waymakers were toppled and Downward City became a guild system, Z-Watch provided what was now The Guiding Guild with extra resources to help them with their mission of welcoming in new Vizhouri into Downward City after much of the population was lost in the Z-Watch rebellion. Seeing what their brethren in the Waymakers had done last time, The Guiding Guild decided to become more secular, and more neutral towards different belief systems.
DOMAIN
The Guiding Guild's job is to welcome new Vizhouri into Downward City and get them situated into their new lives. They utilize services from other guilds to help with their job shadowing programs to help new Vizhouri find which guild they'd like to join later on in life. They also offer some housing for new Vizhouri, and teach them the common Vizhian language before sending them off with some money to get on their feet. They'll also offer some services to Vizhouri who aren't new, but are down on their luck and need some extra help.
THE I.G.E. (INTER-GUILD ENFORCEMENT)
GUILD LEADER
Dhargtur
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
Up until recently, this guild's system of governance involved whoever had been alive the longest, given how easy it is to die in their field. However, since Dhargtur's takeover, all that's known now is her reign.
JURISDICTION
The Barracks
LIKED GUILD
R&P
DISLIKED GUILD
Scavvitallz Parties
FOUNDING
Before Downward City, there were various different groups of bandits and raiders. When Downward City began construction, they often raided it for resources or fun. Multiple of these groups were then hired by the nascent city to protect it from other raiders, and these bands of hired protection eventually integrated into Downward City as various family legacies of military and law enforcement.During the Outsider's Invasion, these families united into a centralized front to fight back the invaders. After the invasion, they split again between Waymaker loyalists and Z-Watch rebels. After the Z-Watch's victory, the loyalists were executed, and the remaining rebels became two guilds in Downward City's reform. An enforcement guild, and a military guild. Though, these really functioned as one guild with two separate kinds of jobs the members could fall into.Then, Dhargtur arrived. At first, she rose in the ranks in a typical manner, becoming renowned for her fighting capabilities and fearlessness. She campaigned against the leadership of the twin guilds, and advocated for the combination of the two guilds. Given her charisma and renown, she got enough fellow guild members to back her up and oust the old leadership.Said old leadership died under "mysterious circumstances".Once Dhargtur gained leadership, she combined the guilds and ruled the new I.G.E. with an iron fist. Everything became strength and intimidation over all else. The hiring pool for the guild went from interested citizens to inmates deemed violent and loyal enough to be chosen by Dhargtur to be freed and serve under her.While this new change in leadership and practices is concerning, the other guilds appreciate the intimidation factor these new I.G.E. guild members carry with them. Even if they tend to be more violent than what's asked for.Plus, the new gladiatorial battles within the guild are entertaining to watch.
DOMAIN
The I.G.E. guild works as both military and enforcement. They protect the city, and can be hired by other guilds to enforce their banishments and blacklistings. They also enforce some universal Downward City laws, do bounty hunting, and manage prisons.
Mercenaries, cops and soldiers all in one.
BEETLERS
GUILD LEADER
High Representative Bheatley Beelums
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
Whoever is most willing to get their nose out of their files and printers to talk to other people is the de-facto representative of the Beetlers Guild. Their inner-guild communications are somehow so efficient that they pretty much all have access to, and know the same information, so nobody has to worry about the high representative lacking knowledge.
JURISDICTION
Storage & Accounting
LIKED GUILD
Touchblinx
DISLIKED GUILD
The Guiding Guild
FOUNDING
They're weird. As it turns out, during Downward City's construction, Storage & Accounting and the Beetlers had been underneath it the whole time to nobody's knowledge. Despite seemingly predating Downward City, Storage & Accounting's infrastructure seemed to perfectly match up with Downward City's as though they had been built together. Since they'd already been printing and hoarding Beetles at that point, Downward City just decided it was convenient enough to adopt Beetles as their currency and the Beetlers as an organization of accountants, money printers, treasurers, bankers and keepers of the very foundation the city sat on.During the Outsider's Invasion, Storage & Accounting was used as refuge and bunkers for civilians. Some of these civilians were drawn to this place, and became Beetlers themselves. To this day, the only Vizhouri who become Beetlers are the ones who feel that supernatural draw to it upon stepping foot in Storage & Accounting, abandoning the rest of their past life for their new work.The same thing happened during the Z-Watch rebellion.Overall, the Beetlers have been weirdly unaffected by things besides their numbers getting a boost when Storage & Accounting is used as a giant bunker. They didn't even have to really change anything when the guild system was introduced, besides needing a representative.
DOMAIN
The Beetlers are responsible for printing Beetles, banking, treasury, and storage of Beetles and various goods. They are impeccable at keeping track of all of this, and Beetlers who fail at this tend to either stop feeling the urge to be Beetlers and leave the guild, or just straight up die on the spot.
THE G'THILGS
GUILD LEADER
G'Thilg
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
It doesn't matter. All the orders come from the same guy and all the work is done by Vizhouri working under him. No, it's not one guy in charge. Just the same guy. Dozens of the same guy. If you're talking to one of them, you're talking to the leader.
JURISDICTION
The Cramplines
LIKED GUILD
House Manuabor
DISLIKED GUILD
Z-Watch
FOUNDING
A large amount of G'thilgs immediately underwent the Undertow and arrived in The Downward once Downward City was conceptualized and construction began. Multiple iterations of the same otherworldly godly being outside of linear time, self-described as 'a separate flavor from their god and self on the plate of time, but from the same plate and the same dinner table nonetheless'. Apparently a particular point of time in their world had been polluted by Vizhium by a time traveler.They immediately got to worshiping their simultaneously existing godly self who was still outside of The Downward and still a god, gaining information from their godly self that they would use to help build the city. The information was imperfect, but their knowledge still led them to building infrastructure that was weirdly resilient despite how, logically, a breeze should've tipped all of it over. After construction finished, they grew less active, but still worked on construction when asked from time to time.During the Outsider's Invasion, even more G'thilgs poured into The Downward like a 'bleeding wound of time pouring out from a scar ripped apart again the very second it healed and was made'... again, they have weird descriptors for things. These G'thilgs didn't fight, but they did work extremely hard to repair any infrastructural damage done to Downward City during the invasion.After the invasion, the G'thilgs laid down until the Z-Watch rebellion, where they fought against the Waymakers, since the Waymakers had blocked the G'thilgs from any further entry into The Downward. This was awkward, since Z-Watch was against religion, and the G'thilgs were repeated iterations of the same god from the same point of time in their original universe, who also worshiped that god, who still existed as an unchanged god in their original universe after the point of time that was their Undertow... look, 'god outside of time' stuff is weird and hard to explain. What matters is Z-Watch was confused by the assistance offered by the G'thilgs.After the Z-Watch rebellion and the establishment of the guild system, the G'thilgs were allowed to establish themselves as their own guild as long as they allowed non-G'thilg Vizhouri into their workforce. They did so, and a great number of them suddenly died as they had no use for those extra bodies anymore since the manual labor part of everything was now going to be done by Vizhouri who weren't themselves.
DOMAIN
Construction, maintenance, plumbing and disaster relief.
HOUSE MANUABOR
GUILD LEADER
Ritchisx Manuabor
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
House Manuabor follows a lineage-based system of leadership. The eldest child of the current leader, which is typically their only child due to how difficult it is for Vizhouri to have children, will become the new leader of House Manuabor when the old one dies or becomes unable to manage the guild. Given how often it is that the current guild leader and their spouse find that they are unable to conceive, they'll adopt another Vizhouri as their heir. There are situations where they just adopt a family friend out of nepotism, as there is no age limit for adoption as an heir for House Manuabor.
