A TRAVELER’S GUIDE TO THE CITY-SITE OF REDDIT

- BEING A REFERENCE TO REDDIT, ITS HISTORY, AND ITS PLACE -

IN THE WORLD WITHIN THE WEB
 INTRODUCTION TO THE KNOWN INTERNET

The Two Worlds

“What dire Offence from am'rous Causes springs, What

mighty Contests rise from trivial things”
— Alexander Pope

THERE ARE TWO WORLDS. Distinct, separate, parallel, intersecting. All things that are,
and all that can be, result from or dwell within these two worlds.

Contained within one is the Known Internet . Dozens, hundreds, thousands of sites,
nations, and kingdoms, ruled by factions beyond reckoning. This world also contains the
unknown Internet: dark and mysterious places that are little explored and rarely seen, behind
the veil of the Deep Web. The full extent of the Internet is unknown. But what is known is that it
is the home of countless men and women, of strange nations and strange gods, of feuds and
fandoms without limit, and of places both civilized and lawless in equal measure. It is the World
Within the Web, and this is the mundane world, where ordinary people live ordinary lives . . .
whatever that means.

But there is another world. The world of unknowable shapes, of unfathomable

intelligences. The world barely glimpsed in visions and in the reading of the stars, the world from
which the fandoms and the data that produces the Web proceeds. The world that made the
Internet, and everything in it. The World Beyond the Web .

The World Beyond the Web cannot be truly observed by those in the World Within. It is
the plane of vast and ancient entities, whose motivations and designs are wholly alien. But more
than that, it is a world of forms and ideals, from which everything in the World Within is a mere
copy.

The World Within is what scholars have called a “weak ontology.” While things existing
Within can continue on as it currently is, it changes only by the intervention of things from
outside—from Beyond. The World Within is by nature easily changed by the World Beyond, and
is subtly manipulated by it constantly, down to its very matter. As the thoughts and ideas of the
unfathomable beings in the Beyond issue forth, they proceed down into the World Within and
become reified: given a physical form.
 The World Within, and all things it contains, is comprised of data , infinitesimally small
units of matter. But the World Beyond is entirely different, made of substance unknown, such
that everything Beyond is somehow more than anything Within. Even the shadow of a
shadow from the World Beyond is in some way more real than anything Within could ever be.
So, when the World Beyond dreams, and the shadow of those dreams falls upon the lesser
World Within, the data Within recombines to form shapes and forms that mimic, imperfectly, the
ideas and concepts of the Beyond and the things that dwell there.

This is the ultimate state of the World Within the Web and the Known Internet.
Everything that exists within—every land, every nation, every person, every action, every belief
—is a mere reflection of some larger thought from Beyond that has been reified into being, no
matter how mundane, inconsequential, illogical, or insane that thought might be. The beings
Beyond alter the World Within at all times without even realizing it. All things Within are illusion
and allusion.

A Brief History

“In the elder years, our forebears set out across these lands so that they might create a world in
which all people were truly connected. And for their sins, they succeeded.”

The oldest origins of our world are obscure even to the most learned minds. The degree
to which the matter making up Creation was shaped deliberately or by mere circumstance is a
question still subject to intense debate among scholars, and not one we shall likely answer here.

Nevertheless, it is known that there was at least some intention behind the shaping of
the Web: the datalines are too precise to not be shaped by careful hand, and it is these that
form at least the skeletal framework of our World Within. Lines of data were formed, making not
only the complex shapes of the lands and seas and all things dwelling therein, but also the laws
of causality and nature that bind and compel those objects. To the Moderators and many natural
philosophers, this wire-frame of physical and natural law and the intelligence behind it is the
Logos, the Code of the World, that which made and is the universe.

What the Web looked like in this dawning age is unknown. Some believe that there was
a "shadow-realm" of the Web, a kind of hollow reflection made from premature data that was not
yet fully formed. This world would have prefigured much of the modern Web, with crude
analogues that eventually gained the shape, form, and complexity of their modern selves.
Others believe that it was a "world of light": tiny pinpricks of data that formed in the void, orbiting
and reforming, connecting via flashing datalines. Parts of the Web that never developed into the
modern Internet can still be seen in the night sky: the stars and the datalines that dance
between them are the same as the “world of light".

Either way, the Web in this time was in the first stages of reifying information from the
World Beyond, arranging raw data into "packets" that eventually grew, evolved, and changed
into something more complex than could be imagined. Seas would be formed, and then lands
arose from them. And on those, the early shadow-forms of living things, including those of men.

It is assumed that this was a time of isolation. The isles and continents that make up the
Web of today were still inchoate, the earth and seas ever-shifting and changing. And all around
them was the great void, a limitless expanse of mist, air, and shadow that encircled everything
and through which no passage could be made. It was not until the days of the hyperlinks that
connection between these lonely places could be made, the datapoints began to bind
themselves such that the upheaval subsided and these isolated islands of matter were
eventually bridged. In time, the matter settled enough that most things had a fixed form, and
thus men began to gather and dwell together.

At this time, sites and civilizations began to arise. This was an age of exploration and
conflict, in which new cultures arose and mythical heroes strode out into the larger world.
Legends of this age remain with us even now, with the endless deeds of the Arpanet, the rise of
Aol in the Autumn Apeiron, or the Browsing Days and the time of nomads that followed.

Few of these ancient cultures survive to this day, save as dust-smote ruins in the Aolan
Wastes or the toppled remnants of groups like the Frenser. But among many of these now
extinct nations were the seeds that grew into the Web’s great powers today. It can only be
assumed that once the modern age is ended with the battles to come, these great powers will
also die, and new sites shall take their place in turn. Such is the way of trends and men.

The Known Internet

“Odd isn’t it? A thousand sites, a thousand million souls, and yet all of it is false.”

In modern times, the Known Internet is in the midst of its Second Age. The inchoate Web
of the prior centuries is gone, and in its place are great clusters of established sites, most of
which share common cultures and identities. The present age has seen the rise of new wonders
and troubles, but a brief overview of the Internet should be given for context.

At the navel of the Known Internet is the great cathedral-city of Central, the capital of the
Moderator Authority. True to its name, Central is in the middle-most region of the Known
Internet, surrounded by the ring of the Connecting and Cloud Seas. Central is the king of all
cities, home to topless towers and vaulted halls that appear endless, brought into being by
Moderator architectural prowess and coding. From here the Moderators train and plan, directing
the Web and its sites according to the dictates of the Logos, the Code of the World.

From Central run the great Engine Lines, which stretch from horizon to horizon, carrying
men and cargo across vast distances at lightning speed. In each cardinal direction, a different
Line goes to where a different group of major sites lie, with a dominant culture of their own.

In the frozen north lie the great Cities of the Sajle—the merchant sites. Great trading
cities like Am-Azon and Eh-Baj dominate the cold mountains and grey seas of this land,
operating powerful guilds and companies that deal in rare goods and products sought across
the Web. The Engine Line that reaches this region—the Orange Line—produces the most
wealth of any trading route in the Known Internet.

To the northeast, the Grey Line passes through the North Forum Isles, and arrives in the
Isle of Steam. This is the holy land of the Gamer fandom, divided between the Pureborn in their
dream-city of Gaben, and the Consollite idolaters that bow their heads in temples of forest, fire,
and water. Here, the fertile questing plains of the Em-Emoh give way to smoking mountains and
disputed lands, where the Gamers feud eternally in ritual combat. Further north lies the isle of
Final Destination, and nation of T’Vitch that rests beyond the Streaming Channel.

The Green Line proceeds east, into the lands of the Painted Sea, famed for their artists
and Animen. The latter is one of the Great Fandoms throughout all the Web, but is at their
strongest in these lands of the rising sun, places like the Devien Isles, Pixiv, and Pintressor. Far,
far to the east is the last speck of land in the green waters of the Painted Sea: the lonely,
languid isle of Firaffin the Outcast, and the skinchangers that dwell there.

The Green Line terminates to the southeast, at the coastal borders of the sun-baked
Blurr: a vast continent of fertile coasts, endless deserts, and hot-blooded inhabitants. Their close
cousins dwell in the countless isles of the Blogosphere, men and women that paint their story-
sails and tattoo their bodies with the tales of their people.

Due south of Central are the Guild City-Sites, controlled by powerful interest groups or
creative enterprises, such as the Tropers in their labyrinth-city of Taveeda. Past them, perched
atop the mountains, is Widdar, the City of Birds, known for its messengers and laconic
inhabitants. From there, the Engines pass over deserts and mountains, until at last they reach
the verdant peninsula where the Fronting River spills to sea, with the great City-Site of Reddit at
its mouth.

At Reddit, the Blue Line terminates, and there stands the last vestige of civilization to the
south. Beyond that lay only savage lands that populate the black Saying Sea, largely bereft of
Mod influence, law, or order. Dying sites populate the decay of the South Forum Isles, slaves
and shadows lay trapped in the nightmares of V’Kay, whilst daring traders chance the lands of
pirates and insane memeoids. Most notable of these are the dreaded lands of masks and
madness: the anarchic, demon-cursed wastes of the Chan.

To the west, two Engine Lines find their rest in the largest continent of the Known
Internet, a vastness of open plains and conquered ruins known as the Land of Faces.
Horsebound nomads dominate these steppes, having risen at the beginning of the age to
destroy all their city-dwelling rivals in the name of the Zucc. Now, they have descended into
warring, memetica -fueled clans, constantly in battle.

Finally, to the northwest, no Engine goes, nor any ship. Across an expanse of water
devoid of any port or harbor, a wall of magicked flame appears, blocking the way as far as the
eye can see. Beyond that Great Firewall are the forbidden lands of far Kio-Kyo, where stars are
strange and all other things unknown.

The Deep Web

“No terror compares for women-born than the end of souls in dark water.
From the breaking of dawn, the children of morn shall find themselves in black seas.
Where worlds are lost and sky-waves scorn, the tide of time shall wane and weep
And let my widow pray and mourn, but follow me not out to the Deep”

Guided by the firm hand of Central and its Mods, much of the Web is considered
civilized, if not always friendly. But on the fringes and frontiers of the Known Internet are
shadowy and savage lands, ruled only by anarchy. Much of the Saying Sea, for example, is wild
and untamed, filled with sites like the Chan—the lands of masks and madness—and other
haunts of raiders and demon-worshipers. But beyond these is a place that even the masked
men might fear to tread: The Deep, and the Dark Internet beyond.

The Deep Web borders the Known Internet on all sides, a dark ribbon that encircles all
civilized lands. From the outside, it appears like a massive wall of fog and smoke, black and
grey and impermeable. What lies within is unknown, for whatever lands or seas dwell inside
cannot be mapped or charted as mundane places might be. The light of the sun and stars
cannot be seen within, and the water itself is so treacherous that it cannot be safely navigated.
Titanic waves rise hundreds of feet high, deadly currents and maelstroms buffet ships and pull
them under, and cutting winds blow so hard and strong that it can slough the skin off of bones.

And yet, there are those living within it. Forced from the civilized Web by the Moderators
and their police-fanatics, criminals and other desperate characters fled to the fringes, probing
the Deep for refuge. What they discovered was a series of currents, calms, and scattered
islands, forming a complex network of relatively safe passageways through the storm and fog.
This secret system became known as the Torric Line, and is used by all manner of people
seeking to travel unseen and uninterrupted by Moderators or other lawmen. Smugglers, like the
infamous Silk Road, use it to smuggle Intolerables across the Internet, while pirates, raiders,
and rebels will ride the Line to menace ships and enemies.

The Deep Web is immensely dangerous. Even a master in riding the Line is never
completely safe, as much in danger from the other ships as from the elements. And there are
even darker things than storms and common men lying within. No one truly knows how large the
Deep is—perhaps only a thin ribbon around the Web, or a void a thousand times vaster. Nor
does anyone know of what other lands might lie within, continents and islands untouched by the
Line, hidden behind the storm-walls, filled with strange sights and nightmares unseen.

Dark legends swell about what lies beyond. A race of strange people with ghost-white
skin and squamous features, the Deepmen, are said to live their entire lives within the dark void,
while every corner of the Known Internet knows to fear the terrifying fleshtrappers known to
venture out from the Deep to seek victims for their unspeakable rituals. It is said that the Deep is
home to enormous, pale monsters that live in the water and sky, and vicious demon-gods
worshiped by the Deepmen with bloodthirsty rites. But who can be sure?

“Magic” and Its Forms

“Your issue is that you think this world is true. It isn’t. Perhaps the World Beyond is true, but the
World Within is merely an opinion. I’m not even sure it’s the correct one.”

The World Within the Web is home to many strange things. Some are traced to the
peculiar tastes of men or the trends of memetica , both of which seem to grow only more bizarre
as time passes. But there are also things far less mundane, things that defy belief. To many,
these phenomena have a single name: magic.

What exactly magic is , however, is hard to describe. The word is often used to describe
certain powers that are seemingly without explanation. But the reality is that all of these abilities
and techniques can be explained, though not easily. They are all similarly rooted in basic,
cosmic structure of the Web, with all matter comprised of data. That data can be used, can be
harnessed, and can be changed. The laws of nature are created by data. The powers called
magic are able to bend these laws. Some can even break them. But they are few, and we must
distinguish between genuine power, and mere illusion or trickery.

In the World Within the Web, there are three actual, tangible, measurable powers that
some commonly call “magic.”
 The first is coding, though the Moderators would be loath to ever call it sorcery. It was
they who first developed the technique: the subtle manipulation of the datapoints that make up
the world, altering them just slightly to create unique and powerful devices. It is more science
than stage-magic, taking years of study and tedious hours of careful work to bear fruit. This
method of “programming” matter to suit the user’s needs has, however, led to many incredible
technologies, including enormous Engines, alchemical potions, datagram communication, and
botwork automatons.

The second can be called channeling: the harnessing of powers gifted by the World
Beyond the Web. These are the powers used by certain fandom followers, who are granted
strange abilities by their patrons from Beyond the stars. This too manipulates data, often to
leave a kind of “shadow” from the Beyond imprinted onto the user. Certain Animen, for example,
use these techniques to summonly ghostly servants that lend them strength in combat, or serve
as their spectral wives.

The third kind, however, is cybramancy, the most volatile and dangerous of all magic.
Rather than move or manipulate the datapoints of the world, cybramancy rips it asunder,
“hacking” into the fabric of reality and recombining it as the user desires. Whereas coding is
slow and methodical, cybramancy is immediate and unpredictable, rippling across the pattern of
being in an instant. While channeling is subject to the capricious whims of the Beyond,
cybramancy is inherent to the wielder, ingrained into their very blood.

Those able to harness cybramancy—the cybrahakar —are said to conjure fire, to ride
lightning and give voice to thunder, to peer across great distances and even past the veil of
death. They are also known to be stricken with illness, shortened lives, and insanity, for
cybramancy takes a grievous toll on those who use it to warp the world around them. The
Moderator Authority deems these powers too dangerous to go unmonitored, and demand that
any who practice in it submit themselves to registration under their watch.

Magic in the World Within the Web is common enough to be known by most, but rare
enough to be obscure to many. Common people will have heard of magic and may even
encounter examples of its use, but will rarely know the details of how it occurs. The most likely
for people to encounter by far is coding, since a variety of mundane objects function by
codespun mechanisms. Those who dwell in the proximity of major fandoms will no doubt see a
great deal of channeling. Cybramancy is much more rare, since its use is so heavily restricted
by Moderators.

The Meme and the Mind

“Building a symptom won't cure you

Only facing what keeps you hiding”
 - “E30,” SoGreatandPowerful

Such are the ways of magic. But there is another hidden power in the Known Internet,
one that is able to twist minds and thoughts as easily as cybramancy might alter matter.
Moderators are loath to name this strange phenomenon “magical,” for it results from the purely
natural processes of the World Within. Yet all the same, its potency and power are far beyond
reckoning, and have brought about an age of wonders and terrors upon the Web just as readily
as any sorcery. This is the wild force that is memetica .

Unlike true magic, memetica does not need any human inducement to work its spell; it is
built into the very structure of the World Within. It stems from the same reification process that
builds the World Within from the dreams of the World Beyond. The forms and concepts from the
World Beyond are reflected in the World Within, rendered into data that is then shaped by the
Code of the World to conform to certain physical laws. Ideas, then, are an intrinsic part of what
makes the World Within. But because the World Within is by nature vulnerable to being changed
by ideas from Beyond, those dwelling Within can do the same. Sufficiently strong ideas have the
power to literally, physically change reality.

Ideas have consequences.

What this means, first of all, is that the minds of those Within are susceptible to being
altered by the strength of ideas—not by argument or reasoning, but the mere act of being
exposed to that idea. When a belief is powerful enough, the Code of reality will subtly change in
response to it. This in turn alters the perception of people in close proximity to the idea, causing
them to see things through the lens of that belief. When ideas are repeated and believed, they
gain strength. The stronger the idea, the stronger the effect it has on those around it. The mere
act of hearing or seeing ideas in the World Within changes a person in ways presumably not
possible in the World Beyond.

This incredible power has led to methods of conscious and unconscious mental
conditioning. Foremost among these is memetica : a system of images, trigger phrases, and
meaning-laced words that are carefully designed to have maximum impact on the human mind.
Through trial-and-error testing, those who practice in the art of memetics are able to convert
otherwise mundane sights, sounds, and slang into a psychic language, which activate receptive
parts of the mind and alter thought more effectively.

Memetica is difficult to describe, simply because it is so subjective in nature. But

generally speaking, it is a sort of hypno-slang that causes the mind of the hearer to develop
automatic, instinctive responses to certain somatic and visual stimuli. For example: for most, the
phrase “Hello there!” is meaningless. In the city of Reddit, however, it triggers an instinctive
response in those who have been exposed to the Prequelist memetica . When a memetic trigger
catches on, it spreads among the population rapidly, causing it to become more recognizable
and its effect even stronger.

The discovery of memetica is still relatively recent, only truly coming to form during the
Second Age. At first, memetic formats were rudimentary and crudely-designed, with their ability
to spread across minds usually seen as amusing diversions. In recent years, however,
manufacturing memetic content has been refined into an artform, one in high demand among
numerous powerful groups. Fandoms helped pioneer much of it, but today it is used by
numerous groups and communities. The purpose is twofold. First, memetica is a useful means
of converting new recruits. Because of the way it influences thought, it can be used to spread
the opinions and ideologies of groups far and wide. Second, it is a kind of shibboleth: knowing
the memetica of a community makes you part of the “in-group,” while not knowing it sets you
apart. Thus, people are incentivized to adopt the memetica —and the opinions and ideologies—
of groups they join. This in turn means greater degrees of conformity within those communities,
ensuring orthodox thought and social cohesion.

Memetica is not an easy thing to develop. The human mind is a fickle thing, and
memetica must tap into the emotions and moods of large numbers of people to be successful.
Those who make their trade in engineering memetica are commonly called “memeslingers,” the
semiotic-sellswords found freelancing all across the Web. ‘Slingers will ply their trade in areas
with a large degree of cultural and fandomic cross-exchange, where ideas and language
intermingle freely, and where memetic phrases are likely to spring up (the so-called “memepool”
of the area). In Reddit, the largest of these is the Allfront, but smaller-scale examples can be
found in any number of voting halls, forums, squares, and subreddits.

Lesser memeslingers will simply alter and spread existing memetica , but the best—self-
proclaimed “memelords”—will create new “formats” for images or phrases that imprint more
effectively in the mind. When a new format is found, it often sets off a wildfire of creation, with all
major factions, fandoms, and communities rushing to use it so as to push their ideas into the
market. Because potent memetica triggers positive feelings in the mind, people are incentivized
to allow memetic influences into their minds, joining into the frenzy of shared thoughts. The
feeling is itself wonderful . . . and dangerous.

Memetica is an extremely powerful tool. Like a virus, ideas that are packaged into the
right memetic formats will spread rapidly through a population, “infecting” everyone they come
into contact with. People exposed to ideas through memetica will become more and more
accustomed to the beliefs behind those ideas without even realizing it. And like a drug,
memetica is highly addictive. For those caught up in a memetic trend, it is like sharing a larger
consciousness with everyone around you, with all people repeating the same words and
believing the same things—a groupmind complete with groupthink. That level of community and
comfort is extremely hard to resist, consciously or otherwise, and takes a strong level of mental
fortitude to shrug off. Moderator conditioning—infused into them marrow-deep by years of
intense training—renders them nigh-immune to memetic influence, but few others can boast the
same.

Because of this, a dark undercurrent exists to the glamourous world of memetica . Most
of the time, it is mere harmless fun, in which people partake the same way they would alcohol or
mild drugs—a social activity. But at its core, memetica is still a means of reprogramming the
mind, of brainwashing others both consciously or otherwise. And however benign that power
might usually be, when ill-used it can become something far worse: a weapon that can
devastate the mind. Or, as we now see, the world.

There is one other quirk of memetica . As said before, the nature of the Web is such that
sufficiently strong ideas can alter the perception of those around it. But pushed to its limit, there
is a strength of belief so great that it will change not just individual minds, but the matter of the
world itself. When a group of people join in a single thought and creed so passionately, so
fanatically that they cannot accept any other view of the world, the world itself will begin to bend
around them to fit those views. These effects are usually subtle, for they are tempered by the
mass of others who see reality differently, but in rare cases the minds of those zealous few will
become intrinsically linked into a true collective consciousness: an egregore .

When such an overmind is formed, however briefly, its shared thoughts flare up in a way
so powerful that it can warp the data of the World Within and create . . . things. Unknown
creatures. Alien geometries. Half-formed beings. Strange, unnatural, terrible shapes not meant
to be. Born from the fevered imaginations of a half-mad hive mind, these thoughtforms often
resemble the idols or imaginings of its creators, but so inchoate and twisted as to be monstrous
to behold. Egregores and thoughtforms rarely last long, the strain upon the human mind being
so great, but can cause havoc and destruction even in the brief span of their existence. The
immediate area might be plunged into a nightmare, the very ground and buildings around them
shifting to meet the perception of the egregore, while screaming people flee from things whose
very shape blasphemes against sanity and reason.

Such events are exceedingly rare. But it stands to reason that as memetica becomes
more common, and its methods of thought control more developed, so too might these terrors
increase in frequency and power.
The Moderator Authority

“They will come and save you

From this freedom thrust upon your name”
- E40, by So Great and Powerful

In the Second Age of the Internet, this World Within the Web has seen an explosion in
travel, trade, and commerce, brought from the advent of mass communication and
transportation. Whereas once men and women were separated into scattered sites, now the
arrival of datagrams and massive Engine lines has bridged these past gulfs and assured an age
of closer connection, with all the problems that come with it. All of these advances, however,
share one origin: the Moderator Authority, seated in Central and sovereign of much of the
Known Internet. This vast, holy bureaucracy stands in worship of the Logos, the Code of the
World, and exists to maintain order and rule of law in a Web that is increasingly fracturing.

The Moderator Authority holds itself above any other material power: its mandate is
derived from the divine Logos, which is both Creator and Creation, the Code of the World that is
unimpeachable. The Logos is the source of the Web’s framework, and of all natural law that
governs it. The Moderators learned of this divine entity by revelations gifted upon their founder,
John the Traveller, who recorded his visions and wandered the Web to spread the great truth.
When he returned to his homeland years later, he did so with the backing of a holy order forged
in faith and steel, who helped him retake his home from the pirates and marauders that infested
it.

That land would become Central of the Tall Towers, the cathedral-city of the Moderators,
and its Scouring would start the turning of the Web from the First Age to the Second. From
there, the Mods would stretch their influence far and wide, using advanced technologies they
derived from divine revelation to reach far off sites and spread the word of the Logos. As the
nexus of the Engine Lines, Central is the greatest stopping point of trade and commerce in the
Known Internet, and the Moderators have leveraged this power into a position of unprecedented
influence.

In the modern age, the Moderators have become one of the most widespread powers in
the Known Internet. With codespun technology and ironclad faith as their tools, Mods are found
in almost every port of call across the Web, retained by local sites as peacekeepers and
lawbringers. The Moderator Authority is equal parts military organization, monastic order, and
police constabulary, focused on the strict enforcement of law and the protection of the
vulnerable. Several of the most important functions of the Web, such as the Engine Lines or the
Great Wiki, are under direct Mod control, but most sites allow their presence through a complex
series of treaties and accords that define how many Mods are allowed in their territory and what
power they retain. The extent of the Authority's jurisdiction over the uncountable sites of the
Web varies wildly, as it is often subject to bickering negotiations between Moderators eager to
maintain order and local powers unwilling to surrender their control.

For the innermost sites nearest to Central, or those directly connected to it via Engine
Lines, Moderator control is not only accepted but welcome, their inhabitants having willingly
adopted Authority law and allowed Moderators to operate with discretion. Those on the fringes
of the Web, however, have a more complex relationship with Mods. Some, such as the Blurr,
exist in a grey area, allowing a small Moderator presence but largely rejecting Authority rules.
Others, like the infamous masked pirates and pagan savages of the Chan, spit upon the very
concept of law, seeking to live without regard for anything but anarchy and vice.

In Reddit, Moderators are a common part of life, and are often seen enforcing subreddit
and sitewide rules. True Moderators—as opposed to the pseudo-Mods utilized by various
subreddits—are famed for their discipline and incorruptibility, instilled in them through years of
physical and mental conditioning. Mods are drilled endlessly in combat, investigation, and legal
theory, as well as mnemonic techniques that help them memorize information at astonishing
rates. Moderator training cultivates within its recruits an attitude of “self-death": the nurtured
attitude of self-denial and subordination to the cause. The methods used to imprint this attitude
are numerous and specially designed: long periods of fasting, daily recitations of memorized
catechisms, and the constant repetition of certain "focusing phrases" used to train the mind. A
recruit is trained to entirely ignore their own selves, preferences, or opinions, instead caring only
for the Logos and the law for which they live and die.

Which variety of Moderator one might see depends upon the task at hand (or how grave
the trouble is). At the lowest rung are the Peacekeepers: basic operatives, patrolmen, and foot-
soldiers. These troops might be assigned to various tasks, be that coroner, gaoler, medic, Web
crawler, or beat cop, and are then organized into small squads led by Knights Moderators.
Knights are sorted into various branches that deal with different tasks, but in general they are
staff leaders and lawmen who have jurisdiction over certain areas. Above them are Lord
Moderator: high ranking officials and veterans, who have large staffs at their disposal and large
territories within their charge. Only a handful of Lords Moderator can be found in Reddit, though
their influence is considerable. Above them there is only the High Administration, an august
body of individuals who govern the Authority on a daily basis and are seen outside of Central
only rarely.

If one were to encounter a Moderator on the streets of Reddit or another site, their rank
would be immediately recognizable. Authority agents wear only simple colors of black and white,
but the scheme of their monastic habits change based upon what position one has attained. A
Peacekeeper will wear a uniform that is almost entirely white; a Knight will have one that is both
pale and black; while a Lord Moderator will wear robes that are nearly all black. The darkening
of color as one is promoted is a symbol of a recruit's development within the organization: just
as white-hot metal is beaten down and cooled into black iron, so must a Moderator bend and
conform to more useful shape as the Authority demands. Some marks are common to Mods of
all ranks, most notably black hammers they carry as a badge of office and the black, flat-
brimmed hats they wear with their uniforms (an uncovered head is thought immodest in Mod
culture).

An organization as massive as the Moderator Authority must by necessity be comprised

of dozens of committees, branches, and interest groups. The most important of these are the
Six Holy Orders, into which every Knight of the Authority is sorted and sworn. Each Order
follows a different path, study, and specialty, and each plays a particular role in the
administration of the Web. They are as follows:

1. The Knights Censor: Much of life in the Known Internet turns based upon the creation of
content—art, craftworks, and luxury goods. Often these are connected to the various
powerful fandoms that hold sway, and sites across the Web rely upon the trade in these
items to maintain themselves. It is here that the Censors operate: tasked with ensuring
the survival of public decency and morality, these agents patrol the field of artistic
expression. In sites that function under Authority rule, all art—from paintings to pottery to
opera and beyond—must be cleared with the local Censorate (though the standards
Knights are allowed to apply varies depending on the community). The Censors
separate the works that are fit for public consumption and those that are not, and either
restrict the latter or permit it only in sanctioned red-zones, where such salacious content
can be found under strict supervision to prevent its contamination spreading.

2. The Knights Regulator: Operating in the realms of trade and commerce, the Regulators
work with tax collectors, bankers, and businessmen, and supervising the shipping,
receiving, and selling of goods across the Internet. Some serve as agents of the mighty
Centrelllian Bank, while others may work in the Anti-Piracy Squadrons or other
organizations dedicated to curbing smuggling or the trade of illegal products. While
generally a less martial branch, the Regulators are nevertheless involved in certain
military campaigns, with historic efforts against groups like the Silk Road requiring forays
in the hellish void of the Deep Web.

3. The Knights Arbiter: The Arbiters focus on resolving disputes and checking smaller,
more day-to-day crimes that nevertheless fall under Authority jurisdiction, rather than
that of local powers. In regions with proud and individualistic cultures, Arbiters act as a
neutral middle ground that is useful for ending conflict while allowing the participants to
save face. In places such as the city-site of Reddit, their role is even more crucial, with
Arbiters acting as overseers of the voting process that their society relies upon. Besides
this, Knight Arbiters are often thought of as a “catch-all” order: they are versatile enough
 to be used in various areas, and thus help in addressing the routine work of the
Authority.

4. The Knights Enlightener: Scholars, teachers, and natural philosophers, these men and
women operate under the Rule of Zephemiah, as it was said by their order’s founder so
long ago: “There is no truth but truth.” As such, the nature of existence and the world we
live in is the ultimate pursuit of the Enlighteners, who supervise the acquisition and
dissemination of knowledge. They maintain the Great Wiki and its derivatives, provide
historical and scientific insight to the High Administration when it is needed, and conduct
the surveys that help the Authority in determining the state of the Internet. They are
famed for their neutrality in political issues: during times of controversy and rare civil
strife within the Authority, the Enlighteners almost always avoid choosing sides.

5. The Cybramancer's Guild: Unique among the branches, this order has no true knights:
the titles given by the Guild are derived from the tradition of the cybrahakar , whose
influence over the order was guaranteed by the Peace of Reylen. The Guild existed as a
concept since the Authority’s founding, but only became a major organization long after
the others in response to the growing threat of cybramancy—the ability to warp and alter
the Code of the World through Error. As such, the Guild is dedicated to the regulation,
supervision, and registration of all cybramancers in the Internet, ensuring that the danger
posed by their existence is kept under control. Contrary to its name, not all of the Guild’s
members are, in fact, cybramancers: many of its high-ranking members are born without
the curse, thus allowing them to more freely oversee those that do.

6. The Knights Prefect: Sometimes referred to as the “white hats,” the Prefects were
founded by the exalted Tristram Twice-Dead, and strive to achieve his level of purity in
mind and spirit in their own lives. The Prefectorate is the smallest of all the orders, but is
by far the most powerful: they answer solely to the High Administration, and their “red
teams” are able to go to the furthest bounds of the law so long as the Admins sanction it.
Their duties are generally secretive and often classified, involving affairs both internal,
such as weeding out corruption or dealing with apostate Mods, and infernal—memetic
egregores, fleshtrappers raiding from the Deep Web, or entities from the World Beyond.
Rumors abound of their mysterious operations, and their presence is known to inspire
fear even in other Mods.

Of these six branches, the Knights Arbiter and Censor are by far the most commonly seen.
Knights Regulator are found largely in the major trading areas, such as the counting-houses of
the Sajlic Quarter or Goldenglen. A modest number of Knights Enlightener might be found in the
University or Watchwind, though more often as observers than lawmen, while Guildsmen
confine nearly all of its activities to its Guildhall on the banks of Lake Tyson. Very few Redditors
would have ever seen a Knight Prefect. Or, at least, very few would be aware if they had.
The Ultracult Era, and the Culture War

“Truth itself is fallen, broken into a million pieces. Today, what makes a thing true is how well
the speaker can lie to the face of the world. Imagine that when the world says a thing is false,
you still answer it is true, without hesitation, in the face of all evidence. How brazen the one who
could do this! How arrogant! And yet nowadays this liar is given the seats of kings. The greatest
power belongs to those who can deceive not only the world, but themselves.”

The Second Age of the Internet has been one of great change for the Web. The power of
the Moderator Authority has reached its zenith, spread to the far corners of the world on the
backs of Engine Lines and legions of police-fanatics. The trading companies came with them,
and with their wealth the great mercantile powers like Am-Azon have reached new heights as
well. New means of transportation and communication have brought the entirety of the Web far
closer together, reducing the distance of long leagues to that of mere hours, bridging once
uncrossable gaps of space and time.

But alongside the spread of law and commerce and miraculous technology, a new and
terrible danger has come as well, striding into the Web through the twin forces of political faction
and black magic. With prosperity has come resentment, new connections have brought anger
and hatred, and the hope of a new era has been replaced instead with terror of a new dark age.
The great powers of the Known Internet are being shaken, caught in the midst of a conflict that
few understand and none can stop.

These years of uncertainty have brought war and bloodshed on a scale once
unthinkable. Scholars are divided on when precisely this upheaval began, but most believe it
coincided with the rise of virulent strains of memetica .

It came first from the fandoms. Certain Gamer subfandoms began dabbling in the
technique, but it was the explosive rise of the Brony Collective that revealed the true power of
memetica. By tapping into previously unknown triggers within the human consciousness, the
artisans of the fandoms were able to “link” their ideology to memetic formats, then flood major
trading and population centers with a constant barrage of memetic content. Using memetica ,
they were able to spread their presence extremely quickly, converting thousands in a fraction of
the usual time. Techniques for harnessing memetic thoughtforms had always existed, but never
like this. Previously, it was merely an amusing novelty. Now, however, it had reached true
potential as a tool of aggressive social engineering.

The Bronies were the first to harness this power, but far from the last. New fandoms
began manufacturing virulent memetica of their own to proselytize, while existing fandoms
developed memetica of their own so they might increase their sway over the followers they had.
Independent actors began doing the same, creating new formats for money and glory. At this
point, memetica was happily embraced and welcomed, and much of the Web became
enamoured with its ecstatic visions and group hallucinations. But that was before the Known
Internet realized what exactly they had unleashed.

The troubles were subtle at first, but grew more by the day. It was the Great Gamer War
that first made clear what was wrong. When the Gamer fandom began its bloody schism, those
who observed began to see memetics used not as an amusement or tool for fandoms, but
rather as a means of subverting and eliminating opponents. Fringe groups, once derided and
dismissed, began to use memetic techniques—psychographics, guerrilla semiotics, altered
qualia—to spread their toxic influence, rapidly undermining the social and political order of the
Web.

Harnessed by these cults and terror groups, memetica has been warped into a means of
forcibly converting others by bombarding them with mental propaganda, using popular formats
to break down inhibitions, destroy the host’s personality, and rebuild them as organic machines
of total compliance. Those unable to resist this process become memeoids: empty husks of their
former selves, capable only of reacting to worldly stimuli according to the dictates of their
memetic master-programming. Robbed of their higher reasoning, memeoids are lost entirely to
stock-phrases and thought-terminating cliches, incapable of thinking outside of the relentless
memetic noise generated by their cults at all times. Memeoids are devoid of both doubt and
fear, stripped as they are of any rational thought, and will undertake any action to satisfy those
holding the reins of their meme-warped minds—no matter how monstrous.

Remaining neutral in the face of such pressure is near-impossible, as is any kind of

reasoned debate. Memetic formats have become so effective, and their microtargeting of
swayable minds so precise, that propaganda can easily infect huge swaths of the population
and turn them bloodily and implacably against one another. Such tactics have begun to
increasingly erode the traditional powers of the Web. The Moderator Authority, the main
enforcers of last and order in the Internet, have been stretched thin combating constant warfare,
whilst major sites have begun to crumble beneath the rising tide of memetic cults. Hope and
progress have been lost, replaced instead by cynicism, anger, and anxiety for what new horrors
the future will hold.

Scholars studying the trends of the Web believed that the rise of memetics heralded a
new age in the history of the Web. This Ultracult Era, a time of fracturing and factionalizing,
where hordes of fanatics might rise and fall in the span of days, now rules the Web, and
everyone in it.
 Coinciding with this is the Culture War. Using memetic tactics, two wildly different
ideologies battle for control of the hearts and minds of the Web. On the one side are the social
movements of the Blurr, the Attivishem and the Syllables of Sanctuary, as well as political cults
like the Oathbound and the Rose. Opposing them are the reactionary legions: Channic
anonymites, Red Hats and Red Pillar, Volk Wehraboos, and other gangs of disparate, dissolute
madmen.

Calcified by memetica and years of fighting, these two groups now battle through various
proxy armies across the Web, seeking to claim their rightful place as the sole power of the
world. Peace between them is impossible, so different have their ideas and perceptions grown,
and there is no end in sight to the distrust or violence that now plague the Web. The Pao Riots,
the Great Gamer War, the War of the Electors; all of these were mere stages in this larger,
grander war that can end only when one side annihilates the other.

In many parts of the Web, war already rages. In others, a fragile, desperate peace is
maintained by the Moderators. It will not last long. Armies train, weapons are stockpiled, and
new converts and soldiers gather, drawn to the siren call of memetica . Meanwhile, in the
shadows, mysterious forces are at work, seeking to draw the world ever closer into universal
war . . .

******
 THE CITY-SITE OF REDDIT

Reddit and the Subreddits

“Reddit might have been great, if not for the Redditors.”

Sometimes called the "White Jewel of the Saying Sea," the city-site of Reddit is the
largest and busiest port of the southern Internet, and might be the biggest in the world if not for
Central. It sits at the end of a fertile horn of land that lies beneath a great wall of mountains,
beyond which remains only the Banning Sands. The city sits at the mouth of the mighty,
mountain-fed river Fronting, which spills to the sea at the delta where subreddits now stand.

These “subreddits” are a unique feature. Reddit is known as one city, but it might better
be described as dozens of small ones rudely smashed together. Instead of having traditional
neighborhoods or districts, citizens within the walls are given leave to form their own semi-
autonomous communities in which citizens are bound by common interests—subreddits. These
subreddits might be centered around most anything: trade, content-peddling, fandom-worship,
political activism, recreation, even down to activities that skirt the boundaries of the law. It
certainly offers the benefit of variety: virtually every belief, craft, and crime can be found within
the confines of the White Jewel of the Saying Sea.

The size, scope, and power of these subreddits varies wildly. The largest ones are near
cities unto themselves, filled with thousands of sworn citizens and holding great sway among
their peers. The smallest might take up a single room in a small house. Every subreddit is
allowed the right to police and rule themselves, with their own sets of laws. As such, the political
and social structure in one block of the city might be completely different to that in a block right
next door. Stately merchant manses might neighbor the dank dens of cringe-crazed memelords,
Moderator headquarters share ground with trance dens and doom-cults, whilst wholesome cat
gifs are shared outside the gates of heavily armed militant communes. There are still some laws
and rules that bind the entire site—the Mods see to that—but one cannot overstate how jarring it
is to see a hundred ideologies in a hundred societies pass by in the span of an hour’s walk.

So, Reddit is chaotic . . . and wealthy. The city sits on the banks of Aggra's Gate, a
narrow strait connecting two great oceans: the Saying Sea to the south, and the Connecting
Sea to the north. The trade from south to north and from north to south is beyond lucrative, and
merchant ships engaged in such trade must either pass through Aggra’s Gate or go many,
many leagues out of their way to reach their desired ports.

Because Reddit controls this vital passageway, as well as the terminus of the Blue
Engine Line, the city possesses a stranglehold on southern trades that has made it
unimaginably rich. Nearly all the work of far-flung sites like Central of the tall towers or the
dreaded Chan pass through the city, using content cartels such as the Reddit-owned Imgurian
Trading Company. The center of wealth and power in the city—the Allfront—is a maze of
markets so named because it is where the Fronting River meets the sea; the entire city is
spread for miles across the river's entire mouth.

Major Areas of Reddit

“It’s a wonder that these Redditors don’t more often get lost in this city of theirs. Not just
because it’s too huge by half, but because it’s hard to tell where you are when your head is
stuck up your own ass.”

A city so immense is difficult to summarize, but broadly speaking it consists of six major
areas, within each of which are hundreds or thousands of subreddits.

In the center is Arrow Island, the oldest, wealthiest, and most prestigious of Reddit’s
regions. It holds the seat of government in the Great Voting Hall of Ama’s Point, the seat of law
in the Mod’s cathedral-headquarters of Solomon Island, and the seat of wealth in the splendid
palaces of Goldenglen. Here the first building blocks of Reddit were laid in the First Age, and
here the Blue Engine Line Terminus was built to usher in the Second.

In the west there are the Blue Harbors, a long stretch of ports and jetties that race from
the Wall of Bets to the Forest Isles. Adjacent to them are the great trading subreddits, dealing in
luxuries and content. The heart of Reddit’s fabled memetica is here, found in neighborhoods like
the Gifslinger Narrows, Drakesgate, and Memetic Bend. Ships from all across the Web gather
here to buy, sell, and barter for various goods and meme-formats.

Above the harbors are the Inner Subs. Eclectic and vibrant, communities here come in
every type. One can spend time in the scholar’s vaults in the University, in blade-rings of the
Cringercall, or amid the automatons and code-spun mechanisms of Watchwind. In the middle of
them is Lake Tyson, sparkling and unfed by any stream.

In the eastern half of Reddit are the Fandom Hills, and the innumerable faiths and sects
that dwell within. True to its name, the fandoms rule nearly all of the subreddits found within,
governing with their starry dreamers and armed faith-militants. The three largest of the
eponymous hills—Gamer’s Hill, the Animen Heights, and the Temple Mount—each house the
shrines of different kinds of fandoms, and all of them surround the chaotic melting pot of Fan’s
Square. Colorful worshippers of every kind of fandom can be found in Reddit, be their followings
great or small.

