Spire's Edge

Spire's Edge

(City)

Titles

City of Second Chances
Grey Lady's Crossroads

Plane

Boneyard

Size

Large city

Population

23,150

Demographics

14,100 shades; 4,000 psychopomps; 3,050 other outsiders; 2,000 other

Government

Magical

Alignment

Neutral

Ruler

Saloc

Leader

Aqui
Zukoor

Images of Spire's Edge

Source: Planar Adventures, pg(s). 182

Spire's Edge is a city in the Boneyard that serves as a place where so-called failed souls, who lived meaningless, directionless lives, are provided a second chance to better themselves.

Geography

Spire's Edge is located on the edge of Pharasma's Spire, far away from the busy Pharasma's Court, around the Tumulus, a steep hill that serves as the temple of the psychopomp usher Saloc. Much of the city precariously hangs over decaying landmasses, and many corners benefit from the Spire's unusual gravity, giving Spire's Edge a haunting asymmetry and constant impression that it is about to fall. Most buildings are constructed from grey and black stone like the rest of the Boneyard, leading to a stark, depressing tone.

Government

Saloc is a distant overlord and entrusts a rotating circle of yamarajes on leave from court to directly govern Spire's Edge from the Pinnacle Halls. The yamarajes delegate jobs to the Boneyard's shades, but local politicians know that Saloc's advisor Aqui holds true power in the Pinnacle Halls. The Intrinsic Assembly, a court consisting of a representative from each Outer Plane, advises the yamarajes but holds little power beyond cajoling or bribing them.

Vanths and morrignas aggressively police Spire's Edge in order to maintain peace. Each neighbourhood chooses its own leader, called proxeny, from among their shades, in the hope that leadership will stir their purpose. Proxenies hold little power beyond settling disputes, but psychopomps tend to hold them responsible for all crime in their jurisdiction, so many overreach their authority.

History

Spire's Edge has been neutral ground for aeons, although violence has occasionally erupted from direct competition over souls. The most recent one, the Tattercine War, was instigated when demonic and protean redemption gangs dissolved into fighting, and the azatas of the Sixth Intrinsic School descended in an attempt to contain them. The resulting chaotic surge led to the formation of the Tatter, the city's first slum.

People

The asphodi shades who make up the majority of Spire's Edge's population were once mortals who lived lives without ambition nor meaning, achieving little, and dying without a direction. Although the city's infrastructure provides them a second chance to grow and eventually pass into a proper afterlife, most cannot be bothered to change, preferring to continue their old habits until crumbling into quintessence.

The main roads of Spire's Edge are wide, clean, and sensibly arranged (as much as the geography allows), but the alleys and back streets are a twisted maze. Navigation to major landmarks is simple for new arrivals, but locating individual buildings can be challenging even for long-term residents. This is especially so since new residents usually prefer building new homes to moving into those vacated by old asphodis who found their purpose and moved on, in the process filling the city with countless abandoned houses.

Outside of its core, Spire's Edge sprawls out into the Outboroughs, a series of suburbs known for winding streets, small buildings, and large barren fields. Their residents, living far from the schools near the city centre and preferring to repeat their old lives, tend to be the most stubborn people in Spire's Edge. They have no future of growth but remember secrets forgotten by the living and have mastered skills that require lifetimes of commitment, and are often sought out by outsiders who wish to learn from them.

Asphodis are usually too melancholic or lethargic to leave their homes. The few who seek out companionship tend to find themselves alone and pushed back to their natural torpor, but if they can find like-minded fellows, they often form tight-knit groups to help each other. Most such asphodis manage to move on, but the one or two unfortunate members left behind usually succumb to listlessness and crumble even faster than normal.

Pharasma also temporarily puts souls awaiting resurrection in Spire's Edge, where they are granted freedom to do whichever they want without disrupting the delicate workings of her court. Most usually just wait, with the exceptions of servants of gods who see this as an opportunity to convert the asphodis so they might find meaning in faith and eventually pass into their god's realm; and great warriors who train the asphodis or inspire them with the thrill of fighting.

The rest of Spire's Edge's population consists of all kinds of shades and outsiders who question their allegiance to their plane or teach at the Nine Intrinsic Schools. Normally antagonistic outsiders reluctantly coexist, knowing that their behaviour affects their plane's influence and position across the rest of the Boneyard.

Spire's Edge serves as a meeting ground where all kinds of outsiders can interact, but Pharasma wants no one else to establish a foothold in her realm and heavily curtails access. In order to circumvent the limit, all kinds of outsiders, no matter how high-minded, organise criminal redemption gangs consisting of shades and minor outsiders who target asphodis to turn into their own agents. They usually cause no issue on their own, but frequently fight each other in their attempts to impose their will, forcing the psychopomp police to constantly intervene. Particularly troublesome individuals are spirited away from Spire's Edge, if not banished forever from the city.

Since the proteans instigated the Tattercine War, Saloc has heavily restricted their access into Spire's Edge, as well as that of inevitables to maintain balance. Both groups are eager to regain full access, while relying on shades to represent their interests. The protean lords and primordial inevitables are running a proxy espionage war from their academies. Meanwhile, mnemostiller cults now stalk the streets alongside redemption gangs and preachers. In order to encourage peace and motivation, Saloc has assigned Aqui with the construction of various safe outlets of expression, leading to a rise in the number of improved asphodis.

References

Paizo published a chapter about Spire's Edge in Distant Realms.