JURISDICTION
Collection & Redistribution Point
LIKED GUILD
Waymakers
DISLIKED GUILD
Beetlers
FOUNDING
House Manuabor predates Downward City as its own independent group. Before Downward City, there was the Vizhine Commonwealth, a system of various noble houses and organizations under them collectively ruled and governed by the High Vizhine, of which House Manuabor was a part of. The High Vizhine was a leader elected from and by the noble houses upon the death of the previous High Vizhine. This commonwealth is where Downward City's common language of Vizhian originates, though modern Vizhian differs greatly from the Vizhian spoken during the time of the Vizhine Commonwealth.During a dispute between the noble houses on whether or not the Waymakers' vote counted for election of High Vizhine, an unfamiliar power intervened. Agents from a yet unknown state utilized House Manuabor's discontent with the commonwealth to convince them to secede from the commonwealth and join them.This unknown state was industrialized, and lended House Manuabor some firepower to back up their secession. The other houses, unable to contend against bombs and guns with their swords and steeds, quickly fell to the might of House Manuabor and their new friends.The agents of the unknown state, House Manuabor and other allies such as The G'thilgs then agreed to construct a new city upon the bones and ruins of the other houses. The agents and House Manuabor, prideful as they were, decided to name the city after the very world itself. Downward City. Good thing that Downward City turned out as influential as it did. It would be rather embarassing if a name such as that belonged to a less notable settlement.Eventually, the agents of the unknown state separated from their old state and became their own guild, known as R&P, notable in being a guild that called itself a guild even before the city wide guild system was implemented.During the Outsider's Invasion, House Manuabor managed the supply lines of Downward City. Typically, they led and governed the city. They had been so busy managing supply lines that the Waymakers took charge when it came to leading Downward City, and once the invasion ended, House Manuabor was unable to regain the power that the Waymakers had taken in their absence.House Manuabor, having followed the same belief system as the Waymakers and wanting to kiss up to them, took the side of the Waymakers in the Z-Watch rebellion. When they lost, they became a guild relegated exclusively to the collection and growth of resources. House Manuabor kept their familial system of governance in the move to the guild system. Everybody else tried to get them to change their system of governance, but they were incredibly tedious to argue with, and they'd already just spent a really long time getting House Manuabor to change a lot of other stuff about themselves, so they were too tired at that point to keep trying.
DOMAIN
Mining, farming, other forms of resource extraction.
R&P (REFINEMENT & PROCESSING)
GUILD LEADER
Jeauxek Leurim
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
Promotions. If the guy above you thinks you're good enough, you'll get promoted. Eventually, enough guys above you will think you're good enough that you'll be one promotion away from guild leader. If the guild leader happens to not be too stubborn, or just too tired to work anymore, they'll promote you as the new guild leader.
JURISDICTION
The Vizh-Stacks
LIKED GUILD
Scavvitallz Parties
DISLIKED GUILD
Wardens
FOUNDING
Long ago, before Downward City, there was a state. This state is now unknown in name, but it is now known in its purpose. It is now known in its violence.Long ago, before this state, there were the Outsiders. They were so advanced that when the first of them underwent the Undertow and came back, the Outsiders, always observant, had formulated a way to detect Vizhium using machinery. Then, they formulated a way to utilize Vizhium. Finally, they formulated a way to utilize Vizhium in such a way that they could find their way into The Downward, clad in armor that allowed them to safely traverse it without any ill effects or Undertow.They founded the unknown state as a singular colony in The Downward with the purpose of extracting Vizhium, and giving the Outsiders a base of operations within The Downward. The Downward, which they would use as a junction to travel to other realms connected to it. Other realms that they would conquer.From this unknown state, the Outsiders would send agents to unindustrialized Vizhouri peoples. These agents were to introduce them to just a little bit of the Outsiders' technology. They were to assist them in crushing their opposition and forming powerful, industrialized states. Industrialized states that would have the technology to have already extracted and stored many resources. Resources that the Outsiders wouldn't have to put much effort into mining by themselves. Nor would they have to put in effort when it came time to invade these societies, for these cattle-states primed for slaughter were always only provided with a taste of the power that the Outsiders wielded.Either these states would bow, and become part of the unknown state, increasing the foothold and Vizhium extraction abilities of the Outsiders... or they would not, and the Outsiders would make an example of them to the rest of their unknown state , razing them to the ground and taking the spoils they'd spent generations gathering.Agents were sent to House Manuabor to assist them in settling their discontent with their fellow noble houses. They gave them a taste of Outsider technology. They built a city with them.They stayed in that city for generations. They forgot their original purpose. They knew only that they were skilled in the forge and factory. They reformed into a guild. They reformed into R&P.The unknown state, the Outsiders, came to collect. Having seen their fallen agents no longer following their orders, they decided to collect with a great fury.Hence the Outsider's Invasion began.Bloodshed not yet known and not known after began.The invaders poured in from the hundreds of the realms they'd already invaded. From hundreds of holes in the cavernous walls, ceilings and floors.Hundreds of years of progress and growth, across hundreds of united realms which had quashed enemies hundreds of times before.It was one sided. Downward City, with all of its might, was only able to defend itself against the endless hordes of strange, armorclad beings with strange and deadly weapons.Even when it had gone on long enough that the entirety of the downtrodden unknown state believed it to be an opportunity to rebel and join Downward City in the fight, it seemed to be a futile effort.Until, in the middle of it all, when a particular energy weapon fired upon a particular hunk of solid Vizhium, and a member of R&P saw it.As it turned out, that was the exact recipe to make the antimatter to Vizhium's matter used by the Outsiders. While it couldn't reverse the Undertow, and didn't explode the second it touched Vizhium, this Anti-Vizhium COULD disrupt the properties of Vizhium nearby, and even close holes to other realms, which is what the Outsiders originally used it for.While the Outsiders had executed the particular soldier careless enough to make such a mistake as bad as the creation of Anti-Vizhium in the proximity of the people who could really use some, what had happened, happened.As much as the Outsiders tried to get the Anti-Vizhium away from the Vizhouri, any attempts rendered their armor useless and subjected whatever soldier was trying to retrieve the Anti-Vizhium to the Undertow.While the Outsiders worked fast to distribute some very expensive Anti-Vizhium resistant armor to their soldiers, the Vizhouri didn't have to work nearly as hard to make their ultimate counter to the Outsiders in an even faster time frame.Given that this counter was a simple set of jewelry with sparkly purple Anti-Vizhium gems, it's little surpise they were able to finish it so fast.Donning one piece of jewelry each, a group of highly trained Vizhouri, now known as the Insiders, were sent on the most important mission in the known history of The Downward.Their mission was to stand next to as many holes leading to Outsider realms as possible.Just as it seemed like the Outsiders would overpower the whole of The Downward, the last Outsider hole was closed. The hole that had led to the Outsiders' home realm. Once that happened, communications between the Outsider forces and their increasingly overstretched leaders had been permanently severed.Their last supply line, cut off.Their access to Vizhium, gone.The states of their old empire now left stranded across different realities with no chance of contacting each other.The Outsiders and their empire had been destroyed.After the Outsider's Invasion, R&P engaged in diplomacy with the scattered remnants of the unknown state. Some remnants resigned to dissolution, their remaining population moving into Downward City. Others went their own way, settling down over yonder and becoming various new Vizhouri cities and towns. Some of these new towns retained their relationship with Downward City, and would even engage in trade. Others stayed isolated.Once their work in cleaning up the corpse of what used to be the state they belonged to was done, R&P resumed their usual activities in working forges and factories. Other Vizhouri, now aware of what R&P's original purpose was as agents of the unknown state, retained some suspicion of them. This suspicion faded with time, as all scars do.Once the Z-Watch rebellion occurred against the growing tyranny of the Waymakers, R&P split into two parties, one rebellious, and one loyal to the Waymakers. Though, in all truth, they still shared the same leader, who profited from both sides in their shrewdness.Once the rebellion was over and the guild system was established, R&P counted the beetles they made off of it, and didn't change at all since they already were a guild.Currently, R&P has been led by a series of expansionist industrialists determined to spread Vizhium into new realms outside of The Downward to "ensure the growth of the Vizhouri species" (Translated: Expand industrial operations outside of The Downward, create more customers, make more moolah.)The Wardens, conservationsists that they are, absolutely hate that.
