Longshore is the greatest of all Mishima's Mercury Holdings. It sits at the bottom of an enormous crater on the Terminator line. Far above, a plastic shield, called the Celestial Shield, revolves around Longshore. This miracle of ancient technology holds air in while letting spacecraft pass through, reknitting itself behind them.
The city itself lies on an island within a great underground ocean, built by a miracle of ancient engineering. Longshore is the largest of all Mercury's underworlds, stretching almost two hundred miles in every direction with a ceiling almost two miles high. The whole cavern is lit by great polarized filter-windows which dim and brighten on a twenty four hour cycle, simulating night and day. The whole cavern is carpeted by a shallow sea some 30 feet deep out of which rise thousands of sculpted islands lined by thousands of rice terraces. Cranes and flamingoes rise from the multicolored shallow waters around each island. Teeming shoals of fish shimmer in the sea. Longshore's climate and temperature is rigoroulsy controlled. The sea is always filled with fishing boats and kelp-collecting ships. Huge carpets of edible algae form green mats on the water's surface and are collected by monstrous factory ships. The seeming harmony of the place is only disturbed when spacecraft arrive at the great landing strip at Longshore.
Such tranquility is deceptive. Since the coming of the Dark Legion weird mutations have overtaken much of the wildlife. It industrial pollution that gives the sea its strange color. Great marshes of toxic sludge have collected in many areas. The whole underworld is slowly drowning in its own wastes.
Each island houses a hidden fortress, and many mighty war-machines and rocket launchers. Hundreds of thousands of troops are on constant standby to repel any threat to the Lord Heir. Thousands of rocketplanes lie at rest on their launchers ready to take to the skies against any foe.
Longshore proper is on the largest island, and is a true megacity. It rises like a great termite mound out of the sea, crowned at its pinnacle by the Palace of Lord Heir Moya and the mighty spire of Longshore Cathedral. This is a city given over entirely to trade and politics. All the great lords have palaces here. All the other megacorporations have embassies and trading enclaves. It is home to hundreds of thousands of administrators and Samurai as well as millions of Commoners. The palace gates are flanked by two mighty gigameks kept constantly crewed and in readiness. The palace itself is an enormous fortress manned and guarded by one hundred thousand Samurai all ready to lay down their lives for the Lord Heir.
At the central core of Longshore is the great elevator a complex of mighty lifts, each capable of lifting a dozen spacecraft or ten thousand warriors. These drop down into the Undercity a dark industrial netherworld where millions of the Commoners dwell, and work. Many stay virtually chained to their machines. It is from the Undercity that the webway spreads out to all other points on Mercury.
The Forbidden Isle
From a dark and gloomy part of the Underground Ocean, perpetually shrouded by mist, rises a great black peak. High atop this peak is the forbidding Monastery of the feared Demon Hunters. No-one who sets foot on this island may leave again unless permitted by the Isle's masters.
Within this enormous spire, thousands are trained and tested through incredible ordeals, sincethey seek to become part of the Order. On the Isle, desperate, bitter men and women are taught all the secret arts of demon hunting, and then sent forth to face the Darkness. Within the vast Forbidden Library, thousands of scholars toil through ancient books which were preserved from the burning of the Inquisition in ancient days. These scholars seek the secrets that may save mankind from the Dark Apostles. In huge dojos, hundreds of neophytes hone their martial arts skills to levels that seem impossible to less driven mortals. In darkened tutorial rooms, wizened sages teach the magical secrets of their arts to the dozens who have worked their way through the training process. In the mighty armories, hundreds of technological adepts work at the great forges and lovingly prepare the Demon Hunter battlesuits which will be the proudest possession of the graduates.
No-one who sets foot on this island ever leaves except as a Demon Hunter or on the business of a Master of the Order. Those who fail the tests may commit ritual suicide or may choose to remain and be trained as guards, technological adepts, scholars, scribes or monks. A few will be allowed to join the retinue of a Demon Hunter and guard
them with their lives. Most will spend all their remaining days incarcerated on the island, since the isle's secrets are taught here, and it would be dangerous for the rest of mankind to know them. Newcomers are subjected to endless tests to prove they are not worshippers of the Dark. Those who follow the Dark suffer a terrible fate, for they will be interrogated and studied at great length by ruthless scholars whose lives are spent seeking greater knowledge of the Dark.
Because joining the Demon Hunters is considered a great honor, many of the younger children of Samurai families are sent here to see if they can gain acceptance. If they fail they are kept on the island and the eldest son has removed a potential source of rebellion. If they succeed, they may choose to return to their family and protect it against the Darkness. The services of Demon Hunters are often required, and many Keiretsu will pay a small fortune for their services.
The Shrine of Kanji
This island is a place of constant pilgrimage for Mishimans. It marks the last resting place of Kanji, most venerated of all the Seven Sages. Kanji was an enlightened one who is said to have brought good fortune to all who crossed his path. There are rumors that the Sage's spirit appears on certain holy nights, but it may be that these are simply rumors to keep the pilgrims coming. The shrine itself is an enormous pagoda nearly five hundred feet high. By night, the monks floodlight the pagoda so that it is visible from many miles away.
