Gaudy jewel of Vaarn’s southern badlands, the city of a thousand shaded bazaars, a thirsty, bustling morass of dusty courtyards and guild halls and artisans’ workshops. If there is something to be sold in Vaarn, then Gnomon is the place to buy it. Everything within the crumbling blue walls of the city has a price: water, food, song, love, and death.
The city’s signature landmark is the Apex of Gnomon, a towering blade of dark metal that stands in the midst of the city, casting a long shadow over the buildings that crowd around it. The Apex is a relic of the lost civilisation that preceded the Age of the Titans, and none now recall its original purpose. The wealthy make their homes upon the arcing back of the Apex; those less fortunate live in the blue dirt. The districts around the Apex are built in traditional Vaarnish style, townhouses moulded from bruise-blue clay and aged wooden beams. The city is defended by a low wall, although the wind-blown sand of a thousand generations has eroded the battlements until their defensive value is largely symbolic.
Vaarnish travellers are drawn to the city for a multitude of reasons.
• Some wish to purchase the fine goods that can be found in Gnomon’s markets. Walking through the souks, one can observe stalls selling Vaarnish carpets, trained falcons, smoked meats, lizard-skin boots, psychedelic mushrooms, finely carved violins, elegant glassware, synthetic limbs, spider-silk robes, hardy zoxen, ornate firearms, bottles of dusky champagne, fecund wheels of cheese, and luminous panes of glass, which have been scavenged from the archaic satellites that fall to Urth on summer nights.
• Some visit Gnomon because they seek an audience with officials of the New Hegemony. This august confederation claims to rule over Vaarn, although such edicts ring hollow in the deep desert, where the only law is that the strong survive. Nevertheless, the New Hegemony have conquered the southern badlands of Vaarn, and a garrison of legionaries keeps taxes flowing from Gnomon’s merchants to the distant Hegemon, May Their Name Be Sung Forever.
• Some travellers seek entertainment. The city is famed for its open-air theatres, where actors in rigid masks perform the rote and ritualised dramas of the fallen Autarchy. Gnomon is known also for chariot races, for gambling dens and opium sinks, for pillow-lined passionhouses, and for luxurious tea rooms, where those who fancy themselves wits can debate one of Gnomon’s many pontificating sophists.
• Others still approach Gnomon seeking wisdom, for the city is not only home to a thousand shaded markets, but also to a thousand philosopher’s guilds and esoteric colleges. The study of the lost wisdom of the ancients is feverishly pursued. Tech-priests, petty gurus, science mystics, and alchemists compete for patrons, prestige, and precious glimpses of the knowledge that was lost during the Great Collapse.
• Some may come to Gnomon seeking justice, for this trader’s city is also the site of the Crimson Court, an ancient fount of bloody judgement. In this roaring crucible steel-swathed and sweat-slick Advocates deliberate in the sight of Gods and beggars alike the merits of legal cases civil and criminal, and in the spray of heartsblood upon the blue sands can a contract be enforced or unmade.
This issue of Vaults of Vaarn is intended to complement and deepen the content found in the first instalment, which sketched out the world of Vaarn and described the misfits who might adventure there. Issue two provides a closer look at an urban location, which could be used by the referee in a few ways.
Firstly, the city of Gnomon could act as a home base for a party of vault-raiders. They can rest, relax, spend their ill-gotten loot, and acquire new tools or resources as their adventures demand. If the referee intends to use Gnomon in this way, it is suggested that they tone down the internal conflicts festering within the city, and make Gnomon safer than the wastelands outside its walls.
Alternatively, the city can act as a focal campaign setting in itself. In this case, the referee is advised to avail themselves of the major factions detailed in this supplement, and utilise at least one or two of them as recurring antagonists for the players. The referee should also use the generators provided to create minor factions and organisations that could help or hinder the players in their goals.
A solid foundation for a campaign could involve pitting the players against the agents of Ancamulla the Water Baron, adding the Hegemony Consul Larke xan Lonrot and the gangster Prieval Prise into the mix as potential enemies or allies. However, other permutations of hostile and helpful factions are possible. Such techniques are detailed further in the following faction pages.
Enticing a party into travelling to Gnomon should be reasonably simple. If they have uncovered a mysterious item of exotica in one of the vaults beneath Vaarn, then Gnomon is the place to have it appraised. If they are seeking an elusive NPC, then the bustling squares of Gnomon are surely home to someone who knows their whereabouts. If they wish to hire mercenaries, Gnomon is riddled with such desperate, violent wretches. If a character has had their eye put out by the claws of a ravenous lizard-lion, then Gnomon is the ideal place to locate a replacement. And so on.