The fandoms are not the only faiths to be found in the east, however. Quite apart from
them are the communities of Horseshoe Bay—the political cults. As the partisanship and
ideological conflict fueled by the War of the Electors hangs over Reddit, these factions have
become increasingly powerful and quarrelsome. The largest bloc in the Bay are the Oathbound,
found guarding the Pathologue Bridge and in subreddits along the Soros Shore, but many other
groups exist as well. Libertines, Roganites, Ancaps and Anprims and the Deathwatch alike can
all be found along Reaction’s Relief, while the fanatical Chapo-trappers bide their time in their
island holdfast.

Finally, there is the last—and least—part of the city. The Orange Islands were always a
barren, hardscrabble mess of slums and unpleasant communities. Recently, however, it has
grown into something far darker and more sinister. Ever since the disastrous War of the
Electors, the entirety of these islands have fallen into the power of a terrible doomsday cult,
known as the Red Hats. Encircled by the cyclopean Wall, they are cut off from the rest of the
city-site, save by the narrow span of the Pathologue Bridge, which is under constant guard by
Moderators and their Oathbound allies. Civilized folk of Reddit know little of what occurs beyond
the Quarantine Line, in the isles that hold evil monuments and dreadful cultists. Nor do they
know when those cults will be unleashed on the city once again . . .

Founding and Origins

“At Fronting mouth the old opeers

At golden Voting Hall decreed:
From all across the southern lands
Come those who make the laws of man
To post about their deeds.”

The earliest days of Reddit were a distant and obscure time, about which we know little.
The origins of the Redditors themselves is somewhat mysterious, though scholars have been
able to make educated guesses as to their heritage. It is known that the Redditors are a
southron people, the kind native to the Saying Sea with fair hair and pale skin. Some claim that
they have kinship with the masked men of the Chan, while most others wager that they are
closer cousins to the peoples of the South Forum Isles. Either way, the original Redditors were
explorers and settlers of some race or another, who created a fledgling colony at the mouth of
the Fronting River sometime during the First Age.
 According to most Redditor legends, their ancestors were seekers of freedom—bold,
independent sorts that wished to build a place where they could speak and do as they please.
This might well be true, for to this day Redditors tend to have a deep suspicion of any ruling
authority or attempt at control. Ancient records and buried shrines hint at the early influence of
the Cult of Rhan the Happened and his Libertine successors in those days, as well as a great
veneration of the sciences and the stars. The archaeological record also suggests that these
early colonists were almost entirely men, given the extremely lewd verses and art found on
excavated pottery shards. There are hints of various salacious fertility cults that dominated the
city at the time, characteristic of modern red zones, but little more can be said about this.

Some of the oldest structures in Reddit can be traced back to these days. Nearly all of
them are military in nature—fortresses, walls, and the like—for that era was an inchoate one, in
which great chaos and violence ruled the Web (as opposed to today, of course). But eventually,
a change came over the city-site. It became more prosperous and more inhabited, as new
traders came and new settlers with them. As the colony waxed in size, so too did its fame and
its power. When the Moderators made their contact, it was a great city indeed. But after they
came, it would become even greater.

The Moderators arrived in enormous ships, far larger than any that the Redditors had
ever seen, bedecked with black-and-white sails and rows-upon-rows of strange weapons. After
having subdued their native land of Central, the Moderators had expanded outward, bringing
site after site and land after land into their growing rule. The Moderators offered great things:
wonderous crafts, efficient weights and measures, and protection from the raiders and trollers
so common to the Saying Sea. In exchange, they asked that the Redditors adopt Mod laws and
accept Mod practices, conforming themselves to the precepts of the Logos, the Code of the
World.

After a long period of debate, stalling, and filibustering, the city agreed. Moderator police-
monks would patrol their streets, whilst Moderator ships safeguarded their trade and Moderator
builders set to work, using hidden methods of construction and engineering to build structures of
astonishing beauty and impossible size. Trade not only grew but exploded, fueled by the new
means of mass communication and transportation that the Moderators brought. Subreddits grew
in number from dozens into hundreds, then thousands, feverously building and expanding,
doubling and redoubling the number of their citizens. The population swelled beyond counting,
necessitating even more the trade routes that now supplied the city with food as well as gold
and precious gems, spices and fine dyes, ink, parchment, and every other thing imaginable.
Content trading companies boomed, while the secrets of memetica were discovered and
harnessed.

Thus, Reddit grew great and powerful. In a short time, it had become one of the largest
and most prosperous ports in the Known Internet, and certainly the greatest in the Saying Sea.
Many competing sites, like Old Digg of the South Forum Isles, simply died out as their traders
shifted their eyes to Reddit and its Allfront, and their people did the same.

But even amid that splendor, not all was well. Rapid growth brought strains, and strains
became troubles, then conflicts, then wars. And so Reddit stumbled into the modern age—and
all its trials.

Recent History

“I’m starting to think that society was a mistake. Well, too late now.”

Reddit entered the Second Age as a rising power in the south, and to this day stands as
the greatest port in the Saying Sea. Much of that Age has proved prosperous beyond imagining
for the Internet, as new sites rose to take the thrones of the Web. The Facers conquered in the
west, and then came to rule. The Sajlic made merchant princes in the north, who then brought
wealth to the Web. The fandoms rose everywhere, fueled by their dreams and visions, to
capture the powers from Beyond. All the while, the Moderator Authority watched on from their
towers in Central and their cathedrals elsewhere, guiding with their codes the Internet made by
the Code.

But a more complex world brought more complex problems. And a world united with datagrams
and Engine Lines and Moderator laws meant that when those problems came, it was no longer
just one site that came to bear the consequences. So it was with Reddit, as all the resentments
that decades of peace had sowed were soon reaped. It was subtle at first: a scandal here, a riot
there. But in the past few years, a series of conflicts struck the city that could not be ignored.

Certainly Reddit had known great troubles before—the Acrez Wars, the Sopan Heresy, the
Jackdaw Trials—but never like these. These were the days of dread and terror, violence and
madness, and it was because of them that the city now finds itself in its present crisis.

Great Gamer War

“Actually, it’s about ethics in Gamer orthodoxy.”

The first traces of the War began during the long autumn when the Fappening ruled
Reddit. That movement is still difficult to classify, but could best be described as a mix of thief’s
gallery and fertility cult, brought to the Allfront by pirates from the Cloud Sea. After spreading
like wildfire, it was banned by the Mods following testimony of forced temple prostitution,
fleshtrapping, and unregistered cybramancy found in its dockyard shrines and alleyway picture
booths. The crushing of this heresy proved a major story of the moment, one that almost
eclipsed minor news stories some discontent among the Gamer subfandoms.
 Those stories were ignored by many. After all, “discontent” was the default for most
Gamers. No one could have guessed that this would be the start of one of the most destructive
conflicts the Known Internet had ever seen, one that would unalterably change the face of
Reddit and Web for years to come.

As with many wars, the cause was a matter so unimportant as to be laughable. A minor
scandal had erupted among various independent Gamer subgroups, small enough to escape
notice by most observers but which was soon taken up as a rallying cry by various reactionary
groups. These outsiders, nascent elements of the now-infamous Red Pillar, soon claimed that
this scandal was but one of many schemes orchestrated by an evil, unseen force that sought to
manipulate and control the Web from behind the scenes: the Oppressed.

The Oppressed are a guerrilla movement supposedly born from the distant land of the
Blurr, an order of justicars and assassins whose mission is to purge the world of any who do not
share their dogmatic faith—or so the rumors go. Very few can claim to have actually seen a
justicar, let alone witness one of their infamous assassinations. But all the same, fear of the
Oppressed was and still is rampant across the Web, with many terrified that this Blurrite terror-
group was bound to steal away their fandomic gods or silence their rights to speak freely.

Among few people was this fear more potent than the Gamers. For years, various
Gamer subfandoms had become increasingly challenged by reform movements within their
ranks that sought greater diversity or questioned points of Gamer orthodoxy. These challenges
were not appreciated by the more reactionary rank-and-file fandom followers, and these
reactionaries increasingly insisted that these reformers were actually agents of the Oppressed
trying to assert control over their idols. Gamer paranoia over perceived actions by the
Oppressed had no limit, and soon they began to see justicars in every shadow. Having already
convinced themselves that the scandal was part of a plot by the Oppressed, that paranoia soon
hit a fever pitch. Gamer preachers began foretelling a great doom that would behalf their
fandoms, where the Oppressed would use their knives to carve out the hearts of the innocent
and cast down the Gamer god, forcing all free men into slavery.

None of these preaching had any basis in fact, but many of those listening were
outraged without fully understanding why. Accusations rang that various sites were overrun with
those sympathetic to the Oppressed; when major news sources claimed that the panic was
unfounded, the Gamers took it as proof that the Oppressed controlled the media as well. None,
it seemed, was safe.

Discontent turned to protests, then riots, then skirmishes. Violence ran rampant, not
merely in Reddit or any other single site, but across every Gamer community in the Web, all of
which were struck with panic and mistrust at the supposed Oppressed plot. Their fear grew to
such a pitch that even their gods were thought to be under siege; certain dream-singers claimed
that they could see the idols of the Oppressed waging war against Gamer creator-sources in the
World Beyond, and that their fighting caused natural calamities and psychic panics to befall the
fandoms. Others were unable to verify this, but the news was rapidly and widely shared
regardless, fueling more paranoia and mistrust. A significant portion of Gamers decried the
violence and demanded their fellows come to their senses. Instead, the anti-Oppressed faction
declared that those denouncing the escalating violence were, in fact, justicars of the Oppressed,
plunging numerous sub-fandoms into civil war.

With violence spilling out all across the Web, some sites attempted to clamp down by
simply banning any discussion of the the original scandal or the resulting Gamer movement,
with mixed success. Others simply allowed the Gamers to persist unabated in hopes that the
discontent would simply die out, to absolutely no success. Reddit was the latter, initially
sheltering a deluge of anti-Oppressed Gamer partisans that founded the Kia subreddit. The war
was fought in Reddit just as it was in other sites: openly, whenever they could escape the Mods’
notice, and in the shadows at all other times. Attacks and killings between different Gamer
groups grew so frequent that Gamer’s Hill became awashed in blood, the grand temples
makeshift hospices and charnel houses for the dying and dead.

The Great Gamer War would continue for years, occasionally lulling in intensity only to
suddenly spark up again at a moment’s notice. No single formal treaty was ever signed to bring
peace between the warring factions. Some subfandoms managed to bring the conflict under
control, while for others the combatants merely continued their fight without end. Reddit
eventually banned some of the most dangerous and violent of the anti-Oppressed Gamers, a
group that would become known as the Eronites, but allowed the bulk of Kia to remain intact
and continue their drive to purge the Gamers of any perceived Oppressed influence. Arguably,
some of the major riots that have taken hold of Gamer’s Hill in Reddit during the last several
years were extensions of this same conflict between the anti-Oppressed and supposedly pro-
Oppressed Gamers.

The great civil war of the Gamers had a drastic and terrible effect on the Web, spinning
webs of conflict and conspiracy everywhere. Beyond the outright violence, its worst effect was in
radicalizing others and normalizing their deeds. Evils once only done on the small scale erupted
en masse, spread far and wide by memetic influence and cult fanaticism. Ruling authorities
became increasingly stretched thin, put under new pressure by rising tensions and mounting
bloodshed.

Traditionally, many sites across the Web believed themselves to be bastions of freedom,
or at least of freedom for things they approved of. Mods were retained more for overseeing fire-
feuds and punishing the occasional criminal than fighting wars, and banning entire groups was
unheard save for troller gangs. But this lenient attitude allowed entire communities with toxic
views and a distaste for outsiders to fester. With the Great Gamer War, some of these same
communities began taking up swords, and sites were forced to reckon with years of lax
enforcement. Some communities chose to increase Mod presence to keep the peace, spurring
resentment from those unused to laws being enforced against them, while other sites stubbornly
resisted any attempt at cracking down on the cults, and paid the consequences in blood.

The Great Gamer War was thus a harbinger of many things to come. It was during this
time that groups like the Red Pillar, with their fanatical hatred of the Oppressed, first rose to
prominence and power, and where some of the earliest figures in the Red Hat cult were first
radicalized. And where once wars could be confined to a single site or fandom, now the entire
Web could be plunged into conflict for the first time. It would not be the last.

Pao Riots

“The great thing about blaming people is that you don’t need to think about it much.”

Although Reddit styled itself as the greatest site in the Known Internet, the Great Gamer
War revealed a far darker picture. The city was an early refuge for the Eronite Gamers, but for
generations prior it served as a home for any number of vile groups. The Red Piller had some of
its earliest cells in Reddit, to say the least of criminal gangs like the Thin Men or the blood-cults
of Chimpire. Redditor pretensions to protecting free speech, regardless of the consequences,
did nothing to stymie the rise in strength and power of these groups, most of which lived like
petty kings in the slums of the Orange Islands.

While most Redditors did not care, some looked upon these cults with disgust and
sought to curb them. Eventually, this reform faction grew in power enough to influence the
Assembly, and by extension the city laws. This coincided with an even greater political shift: the
election of Speaker Pao, the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Reddit Assembly. The
extent to which Pao actually belonged to this reform faction is still subject to intense debate, but
most Redditors associated the faction’s actions with her, and her actions with them. So when
the trouble came, Redditors knew immediately who to blame.

The season began with a great campaign against the cults, authorized by the Assembly
and enforced by Moderator swords. The Mods would sweep over the Orange Islands with fire
and hammer and sword, tearing down the subreddits, arresting and banning the criminals within.
These would be the first examples of a “red rinse” in Reddit—a mass banning conducted by the
Mods, in which whole communities were purged for their evil practices. New quarantine policies
were enacted, containing those subreddits not toxic enough to ban but too dangerous to be left
unchecked. For those who opposed those communities, it was a rousing success.
 But at the same time, the bans chafed at Redditors. Supposedly, their culture was built
upon ideals of personal freedom, but to the average Redditor “freedom” meant one thing: being
entitled to do or say anything one wants, at any time, for any reason.

“It did not matter who these subreddits hurt,” many said, “but let them exist anyways.”
Curiously, most who believed this were those who had enjoyed the fruits of such subreddits in
the first place. Soon the angry voices drowned out the appreciative ones, and a wave of protests
hit the city, blaming overzealous Mods and a tyrannical Speaker Pao for all their ills. But such
controversies were not new in Reddit, and most believed things would soon quiet.

Ironically, what caused discontent to spark into full-fledged revolt was not the inviting of
any Mod, but rather the dismissal of one. The Lord Moderator Victory-Comes-to-the-Faithful
Taylor, then in charge of the Ama’s Point subreddits, was suddenly dismissed by the Assembly,
who claimed the authority to demand her removal from duties. The reasons for this decision are
still unknown to this day, but it set off a wave of shock and anger throughout the city. Lord
Taylor had been well-loved, and her admirers were given no indication as to why the Assembly
had cast her aside. The Moderator Authority was furious, denouncing the action as illegal by
their treaties and demanding an explanation. As the controversy mounted, the protests flared up
even more, Moderator patrols lessened, and the city began to grind to a halt.

Seeing opportunity, those opeers who had been ill-at-ease with the red rinses stepped
in. They loudly proclaimed that Lord Taylor had been one of the “good ones,” a Mod who had
secretly opposed the mass bans and was now being silenced for her dissent. If she was not
safe, no one was. Soon the whole city would be silenced, and the blame fell on one person
alone: Speaker Pao.

The accusations against Pao reached a fever pitch: that she had dismissed Taylor out of
jealousy, that the entire rest of the Assembly had forbade it, that she was a jackdaw and a traitor
and worse. Lingering fears from the Great Gamer War and the Red Pillar crept into the
conversation, quietly at first, then louder by the day. Many said openly that Pao was another
instrument of the Oppressed, commanded by her justicar masters to shut down well-meaning
subreddits to cement their power. Some claimed that she had ordered the red rinses to wipe out
her critics, and that more would follow. Pao herself had been oddly silent—none had seen her
since the crisis began. This was taken as yet more proof that it was all her doing.

Shock and confusion was replaced with simmering, seething anger, not just in Orange
Islands or Ama’s Point, but across the entire site. Boycotts were called against Reddit gold
(though the protests actually prompted record sales), while dozens of copycat subreddits
mirroring the banned ones began popping up across the site. Moderators, still outraged at the
Assembly’s actions and unclear as to their intentions, began pulling knights from the streets until
the Assembly offered an explanation. Subreddits across the site prepared for the worst.
 But nothing could have prepared the city for what came next. Negotiations between the
Assembly and the Moderators were going nowhere. When a meeting with notable opeers in the
Voting Hall ended angrily, the attending Moderators—Lord Taylor among them—departed into
the main thoroughfare of Arrow Island. All seemed calm until, without warning, a massive
explosion rocked the street. No one knew if it was deliberate or accidental, but hundreds were
injured and dozens killed, and among the slain was Lord Taylor herself.

The city ignited. Those already stoked into fury by propaganda about the Speaker’s
tyranny became convinced that Lord Taylor’s death was assassination, the first step of Pao’s
coup. The standing protests turned into riots, spilling out and consuming subreddit after
subreddit. Consumed by fear, huge swaths of the city descended into all-out revolt, and with the
Mods gone from the streets there was nothing and no one to stop them.

The streets turned into open war, but no one seemed clear who they were fighting. To
defeat the “coup,” Redditors began taking up arms and randomly attacking each other. Many
opeers panicked, sealing off their subreddits with makeshift barricades and beating away
anyone who tried to step foot inside, for fear that they might be Pao’s agents. When their food
quickly ran out, these subreddits began raiding their neighbors to steal supplies, even while
granary ships were being burnt at anchor by looters.

In Punchface Place, effigies of Pao were being burned night and day, until the embers
from one of them ignited the buildings nearby and burnt the entire subreddit down. It was not
alone: sailors saw huge columns of smoke rising from all across the city as the fires spread.
Ama’s Point had become an armed encampment, the Tia and Kia subreddits were marching
upon their neighbors on the Street of Women, and fighting on Gamer’s Hill resumed in violent
force. No one knew what was happening in the Orange Islands, save that there were small
armies of enraged mobs roving the isles, burning and pillaging, destroying anything and
everything in their path.

It was a site under siege—by itself. Moderators, horrified at the anarchy, wished to step
in, but according to their treaties they could not act without direction from the Assembly, and the
Assembly was not acting at all. A bizarre silence issued from the Voting Hall, even as the city
burned around it. At last, after days of chaos, as the Moderators prepared to enact one of their
last course protocols to seize temporary control of the city, an answer finally came. Speaker Pao
had resigned, as well as near a dozen other opeers of the Assembly, all without explanation.
Now a new Speaker gave formal permission for the Mods to clean up the city.

It took days to subdue the riots, even after Moderator boots hit Reddit streets and
reinforcements were brought via Engine. Even after the rioters were arrested and the sealed
districts opened once again, there were still fires leaping from subreddit to subreddit, and
widespread damage. Hundreds were dead, thousands more injured, and property damage was
catastrophic. Certain sections of the city were reduced to ash, and had to be totally rebuilt. The
Orange Islands, which took weeks longer to pacify, never fully recovered.

The Assembly, at least, proclaimed victory. A sweep of nominal reforms followed, which
aided the new Speaker in cementing their power, along with driving Pao and her supporters into
disgrace and exile. Time passed, and most of the city returned to normal (or what is normal for
Reddit).

Many questions remain, however. Why did the Assembly shut its door and issue no word
as the protests turned violent? Why was Taylor dismissed in the first place, and by who? Later
investigation revealed that the explosion that claimed her life was accidental, but is that true?
And was Pao truly responsible for the riots that now bear her name? Certain sources suggest
otherwise, but if that’s the case, who was it behind the strange decisions from the Assembly?
And who were the mysterious groups that had stoked the fear about Pao in the first place?
Random malcontents, or something else?

Theories abound, many of which involve the current Speaker and groups like the Red
Pillar. If Speaker Pao truly was a scapegoat, could they have been responsible? If so, for what
end? Until more proof is found, no one can be certain.

The War of the Electors

“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world”
— “The Second Coming,” by W.B. Yeats

Following the Webwide destruction inflicted by the Great Gamer War and the local chaos
of the Pao Riots, Reddit looked forward with hopes of repairing what was broken and preventing
further conflict. Little did they know that the greatest threat to the Web was only just emerging,
and would soon be born in the backwater of the Orange Islands.

At the time, the stars and signs from the World Beyond made clear that a new war was
forthcoming. The war would be between the various political cults of the Web, who worshipped
figures from the Beyond that matched their beliefs and goals. Politics had long been a subject of
interest in Reddit, beginning with its early worship of Rhan the Happened and the Libertine faith,
but by the modern era Reddit, as well as most of the Known Internet, was home to two major
political sects.

On the one hand were the liberal-progressive coalition, then-dominant in the Beyond,
which formed a faction-prone coalition called the Blue Flag Alliance. Opposed to them were the
conservatives, which at that time encompassed seventeen different religions that were only
nominally at peace with one another. When the signs were properly read and the path to war
became inevitable, the two groups first fought among their own members to determine who
would lead their respective coalitions. For the conservatives, the knives came out almost
immediately, with most guessing that an idol backed by the N’Wo Neocons or the Tyrsday
Group would eventually win. None could have guessed who came to rule instead.

The origins of the cult are obscure. It’s early members appear to have come from all
manner of places: disaffected reactionaries, Red Pillar adherents, exiled Channic, and various
blood cults and troller gangs. But were these the founders, or was it another? Some have
ventured that the subreddit that spawned them was originally no serious cult at all, but another
community formed in layers of irony to mock a being from Beyond. But like so many of these
pseudo-sarcastic subreddits, half-joking soon became more and more serious, and japes died
on their lips as voices from Beyond began speaking to them. Soon, all of the original satrists had
mysteriously vanished, and all the cult members who remained led their congregations with
mad, violent sincerity.

Perhaps the signs should have been noticed earlier. Disappearances of random citizens
seemed to increase as the number of strange coven meetings did the same. The odd “hell-
noises” of the hills—believed to be caused by volcanic forces beneath the earth—became
louder and more common, as did the clouds of smoke and hot air that burst from vents in the
ground to darken the sky. Wild manias seemed to grip people at random, including one man
who went mad and began carving apart old women in the streets, all while chanting of yellow
eyes and the “Great Enemy.”

The Blue Flag continued their fights without pause, and Moderators observed as normal,
despite the odd rumors. The early phase of the war was mere skirmishes and raiding, all in the
traditional rules of ritual combat. But as the months went on, those in the camp of the Blue Lady
began to notice unusual signs. At the war’s beginning, their opponents had numbered
seventeen, different clans with different idols. But with each minor skirmish, their enemies
seemed to vanish. One by one, ten and six idols had been toppled and destroyed, until only one
remained.

The reaction of most was surprise, then amusement, for the cult that had overtaken all
others had been counted as the weakest and most absurd of the whole collection. That laughter
faded quickly, replaced with doubt. This new enemy had managed to overcome their rivals with
surprising speed, using not merely arms but memetica as well. The origins of this virulent strain
of mental conditioning is unknown, but it tore through all opposition and then consolidated them
with ruthless efficiency. The sixteen rivals were obliterated completely, their cults smashed and
their surviving, terrified followers absorbed and assimilated. Surrounded at all times by the
devout, the psyches of these reluctant captives were pounded night and day by an unrelenting
memetica, until eventually they lost all memory of the idols they once worshipped, or the names
of anyone or anything save for their new god.

The Blue Flag initially had little time to spend on the rising cult, rife as they were with
internal divisions between the competing deities of the Blue Lady and the Burning Man. But after
their long and grueling process of choosing a leader concluded, they found that the enemy cult
had grown in strength and sophistication. Having been remade with the Dark Memetica, these
worshipers had evolved into a potent and dangerous foe that cared for nothing but victory at all
costs. They were well-armed, though none could say who supplied them, and marched with
discipline born of relentless mental conditioning. For the crimson hoods they wore, these cultists
became known as the Red Hats—a name that the Web would soon come to rue.

At first, the Blue Flag still seem poised to win easily. The zealotry of the Burning Man
followers had proven surprisingly formidable, but the Blue Lady was still chosen as the chief god
of the Alliance, and with a unified leadership they could make full use of their ample resources
and treasury to win the war. The Red Hats’ rise to power, though surprising, would soon come
to an end. A long, grueling campaign began, with skirmishes settled, minor engagements
fought, and battle plans drafted. All efforts became bent towards a single decisive battle that
would end the war.

That battle, which would become known everafter as the Disaster, indeed ended the war,
but not how any intended. The strength of the Blue Flag met the Red Hats, but what the Blues
had expected to be a victory turned instead to a rout. The Reds proved far stronger than
expected, aided by legions of Channic anonymites, Red Pillar soldiery, and strange mercenaries
that crushed all in their path. Fortresses that the Blues had thought safe fell, and soon
everything else crumbled as well.

A handful of forces managed to escape the Orange Islands, but many more were slain or
captured and then subjected to a grim fate. The Blue Flag Alliance, always fragile, shattered
completely in the wake of the defeat, with a dozen different factions now blaming one another.
All the while, the Orange Islands fell completely under Red Hat control, effectively seceding from
the larger city. From then on, the Islands would be the cult’s new kingdom, and those who ruled
it would allow no challengers.

Thereafter, a painful stalemate persisted in the city. None dared enter the Orange
Islands, but the Moderators managed to halt the cult’s advance via a blockade at sea and a
fortified position at the Pathologue Bridge. After several long, painful years of exile, the
remnants of the Blue Flag managed to reform themselves with a Blood Oath of Vengeance,
reforging themselves as the Oathbound and aligning themselves with the Mods to fight their
mutual enemies.
 All the while, the Reds remained in their island holdfasts, locking their territory behind the
Wall. Several times they tried to breach the quarantine erected at the Pathologue Bridge, and
each time they were repelled but never defeated entirely. What horrors occurred in the Red
Hats’ kingdom during this time can only be speculated on from the accounts of sporadic
escapees, but it is known that the Orange Islands descended into a reign of terror and madness
unlike any seen before and yet the core of the Red Hats’ strength remained intact.

The ascendency of the Red Hats proved to be a turning point for the Web. Whereas
before the symptoms of dissolution and violence driven by memetic forces could have been
doubted or explained away, the triumph of this ruthless cult all across the Web confirmed that a
new era had come. It would be a time without reason, an age for mad gods and meme-driven
partisans, where hope had no home and sanity no purchase. The seeds planted by the Great
Gamer War and the Pao Riots came at last to fruition, and the battle they called the Disaster
was soon only the first of many.

The Present Day

“The important thing is that this was not my fault.”

Since the War of the Electors ended, the Web has become ever more undone, split apart
by a Culture War that will never end, waged on behalf of gods that shall never die. For years,
Red Hats and Oathbound, as well as numerous other groups aligned with them, battled for
supremacy in blood stalemates across the Web. Sites like Widdar and the Land of Faces
suffered grievously, and the Moderator Authority designed to keep the peace has been
stretched more and more thin trying to preserve what little order they can.

In Reddit, the ongoing tensions between the factions of the Culture War has continued to
rise, aided by an intractable Assembly that repeatedly refused to take any suggestion of action
against the Reds seriously. Though they allowed some minor Red sympathizing subreddits to
be banned, the Assembly took no heed of pleadings from the Moderators and common citizens
to take assertive action to end the crisis, or to give leave for the Mods to reinforce themselves
and intervene in the Orange Islands. While most Redditors cared little, a growing number of
concerned citizens were disgusted with the Assembly’s tolerance of Red Hat lawlessness and
brutality, wondering how the Assembly could possibly refuse to act.

Eventually, the growing pressure on the Assembly proved too great. After a wave of
protests in the city, during which it was discovered that Red Hat agents had promoted and
inflicted violence against the demonstrators, the Assembly finally invited the Moderators to
intervene directly. Having waited years for the chance, the Moderators responded with fervor. A
massive bombardment campaign was conducted by Moderator ships, with salvo upon salvo of
cannonfire reducing Red Hat positions in the Orange Islands to rubble. Reds either died or
retreated, unable to stand against such raw firepower, and it seemed that the Red Hats would at
last be banned completely.

The Assembly, however, did not go so far. It had given permission for the bombardment,
but it would not allow any Mod or Oathbound to enter and investigate the now quiet Orange
Islands. Instead, the Assembly proclaimed victory and announced that the Red Hats and their
allies had been extinguished.

Many doubt this victory is anywhere near as total as the Assembly claims. The Red Hats
were no doubt damaged by the Moderator bombing, but the Mods themselves acknowledged
that would not be enough to fully defeat the Reds. Moreover, it did nothing to eliminate the
network of Red Hat agents believed to still be operating within the permitted subreddits of the
city. No one is certain how many of the Reds remain active within the Orange Islands, or how
large an army they could muster. Despite the Assembly’s proclamations, all eyes remain on the
Pathologue Bridge.

Even as the site reels from pressures both foreign and domestic, another sinister enemy
has begun to take hold. Its soldiers are invisible, and yet fear of them now grips every part of
Reddit and the Web itself. No one is entirely sure from where the disease came, save that it was
rapid in its advance and that panic came with it. However obscure its origins, its symptoms and
effects are well-known: severe fever, aches in the head and limbs, loss of the faculties for taste
and smell, and a violent, hacking cough. The disease is debilitating for many, deadly for others,
and spreads at an alarming rate when left unchecked.

To the Moderators, the official name of this disease is the Crown Virus. To many
Redditors, it is the Corvid Flu, for the city’s first outbreaks began on the Corvid Wharves. Among
Red Hat sympathizers, it is the Kio-Kyan Plague, for the Reds have claimed that the disease
was manufactured by foreigners hostile to their God-Emperor. Thus far, the Virus has wracked
much of the Web, and though the Mods and individual subreddits have done an admirable job
keeping the plague out of the city thus far, there is no telling what damage it may still do.

The Crown Virus came at an already fraught time for the city. Scholars versed in star-
lore are in agreement: war is coming. The same heavenly bodies that signalled the previous
War of the Electors are aligned once more, and all are preparing for either a long-awaited
triumph or a new Disaster. The Oathbound, having finally finished their season of consolidation
known as the Dire Primaries, have united beneath their moderate faction and a new champion-
god to lead them. Arms are gathered, and armies trained to fight.

The strength of the Red Hats is still unknown, leading to much anxiety about when they
will chance the Bridge again. Could the Assembly be right that the Red Hat forces are already
vanquished, or are they still as strong as ever? Is it true that the Crown Virus has decimated the
Red ranks, or has their propaganda about the plague’s origins merely redoubled their resolve?

No one can say. But the answer—and the war—will arrive soon enough.

The Closed Circle Problem

“Quine’s curse. Whatever changes in this city, whichever side should win this war, the Problem
will always remain.”

Blame for these crises can be doled out to any number of people or causes. To some
observers, however, the issues plaguing Reddit—and much of the larger Web—stem from one
root: the Closed Circle Problem.

Sometimes called “Quine’s Theory” after the Knight Enlightener Sir Scorn-the-Adversary
Quine that postulated it, the Closed Circle Problem is a known antipattern—that is, a behavior or
line of thought that creates negative results—that has long been studied by Moderator analysts.
The observation is a simple one: “Like-minded groups tend to promote like-minded views and
discourage alternatives.” According to this theory, certain communities within the Web are at risk
of directing themselves entirely inward, with its members vigorously rewarding those that think
alike and ostracizing those that do not.

Though hardly the only site affected by this problem, Reddit might be particularly
susceptible to it. Subreddits are able to essentially close themselves off from any outside
influences, and the voting process specifically benefits those that speak in comfortable
platitudes rather than contrary beliefs. Communities inevitably become cut off from one another,
ideological islands whose inhabitants never venture beyond.

One of the prime tactics of the Culture War in Reddit has been exploiting this exact
mentality. With but a handful of vocal and aggressive brigaders, extremist groups are able to
flood a subreddit with their views and eventually—through persuasion, cajoling, or memetic
influence—convert the population to their cause. Once so converted, the subreddit turns into a
self-perpetuating machine that forces out anyone who dissents. It was this strategy that allowed
the Red Hats to win the Orange Islands, or the Burning Men to win vast swathes of the Allfront.
And it is this same Closed Circle Problem that still plagues the city to this day, fueling much of
the present crisis.

The Laws of Reddit

“The Assembly may be made of amber stone, but whose colors are found on the streets? Our
own—black and white, on any patrol you see.”
 Just as the subreddit-structure of Reddit promotes a mish-mash or conflicting cultures,
so too does it result in a jumble of laws and enforcement schemes, some distinct and some
overlapping. Individual subreddits are allowed to have law codes of their own, within reason,
and behavior that might be banned in one part of the city may be permitted or even encouraged
in others. The red zones are the most famous example, being neighborhoods where public
morality laws imposed by the Mod Censorate are laxed, but many other subreddits have unique
variations of the rules governing civility, content-posting, or meta-commentary.

That being said, there are laws and regulations that apply to the site entire. These
Default Rules are promulgated by the Assembly and made mandatory for any community,
governing content that subreddits cannot be trusted to reliably curtail. Most of these Rules are
imposed on Reddit by the Moderator Authority, whose treaty with the city traded Mod protection
for Mod strictures. This has meant that most crimes are investigated and dealt with by Knights
Moderator, who patrol the streets of Reddit and punish wrongdoers at the Assembly’s behest.
While a variety of lesser courts and arbitral tribunals hear civil litigation, all criminal matters are
governed by Mod laws in Mod proceedings, with those convicted handed sentences of ban,
imprisonment, or execution at Mod hands.

This arrangement is not without controversy. Many Redditors chafe under Mod laws they
view as overly restrictive. After a series of wars and rebellions, some parts of the city have
become entirely lawless, particularly the Orange Islands. The advent of the Red Hats and their
seizure of all lands past the Pathologue Bridge has meant that neither Mod nor Assembly is
welcome in the Islands. Rumors abound about obscene rites and violent atrocities taking place
in Red Hat territory, now the home of various cults and gangs otherwise banned in Reddit, but
little can be done about it as long as the quarantine around the Islands lasts.

Although Moderator laws rules much of Reddit, the number of knights and peacekeepers
that the Authority can field in the city is still few, thanks to the reluctance of the Assembly.
Because of this, some of their patrol and enforcement power is ceded to pseudo-Mods: citizens
licensed by the Assembly through a loophole in their treaties and allowed to operate akin to
Mods in certain subreddits. Fandoms in particular make extensive use of this, allowing them to
self-correct members of their faiths who have turned criminal and maintain their independence
from sitewide powers. Thoughts of actual Mods concerning this are mixed. On the one hand, it
frees up resources desperately needed to shore up the Quarantine Lines and pursue important
banning campaigns. On the other hand, many on the Authority have small trust for some of the
communities allowed pseudo-Mod privileges, believing that they mostly seek to hamper Mod
investigations in their territory.

The Economy of Reddit

“Bow, bow, ye lower middle classes!
Bow, bow, ye tradesmen, bow, ye masses!”
- Iolanthe

The Moderators did not bring law alone. With their arrival came trade, and one of the
great advantages the Mods offer outside communities is their access to farflung ports, rapid
transportation, and uniform weights and measures. Prior to being contacted by the Authority,
Reddit had a growing but still crude economy, with methods of exchange having grown beyond
barter but going no further than only the barest currency. The mountains north of the city are
riven with rich veins of gold and silver, and it was these that early Reddit used in its coinage. To
this day, Reddit gold remains a valuable commodity, both in trade and as an award to
accomplished opeers.

But gold and silver, however widely coveted, were not conducive to the world-spanning
mercantile system the Mods were building. Instead, the Knights Regulator introduced new ideas
to speed up exchange and development, such as complex banking, the use of credit, loan and
usury structures, and other innovations. Among these were new forms of currency: while metal
coins are still used for smaller values, the majority of transactions are done with promissory
notes and paper bills. The Moderator byt—as their money is known—is the most widely
accepted currency in the Web, with virtually all ports and calls happy to take Mod banknotes.

Reddit is no different. The vast majority of sales and purchases are done with byts,
making them rivaled only by upvotes for the most valuable commodity in the city. While some
alternatives have been promoted by more independent types suspicious of Central, few of these
cryptocurrencies have made much headway.

Businesses in Reddit vary wildly in size and scope. Small shops and low-luck
costermongers can be found on every street, but better known and vastly more powerful are the
trading companies—enormous mercantile syndicates that deal in most anything. Some offer
necessities, like grain brought downriver, others luxuries such as dyes from the east, salt from
the south, and gems from the north. Utilizing protected shipping and easy transportation
guaranteed by the Mods, trade in the Known Internet has become truly webwide, extending to
all corners of the world. With it has come nigh-inexhaustible riches, for the sites who partake.

This growing wealth has not come without cost, however. Major companies have
become fat and powerful, wielding outsize influence for their members. Some larger syndicates
scorn the Knights Regulator meant to keep them leashed, and concerns over corruption and
mismanagement grow by the day. Worse still, a mounting divide between rich and poor plagues
the Web, particularly in merchant cities like Reddit. The common Redditor is outspoken in
despising the rich, but are happy to buy their products from them regardless, thus continuing the
cycle. Some major groups in the city are more willing to take action. The Oathbound are clear in
their desire to rein in these excesses, though the various sub-factions disagree sharply in the
degree and method of their solutions.

Newest of the large trading blocs are the content companies, who specialize in arts, gifs ,
and the huge array of other memetic materials. These content companies are a swift-growing
power in the Web, with a number of sites promoting charters of their own. In Reddit, the most
dominant is the Imgurian Southwest Trading Company, owned and operated by the city and
given special privilege in their markets as a result. The companies of other sites like the
Insaganni or Widdari are also seen, though not in the same prominence.

The Technology of Reddit

“Consider the Moderator ship-of-the-line. It is manufactured in parts, each made separately,

then assembled by teams in one of their great armories. But if just one of those hundreds of
parts were removed, would it still remain a ship-of-the-line? How many need to be removed until
it ceases to be a ship at all? Ultimately, things can be defined by even their smallest elements.
By the same principle, we are defined by the data from which we are made, and by the ideas
they carry within.”

Buoyed by inexhaustible wealth and a population enamored with the latest inventions,
Reddit enjoys many of the advanced technologies that dominate the present age. Many of these
are the result of coding, whereby the datapoints of Creation are manipulated to serve the
crafter’s needs. Codespun devices are expensive and difficult to make, but endlessly useful for
a myriad of purposes. By compelling datapoints to vibrate and crest heat, for example, coders
create the burn discs used for stove tops and firing mechanisms. Datalamps, casting in every
shade and hue, light the night in homes and streets. Code-woven chemicals make cleaning
solutions and healing poultices used to treat the sick and halt disease.

The best known and most consequential of these codespun techs are twofold. First, by
linking two datapoints in a certain way, anything done to the one will be repeated upon the
other, even if they are removed by great distance. By manipulating one of these twin datapoints,
an operator can communicate messages to whoever holds the other via a series of “dots” and
“dashes” that translate into words. Even people separated by leagues and continents are able to
communicate rapidly via datagram.

Second are the great Engine Lines. These are trains of joined, multistory carriages,
hundreds of individual cars long, that move lightning across the Web. They too are made
possible by linking datapoints, though on a far greater scale. Through “iterative manipulation,”
two datapoints are linked such that one will—when properly compelled—“search” for, find, and
then speed towards the other. The Engines are “hooked” onto these entangled fragments of
matter, and the reaction is so strong that the enormous weight and mass of the Engines and
their passengers are seemingly reduced to nothing as they defy gravity and then race from Point
A to Point B at incredible speed.

Engine transport requires neither fuel nor piloting, the power of entangled datapoints
being as it is, and far outpace even the swiftest ship. Using them, cargo and passengers may be
moved swiftly across great distances, knitting together the Known Internet and it’s far removed
cultures. There are limits to its use, however. Engine lines are capable of traveling only to set
locations where suitable datapoints can be found, and cannot be expanded beyond them. The
vast majority of sites do not fall within those rigid paths, and so traditional sea and land
transportation is still necessary to reach most sites. But those distances are made far shorter by
using Engines to reach the closest site, then traveling from there. Reddit is a common port of
call for that exact reason: it is the southernmost Engine stop in the Known Internet, host to
hundreds of ships that ply the wild Saying Sea beyond.

Other major innovations come from botwork mechanisms. Through precise

interweavings of gears, wheels, and springs, engineers have been able to create devices of
astonishing complexity. Some of this can be found in mundane crafts like clocks or orreries, but
most remarkable are botwork automatons seen increasingly on the streets of Reddit and
elsewhere. Harnessing the powers of engineering, alchemy, and thaumaturgical coding, these
machines are able to lurch to life, to move and even speak as though they possessed an
independent mind. It is an illusion: however complex, they have no greater will nor intelligence
than any marionette. Nevertheless, they are considered powerful tools, used widely by
subreddits and fandoms across the city-site. Some groups, such as the Freefolk, utilize these
devices as a way to spread their memetica , with the botwork machines that act as mechanical
idols that can respond to calls and prayers with programmed responses.

Technology has changed the face of entertainment as well. Spotifones can be used to
record sounds or music onto discs, which can then be played back. The same can be done
visually through gifs . Using a black film that can capture and retain images, gifs allow for the
user to replay short scenes comprised of those pictures, making the figures within appear to
move and act. Longer versions of these (called “videos” formally or “tubes” casually) are also
common, and have been spread by a number of major content companies.

Finally, while technology has helped man’s methods of living, it has also done much for
the art of killing. Military technology has grown more sophisticated, and its use more common as
warfare spreads across the Web. Sword, spear, and hammer are still the preferred tools for
hand-to-hand combat, while crossbows have become the standard for ranged fighting. In this,
as in most things, the Moderators have the clearest advantage with their famed Authority
repeaters: crossbows that use an ammunition box, loading lever, and internal mechanisms to
fire extremely quickly.
 At sea, however, the cannon reins supreme. Cannons depend upon a substance called
“blasting oil,” which is created only through a complex and risky process. In its natural liquid
form the oil is highly unstable, to the point that even the slightest mistake in its mixing or
handling can cause it to violently explode. Moderators discovered a means to render it down to
a jellied form, which is somewhat more reliable if distributed in certain precise amounts. They
then fit this jellied oil into disks, load those disks into cannons, and ignite it to fire a shot. The
effect is devastating, but despite (or because) of this, Moderators also restrict its use to ship-to-
ship combat only—use of cannons against those on land is considered a crime of war.

