More imagineering...
May. 20th, 2004 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morslaI've had a few late-night tram and train journeys lately, but luckily I took a notepad for company.
I have quite a few pages of places, themes, characters and intrigues for Places Between, my not-quite-Melbourne game that will happen once![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aeliel, delphaeus & futurelegend are free from the end-of-semester exams. Of course, most of them can't really be written about here just yet, as it'd spoil all the surprises for them ;-)
Thought I'd try to put down a few more thoughts on the city though - specifically, the Districts of Melbourne.
I thought I'd add some politics to the story - dividing Melbourne up into a number of districts, each with a seperate court. Most of the creatures who live within the "hidden" city are inhabitants of a single domain, although they (generally) travel freely through them all. A few people have the rare status of acceptance into multiple domains, like Jason Aleksis, a busker who plays in the southern reaches of the city. In many ways, the "hidden" city aspect draws on Changeling a fair bit - and the pile of comics and other fiction that has contributed to similar settings.
River encompasses all that is in, under, or next to the Yarra - from the docklands back inland. It is a laid-back court with a stable rulership - meeting twice each year in the Alexandra Gardens. River folk find the busy intrigues of Street amusing, and show little interest in entering such an environment. Swims Without Ripples is a water spirit, and the ruler of River. She spends most of her time travelling the length of the river, moving with or against the currents.
Street is the busiest district, and the most dangerous to live in. All that is in or on the roads and laneways falls into the domain of Street. Several factions vie for control of the area, but it has no true ruler - only an old man chosen for his lack of political ambition, while the other powers competed for rulership. The streets have been waiting for stability for twenty years, but no end to the struggles is in sight. Street holds court irregularly, in ever-changing locations - generally in abandoned buildings at the end of narrow alleyways. They have met inside public buildings after closing time, however - for the factions operate largely without the notice of the Police. Abraham White is the current custodian of street - half Celestine, and old beyond measurement. He retains a trace of his English accent despite over half a century spent in Melbourne, and works by day in a small stationery shop in Royal Arcade.
Sky encompasses the rooftops and balconies, fire-escape stairs, and gantries. Everything above the ground may be claimed by Sky, although its people are largely nomadic. Some live inside advertising billboards, or next to ventilation stacks - others leave caches of food and supplies in favoured locations, and move from night to night. Sky has traditionally been the district to first offer aid in Street's conflicts, and housed the daughter of Street's last true ruler after a bloody but silent coup in 1986. Lucy Wyndham is now in her twenties, and has returned to Street to contest its rule. She runs a legal-aid centre on Bourke Street, under the watchful gaze of her late father's last retainer.
Howard Rhein is Lucy's chief rival for control of Street, and has been implicated in her father's murder - although the incident never attracted the attention of courts in any level of the city. He is a large man who speaks loudly, saying what he pleases - for no-one dares correct him to his face. He once lived on the streets, in the distant past, and despises those who haven't risen to wealth alongside him. His smile rarely touches his grey eyes. He dabbles in most of the city's big business, runs an auction house for artworks, and drives loud fast cars.
Tunnel is the smallest district, and the least populated. The railway lines of the City Loop; basement levels of the buildings, and a maze of service pipes weave their way under most of Street, and few factions in that district do not court allies in Tunnel. Much like Sky, locations in Tunnel are blurred - intervening spaces are not as they would appear, and many sites are connected more by concepts and ideas than by solid roads. Tunnel is a rich district, for a number of Vaults occur in the midlevels - concentrations of things that have been lost in the world above. The ability to find and use such resources is valuable indeed.
Tunnel has the highest occurence of obviously non-human inhabitants - in the darkness, they can find acceptance more easily. Spirits and other such creatures fill several areas. Despite its riches, Tunnel is not a comfortable place to live. In the deepest levels, patches of shadow rush along corridors like a storm, snuffing out all attempts to light the path. Something hunts in the darkness - more than any other reason, this explains the lower population of these regions,
I have quite a few pages of places, themes, characters and intrigues for Places Between, my not-quite-Melbourne game that will happen once
aeliel, delphaeus & futurelegend are free from the end-of-semester exams. Of course, most of them can't really be written about here just yet, as it'd spoil all the surprises for them ;-)Thought I'd try to put down a few more thoughts on the city though - specifically, the Districts of Melbourne.
I thought I'd add some politics to the story - dividing Melbourne up into a number of districts, each with a seperate court. Most of the creatures who live within the "hidden" city are inhabitants of a single domain, although they (generally) travel freely through them all. A few people have the rare status of acceptance into multiple domains, like Jason Aleksis, a busker who plays in the southern reaches of the city. In many ways, the "hidden" city aspect draws on Changeling a fair bit - and the pile of comics and other fiction that has contributed to similar settings.
River encompasses all that is in, under, or next to the Yarra - from the docklands back inland. It is a laid-back court with a stable rulership - meeting twice each year in the Alexandra Gardens. River folk find the busy intrigues of Street amusing, and show little interest in entering such an environment. Swims Without Ripples is a water spirit, and the ruler of River. She spends most of her time travelling the length of the river, moving with or against the currents.
Street is the busiest district, and the most dangerous to live in. All that is in or on the roads and laneways falls into the domain of Street. Several factions vie for control of the area, but it has no true ruler - only an old man chosen for his lack of political ambition, while the other powers competed for rulership. The streets have been waiting for stability for twenty years, but no end to the struggles is in sight. Street holds court irregularly, in ever-changing locations - generally in abandoned buildings at the end of narrow alleyways. They have met inside public buildings after closing time, however - for the factions operate largely without the notice of the Police. Abraham White is the current custodian of street - half Celestine, and old beyond measurement. He retains a trace of his English accent despite over half a century spent in Melbourne, and works by day in a small stationery shop in Royal Arcade.
Sky encompasses the rooftops and balconies, fire-escape stairs, and gantries. Everything above the ground may be claimed by Sky, although its people are largely nomadic. Some live inside advertising billboards, or next to ventilation stacks - others leave caches of food and supplies in favoured locations, and move from night to night. Sky has traditionally been the district to first offer aid in Street's conflicts, and housed the daughter of Street's last true ruler after a bloody but silent coup in 1986. Lucy Wyndham is now in her twenties, and has returned to Street to contest its rule. She runs a legal-aid centre on Bourke Street, under the watchful gaze of her late father's last retainer.
Howard Rhein is Lucy's chief rival for control of Street, and has been implicated in her father's murder - although the incident never attracted the attention of courts in any level of the city. He is a large man who speaks loudly, saying what he pleases - for no-one dares correct him to his face. He once lived on the streets, in the distant past, and despises those who haven't risen to wealth alongside him. His smile rarely touches his grey eyes. He dabbles in most of the city's big business, runs an auction house for artworks, and drives loud fast cars.
Tunnel is the smallest district, and the least populated. The railway lines of the City Loop; basement levels of the buildings, and a maze of service pipes weave their way under most of Street, and few factions in that district do not court allies in Tunnel. Much like Sky, locations in Tunnel are blurred - intervening spaces are not as they would appear, and many sites are connected more by concepts and ideas than by solid roads. Tunnel is a rich district, for a number of Vaults occur in the midlevels - concentrations of things that have been lost in the world above. The ability to find and use such resources is valuable indeed.
Tunnel has the highest occurence of obviously non-human inhabitants - in the darkness, they can find acceptance more easily. Spirits and other such creatures fill several areas. Despite its riches, Tunnel is not a comfortable place to live. In the deepest levels, patches of shadow rush along corridors like a storm, snuffing out all attempts to light the path. Something hunts in the darkness - more than any other reason, this explains the lower population of these regions,
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