Gnomon is a kaleidoscope of places, incidents, people, and organisations. The city wears many faces, and no two versions of Gnomon should be the same at different gaming tables. My vision of the city is in the end only a spark; you are invited to kindle it.
The north-western district of Gnomon, shaded by the Apex when the sun rises in the morning. The Morningshade district is industrious and prosperous, home to striving merchants. The primary landmark in this district is the Great Souk of Gnomon, the vast open-air market that operates from sunrise to sunset.
Sights in the Morningshade:
- Gangs of labourers carrying cargo from the wind-barge docks to the west.
- A cafe, with caged birds singing outside.
- A merchant’s auto-cart, overflowing with ripe produce.
- A Priest of the Promised Sun, leading an outdoor sermon for prosperous devotees.
The north-eastern district of Gnomon, shaded by the Apex when the sun descends towards the western horizon. The Eveningshade district is home to the Night Souk, authorised to trade between the hours of sunset and sunrise. Due to the peace and quiet by day, the Eveningshade District is preferred by Gnomon’s artisans and craftsmen. By night the streets come alive, with music played from balconies and basement bars thronged with celebrants.
Sights in the Eveningshade:
- A traditional Vaarnish street band, practising in a courtyard.
- A synth-surgeon, fixing an android’s arm.
- A funeral procession for a deceased artisan.
- Elderly newbeasts play dominoes beneath a leafless tree.
The south-western district of Gnomon, unshaded by the Apex. The Lantern District is the oldest in the city, the most crooked and decrepit and distended with secrets. The primary landmark is the Hushed Archives, a ruin that was once a library and is now a cobwebbed shell, left with each door open by ancient custom. This district is the home of Philosopher’s Guilds and theatrical companies, a district of fulminating prophets and sophist clowns. Poets wander the indigo streets at twilight, looking up to the heavens at the hard glints of ancient orbital habitats that trace esoteric geometries in the windy dusk.
Sights in the Lantern District:
- An open air debate between two schools of Neo-Neo-Relativists.
- A dealer of rare books, smoking hookah on their porch.
- A sacrificial procession, heading to one of the neighbourhood shrines.
- A rehearsal for a play; they are miming out the famous death of an Autarch.
The south-eastern district of Gnomon, unshaded by the Apex. The Red Quarter is pugnacious and seedy, home to strutting mercenaries and pompous prizefighters. Here the visitor can find gladiator pits, boxing arenas, chariot racing, and passion-houses by the score. The distinctive landmark of the Red Quarter is the Crimson Court, the home of Nyxia and her Advocates.
Sights in the Red Quarter:
- Graffiti praising one gladiator and cursing another.
- A beggar without legs, trundling on a cart.
- A curb-side game of chance, where knives may be drawn at any moment.
- A patrol of Hegemony soldiers, jeered at by gutter-dwellers.
The great curve of dark metal that looms hundreds of feet over Gnomon, perhaps the wreck of some forgotten engine that has been swallowed by the blue sands and by time. The home of Gnomon’s rich and powerful. Notable buildings upon the Apex include the Consul’s Manse, and the Temple of the Promised Sun.
Sights upon the Apex:
- A patrol of the Consul’s Lictors, anbaric pikes crackling with purple energy.
- A messenger in golden robes, carrying a decree from Abbess Faunia.
- A line of supplicants outside the gates of the Water Baron’s mansion.
- Condemned criminals; gaolers lead them to the Plunge to be thrown to their deaths.
- A carriage of highborn ladies of Gnomon, on their way to view a hanging garden.
To the south of Gnomon lie the Tomblands. Ancient customs forbade the burial of the dead within the walls of the city, and thus the southern road leading from Gnomon is lined with windowless abodes to accomodate those silent ancestors. This charnel-district extends for some distance beyond sight of Gnomon’s walls; Vaarn is old and the dead outnumber the living.
Criminals and others who find themselves unwelcome in the city proper make squalid homes amongst the bones. Groups of bandits haunt the ruins, and there are rumours of more dangerous creatures still that have crept in from the blue wastelands and make their lair amidst monoliths and unsealed crypts.
Common Sights in the Tomblands:
- Robbers lounge amidst devil-grass, cooking on an open fire.
- Pthalo-jackals, cautiously hunting.
