Haloru is a colossal, highly fortified city state that exists between space, time and realities. It is a prosperous, polyglot nation of high magic - which has become a magnet for transplanar polymaths, wanderers, refugees and heroes. It is known as the Shattering City because because the fabric of its reality is unstable and fraying at the seams - its denizens living with the hourly fear that their lives and literal existence will be sundered apart. They also live in wonder, because the entropic character of Haloru's fabric unlocks arcane possibilities available nowhere else in the AE.
Haloru is a city of lofty towers, high walls, meandering cobbled streets, shifting wards and baileys. Visitors describe it as congested, thronging with life and pulsing with activity. It lacks large open public spaces and parks (so feels cramped). In response to this, its inhabitants have grown the city high upward, downward and betwixt, grasping and reclaiming additional space for growth. Many institutions, guilds, factions and aristocrats have solved this issue by building densely-packed vaulting towers throughout the commercial and industrial districts of the city. Communal associations within these districts have pooled resources to construct multilevel scaffolding and in, the streets and alleyways between these towers - creating a labrynth of wooden and stone causeways to fill unclaimed in-between public spaces. Enterprising vendors and interloping squatters, have in turn moved in erecting ramshackle structures which line the scaffolded causeways - converting them in to thriving working class neighborhoods or sheltered markets and bazaars. The city dwellers have also turned to expanding deep into the ground below the city - carving out a vast subterranean district to the city.
The Aethereal Nimbus[]
Aethereal Nimbus
Wherever a visitor goes - it is rare to see sky (due to the closterphobic construction of the city). Those fortunate enough to crest the top of a high tower and look out are met with a celestial vault steeped in twilight giving of a hazy glow which seems to line the contours of all structures and objects within the city - luminating it with a dusky glow. This nimbus of twilight which flows across all surfaces within Haloru is present whether outside, inside or below ground. This nimbus is tapped by most inhabitants within Haloru to extend their magically abilities and endurance - and is widely associated with the Aether Wright Union - but little is known of its causes. It can be seen in the sky above the city on an astronomic scale - flowing, shifting and scintillating like a cosmic aurora borialis. Arcane masters theorize these phenomena are literal bursts of aetherflux. For this reason, this phenomenon is known as the Aethereal Nimbus.
Aethereal Nimbus
Outer Walls
Gemini Cannons[]
Within the central district of the city, amidst the largest towers of Haloru's skyline stand two massive spires. These are the towers of the Aether Wright Union's headquarters. They stand surrounded by the massive Aetherworks and Foundry which the Aether Wrights use to extract, refine and form aether into power to supply the city with arcane energy and a substance called purity to sell to multitude of craft guilds throughout the city. Between these towers is a massive bridge - acting as both a structural brace and a massive boom crane for the rift below. Atop the spires are massive two artillery pieces manned by two semi-sentient collosi, known only as the Gemini. These collosi rotate, aim and fire the Gemini Cannons. Large filaments jack into the base of the cannons, draping down the sides of the spires, disappearing into the bottomless rift below. The Gemini Cannons are powered by the Aether Wright Union, but constructed and operated by the Mage Wright Guild. They are rarely fired - deployed only when the Outer Walls are experiencing an immanent breach event. When they are charging to fire, the aetherial nimbus within the city flickers and dims and the entire city tremors - causing widespread damage to less solid structures, such as the scaffoldways within the central district. Every time the Gemini Cannons are fired - they cause permanent damage to the fabric or reality within Haloru, opening a deep fissure that has emerged between the spires wider and further into the central district of the city. It is not known what the upper limit is for the Gemini Cannons - its most famous kills being a CR 20 Arch Devil and a CR 21 Astral Dreadnaught, whose massive carcas still lies fresh on the Charnel Plane below the Outer Walls. Any talk of the Cannons as godkillers is quickly and harshly silenced, for fear of tempting fate.
Dimensional Delve[]
A deep chasm has torn through the center of Haloru as the city slowly rends itself asunder under the stress the forces warping reality from within and without. The Aether Wrights Union has constructed its headquarters straddling this great fissure and built two large spires as a temporary brace to buttress the city. From the bridge connecting the two spires decends a massive boom crane and an endless series of platforms, stairs and catwalks. As with everything in Haloru, with great danger comes great opportunity. This fracture as allowed the chaos held at bay by the Arcane Interdiction and the Outer Walls that protect the city to permeate the boundary.
The Aether Wrights Union has expanded this chasm, known as the Dimensional Delve into an active zone of arcane experimentation and research - since it exposes a transition zone between the protection of Haloru and unmitigated cosmic entropy. Due to the reality-bending characteristics of this boundary, magic is possible here that is possible nowhere else in the multiverse. Allowing experiments that would cause a cataclysmic or apocalyptic event on any other plane. This is why Haloru clings so determinedly its existence and pours all of its blood, sweat and treasure into defending and holding together its city against the chaos pressing in to destroy it. It is also why its denizens stay, despite the enormous personal toll that life in Haloru takes on its inhabitants. The Dimensional Delve provides the backbone that has allowed the arcane industry and research to grow that draws powerful magic users from across the multiverse to Haloru.
