Pheeh

Pheeh – 

''A city like no other, oft-smothered under a cloud of soot and grey. She boasts of the world’s greatest engineering feats, a testament to its place at the intellectual centre of Agonia. Rising above the low cloud of grey air are thirteen slender brilliant towers, each with distinctive house sized bulbs adorning their lengths. A large Dome also crests the low smog, dwarfing the towers by its sheer mass. Below the smag, and below the criss-crossing steam-work pipes, an industrious nation of inventors, tinkerers, and the finest craftsmen the world has to offer, toil to create something… anything.''

A fairly large city of 150 thousand souls whose governance is like no other. Its main purpose is the production of innovative and novel creations and the creation of the finest magical arms and armour. At the very top, the city is led by a group of very wealthy families who are universally called sponsors. The sponsors fund inventors to create wondrous items of all kinds; magic, mechanical or whatever. It’s very competitive, and sponsors work very hard to identify talent, and then work harder to keep their star talent under their employ. The Sponsors take fanatical pride in collecting the most creative and powerful items on the planet.

A physical characteristic of note for Pheeh, is the very large scrap heap that dominates the skyline, like a large football stadium sized dome of discarded parts, machinery and widgets. And overlooking the city are thirteen thin and very tall towers, rising above the blanket of sooty air, each tower adorned with bulbous protrusions at odd intervals. The city is functional, gritty, and hard. Steam pipes criss-cross the city bringing power from the steam works to endless consumers of this cheap and effective power. Often a thick blanket of polluted air hangs over the city, the product of the powerful steam works which uses coal as the heating element. As a result, the town appears dirty as soot is always accumulating on every surface. The underworld thrives and is legitimate, servicing the wants of the stressed out creators who prefer quick satisfaction to the artful interactions of society. Competition amongst parlours and drug houses is fierce, sometimes violent. But it is tolerated as long as it doesn’t affect the process of creation, and no one of importance in unduly affected.

Where the Sponsors get their seemingly bottomless wealth is a subject of great debate, but the creative hubs (members only clubs) seem to bring in a lot of resources to the Sponsors. People from across the world come to Pheeh and pay to become members of these hubs. Members learn from their peers, partake in great theoretical discussions, learn new skills, collaborate on large projects etc.  It’s very unstructured, but greatly enriching for people in the creative fields. Even master craftsmen venture to Pheeh to learn about cutting edge materials, processes and alchemy to improve their trade.

There is an ungoverned class system in Pheeh:

-   The Sponsors: The thirteen great Sponsor families who act like wealthy aristocratic overlords of the city.

-    Sponsored Inventors: Directly below the wealthy Sponsor families are the sponsored inventors who are the select star creators tenured by the Sponsors and hold great influence, and sometimes operate above the law.

-    Governors:   slightly below the great inventors are the governors who are appointed by the Sponsors to ‘govern’ the city and are generally disliked by all.

-     Talented Creators:  Next are the hundreds of inventors, engineers, and Arcane Item creators, toiling to make a name for themselves, either as independents, or as members of creative Hubs set up by the wealthier Sponsor families.

-         Tradesmen: Then there are the craftsmen and hack engineers, who produce the common parts and widgets needed for whatever the inventors dream up.

-         Junior Tradesmen: Finally a throng of apprentices and junior inventors, who do the bidding of the inventors and craftsmen, waiting for a chance to show their mettle and become a recognized inventor, and barring that, at least become skilled enough to be a decently paid craftsman or engineer

-         Scrubs:  Then there is the army of very poorly paid lay-people, hired to pick up after all the inventors, craftsmen, etc, essentially doing all the menial tasks that the rest of the city seems too pre-occupied to do. No one talks to this class, unless they are in your employ, and only to give instructions. They are just there.

'''Old Pheeh'''

The district of Old Pheeh is the place where Pheeh was founded. There are still structures remaining from that ancient nativity, but they are buried under layers of newer and bigger construction. Buildings in Old Pheeh rise up to ten stories above the narrow, cramped streets that teem with people. The smog is so thick here that it is a rare day that the residents see the sun, and condensation from the steam pipes falls like a constant drizzle. Scrubs are the primary residents of Old Pheeh, though you can find some down-on-their-luck craftsmen and junior inventors renting some cheap rooms in the towering tenements.

Old Pheeh is like a dark mirror to the grander places in Pheeh, here the sponsors are the thiefmasters and drug kingpins, taking on failed inventors and outcast alchemists to provide for and control their tiny empires. The Sponsors and the govorners don't bother with these underworld lords much, so long as they keep their depredations to the lay-people and don't bother their social betters. Gangs and cabals vie for the patronage of these crimelords, sometimes leading to bloody warfare in the streets and alleys.