DOMAIN
Refine materials, operate forges and factories, create whatever anyone else needs that they can't make themselves, with whatever blueprints are provided.
4TH WEAVERS
GUILD LEADER
Tommy Clockkentocker
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
Whenever the old guild leader wishes to retire, they grab a hat with the names of the guild members deemed 'worker of the month' within the last fourteen months. They reach in, and randomly pull out a name. Whoever's name is chosen becomes the new guild leader. They then have a party that acts as both a retirement party, and a promotion party.
JURISDICTION
The Tower
LIKED GUILD
Knowledge United
DISLIKED GUILD
The G'thilgs
FOUNDING
During the Outsider's Invasion, a fourth dimensional being was caught in the intersection between an energy weapon blast and a chunk of solid Vizhium. Or were they created in that intersection? They did not know, for if they had any memories from before that point, they'd been erased as their instant exposure to a whole lot of Vizhium. That whole lot of Vizhium caused them to undergo a very extreme, horrible version of the Undertow. They had gone from being a fourth dimensional being to one of only three dimensions.After being severely injured due to coming into this plane existence in the middle of a battlefield, this new Vizhouri was dragged to Downward City, and with all the luck in The Downward, hadn't died along the way.They were interrogated on the nature of some purple "Anti-Vizhium' rock they apparently... came out of? Or appeared next to? Either way, they had no idea about any of it. That new Vizhouri didn't want anything to do with the horrific war going on.Instead, that Vizhouri was far more interested in working with the only thing that brought them some kind of déjà vu from their past life. Some way to find conversation with who they were before their dimensional downgrade.They only wanted to work with time.Cataloguing every way to measure time, every calendar and clock.Apparently, they got so good at keeping time that they suddenly had a use for that war they really didn't want anything to do with. Counting amounts of time since soldiers had food, intervals between waves of Outsider soldiers crashing upon the city.And, apparently, the city still wanted them after the war. They still felt they really needed someone to count time for them. Turns out, in all that horrific war, they'd lost all of their tools they originally used to measure time. Typically tools brought by Vizhouri from the realms they came from.This Vizhouri was tasked with inventing some kind of time system everyone could keep track of. So, through collaboration with what would become Knowledge United, they invented a type of chemical clock that also worked as personal power generators. These clocks, which looked like lava lamps, would cycle through different colors on a predictable, unwavering basis. The chemical reactions responsible for that could also generate some power.This Vizhouri thought they'd finally stop getting asked for things, but now the Waymakers wanted them to install these chemical clocks everywhere. The Vizhouri refused, but they kept getting nagged, so they finally decided to use all the money they'd gained for their feats of timekeeping in the invasion. They hired a team to install the clocks, and someone to replace themselves so they'd finally stop getting pestered.During the Z-Watch rebellion, this group of timekeepers was too busy keeping time and building clocks to involve themselves. Likewise, nobody else wanted to bother them. They had no reason to bother or be bothered.After the rebellion, this group had been designated to become the guild responsible for energy generation and timekeeping. They became the 4th Weavers. They figured the clear glass tubes that were the elevators of the planned Central Intra-Ter Transport would make really good magnifying glasses for the giant glowing chemical clock tower they wished to build. The Waymakers disapproved of this, but since they'd just been overthrown, they couldn't do much about it.The 4th Weavers also created a new calendar for Downward City, with one month for each guild so they'd all feel like they were getting their equal attention.
DOMAIN
Timekeeping, power generation, and power distribution.
TOUCHBLINX
GUILD LEADER
Firtiq Lixwit
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
Guild vote, anybody can be voted in to be guild leader. It was never specified the person voted in has to be a member of the guild. It's also never been specified that the person getting voted for has to know about it.
JURISDICTION
Postlines
LIKED GUILD
Beetlers
DISLIKED GUILD
FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED
FOUNDING
Touchblinx is named after a famous Vizhine Commonwealth courier who primarily worked for House Manuabor.Once Downward City was constructed, as House Manuabor managed the city, their old courier team was grandfathered into working for the city. They were a good team, if a bit suspicious of the unknown state's agents that had given House Manuabor some strange technology.Before the Outsider's Invasion, the courier team found out the original purpose of what had then become R&P.Even though R&P had forgotten what their original mission was, the courier team felt deeply betrayed by both these agents who had tricked their house into destroying the others, and House Manuabor, which they deemed extremely foolish for falling for the lies of the agents.These couriers decided to betray Downward City.Not only had the agents that became R&P forgotten about the unknown state, but the unknown state had forgotten about them as well.The couriers figured they'd ought to let someone know. They informed the unknown state about their rogue agents. In their foolishness, the couriers did not know they'd just whacked a hornet's nest with hives in hundreds of realms.Maybe, if they knew what they'd bring upon all of The Downward, they wouldn't have done what they did. Or, maybe they did know, hoping to be spared for the betrayal of their city.Either way, the result is the same.They were not spared from the Outsiders' executions, save for one, who had hidden from the gun meant to shoot them straight through the skull.This singular survivor, a direct descendant of Touchblinx, disliked the idea of betrayal the whole time, but went along with the plan anyways. Their similar hesitation for the dinner invitation given to them by the Outsiders had been what saved them.Wracked with guilt, this singular courier decided to redeem their act of betrayal. They rode as fast as they could back to Downward City. They rode for multiple days and nights without a break, and was on death's door when they prostrated themselves before the head of House Manuabor.They told the head of the betrayal, of the incoming invasion, of the hundreds of realms that would descend upon the city.Expecting a ceremonial axe through the neck, the lone courier was instead spared for their bravery in both their travels and decision to return even in the face of execution.Without this lone courier giving them the heads up, Downward City would not have survived the Outsider's Invasion.Throughout the invasion, this courier was deemed the head of a new team of couriers. This team grew into an army, supplying defenders and sending messages. Even through the bloodiest of battles, they showed relentless bravery to get their packages to their destination.Nearing the end of the invasion, the army of couriers had dwindled back to a lonesome team, battle-scarred and exhausted.This team was appointed with the most desperate and possibly final task of Downward CIty. Perhaps the entire Downward.This team was to don mysterious pieces of jewelry, and they were to find each hole that Outsider soldiers were pouring out of.In doing this, they were meant to close those holes.In doing this, they succeeded.After the invasion had ended, the team members were all deemed heroes.So, they rested and retired. In their name, a new company of couriers had been hired to resume their work.Then when the Z-Watch rebellion came around to depose the tyrannical Waymakers, these couriers took the side of House Manuabor and the Waymakers. For this act, everybody was disappointed.After the rebellion succeeded, these couriers were fired and sent off to work different jobs. New Vizhouri were hired to replace them, as well as to replace a lot of the functions the Waymakers and House Manuabor had in their rules. From now on, they wouldn't just deliver letters, news and packages. They would negotiate between guilds, manage scheduling, logistics, diplomacy and inter-guild law.Touchblinx has gone from a group of disloyal couriers, to a team of heroes, to a group of rather disappointing Waymaker loyalists, to what they are in the modern day. In the modern day, they're rather boring and don't deliver things by foot anymore. They just throw things into a series of tubes.
DOMAIN
Inter-guild law, scheduling, logistics, diplomacy between guilds and cities, and they deliver mail.
FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED
GUILD LEADER
Pirnial Popz
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
Whoever throws that years most BANGING party (and lives!) gets to become the guild leader. It's pretty common for certain exceptional party hosts to win this contest multiple times in a row, getting to stay in their seat as guild leader for multiple years. Pirnial has been Party Champion for a whole decade.
JURISDICTION
FUNTERTAINMENT DESIGNATED FUN ZONES
LIKED GUILD
Touchblinx
DISLIKED GUILD
The I.G.E.