Kanji himself is venerated as the patron of the martial arts. The Island of the Shrine is home to over five thousand martial arts schools where the children of Samurai study Ki powers. Often the harmony of the island is disturbed by brawls between followers of different teachers. Sometimes these disturbances escalate into huge riots which result in armies of Samurai being dispatched to quell the revolts. There are many rumors that the Shadow Walkers maintain a dojo on the island, and it is certainly true that this is one of the best places to make contact with the assassins.
Tiger Park
Tiger Park is a huge island near Longshore which is given over entirely to pleasure. It is a a giant combination of amusement park, sinhouse, and sports arena. Here can be found every type of amusement Mishiman culture has to offer, from chana parlours to gambling dens to massage houses. Here too can be found flower girls and casinos. The island is full of luxurious hotels and hostelries. it has been described by the Cardinal of Longshore as the greatest sink of sin and iniquity on Mercury. He was not wrong. Wealthy rakes, wastrels, and the simply curious come here from all over the solar system to experience its forbidden delights. The whole island is said to be directly controlled by the Black Dragon Triad who use the previously impoverished Onoshi clan of Samurai as a front. Lord Heir Moya must have his own reasons for allowing the place to thrive for his Samurai never interfere with Tiger Park.
The Ebon Palace
The Ebon Palace is the residence of Lord Heir Moya's most trusted hatamoto, Nozaki. just naming this island is guaranteed to get you a thinly disguised shudder from almost any resident of Longshore. Nozaki is a lean saturnine man of utter ruthlessness and complete loyalty to his master. He needs to be for he is the head of Lord Heir Moya's dreaded secret police, the Black Rose society. Here a whole island has been carved into one gigantic building which is both a fortress and a dungeon where political prisoners are kept waiting torture and interrogation. Here too are enormous training barracks where young Samurai are trained in the Mishiman way of espionage and assassination, and equipped with all the latest technology that Mishima's spyrnasters can provide. The palace itself is a sinister building which seems to rise from the sea like the head of an enormous dragon. Security around this place is almost as tight as around Lord Heir Moya's residence. Since Nozaki has taken over the reins of power Longshore has become an evil place, folk disappear in the night. Even the rich and powerful fear for their safety. Some say all this is Nozaki's doing. Others whisper that the Lord Heir knows off and approves his henchman's deeds, and is simply letting blame fall on his shoulders.
The Undercity Mercury
Below the caverns of the Underground Ocean, the Undercity connects to the Longshore spire by the great Elevator. This is a dark, cheerless, "ear lightless place; home to Longshore's millions of Commoners. Like all Mishiman undercities it is a multilevelled warren of tunnels and chambers, filled with people and machines. Great pipes run along the walls, sometimes leaking scalding steam, sometimes dripping corrosive chemicals. Here and there rickety elevators and rusting steel ladders drop beneath levels. The deeper you progress in the Undercity the nastier things get, since the tunnels at the lowest levels are the newest and have the least facilities. Life down in the Undercity is short. Cave-ins, oxygen cutoffs and powercuts are common. The lowest levels are the home of the Faceless, the lowest of the low in Mishiman society.
Dim piped sunlight is augmented by the light from thousands of flickering gas burners. The air is filled with the constant rumble of great factory machines and the roar of rocket trains. This is the dark underbelly of Mishiman society, where millions of Commoners toil endlessly to provide the goods and services upon which the wealth of the Samurai rests. There is no landscaping here, just a warren of endless tunnels where people fight for a meter of space to sleep in, and entire families can spend their lives without going a mile from the machines on which they work. Life here is short and hard. Weary from endless labour the folk subsist on the edge of starvation and watch enviously as palanquins bear fat merchants to their showrooms. Only the constant presence of patrolling Samurai keeps the peace, for all know that the Samurai will extract instant lethal vengeance for the slightest infraction of the rules.
In the Undercity you can see the true nature of the huge industrial fiefdoms which produce Mishima's vast wealth. Here the brute toil and oppression of the majority is most obvious. Still people labour away for the honor of their ancestors, and hope that life can get better for their children.
The air is filled with choking, eye-burning industrial pollution. The streets ring with the hellish cacophony of unsleeping factory machines. Those who can afford it wear filter masks to save their lungs from corruption. Those who doift wear masks can expect nasty, short lives. Condensation drips endlessly from above. The droplets are so saturated by pollution that they are slowly eroding the stonework.
The Darkways and the lost provinces Mercury
The Darkways are the part of Mercury that has fallen under control of the Dark Legion. Within the Darkways, huge half buried Citadels thrust their spires out into the Mercurian sky. No-one knows how the Dark Legion got in to the Mercurian underworld. Some suspect that their vanguard was smuggled in through the imperial freeport at Fukido. Others think that they came by hidden pathways of the Ancients from the surface. Still others think that they used the powers of the Dark Symmetry to open gates to the Mishiman hinterlands. No one really knows how they got there but everyone knows the results.
They descended on the under-populated provinces of Sotoni and Zata and slaughtered the inhabitants before the provincial overlords could send for help. The bodies of the dead were carted off to the newly erected citadels and turned into Undead Legionnaires. The few survivors who did not have time to commit ritual suicide were taken to the distortion chambers and transformed into Necromutants, which is a fate far worse than death to most Samurai. Since then the Dark Legion has used the Lost Provinces as a base to launch raids into Mishiman territory, countless thousands have been dragged screaming back to its slave-pits.
