Have you ever written lore about the other cities of the Imperium for your games?
A while ago, I statred thinking about Cloudspire, the only major city in Akoros which is not also a port. I have a bit of homemade lore about it, and maybe I’ll end up DMing a campaign there. I don’t have factions yet, but they’ll come.
Cloudspire is a city in Akoros. Built in a giant quarry, it used to be a mining city. Today it is known for being the main center for food production on the continent. It is organized in vertical levels, with the most privileged social classes living on top, and the destitute at the bottom, amidst the noxious fumes of the industry. In the near deathlands lie the ruins of a pre-cataclysmic civilization that are often explored for precious artefacts.
In the past centuries, the city was a wealthy one thanks the the precious ore deposits that were mined there. However, twenty-nine years ago, the veins started depleting one after the other. The noble families who owned the mines were ruined in a matter of months, and only those who had investments elsewhere survived. The economical situation of the whole city tanked rapidly, and the poor started living truly hellish lives. Many chose to leave the city to try their luck in Wintercliff, the Imperial City, or further.
It was eight eight years ago that the salvation came to the city in the form of the new Lord Governor. He brought with him plans for a new type of industry : a factory capable of producing great quantities of food without the need for radiant energy, which reperesnted a tremendous economy for the Imperium. He found investors amongst the richest class in town, the merchants (who included a few nobles who had not completely fallen into poverty) to help build this industry. Cloudspire then knew a new age of prosperity and the now insanely rich ruling class reinvested the district which was once the pride of the nobility. Vast cargos of food were exported from the city, allowing the other imperial towns to devote their ressources to less agricultural endeavors.
The industry produces a lot of toxic fumes, but the smoke is so heavy that it goes down instead of up; so it is dumped in the bottom districts, where the paupers and factory workers live. Consequently they don’t live very long lives, but a constant stream of new workers arrive every night form the whole Imperium to keep the biggest food source running. The most dangerous and exhausting jobs are done by convicts and scoundrels who often never live to see the end of their sentence.
Although most of the city is built of levels on the side of the quarry, there are many tunnels and mine shafts going deep into the side of evey district, especially in the lower levels. It is said that shady dealings occur in those unsafe and uncharted warrens. They can be used to go from one level to another, but the safest and most common mode of transportation is the tram line that goes all around the city. There are also freight lifts for the industry, and ladders used by those who c’ant afford better. The arrival into Cloudspire is made by train, offering a beautiful view of the city through the gigantic railway bridge going from one side of the quarry to another, and overlooking the whole area.
Because of its past wealth, Cloudspire is traditionally known as the city that patronizes fine arts and archeology, and the new captains of industry are set on perpetuating this heritage. However, they are more interested in art as a exterior sign of wealth, so litterature and poetry have fallen into disfavour. Costly expeditions are sent regularly into the Deathlands to retreive artefacts in the nearby ruins, escpecially in the crumbling wall of what used to be an impressive tower, which gave its name to the city. Such expeditions are staffed with Deathlands Scavengers brought from other cities like Doskvol.The interest of the wealthy for art and history led them to create many a museum, bearing the name of their benefactors. This practice is considered as ostentatious by the remaining old noble houses, who are said to be envious of those “nouveaux riches”.
That’s all I have for now, but I’ll add new things when I com up with them.
Do tell if you ever had ideas like this.
PS: Sorry if my syntax is weird sometimes, as English is not my native language ^^
