Salvage

by R J Theodore

  Assessor’s Hall: A long stretch of alley in Subrosa, adjacent to the Corrugated District, where pawnshop kiosks crowd the relatively dark passages.

  Avurindo: the area of Lippen featuring restaurants, shops, galleries, and museums, catering to tourists and visitors. Largely, it has formed since the battle of Nexus resulted in increased traffic to Heddard Bay. The museums and galleries were the former laboratories of the minor alchemists of Lippen, who grew more profitable and moved into the library district and the larger facilities there.

  Avurlaza: A looping tunnel which forms the gambling district of Lippen, featuring funhouses, casinos, and bars.

  Boland: A rural island located in Rakkar “skies” which is home to several farms and a Breaker-run university (as if a Breaker-run educational system would be so clearly definable) teaching ecology and animal husbandry and medicine.

  Chapel of the First Soul: A speak-easy styled chapel dedicated to Meran. Located in the basement freezer of a bakery in Talonpoint on Fall Island.

  Diadem: The Cutter territory capital and home to the Emperor and his family.

  Docked Tail: A crappy little watering hole in the red candle district of Subrosa. If you’re looking for quality food, keep walking. If you’re looking for a quiet corner to conduct some business out of earshot of the Rosan guards, come on in.

  Fall Island: The center of Bone religion, a desert island where Onaya Bone’s greatest temple was built (by her). Location for the great conference of Bone tribal leaders and traditional test of adulthood for Bone youths, held every five years. Sand flows continuously off the edge of the island, but never reaches flotsam. Instead it flows back to the island’s underside and feeds back up through its center again. Cities are located along the island’s coast, on carefully maintained stilts to avoid being swept over the side by the shifting sands. The center of the island has many dangerous predators in addition to extreme conditions.

  Firespout Triumphant Lounge: a gambling house that serves upperclass Rakkar businesspeople, politicians, and socialites. Located in the Avurindo district of Lippen on Heddard Bay.

  Gladstone: An island located in Rakkar “skies” which

  Haelli: The Vein capital island. Features several universities, museums, and expansive tourism districts.

  Horizon: The centralized altitude at which most cities and settlements on Peridot have been positioned. There was an organized effort across all four territories to migrate all activity on the planet to one plane, as maps were almost impossible to manage and read when altitude and overlapping landmasses had to be accounted for. However, some poorer communities, or those dependent on features of a non-Horizon island, still live off this plane.

  Heddard Bay: A volcanic island located in close proximity to Nexus and Peridot’s ocean, which was once only habitable because the dense stone protected its underground residents from the discomforts of being so close to Nexus. Conveniently for the taboo-flouting Rakkar alchemists, the dense stone also seemed to prevent the Divine Alchemists from noticing that they had a bunch of minor alchemists living on their doorstep. Before Nexus stopped making visitors feel like they were going to be torn apart and crushed at the same time, its major export was illicit alchemical cargo, smuggled out in barrels of mussels. All other supplies they needed were purchased with the riches of Lippen’s gemstones.

  Jones’s Shipyard: Subrosa’s only shipyard, available for repairs, upgrades, and new constructions. Doesn’t come cheap, and aside from the fact that it’s the only shipyard in Subrosa, the work is so good, Jones could charge double what he does if he wanted to.

  Kasrespazi: Lippen’s enormous, circular hub cavern from which all traffic can be directed to the various extremities of the city’s other districts. Houses the towering timepiece, Ra-Kaz. Offers information booths and other small kiosks but is mostly a commuting space.

  Lippen: The subterranean city of Heddard Bay. Population is about ten thousand, comprised of Rakkar, Bone, and Breaker populations. And recently, three Cutter folk.

  Molten River Memorial Library: Located in the library district of Lippen, leases and maintains about a half-dozen library spaces for private Rakkar clients, almost all of whom are minor alchemists. Really, it’s a miracle the place hasn’t burned down or exploded.

  Nexus: Collection of energy released during the Cataclysm, which holds Peridot’s loose tectonic remnants together. The home of Peridot’s five deities.

  Peridot: An unusual planet whose natural course was altered through an alchemical ritual for power transference.

