Community Worldbuilding Project [Ishka: Urban and Urbane]

[Silverscale]

I would still give them Detect Magic as an At-Will

[TheLonelyScribe]

O.K, if you know best about what abilities they should have, when should they get at-will detect magic, and what should it replace? Perhaps at first level, replacing their first spell progression? You tell me.

Also, while we're E.A.C.Hing, can anybody come up with more Detect Magic modifiers for the first-level ability? I've got some, but not enough to give a real choice.

[Silverscale]

O.K, if you know best about what abilities they should have, when should they get at-will detect magic, and what should it replace? Perhaps at first level, replacing their first spell progression? You tell me.

I never claimed to know best about anything. It just seems to me that a PRC that uses Detect Magic as much as The Occult Investigator does should have it as an At-Will and your suggestion of replacing the first level of spell-progression with it is a good one, that still gives them 4 out of 5 levels of spell progression as they take this PRC.

[erictheredd]

A couple of thoughts about detect magic and the OI:

1) one 1st level ability allows a permenant detect magic effect for the price of a third level spell (presumedly cast in the morning)--basically an at will effect.

2) these are 3e numbers (sorry, that's all I have) but to make an item that has a permenant detect magic effect (admittedly with a caster level of one) costs 1,000 gp (2,000*spell level*caster level), which is not prohibitive for someone with that many levels)

3) what else will the 0-level slots be used for?

That being said, I think the first level "bonus ability" should be availible more than once. additional abilities could include a +2 to spellcraft checks made for detect magic, a spellcraft check to determine if the spell was cast by a caster or a magic item, or an ability that determines power level more clearly.

[Silverscale]

1) one 1st level ability allows a permenant detect magic effect for the price of a third level spell (presumedly cast in the morning)--basically an at will effect.

Yes but you still have to cast Detect Magis to use any of the OI abilities

2) these are 3e numbers (sorry, that's all I have) but to make an item that has a permenant detect magic effect (admittedly with a caster level of one) costs 1,000 gp (2,000*spell level*caster level), which is not prohibitive for someone with that many levels)

Ok, so M.I. hands out an "Amulet of the Occult" to all their OI and Freelancers can buy one for themselves fairly easily

3) what else will the 0-level slots be used for?

Uhhh.... there are lots of useful ways to use cantrips and you only get 4-6 of them a day depending on you caster class.

[TheLonelyScribe]

I'm sorry about:

O.K, if you know best about what abilities they should have, when should they get at-will detect magic, and what should it replace? Perhaps at first level, replacing their first spell progression? You tell me.

I was feeling unreasonably irritable. Still, whilst on the subject, let's have a vote. At-Will Detect Magic at first level in return for spellcasting, or not?

[BRC]

Maybe let them prepare Detect Magic Twice for every spell slot they use, though that only works for Wizards.

[BRC]

Ishka? On the second page?
NEVAR, give me 5 cc's of Graveyard Shift STAT!