- A Harlequin Serpent, sunning itself upon a fallen monument.
- A pair of Jak’s ghouls, posing as mourners.
- The Noonfort - a bastion of solid stone that protects the northern gates of Gnomon. Currently occupied by the Fifth Hegemony Legion. If the Hegemony arrest the party, they will take them here.
- The Docks - a rumpus of ropes and timber, where teams of dockhands unload the wind-barges that berth amongst the towers ringing Gnomon’s western wall.
- Nomad Camp - the Faa nomads do not sleep in houses with four walls and in any case they are banned from the city after dark by Hegemony decree. Clans that are visiting Gnomon to trade will be camped at the Eastern Gate of the city.
- The Water Baron’s Aquifer - Ancamulla’s mysterious water-pumping machine can be found at the base of the Apex, protected by high walls and watchful guards. The Aquifer complex is easily recognisable by its fluted yellow and green towers.
Vaarn is a dry and rain-starved country. In the trackless blue deserts, clans of Faa nomads battle over oases and ancient reservoirs. In Gnomon, the largest city in Vaarn, the need for water is even more desperate and the city’s economy is founded on water debt.
By ancient law, distribution of water in Gnomon is controlled by the Water Baron, Ancamulla. The Baron’s Aquifer machine stands at the base of the Apex, and it draws vast quantities of cool, fresh water from deep within the flesh of the Urth. Through a web of pipes and fountains, the city drinks at the Baron’s pleasure.
Access to water is administered by the Water Baron’s clerks and mercenaries. The poor drink from public fountains, while wealthier residents of Gnomon have private pipelines installed in their townhouses. All must pay the water tax, however, exchanging goods at the Baron’s banks for water debt tokens that are redeemable at public fountains. Each token is worth a day’s drinking water for one person, if they take small sips. The militiamen who man the water fountains may also exchange water for food, weapons, or other luxuries, depending on their mood. All water in Gnomon belongs to the Baron, and bringing water from outside the city walls is forbidden.
The New Hegemony claims dominion over Gnomon and taxes all commerce there; this claim is relatively recent, and conflicts with the Water Baron’s ancient rights over the city.
One might ask why the Hegemony does not bring its military might to bear on the Baron, and seize control of his Aquifer. The answer is simple: Ancamulla has a sabotage device implanted within the mechanism. If he is imprisoned or killed, this device will trigger, and the water supply for Gnomon will cease forever. The city will collapse into anarchy and destroy itself within days. The Hegemony could certainly depose the Water Baron; however, his sabotage device gives them pause. Ruling a living city that pays taxes is preferable to ruling a lifeless husk. Therefore an uneasy peace exists between the two factions. Ancamulla provides a water ration to the Hegemony’s troops and administrators free of charge, and in return is left to tyrannise the common folk of Gnomon as he sees fit.
The precise nature of the Baron’s sabotage device is left to the referee to decide. If it could be uncovered and disabled by the players, the balance of power in Gnomon would change forever.
The players must drink every day (unless they are synthetic). Make them aware of this, and punish them when they aren’t drinking. Inflicting the Deprived tag on them, which prevents them from healing lost HP, is a good start. If they go multiple days without drinking, you may impose stiffer penalties. Make it clear that the Water Baron has a monopoly on potable water in Gnomon, and that they’ll need to pay his militia with water debt tokens every day.
You decide how much a token is worth, but I suggest allowing them to trade an item slot’s worth of equipment for a single token at the Baron’s banks.
If your players are anything like mine, they will immediately start trying to find ways around this extortion. They will steal tokens, steal water from NPCs or from the Baron’s mercenaries, tap into private water pipes, or try to overthrow the Baron entirely and make water free for everyone. This is all good, as it drives conflict. Embrace it.
Gnomon is a trading hub for all of Vaarn, and therefore it is likely that the PCs will find themselves interacting with merchants during their visit. Almost anything imaginable will be for sale somewhere in Gnomon’s Great Souk, located in the Morningshade district.
Vaarn has no universally accepted currency, so interactions with shopkeepers and merchants will require the players to intuit what the seller is willing to accept in exchange for their goods.
