A spider’s web of treachery weaves itself over the Great, some say Greatest, City of TOL. In these grim days, even truth is weakness, and weakness is death within the great game.

The Emperor, Marious II, is dead. His widow, Lady Catherinne, wails a ghostly song in the haunted and Royal Quarter - Now called the Silent City. The Sootcloaks, keepers of the Emperor’s peace, are surrounded on all sides by conspiracies that travel too high to uncover and criminals that stoop too low to catch. 

The lords of houses Meriddio and Taflan are at the breaking point of a feud that has been brewing for generations. House Calgar withdraws, ceding their once-tranquil territories to powerful street gangs and the rule of urban chaos. Unshackled by restrictive taxes, house Morriar hastily opens the already traffic-flooded seaports to all manner of immigrants and businesses, legitimate and otherwise, in a mad bid for coin to fill their empty coffers. House Pelinor greedily lays claim to countless city districts, hoping that some, or all, of their lawless decrees gain legal precedence with the backing of their personal army. House Arruvetio waits patiently, preserving law and order and hoping to win the hearts of the people through empty and worthless charities.

Newspapers run rampant with rumors, “DECEITFUL”, “DESPERATE”, “OUTRAGEOUS”, “CRIMINAL”, “CORRUPT” and, most grave of all, “WAR”. These are only a few among the most prominent headlines the Bookbinder’s Guild scorch into the public conscience. Merchants like the Importational House of Northern Mesigg and the Royal Skilled Laborer’s Guild seize opportunities, wringing precious profit margins from the husks of the downtrodden like cool water from a tattered rag, leaving only the damp oil behind for the poor to clench in their teeth on and kill each other over. The guilds would take that too, if they could.

Spies from all over the world gather in dark alleys and public parks alike, and whisper dark truths of the city’s foundation that could turn the world on its head. Cheroptaa, Katora, Bushkad and even the dispersed and quarrelsome lords of Messigia-Galor have deeply entrenched networks of agents watching every street corner. The Regal Institute of Diplomacy, the empire's stalwart and feared intelligence-gathering organization, has its hands full opposing them.

Far below, children pump water from wells laden with disease, or frequently don’t pump water at all. The city’s ancient Aquecirriculi, incredible in their time, now house all manner of vermin and monstrous inhabitants. Clawed feet rake at the dusty bricks just meters below the street’s surface as horrific foes patrol the metropolis’ darkest catacombs in the Undercity.

Once-noble throngs of adventurers and knights, known as Rat-Catchers, now roam the damp, salt-sprayed oceanside streets as well-dressed, bloodthirsty bullies. Posing as heroes of old, they are in truth as eager to cut a woman down for her coin as they are to prop up their own crime as proof they need more power to patrol the streets at night.

The vineyards and oceanside saloons are lazy with sellswords and vagabonds, street scum ready to accept any work for the right price.

Mind Flayers, Gith, fiendish Demons, Pale-Moon Watchers, and ancient powers still more sinister hide in plain sight - Interplanar excursionaries who mine for information, all too happy to watch the city dissolve into this wretched chaos so they can scoop up the ashes for their otherworldly interests.

And most grave of all, travelers from far-flung hinterland ports bring tales of doom as the God-Pharoah Rhikshim amasses his Undead Legions for the first time in a hundred years. He intends to claim the city - Its population are expendable.

With all these threads and more weaving together in the Great City's tapestry, four unassuming souls meet at the docks. Adventurers by trade, but destined for so much more...

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The map of the great city of TOL, setting for my impending Dungeons and Dragons campaign. More art works of TOL, its inhabitants, and glimpses of life and adventure in the Great Web are sure to come - Stay tuned!