The Isle of Tyrants

(One of the advantages of RPGs is that you can play out some really fun and stupid ideas. This is no doubt one of them.)

Somewhere in the southern ocean near the Empire of Truth and the Kinglands lies an island paradise. Beaches of pure crystal water, warm sunny weather, and an entire religiously devoted servile populace to keep the island's guests in wealth, luxury, and comfort.

The guests exclusively being, notoriously, the absolute worst people on the planet. Only tyrants, unjust dictators, powerful madmen, and maybe evil geniuses can become guests upon the island. (And their families and friends, if they want to bring them along). Everyone else will be repulsed.

The island was leased to the Serene Order of Peace for a period of one century, approximately three centuries ago. Since then the lenders have stopped existing, having fallen to a revolution or a coup or something of the like. No nation as of yet has decided to substantiate any claim on the isle. Why? Well, because the Serene Order of Peace will fend off invading armies to the death.

The Political Experiment

The Grand Idea was to lower the exit cost for tyrants so that they would increasingly give up their power and go retire in luxury and peace. If the exit costs of tyranny were high, the Order reasoned, then tyrants would cling to their power, forever fearing retribution and betrayal. If they could easily leave when things got dicey, then they would, accelerating peaceful transfers of power.

Political science theorists (and the tyrants themselves) loved this idea. Everyone else hates it. Hates it. To even have the social experiment the island had to be fortified. It had to be militarized. Its keepers had to be zealous beyond reproach, incorruptible. It had to be a religion, with punishments for deviation along religious lines, not simply punitive.

And so the Serene Order of Peace militarized itself in order to repel assassins and expeditionary armies from its shores, to assuage tyrannical distemper abroad.

There is a catch: any of the tyrants that claim the island's sanctuary are not allowed to leave. They're not allowed to communicate with anyone on the outside. Tyrants are allowed to bring their families, friends, and mistresses, but none of their personal guards. Arrivals will be vetted by the Order to determine if they actually want to remain with the tyrant or not (those who don't are released and granted passage to any port they'd like on arrival).

PRESENT GUEST LIST

Andre Le Penn - Oversaw the military occupation of the Island-City of Deadwind. Massacred approximately 1200 people over the course of three days and claimed sanctuary on the Isle of Tyrants before the government shifted again.

Hammilhan The Impaler - An infamous border lord, hated by the royalty of the Kinglands for his murderous treatment of their merchants and emissaries. After impaling some ten thousand enemies of the state on pikes, including most members of his family and those of his supporting families, he sniffed the power shift and left for the Isle.

The Lich Arugal - He threatened Death to leave him alone and he’s regretted it ever since. After ruling a surprisingly boring dictatorship of undeath for several centuries he’s got weary of existence and now seeks to woo Death with numerous attempts at suicide. He keeps a list of crossed-out ideas. Pleaded for asylum to throw himself into this particular volcano, which he believes might finally kill him due to nature of its volcanic glass.

Dr. Chrome - Attempted to destroy Space. Almost succeeded. Since arriving she’s been suffering severe mental decline and can barely remember her own name, let alone that she almost destroyed Space. Though, it all could just be an act to earn her sympathy... You never know with evil geniuses.

Major General Finius Darkside - Tried to invade the Moon with an army of shadows. His forces were repelled in a stunning decisive defeat by the confederate forces of the Greater Mares. Retired in shame.

Queen Corvinia Eleneal - A thousand-year old elven tyrant of a country that no longer exists. So-called the Queen of Secrets. Been here for centuries. Rumored one of the first ‘guests’. It’s surmised she secretly engineered this entire social-political experiment to ensure she had a place to retire in comfort. Treats mortals like pet dogs.

Lubinia Black - Supposedly a retired Time Tyrant - a time-hopping traveler that poaches timelines and systematically ruins them one at a time until they experimentally get the results they want. Brought with her a train of cohorts and oddities from failed realities. Even the other tyrants fear her.