Cannons are relatively rare outside of Mod fleets, who use both them and their superior
ships to dominate the seas. Major fandoms, sites, trading companies, and political factions may
possess at least some gun-ships, though not in great numbers. While some have imagined the
possibility of “hand-cannons” that could replace crossbows, the measurements of blasting oil
required to safely use a cannon have thus far proven inflexible—even the smallest deviation can
spell disaster. Because of this, hand-cannons that must necessarily use different amounts of
blasting oil seem impossible with current technology.

******
 Arrow Island

“A simple motto is ours. One man, one vote. Up or down, he can get only that.”

At the center of Reddit is the first and foremost of its boroughs, the oldest and the
richest, the most important and most beautiful. Arrow Island, so named for its distinctive shape,
was the area first settled by Reddit’s ancestors generations ago, and remains to this day the
most storied and vital part of the city. Marvels of architecture rise tall and proud, ancient
stonework and traditions remain steadfast, and new wealth and promise swell daily in this great
hub of trade, commerce, and governance.

The Allfront and the Voting Monument

“The Allfront! The place itself is intoxicating. Everything a man could ever want, and only a short
walk from everything he should never want.”

The Saying Sea is a reach of black water that seems nigh-endless, stretched for leagues
upon leagues to the very edge of the world. In this expanse are countless islands, great or
small, that encompass the southern Internet: the feuding cultures of the Forum Isles, the story-
sails and wave-singers of the Blogosphere, the masked madmen of dreaded Chan, or the exiled
and accursed that lurk in haunted Twicechan or shadow-chased V’kay. And yet none of these
sites can compare to the wealth of Reddit, the White Jewel of the Saying Sea. It is the center of
all riches and the hub of all trade from one end of the world to another, and all of it depends
upon one thing: the Allfront.

Reddit stands between two worlds, bridging the curiosity and greed of cultures both north
and south. By seizing control of both the seaward passage of Aggra’s Gate and the Mod-made
Blue Line, Reddit has made itself vital to trade and travel from north to south to north again. The
spot on which the city sits does much to help matters. Reddit was born lucky and privileged,
founded at the mouth of the great river Fronting and blessed with a shoreline ideal for docks and
ports, and in turn the Redditors have made use of every square inch of it. Across the whole
delta formed by the Fronting River, every speck of land that could host a harbor or offer shelter
to ships has been developed, making a maze of dockyards, wharfs, and boardwalks that
continue as far as the eye can see. And, swarming across those hundreds of docks, the ships.
Great or small, swift or slow, whether from war fleets or trade fleets or no fleet at all, ships
dominate Reddit. They come in every shape and size, and from every culture in the Web.
Merchantmen of the Painted Sea, their hulls bright with polychrome paint, share harborage with
Blurrite saltships and Etsian crafts. Sajlic treasure ships, as large as palaces and just as rich,
are followed by gaggles of tiny coracles and Blogosson mudrunners. Channic longships float in
the shadow of Moderator frigates, their quarrels forgotten for the moment, and Facer nomad
fleets dock and mingle with Insaganni influencers. Cultures beyond counting, and yet all their
vessels come to the city for the same reason: to buy goods, sell others, and buy yet more.

This is the Allfront, the beating heart of the city. Here, the prows and sails of a thousand
ships make a forest of wood and cloth, peppered with the flags of a thousand nations. The
amount of wealth generated in a single day in this place could sustain a hundred sites for a
hundred lifetimes. There are few better places for opportunity, and Redditors know it. Many of
the city-sites most important subreddits cluster around the Allfront, servicing not only native
Redditors but foreign traders, tourists, and lurkers as well.

Aside from the countless ships, the most prominent feature of the Allfront is the Voting
Monument, a colossus that stands guard before the Saying Sea. Perched upon White Rock, the
Voting Monument is one of the largest statues in the world, taking the form of a gowned figure,
arms outstretched, clutching arrows in either hand. Those arrows, pointed up or down,
symbolize the sacred system of voting used to govern most everything in Reddit. Travelers
approaching the city by sea will pass beneath the shadow of this great monument, greeting
them to Reddit and all within.

Ama’s Point and the Old Overflow

“Variety is endless in Reddit. Given time, I could do whatever I want. So, naturally, I do nothing.”

If the Allfront gave Reddit its immense wealth, then it was Ama’s Point that gave birth to
the Allfront. According to ancient tradition, famed guests and foreign heroes would be hosted
and feasted in the voting halls of Ama’s Point, subject to the questions and votes of the opeers
that gathered therein. Even to this day, Ama’s Point remains perhaps the most famous district of
Reddit, and certainly the one best known to foreign dignitaries and celebrities hoping to make
their debut in the city. The reputations of many such luminaries have been made or been broken
in the milieu of stages and voting halls in this narrow spit of land.

Ama’s Point itself is only a slight crag of land, with but slim area available for habitation.
Much of the land is dominated by great hills, sheer and high, with the tallest of them being host
to the great Voting Hall of the Assembly. Nevertheless, the harbor at the Point’s forefront is an
ideal place for the settling of ships, and was the first great port established in the city. Ama’s
Point was thus the haunt of merchants and wealthy men for generations, and thereby this
relatively small neighborhood gained an outsize importance that remains to this day. Even now,
Ama’s Point remains the home of some of Reddit’s most famed opeers and most notable
goings-on.

Though known primarily for its hosting of foreign visitors, Ama’s Point is also home to
many Reddit citizens. Some dwell in palatial estates, many of which were built into the sides of
the sheer hills themselves. Others dwell in the shadow of these cliffs, in residential
neighborhoods of the Old Overflow. Because of the limited space, however, residents of Ama’s
Point dwell in curiously tall and thin buildings known as “stacks.” These stacks rise many stories
tall, but are often barely one or two rooms wide, allowing them to pack in as many small,
cramped apartments as is possible.

Narrow alleys, rather than true streets, are the primary means of egress in the Old
Overflow, sunlight barely peeking in through the shadows of the stacks. These alleyways tend to
be so crowded that many neighboring stacks eschew them entirely, instead raising bridges from
one stack to another such that a man might travel from one side of Ama’s Point to the other
without touching pavement. There is little space available for parks or greenaries, so instead
many stacks host rooftop gardens teeming with flowers and incense-bearing plants, with so
many in the Old Overflow that from the hills above it almost resembles a wide, unbroken field of
green. The collection of tall and narrow stacks, crowned by the looming, golden-stoned Voting
Hall, makes for a fantastic skyline that is the envy of all other cities in the Web, save perhaps for
the peerless white towers in Central.

The Voting Hall

“I grew so rich that I was sent

To the Hall by the opeers that I represent
I always voted at my party’s call
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all!
I thought so little, they rewarded me
By naming me the Speaker of the Assembly!”

Towering over the city, perched upon its highest hill, sits Reddit’s glittering crown—the
Voting Hall. While hundreds of lesser forum-halls exist across the subreddits, none are so large
nor opulent. The Voting Hall is perhaps the most recognizable structure in the city, a collection
of enormous, pillared towers that rise so mightily atop their high hill that they can be seen from
almost anywhere else in Reddit. Its shadow lies across Arrow Island so noticeably that the
people below can tell the time of day not only by the position of the sun, but by where the
shadow of the Hall falls.
 Nothing in Reddit can hope to match the Voting Hall in its wealth or beauty. It is built of
rare, amber stone mined in hidden lands to the far south, a peculiar material that seems to
sparkle like colored glass in the midday sun and glow with an iridescent light under the moons.
Banded rings of precious metals encircle the seventeen towers, and the domes that crown those
towers shimmer with filigree of Reddit gold.

While the Allfront is Reddit’s beating heart, the Voting Hall is its brain (such as it is),
serving as its center of government. While individual subreddits enjoy a degree of autonomy,
sitewide affairs are still controlled by the Default Assembly, a legislative body that meets and
debates within the Voting Hall’s innermost chambers. The Assembly is comprised of
representatives from fifty or so of the site’s most prominent subreddits and communities, who
earn their places by their number of registered members or by right of their age and storied
histories in the city.

The duties and powers of the Assembly are extensive. Some are ceremonial, such as
the greeting of foreign dignitaries to Ama’s Point or the organizing of the yearly Fool’s Festival.
Others are of great importance: working (often begrudgingly) with the Moderators, or
promulgating new Default Rules that bind the site together. The Assembly also holds a veto
over certain Moderator actions, allowing them to prevent or allow the banning of communities
said to violate the Authority’s holy laws.

The number of members in the Assembly is generally the same, but not fixed.
Communities have been known to be expelled from the body, as was the case with the Animen
after the Bathhouse Scandal or the Militant Enlightened following the Black Euphoria. Recently,
however, a new controversy has gripped the Assembly and the city-site as a whole, far greater
than any before: the question of the Red Hats.

Following the War of the Electors, much of the site was seized by a doomsday cult
known as the Red Hats. Since then, an uneasy and often tested peace has endured, with
Moderator knights and Oathbound volunteers hemming the Reds inside a great quarantine. The
hope was that containment would starve the Reds of support. Many, however, argue that this
quarantine has failed, and instead advocate for a “red rinse”—an invasion of the Red territory
and mass-banning of all within.

The Assembly, however, has thus far refused any request to end the Red threat, and
have severely restricted the means and material that the quarantine forces can use to keep the
Reds on the opposite side of the Pathologue Bridge. This seeming neglect has led to much
outrage and suspicion among Redditors who feel threatened by the possible advance of the
God-Emperor’s cult. Many attribute it to sheer incompetence, the same lack of foresight that led
to the Red’s victory in the first war. Some credulous few insist it is part of a larger scheme to
defeat the cult. Others, however, point to the power of the Assembly’s head, the Speaker, who
is rumored to hold secret sympathies with the Red cause.

Blue Line

“Goddamn Mods. They can make the fastest means of moving in all the Web, but they still can’t
make a place worth going to.”

In the Second Age of the Internet, the rise of the Moderators and their law heralded the
coming of new technologies as well. Using their mastery of coding techniques, the Moderators
were able to invent marvelous crafts and devices, promoting mass communication and
transportation across the Web. The latter was achieved through the Engines: huge, snake-like
lines of joined carriages which consume no fuel.

There are certain practical limits to these Engines, true. Guided by fixed datapoints,
Engines can only travel on rigid, predetermined paths to equally fixed destinations. To reach any
location not already in the path of these Engine Lines, pilgrims must rely on local or sea
transportation. At their endpoints are Terminus Stations—the “last stop,” so to speak.

From Central to Reddit runs the Blue Line, and in Reddit does it end. Even if one could
not recognize the black-and-white clad guards, it would be obvious that the Blue Line Terminus
was Mod-made. The building is huge but plain, a marvel of architecture, but largely unadorned,
for it is a Mod axiom that the simplest answer is always best. It is also built in perfect, absolute
symmetry, precise to even the smallest decimal, as such things are thought to be pleasing to the
Logos, the Code of the World.

From the Terminus, Engines arrive and depart constantly, carrying with them tourists,
travelers, pilgrims, trading goods . . . and soldiers. As tensions increase in the city, the
Moderators have grown to rely more and more on reinforcements sent from Central to patrol the
subreddits while also maintaining the Red quarantine. The Blue Line is thus vital to the Mod
efforts in the city—without this lifeline of troops and supplies, they and their allies would surely
be swallowed by a tide of criminals and cultists.

Solomon Island

“The Law is the true embodiment

Of everything that's excellent
It has no kind of fault or flaw
And I, my Lords, embody the Law”
- Iolanthe
 When the Moderators first came to Reddit, they did so as part-emissaries and part-
invaders, riding upon their enormous ships-of-the-line and harnessing technology unlike any that
the peoples of the city had ever seen. Yet all the same, it was the Redditors themselves who
bade the Mods stay, signing with the Authority the first of an endless series of pacts and
accords meant to delineate what the power the Mods might wield and what duties they would
attend to in Reddit. The Moderators brought their Knights and Lords, and with them brought law,
coding, commerce, and control.

These days, Mods are no longer a strange sight in Reddit, and men and women clad in
black-and-white uniforms may be seen on any street from the Gifslinger Narrows to the Shore of
Shame. Operating out of local precincts, these Mods patrol either subreddits or the paths
between them, often in small teams of Peacekeepers or larger squads led by a Knight
Moderator. Local stations, kept in constant communication via datagram, help them keep the
peace throughout the whole of the city and respond rapidly to fire-feuds or riots, functioning as
both a Mod meeting-halls and small fortresses in times of tumult in the subreddits.

None of these small outposts compare, however, to the heart of the Moderator effort in
Reddit: the great cathedral-headquarters of Solomon Island. Once, this isle was the home to
some modest fortifications made by the Redditors in the First Age, as a ward against pirates and
other marauders of the Saying Sea. As part of their treaties with the Authority, the city ceded
Solomon Island to the Mods, who used their codespun architecture to remake it into an
impregnable fortress.

Solomon Island might be the safest place in all of Reddit, for nowhere else do the
Knights Moderator hold such sway or reside in numbers so great. The island is accessible only
through the White Bridges, which only a handful of Moderator troops—legendarily disciplined as
they are—might hold against entire armies. Even if some foe managed to take both bridges,
they would find themselves before the outer walls: dozens of feet high, polygonal in shape, and
riddled with bastions and ravelins built upon the isle and the surrounding rocks. This curious
design is one of Moderator fashion, meant to withstand even cannonshot, though only other
Mods possess such weapons in great numbers (standard practice among Mods is to prepare for
even the most unlikely threats).

It would take a long, painful siege or a bombardment beyond reckoning to break this
fortress, and all the while the assaulting force would be menaced by Mods armed with repeating
crossbows and other deadly weapons. And with the Blue Line Terminus nearby, it would be only
a short time until reinforcements straight from Central poured in to smash any foe in their way.
As such, few have ever attempted to attack the Moderators head-on. Those who tried, such as
crazed hordes during the Pao Riots or cultists spurred on by the War of the Electors, were
swiftly taught the gravity of their mistake.
 Solomon Island is thus as safe a place as any for the Mods to plan their operations in
Reddit. The cathedral-headquarters are the communications and logistics hub of all Mod
activities in Reddit, using linked datagrams to coordinate across the vastness of the subreddits
and distributing resources accordingly. Efficiency and mathematical precision are among the
highest virtues of Mods, and both are on full display in their operations here. Every patrolman,
soldier, weapon, piece of equipment, or ounce of food available to the Mod forces are carefully
tabulated, recorded, and issued according to minute-to-minute reports from every precinct-
headquarters in Reddit.

Solomon Island is small, but within its walls is a great complex of barracks and
administrative offices, making maximum use of the limited space available. Moderators, bound
as they are by vows of fealty and poverty, typically wake, sleep, and take their meals exclusively
within this fortress or their respective precincts, inhabiting bare cells by night and training
endlessly by day. Most activity surrounds the largest and centermost building of the isle, the
Taylorhall, an enormous holdfast crowned with two tall towers, built in rote adherence to the
sacred geometries found in most Mod-made structures. Within the inner conclaves of this
building is the highest command center of Mod operations in Reddit, in which the Lords
Moderator meet and plan for the coming wars.

The Ramparts

“Don’t feed the trollers.”

Crouched near one of the great bridges that leads to the Fandom Hills, the Ramparts is a
nest of narrow streets and closely-packed buildings, centered around Reddit’s old military
district. In the wilder days of the Internet, this district was home to an armory and fortress, a twin
to the fortifications on Solomon Island, made to guard the early settlers of the area against
raiders. As the need for such protection faded, the soldiers departed, and new residents took
their place.

The centerpiece of the Ramparts is the ancient fort. A modest Moderator headquarters
can be found within, but is practically buried beneath layer upon layer of wooden halls, shacks,
and towers built by Redditors who have repurposed the armory as their home. Though only a
small trickle of people moved into this crumbling wreck once, it became a flood once the cost of
housing near the Allfront spiked skyward, and much of this hastily-built housing remains to this
day, both within the walls and outside. Houses and shopfronts cram together so closely that one
walking the halls and streets might think they were underground. At the heart of the old armory
is a stage and pavilion—one of the most popular voting halls in the city, used primarily for
celebrity guests.
 Though the Ramparts are still part of the prosperous Allfront, it is considerably rougher
than its neighbors in Ama’s Point or Goldenglen. The close-knit streets and shadowy alleys are
known to hide troller gangs, eager to bait and ambush wealthy passersby. Moderator patrols
tend to be more frequent and the sight of black hats more common than elsewhere in Arrow
Island.

Goldenglen

“Thanks for the gold, kind stranger!”

Running between the Voting Hall and the Blue Line Terminus, Goldenglen is one of the
wealthiest districts of Reddit. Enormous manor halls and palatial apartments rise on all sides,
with interiors as labyrinthine as an Etsian puzzle-box. Most residents are at the highest rungs of
Reddit society: wealthy content traders, Imgurian stockholders, owners of mining and mercantile
interests, voters in the Default Assembly, and the like.

The delightful paths and airy pleasure gardens make this one of the most beautiful areas
of the city, and one of the most exclusive as well. Goldenglen is a tightly controlled enclave
carved out and walled off from the rest of the city, with only admitted members and guests
allowed within. Anyone without such privilege will find a filigreed gate shut in their face.

Aside from the magnificent palaces of the well-to-do, a few notable sights in Goldenglen
should be mentioned. The Golden Lounge is perhaps the most famous club in the city, open
only to those who have earned Reddit gold. This costly award is given freely by opeers, to
opeers, assuming they can pay for it. Earning gold pendants stamped with the Reddit seal is
considered a great and rare honor, and is the only way to see within the Lounge.

Also famed is the hill of the counting-houses, where the richest of the content traders ply
their trade: Gallows Breast, so named for hill’s distinctive shape. According to legend, it was the
site of a hanging tree in the city’s more violent past, but now is known solely as the
headquarters of major trading operations, ones that flood the markets of the Allfront with generic
materials guaranteed to receive waves of votes and customers. Common Redditors often
complain of the tactics used by the content merchants of Gallows Breast, but never enough to
restrain from upvoting it.

Embassytown

“Diplomacy is the art of talking a great deal whilst saying little. Thankfully, we have a talent for
that here.”
 Reddit is far from the only site in the Web, however much the Redditors might believe
otherwise. Dozens and hundreds of civilized sites lie to the north, and equal number of more
uncivilized ones to the south, many of which have a stake in Reddit’s trade and trends. Some
sites with greater presence in the city have subreddits of their own, forming ethnic enclaves that
offer glimpses into foreign cultures that dominate other parts of the Web. Redditor attitudes
towards these immigrant communities tend to vary from curiosity to resentment, depending on
the site of origin.

Regardless of power or prominence, most sites of importance wish to maintain at least

some kind of presence in Reddit, if only to keep appraised of the latest dramas. Because of the
blanket protection offered by Mods to ambassadors and envoys, most of these foreign
stakeholders opt to maintain embassies on Arrow Island, mainly on a stretch of road not far from
both the Voting Hall and the major news subreddits. Embassytown, as it is so named, is thus a
collection of tiny microcosms, a network of diplomats from all across the Known Internet who
have brought their sites’ various intrigues with them. Many of these embassies represent rival
sites, trade competitors, and even outright enemies, and the outward politeness between the
Assembly and these envoys does nothing to reduce the hostility and backstabbing they engage
in behind the scenes.

The total number of foreign attachés in Embassytown is too many to name in full, but
nearly all the major cities and sites keep offices in Reddit: Facer envoys sent by Clan Zucc,
representatives by prominent nobility from Widdar or the Devien Isles, even ministers of
Pintressor from behind the walls of its Forbidden City. Dignitaries from the northern merchant
cities can be found here, and compradors of the major trading cartels as well. Among them, the
Imgurian Southwest Trading Company maintains a presence in Embassytown, despite the
charter city of Imgur being independent in name alone—the company and its attendant lands
are all majority-owned by Reddit.

Ofttimes the dignitaries here are followed by the dramas of their homelands. The Blurr is
a prime example. After an abortive coup helmed by merchant interests and the Blue Oppressed,
the Blurrite homeland has been thrown into a never ending spiral of chaos, with numerous rival
factions claiming to be the legitimate power on the Tearspun Seat. These same factions all
compete for legitimacy, leading to multiple hostile embassies vying for diplomatic recognition.
The same can be said for the Chan, divided as it is between three pretenders to the title of
Mootking, making their plenipotentiaries as much a confused mess as their home isles. With
these controversies burning hot, some wonder if open street fighting will not spill out at some
point.

Not all sites are friendly to Reddit, and some cannot even bother to hide it. The city-site
of Voat is one such place. Some describe it as Reddit’s sister city, though Redditor’s themselves
think of Voat as “more of an ugly, inbred cousin.” It was founded by Redditors who quit the city
in the face of heightened Mod presence, erecting a new colony to the west that would not bow
and scrape to Moderator laws and demands of decency. The result is a crude and anarchic port
of exiles and outcasts, many of whom were once members of toxic subreddits banned in the
Mod’s red rinses. Tensions between the two cities remain high, and Voat’s squalid embassy is
one that diplomats will visit only as a last resort.

More concerning, perhaps, are the sites that refuse any representation in Reddit at all.
Two of these rogue powers have been of particular concern in recent years. In the northwest,
the unknown lands of Kio-Kyo lie beyond a wall of fire and black magic, past which no man may
enter and from which no soul can escape. To the south, the shadow-vales of V’Kay play host to
the cruelest despotism in the Known Internet, an entire people held in slavery to priest-oligarchs
and their dark god. Both of these lands are utterly forbidden to outsiders, and appear to have
designs and goals beyond the reckoning of mortal men. Though isolated, many rumors exist of
their supposed involvement in the affairs of the after Web: spies and assassins, lurking in places
like Reddit to help push the world into darkness. The truth of these tales is yet unknown.

To cut down on a rash of international incidents, the Assembly has tried to keep
Embassytown as clean and free from crime as possible. That does not mean, however, that
there is no danger amongst these ambassadors and agents. As the troubles of the Ultracult Era
and the current culture war mount, the old political alliances have begun to fray. Fragile peace,
once safeguarded by the Moderators, increasingly comes under threat as insurgent movements
and violent factions chip away at the Web. In Embassytown, words not safe to say in daylight
might now be whispered behind closed doors, and conspiracies spun in such a place may have
grave consequences indeed for the city—and the world.

News Subreddits

“Was the story I printed true? Technically no. But was it entertaining? Also no.”

As the center-most region of the city, Arrow Island plays host to many notable industries
and communities with ties all across Reddit. Among other things, the Island serves as the main
hub of the news and printing industries in the city. Subreddits and companies on Newsprint
Street, Hack Alley, Onion Avenue, and others churn out a huge number of cheap papers, which
run the gamut from reputable sources to lurid, hopelessly biased rags.

Each of these subreddits serve different audiences. Those in Hack Alley are infamous for
their low quality and sensational stories, widely read but not often supported by facts. The
Newsprint Street subreddits, by contrast, are considered the more “serious” and (supposedly)
reliable sources. Onion Avenue, on the other hand, is home to satirists and parody-makers,
producing magazines that promote fake, humorous stories (though not everyone realizes this,
as seen in the weekly column of fooled readers called "The Bite"). By contrast, the Onionfree
Weekly is a paper that tells stories so outlandish, unbelievable, and ridiculous, that they could
only be true.

Despite the pretensions to objectivity, the news industry in Reddit is subject to the same
voting process as everything else. Voting affects not only the visibility of a paper—since higher
votes mean it will be distributed to more people—but also its content. As readers send in votes,
subsequent editions will promote columnists, story-serials, and perspectives that were upvoted
most highly. Such pieces get front page coverage or larger, more eye-catching columns, while
lesser-voted features are usually regulated to the backpages. Since people tend to upvote
things they already agree with, news sources quickly become catered to reinforce the views of
their audience—just another casualty of the Closed Circle Problem.

Quality control in Reddit is low, so papers tend to be poorly-sourced opinion tracts.

Blatantly false stories will often hit the Allfront and be read, upvoted, and believed thousands of
times before they are proven wrong, and retractions of untrue stories are rare. Even when false
stories are pulled back, it makes little difference: the consumption of content in Reddit is so
quick that most people will have already internalized a story and moved on, not paying further
attention to whether it’s actually true and yet wholeheartedly believing and repeating it.

A larger problem is bias. Like seemingly everything else in Reddit, the news industry has
become embroiled in the ongoing culture war, with all outlets choosing a side either openly or
not. News sources in Reddit tend to be either pro-Red Hat and anti-Oppressed—constantly
ranting about Blurrites invaders, identity politics, and stamping out degenerate bloodlines—or
pro-Oppressed, pro-Oathbound, or at least anti-Red Hat. The Neo-Burning Men and cults of Aoc
especially flood the Allfront with favorable stories at all times, dominating the site with opinion
pieces and propaganda promoting their god and reviling all others. Red or blue, which is
upvoted more depends entirely on the subreddit.

While some subreddits have “white lists” of approved news sources, these are rarely
effective, particularly when blatant propaganda rags are still allowed. There is an ongoing
controversy concerning some of these papers, particularly with their ownership. A labyrinthine
network of shell companies and false names seem to be behind many of the most sensational
newspapers. Since many of these outlets openly advocate for violence and Red Hat cultism,
Moderator Censors are particularly concerned with determining where the propaganda is
coming from. Rumors persist of Vkaysson or Kio-Kyan involvement, but further investigation is
still needed.

Visitors to these streets should take caution, not only to avoid false stories but also false
subreddits; due to relaxed restrictions on the naming of subreddits, many that claim to spread
the news do anything but. The Webworldly Political (found within the Worldly subreddit) is
perhaps the strangest of these. It began its life as a self-proclaimed bastion of free press, having
absolutely no quality restrictions whatsoever and allowing Redditors to post any content they
wished. The subreddit soon realized that what Redditors most wanted to post was propaganda
and pornography, in that order. Webworldly Political is now the largest red zone on Arrow
Island, a place home to few journalists but many members of a much older profession
(meanwhile, oddly enough, a new industry of journalists actually dedicated to webwide affairs
has cropped up in the Tiddtanic Animen subreddit across town).

Karmatic Court

“Order in court! Order in court! Or at least be quiet!”

In Reddit, as is true throughout much of the civilized Internet, criminal matters are
investigated, prosecuted, and punished by the various agents of the Moderator Authority, be
they knights or pseudo-Mods. For civil disputes, however, the average Redditor’s options for
justice are more varied. Knights Arbiter from the Moderators can step in, but many Redditors
prefer to settle their grievances as they settle everything else: by vote.

Various subreddits allow for “metaposts,” in which opeers bring complaints about their
fellows or the community for restitution. The most famous of these is the Karmatic Court, a
stately house of pale columns in which disputes large and small are brought to be judged and
settled.

Litigation in the Karmatic Court is chaotic when compared with Mod proceedings. The
lack of lawscribes or formalized advocates reflects the Redditor distrust of Mod regulations, and
instead a case is pursued entirely on the whims of the public vote. Opeers fill the trial chambers,
called into enormous juries by lottery. Certain senior members of the community serve as
judges and attorneys by designation, but all involved are fellow citizens, not professionals.

The actual claims pursued by plaintiffs vary. Many involve the stealing and reposting of
content, while others might see one opeer accuse another of being a “jackdaw”—one who
fraudulently inflates his votes to improve his standing. Some cases became famous spectacles
for the city, in dramatic proceedings such as Myrel v. Tuts or the Pao Riot Trials. Arguments,
presented in bombastic and often humorous speeches, ring in courtrooms night and day, with
huge crowds of hooting spectators squeezed into the “rabble seats.” In the end, verdicts are
voted on and delivered by the many members of the jury. An anarchic kind of justice, but at least
a swift one: most trials last scarcely longer than a day from start to finish.

The Justice Subreddits

“We got ‘im! We did it, Reddit!”

 Redditors are often vocal about their mistrust of authority and desire to make legal what
many consider to be crimes. This attitude tends to fade, however, as soon as a crime actually
occurs, whereupon Redditors will usually demand blood. While Moderators or pseudo-Mods are
the actual arbiters of crime and punishment, many lay Redditors believe strongly in sentencing
criminals as well. It should be noted that this does not apply to all criminals. Those engaged in
violations of Red Zones, imbibing in illicit drugs, or hostility against non-Redditors are typically
safeguarded from any backlash. But those who commit a more heinous act, such as speaking
rudely to someone that Redditors love and approve of, should expect immediate and fierce
retribution.

The so-called Justice Subreddits are dedicated to this rough sense of mob law, forming a
ring around the Karmatic Court. Unlike the Court, these subreddits lack even the pretense of
etiquette or procedure, instead being a confused, barely contained hodgepodge of vigilantes
and self-appointed lawmen seeking to either revel in criminals being punished or else mete out
punishments of their own. The definition of “crime” in these subreddits tends to be quite loose,
ranging from genuine evils to mere impoliteness, while the standard for the appropriate penalty
tends to be rigid.

Various vigilante gangs roam this area, with little distinction between them. The
Watchmen, Justice Servers, and the Instance all share a certain passion for watching criminals
or other offenders face retribution, and enjoy the violent varieties of punishment more than
others. According to outside observers, particularly those in Distaff, these subreddits also share
a predilection for certain victims; namely, women. Though hotly denied by the vigilantes, many
wonder if these justice subreddits are merely a new face for the same witch-hunting instincts
that once animated the Great Gamer War and the Pao Riots. Of the many justice subreddits,
only the Accountants of Badcop are typically thought to be above suspicion for Red Hat
sympathies, as they busy themselves with policing the police themselves and exposing abuses
by Mods, psuedo-Mods, and civil authorities.

Other Subreddits

“Y’know, I daresay there isn’t enough popcorn for all the drama today.”

Arrow Island is perhaps the most homogenous of Reddit’s main regions, and most of the
subreddits within are either well-to-do or only slightly less so. Some lesser subreddits are merely
extensions of more popular ones, such as the Upper and Lower Askii neighborhoods that serve
largely the same purpose as Ama’s Point. Others, like the Feathered Narrows, are more
residential, with row-houses blissfully far from the din of major subreddits.

Some in Arrow Island, however, break the mold, particularly those on the riverward side.
Districts like Silverside and the A-Ward serve as major foundries and smithies, processing the
precious metals brought down from the mines to the north. Iron, tin, silver, and precious gold are
brought down to the city via river-barge, filtered through Goldport and then sent to smelting
furnaces to be turned into various fineries. The most famous products of these forges are Reddit
gold and silver, given as prizes to notable content-producers, memeslingers, or commentators.
Metallurgy is one of the oldest arts known to the Redditors, as evidenced by the many ancient
structures reared nearby in Oldtown.

Also notable are the subreddits who devote themselves to tracking other subreddits. The
residents of these neighborhoods prefer to have major news and notable developments filtered
up to them without the bother of having to slum it in lesser subreddits, and so spend their time
categorizing and sharing content that first appeared elsewhere. Outside Loop works with news
subreddits to help explain ongoing trends or impenetrable meme-formats, while Bestov are
major purveyors of Reddit gold that seek out the most deserving and impressive contributors in
the city. For people interested in learning more of the city’s less savory side, however, the
observers of Top Mind pride themselves in keeping tabs on the spread of Red Hat and Red
Pillar thought in Reddit, casting a spotlight upon subreddits or users that are thought to have
fallen to occult influences. Less discriminating is Drama’s Den, who are eager spectators to any
great controversy or conflict within the city—of which there are many.

******

The Blue Harbors

“If you like the city, you’ll love the Harbors. If you don’t like the city, why are you here?”

While Arrow Island has some of the oldest subreddits of the city, most of the busiest are
found to the west. Across from the waters of Ama’s Fork is the tip of a long peninsula, the
outermost point of the small continent upon which Reddit was founded. Where this horn of land
meets the sea is the longest stretch of shoreline fit for harborage in the city, making it ideal for
subreddits devoted to trade, commerce, and content.

The communities found in this panoply of ports and dockyards—the famous Blue
Harbors—tend to be bustling, crowded, and loud, filled day night with activity that does not rest
and talk that does not cease. In the modern age, it is also the home to many of the great
memetic subreddits of the city, its streets humming with the trade of memeslingers and
discussion of new formats. Discussion and delirium rule the day in the Blue Harbors, and neither
men nor trends tend to remain still for long.

Memetic Bend

“It’s a city of memes. And I’m a big memer.”

Merchants of all kind can be found in Reddit, as well as bankers, financiers, insurers,
factors, and cambists bent on profiting from the city’s favorable position on the major trade
routes. Previously, the major industries of Reddit were those expected of a resource-rich port:
fishing from the south, metals from the north, and the shipping of trade goods from abroad. Of
late, however, these have faded into the background as a single new commerce has overtaken
all others: memetica .

Reddit was not the first to unlock the secrets of memetics—both the Chan and various
minor sites lay claim to that discovery. Few can doubt, however, they have mastered the
distribution and marketing of memetic formats, acting as a vital waypoint on the trade of this
somatic content from south to north. Even in the earliest days of memetica , when animal totems
and Ragefaces were the most popular items in the memepool, Reddit played host to
memeslingers and format-crafters that eagerly spread their dreaming-drug far and wide.

The Blue Harbors cater to many kinds of goods to feed the city’s thriving industries and
growing population, but memetica remains the most lucrative export and import. The chief street
that winds along these harbors bore another name once, but it has since been renamed
Memetic Bend to recognize the dominance of the memetic arts practiced there. More than
anywhere else in Reddit, Memetic Bend is where the memeslingers practice and the memelords
rule, and where the network of merchants, subscribers, and content-pushers dependent on
these artists is most complex.

The largest of the memetic subreddits around the Bend is Drakesgate, named for the
memetic format pioneered there. The Drake memetica bears a simple structure, being a basic
comparator model that forms a mental dyad-contrast between undesirable and undesirable
effects or stimuli. The advantage of this format is not in complex, but supreme adaptability: the
Drake can be grafted onto almost any context, be it mundane, dramatic, fandomic, political, or
anything else, and still provoke a pleasure-center reaction from the witness. The Drake is thus
one of the longest lasting and influential formats of the modern era, helping drive memetic arts
past the earlier Rageface Period and into the more targeted style popular nowadays.

Other subreddits are similarly grouped around popular formats—Vat Fryer, for instance,
helped found the distortion-transgressive school that was refined further in Nuketown, while the
twin subreddits of the Chad and Virgin produce a more verbose variant on the Drake influenced
by Channic slang. That same Channic influence is seen widely in Memetic Bend, particularly
with the advent of the Wojak format and its increasing use in the political memetica of Compass
Island.

In other cases, subreddits center not around any particular format but rather on a
particular subject matter. What subject they fixate on varies greatly. Teentown supposedly
caters exclusively to the younger memeslingers, producing content enjoyed by the city’s youth,
though it is known that many of their subscribing members are far older than their advertising
implies. The Historians, meanwhile, are an offshoot of certain students and teachers from the
University, adapting academia to memetica . Other subreddits focus on bizarrely specific things,
as seen with the Garlicbred opeers of Clove Street, or the memelords of Mangonel that are
obsessed with the parameters of certain siege engines. These subreddits seem to be the results
of inside jokes taken to the uttermost extreme, but they are still very popular among Redditors
(and remain largely impenetrable to anyone else).

Although there are a huge number of lesser memetic subreddits, three other major ones
deserve special note, for each of them illustrates a unique side of Redditor memetica . First of
these is Bikini Bottom, a fandomic meme-sub located on the dockyards of the Ocean Mand.
Unlike most fandom memetica , which is generally insular and confined to particular subreddits
in the Fandom Hills, Bikini Bottom carries a nigh-universal appeal. Its content is derived from a
source from Beyond that virtually all Redditors are familiar with, meaning that they can
transcend the cliquishness endemic to other fandoms. Lacking any central organization or
creed, this fandom focuses entirely on memetica —something they excel at. Their popular
formats have been exported to every part of Reddit and beyond, and their songs of victory heard
far and wide. This subreddit claims some ties to the Widdari emigrant population, though that
appears to be in name only.

The Reeves is similar, in that it exudes a strong cultish atmosphere reminiscent of many
fandoms, albeit focused entirely on a single entity from the Beyond. This creator-source is
thought to be a humble and mild-mannered creature, but Redditors have latched onto
veneration of this being with incredible gusto. This kind of strong and sudden religious
attachment is not unusual among Redditors, who typically hero-worship certain figures from
Beyond to the point of proclaiming them to be omnipotent and all-benevolent gods, before
growing tired of their deity and switching to some new craze—the god of natural philosophies
after which Lake Tyson is named, or the lightning-god of the Elonites are both examples. The
Reeves have managed to keep good favor longer than most of these previous fad-gods, largely
through alliances with other popular groups in Wholesome Heart and Little Chungus, though
there is no telling whether this brand of idolator-memetics will simply shift to another icon sooner
or later.

Finally, some of the largest and most famous memetic subreddits cluster together into a
hive-like collection of neighborhoods known as Dank Den. Many of the most popular and
innovative memetic trends were born out of the Den, but their content is far different from that
found in the other subreddits. Channic influence is particularly strong here, and Dank Den thus
specializes in memetica designed to shock and offend. The edgelords of Dank Den claim to be
“equal opportunity offenders,” but like their Channic progenitors they more often target
vulnerable groups that go against the usual demographics of Reddit, namely those in Prideside
or Distaff. Considering their ties to the Chan and regressive members, many speculate that the
memeslingers of Dank Den shelter a large population of Red Hat sympathizers in their ranks.

Such rumors are just one part of a larger problem common among these memetic
subreddits. The very nature of memetica —being a semiotic pseudo-language of compelling
images and words that convey a familiar meaning—makes those that imbibe in it particularly
vulnerable to the influence of the Closed Circle Problem. Sometimes these effects are relatively
harmless—the Reeves, for example, become popular in part because Redditors were so
unwilling to criticize its idol, thus fueling a feedback loop of popularity. In other cases, though,
these subreddits tend to become endless regurgitations of the same content, the same formats,
and the same messages over and over, to the point that the minds of those within warps
unconsciously to conform with whatever their fellows say and think. This mental programming is
not easily resisted nor reversed, spawning hordes of Redditors that have succumbed to
groupthink on a massive scale.

The Sajlic Quarter and the Wall of Bets

“What are ‘markets,’ and how can I short them?”

Because of its position at the waterways connecting north and south, Reddit has a
lucrative control over southron trade routes, which major companies are desperate to exploit.
The city itself has control over one such content cartel, the Imgurian Southwest Company, but
many others have offices and interests in Reddit, sending or financing ships to trade with the
Chan and other profitable harbors. The majority of these companies, and the wealth they
produce, have their homes or outposts in the Sajlic Quarter—the merchant’s district.

The Sajlic are a people to the far north, whose culture has spurred them into establishing
the most dominant trading blocs in the Known Internet. The Cities of Sajle, such as storied Eh-
Baj or Am-Azon of the Golden Gods, are immensely rich, having leveraged their natural
resources, trade routes, and business savvy into empires of exchange. Virtually all aspects of
Sajlic society revolve around these powerful trading and banking cartels, including their
government, ruled as they are by mercantile magnates and Lords Shareholder. One of the most
prominent among their leaders is the Theel, the hereditary director of the Paj-Pal Bank. An
intensely controversial figure, the Theel is a noted eccentric who supposedly has great influence
over sites across the Web, including Reddit.

At the very least, Sajlic influence in Reddit is clear from the prominence of the Quarter.
The great banks and counting-houses of the district are famed throughout the Saying Sea, built
in the opulent style of the northern trade cities. These buildings are decorated with the finest
luxuries brought by the great Sajlic treasure ships. Goldwire and gildings, fine rugs and
draperies of northern make, crafts and arts from Etsi and the east, hardwoods from the
Kindlewood and carvings from the Channic Isles, not to mention inks, spices, clothing, food, and
precious metals and stones of all kind. All are as common as air and water to the traders within,
and all can be acquired for a fair price.

The growing power of cities like Am-Azon and its attendant companies has provoked
grumbling elsewhere. Redditors often speak at length of their hate for such trading syndicates,
but are happy to buy from them regardless, fueling the business of opeers, memelords, and
common citizens alike. The interests of the content companies and their ad-buyers helps power
much of the Allfront and its vibrant markets, and nowhere is this hectic game of money-handling
more evident than on the Wall of Bets.

Contrary to its name, the Wall of Bets is no wall at all, but rather a thoroughfare that
proceeds before the Sajlic Quarter. A wall did stand there once, part of an old harbor
fortification, but the people of this subreddit have long since abandoned taking arms against
pirates and raiders, and adopted a far more dangerous profession: investment. Within crowded
trading floors and often sprawling out into the street itself, hordes of shouting, pushing, plotting
would-be traders roost here, seeking to make their fortunes in quick schemes. Most of this is
devoted to buying and selling shares in trading companies great or small, random shops and
merchant stands, pop-up meme-slinger operations, and anything else that might be remotely
profitable. Generally, they are not.

Due to the savvy (or lack thereof) that precedes these investments, the Wall of Bets
hosts an endless cycle of boom and bust, with fortunes won and then lost within moments.
Those that break lucky in this exchange can be found in the counting-houses of Goldenglen.
The unlucky find themselves in the nearby flophouses of Robin’s Hood, nursing headaches and
empty pockets. But win or lose, the game continues.
The Three Widdaris

“It’s easy to be terse when you have nothing to say.”

One of the largest foreign enclaves in Reddit is that of the Widdari, a race of people who
reside in their homeland to the north. Past the Blocking Sands and perched atop a range of
mountains, Widdar—also known as the City of Birds—is a lofty (quite literally) metropolis of
white stone buildings rising high amid the terraced farms and against the clear blue sky. Widdar
is one of the Guild City-Sites, who control the northern half of the continent upon which Reddit
rests, and specializes particularly in its messengers.

