The Maps (Multiverse Passages Mapping Initiative)

It is called the Multiverse Passages Mapping Initiative, a consisted attempt to chart and map all known Passages and Places. Originally started by scholars at The College, it now describes dozens of disconnected pieces of information, of varying levels of trustworthiness. 

Most people simply call them Maps.

People have died and killed for Maps.

 As previously mentioned, even knowing where a Passage is, it is still non-trivial to find it again, let alone map it. Most of the most travelled Passages (about 80) in Thyra are signalled by a bright red circle on the ground, drawn around it, about one meter in diameter, with the Passage number written a number of times around the perimeter. If you aim for the centre of the circle, most times you go through. If not, you turn back and try again.

Some passages have black circles, and other warning signs, mostly those that have the potential to kill you in instants (toxic/no atmosphere, aggressive fauna/flora around the Passage end, aggressive populations, the list goes on)

Some passages are only rumoured or mythical, and may or may not exist. The official Maps refer to them by letter combinations (instead of numbers). Only once has a lettered passage become a numbered one (Passage BK became passage 20). The reason behind this is a simple one: if you find a Passage yourself, that has a lot of money potential, you won't necessarily share it with the world.

According to Professor Gregor Wallinsky, geographer at The College, between official, unofficial and quasi-mythical Passages (including Land, Water, Air and Below Passages), their total number to present is somewhere in the vicinity of 250.

The Passages v 2.0 (UPDATE)

As a quick addendum to my previous post on passages,  I wanted to further their description: a Passage is a shimmering (like heat distortion) axis, about 3 meters high, and no wider than 1 foot (33 cm). It is subtle, and if you're not looking for it and/or is not signalled, you'll probably miss it.

Most importantly, a Passage is only Opened, if one walks into it, carrying an amount of NightGems no smaller than a closed fist. The NightGem then glows its characteristic black/purple, and the Passage is Opened, depositing the traveller in the other Place. As NightGems have never been found anywhere else in the other Places, Openings can only be done from Thyra's side. As there is no visual indiction prior to the Opening, most Passages are opened by mere chance.

Once opened, one can walk into a Passage from anywhere in a 360o circle around it. 

The Plaza

Only two places in Thyra do not resemble a hive of brass and steel and brick: a few noble and moneyed streets in Oldtown and The Plaza.

The Plaza is an area just outside the main urban area that was left clear after the War. It is a large space, by far the largest single-use area in the city, and on an average day, it heaves with activity. 

Carts and people disappear and appear, apparently out of thin air. Carts, wagons, wheelbarrows, everything is used to move stuff around.

For you see, The Plaza has the biggest concentration of Passages in the whole of Thyra. In an area slightly smaller than a couple of  hectares, there are dozens and dozens of passages, randomly spread out throughout.

It is one of the main thoroughfares in the city, and a sign of how big a hub Thyra actually is.



I have recently come into possession of about a hundred more possible new Places, so I needed A LOT more Passages.

TANDEM (Thyran Defense Directorate Multiverse)

The one key difference between Thyra and all the other Places, is (if one ignores magic, dragons, high technology, etc.), it that Thyra has NightGems, and the rest of the Multiverse does not. Why this is is a source of extensive debate, but the facts are there. This makes the city singularly important, not only as a hub, but also as the source of this material.

After the debacle of Passage 66, it became clear, throughout the Places, that all the eggs were very much in the same basket, and if Thyra fell, ALL the passages would be at risk.

TANDEM was created for this purpose. A rag-tag collection of individuals from all backgrounds, acting on an information network that extends throughout the Places. Not a fist, not even a scalpel, more like a snipers bullet, preventing situations from escalating, before they can endanger Thyra or its commerce.

With individuals and tactics from Places throughout the Multiverse, TANDEM are a force to be reckoned with. Moving in the shadows, and with absolutely no official standing, these people(s) have been key on keeping the trade going.

Secretly, that is.

Something I've been thinking about for some time. Perhaps having the characters have a bigger purpose, or indeed be a type of unofficial (and indeed illegal) secret agents, might open more doors to the narrative.