The Count of Nowhere - The scum mortgaged the county he lorded over in a loan from Hell, and defaulted. The land was swallowed up and tucked over like it had never been, with all the land’s people trapped within and dragged down to Hell. Using laundered funds he’s retired to the Isle of Tyrants, and fears Hell’s collectors, who care not for the laws of man and nature. So far they’ve managed to collect his name and his sleep. He requires heroin. Lots of heroin.

The Island

It's a volcanic island surrounded by shark-infested waters. It is, in every single way, an evil genius volcanic lair. There are hot springs and beaches for recreation, exotic animals to hunt and eat, tunnel networks, and a five-star resort excavated into the volcanic crater. There are underground safe rooms, guard monasteries, defensive tunnel networks, bunkers, and magical armories.

The island is surrounded by perilous reefs, steep cliffs, and the upper atmosphere is poisoned by fumes produced by the volcano. Worst of all, though, is the Thunder Jack - a flying moray eel the size of an two 18-wheelers back to back. Nobody is exactly sure why the eel doesn't attack the inhabitants of the island, but there are theories:

• The monks are devote worshippers of Tiamat, earning the allegiance of the serpent. They have a shrine to the Ocean-Dragon goddess inside the active volcano, and regularly perform human sacrifices at it.
• It's the personal pet of one of the tyrants. But which one would, or could, engineer a giant flying electric eel?
• The eel can't stand the poisonous fumes emitted by the volcano, and so stays its distance from the island.
• Even eels respect science. This one doesn't want to interfere with the social experiment.

Any approach is dangerous on its own, not to mention the guards of the Serene Order, who maintain a watch 24/7.

The monks wear military dress of the color of jungle shade, and when in formal function wear berets of baby blue. They wield long bows and hefty knives, though each is trained in the prevailing ascetic-warrior traditions of the day. 

They employ a number of outsiders to do work for them: experienced volcanic miners, merchant captains, turncoat diplomats, interpreters, mercenary admirals, and the odd bureaucrat. Their contractors are often paid in highly-valued volcanic glass - useful for destabilizing necromantic fields.

QUEST HOOKS

1. Kill a Tyrant

A woman named Zill wants you to kidnap or kill Andre le Penn, one of the recently arrived guests upon the island. This man ordered the death-by-torture of everyone Zill had ever known: her family, her friends, her neighbors. Five generations of everyone she knew, murdered. The hatred she feels for this man cannot be understated. She would end the world to kill this man.

Andre has three hobbies that might leave him vulnerable: imported wine from the Empire of Truth, having numerous affairs with domestic staff, and painting using exotic ingredients. The more suffering you can impart upon this man the happier Zill will be. She'll promise you her family's lands, recently reacquired in land reforms, which she can no longer bear due to the pain of the memories.

2. Rescue a Tyrant

Hammilhan "The Impaler of Karkenhome" has decided that coming up with exotic executions for his failed ministers and rivals is a far more fulfilling existence than hedonistic spiritual peace on this island. He wants out. The Order, of course, will do everything in their power to prevent this... He'll need to be smuggled.

He promises you a just and mighty reward, a tyrant's ransom if you complete this task. He'll try to avoid being specific as to what exactly that is. If it comes down to it he'll promise a castle belonging to one of the people he'll need to depose. He'll say it's his to give. (It's not)

But if that doesn't fool you, you could certainly get a reward for delivering him unto his rivals...

3. Plug a Leak

Brother Philox, a senior monk of The Serene Order of Peace needs assistance: one of the tyrants on the island is managing to smuggle communications to the outside world, and they need some people to find out who. They've recovered some coded messages, and suspect they're connected with some power moves and assassinations abroad, though they can't conclusively draw any links yet.

They suspect one of the monks of the Serene Order is an infiltrator, and they need some outsiders who are beyond suspicion to root them out. Or perhaps you could puzzle the foreign political situations together yourself and infiltrate one of the tyrant's cohorts to find out who's breaking code.