The Widdari, however, are far better known for their peculiar culture. Not unlike Mods,
the Widdari believe that simplicity is best in all things, and thus prefer simple crafts, simple
answers, and even simple speech. The youth of Widdar are taught from an early age to speak
and write in a distinctly laconic style, using as few words as possible. Their manner of speaking
is both terse and emphatic, with strong emphasis on certain words so as to communicate
importance without complicating their sentences. Even their native fighting style, known as
“clapback,” has shades of this attitude, being built around a small number of rapid, staccato
strikes aimed at the enemy’s pressure points.

Because of this, Widdari are praised and trained to boil their ideas down to the most
easily understandable, barebones concepts possible, all to be written or spoken in the briefest
manner they can. Widdari are thus well-suited to the memetic mantras and content trading now
dominant in the Web, with their presence spread across many sites. While the Widdari have
systems vaguely similar to Reddit voting, power in the City of Birds lies not with voting halls but
with a network of verified grandees. These grandees bear their Checks of Lineage proudly upon
their chests, and use their prominence to command legions of followers who hang off their
words and work at their orders.

Travel between Widdar and Reddit is fairly easy, as both cities are stops along the Blue
Line. This has meant a large number of Widdari visitors and immigrants coming to Reddit,
especially in the past few years. This has been the source of much resentment among some
Redditors, many of whom deride Widdar as a city of the simple-minded and barbaric.

In truth, however, the two cities share many of the same problems. Political polarization,
already a grave issue in Reddit, is arguably even worse in the terraced City of Birds. A style of
speaking and writing with few words does not lend itself to nuance, and the datatribes that rule
in Widdar are both extreme and numerous. The Oathbound presence in the city is dominated by
the Rose, a radical faction whose collectivization, struggle-sessions, and “tests of purity” have
alienated many from the orthodoxy. And opposed to them, one of the largest forces of Red Hats
outside the Orange Islands march openly through the streets of Widdar. The Reds of Widdar are
particularly fanatical, due both to the freedom they are given to operate and their alleged access
to an unstable mandala—a one-way communication portal to the World Beyond—that allows
their God-Emperor to speak with them directly.

Street violence between Rose and Red has become endemic, made worse by the
reluctance of Widdari grandees to allow any Moderator foothold in their city. Banning campaigns
are permitted in Widdar only under the most extreme duress, and even then with grave
reluctance. Because this has allowed the Reds free rein of the city, many have speculated that
the grandees are making secret deals with the cult, either to protect their trade interests or
because of hidden loyalty to the God-Emperor. Others believe that darker hands are at work,
pointing to the rumored influence of Vkaysson infiltrators. Without a stronger Moderator force in
the area, however, there is no solution in sight.

While Widdari can be found in all parts of Reddit, their enclave is located in the Blue
Harbors, and is divided into three major subreddits. These communities cater to three different
ethnicities present in Widdar: the Stone Widdari, the Sky Widdari, and the Highland Widdari.
Differences between them are subtle, but distinct once one has studied closely, with variations
in their dialect, slang, and interests. Among other things, the Sky Widdari tend to concern
themselves more with the Great Fandoms, whilst the Stone Widdari are more active in the
Oathbound political sects and the Highland (whose dialect and accents are particularly
noticeable) with Brightsmile and the Mad Lads. The architecture of these subreddits resemble
that of their native city: simple, bare buildings of smoothed white bricks, resplendent within but
largely unadorned on the outside, save for the vines hanging from their rooftop gardens.

Facertown

“Very well, boomer.”

Facertown is an interesting section of the Blue Harbors: a fairly small enclave housing
emigres from the largest nation in the Known Internet. Unlike Reddit or Widdar, whose territory
is limited to their city-sites and exurbs, the Facers dwell across a vast, nigh-limitless continent to
the west, the single largest landmass is the Web. Their cities are relatively small and relatively
few, with only a handful of trading ports along their eastern coastline. For the most part, the
Land of Faces consists of wide, rolling plains, dominated by horsebound nomads and
conquering clans.

This was not always the case. In the First Age, what is now the Land of Faces was
actually home to many cities, places like Frenser or the Great Space. One by one, however,
these settlements were razed and destroyed by a race of nomadic tribesmen united under the
sword of a single ruler. By the end of their conquest, only the Facer nomads themselves
remained, and those ancient cities left as ruins for the ghosts. While the days of a single unified
horde are gone, the Facers are still much the same as they were: mounted clans, constantly
moving on the “tagpaths” of their ancestral plains, save for the recluses hidden in the House of
the Zucc.

While the Facers are the largest nation in the Known Internet, they are not the most
loved. Redditors in particular hold the Facers in contempt, deriding their country as a “boomer
land.” According to Redditors, “boomers” are demons of a malignant nature, as their influence is
said to make men entitled, irritable, backwards, condescending, cruel and—worst of all—
superstitious. Many hate-shrines in Reddit are dedicated to the loathing of boomers in an
attempt to ward against their entreaties, the largest among these being the massive temples
built in revulsion of Karhan, a femme-demon of cropped hair and terrible voice. Redditors
believe that the Land of Faces is the primary home for these daemonic forces, infesting the
mindscapes of Facers and driving their actions.

Facertown itself is somewhat small, though active on the Allfront. Much of its memetic
content stems from its messenger services, who moonlight as memetica creators. The most
prominent building near Facertown, however, is a grim bloc of grey stone, with only tiny slits for
windows—and those windows are barred. The Facertown Asylum for the Irresponsibly Insane—
or the “Coconut House,” to more irreverent citizens—is an unpleasant but necessary part of the
city. In addition to common mental maladies, many of the Asylum’s residents suffer from
afflictions growingly common in the Ultracult Era. Fandom followers cut off from their creator-
sources, mindwiped tulpamancers, and corrupted memeoids choke the cells in this sanitarium,
while others are people haunted by the shadows of nightmarish visions sent from Beyond,
foretelling black gods and bleak futures.

Originally, the Hospital was designed as a holding station for Facers thought to be
infected by boomer influence. Nowadays, it caters to all manner of people with broken psyches,
and the number of patients increases by the day. While mad people certainly dwell within the
Facertown Hospital, it is not to be confused with the subreddit of the Mad Lads, who are insane
in a different sense.

Red Pennant Square

“Fellow opeers, am I in the wrong just because I led a completely blameless life to which no
reasonable person could possibly object? Let us discuss this.”

According to a common saying, the best way to know the merits of a man is to learn from
whom they seek advice. For some Redditors, the first place they seek counsel for any problem
in their lives is in their fellow Redditors. It is because of this spectacularly bad judgment that the
subreddits of Red Pennant Square exist. In these voting halls, a host of opeers style themselves
as amateur advocates and advisers ready to dispense wisdom to any unfortunate soul that
presents their problems.

The subreddits of Red Pennant Square occupy a unique niche in Reddit society. Opeers
in the city will often seek redress after their disputes with others, but either their cases are too
petty to warrant official attention or the opeers will not trust Mod arbiters or the Karmatic Court to
solve their problem. Petty and untrusting people are far from discouraged in the Red Pennant
Square, however, and thus many people will bring their grievances to the opeers assembled
within. The subreddits within are not courts. They cannot give orders or pass sentences, but will
instead hear a case, weigh a petitioner’s story, and then offer them opinions or advice. What
form this counsel takes will depend on the specific subreddit, but those in the Square tend to
share similar qualities.

The various subreddits of the Square have a shared culture somewhat distinct from the
rest of Reddit, enforced with a system of powerful taboos. These are the “red pennants” which
give the district its name: a category of actions and behavior that warrant harsh and immediate
rebuke. The staggering number of possible red pennants resembles Rose Widdari purity tests at
a glance, but a deeper look shows the obvious signs of Reddit’s libertine leanings.

The most common red pennants involve attempts to compel any kind of behavior from
an opeer, usually in the name of courtesy or common decency. If an opeer’s spouse, for
example, asked that opeer to stop some obnoxious habit, those in the Red Square would
identify this request as a red pennant and issue their diktat accordingly. Opeers in the Red
Pennant Square are much concerned with “rights.” When an opeer speaks of having been rude
to another person, those weighing his case will ask whether the victim of the presenter’s actions
had a “right” to be treated otherwise, to which the answer is almost always no. They are also
prickly in matters of personal honor, and will usually recommend or justify acts of revenge
committed by a presenting opeer, no matter how petty. Forgiveness is discouraged, and
grudges lauded.

In deciding the merits of a case, the advising opeers of Red Pennant Square always
consider the most important perspective, which is that of the opeer who brought the claim. Any
other side of the story is not measured or even acknowledged, for the opeer alone has told his
tale in the subreddit’s voting halls and can thus be trusted. After listening to the petitioner’s
story, various opeers will offer opinions or judgments, which will then be voted up or down by
the rest of the subreddit. As mentioned before, the individual subreddits of the Square vary in
what kind of disputes they hear and what manner of advice they tender. The specific subreddits
are detailed below.

● The Advisors of Relations: Specializing in personal and domestic disputes, these

Advisors generally hear issues arising from a petitioner’s family, friends, and
 coworkers, and offer solutions to those problems. These solutions are models of
efficiency, for there is no faster or easier way to lose all contact with loved ones
than by following the word of the Advisors. Generally, the recommendations
given by opeers here are exceedingly strict, with separation and shunning
recommended at even the slightest provocation. The counsel given for romantic
relationships is particularly infamous. The Advisors of Relations believe that
divorce is permissible in only one narrow circumstance: whenever a person’s
spouse does anything wrong, to any extent, at any time, for any reason.

● Aita: Though the problems they hear are similar to those of the Advisors of
Relations, the proceedings in the Aita subreddit take a different format. Rather
than seeking blanket advice, those coming to Aita will present their dispute and
ask if they are in the wrong. The opeers will then offer one of several traditional
responses, which blame either the petitioner, the person with whom they are
quarrelling, both parties, or neither of them. Because Aita is purely concerned
with determining if someone is right or wrong, petitioners come to the subreddit
looking more for validation than redress, seeking others to tell them they were
correct when everyone they know insists they were wrong. Thankfully for them,
the opeers of Aita have a markedly different view of right and wrong than the rest
of the human race, and are more than willing to stamp approval on all manner of
behavior that lesser people would describe as boorish, obnoxious, rude, or
mean-spirited. The largest of Aita’s voting halls is the Yor House, its stone walls
etched with the rules of the red pennants.

● Advisors of Law: Probably the most practical of the Red Pennant subreddits, the
Advisors of Law do exactly as their name suggests. If a petitioner believes their
dispute touches upon matters of law or regulation, they may come before these
advisors to seek a recommendation on what to do. Usually that recommendation
begins by advising the petitioner to get actual legal counsel. The Advisors are not
professional advocates or law-scribes, as their many mandatory rituals require
them to repeat, and many have never even seen the inside of a Mod proceeding
or Karmatic Court. Still, they do have some knowledge of legal precedent, mostly
in the realm of personal property and injury law. Specialists in such varying fields
as criminal law, tree ownership, and bird regulations may be consulted and their
advice used to bring actual cases in courts or Mod arbitrations.

Bleet Street, Tropeadour’s Way, and the Other Discussions

“All this happened, more or less.”

— Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
 Of special note among the inhabitants of the Blue Harbor subreddits are the ones who
deal not in images or goods, but rather in words. Reddit communities are built around exchange
and discussion, a legacy from the days in which the site was more insular and forum-based. As
such, storytelling and wordplay are highly valued in Reddit culture, spawning a number of major
communities along Bleat Street and Tropeadour’s Way.

Tropeadour’s Way is named for the Troper Bard Errants often found meandering along
its path. The Tropers are wandering singers and raconteurs, born out of the famed labyrinth-city
of Taveeda to the north. They believe that all legends and tales are part of a great “Monomyth”
that encompasses everything, and thus spend their lives walking the Web, seeking new stories
to add to their “Song-of-All.” When found, new stories are then categorized into the Sacred
Tropes that give the Tropers their name. Such experience makes the Bard Errants talented
storytellers themselves, but also enigmatic and strange, with their speech layered with endless
euphemisms, metaphors, and references to the countless works they are familiar with—enough
so that they are difficult to understand in casual conversation.

Reddit is a common port of call for these mendicant storytellers, along with many other
glib performers or comedians spinning yarns from port to port in exchange for fame and fortune
(or just coin and hot meals). Along with these professionals, large numbers of both opeers and
common lurkers frequent the various discussion subreddits, introducing topics of their own to
the voting halls or offering their comments in reply.

Different subreddits offer different kinds of forums, each catering to specific kinds of
topics. Tifutown, for example, deals primarily with tragedies or recountings of times in which one
was shamed or embarrassed. This serves as a cathartic ritual of sorts for the opeer providing
the story, while also being greatly entertaining to the listeners. Others are less reputable. The
trio of Contros, the Chest, and Daebreak are roughly similar subreddits, all purport to be for the
proclaiming of controversial opinions. In practice, however, said opinions tend to fall into two
categories: opinions that are actually not controversial at all, or ones that are controversial
because they mindlessly repeat Red Hat or Red Pillar propaganda. Very little substantial
discussion actually occurs in these three, and they instead have largely devolved into Closed
Circles that endlessly repeat and agree upon the same topics without argument.

Numerous smaller forums are dotted along Bleat Street and Tropeadour’s Way, with
purposes that range from complaining about jobs to complaining about family to complaining
about other forums. Aside from the very, very numerous subreddits devoted to whinging, there
are also some unusual groups nevertheless devoted to rhetoric, storytelling, and discussion.
The Shower Sophists of Rainthought Wash, for example, deal in brief aphorisms, koans, and
paradoxes meant to provoke contemplation in brief moments. Near Bleat Street is also a cluster
of subreddits like Quitclaim, Rare Retort, and Roast Host, all of which spend their time sharing
pointed quips and witty insults, just as the subreddits of Petty Place and Malcomp recount
stories of revenge and retribution (however minor).

Finally, special note should be given to the subreddits gathered on the west end of Bleat
Street. Unlike their neighbors, the subreddits here contribute not prose but poetry of various
stripes. The largest of these, Big Boot, grafts simple rhymes with memetic images to potent
effect. The winding street of Doggerel Run is home to amateur poets of all kinds, though it is not
to be confused with the rhymers of the Likbred, who merely write poems about dogs and other
animals as well. Others feel no need to confine themselves to one place: groups like the Sprog
Society roam the site and subreddits, offering their verse just as sellswords offer their blades.

New Baysmouth, the Channic Quarter

“I met a man from the land of masks

Whose wooden visage held the task
To hide his heart and soul away
From the lamplight eyes of the Beast in the Bay”

While Reddit is the largest port in the Saying Sea, it is not the most infamous. Far to the
south, bitten by cold winds and lashed by the black ocean waves, there is a cluster of barren,
gloomy islands whose very name inspires ridicule, awe, and fear in those who hear it. This is the
Chan, the dreaded isles of masks and madness and of a people as cursed and terrible as the
land they inhabit.

The Chan is a dire and miserable place, as even the natives will proudly admit. Its soil is
rocky and hardscrabble, its shores beset at all times by howling storms, and its waters infested
with pirates and monstrous sea-beasts. The people born from those isles are scarcely more
pleasant, forming a society of criminal anarchists, reactionary malcontents, and uncouth
troublemakers. Due to the poverty of resources in their home islands, the Channic turned to
raiding their neighbors, taking to the sea in their longships to prey on unprotected coastlines and
trading vessels. The Channic, however, are not mere common pirates: they are excellent
pirates, but also many other things that set them apart from all other cultures in the Known
Internet.

The Channic believe that they were born out of the Deep Web, shaped from mud and
dust and mist by the demon-gods that linger in that hell, and thus share no ancestry or kinship
with the rest of the Web. Their customs, at least, are unalike those of any other sites. The
Channic believe in neither law nor contract, despising any and all attempts at curtailing their
ability to do as they please. Their isles exist in a state of near-perpetual anarchy and constant
war, dominated by strongmen and fractured tribal groups. An individual Channic believes
himself to be his sole master, king, and god, and thus they are quarrelsome and violent to a
fault, with each man thinking and acting purely for himself.

The Channic are most famous, however, for a fixation on privacy that lapses into
obsession. The Channic believe they are, at all times, watched from beneath the sea and
beyond the stars by forces that seek to invade their minds and enslave them. To protect
themselves, the Channic cover their faces at all times with masks of wood and bone and iron,
each hand-wrought and unique, made to frustrate the sight of these demonic enemies. Channic
will not remove these masks, even among friends and family, and use false “mask-names” to
further obscure their identities. Those bearing such masks and such names are known to the
Web as anonymites, the faceless terrors of the high seas.

Anonymites are a crude, harsh, and mean spirited lot, who look on other peoples as
weak and inferior. Their irreverent attitudes lead them to mock anyone and anything they come
across, and their xenophobia has brought them into conflict with a great many people. The
Mods have always struggled to control them, the merchant companies resent their piracy, and
the Blurrites and Channic share a virulent and mutual hatred. This is made worse by the lack of
central authority in the Chan. Cynicism, paranoia, and contrarianism are refined to an art form in
the Chan, and their involvement in bloody sects and cults speaks to their unwillingness to bend
before either law or reason.

Despite all this—or perhaps because of it—the Web as a whole is obsessed with the
Chan. Their crafts, idols, and trends are subject to a kind of mania throughout more civilized
lands, who view the Land of Masks as exotic and fascinating.

In few places is this craze more evident than the city of Reddit. The Saying Sea is itself
dominated by Channic ships and Channic thought, and Reddit has used its place as the Saying
Sea’s foremost port to spread that dominance far and wide. Redditors on the Allfront specialize
in repackaging Channic content, rebranding it for more gentle markets and then reselling across
the Web. Not merely Channic works but Channic attitudes are a vital part of Reddit society, with
much of the anonymite ideals of selfishness and cynicism enshrined as dogma amongst
Redditors.

The Channic enclave in Reddit is New Baysmouth, parked firmly by the Allfront. So
named for the largest city of the Chan, it matches the aesthetic of the home islands: messy, ill-
made, desperate, and lively. Buildings have been raised, amended, demolished, and rebuilt
without rhyme or reason, leading to a tangle of blocks and rows that bleed into one another.
Dead end streets and sinuous alleys cut jaggedly through the crumbling, leaning towers and
tenements. Lacking any care for sanitation, the streets are strewn with whatever waste and
garbage the Channic couldn’t be bothered to properly throw out, and the shadows of buildings
hide anonymite thieves and vicious troller gangs. Visitors to New Baysmouth are advised
caution, filled as it is with rogues seeking to relieve others of their money by either fraud or
force. Anonymites themselves are cunning and ruthless fighters, using a unique style of combat
called daax that focuses on reaction, surprise, and ambush. To that end, Channic favor
weapons that can be easily concealed, most notably their infamous retractable knife, the bay’t .

Both trading ships returning from the isles or Channic longships come to Reddit will dock
near New Baysmouth, offloading valuable goods, memetic content, and swaggering
anonymites. The Channic themselves view Redditors with contempt, but are very happy to profit
from them, and thus often repost content from their native land on the Allfront for votes and
fame. Channic content tends to be intentionally shocking and offensive, though not always. The
so-called “green arrows”—a unique form of poetry and prose originating from the Chan—are
extremely popular throughout the city, and has been adopted and adapted by subreddits in the
Tabletop and Wholesome Heart, of all places.

This is not the only place in which the Channic might be found, however. The masked
men of the Allfront are, while quarrelsome and sometimes violent, at least concerned enough
with earning money and status that they avoid outright rebellion. Those in the Orange Island are
a different story. The first anonymite communities there were formed by political or religious
exiles, many landing in Reddit during the Great Gamer War to continue their accursed
campaigns.

Due in no small part to their love of angering others, the Channic have thrown
themselves full force into the ongoing conflicts of the city. The anonymites love neither Mods nor
gods, and despise both Blurrites and the Oathbound cause. The Chan itself has long been a
breeding ground for reactionary movements, most notably the blood purity cults like Dylannites
or the Volk. These same groups helped make up the confederacy behind both the Great Gamer
War and the Red Hats, and thus the Channic are seen as happy supporters of the God-
Emperor. Anonymites make up a notable portion of the Red host, and Channic longships a large
section of the Nautalmen fleets.

The prophet of the Reds, Mylon Bright, has even styled his office in Channic style,
declaring himself the Mootking-in-Exile. He is not the only one to do so. Reigning from the Chan
is Mootking Rohd, a man vicious and cunning both, who threads a dangerous balance to retain
his mask and crown. Meanwhile, in the dreaded exile realm of Twicechan, the terrible Cripple
King has declared himself the True Mootking, holding court in the pirate city of Freewheel. In
Reddit, at least, the exiled Channic favor the claim of Bright, and it is certain that many of the
Prophet’s soldiers will bear the bay’t and masks of the dreaded Chan.

Insaganni Reels
“I don’t understand these Redditors. I can understand being a nuisance, but wrong is it so hard
for them to look good while they do it?”

Given its place on the coastal rivermouth, the city of Reddit has long relied on the fishing
trade to provide more food to the growing metropolis. Major or minor fisheries dot the city,
servicing entire fleets of small craft that ply the Fronting and the Saying Sea, casting lines and
nets and harpoons to catch whatever creatures the water might grant. Among these was a
notable collection of fishmongers that clustered around the western wharfs of the Blue Harbors,
interested mainly in the modest hauls of ocean bass and sole that were demanded by the
nearby Operata District.

It was these fisherfolk that once occupied this area, and earned it the nickname of “the
Reels,” but they dwell there no longer. Most of the fishing trade has been pushed upriver,
supplanted on the Allfront as Redditors increasingly demand memetica in place of food. The
Reels are now the homes of a different people, one not native to Reddit.

These new residents hail from Insagann, a major site in the Connecting Sea. They come
specifically from the warm archipelago of the Chatring Isles, of which Insagann itself is but one,
sharing the waters with other sites like Wasap and Sannapchat. The Insaganni are relatively
new to the world scene, sharing ancestry with the nearby Facer clans. Unlike their sires in the
Land of Faces, the Insaganni have little interest in the ways of wandering horselords, having
long ago taken to the sea and settled down on their island homeland. Commerce and luxury,
rather than conquest and nomadism, is the way of life on Insagann.

Their position in the central seas of the Web has given the Insaganni a place of
prominence in the content trade, spurring them to establish charter companies of their own, and
helping spawn a syncretic culture that borrows from various nearby sites. Their storytelling
tradition is seemingly borrowed from both the Blogosphere and other sites in the Chatring Isles,
while their use of tagtalk calls to mind the habits of the Facers and Widdari. Also similar to
Widdar, the Insaganni are ruled by a caste of noble families known as Influencers, who wield
power by measure of their followers. Trends and fashion are of high importance among the
Insaganni Influencers, producing rich garments that set the standard for high society across the
Web.

Unlike the Widdari or Facers, however, the Insaganni have strict codes of etiquette that
constrain much of their behavior. While they utilize a liké system of voting—one that lacks a
downvote, common to many sites outside of Reddit—to express approval with the
pronouncements of Influencers, records of votes are kept private: airing such information
publicly is considered rude. Insaganni largely eschew larger groups as well, with their art and
songs instead favoring stories of the individual, usually as explorers or voyagers of some kind.
This love of travel is perhaps the only concession the Influencers make to their Facer heritage,
and they are often found in the farflung (but still comfortable) corners of the world.

Another key feature of Insagann is the degree of Moderator control. Like many sites in
the immediacy of Central, the Insaganni have more or less ceded all practical power to the
Moderator Authority, allowing direct Mod rule over large swaths of their society. The Influencers
are more concerned with maintaining their lavish estates and being seen at parties and festivals
than the minutiae of policy, and are more than happy to pass such duties off to the Moderati.
The Knights Censor in particular have a significant presence in Insagann, operating most of the
Insaganni courts and banning criminals with impunity. Some groups in Insagann, such as
Blurrite émigrés, have objected to some of the stricter standards set by the Censorate,
particularly the near-complete ban on red zones, but there is little sign that the Mods will be
surrendering what control they have.

In return for their compliance, however, Mods have conceded one thing to the Insaganni.
An ancient part of the native culture in the Chatring Isles is the use of magical charms,
bestowed with power through cybramancy. Most often, these take the form of glamours called
“filters,” which can change the appearance of the wearer. They cannot change a person’s face
or body completely, but are able to “touch up” one’s look so as to make them more attractive,
something that the Insaganni highly value. In their culture, the face is thought to mirror the soul,
and physical appearance is of paramount importance. High quality filters can serve to make the
plain beautiful, and the already beautiful even more so. Glamours of such quality are rare and
expensive, meaning only Influencers of the most means generally have them. Low-end filters
are more common, but are sometimes faulty enough that people can see through the illusion.

In Reddit, the Insaganni have occupied and gentrified the Reels district to suit their
needs, converting what was once a collection of fisheries into one of the most genteel parts of
Reddit. The Insaganni regarded the area as being “charmingly rustic” when they initially
acquired it, but have worked to completely remake it in their image, converting the brick
storehouses into spacious apartments, the canneries to upscale coffee shops and boutiques,
and the market squares into tasteful plazas. Influencers regard Reddit as fine vacation spot,
where they are able to experience “roughing it” in the wild frontier of the Internet without actually
having to leave behind any luxury, and ofttimes Insaganni of rank can be seen lounging near
major landmarks and tourist areas of the city with their retinues.

Insagann has little warrior culture to speak of, having been born into a region dominated
by the Mod’s peace. While they have rivalries with nearby sites like Sannapchat, what conflicts
they have are resolved with coins and words, not swords. Unlike their neighbors in the Land of
Faces or Widdar, the Insaganni have also remained largely aloof of the ongoing culture war,
though the Oathbound have some presence in their territory.
 None of this has prevented Redditor resentment of Insaganni in their city, however.
Much of the Insaganni culture is baffling to Redditors, who resent their fashion and manners as
being fake or duplicitous. Insaganni Influencers are generally seen by Redditors as entitled and
false, with the use of filters especially regarded with disdain. Much of the Redditor activity
around the Reels is “exposing” Influencers by mocking those with unconvincing glamours, or by
circulating stories of unpleasant Insagannis they have encountered. So far, this has not helped
the Insaganni view of Redditors as uncouth simpletons.

Great Western Red Zone

“Come and go. That’s just t’way o’ red zones, ain’t it? Come and go.”

Redditors are a people with a great many passions; their systems of voting and
subreddits ensure that there are endless enclaves catering to every possible interest.
Unsurprisingly, many of these passions are of an unwholesome nature. Redditors and desires of
the flesh being what they are, the Moderators long ago realized that such urges could not be as
reliably suppressed among opeers as they are with knights, and have instead adopted a method
of containment. The lascivious content that Reddit insists upon consuming is not banned
outright, but is instead confined to certain restricted blocks and neighborhoods, known as “red
zones,” to prevent it from spreading and infecting more polite areas of the city.

This quarantine is treated with great seriousness by Moderators (less so by others).

Practices and content suited for the red zones may not be found outside of them under penalty
of ban. One of the primary duties of the Knights Censor is to ensure that red zones remain
confined, and will go to great lengths to pursue and punish those who try to test the boundaries.
Standard procedure is to flag the offending material with a Notice of Salacious and Fallen
Works, obscure it using a blackbar roller, and then slap the perpetrator with either a warning or
outright ban. The local “scruff teams”—Censorate Field Purification Squads—then block off the
area and remove the content with powerwash equipment and ritual efficiency.

Moderator prudishness—instilled into them marrow-deep by their conditioning—often

chafes against the average Redditor’s libertine sensibilities. Mods are not the only opponents of
these zones, however. The Nofahp hand-mystics believe such places are anathema to their
hermetic schools of self-denial, and will avoid them at all costs. More concerning are the Blue
Oppressed, one of the branches of the infamous Blurrite assassins, who believe that carnality Is
a means of enslaving the weak and will act to “liberate” those who practice it by violence.

Smaller red zones are dotted sporadically throughout the city, marked and cordoned off
by Mods. Most range from the size of a single building to block or neighborhood. Some,
however, are massive, sprawling districts filled with dozens of subreddits. The size of them are
truly staggering, stretching for street after street, servicing every desire imaginable.
 There are two of these enormous, conglomerated red zones in Reddit: the Western and
the Eastern. The Western Red Zone lies in the furthest of the Blue Harbors, occupying all the
streets south of Dank Den. The primal desires there are rooted in old ground: some few
archaeologists of admirable self-control have investigated truly ancient ruins there. The makers
of these are well known. The fertility temples have long staked their idols and operations in this
area, and it was their influence that allowed the Western Red Zone to become the labyrinthine
maze that it is today.

Most of the subreddits found within are not places for polite company, nor do most
visitors care to be recognized within. Opeers will turn up their hoods and shield themselves in
cloaks before entering, and ships docking at the ports alongside these subs will do so ‘neath
incognito sails and signs to discourage any questions. The subreddits of the Red Zone vary
somewhat in their “stock and trade,” so to speak, catering to all manner of tastes: the
amateurish performances of Wildside and Layman’s Lane, the secretive shows of Moanhold, the
unnumbered peculiarities of the Niches, or the wildly perverse (and increasingly popular)
findings of the Sibling Steps. A neighborhood called the Drops abreast most of these subreddits,
while Sauce Street is the main thoroughfare, providing easy access to the content traded at the
Awoogan Wharf.

The nature of them all, however, is the same. Drooping, crimson banners hang from roof
to roof, with splays of scarlet paint to mark the shut-houses and temple-bordellos. Clouds of
smoke choke the streets, billowing out from drug dens, fogging up the darkly-tinted windows.
Specialized gifslingers or imported talents from ports like the Hub or Red Island are frequent
sights within, adding to the ceaseless revel.

Despite all the noise and parties, one cannot help but feel a certain eerie quality to the
Western Red Zone. Things never seem entirely real. Peoples of all kind flock there for one kind
of comfort or another, but will rarely speak of such things outside the bounds of the zone.
Comments are rare, save for the sauce-slingers, and lovers who meet within will pass each
other by on normal streets without speaking a word. It is a place of abrupt comings and
premature goings, and ofttimes one leaves more solemn and more lonely than when they arrive.

Forest Isles

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Or Ents. Those too.”

Connected to the tip of the Western Red Zone is a bridge, old and worn, that spans
across to a small cluster of islands. This bridge, however, is the last structure one will see when
venturing into the isles—all else is thick forest and ancient glens, dominated by trees that are
never disturbed by axe or fire.
 This bridge and these isles bear little resemblance to their counterparts in the eastern
half of Reddit—great Pathologue and the Orange Islands. Where the Pathologue Bridge is
enormous and guarded, the Treebridge is narrow and only half-maintained. Where the Orange
Islands were born of violent erupting rents in the earth, the Forest Islands have always been, at
least according to lore. There are no walls nor towers in the Forest Isles. There are rocky crags,
and hill-fed springs that leap from cliffs into the Saying Sea, and trees beyond counting, but no
buildings at all save for the occasional shack or lean-to. It is unlike any other part of the city, for
this is the last vestige of the landscape that existed before there was a city, when the mouth of
the Fronting was still wild and untamed, and when thick forests, rocky hills, and shallow ravines
covered every inch where the subreddits now stand.

Nowadays, the forests are gone, the hills leveled, and the ravines filled and paved over.
Save for the Forest Isles. There are trees there older than anything in Reddit made by the hands
of men, and still growing. The people that dwell there are nearly as old as the trees—one of the
first cultures that emerged during Reddit’s founding days. These are the Deeper Ents: cousins
to those in Ent Alley, but who cannot abide to live anywhere but beneath the eaves and canopy
of the forest.

Rather than waste away in basement dens, these Deeper Ents commune in the woods
and caves, joined into clans with strange names like Hikush and Tokhen—perhaps the last
remnants of an otherwise dead language. While other Redditors may partake in trance as a
hobby, for the Deeper Ents the drug is both “the key and the gate,” and its use permeates
everything they do. Trance-sacraments are conducted beneath the light of the moons, and they
imbibe the drug in every possible way, including cooking it into their food and drink. They even
weave the vines and fronds of the plant into their clothes, making some visitors remark that the
Deeper Ents resemble shrubs more than men.

Owing to their constant use of trance, the Deeper Ents are a slow-paced and lethargic
bunch, rarely rushing into anything. They take great care in maintaining their islands, not least
because the weed from which trance is made will choke out any other plants if left unattended.
But they tend to care very little about matters outside of their limited domain. Some clans
proclaim ties to the Oathbound, and many others to the Libertines, but because of the Ents’
delayed reactions and dulled senses, few imagine that they will lend much to either cause.

Aside from the Ents, there are a few other groups that frequent the Forest Isles. The
Anprims, a splinter faction of the Libertines, are “power-primitives” who choose to live on the
edge of bestial savagery in their pursuit of absolute freedom. Anprims are stonepunk pseudo-
ferals, with a deep seated loathing of industry and codespun technology. They are clustered
largely in the Forest Isles, but can be found spread all about Reddit, either in rock-cut hovels or
nomadic vagrancy. Their neo-barbarian philosophy is difficult to classify on the Reddit political
spectrum, possessing a cocktail of both anti-Mod and anti-modernist attitudes rarely found
elsewhere. Aside from the Anprims, most other inhabitants of the Forest Isles are fertility cults,
often pilgrims from the red zone that have more naturalistic tastes. Of their rites and practices,
we need speak no more.

Other Features of the Blue Harbors

“You lunatic, you absolute madman!”

The Blue Harbors offer too many subreddits, great or small, to name them all in this
limited space. But several other major features deserve note.

Starting in the east, the so-called “Comedians Quarter” of Brightsmile, which specializes
in memetica and discussion of an amusing nature. Most of it is fairly mundane, but the area is
also home to one of the oddest groups in Reddit: the so-called Mad Lads. The Mad Lads are a
difficult group to classify. One might call them a gang, but it is very rare that their antics are truly
criminal. Rather, they function more as a loose society of gadflies and pranksters, following a
semi-ironic code of honor that rewards glibness, humor, and sheer audacity above all. Their
antics are harmless, but are treated by the Mad Lads themselves as either shockingly
impressive or deathly serious, to the point of shutting down entire neighborhoods with massive
celebrations over even the most mundane things. Their goals, outside of enjoying themselves,
are unclear, and their tendency for feigned overreaction makes dealings with them a confusing
affair.

The most arresting sight in Brightsmile, however, is not any group of living men, but
rather a house of the dead—a tomb of strange design. It inhabits one of the many cemeteries in
Reddit, but far larger than the monuments usually found in those common plots, and with an
edifice that resembles a grinning face. It’s an unsettling image, but the Redditors seem to take it
in good humor, using the Smiling Sepulcher as the centerpiece of an ironic ritual in which mock
mourners pretend to entomb a “dead joke” whenever the opeers of Brightsmile tire of it. Entire
parades will attend the burial of these jokes, complete with raucous music and dancing coffin-
bearers.

For a burial site with fewer parties, the best place to go is Sleepless Hollow. It is one of
the oldest cemeteries in Reddit, a cluster of hollow hills that have served as charnel halls for
generations. Dead are still interred within this necropolis to this day, but Redditors avoid going
within the Hollow lightly, with many tales spun about restless spirits and revenants that dwell
within. Outside of mourners, the most common visitors are from a nearby subreddit that carries
the same name as the graveyard and spend much of their time propagating those same tales,
or other stories of horror and the paranormal. These talents come in handy during the city’s
yearly Spooktober festivals, when revelers dressed as skeletons or monsters dance through the
streets and tales of the unnatural are shared in celebration.

Finally, off the coast of Reddit lies a small island, upon which is built a modest fishing
community. Though humble in its exterior, the isle of Sine Tangent is the subject of sordid
rumors in the city, most of which allege that the inhabitants are secretly aligned with infiltrators
from shadowy Kio-Kyo.

Kio-Kyo is a far distant land, hidden in the northwest corner of the Known Internet. The
Kio-Kyans themselves are men just like any other in the Web, but are kept utterly separate from
the larger Internet by their rulers. All access to Kio-Kyo is blocked by a colossal curtain of
eldritch fire, conjured through unknown sorcery, that stretches across the ocean for miles upon
miles—the Great Firewall. Only the Deep Web, the haunted void of mist and water, interrupts
this fiery barrier. No ship can pass through it, meaning that only smugglers willing to brave the
Deep can report what lies beyond. Even then, these adventurers must tread carefully, for the
powers that rule Kio-Kyo are jealous ones that forbid outsiders on pain of death—only fellow
criminals will meet and trade with foreigners.

From what we have learned from these illicit encounters, Kio-Kyo is a land of
unfathomable wealth and natural beauty, ruled by merchant-princes in cities like Jao-Mal, Jai-
Dai, So-Hu, Wei-Bo, and the greatest of them: Bai-Du, a city of wonders found in the fertile
floodplains of the Ten-Cen River. It is unknown if Kio-Kyo is a large island or a small continent,
or if it is merely one small part of a much larger landmass that lies hidden behind the Mountains
of Mao. But it is known that their environment is much different than our own. The seas
themselves behind the Great Firewall are not blue but red, stained by a blood-crimson seaweed
that is present everywhere. And in the night sky, all familiar stars and constellations fall away.
Since the stars are noted as a connection to the entities of the World Beyond the Web, this
would suggest that their gods and cultures would be completely different from our own.

Kio-Kyo and its inhabitants remain an enigma for most in the Known Internet, but that
has not stopped many from speculating on their motives. Based on what little is known, the Kio-
Kyans are ruled first by their merchant guilds but also by a God-King and Celestial Court above
any mortal power. It is unknown if this ruler exists in this world or the World Beyond, but there
are emerging theories that this person or entity seeks to influence matters within the Known
Internet for some inscrutable purpose.

This theory is not yet proven, though Mod analysts are continuing to investigate. All the
same, many in Reddit fear Kio-Kyan influence regardless, believing that Kio-Kyan spies and
infiltrators walk among them. Unlike with the Vkayssons, whose attempts at subverting other
sites are well documented, there is only scant evidence so far that the Kio-Kyans play a direct
role in Reddit, and it is difficult to tell which rumors have merit and which are mere
scaremongering. Groups like the Red Hats frequently use Kio-Kyans as objects of their
propaganda, and already there have been major skirmishes in the city—like one of the more
recent Blizzard Riots in the Gamer subreddits—over the issue.

Some claim that Sine Tangent is secretly an outpost of Kio-Kyan agents, citing the
unusual prevalence of radical political leanings among its members. Some, however, have
alternatively suggested that the island is merely a front for Tank Tendency, an extremist offshoot
of the Rose Widdari known for entryism and violent actions. As of now, there is insufficient
evidence for either conclusion, though rumblings from Solomon Island suggest that the Mods
are beginning to examine more closely.

******

The Inner Subs

“Life is not a foreign country, infinite and quiet”

— “E38,” SoGreatAndPowerful
 Outside the tumult of the Blue Harbors are the many other subreddits in the western
district of Reddit, less raucous perhaps but no less important. Clustered around the banks of
Lake Tyson, most of these subreddits were once rolling meadows or tree-glades, where
Redditors rarely tread in the old days of the city. Now, most of those meadows and forests are
gone, save for a handful of parks, and in their place are subreddits devoted to craftworks,
artisans, scholarships, and mystics. Interests of all kinds are catered to within the Inner Subs,
from the mundane to the magical to the mysterious, and those who visit should approach with
equal parts curiosity and caution.

Lake Tyson and the University

“You know, I’m something of a natural philosopher myself . . .”

At the navel of Reddit’s western half there is the blue expanse of Lake Tyson, a sizable
body of water flanked on all sides by parks, greenery, and mighty subreddits. No stream feeds
the lake, and out of it no river is fed—not visibly, at least. Most natural philosophers believe that
it proceeds to and from some underground water source, likely an unseen branch of the
Fronting. It is those self-same natural philosophers who might be the greatest curiosity
surrounding Lake Tyson, however. For it is on the banks of that wide, busy lake that the city’s
subreddits of science and learning gather beneath the towers of the University.

True to its name, many of the subreddits contained in the panoply of the University are
dedicated to teaching. Historians, artists, and other academics can be found lecturing in the
voting-classrooms within, but far more of these lessons focus on the “stems”—the fields of
science and engineering that “blossom” into the many gadgets and mechanical devices that
Redditors love. Denizens of the city tend to espouse a nigh-fanatical faith in the fruits of these
sciences, as seen in subreddit districts such as Watchwind and Elon Avenue.

To be clear, however, most who spend their time in the University are not academics—
not professionally, at least. The teachers, researchers, and inventors are outnumbered a
thousand-to-one or more by lurkers, and this shows in their posting standards as well. Some
departments, particularly the historians, are exceedingly strict about allowing anyone to present
their views for voting, but others are remarkably lax, allowing laymen to post as easily as
scholars. Make no mistake, the University is still more forum than classroom, subject to the
same voting and the same whims as any other subreddit, and as likely to produce sciolism as
scholarship.

The University campus comprises several dozen schoolhouses, lecture halls,

administrative offices, and dormitories. Their appearances vary based on the departments they
house: some old, stately, and adorned with creeping ivy, while others are sleek and modern.
Two buildings on campus are particularly famous. First is Kruger Hall, home to the stem-studies
departments. Its excellent funding reflects the outside amount of attention Reddit pays to the
stems, but the classes held within also have a low barrier for entry. Second is Dun Tower, the
older and less maintained home of various humanities departments. Students here are fewer,
but are also more carefully chosen and more rigorously tested.

Outside the bounds of the University itself, but still within its power, are a number of
subreddits dedicated to spreading memetica derived from the school’s teachings. Most of these
are of middling importance, but a number have risen to some prominence in the Allfront.
Ironically, it is the notoriously straight-laced Department of History that has birthed the most
popular of the “academic memetic,” producing a highly potent if repetitive memetica .

Cybramancer’s Guildhall

“When the Code of the World is changed, it is akin to a letter being changed in a word, which
then changes the word, which then changes the sentence. Thus, all meaning of the original
information is changed also, and the original intended meaning is lost . . .The way of the
cybramancer is to rend data and change the Code, so as to rewrite the world as the user sees
fit. Consider, for the reasons above, why it is then forbidden.”