FOUNDING
During the Waymakers' tyranny after the Outsider's Invasion, unrest was growing within Downward City and criminality had risen to untenable levels. Tired of constantly having to quell gangs and drug trafficking rings, the Waymakers decided to strike a deal with a criminal organization known for drug trafficking and underground clubs.Not only would this massive criminal organization become legal, which technically meant less criminals, but the citizens would get something to distract themselves from their own sucky conditions.In the deal, the organization would be subsidized to create and maintain a partying scene. Some of their drugs were also legalized.While this was kind of fun, it didn't work well enough to distract the citizenry, and they rose up in the form of Z-Watch. Instead of aiding the Waymakers that legalized them, the organization just exploited the rebellion for money. One of the ways they did this was branded food, drink, drugs and merchandise. Specifically, branded as in they had a line for rebels and a line for loyalists to buy and show their loyalty. What better way to participate than to buy a rebel-branded bong and smoke it in public right next to a guy smoking a loyalist-branded bong?Once the rebellion ended, this organization benefitted from the implementation of the guild system. They were powerful enough that they could still stay as one organization and not be absorbed into anyone else, becoming their own guild. This guild was FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED, and yes, they're still just as shady. Then again, nobody else is going to give you custom guild-themed hard drugs and t-shirts. Nobody else will sponsor your independent art career, either. Or let you drive a tank over a bunch of decomissioned vehicles.
DOMAIN
Leisure, art, spas, sports, drugs that are just legal enough, clothing, jewelry, performances, restaurants, rides, theme parks, bars, clubs, party catering, etc.
WARDENS
GUILD LEADER
Gnarlscale
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
The Wardens choose a new guild leader every decade through a ritual. The leader candidates are taken to the largest garden in the city, and they sit still for multiple days. Whoever leaves is disqualified. Whoever dies is disqualified. Whoever first has a flower bloom next to them, or a creature nest on them, wins.
JURISDICTION
The Gardens
LIKED GUILD
House Manuabor
DISLIKED GUILD
R&P
FOUNDING
The Wardens were founded after the Outsider's Invasion to restore the burnt down ecosystems and salted earth left after the invasion. As the land was restored, their duties were expanded to tending gardens within the city, maintaining healthy ecosystems, and breeding new varieties of plant and animal. Originally, they were disparate groups, with one for each type of ecosystem within The Downward. Eventually that was narrowed down to one team for each garden and any nearby ecosystems related to their own garden.During the Z-Watch rebellion, the Wardens recalled their support for any guild and retreated into the wilderness outside of Downward City. During their retreat, waiting for the rebellion to end, the Wardens... changed.They became more ritualistic in their practices, more isolationist and distrusting of outsiders. They built sanctums within places deemed 'very alive'. These 'very alive' sanctums, by the way, are located where they are regardless of how much life is actually in the location. A place can be 'very alive' while being a completely sterile and lifeless flat plain of concrete. Nobody knows what the wardens are talking about when it comes to these places. They do grow gardens in these places as a way to signal that the location is very alive.Nobody knows why they changed from typical park rangers to... that, but Z-Watch decided to allow them outside of the Belief Neutral Zone once the city reformed into the guild system due to how difficult it would be to contain the Wardens. They were also designated as their own guild. Upon this news, the Wardens returned to the city to manage The Gardens.
Domain
Ecosystem & Wildlife management, park rangers, gardeners,
breeding new breeds of animal and cultivars of plants, selling those breeds and cultivars. Nobody else is allowed to breed new breeds and cultivars from their stock.
KNOWLEDGE UNITED
GUILD LEADER
Council representative Xixxlp
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
Knowledge United is governed by a council consisting of the heads of each college, including on-campus and the smaller colleges for each other guild. The council representative is whoever's best at talking. Xixxlp, the head of the college of necromancy, is the current council representative.
JURISDICTION
Hospiversity Academias
LIKED GUILD
4th Weavers
DISLIKED GUILD
FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED
FOUNDING
After the Outsider's Invasion, the Waymakers sent off their most studious members to start a state-sponsored educational and medical institute. In part to start healing chronic sufferers of old war injuries, and in part to study what Outsider technology was left behind.This institute was also tasked with helping other Vizhouri with workshopping their ideas and inventions. They were ALSO tasked with revising their educational material according to the Waymakers' wishes.Upset by this revisionism and anti-intellectualism from the Waymakers, along with the restrictions on travel outside of The Downward preventing them from conducting research, some members of this institute left and began rallying civilians behind a common cause to overthrow the Waymakers. While their loyalist counterparts disagreed with their methods, they did not interfere.These rebellious scholars and the civilians backing them eventually grew into the Z-Watch rebellion.Their "loyalist" counterparts, meanwhile, refused to comment on the situation, especially to any Waymakers.After the Z-Watch rebellion, the scholars were favored by the Z-Watch as brethren, and their districts were placed next to one another. The scholars became their own guild, Knowledge United, dedicated to the pursuit of knowlede no matter what.... Yeah, they tend to go a bit far when it comes to pursuing that knowledge. Kind of inevitable when you have a bunch of maniacal wizards and mad doctors all working together on the same campus.
DOMAIN
Science, invention, education, pharmaceuticals, medicine, sometimes mutates the Wardens' plant and animal stock because they said no BREEDING and not no MUTATING, testing, libraries, museums, personalized body modification.
Z-WATCH (Zealotry Watch)
GUILD LEADER
Maglaz Lightbreacher
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
The guild leader will choose a successor when they're ready to and when they feel there is someone worthy enough to succeed them. In their absence, a vote will be held amongst the guild to choose the successor.
JURISDICTION
Belief Neutral Zone
LIKED GUILD
Knowledge United
DISLIKED GUILD
Waymakers
FOUNDING
After the Outsider's Invasion, the Waymakers became zealous in their theocratic mission. They became overprotective, fearful of anything outside of their norms.The scholars they once called their own saw this in them in real time. They grew disgruntled, secular. They knew about gods, they just didn't worship any, or regarded them as something other than gods.Too many times they saw history get revised. Too many times were they denied fieldwork in other worlds. Too many times were they disregarded in favor of superstition.So they gathered the masses, gained the support of whole organizations as they marched and coalesced into a movement.The rebels, known as Z-Watch, warred with the Waymakers and their cowardly allies. In the process of this civil war, the city became mostly ruined, save for the ceiling, which didn't want anything to do with this anyways.Once everything was finished and the Waymakers had been toppled, their leadership executed, Z-Watch saw fit to reorganize the city into a more equally distributed system, with no centralized leadership.The guild system was born, and with it, the guild of Z-Watch, not content with letting a Waymaker incident happen again.
DOMAIN
The protection and regulation of religion. Keeping religions in check, preventing schisms, wars and terror attacks. Prevention of cults, dissolution of cults. The hunting of supernatural threats. The monitoring of gods.
SCAVVITALLZ PARTIES
GUILD LEADER
Trashlord Bucko
SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE
What system of governance? It's a bunch of disparate bands of scavengers and garbage men acting like they're in mad max or something. Trashlord Bucko is just the guy with the biggest party at the moment and the most social capital amongst the Scavvitallz.
JURISDICTION
The Junkyards
LIKED GUILD
FUNTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED
DISLIKED GUILD
The I.G.E.