If one of the tyrants is found out to have been breaking their covenant with the Order they'll be unceremoniously thrown into shark-laden waters. (Death by exile, essentially).

Secretly, it's a framing. One of the tyrants doesn't like one of his tyrant neighbors, and wants to frame them with breaking covenant in order to get them killed. Y'know, typical scheming tyrant stuff. The question is, does it really matter? Here's an opportunity to off a horrible person, framing or no.

4. "Retire" a Tyrant

Someone wants you to kidnap a tyrant, a king, an archpriest, and take them to the Isle of Tyrants for retirement. First you need to kidnap them (you'll have some help). Then you'll need to convince the Order that they came here of their own will. Do this and you'll be handsomely paid with some definitely-embezzled money or possibly a chest full of jewels.

Why not simply kill the tyrant? Well, the replacement tyrant isn't terribly comfortable with this precedent for obvious reasons.

5. A Rogue Monk

The High Council of the Serene Order has a big problem: Sister Carthage, a senior priestess of The Serene Order, has gone rogue. She's convinced two dozen hardened members of the Order to join her rebellion, staking out guerilla positions in the island's jungles and volcanic tunnels. They've taken two tyrants hostage, threatening to kill them in the event of an attack.

No lists of demands have yet been made. The High Council is in shock. Sister Carthage was one of the most effective and loyal monks they had. What could have caused her to turn so? Is she being manipulated or mind controlled? One of her hostages is an infamous sorcerer... What does her rebellion hope to accomplish?

Plans within plans within plans... A scheme is afoot, but whose? Is Sister Carthage in control, or is one of the tyrants secretly pulling the strings? Is this all a part of a hidden agenda from the High Council, or perhaps an outside force? Who's lying, and who's telling the truth? Does it matter?

6. A Spy in The Great Game

The Isle of Tyrants isn't exactly what you'd call 'cheap real estate'. It's strategically located, posing security concerns for no less than half a dozen nation-states, close and far. The Dragon-Mansa, the Divine Emperor of Truth, the Wizard-Traders of Chronulus, the Twilight City Greater Houses, the Children of Raki, all of them have a geopolitical and/or mercantile stake in the island.

Any or all of the above will pay handsomely for intel about the island: 

• Which beaches are suitable for amphibious landing? Where are the dangerous reefs, shallow waters, and paths through them?
• Maps of the underground tunnel networks.
• Paths through the jungles.
• Who's in charge of the Serene Order of Peace, and what are they like as people? What are their weaknesses?
• How strong is the Serene Order? Where are located its bunkers, armories, and fortified monasteries?
• Who are the Island's 'guests'? What are they doing? What are their plans?
• What are the Island's natural resources? What's the weather like?
• Are there any additional factions upon the Isle? Any interesting indigenous species?

Encounters and Hooks in the City of Truth

Part 1 - Falselings

Part 2 - The City of Truth

Part 3 - Factions

Part 4 - Encounters and Hooks

Source

Encounters in the City

I'd cross off these encounters once they've happened, and use sparingly.

1. A scared and hungry poet attempts to rob you wielding a pen, believing it to be a weapon. He is more deadly with it than you’d think, but he'll give up after anyone takes even modest harm.

2. A hysterically joyous bell-chested woman dances and skips down the streets, gazing at each and every thing and remarking on its colors. She has just been reborn and has sight for the first time, and swings between elation and sensory overload. There is a crowd forming behind her, riding on the wake of her emotions.

3. A lavishly-dressed and starry-eyed child is carried atop a palanquin by four hole-headed men. They are being held up by a remarkably similar party moving in the opposite direction. The hole-headed men will soon come to blows over the issue of right-of-way.

4. You come across a bloodied Falseling corpse, brains scattered among the rocks. The murder weapon nearby - a grey-matter-soaked stone. Murderers are extremely rare here, and now there is one afoot. Not too far away along a gore-stained trail there is a bloody-handed long-necked man, a serial killer accidentally sacrificed in the False Realm. There is nothing more he relishes than to finally, Truly murder people. Has he had his fill?