Spoiler

Show

The second thug was smarter than the first, he had drawn his weapon and hung back to size up the situation while his buddy rushed straight in with a stab to the gut.
Gordon didn’t bother to block, he wasn’t using those organs anymore anyway. The thug’s face turned from a triumphant grin to confusion as he realized Gordon wasn’t reacting the way a human would to a knife in his chest. A quick blow to the inside of the Thug’s elbow caused him to drop the knife. A knee to the groin caused him to drop altogether. Behind him he heard a pinging noise as Oliver hypnotized the two thugs behind them. The final thug made to run when a calm voice spoke from the next room.
“That will be enough boys”.
“But Boss, they’re Munnies!”
“I know, and if they were there to arrest me there would be more of ‘em and they would have done a louder job of declaring themselves before kicking your asses. They KNOW I’ve got Darhum and Coop on retainer, if they wanted to get me, they wouldn’t do ANYTHING that could be considered an irregularity. Who is it anyway?”
Gordon gave the thug on the ground another kick.
“It’s Me Frankie”.
The voice boomed out in laughter.
“GORDON TORDLEY! Come in, bring your friend.”
The two detectives entered the pubs back room, and the presence of Frank Lakree. Gordon took a moment to remind himself what Frankie looked like. Half Orc, Half Devil, Slightly overweight, with reddish skin and small horns; he was smoking a foul smelling cigar and wearing a cheap suit. A pair of goons that looks significantly more dangerous than those in the front room stood unobtrusively behind him. He was sitting at a desk cluttered with papers which he, almost absentmindedly moved out of sight.
Any MI in the city would have loved to get their hands on those papers. Those papers tracked the earnings and movements of some of the countless small time crooks who formed the backbone of the Cutthroat Alliance. Black Marketeers, smugglers, muggers, pickpockets, safehouse operators. Countless people who break the law to put food on the table .Somehow, they all reported back to Frankie Lakree. Frankie may not look like much, but under that battered bowler hat resided one of the sharpest criminal minds in the city. Everybody knew Frankie was up to his waist in the Alliance, but you’d be hard pressed to prove it. MI had tried plenty of times, but Frankie always walked. A tangled web of finances and connections combined with crafty legal counsel saw to that. Nowadays, MI simply didn’t bother.
“Well Well Well, Gordon Tordley. How long has it been since you tried to send me to the Vault?”
“Three Years.” Gordon bit his tongue at the memory. MI’s had gone in through a neighboring house to cut off Frankie’s escape route, somehow his Attorney had used that to invalidate the arrest. Also, half of MI’s witnesses developed sudden amnesia.
“Has it been that long. Seems like almost yesterday”.
“Cut it out Frankie. You’re a criminal scumbag, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t want to be in the same room as you any longer than I have to.”
Frankie’s tone became deadly serious. An ash dropped from the cigar.
“Fine. But how about you drop the Scary MI routine, if you could do anything to me, you would have already. The fact that you’re here without a warrant in your hands and loads of backup means you need a favor, and you’re desperate enough to ask a, how did you put it, “Criminal Scumbag” for help. The jovial tone returned “So tell me boys, what can ‘ol Frankie do for ya?”
Gordon sighed, defeated, and slumped down in one of the chairs. Oliver apparently did not want to suffer the indignities of trying to sit in a chair built for somebody twice his size and remained standing.
“A couple days ago a box full of important documents” Gordon had no desire to tell Frankie exactly what documents, “were stolen from the secure vault of the Gilded Bank. The Safecracker was killed, and we believe the documents are in the hands of somebody going by Bloody Jack.”
“Yes, and?”
“We need those documents back, and we need Bloody Jack, and we need both of them as soon as possible.”
The room stayed silent for almost a minute after that. Frankie finished his cigar and ate the stub.
“Why?”
“I don’t need to tell you why we need those documents.”
“No, not that. Why do you think I will help you. It sounds like one of my pals outsmarted you, so now you’re asking me to sell out a fellow legitimate businessman. It sounds like I have absolutely no reason to help you find you’re lost papers.”
Gordon held his breath and got ready to lie. “If these document’s aren’t found soon, we will be forced to declare a full scale manhunt, you know what that means. MI’s everywhere, asking annoying questions, making annoying arrests, disrupting business.”
Frankie Laughed.
“Really, you don’t have anything do you. Oh, I don’t doubt that you could make my life difficult in a thousand ways. But a dragnet like that requires lots of planning and coordination. It will take too long to get together, and you want this box back now. So, if empty threats are all you have-“
“We have your brother”. Oliver responded in the steady voice of one who very much regrets what they are doing, but would regret showing it even more.
This made Frankie look up.
“What?”
“Vincent Lakree, he was working as muscle for some thieves working in Magetown, mainly targeting magic items. I was called in to consult on the case. You help us get Jack and the Box, and I suddenly find that he was under magical compulsion the entire time, which keeps him out of the Vault”.
Gordon was Stunned. Oliver was suggesting tampering with evidence. Intentionally giving a false result in an investigation. Okay, so it was worth it to let an idiot thug like Vince Lakree out in order to secure those documents, and it wasn’t like they were entirely within the law trying to make a deal with Frankie in the first place, but still, they swore Oaths against this sort of thing. The Gnome was keeping a straight face, but Oliver could tell that he was hating this with every fiber of his being.
Frankie took a second to compose himself, and took a long draw on his cigar. “Alright Little Man. Let’s say you can get my dear long-lost brother off the hook, let me take him back into the fold. If you can do that, I might be able to get my hands on Jack and his little acquisition. But I want Vince cleared before the week is out. Do we have a deal?”
“We. Do.”
“Good, now get out of my place. I’ve got work to do, and you’re scaring my friends away”.
Without a word (unless you could mumbled profanity) the two detectives left the room. On the way out Gordon pulled the knife out of his chest and handed it back to the, still somewhat stunned, thug.
“You dropped this.”