Across from the University, on the southern shores of Lake Tyson, there stands an
equally great but far more mysterious structure. The rounded dome and spiralling minarets are
huge and mighty, yet unadorned. The basalt walls are topped with iron spikes, and no fountains
fill its vast yards, nor will one see any chattering crowds walking its greens. In fact, very few
people are ever seen entering, and fewer still are seen to leave.

The only concession to ornament around this odd, ominous palace are the symbols
carved into its sides. Strange, twisted letters, made of spindly lines and geometric circles,
chased in silver. Few can read them. Few can even name the tongue in which they are written.
And yet all know what the appearance of those runes means: cybramancers.

Beneath the massive dome, there is sorcery at work. Or so people believe: not many
ever see the inside of a Cybramancer’s Guildhall. But one can imagine the shadowy chambers,
the maze-like vaults descending deep into the earth, the hooded robes and tattooed arms of
those dwelling within. Members of the Cybramancer’s Guild gather within, to meet, to debate,
and to live. Raised by ancient pacts of fellowship and submission, the Cybramancer’s Guild is
one of the universal arms of the Moderators, given leave to track, regulate, and constrain those
that practice the dread powers. Identified cybramancers are registered and tattooed, and put
under careful watch by Guild agents. Rogue cybramancers who refuse the aegis of Mod power
are hunted down and executed, for no more terrifying fugitive can exist than one possessed with
such unnatural and dangerous abilities.
 Along with their Moderator partners, many belonging to the Guild are involved in the
research and discussion of new coding and programming techniques, which might be used to
refine Mod technology or create new inventions. Others are merely passersby, staying with their
fellow sorceries before continuing onto their travels to their mysterious tomb-cities hidden in the
furthest north, or perhaps to parts unknown.

Some scattered reports refer to more secretive activities still that occur within the
Guildhall. With the rise of extremist movements across the Web, the Moderator Authority turns
increasingly to less orthodox methods of combating increasingly ruthless foes. Some believe
that the Guildhall has become a center of secret Mod training groups, specializing in counter-
operations and combat against those who use magic, or in harnessing it themselves to defeat
their enemies. And what of the legends of the Guildhall being used as a vault, a safehold for
rare and dangerous magical artifacts, or perhaps a prison for sorcerers too dangerous to set
free but too valuable to feed the gallows?

None can really say what lies behind those sealed doors. But in a hall of sorcery, surely
anything is possible.

The Cringercall and the Euphoric Ring

“People are so sensitive about their precious ‘sky-fairies.’ Is it my fault that your imaginary
friends are so clearly illogical? Intolerant, too. If you ask me, we should ban them all.”

In a site of many wonders, the Redditors still have a certain love for the unpleasant
things in life. One of the best known examples is a morbid curiosity with all things awkward,
unsociable, and otherwise “cringeworthy.” Many examples of this material, made sometimes
ironically but more often with utter sincerity, can be found in the Cringercall district, particularly
in the descending galleries of the Shirking Stairs.

Nearby is a network of subreddits that are both distinct from but reminiscent of the
Cringercall. While some of the content posted around the Shirking Stairs may have been made
in jest, there is no hint of irony in this neighboring district. Those who call it home are fanatics,
an order of edgelords and blademasters infamous throughout the city. They name themselves
the “Militant Enlightened,” and believe it is their duty to spread the boom of their superior
intellect throughout the Web, crushing the gods of their foes beneath their sandaled feet. To
everyone else, they are mockingly regarded as the “Militant Euphoric,” a gang of self-important
egotists who flail from one desperate stunt to the next. Given that the latter name is more
popular, it is little surprise that this circle of subreddits has become known as the Euphoric Ring.

The Militant Enlightened are iconoclasts and self-worshippers who claim loudly and often
to despise all gods. Through their rituals and the reading of certain literature, the Enlightened
believe their minds too strong and their knowledge too great to be confined by belief in anything
other than themselves. Their actions are framed as battles in a great war, waged against all who
keep their superiors from reaching their appointed place, and which will end only when the last
of the enemy idols is smashed and destroyed.

In practice, what the Militants actually do is brood in their subreddits, so they might
spend their days swapping stories of how they fought the weak-minded recently, nodding at
their own opinions, and complaining of perceived unfairness visited against them. When they
emerge, it is usually to brigade someone who made the mistake of mentioning religion, quickly
smash some idols the Militants conveniently brought with them, and then quickly flee back to the
Ring congratulating themselves.

Though largely ineffectual now, the Militants were not always so. In past years, the
Militant Enlightened were one of the most famed and celebrated parties of Reddit, receiving not
only constant exposure on the Allfront, but a seat on the Default Assembly as well. As Militant
power grew, however, so too did their vapidness and ego, which soon far outstripped any
bounds of self-awareness. A series of scandals and embarrassments called the Black Euphoria
led to their expulsion from the Assembly, an insult which they added to their long list of grudges.
Since then, many regard the subreddit as a classic example of the Closed Circle Problem
ruining a community, and avoid Militant lairs accordingly.

This is not to say that the Militant strength is totally gone. Many on Reddit still hold faith
with this sword-society, and their skill in arms should not be downplayed. The Militants believe
themselves to be greatly oppressed by their fellow citizens, and thus train in their fighting-rings
to repel the inevitable attacks of the nonbelievers. Their fighting school is a distinctive style
known as akshully , which revolves around waiting for the initial strike and then delivering a
single deadly riposte to the enemy.

Akshully is a sword-based art, and the Militants will study the blade with great fervor,
dueling with curved Animen swords of thousand-folded steel until they achieve the rank of
blademaster. It is but one of many titles the Militants give themselves, with others in the
hierarchy holding ranks like “quote-poet” or “godbotherer” with pride. Their highest leaders can
be seen at a glance. The uniform of the Militant Enlightened is distinctive, with their sandaled
feet, many-pocketed pants, hair tied into knots, and bearded chins. But it is the masters of the
order, who go about with their heads covered by their hats of office, who command the most
attention. Each of these elders—the “fedoralords”—have completed their training to the utmost,
professing mastery of the sword and the texts alike.
 The Euphoric Ring is a series of several subreddits that all serve the Militant cause. The
centerpiece of the Euphoric Ring is their great headquarters, the Hall of Faces. Lining the walls
of this building are busts and profiles, each depicting a unique face. When rising through the
ranks, Militants are expected to craft a likeness of their own, one which they can extol and
venerate in the place of the gods they have grown beyond. The design of both this central hall
and the larger neighborhoods favors the ornate, making their architecture as complex as
possible to show their skills. Because the Militant Enlightened believe themselves
knowledgeable in all things, they will never consult with experts on how to raise these buildings,
driving concerns that many of them are structurally unsound.

Despite their loudly professed hatred for gods and faiths, the Militants can be found amid
the ranks of many fandoms and cults across Reddit. Militants themselves insist that their
membership in such organizations is “different” in their cases, for some unspecified reason. A
large number are allied with the Gamers or Animen, but a disturbing number have pledged to
subversive causes. Bad blood exists between the Militant Enlightened and the Blurrite
Oppressed, stemming back to incidents like the clash at the Elevated Gate. As such, many have
declared their loyalty to the Red Pillar, and spend their days plotting in the Kia and Tia
subreddits.

This has proven itself to be a problem in the larger Cringercall as well. Subreddits will
spring up, often “ironically” posting support for the Reds, only to be overtaken by sincere
supporters within months and then banned once they grow out of control. The most noteworthy
of these was originally built by an anarchist cell as a zone for rule-free posting, only to be
subverted by Red agents and converted into one of their memetic strongholds prior to its
banning. Like many banned subreddits, numerous “pop-up” subs have emerged to take its
place, and then yet more to replace those subreddits once they are banned in turn. Most of
these reprobate subreddits live and die in the fetid slums of the Red Cringe Ring, spreading
propaganda against foreigners, Oathbound, and anyone else who opposes their nativist cause.

Watchwind

“That bot just asked for wine and called my mother a dumb whore. Sentient, or what?”

Redditors profess to have a strong, if sometimes superficial, love of the natural sciences.
The University is the most prestigious seat for learning and studying these sciences, but for
practical applications one would be better off leaving those scholarly halls and walking down
Stems Bend into the Watchwind District: the home of gadgeteers, tinkerers, and gear-weavers
of all kinds.

Watchwind is the realm of engineers, both professional and amateur. Some of them
solve practical problems, aiding civic projects with technical know-how. More often, their skills
are used for amusements, for Redditors are much taken with high-tech trinkets and complex
baubles. Walking through Watchwind, through streets humming with codespun machinery and
overshadowed by billowing steam, one can find oddities of all kinds: bronze-cast automatic
orreries, arcane navigators, timekeepers of rare design, and hundreds of other prizes and cast-
offs for any task imaginable.

The most astonishing of these devices, however, are the botworks. Harnessing the
powers of engineering, alchemy, and thaumaturgical coding, these machines are able to lurch to
life, to move and even speak as though they possessed an independent mind. It is an illusion:
however complex, they have no greater will nor intelligence than any marionette. Nevertheless,
they are considered powerful tools, used widely by subreddits and fandoms across the city-site.
Some groups, such as the Freefolk, utilize these devices as a way to spread their memetica ,
with the botwork machines that act as mechanical idols that can respond to calls and prayers
with programmed responses.

Watchwind is a confusing jumble of subreddits, with much overlap between them. Some
of the more important and notable locations include:

● Elon Avenue: The long, tunnel-like street that bores past Watchwind is home to
the subreddits of “lightning-riders” and “explorers of void-space.” This is an
innovative, but changeable and eccentric group consisting of various auto-
assembler design-mystics, crypto-futurist shamans, and cyberpunk
technofetishists. It is named for an idol from the World Beyond, one whose
alleged personality seems crossed between eccentric brilliance, cynical egotism,
and troller-style baiting. Off-kilter though it may be, this idol is nevertheless
worshipped with some fervor by those in Reddit, with an eclectic following that
stretches from Watchwind to the libertine gulches of Reaction’s Rest. The largest
of this cult's subreddits is the Teslan Halls, a network of circuitous streets near
Red Pennant Square.

● Street of Stars: A wide, expansive path, dotted with subreddits dedicated to the
study of the heavens and its objects. Tall observation towers rise here, crowned
with great Etsian eyes—devices of metal and glass that can extend vision and
glimpse far-away things—as well as chambers where men imbibe and dream of
foreign worlds. Star-lore is much in demand across the Known Internet, as the
stars act as a kind of psychic gateway to the World Beyond, allowing mystics and
astrologers to read morrows yet to come or the intent of their fandom idols. Even
the paving tiles are bound up with this study—under the night sky, the strange
stones that make up the road sparkle with the light of stars.
 ● Street of Gears: At the center of Watchwind, the Street of Gears is ever churning,
ever noisy, with the clangs of metal and the whistling of valves heard on all sides.
Here can be found the foundries and workshops, forever churning out the
complex gadgets and doodads that Redditors adore. Most notable of these are
the great botwork factoriums, which produce the automatons seen in subreddits
across Reddit.

The skill and care that goes into such machines cannot be overstated. The most
famous uses of them are found in fandom territory, such as the King of the
Freefolk or the many idols of the Comican made during the Thanosian
Ascendency. Increasingly, though, political cults and even independent
subreddits have begun purchasing these strange devices. One of the strangest
examples is found within Subsim: an experimental subreddit north of Watchwind,
which simulates an entire district, people and all, entirely through complex
botwork mechanism.

● The Worthless Works: A curious feature of Watchwind, these particular subreddit

and factorium is in many ways the exact opposite of its peers on the Street of
Gears. Half of its territory is akin to a botwork graveyard, into which poorly-made
or malfunctioning automatons are thrown. Closer inspection, however, reveals
that the denizens of this subreddit set out deliberately to make machines as
broken, pointless, or needlessly complex as possible, simply for the joy of having
made them. While the subreddit as a whole encompasses several workshops,
the largest and best known is the Giertz Center, filled to the brim with needless
machines to greet those that enter.

Eyerel Park

“It’s amazing how miserable the world let’s you be if you wrap it up in being funny.”

An oasis of green in a vast urban landscape, Eyerel Park is a scenic mix of open fields
and pleasant greeneries, hosting much traffic from citizens trying to escape from the bustle of
city life. Because those citizens are still Redditors, though, much of the Park also plays host to a
variety of memetic communities sharing a similar culture. The Eyerel memetica is primarily self-
referential, using common memetic formats or fandomic content to express their minds and
moods at a given moment. The memeslingers of Eyerel depend greatly on understanding not
merely popular trends or attitudes, but also common sentiments among Redditors, crafting their
memetica to fit the pervading emotional consensus in the city.

Of late, that consensus has been one of growing dread, listlessness, and uncertainty,
and the nature of the Eyerel has changed accordingly. The memeslinger of Eyerel have
increasingly become purveyors of dark words and dark deeds. Like many southron cultures,
Redditors have a taste for grim jokes, and will often make light of death and depression. As the
stability of the Web has come undone, such black humor has become more common, until it is
impossible to tell whether those joking about despair are truly making light or calling for help.
This growing ennui among Redditors, evidenced by the rise of groups like the Rose Widdari or
the Doomers, both fuels and is fueled by the rising power of the Eyerel memetica .

The most grim memeslingers of Eyerel Park cluster in the eaves of a forest rooted in the
park’s northwest corner. The Bleakwood has a reputation as a suicide’s forest, where men enter
without seeking return, but it is again unclear how much of this stems just from insensitive
japing. Many Redditors have taken the symbol of this gnarled and tangled forest as their own,
crafting its branches into wooden medallions that depict hanging corpses and weeping mothers.
They display these grim tokens cheerfully, but some have claimed that those doing so are well-
practiced in the art of laughing without joy, and smiling with their mouths alone.

Longlife District

“Doest thou even hoist, brother?”

While Redditors do not enjoy a reputation for fitness—physical, emotional, or otherwise

—there are those that seek to break the common mold. While others in Reddit seek power
through politics or memetics, those in the Longlife District prefer strength in the more literal
sense. The subreddits of Longlife, connected via Crews Street, ring with the sound of training
weights and time-keeping bells, which the denizens use to keep the hours and plan their
routines. Routine is important in these subreddits, for they each observe their own strict
regimens and lifestyles meant to hone themselves for any challenge.

The form these regimens take vary. Many of the subreddits around Crews Street seek to
achieve physical perfection, training their bodies and building physiques that would make a
Stand User blush. Others are ascetics, dedicating themselves to fasts or abstinence from
worldly pleasures, honing their minds and spirits through detachment. Either way, they are
demanding practices that breed hearty people.

Longlife itself is enclosed within a ringwall that encompasses the northwest shore of
Lake Tyson, with its most famous entrance being the jealously-guarded Keeper’s Gate. The
communities within all maintain some form of exclusivity, though some are certainly more
welcoming than others. Each group is distinct in its beliefs and practices, with the more
important of these being:

● Gainsayers: The most popular community in Longlife, the Gainsayers are

physical trainers and bodybuilders. Their days are dominated by ritualistic
 exercises meant to hone their muscles and endurance. With repeated training
alongside their spotter-partners, talented Gainsayers achieve mighty strength
and power, able to lift great weights and bear burdens that lesser men cannot.

These exercises are all part of the larger Path of Gains that those loyal to the
group follow. It is a curious mix of proving both physical and rhetorical prowess,
for there is a strong performative aspect to many Gainsayer customs, often
requiring one to regale his fellows with tales of how a Gainsayer went from weak
to strong or cataloging their progress in the Path of Gains. The exact route that
the Path of Gains takes, however, is the source of much controversy, with near
constant clashes over the minutiae of diets and training practices occupying an
outsize portion of a Gainsayer’s time. Prominent members of the Gainsayers are
colloquially called Swells, but their chiefs style themselves as Kings (regardless
of gender), the pretense being that their own bodies are kingdoms unto
themselves.

● Nofahp: Red zones are a common sight in Reddit, with libertine thinking and the
lasciviousness of opeers being what they are. The most famous Redditor group
opposing them lies in the Longlife District: the famed hand-mystics of Nofahp.
The Nofahp are a peculiar sect with an emphasis on self-denial and self-
discipline otherwise unheard of in the city outside rigid Moderati doctrine. Red
zone content and carnality are disliked and dismissed by the hand-mystics, who
believe that such practices rob the mind of focus and the body of strength. By
withdrawing from these distractions, and instead focusing on certain meditations
and breathing techniques, the Nofahp are rewarded with quickness in both
thought and action. These effects are less noticeable in novices, but true masters
of this ascetic school are capable of incredible feats, able to see great distances,
move with incredible speed, bound to impossible heights, and balance their
entire weight on the head of a pin.

These masters are few in number, and most live as hermits. Some can be found
in the Nofahp hermitages—called “solitudes”—of the Longlife District, living as
anchorites willingly entombed in basement cells, while others can be found
dotted across the city, wandering the streets or perched in unlikely places. When
a Nofahp hand-mystic chooses to roost somewhere, he can remain there,
unmoving, for months on end—seemingly without eating or drinking.

There is little sign of evil amid the Nofahp, good-humored as they are, but many
have noted with suspicion their similarity to certain strains of Red Pillar anti-coom
thought or M’gotow mysticism. The Nofahp themselves deny such ties
vehemently, but the distinction between celibate and Celibite is not always a
 clear one. Many worry about rumors of dread powers amongst Red Pillar
infiltrators and Nautalmen pirates, to say the least of the infamous wizards of
Twicechan, who hold court in their mountain of power, work spells with virgin
blood, and drink dream-wine from human skulls.

● Hydrobrethren: The Hydrobrethren are water-worshippers, believing it to be not

only a fount of life but holiness as well. Members of the tribe will baptize
themselves in freshwater, and believe that water properly prepared and blessed
is a cure for any number of ailments. Neither wine nor ale nor any other beverage
has purchase with the Hydrobrethren; rather than waste away in taverns, they
spend their time on the waves and shores.

This makes them keen sailors, but only in certain places: the Hydrobrethren will
neither sail nor live upon any water they cannot drink, and will thus avoid the
salts seas whenever possible. As such, their numbers in Reddit are divided
between the gentle waves of Lake Tyson and the upstream areas of the Fronting
River, dwelling in floating towns and attended by their canteen-priests.

● Ossuarians: In a district of oddities, the Ossuarians still stand out for

strangeness. Their sect carries an obsession with strength, not in muscle or
sinew as others along Crew’s Street do, but in their living bones. Their training
yards are filled with stone pillars, against which the Ossuarians bash their limbs
in endless drills, gradually strengthening them through the beatings. In their mess
halls, trainees drink not beer or water, but only a strange potion called the Milk of
Binding. The contents of this concoction are unknown, but combining the brew
with the brutal training regiment makes the Ossuarians’ bones as hard as iron. If
one of the trainees should fail by breaking a limb, they are expelled from the
order immediately, but if they persist long enough their bones will harden until
one of their strikes cracks and shatters the solid stone pillars on which they train,
whereupon they will be raised to the rank of a full member.

These Unbroken Ones are doughty fighters, using their steel-strong limbs as
devastating weapons, with punches, kicks, and even headbutts that hit as hard
as iron clubs and crack plate armor with a single blow. Their name is taken from
their headquarters, the Ossuary, also called the Palace of Bones, where the very
walls are lined with the skulls and skeletons of their former members—in which
not one crack can be found.

● Street of Sport: Though located outside the walls of Longlife, the neighborhoods
along the Street of Sport are often counted as the spiritual kin of those within,
obsessed as they are with various games of physical skill. The subreddits are
 split between Players, who actually compete, and Observers, who merely watch
what unloads and offer their (very loud) commentary. Redditors follow a large
number of different sports, including ritual combats endorsed by Gamer
subgroups, but those on the Street of Sport tend to be somewhat more mundane.
All of the usual games played across the Web are popular in Reddit as well—
handegg, icepunch, baskethop, and others—but the influence of Channic culture
has made divegrass one of the most prominent.

Artists, Craftsmen, and Hobbies

“How is this art? I could have made that! I didn’t, but still!”

Redditors, if nothing else, are a people with particular tastes. The nature of the
subreddits and the Closed Circle Problem is such that all things eventually gravitate towards a
certain sameness, whether it be in philosophy, humor, politics, or anything else. Everyone has
pretenses of being experts, but few are willing to devote the time needed to becoming one,
relying instead on widely upvoted posts that can render down facts and arguments to the
simplest form possible. This is why sloganeering and memetic platforms dominate Reddit
politics, allowing for groups with loud preachings but few practical solutions to gain enormous
followings.

Art, crafts, and hobbies are no exception to this culture. Most of the subreddits dedicated
to these pursuits are found in the north and northwest corner of the city, though their products
may be found far and wide. Some of these subreddits spend their time making works of their
own, while others are simply enthusiasts that follow certain aesthetics or trends. Either way,
many of these communities serve as thus most Redditors feel perfectly qualified to judge the
finer things in life along their peers—because those peers all agree with them.

The artistic subreddits deserve the first note, for they are ones most commonly seen on
the Allfront. The Redditor attitude towards the arts is a boldly egalitarian one: that art should
never be confusing, complex, or impractical in any way. Technical skill in making art is of the
utmost importance. Portraits so lifelike they appear real, or sculptures made so small as to
require unusually deft hands are but a few examples, as Redditors believe that the length of
time and difficulty involved in making art is the best measure of its value. One can look to the
works of Ross Road and Diya for ample demonstration of what Redditors want to see.

Abstract art, on the other hand, is usually viewed as a waste of time at best, or a scam at
worst. Anything that strays outside the comfortable norms of fandom content or the brief
diversions of the Whoad typically goes unappreciated in Reddit, and becomes the subject of
jeerings in the Deludes subreddit. Craftworks that are merely ugly or confusing more often find
their homes in subreddits like Diwhy or Atabuge.

On the subject of the odd and unappealing, it would pay to mention one of the major
sights of the Craftman’s District. At the center of this area is a building wholly unlike those
around it: a narrow, jet-black tower of great height and sinister aspect. The thin body and
branching spikes of this strange structure make it a jarring contrast to the neighborhoods
surrounding it, and certainly it does not compare well to the pleasant pastels of the Wes Village
or the cozy aesthetics of Comfort Nook. One would think that the locals would try and remove it,
but all who tried have turned away baffled, for it seems invulnerable to mortal tools and rooted
so deep into the earth that none can find the bottom. Small wonder it is named the Tower of
Malice by the nearby Redditors.

The Tower offers no means of entrance, and there would be little space inside even if it
did. No one is certain who created it; some historians postulate that it actually predates Redditor
settlement. Some bold observers claim that it was made by the same mysterious architecture
that raised Site 19 in Thalass Deep, though there’s little reason to believe that. Both the origins
and purpose of this monument therefore remain a mystery.

******
 The Fandom Hills

“It's the light that guides us, honey

Unreceptive nine times out of ten
Wishes don't find us, we find them betwixt the silence
Only lonely souls seek to find every sign, every sign
There's something holy”
— “E38,” SoGreatandPowerful

The eastern districts of Reddit lie across the White Fork of the Fronting River, upon the
largest of the many islands jutting out into Saying Sea. It is a landscape unlike any other in the
city: rather than level fields or placid lakeshores, Reddit’s east-side is crowned with high, rolling
hills that rise tall above the streets and buildings. Atop these hills, and racing along their sides
as well, are grand, elaborate temples: the homes and local shrines of the various fandoms that
have influence in the city. While these communities of monasticism and worship are spread all
across the Known Internet, many govern subreddits of great power and prominence within
Reddit, controlling large swaths of territory and the absolute loyalty of their followers within.

Fandoms are great and powerful things, reared up in worship of shapes from the World
Beyond the Web. It is well-known that the World Beyond is occupied by higher beings whose
thoughts and motives are distant and unknowable. On occasion, however, the World Beyond
and World Within rotate close enough as to allow glimpses from our world to the next, in the
form of ecstatic visions or vivid prophecies that can be viewed by the faithful. Around these
visions spring the fandoms: organized orders of devotees sworn to their respective works and
idols, bound into zealous communities of friends and rivals alike.
 The fandoms of the Web are divided into two categories: the Greater and the Lesser.
Great Fandoms are deeply influential, widely venerated groups who have been recognized by
the Moderator Authority and are given special privileges as a result. Several dozen of these
exist, though not all equal in size and strength. The Lesser Fandoms, on the other hand, are
bands that in one way or another fall short of Authority standards, often being too small or
esoteric. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of self-proclaimed fandoms in the Web, be they
Greater and the Lesser, and nearly all of them have at least some presence in the high hills of
Reddit.

Gamers Hill

“They targeted Gamers. Gamers!”

Upon the largest hill is the largest fandom: the Gamers, and the drama that comes with
them. An enormous power across much of the Web, the Gamer fandom has come to represent
both the best and absolute worst the Known Internet has to offer, and their dominance in Reddit
is unparalleled. Few in Reddit can match them for numbers, wealth, corruption, or cruelty.

In truth, though, calling them the largest fandom is itself misleading. The Gamers are a
conglomerate fandom, comprised of dozens or hundreds of lesser fandoms who gather beneath
a single name and banner for the sake of clout and power. To speak of Gamers as being one
community is a polite fiction only. The truth is that there have been more wars fought within the
Gamers than most fandoms have ever waged on foreign foe.

Unlike many other fandoms, the nature of the Gamer creator-sources from the World
Beyond has instilled within them a spirit of belligerent competition, rather than cooperation.
Many of these Gamer subfandoms sort their followers into strict hierarchies called teers , with
effteer being the lowest and essteer being the highest. All honors, respect, and privileges are
based upon one’s teer . Obsessed with rank, victory, and advancement, Gamers will attempt
various outlandish ways to earn honors among their peers. Some of these rites are harmless,
such as cooking-mothers, rhythm rituals, or dating simulations.

Most, however, take some form of ritual combat, which can end by first blood or first
death of the participants. Being so prickly over matters of personal respect, Gamers are known
for being quick to take offense and willing to challenge others to duels over even the most trivial
matters, leading to much bloodshed amongst them. Moderators broadly classify these bouts of
ritual combat as “fire-feuds,” which are legal so long as they are carefully observed by Mod
agents to prevent civilian casualties. Anyone walking about Gamer’s Hill will no doubt see
dozens of these minor duels, with participants battling according to their fandom’s various
fighting techniques.

Outside of these commonplace duels, however, there exist much larger fault lines within
the Gamer fandom, which have provoked far greater wars and struggles. Some of these are
worth noting, for these Gamer conflicts have brought much grief to the city in recent years.

First, there are the wars between the Pureborn and the Consollites. The Pureborn of
Reddit are the same that rule the Dream-City of Gaben in the far north, who induce visions of
their fandom creator-sources through steaming mists of potent incense and rituals like the
Summer Sale. The Consollites, however, are idolators, worshiping and hallucinating at the altars
of their console-shrines. The schism between these two sects is ancient and bloody, waged
eternally across the mountains of the Isle of Steam and in the streets of Reddit too. Pureborn
march from their great battlestations, while nimble switch-mobile squadrons bare their swords
for the Consollites. Moderators, well-used to this conflict, are generally able to keep it contained
to the standard rituals of fire-feud, though things typically get out of hand during the rise of new
console generations.

Harder to control are the riots. Gamers have a complex relationship not only with their
fellows, but with their creator-sources as well. To them, the World Beyond is filled not only with
their fandom idols that seek to bring them content, but also with demons that act to hinder them.
The fury that these entities ignite in Gamers cannot be overstated, and is the source of near
constant uprisings among the followers on Gamer’s Hill. To date, there have been almost a
dozen riots due to the psychic influence of the demon Blizzard, and more beyond counting
attributed to Eë the Most-Despised. The hate-shrines to these forces are filled with screaming
tributaries almost daily, with the hope that these cries of anger and anguish will ward against
future incursions.

Finally, and most disastrous of all, is the Culture War, for the Gamers more than most
have been consumed heart and soul by this titanic conflict. While Gamers need little excuse to
loath others, the greatest depths of their terror and paranoia are saved for the Oppressed. Vocal
portions of the Gamer fandom fear and despise the social justicars of the Oppressed to such a
degree that almost any and every ill or misfortune is blamed on them. The Great Gamer War
stemmed almost directly from these fears, beginning with the Quinn Riots and then exploding
into a conflict that would tear the fandom apart.

In recent years, many of the old distinctions of the fandom—Pureborn versus Consollite,
subfandom versus rival subfandom—have fallen away. All that matters now is the Culture War,
and what side a person chooses. To be sure, many Gamers happily align themselves with the
Oathbound, eager to combat the Reds and their growing power. But many others are subject to
dark rumors, alleging that huge swaths of the Gamer fandom are allies to banned groups like
the Red Pillar, Volk wehraboos, or Frennic harlequins. There is grave concern among
Moderators that when the Red Hats march upon the city once again, the heart of their strike will
come not from the Pathologue Bridge, but from Gamer’s Hill.

The Gamer fandom is comprised of endless subgroups, many of which are hostile to one
another. Because of the huge number of Gamer subfandoms, they are commonly categorized
into genre-clans, the largest of which are detailed below.

● Adventurers: Nomads and wanderers, the various Adventurer fandoms focus on

exploring, questing, and other acts of errantry. The most widely popular in Reddit
are the Elderians, specifically the Dragonborn sect that has dominated the
memetica of Reddit for years. Smaller groups within the Elderians exist as well,
such as the nostalgia-baiters in the Cult of Vivec or the Lore Scholars that peer
over dusty and oft-contradictory scrolls of knowledge. Even these more elitist
sects, however, cannot escape the sheer strength in numbers and notability
wielded by the Dragonborn and their half-ironic worship of the Godtodd and his
endlessly repeating psalms.

While the Elderians have numerical superiority, the Witchers—their closest rivals
—rival them in fanatical devotion. Witchers do much of the same wandering as
the Elderians, but pride themselves mostly as hunters, particularly of large and
dangerous prey. Witcher quarries—be they rocs of the north, sea-beasts of the
south, or grim half-dead things found in the dark places of the Web—tend to be
deadly in life and valuable in death, with high prices paid in bounties to those
brave enough to claim them. Witchers typically stock themselves with entire
collections of potions, poultices, and poisons that can give them an edge in these
brutal hunts. The Witchers inspire an extremely strong following among
Redditors, with worship of Geraldo the Red being so prevalent that a mocking
counter-cult has arisen in satirical subreddits around Gamer’s Circle.

While the Elderians and Witchers tend to be solitary bunch, others among the
Adventurers follow the traditions of the Em-Emoh to the north, travelling together
in clans and guilds. By far the largest and most powerful of these in the Web are
the Warcrafters, a massive and ravenous fandom that has devoured and
subsumed any competitor that challenged it. Many claim that the Warcrafters are
past their peak, more concerned with playing cards in their hearth-halls than
growing their fandom further, but many made who made similar claims before
saw the Warcrafters expand yet again and destroy those that opposed them.

The only Em-Emoh group in Reddit competing with the Warcrafters are the
Runescapers—cruder in their iconography, but with a strong sense of devotion.
 The Runscapers are a rare breed of fandom in which a subsect has largely
subsumed the entire fandom, at least in Reddit. Once, the Seventhist sect was a
relatively minor group of hardcore traditionalits, but they now account for the
majority of the fandom’s activities in the city. The lives of the Seventhist
Runescapers are dominated by routine, completing endless, tedious tasks in
service of self-improvement. Those in the city hang around their Great Exchange
on Gamer’s Hill, but a significant number live outside the walls, preferring the
northern marshlands known as the Grinding Swamp. Why they chose to settle in
such an impoverished place devoid of useful resources is chalked up to religious
devotion, with those living in the Swamp viewing their self-exile as a sign of
greater tenacity and worth than the soft city-dwellers.

● Warriors: Where the Adventurers define themselves through errantry, the

Warriors do so by combat. Fire-feuds are seen by the Warrior Gamers as not
merely a means of settling disputes or avenging honor but as a form of worship,
with ritualized dueling being one of most important precepts of their faiths. Similar
to the Adventurers, Warrior Gamers tend to be split between solo-fighters and
team-based ones. For the former, the Codmen and various subfandoms of the
Bungie Accord tend to play the largest roles, co-mingling amongst themselves
but largely self-reliant. Both, however, are thought to be past their prime by
common Redditors, in spite of their numerous iterations of novel scriptures.

The most attention is given to those following the “battle royale” theology,
however. The Apex have risen high on the wings of this new theological tract, but
by far the most successful are the Fortniters, who exploded onto the Reddit
scene and have garnered both success and resentment ever since. The
Fortniters represent a melding of battle royale fighting-styles with the building
prowess of the Miner’s Craftworks, a combination that proved greatly appealing
among many of the younger residents of the city. Many others, however, watch
the prominence of the Fortniters with suspicion, and watch their ritual dances
with contempt.

The team-based Warriors are a diverse group, with many competing fandoms.
The old rival of the Codmen, the Soldiers of Battlefield, have carved out a
respectable niche through their recent alliance with the Star Warriors, while the
Siege Operators are the most skilled in matters of both guarding and breaching
fixed fortifications. The most popular likely remains the Overwatchmen, who
maintain their vigils in Tracer’s Fortress and work in tight-knit, well-funded, and
competitive groups.
 One of the earliest pioneers of the team-based theology, however, remains
active in Reddit, operating out of their stronghold at Newell Point. This is an
ancient warrior band born out from the Valve Dynasts of the Isles of Steam, the
same who guard Teem’s Fortress in the dream-city of Gaben. Their fighters all
divide themselves into one of nine warrior societies—the Immortal Nine, divided
in their skills between those gifted in stealth, speed, or sheer power. Immortal
these Nine might be, but they are also unchanging—like the other fandoms
birthed by the Valve Dynasts, the creator-source of Teem’s Fortress has been
silent for years, save for sporadic and unsatisfying revelations offered during
certain holy days.
● Strategists: Whereas the Warriors decide things through direct combat, the
Strategist Gamers prefer a different form of contest, more focused on tactics,
intrigues, and subtleties (to a degree, at least). The ritual combat practiced by the
Strategists takes the form of large scale wargames, as opposed to the individual
skirmishes favored by the Warriors. Two major fandoms compete for the top spot
among the Strategists in Reddit. The first are the Paradoxians, a collection of
several subfandoms of varying power that cluster around their lavish Plaza on
Gamer’s Hill. The most popular of these are the Crusaders, but the Ironhearts,
Europans, Ironhearts, and Stellarans have prominent places as well, and each
have unique pantheons and warrior-societies of their own. Second are the Total
Warriors, a more hands-on fandom whose most recent campaigns have involved
a productive alliance with fandoms in Little Tabletop.

Loosely related to the Strategist genre-clan are the Mobans, such as the Dotans
and the Legend’s League. Their ritual wargames are typically of a smaller scale
than those practiced by the Paradoxians and Total Warriors, but are also highly
competitive and watched with great interest by many Redditors. Moban
tournaments typically attract large crowds of eager spectators, and a great deal
of money as well, though the degree to which they actually involve strategy is a
point of great contention.

● Crafting: Keen builders and gatherers of raw material, the Crafting genre-clan
fandoms largely owe their existence to a single root fandom: the Mining-
Craftsmen. When this fandomic guild of workers and designers appeared in the
Web some years ago, it shot to the heights of the Great Fandoms with
unprecedented speed and remains one of the most powerful in the city. The
Mining-Craftsmen inhabit an angular tower of great height atop Gamer’s Hill,
though much of the fandom instead dwells in tunnels they carved from the rock
below, and deeps many of the other Gamer fandoms in its literal and
metaphorical shadow. Redditors have a more positive opinion of the Mining-
 Craftsmen than perhaps any other fandom, to the point of deep suspicion for
fandoms like the Fortniters that seem to supplant it.

The influence of the Mining-Craftsmen on other rising fandoms has been

profound, with legions of small, independent fandoms attempting to capture the
same level of rapid success. Few succeeded, though some—such as the
Terrarians—managed to secure stable niches of their own in the larger sphere of
Reddit. Others have triumphed in their own right by borrowing elements of the
Mining-Craftsmen theology for their own. The Stardew, for example, wed the
same penchant for crafting with scriptural influences found among the
Nintendites, and thereby managed to carve out a prosperous place in the fertile
farming vales to the north.

● Consollite Hardliners: Though once the greatest controversy in the Gamer

Fandom, in modern times the distinction between the Pureborn and the
Consollites has largely fallen away, replaced with the more demanding and
destructive Culture War. Mingling between the two great religions is more
popular than ever, with many fandoms freely welcoming members from both
Pureborn and idolator communities. There remain some, however, who remain
exclusive to one side or the other. Consollite Hardliners retain significant power
over swaths of the Gamer fandom, divided as they are between three different
totem-cults.

The most powerful of these three cults in Reddit is also the oldest, the
Nintendites. More than any of their rivals, the Nintendites have resisted any
attempt by its core subfandoms to consort with Pureborn or other Gamer cults.
This strategy makes the Nintendites rigid, but also allows them an iron grip on
the loyalty of their followers, giving them a host of reliable subfandoms at their
command. Most of these exclusive subfandoms gather within the cavernous halls
of the Switchtime Temple, from which legions of switch-mobile soldiers march to
the drumbeat of their idolator-lords. Others, like those in Animal’s Crossing,
reside in smaller communities separate from—but still commanded by—the
larger temple. For the most part, subfandoms within the Nintendites tend to get
along, but rare fire-feuds are settled in the great arena of Penultimate
Destination, reared by the Nintendites to host their lavish tournaments.

● Animen-Gamers: Being the two largest conglomerate fandoms in the Web, the
Gamers and Animen share a sometimes healthy and oftentimes toxic rivalry, with
a variety of harsh words and sharp blows exchanged between them. Neither
cares to admit the large degree of overlap between their fandoms, which has in
turn birthed a large subsection of Animen-Gamer hybrid fandoms across the
 Web. Most of these have the same core theologies as the Gamers, but with an
ethos and aesthetic that is clearly Animen in order, with all of them being colorful,
flashy, loud, and largely incomprehensible to outsiders.

Many of these crossbreeds are associated with the Consollites, and in Reddit it is
the Pokemen—sworn to the Nintendites—that command the most attention. The
Pokemen are beast-tamers without equal, using their trained animals in contests
with their fellow fandom-followers, and spend much of their time evolving their
skills with these pets in their main temple, the Mews. The Personas are less
functional but more stylish, indulging more in Animen wife-lore to cultivate
shadow-selves used in personal combat. Meanwhile, the Finalists, a long-running
fandom, proved influential enough that the Animen themselves took cues from
Finalist practices, particularly in the use of the giant buster swords now common
among Animen.

Other Gamer Subreddits

“Bottom text.”

Aside from those upon the Hill, the Gamers hold sway among a number of powerful
subreddits across the city. Notable among these are those clustered around Steamer’s Square,
a quarter of Reddit now dominated by immigrant and content producers from T’Vitch. The isle of
T’Vitch lies to the northeast, alongside the other Gamer Holy Lands, and is accounted by many
as a dim and strange place, dominated by the towering mountain of High Helix and with a
bizarre law system that applies different rules based upon whether the offender is male or
female.

The T’Vitch, and other inhabitants of Streamer’s Square, attempt to attract large
followings among members of the Gamer fandoms in a manner not unlike the Widdari or
Insaganni, collection large crews of retainers swearing fealty. The most famous of these liege-
streamers is worshipped in the district of Pewter Pines, whose campaign against the T-Serial
and memetic contributions on the Street of Submissions has made him firmly popular among
many Reddits. Outside of these loyal followings, however, many of these liege-streamers are
approached with suspicion due to long-running concerns over their ties to Red-aligned
reactionary groups. Prominent members in the Pewter Pines in particular have come under
severe criticism for exchanging slurs and heated moments with other Gamer’s on Fan’s Bridge.

At the foot of the Hill, through the Gamer’s Gate, there lies a diamond of different
subreddits centered around the plaza of Gamer’s Circle. Due to the infamy incurred by Gamer’s
for their zealotry, xenophobia, and frequent issues with the Closed Circle Problem, the
subreddits in this area seek to mock their fellows, ridiculing the trends, obsessions, and
prejudices of their peers. These satirical subreddits have retained their relevance for some time
now, but like all ironic communities they carry a prominent risk of lapsing into the exact behavior
they decry.

The Risers subreddit, for example, was long a purveyor of satirical criticism of other
Gamers, reproducing exaggerated mockeries of Gamer memetica and propaganda that
indulged in anti-Oppressed paranoia. Over time, however, the subreddit became infiltrated by
brigaders who took their anti-Oppressed stance with complete sincerity, to the point of taking
over the district and using it as a tool to attack the communities around Two Cross Plaza and
Prideside. Having fallen into the exact depravity they were meant to prevent, the Risers were
subject to a red rinse by the Mods, and have since then continuously traded hands between
ironic subscribers following the subreddit’s original intent and unironic followers of Red Pillar
ideologies that seek to subvert it.

Also of note are the unusual communities found in the district west of Gamer’s Hill, Little
Tabletop. Although still commonly called Gamers, those dwelling in Little Tabletop follow sharply
different rituals and practices, most of which revolve around luck or chance. As such, most in
Little Tabletop worship at the altar of Arengee, the luck-god that wields the Dice of Fate in his
hands. The district plays host to numerous small fandoms involving some degree of Arengee-
worship, most of which are ruled by castes of poet-kings called Deems. The Critsville
community, for example, worships the god that gives the street of Mercer’s Roll its name, a
long-haired and many-voiced deity said to be the Master of All Deems. Many in Little Tabletop
seek to emulate His example in their own efforts as Deems, to varying success.

The Animen Heights

“Begone with you! I have the power of God and the Animen on my side!”

On the northernmost of the Fandom Hills lies the domain of the Animen, perhaps the
second largest of the Great Fandoms present in Reddit. Those that dislike the Animen (and
often Animen themselves) commonly refer to them as “weeaboos,” “weebs,” or “pillow-busters,”
and often worse things behind closed doors. Like the Gamers, the Animen are a conglomerate
fandom, though a somewhat more cohesive one. Numerous subfandoms exist within the
Animen, some large and some small, but most share certain common similarities. An Animan
encountered on the streets can usually be recognized at a glance, bedecked as they often are in
odd, asymmetrical clothing, brightly dyed hair, and pairs of painted eyes-upon-eyes. But one of
the more unique aspects of the Animen is not so readily apparent.