5. Two Falselings are arguing over the stars' portent. They have no knowledge of the names of stars, the constellations, or the movements of celestial bodies. They're just making it up as they go along, as if they're the first ones to discover them. They insist on using their own terms - e.g. "The Bovine Trinity", "The Celestial Hammerer", "The Falling Fire Snake", "Leviathan Eye".

6. A man comes running to the party, begging for protection through gritted teeth. He hides a forked tongue. A lynch mob is in distant pursuit, armed with sticks and rocks. They demand the forceful exile of this False prophet.

7. A long-tailed woman hands you a rock. A perfectly ordinary rock. If asked why, she will smile and say: "Because it is True."

8. A tall-eyed fellow approaches, remarking on how (glassy, porphyritic, chafing, tweedy) you sound. He says he is cataloging the colors of people.

9. A small group of 3-4 naive Falselings are trying to get high. They are gathered around a woman, who is about to eat some dirt. They will be very grateful but quite useless to anyone who shows them how.

10. A Falseling with backwards-bending knees asks if you can give something that will burn. A Rocket-Man looking for fuel, any fuel. As explanation, he says he wants to go fast. Super fast. Faster than anything. Faster than God. He carries a stockpile on a back bundle that could level an office building with the touch of a spark.

Adventure Hooks

Find Something All the Philosophers Will Eat At the Symposium

Everyone agrees it would be far too unreasonable to get more than one dish. Catering is expensive in the City of Truth! Also, without food there will be no audience and hence no symposium. So food is a requirement.

• Pimon wants something that will give them all the most pleasure for the duration of the symposium. Something sweet or filling.
• Platerci wants something that will maximize the goodness and minimize badness for the group. He's identified several factors that encompass the goodness of the food (taste, fillingness, nothing people are allergic to, etc.). He doesn't know how to weigh these factors yet.
• Ramona wants something that will satisfy all of her needs at once, or else she will be paradoxically indecisive and starve to death, since her needs are perfectly equal.

The problem is not simply deciding upon a food, but also finding it. The City of Truth is a food desert surrounded by actual desert. To find a compromising dish, you may need to go abroad and bring it back, or hunt the ingredients yourselves.

Reward: The Symposium goes forward. The three Philosophers will no doubt share some of their interesting theories on the metaphysics of the campaign world (other Planes, universal laws, what happens when you die, etc.)


Cave Rescue

There is a dark crawling cave in the hills. Periodically Falselings emerge from its depths, but now they don't. Worse, some Anti-Absurdists recently disappeared within, searching for these lost souls. The Cave has never known to have been a dangerous place. Investigate. Be wary.

• The Cave is not terribly deep, but it is quite dark and requires crawling.
• A heretic illusionist named Pilos has been kidnapping newcomers and investigators, submitting them to existential torture in the form of shadow puppets. He is crafting a virtual world within the depths, making a society that worships him as a god. He has a mastery of shadows and related magics, and may blend with them to remain perfectly hidden.
• The Anti-Absurdists who went in to rescue people have relapsed in their Absurdism, thanks to Pilos's illusions, and now they're going along with this ridiculous game by becoming very bad actors.
• To everyone who's bought into Pilos's scheme, shadows are reality. The shadow is you. You are the shadow. Without the shadow you don't exist. Somebody with no shadow does not exist.

Reward: Put Pilos at your mercy and he can teach some shadow magic. Returning Falselings to the surface will net you some Auguries to be performed by a concerned immortal child. One Augury per Falseling returned.