[Owrtho]

Good work as usual. I was beginning to go into withdrawal there. Keep up the good work.

Owrtho

[Silverscale]

Ishka? On the second page?

What are you refering to??????

Graveyard Shift

Awesome as ever.

[Renrik]

He's referring to the fact that this thread got on the second page of the Homebrew subforum.

[Silverscale]

To draw a resonably accurate map of Ishka on graph paper where each 1/4" Square is equal to 1 square mile, you would need 36 sheets of graph paper layed out in 3 columns of 12 sheets with the pages layed out lenght-wise in the columns or 12x11" by 3x8.5" That's a big map that would probably take up all the free space inmy room to draw.

Therefore I have resolved to draw a map of Ishka where each square of the graph paper is equal to 4 square miles or the lenght of one side of one square is 2 miles.....this lets me reduse the number of sheets to just 12 in 2 columns of 6 again length-wise or 6x11" by 2x8.5".

It's gonnna take me a while to get this map done but when I do I will do my best to get a photo of it up on the forum. It will naturally be a top down view of the city and will therefore only include the top layer and the edges of layers as they meet up with the ocean in The Port District.

If anyone has strong ideas of where certain things are PM them to me, otherwise I have an idea of where some things are and others will probably fall into place as I draw everything out.

[The Anarresti]

Graveyard Shift: The best one yet. Gordon is B.A. "You dropped this." Best. line. Ever.
And I absolutely adore Frankie. I can see him so clearly: a stout little creature, orc and devil traits meshing to make a whole creature, smoking a smelly stogy and grinning with a mouth full of fangs.

[jagadaishio]

I'm loving it too. I could feel the bored spite dripping from Gordon's voice.

There is one thing I want to note about the map of the city. Some borders will have to be vague because there are areas with vertically diagonal borders. There are places where it's one district on one level, but to still be in the same district in the next level up, you need to be twenty feet westward. This is especially true in the steamworks, which are almost always as close to the bottom of the canyon as possible, to have access to the river for cheap barges, water, and dumping ground for scap. There are some steamworks (ones on the smaller side) that don't have any presence on the top layer of where they are.

Which landmarks are you going to mark, aside from the borders of the districts? Mithral Tower, the various Great Works, probably. Anywhere else with a write-up in the POIs. Are you going to mark the locations of all of the Stations?

Would maps in Ishka be packets? Maybe holographic affairs? Not all layers are the same height or an even height, so even if they had a good method for layered mapping, that would mess it up too. Would they have just largely given up on maps as a lost cause and started memorizing locations the way that people without written languages memorize verbalized documents?

I would love to see a party march into a crime lord's base, steal his papers, fight their way out, hand the papers and the lord over to MI, and be arrested for burglarizing, assaulting, and kidnapping a powerful member of the community. MI would probably treat them like trash, too, since they would have ruined months of work spying on and gathering evidence on the scumbag, who would now have a layer of armor against juries for at least a year. They might even end up on a convict labor squad, sent by the Streetbuilders into the most dangerous areas of the city for emergency repair - the squads they expect the things they're repairing to collapse on them.