The Lord Heir has ordered the construction of a great ring of fortresses, which block the webways into the area but so far the servants of the Dark Apostles have been able to slip in and out with relative ease. What once were beautiful places have become corrupt landscapes marred by forests of spectrally glowing fungii, and lakes of foul industrial sludge. Huge citadels dominate the underworld. Despite the best efforts of Lord Heir Moya, word of the Dark Legion invasion has leaked out and caused the Brotherhood to exert huge diplomatic pressure for more access to the Mercurian Underworlds. This has had the further effect of opening up Mercury to outsiders for the first time in centuries.
Akirenko Mercury
Akirenko is another giant underworld, home base to the mighty Akirenko electronics combine. This underworld was once beautifully landscaped, but over the centuries its single city, Akirenko, has spread like a great fungus to cover the entire floor of the underworld. Its nobles have divide the city into two sections, the Hanging Palaces and the City Below (usually referred to simply as Below).
From the underworld's ceiling depends the Hanging Palaces, which are huge platforms suspended on monstrous cables on which sit the Daimyo's palace and the dwellings of Lord Akirenko's retainers. The nobles cast their rubbish down onto the city below so that Commoners are often killed by failing garbage and the streets are filled with ordure and trash. There is a caste of the Faceless within the city who make a living by scavenging among the huge garbage heaps.
Each palace is anchored to the floor by great hawsers. Sometimes thieves and Commoners attempt to reach the hanging Palace by climbing up these huge cables. No one knows what happens to those who do. Akirenko has recently been conducting experiments attempting to replicate Cybertronic designed bionics. These experiments have met with some success, and you will see more Samurai with such electronic prosthesis here than in any other city in Mercury. Akirenko is a place of pilgrimage for many crippled Samurai, who drag themselves on their stumps to the city seeking replacement limbs. Such warriors often fall victim to Ronin and robbers and con men. Many lose all their money and eke out a pitiful existence as beggars and scavengers in the City Below.
The city is filled with thousands of small workshops and giant factories where Commoners labour night and day to produce the electronic goods for which Akirenko is famous. Here you can find some of the greatest electronics experts in the human systems, including some Black Adepts who have delved into the ancient and forbidden art of Cybermancy, the dreaded study of Thinking Engines.
Tambu Mercury
The gigantic Tambu underworld is home to the massive and war-like Tambu combine. This is Mishima's largest producer of weapons, meka and other weapons. It has the largest standing army of any Mercurian Keiretsu and the arguably the most effective defense force on all Mercury. It has rushed to embrace the concept of Ashigaru, seeing these gigantic armies as another market for its products. The ruthlessness of the Tambu Daimyos is legendary. The Tambu will buy, eliminate, or destroy any rival arms conglomerate by any means possible. They have a virtual monopoly on the manufacture of mass market weapons in the Mishiman realms. The Tambu family are powerful enough to stand aloof from the struggles of the Lord Heirs. Some folk claim the Tambu's are the power behind the throne of Mishima, and that it was Tambu's refusal to back the present Overlord that led to his dramatic fall from influence. Certainly no Overlord has ever held power without at least the tacit support of the Tambu Keiretsu.
Tambu province is a huge dark underworld, full of enormous factories and smelters. Lakes of redhot metal congeal outside the factories which are later mined by scavengers. The cavern is constantly being expanded as gigantic mining machines strip the far walls of their ores and new galleries are constantly being occupied by the hordes of Commoners who come here in search of work. The city is dominated by the massive, rivetted walls of the Ironkeep, a gigantic fortress whose walls are sheathed in multiple layers of steel armour, and whose battlements are patrolled by over a thousand meka.
The Threelands Mercury
In ancient times this was actually three provinces ruled over by three separate Keiretsu; Nagoya Industrial, Issan Steel and the Kazan Minerals Group. Due to an ancient geological fault which exposed a rich seam of minerals these three Underworlds were built much closer together than was normal. Down through the years all of the Underworlds slowly grew until the excavations ran into each other. First mines ran into each other, but later streets and factories and cities ran into each other. For years there was peace but slowly tension mounted in disputes over mineral rights, land ownership, and utility maintenance. These disputes escalated until war erupted between Nagoya and Issan. At first Kazan remained neutral, hoping to pick up the pieces when one of its rivals destroyed the other. However Kazan was drawn into the chaos and forced to deploy its troops and fight. The conflict escalated. Buildings and mine workings were destroyed. The Commoners were subjected to terror attacks. Battles were fought for weeks over a hundred yards of corridor. in other parts of the Mishiman realms the three Keiretsu managed to keep their subsidiaries from open warfare. The war has raged on since that day in each of the Keiretsu's properties across the solar system.
Now the three Keiretsu fight constant skirmishes which try to expand their territories. Because of the war, the buildings and infrastructure are crumbling from neglect and lack of investment. None of the competitors wants to spend money on maintaining the place for fear that the areas the renovate may fall into the hands of other corporations. This has left the three provinces a ruined wasteland of inter.locking tunnels and buildings where bands of Romn, corporate Samurai and scavengers fight a complex multi-sided struggle against each other. The Three Provinces is where alliances can be made and broken within hours and where little work gets done. The constant war has drained the resources of the three Kieretsu fighting it. If it wasn't for the profits coming in from their non-Mercurian subsidiaries they would probably collapse. Almost all profit is used to purchase mercenaries, freelancers, weapons, spies and assassins. Pride is involved now and all three Kieretsu have spent so much money fighting this futile war that they know the only way to recoup their losses is to gain complete control of the Three Provinces. Because each Keiretsu have been exhausted by long conflict, it does not seem likely that any side will win soon.
