Elysium! No, not the movie. The place in Circle City!

So, I still need to do the stat for the security forces, Virgil, and the forest managers. But, here is the fluff for the place itself!

Not a perfect representation of the arcologies, but you get the idea...

 

Elysium

Manager: Virgil The Recluse – Virgil lives in a penthouse at the top of the 'north-most' tower, taking up the an entire floor. His face is seen rarely, while his influence is constant. Those that have seen Virgil describe him as an over two-meter tall elderly man with long hair and matted beard, his body thin to the point of being malnourished. His employees are legion, occupying positions in every level of the four towers, each willing to fulfill Virgil's every whim. His every action is focused to gaining more control over the people Elysium. Though he is a tyrant, his laws and actions move toward the betterment of the inhabitants of the wilds and towers. The aura of the circle does much to ensure the smooth operation of the circle, allowing him to have 'problems' disposed of quietly. He can be dealt with, most often through intermediaries, if a deal can help him in his endless pursuit of control.

Feeling: Hope and Ease

Description: Twilit parkland of rolling grassland and forests of prismatic trees fill the majority of this circle. Four towers stretch towards the sky, each situated at a cardinal direction. Octagonal in shape, their smooth, silvered glass sides flow two-thousand meters into the sky. Edges limned with rainbow hued neon, the top of each side bearing a hologram of the tower's namesake. The towers are arcologies, containing in their entirety the housing, commercial, and industrial districts of Elysium. These towers are the best Circle City has to offer in the way of comfort and safety. The culture here is far from perfect, as the mental frailties in all sentient species still exist. Willful ignorance, purposeless hate, and unquenchable greed still hold sway over the minds of the residents, but these feelings are greatly eased by the aura of the borough.

Outside of the towers is the parkland, a rolling expanse of manicured grass fields and forests of rainbow foliage. Arrayed at perfect intervals around the circle, each field or forest standing on the opposite side from the others. The fields are filled with creatures both mundane and fantastical, even embodied concepts reside among the grasses, ideas barely held in check by physicality. All the creatures of this place are re imagined in holograms and chrome, perfect and artificial. Pavilions can be seen in regular intervals, architectural recreations of Earth's past done up in glass, neon, and sharp angles. Within the forests are greater creatures of artistry and craftsmanship. Each forest is managed by a being crafted to meet impossible standards, its mind as complex, or even more so, as any natural sentient. Powerful and knowledgeable about many secrets of the city and the galaxy, they can be convinced to give aid for a price. While peaceful, the managers of these forests can be moved to extreme acts of violence if respect they demand is not given.

The deep-rail stations in the wilds stand in stark contrast to the fantastical forms that surround them. The gray, concrete cubes easily spotted among the myriad of colors and natural shapes. They hold the same positions as they do in any other circle. The stations in the four towers are simple stairwells leading down to subway platforms.

Morning: In the wilds, the artificial birds begin to sing as the nocturnal animals return to their nests and burrows. Though true day doesn't exist in Circle City, the behavior of the cybernetic creatures gives the mind the impression of night's end. In the towers people move up and down the mirrored and neon hallways, traveling to various levels on their way to work.

Mid-Day: The activity level of the outside is at its peak, artificial animals going about their routines of living, breeding, and dying. Within the towers, industry has reached full tilt, pumping out the products bought and consumed on all the other levels.

Night: The daytime animals flee to their nests and burrows, hiding from the predators of the night. Sounds of the fields and forest change as the silicon crickets take up their starlit chorus. Within the towers, people make their ways home from business and industry, some making their way toward centers of nightlife. Bars and clubs run the gamut of aluminum-lined simplicity to hologram laden extravagance. All kinds of entertainment and pleasure can be had for cash or credit, though they would be labeled 'tame' by the more jaded connoisseurs from other circles. 

Ganesha, whose compassion knows no bounds.