Notable Place: The City Hall

While this building was never used as any seat of governance, it is a large, open and relatively clean area where large gatherings can be held. The City Hall is a touchstone of the local residents, and will usually congregate there in times of trouble to discover and disseminate information. Community events are put on here, and occasionally the Govorner of Old Pheeh will allow a concert, theatre performance or other major social event to take place. Generally, you can find performers here, plying their trade for coin from passers-by, as the streets of Old Pheeh are generally too narrow to allow a busker to work unmolested.

By mutual agreement, the crimelords of Pheeh hold the City Hall as neutral ground, and many a late-night clandestine meeting between these underworld figures has taken place in one of the Hall's galleries.

'''Old Pheeh Market'''

A district distinct from Old Pheeh, the Market is the place where lesser craftsmen and traders hawk their wares to the throngs of people who populate Pheeh. There are shops and studios crammed into every conceivable space, plenty of which don't advertise their services outside a select clientele. While no Sponsor or sponsored inventor would be caught dead in such a place, apprentices, servants and the like are always combing the stalls and shops, looking for something interesting or useful to bring back to their master. Virtually anything can be found in the Market, if you know where to look and who to ask.

Like the rest of Old Pheeh, the Market is a hotbed for criminal activity. Indeed, it could be said to be even more intense here than anywhere else. However, bloodshed is bad for business, so open displays of violence are discouraged. Instead, back alley stranglings and enemies quietly disappearing are more common.

'''Notable Place: The Grand Museum of True Science and History (The Fool's Museum)'''

Some Sponsors treat their inventors like pets, praising them for doing tricks and throwing them treats every now and then. Others dote on them like spoiled grandchildren, giving them whatever they may desire. The latter attitude is responsible for what the laypeople of Pheeh call the Fool's Museum. This sprawling structure, built among, around, and over the buildings of the Old Pheeh Market district, is a testament to one man's belief that even the low public should be educated, and also that he knew everything there was to know and that such education should be strictly based on what he thought was true. The fact that, like all great inventors, he was more than a little mad sadly never crossed his mind.

The museum has a dozen wings, interconnected through hallways and passages that create a confusing labyrinth for visitors to navigate. Exhibits are kept up and even rotated on a yearly basis by a cadre of constructs, some of whom have become increasingly erratic as the years have gone by. The security force is made up of Golems who will ruthlessly pursue, kill and evict (in that order) anyone inside the museum who has not purchased a ticket. As ticket prices were set long, long ago with an assumption of the rate of interest that did not quite hold true, it currently costs slightly over 1,000 gp to purchase a single day ticket.

Exhibits run the gamut from the history of inventions (beginning, of course, with the steam boiler, which the museum's creator regarded as the first invention worth mentioning), to speculations on non-magically powered flight (the verdict: utterly impossible, to the point that jumping is, in fact, an optical illusion), to an entire permanent exhibit dedicated to slandering one of the creator's rivals. Those who have afforded a ticket generally find the tour amusing, if a bit of a long walk.

Several of the exhibits are extremely rare and valuable, which makes the Museum an occasional target for ambitious thieves. Its convoluted passages and general sprawl also make it an ideal way to move around the Old Pheeh Market quickly and discreetly. If, that is, you can avoid the deadly security.

'''The Brass Serpent'''

Pheeh is a large and confusing city. As it grew, transportation between the various districts became more and more of a hassle. Sometime ago, as steam was rising as the city's main power source, a Sponsor decided to do something about this, and set about looking for an inventor with a solution. What came of that was the Steam-Powered Linked-Carriage Transportation Engine Set On An Elevated Rail. Or, as it has become universally known, the Brass Serpent.

This device is a series of long carriages hooked together, with a steam-powered locomotive at the front. The entire device runs along a railed track that was constructed on a platform set 40 feet above the streets. It runs in a circuit all through the various districts of Pheeh, providing relatively cheap transportation for the masses between their homes and their jobs. It was, at the time, an incredible achievement and a boon for the city.

The city has grown since the creation of the Brass Serpent, and like many of the Sponsor's favourite toys, it has not been improved on or expanded since it was built. In that time, many problems with the design have appeared. For one, the Serpent only travels in one direction, so if you want to go a stop back you either get out and walk or wait until it completes the entire circuit again. For another, while the Serpent is kept well-maintained, it is very old technology that is becoming more outdated as time goes on. The amount of coal and water it consumes in its operation are intolerable for modern standards, and the smoke it spews into the air is of an even worse consistency than that belched out by the great coal furnaces that power the city. The Serpent also makes a lot of noise and vibrations as it passes by on its regular schedule, though many residents have come to find its periodic interruptions comforting.

