Book of Bone and Ebony

surviving in these wild lands. Still, the Isle of Shadows
remains a reflection of the Blessed Isle, and though untamed,
parallels between the two can be drawn. For example,
those regions on the Blessed Isle that are filled with
corruption and resentment are savage, brutal forests in the
Underworld, and serene villages in Creation create small,
peaceful glades in the Underworld that provide ghosts a
moment’s respite.
THE SINKING CITY
The Void is more than a place or a thing. It is
an inexorable destination to which all of the Underworld
is drawn. Inch by inch and year by year, more
land sinks, coming closer to its yawning mouth.
Only the influx of fresh memories from the newly
deceased pushes back the borders of the land of the
dead, buying more precious time before all of their
world sinks into the Labyrinth below.
Because it rests at the center of the Underworld,
this phenomenon is noticeably stronger in
Stygia. The constant pull of the void creates Stygia’s
catacombs, sinking the structures of the past while
the dead place new construction on top of them, the
houses of yesterday becoming the basements for the
houses of today. The dead of Stygia seldom worry, or
even bother to notice, this slow, inexorable event,
simply shuffling their boundary stones about in an
eternal game whenever it becomes problematic.
Only Monarchs’ Way, perched atop the Mouth
of Oblivion itself, is immune. The Calendar of
Setesh doesn’t rest upon the ground. Rather, it is
hooked to the heavens above, and from it, all of
Monarchs’ Way hangs suspended above the Well of
the Void. Millennia from now, the district is destined
to be the final, crumbling island floating atop
the ever growing hole of Oblivion as the rest of the
Underworld fades away, until it too falls, and then,
all light is snuffed out.
The River Styx is famous throughout the world of the
dead. Springing forth from the fountains of the Water
Runs Red district, this dark-watered river flows through
the angular and twisted channels of the city. Eventually, it
spills out into the Pool of Sorrows, where the white-hulled
vessels of the Dual Monarchy’s fleet rest, and then continues
its course into the Sea of Shadows. The water of the
River Styx is foul, and none drink it, for the touch of the
water is warmly acidic. Darkly opaque, its mirrored surface
reveals nothing of what lies below. The dead of Stygia
commonly swear by the name of the river, for any oath
taken in the name of the waters is guarded by the Malfeans
themselves (and breaking such an oath will result in a
15
CHAPTER ONE • STYGIA
single botch inflicted upon the oath-breaker at a critical
moment).
The river does not follow the straight courses of space
and time that mortals understand, but rather, the flow of
the river bends and twists. It touches every district of
Stygia in a way that defies mapping, and those who seek
the river have only to turn two corners to find it. Some
ghosts have mastered the properties of the river and pole
their flat-bottomed boats slowly through it, offering quick
passage for a small sum. The waters of the River Styx touch
upon all the rivers of the Underworld, including those of
the Abyss, and a true master of the river’s ways can find a
course to anyplace in the Underworld. Such travel, though,
is surely as dangerous as walking the Labyrinth itself.
SAILING THE STYX
Sailing the River Styx within Stygia itself isn’t
terribly dangerous. Travel from one location to
another requires a Wits + Sail roll at a difficulty
between 3 (for traveling across a district in half the
time) to 5 (traveling across Stygia in a few minutes).
A botch means the ferryman has taken a wrong turn
and become lost, or worse, ended up upon one of the
rivers of the Labyrinth. In general, ferrymen charge
a fee of Resources (the difficulty of the trip - 2).
MASKS OF POWER
The Dual Monarchy is the keystone upon which the
order and stability of the Underworld is constructed. Every
noble, every king, every ghost that lives within the nations
of the dead bow their heads to this august and ancient
body. The Dual Monarchs do not rule through military
power, though all of the dead look to their mighty army of
effigies for protection from the minions of the Abyss. They
do not rule through wealth and economic influence,
though their city is the most prosperous of the Underworld
and their merchants have ties all across the land of the
dead. No, the Dual Monarch spread their influence through
the mutual benefit of prayer. Those nations that accept the
power of Stygia have an opportunity to feast at the well of
reverential Essence that springs up around the necropolis.
By supporting the vast Cult of the Dual Monarchy, the
dead guarantee that Essence will continue to flood into the
city, that millennia-old tradition is maintained and that
the fragile infrastructure of prayer constructed since the
founding of the city remains whole.
By all records, the Dual Monarchy has always ruled
Stygia. However, mystery wreaths its origins. Information
on the founding of Stygia is vague at best, and the raids of the
nephwracks during the downfall of the necropolis scattered
and destroyed many documents. Speculation and legend