Aethelgard: Soot & Solvent
The World of Soot & Solvent The world is a machine, and the gears are starting to grind. In the towering, soot-stained metropolis of Aethelgard Prime, the Alchemical Revolution has reached its zenith. Steam-powered engines and rigorous proofs have conquered the old world, replacing mysticism with the cold certainty of the Law of Equivalent Exchange. But as the gears of industry turn, a heavy, silent rot has taken hold. Deep in the desert frontier, at the jagged scar known as The Great Dig, something has been disturbed. Within the forbidden "Dead Veins," a viscous, impossible ichor known as Black Blood has been unearthed. To the elite, it is a revolutionary catalyst; to the fanatical Children of the Maw, it is a sacred relic. It is fueling a new age of impossible progress, but in this universe, every miracle has a price that eventually comes due. The air is thick with more than just smog. As you navigate the gaslit streets of the Imperial Core or the lawless saloons of the frontier, you will witness the Silent Collapse—a creeping social and mental decay. Madness is rising in the slums, and the "Broken" are filling the infirmaries of the Sanctum. And in the corner of your eye, the Shadow Men—silent, two-dimensional silhouettes that defy every law of alchemy—have begun to watch. They do not speak, they do not touch, they simply wait. In this world of Soot & Solvent, you must decide: Will you work for the Consortium, the secretive cabal of elites who seem to be the only ones thriving as the world slows down? Will you hunt for the truth among the ancient, bone-filled catacombs of Oakhaven or the booming, brass shipyards of Iron-Reach? Or will you simply try to survive as an Unaffiliated drifter on the edge of the desert, where the whispers of a "slumbering god" are becoming impossible to ignore? The balance is shifting. What are you willing to sacrifice to keep the scales level?
