Recovered: The City of Emination, a Newer Crobuzon
Following Anne at DIY & Dragons, I’ve made a city out of some monsters (three “humanoid” minorities and three “bizarre” creatures).
City on a Rock, Eugenio Lucas Velázquez, via Wikimedia Commons.
Humanoids
Doppelgangers
Recent refugees of distant war, they are not trusted. Good merchants, negotiators, guides. Some rumors about doppelgangers:
- They bleed a different color. (True, but so do some Aasimar.)
- They can read minds. (True.)
- They can’t stand garlic. (False.)
- They’ll replace the recent dead. (Sometimes: they consider dead people’s identities “unclaimed.”)
- They’ll leave you to raise their children for them. (False.)
- They’ll steal your stuff. (Rarely: they have different ideas about property.)
- They can’t drink alcohol. (True, or at least, they can’t keep it down.)
Ghouls
Unable to enter the inner city (which is hallowed ground) sprawl has forced the ghouls to integrate. Well-fed, they work as laborers. Otherwise they don’t think so good and eventually go dormant. Those that let hunger drive their actions are swiftly dealt with.
Aasimar
Aristocratic upper-class, descended from celestials that followed Wormwood (they claim). The original celestials have long since moved on, leaving their progeny to manage the city.
Bizarre
Aboleth
In the city square, a mound of unrotting flesh. It spasms in the rain, and it’s good luck if it twitches when you spit on it. It’s unknown how it got there, as Emination is landlocked.
The Angel Wormwood (Solar)
Millennia ago the angel Wormwood came to the mountains and there made itself a throne. It never speaks. It has not moved. Ancient pilgrims cut paths through the mountains from all sides, making Emination into an important crossroads.
Earth Elementals
Before the city were the mountains, and the elementals there. Taking the forms of rams and bears, they cut swathes through the outer city until they smash on the inner city walls, raining down charged earth. They always travel in a North-South direction and are more active around geomagnetic reversals.
Other New New Crobuza
- New New Crobuzon (Githyanki Diaspora)
- The City of Stones & Spirits (DIY & Dragons)
- New Twain (Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque)
- The Last City (The Sorcerer’s Skull)
- Thaw (Archons March On)
- (Unnamed) (Dead Tree, No Shelter)
- Styx (Games of the Void Rust Medusa)
- Pandeimos (Throne of Salt)
- Deadwind (Goodberry Monthly)
There are also some entries from 2009 collected at The Book of Judd. Sphinxcorland (Sea of Stars) was a late addition (2010).
This post was first shared on October 30, 2019. Today in 2024, Anne is hosting another challenge!