As for the OI, I would just give them at will detect magic. It's not an overpowered ability, and it's thematically appropriate. It would also still cost them the action required to cast it, after all, it's at will, not always on. I don't think anything needs to be removed to add that in. As I see it, it's a deal-maker, making it the icing that would make it a wonderful little prestige class, not a deal-breaker that would leave it broken or overpowered.

As for those first level modifiers, how about instead of requiring the spell to be a higher level, you just need to spend a spell of that level to activate that effect on your (at will) detect magic? That would keep the balance that the spell levels were intended, I assume, to provide. If you do that, you could have other divination effects as modifiers. The trick would be making them cost a spell of a slot one level lower than the level of spell they are. After all, detect magic already has to be active to use the effect. If you needed detect magic active AND had to sacrifice a slot of the same level (or even higher, saints forbid), you would be better off just casting such a spell.

Maybe Read Magic which is active as part of your Detect Magic at no cost.

Detect Undead or Identify for the cost of a 0-level spell. Identify could cost a first level spell if it didn't have a material cost when used in this way.

Locate Object or See Invisibility for the cost of a first level spell.

Arcane Sight for the cost of a second.

Detect Scrying could work for the cost of a third level spell, but Scrying and Arcane Eye would be great (and I think thematically appropriate) for that cost too.

Analyze Dweomer and True Seeing are both sixth level, and could cost a fifth level spell. Analyze Dweomer might cost a sixth if you forfeit the need for the focus. Legend Lore might be good too, but that's iffy.

Arcane Sight, Greater should cost a sixth level spell, and if you put the Scrying of earlier on the list, so too should there be Scrying, Greater for the cost of a sixth as well.

Discern Location is the only spell I could really see costing a seventh level spell.

And those are the features I think that an OI should have access to, and what it would cost him to activate them while Detect Magic is up and running. They would have to be cost as normal without having Detect Magic on, though. It would just grease the wheels.

[TheLonelyScribe]

Actually, to be honest, I think that with all those new features the O.I would have to lose the first-level spellcasting. They're basically getting spontaneous spellcasting, if they're a wizard/cleric, and learning a whole additional kaboodle of spells if they're a sorcerer (I can't see druids or bards liking this PrC, too many class features to be missed). Other PrCs have lost it for less. Otherwise, I think that's a good idea, and I'll be copying it in right away.

[Erutaron]

I thought I might as well post here first...

Would anyone be interested in an Ishka PbP game?

I'll post details and start a recruiting thread, but I wanted you all to have a guaranteed spot if you're interested.

[Wulfang]

I thought I might as well post here first...

Would anyone be interested in an Ishka PbP game?

I'll post details and start a recruiting thread, but I wanted you all to have a guaranteed spot if you're interested.

I'd love to participate in that, though I'm a total DnD noob.

[Silverscale]

There is one thing I want to note about the map of the city. Some borders will have to be vague because there are areas with vertically diagonal borders. There are places where it's one district on one level, but to still be in the same district in the next level up, you need to be twenty feet westward. This is especially true in the steamworks, which are almost always as close to the bottom of the canyon as possible, to have access to the river for cheap barges, water, and dumping ground for scap. There are some steamworks (ones on the smaller side) that don't have any presence on the top layer of where they are.

Which landmarks are you going to mark, aside from the borders of the districts? Mithral Tower, the various Great Works, probably. Anywhere else with a write-up in the POIs. Are you going to mark the locations of all of the Stations?

As I said it will really only be a map of the top layer, although I think I will make dotted outlines of at least a few caves to indicate places like Hedon an The Drow Citadel. I don't think on a map of this scale, it would be a good idea to try and mare all of the stations, even just the ones on the top layer, so I'll just note where the major ones are. I'm going to flip back through the thread to find as many POI's as I can to mark down including but not limited to The Boulevard, The Millenium Tree, The Great Lantern, Mithral Tower, etc.