FOUNDING
After the Outsider's Invasion, the Outsiders didn't just disappear into thin air.Their soldiers, at the mercy of the Undertow, or about to be, didn't just teleport away.They were left behind. Unable to return to their home realities, forever. Stranded.Given the Undertow's effects on memory, not every soldier even remembered that they had a home before this. Unlike luckier Vizhouri, they weren't guided along after their transformations, either. All they had was the rubble and ruin of battle around themselves, and one another.The ones who lost their memories were deemed mad hermits or bandits due to their lack of socialization.The ones who kept their memories simply couldn't handle the reality of becoming their enemy, becoming the inferior mutants they were meat to stomp like insects. So, they rejected the world around them. They rejected society, and rejected themselves.As these bands of... eccentric... Vizhouri grew and accrued members, they would find themselves welcoming in fellow outsiders. They became small societies, strange to everyone else, revolving around scavenging and recycling.Years passed, and then they looked again at the house on the hill. The one their ancestors and predecessors tried to raze to the ground in the war they'd all forgotten about by then.They saw the family in that house fighting. A house patriarch, keeping all under an iron fist. A rebellious group of siblings wishing to overthrow their father, but still planning to live so miserably and structurally afterwards.Well, they were close enough to that house on the hill to pay a visit. Maybe teach them some lessons regarding conformity and REALLY sticking it to the man by throwing stuff in a fire because it's fun no matter who judges you.Those poor Vizhouri in that city, in their dreary lives numbed by some really boring drugs and battle.What they needed was some good old disruption.Someone to rummage in their bins.Someone to steal stuff from the snobs outside of their cavernous home.Someone to scream for no reason, bang two pieces of sheet metal together because it's cool, and then play some really, really loud music.So, they let themselves in. And partied. Specifically, by taking a bunch of trash and recycling it. Also, eating trash. Also by taking those elevators for a joyride to go nab some stuff from junkyards outside of The Downward.As it turns out, all that partying was found to be REALLY helpful by those 'Z-Watch' guys, because of something having to do with getting rid of 'Waymaker' weapons before they could reuse them and turning them into bars the rebels could use.As THAT turns out, that gets you a pretty little spot as a 'guild' after the rebellion. You and all your friends can come in at any time as long as you do your job of stealing surface dweller stuff, recycling trash, eating trash and making some noise. That, and you're really good at funerary services and they aren't.Apparently some other guys were doing the whole 'scavenging' thing beforehand, but they didn't like it for some reason. More for the Scavvitallz!
DOMAIN
Being loud, wrecking stuff, recycling, burning things, scavenging from other worlds, janitorial work, mortuary work, graveyard work, sorting scavenged goodies and trash, trash collection, welcoming in those rejected by the rest of society.
CRIMINAL GUILDS
Criminal guilds are guilds that are either not recognized as legitimate by the rest of the city, guilds that encroach on a major guild's territory in terms of work, or guilds that provide illegal goods and services.
GAPS
This short story includes war crimes, guns, death of personality, murder, body horror, dehumanization, and death of parent and child.The gaze of his visor cracked. A static broke across it, the growing hole lined with the glow of attempted hardlight repairs and warning lights blaring within it.The red flashing warning lights glowed outwards, through and past the breaking visor. Into what had become an impenetrable darkness, which seconds ago was lit up by the visor's Vizhium and Infrared light sensors.His two forward facing eyes stared blank into the darkness, trying, for a moment, to see anything. His two side facing eyes flicked up and down, horizontal pupils instinctually trying to detect any threat.All he saw at the moment was darkness framed in failing electronics. All he saw beforehand was a single wretch flashing some kind of bracelet in his face, wrapped tightly around its distended wrist.Not long after, he heard the panicked yells of the others coming across the intercom. Then, a sharp spike of static that fizzled out as the audio systems failed as well, leaving only distant, echoing versions of the yells that he'd been cut from.Then, one by one, that impenetrable darkness in front of began to light up. Red, flashing cones of light like lighthouses surrounded him. Coming from the same sources that the yells echoed out of.He knew what would come. He slammed a four-fingered gloved hand across the broken visor, attempting to cover all he could. The hardened armor on the back of his hand clacked against itself.It covered nothing, save for his own vision.His hand fell from his visor, and he tried to hold his breath in desperation. The excurrent nostrils under his ribs clamped shut alongside the incurrent ones on his face. He clenched his eyes closed.Like every time he clenched his eyelids so hard, as in the shower, a great burning ring afterimage revealed itself in his vision, like an iris set alight.A sharp pain hit him in the head, and he gasped for air, nostrils blowing open and snot sputtering forth from them as they spasmed.The pain only grew worse, and as it did, the yelling he heard from those sources of red flashing light turned to agonized screams.One escaped from him, and it tore from his throat. Hot, wet wind scraped against and blew through the delicate folds and lines of wet flesh within him. He was unable to stop himself from nearly tearing apart from the inside with his own screaming as his form contorted, and all of his bones began to break at once. The ones interwoven into his muscles like armor plating first, and the structural basis of his form second.The world began to light up, slowly and horribly, as his eyes shot open to see his fellow soldiers' forms before him, writhing as he did. Their broken forms laid like piles of refuse.A table stood before him, in a vast expanse of darkness- the closest word he could find to the abject nothing which enveloped almost everything.It was round, surrounded by chairs, and with a soft, green center various cards were laid upon. A single, conical light hung down from what would be a ceiling above it, washing the table in a light yellow.None of the chairs were filled, but someone stood next to one of them, their vague form only revealed by the nothingness begrudgingly warping around them.He felt them turn to look at him, and he felt their gaze burning into him, flipping through his life story like the pages of a book, forcibly making him relive everything in moments he couldn't even ruminate on.The questions and noise in his mind parted in patterns of silence, which took nearly all of his effort to piece together to a something out of nothing that kept recognizable."Another. Recommend to come forth."He rose from his knees, shakily, sorely, and faced the figure beside the chairs."Recommend to come forth."He brushed himself off, his excurrent nostrils blowing away whatever dust came down. Then, stumbling, he reached a chair, and pulled it away from the table before slumping down and using his feet to drag himself forward until his chest nearly rested against the table."Recommend to take cards."The rectangular papers before him were unfamiliar to him, but somehow, he knew these were the cards the figure referred to. He held the cards in the first way that came to mind, fanned in his hands. He immediately knew it was the correct way.A club, a heart, and a diamond. He knew the names. The fourth was blank. He tried to count the numbers of symbols on each card, but they changed each time his glance crossed them."Recommend to give one card at a time. Promise to take one card at a time. Promise to read one card at a time."He shakily, unsuredly, pulled a card from his hand. The club on his very left, which he intended to hold forth towards the figure.He couldn't tell which chair they stood besides."Recommend to place in center."He placed his card, face-up, in the center of the table."Announce acquisition."The warmed rubber and cold metal clamped around his body, air hissing as the perfectly pressurized environment to encase him formed.The visor fit around his head, and the hardlight crawled in front of his view. More systems booted. The person before him stepped aside, and nodded. He nodded in turn, relaxing his posture and stepping forward with all the others. Their unified steps a thunderclap. Another thundering came as they raised their arms in synchrony, palms upturned and opened.A person in front of him carefully unsheathed a great weapon, a gun. They held it horizontal, and it was placed in his hands with all of the others. The soft rubber gloves deformed gently around the heft of the metal. He pulled it back, and sheathed it at his side.In unison, they turned, facing the great stairway they were about to march into. He hadn't seen it before, but through his visor, the stairway glowed a sickly green and emanated a billowing smoke.In the front of the line, one of them spoke."I am Il-Tuk, Riversborn. I am here to serve my empire. I am here to protect my lineage. I am here to cleanse the junction of all the wretch that would seek our destruction. I will not waver. I will return."The person besides them nodded, and they finished their statement."I fight for my people."They marched forward into the stairwell, and the line moved forward. The next in line stated their name, and recited the oath."I fight for my people."They marched forward into the stairwell, and the line moved forward.He breathed deeply as he waited and stepped forward, and waited and stepped forward.His brows furrowed at the thought of the things he'd be putting down in the junction. The corners of his jowls quivered in disgust.It soon, far too late, became his turn."I am-""Acquired. Acknowledge purpose of presence, acknowledge method of presence."He felt a twitch run through his body. He felt a page tear from his book. He looked at his cards. A spade, a heart, a diamond and a blank card. He slowly looked at the figure again."Recommend to give card."The heart slid from his fingers, the card held in the crook of his thumb. He placed it in the middle of the table.The wretch kneeled before him, single eye clenched shut and chant repeated under whispered breath. Its head was lowered, breath ragged in shaking risings