The Aether Wright Union operates a massive athereum mine directly into the canyon walls. They have also opened the Dimensional Delve and its infrastructure to all the major guilds within the city, most of which maintain laboratories, workshops and other industrial facilities within its depths - accessed by the endless platforms, stairs and catwalks installed by the Aether Wrights. Many powerful magic users from across the multiverse also have carved out private sanctums, manors and workshops within the Dimensional Delve, where they conduct their research in privacy a modicum of oversight from the Aether Wright Union.
Gemini Cannons above Aetherworks
The Outer Walls[]
The outer walls of the city are considered an architectural and arcane wonder for their scale and construction. They represent the absolute physical limit of the city, constructed right at the boundary of where the reality within which Haloru sits holds together. Beyond the outer walls - reality sinks into complete chaos. Many scholars believe that the walls play an integral role in the arcane system the Halorites have devised to hold their realm together against the chaos. Most visitors will also see that the Outer Walls also provide a physical defense against emergent threats from the chaos beyond the walls, creating an arcane interdiction against beings and disasters that crash against it. The Outer Wall is manned by the Castellan Guild and its counterseige systems are maintained by the Mage Wright Guild.
Beyond the Walls[]
Beyond the walls is reality transitions into a vast, unknowable chaos the same way the ocean floor drops off from continental shelf to abyss. Few journey outside the Outer Walls - and when they do, it is with a specific purpose for a limited time. It is easier to pass beyond the wall than to gain re-entry. There are no gates - so those traveling beyond the walls must secure a Return Token from the Castellan Guild, which allows them to pass through the Arcane Interdiction and signals permission has been granted by the Castellans to return. It can be deactivated by the Weaver Wright Order at any time. Criminals who are banished given tokens which deactivate and dissipate upon passing beyond the wall. While securing a Return Token from the Castellans, it is advisable to hire their outfitting services. They can provide protective equipment, such as cloaks of permanence, phase stim packs and phagecraft grenades which will help protect adventures from the effects and dangers of traveling beyond the wall. Many adventurers with means have found it a worthwhile investment to hire an armed escort from the Castellan Guild as well.
The Charnel Plain[]
At the base of the Outer Walls for as far as the eye can see is an undulating, dimly lit moonscape of pallid dust and slip rock, punctuated by eroded canyons, pockmarked hoodoos and the ruins of countless cities and battlefields. Mounds and ridges of calcified corpses lay strewn and stacked between the crumbling ruins, streets and canyons creating a vast labyrinthine expanse. Between the flotsam, jetsam and debris left in the wake of retreating civilizations and armies. For this reasons the Charnel Plains are a favor treasure hunting location for adventurers and scavengers - with uncommon and rare artifacts being recovered from amidst the butchery on a frequent basis.
The air is obscured by an ashen, pyroclastic haze beyond the wall. Burning tephra rains down, windstorms of glass dust tear across the plain, and air is noxious to breathe. Strangely - air on the plain is bone-chillingly cold, but surfaces do not frost. It is also preternaturally quiet - the clanking of armor, the ironshod steps of soldiers seemingly muffled by the oppressive gloom. Objects that lay still for two long begin to gather a coating of smooth, glistening alabaster. When Castellans return from deployment - they often have to spend time breaking chunks of their armor in order to clean and polish it to prevent it from permanently tarnishing. If deployed for too long -they begin to experience movement penalties due to the weight of the alabaster coating that collects on their armor. This alabaster coating encases ancient ruins and remains in a smooth polished white stone - giving the a sepulchral look of a vast, carefully sculpted tomb. This is where the plain gets its name, The Charnel Plain - for the famous calcified mounds of bodies which appear similar to carefully stacked carvings in charnel house.
Outer Defenseworks[]
The Halorites have built up an improvised network of Outer Defense Works throughout the Charnel Plain that are garrisoned on a semi-permanent basis by rotating deployments of Castellans to provide a forward defense and early warning system for the Outer Walls. The Outer Defense Works become increasingly fortified as one approaches the city - beginning with pillboxes and redoubts in the most forward positions, expanding to trenchworks and bastions - and culminating in a network of citadel equipped with countersiege systems. The defensive theory underlying this strategy is to absorb and delay oncoming threats - and ultimately prevent them from crashing upon the Outer Walls. This defense system tends to work fairly effectively against isolated, dispersed or unorganized threats. However threats that are highly organized, contain large numbers, or overwhelming power can easily punch through the Outer Defense Works in order to directly assault the Outer Walls. Examples of a threats that can be absorbed by the Outer Defense Works: an attacking undead horde or a coven of hags. Examples of threats that are likely to punch through the Outer Defense Works - a direct assault by a titan, dragon or infernal legion.
