World Information
The Earth:
Europe-
Europe and Western Asia up to the Black Sea and the former location of Moscow is called the Great Hunting Ground. This is the part of the world most densely populated by mobile cities. Their tracks are everywhere and little grows but scrub and weeds. Opportunities for cities to feed are rife here...but then again, so are opportunities to get eaten.
The Black Sea AKA the Sea of Khazak is the domain of pirates. Beware ye any city that stumble into the Sea of Khazak! Yarrgh!
Asia-
Russia is disputed territory. The Green Storm has taken possesion of much of the Russian steppes and they wage war with any mobile city that gets near enough to them.
The 60 minute war rendered most of China uninhabitable. The exception is TienJiang, the headquarters of the Anti-Traction League. TienJiang is an ancient metropolis set somewhere in the Central Asian mountains. It is filled with old-style Chinese architecture and houses the League's military and civilian leadership.
The League has another great city in Asia: Batmunk Ghompa is the gateway to the Indian subcontinent. It is located on the only mountain pass large enough for a mobile city to pass through. Approaching from the west, all you see is the walls of the city, huge, metallic, built from the plating of mobile cities. Littering the ground in front of it are the smashed and abandoned remains of mobile cities, warnings to any that would try to break through the pass. The other side of the wall is a bustling, vertical metropolis. The remains of the League's eastern air fleet are housed in huge warehouses near the top. There are also a number of temples and churches here, from huge complexes dedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses to tiny holes dedicated to the nearly forgotten Christians.
Japan is mostly mobile. The largest city is Neo-Edo, built from the rubble of Tokyo. Efficient and clean, Neo-Edo is the only overseas member of the Traktionstadt and a continual (literal) pain in the ass for the Anti-Traction League. Osaka is an amphibious trading city, selling goods it picks up in the Pacific to traction city and static settlement alike. It's known as not only the best marketplace in the region but also a place to see the best comedy this side of Brighton. There are some static settlements in the Hokkaido mountains.
Africa and the Middle East-
Subsaharan Africa is the Anti-Traction League's strongest territory. Dense jungle and the league's southern air fleet keep it free of city predation. Peaceful farmers and hunters live on the plains as they have since before the 60 minutes war. Zagwa is the largest of these. A walled city, Zagwa is a center of learning for the whole league, housing several universities. The architecture is primarily daub and adobe based.
Northern Africa is the domain of predator cities, hunting each other across the Sahara. New Cairo is the largest of these. Generally they do not grow as large as European cities. Northern Africa is also a good place to hire mercenaries. Quite a few mercenaries/pirates ride the sands in sailed and motored vehicles.
The Middle East is like a watering hole on the African Savvanah: Cities come here to siphon or buy oil out of neccesity, and the locals do a thriving buisiness in it, except when bolder cities decide to simply rob it from them outright.
Big predator cities, however, also come to the region looking for prey. It is a dangerous region but a neccesary one.
The Americas-
North America was hit hard in the 60 minutes war. Most of the former USA is uninhabitable, as is all of Central America. Travellers come to the glassed cities to find lostech artifacts. There are also rumors of peaceful, habitable land around the area of Newfoundland as well as hints in ancient maps.
Most of the former Canada is the domain of mobile cities and Snowmad scavenger tribes (the descendants of refugees from the 60 minutes war who interbred with the local Indigenous People). Arkangel, Anchorage and Wolverinehampton can all be found here and Airhaven is a frequent visitor. A northern city is a good place to buy lostech if you don't want to risk your life in the former USA.
Alaska has lately become more hazardous due to the presence of the Green Storm there. Their headquarters is a former pirate's base called Rogue's Roost in the Aleutian islands. Most of the Storm's air power is housed here.
South America shows all types of human organization. The Amazon jungle has regrown somewhat since its pre-war devestation and is a Green Storm protectorate. The Storm has a number of bases on Tierra Del Fuego. Around half of the static cities that dot the Andes mountains are Storm supporters or have been threatened into being so, while the other half are League loyalists.
The north of the continent has a number of Nuevo-Mayan Ziggurat mobile cities. They are good places to trade but also dangerous. Travellers may find themselves captured there and sold as slaves.