Mayama Mercury
Mayama is the fastest growing of all the underworlds, because it is the home of the Mayama heavy engineering group, who are responsible for the excavation and maintenance of most of the webways and new underworlds. Mayama has the largest earthborer works in the human system. Its enormous plants assemble more of these gigantic drilling machines than all its competitors combined. Mayama also has an important sideline in bulldozers, cranes, construction meka and all other sorts of heavy building machinery. Its construction subsidiary erects starscrapers on Venus, Mars and Luna and its architects are famous throughout the system for the construction of fortified palaces, keeps and protective bunker complexes. Mayama underworld is an advert for such things. It is dominated by the huge bulk of Mayama keep, a monstrous fortress surrounded by a ring of nine lesser but still mighty fortresses. Between each fortress there are tubeway systems along which troops can be rushed to any part of the perimeter. The city itself is built within the walls. Mayama is a famously stable group rivalling Suritomo in power and influence. It is also famous for building and maintaining the Free City of Kosaki which neighbors Longshore.
Fukido Mercury
Fukido was a brilliant idea that went wrong. Overlord Kayi great-grandfather of the current overlord wanted a port opened that would rival Longshore and undercut the power of his son Nakamura, then Lord Heir of Mercury. The underworld was built halfway round the world from Longshore and space was offered to all who could afford it, even to outsiders. For the first time in history non-Mishimans were bring offered a chance to rent space on Mercury albeit at fairly inflated prices. Imperial leapt at the opportunity and through a series of front companies and agents purchased 98 per cent of all the leases. Corruption, bribery and intimidation were all used to ensure imperial got what it wanted. The Mishimans awoke one morning to find a rival megacorporation had at long last got a toehold on their Mercurian homeworld. Mishima made protests and prepared for war but the leases were legal under Cartel law, and the Imperials appealed to the Cardinal for support. The Brotherhood mediated between the two parties and war was avoided. Mishima eventually accepted Imperial's presence because the leases only ran for ninety nine years. If the Mishimans wanted rid of the Imperials, they have only to wait for the contract's duration to elapse and then they could evict them legally. The Imperials know their days are numbered and have implemented a system as close to anarchic free market capitalism as has been seen anywhere. The Imperials hope that Fukido's capitalism will frighten Mishima from trying to reclaim the city at the end of the lease. There is no law within Fukido save what can be enforced by the companies sub-letting space and the individuals themselves. Of course the corporate policed sections are relatively safe but there are parts of Fukido that only the very foolish would go unless exceedingly competent and exceedingly heavily armed. Despite the danger, outsiders clamor for space here, for Fukido is a gateway to the previously untapped markets of Mercury and there are no port taxes or duties. Fortunes can be won or lost in the space of days by the bold and the brave. Fukido now rivals Longshore for legal entries into the Mishiman realm and far exceeds Longshore in the number of illegal entries that start here.
Heimburg is the center of Bauhaus power on Venus, a sprawling megacity with an uncountable population. It rises from the lush forests of Venus' northern hemisphere, a gleaming monument to the power and pride of the Homebuilders. Here you can find the offices of all the major Ministries and palaces belonging to all the Elector Houses, the Great Houses and most of the Noble Houses.
Heimburg itself is an ancient city, located in the northern Ring of Strife, close to the Ring of Fire. It is bisected by the winding Serpentine River where it flows from the Mountains of Fire to the Cold Sea. Beyond Heimburg, the river turns red from the human wastes and industrial pollutants pumped into it by the city's huge factories.
Heimburg itself is a Charter City, which means that it is officially not part of any domain, but it is owned directly by the corporation. While many nobles have small estates here, the city does not belong to the estate of any Noble House. Instead, it is ruled directly by the Council, a body of highlevel administrators and Brotherhood members who report directly to the Elector Council. It is also regarded as an open city. This is one of the few places on Venus where the Electors recognize the right of non- Homebuilders to own land. Consequently, there are massive Capitolian, Mishiman and Imperial quarters. There is even a small Cybertronic Enclave tucked discreetly near the Palace of Government.
Even more than most Homebuilder cities, Heimburg is a layered city. Roads loop between the skyscrapers. Entire sections of the city have been roofed over and then built upon. Its towers and palaces overarch each other. Entire sectors of the Underzones are cut off from light by the shadows of the starscrapers and the landing platforms of the Aerial Dreadnoughts. The lowest and oldest parts of the city are so dim that, even in brightest day, they need to be lit by flickering and fitful gaslight. Parts of the city resemble a vast warren, and many of the lower streets are more like tunnels than open thoroughfares. Naturally, the higher you go, the healthier the air, and the more expensive the dwellings. The nobles dwell on the upper levels; below them live the commoners. The thralls dwell in the lowest and least healthy parts of the city, sometimes in homes that extend right down to the level of the sewers. The sewers themselves are said to house a large population of Mutants, Rogues, Heretics and other malcontents.