All fandoms have some form of connection to the World Beyond the Web, and to the
eldritch forms and shapes that dwell there. To most fandoms, this means worshiping various
idols as gods, demons, and creator-sources. The Animen do the same, but also possess a far
stronger spiritual link to the Beyond than most other fandom-followers. Through intense
devotion, memetic self-programming, and certain channeling rituals, Animen are able to
personally commune with and even summon shadows of their fandom idols.

Some, such as the Stand Users, hone this ability to aid them in combat, using astral
forms from Beyond to lend them increased strength and skill in battle. But more commonly, an
Animan will be so closely tied to one of these otherworldly beings that they declare themselves
“wed”—married to a spectral bride from Beyond. Animen will often carry the likenesses of their
ghost-partners on their person, in the form of wooden idols worn about their necks or painted
totems of padded cloth. Animen wives (as they are commonly named, regardless of the spirit’s
gender) tend to fall into one of several categories denoting their personality and demeanour,
from the tempestuous tsundere , to the remote kuudere , to the half-mad lovers of the yandere .

The tie between an Animen and their wooden wife is strong, enough so that the
Animen’s personality warps subtly to match their partner. The union between the two allows for
a host of strange abilities about Animen not often seen elsewhere, and the system of wifehood
being common among almost every Animen sect has meant that varying groups broadly share a
similar culture and cult-slang. Despite this, some distinctions remain, and several of the largest
Animen subcommunities are detailed below.

● Stand Users: Perhaps the most popular Animen sect in Reddit, the Stand Users
are an odd mix of warriors, prize-fighters, explorers, and fashion models that
occupy an enormous, statue-topped shrine upon the Animen Heights. Like other
Animen, the Stand Users bind themselves with ghostly powers from Beyond, but
with a focus less on companionship than on combat. The wives of Stand Users
take the form of powerful warriors, a kind of psychic manifestation with unique
names and powers. Stand Users are able summon the strength of these
apparitions in combat, giving them extraordinary abilities. Even without their
Stands (as these ghost-totems are named), the Stand Users are powerful
warriors, with a swift-hitting combat style only aided by their extremely muscular
physiques.

The shrine of the Stand Users is one of the most recognizable in Reddit, and
among the strangest. It is crowned by a colossal statute of their chief deity, in a
pose that implies him striding forward to meet his enemies. Below it is a complex
of architecture not common among other Animen, with sloped pyramids and
stone-faced sphinxes rather than pagodas or multitiered towers. The entire
shrine is said to be centered on a place where a falling star crashed to earth,
which according to Stand User scripture is said to be a source of their power.
 The popularity of Stand User memetica and content has made them a common
sight across Reddit, noticeable by their low-cut shirts and long, sweeping capes
that bear the images of their Stands. While many confine themselves to the
Animen Heights, many others frequent the Allfront or travel beyond, wandering
the Web on their many eventful and often bizarre journeys.

● Piecemeal Pirates: One of the oldest continuous Animen sects in the Known
Internet, the Piecemeal Pirates have been blessed with an active creator-source
for generations. The Piecemeal are seafarers, who spend much of their time as
nomads aboard colorful ships. Even their temple upon the Animen Heights is
shaped like one of their ships, albeit far larger and filled with various cells and
shrines.

Contrary to their names, the Piecemeal seem to very rarely engage in actual
piracy, preferring travel, trade, or other adventures in search of wealth and fame.
Tending to travel in sizable crews, the Piecemeal generally depend both upon
one another and on their rare magical powers in combat. According to the
Piecemeal, certain worthy members of their ranks are allowed to eat the fruit of a
certain rare tree found only in places under the Pirates’ possession. After eating
of this fruit, the Pirate will gain strange and wonderful abilities, though at the cost
of the ability to swim in open water. It’s unclear if the fruit is actually the source of
these powers or whether it is merely a vehicle for powers channeled from
Beyond, but either way they are considered extraordinary to behold.

The Piecemeal have, appropriately enough, a somewhat piecemeal organization,

with little in the way of defined hierarchy outside of individual ships. Authority
tends to rest with the PIrates who have acquired the greatest riches, but special
consideration is given to the owner of a particular treasure: a legendary trove
said to have been hidden in ages past. Piecemeal Pirates have sought this hoard
for years, for its bearer is prophesied to become the king of their fandom. None,
however, have come close to finding it, leading many to wonder whether the
search will ever come to an end.

● Saitama: Named for their chief god, the Saitama are an order of hero-monks who
shave their heads and shode themselves in yellow garments. Their fighting
technique is among the best known in the Animen fandom, and perhaps the most
effective. The Saitama use no weapons, not even the great buster swords often
wielded by other Animen, and neither do they use the same variety of strikes
found in other martial arts. Instead, the Saitama train themselves to collect and
focus their inner energies down to a single point, which is then released by a
single strike of unimaginable power. Few opponents can stand against such a
 punch, and its power only grows as a Saitama’s daily training continues. Even
lower-ranking Saitama are able to defeat opponents twice their size with but one
of these incredible blows, but the strongest are said to level entire buildings when
they strike.

Achieving that level of strength takes time and careful attention, and so the
Saitama are most often seen training themselves in endless drills meant to
improve their mental and bodily endurance. The Saitama Shrine is where most of
these routines take place, a collection of towers peopled only by men and women
with clean-shaven heads and yellow robes. In the center of the Shrine is an
intricate model of an entire city, albeit not any city existing in the Known Internet,
complete with hand-carved buildings and streets. Whether this is merely a
representation of a city seen in fandomic visions or if it serves some role in the
secret Saitama rituals is unknown.

● Berserkers: Half-church and half-mercenary band, the Berserkers are implacable

warriors known for their brutal tactics and bleak outlooks. Unlike other Animen
combat styles that emphasize speed and agility to avoid attacks, the Berserkers
instead train themselves to take any strike and continue fighting regardless, able
to persist and survive even the most grievous wounds and still wield a sword.
The training necessary to reach such abilities is brutal, forcing recruits to endure
a constant assault of physical and emotional violence so that they might emerge
stronger from the other side.

Once their tutelage is complete, Berserkers will go to battle wielding enormous,

two-handed swords and clad in black armor said to be imbued with the power to
keep its bearer alive and maddened with battle-rage despite whatever harms he
suffers. Some select few, however, instead join the Hawkhelms, sellsword
captains that are as cunning as they are cruel. The relationship between these
two groups is a complex one, a strange intermingling of rivalry, obedience,
admiration, and hate.

In short, the Berserkers are a grim lot, prone to misfortune. Even their creator-
source seems to conspire against them, entering long periods of dormancy while
the Berserkers suffer in the absence. The longest of these, the Agony of the
Boat, lasted the better part of a generation until the Day of Landfall at last
brought it to an end.

● Narutsu: Many Animen groups share a similar culture, and common motifs recur
across various sects. One of these motifs is that of the ninja , a kind of stealthy
warrior or assassin that appears with different variations across many different
 fandoms. Perhaps the most famous of these fandoms is the Narutsu, for whom
the idea of the ninja is central to their aesthetics and ideology.

Similar to the Piecemeal, the Narutsu are an old order of Animen who received
consistent revelations from their creator-source for generations. Also like the
Piecemeal, the Narutsu claim to be ninja in the classic Animen sense, but do not
seem to spend any of their time as spies or unseen assassins. Indeed, the
Narutsu are known as one of the loudest and most recognizable Animen sects.
Their best-known ability lies not in stealth but in speed. Using a secretive
technique and distinctive stance, the Narutsu are able to move with incredible
quickness, running like the wind itself. The Narutsu credit this to the favor of one
of their chief deities, the Great Nine-Tails, and their inhuman running speed holds
all the telltale signs of channeling magic from Beyond.

● Quirk-Heroes: Best known for their wide array of unique magical talents, the
Quirk-Heroes represent a confluence of ideas common both to other Animen
sects and to outside fandoms. Similar to many Animen subfandoms, the Quirk-
Heroes style themselves as an academy, and their members as students. The
resemblance to the DA fandom is notable but likely coincidental, for the Animen
obsession with schools is thought to long predate the DA creator-source. It is
clear, however, that the Quirk-Heroes take a significant influence from the
Comican, both in their colorful costumes and in their development of individual
powers via channeling.

The Quirk-Heroes are notable for, if nothing else, the sheer variety of such
powers. Many are fairly minor, but very few are the same even across their
scores of members, meaning that almost every member has an especial magical
ability unlike any other. These powers make them a formidable fighting force, but
most of their efforts are spent in mock combat with one another, with the Pro-
Heroes (one division of their fandom) duelling endlessly with the Villains (their
opposing branch).

● Titan Corps: Residing in one of the most identifiable temples in Reddit, the Titan
Corps enclose themselves at most times within a fortress ringed by three curtain
walls, each more massive than the last. The degree to which the average
Corpsman stays within these walls depends upon their role and standing within
the fandom. Civilians, military police, and common garrisons tend to remain
behind the safety of the walls at all times, only rarely venturing beyond. The
Surveyors, however, leave regularly, performing whatever tasks are necessary to
sustain the fandom from the outside. Because of this, the Surveyors—with their
 twin-wing sigil and dun uniforms—are the visible part of the Titan Corps, with
outsiders rarely permitted within the walls.

Titan Corps Surveyors are perhaps best known for their martial art, which
strongly emphasizes speed, maneuverability, and verticality. Though a
combination of darting movements and careful shifting of one’s weight, the
Surveyors are able to bring down opponent’s far larger and stronger than they.
Surveyors will display these techniques in virtually any fight, but also showcase
their skills during regular festivals conduct by the Titan Corps. When a festival
approaches, fandom-followers will create a giant statute before the walls, blood-
red and monstrous in appearance, which the Surveyors will then destroy as part
of a choreographed ritual.

Outlying Animen

“I don’t think your argument has merit. Also, your wife is shit.”

Below the temples on the Animen Heights are districts and neighborhoods also
dominated by the fandom; some are residential, some divided between businesses, many
others devoted to less reputable pursuits. Best known of these are the Bathhouses, found
crouched into a ring-street to the northwest of the Heights. Built upon one of the natural
hotsprings known to the area, the Bathhouses are a fixture in Animen life, with its sauna rooms
and heated baths used for social mingling between various sects and secret meetings best held
in private.

Bathhouses like these are common wherever Animen may be found, but those in Reddit
have a somewhat sordid reputation, owing to a major scandal that erupted there some years
ago that ended with the Animen ejected from the Assembly and partially banished from the
Allfront. They have since drifted back into larger public life, but rumors remain as to what might
be happening behind closed doors.

North of the Heights, in one of the more unfashionable parts of the city, are outskirt
Animen neighborhoods. Much of these, such as the Justice Flats, were low-lying areas that
segued into beaches and sandbars along the Fronting coast. Animen are oddly drawn to
beaches like these, and have reclaimed much of the land for their subreddits, often peopled by
subfandoms devoted to particular kinds of wooden wives. The Komi Sands, for instance, are a
quiet area, filled with odd, near-featureless buildings inhabited by the dandere , a sect devoted
to silent and tongueless god-wives. By contrast, the communities of Tiddtanic and Sleepless
Town tend to be far rowdier, little distinguishable from the red zones of Hentown and the 34th
Ring.
Two Temple Mounts

“If you love something, you criticize it relentlessly. And you shame others who like it! What I’ve
learned is that true love is indistinguishable from hate.” — Penny Arcade

The final collection of Great Fandoms in Reddit gather upon the Two Temple Mounts, a
pair of sharp hills that rest upon the twin peninsulas known as the Broken Arms. Once, these
peninsulas were land bridges that connected mainland Reddit to what is now the Orange
Islands. Natural philosophers believe that this landmass was shattered in the dawning days of
the Internet, ripped asunder by a volcanic eruption not unlike others often seen in the southron
sites. Where land once was, water rushed in, creating a small archipelago and jutting
promontories in its place.

Unlike Gamer’s Hill or the Animen Heights, these Mounts are not host to any single
conglomerate fandom. In fact, the fandoms on the Two Temple Mounts share little in common
and are often entangled in a complex web of alliances and rivalries that change by the day.
Each fandom has its own theology, scripture, and pantheon wholly separate from one other,
making the Temple Mounts a strange maze of architectural styles and fandomic jargon.

The eclectic nature of the fandoms upon the Two Temple Mounts make them difficult to
categorize, spread as they are across multiple genres of fandom theology. Nevertheless, the
best known of these fandoms are listed below.

● Star Warriors: An old fandom, the Star Warriors received a second life of sorts
when their settlement in Prequeltown exploded in popularity, flooding Reddit with
wave upon wave of memetic masterworks. This has made them one of the most
popular fandoms in Reddit, but also one of the most unstable. The force-
strengths and colorcode swords used by their warrior-monks have made them
strong, but schism undercuts the fandom from beneath.

The Star Warriors are increasingly divided between two sects: the old power in
Prequeltown, and the youth revival movement in Sequeltown. Both stand on
opposite sides of Original Avenue, casting glares and insults either side with
occasional outbreaks of violence, as was the case in the Rose and Rian Riots.
Some of the bloodier episodes seem at least tangentially tied to the larger culture
war, though the rise of new reconciliation groups like the Mandalore Hunters
promises a bridge between the sides. The principal house of worship for the Star
Warriors is the Kenobi Temple, its famed Greeting Gate being one of the
architectural and memetic marvels of Reddit. The fiercest of the anti-Sequelist
faction house themselves in the Salt Crate, a subreddit centered around massive
hate-shrines and prayers to a now-absent creator-source.
● Brony Collective: One of the most controversial of the Great Fandoms, the
Bronies have a limited but stable presence in Reddit. Their fandom was heralded
by bloodshed in the Chan, winning their right of existence in the fires of war.
Following this, they embarked upon a period of unprecedented expansion,
utilizing once-unknown memetic techniques to spread like wildfire across the
Web, assimilating and converting all in its path. By the time this Season of
Expansion ended, the Bronies had forced their way into prominence across the
Web, but not without cost. Distaste and resentment for the Collective is
widespread across the Web, and Reddit more than most has small love for the
“horse-lovers.” The frequent conflict that follows the Bronies have made them a
highly militarized fandom even to the modern day, and the looming threat of
being banned or persecuted turns them fanatical as well.

They worship a sextet of equiform deities, known as The Six Friends Who Are
One, each of which embodies a certain virtue. The mortal masters of the fandom
are the Wardens, one for each of the Six, who head different branches of the
fandom tasked with different duties—sailors and fighters from the Loyal and
Honest Friends, diplomats and mystics from the Generous and Kind Friends, and
scholars and bards from the Magic and Laughing Friends. Bronies in Reddit tend
to spark hostility when they appear, and thus prefer to stay amongst their fellows
in enclosed subreddits. The seat of their power is the Palace of Faust, wherein
rule the Senary—the governing representatives of the fandom in Reddit. The
Palace of Faust is a modest temple, but boasts an impressive centerpiece in its
innermost courtyard, the wide and idyllic Hippocampus, ringed by mosaics of the
Six and their deeds.

● Marvellian Comican: One of the two branches of the Comican conglomerate, the
Marvellian are by far the more successful of the sects. While the Deseenians
have floundered, Marvellian content-priests and memeslingers flourish, enjoying
a position of remarkable power in Reddit. Much of this is due to the recent
renaissance of their fandom, the so-named Thanosian Ascendency, which saw
the rise of new and powerful memetic subreddits such as the Spared and the
Soulstone.

Some smaller subsects of the Marvellians exist, but most remain tightly
conformed to the larger whole—a number of attempts to make semi-independent
subreddits based on lesser idols have started strong before rapidly petering out.
The exception is Raimitown, the semi-legitimate cousin of the Marvellians, where
memetica is strong but ties to the larger Comican weak. Outside of their highly
populous subreddits, Marvellians center themselves in their Tower on the Temple
 Mounts, a tall structure of fine glassworks, filled with numerous but largely
identical rooms.

● Deseenian Comican: Though an old and venerable fandom, the Deseenians

have struggled when compared with the rise of their rival Marvellians. A number
of their ventures remain popular in Reddit, but most of these occurred in the
increasingly distant Nolantide, while more recent attempts at capturing the public
eye, such as the Marthan Dyad or the Damaged Squad, metaphorically sank at
anchor. Redditors at large remain skeptical of the Deseenian prospects, and not
for lack of trying on the part of the Deseenians. While they have been active in
their attempts to win favor, most of their strategies revolve around copying
techniques used by the Marvellians in the Thanosian Ascendency, which gives
the impression of trying to fight a battle the Deseenians already lost long ago.
Still, there is hope of renewal, with the recent rise of the Dancing Clowns bringing
new praise and attention to the fandom. Their house on the Temple Mounts is
the Chiropteran Manor, a cavernous hall that is both richly made and largely
empty.

● High Office: A household name across the Web, the High Office fandom has
influence in virtually all sites. Unlike many other Great Fandoms, the High Office
have an inactive creator-source, having lost all connection to the Beyond long
ago. Despite this unending Drought, they have endured. Part of this is due to a
recognizable and active memetica that buoys their presence in Reddit, but more
credit is due to the devotion of the fandom’s remaining members. Followers of
the High Office are famed for their singular focus, repeatedly immersing
themselves in the same fandomic materials over and over again, endlessly and
without interruption. Some believe that this process renders them into something
akin to memeoids, their entire personalities revolving solely around references to
their fandom.

In addition to their core of devotees, the High Office has joined into a
conglomerate with several other fandoms, notably the Parks Department, the
99th, and the Placeholders. All of these groups are found in the High Office’s
rectangular hall on the West Temple Mount. In addition, a large contingent of
High Office followers frequent the Kindling subreddits, though they are often the
subject of mockery by those present.

● Trekkies: This exceedingly ancient fandom is one of the oldest in the Known
Internet, and have spread across the Web slowly but diligently throughout their
long history. Much of their power lies in their fleet, for the Trekkies rarely remain
in one place for long, preferring instead long voyages to far-flung places. The
 Trekkies are present in Reddit, but in a limited fashion. Though old and
venerable, much of their community has been in a deep lull, with little in the way
of new content to spur the fandom forward. Enclosed as they are in this period of
relative dormancy, their rivals in the Star Warrior fandom have risen to
ascendency instead, far eclipsing them in terms of both prominence and infamy
in the city. The small community of Trekkies in Reddit spend most of their time in
the local fleet headquarters, a building of strange design. It is shaped like a giant
disc, jutting from the ground as though much of its full extent lies buried beneath
the earth.

● Freefolk: A powerful fandom that is now divided by schism, the Freefolk are a
sizable bloc of worshippers, memelords, and warriors trained in sword and lance.
Though it controls several subgroups and subreddits, all of the fandom is
organized into worship of a pantheon headed by the creator-source GRRM, the
Great Bearded Glacier. Beneath him are a number of lesser gods, for which the
Freefolk have made prominent botwork shrines—mechanical, automated idols
that repeat certain quotes and phrases associated with their respective deity. The
Freefolk have been on the cutting edge of this new technology, and are
immediately recognizable by bellowing quotations from their botwork “king.”

Beneath the gods are their followers, who organize themselves into a feudal
system of clans and bannermen. A Lord Commander leads them with a Small
Council beneath them, staffed by prominent figures in the fandom, and a cohort
of elite warriors tasked with guarding the fandom’s inner circle. Many famous
names fill the ranks of this Kingsguard: Ser Adun Wannet, Ser Randym Martell,
Ser Bessie the Chest, and many others.

Recently, however, the fandom has become riven by faction and division. This
divide is an old one, between the “peoples of the books,” often called Purists, and
the opposing sect of the White Watchers—a group of “illiterate casuals,”
according to their detractors. The tensions between these camps reached its
boiling point during the latest—and last—Season of the fandom, beginning with
the disastrous Short Night and only worsening from there. The conclusion of the
Season brought mass protests and riots by the Freefolk, who believed that their
creator-source had been betrayed by the demons Dee and Di, “They-Who-
Cannot-Write.” Since then, the fandom has changed greatly: the White Watchers
has become reclusive, while the Purists march and chant openly through the city
streets, having converted nearly their entire fandom into a massive hate shrine to
their demonic enemies and the Season they created.
● Foursworn: Though their creator-source has long been silent, the Foursworn
have carved out a place of considerable influence in Reddit, having carefully
fostered good relations and goodwill in the city. Their allies are many, but they
are considered distant cousins to the Animen, owing to some passing similarities
in their aesthetics. Their beliefs and practices are distinct, however, eschewing
wooden wives in favor of elemental powers. Followers of the fandom train
themselves in complex martial arts, based around the movements of water,
earth, fire, and air. Each element is represented by a different school of fighting,
using both hand techniques and channeled spells to defeat opponents. Though
best known for fighting hand-to-hand, also prominent are the Unbending, a
school of fighters who train with swords and throwing weapons.

Though comprised of many different fighting schools, there is little hint of schism
among the Foursworn. Warriors of different elements are encouraged to
intermingle into small groups called gaangs , in which they roam the streets and
lands side-by-side. Divisions between members are few, though some old
wounds remain. Ancient disputes over shipping still bubble up from time to time,
while a generational divide between the Aaangite old guard and the more
recently arisen Korr remains a minor if still notable issue. Uniting the fandom is a
single conclave, with a masterful Avatar at its head, said to be the embodiment of
all elements.

Though individual gaangs are found throughout the city, much of the fandom’s
activities revolve around the Foursworn Temple. Divided between the different
elemental fighting schools, the grounds of the Temple feature cascading waters,
stone gardens, fields of fire, and wind-buffeted towers that twist tall into the sky.
Visitors to the Temple are greeted by intense martial training and calm meditation
in equal parts, as well as an introduction to the Foursworn’s elaborate tea
ceremonies.

● Ricks: Also known as “whitecloaks” for their distinctive outfits, the Ricks hold a
great deal of influence in Reddit. The Ricks believe that all people are
manifestations of certain archetypes revealed in their fandomic visions. As
faithful believers, the Ricks hold that they are made in the image of their chief
deity, a capricious “transdimensional philosopher-god” whom they believe is the
wellspring of all knowledge and reason. Ricks take not only their name and garb,
but also their attitude from this god’s example, with a belief system meant to
emulate his cynicism, callousness, and intellectual superiority. Acolytes and
lesser members of the fandom serve as sidekicks and assistants to full-fledged
Ricks. Unbelievers, by contrast, are considered jerais , pitiful creatures
possessed only of weakness and failure.
 This attitude has not endeared the Ricks in the minds of others, and there is a
rising perception that they are arrogant and obnoxious, with blatant sympathies
towards other irritating groups like the Militant Enlightened. Major controversies
like the Sauce Riots only worsened their reputation. The Ricks remain, however,
one of the most prominent fandoms in the city, deriving much of their influence
from the same Redditor attitudes prevalent in the Watchwind District: a vague
love of “science” and worship of supposed genius heroes that borders on the
fetishistic.

Reddit contains the largest collection of Ricks in the world, thousands clad in
white coats and spiked helms, centered around the enormous Citadel of Ricks, a
campus of several buildings devoted to their archetype-gods. The fandom tends
to have long Droughts devoid of any visions from their creator-source, but
maintains influence through various memetic ventures.

● Tripartisan Alliance: A once-great conglomerate, the Tripartisans are native not

to Reddit but rather the Blurr in the far east, born years ago through the joining of
three smaller fandoms. These three—the Whovians, Sherlocked, and
Supernaturalists—waxed strong and powerful in the Blurr, coming to dominate
much of the continent and ruling from the Tol Tower for much of recent history.
This power has since faded from them, however, and the fandom finds itself in
crisis.

With the Blurr shattered by civil strife and insurrection, many of the fandoms once
dominant there are now in disarray, the Tripartisans more than most. The
Sherlocked have dwindled to near nothing since the disappearance of their
creator-source, and Supernaturalists have begun to fade as well. Of the three
fandoms making up their pact, only the Whovians remain strong, and even then
their power is never consistent, rising and waning as their gods die and are
reborn with each generation. As these three fandoms drift apart, some have
proposed adding new members to the conglomerate to shore up their strength,
while separatists hold that the Alliance is already dissolved.

● Universalists: Known best for their gem-warriors, the Universalists are another
foreign-born fandom that originated in the Blurr. Members of the Universalists are
easily recognized by their garb, for many of them adorn their brows with precious
stones from their native land. The gems they wear denote their respective
monastic order, with the holy conclaves of Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet being the
largest and most prominent. The Blurr supplies not only the colors and gems of
the Universalists, but also their ideals, for the Universalists are tied deeply to the
 major social movements found in Blurrtown and Prideside. These communities
have proven to be strong allies, but many nativist Redditor groups view the gem-
warriors with contempt, believing they are foreigners tainted by the mysterious
Oppressed.

Universalists possess a powerful fusion-form fighting technique, allowing gem-

warriors to create spiritual links that increase their strength and agility. This ability
is thought to be derived from Animen traditions that use the bond to a wooden
wife as an aid in combat. Gem-warriors, however, bond not to a spectral entity
but rather to one another, forming ironclad partnerships called Fused. Most of
these warriors may be found in the Universalist Temple, an enormous, hollow
bas-relief carved from a stone cliff-face and shaped like a woman seated with her
legs crossed and her arms in repose.

● The DA: Unlike most denizens of the Web, who tend to look on magic with
suspicion, the DA are a fandom almost wholly centered around it. Housing
themselves in a great castle upon the Temple Mounts, the DA style themselves
as a school for arts of sorcery and wizardry. Though they venerate cybrahakar ,
most of their members are not blessed (or cursed) with the innate powers of
cybramancy, instead instructing themselves to channel power from the World
Beyond. Individual students of the DA cloak themselves in black robes and hats,
not unlike those worn by Lords Moderator, and sort themselves into one of four
great houses based upon their abilities and personality. Their leaders, the
Professors, are experts in a given field of channeling and spend their days
tutoring acolytes in the ways of magic.

The DA is a long-enduring fandom, its popularity so consistent that many

contrarian Redditors have tired of its presence in their city. A more pressing
concern for the DA, however, lies with their creator-source, who recently has
seemed to go berserk. Strange and conflicting orders have evidently been issued
from the World Beyond, prompting an ongoing controversy with the Redditors of
Prideside and Blurrtown. The breakdown of a fandom creator-source is not
unprecedented, though rarely are the fandoms in question so large and influential
as the DA.

● Ringbearer Fellowship: Perhaps the oldest known fandom, the Ringbearers claim
a lineage that stretches back to the dawn of days. Nevertheless, its presence in
the larger Internet was, until recently, relatively limited, with most of its members
cloistered into active but isolated communities of hill forts. The Reddit community
of Ringbearers, however, has exploded in popularity due to their innovative
memetica , which has made them a strong force on the Allfront. Having cultivated
 alliances with other memeslinging communities—such as the memelords of
Clove Square, the Mangonels, and the now-embittered Freefolk Purists—the
Ringbearers have gained a powerful reputation across the city.

The fandom’s new popularity has not, however, come without trouble, nor without
cost. A growing division exists between the group newly popular on the Allfront—
the Secondborn—and traditionalists who have watched the rise of the memetic
faction with suspicion. These Elders believe that the crass commercialism of the
Secondborn has undercut the lore and practices of the fandom in its purer days,
and advocate a return to the old ways. Conflict between the two have not yet
gone hot, but tensions continue to build between both parties.

The Ringbearers have capitalized on their newfound popularity to raise an

impressive fortress as their main base. The castle is built of seven tiers of raised
rings, topped with a stone promontory that juts out like the prow of a ship. Within
its white walls and cavernous halls are scores of roughspun rangers and robed
wizards, armed with sword and staff respectively. It is their order of gardeners,
however, that receive the highest honors, residing in hollow hillocks that adorn
the top of this man-made mountain.

The Gallery and Devien’s Bend

“This one’s for the red zone. This one’s for the red zone. This one is also for the red zone, uh,
and this one. Actually, just take them all to Tendrils and call it a day.”

Fandoms are hungry things, as a rule. To survive and thrive, they require a constant flow
of devotions, and followers to perform those devotions, and new content to attract said
followers. Vast trade networks have been established to aid in this, utilizing trade companies
and fandom-owned merchant fleets to move cargo and content across the Web. This content
takes many forms—religious artwork and iconography, literature and luxury goods made to
entice others, memetica thoughtforms useful for spreading influence, and so on—but all of it can
be found in one place: the long waterfront Gallery, from which the fandoms feed.

The Gallery is a wooden maze of docks and ships, either privately owned or chartered by
the fandoms themselves, some of whom own vast fleets and crew them from their ranks.
Virtually all of the Great Fandoms and many of the Lesser ones come here to load, unload,
trade, and barter in content and more mundane trading goods, hailing from all across the Web.
Particularly prominent are the artists hailing from the sites of the Painted Sea. The easternmost
ocean of the Known Internet is host to many cultures who hold artistry and creativity as the
highest virtues, and sites whose citizens are superbly talented with brush, pen, ink, and clay.
 Perhaps the best known of these are the Deviens, who give the Gallery’s adjacent street
of Devien’s Bend its name. The Devien Isles are a cluster of sunny islands in the Painted Sea,
due north of the Blurr in a patch of green, tranquil sea so idyllic that many name it paradise on
earth. This region is home to a number of archipelagos and small continents, each of them
blessed with placid climes, long beaches, and beautiful landscapes. The Devien Isles may be
the loveliest of all them: gentle green hills and long meadows of amber gold fill the isles, ‘neath
white-capped mountains and beside sparkling, languid rivers filled with pleasure barges. It is a
rich land as well, fat with valuable resources like inks and dyes, teas, and llamas—shaggy, long-
necked beasts of burden known for their fine wool and ill-tempers.

The Deviens are linked to Central via the Green Line, which passes through its largest
(though still small) city, Silkensigh. This trade route gives the Deviens an edge in the content
markets, and the Gallery is no exception. They are far from the only traders from the Painted
Sea present in Reddit, however: artists from Pixiv, craftsmen from Etsi, and even lords and
ladies of Pintressor can be found in the Gallery (though the Pintressi are an ever-jealous people
who offer only glimpses at the works kept secret in their Forbidden City).

With the skill and services of these artistic types, the Gallery has become one of the
most bustling parts of the city, and one of the most colorful as well. Many strange and wonderful
examples of the Great Fandoms can be found here, as well as lesser-known fandom followers
commissioning works for the sects found in the Small Shrines. Dockyard counting-houses and
taverns can be found by the dozens, as well as waterfront shrines that cater to sailors dedicated
to the fandoms with which they trade.

Small Shrines

“In terms of survival, small gods have small odds. Stick to the hills, I say.”

The Great Fandoms make their homes upon the high hills, in temples that befit the
prominent status of the groups inhabiting them. The Lesser Fandoms make do with lesser
abodes. These smaller, niche faiths are more numerous than the Great Fandoms, but far less
powerful, and can rarely afford and seldom need the huge cathedrals and vast halls found on
the hills themselves. Instead, the Lesser Fandoms make their homes in more modest holdings
below, most notably in the labyrinthine district of the Small Shrines.

The number of fandoms found in the Small Shrines is beyond counting, but only some of
them are well-known. As the name suggests, it is home to the churches of the Lesser Fandoms,
some impressive in their size and design, others mere “street-shrines” no bigger than a market
stall. These tiny temples line the streets, making the whole thoroughfare a procession of
countless gods. It is also the home of the many followers of these smaller cults, often few in
number but strong in their devotion. Some of these members joined in the days when their
fandom was in ascendant, but chose to remain even after all hopes for joining the ranks of the
Great passed by. Others join in full knowledge of how small their new community is, but look at
the turmoil rankling the larger fandoms on the high hills and count it as a blessing.

Not all fandoms remain in the Small Shrines forever. Several Lesser Fandoms have
managed to suddenly break through and gain sudden popularity, which can sometimes propel
them into status as one of the Greats. For many others, however, they prove to be more fad
than fandom, as was the fate of communities like the Fnaf and the Weyfinders. Without lasting
appeal, they quickly burned out as soon as their memetica went stale, and lacked the hardcore
support needed to survive.

Given their smaller size and more niche appeal, the Lesser Fandoms of the Small
Shrines are an eclectic bunch, displaying a huge variety of tastes, styles, and beliefs. Some, like
the Allstar Ogren or the Banescholars, are largely ironic and memetic in nature. Others inspire
genuine awe or fear, with even seasoned Redditors stepping in fear of the Dark Cult of the Cat
and its dread Apologists. Hundreds of other, nameless fandoms still lack enough notability to be
loved or hated, and instead await the day that the stars are right and they ascend to fame and
glory or else collapse back into nothing.

The 34th Ring and the Eastern Red Zone

“What, the Red Zone? Eh, it’s mostly nostalgia-baiting in there. Other kinds of baiting too, but I
don’t kiss and tell.”

The second of the two largest red zones in Reddit, the Eastern Zone is dug into the
shallow vale between the Animen Heights and the Temple Mounts, a webwork of narrow streets
darkened by the crimson banners and brazen balconettes overhead. This red zone is placed
firmly in fandom territory, and to the fandoms does it belong, for none of these faiths are so holy
or powerful as to deny their followers’ lusts.

It is considered an indelible rule of the Known Internet that, no matter what the subject
may be, some rendering of it can be found in a red zone. Nowhere is that more plainly true than
in the Eastern Red Zone of Reddit. No single fandom holds power here, but rather each and
every one of them provides and partakes in equal measure, crowding hundreds of back alley
parlors and smoke-filled content markets. The largest part of these rest within the 34th Ring, a
great arc of arthouses and bawdyhouses that takes up much of the zone. The Ring, and the
zone as a whole, is fed by the content shipped to the Gallery, much the same as the more
respectable temples on the hills. Lewd art and writings of every fandom, fetish, and fandom-
fetish can be bought, sold, and perused in the Ring. There are also living men and women who
practice arts of a different kind within, many of them followers of fandoms themselves, and some
employed by fandoms who possess a more “open” attitude.
 Aside from the mish-mash of fandoms found in the 34th Ring, some neighborhoods of
the zone are dominated by single fandoms or conglomerates. The Animens control the largest
number of these, ranging from the infamous, like the Tendrils district, to the even more
infamous, such as the Vibrissa neighborhood, where those within are as much skinchangers as
they are Animen. Countless Gamer subsects have carved out niches of their own as well, not to
mention the subreddits catering to many smaller fandoms. Other subreddits within the zone
cater to specific genres or formats of content, such as the gifs and animate pictures found in the
Shads.

The presence of fandoms in the zone means a mingling of the otherworldly powers and
worldly pleasures, leading to a number of strange and even occult practices within the zone.
Animen, bound as they are to their spectral wives, involve themselves in any number of bizarre
rituals to better “connect” themselves with their ghost-brides, and many other fandoms do
similar acts with their idols.

Stranger still are the tulpamancers, who practice their mysterious arts in the zone’s more
shadowy dens. The origins of this order are obscure, though most agree that they began in the
Chan, and many believe that the Kind Friends of the Brony Collective were among the first to
develop the artform. Tulpamancers are part fandom channelers, part memetic engineers, and
part wizards, who reprogram their own minds to serve as conduits to the Beyond. Using a series
of incantations, rituals, and meditations, tulpamancers create thoughtforms within their sleeping
minds, usually of fandomic idols, that appear to the user as guides, tutelars, and companions.
Only the tulpamancer themself can see these apparitions: they exist purely within the ‘mancer’s
head.

It is possible, however, for a tulpamancer’s creation to be so precisely detailed and so

similar to the idol that it becomes functionally equivalent to that deity in the tulpamancer’s mind.
This has an effect rooted in the reifying process inherent to the World Within the Web, in which
strongly held beliefs can alter reality. When the tulpa is complete, fact and self-made fiction
overlap, and the more the tulpamancer believes that their god is literally in their head, the more
the World Within reifies that belief. Suddenly, the belief becomes truth, and the ‘mancer’s mind
becomes a kind of “bridgehead” to the Beyond. What was apparition is now the apparent, and
the idol actually can work the kinds of powers the tulpamancer believed they could, using the
‘mancer’s body as an instrument to alter the world around it.

Tulpamancers can thus possess enormous power, dealing in ecstatic visions and dread
spells that can wreak havoc on the physical world. Having their mind split and then overridden
also makes a tulpamancer highly unstable, however, and many lose their connections to the
Beyond alongside their sanity. Mods keep close eyes on tulpamancers that show potential for
developing true powers, for the Authority’s dealings with cybramancers has taught them how
dangerous magicks can be when left unchecked.

Skinchanger Slums

“Yiff in hell, skinchanger!”

Propped up close to the Eastern Red Zone, hemmed by the Shore of Shame to the east
and the Uwu Bulge to the west, is a district of ugly, teetering shacks and tenement rows,
shadowy and avoided by most Redditors. But though most shun this unwholesome locale, one
group—otherwise excluded from safe harbor in Reddit—has made it their home: the
skinchangers.

Skinchangers (or more politely “Anthromorphs”) are an old fandom, with obscure origins.
Its adherents are some of the strangest in the Web, which is saying a great deal. Generally
speaking, the skinchangers believe that they have the souls of beasts, not men, and thus live
and act as their animal counterparts. They will dress themselves in pelts and furs, arrange
themselves into packs and clans, and otherwise treat themselves and their fellows like wild
things of nature (down even to the howling, rutting, and mating, if some rumors are true).

Most common people of the Web consider the skinchangers to be odd at best and
revolting at worst, and make them a frequent target of mockery. The skinchangers, for their part,
care very little for what others think, wishing mostly to be left alone. Lacking many friendly ports,
the largest collections of skinchangers tend to be in small enclaves far from prying eyes, most
notably the distant island of Firaffin the Outcast. In Reddit, skinchangers are rarely seen outside
the borders of their slum district, and outsiders rarely seen within. As far as the ongoing
controversies of Reddit go, the skinchangers tend to regard them with more bemusement than
curiosity, and almost never take sides.

If one, against better judgment, chooses to visit the slums, it will be apparent that those
within care little for common civilized comforts. Crumbling buildings and half-collapsed stacks
are treated more as dens, nests, and roosts than like any human dwelling, and often smell the
part. Overgrown plants of all kinds dominate the streets, making some buildings resemble
jungles or forests. This place is to be avoided at night, particularly on full moons, when the
braying and howling heard within is loudest and strongest. Major landmarks include the Eyrie
Tower, with its many birds and unfortunate lean, and the Alpha Hollow, a cavernous hole used
as the dens of many clans and a meeting place for others.

Though they are a famous (or infamous) fandom, skinchangers have little in the way of
formal armies and governments. Most organize themselves into totem-phratries: groupings of
adherents commonly called “suits,” which are based on what creature your soul most
resembles. As best as people can tell, the most common suit of skinchanger in Reddit are the
warrior peltasts of the Lupercall, the dog and wolf clans. Common as well are the fox-like
Vulpren, and even the scaly hunters of the Hessh that can be found in some darker hollows.
Most dangerous are the Ferine, of dark cowls and savage reputation. All in all, though, this part
of Reddit is best unexplored.

Thalass Deep and Site 19

“[REDACTED]”

Though the hilltops of the Broken Arms are home to various shrines and fandomic
temples, it is the water between them that may hold the most mysteries. A great bay lies
between the Two Temple Mounts, but one quite unlike the other harbors of Reddit. There are
none of the valuable trading ports of the Allfront, nor even the modest harborage of Horseshoe
Bay. Sheer cliffs of basalt and rhyolite dominate either side of the bay, foreboding and forbidding
to any ship, with only a small allowance for docks at the far end. While a cliffside road traces
part of this escarpment, there are few communities living alongside it, and thus the area is a
remarkably quiet one for a city so loud and frantic. Quiet on the surface, at least.

The silence in these waters is not due purely to chance, and the absence of people is not
wholly by choice. While some ships will dock in this bight, they will keep their ships close to the
shore at all times, hugging the cliffs as tightly as they safely can. It is a risky maneuver, but less
risky than entering open water, something that any sane sailor will only chance with greatest
reluctance and never for long. In Thalass Deep, one learns swiftly that the rocks and shores
above are far less dangerous than what lies below.

Thalass Deep is rightly named. Reddit in general is blessed with a lack of shoals or reefs
that might impair its shipping, and the waters around it are sufficiently deep as to accommodate
even the largest of crafts—Am-Azonite treasure ships or Moderator war vessels, for example.
But the waters of Thalass Deep are something else entirely. Many a sailor or scholar has tried to
determine just how far down it goes, but to no avail—even the longest sounding lines run out
before the Deep does. All that is known is that it goes for many, many fathoms, extending
further down than near any other place in the Known Internet. Sailors brave enough to pass
over Thalass Deep have often told of how unnerving it is: to look over the railing of the ship, and
to know that the water below hides an infinite blackness of impossible depths. And then, for an
instant, to see things moving.

No one is entirely sure what creatures lurk within the unending abyss of Thalass Deep,
though none doubt that they exist or that they have no love of men. Sailors as a rule are a
superstitious lot, but the stories are too numerous and the loss of ships and seamen too
common to disregard their words entirely. Some of these beasts are well-documented. Entire
schools of moderator sharks, so named for their hammer-shaped heads, have been seen
circling the Deep, as well as the more lonely but no less dangerous wardsquids, with their long
wrapping tendrils, crushing beaks, and clarion calls. Enormous bull-wyrms, gentler but larger
than even the serpents of the north, have been sighted as well, their long and tube-like bodies
sighted only occasionally as they snatch up crowds of fish into their gaping mouths. Such
creatures are odd, perhaps, but not altogether uncommon in the vastness of the Saying Sea.

But what of the wilder tales? To hear some natural philosophers tell it, Thalass Deep is
either a natural trench that goes far down into the sea below, or was once an underwater cavern
far vaster than can be imagined, one that opened into sunless oceans at the very roots of the
world. One can scarcely imagine the things that might live in such a place: strange and
sightless, having been born without any hint of the sun or open air. When the same cataclysm
that broke the Broken Arms and made isles of the Orange Islands struck this land, it may have
also breached this theorized cavern, allowing those unnamable creatures to leave their confines
for the first time, and prey upon the world beyond. Strangest of these explanations is that
Thalass Deep is home to a “blue hole”: a place where the datalines of reality thin and weaken
and then “drop off” entirely, allowing things not of this world to breach the veil from their realms
and prey upon ours.