Outer Defense Works and ruins
Planar Detritus Field[]
Eventually, the Charnel Plane gives way to a cosmic debris field choked with detritus that has been drawn in from every plan across the multiverse. At the boundary of this field, the pyroclastic haze thickens into a roiling, sulfurous mist that clings to and rolls off the landscape. Acid geysers, plasma vents and poisonous fumaroles jet toxins plumes into the air as the fracture landscape vents pressure from within. Unstable transplanar portals and dimensional doors form and collapse. Planar pools boil and seep across the broken ground absorbing into the planar debris, creating strange effects - such as quicksand pits, lava flows and ice storms. Sharp tremors wrack the land, tectonic fissures slice through the crust as reality itself begins to physically shred. The tidal forces that chaos exert is enough to rip a part low level creatures. Familiars do not fair well - nor to animal companions. This is a common zone of incursion and threat emergence - with temporary portals constantly opening between realms. Powerful magic sources jetting, pooling, convulsing, comingling. Pure chaos leaking in, condensing interacting with aether fluxes in the atmosphere.
Planar Accretion Disk[]
Beyond this detritus field the ground begins to give way into a fractured archipelago of floating islands intermixed with debris from across the multiverse that is drawn toward Haloru's reality - destroyed dimensions, ruined civilizations, collapsed planes, dead titans, deities, and cosmic horrors. Here shards and husks of cosmic power, whose light has been snuffed, rain from the sky light meteorites - colliding in massive impact events, scarring the breaking crumbling landscape. It is a cosmic graveyard - where the multiverse seeks to recycle and reclaim its broken and failed pieces.
Traveling further out, the island begin to give way to a floating sea of silver. Naturally accreting ethereal copies of lost ideas, dreams and knowledge float in a chaotic minefield of lost souls and tortured memories. Travelers who venture this far out have a moment of realization that have ceased walking and are now floating in something similar to the Astral Sea - but they do not need the ability to astral project. There is a temporary calm to the tidal forces of chaos acting on the body - almost as if they have passed into an eye of the storm.
Dimensional Rifting and Drifting[]
At the edge of this silvery sea is visible, ominous towering stormfront. Approaching this rippling bank of clouds, travelers being to experience extreme dimensional rifting and drifting. Only the most powerful magic users can travel to this point. The only Halorites that do are the most seasoned Aurors - and only when they must. Most creatures are destroyed under the entropic pressure.
Rifting this is a tidal force chaos exerts on reality causing it to fracture and splinter apart. All Halorites experience this microforce, which is one of the prime drivers causing phase acceleration. At this point, it has turned from a microforce into a cosmic one.
Drifting this tidal force of chaos cause the composite layers for reality to fray, separate and unravel, causing boundaries between the layers of reality to blur and merge. This is also a microforce Halorites experience that contributes to phase acceleration - blurring aspects of the positive, negative, etheral, astral, fey and shadowfell realities into a volatile cocktail that seeks to implode reality inward on itself. Here it has scaled to a cosmic level.
The Great Maelstrom[]
Beyond the towering, ominous bank of clouds is raging maelstrom of pure chaos and entropy that instantly disintegrates any being CR 19 or less. Entities of great power occasionally pass through, seemingly drawn by some mysterious magnetic attraction to this reality. It is theorized that the cosmic debris which gathers in the accretion disk and rains down on the detritus field may be the left overs drawn through the Great Maelstrom - attempting to access whatever mysterious power attracts them to this place. Effectively acting like a cosmic bug zapper.
Prime Fracture[]
Beyond the Great Maelstrom is the Prime Fracture where Haloru's reality was sundered and dislocated from the rest of the multiverse. Many Halorite scholars theorize that this is the mysterious source of power that the great cosmic entities are attempting to access. And that it may only be accessed through the firmest part of the reality - within the boundaries of Haloru itself - and perhaps directly through the Dimensional Delve. They further theorize that this power is the source of both the chaos and the aether which pervades Haloru.
No one knows how Haloru came to be. Its archives seem to go back eons and hint at even older cycles of collapse and ascendancy. The lands beyond the wall hint at an ancient history and a time where its civilization lived and prospered beyond the wall, perhaps in a time before the Prime Fracture occurred. The ruins beyond the walls also hint at several ancient walls that have been successively breached and a city that has retreated inward upon itself over successive ages. The Outer Defensive Works use the ruins of these cities and walls as their backbone.