and falls of the shoulders.The wretch's brood laid below its arms, screeching and writhing, trying to wriggle out of its progenitor's grip.He scanned the room, waiting for ambush. Nothing on the infrared. Nothing in the vizhium. He looked back down at the wretch, still rather puzzled by its delirious mumbling.He re-aimed his gun at its eye, and it shuddered, holding the brood tighter and chanting faster, louder. He would not suffer it to chitter longer. It did not get to finish its chanting, and in its death throes, the body stiffened and shook, clamping down on its own spawn like a pest trap. The arms clenched around the writhing worm, which tried to turn to look at its now captor, arms and claws scratching against the rigid flesh to try and right itself.It began to grow pale as the rigored muscles grew tighter, the shot wretch's jaws clacking in the last electrical impulses of existence.He decided against wasting his ammo, and moved onto the next room, knowing that the whelp would perish. Were it not wasteful, he would have shot it to at least get it to stop screeching and calling others.One was called, running from a hallway, panting before it froze in front of him. He decided to let it come, to let it get drawn to the incessant yelping. It caught a glance of the room behind him, and it clutched at its head and began to screech as well.He only needed one lure. He raised his gun.The screeching once again came only from one, which grew louder once he'd dispatched the second.He kicked the corpse aside, and preemptively stuck a tracking device to the wall to let the others know more would be here soon.He sauntered over to a trapdoor, and blasted the lock open. He descended into the basement."Acquired. Acknowledge method of achievement. Acknowledge shape of mission."His brow furrowed. He decided not to question what the figure meant by mission. He went back to giving them his card.Two spades, a diamond, and a blank card.The diamond fell into the middle of the table.He looked the shuddering, convulsing soldier in the eyes. Their first two eyes stared straight forward, one of their others looked at him.The dark, teal-green scaled skin twitched and spasmed above muscle and bone. The two fingers and two thumbs on one hand reached out to him, shaking and wavering as they began to crack and break. The five toes, which typically stood on end with three in front and two in the back, had already begun to recede.The lower beak at the end of the lower jaw snapped against the two tomial teeth at the front of the face. Pain.He stepped back in horror, covering his gaze with his forearm, but the infrared gaze of his visor allowed him to see through it anyways.He made a promise not to kill his fellow soldiers. Not to kill people.It wasn't too long before what hunched before him, where someone once laid, was a wretch, shaking and wet with ichor.It turned to look at him, singular, gigantic eye wide with a pinprick pupil. Its ears lowered.His jowls shuddered. His gaze faltered to look at the other wretches littering the battlefield. He looked at the empty suits of armor. He looked at the dead wretches.He hesitated. He waited further, and saw a fellow person put one down while they were still nascent and weak.He looked back down at the wretch in front of him. He raised his weapon. It shook more vigorously, but otherwise it did not move. It did nothing.He looked it in the eye, and sent a blast of energy through it. He wished he'd done it earlier so the mercy could be more effective."Acquired. Acknowledge definition of wretch and person."He stared at the figure, a bit more confused than before. He knew no context from where those words came from.Back at the cards. Three spades. One blank card. He folded the three spades into a stack in his left hand, and inspected the blank in his right."State that it isn't the cards in the hand. It's the cards missing from it that matter."He didn't know what missing cards they referred to, but he placed the blank card on the table and slid it under his palm into the middle.His last card sat in the middle of the table, his empty hands placed on the table's edge while he looked down at the blank.The words came out of his mouth."... I can't miss it if I don't know what's missing to begin with."He reached forward, and slid the card before him into his palm.He turned it over. He didn't know his name, if there was anything before, and if there was any form besides. Not even why or how he was here. But he knew the card's name.Jester of spades."Thank for contributions. Acknowledge that not all contribute so much."He startled, and saw a figure besides the chairs at the tables. Their form only seen through how the nothingness around them reluctantly bent. He narrowed his eye, trying to focus on them. Just as he'd looked at them, three paper rectangles had disappeared into the form the nothingness implied.He gasped, ragged breaths tearing in and out of his throat. Ragged shambles of unfamiliar rubber and metal holding his body. He rose to his feet, four clawed hands clutching the ground as his legs stretched behind him. He looked around his unfamiliar surroundings, and adjusted to his unfamiliar form, unnamed.He looked to his side, and upwards, eyes wide to take in whatever was in front of him.A great, bipedal, metal and rubber figure stood before him with some kind of long, metal rod pointed in his face.
SPELUNK
Date: No IDeaShit. Shhhhittt. Guess who just found herself mutated into some kind of freak, stuck in one of those cave systems that kill people? I don't even know how I got here, I blacked out as far as I could tell. Which is really great, really lovely being entirely unable to retrace your steps to get any idea of how to get out of this.If anyone finds this, first of all, your guesses are either that I'm dead, or I dropped this somewhere I can't pick it back up. If any authorities, or family, finds this, this journal belongs to...Okay, so something severe brain damage related happened. That makes this even better! Yay! I can't remember my name.So, second best descriptors it is. I'm supposed to be a somewhat dark teal, with... well, I had eyes. Can't remember their color right now. I was slightly shorter than average, don't know what height I am now, but I'm guessing it's not that different given I can fit in this place and the rocks aren't ridiculously large.Anyways, I have two clutchmates and three nest-tends, my aunt, mother and father. Father's just gotten out of mandatory conscription, mother's job is my siblings, and my aunt scavenges. They... live in, Orritx I think. Whatever's the island right next to that giant peninsula with the old factories. So, I'm probably in Orritx Off-Limits Cave System... either A or B, I think those were closest to my shack.Given you can assume my death upon finding this, here's my will. Mother gets the shack, siblings get guaranteed positions in the kitchen in my stead, screw my boss if he complains about that. Father gets my money to help him with the whole post-conscription job search hell thing. Since I'll probably never see her again and I won't have to deal with the aftermath, my Aunt gets nothing because I don't like her. My belongings of 'whatever the hell's lying around' can go to anyone except for my Aunt, I don't really care.If you find this, please, PLEASE do not use it as lecture material on not going into the caves. This was entirely accidental on my part- I think- and kids get the whole caves thing drilled into their heads hard enough.I'm going to try and go find water. Maybe also figure out exactly why nobody comes back from these places. Hey, if you find this, maybe you'll get to find out, too!If you happen to find my corpse, please forget about it. I don't want to be remembered in this state.Date: These are honestly just for spacing between stuff, I don't know how long it's been.I’ve found water. It’s this small water source from who knows where, and it smells… off.I’ve been camping by the water for a few days now, mostly just wandering off to try and figure out this place.It wasn’t hard to get here from where I was, but it seems like trying to go anywhere else is hard just to mess with me. Yeah, I’d love almost impaling myself on a stalact… stalag… one of those pointy rock things. I’d love impaling myself on one of those trying to reach ‘moss’ just to see if it’s edible or not, thanks cave.Also, I don’t know what’s lighting this place. I don’t have a lantern or flashlight or anything but I can still see pretty well. It looks like some sort of gas? Vapor? Anyways, it glows, it’s greenish, and wherever it’s coming from, it coming from below me.As I’m writing this, I’m sitting at the edge of the cliff my water spot is situated at, and from what I can see, that glow gets more concentrated the further down it is. It’s heavier than air for sure, but what I want to know is where it comes from. It’s heavier than air, but I don’t see anything it could be pouring out of. If it’s coming out of the bottom of this place, then it must be really concentrated to not just fall back down into that source.Where I wrote my last page is this small sub-cave on the other side of a chasm, connected to where I am by a stone bridge formation type thing. The bridge is oddly smooth, and sturdy.I know I’m not getting out of here, and I don’t want to get out and get looked at in the state I am now. But I don’t think it’d be fair of me to just leave everyone without any idea of what happened or where I’d been or where to look if anyone else gets lost down here, so I’ve decided to tear these entries out of my book after I’m finished with them, and leave them where I wrote them. With some sticky moss to keep them in place.Yes, the sticky moss smells bad. I know. Water seems to get the smell off after a while, so do that after reading this and removing the moss.I went back and placed the first page where I was when I wrote it, by the way.Also, I know it’s only been a few days, but so far I’ve been feeling fine somehow. Physically, I mean. I thought I’d get sick or poison myself pretty quickly here, with the stinky moss and off smelling water, but so far not even a scrape has gotten infected. Which, is hard to tell anyways because of all things, my blood has to be green now for some reason. Yet another screw-over on me by this whole situation.Also, on that note, I looked in the water to see what I look like right now. In short, I don’t want to talk about it. You don’t get the long answer.I just ate some raw moss (ew), so I’m heading off to sleep and get the taste out of my mouth. Tomorrow, I think I’ll try to find a more palatable drinking spot.Third EntryIf you’re reading this, you’re reading something I wrote at a time in which I was not dead. If you find any further entries, I was also