Some wild and adventurous youths take to riding the Serpent for free, leaping from adjacent buildings to straddle its roof. This is, however, a dangerous pastime, as the city has grown around the Serpent, but has not ever given it much in the way of clearance. Copper-pinching contractors have, in some places, allowed bare inches of room between the passing Serpent and whatever they have built.

A ticket for the Serpent is 2 copper pieces. This is regardless of how long you ride it for. Whether you're going one stop down or ten, it's the same regardless. Even with such low prices, the Serpent still manages to rake in quite a lot of money on sheer numbers alone. However, profit margins are slimmer every year as the maintenance of the great device is costing more and more.

Notable Places: Serpent Stations

The Brass Serpent stops regularly at elevated platforms called stations, where passengers can embark or disembark. Each station has a kiosk where tickets can be bought from a construct. Stations may also have vendors selling food and drink, or news broadsheets. Often some other commercial structure has been built right up to the station, allowing people to go directly in without having to descend to the street first.

Stations are named for the street they are above, or for a major landmark in the area. These are based on the original names and landmarks of the area from when the Serpent was constructed, and may have no local relevance anymore. At least two stations no longer have any access whatsoever to their local district, and while Pheeh locals know not to get off there, it can be confusing for visitors.

'''The Dome'''

It can be seen from almost anywhere in Pheeh, a giant brown and silver Dome like some kind of monstrous carapace of a colossal beast. A Millennium of creation has a monstrous environmental footprint. Every discarded widget, failed machinery, decommissioned masterpiece or broken down construct eventually finds its way to the Scrap Heap. Legend has it that one of the original towers fell and now lies somewhere underneath the mega tons of scrap metal. The dome’s surface is a perilous terrain of corroding and degrading loose material, leading to sudden collapses, or worse, chemical mixtures that lead to internal fires or noxious clouds that can last days or months.

Recycling is seen as beneath most inventors, the sponsors don’t care enough to do anything about the dome, and the governors can never get traction to be able to do something about it. So it sits there continuously accumulating junk. It is bigger than any neighborhood in Pheeh, occupying nearly a fifth of the entire city. Micro Scrap metal smelters spewing out acrid smoke adorn the north side of the dome which is near the periphery of the city. They produce sub-grade materials with impurities for the trades and poorer inventors.

To the south of the Dome is Dagmen alley.

To the east, ravines of rain water and chemicals flow out of the Dome, pooling at certain places which has created a no man’s land of extremely polluted land. No one lives or travels through this area.

Notable Places: Dagmen Alley

On the south side of the Dome, almost integrated in the Dome itself, there is a long established neighborhood mostly populated with Agonia’s only known colony of Wayangs (a curious small race that originated form the shadow plane). The alley itself has the dome on one side which at this location is a near sheer wall of massive metal scraps, sometimes nearly overhanging the alley. On the other side of the alley is a collection of makeshift homes, built almost entirely of scrap from the dome. A network of tiny alleyways spread out from Dagmen alley. Only the smaller races such as halflings, wayangs or gnomes can pass through this network without difficulty. Most races have a very hard time navigating and squeezing through the neighborhoods alleys.

The neighborhood owes its livelihood to the brave or foolish entrepreneurs that delve into the dome to extract anything that might be of value. These Delvers who are mostly wayang or gnomes have hacked out a complex network of tunnels that lead into the heart of the Dome itself, who the locals call The Iron Belly. Knowledge of hidden tunnels are passed down from father to sons. This generational occupation is fraught with countless dangers, from all kinds of customary tunnel collapses, to aggressive or territorial sentient creatures who have made the Dome their home. A strange and beautiful articulating and moving monument sits at a particular large intersection of Dagmen alley, commemorating the many lives lost in the Dome. The monument has many scrap structural pieces hinging on moving arms, and all the pieces seem to be shifting and spinning in a chaotic dance, but yet never gets intertwined. Some Wayangs in this neighborhood have mastered the art of reverse engineering some of the things that are uncovered. These wise men are sought after by even sponsored inventors who seek novel ways to deal with design problems.

The main alley has several shops that sell all kinds of curious widgets, machines and precious materials that have been extracted from the Iron Belly. Some of these can be quite extraordinary. Inventors frequent these shops looking for inspiration, curiosities or lost masterpieces.