The Noble Order of Weave Wrights[]
The Weave Wrights maintain the Arcane Interdiction an arcane weave that creates a barrier between the city and the chaos beyond the walls and attempts to hold the realtiy within which Haloru sits together. They also maintain the arcane defense systems of the Outer Wall, they also patch chaos leaks within the city, remedy the effects of chaos, and attempt to hold together the structural integrity of the city. They are especially active in the Dimensional Delve. They are treated as clerical order of the order domain by inhabitants of the city, and held in general esteem and reverence. Weave Wrights have certain psionic and clerical ability which are particularly potent against the chaos threating to implode and scatter Haloru. They are governed by a strict hierarchy of clerical ranks and governed by the College of Cardinal Weavers. The order is organized under the framework of a series of self-organizing colleges focused on the training, guidance and advancement of their members. The College of Cardinal Weavers sanctions the various colleges, tasking them with completing specific certifications for the overall order. A member of the order will seek induction into 1 or two colleges at a time in order to learn their specialized knowledge. Upon graduating from their course of study, a member may either seek specialization within a particular college to devote their time to expanding the college's research and expertise, apply for entry into another college to complete its course of study, or seek assignment within the various rotations the order is tasked with throughout the city - such healing clinics, charitable efforts within the urban underclass neighborhoods, maintaining equipment on the Outer Walls, accompanying Aurors, Halors or other security operations within or outside the city, or working as subcontractors for powerful magic users throughout the city. The general culture of the order is respect toward authority of the various colleges and the College of Cardinal Weavers, value to the individual pursuit of knowledge, and the vocation of service to others - especially in public service to the health, prosperity and defense of the city state. The sigil of their order is a Golden net on a burgundy field. All members of the order are required to wear a biretta cap and visibly bear to sigil of the order on their person. Beyond that, there is no standard of dress. For this reason, Weave Wrights have developed an elaborate, highly personalized fashion. With each sanctioned college adopting its own colors. Graduates of these colleges tend to wear a knotted cord about their shoulders, adding cords to their complex shoulder adornments as they graduate from various colleges. Faculty within a college tend dress fulling in the colors of their college. Weave Wrights who work outside of the college ecosystem tend to wear their cords in elaborate weaves about their shoulders, often sporting a shoulder cape that is loosely knitted, like the net in the order's sigil.
Castellans Guild[]
The Castellans are a warriors guild which is charged with manning the defenses of the Outer Wall and serving as a security force within the city. They are recruited and drawn from all over the multiverse and handsomely paid for their services. Holding a commission as an officer with the Castellans is the quickest way to gain guild membership (a requirement for citizenship) within Haloru - so most of the city's denizens have done a stint with the Castellans, seeking full initiation at some point in their youth. The Castallans are also tasked with providing armed escorts beyond the walls and outfitting those who have secured the correct permissions to venture out. Both of which carry a handsome price. The Castellans also control re-entry into the city - something far harder to obtain than exit. Chain of command is critical within the Castellan ranks, with all guildmembers holding commissioned ranks and being set over squads of warriors seeking initiation. The focus these squads is on providing warriors training and skills required for their advancement into the guild. Despite chain of command being sacrosanct, the general culture within the guild is highly communal with squads working, training and socializing together. Their guild sigil is a royal blue tower on a midnight black field. Castallans are known for their distinctive colbot blue khapresh helmets and kopesh blades made from polish diamond slag. These blades are so iconic within Halor, many visitors notice that the scimitar or kopesh is the perferred means of self-defense within the city, owing to the prestige of the Castallans as well as the wide spread proficiency in among the citizens - many who did a stint training with the order to try and obtain membership. The Castallans are unique among the orders, guilds and associations that are so intimately associated with Halorite culture and society. The Castallans grant lifetime membership, but do not require a lifetime of active service. Rather - once a member has served two score years as a commisioned officer, they are generally pensioned out of active service and retained as a reserve officer - in the event the citizen militia needs to be formed and deployed. Also, those who seek initiation - receiving training and providing service may voluntarily discharge after completing an apprentice training or a journeyman's deployment. Those discharging after an apprenticeship are gifted a magic +1 silvered scimitar and granted metic status within Halor. This important - because, while not bearing full rights of citizenry, metics are afforded legal protection and permanent residency. This makes it much easier to obtain permission to travel to and from Halor (all travel is extraplanar and highly restricted) and also affords some consideration if entangled with the law. Travelers with visitors are banished for minor offenses and executed for major with little to know due process. If a recruit voluntarily discharges after completing a journeyman deployment (often manning the Outer Walls or providing escorts beyond it), they are gifted Cape of Permanence which makes travel to and from Haloru much easier by helping hold the wearer together against the dimensional fraying within the Haloru. This is a coveted gift, since most visitors must daily burn valuable magical resources, spells and concentration to maintain their existence in the city - or risk fraying or being torn asunder. Journeyman status opens up a wide variety of career paths within Haloru. For instance, it fast-tracks membership into high prestige socities, such as the Halors and Aurors. It also fast tracks membership into many minor trade and craft guilds that are more prevalent throughout the cities of the multiverse, such jewelers, merchants, and armorers. Life within the Castellans is disciplined and rigorous, but not spartan - soldiers are well-supplied. It is considered dangerous and somewhat deadly, most Castallans seeing daily combat on the Outer Walls - most being light skirmishes resulting in light casualties. However, emergencies and major threats are commonplace, with infernal legions, demonic hordes, pressgangs of giants, and incursions aberrations and other ancient horrors, regularly emerge from the outer gloom to crash upon outer defenses beyond the Outer Walls.