Taction Cities:
Traction cities are the central conceit of this RPG. They are cities made mobile through the addition of wheels, tracks, hydrogen bags, rafts or sails. Most of the world's population lives in traction cities and most traction cities follow a code called Municipal Darwinism. Under Municipal Darwinism, big cities eat smaller cities, small cities eat towns, towns eat villages and everyone eats barbaric "static" or unmoving settlements. The city that gets eaten is digested in the "jaws" and "gut" of the predator. It is demolished into useful materials and its population is enslaved, assimilated or slaughtered by the conquerors.
Some notable traction cities:
Airhaven-
Airhaven escaped Municipal Darwinism by taking to the air. Great bags of hydrogen ring the city and suspend it in the air. Airhaven is a trading center. Anything can be bought here, from Oldtech artifacts to slaves. Airship traders are constantly coming and going, unloading their cargoes. There are a large number of cafes for patrons to while away the hours between flights. Airhaven is built on a circular plan, with the center occupied by the city offices, the next row out by shops and cafes, then the airship docking bays. There are nets underneath the docks, to catch anyone who may fall over the rail
Anchorage-
A peaceful ice city, Anchorage survives by trading and fishing. Anchorage has a number of beautiful views, from the northern lights, visible from the upper deck, to the Margravine's Winter Palace. Anchorage's people lead simple lives and are welcoming and open.
A lostech plague introduced accidentally by a trader devestated the city ten years ago. Now the city is reduced to a tenth of its old population, barely enough to keep it going. The hereditary ruler is called the Margravine and lives in the Winter Palace. The current Margravine is Freya Rasmussen, a teenage girl catapulted into the position by the death of her parents.
It's rumored that the legendary Tin Book can be found somewhere here. Whoever holds it is said to be able to control a lostech superweapon.
Arkangel-
Arkangel is the most ruthless urbivore of the north. Its culture is best described as neo-Viking. The elite of Arkangel's military are the "Huntsmen", airship troopers led by the king's son, Piotr Masgard. The Huntsmen use their fast airships to land on prey cities. They then force the city's navigators to turn right into the path of Arkangel's jaws at swordpoint.
Unlike most other cities, Arkangel's elite do not live on the top tier, but closer to the center of the city, where it's warmer. The lower classes live farther out, more exposed to the winds.
Brighton-
Brighton is a raft city entirely dedicated to leisure. Every conceivable form of entertainment can be found here, from high class balls to peep shows, museums to opium dens. Brighton's social structure resembles other cities, except that the stratification is based on how high or low brow the entertainment is considered. Prostitution is on the lowest tier, and the social functions of the city's elite are at the top. In between there are tourist trap museums, subcultures of bohemian artists, live music, anything money and an afternoon can buy. Most of the entrances are on walkways that overlook the ocean.
The interior of the city houses the slaves and temporary workers that do most of the labor in Brighton and serve the city's upper classes.
The current mayor of Brighton is Nimrod Pennyroyal, the blustery, exxagerating writer of mostly made up "adventures". His wife is a dimwitted cow named Booboo who is a patron of the romantic opera.
Brighton is currently protected from piracy by Orla Twombley's Flying Ferrets, a heavier than air flying squadron. The Ferrets' machines remain mostly untested in combat and everyone but the Ferrets' themselves and their patron, Nimrod Pennyroyal are skeptical of these gimmicky machines in the face of tried and proven airships.
Brighton generally can be found floating in the Medditeranean.
Harrowbarrow-
An experimental suburb of Traktionstadt Weimar, Harrowbarrow is the world's first burrowing city. Capable of burrowing for days at a time with the massive jaws mounted on its front, it measures in at three levels and about two thirds of a mile long. It is under the command of Wolf Kobold, son of the Weimar Kaiser, who believes the era of great Traction Cities is at its end and the future will be dominated by small, swift predator towns.
