Blood Red Wednesdays: Waypoint Shrines and Watchtowers

Psychonauts who begin to explore the Shadowlands will quickly find that beginning their incursions only at the Landing Zones of a Realm will limit their ability to get far in a single incursion. The Psychonauts of old made deals with inhabitants and Others- mostly the Fair Folk. These deals resulted in the creation of the Waypoint Shrines and the Watchtowers.

The Waypoints act as fast travel locations. Once a Psychonaut reaches a Waypoint and synchronizes their Avatar to the Waypoint, they may begin any Incursion at that Waypoint. Waypoints can be either  'Safe' or 'Live'. Psychonauts can liberate a Waypoint during an incursion, but that Waypoint may fall again in the interim based on events in both the Shadowlands and the Bonelands.

The Watchtowers are themselves Waypoint shrines, but also unlock the Waypoint shrines around them. Unless a Psychonaut has synced their Avatar to the associated Watchtower, they may not sync to any of the Waypoint Shrines that the Watchtower protects. The requirements for syncing to a Waypoint Shrine or a Watchtower will vary from shrine to shrine and from tower to tower. But as a basic heuristic, the deeper a Psychonaut ventures into the Major Realms, the more involved the process of synchronization will be.

But for the Psychonaut wishes to do more than splash around in the shallows, this is a necessary task.

Blood Red Wednesday: The Ward of Mitchuas

The Ward of Mitchuas

(The Son of Ash- The Church District) 
Called the Ashen One

Mitchuas was a spirit of fire and an apprentice of the Great Serpent before being elevated to God and his fire extinguished upon the altar of the Hungry Empire. In his role as the Son of Ash, Mitchuas is the purveyor of the sacrament, which enforces loyalty in the populace and enforcing a parasitic existence upon those who partake in the sacrament.

The Ward of Mitchuas is a tall and austere neighbourhood, punctuated by an excess of stained glass and devotional artwork. The wood and steel and and stone is all painted a dull grey and only the iconography of the churches break up the monotony of the whole thing. There are three districts within the Ward, The Hood District, the Alms Bowl District, and the High Hat District. The Hood District is home to the Office of the Order of Inquisition and Confession. Also in the Hood District is the Statue of Mitchuas the Sage. The Alms Bowl District is the Office of the Monastic Order and to their Public Kitchen. Also in the Alms Bowl District a visitor would find the Statue of Mitchuas the Shepherd. Last is the High Hat District, home to the High Church Headquarters and the Statue of Mitchuas the Speaker.

• The Hood District (The Inquisition and Confession Office District)
• Statue of Mitchuas The Sage
• The Alms Bowl District (The Monastic Order and Pubic Kitchen District) 
• Statue of Mitchuas The Shepherd
• The High Hat District (The High Church District) 
• The Statue of Mitchuas The Speaker 

Blood Red Wednesdays: The Ward of Gildguld

Mirrored City: The Ward of Gildguld

(God of Tax Collectors- The Merchant District)

Called the Lifestealer, Gildguld was a mountain spirit, a giant of the deep inner earth. Mined from the earth by the Hungry Empire and forged into coins; Gildguld was thus sacrificed and elevated to the status of Dead God of Tax Collectors. In his new role as enslaved deity of coin and taxation, Gildguld diverts the populace to look at his false wealth and false prosperity and then demands a share of their labors back to fuel the Hungry Empire.

The Ward of Gildguld is divided into three Districts: the Cudgel District, the Abacus District, and the Flag District. The Cudgel District is the location of the Home Office for the Tax Enforcement Division of Imperial Tax Collectors, and also the site of the statue of Gildguld The Patrician. The Abacus District is the location of the Home Office of the Tax Assessment Division of the Imperial Tax Collectors and the site of the statue of Gildguld The Provider. And the Flag District is the location of the Propaganda Assessment Office, which operates under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Tax Collectors, and the Flag District is also the site of the statue of Gildguld The Patriot. 

The Ward is orderly, though dusty and cluttered with paper litter. Ghost folk who inhabit the Ward tend to wear middle class clothing worn until threads are smooth and and holes are worn in knees and toes. The dominant colors of the Cudgel District are the black and white of cracked and peeling paint and the dusty brown of dry rot timber and aging leather. In the Abacus District the dominant colors are the dusty beige and faded yellow of paper records, piled high and then sorted and then forgotten until useful as blackmail. The Flag District stands in stark contrast to the other two Districts of the Ward, sporting gold and crimson against black and white. The Flags and patriotic posters that seem to spread across the Mirrored City begin here in the Flag district and extends outwards like a blast radius. There is a garishness to the color though. The gold is flaking paint and certainly not real gold. The red is uneven, as the cheap pigments used require frequent touch ups that are not always done as frequently as would be necessary to avoid fading.

The Men of Black and White patrol here, of course, but the Imperial Tax Collectors (staffed by the nobility) are the real power here- big fish in their little pond. Being noticed here is rarely a good thing, There is always time for a tax reassessment.