The Arcane Power Craft and Supply Union (Aether Wrights)[]
Aether Wright Union
Castellan Guild
The Aether Wrights Union is a corporatized guild of aether wrights that oversees the induction, training and employment of all aether wrights in Haloru. They run the massive Aetherworks in the center of the city - which supplies arcane power to Haloru. They also run the massive Aether Foundry within the Aetherworks which converts refines pure aether into a malleable substance known as Purity that is used by the multitude of artisans guilds throughout the city to craft arcane objects at scale. The Aether Wrights also run the Aether Mine within the Dimensional Delve and oversee the process of extracting pure aether to be supplied to the Aetherworks and Foundry. Being an Aetherwright is a highly skilled and dangerous job that requires years of magical apprenticeship and training - for this reason, Aether Wright apprentices are granted Halorite citizenship (the single exception to guild membership as a requirement to citizenship). This is to encourage them to stay and complete their studies, but also to protect their specialized knowledge and retain their tradecraft within Haloru. The Aether Wrights are the wealthiest and most esteemed guild within Haloru. They are also considered the most secretive and insular. Little is known about how they are organized, what they do or how they practice their craft. What is widely recognized is the prosperity and protection their work bring to the city - supplying arcane power and wonderous crafting materials that allow the complex ecosystem of guilds to work - from supplying power the Weave Wrights use to maintain the Arcane Interdiction and buff up their spells, to powering the Gemini Cannons atop their vast and foreboding complex. All Aether Wrights wear the same uniform and carry the same signs of office. They wear white jumpsuits that button down the front with polished jet buttons, knee-high black leather boots with pointed toes, polished to a shine. Black leather work gloves, Crystaline, protective goggles of various hues, white silk turbans or headwraps that cover the scalp, neck and shoulders. They all wear a wide utility sash about their midsection which the various tools of their trade (mysterious in their purpose) - and tucked within the fold of their arm, they wield a metallic scepter, fashioned like a thunderbolt. This thunderbolt scepter appears to have many uses - operating as an arc welder, a magical resonance tester, tuning fork, pry bar, wrench and wand among its observed uses. It has also been observed in combat with in the Dimensional Delve - appearing to slash like a sword, pierce like a spear, bludgeon like a mace and return like a boomerang. The sigil of the Aether Wrights Union are two, crossed black tunderbolts on a white field.
The Most Mystical Guild of the Mage Wrights[]
Mage Wright Guild
The Mage Wrights are the primary industrial supplier in the Halorite military-industrial complex, specializing in the design and maintenance of arcane defense systems. They designed and built the Gemini Cannons and installed the systems of arcane ballistas and other seige counter measures on the Outer Walls and throughout the Outer Defense Works. They also specialize in the manufacture and sale of enchanted arms and armor - and are one of the preeminent arms dealers across the multiverse. The Mage Wrights are venerated for the fabulous inflow of riches their arms trade brings into the Haloru economy. The trade secret behind the Mage Wrights' ability to manufacture enchanted arms, armor and artifacts on such as scale is the abundant presence of refined Purity as a core craft component (supplied by the Aether Wrights Union). The Mage Wrights carefully regulate the caliber and quantity of arms sold to various customers to ensure that the multiverse is not flooded with legendary artifacts that might crash the price of arms on the black market or fall into the hands of those who might threaten the peace and security of Halor. For this reason - most of the Halorite mass produced items sold abroad are uncommon or rare. With very rare and legendary items reserved for one-off, custom orders only. The Mage Wrights have a strict non-export policy for their propriety siege and countersiege systems - but have inked consulting contracts with deep pocketed clients across the multiverse to help design such defenses. Their most famous contracts, being the with the High Council of Magi in Lorica-Waerd to refit the Watcher's Tower as prison for magical inmates and the magefire wall that mage's district of Lorica. They also have help the Cities of Union and Rosen repair bifrost ways after various conflicts between the two cities. They have also consulted on the defenses within several heavenly planes - planes of order tending to be their most frequent and lucrative contracts. The Mage Wrights have taken as particular interest in helping paying clients within the planes touched by the River Styx - as a measure of security for the multiverse, choosing to put their thumb on the scales of the Blood War in favor of order. This has lead to some dicey associations with shady clients of infernal nature. Whereas the Aether Wrights are collectively the wealthiest Halorite guild, the Mage Wright Guild has the wealthiest members (with a large gap existing between its aristocracy and its common membership). Culturally, the Mage Wrights are the most individualistic of all the major Halorite guilds - allowing their masters to pursue individual business endeavours and take on private clients for their own gain outside of what is considered guild business - a line which is in itself blurry. For this reason, this guild is also considered the most corrupt among the major guilds - often a source of anxiety for Halorites, as this is seen as a potential weakness Halorite foes can exploit toward the ruination of the city. A collective spirit still pervades the Mage Wright Guild (as it does Halorite culture generally). The prosperity and security of the guild is intensely intertwined with the prosperity and security of the city - so Mage Wrights are obsessively focused on providing for the collective defense of Haloru. Despite being considered "individualistic" by Halorite standards - the Mage Wrights have a tight-knit sense of