London-
The second largest english speaking traction city and one of the largest in the world, London is also the oldest, having first been animated by the engineer Quirke 13,000 years ago. London is cultured, bustling, and home to a sophisticated but highly stratified society. London's society is divided into four major and a number of minor Guilds. The Engineers are responsible for maintaining the machines necessary for the survival of London. The Historians are in charge of collecting and preserving highly prized, often dangerous, but decorative and sometimes even useful ancient artifacts which are sought after and traded. The Navigators are responsible for steering and plotting the course of London. The Merchants are in charge of running London's economy. London is officially ruled by an elected Mayor. The Lord Mayor is Magnus Crome, who is also the head of the Guild of Engineers.
Like most Traction Cities, London is shaped like a wedding cake, built on a series of tiers. This encourages the system of social classes, with the wealthier nobles living at the top of the city and the lower classes living further down, closer to the noise and pollution of the city's massive engines. Atop the whole of London, however, sits St Paul's Cathedral, the only building in London - and indeed all traction cities - known to have survived from pre-traction times. The top level also contains a number of parks, the headuarters of the Guild of Engineers and London's parliament.
Panzerstadts-
The German "Tank Cities", these are grim places to live even if you're part of the upper class. Formerly the most ruthless urbivores in history, the Panzerstadts were united by Panzerstadt Weimar as an opposition to the emerging Green Storm.
The Panzerstadts are heavily armored cities with little light due to the massive armor plates protecting the city. When the plates close in preparation for battle or feeding, sunlight is completely blocked off and the streetlights switch on.
The Panzerstadts as a rule tend to have large militaries and aristocratic rulers drawn from the ranks of the generals.
Factions:
Traktionstadtsgesellschaft (Traktionstadt for short)-
The Traktionstadt is an organization of mostly German cities that have banded together to present a united front against the Green Storm and Anti-Traction League. Their lines extend down Eastern Europe, from the former Ukraine to the Black Sea. Within that territory, Municipal Darwinism is temporarily suspended (cities do not prey on each other). Many cities send tribute to the Traktionstadt and others profit by selling them weapons and supplies.
The Traktionstadt's symbol is a stylized red tooth and claw on a shield.
Known members of the Traktionstadt:
Murnau
Bremen
Panzerstadt Koblenz
Wagenhafn
Panzerstadt Winterthur
Traktionstadt Braunschweig
Traktionstadt Weimar (founder member)
Manchester
Neo-Edo
Anti-Traction League-
The Anti-Traction League is the unifying body of most of the remaining static (unmoving) cities. Founded by Lamma Batmunkh in the Black Centuries following the rise of the Traction Cities. Its massive military has so far prevented most traction city incursions into the Indian Subcontinent, continental east Asia and subsaharan Africa.
However in recent years the League has been weakened. Thaddeus Valentine, an agent for London, set explosives which destroyed almost all of their Eastern Air Fleet in Batmunkh Gompa. The massive Spitzbergen Static was devoured by Arkangel. And the rise of the Green Storm has caused many of its best soldiers to defect. Teetering on the brink of collapse, the League will scarcely survive another decade at this rate.
The League's symbol is a broken wheel.
Green Storm-
Following the disasters of Batmunkh Gompa and Spitzbergen and the death of the hero Anna Fang, many of the Anti-Traction League's brightest young officers became fed up with the ancient, bureacratic leadership. They took their units and left, converging on the pirate's base in the Aleutian Islands known as Rogue's Roost. Slaughtering the pirates, the Green Storm set up their headquarters in the nigh-impenatrable fortress. In ten years the Storm has cut a swath of destruction through Alaska and Siberia, leaving destroyed cities in their wake. In their place they set up nothing but simple, agrarian villages dotted with military bases.
Storm ideology is of a radical return-to-nature type. They despise all cities, mobile and static. However the opposite side of this belief means they have been the greatest force for environmental protection in thirteen thousand years, preserving threatened sites in ways the old League would never have bothered to do.
The Storm has in its arsenal some of the most advanced military technology in the world, including Murasaki Fox Spirit airships capable of laying down devestating rocket barrages and massive floating air destroyers.
Their ressurection corps is responsible for the recycling of corpses into Stalkers. They are also in charge of experimental Stalker animals, including flocks of vicious Stalker birds capable of picking an enemy to shreds, controlled by radio transmitters.