The Homebuiider Quarter is quite compact. It is centered around the great Cathedral and dominated by the armored bulk of the Palace of Government. This enormous structure resembles a fortress more than a palace. Its walls are 20' thick and studded with turrets and bunkers. It is protected by its own elite units of Guards, the Order of the Silver Skulls. This order is recruited from battlehardened veterans, each of whom must have received at least one commendation for exceptional bravery. The loyalty of this unit and its formidable fighting prowess were invaluable in quelling the Anarchist-inspired riots of the past few years.
In the winding streets of the upper levels are the palaces of the Noble Houses, beautiful, ornate structures, each with its own landing bay for airships. Personal gyrocopters whir across the sky, bearing the aristocracy to work. As you progress downward, you find yourself in the still luxurious but overcast areas reserved for commoners. By the time you reach the rank and smelly Underzones, you will find yourself surrounded by pale-faced and sickly looking thralls who work in the sweatshop factories of Bauhaus subsidiary corporations. The city itself sprawls out from the Bauhaus Quarter, and the buildings gradually become lower as you reach the city's edge. By ancient ordinance, no building except the Cathedral is allowed to be more than two thirds the height of the Palace of Government. This has prevented the other megacorporations from building starscrapers as dominating and imposing as the Homebuilders in the seat of their power. Round the city's edges are many huge tower blocks where the thralls and Outsiders dwell,
Volksburg Venus
Volksburg is another charter city, built close to the southern edge of the Ring of Fire, near to the Citadel of Alakhai. It is quite possibly the most fortified city in human history. It is a place of low buildings, dominated by dozens of fortified redoubts. There is a watchtower atop every building and soldiers swarm the streets. The entire city is enclosed by a huge ring of bunkers and minefields, for the population never knows when the minions of Alakhai will descend upon them. The sky above the city is often filled with Aerial Dreadnoughts, for Volksburg Field is the largest of all the Air Fleet's bases.
At the heart of the city stands the Cathedral, a mighty structure which gives inspiration to the embattled defenders of this often-besieged city. On the outskirts of the city, built on the highest hill, stands the great Monastery of the Templar Knights of the Fiery Sword, an enormous fortress whose sides have been pitted with the scars of a thousand battles. just beneath the walls of this great keep stands an enormous statue of Grandmaster Varden locked in combat with the Nepharite Alakhai, which marks the site of a titanic duel that ended with the Grandmaster dead and the Nepharite near-fatally wounded. The streets of Volksburg are teeming with thousands of Pilgrims, many of whom stay to defend the city. It is in Volksburg that the zealots of the Apocalyptic Cults have found their greatest number of devotees, for Volksburg is a city on the edge of chaos, and the claw of Alakhai often reaches out to try and crush it. Inquisitors are a common sight here, forever searching for traces of Heresy and the taint of Darkness.
Petragrad Venus
Petragrad, named after Peter Richthausen, its founder, sits right in the middle of the Richthausen Estates on Venus, close to the southern Ring of Winter. It is a sprawling city built on the side of the mountain known as Peter's Throne. The entire peak has been hollowed out by constant mining, and it now houses deep, fortified bunkers containing enormous mines and steel mills. The mountain itself is covered in bunkers, watchtowers and redoubts. On the very peak of the mountain sits the Richthausen Eyrie, an enormous castle whose spires disappear into the clouds. This is the ancestral home of the Richthausens, and members of the family still dwell here, although most prefer the family estates closer to Heimburg and the seat of government. Petragrad has been the site of many famous battles. During the fifth battle of Petragrad, Imperial Golden Lions managed to burst into the mines and seize the Richthausen crown, part of the Elector Family's prized ceremonial regalia. The crown, renamed the Holy Crown, is now part of Her Serenity's crown jewels, and a constant source of dispute between the Homebuilders and Imperial.
Romburg Venus
The Romburg estates lie in a valley in the Romburg Mountains, just south of Volksburg, and often the Order of the Wolf is called upon to help defend that embattled city. Romburg itself has often been besieged both by the Minions of Alakhai and by warriors of the other megacorporations, for Romburg is where both Bauforce and RWD have their largest factory complexes. This has resulted in the factories becoming more like fortresses than places of work. They are huge armored bunkers, most of which are below ground, protected by thousands of the Romanov Guards.
Romburg Castle dominates the town, a gigantic spire bristling with weapons and mounting dozens of airship berths. Romburg was once known as the jewel of Venus because of its ancient and beautiful buildings. However, most of these were reduced to rubble by a combination of artillery strikes and saturation bombing during the last great Mishiman offensive on Venus. The fact that these beautiful gardens and palaces have been destroyed forever to be replaced by ugly, brutal forts and bunkers is a source of great grief to the Romanov family. It probably goes a long way toward explaining their bitter hatred for the minions of Lord Heir Maru.
Bernheim Venus
Naturally enough, Bernheim is the capital of the Bernheim estates. it is a hill station in the Ring of Fire and sits atop the Fang Plateau, looking down on the cleared jungles of the estate. The city is cool and garden-like, a place of many parks and fountains, dominated by the Bernheim Seat, the ornate fortress- palace of the Elector Duke. Below the plateau, the plantations of the estate stretch away to beyond the horizon. In these enormous farmlands, commoners and thralls, mostly renegade Mishimans, labor in the sweltering heat to harvest the vineyards and fields. This is one of the most fertile areas on Venus, always producing an abundant harvest which is transported to Heimburg along the Serpentine River. Beneath the surface of the plateau is a warren of tunnels and bunkers where the Bernheims house troops dwell. At the center of the city lies Mannheim Field, another of the Air Fleet's great bases.