  Platform District: A section of Subrosa. Constructed and maintained by a business co-op of Vein merchants and business owners. Constructed with exposure to open air, from solid wood.

  Postal Office: Officially, the office from which couriers and mail are directed about Subrosa and beyond. Unofficially, a great place to get a lead on some under-board work.

  Provi Tur: An urban city island near to the closed border with the Empire. Previously it held steady trade with the Cutter government and businesses but has been struggling economically since the Imperial border closing. Its main business now comes from Bone border patrol ships refueling and changing crews.

  Ragtown: District of Subrosa with clothing shops offering both new and second-hand clothing (or third-hand, or fourth- or . . . well, let’s just say some items match the district’s name more than others) along with some dry goods shops whose owners are just as confused as everyone else on how they ended up there.

  Rosa: A smallish island in Cutter skies, a trading post turned metropolis, located convenient to the border crossing into Bone territories. Populated by all five races of Peridot. Crowded, and prosperous.

  Subrosa: Black-market “bottom-hanged” city suspended from the underside of the island Rosa.

  Talonpoint: Port city of Fall Island, a densely packed but well-organized cluster of housing, hospitality, civil offices, and businesses arranged along streets which diagonally spoke outward from a central ‘green’ in which public addresses, events, and markets are held. High stone walls surround the city to keep the blowing sand of Fall Island’s desert out of the streets.

  Temple of the Feathered Stone: Central temple of Onaya Bone on Fall Island. Features a communing chamber where supplicants may be permitted to speak directly to the goddess via video feed. Center of operations for the priestesses’ intelligence network.

  Tined Spoon District: A section of Subrosa, adjacent to the Platform District, almost entirely dedicated to restaurants and bars.

  Velhan: A very nice, very safe, city on the island of Sias Tor, deep in Vein skies, near the outer reaches of Peridot’s atmosphere, very near to a cluster of Bone islands which have long patrolled the nearby skies and kept them free of trouble. Features snow-covered mountains which attract Bone tourists for downhill sports, as well as hot springs which attract families to come along. Tea houses, vacation lodges, and bath houses make Velhan a desirable place to visit for those with leisure time and the means to enjoy it.

  Vur Artaak: The volcano making up most of Heddard Bay’s landscape. Its thermal energy and pressures have been rerouted by the Rakkar engineers (and alchemists) to provide energy to the city and to increase the rate at which precious gems form.

  Ytima: A very small Bone island, barely noteworthy. Family owned xercoles ranchers, small schools, and a light but sustainable textiles trade. Population less than a few hundred, outnumbered by their xercoles flocks.

  Religion

  Alchemy: The practice of manipulating elemental forces to control reality. The dangerous practice is taboo among mortals, enforced most actively by Onaya Bone.

  Cataclysm: Catastrophic event which caused the planet to explode, destroying all life except for the five beings that committed the alchemical transference responsible.

  Divine Alchemists: Refers to the five alchemists whose transference ritual in ancient history gave t
hem high-level control of elemental magic, immortality, and the power to create life.

  The Five: Another honorific term for the Divine Alchemists. No longer an accurate count but remains true in past-tense.

  Gods-That-Remain/Four-That-Remain: An honorific term for the Divine Alchemists who survived the events leading up to and including the Battle at Nexus. The count of “four” is open for debate.

  Recreation: The action taken by Peridot’s five deities to make Peridot inhabitable again, and to create the peoples, flora, and fauna which can be found there afterward.

  The Deities

  Arthel Rak: God and creator of the Rakkar. Associated with the element of fire. Shows up to encourage Rakkar alchemists to continue their experiments, but no one has seen him since the Battle of Nexus. Pronouns are he/him.

  Helsim Breaker: God of the Breaker people. Alchemically proficient with the element of life. Has a tendency to show up in unexpected places to lend assistance to those in need. Pronouns are he/him.

  Ketzali: An enormous, six-eyed male raven created by and favored by Onaya Bone. Miiiiiight also have just been Onaya Bone taking another form, as no one has seen Ketzali since before the battle of Nexus. Pronouns are he/him.

  Lindent Vein: God and creator of the Vein people. Blind. Disdainful of eyesight. Alchemically proficient with the element of water. Pronouns are he/him.

