Bassuras

Overview

Bassuras is broken. It’s seething with anger under the surface — a powder keg fed daily by the Court of Dust’s iron-fisted rule. The city is primed for rebellion against the Kryn, but the dynasty is so far removed that the city has no context to feel threatened or affected by the growing global religious tensions.

Bassuras has been torn apart and rebuilt so many times its history is visible in the layers of scrap throughout the city. Hope is naive here. “Bassuras owes you nothing.”

Gadgeteers, artificers, and technologists are a commodity — stolen off the streets and traded between factions as prized possessions. Tinkering is everywhere, and Kept tinkerers are more common than Independents. Every gang has a tinkerer (a Grease or a Wrench); the Court keeps tabs on the best of them. Independent grease weirdos exist but are rare. When one Grease dies or defects, a new one is scraped up off the street to replace them. To the tinkerers of the city, Bassuras is where you make discoveries.

All the very best supplies are underground, in ancient buried temples, but the Court regulates entrances and exits — the general populace knows through whispers that it exists, but no one has ever seen it. Ruins serve as junkyards where magic and lost arcanotech are excavated and repurposed. Scavengers believe Bassuras is full of secrets. Unauthorized excavations are prohibited by the Court and considered theft.

Strangers are met with curiosity and suspicion. There’s a steady influx of technically-minded expats relocating to Bassuras from abroad, alongside people who try to exploit those same resources and people. People are generally known by nicknames — true names are rare. Bassuras is a place where people reinvent themselves; chosen names and identities are the norm.

Favors are traded like currency. Low-level violence (fistfights, street racing) is semi-constant background noise. The Deathwish Run is a Bassuras cultural tradition — drivers are cultivated, trained, and discarded if unsuccessful, but to be a driver is to know the freedom of the road. If you’re lucky, you can build a life outside Court indenture or gang membership as a merchant trader or treasure hunter, but the city is not kind to those who can’t pay their debts, and the street itself is a harsh punishment. Leaving Bassuras is treated as a fantasy: “Leavers don’t stay gone for long,” and “No one leaves Bassuras; you’re stuck here, kid.”

The Sanctash

The story of Sanctos Ashton, or the Sanctash, is known to every citizen as a patron saint of the city, embodying the spirit of rebelliousness and vindication. The Court tolerates the myth because to do otherwise would enrage the city — a dangerous and self-destructive myth (to the Court) that they allow to persist by reshaping the narrative and altering the stories. The Court understands the danger of letting the oppressed believe too strongly in the myth and using Ashton’s story as an example of why they can and should rise up to overtake the Court. But they are not able to control the effect the story has on people.

A shrine to the Sanctash exists at the former site of the Greymoore Home for Untethered Children, fully painted by graffiti. Symbolic images and graffiti of the Sanctash appear throughout the city — seeing a representation of Ashton Greymoore’s punk energy is a common occurrence.

Notable NPCs

Kethren Duvash — trusted advisor to the Court of Dust.

Notable Factions

The Court of Dust — seat of power: The Undercarriage.