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Vermissian Black Ops 1 Con5ih

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2K views32 pages

Vermissian Black Ops 1 Con5ih

Uploaded by

hellno
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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VERMISSIAN

BLACK OPS
G R AN T H OWI TT & C HRISTOPHER TAYLO R
IL LUSTR AT ED BY FEL IX MIALL

Vermissian Black Ops

Written by Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor

Illustrated by Felix Miall

Edited by Helen Gould and Mary Hamilton

Layout and design by Minerva McJanda

Produced by Mary Hamilton

Copyright © 2020 by Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor.

Published by Rowan, Rook and Decard Ltd.

First Edition (2020)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be


reproduced,distributed, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, including photocopying, recording, or other
electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior
written permission of the publisher, except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain
other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
For permission requests, write to the publisher at the
address below.

Rowan, Rook and Decard


15 Tufnell Court, Old Ford Road
E3 5JJ, United Kingdom

www.rowanrookanddecard.com

Content warnings: Heart is a horror game, and as such,


there are some unpleasant things in the text. These
include but are not limited to: violence, drug use,
addiction, ghosts, unwanted bodily transformation, and
monsters that used to be people. We can assure you that
there is no rape or sexual assault in this game.

2
INTRODUCTION 1 THE VERMISSIAN, BY LINE 10
Candle Line 12
Fathom Line 15
ALTERNATIVE RULES 2 Spiral Line 17
ADVANCEMENT 2 Loft Line 19
DOMAINS 2 pulse Line 22
HAUNTS AND HEALING 2
FALLOUT AND RESISTANCES 3
COMBINING THIS GAME WITH SPIRE 4 GROUPS AND FACTIONS 23
THE PALADINS 23
THE MINISTRY OF OUR HIDDEN MISTRESS 24
GAMEPLAY 5 THE SPIRAL COUNCIL 26
SESSION STRUCTURE 5 THE VERMISSIAN COLLECTIVE 27
Operations 5 GUTTERKIN 28
ENTERING THE CITY ABOVE 7
THRONE DIVISION EQUIPMENT 8

3
Introduction

The Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress (hereafter


just “the Ministry”) is a paramilitary cult devoted
to the dark elf goddess of secrets, grace and shad‐
WHAT THIS BOOK IS
Vermissian Black Ops uses the Heart rules to tell
ows. Their ultimate aim is to overthrow and stories of action and horror in the city of Spire. It
replace the high elf government of Spire via an focuses on the Vermissian - the failed train net‐
extended campaign of sabotage, blackmail and work that runs through Spire like diseased tissue,
assassination - but at present, they’re making do spreading arcane fallout throughout the city -
with destabilising aelfir rule in any way they can. which is used to access dangerous or hard-to-
The bulk of the Ministry is divided into cells reach locations which are valuable to the Ministry.
who have no contact with each other. These cells The tone and content are quite different from
are secreted within the city of Spire and tasked the standard Heart experience. This isn’t an
with subverting the rule of the aelfir. But you don’t introspective descent into a shared personal hell
work as part of a cell - you’re too weird, too danger‐ to satisfy your hubristic obsession. This is des‐
ous and too valuable to be placed in civilised soci‐ perate bullets-and-blood combat against an
ety. Plucked from the depths of the undercity, you occupying force, using a cursed subway network
have been formed into a team of special operatives to attack from unexpected directions. We use
and assigned to crucial missions. the Heart rules to tell these stories because
Using illegal magic and a barely-understand‐ they’re focused on combat and travelling
able cursed mass transit network - the Vermis‐ through hostile environments.
sian - to navigate the city, you emerge from the We’ve done our best to make this a Heart
shadows and strike at the most valuable targets. sourcebook that you don’t need to read Spire to
You are a member of the Throne Division: the understand, whilst avoiding repeating ourselves
Vermissian Black Ops. or reprinting material. However, given where the
game takes place, reading Spire will probably help
you gain a broader understanding of the factions
and locations at play.
This book functions as an expansion for Heart
because it details the upper-city portions of the
Vermissian. Though they’re less cursed and mad
than the parts beneath the city, they’re still non-
euclidian nightmare mazes of twisted steel and
phantom trains where delvers can find adventure,
secrets or whatever they’re searching for. You don’t
have to work for the Ministry to explore them.
It also functions as an expansion for Spire
because it details the different lines of the Ver‐
missian, which is in that game too.

1
Alternative Rules
In this section, we’ll focus on some tweaks to the HAVEN locations are rare in the Vermissian,
core Heart rules that allow you to run mission-led given the nature of the place (and that it’s so close
games that deal with stealth, combat and para‐ to an actual habitable city) but some people
military cults in a cursed transit network. choose - or are forced - to live here.
OCCULT locations feature magic circles
(abandoned or active), the theoretical libraries of
ADVANCEMENT the Vermissian Sages (i.e. the libraries them‐
Characters on Vermissian Black Ops missions selves are theoretical, and all the texts in them
don’t advance by hitting beats from their Calling cover theoretical topics) and no end of shadowy
like regular Heart characters. They should still cults devoted to unearthing hidden knowledge.
have one (there’s a reason they went into the RELIGION locations include shrines to the
undercity) but they will gain advancements by Midden Mistresses of the Vermissian, houses of
completing missions instead. worship for banned religions and one particu‐
Each minor objective the characters achieve larly elaborate solar temple which collected the
earns them, appropriately, a minor advance; sun’s energy to be funnelled into trains.
major objectives grant major advances. You can TECHNOLOGY locations cover machinery -
learn more about mission structure on p. 8. such as lifts, winches, drawbridges, signal-boxes
There’s no means of earning zenith abilities and turntables - as well as the more practical
within this system, mainly because it doesn’t fit efforts of the Vermissian Collective.
with the overall tone of the game. Also, since WARREN locations are plentiful in the Vermis‐
characters all advance at the same time, this sian; it’s made of tunnels, after all. Some have col‐
would result in every single delver going super‐ lapsed or shrunk over time, and countless
nova at once - which might detract from the maintenance vents and passageways make it hard to
essential gravitas of the experience. predict where or when an ambush might be sprung.
WILD locations are a useful contrast to the
iron and galvanics of the rest of the Vermissian -
DOMAINS having the occasional tree or deer in there can
In the standard Heart game, the Vermissian is really spice things up.
(mostly) covered by the TECHNOLOGY domain.
However, given that roughly half the events in a
Black Ops game take place in the Vermissian, HAUNTS AND HEALING
access to the TECHNOLOGY domain might The Ministry provides safehouses, materials,
provide an unfair advantage. doctors and spiritual guidance to operators
So, in Black Ops games, the Vermissian comes between missions. This means that you don’t
under every possible domain to offer variety and need to worry about using haunts to remove
limit how often you’re rolling that extra dice. stress and fallout from your character.
CURSED locations are places where the ener‐ Instead, at the end of every mission when you
gies of the Heart are especially strong. These are return to your safehouse, you can:
more common in the lower areas of the Vermis‐
sian, but even the Loft line isn’t completely free of • Clear all stress marked against your
the Heart’s presence. resistances;
DESOLATE locations are barren, empty and • Remove any Minor fallout;
unforgiving. Huge lift shafts are one example, as • Reduce all Major fallout to Minor.
are the exposed areas of track on the upper Spire.
2
FALLOUT AND RESISTANCES
Alternative Rules