 

Tower Names – 1D8

1. Ganesha – Hindu god/deva, remover of obstacles, patron of the arts and sciences, and divine exemplar of wisdom and intelligence.
2. Prometheus – Greek god who brought the knowledge of, and skill to create, fire to humanity at the cost of endless torture by the other gods.
3. Fukurokuju – Shinto god of wisdom and longevity, and one of the Seven Lucky Gods of the Shinto pantheon.
4. Nabu – Babylonian god of wisdom and writing, son of Marduk and Sarpanitum.
5. Kvasir – A Norse traveling spirit who was a teacher and spreader of knowledge. He was created when the Aesir and Vanir mixed their saliva together.
6. Odin – Chief of the Norse deities, he hung himself from a tree for nine days and nights to gain all the wisdom contained within the world.
7. Omoikane – Shinto deity of wisdom and intelligence. He is also a deity of good counsel able to hold multiple thoughts in his head at once, or combine the thoughts of multiple people to achieve a particular goal.
8. Thoth – Egyptian deity of arbitration, arts of magic, the physical sciences, and judgment of the dead.

Fafnir, he's a big robot dragon who loves money.

Forest Managers - 1D6

1. Fafnir – A dragon of titanic size who is obsessed with material wealth.
2. Arachne – Half-woman, half-spider, she is obsessed with: weaving, clothing, tapestries, textiles, and anything to do with thread or rope.
3. Reynard – An anthropomorphic fox who is obsessed with music, humor, and practical jokes.
4. Baku - A chimera with an elephant’s trunk, rhinoceros eyes, an ox tail, and tiger paws. Baku is obsessed with art inspired by, or inspires, dreams and the imagination.
5. Questing Beast / Glatisant – A creature that has the head and neck of a snake, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion, and the feet of a hart. It is obsessed with 'quests', which is really just a way of saying it likes to send people off to do things for it.
6. Sasquatch / Harold – A two and a half meter tall humanoid whose features combine that of humans and simians and is completely covered with hair. Harold is obsessed with: obscure movies, cheap beer, obscure micro-brews, poorly edited and recorded music, irony, out of style clothing, and an actor from ancient Earth named John Lithgow.

The aura makes you feel this awesome, but not look this awesome...

The Aura: One of the greatest forms of control Virgil has, is the aura's ability to convince people not to leave Elysium. Upon deciding to leave Elysium, each character must make a save in order to bring themselves to leave the peaceful place. Care must be taken when making plans to leave, Virgil becomes displeased when attempt to leave and will use his security force to keep people from doing so. When making plans to leave in private, there is a 1 in 6 chance Virgil's security force will attempt to stop the characters. If plans are made in public, there is a 3 in 6 chance the security force will attempt to stop the characters. As to why Virgil doesn't block off the deep-rail stations, or why his security force doesn't follow people down into the deep-rail stations, that information remains secret. Those that fail their roll (or those who have yet to make a save due to negative score bonuses) must be physically removed from the circle, usually while they are kicking and screaming, attracting security forces. Standard mechanics still apply to avoiding the aura's influence on character behavior. A separate roll is required to leave.

Mechanics for the Aura and Leaving

Machinations of the Space Princess: A character may make a number of saves each day to bring themselves to leave Elysium based upon their Wisdom score bonus. Every character may make 1 save per day plus their Wisdom score bonus, an hour must pass before a save may made again. Negative bonuses mean that multiple days must pass before a save can be made. A Will save is required in order to leave Elysium.

Negative Score Bonuses

-1: 2 Days must pass before a save can be made.

-2: 3 Days must pass before a save can be made.

-3: 4 Days must pass before a save can be made.

-4: 5 Days must pass before a save can be made.

Alpha Blue: A character may make a number of saves to bring themselves to leave Elysium each day equal to their level. Each save must be made at least an hour apart, if the character is greater than level 1. The results of a save determine level of success and other events effecting a character's will to leave.

Save Results

6: Character not only overcomes the influence of the aura, but is able to coax another character through the influence as well. Choose another character, they too are now able to fight off the influence of the aura.

5 – 4: Character overcomes the influence of the aura and can now bring themselves to leave.

3 – 2: Character fails to overcome the influence, but may make another roll in an hour if they are greater than level 1.

1: Character cannot bring themselves to leave Elysium, and cannot make any further saves for the rest of the day.

OSR: A character may make a number of saves each day to bring themselves to leave Elysium based upon their Wisdom score bonus. Every character may make 1 save per day plus their Wisdom score bonus, an hour must pass before a save may made again. Negative bonuses mean that multiple days must pass before a save can be made. A save versus Device is required in order to leave Elysium.

