The Ink Rakes - a faction born from a truce

[Ben_Hooley]

The Ink Rakes

My players and I are about to embark on our first game of BitD and have so far completed a Session Zero.
From the outset, the players were keen to play a crew of shadows with journalistic ties and my imagination was fired by the different ways I could represent the media in Doskvol - perhaps making some newspaper headline handouts for the crew to read about not only their own exploits, but also the possibilities of new opportunities.

Not one of the major factions in the book, the Ink Rakes would need some fleshing out if they were going to act front stage in our campaign. Some major NPCs? What would the major newspapers of Doskvol look like? How many would there be?

Here are my musings on the subject as well as some designs for 5 notable periodicals. I’ve used free fonts and robbed reference material from various google searches, so its not all original, but feel free to DM me if you’d like any of the vector files for personal use.

The Ink Rakes are a loose conglomeration of journalists, reporters and publishers who represent the entire sphere of political opinion and encompass all political poles and cultural standpoints of the Shattered Isles.
How is this possible? Surely the rivalry that exists in a world where everyone is clamouring for the same exclusive and desperately trying to beat one another to the next scoop would preclude much cooperation, let alone the unity required to represent as an organised faction.

Perhaps there is only one periodical in Doskvol? The official mouthpiece of the City Council maybe? But that would deny ourselves all the fun that the aforementioned rivalry would produce and it seems a bit limited as a solution. Many of the powerful factions of the Haunted City would likely wish to advertise their opinions and use the media to further their own specific agendas, and they would surely have the means to manage it.

So how do all those disparate pieces fit together to form a single faction?

I decided to make the solution a simple one.
After a crescendo of violent sabotage which threatened the very existence of the publishing industry - The one thing that rival publishers could agree on is that there is safety in numbers and there’s enough of a threat in the city without constant fighting amongst themselves.
The faction therefore exists as the embodiment of a truce forged by the Editors of the city’s premier newspapers.
Most publishing houses affiliated to the Ink Rakes are situated in the neighbourhood of the Docks district known as ‘The Tar’, although notable exceptions include the Charterhall University Press and the Doskvol Academy Press. All (paid up) members of the Rakes therefore are solemnly sworn to treat their fellows with support and respect. The Tar is considered hallowed ground.

Newspapers

The (Whitecrown) Chronicle
Published daily. 16 page saddle stitched EST: 556 IE

Mouthpiece of the City Council, second only to the Scuttle in readership

Patron: The City Council
Publisher: Doskvol Academy Press
Readership: Distributed throughout the City - widely read by all walks of life.
Cost: Free
Editor: Professor Julius Welker, answering directly to The City Council

The Brightstone Bugle
Published daily. 32 pages saddle stitched EST: 620 IE

An ostentatious journal featuring, News, Financial reports, and reportage of Cultural and Social Events

Patron: House Clelland
Publisher: Clelland News Corp.
Readership: Conservative, upper class, aspirational White collar workers and academics.
Cost: 5 Scales
Editor: Hamish Clelland, Editor-in-Chief. A Bullish advocate of the Nobility (a Canon of the Church of Ecstacy)

The Cypher
Published monthly. 32 pages, saddle-stitched. EST: 760 IE

News and Academic features with a distinctly ‘Occult’ bent.

Patron: Official: The Charterhall University Students Association Top Secret: Lady Penderyn on behalf of The Circle of Flame
Publisher: Charterhall University Press
Readership: Intellectuals, Academics, Charterhall students, Artists and outsiders
Cost: 1 Scale
Editor: The Editor of The Cypher is elected yearly from and by the Charterhall alumni who have previously had work published in the periodical. Current incumbent is Ferris Latterly, an amiable aficionado of Alchemical romance. The Editor’s contact with the paper’s true patron is a physically imposing Severosi called Jonathan Owl’s Cry who also works as a doorman at the Centuralia Club and is regularly possessed by ‘Rayosa’ , a spirit of the Reconciled.

The Daily Scuttle

Published daily. ‘One-sheeter’ EST: 680 IE

A sensationalist propaganda machine which foments division, exclusion and fear and encourages bigotry. Used exclusively by House Strangford to promote their own agendas. Perhaps the success of the ‘Scuttle - its readership overshadowing that of the Chronicle - is partly to blame for the Council’s attempt to oust Strangford?

Patron: Lord Strangford
Publisher: Strangford Press Corp.
Readership: The highest readership of any periodical. Predominantly working and lower class, although frequently considered de rigueur by the nobility, allies and enemies of House Strangford alike.
Cost: Free
Editor: Kristof Strangford, Editor-In-Chief. A plummy moron, loathed by his noble family and grudging employees alike, ably assisted by Naula Farisan, an Irruvian former first mate on one of Strangford’s Leviathan hunters.

