Book of Bone and Ebony

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Within the untamed depths of the Isle of Sorrow’s wilds, past the final curves of the River Styx, at the center of the land of the dead, great and ancient Stygia rises in haunting splendor. Spanning from horizon to horizon, this vast necropolis sprawls across seven hills and seven valleys, the largest city of both the sunlit world and its shadow. The silver and soulsteel spires of Stygia spear the shadowy clouds above, their lanterns and lights scattered like artificial stars against the dark sky. The churning gears and bright, ghostly lamps of the Calendar of Setesh, the axis of the Underworld, loom above it all. The city seems as wondrous and strange from within as from without. Suffocatingly narrow paths and alleyways jam together at odd, painfully sharp angles. Metallic walkways stretch like cobwebs between the tall and baroque towers above. Fires dance behind red stained-glass windows, casting blood colored shadows across the dark gray stones of the streets. Everything smells of incense and dust. Only the constant drone of prayers or the occasional, whispered exchanges between the dead breaks the unsettling silence of the necropolis, replacing the shouts and laughter so often found in living cities. Despite appearances, Stygia is nothing like a mortal city. Rather, it is a vast mausoleum containing echoes of those who refuse to be forgotten. Stygia is unique within the Underworld. It alone is a city constructed by the dead for the dead, created not out CHAPTER ONE STYGIA 9 CHAPTER ONE • STYGIA of some disaster in Creation, but by the will of ghosts. Once a buttress designed to hold off the hordes of Oblivion, nephwracks now openly walk its streets and Deathlords make their homes there. The Cult of the Dual Monarchy and the stability the Monarchs offer the Underworld is centered in Stygia. Every event of the Underworld has left an indelible mark on the Grand Necropolis, and yet, mystery continues to shroud its very origins. In truth, the land of the dead literally revolves around Stygia, and without it, the very nature of the Underworld would falter and change. THE DEAD OF THE GRAND NECROPOLIS In most respects, the Stygian dead differ little from those found in the other necropoli of the Underworld. They dress in tomb-scented fineries bejeweled in sacrificial Essence, their faces perfect alabaster and, despite their passionate pretensions at life, only emptiness and longing fills their dark eyes. They eagerly seek news of both the Underworld and the land of the living. Creatures defined by ritual, the dead of Stygia pursue an existence filled with endless repetition as they dutifully offer up prayers to their leadership. Despite the similarities, the dead that reside in Stygia are a strange and unique breed, for Stygia occupies a singular and important place in the Underworld. Unlike the ghosts of other necropoli, Stygian dead choose to exist
EXALTED • THE BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY in Stygia, for death deposits few spirits on its streets. With no neighboring shadowland, Stygia is far from Creation, and ghosts who enter the necropolis must be willing to sacrifice their ties with the land of the living. Thus released from the trappings of their former lives, many new residents quickly and eagerly adopt fresh roles for themselves. These factors combine to create a city of constantly shifting hierarchy that focuses primarily on the needs of the dead, rather than the needs of the living. Many ghosts entering Stygia have little to lose by abandoning Creation. Perhaps they were unloved beggars in life or were the dishonored dead. For whatever reason, they have concluded that Creation will not sustain them and that they must seek their fortunes elsewhere or suffer the indignation of Lethe. These dead quickly shed their former roles in life and take up some task within the city, such as physical labor or prostitution. Such ghosts form the ranks of the working dead within Stygia. Starved ghosts fill the roads to Stygia, marked by their ragged clothing, long teeth and ravenous eyes. Those who can hold on to their existences long enough to make it to the Grand Necropolis can feed on the aura of prayers that leak into the city streets. The rest either fall into Lethe or succumb to Oblivion’s whispers. A few of the dead entering Stygia have gained all they can from Creation. These powerful ghosts have become embedded in their clan’s ancestral worship, and their fetters are safely secured. All that remains for them to gain now is political power. Stygia lies at the center of the web of ghostly influence and lacks the rigid hierarchy that stifles the other kingdoms of the Underworld. These dead form the elite of Stygia and head the smaller cults and unions. The constant influx of foreign dead gives Stygia a cosmopolitan feel. The mark of any historical period from any culture can be found in the architecture of the city or reflected in the mannerisms of its dead. Seeing labyrinthine gray and blue frescoes of a long-lost pelagothrope civilization decorating the walls of a building of modern Realm architecture is not uncommon. Ghosts dressed in the fashion of great Meru during the time of the Contagion might perform a modern Coral tea ceremony. These clashing and anachronistic details blend into a seamless whole, creating a uniquely Stygian atmosphere that is at once hauntingly familiar and strangely alien to any visiting ghost. Whereas, in most other necropoli, the dead can prepare a house for a dying descendant, the Stygian dead lack that luxury, and so, their housing arrangements are unique in the Underworld. While architecture varies from district to district, many elements of Stygian homes remain the same. They are small, as the dead need little space, and are either stacked in huge, teetering towers or wedged between larger, more important buildings. Within, all Stygian homes have a small shrine to the Dual Monarchy. A bed usually rests in the home, though the ghost 10 THE FOUNDING OF STYGIA In the dark, early days before the Calendar, the Underworld was chaotic and disjointed, an unsafe purgatory for any ghost. Malfean rage ripped through the land of the dead in the form of terrible storms, and nothing governed the rules of reality or the passage of time. Desperate, the bravest of the dead gathered an army and battled their way past hordes of monsters and nightmare-tossed landscapes, journeying to the center of the Underworld with only the pull of Oblivion to guide them. There, they gazed with trepidation upon the Well of the Void and the tombs of the Malfeans. Mining the nearby hills, they built a city, expanding it until it separated the Labyrinth from the rest of the Underworld and sealed away the worst of its monstrosities, bringing peace at last to the land of the dead. Stygia began as a fortress against Oblivion. The remains of Old Stygia reveal robust walls and defensive occult designs meant to ward away the nephwracks and the hekatonkhire. The early Stygians forged the crowns of the Dual Monarchy and established the long tradition of succession that ensured incorruptible leadership in this most important city. They undertook the monumental task of building the Calendar to regulate the flow of time. When they completed this unparalleled project, it stood as a beacon of the dead’s defiance of Oblivion. The task of guarding the Underworld could not be left to Stygia alone, and so, representatives of the Cult of the Dual Monarchy went forth to the stillyoung kingdoms of the dead. Stygia offered tranquillity and stability for a small tribute of Essence and worship, and most nations gladly paid. As the cult grew, so too did Stygia’s prestige, until it became the most powerful city in the Underworld and the dead flocked to its streets. Within a few centuries, the Dual Monarchy presided over a world of peace and prosperity, a mirror of the golden age ruled by the Solars in Creation, for while the scent of prayers drew nations into their embrace, tradition soon kept them there. The newly dead worshiped the Dual Monarchy because their elders had, and Stygia became an institution. In those early days, Stygia only grew in power and influence, but bloated with pride, it ignored the rumblings of the Labyrinth below. makes no use of it, and a kitchenette, though the ghost need never cook. No unwashed dishes ever lay on the counters, and no discarded clothes litter the floor, creating
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Book of Bone and Ebony

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