Negative Score Bonuses

-1: 2 Days must pass before a save can be made.

-2: 3 Days must pass before a save can be made.

-3: 4 Days must pass before a save can be made.

Circle City Continued!

The heart of Circle City is made of neon and holograms.

The Circles

There is no day – night cycle in Circle City, only brighter periods of twilight for day and encompassing darkness for night. Despite being within the larger structure of the Church of Mad Love, the night is accompanied by stars. The perpetual streetlights, neon, and holograms do nothing to reduce the visibility of the stars. The stars fit no pattern to be found on any world of the galaxy. Those close to understanding the mysteries of the city say that the stars are somehow familiar to them. The circles of Circle City embody particular themes or concepts, holding to them in every street and bit of broken glass. While there are places to live, work, and play in each circle, the descriptions will focus on the areas that embody the theme of the place. All currencies from across the galaxy can be spent or earned in Circle City, there are even currencies that are unknown to most knowledgeable financiers of the galaxy. Each circle, outside of Vestibule, has a particular manager that oversees the day-to-day management of the borough. These managers have their own form of law-enforcement and code of 'justice'. Each manager has their own set of motives and plans for their circle, giving outsiders a chance to earn a place for themselves or a way on to the Black Pyramid. All of the managers answer to the Controller, the ruler of the Villa of All Men / Black Pyramid, and all of them want to stay on the Controller's good side.

Each circle can have an effect on the emotions and perceptions on people who live and work within them. When a character enters a circle for the first time, and every 12 hours there after, they must make a roll to avoid being influenced by the psychosphere of the circle. If the character succeeds, they avoid being influenced by the circle. If the character fails, and depending on the degree of failure, the particular feeling will have a stronger impact on the characters' behaviors and actions. While these states of mind do not have a direct mechanical effect, players and GM's are encouraged to roleplay out these mental changes.

Influence Mechanics

Machinations of the Space Princess: Characters must roll a Will save every time they enter a new circle and every 12 hours there after. A successful save means that they avoid the effects of the circle's influence. A failure, but not on a roll of a natural '1', means that they are dogged by the particular feeling exuded by the circle. A character who has failed their save in this way can be reminded that they are acting oddly, and will be able to 'pull themselves together' for a short time before slipping back into their previous behaviors. A failure because of a natural '1' results in the character being completely under the sway of the circle, and cannot recognize the fact that they are acting oddly.

Alpha Blue: Characters must roll a save every time they enter a new circle and every 12 hours there after. The save will normally be 2D6, but additional dice may be added depending on the characters' mindset and the current situation.

Save Results

6: Character overcomes and becomes immune to the influence of the circle for 24 hours.

5 – 4: Character overcomes the influence of the circle, but must make another save in 12 hours.

3 – 2: Character is dogged by the particular feeling exuded by the circle. A character who has failed their save in this way can be reminded that they are acting oddly, and will be able to 'pull themselves together' for a short time before slipping back into their previous behaviors. May make another save in 12 hours to shake the effect.

1: Character is completely under the sway of the circle, and cannot recognize the fact that they are acting oddly. The character must wait 24 hours before making another save to shake the effect.

OSR: Characters must roll a save versus Device every time they enter a new circle and every 12 hours there after. A successful save means that they avoid the effects of the circle's influence. A failure, but not on a roll of a natural '1', means that they are dogged by the particular feeling exuded by the circle. A character who has failed their save in this way can be reminded that they are acting oddly, and will be able to 'pull themselves together' for a short time before slipping back into their previous behaviors. A failure because of a natural '1' results in the character being completely under the sway of the circle, and cannot recognize the fact that they are acting oddly.

Scared people on ruined streets...

 

Vestibule

Manager: None

Feeling: Alone, without protection from anyone or anything. General paranoia that 'somebody' might be out to 'get them'.

