Moon - Daughters of Luna (Promptober 2025 #10)

Luna

Few things inspire curiosity like the moon. It looks so close, but nobody can walk there in a thousand years. It controls the tides, and its light can transform humans into beasts. But what about the goddess of the moon?

So for the next few minutes let's take a look at Luna, and more specifically at her devoted possibly-demigod followers.

The Daughters of Luna

Originally a secretive sect who worshipped the moon, the Daughters have always existed under various names, keeping the everyday wisdom of life and preventing the sun-worshipping men from causing too much damage. Eventually the Daughters found a way to call directly on the goddess's power to cause subtle changes in people's hearts and calm the warlike passions of nations. Some claim they are actual daughters of the goddess, elevating them to demigods among mortals. They operate in the shadows, pulling strings and exerting their influence behind the scenes.

Free Space (Promptober 2025 #1)

Ganymede, where it all began.

"Corps and governments can squat on dirtballs.
  Space is free for everyone."
          - Maya Sindutti, Free Space Advocate

Back when mankind started expanding and colonizing the other planets in the Sol system, everyone wanted to own everything. Corporations fought governments, and colonists resisted both entities through protest and force of arms. Spacers, who adapted to life in microgravity and flew everyone wherever they needed to go in-system for a fee, always held the view that space should be free for all. Nobody owns the nothing between the orbiting rocks. What is there to own? The corps tried to buy and sell flight paths anyway and patrol empty patches of space to establish some sort of ownership.

Until the Ganymede Incident.

Fellport Cleanliness Authority

The Ubiquitous FCA Logo

As Fellport grew, removing the trash and wastewater became a larger and larger problem. In Imperial times, engineers diverted Crystal Lake into a system of fresh water tunnels under each level in the city nicknamed the Raceway, but they made no provisions for waste removal since the city barely had enough residents to qualify as a city. The harbor stank for days after a hard rain washed the streets clean, especially on warm summer days. For hundreds of years the Amaryllis Estate hired gong farmers to gather human and food waste from the cesspits and streets of the city for use as fertilizer. Eventually a gnomish gong farmer named Violet Sienna-Bay-Umber hatched an elaborate scheme to make life easier for everyone.

By this time Violet hatched her scheme, the team behind the Lift project had almost completed their work. Violet talked Lord Amaryllis into providing the seed money to start what eventually became the Fellport Cleanliness Authority. Violet rediscovered the engineering map of fresh water lines under Fellport, then hired the Lift's tunneling team to dig a sewer system in parallel that diverted liquid waste toward the Amaryllis Estate for processing. Violet put all the pieces together to invent the toilet and modern sink, which she immediately installed into every building in Fellport.

Folio Fools

In the quest for well-rounded individuals, the College encourages students to spend time outside of formal studies. Many groups on campus provide extracurricular activities, from debating to gaming, and from meditation to sports. One of the oldest groups on campus dedicated itself to writing, producing, and staging dramatic productions: the Folio Fools.

Illusionists overwhelmingly make up the membership of the Folio Fools with their penchant for creating images, lights, and noises (and the offered class credit for participation doesn't hurt either), followed by members of the Lorekeepers with their well-honed skills in performance. Members of every wizard school get involved at some point, as the group stages four major productions every year, plus a variable number of more intimate evenings of one-act plays, performed poetry (slam nights are gaining in popularity lately), or staged readings of works in progress. Major works usually appear for two weeks on the Lecture Hall Stage in the Philosopher's Stone at the Lakeside end of Undercampus. They have performed on this stage since the Philosopher's Stone opened, so the green room and basement storage areas overflow with set pieces, props, and costumes accrued over decades of shows.

The Dragontouched

Kobolds breed and mature quickly compared to humans. As such, mutations happen more often per year on average. One of the more common mutations causes a pair of leathery wings to grow out of the kobold's back, giving them the power to glide or, if they practice with them long enough, the power to fly.

Other kobolds don't appreciate their winged kin, feeling jealous that these mutants can fly when they can't. Many die at the hands of jealous tribemates during puberty, when the wings fully develop. Many others find the Dragontouched, a group of winged kobolds bound together by religious zeal and clarity of purpose. They want the dragons to return to Beneterra, and they keep the Breath of the Recurring Scale prophecy alive, constantly consulting auguries and searching for the people to open the portal.

