Tsien Chiang

The gray homes and windowless walls o f I ' C ath's real, waking city create a maze that changes nightly. Amid this ever-shifting labyrinth, a few locations remain the same. GEMSTONE GAR D E N

A beautiful park o f fruiting trees a n d glistening ponds filled with bone-white carp covers acres of rich land hidden within the city. A dozen gleaming, gem-colored pavilions give the sprawling garden its name. Waking residents of I'Cath yearn to visit the park to harvest its bountiful trees and pools, but they dare not, since the garden's thousands of shrines and memorials form a massive graveyard. The dead here don't lie quietly, as each marker names a n ancient jiangshi. These jiangshi work Tsien Chiang's will t h roughout the city, but they return to seek vengeance if anyone intrudes i n their garden. GWA I- HUIT C E N T E R

During daylight hours, the empty stalls o f this vast, dismal market hide a handful of tents and shrouded booths where unscrupulous merchants sell wares and talismans for scraps of food-largely stolen from the Gemstone Garden or carried by strangers from beyond the Mists. In return, they offer goods pilfered from the Mansions or rarities such as silk made from ghost hair and vinegar said to ward off jiangshi. Every dawn, a single stall in the market mysteriously restocks with wilted vegetables. The hope of finding a bit of food attracts desperate, awake individuals from across the city. THE MANSIONS

T h e people of I'Cath c a l l t h e city's countless row homes the Mansions. Sliding doorways grant access to the Mansions' leaky and poorly maintained four-story interior structures. I ' C ath's residents inhabit these areas in clusters of sleeping, difficult-to-wake bodies. By night, the long-haired spirits of Ping'On Tower wander the Mansions, searching for homes and families long ago destroyed in the city's renovations. As characters explore the Mansions, consider how to represent the thousands of perpetually sleeping bodies inside. Do I'Cath's residents lie where they fell? Did the city's jiangshi place them in orderly rows or stacks? Does the dream have a physical manifestation or toll? Do pale mushrooms or webs cover the sleepers? Consider using the helpless sleepers to reinforce body horror themes or the flavors of another horror genre discussed in chapter 2 . The home o f Tsien Chiang a n d her daughters stands upon a hill at I 'Cath's center. Its walls and supports are built from the bones of those who died as a result of the Darklord's harsh governance over her homeland. Inside, the grimly beautiful palace displays its splendor with elaborate architecture and bone murals, while revealing its neglect with disrepair and emptiness. Only Tsien Chiang's library sees regular use. The Darklord spends her days here, drawing new plans for her city and analyzing mysterious forces and mystical fortunes in pursuit of the ultimate harmonious design. Beautiful but poisonous plants fill the palace's courtyard. Among these gardens rise an ancient willow tree and Ping'On Tower. P r n o ' O N TOWE R

A hollow octagonal tower climbs from the grounds of the Palace of Bones, its fourteen levels decorated with eaves bearing furious-looking golden dragons. The topmost floor houses the Nightingale Bell, a broken bell forged from the scale of an ancient gold dragon. Stairs spiral up the structure's hollow interior, but the tower is far from unoccupied. By day, hundreds of spirits, hungry for the offerings and remembrances once provided by their lost families, mournfully drift t h rough the tower. At twilight, when Tsien Chiang climbs the tower to ring the Nightingale Bell, the ghosts scatter to wander the city and fruitlessly wonder why they've been forgotten. TSI E N C H IANG'S D REAM

Hidden behind the waking reality o f I'Cath is a perfect city of precision, obedience, and gold that exists only in Darklord Tsien Chiang's dreams. Through the warped power of the Nightingale Bell, she shares her vision of a sprawling, orderly city run by an obedient, thankful populace. The bell spreads the dream to dominate the sleep of I 'Cath's population, causing it to persist even when Tsien Chiang is awake. The dream city is a vision of perfection for Tsien Chiang, but for all others it's a realm of inescapable drudgery and thankless labor.