SUPPRESSED. [MINOR, BLOOD/MIND] Bullets


To reflect the action-orientated tone of Vermissian ricochet and thump into the walls around you;
Black Ops, feel free to use the following new fal‐ you’re convinced that you’ll die if you stick
lout results. your head out. All actions become Risky until
COMBAT fallout (generally using Fortune) another character arrives to drag you away or
allows you to model firefights and desperate take out the adversary that’s threatening you.
battles; MINISTRY fallout is related to the fact
that you’re working for a forbidden church that FOLLOWED. [MAJOR, FORTUNE] You’ve been
occasionally makes strange demands. followed into the Vermissian as you attempt to
return to base. You’ll need to lose (or drive off,
or kill) your pursuers before you make contact
COMBAT with the Ministry again.
FLANKED. [MINOR, FORTUNE] Your enemies
have forced you into a dangerous position, and
your cover doesn’t provide proper protection. MINISTRY
All stress inflicted by your adversaries increases COMPROMISED. [MAJOR, FORTUNE] Your
by 1 dice size. When you move to a new position actions didn’t go unnoticed, and someone
or eliminate all adversaries present, remove important knows what you did - or someone
this fallout. [Immediate, Ongoing] unimportant has evidence they want to share.
You need to silence them; kill them if you have to.
ALERT. [MINOR, FORTUNE] Your adversaries
know that something’s amiss. All attempts at SHADOWS FALL. [MAJOR, BLOOD/ECHO] The
stealth become Risky until the end of the situ‐ Hidden Mistress’ eye looks upon you, drawn by
ation. [Ongoing] bloodshed and weird magic. The area is
suffused with cloying shadows, and light
REINFORCEMENTS. [MINOR, FORTUNE] Your sources are dimmed or extinguished. The
adversaries raise the alarm and you hear the RANGED tag is removed from all weapons and
sound of their allies rushing to support them. abilities, reducing combat to a stumbling, des‐
You’ve got about a minute to get out of here perate mess of point-blank fire and stabbing -
before you’re surrounded and killed or cap‐ unless the combatants can see in the dark.
tured. [Immediate]
SACRIFICE. [MAJOR, SUPPLIES] The Ministry
NO EXIT. [MINOR, FORTUNE] Your planned feels that you have drawn too deeply on their
exit route is shut off; doors lock, adversaries resources and demands a sacrifice in return.
take up defensive positions, walls and bridges You must execute a named target in a sacrifi‐
collapse and so on. You’re going to need an cial (and awkward) manner to ensure the suc‐
alternative point of egress. [Immediate] cess of the mission. Once completed, the
person who enacted the ritual marks D6 stress
DRIVEN BACK. [MINOR, MIND] You’re pan‐ to Mind, and the Goddess’ blessing allows
icked, shaken and driven back by fear of being them to roll with mastery for the remainder of
shot and killed. If you’re carrying something the situation. Failure to offer the sacrifice will
important or heavy, you drop it; if you’re escort‐ incur the wrath of the Ministry, and you will
ing someone, they’re on their own. Once you not be able to resupply or rest after this mis‐
get somewhere safer and catch your breath, sion is complete.
remove this fallout. [Immediate, Ongoing]

3
COMBINING THIS GAME

Alternative Rules
EXTRACTION. [MAJOR, SUPPLIES] New
information surfaces: one of the people in the
mission area is a Ministry plant, and requires WITH SPIRE
extraction. Failure to do this will incur the wrath It’s possible, and indeed fun, to combine simul‐
of the Ministry, and you will not be able to resup‐ taneous games of Spire and Vermissian Black Ops
ply or rest after this mission is complete. into a single campaign from multiple perspect‐
ives. Players can make a character for both rules-
BURNED. [CRITICAL, MIND/FORTUNE] You’ve sets: their Spire characters are a cell of ministers
made too many mistakes and have been sold in the city, and their Vermissian Black Ops charac‐
out by the Ministry: whoever’s in charge of ters are a specialised team of operatives ready to
your operations decided that you’re worth strike at targets that the cell designates.
more as a sacrifice than an agent. You’re given This doesn’t mean that the cell has a hit squad
misleading information and sent into a trap. at their beck and call - Ministry protocol is still in
Hopefully you’ll be captured and interrogated, effect, and they only dispatch black ops teams on
therefore spreading misinformation; if not, crucial missions. However, this will allow the cell
you’ll just be dead and no longer a problem. to focus on revolution and subterfuge without
You might manage to fight your way out and doing too much wetwork themselves.
escape, but it’s probably not a good idea to go
hunting for revenge. (Not that it’ll stop you
from trying, obviously.)

SHOCK AND AWE. [CRITICAL, FORTUNE] You


realise that the Paladins have discovered your
base of operations as they hurl solar explosives
inside and begin systematically executing
everyone they can see. If you’re lucky, you might
escape; but most likely you’ll end up dead.

4
Gameplay

As such, players are free to outline their


SESSION STRUCTURE
In general, each session will be broken up into
objectives both in and out of character. GM, you
can guide them through the process using the
three parts: steps below.
• An initial delve from somewhere within the
Vermissian to reach the intended target. • If you have a major objective in mind, share it
• A single long situation, or several linked with the players. If not, ask them what sort of
situations, detailing the minor or major thing they’re interested in doing, where they’d
objective the team are trying to achieve. like to operate within the city and whose lives
• A delve through the Vermissian to return to they want to ruin.
base. • Ask them what challenges prevent them from
achieving the mission immediately (two or
three should do it).
Operations
Play in Operations is divided up into two different
• Determine as a group what they could do to
circumvent those challenges to come up with
parts: minor objectives and major objectives. the minor objectives.
Minor objectives support a major objective -
they make it possible (or easier) to achieve a team’s Alternatively, you can come up with all the object‐
main aim. Supply runs, stealing valuable ives yourself. This is a good idea for a one-shot
resources, extraction of vital personnel, recon‐ game, as discussed above - but if you create the
naissance, pre-emptive assassinations and plant‐ entire story on your own, the players don’t have
ing evidence can all play into weakening an much of a say in what’s going on. You might find
enemy’s defences to prepare for a decisive assault. that they become unengaged over the course of
These are generally the work of a single session. several sessions.
Major objectives are the crux of an operation
- the action on which everything succeeds or
fails. Assassination of prominent city officials, ONE-SHOTS
industrial sabotage and destruction of import‐ There’s no time to play out minor objectives in a
ant resources are all common goals (see the one-shot game! You need to skip straight to the
OPERATION EXAMPLES below). The business exciting bit. Resolve minor objectives with a
of completing a major objective should take up single roll from any player who took part, and
several sessions of play, during which the minor extrapolate the results from there. This will allow
objectives are completed and the job itself forms players to introduce their characters and get a
the final session of the arc. feel for the tone of the game before the main mis‐
sion begins. You don’t need to worry about stress
or fallout from these rolls - only whether they
BUILDING AN OPERATION succeed or fail. At your discretion, failed minor
The Throne Division tasks operatives with objectives can increase the difficulty and danger
determining the fine details of their missions of the major objective, but it’s more important
themselves, handing down major objectives that they’re reflected in the narrative than the
expecting good results and few questions. mechanics of the game.

5
Gameplay
For example: The game begins as the operatives death-cultists in the area to act as a cover for their
leave Throne station and set off for their assassination advance.
target: a Mortician in New Heaven who has performed The player in control of the group’s Witch suggests
life-extending undying surgery on several of the Min‐ that it was her, and makes a Compel+Religion check to
istry’s greatest opponents. see how it went. She rolls a 6 - a partial success. The GM
The GM asks the characters which of them led the narrates that while she did indeed rile up the Charnelites,
minor objective where they riled up the Charnelite she pissed off a few of them too, and they know her face.

OPERATION Examples
Here are some examples of Throne Division operations to inspire you.

Archdeacon Many-the-Seedlings is using his political A list of active Ministry agents in Spire has turned up in
sway to pass a law requiring blood purity testing for all the hands of the Crimson Vigil, who are now using it to
those who own property in Amaranth. This would out extort favours from our operatives. Your names are on
dozens of Ministry operatives in disguise as prominent that list, too. Infiltrate the Vigil’s headquarters in
high elves. Kill him. Godstreet station and take that list back.

The war efforts in Nujab rely on weekly skywhale The Infinite Library of the University of Divine Magic
shipments carrying guns and ammunition from the exists slightly outside the bounds of reality. The
Sky Docks. Destroy the warmongers’ stock as it leaves librarians have uncovered a new book on the shelves
the port. that contains hitherto unknown secrets of demonology.
You’ve got about an hour to get in, get the book and get
The Ministry cell known informally as The Four has out before the Special Tactics Unit of the Allied Defence
gone rogue and is selling secrets to the Paladins. Track Force send in their best and brightest murder-wizards to
down and eliminate them in their Pilgrim’s Row collect it.
hideout.
Archbishop Wynn is almost a decade into the
The Warrior-Poet Sorrow-Seldom-Sings is a traitor to construction of a megacathedral in Ivory Row - but it is
the aelfir nation and the city of Spire. He has spoken out actually a vast mechanical device to rupture the Heart
against the war in Nujab in several public forums, and Itself so that the aelfir gods can physically manifest in
led retreats that saved the lives of hundreds of drow the city, and he’s just turned it on. Initial experiments
under his command. He’s now under arrest in the Hive, have met with mixed success, but the Vermissian is
Spire’s biggest prison, while the Council works out what dying from the strain on the system. Shut down the
to do with him. Break in and get him out alive. machine, even if the gods try to stop you.

The Ministry has uncovered a secret Paladin training The lawless undercity of Red Row is on the verge of a
and indoctrination temple within the depths of the Loft full-scale riot, and the Council has sent in the Allied
line. Acquire explosives and destroy the training Defence Force to keep the peace. Eliminate the
facility, preferably with the Paladins still inside it. commander of the troops in Red Row, but make it look as
though local revolutionary hero Vilham Roque
performed the assassination.

