Despite all this strangeness, about 8,000 humans live in the Black City. These people call themselves the elychnious. They are generally a quiet, subdued, and calm folk who avoid wearing bright colors or adopting ostentatious appearances of any kind. To outsiders, they can seem sullen and distant. Referenced only in passing in most books,
and almost never placed on any maps, the Black City is thought to be a place of curses and ghosts.
Neither is actually true.
The Black City (a name given to it by outsiders—inhabitants just call it “the City”) is a tight cluster of cylindrical buildings made of an unknown black material that seems equal parts metal and stone. It lies in the Cold Desert, south of the Black Riage and directly south of the village of Guran. The city has two distinct portions, with one section positioned higher than the other. Without exception, all the buildings seem unfinished, as if the builders stopped each one midway through construction and never returned. However, each structure seems to have been built from the top down, finished above but with no base. Without a lower portion, each cylinder hovers above the ground.
The ground below the buildings is filled with rusted machines of metal and glass, fused into a single, immobile mass.
Translucent slime: level 6
THE NORTHERN PLAINS HEARSAY
Ghosts Amid the Insects: Translucent apparitions of nonhuman creatures sometimes walk the tunnels of Xakarl. Although most of the time these images are fleeting, sometimes an individual can interact with one of them. The images do not speak the language of the nchalsik, however, and some of the insects are interested in hiring non- nchalsik to come to the city and attempt to open up a dialog with the apparitions to find out what they are and what they want. Rogue Nchalsik: A group of rogue nchalsik lives in a small encampment west of Xakarl. These individuals hate the queens and seek the ultimate destruction of the city and the liberation of their fellow insects. They are
violent and wild, but they lack strong leadership.
THE WEIRD OF THE NORTHERN PLAINS
Crash Site: A large vehicle of mysterious origins evidently crashed in ancient times about 80 miles (129 km) north of Xakarl. In a radius around it, out to about a mile, creatures are transformed into biomechanical beings that claim to know the future. The transformation lasts for an hour or so, after which the creatures revert to normal, though they have a horrific headache.
Glint of the Sun: Not far from Xakarl, there is an area approximately 100 feet (30 m) across where if one stands and looks at the sun, it appears to be a pulsating, living thing tyrannically ruling over the Earth.
The elychnious are a superstitious lot who fear demons of the earth and air. The demons of the earth abide in metal and stone, and thus the people of the Black City are wary of being on the ground. The demons of the air abide in storms and in the electricity or lightning in powered numenera devices. Luckily for the residents, they never have to face such demons in their own city.
Because they dislike leaving their inverted buildings, the elychnious have developed ways to sustain themselves without ever having to do so. Many raise birds for food or hunt wild birds that flock about the tops of the buildings. Others grow gardens on the round rooftops. But the real secret of survival comes from what the elychnious grow in the egglike sacs produced in laboratories near the tops of many buildings. With their biological numenera, the elychnious produce food of all types— meat, grains, vegetables, fruit, and more.
A few residents of the Black City have mastered using the biological pods to produce other things, such as living armor, They value learning, history, and lore, and
they possess extensive libraries filled with books and scrolls. However, there is no knowledge here of powered numenera or the science behind such things. No automatons, ray projectors, or force shields. But that does not mean the elychnious disdain science as a whole. They study botany, zoology, and in particular biology extensively.
The elychnious lower long ropes (which they call wicks, for some reason) to reach the ground, conduct whatever business they have there (such as hunting, gathering, or farming), and then hurry back up their wick, pulling it up after them. This is less for reasons of city defense and more a matter of personal preference. The elychnious don’t like being on the ground. Many have never touched it.
The buildings are interconnected, so it’s easy to travel from one to another (or through it to reach yet another) without ever having to use the ground. In fact, since none of the buildings touch the ground, there’s no reason to go there to move through the city. The natives don’t even consider the ground a part of the city.
The only cyphers found in the Black City are chemical based (pills, liquids, or injections), organic, or otherwise nonpowered.
Stand and Deliver poison: level 4; for one minute, victim stands motionless and can take no actions other than to say true things about herself or her current goals or intentions, as is pertinent to her current activities
yellow somewhere on his person. The
lawminders of the Black City are under his direct command. They use dart throwers and knives coated in knockout poison, although a few use a far more potent concoction called “Stand and Deliver” poison, which forces the victim to stand still and begin telling random, true facts about herself and her immediate intentions.
Outsiders, including traders, are rare enough in the Black City that each one is likely to get a direct meeting with Gallitaius. Those who are uninterested in the meeting are escorted by the lawminders to his reception chamber regardless. Visitors who mean the city or its people no harm are permitted to stay.