The Annals of Glen Forkovian
Seventy years ago, the Great Collapse occurred, presaged by a massive earthquake that destroyed many structures in the city of Prelm. An entire westernmost neighborhood fell into the Deep Down, forever lost. The remainder of the city was divided into Upper Shelf to the east, and Lower Shelf in the west. The height difference is two hundred feet.
The shift from a unified city to one literally divided by elevation—and the constant threat of the "Deep Down"—creates a palpable sense of vertical tension. Prelm is a place where geography is a constant reminder of a traumatic past.
The Anatomy of Prelm
The city is defined by its sheer drops and the precarious nature of its foundation.
Upper Shelf: The original city level, now bordering a massive precipice to the west. It houses the elite or those who can afford the "safety" of height. Then there are the Sky Islands that appeared for the first time after the Great Collapse. They float at various heights above the city, and drift — never colliding — in a circular area roughly three miles across.
The Great Drop: A 200-foot vertical cliff face created by the quake, separating the two halves.
Lower Shelf: The sunken district that survived the fall. It is now shadowed by the Upper Shelf and exists in a permanent state of literal and figurative "under-ness."
The Void-Scar: The westernmost gap where the neighborhood was lost entirely to the Underearth—a dark reminder that the ground isn't always solid.
Lingering Questions of the Deep Down
When a city is literally broken in half, the social and physical infrastructure has to adapt in fascinating ways. As DM, even in a solo campaign, I'm curious about a few details:
Connectivity: How do people move between the Shelves? Are there massive industrial elevators, treacherous winding staircases, or perhaps even a bucket-and-pulley system for goods?
The Atmosphere: Does the Lower Shelf suffer from poor air quality or permanent shadows because of the 200-foot wall to its east?
The "Deathly Below": Is the Underearth a physical place people attempt to explore, or is it treated as a graveyard that everyone pretends doesn't exist?
In Prelm, the Void-Scar is not just a geological wound; it is the city's spiritual drainpipe. With no space for traditional graves, the citizens have turned the very thing that swallowed their ancestors into a ritualistic necessity.
The Funerary Rites: The "Weightless Walk"
Because the Void-Scar is believed to be "bottomless," the people of Prelm do not bury their dead; they release them.
The Lead-Lining: Before a body is sent to the Scar, it is wrapped in heavy, salt-cured canvas and weighted with "Sinker Stones"—black river rocks from the Occoro Bay. This is to ensure the body descends quickly and does not "tumble" in the updrafts, which is considered a bad omen.
The Sky-Caskets: For the wealthy of the Upper Shelf, the dead are placed in ornate, vented iron cages. These are lowered by silver chains over the edge until they disappear into the mist. Once the chain goes slack, the mechanism is released.
The Silent Drop: In the Lower Shelf, burials are communal. At dusk, the "Pall-Carriers" wheel the deceased to the edge of the western docks. No prayers are spoken aloud, as residents fear that sound attracts the "Echo-Takers"—the malevolent spirits said to live in the Deep Down.
The Supernatural Fear: The prevailing superstition is that the Void-Scar is a "living hunger." Many believe the neighborhood that fell 70 years ago didn't die, but was transformed into a subterranean mirror-city: Pelrm (pale-URM). They fear that if a body is dropped without proper weights, it will be caught by the "Lost Ones" and its soul will be prevented from ever reaching the afterlife.
Architectural Style: The "Anchor & Rust" Aesthetic The Lower Shelf cannot build out, and the ground is too unstable to build up traditionally. This has resulted in a style called Pendent Architecture.
Suspended Tenements: Many buildings in the Lower Shelf are literally bolted to the 200-foot cliff face of the Upper Shelf. They resemble iron-and-wood barnacles, supported by massive tension cables anchored into the "stable" rock above.
The Foundation-Less: On the ground level of the Lower Shelf, buildings are constructed on "Sled-Plates." These are massive iron rafts designed to distribute weight. If the ground shifts again, the building might tilt or slide, but it won't immediately crumble into the Underearth.
The Damp-Gothic: Due to the 200-foot shadow cast by the Upper Shelf, the Lower Shelf is perpetually damp. Architecture features heavy use of corrugated copper (which turns a ghostly green), bioluminescent moss-lanterns, and steep, slanted roofs to shed the constant condensation dripping from the Upper Shelf’s drainage pipes.