6
Gameplay

ENTERING THE CITY ABOVE


As an operative, you shouldn’t go into the Spire out‐ For all these reasons and more, it’s a bad idea
side of your missions. Here are some reasons why: to spend much time in the city; but if you decide
to do so anyway, anything you do there requires a
You’re a wanted criminal: a terrorist, a traitor, an roll to achieve safely. While it is possible to return
enemy of the state. The rewards for information that to the City Above after extended time in the
leads to your capture, interrogation and eventual death Heart, it requires long periods of adjustment and
are huge. Spire has a vast underclass of desperate, poor often medical attention - both of which are out‐
drow who’ll gladly turn you in for a month’s wages. side the scope of this supplement.
If you want to achieve something within the
You’re strange. You’ve spent goddess knows how long in city to support your missions (e.g. planting
the depths of the Heart, and it’s warped you. You might explosives or equipment, clearing civilians from
not have noticed (everyone’s weird down there, after all) a combat area, spying on targets or acquiring dis‐
but if you step into the streets of Spire, your additional guises) it’s safer to get your Ministry contacts to
eyes, technomagical implants, twitchy demeanour and do it for you. To this end, each player character is
squinting at bright light is going to draw attention. considered to have a bond with the Ministry. Use
How long has it been since you’ve seen the sun? Have the rules for Bond actions on p. 98 of the Heart
you ever seen it? rulebook to resolve operations they undertake on
your behalf.
Your weirdness spreads. Your body is riddled with
whatever it is that leaks out of the Heart Itself. Within
the boundaries of the Vermissian, you wouldn’t notice;
but if you spend too long in the City Above, the world
warps around you as your cursed flesh radiates strange
energies. Those too weak, young or elderly to endure
your presence will die slowly of illnesses no Spire doctor
can treat; the buildings around you will rot and
crumble; animals will drop dead in the streets; and
light will twist in unsettling ways.

7
Gameplay
To save space, the designers opted not to
THRONE DIVISION include controls inside the device, and instead
rely on a trapped arcane intelligence like those
EQUIPMENT
Costs are listed for use in standard games of
found in Automatons of Burden (Heart, p. 176)
which is taught that the environment around it is
Heart; any weapon of D8 or higher cost may be unpleasant and that it should attempt to reach its
acquired in lieu of a Minor Advance after a mission objective in as short a time as possible. Most
during resupply as the Ministry issues the equip‐ arcane intelligences are wrangled out of ordinary
ment as a reward/acquired on the black market. animal brains; the Ministry, in their hubris, have
scavenged psyches from stranger places.
Lashing multiple coffin-crawlers together into
ARACHNID TINCTURE Cost: D6 a train arrangement is a viable way of providing a
Mend Blood D10, Limited 1. team with rapid insertion – often, only the lead
Throne Division Operatives often don’t have time crawler is given the intelligence to navigate the
to attend to their wounds given the time-sensit‐ Vermissian, and the subsidiary ones are idiots
ive nature of their missions, and to ease their even by arcane intelligence standards.
torment, the Ministry have developed the Arach‐
nid Tincture. Lovingly referred to as a “Pocket
Spider,” partially due to the rumours that it’s EXPLOSIVE HAMMER Cost: D6
made by Midwives, this oversized, pressurised Kill D10, Piercing, Loud, Dangerous, One-Shot.
syrette is applied directly to the carotid artery The head of this hammer explodes on contact. It
and floods the subject’s system with a cocktail of is never issued to Throne Division Operatives,
pain suppressants, spider blood, sacred mercury and instead fashioned by team members eager to
and not a small amount of dagger (Spire, p. 104) in gain an edge over the heavily-armoured and well-
an effort to get them back on their feet and in equipped aelfir paladins of the Autumn Temple;
fighting shape. official Ministry doctrine has banned use of the
explosive hammer on operations, and confiscates
any discovered in safehouses.

COFFIN-CRAWLER Cost D12


Delve D8, Trusty, Unreliable, Expensive. OFFERING BLADE Cost: -
What do you do when you need to get through an Kill D4, Piercing.
area of the Vermissian awash with invasive ener‐ Once per situation, if you end the life of an aelfir
gies – very few of which are understood by with the Offering Blade, you may remove D6
modern science – and quickly, to boot? You use a stress from any of your resistances.
coffin-crawler. Cannot be purchased; granted by the Ministry.
The core of a coffin-crawler is a lead-lined box The Goddess thirsts eternal for the blood of the
just slightly smaller than a drow (some use stone oppressor; you are her sanctified tool, her bloody
for additional protection) that, the Ministry left hand, and you will bring death to those who
believe, protects the user from most known radi‐ would dare stand against you. The Offering Blade
ation found within the Vermissian - as well as is a sacred dagger given to those who prove their
shielding them from incoming small arms fire.To faith to the Ministry, and forged in darkness by
navigate the unstable, shiting tunnels of the net‐ blinded, captured aelfir smiths - a fitting irony,
work the box is covered in a mess of spindly legs considering the Ministry’s stance on subversion,
that judder and lurch in such a way to provide rather than destruction, of the power structures
consistent, if uncomfortable, ambulation. of Spire.

8
Gameplay

PURGE CARBINE Cost: D8 THRONE PLATE Cost: d8


Kill D6, Spread, Ranged, One-Shot. Whilst wearing the suit, actions that involve
Affectionately referred to as an Opening State‐ sneaking or moving quickly become Risky. In
ment by Throne Division Operatives, this weapon addition, you gain 6 armour points; these can be
uses multiple barrels mounted side-by-side to spent to negate an equal amount of incoming
unleash a short-range barrage of low-velocity Blood stress. Once you run out of armour
rounds over a broad area. It’s just the sort of points, the suit is too damaged to be of use, and
thing to massacre an angry mob of unarmoured is nothing more than dead weight; taking it off
assailants in a handful of seconds, which means requires a minute or so, and assistance.
that people who carry it gain a reputation for The Ministry often eschews heavy armour - it’s
being trigger-happy bastards who are okay with loud, slow and cumbersome, and unfitting for
firing indiscriminately into crowds. their general mode of operation. When going
toe-to-toe with Paladins, though, a tenth-inch of
metal can be the difference between life and
SMOKE BOMB Cost: D4 death - and that’s where Throne Plate comes in.
Kill D4, Smoke, One-Shot. Built out of materials repurposed from the
Commonly issued to black ops teams that are structure of Throne Station itself, Throne Plate
expecting to deal with significant ranged opposi‐ consists of overlapping layers of metal that
tion, a smoke bomb allows a team to cover their absorb incoming damage by crumpling and
approach by concealing their position. It does shearing free when struck to dissipate the blow.
conceal their position with a great cloud of
smoke, which means that even if their enemies
don’t know exactly where they are, they know WITCH-HUNTER RAILGUN Cost: D10
something’s up. Kill D6, Reload, Piercing, Ranged, Expensive.
Good quality.
If the target is an accomplished spellcaster, the
THRONE-PATTERN JEZAIL Cost: - weapon is Kill D8.
Kill D10, Extreme Range, Conduit, Piercing, This experimental device uses fizzing electro‐
Loud, One-Shot. Excellent quality. magnets to launch specially-inscribed Vermis‐
Cannot be purchased; granted by the Ministry. sian railway spikes at truly frightening velocities.
The Throne-Pattern Jezail fires oversized, over‐ The runes marked on the spikes are designed to
charged rounds of an unknown substance dug up wrench a magician’s soul from their body and pin
from an alternate dimension found in a now-lost it in place, severing their connection to the astral
section of the Vermissian network. There are three plane - and if that doesn’t work, at least they have
of them in existence - one is permanently on dis‐ a foot-long length of metal stuck in them.
play in Throne Station as an object of religious rev‐
erence, another is in the possession of an absurdly
wealthy aelfir weapons collector, and the third is in
active use by multiple Black Ops teams. Before the
weapon is fired, each part must be individually
consecrated and the user must meditate on the
sacred nature of their mission to reclaim Spire
from the aelfir; every round is inscribed with tiny,
spiralling text that praises the Hidden Mistress
and beseeches her to guide the firer’s aim.

9
The Vermissian, By Line
The Vermissian is broken up into five distinct lines:
• the ramshackle Candle Line that runs the length of the city
from top to bottom;
• the submerged Fathom line which served the lower city;
• the twisting and unpredictable Spiral line in the middle city;
• the aelfir-only Loft line on top of Spire; and
• the nightmarish Pulse line that connects the network to the
Heart Itself.

On the following pages you will find a breakdown of each


line. These have been split out into targets within the city of
Spire to which the line provides access and the challenges
and features that await operatives who attempt to tra‐
verse it. However, as with the core Heart book, you
should make the world your own and invent your own
locations, features and even entire lines. After all, the
Vermissian is riddled with the same warping energy
that makes the Heart so changeable.

10
APPROXIMATE MAP OF THE VERMISSIAN NETWORK
UPPER TINTAGEL GODSYARD
GARGOYLE
THRONE STEERPIKE VERTEX
FROSTRIME
EQUINOX CHAMBERS

TINTAGEL CRUX SUNDIAL MARKET


JUNCTION
GALLOW
FILTER
MUSEUM FAIRFAX
REDCAP

TURBINE

LINES
LOFT LINE
BRIDGE
CANDLE LINE
UPPER SAPPHIRE
FATHOM LINE
COGTOOTH HIVE VULGATE CANDLEGATE
SPIRAL LINE
PULSE LINE WORMWOOD ZOO FOUNDRY OLDWITCH AGATE PARADE
ARCHES
JACKTAR
(IT’S COMPLICATED) WATERSEDGE
CRESCENT OF ? DROWN’D DREADNAUGHT
ALSO WORMWOOD MORNING
DOZMARY
ENDLINE RATCATCH SAPPHIRE

PENNDRO ENFER
FLINCH POLARIS
MACHINE SHUDDER
THISTLE
GRIST LOWER SAPPHIRE
MILLSTONE NULL FALLOW SOLSTICE

GULLY GRIP

SUMP WELL
HANG GRIN
SAKIMAL
GAP
WELCOME TO...

