The Necropolis

The Necropolis   The Hierarchy  The Others

The Skinlands side of Dallas is much as it is in real life - most of the city looks like itself, apart from the change in tone, from the normal to the sinister and grim. From the viewpoint of the dead, all is changed. The buildings in which they used to live look decayed and ramshackle, due to the warping effects of the death-shroud. Ignoring these Skinlands walls is easy, if you don't mind a little pain. But there are elements of the Shadowlands that make you forget about the bricks of the living world quickly. The first thing you would notice would be the rolling skies, looking somewhat like boiling mist. Looking at the landscape around you, the color you used to see is gone. Apart from the loudest Skinlands colors, that are discernable as faint traces, everything exists in shades of dark, sickening gray. The street lamps of the living seem faint and illusional, the only true illumination in the underworld being the occasional blue-green flames of soulfire lanterns.

The border of the Necropolis proper, as the Hierarchy defines it, is outlined by a heavy chain fence circling the entire inner city. Outside the gates wraiths of all types eke out their miserable existence, but inside the Hierarchy tries to uphold the law and order of the Stygian ideal.

Places of note

One of the strongest and most infamous Haunts in the city is the Garvin Memorial Cemetary. This archaic burial site is small, overgrown and crumbling, but the Shroud is lower within its walls than nearly any other place in the Necropolis. Despite of this, no individual group lays claim to it. Several Hierarchy circles use the cemetary as their haven, despite, not because of, their allegiance - no wraith has ever been forbidden entry. Surprisingly, the Haunt is never overcrowded... and rumours always circulate about the secret behind Garvin Memorial.

For the city's Hierarchs, the most important building is the Citadel itself. Located over a closed-down gas station in the western part of the city, this is a massive relic building that used to serve as living quarters before it was condemned and torn down. After it appeared in the Shadowlands it was extensively redecorated by the Hierarchy, and now serves as the headquarters of the legions and their Anacreons. It is a brooding, monolithic building, even more so with the buttresses and window-bars that have been added in soulsteel since the building's demise.

An abandoned warehouse not far from the city limits serves as the city's forges. Here the walls have been reinforced with soulsteel throughout the structure, to protect the important function it fulfills. Massive Shadowlands bellows and industrial machinery are found here, as the artificers toil every night smelting down the thralls and criminals that have been judged too weak to exist. Quarters for the artificers and their Master are there too, as well as for the legion cohorts stationed there. The military support of this building is the heaviest in the city, as it is a prime target for attacks by idealistic renegades. That, and the massive military escorts needed for the slave trains, is the reason that particular region of the city is the most dangerous to be in if you're not a member of the omnipresent Hierarchy.

Actual Shadowlands architecture is rare, but it is occasionally found around the city. Haunts are relatively common, and many souls have found a sanctuary of their own in which to slumber and conduct their business. Then again, many wraiths have chosen their homes to be their old apartments, offices, or somewhere similar, where they feel they belong, and are able to feed off the emotions sparked by their former lives. They are the silent majority of the restless.

Remember that these are just guidelines, locations you might like to include in your stories, or might not. When it boils down to it, it is a large city, and if there is anything you require it is probably there.

The Necropolis   The Hierarchy  The Others