Torburg Venus
High in the Cold Mountains in the Northern Ring of Winter lies Torburg, last of the great estates owned by the Saglielli family. It is a bleak, harsh place, swept by winter winds from the mountains. The skies above the city are filled with huge arctic condors, predatory birds which roost only in these mountains. Torburg itself is a grim, gray city carved from granite. At its heart stands the Winter Palace, a dour fortress which is the ancestral home of the Sagliellis. Beside the palace is the great Brotherhood Monastery of Torvald, a place whose name strikes terror into Heretics and the faithful alike. It is the largest Inquisitor training school on Venus, a place whose reputation is known systemwide.
The House of Pain is also here. This old, crumbling keep sits atop a huge spike of rock. It is here that the Ministry of Fear keeps prisoners before shipping them to the gulags. This is also the home of the Order of Fear and the place where interrogators are trained. All in all, Torburg is a bleak place, one avoided by those who have no business there. Torburg Kamp is one of the largest military bases in the northern hemisphere. The High Command use it as a base for anti-Dark Legion campaigns in the North, perhaps reasoning that, with all those Inquisitors present, there is less chance of Heretical spies penetrating the ranks.
Two years ago, there was a prisoners' revolt in the House of Pain which ended in a bloodbath when Konrad Saglielli sent in the house troops. When they fought their way into the bloodstained corridors, the soldiers found scenes of unspeakable horror. Interrogators had been torn limb from limb by the desperate prisoners. Many had been broken with their own torture implements. No one knows how the uprising happened, but many suspect that Heretics were involved. Needless to say, the Ministry of Truth has drawn a discreet veil over the whole affair.
The MacGuire crater Venus
Located in the southern Ring of Winter, close to the Circle of ice, this is one of Imperial's greatest colonies. It is built entirely within a huge meteor impact crater more than a hundred miles across. The crater is heated by the Boiling Lakes, gigantic geothermal pools of scalding hot water which rise from the depths of the land. Hundreds of huge geysers abound, including Old Fury, which shoots up to a height of almost 300 feet. All of this means that the MacGuire crater has its own micro-climate, and even during the depths of winter, temperatures never fall below zero. It is possible to swim in the lakes while there is snow on the surrounding ground. The whole area is rich in minerals and very fertile. Vegetables and fruits are grown in great hothouses. The capital of the whole area is the city of Laketown, also known as the Crystal City, because it is built within a series of fortified geodesic domes. The Crystal Palace is the sometime residence of the MacGuire Dukes. The place is perhaps best known for its huge training dome where the soldiers of the Imperial Special Forces practice their jungle warfare in a perfect replica of the Venusian jungles. The rim of the crater is studded with over a hundred fortresses, for the minions of the Dark Legion and the other megacorporations often attack, marching across the snowy wastes in an attempt to seize this rich colony.
Matochekland Venus
The Duchy of Matochekland is the single largest estate on Venus. It sprawls from the northern edge of the Ring of Fire to the southern edge of the Ring of Winter. It covers an area of nearly 100,000 square miles, and it contains some of the most fertile farmlands and richest mines on Venus. Unfortunately for House Matochek, many of these have been seized by Imperial and Mishiman colonists. Fraserhead, formerly Van Arnemsport, is now held by the Imperials, and it is so heavily fortified that it would be impossible to take back. Matochekburg, former capital of the estate, is a bombed-out mass of rubble in the center of which sits the Citadel of Duum, one of the most powerful of all Demnogonis's Nepharites. The city is so encrusted in filth and riddled with infectious disease that it is known as the Poisoned City. It is not worthwhile trying to reclaim it only to cleanse it with fire, something the Matochek Guards have still been attempting for generations, aided by the Bauhaus Army. The entire southeastern corner of the estate was annexed by Mishima and incorporated in the Province of Shan. Still, the Matocheks have managed to preserve their extensive farmlands and have built, at great cost, a new fortified capital at Homburg, a mountain city a hundred miles from the Citadel of Duum.
Polaria Venus
Polaria is another huge estate owned by the Bernheims. It consists of a series of islands stretching from just south of the Graviton Archipelago to the boundaries of the Ring of Winter. It is also the site of one of the Homebuilders' most unusual colonization projects. The shallow seas here are dotted with undersea Dome Cities. These huge geodesics house small towns of aquatic colonists who mine the sea floor and set forth in their submarines to maintain the network of oil pipelines that crisscross the sea floor. Under the Treaty of Heimburg, it is illegal for other megacorporations to torpedo, missile or depth charge these fragile domes. This has not stopped imperial or Capitol from trying to seize them with special scuba-trained troops. After all, it would make no sense to destroy the city when what they want are the installations inside. These huge underwater battles have been particularly desperate because they are mostly fought at close quarters with knives and spear guns, and the fear of drowning was ever present. Wolf Island in North Polaria is the home of Battlefleet Wolf, the largest of Bauhaus's many submarine fleets.