Would maps in Ishka be packets? Maybe holographic affairs? Not all layers are the same height or an even height, so even if they had a good method for layered mapping, that would mess it up too. Would they have just largely given up on maps as a lost cause and started memorizing locations the way that people without written languages memorize verbalized documents?

For the most part people just memorize where they live/work/frequently shop, however I think there would be a good market for a device that creates a miniature 3D-Holographic map centered on you that you can zoom in and out of to get more or less detail of your surroundings. This would allow people to travel into unfamiliar territory and still be able to find their way around.

As for a map of the whole city. There are a few copies of The Great Map, one is housed in the center of The Council Room in Primordium, one is at The University, another is in the Central Hall of Customs and Immigration, possibly a couple others, I can't think at the moment where though. These keep an accurate holographic map of Ishka at all times (ie. if something is collapsing you can watch it collapse using The Great Map) When not being manipulated to show a specific part of the city, The Great Map shows a scaled down model of the entire city. The Great Map does not display creatures as that would be both exceedingly difficult and an invasion of privacy. It does display things such as clouds, smoke, and fire. Sorry this isn't a very good write up but I have to get ready for work. Hopefully you get the general idea.

[erictheredd]

just a thought on the map: I made a similar map, and realized : canyons have branches and forks! there would still be main canyon, but the side forks with definitely get filled. One thought I had was putting large, areas dominated by one race up a canyon. for example, the goblin town, the Dark Army, and the Dragon collective. perhaps the necropolis, though I personally put it at a crazy intersection that split the commons in two (along with a bunch of other stuff).

an issue with maps: it doesn't matter that much because transportation is done by station, and two areas 20 miles away may be much harder to get to than many areas 200 miles away because of station routes.

[Silverscale]

just a thought on the map: I made a similar map, and realized : canyons have branches and forks! there would still be main canyon, but the side forks with definitely get filled. One thought I had was putting large, areas dominated by one race up a canyon. for example, the goblin town, the Dark Army, and the Dragon collective. perhaps the necropolis, though I personally put it at a crazy intersection that split the commons in two (along with a bunch of other stuff).

My plan is to lay out a measured piece of string for the main canyon and your idea of smaller branched is a good one so I'll add in a few of those too. I've already got the 12 sheets of graph paper tapped together, I'll start working on it when I get home tonight.

a note with maps: it doesn't matter that much because transportation is done by station, and two areas 20 miles away may be much harder to get to than many areas 200 miles away because of station routes.

Of course maps matter. Would you try and get around Manhatten without a map? No yet Subways are just as prevelant there as Stations are in Ishka. Besides, thought they are the main method of travel throughout the city, they are by no means the only method......The Boulevard, Inter-city Gates, etc....

Actually that brings up another question....We have at least one Skyport in Mithral Heights for International/Interplanar Travel, are there any smaller airships that travel throughout the city? I can definatly see a case for Mid-sized transport ships carrying goods to and from The Market District.

[BRC]

As I said it will really only be a map of the top layer, although I think I will make dotted outlines of at least a few caves to indicate places like Hedon an The Drow Citadel. I don't think on a map of this scale, it would be a good idea to try and mare all of the stations, even just the ones on the top layer, so I'll just note where the major ones are. I'm going to flip back through the thread to find as many POI's as I can to mark down including but not limited to The Boulevard, The Millenium Tree, The Great Lantern, Mithral Tower, etc.

For the most part people just memorize where they live/work/frequently shop, however I think there would be a good market for a device that creates a miniature 3D-Holographic map centered on you that you can zoom in and out of to get more or less detail of your surroundings. This would allow people to travel into unfamiliar territory and still be able to find their way around.