THE CANDLE LINE


DEFAULT STRESS: D4
The Candle line was constructed as a cheap and cheerful means of ferrying
tourists and off-duty workers to the entertainment districts of the North Docks -
so it wasn’t built to last. Today, some inhabitants of Spire use the crumbling
vertical tunnels as an out-of-the-way (if dangerous) smuggling route that runs the
length of the city. Others simply pitch their garbage and waste water down it.

Atmosphere (D10)
1. Slimy green mould and lichen 6. Pigshit, chewed-up bone shards
covering every surface and the sound of squealing hogs
2. The echoing cackle and scattered 7. Huge, rusted, inactive machinery
light of angler toads 8. Wooden platforms lashed onto
3. Ankle-deep water swirling in corroded iron supports
strange patterns 9. Adverts for affordable mid-Spire
4. Malak smugglers with dimmed housing
lanterns, visible in the distance 10. Reeks like a sewer, because it is one
5. Crumbling stone and jagged metal
makes traversal dangerous
GODSYARD MARKET TURBINE

STEERPIKE FAIRFAX
NEW HEAVEN PILGRIM’S WALK
The topmost level of Spire is a maze of A ramshackle fire hazard that houses more
Towers of Silence: exposed platforms where churches per square foot than any other district
carrion birds pick at the flesh and bones of in Spire. The area is renowned for con-artist
the dead, as is tradition in the city. Missions priests selling get-holy-quick schemes and suspi‐
to steal corpses and interrogate them ciously affordable relics to easy marks from the
posthumously are more common than the lower city. The Ministry maintains multiple safe‐
Morticians who run the place would like. houses here, as the sheer weight of worship acts
There’s plenty of bad blood between them as a sort of smokescreen, and black ops teams are
and the Ministry as a result. sometimes sent in to eliminate rogue agents.

AGGRESSIVE FAUNA BONE WARDS


The Candle line contains some of the most dangerous The streets of New Heaven, far atop Spire, are
animals in the upper city; many of them escaped from a battleground. Two rival death cults - the
the Spire Zoo before it was permanently shut down in ancient city-sanctioned Morticians and the
the Year of Seven Devils. Most infamous among them refugee Charnelites - fight for control of
are the angler toads: great warty creatures the size of funerary rites. When one side gains some
fat dogs that sprout bioluminescent antennae from ground via quiet assassination and aggressive
their skulls to lure in their prey. Angler toads are fam‐ foreclosure, it loses the same amount due to
ously disagreeable and will try to eat animals (or hyena attacks and charismatic sermons. The
people) several times their size, so they’re not widely- conflict has been underway for the last thirty
used as light sources. They don’t pose a serious threat years, and shows no sign of slowing.
to experienced delvers, but their cackling calls and With space at such a premium, some of
scattered light can attract unwanted attention. the Charnelite cultists have expanded their
operations into the creaking tunnels of the
Loft Line. Bone Wards, where the bodies of
MINISTER FALSTADT’S TERRITORY the dead are stored after their bones have
Falstadt joined the Ministry in an attempt to make a been picked clean by vultures and corvids on
name for themselves. It didn’t work, and after trying to the Towers of Silence, are common sights
sell sensitive information to an obvious Ministry plant, when navigating the up-Spire Vermissian.
they were hung out to dry by their former employers. These are sacred spaces, and the Carrion-
They went into hiding (badly) within the Vermissian Priests will release packs of blessed hyenas to
about a year ago, and are convinced by their paranoid ensure their sanctity. More than one group of
delusions that anyone who approaches their hideout is operatives have limped battered and bleeding
their old Magister coming to kill them. Their actual old into combat after attempting a “quick” short‐
Magister, Vaunt, has long since forgotten that Falstadt cut through the Bone Wards - or simply not
existed and didn’t know their name to begin with. come back at all.
The tunnels around Falstadt’s safehouse are Worse: occasionally, the bones of the faith‐
riddled with tripwires, pit-traps, improvised ful will rise up in a serpentine amalgam
explosives, barbed snares and broken glass. Goddess around a mad-eyed Carrion-Priest and snake
knows how they’ve survived this long (or whether after intruders, hungry to give the Charnel
they’re already dead at the centre). Lord his due. But only occasionally.
UPPER SAPPHIRE JACKTAR DREADNAUGHT ENFER

CANDLEGATE DROWN’D SAPPHIRE LOWER SAPPHIRE


THE WORKS THE NORTH DOCKS
A smoky knot of factories, workshops and cheap living The river docks of Spire are the domain of the
quarters in the centre of Spire, and a hotbed of revolu‐ Knights of the North Docks: a once-proud
tionary activity. The angry drow that live and work here order of drow warriors, sworn to defend
provide no end of operatives for the Ministry, and the traders and travellers, who have fallen into
printing presses are key in producing the news sheets internecine conflict and racketeering since the
that can sway hearts and minds. The guns and ammuni‐ aelfir colonised the city. The Knights have con‐
tion produced in the Works arm the Allied Defence Force trol over the waterways in and out of the city,
in Far Nujab. Winning the drawn-out war is crucial to and are in high demand as Ministry assets -
the aelfir, and each year they throw more resources into assets who occasionally need rescuing, remind‐
the conflict to maintain their position. ing of their loyalties or a quiet execution.

QUESTING KNIGHTS
The more powerful and respected a Knight of the North Docks becomes, the more quests they are expected
to embark upon. Quests usually consist of simple acts of service to their lord, such as extortion, leg-break‐
ing or pulling particularly dangerous bartending shifts. However, occasionally they will descend into the
Vermissian in search of glory by slaying dangerous beasts and claiming valuable relics - or by communing
with the spirit of their patron, St Benaferas, in his legendary chthonic pub. Dangerously drunk and egging
one another on to greater heights of achievement, gangs of knights in quarter-plate roam the damp tunnels
of the network around the North Docks. They can pose a threat to delvers, who may be mistaken for a fell
beast or dark knight worthy of defeating in single (or not-so-single) combat.

WRENCH CADAVER’S WORKHOUSE GOBLIN MARKETS


Wrench Cadaver is an unscrupulous fact‐ The Blue Docks of Spire boast finery from all over the
ory owner in the Works (and by all accounts world; Polaris Market, on the outskirts of the Vermis‐
a total bastard) who saw and took the sian, offers clandestine forbidden trade to the highest
opportunity to expand his operations into bidder. The Goblin Markets of the Candle Line are the
disused Vermissian tunnels. The sprawling collected run-off of every other market and souk in
workhouse specialises in manufacturing the city: a disorganised heap of junk traders, smug‐
clockwork, gears, springs and other metal‐ glers, destitute wizards and absolute shysters.
work of a decent to low grade - but that’s Shoppers can buy anything here, assuming it’s in
not why the Ministry are interested in it. stock where you’d expect it to be - which isn’t likely.
Thanks to the weird energies of the Ver‐ Reliable suppliers are few and far between, and the
missian infecting the metal, every item constant back-stabbing and theft means that even
produced from Cadaver’s factory will establishments who have the stock often want to lie
scythe clean through ghosts and discopor‐ low until the heat from their latest betrayal dies down.
ate their earthly forms, making them The traders themselves usually don’t know where the
excellent anti-spectral weapons. More than market will be tomorrow (all Goblin Markets move
one operative has saved their skin by daily to avoid the attention of the authorities), but if
smashing in the head of an attacking ghost you’re patient and you keep an eye out, you can dis‐
with a Cadaver-brand carriage clock. creetly purchase almost anything.
DEFAULT STRESS: D6
WELCOME TO... A dark and blighted place,the Fathom Line
was beset with disasters even before the
Vermissian Event. It was prone to
flooding, breakdowns, loose hexes and
ghost plagues, and was famously regarded
as cursed by the inhabitants of Spire.
Today, the line is riddled with black magic,
unquiet spirits and pallid gutterkin. It is
shunned even by the Vermissian Sages,
who have largely decided that there’s
nothing of use to be found there.