  Meran: A mysterious woman who wields alchemy and a stranger, unknown power. Seems pissed about something.

  Onaya Bone: Goddess and creator of the Bone people. Associated with the element of earth. Has a romantic past with Silus Cutter, though they are not currently affiliated. Stripped of her powers by Meran at the battle of Nexus. Pronouns are she/her.

  Silus Cutter: God and creator of the Cutter people. Associated with the element of air. Killed by the Yu’Nyun invasion fleet almost a year before the battle of Nexus. Pronouns were he/him.

  Groups and Affiliations

  Cutter: People created by Silus Cutter during the Recreation. 1.75 meters tall by Earth measurement. Naturally athletic build. Hair is typically brown to black. Eyes are typically brown or hazel. Skin is a warm honey gold color. Innately prone to wanderlust. Claustrophobia is not uncommon, though not all suffer from it. Primary exports are shipbuilding, glow pumpkin sprouts, water, and aeronautical equipment. Most populous of all Peridot races. Government is an empire, with heavily ingrained bureaucratic infrastructure for local and regional management.

  Bone: People created by Onaya Bone during the Recreation. 1.85 meters tall by Earth measurement. Lithe, angular build. Blue-black hair and purple-blue-green iridescent feathers form a full head of hair, though many shave parts or all of their scalp. Dark skin. Eyes range from gray to purple. Fingernails, when allowed to grow, curve sharply as talons. Traditional martial art is taught as part of educational process. Initiation by solitary hunting expedition to earn adulthood and voting status in tribal councils. Tribal elders form Leadership Council and convene every five years to renew relations as part of a meeting of the tribes, during which the trial hunts are held.

  Vein: People created by Lindent Vein during the Recreation. 1.8 meters tall by Earth measurement. All are born blind. Four arms, two smaller, more nimble primary and two larger, stronger secondary. Slender, willowy. Hair is colorless. Skin is pale cream with lavender undertones. Highly perceptive, with enhanced nervous system to detect electrical impulses as well as ranged temperature shifts, sound, and smell. Primary exports are technologies backward-engineered and developed from discovered Pre-Cataclysm devices. Governed by elite class, determined by academic accomplishment.

  Breaker: People created by Helsim Breaker during the Recreation. 2.25 meters tall by Earth measurement. Tusked from the lower jaw. Large, bulky, and muscular. Grayish, pebbled skin. As far as anyone knows, the Breaker will not die of natural death. Pacifists, highly sensitive to mood and health of those they interact with. Patient craftsmen. No organized government. Most of them commune with nature wherever they can live peacefully. Often share islands with Rakkar.

  Rakkar: The people created by Arthel Rak. 1.6 meters by Earth measurement. Slender, petite build. Rosy-yellow skin, with protective chitin plating covering most of the face, hands, and forearms. Resistant to the effects of high heat, smoke, and toxic chemicals. Black eyes, adapted for subterranean life. Agoraphobic almost universally. Expert engineers and inventors. Defiant of the taboo against alchemical research (although cautious). Primary exports are precious metals and gems mined from their volcanic islands.

  Imperials: A term used to describe the servicemen and women of the Cutter Empire.

  Tempest: A charity organization that has taken root in the subcities of Cutter skies to aid victims of Imperial oppression. There are rumors that they are also an organized militia force.

  Veritors of the Lost Codex: A cult of Cutter folk who have interpreted an ancient text to mean that the Cutter folk were the only people that existed Pre-Cataclysm. Hold The Five in disdain. Believe that the world is fundamentally wrong and research, plot, and act with the intent to make Cutter folk the dominant—or for some members, the only—race on Peridot. Have a large following among the rich and powerful, and may be embedded in the highest levels of the Empire.

  Yu’Nyun: Bipedal, chitin-plated, digitigrade, bilaterally symmetrical alien visitors to the planet Peridot. Technologically advanced compared to the natives. Interested in understanding how Peridot came to be and how it continues to function.

  Minor Alchemists: Those who practice the taboo alchemical experiments in direct violation of the decree of the Divine Alchemists. Largely autodidactic, prone to catastrophic accidents as a result of misinterpretation of available texts (usually Pre-Cataclysm artifacts) on the subject.