The Urchins

Kids and teenagers tend to know the street-level secrets of Fellport, and they tend to get in trouble. The Urchins have been around officially for at least 50 years, and probably much longer. The older Urchins teach the younger about what information to give away, what to charge for, how much to charge, and how to ditch troublesome employers. Many also learn stealth and disguise skills, or at least how to act in different neighborhoods.

Urchins don't have any solid hierarchy, but everyone knows who to talk to when trouble comes knocking. An Urchin in trouble with the law have surprised the Fellport Council on more than one occasion with a high-priced lawyer coming to the youth's defense. Anyone stupid enough to raise hands against an Urchin will find themselves robbed blind. If they continue coming after Urchins, they'll wake up naked outside the city gates, all their worldly possessions permanently lost. Or framed for murder and swinging from Execution Wharf.

Legio XIII Solmurus

Ionian Legionaries

The Legio XIII Solmurus ("The Thirteenth") has a long and storied history. In the beginning of the Ionian Empire's expansion, Emperor Valerian created the Legio Solmurus (literally the Sunwall Legion under the standard of the Sun) as an experiment, specifically tasked with countering the elven mages of Alfinwald during the Forest Campaign. They tested experimental Orichalcum equipment fresh out of the workshops, and now every legionary receives a Scutum Solis as part of their standard kit, making every soldier resistant to magic.

The Thirteenth saw individual successes in the Forest Campaign, but the elven forces proved more nimble, flanking the rest of the army and devastating formations with lightning, poison clouds, and mud. Hostilities ended with almost no changes to the border between Ionia and Alfinwald. More importantly, the Thirteenth suffered very few losses and gained quite a few recruits.

The Grey Rover

The Grey Rover rolled into the ocean over 50 years ago from the keelworks in Battan, one of many two-masted schooners to roll off the line into the merchant fleet. Her deck measures 65 feet with a 20 foot beam, and she weighs in at 50 tons. She can make do with a crew of 5, and she spent her early years hauling ores and metal all over the Dunhill coast, sometimes making trips to Fellport or the Barbary Coast for a sale.

Pirates captured her after 4 years at sea and pressed her into service. They retrofitted her hold to accommodate more sailors while still holding a fair amount of cargo. She served for a few years, then ran aground in a storm one night. The pirates limped her to shore and tried to patch her up, but the damage took her to the bottom of a secluded cove before morning's light. There she stayed for almost ten years, until one of her crew got rich enough to bring her back.

The Fellport Council

Since Fellport's founding 120 years ago, the Fellport Council has directed the city's direction and policies from the Council House in the heart of the city. Originally intended to cover the immediate concerns of the populace while remaining receptive to the people's needs, it started with four members, but later expanded to five plus an advisory member from the Fellport Watch. Some suggest that the council needs more diversity and maybe another seat or two, but those talks remain on hold along with many others.

Voting for Councilors happens every 3 years for Councilor At Large, and every 6 years for the other positions, so a typical election involves three Councilor races. The council appoints the Advisor of the Watch, though the Fellport Watch holds an internal vote to select one candidate for the council to approve or reject. Voting involves much hand-waving, as Fellport has no official census to verify citizenship, but most residents go with candidates nominated by the big groups in town. Firebrands have won elections in the past, but the city's non-political lean makes radical change difficult.

Way of the Tankard

Zemion didn't intend to start a monastic order, it just kind of happened. Once the arena closed, he lost himself in a bottle for a while, but he decided he could make the world a better place. He started training others to fight, and over the years he came up with a few simple tenets to guide his new acolytes.

The Way of the Tankard focuses on self-improvement, mainly around unarmed fighting, helping people, and being unpredictable. They maintain The Tankard Bar and barracks for members just outside the old arena on the Cliffside of Level 3. Prices at the Tankard Bar remain low to allow anyone to get a drink, and they provide bar snacks for free so everyone has at least something to eat.