Description: While the order of the circles may change from rumor to rumor, Vestibule is always the first place outsiders see when they arrive in Circle City. Vestibules' streets are strewn with bits of broken glass and compact-discs, giving them the appearance of prismatic star fields. The residents move from place to place furtively, as if hunted, leaving the streets devoid of loitering and pleasure seeking. There is no evidence of any group or individual being in control of Vestibule, be it official control or criminal. The entirety of Vestibule has the feel of being over-worn without the luxury of maintenance. Streets are littered with trash and dilapidated vehicles, streetlamps flicker until they burn out without hope of repair. Flickering holograms dance above most of the buildings, each a false advertisement of liveliness. Within the places, people shed only a small part of the anxiety they show on the streets. Interactions are subdued here, reduced to the fewest words or gestures to get the point across. When approached, people have a tendency to act as if cornered, which can make interactions unpredictable at times.

People of any species or ethnicity can be found in Vestibule, but few are willing to interact with outsiders. Shopkeepers, bartenders, and motel staff only talk long enough to conduct business before receding back into another part of their establishment or themselves. Getting information usually requires a bit of effort, or money on the part of the questioner.

Morning: Drunks stagger out of the bars, gazing about warily as they make their way to whatever cheap motel of flop-house they call home. People walking or driving to work as quickly as possible without speeding or running. People avoid each others gazes or an unnecessary interactions.

Mid-Day: The streets are a bit more populated, with people willing to engage in very short interactions before shying away. Those on the street continue to look about nervously while going about their business. Those in businesses and bars might linger for a few moments to talk.

Night: Streets are practically deserted, with people running or speeding to their destinations. If approached on the street people will either flee or become violent unless effort is made to calm them down. Shopkeepers, bartenders, and other business people will openly carry various kinds of weapons as they do their job. Business interactions are kept as brief as possible, real effort is needed to get anything more from the individuals.

The Reworking of an Idea

Circle City Nights

General Aspects

In the city, streets are made of night and smooth asphalt, eating the neon brilliance cast upon them. Broken glass, scattered on the roads, forms pin-point constellations of reflected light from headlights. People, dressed in bright and varied colors move up and down the under-lit sidewalks. The cloth they wear is light itself, smoothing skin and sharpening features, leaving tracers in the wake of their passing. Everyone on these streets are Nagel portraits, perfect in the artificial light. The city lives in twilight and night, untouched by a sun's harsh glow. Days are bathed in orange, blue, and lavender, the illumination gentle upon the world. Night is moonless, a sky of prismatic, neon stars spaced with the void. The city is a place of rings, embracing one another to a black pyramid centerpiece. Each ring bears similarities to the others, though bearing their own style as well, a unique voice added to the same song.

Simplistic Design

 

Travel

Travel between the circles can be difficult, with direct travel being nearly impossible. Each circle is separated from one another by smooth, black walls that absorb light like the streets. Without hand-holds, the wall is nearly impossible to climb unassisted. With tools, like gecko gloves or anti-grav boots, people may climb the walls, but they appear to have no end to the one climbing them. To those who are observing the climber, they make normal progress until the mid-point. Once the mid-point is reached, the climber seems to stop their upward progress, though they continue to move as if they were climbing. The climber perceives continued progress, yet no matter how long they climb, they never reach the top. The climb down always takes as much time as it took to reach the mid-point.

The only means of travel between the circles is the deep-rail, a subway system that can connect the circles. The connections are inconsistent at the best of times, having no consistent time table of connecting trains. Each borough has twelve deep-rail stations, arrayed around the circle like the numbers of a clock. The stations have number, letter, or symbol designations, though there seems to be no system as to how the designations are assigned. The only patterns that exist are the colors of the trains and their destination. To reach the black pyramid at the center of the city, called 'The Villa of All Men', one has to take the black train from a station in the 8^th circle. All trains, from every station in the same circle, will be to the same destination during a 24 hour period. While trains let people out from a particular circle, they don't take passengers back to the previous circle. Those attempting to enter a train that is the same color as their circle, will find that they always step out another door onto the platform of the station. Those that time their actions so that the doors are closed when they would normally step back out onto the platform are never seen again, outside of the occasional limb or digit that appears on the station platform days later.

The deep-rail stations are minimalist by design. The stations consist of basic, brushed-aluminum railings and fittings and unadorned poured concrete floors, walls, and ceilings. A single bathroom can be used by either sex, basic as the rest of the station. Trains arrive from other stations every 13 minutes, trains depart to other stations every 17 minutes. Departing trains rarely go to the same stations as the arrival trains come from.