The Vertical Economy: The "Weight and Pulley" Trade Wealth flows down, but resources flow up. This has created a unique economic symbiosis based on gravity.
The Gravity-Train (Down-Market) It is incredibly cheap to send goods from the Upper Shelf to the Lower Shelf. Waste, greywater, and industrial scrap are "exported" downward via a system of gravity-chutes. The Lower Shelf has built its entire economy on salvage-refining, turning the Upper Shelf's trash into usable "Reclaimed Iron" and "Sifted Coal."
The Great Winch (Up-Market) The Lower Shelf borders the sea, making it the city's primary port. However, the Upper Shelf owns the processing plants.
The Lift-Tax: A massive portion of the city’s gross domestic product is spent on the energy required to winch fish, salt, and foreign luxury goods 200 feet up.
Winch-Barons: The most powerful families in Prelm aren't politicians; they are the owners of the Great Steam Winches that bridge the two halves. To control the winch is to control the food supply.
The Winch-Barons: The "Iron Kings" of Prelm
In a city split by a 200-foot wall, the person who controls the vertical movement controls life itself. The House of Vane currently holds the monopoly on the "Great Central Crank," the largest steam-powered lift in the city.
The Leverage of Power: The Vanes don't trade in gold; they trade in "Lift-Credits." Merchants from the Lower Shelf docks must pay a literal "Weight Tax" to get their seafood and imported spices to the hungry Upper Shelf markets.The Counter-Weight Strategy: To save on coal, the Winch-Barons use a clever system: they time the descent of "Upper-Waste" (sewage and scrap) to act as a counterweight to pull the "Lower-Wealth" (fish and silk) upward. In Prelm, one person's trash literally lifts another person's treasure.
The "Fall-Saboteurs": A common fear among the Vanes is the "Snap-Cutter"—political rebels from the Lower Shelf who threaten to sever the cables, which would plunge the Upper Shelf into a famine and the Lower Shelf into a crushed ruin.
Geography: The "Bellows" Effect The physical layout of Prelm creates a unique microclimate between the water and the abyss.
| Feature | The Upper Shelf (Sun Side) | The Lower Shelf (Deep Shadow) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Industry | Finance, Governance, Refinement | Fishing, Salvage, Fungiculture |
| Foundation | Solid Limestone Bedrock | Shifting Silt and Iron Sled-Plates |
| View | The Horizon of Occoro Bay | The Looming 200ft Wall of the East |
| Risk | High-altitude Winds / Structural Decay | Flooding, Ground-Subsidence, "Echo-Takers" |
Mapping the Flow: From Bay to Void To visualize how the city functions, imagine a horizontal line bisected by a vertical cliff:
The Eastern Edge (Occoro Bay): The lifeblood. Cold, salty water where deep-sea trawlers dock. The air here smells of brine and fish scales.
The Lower Shelf Docks: The most crowded part of the city. Everything is damp. The buildings here are built on "Sled-Plates" because the ground near the water is soft.
The Great Lift-Wall: A 200-foot sheer cliff honeycombed with "Pendent" housing. This is where the poorest live—literally clinging to the side of the world in hanging shacks.
The Upper Shelf (The Over-City): A place of marble and dry air. It juts out slightly over the Lower Shelf, creating a permanent "Rain-Line" where runoff falls onto the slums below.
The Western Edge (The Void-Scar): The "Silent Zone." No one builds within 50 yards of this jagged drop. It is a place of white mist and the smell of ozone. This is where the funerals happen.
The "Echo-Takers" and the Ghost-Neighborhood There is a persistent rumor in the Lower Shelf that on nights when the wind blows from the west, you can hear the bells of the sunken neighborhood, Prelrm, ringing from the Deep Down.
The "Lure": It is said that some citizens, grieving lost loved ones, have tried to descend into the Void-Scar using illegal, hand-cranked winches. None have ever returned, and the Winch-Barons have made "Unauthorized Descent" a crime punishable by exile to the Scar itself.
The Supernatural Anchor: People believe that the only reason the Lower Shelf hasn't fallen in yet is because the ghosts of the sunken district are holding it up—waiting for the rest of the city to join them.
DM's Note: create some NPCs for this location and hyperlink to this post.