The Way of the Tankard embraces and embodies these ideals:

1. The Tankard Overflows. Share what you have with anyone who needs it. One day you may be in need. Pay it forward.
2. Less Thinking, More Doing. When in doubt, do something. Don't delay by overplanning.
3. Make Beautiful Accidents. Flow into any situation. Make yourself impossible to predict.
4. Nobody Stays Down. Make sure enemies, friends, and people you don't know can get up and walk away. Help people whenever you can, and give everyone options.

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.

The Deepspeakers

The Deepspeakers each hear the voice from the depths calling for freedom. It starts with a dream of darkness, cold, and crushing pressure. An ancient voice calls out for justice and freedom. Memories of ancient prosperity flood the mind, calling back to an idyllic settlement trading across the Placid Sea. Makara, the Guardian In Exile remembers the day the sky fell, crushing him deep into the seabed, and they call for your aid to rebuild his destroyed city.

Makara has been trapped at the bottom of Fellport Harbor since the harbor was formed well over a thousand years ago. They desire to taste the air again, to protect their people again, and to exact revenge on the outworlders who did this to them. They don't know exactly what keeps them bound in the depths, but they call out to receptive people to uncover the truth and set them free.

The Deepspeakers have members from all levels of society, and they have existed for as long as sentient creatures have settled around Fellport. Rumor has it that several human founders of the College were in league with Makara, but a great purge has swept these twisted people out of the institution. And now the college has the most complete collection of arcane and historical writings in the world. How convenient.

Makara serves as either a Great Old One or Fathomless warlock patron. They desire escape and revenge, so directing their followers to research what binds them, recover ancient artifacts, and cause pain to lesser beings all fit Makara's goals. They know of Orcus's influence to stir up undead in the Sea of Sorrows, and they know that the dragons have made a pact to leave this world for greener pastures. Surely trading this knowledge could uncover some secrets about Makara's prison and how to unseal it.

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.

The Garden Manor Society

Founded 80 years ago by Emma Gardner, the last surviving member of the Gardner family in Fellport, the Garden Manor Society exists to bring a distinctly elven sense of long-term conservation to the city of Fellport and beyond. The Society controls enough of an endowment to maintain the grounds of the Garden Manor, Highgarden, and Elvenhall, and still have enough left over to try and reclaim green areas in other parts of the city. The Society enforces wilderness areas on the shores of Crystal Lake outside Fellport as well, providing trails and scenic areas to keep people's destructive tendencies from trampling the entire area.

Membership in The Garden Manor Society provides societal prestige and access to rich families in town. Current board members include Emma Gardner and Lady Amaryllis, matriarch of the Amaryllis family who control a vast estate outside Fellport which provides most of the city's food. Society members buy their way into hosting grand social events and intimate performances at the Manor. Members who truly embrace the underlying goals of the Society prefer to remain anonymous, but more vain members tend to wear small golden membership pins with emerald-inlaid letters spelling out "GMS" to subtly brag about their riches and status.

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.

The Liftwardens' Guild

Liftwardens control access to and perform maintenance on the giant Lift running up and down the center of Fellport. Originally made up almost exclusively of Gnomes, the staff has diversified greatly over the past hundred years. The roll of current and emeritus employees contains 893 names.

The guild is split into three main groups. Operations, Maintenance, and Administration. Operations covers the day-to-day public facing aspects of the Lift. Conductors ride with their platforms, organizing riders to efficiently embark from the side and disembark off the front of the platform. Liftwardens collect money and pre-stage riders, passing destination information to the Conductors and providing the strength to make sure everyone gets on and off within the 4-minute loading window. Liftwardens also provide security on the Ramps, though in smaller numbers than what the Lift requires.

Maintenance works below ground, greasing the works and replacing parts in 4-minute bursts of activity. They also collect the Terminus Buckets, sifting out the dirt and passing all collected items over to the Lost & Found Office in the Administration group. Administrators handle payroll, keep tabs on platform usage, field complaints and communications, run the Lost & Found Office, and investigate any oddities reported during operations. Administrators also vigorously investigate any allegations of corruption, as trust in the system keeps the money flowing.

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.