An Overview of the City-State of Wunderspire

The Extraordinary City-State of Wunderspire is a massive metropolis that spans five islands the
size of small continents in the Boundless Sea. Nothing ever truly disappears in Wunderspire:
new buildings are built atop the the old, junk and scrap metal are refashioned for new and
startling uses, and salvage, patch, repair, is a mantra held dear by the industrious citizens of
the City-State.
Countless souls call Wunderspire their home. All manner of sapient creatures rub shoulders in
the boulevards, back-alleys, and boardrooms of the city. While some beings prefer to keep
among their own kind within exclusionary wards and well-defended ghettos, Wunderspire is
largely a place of urban cosmopolitanism. Most citizens will live their entire lives within
Wunderspire and never venture outside its walls.
The City-State is self-sufficient due to the large swaths of farmland that are part of its
agricultural districts. Rooftop gardens, hydroponics, magebred meat, and underground fungus
farms help supplement the people's diet.
Everything to be dreamed ofand a few things that could only be the product of nightmares
can be found in Wunderspire for a price. Few indulgences are banned outright within the CityState, but even then aeronaut and maritime smugglers work tirelessly to provide the people of
Wunderspire with decadent, verboten pleasures.
Wunderspire had been at war with the socialistic, expansionist Malishnikov Union for over
twenty years. Last year, a truce was signed, but no one truly believes that the Treaty of Redflag
will hold. Fear of Malishnikov infiltration and agitation is rife within the City-State; the daily
broadsheets hint at dark intrigues and acts of espionage that herald the coming of a new war.

A Rough guide to
Wunderspire
Wunderspire is a City Ruled
by the Educated Elite
Wonderspire is ruled by an oligarchy
of scientists, inventors, and captains of
industry from the Illustrious Society
for the Improvement of Natural
Learning.
The head of this oligarchy is the Lord
Technician, an elected position chosen
by ballot by the twelve High
Technicians of the Illustrious Society.
The current Lord Technician is
Ethelyne Tantalum, a statuesque and
utilitarian-minded woman from a long
line of celebrated lady scientists.
Since the position of Lord Technician is
a life-long appointment, it is not
uncommon for them to be assassinated
by political rivals to make way for a
new candidate.
Wunderspire is a City of
Scientific Marvels
The many boroughs, wards, and
districts of Wunderspire are connected
by steam-driven overland and
underground swiftrail trains.
Messages can be sent far and wide
instantly by the tiefling-run Ethergram
Union.
Zeppelins, hot air balloons, and
airships moor at the docklands; these
craft are capable of both continental
travel and the traversal of the ethereal
sphere. Seacraft and submarines
conquer the waves.
Automacists craft both unthinking and
sapient apparatuses from clockwork,
steel, and analytical engines. The
largest of these apparatuses are the

armored mechs used in war.

Wunderspire is a City of
Arcane Secrets
Although magic is not held in as high
esteem as science, the two are not
necessarily antagonistic toward each
other; indeed, many scientists look to
wizards and mages to add a spark of
enchantment to their improbable
devices.
Wunderspire's most famous school of
magic is the Geddenmoor Academy;
the current headmaster of the
Academy is Augustus Drood, a young
wizarding prodigy who has accepted a
number of defense contracts that allow
his students to produce new,
experimental magic weaponry for use
in defense of the City-State.
Throughout Wunderspire there are
areas known as Incarnate Zones where
reality does not function as it usually
does. Some Incarnate Zones function
as portals to other worlds, while others
are simply places where magic
functions more powerfully or in
unexpected ways. Some Incarnate
Zones appear to give access to the past;
others seem like projections into the
future.
The oneiromancers are a decadent sect
of mages who can enter and shape the
dreams of mortals. They can even
capture and sell particularly potent
dreams so that others might
experience them.
Wunderspire is a City of
Heights and Depths
Wunderspire has a massive vertical
reach; the Crowning Tier of the city
sits above the clouds and is home to

the wealthy and aristocratic elite.

Wunderspire also extends deep into
the bowels of the earth; the people of
the Slumgullian Warrens toil deep
underground at furnace, forge, and
fungus farm alike, and rarely, if ever,
see the light of the sun.
Elevated roads spiral up from street
level to reach the lofty heights of the
city's higher tiers; mechanical lifts
extend down into the depths of the
city and up into its elevated districts.
Rumor has it that Wunderspire was
built on the site of a far more ancient
metropolis and that the foundations of
that earlier city still exist as winding
and unexplored catacombs beneath the
Warrens.