not dead writing those. If you don’t find any more, assume I died before I could write more.I found a part of the place with water and the cliff where I set up camp where some stone slopes down into a sort of mostly eroded ramp. It’s pretty thin, I had to flatten myself against the wall to keep myself from falling to my death. A few parts of it also fell away while I crossed it.I think, whatever I am now, it’s at least helped me traverse this place. I was able to cling to that wall better than I think I would normally, and the long arms were good for keeping a grip on whatever rock outcroppings I could find.I think I don’t weigh as much as I used to, so, not nearly as strong. I don’t know the exact frailty but I feel like I should watch my step more. Though, I should be able to lift myself, jump and not make rocks break beneath me more easily. I’m also guessing I won’t feel long falls nearly as much, if that one fact about tiny animals being able to survive huge falls is true.Anyways, I got past the eroded ramp. Found myself at another semi-flat area on a cliff. There’s some water here, too, but it’s coming from a crack in the wall and there isn’t nearly as much of it. Since I don’t think the ramp leading here is guaranteed to last, I also took some extra trips to move my stuff here as well.Threw some stuff over here, too. Lost some stuff in the process of throwing and missing the ledge. Broke a rock I’d sharpened. Almost fell to my death on my last trip when the ramp partly gave way under me, so, no more crossing that ramp. Means some stuff is now left behind at the old campsite.This whole time I’ve been here, I’ve been feeling this kind of dread. But it’s not the dread of dying or other typical stuff? I felt those other dreads, too, it’s just that this one was noticeably separate and different from the others.Once I took my last trip down to this lower spot, some of that dread eased up.There’s some small cave fish- probably endangered- in what little water there is here. I think I’ll try and prepare some of them to eat later. I found out the moss dries out if you rub it against dry stone long enough, and some of these rocks have to be flint. I should be able to make a fire to cook these fish over. Depending on how hungry I get, I might try to leave a few in the water to let their little species keep existing. But, my survival trumps theirs.Tomorrow, I’m going to try to find out what happens if I find a way to go deeper into this place.Fourth EntryRIVERS DAMN IT, ALL OF THEM, ALL THE MAJOR RIVERS AND THEIR DELTAS THIS WAS SO FUCKING STUPID.I left the fire going overnight thinking, hey, surely, nothing bad will happen! Surely it’ll just keep me warm and not spit out a STUPID EMBER.When I got here, I had stuff to write on and something to write with. YOU MAY NOTICE THE WRITING ON THIS PAGE IS SLOPPY AND SMELLS TERRIBLE.This is because THE FIRE BURNT MY WRITING TOOLS. And now I am using CRUSHED UP BAD SMELLING MOSS. Which I also need for FOOD.Speaking of food, guess what didn’t go well either? Yeah! Those fish, yeah? NOT MULTIPLE FISH. INDIVIDUAL LURES OF GIANT BURROWING FISH MONSTER. Had to BURN MY HAND by grabbing a flaming piece of moss to throw into the chasm to lure the thing to falling off the cliff.Luckily, miraculously, it seems that the burn’s healing well.I was going to go on a normal trip to find anything that lead more downwards, taking my stuff with me, but now I have to take time to salvage whatever’s left. I can’t throw anything this time because I can’t afford to lose anything, and-Just a sec, gonna put a pause on writing for a moment.So there was another rocky slope, a bit wider and less treacherous than the last, leading down to another relatively flat cave area. From here, I can kind of look up and see the first campsite I had.That alleviated my dread a bit more, so I think going downwards helps with it. Maybe I hate the sun now or something.I’m not too preoccupied with that, though. I can already see at the other side of this place is another rocky ramp, wider and cleaner than the last. Also leading to another cave facing outward into the chasm.… And from that cave there’s another ramp. That’s also wider and cleaner than the last.I don’t think cave systems are supposed to be this… consistent.I’m gonna take a break, explore this new campsite, think on this weird ramp situation, and keep going down after sleeping on it.Actually, no, I would be sleeping on this if I didn't just find something.There's a strange rock stuck into the wall. The texture and color is entirely different, and it's smooth besides some hairline cracks. I know it isn't really important compared to... living, and finding my way through and maybe out of this place. But a girl needs a hobby.Fifth EntrySO THAT HOBBY WAS ARCHAEOLOGY???It's a SKULL and I don't know WHOSE skull it is and I don't even know if it's a person's skull- by the rivers, I don't... I know its from here, its got the molar battery- half of a molar battery? That everything does, its got the scissoring teeth at the end. Everything with bones has those, at least, I can't really think of anything that doesn't. I mean, I'm not a biologist but...The eyes are all messed up, like someone hooked their thumbs into the sockets and pulled and pushed them around like clay. The rest of the skull is also kind of warped by that, warped around the warped sockets the most, warping less the farther away it was.In the gap between the scissors and the molar batteries, there's also some warping, but it's these gouged out spots, like somebody wore away at it with a chisel. Then smoothed it down again. But they did a poor job at it.Whatever this is, something is wrong, something went wrong.And there's a bullet hole right through the top of it.I'm putting it back where I found it.This campsite feels... bad. And wrong. Before I found the skull I thought I'd spend a bit more time here than I originally planned, since the water seems pretty good. It's in a small well-like structure. Except that also seems wrong for a cave.Also, so far, haven't run into nearly as many tight squeezes in my explorations as I thought I would.I'm wondering if this is part of why they made places like this off-limits. I'm wondering if this is all part of how these caves kill people.Except, I don't know how a weirdly organized cave structure would lead to death by gunshot wound. Unless...Now I'm worried that skull belonged to something someone needed to use a bullet on down here.I've got to figure out a way to avoid whatever kind of death that skull would belong to. Because I don't have a gun on me.I think I'll throw a rock at whatever place I'm trying to get to before I go there. Throw a rock and hope that whatever's down here has eye sockets messed up enough that it can't see who threw a rock at all, and relies entirely on sound.Still, I've heard what happens to people who get isolated in dark places like these for too long. So I still have to do my whole 'going downwards' coping mechanism to try and avoid that, so I can't just avoid stuff by staying in one spot. I haven't gotten any kind of sick yet but that's really weird and my luck has to run out at some point. So, also gambling on maybe finding something medicinal before I really need it.Preparing to go further down, now. Should be easier. For anyone reading, if you see any circles or squares made of gross moss, that's marking stuff I'm pretty sure you can eat or drink. Or marking the way to get to them, at least.Sixth EntryI've... gone down multiple ramps and platforms. Once I... hit the first of these few, I decided to just keep going. I don't want to stay at a lot of these. That downward-dread gets better the more I descend, but... the things I've been seeing don't exactly inspire calm besides that.On the first... I saw more of those strange rocks. Same texture and color as the skull. I assume they're more bones. From long ago or recently buried, I don't want to find out.Past that, it was just... more. More of them. I don't know what I'm descending towards. I don't know if they crawled up, or were dragged down. But the further down, the worse it gets.Does it have something to do with that glowing gas? I've been doing fine breathing it in, and as far as I know, my body can't get mangled much worse than it already has been.I'm going to look up again. I don't like it, but I think it'll help me figure out what's going on here.The ramps spiral upward, and at a certain point they get dramatically smaller and more eroded, where there aren't any bones. Too small for any normal person to traverse without falling, I think. I can't see past that very well, so I'm gonna squint.Huh. Higher up than where I started, it looks like the ramp starts again. Thin and eroded, then healthy and walkable. Like a spiralling walkway with a big chunk bitten out of it at-Seventh EntrySOMETHING'S UP THERE. SOMETHING'S UP THERE AND I NEED TO HAUL ASS RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I SAW IT MOVING UP THERE AND IT WAS MOVING DOWNWARDS.Taking some breaks for writing, eating, finding a dark crevice to hide and sleep in. Only short naps.Running deeper.Bones in the wall keep increasing.Seeing them at the ramps now. Not just platform caves.Hard to run and be quiet.Need to get out. Need to get the FUCK out.Don't know what it is, but sometimes it's moving and sometimes it's not but it's always going downwards and it's always approaching me and all I know is its big and moving. Threw a rock at the other side of this spiral and it just stopped moving for a second. Then it kept going.I think that's what kills people down here. It senses you and it HATES you and it tries tracking you down as low as possible because it wants you dead and it wants ME dead.If I had no dread- if it wasn't up there, I'd try booking it up and out of here.I think I can feel it looking over the edges of platforms at me, I'm-When I was just a kid they told me about this. Fuck, I remember, they told me about it.If you see this, and you see it, yes, I think that's a wretch. They weren't lying to you. They're real, and they're quiet, and one's following me down this place. I'm being followed and I'm being stalked by a rivers damned childhood monster story thing and the stories were real and they ARE why we shouldn't- why you- why anyone shouldn't go down here.I'm going to go further down. I haven't seen the ramp yet and I'm scared there'll be another one at the bottom crawling up towards me.... The ramp has steps. Carved steps.Eighth EntryIt's a staircase. It's a staircase and the deeper I go the carved steps are more defined and less eroded. It's a spiral staircase. Somebody made this. Somebody got- I don't know what happened after that somebody finished making it. I don't know what happened to it.
