Acheron's Metropolis
The Sprawl:
There are four districts in the Sprawl; The Gangland, Ghetto, Nobles, and Syndicate or Mob districts.
The Sprawl, or Hell's Metropolis is a huge, high rise, high tech, post-modern, but dark, walled in city. The sprawl's perimeter walls are thirty feet high and ten feet deep. The city sits on a plane-like island over the abyss, supported by a massive pillar with only the abyss below the city. The pillar is attached to a stone arch which bridges the abyss. The land mass inside of the sprawl's perimeter wall is 50 miles across give or take in diameter. There is a large lake at the center of the Sprawl called Black Mirror Lake, named after exactly what it looks like. Some areas of the lake are clean enough to swim in but not all. The lake water is filtered and supplies the city with water. The source which replenishes it is unknown. There is no natural light source in the sprawl, only street and fire lights. Special street lamps and lights keep plants, including trees, few though they are, alive. The lights of the city are the only star lights in the sprawl.
The Underground: The Metropolis also has an underbelly called simply The Undercity. It is not counted as a district because its labyrinthian network of lost subway tunnels, conduits, sewers, and waterworks corridors (many ancient and forgotten) makes a circuit of the entire sprawl. Those who wish to be forgotten by those above often seek an escape (or sanctuary) down below never to return (as far as anyone knows). Most above believe those who vanished were killed by bottom feeders, but the truth is far different. There is an entire community in the Underground who does their best to remain invisible and to be forgotten, stealing power, water, and what others throw away from above to survive. Theirs is a secret society they wish to remain secret and their laws are their own and protect what life, salvage, and territory they have.
The Ghetto District: this district is on the southside and is as filthy as anyone can imagine a city being. Plague and pestilence are the rule here and disease has become an art in this area. Necromancers in the ghettos are to be bewared because they all serve the same Ghetto Lord, Solbaid, a Horned Demon Lich who specializes in disease, curses and recreating those who get too close. He is served by a demon of pestulence he summoned in spirit and created out of disease and he can summon many kinds of undead and foul monsters. Solbaid has no heart and can only be appealed to through logic. He was banished to the sprawl for crossing Lucifer. This is where the scavengers and those most beaten down wind up. Most of the sprawl's angels are found here, living in abandoned high rises. They can be seen flying from one high catwalk to another. The Ghetto is controlled by:
The Gangland: this district is on the westside where the streets are crowded with towering duplex apartments and stores which sell more drugs and booze than goods. The neighborhoods on the northside are more or less in decent condition, while the rest are run down but not dilapidated. This is the sprawl's most heavily populated area and where many opportunists can be found. This district is controlled by five main gangs;
Syndicate District: the Syndicate District is on the eastside and includes an area called Lake Town, which is a town built on the lake just east of its center. The Syndicate District has a shore crowded with docks and marinas, and the bosses here control the eastern half of the lake. What separates the syndicate bosses from the house rulers of the Nobles is a more brutal and openly violent method of taking or keeping control. While the nobles often keep murder, punishment and betrayal in the shadows, the mobs tend to be more blunt and bold about their exploits. The Syndicates control the gangs who put the squeeze on businesses and borrowers. This district is dominated by demons, vampires and mortals who form unions which control three syndicates. Each Syndicate has a boss called a Rook. On the streets a syndicate is called a rookery or nest.
Nobles District: this district is on the northside. The fact that this district is controlled and inhabited by the sprawl's most corrupt, albeit wealthiest, decadent and sophisticated residents is evident in the mansions, fortresses, compounds, manors, gardens, fountains, casinos and high end businesses which the streets here accomodate. This is where the elite gravitate and gamble their wits against one another in a constant bid for control over the only lavish area of the sprawl. There are six major ruling houses in the Nobles District which are always struggling for control:
How People Come to the Sprawl: Very few volunteer to go to the sprawl, but some do. Most are sent to the sprawl as punishment, as a hellish purgatory they cannot escape, or because there is some lesson to be learned there. Others are born there. Those who are born in the sprawl are called Metrons or Sprawlers. These children of the Sprawl are not born evil and some never become evil, therefore there is a population of 'good' people in the sprawl among those who were condemned to the Hell of the Met. Few of these good survive unless they are very strong willed and have their wits about them.
Death in the Sprawl: Death keeps close company to Metro dwellers and is not an end in the sprawl but a punishment. If someone dies in the sprawl they suffer a loss of power and risk losing everything and having to start all over again from square one. One returns days or even weeks after death, the scars of their wounds remaining, even on immortals. Their stamina suffers a massive loss making command of arcane and special abilities difficult. Dying may not be finite in the sprawl but it hurts. There are some in the sprawl who have died so many times that they have gone stark raving mad.
