We’re bringing Eidolon: The Ghost Market to Backerkit in October, and we need your support to bring it to life. Just following the project makes a huge difference. Over the next few weeks we’re going to take you on a walking tour of Eidolon, telling you a little about each district of the city. Join us below as we start our tour in the district of Harrowgate. Inspired? Intrigued? Tell us your impressions of this district in the comments!

Keith & Jenn
Twogether Studios
 

Eidolon is a haunted city, equal parts Sweeney Todd, Dracula, and Neuromancer. Industry is driven by necromancy; the coaches on the streets are pulled by poltergeists and the lamps are lit with fingerbones. It’s shrouded in gloom and people need hope—and that’s why they need you. 

Our tour begins in Harrowgate, the heart of the city. It’s easy to find; just look for the monolith rising up from the sealed gate to the Underworld. Right away you’ll notice that it’s cleaner and quieter than most of the city, hewn from polished marble and home to the administrative offices of the city. There are no factories spewing spite into the air, no barkers calling to customers. Here you’ll find the sprawling complex of the Guild of the Dead, where reapers tie ghosts to reliquaries and clerks maintain the vast archives of life contracts. The Quorum is where magistrates administer justice and the representatives of the noble families argue and scheme, and the Lycaeum is the school where the heirs of the Ancient Lords receive their education. Located between the Quorum and the Guild, The Barrow is the headquarters of the Grave Watch, serving as its primary garrison, armory, and prison. Members of the Guild and the Quorum often wear masks while on duty, and the streets are cold and silent.

The buildings of Harrowgate are pure white stone, intended to strike awe into observers. There are no repurposed graves here, but there’s a different relic of the past: shrines. Before Eidolon was a city, this area held shrines dedicated to the deities and faiths of all of the different cultures whose luminaries were buried in the vast cemetery. The Ancient Lords have suppressed knowledge of these religions, but they’re afraid to actually destroy them. They’ve built around them and over them, but the abandoned shrines are still there, waiting to be found. Many of these shrines are underground, part of the Deep Labyrinth that surrounds the underworld gate. All of the aboveground shrines are connected to this complex, but the Antidora have sealed the hatches and tunnels that lead to it. 

Welcome to Harrowgate. It’s grand, polished, intimidating and impressive—the seat of the system fueled by the ghosts of the common people. Throw a stone and you might hit a masked magistrate, a captain of the Watch, a harried clerk or a privileged noble student heading to the Lycaeum. There’s little reason for common folk to come here unless they plan to sell their ghost to the Guild or to climb the Harvest Wall. On the other hand, you might come to Harrowgate to steal a lover’s life contract from the Guild of the Dead, to strike a blow against the Grave Watch, or to consult with the power that lingers in an ancient shrine. Whatever your business, be careful; this is a dangerous place.