These theories, however unproven, would at least explain the odd creatures seen
around Thalass Deep and nowhere else. Eels that glow with a ghostly light beneath the water,
bizarre amorphous masses that are said to climb up the sides of ships, and bug-like crawling
things as big as men, with armored carapaces and deadly claws, have all been reported.
Perhaps this could simply be explained as lies or half-truths by storytellers, but far worse things
have been sighted by other witnesses. Some claim that to have seen huge, grasping tendrils
emerge from the depths to tear down ships—krakens, perhaps, though most believe that they
only dwell further south. Other sightings have been truly bizarre. What of the rumored sharks
larger than ships, able to swallow whales in a single bite? Or the humpbacked, long-necked
creatures that destroy ships with a lash of their tails? Or the things with bulging, squamous
bodies but grotesquely human-like faces? For all our sake, one must hope that the sailors’ talk
is mere talk alone.

Finally, there is one notable thing found not beneath the waves of Thalass Deep, but
rising above them. Amid the great stretch of water, there is but one small speck of land, located
in the middle of the bay. This lonesome island is the sole feature of its kind in Thalass Deep, but
its mere presence is baffling. Natural philosophers familiar with the shores and features of the
sea have written that it is impossible that an island even exist in such a place, surrounded on all
sides by an endless abyss. But stranger still is what rests upon that island: a fortress.

Tall curtain walls rise on all sides, completely smooth and featureless. If it is made of
stone, it is stone that no science has named, and it appears impervious to any kind of harm.
There are no windows, no murderholes, not even visible battlements or parapets along the top.
And more ominously, there are no people. Or, if there are, they are well-hidden: the walls rise
too high for anyone to see above, and all attempts at scaling them have failed. Impossible as it
might sound, those who have tried say that the walls themselves pushed people away, as
though they were somehow enchanted . . . or alive.

Unsurprisingly, many have speculated upon the nature of this island. Some believe it is a
remnant of a vanished people, predating even the original colonists of Reddit, whilst others hold
that it was the haunt of a cybramancer in ancient days, who ensorceled his lair to keep out
trespassers. A few have even claimed that it is no island at all, but rather the spout of a massive
sea beast, lying dormant below until the day it reawakens. But the most repeatedly and most
widely believed of these tales is that the island is the holdfast of a group every bit as obscure
and mysterious: the Foundation.

The Foundation is a widespread urban legend heard all across the Web. According to
most stories, it is a fandom, albeit one of the most shadowy kind, that follows a mission of
absolute secrecy. Other stories maintain that it is no fandom at all, but rather a hidden division
of the Moderators, perhaps a grey ops group used by the Knights Prefect. Either way, the
Foundation is a secret society, devoted to locating, binding, and guarding objects or beings of a
paranormal nature. These same legends tell that there exists an entire world that lurks beneath
society’s notice and yet beyond their comprehension, so pervasive and so dangerous that
revealing the true nature of the world would cause panic and madness. To combat this, the
Foundation finds and categorizes all of these anomalies, developing means of containing them
and then hiding them away from the world.

The Foundation, being a secret organization, wipes away any trace of their activities in
the world as they operate. This conveniently means that no evidence exists for their existence.
Still, many believe that agents of the Foundation walk among us, clandestinely finding and
removing supernatural threats before they emerge and then redacting any sign of their
presence. The mysterious island in Thalass Deep is, according to the tales, just one of the many
hidden holdfasts that this group operates in secret locations around the Web.

Since no one has ever breached the walls of “Site 19,” as conspiracy theorists have
named it, still no one can confirm whether the Foundation truly does operate within. More likely
is that the island is empty, a lost relic of some by-gone era, though it is admittedly odd that the
Moderators have thus far refused to go near it. Still though, stories of the Foundation working
behind the walls in secret, inside an underwater base carved from the corpse of a dead and
dreaming sea monster, are simply too outlandish to believe.

******
Horseshoe Bay and the Other Identities

“These old weeds, wild and anarchic kings

Braiding rhizomes so far from home”
— “E38,” SoGreatandPowerful
 Outside of the Fandom Hills and their pet subreddits below, there are many other
communities that house themselves in the eastern half of Reddit. These are not fandoms,
although one could be forgiven for thinking as much. Though most of them worship gods of their
own or idols from the World Beyond, many are distinct from the fandomic influences found upon
the high hills. These are the ideological subreddits: the politicos, the gender-conforms, the cults
of feelings, inner truths, and worldly results. Many of these communities are home to passionate
activists, ferocious warriors, and relentless conflicts waged for generations.

The Oathbound

“People, we should be struggling together!”

“We ARE!”
— Life of Brian

In the western half of Horseshoe Bay one can find the subreddits of the sword-mystics
and the blue prophets, of feather-crested soldiery and toxic infighting, of painted faces and
terrible blood-pacts that bind the denizens in body and soul. These communities proceed along
the length of the Soros Shore, a low and flat coastline that offers a long length of useful
harborage. But the ports here are more often choked with soldiers than sailors, and its
subreddits are walked by more Mods than merchants. These are the subreddits of the
Oathbound, arguably the orthodox political ideology of Reddit. This title, however, is not
uncontested . . . and indeed, may not remain with them long.

While the Oathbound creed is old, their name is quite recent. Before now, the Oathbound
were numerous, scattered sects aligned loosely beneath the Blue Flag. All had similar beliefs,
more or less, but different ideas on how to achieve their goals. The idols of these many tribal
religions are too numerous to recount in full, but by the time of the War of the Electors there
were only two of serious importance: the Blue Lady and the Burning Man. Though the actual
differences between the two were minor, their rivalry was great, doing much damage to their
shared cause even before the War reached its darkest hours. Nevertheless, the two factions set
aside their differences to march against their common foe: the Red Hats. Joined into one Blue
Flag Alliance, this combined force went eagerly to crush their enemy.

These hopes of victory, however, were shattered in the Disaster, and the Alliance with
them. Shocked and scattered to the winds by God-Emperor’s victory, followers who were not
slaughtered outright were forced into exile, fighting a desperate retreat as the Red Hats
advanced in battlegrounds across the Web. The Blue Flag’s fortresses in the Orange Islands fell
to the advancing horde. Wall and Tower—mad dreams of a mad god—were raised as
monuments to the Red triumph. Much was lost, and a more peaceful era of the Internet was
ended forever.
 This was not, however, the end of the Blue cause. That which is broken can be reforged,
and in the months following the Disaster the survivors reemerged from seclusion and exile with
new purpose. In Widdar and the Land of Faces, in the north and west, east and south, and in
Reddit too, the scattered remnants of the old Alliance joined once again to seek their justice and
revenge. To bind themselves together, they entered into a pact of unshakable strength and
dread power: the Blood Oath of Vengeance. By undergoing this grave ritual, all those who
joined their ranks were bound into a single doom—to defeat the God-Emperor, or else die in the
attempt.

Now known as “Oathbound,” this resistance movement has become the implacable
opposition to the Red Hats across the Known Internet, locked into an everlasting campaign to
root out the cult wherever it might be found. In Reddit, this has meant an alliance with the
Moderator Authority, with both working to maintain the quarantine that hems the Red Hats into
their island strongholds. Standing guard at the Pathologue Bridge, Oathbound indivisions drill
and march beside Mod Peacekeepers and Knights Arbiter, awaiting the Red attack that will
surely come.

The Oathbound themselves hail from all across the Web. Most in Reddit are native to the
city, having taken up the sword in the first War of Electors or else joined after the Disaster.
Others are foreign volunteers, hailing from Widdar, the Land of Faces, the Blurr, or other sites.
In general, Blurrite culture and beliefs are given more credence among the Oathbound than the
average Redditor. Xenophobes aligned with the Reds have cited this as proof that the
Oathbound are merely props of the Blurrite Oppressed, trying to win control of the city for their
foreign masters. The Oathbound forces wield weapons of all kinds, with styles of combat that
vary between the different sects. Their fighting units—called “indivisions”—are a common sight
not only in Horseshoe Bay and the Quarantine Lines, but in various subreddits across the city.
Their presence, however, is not always welcome: many Redditors hate being reminded of
anything “political,” no matter how important, and many others hold secret sympathies with the
Red Pillar and the Red Hats.

While united in their purpose, the Oathbound are nevertheless prone to factions. Some
of these are old, predating the Oath itself. The most of the larger Oathbound organization were
followers of the Blue Lady in the War of the Electors, but in Widdar and Reddit the vast majority
were and still are fanatics of the Burning Man. Other sects of the Oathbound are new, having
arisen as new idols came to power since the first War ended. Often the split between these
factions is ideological in nature, as some Oathbound are more radical than others. Tensions
linger between these various camps, causing friction where cooperation is necessary, and
misgivings where there should be trust.

Factionalism is not their only issue. The Oath compels those bound to it into a strict code
of honor, which forbids them from both doubt and retreat and drives them to suffer death rather
than defeat. This makes them fierce and disciplined fighters, but also inflexible ones. Merely
winning a battle is not enough; their Oath commands that the Red Hats be completely
annihilated, with even the smallest trace of their existence wiped from the face of the earth. Mod
commanders have found themselves spending considerable energy trying to restrain
Oathbound aggression and maintain their current positions, rather than rush into a war they are
not authorized to wage. Some Redditors report being alienated by Oathbound rhetoric and
goals, though these are probably the same Redditors who align with the Reds anyways.

These problems came to a head during the Dire Primaries, a series of contests to
determine the leadership of the Oathbound. The Neo-Burning Men and their allies amongst the
Commentern believed their victory was inevitable, and thus demanded loyalty from all other
groups and attacked those who were hesitant to give it. This only served to alienate the majority
of Oathbound, who instead banded together beneath a more moderate platform. While the
largest share of the defeated Burning Men have willingly accepted this new leadership, many
others have formed breakaway subreddits and holdout communities that denounce the
Oathbound and demand that the Burning Man be restored to his “rightful place.”

Whatever their issues, the Oathbound will need to set them aside sooner rather than
later. Few doubt that the next great war against the Reds will soon begin. Though the
Oathbound made great progress in the Midterm Skirmishes, it will take an effort far greater to
dislodge the God-Emperor once and for all. But even if they succeed, many have wondered:
what will come next?

While the Oathbound are joined by one vow and one code, this has not halted factions in
their ranks. Generally, the Oathbound subreddits north of Mueller Time Square, proceeding
along Signal Street, are home to the more moderate sects, smaller, more diverse, and more
willing to dabble in the “identity politics” Redditors claim to despise. These differing but largely
united subreddits call the area Big Tent, though it is more commonly known as “Shillside” by
their enemies. Much larger is the district on the southern end of the Soros Shore, which is home
to the monolithic Neo-Burning Men faction. The Burning Men are the single largest political bloc
in Reddit, commanding legions of fanatical brigaders and a large swath of loyal subreddits
around the Sanctimon’s Street. Major subgroups found among both Oathbound groups are
given below:

● The Blue Dogs: the most moderate of the Oathbound factions, the Blue Dogs
come mostly from poorer workers or tradesmen. Lacking in means or
alternatives, they oppose the Reds but also stand to lose the most if the coming
war is lost. As such, they are far more open to compromise and negotiation with
groups that lean towards the Reds in the interest of peace or victory. Though
sometimes treated with veiled contempt by more radical fellows, the Blue Dogs
 gained considerable strength after the Midterm Skirmishes, and consider
themselves to be the true backbone of the movement.

● The Neolibs: An eccentric and eclectic group, the Neolibs dwell in subreddits of
tall and densely-packed buildings, meant to fit as many people as possible. Their
primary headquarters, the Ivory Tower, is a complex of memetic esoterica and
deep, stately halls, virtually impenetrable to outsiders. Aligned with merchant
interests, the Neolibs are skeptics and pragmatists, caring more for hard results
than anything else.

The ideals they do hold align them closely with the Oathbound, including a desire
for inclusiveness and liberty. Borders and trade barriers are considered hateful to
their worship, something that often puts them at odds with other Oathbound.
Some of the Neolib beliefs, however, are so esoteric that even their allies cannot
understand them. What exactly “land value taxes” or “licensure reforms” actually
are, or why the Neolibs make them the center of their platform, remains
unknown. Main subgroups include Georgist land-raiders and the Antisucc
Spears.

● The Woke: Born from Blurrite Attivishem social movements, the Woke sect
exploded in strength and popularity after the Disaster, forming an early and
successful resistance to the Red advance. The Woke considered themselves
awakened to the inherent flaws and injustices of the word, and seek to correct
them through righteous and vocal action. Similar to their Blurrite roots, the Woke
believe strongly in diversity, identity, and the inherent power of words to harm or
heal. Their territory is strictly patrolled and fiercely guarded by both armed guards
and Blurrite trigger wardings, and wrongdoers can expect to be dealt with swiftly.
Their internal societies include the Podfriends and the sword-sayers, a band of
warriors said cut flesh and metal by voice alone.

● Yang Gang: A small but fanatical street-level subreddit, with a highly eclectic
base of support. Their place on the spectrum of moderate to radical Oathbound
is difficult to pin down, due to their slurry of disconnected and sometimes
contradicting goals. Through a strange outreach network, they have somehow
gained small cadres of admirers among everyone from the Neolibs to the Chapos
to the Libertine, Roganite, and Elon Avenue subreddits, despite the animosity
between these groups. The center of their ideology is ubi , a vague cross
between charitable social program, philosophical thought exercise, and mixed-
martial art that Yang Gangers wholeheartedly support, whatever it is.
 After the end of the Dire Primaries, the core of the Yang Gang has fallen in with
the mainstream Oathbound, finding new hopes for the spread of their ubi
platform as fears of the Beer Plague mount. Fringe elements, however, have
defected to Libertine and Roganite territory.

● The Warrens: A tangled district of close-knit alleys, the Warrens are home to the
reform branch of the Oathbound. Though not as radical as the Rose or the
Chapos, denizens of subreddits in the Warrens believe that massive structural
changes are needed to address the Reds, and advocate for absolute resistance
against the God-Emperor and his allies. Specializing in mass-produced and
voluminous tracts that explain and justify their programs, the Warrens have won
admiration from some and suspicion from others. Moderates like the Blue Dogs
and the Neolibs view their plans with a degree of skepticism, and many Chapos
and other Neo-Burning Men are outright hostile, seeing the followers of the
Warrens as usurpers of their destined victory.

The enmity shown by the Burning Men towards the Warrens grew to such a pitch
that neither side would work with the other, leading to the defeat of both by the
moderate Oathbound faction. Virtually all of the followers in the Warrens
subreddits have now willing joined forces with the moderates, eschewing the
schism that now plagues the Burning Men.

● Neo-Burning Men: Easily the largest and most powerful political body amongst
the Reddit Oathbound, the Burning Men rose to dizzying heights of popularity
and power during the first War of the Electors. Taking advantage of the vitriol
aimed at the Blue Lady, the Burning Men surprised many by rapidly building a
huge and fanatical movement across the city. After the Disaster, the Burning Men
were the front-runners to lead the burgeoning Oathbound movement, but quickly
drove all potential allies away with brigading and constant attacks. Now defeated
a second time, most Burning Men have joined the larger Oathbound, hoping to
gain certain concessions from the moderate leadership. Many others, however,
have locked themselves into holdout communities that refuse to acknowledge
their defeat, instead preaching that the Burning Man was cheated and his
followers wronged.

The Burning Men count a huge number of followers in Reddit, particularly among
young, native-born men. They are a populist movement, noted for their
opposition to large merchant companies, hatred of the wealthy, desire for the
forgiveness of debts, and distrust of webwide trade. Their members are
immediately distinguished by the brands they display proudly upon their wrists
and the bird-wing helms they wear in battle. Besides dominating most political
 discussion subreddits and many Oathbound voting halls, a large number of
nominally neutral memetic subreddits are firmly under their control. Also at their
disposal is a near-constant brigading effort into unrelated communities,
proselytizing and preaching of the Burning Man’s inevitable march to victory.

After said victory proved less inevitable than they hoped, many of their subreddits
have fallen into the Closed Circle Problem, more interested in attacking other
Oathbound than fighting the Red Hats. These subreddits flood the Allfront with
inflammatory sermons and memetic propaganda, and have become infamous for
their hostility to outsiders and constant breaking of site rules. Many worry that
these splitters have become mere branches of the heretical Chapo-trappers, or
worse have been infiltrated by Red sympathizers who seek to subvert the
Oathbound cause.

● Rose Widdari: Among the most radical of the Oathbound, many of the Rose hail
from Widdar, the City of Birds to the north of Reddit. Like most Widdari, these
transplants are highly partisan and extremely vocal, berating their allies almost
as often as their enemies. The Rose believe that the world exists in “stages,” like
spokes on a wheel that pass as time turns. The current era is the Late Stage: a
time of poverty and disaster, in which the shadows lengthen in the evening and
the slavery of all people looms.

To prevent this, Rose Widdari advocate for cataclysmic change to forestall

cataclysmic demise, overthrowing much of the established order and converting
the nonbelievers to their ranks. Decried as utopian malcontents by some, the
Rose have gained considerable support amongst Redditors of late. Most live
within armed communes in a district called the Rose Gardens, and seek to bring
the Oathbound closer in line with self-exiled Chapo-trappers. Many others spend
their days in the Pathos District, ruminating with their fellows in the Cancelcull
and Doomer’s Dirge.

Aside from the subreddits of these major sub factions, there remain other notable
landmarks. Mueller Time Square is at the center of Oathbound territory, the famed “court of
power” in which the Steel Prophecies were issued amongst the faithful. The Queen’s Orb,
potent in memetica , remains in an unpopular stretch of the Bay, it’s crystalline surface
swirling with colors that are said to change based on the moods of those around it. The great
memorial to the Blue Lady is also notable, though it is heavily guarded. Attempts to vandalize
and deface it are common, both by Red-sympathizers and groups like the Chapos, who blame
her for the Disaster.
 Best known of these landmarks, however, is the monument of Aoc Inheritor, the most
famed of the Oathbound sword-saints. Her worship began in certain bars in Oathbound territory,
but has since exploded into one of Reddits most popular political cults, flooding the Allfront with
content praising her name. Her statue in Horseshoe Bay takes the form of a woman wielding a
burning sword of heroes, with eyes that glow like coals. Aoc and the rest of the Squad Pantheon
are considered aligned with the Burning Man, and thus are most fanatically worshipped by the
Rose and Chapo-trappers and viewed with suspicion by the Blue Dogs and Neolibs.

Isle of the Chapo-trappers

“Alright, so here’s how the Burning Man can still win.”

Set apart from the Oathbound are their erstwhile cousins, a band of nigh-heretical
splitters known as the Chapo-trappers. During the War of the Electors, many of these militants
fought for the Burning Man, supporting His insurgent movement with fanatic devotion. The
movement proved extremely popular in Reddit, with thousands proudly wearing the brand of His
army. For months, hymns to the Burning Man could be heard across the Allfront, while devotees
used their faith-mathematics to prophecise His victory in the war.

The enthusiasm of opeers, however, meant little against hard reality. In the end, it was
the better organized and better equipped armies of the Blue Lady that triumphed in the first,
largely bloodless stage of the conflict. Many of these Burning Men joined the resulting Blue Flag
Alliance, a combined effort helmed by the Lady to combat the Red Hat scourge. But by the time
these old quarrels were set aside, it was too late. The Disaster came, and the victory of the Red
Hats meant the slaughter and doom of many who had opposed them.

Most of the Burning Men who survived joined with other remnants of the Blue Flag
Alliance, forging themselves into the Oathbound. There were, however, those that refused.
These contrarians blamed the Disaster on lack of faith in the Burning Man, accusing the other
Blues of corruption and mismanagement. In protest, they formed a splinter group—the Chapo-
trappers, or simply Chapos.

Individual Chapos sometimes refer to themselves as Grey Wolves, fighting in

battlegroups called Defiant Cadres or “wining-wings.” They are highly militant, though lacking in
numbers, and have a reputation as ferocious, if undisciplined, fighters. Their training consists of
rigorous tests of purity in everything from swordplay to faith-mathematics—a supposed science
said to predict the Burning Man’s path to inevitable victory. Rumors exist that they expose
themselves to drugs and potent memetica to hone their battle instincts, but the truth of this is
unknown.
 The Chapos claim to be fighting the Reds on their own terms. In reality, most of their
energy seems to be spent attacking the Oathbound, accusing them of being bought by
mysterious “monied interests” or berating them as supplicants and sycophants lacking faith in
the Burning Man and His teachings. Others among them are noted for their distaste for Blurrites
and their “identity politics,” not unlike the fear of the Oppressed common to much of Reddit.
Their closest ideological allies are the Rose Widdari and other Neo-Burning Men factions, bound
up by a series of pacts and understandings informally called the “Commentern.” Stranger friends
can be found in less likely places, however.

In recent years, the Chapos have gained a reputation for being radical and violent,
harboring dreaded Tankies and other toxic personalities. The Chapo-trappers reject these
allegations, but nevertheless have entered what they call a “voluntary separation” from the rest
of Reddit, secluding themselves in their island fortress in Horseshoe Bay and rejecting all offers
to rejoin the Oathbound. According to the Chapos, the Oathbound are little more than “social
Reds” who refuse to truly fight the Red Hats. To protest this, the Chapos have refused to fight
the Red Hats, and instead have announced their intent to sit out the coming war unless their
demands to lead the entire Oathbound force are met.

Due to their self-exile, the Chapo-trappers’ only official outpost remains their holdfast on
the Traphouse Island which gives them their name. The edifice of the Chapos is mostly pure
white, raised from the same kind of stone quarried in places like Widdar or the Orange Islands,
and appears oddly lopsided and teetering by most lay observers. The Chapos themselves claim
that this strange design is meant to prevent interference from “landlines”: concentrated borders
of “adverse energy” that exist to entrap and foil the Burning Man, which are completely invisible
but—the Chapos insist—very real. No evidence exists for this phenomenon. Regardless, many
Chapos are still known to venture out from their fortress-island, often openly joining brigades
into other subreddits to promote their ideology and criticize the Oathbound “bootlickers.”

The Needle

“It’s tilting right! No, left! Right again! Argh, I can’t watch!”

At the exact center between the two shores of Horseshoe Bay is the Needle, a great
monument of smooth, shining metal near two hundred feet tall. This slender spire of burnished
steel rises high above Bay, serving as a landmark and rallying point for those around. Both it
and plaza surrounding it—the Enlightened Center—are considered neutral ground between the
various hostile subreddits, though that has not stopped it being the frequent host to riots,
uprisings, and battles of every kind.

Superstitious types claim that the Needle has a mind of its own, and even that it acts as
a spectator to the many conflicts that erupt below it. If one listens to these urban legends, the
Needle sways and changes depending on which side of the Bay has the advantage, leaning left
or right as one side swells or falls in support. Scarce little proof exists of this, but many of those
who take up arms in the political subreddits will nevertheless offer their prayers to the Needle
and watch it intently as a day of battle unfolds.

Enlightenment Center itself is a circle of cobbled stone that stands astride the two
warring halves of Horseshoe Bay. The plaza is expansive but largely empty, at least of
permanent residents. Previously it was home to sizable political factions who thought
themselves both between and above their warring peers to the east and west, collected and
rational where others were radical and uncouth. Their neutrality was thought as a strength, but
in the end it betrayed them: in the face of the universal culture war, the Web has small use for
those that cannot choose a side. Most of these centrists have been split and subsumed into the
larger political cults on either end of the Bay, and those that remain are scorned and ridiculed by
their fellow citizens. This is not without cause: many who claim neutrality are little more than
concern-trollers aligned with the Red Hats, or else are those privileged enough to feel little sting
from the threat the God-Emperor poses.

At any rate, these days the Center serves as little more than a staging ground for
campaigns against one side of the Bay or the other. What homes and businesses remain are
forced to coexist alongside an increasingly violent conflict, with trollers and meme-fueled
partisans trading barbs and bloodshed.

Reaction’s Relief

“Around here we believe in freedom of speech, and I’ll ban anyone who thinks otherwise!”

While the western side of the Bay is populated by the God-Emperor’s sworn enemies, a
very different breed of subreddits exists to the east. A rocky peninsula struts out from the larger
shore, which ends suddenly and continues on into a series of small, barren islands. This is the
first of the Broken Arms, a mass of sheer and inhospitable cliffs, with only a few spots that make
for useful harbors.

More interesting are the groups that inhabit this otherwise foreboding shore. All along the
cliff-face, terminating at the Turning Point, are the subreddits of Reaction’s Relief. Though both
they and the Oathbound subreddits opposite to them are political communities, the similarities
end there. Where the Oathbound are quarrelsome but more or less united, the cults of
Reaction’s Relief organize largely into self-sufficient compounds and neotribal militias which are
usually at odds. Where the Oathbound contain transplants and emigres from all across the Web,
the opeers and lurkers of the Relief are almost uniformly native Redditors or other southrons,
particularly Channic exiles.
 And, most importantly, while the Oathbound are ferociously opposed by the Red Hats,
the attitudes of Reaction’s Relief are more complex. None of them will openly admit to
supporting Mylon Bright and the God-Emperor—most claim to be “independents” of some kind
—but sympathies with the hostile side of the Pathologue Bridge run deep. There is considerable
concern that the majority of these subreddits will join with the Reds, should the cult try to force
their crossing into Reddit once again, and tensions with the Oathbound are high.

● Libertas: Part of a cultural tradition that stretches back to Reddit’s first founding,
this political cult inhabits the area formally named Rothbard’s Rest, but both the
area and the movement domiciled there are more commonly called “Libertas.”
The name is well chosen, for the Libertines care about little save for “human
freedom”—though what exactly that means tends to vary.

Libertine beliefs in self-interest and deep suspicion of any governing authority

have held sway in Reddit since its founding, and once the city was dominated by
the priesthoods of idols like Rhan the Happened. Because of their decentralized
nature, however, they hold almost no practical power. Though they claim that
both sides of the culture war are their foes, it is an open secret that most
members of Libertas hold sympathies with the Red Hats, not least because of
their hatred of Mods.

● Roganites: Popular on the Allfront, the Roganites are centered around a single
cult figure, shrouded in smoke and flanked by a panoply of “guests” to his
Celestial Studio, in which they speak secret words of wisdom. Proponents swear
to the genius of this idol, and believe that when any figure joins his guests, they
become more real, more true, and more popular. Detractors describe him as a
god of trance-heads, with an alarming tendency to invite Red-aligned groups into
his Celestial Studio.

Despite their thinly-veiled sympathies with the Libertines and Red Hats, the
Roganites enjoy a bizarre alliance with the Chapo-trappers and other Neo-
Burning Men orders. Strange as it seems, the Chapos and Roganites actually
share a number of similarities: both rally around a single casting-source from
Beyond, both fancy themselves “independents,” and both have a fervent dislike
of the “identity politics” in which they claim the Oathbound engage. Other allies of
the Roganites include the Teslan Elonites, the Yang Gang, and certain Tulsian
entryist factions.

● N’Wo Neocons: Relatively small, the N’Wo are a curiosity amongst the eastern
political cults. They believe that the central authority of society must be perilously
small, but also large enough to destroy any of their enemies with crushing force.
 They oppose borders, but also resent foreigners like the Blurrites. Their numbers
on Reddit are very few, and their friends fewer. Some of their stated ideals
overlap with the Neolibs, though that does not stop them from usually being at
odds. Their relationship with the Red Hats is similarly strained, according to
some rumors, though few doubt that they will back the God-Emperor in the
coming war.

● Tyrsdays Group: The anemic cousins of the N’Wo and conservative-leaning

Neolibs, the Tyrsday Group is a band of moderate conservatives that are weaker
and less known than either. The Tyrsday Group claim to be the old guard of the
conservative elements in Reddit, focused more on matters of business, taxation,
and spending than the Culture War that so occupies the Red Hats. If that’s the
case, it perhaps explains why Redditors on whole do not care about them, and
why the Tyrsday Group has lost all relevance in the conservative wing of Reddit.

During the War of the Electors, some seventeen different political cults battled for
control of this wing, with the Tyrsday Group backing several. All of them,
however, were easily defeated by the ultranativists that formed into the Red Hats.
The remaining members of the Tyrsday Group style themselves as dissenters
from Red Hat radicalism, but most are feeble opponents at best, with a large
number now turning back on their word and supporting the God-Emperor they
once claimed to despise. Most believe they will have little impact in the coming
war—one need only look to the Tomb of Jeb on Exclamation Point to see the fate
of those who follow this group.

● Ancaps: The radical shadow of Libertas. Ancaps are the fringe of the fringe,
taking all of the already impractical ideas of the Libertines and pushing them to
the even further extreme. The mere existence of government is enough to
enrage them, and the presence of laws is held as a heresy. Ancaps despise
Mods in general and Knights Regulator in particular, for they believe that any and
all restraints on the market are vile and evil. This has made them friends of large
merchant cartels, fighting as allies to deregulate trade and abolish common
health and safety standards. Without any kind of organization, however, most of
their time is spent in the gulches of Reaction’s Relief, nursing grudges and
stockpiling weapons in their fortified compounds.

● Deathwatch: Sitting upon the Edge Cliffs, the Deathwatch subreddit hosts a
fringe faction with apocalyptic beliefs. Similar to a mystery cult, they believe in a
secret revelation: that these are the dying days of Reddit, the time at which its
people will be enslaved by foreigners and its hallowed halls cast down into ruin.
With this knowledge, they have resolved to observe this death so they might
 mourn and laugh. Like other groups in Reaction’s Relief, the Deathwatch claim to
greatly value “freedom,” specifically the freedom to abuse people that they
dislike. The approaching demise of Reddit, they claim, will come from those
hated peoples that try to take that freedom away: Moderators, “identitarian”
Blurrites, Kio-Kyan infiltrators, other foreigners, and various banking and
mercantile interests. Cynical and paranoid, they are hostile to most outsiders and
do not welcome trespassers in their territory lightly.

● Nameless Cults: At the farthest end of Reaction’s Relief are the cults that are
farthest gone from reality. Most of these small sects are offshoots of those found
in the Orange Islands, banned from larger Reddit and seeking to establish
footholds for their masters: Volk Wehraboos, Celibites, Red Hats, Eronite
Gamers, and worse. Moderators descend upon this area every now and then to
purge the cultists who take root, but inevitably they return, usually changing the
names of their subreddits just slightly to mock the Mods that banned them. There
are no permanent structures here, just hastily-made shacks and tent-towns that
can be disassembled just as quickly should the Mods bring down their hammer
again. Given that these are the encampments of Red-backed brigaders and
banned lunatics, the entire area is extremely dangerous and should be avoided
by all sane travelers.

The subreddits of Reaction’s Relief have fewer monuments and landmarks than their
Oathbound counterparts, given how difficult it is to build anything substantial among groups so
self-interested. Ephebo Street is the largest and best-maintained thoroughfare, those that is only
when compared to the crumbling cobbles and decaying dirt-tracks that link the rest of the
subreddits this side of the Bay. The Rhan Memorial found on its banks is one of the oldest
shrines in the city, now crumbling and yet still visited by the occasional pilgrim—ironic or
otherwise.

Compass Island, and the Brigading Bridges

“You know, the Burning Man would be far right in Kio-Kyo.”

Spanning across Horseshoe Bay are a pair of weathered, blood-stained bridges, across
which gangs and armies have marched and upon which gangs and armies have died. Serving
as the most direct link between the different political cults on either side of the Bay, these
bridges have become the most direct means for said cults to strike at each other, sending
squads of brigaders to the opposite side to raid, protest, and plunder. Most of these combats fall
under the sacred rites of fire-feud, and are thus sanctioned and regulated by the Moderators,
lending itself to countless skirmishes and duels on the Brigading Bridges and in the island in
between them.
 Compass Island is the centermost meeting place between the Soros Shore and
Reaction’s Relief. This does not, however, mean it is home to any dialogue between those
sides. The island itself is divided into four quadrants, each dominated by a different political
faction. Much of the west is dominated by the Rose Widdari, Chapo-trappers, and Tank
Tendency, safe for the southwest portions controlled by more moderate Oathbound groups. The
southeast is under Libertine and Ancap control, heavily armed and ever-quarrelsome. The
northeast section of the island, however, frequently trades hands between various proxies of the
Red Hats, who lurk there in ever-increasing numbers. Some of these cultists are barely-veiled
members of the Volk Wehraboos or the Red Pillar, and all are as bloodthirsty as their masters in
the Orange Islands.

Moderators have struggled to keep Compass Island under control, divided as it is

between such opposing groups, and in their absence many of the more radical brigaders have
used it to export propaganda-laced memetica to normalize their cults and bring more followers
to their dark causes.

Distaff and the Streets of Women

“Women? Sorry, you mean agents of the Oppressed?”

There is a tract of the Allfront shoreline that, while rich in potential for trade, was sorely
neglected by Redditors prior to its current owners taking possession. By the time of Reddit’s
concord with the Moderator Authority, the area was home to a multitude of weavers and
spinners, taking advantage of the burgeoning wool trade. As Reddit shifted to importing goods
with Mod-backed trade, however, this business declined and this waterfront went woefully
underused.

The coming of the Moderators brought other changes, however, which eventually
retooled the district into what it is today. A quirk of old Reddit—similar time much of the old
Internet—was a disenfranchising of women in favor of men, to the point that women were rarely
seen in the open. Mod law meant strict enforcement of gender equality in lands they controlled,
and this combined with greater ease of movement throughout the Web and greater safety in the
streets of Reddit brought a sea change to the city. After a series of gender riots, women
throughout the city—both native residents and recent arrivals on the Blue Line—elected to make
subreddits of their own, based around mutual protection and support. For their home, they
choose now largely derelict weaver’s district, abandoning the industry but keeping its traditional
name: Distaff.

The Distaff subreddits occupy a network of streets that make a rough triangle at the
eastern end of the White Bridge, a mere stone’s throw from Solomon Island. True to their roots,
these subreddits cater to a near-totally female citizenry—a stark contrast to most others in
Reddit, where opeers are disproportionately men. They serve a myriad of purposes, providing
for both discussion of and action concerning women’s issues in the city, of which there are still
many. Health organizations, political interest groups, activist blocs, and armed protection
squadrons are all found in the various Distaff communities, and all are fiercely dedicated to their
shared cause.

The heart of Distaff is Two Cross Plaza, which is at the convergence of the district’s
largest thoroughfares. This open square is one of the few places in Reddit where female
passersby outnumber the male, and its centerpiece is the Pao Riots Memorial, the largest of its
kind in the city. This part of Reddit suffered grievously during the conflict surrounding Reddit’s
first—and still only—female Speaker, owing to the terrible fire-feuds waged against neighboring
Kia and Tia. Thus, the ram-stone of memory placed in the Two Cross Plaza mourns this tragedy
with more grandeur than any of the city’s other monuments: a sheer obelisk of black stone,
enormous and code-carved and nigh-impervious to harm.

The most impressive structure in the subreddits—indeed, one of the largest in Reddit—is
the fabled Witch Spindle. Its curved, ovular walls rise high above all buildings around it, ending
with a roof that appears to some like a lopsided, wide-brimmed hat. The interior of the great
keep is a complex maze of vaults and passages with doors, which the native women can easily
navigate but are activated by buttons that Redditor men seem unable to see even if they are
right in front of them.

Some have attributed the puzzle-box nature of the building to a series of botwork
mechanisms that constantly shift and lock certain areas of the tower, but an equally likely
explanation lies with sorcery. The Witch Spindle is not named so for nothing, and the Emerald
Covens that hold sway within lay claim to all manner of strange and occult powers. Their
enemies, at least, believe the tales: many an agent of the Red Pillar or feel-monger of the Red
Hats has claimed they were hexed or cursed by the Witch Spindle after having been humiliated
or captured, and the Witches themselves have never cared to disabuse such notions.

The Witches, and indeed most of the Distaff subreddits, are aligned closely with the
powers of the Blurr and the Oathbound, loathing the Red cults, Channic incursions, or native
Redditor apathy towards the conflicts. The animosity between Distaff and the Red Pillar is bone-
deep, with bad blood stretching back to the founding of both communities. The Red Pillar insist
that all the Distaff subreddits are secretly controlled by the Oppressed, and their conspirators in
the nearby Kia and Tia subreddits wage an almost constant fire-feud against the women’s
quarter. Paramilitary legions and armed protection societies have become increasingly common
in Distaff, and necessary to defend against encroaching troller gangs and Red-backed
brigaders.
Kia and Tia

“It must be exhausting, fighting enemies that don’t exist.”

The question of how to contain and combat antisocial subreddits has long plagued the
opeers of Reddit. Until quite recently, both the Assembly and most citizens were content to allow
violent, subversive criminal communities to thrive, so as to avoid compromising on their libertine
ideals. The red rinses prior to the Pao Riots were the first great challenge to this consensus,
when the Knights Censor and Arbiter of the Moderator Authority banned a host of underworld
subreddits and their denizens across Reddit. But outright banning such communities—no matter
how dangerous they are—is still seen as a last resort, with the Assembly much preferring
containment when possible. The current quarantine line surrounding the Orange Islands is the
best known of these, cordoning off many hostile subreddits from the larger site.

Not all of these aggressive communities are so contained, however. Dedicated as the
quarantine Mods might be, they are still undermanned, and Red spies are still said to leak
through. And the quarantine does nothing for those Red sympathizers already outside the Wall.
Rumored allies of the Red Hats and Red Pillar are said to inhabit all sides of Reddit, from the
fedoralords of the Euphoric Ring to the toxic underbelly of the Gamer subfandoms. But among
the oldest, proudest, and most infamous of these are the so-called “Two Right Hands.”

While Distaff and the Witch Spindle lie close to the Mods of Solomon Island, it is their
other neighbors which give them greatest concern. To the northeast, on the other side of a
scorched and vandalized gate known as the Cat’s Pass, are the frequent and bloody foes of
those subreddits: the twin subreddits of Kia and Tia. Few rivalries between subreddits have
been so long-lasting or so costly.

Tia and Kia were born in war and remain the haunt of raiders, brigaders, and feel-
mongers to this day. Their inception was during one of the most contentious periods in Reddit’s
history. For years, increased contact with the Blurr—the great continent past the Blogosphere in
the East—had brought renewed trade and wealth to the city. The arrival of the Blurrites
themselves, however, fueled a small but vocal nativist movement, who more and more resented
Blurrite ideals and culture. The Blurrites fought for causes and social movements foreign to
Redditors, spoke a strange language with both tongue and hands alike, and despised as taboo
many things the Redditors celebrated.

In the minds of many citizens, there are only two varieties of people: nativeborn
Redditors, and “political” folk, who come from strange places, speak strange languages and
follow strange practices. The presence of such foreigners or anyone else that does not fit the
usual demographics of the city often provokes annoyance or outrage in popular subreddits.
Redditors in general claim to hate “forced diversity,” which tends to mean hating any
appearance by any minority at any time under any circumstances. Tia was one of many nativist
subreddits spawned from this distrust, while Kia was founded shortly after by sympathetic
Gamer paramilitaries during the Great Gamer War. Their differences in modern times are
relatively few, as they have grown to share a common; namely, hatred of Blurrites and the
Blurrite Oppressed, a terror group that Tia and Kia believe lurk in every shadow.

The Oppressed are a constant boogeyman for Redditors, who are quick to reflexively
blame their problems on the work of Oppressed justicars. Any discussion that challenges
Redditor notions is usually denounced as “identity politics” pushed by agents of the Oppressed,
who are said to use assassination and sabotage to advance their goals all across the Web. This
paranoia puts Tia and Kia firmly in line with the Red Pillar, and both subreddits are all but open
supporters of the exiled mystery cult.

Tia and Kia are populated almost solely by men, and are nakedly hostile to the
subreddits of Distaff and Prideside. Street brawls and violent brigading between them is nigh-
constant, and has become only more inflamed as the ongoing political conflicts of Reddit heat
up. During such skirmishes, Tia and Kia typically count on the aid of various other powerful
groups in Reddit. Tia enjoys the support of many groups in Reaction’s Relief, as well as the
nearby activist groups in the Men’s Right, while Kia can call upon any number of sympathizers
on Gamer’s Hill. These are only their unbanned allies as well: more shadowy ones lie in the
haunts of the Orange Islands.

******
The Orange Islands

“Yes, yes, we get it: Orange God bad.”

The Orange Islands have always had a dark reputation. Rocky, barren things they are,
with jagged hills and hidden vents in the ground from which billow heat and steam. The latter
are due to the same volcanism that birthed the isles in the first place: the whole archipelago was
once connected by land to the rest of Reddit, scholars say, until a massive eruption in primordial
times split them apart. Evidence of this can be found elsewhere: certain beaches in the isles are
filled from shore to shore with grainy black sand said to come from volcanic rock, while the
strange noises heard in the hills are supposedly the result of shallow quakes in the earth below.

The prosperity known to the rest of Reddit never found its way to the Orange Islands.
When Ama’s Point raised stacks, the Islands contented themselves with teetering shack-houses
and tenement rows. When Watchwind lined their streets with Centrellian datalamps, the Orange
Islands were still lit with gas lights or torches dimmed by the ever-present haze. When the
Allfront boomed with trade, the Orange Islands remained backward and stunted. Decent folk
had long abandoned it, and smart folk never came at all. What remained were more desperate
groups: pirates, smugglers, and other criminals. And the cults. They have always been there,
those ugly covens with even uglier creeds that were not welcome elsewhere.

Nowadays, the Orange Islands are an even more desperate place, and a hundred times
more dangerous. During the War of the Electors, the Orange Islands became the birthplace of
the Red Hats, a violent doomsday cult that follow their God-Emperor with terrible resolve. Since
the Disaster, the entire archipelago has come under the full control of the God-Emperor’s cult,
ruled with an iron fist by either the Reds or their allies.