Novakursk Venus
This huge city is located on the Kadaath Plateau in the northern Circle of Ice. It consists of five huge, interlocked geodesic domes which contain many buildings and towers where the palaces of the nobles are maintained, but the bulk of the city has been tunneled into the stone of the Plateau itself. In this warren of tunnels dwell the commoners and thralls of House Salvatore, to whom this estate belongs. There, the miners and oil workers dwell with their families when they are not out prospecting or maintaining the huge Kadaath gas pipeline. This city has often been besieged by the minions of the Nepharite Molok. just outside the gates of the Fifth Dome is a replica of the great obelisk which once stood at the North Pole. On this is inscribed the names of all those who have fallen in battle defending the city. At the base of this pillar burns the eternal flame, siphoned from the gas pipeline itself. Novakursk is also the home of the Order of the Arctic Fox, a Templar Order long allied with House Salvatore. They can be seen everywhere in the city, wearing their famed battle armor with its silver and black skull mask and its cape sewn from the white furs of the arctic fox.
Cyberport Venus
This Cybertronic installation is located within the northern Ring of Winter. It was built in the remains of several worked-out mines and is also the location of Cybertronic's largest spaceport in the inner system. Cyberport is a vast place, excavated from the mountains in a mere 200 days after the contract was signed by Cybertronic and Bauhaus. The surface part of the city consists mainly of fortified bunkers and emplacements manned by Chasseurs, Attila units and T2000 battle robots. The spacefield is ringed with defensive missile launchers. Cyberport is Cybertronic's largest manufacturing installation on Venus, and it is consequently a sealed city. No one is allowed in or out without a pass from Cybercurity, and these are rarely granted except as a favor to the other megacorporations when they do business with Cybertronic. Those who have been there report that the tunnels and corridors contain massive, clinically clean, high-tech installations filled with the sort of soulless, near- automaton staff which make Cybertronic so feared by ordinary people.
McKenzie base Venus
McKenzie base is Imperial's largest installation in the Ring of Fire. It is a huge, hot and humid trading city where the wealth of the surrounding forest and volcanic mountains is plundered by imperial Conquistadors. Since it is located only a few hundred miles from the ruins of New Bocha and the Citadel of Alakhai, it is just as well that it is also the largest base of the Imperial Blood Berets. The Blood Berets' barracks is located in a massive fortified encampment on the outskirts of the city. in the bustling streets of McKenzie you can see many of these famed and feared Special Forces Troops. The bars of Cheap Street have a dreadful reputation for bloody brawls between off-duty imperial soldiers and Freelancers passing through.
A famous story is how, when the minions of Alakhai attacked, there was a gigantic drunken fight taking place, and the minions of the Dark Legion got all the way to Cheap Street. There, just as the Nepharite Tzargol was proclaiming victory, and ritually chanting the praises of Algeroth, he was shot by one of the brawlers who rallied all the combatants by asking them if they were going to let these damn Legionnaires interrupt their fight. Needless to say, the Kohorts were thrown back. Next day, after they had ensured the city was safe, the Blood Berets started brawling again.
Quan Venus
Quan is a huge island on the southern edge of Venus's Ring of Fire close to the tenth parallel. Although very mountainous, Quan is rich in natural resources and minerals. Huge forests cover much of the available landmass and provides a rich source of timber for building houses in Mishima's traditional style. The mountains contain the fief castles of many of Lord Heir Maru's most trusted vassals. As the oldest and most developed of all of Mishima's Venusian provinces, Quan has an extensive network of roads, railways and defensive missile emplacements. Its huge jungle hinterlands are used to train Mishiman troops in jungle warfare.
Quan is densely populated along its coastal strips. Industrial city blurs into industrial city all along the coastline. Huge railroads rush people and goods to the deep water harbor at Quanto. Artificial fortress islands rise from the sea and their turrets constantly scan the horizon for foes. Quan itself is forbidden to all foreigners save Brotherhood observers and even they must have their official travel permits triple signed before they can move beyond Quanto.
Only the Dark Legion have the temerity to break this rule, and they have built a huge citadel within the crater of Mount Quan, an extinct volcano, which was once sacred to Lord Heir Maru's family. From here the Nepharite Queeg directs operations against the Lord Heir's forces. Queeg has remained in place despite all the best efforts of the Samurai to dislodge him. The whole mountain is riddled with bunkers, lesser citadels, tunnels and deathtraps. Its sides are studded with the black spires of citadel towers. The whole complex is descending down the mountain slopes at the rate of about one hundred meters per year, despite the best efforts of the Mishiman Hostes to contain it.
Quan-to Venus
This is the capital of the Lord Heir Maru, Prince of Water, Governor of Mishiman Venus. It is located on the island of Quan, and it's the base for Mishima's Venusian Fleet which, though not as large as either Bauhaus's or Capitol's, does contain several of the dreaded Megacruisers, the largest warships ever built, floating fortresses bristling with armaments. The city is guarded by Lord Maru's Legions, who are all equipped with the towering Shogun battlesuits, huge armored exoskeletons almost as large as tanks. Quan-to itself is a beautiful city, built on the sides of an extinct volcano. Its deep-water harbor is famous. The Lord Heir's Golden Palace, carved from volcanic rock and entirely covered in gilded gold leaf, is one of the Seven Wonders of the System. It is a city in itself, with thousands of chambers and buildings within its walls.
Shoa Venus
Shoa is an island city-state less than twenty miles of the coast of the Bauhaus dominated mainland. Shoa is in fact linked to the Bauhaus coastal city of Tromberg by a gigantic causeway which carries both road and rail links. This causeway has occasionally been the scene of bitter fighting between the forces of Lord Commander Shoa and the Homebuilder military. The causeway ends at the great black basalt wall which surrounds the island. Within the wall is the crowded domain of Lord Shoa, who is one of the most powerful of the Venusian Daimyos.
