The City of Pyramids

by Anders Sandberg

There is very little fixed geography in the umbra; realms shift their positions and appearances depending on the expectations of people, a path that previously led to the pleasant fields of Dao may suddenly lead to the City of Seven Iniquities. But a few landmarks are stable, some fixed by human belief like the circles of Hell, others kept stable by secret metaphysical relationships in the Umbra. One such landmark is the City of Pyramids.

The City is located on the edge of the Abyss, around the shores of a dark river that falls over the edge into a silent waterfall. Just as the name implies the city is dominated by numerous pyramids and necropoli amid the labyrinths of bone-white buildings. The sky is black as the abyss. Cold winds smelling of ice and silence sweep in from the nothingness outside and make the ashen sand in the streets creep around corners like a living creature.

The City of Pyramids is known among the Adepts as the final waystation before the great emptiness. It is the last stop on the Path of Shin before it enters Daath. All mages must sooner or later undergo this journey in some form to reach Ascension - or be annihilated by Oblivion. The souls of those mages who choose to remain in the world or do not dare to cross the Abyss will slowly sicken and warp under the weight of the Ego, and they will loose the ability to see the true path before them.

Unlike what one might think the City is not empty, it just feels abandoned. Inside the austere buildings and labyrinths presences watch, and sometimes unusual footsteps can be seen in the drifting sand. From the Abyss some Qlippoth, the empty husks left over from creation, have entered the city and hidden in the nethermost chambers and most inaccessible tombs, chattering and gnawing on each other.

But the most dangerous inhabitants of all are the Failed Ones. They were once mages who boldly tried to cross the Abyss, but turned back in fear or did not even dare to leave the City. Unable to return to the world they remain among the pyramids, growing ever more bitter and incomplete. Some of them have remained here for millennia, becoming unhuman and dangerous. Travellers must beware of the shadows that stalk them, or they will join the piles of gnawed bones and skulls beneath the Pyramid of the Four Princes.