Train Destinations by Color

Vestibule – White

1^st Circle – Blue

2^nd Circle – Red

3^rd Circle – Brown

4^th Circle – Green

5^th Circle – Yellow

6^th Circle – Orange

7^th Circle – Pink

8^th Circle – Purple

9^th Circle – Black

Random Station Designations – 1D6

There is no set system to how the stations are designated. One station might be assigned a letter, while another station in the same circle might be assigned a shape or number.

1. Letters
2. Shapes
3. Numbers
4. Greek Letters
5. Opening Lines of Famous Novels
6. Names of Famous Paradoxes

Letters – There are 26 in the standard English Alphabet. There are also 33 in the Standard Russian Alphabet.

Shapes – 1D20

1. Circle
2. Oval
3. Crescent
4. Curvilinear Triangle
5. Quatrefoil
6. Square
7. Rectangle
8. Parallelogram
9. Trapezoid
10. Trapezium
11. Triangle
12. Kite
13. Rhombus
14. Pentagon
15. Hexagon
16. Heptagon
17. Octagon
18. Nonagon
19. Decagon
20. Dodecagon

Numbers – 1D20

While you can just assign a random number, here are some fun/strange numbers you can use.

1. Pi – 3.1415926535897...
2. Euler's Number – 2.7182818284590...
3. Euler's Constant – 0.5772156649015...
4. Feigenbaum's 1^st Constant – 4.6692016091029...
5. Feigenbaum's 2^nd Constant – 2.5029078750958...
6. The Number of The Beast – 666
7. Googolplex – 10 ^ Googol (1 w/ 100 zeros behind it)
8. Golden Ratio – 1.6180339887498...
9. Total Number of Natural Rubik's Cube Permutations – 43,252,003,274,489,856,000
10. Unlucky Western Culture Number – 13
11. Unlucky Eastern Culture Number – 4
12. Jenny's Phone Number – 867-309
13. Liouville's Number – 0.1100010000000000000000010...
14. Chapernowne's Number – 0.1234567891011...
15. Square Root of -1 – i
16. Speed of Light in Meters Per Second – 299,792,458
17. Avagadro's Constant – 6.0022 x 10^23
18. Efficiency of Hydrogen Fusion – 0.007
19. Absolute Zero – -459.67 Fahrenheit / -273.15 Celsius
20. Planck Constant in Joule Seconds – 6.626070040(81)×10 ^ −34

Greek Letters – There are 24 letters in the Greek Alphabet.

Opening Lines of Famous Novels – 1D20

1. “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” — Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
2. “Pale freckled eggs.” — Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist
3. “It was raining in Richmond on Friday, June 6.” — Patricia Cornwell, Postmortem
4. “Dear Anyone Who Finds This, Do not blame the drugs.” — Lynda Barry, Cruddy
5. “They shoot the white girl first.” — Toni Morrison, Paradise
6. “Don’t look for dignity in public bathrooms.” — Victor LaValle, Big Machine
7. “I can feel the heat closing in, feel them out there making their moves, setting up their devil doll stool pigeons, crooning over my spoon and dropper I throw away at Washington Square Station.” — William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch
8. “I’ve been cordially invited to join the visceral realists.” — Roberto Bolańo, The Savage Detectives
9. “See the child.” — Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
10. “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” — Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
11. “Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his.” — Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
12. “He speaks in your voice, American, and there’s a shine in his eyes that’s halfway hopeful.” — Don DeLillo, Underworld
13. “A screaming comes across the sky.” — Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
14. “I’ll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination.” — Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness
15. “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” — Stephen King, The Gunslinger
16. "Call me Ishmael." — Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
17. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." — George Orwell, 1984
18. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
19. "Mother died today." — Albert Camus, The Stranger
20. "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." — William Gibson, Neuromancer

List of Logical Paradoxes – 1D20

1. Epimenides Paradox
2. Barber Paradox
3. Bhartrhari's Paradox
4. Berry Paradox
5. Crocodile Dilemma
6. Paradox of the Court
7. Curry's Paradox
8. Liar Paradox
9. Grelling–Nelson Paradox
10. Kleene–Rosser Paradox
11. Card Paradox
12. Pinocchio Paradox
13. Quine's Paradox
14. Yablo's Paradox
15. Opposite Day
16. Petronius' Paradox
17. Richard's Paradox
18. Russell's Paradox
19. Socratic Paradox
20. Sorites Paradox