I hope it's just time and erosion that happened to it, but the bones make me doubt that.My curiosity got the better of me. I decided to uproot some more bones, the easier ones to pull from the rock.They're all different. Except for that they're all deformed, and all of them especially have messed up eyes. I think they're all from the same type of thing, though. But... they're still less deformed than the first one I saw. One of them has their eye sockets mostly closed up except for one opening. This... is relevant in ways that I do not like. It's not... too... familiar, though.Had a snack break, delving deeper-Ninth EntryI took too long. It... I'm lucky to be alive. I'm lucky I found a good place to hide, a place I don't think it could ever slip into. I didn't see it, I didn't allow any line of sight between me and it. I know wretches can see. They can see well. That's what the stories told me.I'm still in here, just barely able to see the page I'm writing on. I don't know if its safe to come out yet, but I heard its footsteps- all six of them- pass this platform and keep going. I heard... paper as it passed, too. I think it might be tracking me by my entries.Sorry to anyone whose found this, but this will be my last entry littered down here. I think the rest will just be part of a private diary to keep myself sane.It was close enough that I heard it breathing as it went by. I don't hear it breathing anymore, but I don't know if wretches can hold their breath for a really long time. I'm also not leaving any more circle and square moss markings.I'm going to sleep for a while. I really need it. I hope that's not what it's waiting for.Tenth Entry... Dear Diary? Nope, that sounds stupid, I'm not writing to anyone anymore. I woke up, and it wasn't there. I looked up and down at the rest of this staircase, and I didn't see it. Still not leaving any more entries for it to find.Going downwards, which is technically following it now, which is stupid, and maybe what it wants. The amount of bones is still increasing, and- oh!Speaking of! I looked back, and the bones I excavated are entirely gone from where I'd put them back! SO that's fun! Either it took those bones I DUG UP MYSELF to track me or the bones just got up and walked away! I don't know anymore! Everything is shitty nonsense now and I'm stuck in a cave and mutated beyond recognition!The walls in this giant staircase hole have been getting tighter, so either I'm hallucinating or I'm getting close to the bottom, and-That was fast. Bottom was closer than I thought, and I don't hear or see the wretch right now. I'm at the bottom, and it's a weirdly smooth and uniform floor made of rocks, distorted in a way that they all look pinched together to a point in the middle.There's also bones down here, but they're all at least partially submerged, or maybe fused into, this floor bit. But not in an erosion or cave-in way. It looks like they've been phased into- or it phased around- into them. By some of the bones are divots that imply the bodies that once encased them, so... It looks like this floor encased them when they were still alive, and they rotted away, leaving only imprints and skeletons.They were trying to go upwards, and the floor stopped them. I don't know why the floor itself stopped them. But there's something that looks like a skull sitting in a hole in the usually uniform and smooth floor.It's... it's a person. There's some slight deformation but it's barely noticeable. It's the same eye-first deformation.They were all people. Including the one with just one eye. This one just has no doubt about it.Nearby is where I think the gas is coming from. It's really foggy down here at the bottom.I think it's the only place I can go to, to leave this one.I'm putting the skull back. I don't think I can bring it anywhere better to bury it. I know. Leaving someone in the hole they died and rotted in to leave an impression of themselves is bad, so it says a lot that there's nowhere better to put it.... I found something with it in the hole it was in, too. Something made of metal, wiring and some other weird thing. I'm surprised it's in such good shape.Going to the source of the gas now. I feel like it's what I'm supposed to do at this point. Also got the doohickey- no, that's disrespectful- the device, with me. I think I might find out what it is where I'm going. I think I might find out what happened here.Found the source. It's a hole in the floor leading somewhere. There's a ladder rested against one of its sides. There is, or were, people. They are, or were, in the place the gas is coming from.I'm going in.Eleventh EntryIt's... huge. Huge, and different from that other cave that led me here. And once I got here, that dread... evaporated off of me like water droplets on a stone during a hot day. Left back in that cave that got me here. Left back with the wretches.It's not just huge, either. The fog isn't as visible here, but... I see that same glow it emitted everywhere here. From rivers, from other tunnels, from some stones. But, there's something else. Something glowing brightly in the distance, flickering. It's large. It's bright.It's a city. I've heard of these, but never seen a living one.This place is populated. Currently populated. I'm not gonna die here. It feels like I'm here for a reason.Twelfth Entry... They all look like me. I mean, how I look right now. They're all different, really, but they all look like me. Some of them drove this weird thing by me- like a truck, or train or something with legs that duck and stabbed into the stone. I can't tell what the hell they're saying, but I could tell they were offering me a ride.I took their offer, which is stupid, but I've been running on fumes for a while and was fine with taking chances.There are windows, and from what I can see, we're heading directly towards that city. Currently, I'm sitting in this strange, rickety metal and mattress chair and bunk bed fusion. One of them is sitting next to me, on the floor, and doesn't seem too happy based on the lowered ears. I think they made space for me and figured the other one could live a while without their spot.Most of them are in the front car of this vehicle, likely focusing on getting back to the city. Besides me and the unfortunate fellow, there's another one in here looking down at them, and another whose been...I don't want to be rude to the people who just saved me, but that one's been obnoxiously trying to show me various pictures of random things and talking loudly and slowly at me. I think they're trying to teach me some of their language, but I don't know a lot of the stuff they're showing me and I'm a bit tired to make connections between words and meaning right now.The one looking at the unfortunate one has occasionally physically pulled the obnoxious one away from me and quietly scolded them.They turned off whatever music was playing on their speakers when I got in, which I'm kind of glad for because it sounded way too overstimulating and inconsistent for me.... The obnoxious one just looked at what I'm writing, took a few glances, and got startled and reeled back a bit? Just whispered to the one who scolds them, who I assume is their superior. Who I think just did their equivalent of cringing and then getting really concerned. They don't seem mad at me, just alarmed. Well, the ones I haven't taken the bed of aren't mad at me.The obnoxious one glanced at me and climbed into their chair bunk across from mine. They put their... language flash cards behind their mattress. Pulled out a book, started to read it, nodded off, and woke themselves up by dropping the book on their own face. Stifled a laugh.I think it'll take a while to get to the city, so I'm going to sleep. It's not the most comfortable, but it's better than solid rock.