Character: Doctor Thaddeus 'Doc' Rathrock

Thaddeus is the living embodiment of how things can go wrong, and how far a sentient being can be pushed.

Originally from Er'th (Passage 88), his love of machinery was obvious from a young age. The trip into Thyra allowed this love to blossom and he was part of The College team that developed the 3rd Gen cores.

But it was not enough.

In his quest to explore other possibilities, Thaddeus stated to break College rules, his thirst for knowledge apparently boundless.

He injected himself with NighSerum, and it was not enough.

He developed the ability to fuse flesh and brass and steel to a degree others only dream of, he could make or break most machines, but it was not enough.

He started experimenting with his own flesh, but it was still not enough.

Eventually he was expelled from the university. But his experimentations continued.

Today, he is addicted to NightSerum, but what he has gained far outshines this issue.

To fund his research he became brains for hire. He travels the Passages, looking for new knowledge, new metals and new machines.

My personal character. He is a really unpleasant character, which for me is refreshing. He has a mild forcefield (-2 to hit) and has a lot of extra limbs, allowing a second action at no penalty, and these limbs have blades, making him really strong at melee. Otherwise, he's made of tissue. I look forward to see how he performs!

Character: Harlow Redstone

There are some harsh and wild Places at the other side of the Passages. And then there is Koncorvire. 

A planet of erupting volcanoes, boiling oceans and storm filled skies. Oh, and in constant conflict. 

Home sweet home to the wise mouthed, Mohawk wearing, cigar chomping, battle hardened Dwarf, Harlow Redstone. For over 300 years Redstone has been in the heat of battle against the Magma Giants. Standing 15 foot tall & made of burning rock, these monstrous creatures crush & incinerate anything that isn't their kin but with his Dac rifle in his hands and his Lightening blade strapped to his back, Redstone is never happier than crushing Mag heads.

On one fateful day though, during a routine scouting mission, Redstones team was ambushed and in the middle of the battle, the floor to give way. As both parties fall into the abyss, Redstone was engulfed in a shimmering distortion and with a sudden thump he was left unconscious. 

Waking up, Redstone realises he wasn't on Koncorvire any more. The tunnels around him was smooth, and well built, not natural at all (he was a Dwarf, after all, he knew of these things). After finding his way out of the 'caverns' he awoke in (he was at the outskirts of Below), Redstone reached the surface, and nothing could had prepared him for the visions he was exposed to.

He had heard tales of blue skies and green lands but never imagined he would ever see them for himself. For months Redstone has now been in the city of Thyra taking jobs to make money. Be it as a bodyguard or as a Merc or scout. If you need a blade or gun at your side, Redstone is your Dwarf. 


A custom build for a friend. Fantastic melee, with a wicked Lightening Axe (STR+D6+3), Bloodthirsty, you name it, he has it. I've been wondering about this for many a week, to focus combat on one speciality, and making the character phenomenally good at what he does. 

Airships and Sky Passages.

As mentioned before, the impact of The Night shattered the walls between Places and created the Passages. Many are at ground level, and can be either simply walked into or one can take a boat (is a Water Passage). Some are Below.

And some are very much above.

Accessible only by airship, these passages are serviced by a growing fleet, moving tons of cargo and passengers between Places. The worlds thus served are usually at a tech level similar to Thyra, so the services are regular. Some are empty, and therefore it is by airship that new explorers are ferried in and out.

Some of these airships are now powered by 4th Gen NightSerum cores and can maintain themselves airborne for as long as their supplies last.

Character: Harry 'Copper' Dixon

Harry Dixon is a private eye. A good one.

Back in his home town of Steelopolis, in Rru-Ssarn (Passage75), he was a cop, until he was framed by a crime he didn't commit. The corruption in City Hall had gotten too much and he needed out, and the fat cats up in central office wanted him out. Thus the Passage Opening was a blessing in disguise.

In Thyra, he found a Place filled with good guys, bad guys and the same corruption up where The Ministerium meets (The Big House). But this time? This time he's being paid to track people down and to solve crimes the Yellowstripes don't want to touch.

Saw the picture and simply couldn't resist. Above average shooting and tracking.