Wunderspire is a City of
Varied Multitudes
Though the majority of Wunderspire's
citizens are what we would call
human, numberless races and
species inhabit the City-State.
The people of Wunderspire are policed
by the Gray Bishops, a constabulary
force that answers to the Illustrious
Society. The detectives of the Gray
Bishops use ever-developing scientific
methods to catch criminals, but those
seeking satisfaction outside the normal
channels of law have recourse to
organizations such as Blind Justice
sightless thief-takers and bounty
hunters who use precognition to find
and capture their prey.
The pubs of Wunderspire are the great
levelers of social class; shared pub
songs unite the populace in ways that
few other traditions can manage.
The streets of Wunderspire are
patrolled by a masked vigilante known

as the Red Wraith.

Wunderspire is a City of
a Thousand Gods
The streets of Wunderspire's Cathedral
Ward are lined with a myriad of
churches, temples, ashrams,
monasteries, and other places of
worship.
Although a multitude of incompatible
faiths are practiced throughout
Wunderspire, there is precious little
open hostility between the various
religions.
One of the most popular faiths in
Wunderspire is the Church of the Brass
Messiah, a religion that preaches that
technology will be the savior of all.
Although most faiths practice openly
in Wunderspire, there are a number of
vile cults and mystery religions whose
rites must be consummated in the
shadows. For example, the Children of
Fimbul are a sect of druids who
believe that they must usher in the end
of days to restart the natural cycle of
death and rebirth.
Wunderspire is a City of
Cultured Intrigue
One of Wunderspire's most powerful
institutions is the Libris Rex, the
grandest circulating library in the
known world. The librarian-explorers
of Libris Rex often fund expeditions to
forsaken ruins to retrieve lost
knowledge and to preserve rare texts.
The opera houses of Wunderspire are
as famed for the gossip, idle talk, and
information trading that transpires
therein as they are for the quality of
the artistic performances that take
place on stage.

Some aristocratic families cling to

feuds that stretch back through
generations; these feuds often erupt in
street violence between gangs of
partisans or duels to the death.
The impoverished upper classes
borrow heavily from the goblin mafia.
You don't mess with the goblin mafia.

Wunderspire is a City of
Underclass Dissatisfaction
Lady Magwitch recruits adventurers
into her service to further some
obscure vendetta against the
Compeyson, a swindler of note.
A disease called the clicks, which
causes strange metallic growths to
sprout from the afflicted's skin and a
loss of emotional capability, is a hazard
of life for those who work in
Wunderspire's factories.
Malishnikov agitators have infiltrated
the ranks of working-class trade
unions to advocate for revolution.
Use of blue orchid, a hallucinogenic
opiate made from the dehydrated
venom of the great eastern scorpion, is
endemic in the downtrodden
underclass; frequent abuse of the drug
leads to incurable, violent madness.

Other Lands
Numerous city-states, island nations, and
artificial islands dot the Boundless Sea; these
are some of the most important of those lands:
To the east are the Floating Cities of
Kai-Fong. Ruled by the androgynous
Lunar Empress, the Floating Cities are
havens for skywaymen air-pirates and
are the hub of the blue orchid trade.
To the north is the Malishnikov Union,
a supposed worker's paradise that is

in practice an oppressive realm of

collectivized islands governed by the
military dictatorship of Annalise
Zharoff. The Malishnikov Union is
closely allied with the krieg-bears of
Bjornistad.
To the far northwest is Bjornistad, the
frigid kingdom of Heinrich II, the Jarl
of the krieg-bears.
To the northeast is Cinderheim, the
imperialistic and militarized nation of
the elves. These elves have abandoned
their stewardship of the natural world
in favor of crafting mech armor for
their colonial endeavors. They are
ruled by a masked, and supposedly
immortal, Erlking.
To the south is Citadel, a fortress-like
city-state of religious zealots. Every
aspect of life in Citadel is oriented
toward serving the Last God, the
monotheistic deity who dominates the
hearts and minds of the Citadel's
populace.
To the southwest is the island city-state
of Azrakhan. An unknown calamity
has transformed the populace into a
mindless horde of ravening cannibals.
The scientists and mages of
Wunderspire have erected an electrospiritual barrier that keeps its blighted
residents trapped inside. Despite the
obvious dangers, explorers sometimes
enter the accursed city-state to seek its
forgotten treasures.
To the southeast are a series of largely
unexplored jungle islands.
To the west is the Wild Frontier, a
series of islands rich in precious ore.
These islands are currently being
colonized by Wunderspire,
Malishnikov, Citadel, Cinderheim, and
the Floating Cities.