Shoa's fortune rests on the presence of diamond mines below the island and recently on Lord Shoa's decision to allow Cybertronic to build an advanced production facility within his domain. The presence of the Cybertronic complex has enabled his Keiretsu to take a lead in the production of many complex electronic systems, and the manufacturing of the system's best battlesuits, battlemeks and gigameks. Shoa city has always been a trading center and seaport but it is fast becoming the chief trader in Cybertronic sourced components in northern Venus. Lord Shoa signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Cybertronic which allows him sole rights to trade in weaponschips in return for the use of his land and the protection of his military. This has reversed the fortunes of his fast declining city-state and caused a tidal wave of wealth to surge through the streets of Shoa. Indeed, Lord Heir Moya maintains a huge holding company here which buys almost fifty per cent of Shoa-Cybertonic's output at premium prices since the Lord Heir will not allow Cybertronic to set up any facilities on Mercury.
Naturally all this wealth has made Shoa a prime target for Imperial freebooters, and many Imperial attempts to take the city have been driven back with huge casualties to both sides. Indeed there is still a unit of Imperial Regulars holed up in the Southern Bastion which they captured in the last raid. They refuse to ernerge and spend a considerable amount of time sniping at the Samurai in the streets. So far all attempts to eliminate these determined warriors have failed.
Because Shoa is a relatively small island, land prices here are at a premium. The cost of real estate rivals that in downtown Luna. Mishiman engineers have performed their usual trick of excavating large tunnels under the island where millions of Commoners can dwell but most of the foreigners pay high prices for relatively small apartments in the towering starscrapers.
Shoa's well-organized military act primarily as a defense force for the island. They can also be found in other Shoan owned holdings around Venus, guarding Shoa's electronics and battlesuit dealerships. Their distinctive customized black and silver armour makes them instantly recognizable wherever they are.
Mushashi Venus
Mushashi controls a huge band of territory from the northern circle of Ice through the Ring of Strife to the shores of the ring of Fire. It exploits the rich mineral wealth of the northern mountains and the oil and gasfields of the polar wastes. Its territories are comparatively thinly populated and controlled from enormous fortress cities. The Mushashi capital is named after the Keiretsu and is situated in an enormous cavern excavated beneath Mount Ryana. From here Lord Commander Mushashi oversees his corporate empire and plans strikes against Bauhaus northern gasfields. Mushashi is farned for its superb swordsmiths whose expertise almost rivals that of imperial's Clan Gallagher. A Mushashi blade is a priceless heirloom for a Samurai family to possess. MUshashi is also feared throughout the north for the size of its mechanized armies. It has over a hundred Tatsu warmachines and many thousands of battlemeks.
Ozumi Venus
Ozumi is another huge province. It stretches from the jungles of the Ring of Fire to the Romburg Mountains. Ozumi Keiretsu exploits all the huge natural resources of the area, and produces a huge range of medicines natural and synthetic based on the plants of the rainforest. It is also Mishima's single largest producer of industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Its wealth springs from these sources but it is best known for the ruthless prosecution of its wars against Bauhaus Romanov dynasty of Electors. It was Ozumi troops who reduced Romburg to rubble and almost succeeded in seizing the huge weapons installations there. Recently the Ozumi Keiretsu has paid for its temerity by being on the receiving end of Operation Steel Fist, a massive Bauhaus offensive that seized almost half the Ozumi lands and many irreplaceable manufacturing installations. Lord Commander Ozumi has petitioned Lord Heir Maru many times for his support in a counter-offensive but so far Maru has resisted all calls for aid. He is not yet ready to send his realm into total war with the Homebuilders.
The Lost City of Triumvar Venus
This ancient abandoned city was only located lastcentury byJames McKenzie, the Imperial Conquistador who also founded McKenzie Base. He was hacking his way through the jungle when he stumbled upon the paved streets of the city. At first, he thought he had found only ruins of some tiny settlement, but as he moved on, he found himself in the vine-choked streets of what once had been a great megalopolis. Everywhere he looked, he saw the handiwork of the ancients. The style of the architecture was Megagothic, but far more ornate and intricate than modern Bauhaus work, and without the watchtowers and redoubts that mar so much of the corporation's modern work.
McKenzie and his party were astonished and were about to claim the place in the name of Her Serenity when they were attacked by a powerful force of Necromutants. McKenzie's men were all killed, and he himself was wounded. Somehow, he managed to flee, and five days later, feverish and babbling, he stumbled into a Homebuilder camp where he told his tale and died. At first, the Homebuilder, Ludwig Wroclaw, didn't believe him, but then he went to investigate and found McKenzie's tale to be true. He himself was attacked by Necromutants, but his better-armed party managed to fight their way clear, and he notified the Ministry of Civilization.
Realizing the magnitude of the find, elements of Battlegroup Borg were dispatched to the city. During the clearing, they uncovered a hidden Citadel of Semai guarded by warped Necromutants. This led to a ferocious battle and the eventual dispatch of Doomtrooper squads to help clear the area. Eventually, after a month of battle, the Citadel was thrown down. Now Triumvar is one of the most visited tourist locations on Venus, and the fortunes of the Wroclaw domains are built around it.