Clear a Landing Strip

The Rocket Men need to clear a half-mile long landing strip for their latest rocket to definitely not crash upon reentry. They want to avoid casualties. Unfortunately, there's only one trajectory that won't result in the rocket landing in the desert and the whole thing being eaten by a sand wurm: right through the middle of the city - bisecting it cleanly. There are three obstacles:

• The Rocket Pillar details the origin of the Rocket Men in a bas-relief story pillar one hundred feet high. It's made of stone, weighs several tons, and if it falls over this irreplaceable public monument will be shattered. This will need to be moved.
• Aesketitus the Hermit has not moved an inch since he spontaneously appeared on that spot twenty years ago. He has declared that he shall not move until he has received an unspecified "sign from the heavens". Moving him by force will piss off the Neverlies, who appreciate his devoted quietness and solitude.
• "The Villa" is a neverending bacchanal by a load of long-fingered and fork-tongued sychophants begging The Child King for drugs. Everyone is drunk and/or high constantly. There are no guards. Some of the party-goers can get quite violent.

Deadwind Redux

I'm a little late to the New New Crobuzon party. Previous entries: Pandeimos, New Twain, City of Stones and Spirits, City of Emination, The Last City, Thaw, Unnamed City, The City by the Styx.

Back when I'm pretty sure barely a single soul read my blog, I wrote about the Island-City of Deadwind. And now that the possibly exists that I may actually need to run it, it's time for some revisions. And, perhaps, this shall coincide with the semi-recent city challenge! As just so happens, its format works pretty well for how I imagined the city.

Three Humanoid Minorities: Drow, Orcs, Falselings (Tieflings). 

Three Monstrosities: Gullmen (Harpies), Statues (Golems), The Ghost of Liberty (Otyugh)

Deadwind

How does one design a just society? This was the question at the heart of the birth of Deadwind. To answer it, two principles were assumed:

1) Everyone is to have basic liberties afforded to everyone else.
2) Everyone should have opportunities to hold power.

The Prophetess Sarah Burckenfield, channeling the Goddess Liberty, stricken with divine inspiration, declared magnanimously to her followers:

"A JUST SOCIETY IS A FREE SOCIETY. GO, NOW, MY DISCIPLES, AND BUILD A CITY UPON THE ROCK WHICH THE VENGEFUL WINDS SCORN. BUILD, AND BE FREE IN THE LIBERTY I SHALL PROVIDE!"

And so it was thus. On the Island-City of Deadwind, by divine mandate the hands of power shall change every three days. There shall be unceasing revolution, that the powers of Leviathan should never take hold. Thus, shall everyone benefit from the universal liberties and true equality owed to all people.

Deadwind, in its truest sense, is an anarchistic pirate colony with civil unrest built into its bones. It has no monetary system, no codified laws, and no entrenched class systems... At least none lasting longer than three days. Everyone has virtually the same opportunities as anyone else to temporarily hold the trappings of power, no matter how fit or unfit they may be. Trappings of power backed up by a goddess, no less.

To determine the government for the present three-day period, I'd recommend using the most interesting forms of government you can find. Such as These, And These. And when you've run out of great ideas or feel like throwing things to the dice gods, then consult the table:

ON THE THIRD NIGHT, THE GODDESS LIBERTY DOTH ANNOUNCE...

d30	The Government Shall Be A(n)...	Formed By...	Contested Governments Shall Be Resolved By...
1	Anarchy (None)	Captains	Duelling Tournament
2		Merchants	Races
3		Priests	Oral Argument
4	Republic (The Elect)	Children	Runoff Election
5		Adults	Scavenger Hunt
6		Thieves	Bribery
7	Oligarchy (The Few)	Non-Natives	Board Games
8		Natives	Wrestling
9		Prostitutes	Lottery
10	Democracy (Everyone)	Capitalists	Prophecy
11		Slaves	Poetry / Rap Battle
12		The Illiterate	King of the Hill
13	Monarchy (The Chosen)	The Disenfranchised	Battle Royale
14		The Dead	Rock-Paper-Scissors
15		The Rich	Essay
16	Tyranny (The Illegitimate)	The Elderly	The Dice
17		Children	Fishing
18		Philosophers	Eating
19	Law-Abiding Society	Bards	Personal Sacrifice
20		Warriors	Strength
21		Literally Everyone	Stamina
22	Federation (Roll twice or thrice on next columns)	The Mob	Seduction
23		Corporations	Craftsmanship
24		The Least-Qualified	Pets
25	Technocracy (The Skilled)	Police	Drug Use
26		Magic-Users	Suicide (Martyrdom)
27		Monsters	Russian Roulette
28	Omniarchy (Gestalt Consciousness)	The Loudest	Dangerous Feat
29		The Smartest	Resource-Gathering
30		Apprentices	Nothing. Civil Strife It Is!