reciprocity within their guild, with a duty to have each other's backs, provide favors, and help their fellow guildsmembers get ahead in society. The Mage Wrights are more decentralized than the other major guilds, owning a plethora of workshops, laboratories and factories throughout the city. Each guild master partially owns one of these workshops and is largely autonomous in their operation. The guildmaster recruits their own apprentices, trains their own journeyman, and inks their own contracts with clients in competition with other guildmasters. The workshops form an association of guildmasters which elect a board of governors to oversee all guild matters and direct pooled guild resources. Upon gaining membership, guild members often stay and work for their master - accepting lucractive contracts as artificers and artisans. Others move forward with their trials to become guildmasters. Those who do obtain guild master status (which a select few) - the board of governors offers them several routes to riches. A newly minted guildmaster may accept seed money to setup their own workshop and enter the ratrace to compete for mage wright contracts and clients on the open market. Or, they may accept a commission as guildmaster within one of the guild-owned enterprises, which are of a more industrial scale. The guild-owned operations serve a closed market of clients and typically encompasses the works the guild is famous for - such as maintaining the defense systems of the Outer Wall, mass production of uncommon items, or consulting with deep pocketed clients across the multiverse. Guildmasters, regardless of whether they pursue an open or closed market career all receive an annual guild dividend from the guild-owned enterprises and business. There is no common dress for Mage Guild members - however, all are required to wear guild colors and visibly display their guild signet ring. Most members wear the signet ring on a chain around their neck or attached their headdress to keep their fingers available for other magical rings. The guild colors are emerald green and ruby red. For this reason, guild members favor these gems, often wearing them as brooches or within piercings. The sigil of the guild is a wreath of red flame touching a wreath of green flame.
Phase Wrights[]
Bio-organic lifeforms in Haloru are highly unstable - being subjected to intense reality bending and warping. With time all beings within Haloru experience mutation. It is often random - beginning subtly and then accelerating exponentially once a critical threshold is crossed. It is paramount that magical intervention occurs before the phase threshold is crossed - otherwise, the mutating being undergoes such intense and rapid mutation that they are eventually transformed into a cosmic aberration, or in the most extreme cases implode into a singularity of chaos that begins to rip apart the fabric of reality within its event horizon. This mutation is often held up as the source of many of the fiends and aberations that emerge from beyond the outer gloom to attack the outer defenses and walls of the city. Some scholars theorize that these are the inhabitants of the realm that existed beyond the walls in the time when Haloru had not fractured and fallen from reality. Everyone living within the Arcane Interdiction experiences this mutation greatly reduced rate - but still experience the microstresses of fraying. This is why those who venture beyond the wall, or are stationed there for a period of time, such as the Castellans in the Outer Defense Works - must take extra precautions, such as wearing a Cloak of Permanence to temporarily slow the mutation rate. Also, working in the aether refinement process or in crafting magical artifacts with purity is known to greatly accelerate the mutation process - with accidents often leading to runaway mutation which crosses the phase threshold. Aether Wrights, Weave Wrights, Castellans and Mage Wrights are the guilds most exposed to the risks of accelerated mutation.
Although mutation is random - there are several common categories.
Multiplying - growing additional appendages or features, or even growing a conjoined twin
Dividing - separating into two clones, or into two distinct lifeforms over time
Transforming - changing into a different species or adopting features and characteristics of another species (often magical - such as draconic or fey)
Transmuting - turning into a being composed of different substance than an biorganism, such as undead, aberration, infernal, celestial or elemental.
The Phase Wrights Guild is a guild of healers, bards and artists who specialize in repairing, restoring, abating and controlling the effects of mutation, also know as "phasing." Their methods and techniques are varied, but their commitment to preserving life within Haloru serves as their uniting purpose and organizing principal. The Phase Wrights perhaps the most loosely organized of all the major guilds that participate in the guild structure of Haloru's governance. They are best described as professional association that oversees the training and licensing of Phase Wrights. The guild is governed by a Board of Sanctions which sets standards and ethics for the profession, controls the licensing process and sanctions self-forming guild colleges as license granting bodies. The Board of Sanctions also owns guild discipline - but often leaves this to the colleges it sanctions. There are several movements within the Phase Wright guild that dictate the philosophy and techniques behind phasecraft - each having several prominent colleges recognized to license members as practicing phase wrights. Each movement comes with its own set of subclasses for its licensed practioners. Each of the movements achieves similar patient outcomes in life expectancy, effectively postponing phase threshold events for significant periods of time (sometimes eons, depending on the species). In the end, there is no known cure for phasing - besides leaving Haloru. There is no standard dress for Phase Wrights. The guild requires them to visibly wear the sigil of the Phase Wrights - which is a silhouette of an upraised hand surrounded by glowing antumbra. Phase Wrights often tattoo this on their bodies, wear it on their garments, or don it as a flamboyant crest within their headdress.