Atmosphere (D10)
1. Ectoplasm clinging to the ceiling,
unusually cold
2. Gutterkin prayer circle around a
stolen altar
3. Graveyard manifested in the tunnel;
dirt crumbling beneath your feet
4. Ghostly echoes of trains and platform
announcements
5. Water drips upward and spells out
curses on the roof
6. Thousands of tiny holes in spiralling
patterns that whistle in the wind
7. Evidence of cult warfare - magical
THE FATHOM LINE residue, the reek of spireblack
smoke, blood
8. Your voice echoes before you speak,
not after
9. Abandoned shrine to a rival goddess
Our Lady of the Underground 10. Lost wanderer, scared out of their mind
Buried within the depths of the Fathom Line, this
ramshackle cathedral has been hammered together
from spare train parts, carriage siding, stolen church
walls and industrial chains. Within, a sect of renegade
Vermissian Sages worship the train network as a
Cannibals
goddess. Some even drink the greasy runoff from the
The Ministry are, officially, allied with
walls and claim it sends them into a divine trance,
the cannibals of Grist - but not every
revealing the hidden pathways that surround them.
ghoul got the message, and there are
They regard black ops teams as trespassing on sacred
rogue elements within every organisa‐
land, and while they don’t have the capacity to tackle
tion. In the rickety tunnels that criss-
them head-on, they will spit curses and oaths of
cross the area’s rooftops, operatives
damnation from the shadows until they leave. They will
should be wary not to attract the atten‐
gladly gang up on a single operative - perhaps a
tion of flesh-eaters looking to prove
wounded one - and drag them into their church to be
themselves in the eyes of their peers by
sacrificed on the rusted engine-block altar.
taking down a serious opponent.
Shadowy Cults The Gutter Gallery
There are fewer places less observed within the city of Spire In this disused water storage facil‐
than the Fathom line, and the Ministry takes advantage of this. ity, the mad gutterkin spirit
The line is riddled with hideouts, stashes of supplies and medium Bullthroat has spent the
access routes to illegal temples of Our Hidden Mistress. last decade covering the walls in
Unfortunately, almost every other secret church or rebel spiralling murals, depicting the
organisation in Spire has had the same idea. It’s quite lives (and eventual deaths) of the
common to find that a location you thought was secure has not many ghosts they have spoken with.
only been cleaned out, but completely taken over by a rival cult. The art style is rustic to say the least,
The groups active within the Fathom line include, but are and the poetry is so filthy it would
not limited to: the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress, the Ver‐ make a hardened delver blush - but
missian Collective, the Crimson Vigil, the New Anarchs, the it forms a useful record of everyone
Void Glorious, the Liberate! Newspaper, the Aelfir Church of who died with unfinished business
the First Gods, the Hungry Deep, an unnamed collection of in the surrounding area.
carrion-priests that worship maggots and bacteria, the
Unseelie Court and the Council for Drow Emancipation.
Skull Orchards
Ghosts Someone’s been collecting skulls - a
Something about the structural make-up of the lot of skulls. Thousands of them are
Fathom line - and the thousands of luckless workers stacked atop each other in unstable
who died during its construction - makes the place a cairns, attended to by ghoulish
veritable magnet for the unquiet dead. The Ministry priests who clamber across the ceil‐
recommends that any operatives making use of it ing like spiders. If you knock down
should pick up resources that will allow them to fight one pile, the odds are good that
or evade the attentions of phantoms: lacrimal salt, hundreds more will collapse in a
portable warding circles, ghostbane pollen and so on. domino effect that will bury you in
For more details on fighting ghosts, see Heart, p. 187. the dead and alert everything
nearby to your presence.

MILLSTONE THISTLE SOLSTICE ENDLINE

GRIST NULL FALLOW POLARIS DROWN’D


GRIST DERELICTUS RED ROW
A famously grim neighbourhood The grimiest, lowest-rent The criminal undercity of Red
within Derelictus where gaunt district in all of Spire, Derelictus Row is home to thousands of
cannibals under the semi-divine is renowned for poverty and vagabonds, scoundrels, ne’er-
rule of King Teeth rule the streets. dilapidation. The black ops do-wells and thieves, alongside
The Ministry brokered a deal with division has little interest in the some of the finest entertainment
Teeth for safe passage through the area, aside from sending strike in the city. On occasion, when
district for their operatives, and teams to extract valuable the Ministry’s business overlaps
so must uphold their end of the magicians and cultists whose with that of the lower-city crime
bargain on occasion. It’s bloody interests have seen them flee the lords, black ops teams are sent in
work, and looked down upon by upper city for fear of discovery to remove the opposition with
self-respecting operatives. by the authorities. scalpel-like precision.
WELCOME TO... UPPER TINTAGEL
TINTAGEL THRONE JUNCTION MUSEUM REDCAP

SUMP GULLY GRIST MACHINE PENNDRO

The Hive
Spire’s foremost prison, and home to dissidents,
terrorists, traitors and enemies of the state that are too
valuable to kill straight away. In the central section, the
cells are rigged to drop hundreds of feet into the
ground should the prisoners prove too dangerous to
control. The Ministry has only managed to rescue a
handful of operatives from within its walls.

Lost and Found


The Lost and Found office for the entirety of the
THE SPIRAL LINE Vermissian was constructed in Sump station. To make sure
that it worked, the engineers hijacked the resonant energy
of the network to metaphysically attract all mislaid items
to the help desk. It worked rather too well. The station
DEFAULT STRESS: D6 actively sought out items of value that it felt were “lost,”
The Spiral line was the most technologically and which meant that a vast quantity of stolen goods arrived
magically advanced portion of the Vermissian, within the first few months of operation. The office
using a wide variety of mechanoarcane eventually had to shut following several catastrophic
techniques (mainly as a show of power from the administrative disasters.
aelfir owners of the company). Since the Since the Vermissian Incident, the magic powering the
Vermissian Event, the malfunctioning office has grown more powerful and hungry thanks to a lack of
machinery and the spells within it make the maintenance. It draws in lost people (most often the dissolute
Spiral line one of the least predictable sections and desperate, the hopeless addicts and self-sabotagers, the
in a very unpredictable network. unfortunate and mad; but on occasion just relatively sane
Atmosphere (D10) well-off people who happened to lose their way) and keeps
1. Faded pro-aelfir propaganda posters on a them there. If you lost something within the network, odds
disused public walkway are that it’ll eventually turn up here; but getting it back from
2. Unstable pivoting platforms the washed-up caretakers of the office will be a challenge.
3. Thick glass viewing ports showing
thrumming blue energy
4. Vending machine graveyard Switch Plates
5. Abandoned surgical table for machine These great iron discs were designed to accommodate an
implantation entire subway train, rotate each carriage to face the direction
6. Warren of cramped parallel tunnels for and orientation that the operator chose, and send them on
servants’ trains their way to serve the city. Now they spin and grind of their
7. Glitching terrain flickering in and out of reality own volition, helped along by groups of Signal-box Cultists
8. Subway map updated and corrected by (Heart, p. 196) who attempt to scry meaning from the wildly-
several, increasingly mad, people spinning innards and interlocking patterns painted on the
9. (Seemingly) never-ending staircase surface. The many connecting tunnels make switch plates an
10. Invasive briars of thorned heartsbloom excellent waypoint on delves, but the unpredictable machinery
rose bushes and mad attendants make actually using them a challenge.
BRIDGE ZOO FOUNDRY ARCHES OLDWITCH AGATE CANDLEGATE

COGWORTH HIVE VULGATE


WORMWOOD PARADE
RATCATCH DOZMARY
?
CRESCENT OF MORNING ENDLINE SAPPHIRE WATERSEDGE
Ivory Row Also:
A tumbledown warren of interlinked mansions, abandoned parks and owners • The North Docks (p. 12)
desperately clinging onto the last vestiges of their respectability, Ivory Row • Pilgrim’s Walk (p. 12)
houses a handful of important aelfir (and a lot of unimportant ones, too). The few • The Works (p. 12)
movers and shakers that remain are common targets for Ministry subversion,
and black ops teams are called upon to neutralise their private security forces.

Wormwood Ptolemy Bay’s Domain


Wormwood station was the pinnacle of the Spiral Ptolemy Bay (Spire, p. 127) is one of the most
line’s technological achievements: a station that prolific and successful arms dealers in the city.
existed in two places at once, allowing instant In an effort to more efficiently distribute
travel between them. On some maps of the city, weapons from his headquarters in the Works,
Wormwood is shown as being in both the upper he has carved out a portion of the Vermissian for
Spire and the undercity - this is not an inaccuracy. his own purposes. Ptolemy established security
Unfortunately, Wormwood couldn’t limit itself to checkpoints, brought in dissolute wizards from
only appearing in two simultaneous locations. It up-Spire to reinforce the warding rituals, and
began to appear (and disappear) all over the net‐ destroyed any nightmare creatures that dared
work: suddenly flickering into view, replacing show their faces (or whatever they have instead
other stations, manifesting in the path of trains of faces) with sheer weight of fire.
and growing organically in unconnected vents. He now seems to have reached a stand-off
When traversing the Spiral line, there is a decent with the Vermissian. He can’t advance any fur‐
risk that Wormwood station will make an appear‐ ther, and the weirdness of the place clusters and
ance. If you’re lucky, you’ll see it coming (or you’ll roils at the edges of his mystical barriers. He
arrive after it has manifested). If you’re unlucky, the allows passage through the “safe zone,” as he calls
floor beneath you will stutter and glitch out of sync it, for a price; and his guards are famously brib‐
with reality as Wormwood suddenly exists in the able, should you wish to know who else has come
same space as the one you were in. through in recent memory.