CULTURE

So, let's say you've achieved ultimate divinely-mandated power. What can you do? Well... Virtually anything, provided it won't bring absolute end to the society. Most people in Deadwind, however, decide to do nothing with their power. Absolutely nothing. It's the safest option, to be sure, for Deadwind has a strong culture of eventual reprisals against those who use their power to inconvenience others. The riskiest maneuver you can do is to piss someone off, no matter how much power they wield, 'cause that can turn around before Sunday.

People will usually obey any commands given to them by people in authority, though they typically won't like it. These are usually pirates and pirate-aligned folk, after all, they have a mean anti-authoritarian streak. Completely disobeying, however, is considered a moderate sacrilege. Revolution and dissent is expected, when the time is right. Rebellion is not.

The second most common occurrence is that the people in power throw a party in their own honor. It's like the equivalent of a payday celebration, lasting three days and nights, usually including all the losers of the Contested Government, to make sure there's no sour feelings which might result in reprisals.

Singing is common and public. The combination of sailing culture and the dubiousness of property ownership means instruments and other material entertainments can be rare. If someone's doing something on Deadwind, there's probably a song or a tune about it.

DROW

If there's one thing Drow hate, it's being told how to organize their society by a freedom-loving goddess. But if there's one thing Drow love, it's chaos in a foreign country.

Drow who can't make it in Twilight City make the arduous journey to Deadwind in hopes of wielding power and getting rich. The egalitarian pirate culture is well-suited to countering the biases against them they find in other societies. There's a deep subconscious connection between the Drow and the Ocean, and many of them describe taking to a waves as a kind of awakening - a rediscovery of a past life, a delve into genetic cultural memory.

How much suspicion the Drow are treated with is largely dependent on how many there are. A lone Drow alone doesn't ruffle any freedom-feathers for the Deadwinders. A pair of Drow is a conspiracy. Three is a Coup. The more Drow together, the more they are mistreated with intimidation, violence, and (temporary) systematic oppression.

ORCS

Everyone's got their own definition of Freedom. For the Orcs, that definition usually involves their personal freedom to inflict physical violence. They rarely get the idea of Deadwind.

As such, they're usually the first question a government addresses: What do we do with those darned Orcs? Do we ignore them? Exile them? Imprisonment? Genocide? Force them into gladiatorial combat? (They usually approve of that one.) Force them to clean the docks? (They hate that one, more than the genocide, actually.)

Orc-lead governments on the island are almost always all the same thing: The Purge. Three days of continuous violence and anarchy. Liberty has never interfered with this form of government, but it's not very popular with the Deadwinders, and almost always results in new-government-led reprisals following that period.

FALSELINGS

Everyone finds these guys hilarious. Philosophers? On Deadwind?! Everyone's pretty sure Philosophy has been solved forever, and all those Falselings are just beating a dead horse whenever they pontificate on the ideal forms of government.

Historical case-in-point, the Falseling Philosopher-King Astranarilus famously gained rulership some thirty years ago by a monumental 100% mandate from the populace through his superior skills of rhetoric and rulership. Those three days were the most prosperous and peaceful the city had known in its entire history. Folks named their children after him. Strangers pledged their lives in service to his greatness. People were writing and singing songs about him by his government's end!

The very next day, a toddler-king made him eat shit. Literally. Three days of the only act of government being "Astranarilus must eat poop all day long!". And he did it. He ate shit as only the greatest philosopher-king could eat shit: like a fucking god. He died from eating too much excrement, and was promptly buried at sea. And so he passed into legend...