Phase Wright Movements
Phase Healing focuses on using magical and natural healing and restoration techniques to slow, minimize and ease the effects of phasing in patients. Master Phase Wrights in this movement can even heal and restore basic mutations. The core philosophy of this movement is roll phasing back where possible.
Bardic Phasing focuses on using artistic, bardic and artisanal techniques to slow, minimize and ease effects of phasing. This includes the use of magical artifacts, performance magic, temporary polymorphing magic, crafting of adaptive equipment. This is particularly popular with patience who are experiencing phasing side-effects that are mentally and physically painful. The core philosophy of this movement is manage phasing as much as possible to achieve the highest quality of life.
Phase Brinking focuses on transformation and transmutation magic to control phasing as a form of artistic expression. This involves techniques to push phasing up to the phasing threshold in short, controlled sessions to force desirable mutations - and often results in graceful, but chimeric transformations - such as an elf with the eyes and wings of an aarakocra and feathers of a couatl. The core philosophy of this movement is embrace phasing, since it is inevitable and take advantage of its affect while you can.
Phage Wrights[]
Phase Wrights are guild of specially skilled and equipped chaos hunters, who were formed to root out and destroy emergent chaos events. A tempest of pure entropy rages outside the outer gloom beyond the Outer Walls and at the deepest depths of the Dimensional Delve. Despite the defenses, such as the Arcane Interdiction and Outer Walls - chaos still seeps into Haloru - poisoning its shadows, cursing its residents, mutating its food supply. It is a subtle, ever-present influence - similar to the aethereal nimbus which shines across all surfaces. When chaos begins to concentrate and pool in pockets of the city, the first telltale sign is that aethereal nimbus begins to fade then disappear from surfaces in an area. As it condenses further it begins to congeal into lingering shadows and phantoms which lurk on the edge of the vision, often accompanied by a sense of paranoia or outright hysteria. Locals living in the impacted area often begin going mad, hallucinating - or begin phasing at an accelerated rate. They may become mysteriously sick or be stricken with a strange curse. The next stage usually has symptoms such as an unusually concentration monster outbreaks - whether through phase threshold events transforming locals, monsters gaining access through unstable gateways between planes, or creatures spawning straight from the chaos. These events are easier to isolate and exterminate within the confides of Haloru, proper. They often occur undetected beyond the wall and therefore, gain considerable momentum before emerging as an advanced threat. The Phage Wrights practice a type of blood magic known as phagecraft which stalks the borders of taboo within Halorite society. Phagecraft is particularly potent at disrupting concentrating chaos by using various magical techniques to rapidly expand entropy or concentrate order to dilute or kill of chaos.
Unlike most of Halorite Society, which is highly communal - Phage Wrights are considered loners, operating in packs of 1-3 hunters to retain the element of stealth and surprise. There is an unspoken pact where Phage Wrights will do what is necessary to protect Haloru and they will do so with public support outside the public eye. Phage Wrights are often put in morally ambiguous or taxing situations and are largely given the space to make tough judgement calls - as long as their actions don't create waves. For example - citizens and guild members protected by due process and entitled to a trial might experience phase threshold event, transforming into a highly dangerous demon. When confronted with this - a Phage Wright might use phagecraft to kill sacrifice several citizens in the immediate vicinity to forestall the transformation and give their hunting pack time to eliminiate the demidemon. Phage Wrights are often visibly impacted by the nature of their work - leprosy, lycanthropy, cambionism, and vampirism are widespread within guild membership. Despite all of this, Phagewrights are highly regarded within Halorite society - although they often operate in locations, such as the Dimensional Delve and beyond the walls where most people don't interact with them directly. So exist as more legend than person for the average Halorite.
