THE TOWN THAT KEEPS ENDING
The Lore
Endsville is the town that keeps ending. Every few generations the city comes due - its Deed expires -
and it ends: burned, flooded, buried, forgotten. Then somebody signs again and a new Endsville is built on
top of the old one. The ground under your feet is the paperwork of every Endsville before this one.
- The Deed - the contract the First Clerks signed with the Underwriter, the thing under everything.
Terms: the city may stand; its people's names are collateral. When a name is forgotten, the Underwriter
collects. The Deed Office still files every name, so nobody is forgotten. It is a full-time job.
- The Operator - keeps the city running. Nobody hired him. He works from a spire at the eastern edge,
The Last Page, fixing things "by morning". It is always the same morning. He knows a third way out of
the Deed and he will not say it out loud.
The Margins - the sky. The Lamplighters long ago worked out that the Deed only covers what is on
the line*. Anything above it is a note in the margin and nobody owns it. They built up: towers, ropes,
floating platforms. The sky is the only free place in Endsville.
The layers (what the depth means)
| band | rows | name | what it is | tier + |
| sky | 66 .. 99 | THE MARGINS | lamplighter towers, floating ruins, notes scribbled above the line | +1 |
| surface | ground | THE STREET | the current Endsville and its ten regions | +0 |
| 1 | 9 .. -90 | THE FILING | sewers, cellars, catacombs, root caves, the dungeons | +1 |
| 2 | -91 .. -200 | THE ARCHIVES | the drowned and burned towns of earlier Endsvilles | +2 |
| 3 | -201 .. -320 | THE SMALL PRINT | where the clauses live: crimson rock, flesh, veins of the Underwriter | +3 |
| 4 | -321 .. -399 | THE VOID CLAUSE | the blank before the first word; void stone, floating shards | +4 |
| - | -400 | bedrock | the back of the page | - |
Effective tier = min(7, region tier + layer bonus). Danger rises going east AND going down.
Factions
The Deed Office (clerks: order, ink, filing) - want the Deed renewed. Leader: Registrar Quill*.
The Lamplighters (keep the lamps, live up high) - want people to climb out. Leader: Widow Marrow*.
- The Unsigned (refused to sign; outlaws of the Bonefields and the Veilmire) - want the Deed torn up.
Leader: Nil, who has no name on file and therefore cannot be collected.
- The Foundry (smiths and miners of Ashfield and Cinderreach) - want to dig to the Underwriter and
invoice it. Leader: Smelter Brand.
The Salt Wardens (the coast) - remember the Endsville that drowned. Leader: Keeper Gull*.
The thread that ties it together
The current Deed is due. Quest lines in every region build toward one choice at The Last Page:
renew (Deed Office), tear (Unsigned), or rewrite (the hidden route: the Operator's third way,
found only by collecting memory fragments across all layers). Each region's lines branch: help a faction,
ignore it, side with its rival, or find the hidden route.
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Memory fragments
Twenty-four pages scattered across the layers. Each arc completed earns a title.
WEBAPP TITLE: Listener +40 GEMS
You remember how it began.
The First PageTHE DEED QUARTER · THE STREETEndsville began as one page with one line on it: 'Here.' People read it and arrived.
Version OneTHE CANOPY · THE STREETVersion one of Endsville had no ground. Everybody lived in the trees. Someone added a floor so the visitors would stop falling.
404THE MARGINS · THE MARGINSA visitor typed a wrong address and arrived on the Summit. Endsville answered anyway. That is how the high places were born.
Loading...THE MARGINS · THE MARGINSThe loading screen was meant to last a second. Nobody remembers who told it to keep going. The Lamplighters say it was them: they needed more time to climb.
The CacheTHE MARGINS · THE MARGINSOld versions of you are stored in the margins. They wave when you pass. They are very polite about it.
Patch NotesTHE MARGINS · THE MARGINS'Fixed a bug where the ground was optional.' The trees disagreed in writing and went on growing up.
VISITORS TITLE: Regular +40 GEMS
You remember who came.
The RegularsMARKET STREET · THE STREETSome visitors came so often the Long Table learned their chairs. The chairs wait the same way without them.
Lost & FoundHOMESTEAD MARCHES · THE STREETOne shadow, unclaimed. One name, misspelled on purpose. One hat that refuses to leave the windmill.
Guest BookASHFIELD · THE STREETThe chapel guest book: every signature in a different hand. Every hand is yours. The ink is ash.
Wishing WellOSSUARY HOLD · THE STREETA well in the giant's chest. Coins go in. Names come out, one by one, and walk off into the Bonefields to look for their owners.
ApplauseTHE MARGINS · THE MARGINSWhen a visitor climbs this high, the whole city claps. Softly. Everywhere at once. You can hear it from here.
QueueTHE SMALL PRINT · THE SMALL PRINTA line of shadows waits at a Long Drop landing for a lift that already came. It is very orderly. It has been here for years.
OPERATOR TITLE: Witness +60 GEMS
You remember who is responsible.
OvertimeTHE MARGINS · THE MARGINSThe Operator said he would fix it by morning. He wound the clock to make sure morning would wait.
The ConsoleASHFIELD · THE STREETOn the gallows platform someone has carved a keyboard into the wood. Every key is worn except one: ENTER.
Overtime At The FoundryTHE SLAGWORKS · THE STREETA timecard in the foundry rack: OPERATOR. Clocked in: the first morning. Clocked out: (blank).
BlueprintsHIGHWATCH · THE MARGINSHighwatch's library keeps the city's plans: a street, a hub, a cellar, and in the margin, in pencil, a door marked THIRD WAY.
Fine PrintTHE ERRATA · THE STREET'All rooms are provided as-is.' Someone circled 'as' in red. Someone else circled 'is'. The Errata issued a correction: both.
Off SwitchTHE MARGINS · THE MARGINSAt the top of the Spire, a switch labelled DO NOT. It has been pressed a great many times. Endsville is still here.
BELOW TITLE: Deepdweller +80 GEMS
You remember what holds it up.
The Drowned BellsSALTGRAVE COAST · THE STREETThere was an Endsville here before. The sea took it whole. On still nights the lighthouse can hear its bells, counting.
Salt LedgerBRINEHOLD · THE STREETThe harbour keeps a second ledger, written in salt on the window glass. It lists the names the sea returned. It is longer than the first.
The Deep LedgerSTILTWATER · THE STREETEvery block ever broken in Endsville is written in the mire's ledger. The total is higher than the number of blocks.
Vault DraftTHE VOID CLAUSE · THE VOID CLAUSEThe Archives keep what Endsville does not want found. It is mostly hats, and one Deed, unsigned.
RootsTHE VOID CLAUSE · THE VOID CLAUSEDown here the city's roots grow upward, through the ceiling, into the street. Every tree in Endsville is the same tree.
BottomTHE VOID CLAUSE · THE VOID CLAUSEThis is the lowest point in Endsville. Something below you is holding it up. Say thank you.