The Crescent of Morning


The aelfir engineers of the Spiral line realised that it was impossible to build a transit system that was
completely free of breakdowns, malfunctions and accidents. Instead, they magically arranged for every
problem on the line to take place in a single station, freeing up the rest of the network for efficient travel.
That station is The Crescent of Morning, and it has been off-limits to everyone but specially-trained and
shielded personnel since it was (cautiously) opened in the Year of Winter Ascendant.
Inside the triple-locked vault doors and crumbling wards, The Crescent of Morning is a perpetual
accident: a rolling health and safety violation, an eternal sequence of misfortune and bad luck that is
theorised to make the remainder of the network navigable. Many parts of it have been on fire ever since it
was opened over a century ago. The area around the station is surprisingly safe and stable, but most people
still give it a wide berth just in case.
DEFAULT STRESS: D8
WELCOME TO... The Loft Line rings around and through
the upper Spire. It is a twisting maze of
wrought-iron decoration, stained-glass
advertisements for century-old products
and incongruous, dilapidated luxury.
Of all the lines in Spire, this is the
hardest to enter, as it provides access to
Amaranth, the Solar Basilica and the
Council Chambers themselves. The
aelfir in charge have made sure that
they’re as well-protected as possible.

Atmosphere (D10)
1. Creaky, unstable and ancient
2. Rushing wind so loud you can barely
hear yourself think
3. Rusted and dilapidated art deco
features
4. Frozen due to magical overspill
5. Carpeted viewing platforms and
informational brass plaques abound
6. Flocks of escaped messenger-
hummingbirds, most of them dead
7. Stained-glass windows look out on a
false sky
8. Exposed, windswept, hanging off the
THE LOFT LINE side of the city
9. Sweltering hot due to a poorly-
maintained heat vent
10. Bashed-through, suggesting a secret
smuggling route

Autumnal Vaults
There are certain practices which even aelfir balk at; The Bridge
the artless hounding and murder of drow for One of the rare exposed areas of the Ver‐
religious purposes is one of them. The masked missian, this rickety stretch of line
devotees of the Harvest Church do their ceremonial extends alongside the nailed-on district
reaping in private, drugging luckless dark elves of Perch on the side of the city. The curi‐
with narcotics before throwing them into the ous whistling caused by the wind rushing
Vermissian and hunting them down with wicked, through the tunnels drives skywhales
curved blades. The so-called Autumnal Vaults are a into a blind frenzy, so anyone approach‐
loose collection of sanctified murder-corridors, ing on one from this side of the city must
altars to Brother Autumn and the gory remains of plug the beast’s massive ears or risk
dozens, if not hundreds, of sacrifices. smashing into the side of Spire.
TINTAGEL
GALLOW JUNCTION SUNDIAL CHAMBERS VERTEX

FILTER EQUINOX CRUX MARKET FROSTRIME GARGOYLE


The Solar Basilica The Council Chambers
A vast complex of interlinked cathedrals to the high elven gods, stretching The seat of power in Spire,
across an entire district. Public squares and altars thronged by pilgrims hide and the ultimate target for
dozens of private aelfir-only worship rooms. At the centre of the structure, the Ministry. Hugely difficult
an exposed crystal absorbs sunlight to power Amaranth’s climate control to break into (Dangerous,
and many other aelfir miracles. The batteries in which the magic is stored with wards and counter‐
are well-guarded, but would be immensely useful to the Ministry. hexes inflicting D8 stress on
a failure) and protected by
Amaranth Black Guard troopers.
An aelfir district kept below freezing by magical coolant systems, fea‐
turing acres of absurd luxury, alien aesthetics and unspeakable cruelty Also:
in the name of art and hedonism. Like the Council chambers, the Black • New Heaven (p. 14).
Guard are present here, but not in such great numbers. Missions here
include abducting or assassinating prominent aelfir, stealing valuable
artefacts and general terror attacks.

The Poet’s Reprise Vault 86


Aelfir fashion and society moves in patterns The nondescript Vault 86 is curiously absent from
inscrutable to even the aelfir themselves. The all official records that detail the original
latest trend is Vermissian-Chic, and the Poet’s composition of the Vermissian. This is because
Reprise caters to an eager crowd of cursed the Autumn Church quietly excised all proof of it
subway enthusiasts. The lower areas of this from the world with an extensive cover-up
fashionable bar are merely train-themed; but campaign and several illegal rituals. The vault
the private upper floor extends fully into the houses ten Paladins with their weapons and
Vermissian with a flagrant disregard for armour, basking in the protective light of a
public health and safety. The clientele watch fading sun and ready to strike anywhere in Spire
elaborate magical performances that take at the slightest notice by marching through the
advantage of the thin reality in the place. occult dangers of the Vermissian.
No member of the Ministry has ever seen
Vault 86. Its existence is theoretical, extrapolated
from Paladin response times and the ghosts of
old architectural records in the Sepulchral Stacks
of the Grand Vermissian Library.
YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN...

HANG WELL GRIP THISTLE FLINCH

SUMP GRIN
SAKIMAL GAP

The Heart
The Pulse line spirals down underneath the city and into the Heart. Thanks to the thin reality
in the City Beneath, it has spread out into patterns that were not intended by the original
architects. As such, almost any location referenced in Heart can conceivably be reached from
the Pulse line, but getting there will be far from straightforward. The Ministry has
expressed interest in these locations:
• Redcap Grove, an overgrown den of black-market druids (Heart, p. 140)
• The Temple of the Moon Beneath, a prominent heretic church (Heart, p. 141)
• The Tower, a successful experiment in acoustic mind control (Heart, p. 144)
• Ghorryn, a den of conspiracy theorists who might be onto something (Heart, p. 147)
• Hallow, home of the Witch cult (Heart, p. 149)
• Trypogenesis Chamber, portal to the megaconsciousness of the Hive (Heart, p. 156)
• Papilious Both, a warren of secret-hoarding moths (Heart, p. 166)
•Any of the Eight Heavens, the afterlives of the various peoples of the Spire (Heart, p. 168)
THE PULSE LINE
DEFAULT STRESS: D6
Descending into the depths of the undercity, the Pulse line was connected to
the Heart Itself. This caused the Vermissian Incident and pitched the entire
network into a state of unreal nightmare. Each year, the insidious
otherworldly radiation creeps further up the tunnels and vents, infecting the
City Above with the sticky crimson of the City Beneath.
Atmosphere (D10)
1. Fleshy walls that quiver in time with a distant heartbeat
2. Tunnels constricting and expanding with a sickening groan
3. Bone-flowers, so thin as to be translucent, growing from the ceiling
4. Non-standard gravity
5. Heartsblood enclave, distrustful of outsiders
6. Animals with rusted replacement limbs scraping along the ground
7. Ravenous gutterkin hiding behind every corner
8. Resonant crystals jutting through the iron walls
9. Witch cult territory marked by gory runes and wards
10. Thick circular windows showing an alien sky outside

y of the stations on it) is detailed extensively in the Heart core


The Pulse line (and man book
;