The Green Storm's symbol is a green lightning bolt.
Lost Boys-
The Lost Boys are an organization of thieves that secretly infiltrate traction cities and steal whatever their leader, called Uncle (really Stilton Keel, Anna Fang's former slavemaster) finds useful or interesting.
The Lost Boys are young boys between the ages of 8 and about 20, kidnapped from various Traction Cities. They are then taken to the secret sunken city of Grimsby, their headquarters. There they are trained in a place called the Burglarium, until they are considered skillful enough to go their first mission. The boys are sent in groups depending on the size of the mission, usually in twos or threes when robbing ordinary cities. They use limpets, a kind of submarine, to travel to their host city where they clamp, hidden underneath it. The Boys then board the city stealthily and begin to take peoples' possessions, stowing them in their limpets' hold. Once the hold is full or after a set period of time, the Boys detach the limpet from the city and sail back to Grimsby. The Lost boys are built on a hierarchical system, with the oldest and most experienced Boys at the top, getting the best rooms, limpets etc. while the trainees or the Boys who have broken the rules at the bottom.
The most used piece of technology by the Lost Boys is the Crab-Cam, which is basically a remote controlled camera on legs. They are used by the Boys to spy on cities in order to know when it is safe to start burgling. The limpets used by the Boys to travel in are like giant submarines used as control rooms by the Boys when on a mission. The limpets also contain Message-Fish, mechanical fishes installed with Stalker brains, which are used to take messages and reports between a limpet and Grimsby over long distances.
Technology of this world:
Military- The dominant military vehicle is the airship. Airships have stood the test of time, being reliable and able to be heavily armored with lifting gas. Lifting gas however, like the hydrogen that came before it is volatile. A hit that penetrates the envelope can send an airship up in a burst of flame.
Recently heavier-than-air flight has been [re]discovered. There are a couple mercenary squadrons flying heavier than air craft. These craft are equivalent to early World War One fighters, being generally monoplanes with a single gun.
Gun technology is around the level of the 1920s. Most guns are bolt action rifles or hunting shotguns. Carbines and tommy guns are rarer but still used. There are also crossbows and dartguns, used both as weapons and for hunting.
Stalkers: The Stalkers were built by the Nomadic Empires that battled each other across the volcano maze of what was once Europe long before the Traction Era. They are seven feet tall, armoured from head to toe, have glowing green eyes and are also armed with sharp claws. They tend to have steel face plates and some have cords coming out of their heads which look like dredlocs. They built these Stalkers by dragging dead bodies from the battlefields and bringing them back to a sort of life by wiring strange old tech machines into their nervous systems and made deadly warriors by removing unnecessary internal organs, grafting on a metal carapace and implanting weapons, typically finger-glaives.
A person turned into a stalker usually has no memories of their previous life, but there are certain exceptions. There are rumors of a "remembering machine" in the Arctic that can revive Stalker memories. There have been two examples in the past of massive trauma causing some of a Stalker's memories to come back, but this may have been due to faulty wiring.
New Stalkers are not as well made as old tech ones and must be periodically recharged.
Lately two factions have been creating new Stalkers: London's Guild of Engineers and the Green Storm. The Storm has also been creating experimental Stalker animals such as Stalker bird flocks, Stalker bulls and dogs, even Stalker whales used to bombard floating cities. The Lost Boys also use "message fish", fish with Stalker brains to send communications back to their headquarters of Grimsby.
Old Tech:
Old Tech refers to technology lost during the Sixty Minute War and the eras immediately after it. It includes all the technology of the 20th century as well as superweapons developed for and after that war. Examples of old tech include jet engines, CDs, computers, Stalkers (see above) and biotech. Old Tech is expensive and inscrutable. You generally buy it from dealers, or if you're qualified, dig it out of the remains of an American or Chinese city. But beware, adventurer. Some Old Tech is extremely dangerous and can blow you up, make you die of plague or riddle you with shrapnel.
If you have Old Tech that you don't know how to use (which your character probably doesn't unless they're historian or have historian friends) best to go to the historians of London or Tienjiang.