Character: The Twilight Owl

Little is known about this stealthy and shadowy creature. Even his/hers/its race is a complete mystery. What is known is that as soon as the first Passage was opened, he started showing up, due to an interesting problem arising. 

If you say, rob someone or even kill, you'll be chased and probably found by the Yellowstripes (they are good at this). However, what happens if after the crime, you simply walk through a Passage? Do the Yellowstripes follow? What if instead of an uninhabited world, you have a bustling city on the other side? Are you now wanted by their own policing force?

Whilst these discussions continued, a core of bouty hunters slowly came into being. People that could disregard the local rules and bring people back. Subject to the highest parameters of conduct, but still with plenty of leeway to crack some heads.

Owl is one of these. His track record is smaller than some, but he has 100% success rate. 'Anyone Anywhere' is his motto, and by the Gods he lives up to it...

A personally interesting character, as Owl is my steampunk cosplay (in fact it's me in the picture). Great fighter, great tracter, good survivalist, otherwise not a pleasant person.

Character: Baetrice 'Bee' Vulpes

I

On the other side of Passage 19, there is world, Gaia, which is effectively an alternate Earth. The Passage ends near a city, K'tarin, but a few miles down the road there is an island, with another city, Kitsune, that is easily 3 times the size of Thyra, but with only a little over half the population.

They called it the Shadow Wind.

An epidemic the likes of which had never been seen. People wasted away hours after infection. Millions died. A precious few seemed to be immune.

The rest of Gaia enforced a deadly quarentine. Nothing in, nothing out.

Bee's father was an engineer. She learned clockwork at his side, to build machines, big and small. Then the Wind hit.

In those dark few months, Bee had to be a bit of everything: scavenger, doctor, fighter, protector.

What emerged was a strong healer. Someone still fascinated by machines, metallic and organic. Two years after The Wind had passed, the Opening of Passage 19 was a blessing, the city had plenty to trade, and was happy to receive immigrants. Bee made her bag, and left, deciding to take her gift out into Thyra and beyond. 

On her shoulder, faithful, annoying and bright, Sheba, a clockwork construct, able to morph shapes between a small dragon and a small snake.

Woe to those that get in their way.

A custom build for a good friend. A powerful healer and good melee fighter, with some engineering skills. Sheba will not be very fast, but it might provide key recon at times. I might give her +1 to hit from the start. She who knows how to heal knows how to hurt....

The Quarantine Zone

To the South of Thyra, there is an area that has been permanently walled off. Even most of the tunnels and passages of Below end just before they reach this area. 

Now simply called The Quarantine Zone, this was the area of the city that was hit the hardest during the War. The cost of repair being deemed too high, the whole place was simply cordoned off. 

There is, however, an issue.

The Night fell in a roughly West/East trajectory. Upon impact, the QZ was in the same line as the impact trajectory. This is the area with one of the highest concentration of Passages known. Only 2 are known to be open (onto seemingly uninhabited worlds). Also, it is known that there is a similar area of Below beneath the surface, cut off from the rest of the network of tunnels.

Tales abound of riches and treasure behind every stone in the QZ. The Ministerium doesn't care too much about scavengers, although the Yellowstripes maintain a nominal patrol of the wall that isolates the area.

The Kerrigan Asylum For The Ethereal Challenged (The Mansion)

Way out in Exilopolis, there is a massive building.

The Mansion started as an offshoot of The College experiments with NightSerum. Right from the start, and although volunteers were easy enough to find, it was clear that the fail rate was impressive enough to demand some arrangements. Sure, most individuals died, but a few did indeed develop magik abilities, and these were very much beyond their control.

Thus The Mansion was opened. A safe (or as safe as it can be made) place for these wretched souls to exist, and to - perhaps - be helped back into some sort of peace. 

The staff, picked by hand from a number of Places, are kind, nurturing and patient. 

The guests.... They are not what they once were. 

Some are horribly mutated into grotesque forms, and need to be kept in quiet, gloomy rooms. Some wield impossible energies, and live their lives in copper covered rooms.

They are an unfortunate consequence of progress, some would say. Thyrans prefer not to think about it too much.