Locked behind the Wall, civilized people in Reddit know only rumors of what happens in
the Orange Islands, and none of those tales are good. Attracted by the prospect of a site free
from Mods and gods, the followers of many banned communities have flocked to join with the
Reds, carving out spheres of influence in the islands which they rule as petty kingdoms, each
batch of exiles worse than the last. The arrival of longships bearing anarchists and militants from
the demon-cursed Chan. Black-clad stormtroopers said to be dreaded tigersquads of the Volk
wehraboos. Celibites, chained and conscripted, bound to the whims and hates of the Red
Pillar.

Others speak of even darker forces. Deathly pale fleshtrappers from the Deep Web.
Bizarre half-people, with bulging eyes and webbed fingers that resemble more fish than man.
And perhaps even strange soldiers speaking strange tongues, marching mechanically in perfect
lines—the b’hots , the ruthless slave-mercenaries of unknown V’Kay, and the Putinites that
march with them. Old legends have resurfaced, terrible myths from Channic lore or the fevered
prophecies of the Mad Mod—the heresiarch who was hanged and yet rumored to have never
died. Tales abound, but the truth is yet unknown.

The Pathologue Bridge and the Quarantine Lines

“Look against the Pathologue and you’ll see how well the containment strategy worked.”

Rocky and sheer as the Orange Islands are, their coastlines offer few means of access
from the sea, relying on a small number of narrow, deep bights and sand-clogged harbors open
only to smugglers. Yet there is only one path of entry to the isles by land: the long, dangerous
passage of Pathologue Bridge. Reddit is replete with bridges made to scale the various forks of
the Fronting, but the Pathologue dwarfs them all in size and scale. It is wide enough for four
carts to ride abreast, and twice as long as any other bridge in Reddit. But despite this, no one
has stepped foot upon the Pathologue Bridge for years. The only activity are from the guard
towers that flank either end of that long expanse, each filled with watchmen who look out on the
opposite side and wait for the war to come.
 These are the Quarantine Lines: the area of exclusion preventing any means of entry or
escape to the Orange Islands. When the Red Hats first arose in Reddit, the Assembly first
chose cooperation, and then containment when the true danger of the cult became clear.
Moderator ships ensure the blockade by sea, but by land the quarantine can be enforced only
by armed soldiers, standing watch night and day. Most are Moderators as well, though their lack
of manpower has necessitated recruiting a host of volunteers as well. Oathbound fanatics
sharpen their spears alongside Blurrite peregrine-guards or ideological fandom-followers or
many others, all united solely by their fear of the Red Hats and desire to halt the cult’s march.

Formerly, the mainland entrance to the Pathologue Bridge, Dawsome Gate, was home to
a lively city square, bustling with trade and idle talk. Now it is an armed encampment, filled with
barracks, armories, and training yards. Guards and watchmen patrol the perimeter at all times,
for it is certain that when the new War of the Electors begin, the heaviest stroke will come
across the Pathologue.

The Wall

“The Wall keeps us out, but what keeps the Reds in?”

Across the Pathologue Bridge, looming over the waters and shielding everything on the
far, uncivilized shore, is the enormous barrier known only as the Wall. Before the War of the
Electors, before the Disaster, before the Red Hats, this structure never existed. But since the
day that the Reds won their battle and crushed their enemies, they have engaged ceaselessly in
the work of separating themselves and their claimed territory from the arms and eyes of the
larger Web.

The result is the Wall: a titanic, cyclopean structure raised high and mighty around the
Red’s petty kingdom. Encircling much of their primary territory, the Reds built the Wall of
mismatched stone, plundered from any and all sources within reach, willfully tearing down hills,
houses, entire towns to feed the Wall’s insatiable need for raw materials. Great quarries were
carved or blasted into the earth for blocks, entire forests cut and leveled for beams and frames,
whole armies worth of prisoners and forced laborers toiled to rear this seemingly endless shield.

The Wall was—and still is—the product of vanity and paranoia, as much to sate the ego
of the God-Emperor as to protect his kingdom. Yet it is a formidable thing nonetheless, and tall
—and growing taller. According to the Reds, it rises ten feet more for each enemy the God-
Emperor fells.

However tall it might be or may grow, the Wall appears impregnable: to date, no force of
the Oathbound or Mods alike has been able to breach it. The recent bombardment campaign
weakened it, even toppling it down in many places. But the Assembly forbade any troops from
entering through the breaches, and like banned subreddits that quickly rebrand themselves and
open their doors again, what survivors lie behind the Wall soon set themselves in rebuilding the
damage. Now, patchy though it might be, the Wall looms as tall as ever.

The Wall is proof that some remnant of the Reds still lives within the Orange Islands,
even despite the bombardment. Day and night, patrols walk the top of its ramparts, peering over
the Quarantine Lines, watching. Yet some report oddities in those patrols. The numbers of
soldiers grow fewer, and some quarantine sentries report seeing strawmen propped up in their
places, dressed and disguised as living soldiers. Could this mean, as some have said, that the
Red’s numbers have failed? That, perhaps, the estimates were inflated all along? Or rather,
does it mean those missing troops are gathering for something else: a renewed offensive, a
direct attack against the quarantine? Oathbound prophets and Moderator analysts debate this
endlessly, and no answer seems clear.

Polit

“This is why the God-Emperor won.”

The largest of the Orange Islands and the closest to Reddit’s shores, Polit is
nevertheless under the same quarantine as the other isles, locked behind a Moderator
blockade. This was not always so. Once, Polit was the battleground between dozens of different
ideological factions who dueled endlessly in fire-feuds and minor skirmishes. It was here that the
Blue Flag Alliance founded its forward outposts, where the libertine cultists of Rhan the
Happened declared in vain their supremacy over the world, where wealth and delusions of
victory collected in the Bowl of Jeb. Now, however, all these lesser movements have been
smashed and shattered, leaving behind only ruined fortresses and the forgotten idols of dead
gods. The Red Hats rule this land now, and they allow no challenger to their God-Emperor.

The ongoing quarantine, as well as the hostility of the Reds to outsiders, has meant that
scarce little news travels from the Orange Islands these days. It is believed, however, that Polit
has been made the crown of the Red Hat’s kingdom, home to what passes as their leadership.
Both the priestly and military arms of the Red Hat cult gather in Polit . . . or, at least, they did.
After the great bombardment campaign conducted by the Moderators, many in Reddit—
particularly those in the Assembly—have declared that the Red Hats have been extinguished.

All the same, however, the Assembly still forbids anyone from stepping foot within the
Orange Islands, and rumors abound that the Reds have survived. Oathbound prophets warn
that the greater part of the Red’s strength remains intact, having retreated to the hidden
fortresses or caves within the jagged hills long before the bombardment began. Moderator
analysts, having studied the Islands carefully, are now inclined to agree, though this raises the
question of how the Reds knew the Assembly’s ban was coming beforehand.
 So how many of the Reds and their allies truly remain? Is it merely a skeleton force
barely able to man the Wall, as the Assembly have repeatedly claimed? Or did an entire army,
hidden beneath the earth, truly survive? The truth is unknown, and will remain so until the War
of the Electors and its final battle begins again. Until then, what forces remain in Polit lie hidden,
waiting to be unleashed.

● Red Hats: Once a meager, semi-ironic clique from the fetid swamps of Polit, the Red Hats
have risen to become one of the most dangerous and implacable threats to the civilized
world. Originally, they were the smallest and least notable of some seventeen various
cliques and totem-subreddits that dueled for control over the conservative political cults.
Through guile, viral memetica , and ruthless violence, the Red Hats managed to conquer
and absorb all their rivals, demolishing the identities of their once-enemies and remaking
them into a hyper-nativist, ultrareactionary movement that allowed neither competition
nor dissent. Their shocking victory in the War of the Electors plunged the Web into a
new age of anxiety and uncertainty, and the ultimate goal of the Red Hats is to alter the
Web yet further.

The Red Hats are a doomsday cult that worships a demonic entity from the World
Beyond the Web as their God-Emperor. Unlike their contemporaries in Horseshoe Bay,
the Red Hats have no policy positions nor platforms, save for hatred of their enemies:
foreigners, Oathbound, Moderators, and anyone else that does not fit their view of
southron supremacy. Until recently, their and their allies’ control over the Orange Islands
was complete, allowing them to warp and shape their petty realm to suit their needs.
Most of Polit and the other isles descended first into a gruesome anarchy as the Red
Hats purged any and all potential foes, followed by a long period of oppressive rule by
the Red hierarchy.

Chiefly theocratic, the Red Hats claim to be governed directly by the commands of their
God-Emperor, with most of their leaders styling themselves as priests or seers. Most of
their clergy are Vulpesians, orange-clad masters of rallies and ceremonies to honor their
dark god. Red Hat beliefs appear to be a mix of nativist rhetoric, Red Pillar mystery-
theology, and Channic contrarianism fueled by aggressive use of memetic compulsion.
Worshippers gather at golden idols built in the likeness of toads, and are bombarded
with a constant stream of memetica designed to decrease inhibitions and subvert the
target’s free will. Eventually, their resolve crumbles completely, replacing sanity and
reason with only a hollow shell of unthinking, uncompromising compliance. This was the
fate of the God-Emperor’s rivals defeated during the War of the Electors, and it is
believed that virtually all of the remaining Red Hats are now insane and violent
memeoids.
 Once converted, Red Hats lack any instinct of self-preservation, eagerly sacrificing their
own lives or the lives of others to please their god and cement His rule. Red Hats are
thus undisciplined but ferocious fighters, willing to give their own lives without question in
hopes of attracting their god’s attention. These red-hooded warriors smash against their
enemies in wave after wave, leaving little doubt as to why they sometimes call
themselves “centipedes”: for where one goes, a hundred legs follow.

Of late, the accursed Orange Islands have gone silent, and the Red Hats unusually
quiet. After years of delay, the Assembly finally consented to a Mod intervention against
the Reds, albeit a limited one, and the combination of Mod bombardment and rumored
outbreaks of the Crown Virus among their ranks is said to have thinned the cult’s
numbers. The Assembly now claims that the Red Hat threat is defeated, ignoring
Moderator and Oathbound doubts.

As of yet, no one has been able to confirm what strength remains to the Red Hats
behind the Wall, nor has any accounted for the whereabouts of the Red Hats’ leader in
Reddit—the self-proclaimed Prophet of the God-Emperor, Mylon Bright. Some claim that
the prophet is dead, or that he was never real in the first place. Some have even
theorized that Bright was never a man at all, but merely another memetic construct of
the Red Hats, an egregore spawned by their collective delusion. Bright has longed been
accredited as a cunning and ruthless leader, though, and few that followed the progress
of the Reds carefully believe that their threat is truly gone.

● Cue-Finders: The mad prophets of the Red Hats, the Cue-Finders are a particularly
demented sect who believe that the God-Emperor whispers to them directly, filling their
minds with the hidden patterns of His design. The Cue-Finders believe that they have
been gifted holy knowledge of the Great Plan—a secret mission by which the God-
Emperor's enemies will be purged and destroyed, allowing Him and the faithful to rule
over a subdued and enslaved world. The parameters of the Great Plan are revealed not
through direct commands, but by omens and vague clues, said to be hidden in nature
and interpretable only by the Cue-Finders. Through these opaque signs, the Cue-
Finders direct the efforts of the Red Hats towards victory and even claim to predict the
future.

Most of these “omens” appear, to most informed outsiders, to be random coincidence,

and the prophecies of the Cue-Finders merely insane ramblings that rarely come to
pass. To the Red Hats, however, the word of the Cue-Finders is sacred, and many of
their lunatic commands are believed and followed without question. Cue-Finder cults
initially sprang up all across Reddit, feeding off common Redditor fears of vast
conspiracies by the Oppressed or the Oathbound to control them. Most of these covens
were banned and scattered by the Mods after their terror-tactics and violent suicide
 attacks came to light, but those that survived gathered in Polit and thrived beneath the
aegis of the Red Hats. It is believed that the Cue-Finders now hide in the northern parts
of Polit, beneath the shadow of the Paiza Gate, preaching bloodshed and madness and
the world’s doom.

● Libertalia: One of the only survivors of the pre-Red Hat communities of Polit, the
Libertalians are cousins to the Libertines found on Reddit’s mainland. When the Red
purged their rivals during the War of the Electors, the Libertalians managed to survive
through submission, pledged their lives and loyalty to the Red Hats and serving their
needs forever after. While the Libertines of Reaction’s Relief are thought to flirt with Red
Hat ideology, the Libertalians embrace it openly, slavishly devoting themselves to the
God-Emperor even while claiming to fight for freedom.

Though they declare their opposition to tyrants, the Libertalians have no issue living
beneath the Red Hat jackboots, and happily support the murder and ritual sacrifice of the
Oathbound by Reds even as they proclaim their love for free speech. After the Reds’
triumph in the War, most of their opponents or captives were used as slave labor,
building the Wall and Tower under pain of death. Thanks to their obedience to the Reds,
the Libertalians were allowed to exist more or less comfortably and have even
maintained positions of some importance within the Red Hat organization. It is thought
that the Libertalians serve as contacts for the Reds with many smuggling rings outside
the Islands and perhaps with more important groups as well. Many rumors surrounding
Red Hat ties to merchant-lords like the Theel or politicians within the Assembly involve
messengers and friends within Libertalia.

● The Slough of the Dead Gods: Much of Polit‘s northeastern shore is dominated by an
ugly, tangled marsh, dark and largely unsettled. Travel through this swamp is difficult,
and living near it is worse due to the frequent floods and decaying odor. When
campaigning for power, the Reds claimed that they would drain this marshland and
convert the reclaimed land into farms and towns beneath the God-Emperor’s protection.
Such plans were swiftly forgotten when they came to rule, and instead the Reds have
used the swamp as a dumping ground for the idols of their defeated rivals—a final act of
ritual humiliation for those that dared oppose them.

Discarded statues and broken shrines now litter the swamp, rising from the slime and
mud like headstones—a graveyard for dead deities. Many of these gods were those of
the fifteen other factions that once competed with the Red Hats for control of their
coalition, and which have been subsumed and enslaved by their former rivals. Even the
former followers of these gods no longer remember their names, having long ago been
converted into insane memeoids devoid of any memory or thought save for their loyalty
to the God-Emperor. Other idols depict the gods of the Blue Flag Alliance, the Reds’
 chief enemy in the War, particularly those of the Blue Lady. Even years after Her defeat,
the Red delight in degrading Her memory and subjecting Her remaining followers to
fates not pleasant to recount.

Though commonly called the Slough of the Dead Gods, the swamp is home to many
dead men as well. The Reds routinely throw the bodies of their enemies and sacrifice
victims into the muck as sport for the giant water-lizards said to swim there, and so the
mud and water is said to be clogged with numberless bones. Save for swamp the
creatures and corpses, no one is thought to live within the Slough, and it is unlikely that
many would dare to enter such a grim and accursed place. According to some rumors,
the Slough was at one time home to rebel groups that continued to fight against the
Reds long after the War ended. Any such holdouts were surely killed long ago, however,
bereft as they were of supplies or support. In all likelihood, the bones of these partisans
now lie in the Slough alongside those of the Red Hats’ other foes.

The Tower of the God-Emperor

“You ever just make a fortress of evil to own the libs?”

Before turning to the other Orange Islands, special note must be made of the Red Hat’s
seat of authority in Polit. After the Disaster, when the Red Hats struck their shocking blow
against the civilized world, many dwelling within the Orange Islands were made slaves, fit only
to toil in raising the enormous Wall. Others, however, were set to a different task: the raising of a
great stronghold, from which the Reds would rule their squalid empire. South of the jagged hills
it rose, brick by brick, level upon level, the terrible fortress of power that now looms over all the
Orange Islands: the Tower of the God-Emperor.

The Tower is an ominous and evil-looking thing, built of the black volcanic stone
commonly found around the Orange Islands. Formidable curtain walls surround the central
spire, enclosing a field large enough to house thousands of Red Hats—it is here that the great
rallies of the cult were held, and many of their sacrifices as well. During these ceremonies, the
Tower would loom far above the crowds, so monstrously tall that it tops even the jagged hills
rising around it. Two bulbous stone halls squat at the Tower’s base, but otherwise it rises
perfectly straight and without blemish, save for the veins of murder holes running from ground to
tip and the enormous runes etched in gold filigree upon the Tower’s side.

What confounds Moderator analysts, however, is that a Tower so large and straight
seems to stand without any visible means of support, nor any of the telltale signs of codespun
architecture, leading many to believe it cannot be structurally sound. While reports of its
construction are scarce, some escaped workers report strange things about the Tower,
including tales of alien geometries and an odd, flickering effect around its foundations. Some
experts in memetics theorize that the Tower might actually be held upright not by mundane
principles of architecture, but by the collective, memetic belief of the Red Hats that it is upright,
thus allowing it to remain intact even when natural law would suggest it fall.

Regardless, the Tower of the God-Emperor served—and perhaps still serves—as the
Red Hat’s central command. Their armies once swelled beneath its walls, gathering in huge
crowds illumed only by the light of wicker-wood torches to attend the speeches of the Vulpesian
priests or the executions of accused enemies. The Tower’s highest rooms were reserved for the
throne of their priest-king, Mylon Bright. Very little is known of what lies within, for those
opposed to the Red Hats do not enter those black halls and live to speak of it. But it is thought
that the highest rooms of the Tower are reserved for the throne of Mylon Bright himself, from
which he directed the terrible plans of his cult.

Those plans, according to many, were surely brought to an end with the great
bombardment of the Orange Islands, which razed much of the Red Hats’ territory. The Tower
itself, however, was too far inland to be damaged. Having survived, it remains a tangible symbol
of the cult in Reddit, though the Assembly insists that it has been abandoned. Moderator
patrolmen who sail near the Orange Islands, however, are not convinced. Though viewed only
briefly, some report strange lights dancing at the top of the Tower of the God-Emperor in the
dark of night, or the faint glow of torches burning across the lands beneath its shadow.

Identa

“Amazing how the people with all the ‘secret knowledge’ seem to know themselves so little.”
Crowned by a narrow chain of low, white hills called the Pale Horns, Identa is the lair of mystery
cults and insurgents, who have long hidden themselves around secretcoves and hilltop alters.
These various sects, though different in their names and rituals, all fall beneath the banner of
the Esoteric Order of the Red Pillar, a secret society that has long held sway in Reddit. Its
origins are obscure, with some crediting its creation to the Channic or sites within the Mannish
Isles of the Blogosphere, but most historians believe that the Red Pillar as we know it originated
in Reddit, in the same secret shrines that dot Identa to this day. Regardless, every branch of the
Red Pillar has but one goal: radical opposition to the Oppressed, Distaff, or any of their
perceived allies.

The Red Pillar claim that they have been gifted secret knowledge as to the workings of
the world, which has revealed to them a vast conspiracy led by Blurrite Oppressed to ensnare
and enslave the men of the world. To the Red Pillar, groups like Distaff or the Oathbound are
merely extensions of the social justicars, aiding their aim of yoking “true men” like those who
have joined in the inner ranks of the cult. The higher the rank a Red Pillar acolyte achieves, the
more of this “great truth” is revealed to them, all while they are subjected to increasing memetic
pressure. Red Pillar techniques of conversion and subversion have been refined since the days
of the Great Gamer War and served as a model for the later success of the Red Hats.

During the War of the Electors, the Red Pillar and Red Hats formed an ironclad alliance,
united by their hatred for the Blurrites, Moderators, Oathbound, or any others thought to be
pawns of the Oppressed justicars. The Red Pillar now serves a valuable function for the God-
Emperor’s cult, using their extensive network of sympathizers in mainstream subreddits to
promote the Red cause in Reddit. Others work as soldiers, smugglers, or enforcers. All,
however, are expected to take up arms alongside the Red Hats—however many of them remain
—when war is rekindled.

● Conscript Celebites: The primary assault troopers of the Red Pillar, the Conscript
Celebites are a militant sect of flagellants often on the front lines of the cult’s
wars. The Celebites claim to live an almost monk-like existence, impoverished
and untethered by earthly connections. Unlike orders like the Knights Moderator,
however, the Celebites claim this is not by choice, having instead been forced
into loneliness and despair by the machinations of the Oppressed. Indeed, the
Celibites see the Oppressed and their servants as the cause of nearly all their
woes, and blame any and all misfortune on the “femoids .”

Conscript Celebites view themselves as the ultimate victims, utterly downtrodden

by the conspiracy against them, and therefore live only to revenge themselves
upon those whom they believe have wronged them. Celebites will often wear
broken chains about their hands and wrists as a symbol of their desire to break
their perceived enslavement, but their devotion to the Red Pillar only serves to
ensnare their minds and warp their wills. Before entering pitched battle, the
Celebites will undergo a final ritual—the Rite of Black Pillars—whereby they are
deprived of their last vestiges of hope or sanity and turned loose as wild
berserkers known as Rogerians. In such a state, the Celebites lose whatever
self-control remaining to them, plunging into suicidal charges and seeking to kill
anyone or anything they can before they are brought down.

● M’gotow Mystics: Above the common soldiery of the Red Pillar are their priestly
order, known as the M’gotow. This mystic order originally operated openly in
Reddit, spreading Red Pillar propaganda through a thinly-veiled philosophy. After
their ties to the Celibites became undeniable, however, a Moderator red rinse
forced the M’gotow from their subreddits on Soggy Street and chased them into
Identa. There they remain, serving as preachers and leaders among the Red
Pillar.
 The M’gotow are a hermetic order, believing they must withdraw from the world
to prevent corruption by the Oppressed or their wiles. The degree to which a
M’gotow Mystic is able to cut their ties to the “femoid enemies” determines their
rank, with acolytes proceeding up a four-tiered chain of command. At the highest
level, a M’gotow Mystic is said to harness a “ghostform” with dread powers born
of detachment from the world. What these supposed powers actually entail is
vague, though it is known that the M’gotow hierarchs occupy a place of some
importance within the larger Red Pillar organization, often competing for power
with their rivals, the spymasters of the Puanist Seducers.

● Nautalmen: Representing the wedding of Channic raiding tactics and Red Pillar
ideology, the Nautalmen are pirates and reavers infamous on the high seas of
the Known Internet. Their craft are typically small and crumble easily under fire
from Moderator ships, but are able to move with unparalleled speed. Their
common practice is to team with armies of Celebites, who engage their foes on
land. While the enemy is occupied, the Nautalmen will rapidly respond to attack
wherever the opposing army threatens to advance, swarming from their ships to
cut down any threats with a swift counterattack. In the days of the quarantine,
when pitched battle is rare, the Nautalmen also act as smugglers and blockade-
runners, maneuvering stealthily past Moderator ships to continue their supply of
Red forces.

● Eronite Gamers: Surviving hardliners from the Great Gamer War, the Eronites
are a nigh-suicidal sect of Gamers whose extremism puts even their cousins in
Kia to shame. While the Great Gamer War never ended in any single peace or
treaty, the fighting largely died down in major sites as participants agreed to
informal truces and instead prepared themselves for the War of the Electors.
Eronite Gamers refused to lay down their arms, however, and instead fought to
the bitter end, even in face of Mod bans and stalwart opposition even from their
own fandom brothers. As a result, many were forced into exile, creating a semi-
mercenary band with a long list of grudges and little to lose.

Eronite Gamers can be found in many unsavory ports across the Web, but their
close ties with the Red Pillar has made Identa their natural home in Reddit. It is
believed that the Gamer malcontents of Kia serve as little more than
mouthpieces for the Eronites, giving the Red Pillar an endless stream of willing
agents and useful tools in their campaign of subversion in Reddit.

Exile Island

“Wehraboos. I hate these guys.”

 Even prior to the Red Hats’ ascension, the Orange Island were home to any number of
unpopular and ill-favored characters. In the wild early days of Reddit, toxic communities infested
the site like weeds, allowed to thrive due to the Libertine sympathies Redditors were wont to
share. Over time, however, many reformist citizens sought to improve the city’s image by
cleaning up the streets and more vigorously opposing some of the more offensive or dangerous
groups.

Of all the Orange Islands, Exile Island saw perhaps the most of these banning
campaigns prior to the War of the Electors, with repeated sweeps by Knights Moderator and
mass red rinses conducted to try and force out the vile communities that roosted there. Exile
Island was home not to the common brands of alienated memeslingers or social malcontents,
but to blood-cults: hyper-violent extremists for the cause of Redditor nativism and ethnic
superiority. Even the most tolerant Redditors found such groups distasteful, but that same
tolerance and unwillingness to commit to total bans meant that the blood-cults were impossible
to stamp out completely, allowing them to resurface as quickly as they could be banned.

Now, however, the blood-cults need not hide in the shadows for fear of the Mod’s
hammer. The advent of the God-Emperor has meant a new source of protection and even
popularity for those championing the superiority of the southron race and the exclusion of any
“unclean” foreigners. The hills of Stone’s Throw now echo with the call of blood-cults’ wolf-head
whistles, the fires from wicker-wood torches light the night, and the infernal chants of blood
libels and ancient lies sound from the shores of Exile Island.

● Polchannic: In keeping with Reddit’s fascination with all things Channic, the city
has long been home to anonymites of all stripes, be they traders, thieves,
mercenaries, or worse. The Polchannic might be classified as “worse,” and
indeed are counted as the most miserable and treacherous of the entire Chan.
Polchan is one of the many bickering provinces of the Chan, perched upon the
darkling plains near the Stormfront Coast. The Polchannic are considered violent
contrarians even in an entire country populated exclusively by violent contrarians,
having bought so deeply in blood-cultism that they have managed to alienate
even their fellow Channic with their ranting and lunacy.

Despite this reputation, the Polchannic have long had a presence in Reddit.
Years ago, Exile Island was home to a network of blood-cultist communities
known as the Chimpire, many of which were run by or in partnership with
Polchannic emigres. Many Redditors at the time, already beginning their flirtation
with nativist sympathies, thought of the Polchannic as folk heroes of sorts, willing
to stand up for the “right people” when no one else would. The Mods disagreed,
 and smashed the Chimpire during the great red rinses conducted prior to the Pao
Riots.

Now that Mod oversight over the Orange Islands has ended, however, the
Polchannic have returned in force, swelling the Red Hat cause with their
numbers. A large number of the God-Emperor’s forces in Reddit were masked
men of the Chan, and a disproportionate number of those hailed from Polchan. In
fact, one of the most elite units within the Red Hats, the Kekisanni, were recruited
exclusively from Channic warriors. Their leader, the infamous Red Captain Vaar,
is said to be an anonymite of freakish size and strength, and many reports
indicate that he and most of his soldiers managed to survive the Moderator
bombardment of the Orange Islands unharmed.

● Frennic Harlequins: Strange in both speech and dress, the Frennic Harlequins
are one of the most bizarre arms of the blood-cults in Reddit. The Harlequins
previously inhabited the Frenworld subreddit, managing to conceal their
intentions beneath colorful costumes and an almost childlike jargon of nonsense
words and inane babble. Beneath the joking exteriors, however, the Frennic
Harlequins were ruthless nativists, every bit as cruel as the Polchannic with
whom they now share Exile Island. Once the extent of their offensive views
became clear, the Harlequins faced the ban-hammer, and soon fled behind the
Quarantine Lines to regain their strength.

Many of the blood-cults circulating the Web believe it is vital to escape Mod
notice through a cloud of deniability, concealing their “power level” through vague
slogans and barely hinted hates. The Frennic elevated this subterfuge to an art
form, cloaking their talk with so many layers of irony and pseudo-satire that it was
near-impossible to tell where the joke ended and actual prejudice began. Though
now in exile, the Frennic have not abandoned their old craft—indeed, their
members seem incapable of breaking character—using their talents to serve as
spies and infiltrators for the Red Cause.

● Volk Wehraboos: One of the most ancient and enduring heresies in the Web, the
Volk have been a thorn in the side of civilized society for generations. Though
they have pretenses to being an empire, the Volk are more a loose collection of
thugs and murderers with views considered extreme even by others in Exile
Island. While others would be satisfied sealing their sites off from foreigners or
keeping non-southrons subordinate, the Volk believe that they are a “master
race,” and that all others must needs be exterminated.
 An express platform of genocide has not made them popular, and some of the
largest Moderator interventions in recent history have been used to hunt down
and defeat the Volk in sites that play host to them. Ragged survivors have sought
protection from the Red Hats, and are now thought to serve as terror-troops in
the God-Emperor’s armies. Volk Wehraboos have a reputation as bloodthirsty
and remorseful combatants, fighting in heavily armed and armored units called
Tigersquads. Tigersquads operate as shock troopers, trusting in their thick suits
of black armor to protect them when charging into the frontlines.

The Volk have bragged for years that their armor is impenetrable and their
soldiers unbeatable, despite a long list of defeats and humiliations that the Volk
blame on anything other than themselves. More likely is that the very armor they
taut works against them: many engineers have pointed out that the Volk armor is
so overwrought and difficult to maintain that they can never field enough troops
to make a difference, a dangerous flaw for a group rapidly running out of friends
and resources. Even the Red Hats kept the Volk at arm’s length, using them
largely for suicide strikes and desperate rearguard actions. The bombing
campaign led by the Mods is thought to have laid waste to most of the Volk’s
primary bases in the Heilands of Exile Island, but a group so long-lived and
pernicious is unlikely to have been extinguished completely.

Yellowisle

“Know this: there are dark forces at work in the corners of the world. You cannot see them, but
never think for a second that they cannot see you. Have you ever felt that you’re being
watched? Because you are.”

Of all the Orange Islands, the least is known about Yellowisle. Even when compared with
its neighbors, Yellowisle lacks for any useful land or valuable resources. Most of the island
consists of barren rock, much of it a pale stone similar to that found in Identa but stained into an
ugly, sallow color by sulfurous fumes. These fumes rise from rents in the earth more commonly
found in Yellowisle than anywhere else in the archipelago, and are not thought safe for men to
breathe. For all these reasons, Yellowisle has long been shunned by Reddits, and rarely
attracted interest from civilized folk.

Despite this, however, Yellowisle’s reputation is perhaps the most sinister of the Islands.
This maligned, unprospected place—not approached by anyone with other options—became a
host to some of the most desperate, secretive, and vile groups in the Known Internet and
beyond, people that even those in the other Orange Islands feared. In the earliest days of
Reddit, the isle became notorious as the lair of rumored Deepmen—inhabitants from within the
cursed borders of the Deep Web. Those who dwell within that hellish place are infamous as
reavers and pirates, traveling on the hidden waterways of the Torric Line and striking at ships
and settlements across the Known Internet. Even worse than common Deepmen are the
fleshtrappers, said to worship heinous gods and use their prisoners in unspeakable rites.

According to urban legends, a host of fleshtrappers would meet by night in the ruins of
an ancient prison on the shores of Yellowisle, sating their evil lusts on unwilling captives. The
Assembly long denied any issue, but rumors persisted for years of men with ghost-pale skin and
bulging, fish-like eyes haunting the northern shores of Yellowisle, and multiple Moderator
banning campaigns have been curiously focused on the area. With the exclusion of the Orange
Islands from the city after the War, it is believed that Deepmen again lurk in the shadows of
Yellowisle . . . and not alone.

There are many accounts of the final battle of the War of the Electors, the day the
Oathbound call the Disaster. Most remain confused, conflicting with one another due to the
mayhem of the battle and the shock of the Red Hat victory. Among some of the tales, however,
are stories of strange soldiers who arrived upon strange ships, raising their spears and
marching in lockstep alongside the God-Emperor’s cultists. Their uniforms matched none of
those associated with the Red Hats or their allies, leading many to believe that these unknown
soldiers were mercenaries of some description. Some go further and propose that these
mercenaries were none other than the most mysterious and dreaded sellswords in the Web: the
Putinites of dark V’Kay.

The island nation of V’Kay lies west of Reddit, surrounded on all sides by the black
waters of the Saying Sea. V’Kay is in many ways Reddit’s opposite. The Vkayssons has no love
of voting, nor any tolerance for freedom of any kind. It is a jealously guarded land, isolated and
hostile to all outsiders, and governed within through a rigid system of caste and slavery. At the
lowest rung of society are the peasant Vatnyk , tied in serfdom to tracts of land called Vata .
Vatnyk make up the great majority of the population but are without any rights or privileges,
existing only to serve the oligarchic castes above them. For the most part, castes cannot be
changed: you will live and die in the same class into which you were born. Only one means is
available for advancement.

At a young age, certain Vatnyk are chosen by their priests. The means of doing so is not
known: the criteria appears random. Those chosen, however, enter a brutal regime of training,
and those that survive settle into new castes. Some are mere guards, serving in towns or the
massive fortresses called sorms that dot the land. Others, the Komnadzyr , are secret police,
tasked to hunt, torture, and murder any possible dissent. Above them are a priestly caste, the
Ar'Tay, who sing praises to some manner of god within the halls of their hollow Temple-Mount.
No outsider has ever been within that citadel and lived to tell of it, and little is known of their
deity, save that it is some entity from the World Beyond the Web to which the Putinites are
utterly devoted.
 The Vkayssons best known to the rest of the Web, however, are ones that do not remain
in their homeland. In recent years, certain Vkaysson have been more commonly seen across
the Web. Most are known as mercenaries, appearing in conflicts as sellswords. In the Vkaysson
tongue, however, they are called b’hots .

They are soldiers famed not for individual skill in battle, but rather for their iron discipline,
fighting with pikes in strict formation. They are implacable in combat, moving in rigid, mechanical
lockstep with only regard for their orders. Their effectiveness is beyond debate: cavalry and
infantry alike have little recourse against such an organized foe. Most foes buckle under their
advance, but the funds these "sellswords" win are not theirs to keep—all that these slave-
soldiers win is given to their masters.

The danger these mercenaries might pose cannot be understated. It is thought by some
that the god of the Putinites has designs upon this world, and dark ones at that. The spread of
the b'hots does not appear random: the Vkayssons have been seen fighting more and more
often of late, and always in service of terror. It is rumored that they were the force that aided the
Red Hats of Reddit in their shocking victory, crushing the God-Emperor's foes, and that even
now they hide themselves in Yellowisle, within the deep caves of the Derndelve hills.

But some claim that their mission is far larger. Other b'hots are believed to exist, not
soldiers but saboteurs and assassins. Only the whispers of names are known—the Glausyt
Olgyn, the Gyru Svar, the Sednyt—but these orders are thought to be infiltrating sites all across
the Web, promoting feel-mongers and cults and wars. The reason is not known, but their
method seems clear: sowing chaos, anywhere and everywhere. Accusations have swelled in
Reddit for years that these Vkaysson b’hots have secretly inserted themselves into all levels of
society, from the lowest subreddit to the heights of the Voting Hall, working to worsen social
divisions, manipulate votes, and otherwise subvert the site for the benefit of their demon-god.
Moderator investigations on the b’hot infiltration are ongoing, though the Assembly continues to
strongly deny any manipulation of their actions by Vkaysson agents.

The Gaslight

“Y’know, those rocks seem awfully clo—”

At the far end of the Orange Islands stands a tall, mist-shrouded lighthouse of ill-repute.
Though built as a ward against ships traveling too close to the rocky shores, its appearance is
as foreboding as the jagged isles around it. Made of twisting, casted iron, its base and spine
resemble a cage, crowned by a ghostly crown of fire. The light of this lighthouse is poorly-
maintained, and oft-obscured by plumes of smoke that arise from clefts in the earth and sea,
which earned the tower its nickname: the Gaslight.
 It is unsurprising that the Gaslight is the source of many sinister rumors. Some claim it is
haunted, and ships traveling north from ports like the Chan will tell odd tales of seeing visions in
the shape and color of its flames. Others claim that they have heard voices in the light, speaking
lies and commands, trying to convince sailors to throw themselves to the sea.

Some have said that the ghosts that lurk within that tower, or perhaps just the tower
itself, will shift and move its light, in order to fool the minds of unwary captains and trick ships
into sailing too close. Others believe it the work of not ghosts, but men: criminals who dim the
lights and collect treasure from the unlucky vessels. Whatever the truth of this, the shoals at the
Gaslight’s feet are infamous for wrecks, and known to turn wooden hulls into wooden coffins.

Outskirts of Reddit

“Yes, I talk ill of the city all the time. And yet, I never seem to leave it.”

Though most of the attention given to Reddit focuses on the city proper, one should not
forget the satellite communities that linger outside the walls. Proceeding from the three major
gates in Reddit’s northern side are three stone laden roads that trace their way along the
Fronting’s banks. Along these roads are a number of small, up-and-coming subreddits that have
set themselves up away from their established competitors in places like the Blue Harbors. Few
of these communities are notable as of yet, but who knows what the future may bring? After all,
many of the major attractions of Reddit were afterthoughts in previous years, and trends move
quickly within the city.

Eventually, these roads join and continue north into the continent’s interior, crossing
various farming communities sponsored either by the city itself or fandoms like the Stardew.
Feeding a metropolis like Reddit takes a mighty supply of food, which is usually brought into the
city either by grain-barges sent from these farms down the Fronting, or by ships from more
distant ports that arrive by sea. Past the farms, the roads end at the towering terminus of the
Blue Wall Mountains, in which the most notable features are the rich mines of gold, silver, and
other useful metals that Redditors have used for their various crafts and awards. Beyond the
Blue Wall is only the Blocking Sands, a dry and desolate place inhabited by unfriendly Gabbish
Tribes—nomads exiled from their homelands in Widdar that hate all outsiders.

A small offshoot of the larger Blue Wall, the Redearth Mountains, extend down to the
lands immediately outside of Reddit, creating scenic heights that accent the city skyline. The
Redearth Mountains are frequently traveled by Redditors, who are so taken with their natural
beauty that they have begun entire schools of art devoted to nothing but sharing paintings and
images of these peaks and the mirror-like lakes at their feet. Subreddits devoted to appreciating
natural scenery or breathtaking sights are usually flooded with images of the exact same
mountains and lakes, over and over again (for there is nothing that Redditors enjoy that they do
not also overdo).

On the subject of things that Redditors do to excess, there is at the feet of the Redearth
range a shallow dip in the coastline known as the Bight of Bonk, within which is a small island.
This rocky spit of land was of little use or value, but has been converted by the Moderators into
the most notable of the city’s prisons, Hornais Jail. Most of the offenders within are guilty of
middling offenses, too serious to earn a mere fine or temporary ban but not serious enough for
confinement in the maximum security gaol beneath Solomon Island. Thieves, fraudsters, and
criminal jackdaws can all be found within, but the most famed inhabitants of the prison are those
on short-term sentences for serial violation of public decency laws. Many who repeatedly catch
the ire of the Knights Censor in respectable subreddits find their way into this prison, serve the
weeks or months of their sentence, and are then thrown into Hornais Jail once again when their
urges overtake their reason.

The easiest means of crossing the Redearth Mountains and the Blue Wall they join is not
to climb, but to simply pass over them via Engine. The Blue Line from Central glides over the
Blue Wall and into Reddit on a daily basis, bringing travelers and trade . . . and Moderators too.
Engines, being suspended in mid-air by the miracles of Moderator coding, ignore most earthly
obstacles, and thus the Blue Line passes over both the mountains and Fronting to reach its
endpoint in Reddit.

Among other things, the Blue Line also passes over a broad, saltwater marshland north
of the city called the Grinding Swamp. There is little appeal in this morass, being a muddy,
mucky, and dim place that has nothing to offer save for swarms of bugs and huge water-lizards,
but some have chosen to make their homes in this place regardless. A fundamentalist sect of
the Runescapers fandom has taken up residence in ramshackle crannogs rooted in the Grinding
Swamp, having long ago settled it as part of religious trial. While the largest body of the
Runscapers inhabit the Grand Exchange on Gamer’s Hill, those living in the Grinding Swamp
are a particularly devout faction who refuse to leave their marshy confines under any
circumstances and tolerate little trade or contact with outsiders.

Aside from them, the most notable inhabitants of the marsh are a memetic cult, offshoots
of which are common in Memetic Bend and the Astrolounge subreddit. Few details are known of
their rites, but these memeslingers are said to sing and worship at the altar of great, moss-green
Ogre Idol deep within vines, trees, and brackish waters. They are eager to share their memetic
formats with others, but are otherwise territorial sorts that do not tolerate others entering their
swamp lightly.
 ******

THE FUTURE OF THE CITY

“Tales of old love hang from the hems of your dresses

Tell me, is there a way to recover the
luster lost somewhere along the way?
Tell me, what happened to harmony?”
— “Rarity,” by And the Rainfall and So Great and Powerful

The World Within the Web is not a fixed thing. It ever churns, convulses, and changes,
moving in response to the whims of both mankind and of the things that dwell in the uttermost
Beyond. Reddit is no different, and at time of writing both it and the Web entire stand poised
upon the threshold of a new change, more glorious and more terrible than any before. A new
great war looms over all, but even when that battle is done the future of the city and its people
will remain uncertain.

In the beginning, prophets from many sites proclaimed that the Second Age of the Web
would be a golden one, a time of glory, peace, and connection. Instead, the Internet has
descended into the anarchy of a new dark age. Sanity and commonality are replaced by hate
and division, as rigid partisans and bloodthirsty cults rise to the heeding of their mad gods.

So much that was viewed with hope—the wonders of magic and memetica , the bridging
of old divides, even the entire ideal of voting and liberty underlying Reddit—are now viewed with
suspicion as the Culture War warps what was innocent into tools of subversion and destruction.
And with so many now locked into recurring loops of memetica and ideology, the Closed Circle
Problem seems insurmountable. It is at times such as these that many envy those that dwell in
the World Beyond, that place of pure forms and perfect beings, for surely the common strifes
that tear into our world are merely trifles to them, over which no evil is done and no blood shed.
 But perhaps there is still hope, both for us and for our future. Whatever may come, this
world is still our own, and we can no more abandon our world than those Beyond can leave
theirs. If we cannot sever ourselves from the Internet, perhaps we can at least make it what it
was meant to be—that place of connection foretold long. Even after all that has happened,
many still believe it can be done, and it helps no one to give.

Grave days lie ahead of us. Long years of work will soon begin. And history will tell if we
can end this time of troubles and open the Circle once again.