As for a map of the whole city. There are a few copies of The Great Map, one is housed in the center of The Council Room in Primordium, one is at The University, another is in the Central Hall of Customs and Immigration, possibly a couple others, I can't think at the moment where though. These keep an accurate holographic map of Ishka at all times (ie. if something is collapsing you can watch it collapse using The Great Map) When not being manipulated to show a specific part of the city, The Great Map shows a scaled down model of the entire city. The Great Map does not display creatures as that would be both exceedingly difficult and an invasion of privacy. It does display things such as clouds, smoke, and fire. Sorry this isn't a very good write up but I have to get ready for work. Hopefully you get the general idea.

Streetbuilders would need copies of the Great Map.

Really, I imagine most maps are only for a limited area, or are rather generalized. Hence the social customs behind asking for directions. Most Ishkans probably don't even own a city map, instead they know, generally, where things are. They start at a Station or Landmark, and ask for directions in order to get where they're going.

[Silverscale]

Streetbuilders would need copies of the Great Map.

Yeah there is a copy of The Great Map at the Streetbuilders Headquarters also at MI Headquarters, really any organization big enough, that would have a need for a map of the whole city has one at their Headquarters. However the device that generates the whole-city map is too big and too expensive to make it portable which is where the smaller maps come in.

Really, I imagine most maps are only for a limited area, or are rather generalized. Hence the social customs behind asking for directions. Most Ishkans probably don't even own a city map, instead they know, generally, where things are. They start at a Station or Landmark, and ask for directions in order to get where they're going.

Exactly.....how many New Yorkers do you think own a map of New York City? Not very many unless they just use it for reference or have a tendancy to go into areas they are not as familiar with. However, every tourist that goes to NYC probably buys at least one map before they try to navigate their way around and in NYC you see the same custom of asking for directions when you get lost.....granted people might not be as nice when you ask directions but that doesn't stop people from asking.

[BLiZme.2]

Streetbuilders would need copies of the Great Map.

Really, I imagine most maps are only for a limited area, or are rather generalized. Hence the social customs behind asking for directions. Most Ishkans probably don't even own a city map, instead they know, generally, where things are. They start at a Station or Landmark, and ask for directions in order to get where they're going.

this is spot on part of this would be that paper maps would be near impossible, but i still think the holomaps would be a good idea they would be fairly cheap to an adventurer but to the average Ishkan one would be a massive luxury.
i am thinking something like.

Spoiler

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lesser holomap
this small metal cube has a crystal disk on the top and runic circles on each of the fore sides. when the command word is spoken the device projects a, 1.5 foot cubic, 3 dimensional, translucence map of the portion of the great city of Ishka located on the material plain. This image covers all of Ishka stretching from the heights of the mithral tower, to the depths of (insert name of drow city here), all the way out to the farthest reaches of the Galdren, and from the lake to the sea. This image is centered on the cube if the cube is in the city or the main gate for customs and immigration if it is not on the material plain or within the boundary's of the city.
The device is controlled by spinning a digit along the ruin circles on the sides of the item. One circle zooms the image in or out, the next moves the image up or down river, another moves the map up or down vertically and the last moves the image orthogonally relative to the river each map contains an exact copy of the material plain portion of the great map at the moment it was created or the holomap it was copied from(see below). The user of a holomap may cast arcane mark on the holomap to place up to the equivalent of 1 page of text of notes on the map these notes can be deactivated by a second command word by the user.
all of the commands and instructions are traditionally inscribed on the base of the cube in Ishkan.
weight 1lb
Requirements(Cl 5 find the path, special must have access to a lesser
holomap holomap,or one of The Great Maps price 200gp cost 100gp ?25xp? )

also take a look at these pleas

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least holomap
a least holomap contans a vivid static image of a section of Ishka,in the same format as any other holomap, a least holomap and looks like a large iron coin with a crystal on one side, the command words and a description of the location are traditionaly inscribed on the back.
weight 0.25lb
Requirements(CL 1 arcane mark, special must have access to a minor holomap, leser holomap, holomap,or one of The Great Maps price 10gp cost 5gp ?1xp? )