Bright Lights, Big City

Generating Circle City

In each campaign Circle City will be different, the layout being randomly generated. The rules for generating the city are relatively simple:

• Vestibule will always be the outermost circle the characters arrive in when leaving the airlock.
• The Black Pyramid / The Villa of All Men is always the innermost area.
• The areas between Vestibule and The Black Pyramid are generated using random number generation.
• There must always be a Vestibule and Black Pyramid, but the GM may add or subtract circles between the two places.
• There are 8 'official' circles, but GM's are encouraged to make up their own or change the 'official' ones to fit their story better.
• The colors of the trains always remain the same, no matter which circle a particular place resides in.

Continuing a work in progress.

Death in under the neon glow.

I'm a blackstar, way up, oh honey, I've got game...

It's a tall tale told by space-truckers and spacers getting on in years. A Shangri-La of sex, drugs, neon, and questionable enlightenment. A place to rest your bones when they've become too brittle for the re-entry G's. The Church of Mad Rapture, or The Church of Mad Love. An one ship kingdom. A neon space cathedral. All of it ruled over by Zigg, the king and pope of a religion of entwined bodies and chemical escape. It's a secret church, preached by old trucker-junkies on their way toward that last long haul.

AB - Supposedly the knights, doesn't matter which color, are looking for it too. More than likely they're too busy fighting each other, or picking up busty waitresses in the case of the blues. The church is a massive structure, almost the size of Alpha Blue, but Alpha Blue will always be the biggest thing in the galaxy. Alpha Blue is the size of a LSD dream, and those go on forever.

SP / OSR - Old religions, and new, are looking for The Church. Some want the possible truths that could be found in the Blackstar Gospel. Others want what stray bits of enlightenment might be wandering the hallways and vestibules of the void cathedral. The church is massive, its halls go on forever, and its exterior goes on nearly as far.

 

The divinity of neon.

The Church of Mad Rapture is a mass of statues, lost TV's from seedy motels, and the neon signs from every dive-bar that ever has been or ever will be. The statues commemorate: Catholic and Orthodox saints, Hindu deities, Muhammad (his face obscured by the dust of centuries to preserve the faith), the Buddha in all of his (or her) various and enlightened forms, gods that were forgotten, goddesses that never were, and deities that might have been if they were given half a chance. The TV's play reruns of crooked game-shows and infomercials selling sex. All the sets are old CRT models, their pictures flickering and rolling in the silence of the void. The neon signs call out in the dark spaces, filling the emptiness with the soft glory of their light. It's impossible to see each sign individually, they've been layered over one another by the millions to create two signs that spells out, 'REST YOUR SOUL – LOVE YOUR BODY – EXPAND YOUR MIND' and below that 'VACANCY' without an unlit 'NO'. There is always space at Zigg's place. The only parts not festooned with flickering anachronisms and holy idols are the docking ports.There is always an open space amid the thousands of abandoned spacecraft. 

A city of darkness and light.

When I looked in her eyes, they were blue, but nobody home.

The airlocks and docks are all chrome and neon, welcoming every newcomer with their own reflection bathed in soft pinks and blues. The spaces are filled with the sharp sound of primitive midi-music, the air-vents kicking out an something even sharper, the smell of sweet ether.

Beyond the air-locks is Circle City, a place of concentric rings with a mile tall pyramid at its center.

Where slick beauty is the norm.

   

In the city, Asphalt streets are made of night, eating the city's neon brilliance. Broken glass, scattered on the roads, make pin-point constellations from reflected light. People, dressed in bright, and often impossible, colors move up and down the under-lit sidewalks. All races of the galaxy, including every ethnicity of humanity, live in the city, going about their lives as they would anywhere else. The cloth they wear is made of light, smoothing skin and sharpening features, turning everyone into a Nagel portrait.

