Ecstacy

The rolling hills of Ecstasy, the City of Plinths, rise from a serene stretch of the Outlands. Blanketed in peace and contentment, Ecstasy is a pastoral gate-town of quiet contemplation and simple pleasures. Hundreds of monoliths, shaped from a variety of materials, dot the idyllic landscape. Their origins unknown, the plinths are works of art: marble columns adorned with breathtaking sculptures, intricately carved wooden poles, natural standing stones, and refractive crystal pedestals. Like ghosts drawn to a shrine, petitioners perch atop the towering plinths, inviting townsfolk to ponder the multiverse’s greatest mysteries with them.

Ecstasy’s citizens are friendly, munificent folk who espouse benevolence and growth. They are governed by a pair of monarchs, the Lightcaller and the Nightwhisperer. These supposedly mortal rulers wear masks that reflect their demeanors: a flamboyant, golden disc for the Lightcaller and a closed, silver helmet for the coolly distant Nightwhisperer. The circadian monarchs swap places at dusk and dawn, and they’re never seen together. They enforce the town’s cardinal rule: “Do no evil.”

Evil, as it stands, isn’t as plain as day and night. Though violence is rare, musing spirits inspire townsfolk to push the boundaries of mortal life, gleaning vicarious fulfillment from watching residents justify unsavory acts as the path to spiritual enlightenment. Moreover, the gate-town doesn’t eliminate negativity—it merely suppresses it. Ecstasy’s cheeriest citizens are walking powder kegs of bitterness, bottling their feelings until they erupt in unbridled incidents.