minor holomap
a minor holomap functions like a least holomap except as noted below
a minor holomap has a third command word, capture, when the minor holomap is placed next to another active holomap and the capture command spoken the minor holomap changes its stored image to match the other holomap.
Requirements(CL 2 arcane mark, special must have acses to a minor holomap, leser holomap, holomap,or one of The Great Maps price 50gp cost 25gp ?5xp? )


holomap
a holomap functions like a lesser holomap except where noted below.
A holomap also covers all of the permanent portals and station routs in Ishka as well as the extensions of the city that are located on other plains. Other plains are selected by a command word located on the base of the device followed by the plains name.
weight 1lb
Requirements(Cl 10 find the path plain shift,, special must have acses to a holomap,or one of The Great Maps price 500gp cost 250gp ?55xp? )

what i am thinking is is that the maps are not so much not bought for lack of utility as they are for shear cost. On the least holoMap it would be good to "screen capture" any of the other holomaps, or as souvenirs for tourists, like a map of mithral tower or the lake district or even the great tree whatever its called, think snow globe. also if you knew about and captured a major collapse ether on another map and transferred it or just took it straight of the great map, might sell well in some circles.

[BRC]

Yeah there is a copy of The Great Map at the Streetbuilders Headquarters also at MI Headquarters, really any organization big enough, that would have a need for a map of the whole city has one at their Headquarters. However the device that generates the whole-city map is too big and too expensive to make it portable which is where the smaller maps come in.


Exactly.....how many New Yorkers do you think own a map of New York City? Not very many unless they just use it for reference or have a tendancy to go into areas they are not as familiar with. However, every tourist that goes to NYC probably buys at least one map before they try to navigate their way around and in NYC you see the same custom of asking for directions when you get lost.....granted people might not be as nice when you ask directions but that doesn't stop people from asking.

All the big Municipal Organizations would have one. Some of them are modified.

The Streetbuilders actually have several. One at their main office in Primordium, and one at each of their major regional offices. Their Maps are modified to show the structural makeup of the city, with it's supports highlighted and colored by strength. For some bigger supports, the map can also show when it was last repaired.
Firefighter's have ones that are hooked up to the Great Fountain to detect large fires.

The Gatekeepers have ones that can be modified by operators to show the location of Gates, as well as the position and strength of gate raiders.


Actually, Idea!

Location(s) of Interest
Municipal Compounds
Scattered around the City are a series of blocky structures known as Municipal Compounds. Each one of these Compounds has a Gate linking back to the Primordium.
These Compounds are uniform, each contains the same structures.

A small barracks of Gatekeepers.
A Small MI local office.
An Entrance to the Warehouse (as described forever ago in this thread).
A Streetbuilder's office, containing information showing where local supports are located, the type of support, an estimate of how much weight it is supporting, and the last time it was inspected, repaired, or replaced.
A Streetbuilder stockroom, containing some supplies and tools.
A Firefighter's Substation, containing a couple suits of armor.
An all purpose barracks and canteen.

Few operations are actually run out of these local offices. They are used primarily as staging areas to quickly deploy personnel and coordinate everything from routine Streetbuilder investigations to Gatekeeper defenses.

[Silverscale]

Just to veryify, all but The Great Map should be static images, yes you can zoom, pan, rotate, them but they do not continuously update themselves the way The Great Maps do. They are only as accurate as they were at the time of their creation, the same way an old paper map may give you a fairly good idea of where things are but certain boundries/roads/etc may have changed.

I'm pretty sure that's how you said they should work but your description of the Least Holomap confused me a little bit.

[BRC]

Just to veryify, all but The Great Map should be static images, yes you can zoom, pan, rotate, them but they do not continuously update themselves the way The Great Maps do. They are only as accurate as they were at the time of their creation, the same way an old paper map may give you a fairly good idea of where things are but certain boundries/roads/etc may have changed.