Currency

Money, money, money.... It makes ALL the worlds go round. It appears that throughout the Multiverse, gold is fairly rare, so it is very much the precious metal of choice.

I wanted a simple conversion rate, so I'm using the one from D&D:

1 Copper piece (about ten British pennies)

10 Copper = 1 Silver (about one British pound)

100 Copper = 10 Silver = 1 Gold (about 10 British pounds)

1000 Copper = 100 Silver = 10 Gold = 1 Platinum (about 100 British pounds)

So you tip a beggar a couple of Coppers, eat a modest meal for 1 Silver, buy a new gun for half a dozen Gold and buy a ticket in 1st class to another Place for a couple of Platinum pieces.

Character: Captain Rachel 'Silver' Wall

Rachel hails from Crescent Cove, in the Billion Isles (Passage 45). In her world, the whole planet is one huge ocean, peppered with the above mentioned Billion Isles, atolls, floating cities, etc.

The Billion Isle side of Passage 45 is in the middle of nowhere, and even to this day, only a selective few inhabitants know of it. Captain Wall is one of them.

Her world is one of high sea piracy, alliances, backstabbing and intrigue. Bar the piracy, she understood Thyra the moment she arrived.

Having an almost monopoly on trade with her world mean she has to put up with cutthroat pirates and bloodthirsty buccaneers at every step.

She wouldn't have it any other way.

Captain Wall is here because I adore pirates. An adventurer, amazing with a sword and pistol. Gave her a 'spider-sense' for danger and an attitude.

Character: OneFiveNineThree (Insectoids)

Perhaps the most exotic of all sentients that have emerged from the Passages are the Insectoids of The Hive (Passage 24).

Breaking with the stereotypes of literature and tale, and although in their world there are constant battles for resources and land, they revealed themselves to be fairly peaceful, and if anything, uncomprehending of our ways (it would later transpire that the fighting in The Hive is clan and family based, take those away, and the result is non-belligerent).

To separate them into individuals is sometimes hard, as they most often travel in groups of four. These 'quads' are so intricately connected that to separate them into singular minds or beings is almost impossible.

There are of course, exceptions.

OneFiveNineThree comes from an odd quad, possibly a mutation. They are inquisitive, curious, positively probing with their their quick wit. They cannot speak English, but try and make do with sign language, using their many appendages.

Some physical types can fly, other can burrow, others are fighting drones.  If you can understand them, having one in your organisation is a spectacularly good idea.

My first Insectoid. Natural weapons (Str+D6), Flying and Natural armour (+2), but no communication and odd physical aspect, so a severe penalty to Charisma.

Character: Snow Bear Stream Mountain

It is a testament to how rough things are in Hyperboria (Passage 11) that the men and women (and other sentients) that made their way into Thyra have adapted nearly seamlessly to a culture and technologies centuries beyond what they knew. The mental acuity needed to survive in that environment is apparently what is needed to survive anywhere.

Bear came across Passage 11 merely by chance, before trade had properly been established with his world. One would expect a bloodbath, as the young barbarian found himself in a new land, with a new language. However he kept his cool, and even the Yellowstripes were polite, showing him with gestures where to go for food.

A decade later, he is one of the most popular axe-for-hire in the land. He might not pass any College exams anytime soon, but a more faithful ally you won't find.

Does what is says on the tin. I might give him Swipe, allowing a wide arc attack to everyone contiguous, at a -2 to hit.

Character: Kregtee 'Tee' son of Hosshoo

It is a mere coincidence that on our Earth, the great reptiles were mostly extinct by the dawn of Man. The result could have been more like Rru-Ssarr, on the other side of Passage 75. Tee is technically a Thyran, having been born in the city, his race's development rate being more than twice that of humans.

Although his kind can understand English perfectly, they have some issues replicating it, but still manage to make themselves understood.

Tee is a fighter, and everything about him supports that statement. From his claws, to his fangs, to his reptilian mucle mass, everything about him is designed to chop, render, rip or otherwise shred. He is not very tall, but oponents will take that as a weakness to their peril. He has massive cultural issues using weapons, melee or ranged, but with natural weapons as his', who needs anything else....?

