Book of Bone and Ebony

the overall impression of a dollhouse: small, quaint and
never sullied. The only real color in the small abode is
inevitably the plaques marking fetters or brilliantly painted
pictures of family or loved ones. Because ghosts are creatures
of rigid tradition, gaining a house in Stygia is a
difficult task best left to the most patient of the dead. Small
committees within each district decide whether a ghost is
worthy of a permanent home or not. In general, if a ghost
has become a fixture of Stygia and his character is appropriate
to the district in question, he will receive a home.
Owning such a home costs nothing, as it is an honor
bestowed upon the Stygian. However, the committees are
notoriously slow about these matters, and ghosts have
been forced to wait for centuries. In such cases, inns with
claustrophobically small rooms can be rented to house the
personal effects of the dead. Such a room costs Resources
• per month.
Travel in Stygia is made difficult by the sheer breadth
of the necropolis. Because of this fact, ghosts seldom travel
beyond the borders of their districts. For such travel,
walking is the preferred method of transportation, and
major roads are clogged with the pale masses of slowly
parading spirits. Wealthier ghosts travel by litter, tottering
and swaying down the streets visible above the rest of the
crowd. Using this mode of transportation costs Resources
••, and because it is associated with prestige, most Stygians
will frown upon any who use it while having an Influence
of less than •. For more distant travel, many ghosts clutter
the flat-bottomed boats of the Stygian waterways that flow
through the necropolis. The physics of the Underworld
allow for strange, distance twisting shortcuts, and a
streetwise ghost can duck down one alley and navigate his
way across the local district in a few short moments. Such
travel is difficult, however, requiring a Wits + Larceny roll
with a difficulty between 3 (to travel to a nearby location
in half the time) and 5 (to travel across the district in a few
minutes). This method of travel is never exact, always
bringing the ghost close to his destination but never
precisely to it, and it can never bring the ghost over the
border of his district. A ghost whose player botches becomes
lost — or worse, at the Storyteller’s discretion.
The closeness of Stygia to the Well of the Void does
a great deal to define the character of Stygians. Dark
dreams of the relentless and perfect darkness of Oblivion
sear their minds, and the Deathlords and their servants
walk among their number daily. Even the great Calendar
of Setesh is bound to Oblivion, for the clock measures the
descent of the Underworld into the Void. The constant
reminder of the inevitable doom of the Underworld adds
something of a frantic edge to existence within Stygia.
Desperate to maintain their passions, Stygians distract
themselves in whatever way they can. They throw grand
parties, show offense at the smallest slights and engage in
fierce feuds and romances. This is not to say the Stygians
11
CHAPTER ONE • STYGIA
are terrified of the Void and all associated with it. They
think nothing of descending into the Labyrinth to mine it
for its resources, and in their long existences within the
city, many ghosts have grown accustomed to the calls of
nephwracks and have become used to existing in fear of
another attack from the Abyss below. Rather, the nearness
of the Void intensifies the pointlessness of existence that
all ghosts feel.
BENEATH STYGIA
No gods rule the storms of the Underworld.
While the Calendar of Setesh produces most
weather, the dark clouds that veil the sky are the last
remnants of Malfean bitterness. When enough hatred
gathers in one place, the sky unleashes its fury
in a torrent of blood and water. Though these
storms pale in comparison to the tempests that
existed before the Underworld was tamed, they do
present considerable danger.
Lying at the center of the Underworld, Stygia
serves as a sort of lightning rod for the Underworld’s
storms. While the necropolis seldom suffers tempests
as bad as those in other parts of the Underworld,
it does suffer more of them as it drains the worst of
these foul energies back into the Labyrinth. The
constant accumulation of rainwater is dangerous,
however, and so, the founders of Stygia built drainage
sewers beneath the city. These were the only
defensive structures that remained untouched during
the nephwrack uprising.
Constructed of pale limestone, with smooth
walls and grooves that channel the flows of runoff
beneath the city, the storm drains mix and mingle
with the old basements, cellars and abandoned
mines to form the catacombs that lie beneath the
city. It’s a dangerous place, with half-mad ghosts
scuttling in the shadows and strange monsters coalescing
from the hatred that coagulates in the storm
waters. Occasionally, the Dual Monarchy sends
hunting parties into this murky undercity, lit only
by luminescent fungi, to bring down these horrors
and ensure that they don’t grow too strong. While
the sewers protect the city, they underscore the
constant vigilance necessary to maintain the stability
of the Underworld.
THE WEALTH OF STYGIA
The dead of Stygia almost universally turn their
passions away from the land of the living and to the land
of the dead. Without any neighboring shadowlands, Stygia
must rely on those nations and empires that reside closer
to Creation for its prosperity. In exchange for this wealth,