Sca-Nif-So-Carn

San Francisco -0- The Maya Realms ÷0÷ SAND

Quote

"Just as every object has a shadow so too does it have a reflection. If the surface of the Sea of Dreams were a mirror, ever-so-still, then Sca-Nif-So-Carn would be San Francisco's reflection." -- Anzhelina Zhang

Introduction

Sca-Nif-So-Carn is an island city-state surrounded by a dense bank of fog. From the extensive ruins beyond the walls it is apparent that at one time the Gilded City was much larger than it is tonight occuping the whole of the island. But sometime in the recent past the Fog began to encroach upon Sca-Nif-So-Carn devouring it one block at a time until tonight the city is a small fraction of its original size.

Appearance

Sca-Nif-So-Carn the Gilded City is an ever shifting puzzle of neighborhoods and unique locations interlaced within the fog-bound ruins of an ancient crumbling megalopolis. The city is a impressionist kaleidoscope of Art Deco-Brutalism overlaid with a Steampunk skin.

Phantasmic History

The Dreaming Sands

The Ohlone phrase "Sca-Nif-So-Carn" roughly translates as "Dreaming Sands. The first humans to visit the Bay Area did so in a time of great antiquity. The world was different then and the barrier between the Waking World and the World of Dreams was quite fluid.

Districts

Calvary

Calvary is a sad place, a walled enclave to the west of the Yuzhen district. Calvary serves as a last stop of sorts for dreams and nightmares with nowhere else to go, it is literally a graveyard.

Near the district's center spreads the Cenotaph Garden, a cemetery without bodies for when dreams dies they leave no remains, but due to its own inherent mysterious nature the Garden produces a gravestone to mark the passage of all dreamsiders and sleepwalkers who die in Sca-Nif-So-Carn. This is not to say the Garden is without inhabitants, Ghuls creatures of legendary horror nest in the larger cenotaphs and dig tunnels in the black soil of the graveyard. The creatures will attack and consume anyone or anything that passes too close to the Garden. Unknown to most there is a passage through the Curtain located in the tunnels below the Garden granting unmonitored transit from the Waking world to Sca-Nif-So-Carn and back again. At the center of the Cenotaph Garden is Moonstone Tower the mystical basion of the wizard and councilor Aextiasum who serves as overlord and protector of Calvary. Few question that the resident Ghuls are his watchdogs and occasional war-beasts.

Calvary is without doubt the city's most desperate slum and a very dangerous place for both dreamsiders and sleepwalkers. In addition to the ever hungry Ghuls, gangs of starving and sometimes insane dreamsiders patrol the streets for potential victims whose every possession is forfeit. No atrocity is too barbaric for these craven mobs. There are several present in Calvary and each Ravager Gang has its own established territory, insignia and strongholds.

The only real neutral ground is the Cenotaph Garden and a fancifully built tavern called the Rotten Tooth. The Tooth allows the gang leaders to meet and work out the end of occasional blood fueds or killings. The Tooth is also a ideal place to arrange virtually any skullduggery. The most common business dealings carried out in the Tooth are arranged thefts including full scale robberies and contract killings, but no vices or crime is too low for the scum that traffic the Tooth. The tavern is also popular for a noxious oily ale called Calvary Black which is supposedly made from Black Sand. Suffice it to say the Rotten Tooth is an ideal hideout for those on the run from CPS. Rarely does the city constabulary enter Calvary without dire need although undercover CPS agents are another matter entirely.

Yuzhen / Jade-town

Yuzhen also know as Jade-town is the Asian district of Sca-Nif-So-Carn a walled district with its own laws and representative upon the council. Jade-town is quite exotic and attracts both Easterners and Westerners, sadly it is also a violent place where warring factions battle each other nightly for supremacy. Councilor Cheingyei holds sway over Jade-town, but she is largely a figurehead who tries to rein in the warring dragon societies as they struggle for singular dominance. Many believe and rightly so that her shifting favor is a deliberate attempt to keep the factions at constant conflict. These constant criminal conflicts allow her to remain relevant on the council as the only individual who can keep the violence confined to Yuzhen and prevent its spread to other districts. And if she can keep the warring factions balanced against each other she serves as the only legitimate leader the eastern dreamsiders have to represent them on the larger city council.

Citadel

The beating heart of Sca-Nif-So-Carn is the Citadel, domed like a Nineteenth Century aviary its glass and gold vault allowing in perpetual twilight while holding the amnemonic fog at bay. Below the vast dome squats the Chroniker Building at the center of the Citadel and around it are gathered the Palace of the Hedonarch, the High-Offices of the Council of the Citadel, and the Ivory Pyramid of the Committee of Public Safety (CPS).

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Ivory Pyramid

“No laws on Ceres. Just cops.” — Detective Josephus Miller, The Expanse, Season 1: Dulcinea

Committee of Public Safety (CPS)

The Committee of Public Safety often abbreviated to CPS or more commonly CoPS are the constabulary of Sca-Nif-So-Carn.

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Places of Interest

• Automat -- Automated Dinner
• Cenotaph Garden -- Graveyard of Dreams
• Cinomatograph -- Movie Palace of Dark Desires
• Dance Hall
• Deep Cable Car Company --
• Rotten Tooth -- An Underworld Tavern

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Personalities

The First Citizen

-- - Celebrix -- The Hedonarch

Council of the City

-- - Aextiasum -- (X-she-asum) [M]

-- - Cheingyei -- (Chang-Yay) [F]

-- Douvounx -- (Do-vo-nex) [M]

-- Loungyein Lairaa -- (Loungin-Lara) [F]

-- Spretchorth -- (Sprech-Horth) [F]

-- Ugot Ax -- (U-got-Ax) [M]

Others

• The Grand Mechnician --

• Bogeyman -- Collector of Children

• Gremlynn -- Anarcho-Terrorist

• Prisoner Zed -- Political Prisoner

• Lady Succuba -- Club Owner

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Storytelling

Mood

Dark Fauxtech Neo-Noir

Stories

• Once Upon a Sacrifice

• Speculum, Speculum

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Sources

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieselpunk

https://www.sftodo.com/union.html

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