My first Saurian. Weak in and to cold, with claws and a mean bite. I took everything from him, just left tracking, sensing and fighting. If you like fighters, here he is!

Chraracter: The Engineer

Few people in Thyra are more mysterious than The Engineer, and this is a city where talking animals roam the streets.

Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, he is these days very much in demand for an almost preternatural ability to understand machines, which he explains by ‘these are good, solid machines, of a VERY old design’, which is odd, because most of them are brand new. He is possibly an old sailor, as he claims he ‘had a ship but lost it’. He seems fascinated by NightGems (although he doesn’t seem to acquire any) and by the Passages as ‘he can’t travel there, normally). 

A common vision in Thyra and the most friendly Places, The Engineer (the only name known) seems content to trade his knowledge for room, board and adventure. He is unusually good at languages, and seems to be able to acquire them at record speeds. 

On no less than 3 occasions, it is suspected he was the first to perform a Passage Opening, diving into the unknown without a second though. However, whereas Way scouts and reports back, The Engineer talks to people, engages with their machines and sits down for the evening meal, invited or not.

He has shown evidence to have seen the Dusk Bringing ritual of the Night Gaunts of Umbrous (Passage 39), and survived not only alive, but sane, the only non-native sentient known to have done so. How these wretched, deformed beasts didn't shred him on sight (they do it very often) is another mystery.

If you have him around, no device you have will ever fail. Just don't ask odd probing questions.

A custom character. Really good at engineering. As his background is secret (for now), that's really all I can say.

The Yellowstripes (Thyran Militia)

If The Ministerium is the brains of Thyra, the Militia are its muscles. Although of course, no one calls them the Militia, but insted, due to the sashes that mark them as such, they are known as the Yellowstripes.

Although their presence is welcome, they are a study in paradoxes. They are without a doubt a group you'd like to have by your side in a fray, but some gold in their hands has been known to turn heads away from major incidents.

Usually fair, usually useful, usually good. Just don't expect great leaps of imagination or philosophical considerations towards the legality of an event.

They are trained by fighters chosen from at least 4 Places. They are VERY good at fighting. 

TEMPO (Thyran Messaging Organisation)

Two of main concepts that rule Thyra are these: a) Information is ammunition, and b) Knowledge is power.

Information is the lifeblood of the city, and the possession or lack of it is indeed often paid in blood.

Enter TEMPO, the Thyran Messaging Organisation. A private enterprise, with funding from everywhere and everyone. Respected by all, feared by all, they are perhaps not the movers and shakers, but the ones to tell them where and when to move and/or shake.

There are TEMPO posts scattered throughout the city, their presence known by their ubiquitous dark blue fronts. Inside, dark blue uniformed clerks take your message, encode it, and give it to one of the Pigeons.

There are as many types of Pigeons as there are grains of sand: there are your human ones, delivering messages on foot, the mechanical MECHA, transporting hundreds of parcels, smaller MECHA, running through specially made pipes throughout the city, the smaller winged MECHA flying through Passages, and into TEMPO offices in other Places, the hybrid MECHA/Animals..... The list goes on.

Their prices are modest, their volume immense. They might one day flex their muscles, but for the moment, TEMPO seems to be happy to be the nervous system of the city.

Character: Helen 'Ell' 2477

Not everyone in Thyra comes from a poor background. Ell comes from one of the richest families in K'tarin, the Gaian city closest to the other side of Passage 19. The technology level of her world is comparable to Thyra, but of course, without NighGems. The young noble came into the smoking, stinking, oily Thyra, and could not believe her eyes. She fell into it like a duck to water.

Within months, she has used her family fortune to organise small caravans in and out of the safest Passages, and sent scouts into the less savoury ones. Rumour has it that she has close links to Wallington and Associates.

Not one to sit idly herself, the young woman has also travelled extensively within the Passage network.

This is something her mother, Lady Margolla 2477 wants to stamp out sooner rather than later....


A simple character, I merely wanted a noble/posh background. Otherwise, her stats will be similar to any adventurer (Possibly better at ranged weapons than melee, although I might give her a sword). She might also be Rich, getting more money than the other characters, I just need to make sure this doesn't destabilize the balance of the group.