The Doskvol Echo
Published daily. ‘One-sheeter’ EST: 790 IE

Dedicated to representing the working classes, the Echo is the political rival of the Scuttle. A large classified section (published weekly) features advertisements for hundreds of businesses across the City.

Patron: Paid for by advertisements
Publisher: The Pitchwater Print Co.
Readership: Working Classes, Merchants and Traders
Cost: Free
Editor: Megara Finley, Editor - founding member of the Ink Rakes. Daughter of Frederica Finley - a prominent Cabbie with connections to many of the lower class Citizens groups of Doskvol.

Publishers

Charterhall University Press
NPCs: The Editor of The Cypher is elected yearly from and by the Charterhall alumni who have previously had work published in the periodical. Current incumbent is Ferris Latterly, an amiable aficionado of Alchemical romance. The Editor’s chief contact with the paper’s true patron is a physically imposing Severosi called Jonathan Owl’s Cry who also works as a doorman at the Centuralia Club and is possessed by ‘Bruvnik’ a spirit of the Reconciled.

Clelland News Corp.
NPCs: Hamish Clelland, Editor-in-Chief. A Bullish advocate of the Nobility (a Canon of the Church of Ecstacy)
Doskvol Academy Press
NPCs: Professor Julius Welker, answering directly to The City Council, Welker is a cloistered academic with a penchant for… something no doubt.

Pitchwater Print Co.
NPCs: Megara Finley, Editor - founding member of the Ink Rakes. Daughter of Frederica Finley - a prominent Cabbie with connections to many of the lower class Citizens groups of Doskvol.

Strangford Press Corp.
NPCs: Kristof Strangford, Editor-In-Chief. A plummy moron, loathed by his noble family and grudging employees alike, ably assisted by Naula Farisan, an Irruvian former first mate on one of Strangford’s Leviathan hunters.

[zjeps (Zach)]

Glad you posted this! My players just acquired a cohort of “newsies” and I was trying to think of ways Ink Rake folks (or someone representing their patrons) would pay the players a visit with concerns about the cohort missing their shifts of selling papers because they were helping the crew.

[Ben_Hooley]

Thanks! I hope the list above is useful for NPCs at least. I’m guessing your Crew could either pay the Rake Coin, or tell them to go jump off a pier. I’m likely going to be using Meg Finley of the Echo as an NPC Questgiver and Jonathan Owl’s Cry as an antagonist (the starting situation is +1 with the Ink Rakes and -1 with the Circle of Flame

[Steve_the_Lurk]

These look really nice. Not sure if they’d quite fit in my campaign, but if I need a newspaper suddenly at some point, I may borrow at least some of the ideas

With my proofreading hat on, the Bugle is listed as costing 5 scales, but the masthead image has 5 shillings - don’t know if those are equivalent names in your Doskvol?

[Ben_Hooley]

Thanks Steve_the_Lurk !

I put Shillings on, probably as a spur of the moment thing when designing it to sound a little more ‘proper’. Scales and Slugs are Doskvol slang - as per the book - for the most commonly used silver currency. I expect the aristocracy refer to them by their proper name if at all.

If you do ever need a tweak to the artwork for your campaign, just ping me and I’d be happy to send over something bespoke. Best :B

[SmokeRaven]

these are amazing and i’d love to borrow for my game . . . i’m stuck trying to think of a fairly low-key way to generate actual one-pager with these logos so papers could provide hooks, news, and reporting on events that may be related to crew actions depending on what they do.

do you have an approach f or generating little one-pager newspapers?

[Ben_Hooley]

I would start by writing the story you want to tell the players. If it doesn’t fill up a page of newspaper shaped text, don’t worry - you can either fill up space with in-game appropriate ads, or other business - OR you can just run them in a different format - header of the paper you like, plus headline, plus 1, 2, or 3 columns of story - whatever looks best - you can design that in InDesign, or Word, or Google Docs whatever your skillset or budget allows.

I havent ended up using the newspapers in this way, although I have definitely benefited from having done this groundwork - my Crew have interracted with several different editors from the Ink Rakes faction, but this is my first BitD campaign and I’m really finding I’m embracing the zero-prep possibilities of GMing this amazing game. My players are having a blast - I’m having a blast and I barely even read my own notes fortnight - to fortnight - let alone design and print a fictional newspaper I’m glad to have done this work in advance though - The City of Doskvol seems more real when you know how The Daily Scuttle would report the fallout from a Score.