I allow my players to make trades that seem reasonable at a glance, assuming that an item slots’ worth of goods can be exchanged for similar. The referee can use the table of approximate prices on the right to aid their judgement. If they are still uncertain whether a trade would be acceptable, they may roll d20 and refer to the table below, modifying with the PC’s EGO bonus.
| d20 | Merchant's Reaction |
|---|---|
| 1-3 | They are enraged to the point of physical violence |
| 4-8 | Time-waster, get out of their sight |
| 9-12 | They shrug and look at the sky |
| 13-15 | They want a different item instead |
| 16-19 | They’re willing to make the trade |
| 20+ | They like you enough to throw something extra in |
| Typical Price In Water Debt Tokens | |
|---|---|
| A Day’s Water | 1 Token |
| Sturdy Boots | 1 Token |
| Flash-bangs (5) | 1 Token |
| Mortar & Pestle | 1 Token |
| Hourglass | 1 Token |
| Tube of Omni-Glue | 1 Token |
| Flare (5) | 1 Token |
| Light Weapon (d6) | 2 Tokens |
| Motion Sensor | 2 Tokens |
| Autoglot Translator | 2 Tokens |
| Magnetic Boots | 2 Tokens |
| Hologram Projector | 2 Tokens |
| Medium Weapon (d8) | 3 Tokens |
| Light Armour (12/+2) | 3 Tokens |
| Rare Book | 4 Tokens |
| Luxury Clothes | 4 Tokens |
| Replacement Limb | 5 Tokens |
| Heavy Weapon (d10) | 5 Tokens |
| Heavy Armour (16/+6) | 6 Tokens |
| Hypergeometric Object | 15 Tokens |
| Pack Camel | 20 Tokens |
| Auto-Chariot | 50 Tokens |
| Small Wind-Barge | 150 Tokens |
| Modest Townhouse | 200 Tokens |
No city stands still, and certainly no city as chaotic and vibrant as Gnomon. If the players leave town for a while and come back, here are some things that might have changed while they were gone.
- An Inspector Calls. The distant Hegemon, May Their Reign Last One Thousand Years, is displeased with the tax flow from Gnomon, and feels a firmer hand is needed. A cabal of Hegemony Inquisitors have arrived, and they have established a new branch of the House of Questions atop the Apex of Gnomon. Even Consul Lonrot and Commander Loonflower are not immune to the attention of the Hegemon’s Inquisition. The white-robed Brides of Truth walk through the city like ghosts, followed by groups of mute, black-robed Grooms, their dangling proboscises itching to suck the lies out of someone’s skull. People are vanishing from their homes at night. Nobody knows who may be an informant. And what exactly is the Grand Inquisitor doing, up there in his windowless tower?
- Rain Will Come. How much longer must the good people of Gnomon suffer under the Water Baron’s yoke? How many more outrages must they endure? A new voice promises liberation from the Baron’s rule. This preacher stirs the populace with their tales: myths of free water for all, falling from the Vaarnish sky as it did long ago. They call this preacher the Rainmaker. Mobs of their followers gather in the public squares, wailing and lamenting and imploring the sky to bless them. The great and good of Gnomon are, understandably, less than keen on this preacher riling up the masses. Someone really ought to do something about that fanatic.
- The Legions Return. The Hegemon, May Their Blade Cut Down the Unforgiven, has urgent need of all their Legions in the heartlands of the Hegemony. Nobody’s quite sure when the soldiers will come back. House Lonrot are left in charge of the city, with only their modest household guard to enforce the Consul’s will. If anyone was ever going to make a play for Gnomonian independence, this is their chance.
- Language Plague. A reckless vault-raider brought some awful relic of the Age of Titans into the city, and a rapidly spreading language virus is threatening the populace. The disease compels sufferers to endlessly repeat a strange mantra, and all those who hear the words of the chant run risk of infection themselves. Citizens have stuffed their ears with wax and are ringing every bell they can find to drown out the chants of the infected. The Hegemony Legion struggles to keep order as the Philosopher’s Guilds compete to find a cure.
- Great Fire. Nobody is sure how it started, but a fire is either currently raging or has devastated a great swathe of the city’s crowded townhouses. Choose one of the NPCs the party has grown closest to during the course of the campaign: they have either lost their home or are in imminent danger of doing so. How did the fire start? Was it deliberate? The streets are surely full of gossip.
- Gathering of the Nomads. The disparate clans of the Faa nomads have gathered outside the walls of Gnomon for their once in a decade Great Moot. A tent-metropolis has appeared overnight, dwarfing the aged, rigid construct of stone that calls itself Gnomon. The streets throng with the roaming people of Vaarn’s endless deserts. Toasts are drunk, marriages between clans are arranged, ritual duels end with both participants dead in the ring, and the souks are filled with the bounty of the deepest azure sands.