Fartown
Fartown gains its name from the fact that it does not lie in the same physical dimension as the rest of the city. Long before the War, the Deathless Triumvirate placed the district that would become Fartown in its own half-world, which they created to contain dangerous magic and those who would wield it. They designed it to be a place where the city’s so-called “on-the-cusp” sorcerers, witchtouched, and houngan (or whatever vislae were calling themselves back then) could practice their arts without endangering everyone else. Even today, Fartown is home to many experimenters, concoctors, and summoners, any of whom could bring the reality of Satyrine crashing down around them with their half-finished spells, experimental concoctions, or barely controlled otherworldly menaces.
Fartown’s population is likely about 100,000 people, and probably around half of those are vislae. With so much spellcasting and magic use occurring in one district in the city on an almost continual basis, it’s a wonder that Fartown remains in existence at all.
Travelers reach Fartown through a large archway located beside the Narrow Sannyasa River, opposite the Hollows. It’s never locked or guarded, but many people believe that it’s impossible to pass through without it being noted and recorded by the Angular Serpentine. There is no feeling of transition when you pass through this arch, so it’s easy to forget that one has actually passed into another world entirely.
MOOD AND FEEL
In Fartown, every building is a story, and every story is surreal. Sprawling mansions sit next to tiny, crooked houses. Twisting towers reach to a sky filled with living hot-air balloons, giant moths, and inexplicably floating people. A 1960s New York Yellow Cab drives down the street past a fish-headed man selling newspapers. This is the most surreal part of a surreal city.It is autumn. Always autumn. Fartown is the vislae district. And it suits them well. Fartown exists as a 5-mile (8 km) long mass of solid ground with trees and grass as well as streets and buildings. However, at the edges of its perimeter, beyond sections of Ruined Expanses, space and time become blurry and seep slowly into an unknown elsewhere. This border is called the Bleed, and it’s not safe to go there. Fortunately, the weird runoffs and emissions from the experiments, summonings, and creations in Fartown that eventually flow into the Bleed at least have a place to go where they can (presumably) do no harm. Although most of Fartown has been reclaimed, there are still ruins on the outskirts, before one gets to the Bleed. These are similar to the Ruined Expanses in the rest of the city. Fartown can be as whimsical or as darkly terrifying as you want to describe it. It can vary from session to session, the players never quite being able to wrap their minds around it. When they come upon an important building, focus just on that location—particularly if it’s a vislae house. Vislae houses have the ability to seem to stand alone (metaphorically) even on a crowded street.
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