Each circle of the city is a borough, ten in total, beginning with Vestibule. Vestibule is a quintessential space port, filled with: bars, brothels, strip-clubs, and all-night pharmacies. Wandering between glass fronts and neon signs, the hopeful begin their first step of their journey toward enlightenment. Every establishment a temple for the word of Zigg. The men and women in these temples devoted to excess are the monks and nuns of Zigg's religion. They bring temptation and pleasure to all those who pass through their temple doors, pushing them to the city's ultimate enlightenment. Zigg's priests are the slot-machines that fill the lobbies of the flop-houses that dot the streets of the borough. The machines spit out key shaped containers for the needles that deliver Zigg's true enlightenment, a drug called Moksha. Once in the bloodstream, the drug reduces the functionality of the right Parietal Lobe while also interacting with opiate receptors, the result is a state of extreme euphoria matched with physical pleasure.

To pay for each pull of the slot-machines one must earn Kama tokens through acts that fulfill mental and physical desires. The drug Moksha, and the fact that each pull of the slot-machine won't always result in a payout of the drug, pushes people to engage in increasing acts of hedonism. The final stage of this spiral of substance and gambling addiction is the complete numbing to physical and mental pleasure, all acts devoted to winning the next hit of Moksha.

 

To find a man named Zigg

This is the current project I am working on, it will be geared toward Alpha Blue, Machinations of the Space Princess, and OSR. Right now, the narrative is geared toward Alpha Blue, but as I work on it, it will include more setting neutral narratives as well.

And I'm busting up my brains for the words...

Drinking away the blues...

Most journeys begin in one of two ways:

A big mouth, in a small bar...

A crew-mate leaning forward, suspicious gaze sweeping the room, whispers over Black-Hole Brew in an Alpha Blue dive...

“Best friend's brother's friend of a friend has seen IT out a hull window.”

“It? You mean?”

“Yeah. Zigg's kingdom. The Church of Mad Rapture.”

“Nah, old spacer's tale. Somebody seein' stuff. Probally tweakin' on Acid Meth.”

“Nope, got pics. See?”

“Damn... Where is this? Is that a black star?”

“Yup. Got the coordinates right here too. Wanna go for a ride?”

A dangerous book in eager hands...

You finally got it, damned if you can retrace the steps back to the start, though.

Years? Months? Weeks? Days?

Doesn't matter, drugs make the mind work and time just slides on by.

Really dangerous now, gotta lay low.

The Blackstar Gospel, written by Zigg himself.

It's all here: Kelob's coordinates, the final words of Brahma Christos the Aeon Sattva, the secret of The True Ecstatic Rapture, the path of Enlightenment Through Pleasure, the secret of the keys, and the history of Zigg the first homosupreme.

Better move fast, damn knights want this thing too. White, black, and blue. All of them want it.

But it doesn't matter, they can't have it. You'll die before they get their damn hands on The Gospel.

You got a ship, cash, and nothing to tie you down.

You're good to go...

Kelob, the black-star itself.

 

I'm a blackstar, way up, oh honey, I've got game...

It's a tall tale told by space-truckers and spacers getting on in years. A Shangri-La of sex, drugs, neon, and enlightenment. A place to rest your bones when they've become too brittle for the re-entry G's. The Church of Mad Rapture, or The Church of Mad Love. An one ship kingdom. A neon space cathedral. All of it ruled over by Zigg, the king and pope of a religion of sex and drugs. It's a secret church, preached by old trucker-junkies on their way toward that last long haul. Supposedly the knights, doesn't matter which color, are looking for it too. More than likely they're too busy fighting each other, or picking up busty waitresses in the case of the blues.

The church is a massive structure, almost the size of Alpha Blue, but Alpha Blue will always be the biggest thing in the galaxy. Alpha Blue is the size of a LSD dream, and those go on forever. The Church of Mad Rapture is a mass of statues, lost TV's from seedy motels, and the neon signs from every dive-bar that ever has been or ever will be. The statues commemorate: Catholic and Orthodox saints, Hindu deities, Muhammad (his face obscured by the dust of centuries), the Buddha in all of his (or her) various and enlightened forms, gods that were forgotten, goddesses that never were, and deities that might have been if they were given half a chance. The TV's play reruns of crooked game-shows and porn from the late 1990's. All the sets are old CRT models, their pictures flickering and rolling in the silence of the void. Finally, the neon signs. It's impossible to see each sign individually, they've been layered over one another by the millions create a single sign that spells out, 'REST YOUR SOUL – LOVE YOUR BODY – EXPAND YOUR MIND' and below that 'VACANCY' without an unlit 'NO'. There is always space at Zigg's place. The only parts not festooned with flickering anachronisms and holy idols are the docking ports. They're universal ports, capable of accepting the biggest warship or the smallest one-man skiff. There is always an open space amid the thousands of abandoned spacecraft.