please refer to that f


or any information you require.
Groups and Factions

pinned down by enemy fire or take too long to


THE PALADINS achieve their mission, the odds of a reprisal
“This world is ripe with sin, and we shall reap a terrible strike increase with every minute. More than one
and wondrous harvest.” team of beleaguered operators returning from a
A glorious army of sanctified killers, the mission has blundered into a squad of gold-
Paladins are the military arm of the Solar Church armoured killers en route to something else
in Spire. Their mission is the absolute destruc‐ entirely.
tion of every heretical cult on their territory, with Thankfully for the Ministry, there are less than
the Ministry as their foremost opponent. a hundred Paladins in active service, and they
The Paladins strike against Ministry assets like can’t be everywhere at once (yet; maybe the Ver‐
thunderbolts. Magically-crafted explosives deton‐ missian could provide a way). Current Ministry
ate within structures, dazzling and burning those doctrine is to stay the hell out of their way, and in
within with blazing sunlight; while the occupants extreme circumstances, launch a preemptive
are unable to retaliate, the Paladins smash win‐ attack against a staging post to reduce the
dows and kick down doors before opening fire chances of Paladins ruining a mission.
with military-grade weaponry. Their trademark
golden armour (which is mostly made from steel) PALADIN OF THE AUTUMN CHURCH
can turn aside bullets and blades alike, and they NAMES: Brother Pierce-the-Brow-with-Wis‐
are protected by the prayers of mad-eyed priests dom, Sister Westward-March-the-Faithful,
and valuable sacrifices. They are, all told, one of the Souvain Thousand-Feathers-Bleeding
worst problems that a Minister can have. DESCRIPTORS: Shining like the sun in absolute
darkness; Intoning prayers to their reaper god
The Solar Pantheon under their breath as they reload; Shrugging
The Solar Pantheon is made up of four gods, each off small-arms fire
tied to a particular time of day and year. Sister MOTIVATION: To destroy the Ministry of Our
Spring is a patron of art, beauty and sunrises; Hidden Mistress and look good doing it
Father Summer is a god of plenty and boisterous DIFFICULTY: Risky
noonday celebrations; Brother Autumn is a RESISTANCE: 9
sunset god of endings and blood; and Mother PROTECTION: 2 in battle, 1 if you catch them
Winter is a midnight artisan and scholar. unawares
On paper, the aelfir worship them all equally; RESOURCES: Paladin uniform (D10, Haven - D6
but in practice, the death-cult of Brother if it’s covered in blood and bullet holes); high-
Autumn has been pushed out of favour due to quality ammunition (D8, Technology)
the rise of arcane surgeries that indefinitely EQUIPMENT: Finely-balanced shortsword (Kill
extend a person’s life. The Paladins, sworn to D6, Brutal) and clip-fed pistol (Kill D6, Pier‐
Autumn above all others, have found themselves cing, Ranged, Expensive) or Custom legrand
underfunded and unpopular; the Ministry is rifle (Kill D8, Piercing, Ranged, Expensive)
entirely in support of this. DOMAINS: Religion
SPECIAL: If the Paladins take you by surprise,
What’s more, they too use the Vermissian to they will lob an explosive towards you that det‐
navigate Spire. With the right equipment and onates with solar energy. Anyone nearby must
rituals, it’s the fastest and least visible way to get pass an Endure+Religion check; on a failure,
from one place to another. Hidden behind they mark D6 stress to Blood as they’re
magical wards and locked vault doors, staging blinded, deafened and wrong-footed. Due to
posts for Paladins are dotted throughout the their subterranean ancestry, dark elf charac‐
23 train network. Should a black ops team get ters mark D8 stress rather than D6.
PALADIN FORSWORN
These gaunt, heavily-armoured fighters use the THE MINISTRY OF OUR

Groups and Factions


above Paladin stats but have protection 3, resist‐
ance 11 and carry blessed swords that inflict (Kill HIDDEN MISTRESS
D8, Brutal) damage in their hands (Kill D8, Tiring “We are her Temple Sinister, her bloody left hand! We
in anyone else’s). They are part of a sect that gives are her knife in the dark! We are vengeance!”
up the pleasures of the flesh to better serve their A sacred crusade cloaked in shadow; an invisible
lord. To an aelfir, anti-hedonism is strange, and war against an implacable foe. The Ministry has
the Forsworn are viewed with extreme suspicion. sworn to destabilise, subvert and eventually destroy
the systems of high elven rule in the city of Spire,
PALADIN CAPTAIN and they have the weight of a forbidden goddess
The best and brightest in the Harvest Church, behind them. To ensure secrecy, the organisation is
Captains are fighters par excellence and fiercely divided up into many cells of agents: the ministers.
devoted to their bloody mission. They have Resist‐ They are under the control of senior agents known
ance 13 and are Dangerous if they get the drop on as magisters, who in turn are under the control of
you, thanks to a variety of blessings and wards inscrutable exarchs. No-one within the Ministry
placed upon them by vassal sun-priests. Captains has more than the barest understanding of
often find themselves promoted as a celebrity of operations beyond their own actions.
sorts, with the Autumn Church using them as Most people in the city view them as religious
poster children for their cause. If you see a Cap‐ extremists at best and unstable terrorists at worst
tain, odds are you’ve already heard of them and - the aelfir have set up extensive propaganda
could relatively easily find out who they’re dating. campaigns against them in Spire’s many
newspapers, most notably the Torch. Despite their
DUSK PRIEST best efforts, not all of their operations are
NAMES: Subdeacon Victory’s-Last-Glimmer, successful, and innocent people often get caught
Underbishop Crimson-on-Ivory, Solar Acolyte in the crossfire. Those within the Ministry have
who has forsaken their name until they ascend made their peace with selling their lives for the
DESCRIPTORS: Slitting the throat of an ox to cause, but their friends and families haven’t.
bless an assault; Surrounded by a storm of Though public opinion is against them, the Min‐
auburn leaves; Executing a fallen, grievously- istry is one of the more successful revolutionary
wounded Paladin fronts in the city. Their bold tactics and recruitment
MOTIVATION: To bring the blessing of Brother of unstable individuals from every part of drow
Autumn, the reaping god of endings, upon the society have paid off, and funding from interested
inhabitants of the world parties in Aliquam (and rogue elements of the aelfir
DIFFICULTY: Standard governing body) have allowed them to extend their
RESISTANCE: 6 operations into the Vermissian. This gives them the
PROTECTION: 1 capacity to strike almost anywhere in the city.
RESOURCES: Solar incense (D6, Religion); Solar The official name for the black ops section of the
Pantheon relics (D8, Religion, Beacon) Ministry - one of the official names, anyway - is the
EQUIPMENT: Harvest scythe (Kill D6, Brutal, Throne Division, as the headquarters of the depart‐
Tiring) ment has been set up in the Spiral line station of the
DOMAINS: Religion same name. Throne station is within the Desteran
SPECIAL: If a Dusk Priest sings sacred hymnals palace that housed the central drow government of
over a Paladin squad, the protection of all Spire until the aelfir invaded, and it’s from here that
squad members (aside from the priest) the Ministry launches devastating attacks against
increases by 1; if they’re silenced, their protec‐ their many and varied enemies.
tion is reduced to its standard level. The Throne Division is watched over by the
implacable and mysterious Exarch Ventrix: a small-
statured and terrifyingly intense drow whose skin
is covered in alchemical and arcane tattoos (which
many theorise are what’s keeping her alive). 24
Motivations
There are four general reasons why you’d decide to throw your lot in with
Groups and Factions

the Ministry:
• BROKE. They pay well and they mean business; and maybe you got
kicked out of the military and no-one else would employ you. You
could do a few black ops jobs for the Ministry and retire, assuming
they don’t send someone else after you to tie up loose ends.
• PROUD. You’re convinced that you’re the best and you like to live your
life on the edge. The only stuff dangerous and exciting enough for you
is working for an illegal cult destabilising the government.
• COMPROMISED. They’ve got something on you - something big.
Rather than have it come out and destroy your life (and the lives of those
close to you) you’re working for them.
• ZEALOUS. You are prepared to give your life in service of
the Ministry’s goals. You loathe the aelfir and all they
stand for; you are a holy warrior on a righteous
crusade to destroy those who have enslaved
your people and destroyed your culture.

In reality, you’re probably a bit of all four.


Even if you weren’t compromised to begin
with, the act of working for the Ministry
gives them something to use against you.

25
Groups and Factions
• Captain Wander-the-Lost, a Warrior-Poet
THE SPIRAL COUNCIL addicted to blue: a human-made drug that floods
“We’ve received word from the front that the Dust ter‐ users with a cathartic wave of chemical grief.
ritory has once again fallen into gnollish hands. I’m
proposing we instigate a demonic incursion to mitig‐ Each has their own aims (and allegiances) but, as a
ate the losses; total projected allied casualties would whole, they work to uphold the status quo and rein‐
number in the low thousands. All those in favour?” force the aelfir’s hold over Spire. Killing them is diffi‐
The Spiral Council, hereafter just “the Coun‐ cult and perhaps pointless, as there is no end of equally
cil,” are the rulers of Spire. Sitting atop a despicable replacements waiting in the wings. The
massive bureaucratic pyramid of adminis‐ Ministry must locate and compromise a suitable
trants, civil servants and lackeys, these seven alternative candidate, fund their rise through the
individuals are some of the most powerful ranks of the government and then place them in an
people in the city. It is they who fuel the war in ideal position to take a seat on the council.
the south and throw innocent enlisted drow The Council is protected by the Black Guard of
into the meatgrinder that is the Nujabian foot‐ Amaranth: elite warriors specially selected from the
hills; it is they who oversee the list of banned ranks of the Allied Defence Force who are paid exor‐
religions and practices, erasing the history of bitantly for their services. There are also countless
the dark elves; and it is they who will pay for wards, counter-scrying magic, retaliatory hexes and
their sins at the hands of zealous ministers. a well-established intelligence network. Taking on
At present, the council members are as fol‐ the Council is no small undertaking.
lows; they are aelfir unless stated otherwise.
BLACK GUARD OF AMARANTH
• Archdeacon Many-the-Seedlings, NAMES: Ybyssmette, Varellian, Destera (they only
unspeakably beautiful cleric of the Solar use surnames)
Church, with secret dreams of fierce ethnic DESCRIPTORS: Standing perfectly motionless for
cleansing through the Harvest cult of Brother days at a time to guard a particular chamber;
Autumn. Shielding an aelfir with their body; Laying down
• Councilman Drynn, a human spymaster, suppressing fire to cover the approach of hal‐
who carries a shard of aetherically-resonant berdiers
crystal in his brain; it broadens his MOTIVATION: To protect the Council - and to a
perceptions and is driving him mad. lesser extent, every other aelfir inhabitant of
• Lord Errin Jubilant-the-Devoted, a staunch Amaranth
traditionalist, who has nonetheless been DIFFICULTY: Risky
infiltrated by an interdimensional blood- RESISTANCE: 10
song parasite called The Vyskant and is PROTECTION: 3
quietly ushering in their arrival. RESOURCES: ID papers (D10, Haven, Niche)
• Madame Fey-Aranyen, a token dark elf EQUIPMENT: Ebony-stocked repeating shotguns
member of the council who cannot support (Kill D8, Spread, Unreliable); Wide-bladed hal‐
her fellow drow past empty gestures and berds (Kill D8, Tiring)
meaningless platitudes. DOMAINS: Haven
• Lady Grendelmyn Stars-Softly-Shine, who is
surprisingly straight-laced for an aelfir; BLACK GUARD AEGIS
except that she is allied with the cult of the The best of the best. These soldiers are brain-
Spire Ascendant, who wish to awaken the washed with aelfir music that speeds their reaction
City Above as a god. times, dulls pain and discomfort and ensures a
• Lord Veq Light-Through-Splintered-Glass, an zealous loyalty. They use Black Guard stats, but
old-school businessman with deep their difficulty is Dangerous.
connections to the criminal elements in
Spire’s undercity. 26
Groups and Factions