I'm pretty sure that's how you said they should work but your description of the Least Holomap confused me a little bit.

The Streetbuilder, Gatekeeper, and Firefighter maps are static images, but they can be modified by a trained operator to show relevant information (Such as the reported location of gate raiders). And even then, the map itself dosn't change, they merely add some extra stuff, like highlighting a book.

[Silverscale]

The Streetbuilder, Gatekeeper, and Firefighter maps are static images, but they can be modified by a trained operator to show relevant information (Such as the reported location of gate raiders). And even then, the map itself dosn't change, they merely add some extra stuff.

Are you talking about the Great Maps they have in their headquarters or the ones they carry around with them on mossions? I don't see any reason that they would not want a continuously updating Great Map in their Headquarters, especially the Fierfighters since it would be a way to keep an eye out for fires that need putting out.

[BLiZme.2]

Just to veryify, all but The Great Map should be static images, yes you can zoom, pan, rotate, them but they do not continuously update themselves the way The Great Maps do. They are only as accurate as they were at the time of their creation, the same way an old paper map may give you a fairly good idea of where things are but certain boundries/roads/etc may have changed.

I'm pretty sure that's how you said they should work but your description of the Least Holomap confused me a little bit.

exactly what i was saying. Only the Great Maps should update in real time all the others are static there may even be very old historic ones in the streetbuilders hq and the museum for reference.

a Least Holomap only stores a static image in the same form as all the other holomaps no zoom or pan and can only be rotated by the rotating the device
and they are coin shaped just because I thought that would look cool and they don't need control surfaces.

as fore The Great Maps they should all be dynamic because otherwise they are just like a normal holomap only immobile.
also what do you think of adding silent image as a requirement?
or any more apropriate spells /spell combos?

[TheLonelyScribe]

Just some stuff that has been brewing in my mind for a while:

Organisation: The Citywide Post Office Association
As the name suggests, these are the people in charge of the teleporting letters around Ishka and beyond. Their customers are usually too poor to afford those swanky magical telephones, but not so poor that they can't afford the fairly high prices of postage. They are usually taken little notice of, but this works to their advantage, as some people will pay a lot to have a peek at someone's mail...

People of Interest: The 3 Siblings
These 3 shape-shifters are infamous workers of Hedon, but they aren't just your average doppelgänger whore. They have famous and powerful psychic abilities, including, but not limited to:
A detect thoughts affect continually active that does not pick up surface thoughts, but penetrates into the deepest and most secret sexual desires of the subject.
A telepathy effect that links them together, allowing instant empathetic correspondence even when on different planes.
Forms that flow continuously as they pick different tones of their customer's deepest desires.

The 3 Siblings are often recommended as a kind of psychological treatment, as there is something deeply stabilising about having your deepest desires fulfilled. They are also in secret correspondence with the alliance, using a special domination ability that can cause someone to kill themselves in order to pick off enemies of their patrons.

Place of Interest: Ariel Sheen
This is an area of shimmering air near the mitral tower. It is well known for it's magic, allowing special boats sold and rented by a nearby store to travel across it, resulting in a romantic and exhilarating diversion for the aristocratic. This, sadly, also has a connection to the alliance, as it is easy to pick someone off in there and simply blame it on their paddling out of the clearly marked boundaries of the zone.


Also, on his first research foray (if I ever get round to it), should Gerald go to the groves, the sewers, or that place where the weird psychic beetles sell memories.

[BLiZme.2]

I just had a thought what if there was one master Great Map that all the oter great maps link to in real time and The Great Map not only tracks structures and permanent portals as stabilized by the portal item mentioned ages ago but tracks every creature and temporary portal in Ishka? obviously this is one of the great works and cant possibly feed all of its info even to the lesser great maps. or is all this to much skrying power in Ishka?