NPC: Lord Maximilian Brekenridge

There is an old Thyran saying: 'The Passage that delivers gold, also delivers death'

In the case of Lord Brekenridge, they are so close to the truth it's not even comical.

Born and raised in the ruins of London during the War, Brekenridge has seen it all, done it all and came out on top. 

He is presently the de facto leader of the Ministerium, ruling over the others with an iron fist inside a silk glove. The combined strength of the others would easily bring him down... But who would take his place?

Lord Brekenridhe is more agile than an eel and equally difficult to pin down. The city is working and prospering, but very much under HIS terms.

Character: M.E.C.H.A. (Mechanical Executor Construct Heavy Armour) and Animates

M.E.C.H.A. were originally designed as little more than bipedal cranes and tractors, powered but a 2nd Generation NightGem core and run by a differential engine. They would be imputed with simple instructions and commands (Dig here, move these rocks there), and the computer would do the rest.

Some years after their creation, during some experiments towards commanding MECHA with brain power alone, the College scientists, possibly using the recently found magiks, discovered that it is possible to transfer a human mind to one of these contraptions. 

Thus were borne the Animates. At least part of the mind is lost in the transfer (and the organic body is killed), but it is undeniable that some Animates retain the personality and memories of the human mind. By law, these New Men (and women) must have a blue light, showing their status as Animates. Strong and powerful, they are sometimes slow and dim-witted, but loyal to the last.

There are rumours of fully intelligent Animates. Imagine that. The brain of an intelligent person in the indestructible body of an Hercules.

What could one of those achieve....?

A simple conversion of an Android (construct) to Thyra. Strong (start with a D6 in strength), Big (+2 to be hit), and well armoured (+3). I have to make it stupid (D4 Smarts) and slow (Pace 4), otherwise it would be unstoppable!

Thyran NighGen Purification and Liquidizing Plant (The Plant)

There is one area of Thyra Below which truly never sleeps. On the outskirts of town there is a giant sunken area, originally a subterranean armoured airship bay. The vast structure is now a small city in its own right, populated by the hundreds of workers that daily feed and maintain The Plant.

It's not like NighGems aren't powerful, they are. But they are still rock: big, heavy, and above all, solid. A process was developed to make them a liquid. And once a liquid, they can be distilled and concentrated.

The Ministerium wanted a monopoly on the operation, and gave The College vast incentives (and threats) to keep the process in-house. They did so.

The result is The Plant, a huge, building-sized factory. Run by the College and The Order, it is a place of bottled lightening, all involved know that the energies they are  playing with are not for the faint hearted. Many a bush-y tailed newbie has had their claws clipped by The Plant, where a moment's inattention might mean disaster.

The results were the 4th Generation NighGem Cores, energy generating devices the size of small tables that can power a whole airship.

Also, although this is not usually know by the public, they are now finally producing Omega-grade NightGems. 99+% Pure.

In theory, these could be used to open artificial Passages....

Characters: Montague Finnian Wallington IV (Finn)

The amount of information one does NOT have about Finn could (and probably does) fill a normal sized encyclopaedia. Having emerged from one of the passages (which one was not registered), Finn scared and enchanted people in equal measure. A full sized silverback gorilla, but with the eloquence, intelligence and accent of an Eton-educated boy, people didn't really know what to make of him.

Finn is somewhat of an adventurer. He has a small company working out of Steamville 'Wallington and Associates', which is effectively a mercenary/exploration set-up. If you want protection, or to explore a Place, this is the place for you. They might not be cheap, but by golly they get the work done. They try to shy away from pure slaughter assignements, but were right there in the front lines on I-Day.

A request character. Smart, curious, and really strong phisically (Big) which gives him a bonus for strength, but makes him easier to hit (because he's huge).

Character: Wayfarer (Way)

There are those whose wanderlust takes them across countries, continents or worlds. Way (the only name of his that is known) has turned this into an art form. He has not only personally Opened 12 Passages, but has also explored many other Places accessible to Thyra.

He's been a part of the Thyran landscape for so long, people now forget when he showed up to begin with, what world he came from or what his intentions are. A man of very few words, he can usually be found in Oldtown restocking or in Rattown catching up with some contact or other, before jumping through the nearest Passage.