COUNCIL MEMBER LORD VEQ LIGHT-THROUGH-SPLINTERED-


What follows are generic rules for each Council GLASS: Lord Veq has wired the room you fight
Member; individual abilities and quirks are listed him in to explode upon his death or incapacita‐
in the SPECIAL section of this stat block. For the tion; roll Evade+Occult or mark D10 stress to
sake of an exciting climax to your story, we’ve Blood when he’s reduced to Resistance 0.
assumed that each Council Member is quite good CAPTAIN WANDER-THE-LOST: Wander-
at fighting (thanks to blessings, magic, training the-Lost’s Warrior-Poet training gives them
or drugs) - if you’d rather have something less Protection 4 and Dangerous difficulty; weep‐
dramatic and more stark, give them Resistance 3 ing, they sing unearthly songs that warp the
and have them be easily killed. world around them as they fight.
DIFFICULTY: Risky
RESISTANCE: 10
PROTECTION: 2
RESOURCES: Jewels and assorted finery (D10,
THE VERMISSIAN
Haven) COLLECTIVE
EQUIPMENT: Master-crafted weapon (Kill D8) “All that can be known, is.”
DOMAINS: Haven The Vermissian Collective, as it is known, is a
SPECIAL: loosely-organised group of scholars and explorers
ARCHDEACON MANY-THE-SEEDLINGS: who plumb the depths of the forbidden train net‐
Autumnal magic means that all Blood stress work in search of knowledge strewn across mul‐
suffered by player characters in his presence tiple dimensions and parallel timelines.
is increased by one dice size. Sages form the academic backbone of the
COUNCILMAN DRYNN: Drynn’s intelligence organisation, many of whom have been exiled
network and brain-shard means that he from polite society thanks to controversial ideo‐
always knows you’re coming and cannot be logies. They are supported and protected by the
surprised. If you’re lucky, he’ll be too mad to mysterious gadoliv (a sect of sworn protectors of
counteract your attack. libraries) and Vermissian Knights, who dress
LORD ERRIN JUBILANT-THE-DEVOTED: If themselves in experimental armour to weather
you suffer Major Blood or Echo fallout whilst the dangers that lurk in the unpredictable tun‐
fighting Lord Errin, in addition to whatever nels. Within the hidden territory of the Vermis‐
effects the GM determines, you have become sian, they collate and guard the historical secrets
infected with the interdimensional Vys para‐ of the drow peoples of the world, which the aelfir
site. Errin will re-grow himself from your flesh would much rather see destroyed.
unless he is painfully excised. In general they maintain peace with the Min‐
MADAME FEY-ARANYEN: The adoration for istry - their aims are broadly similar, after all.
madame Fey-Aranyen amongst the populace However, the Collective seeks to achieve their
of Spire is so strong that, should she mark goals in a far less militarised manner. While the
stress, crowds of bystanders will blindly and Sages will share information with the Ministry
zealously rush to her defence. After the first and Knights will act as guides to spec ops teams,
successful attack against her, all stress marked the two groups will occasionally come to blows
against her is halved as people offer up their over territory or resources.
lives to save hers.
LADY GRENDELMYN STARS-SOFTLY-
SHINE: Stars-Softly-Shine conjures the walls
around her into spikes and traps with her Spire
Ascendant magics, giving her weapon the Brutal
and Piercing tags when she wields it in combat.

27
Groups and Factions
GADOLIV in the local language, but most only understand
NAMES: Aubinet, D’Encre, Podepapiyae about 500 words and struggle to follow complex
DESCRIPTORS: Wrapping their scarred skin in instructions or hold advanced concepts in their
strips of paper inscribed with warding texts; heads. This means they struggle to find work (or
Feeding fruit to a messenger-bat hanging even understand the notion) and generally rely on
from their wrist; Absent-mindedly eating scavenging, theft, pack-hunting and light robbery
spare books to survive. Individually, a gutterkin is no threat to
MOTIVATION: To protect the information stored a seasoned delver; but en masse, they can over‐
in the Vermissian Vault and those who collect it whelm an injured or weakened target in seconds.
DIFFICULTY: Standard, but see below
RESISTANCE: 8 GUTTERKIN MOB
PROTECTION: 1 This stat block represents a gang of about a dozen gut‐
RESOURCES: Books of inscrutable writing they terkin working as a team. A standard scavenging party
believe is in code (D6, Occult) will be made up of three or so teams.
EQUIPMENT: Punch daggers (Kill D6, Piercing,
Unreliable) NAMES: Skint, Biglot, Ord, Grub, Haslock, Fegg
DOMAINS: Occult, Technology DESCRIPTORS: A goblin with terrible facial hair;
SPECIAL: When Gadoliv attack, they do so by a psoriasis-addled kobold; a sort of dogboy
shifting the Vermissian around them with MOTIVATION: To kill you without dying them‐
spells and machine-keys that allow them to selves, then eat you and steal your things
ambush from hiding. The first action made by DIFFICULTY: Standard
each player character against them in a situ‐ RESISTANCE: 8 (most of them will run away
ation is Risky. once their mates start dying)
PROTECTION: 0
RESOURCES: Filthy gewgaws, worthless trinkets,
FALLOUT: REARRANGED. [Minor, Fortune] The the knife they’re all sharing (D4, Haven)
Gadoliv retreat, but the delvers realise that the EQUIPMENT: Claws, rusted knives, fish-hooks,
Vermissian has changed during the encounter. chair legs (Kill D6, Degrading)
Add D8 resistance to the current delve as they DOMAINS: Warren
attempt to navigate the strange, hostile environ‐ SPECIAL: Weapons with the Spread tag increase
ment. [Immediate] their stress dice by 1 step when used against a
gutterkin mob.

GUTTERKIN
“What don’t you understand, big man? Give us your FALLOUT: SURPRISE! [Minor, Fortune] The
food and your map and we won’t cut you. Do something gutterkin have set a trap: a big rock positioned
upcity, we come at you thousands!” above head-height, a pit full of shit-caked spikes,
“Gutterkin” is a derogatory Spire term for gob‐ a length of metal under tension with broken glass
lins, kobolds, trash fairies, toadgirls and crow‐ and used needles tied to it and so on. The next
boys - any diminutive humanoid who doesn’t time a player character marks stress as a result of
quite fit into society. The gutterkin form an attacking the gutterkin, the gutterkin retaliate
under-underclass in the city: they’re not at all with a (Kill D8, Brutal, Piercing) weapon.
seen in the mid-Spire and above, are rare in the
lower city, and only really show their faces in the
undercity districts of Red Row and Derelictus.
However, gutterkin flourish in the Vermissian.
Some gutterkin are able to hold a conversation

28
From the depths of the cursed mass transit
network known as the Vermissian, the Ministry
of Our Hidden Mistress wages a shadow war
against their cruel high elf overlords.
You are part of the Throne Division: cells of black ops
paramilitary assets drawn from the people of the Heart. You
undertake vital missions in support of the Ministry’s cause,
using the miles of twisting tunnels to move secretly through
the city.

This sourcebook for the Heart RPG contains expanded and


alternative rules for sending your undercity delvers on
dangerous missions for the dark elf revolutionary front. You’ll
also find information on the factions that make the Vermissian
their home, a guide to building operations and a line-by-line
breakdown of the network.

A copy of Heart: The City Beneath is required to use this book.

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