  Goste Putrol: Task force of Subrosan rats sent by Paternus Flinch to catch the cryptid sighted wandering about Subrosa’s alleys.

  Paternus: A leader of a crime ring, gang, or other organization in a subcity. Requires a certain number of henchmen, thugs, and levels of agents to pose a threat and earn the honorific. Pidgin name meant to equate to the high society Patron title.

  Patrons: A high-ranking member of Cutter Imperial society, similar to a Lord though is dependent not only on family lineage but on standing among peers in terms of military or political accomplishments and services rendered on behalf of the Empire.

  Rats: Name given to immature agents of crime bosses and gang leaders in Subrosa and other subcities of Cutter skies.

  Other

  Airship: Transportation vessels featuring hot air lift balloon systems, turbines, steam engines, and sails. Required for long distance travel through Peridot. Designed and built by all races except the Rakkar, primarily by the Bone and Cutter folk.

  Annual Shareholders’ Gala: Annual high society event for Rakkar across all of their island cities, basically an awards ball for economic prosperity. There’s one for each island and those who take home awards get to rise another notch in business and social circles. The usual people tend to get them each year, but even those with no hope of winning have little choice but to show up and be seen.

  Arkh bills: Currency of the Rakkar economy. Printed on lightweight paper and embossed with textured writing for the benefit of their Vein neighbors and others with limited visual senses.

  Atmo: Short for ‘atmosphere,’ refers to the inhabitable areas of Peridot’s skies, where one may breathe unassisted and temperatures support life.

  Cliff grackles: Bony, game fowl that nest in caves beneath island cliff edges. Often can be caught while roosting from inner tunnel networks.

  Coffee: Gods-rotted expensive beverage for those not living on a civilized island.

  Colony ship: Airship habitats for town or city-sized populations of Cutter folk who prefer not to settle down on stationary islands. Often, these ships travel on a regular circuit between islands where they may stop to refuel and trade. Their
primary export is ship craft, engineering developments for patent, textiles, entertainment (music and theater), and other products that do not require large tracts of land or heavy ­resource use.

  Dextral: The direction of natural spin of flotsam around Nexus. Opposite of sinistral.

  Duskfey: Tiny bioluminescing pests that feed on vegetation, especially glow pumpkins.

  Electrocancellation barrel: One-of-a-kind contraption which used a magnetically generated discharge to disrupt electron-based conduction of energy.

  Fatcrat: Derogatory term for wealthy bureaucrat.

  Faw’n: Contraction of “Father Wind” and a familiar term for one’s natural or adopted father, used mainly by Cutter children.

  Flotsam: A trapped layer of loose objects at the bottom of Peridot’s gravity well.

  Glow pumpkins: Enormous gaseous gourds that emit purple light during nighttime hours and golden light during daylight hours. Cultivated on stations across Peridot to provide additional lighting.

  Mantas: Smooth-hided flighted creature with bioluminescent signals in a translucent camouflaging body with long trailing tendril tails. Feed off small insects and other pests. Curved beak, tridactyl feet for gripping perches.

  Maw’n: Contraction of “Mother Wind” and a familiar term for one’s natural or adopted mother, used mainly by Cutter children.

  Mermaids (also, Zalika): Soulless beings who live and hunt in the stationary storms across Peridot’s skies. They have a long, powerful tail, and flesh-webbed wings. Androgynous with alto and soprano vocalizations, agonized facial expressions, clawed hands, and a taste for flesh.

  Pale coats: A derogatory term for Imperial officers, referring to their pale blue uniform jackets.

  Pneumatic self-torquing lock hammer: one-of-a-kind contraption designed for manipulating the mechanisms of door locks.

  Prayerlocks: Knotted segments of hair maintained by Cutter folk in honor of Silus Cutter, often gripped, twisted, rubbed, tugged, or otherwise to invoke his blessing, as both a pious act, and one of superstition. They are formed in young children as soon as their hair is long enough, and others may be formed later in life. As is the nature of hair (and especially of hair often tugged), ’locks will occasionally fall out entirely and new ones started. These are often decorated with beads or metal rings sold by Wind Monks in various markets.