It is said of him that he could find water in The Anvil, and could track a wisp of smoke through thick fog.

A simple tracker and survivalist. D8 in Tracking, Survival and perhaps Notice. I don't imagine him being too much of a long range guy, but melee? Forget about it....

Professor Thaddeus Mighty Monstrous Circus (3M)

Tolerance and acceptance were both things that didn't come naturally to Thyrans. The mere concept of Passages was inconceivable for some, let alone the exotic species that came through them. 

And not just random animals. These new people could think and bar cosmetic changes, they were pretty much as they were. 

The cultural differences were in a way harder to deal with. So your neighbour has horns, no problem. But when his Clan affiliations are stronger than family, duty, honour and anything else you can imagine.... Then things are slightly more difficult to understand. 

Enter Marcus Thaddeus. He had an idea. Maybe offensive. Maybe wrong. But with potential. He asked around the newcomers, to see if there were any performers amongst them. Sure, you had elvish sharpshooters, troll weight lifters. You had young exiled changelings and disgraced noble Rakshasans.

And he proposed his idea to them. Perform for the people. Yes, it's wrong, yes it's demeaning, but it will be a way for Thyrans to meet you, to see you and to be shown your culture.

About two thirds of them accepted on the spot. 

The 3M has sentient species from all know passages and animals and plants from at least as many worlds.

The circus is the first line of contact between ‘normal’ Thyrans and people from other Places. Its complex of tents lie in the wild space between Rattown and Steamville. As a contact tool, it is working really well.

It is also making ‘Professor’ Thaddeus phenomenally rich.

Thyra Below (Or simply Below)

Thyra is like an iceberg, 70% of it is hidden Below. Starting as a series of bunkers and tunnels during the War, these were since then interconnected and now span the whole city and well beyond it. 

Some are as lit and airy as the streets above. Some aren't. 

Some are filled with trade and laughter. Some aren't.

Some are filled with nice sentient beings. Some really aren't.

And there's more. There are Passages down here. The shards of the Night were thrown in 3 dimensions, so they also went down. Some of the passages are known.

Some aren't.

Character: Clifton 'Midnight' Andrews

It would later be remembered as I-Day (Invasion Day). The thing about Passages is, one needs to step through one, from Tyra's side, to actually open it. Something to do with the direction the NighGem shards pierced reality. Once open, it is open both ways.

That was the day someone found Passage 66 and stepped through.

And all Hell broke loose. Literally.

Every time a new Passage is opened, there is some confusion on the other side. Rare are the Openings where there's not some violence (or attempted violence) when a lonely native wonders into downtown Thyra. Even with lovely Passage 5, a party of elves wondered through and nearly came to blows with street vendors.

Hours after some nameless person found and opened Passage 66, Hades itself came through. No one knows what they call themselves, but their kin has been in humanity's imagination for millennia.

Demons. Ghosts. Wraiths.

A huge collection of them came through, destroying and killing as they went. The city mobilised, it was very much a 'all hands on deck' situation. 

Clifton was in the front line, his guns spelling doom to the indescribable obscenities in front of him. American born, he'd been in Thyra for only a few months, as a hired gun.

2 things then happened in close succession.

A Weird Doctor's tank of liquid NighSerum (that was powering a beam cannon) exploded, covering Clifton in the gunky liquid. A second before, he had blown a demon apart, and its black ichor was still en route to his body.

The two substances met pretty much simultaneously. Clifton burst into green flames. And he has been burning ever since.

Somehow, the two highly magikally charged substances covered his body, turning his flesh into green flames. These are cold to the touch, and do not ignite materials further. Those that have seen him in fights describe a living skeleton, with emerald flames coruscating around him.

If anything, I-Day made Clifton tougher. He is now still alive but better. He is still a hired gun, and may the Heavens have pity on any Passage 66 creature that wonders into his path.

A simple (?) gunslinger. His magik flesh is tougher (+3 Armour), and he is silly agile (D8 climbing). Also his guns. Big ones. And he can fire both simultaneously. Yep.