Their largest recruitment pipeline is from recruits voluntarily discharging from the Castellans at the end of their apprenticeship or journeyman deployment. These recruits are favored - because they already have combat training and experience against chaos and phase threshold events. This allows initiation into the Phage Wrights to focus basic hemocraft and advanced initiation rites into phagecraft technique. Phage Wrights highly favor recruits with Weave Wright or Phase Wright training - due to their specialties in controlling or mitigating effects associated with chaos. The Weave Wright Order directly assigns Weave Wrights into Phage Wright hunting packs due to a guild mandate and agreement with the Haloru government. This affords Phage Wrights a minimal level of protection and healing against the highly toxic and dangerous threats they are exposed to on a regular basis. The Phage Wrights do not have a sigil - rather distinctive colors for each society within the Guild. Each guildmember wears a thick silver ring engraved with the guild's motto: "Vivat Haloru" - They also shout this as warcry when rushing into combat, it appears to be a trigger phrase for several magical effects and an vocal component to several incantations within the phagecraft arsenal. It has even been seen to trigger several spells and effects simultaneously.
There are two societies within the Phage Wright Guild.
Halor hunting chaos
Halors operate within the confines of the city - especially focused on securing the Dimensional Delve and plugging chaos leaks within the city. They are the Phage Wrights Halorites are most likely to encounter. This is often the first society that Phage Wrights join - since the threats inside the city prove to be a superb training ground to practice mastering hemocraft and the advanced phagecraft techniques beyond it. Halors are visually distinct because they wear amethyst armor with silver veins running through it as a marker of their society. Amethyst is considered a taboo hue in Halorite society - due to its associations with cosmic entropy. It is the color shadows within Haloru - the color of surfaces devoid of the aether nimbus, an indicators of pooling chaos. For this reason, it is also the hue of rogues and criminals - the most effective camouflage. Halor Hunting Packs are typically assembled to handle CR 5-8 challenges.
Auror beyond the Outer Wall
Aurors operate outside the city - especially just beyond the Outer Defense Works and into the Planar Detritus Field. They patrol into the Planar Accretion Disk and lead occasional expeditions to the boundary of the Great Maelstrom, but can only do so for limited time due to the extreme fraying and phase change that occurs at these extreme limits. Aurors are typically vetran Halors, since hunting outside the walls is so much more treacherous than within the city. This is not always the case, pensioned Castellan officers are also common among this society, due to their years of experience fighting threats while deployed at the Outer Defense Works. They may be recruited while still in the Castellans - after leading a successful foray or rescue mission beyond the Outer Defense Works. In this case - the Castellan Guild allows their member to undergo initiation rites and trials of the Phase Wrights, under the conditions that they remain at their post and do not resign their guild membership or commission. The Aurors have access to the most potent phagecraft rites and equipment the guild has in its arsenal - due to the extreme nature of the threats they hunt beyond the wall. A typical mission for an Auror Hunting Packs might be to find and destroy a hell gate that has opened beyond the Outer Defense Works and elliminate anything they can that has emerged from it before it reaches nearby forward positions of the Castellans. Another example might be locate and kill an Elder Brain hiding somewhere beyond the Planar Detritus Field that appears to be assembling an psionic army. Auror Hunting Packs are typically assembled to handle CR 9-15 challenges. Challenges higher than this will likely necessitate a controlled retreat covered by a valiant rearguard action. Aurors are integral to the Haloru's outer defense strategy - identifying threats early, allowing lead time to concentrate defenses and softening up threats before their engage the main lines of defense. Halor Hunting Packs are usually comprised of 3-5 hunters - in addition to a Weave Wright and 1-2 Castellan veterans undergoing Phage Wright rites and trials. Hunting Packs usually are deployed with a squad of 6-10 Castellan Journeymen equipped to handle threats below CR 5. This squad helps dig in and fortify Pack's camp and surrounding positions each evening. And is intended to be within a few hours journey of the pack to provide a fortified fallback point in the even the pack is injured or scattered. The Aurors wear distinctive amethyst armor with veins of gold streaking through it.
Government[]
Power is held by the major guilds in Haloru. They have formed a power sharing arrangement via a representative governing body called the Parliament of Guilds and Orders. Each guild or order within the city is entitled to at least 1 representative - known as a Lord Guilder. The Parliament selects from among its members to form an administration - with Prime Minister being from whichever guild can form and lead a majority coalition. Ministers are appointed from the majority coalition's numbers to head major ministries, such as Outer Defense, Interior Security, Commerce, Mint, Energy, Treasury and Guild Order.
Society[]
Halorite society is extremely warm and open to extraplanar refugees and travelers, actively recruiting and incentivizing them to setup a business and provide for the common defense. However, it highly scrutinizes their coming and going - making it hard to gain re-entry if running afoul of the law or the powers that be. Exile is used aggressively to maintain law and order. Halorite culture is highly communal and participatory. Perhaps this due to the extreme nature of the threats daily threatening to consume Haloru's reality and impacting the physical wellness of its inhabitants. It is also highly entrepreneurial. In this way, many visitors are often initially characterize it as a highly lawful society focused on maintaining order - only to be confused by the highly chaotic, laisse faire attitudes toward magical experimentation and commerce. Only to be confused again by the collective outlook attitude most have on caring for their neighbors and fellow guild members. Simply put by one cosmic voyager "It is a chaotic island of order in a sea of chaos."