And this is why nobody takes the Falselings seriously anymore. It doesn't matter how great and perfect your ideas are, because the next day a complete moron could have you eating poop.

GULLMEN

From Ugly Americans

Filthy flying fat humans with seagull brains and feathers, stealing food and folk alike, for FREEDOM. Their catch-all catchphrase, the "FREEDOM" squawk. Steal food from your hand? "Freedom!" Kidnap a baby to sell to slaver-pirates for rotten fish? "FREEDOM!!" Dive bomb poop in your yawning open mouth at the crest of dawn?

"FREEEEEEDOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!"

Maybe they just really really like Freedom TM? Or maybe that's their language: consisting entirely of tonal and contextual permutations of the word "Freedom". Or maybe they just use that word a lot because they know it triggers a sympathetic Pavlovian response in the freedom-loving populace of Deadwind. Maybe... Maybe! Maybe they're just operating on the Truest, the greatest, the most ultimate levels of liberty! The kind that involves pooping in unsuspecting peoples' open mouths.

Anyway, nobody cares if you mistreat or kill them. Except maybe some of the more aesthetically-minded Liberty Clerics, those weirdos.

STATUES

Statues of the Goddess Liberty - the defense system for the preservation of the city's society. If any person or faction becomes so powerful that they could effectively prevent the transference of power as divinely mandated, the Goddess herself possesses these statues to, let's say... equal the playing field...

...WITH GIANT STONE FISTS OF FREEDOM!

The Goddess Liberty and her army of muse-golems will beat your ass into a puddle of soup for the Gullmen to slurp up if you mess with her mandate. They're immune to divine magic. They're ten feet tall and hard as nails. There are more of them than can be taken account. And if somehow all of them are destroyed she'll start animating coffins, bloody pieces of furniture, houses, or whole-damned sea-faring ships.

Fear the Barricade Elemental

This has famously happened several times in the oral history of Deadwind, almost always to foreign visitors who, once coming into power by the lottery of Liberty's mandate, refused to give it up once their allotted time was finished, or tried to break the system by guile and cleverness.

For Example: The now-infamous Drow House Siliman, upon gaining power, lead by the newly christened Novo-Matriarch Uulisil, quickly created a class structure to use one-third of the population to sell the other two-thirds of the island's population into slavery and ship them abroad. During the spare time they destroyed every single Liberty statue on the island. At 3 Day's end, the ships carrying the island's population morphed into giant Liberty ship-mechas and blasted the Drow into oblivion while angry freed-mobs rained projectiles from their shoulders.

The Orcs, once upon gaining power, simply decided to round everyone up and slaughter them all at once. They succeeded in a few instances, before the Barricade Elementals came.

The Wizards of Chronulus, upon gaining power, attempted to extend their 3-Day rule by using time magic to repeat the same three days over and over. Guess who's still stuck in that revolutionary time loop? It sure as hell ain't the people living there now!

THE GHOST OF LIBERTY

Dark Souls 2 - The Gutter

Well... At this point in writing this post I have made two references to ingesting poop, which is exactly two more references than I wanted or intended to make. Might as well make it a hat trick.

There's a spirit of the city. A ghost, some call it. The Ghost of Liberty. It lives in the narrow dead-end alleys, down under the filthy Gullman-infested docks, by the seashore caves among shrines of flotsam and ocean-weeds. It causes coffins to spring from their graves and barricades to suddenly explode like volcanic spew. Where detritus gathers (as often it does) the spirit lingers, disassembling and scattering and disappearing the waste. It keeps the architecture narrow and winding, it makes deep places of stacked refuse and collapses monuments of projected power into sinkholes.

The Ghost is to the city as a beaver is to its river: it moderates the ecosystem. It provides shelter and it taketh away. It tears up city blocks overnight and rebuilds them askew and crooked. It maximizes surface area. It whispers in alien dialects to the soft vulnerable minds of pirate drunkards, telling them the secrets of its sustenance...

"Release thine bowels in the gutter. Nobody will know. I doth require snack."