It orbits the fabled Kelob, the star God stood on when he hacked Earth out of His nicotine soaked lungs. Supposedly, God took note of this strange piece of flesh he birthed, then flung it out to orbit Sol before going back to figuring out how to kill Himself. Right before He committed suicide, turning Kelob black, he considered humanity for a moment, then shot himself. These divine last thoughts are the undead audio that Kelob echoes in the radio whine of stars, disregarded by most as a religious telethon from a long extinct alien species.

Supposedly Zigg was the first to find this place, and to take note of the black star's radio cry. From within the Church, Zigg composed The Blackstar gospel based on his translations of God's last thoughts about humanithy. The Church is really just a bit of God's Amygdala that escaped Kelob's gravity well, carried out the side of God's head along with the Divine Bullet. As to it's physical shape, perhaps God's brains were much different than humanity's, or Zigg shaped it into something that could recognized. Now it orbits the black star Kelob, waiting for those faithful spacers who are now in on the big secret.

The Man and The Mystery.

I'm the great I am (I'm a blackstar)...

The identity and history of Zigg is difficult to nail down. The information he gives about himself in The Blackstar Gospel is contradictory. In the end, most just choose one of the identities he presents as they head toward The Church.

Who is Zigg? – 1D6

1) Major Thomas Freecloud: The first documented homosupreme in the Terran Aerospace Force. He disappeared during the maiden voyage of Earth's first hyperspace capable ship, The Space Oddity. The ship was using a prototype version of a now obsolete engine call the Eno-Berlin Triad Drive.

2) Guy Stardust: Minor world celebrity and economics prodigy who grew tired of life on Earth. Before leaving Earth, he was THE supreme real estate tycoon, owning roughly 90% of the Earth. The night before he boarded his ship, The Mars Spider, he sold the world to a homeless beggar for 1 credit.

3) Aladdin Sane: A highly talented musician and artist who suffered from schizophrenia. His mental illness was exacerbated by his near endless tour schedule, days spent painting without any sleep, and a serious addiction to Acid Meth and Pink Floyd. In a drug induced fugue he stole a ship belonging to a now forgotten movie star, though the ship is remembered as The Prettiest Star. Before blinking into hyperspace on a random trajectory he transmitted, “Who will love Aladdin Sane? Millions weep a fountain, in case of sunrise.”

4) Thomas Jerome Newton, Duke of Stations: A neo-aristocrat from Earth's first orbital habitat cluster, known for a thin romantic veneer over an emotionless void. He quickly squandered his inheritance on a Space Cocaine that grew to near legendary levels. In order to curb his habit and 'get his head together' he boarded his ship, the TCV 15, and blasted off to parts unknown.

5) Jareth King: One of the earliest dons of Terra Nostra, Jareth refined the act of kidnapping and ransom into a true art. For decades he ruled from a labyrinthine extra-dimensional complex, increasing the power and influence of Terra Nosta by ten-fold. It was during a internal Terra Nostra power struggle (i.e. a shootout) that he was mortally wounded. Jareth King was last seen stumbling aboard his ship, The Goblin, right before it blasted off to parts unknown.

6) Screamin' Lord Byron (a.k.a Vic Bluejean): A washed out rock singer who's music never evolved from the defunct genre that spawned it twenty years earlier. Before his widely publicized disappearance, Screamin' Lord Byron / Vic was playing state fairs and festivals. After years of abusing his body with every drug he could get his hands on, had to be carted in a wheel chair with an oxygen tank by the time of his last show at the Alpha Blue Annual Swap Meet. His motivations remain unknown to this day, but what is known is that he stole a rusted out ore-hauler named The Freak Factor minutes before he was to appear on stage. A police chase ensued, during which he announced that he was renaming the ship 'Dream' and he was going to go find 'a screamin' new star jam sound' deep in the galactic core. Soon after his announcement his ship slipped into hyperspace, pointed in the exact opposite direction from the galaxy's core.