Monster Family- The Slaugh (Dark Elves)

From left to right: Slaugh, Spindlelimb, Boggart Box, Lumpus. White outline is human for scale.

Slaugh (1-2 HD, +2 to hit, +4 AC, 1d6+1 cruel weapons, magic armor & magic resistance, 1 in 6 chance to know a random 1^st or 2^nd Circle Spell- can cast once in combat)

Morale- 14

Numbers- 1d4+1 Scouts, 2d6 Tunnel Guards, 4d10 Detachment

The Slaugh are the twisted, dark spawn of Elves and the Red God, banished deep below the Earth. While physically small and weak, the Slaugh are ageless and live for centuries- and they spend much of that time perfecting the art of death and torture. Despite their weakness, they are very skilled and highly trained warriors, well drilled, and with high morale and loyalty to their companions. The Slaugh are totally blind, but make up for this with an almost 6^th sense for living things and their other senses honed to perfection in the years lurking in the darkness.

As with normal Elves, Slaugh have the power to craft magic items and are skilled at artifice. They wield black iron daggers and hooks forged from metal mined in pits where no light is allowed to enter and combine them with their dark magic. The average Slaugh is armed with magic weapons, and can strike anything a normal weapon could not. Their lightweight black armor is made in the same way and has some immunities that normal armor does not, including resistance to magic. As long as their armor and masks remain intact; all Slaugh treat their HD as +2 for the purposes of resisting magic and spell saves. If you use Cleave rules for Fighters, the Slaugh are too ornery for that too, and you cannot gain the additional attacks vs 1 HD targets against Slaugh as you could against other 1 HD monsters. Their equipment is not magic in the hands of anyone but a Slaugh or Elf.

Slaugh organize themselves into clans and wear masks. Their masks have no paints or distinguishing features, beyond the unique textures, bumps, and ripples each mask have; they tell each other apart by touch. The Slaugh wear these masks as a parody of the faces of sighted beings. The smooth black metal they use is easily shaped by their hands like clay, and that is how they craft their visage. The size and shape of the mask is based on their clan, where as the texture is unique the individual. Slaugh extend their hands at different heights to invite the other to press the mask against it; outstretched for equals, lower to the ground for superiors to their inferiors. This forces the lesser Slaugh to kneel in order for his mask to be felt, and his or her place to be known.

Splindlelimb Slaugh (2-3 HD, +3 to hit, +4 AC, 1d6+1 cruel weapons, 1d8+1 cruel javelins, magic armor & magic resistance, pickpocket, climbs up walls and ceilings)

Morale- 14

Numbers- 1d6 Stalkers, +1d4 accompanying a Slaugh group

The Spindlelimb or Spindleslaugh are a Slaugh that have long, extended hands, fingers, and legs. Uncommon, but sometimes found with groups of Slaugh as fire support. Throws black metal javelins, as wood to create bows is almost unheard of in the underrealm, also fights up close with knives. Can move almost silently and their long limbs make them experts at stealing; target supply items like rations from a pack to starve you out, or better yet steal your map to keep you lost in their realm. Tiny expert knife punctures to leak out your oil or water flask is another common tactic if they don't think they can slit your throat successfully. Expert grapplers and know many holds and throws that work even on larger opponents like humans.

Spindlelimb Slaugh are only chosen from the physically largest and most imposing of the Slaugh. Beyond receiving extra food and training, they are also tortured every day by being put on the rack and have their arms, legs, spine, and fingers extended. This is a willing process, and brings great honor to the Slaugh's clan to become a Spindlelimb. Despite not being much heavier or larger then your average Slaugh, they have the general profile and reach of a human man. This leverage and special status means they are used as either specialized troops; throwing javelins or as assassins that climb and stalk the underrealm and kill its trespassers.

Due to the difficulty of climbing and squeezing through tight caverns that they frequent, Spindlelimb Slaugh are not given masks, and are not allowed to participate in communal raising of children in clans. Any genetic traits of the Spinelimbs to be larger then other Slaugh just increases the risk of death in childbirth by female Slaugh. This makes them outcasts of their own kind; their stalking and murdering of trespassers often done in small groups of their own kind or they join warbands in progress once they leave their clan's chambers. This does not mean Spindleslaugh are treated poorly or thought of as lessers, they are simply bared from the familiar aspects of their race and as such are even more cruel and driven against their adversaries.

Fetal Mandragora (1 HD, scream if light falls on them, cursed scream deals 1d4 stat damage to a random stat vs nearest party member per round)

Morale- N/A

Numbers- 1d4 Tunnel Alarms, occasionally carried by Slaugh magicians or warbands

This horrible thing is the remnants of 1d4 stillborn Slaugh infants; tied to a metal post and frame built in the shape of its clan and animated with dark magic. They are used as alarms for areas nearby where Slaugh are posted, as their screams can be heard from quite a distance. It can be hacked apart quite easily, but if your system uses sanity mechanics it reduces your sanity/conviction by -1 on kill.

Slaugh raise their children as a clan. Due to the constant darkness and difficulty to attribute identify to a non-masked individual, as well as common death in childbirth and child rearing; young Slaugh can be raised by and taught by multiple 'mother' Slaugh, and may never know the true identify of their biological mother and father. Instead, they are raised with the group and taught loyalty and arts of war and magic by all members of the clan. Status is earned by merit and age instead of bloodline. The remains of stillborn Slaugh are still given one last place among their people; as the fetal mandragora.

Sometimes, the Mandragora are carried by Slaugh magicians into combat and used as a form of staff to focus dark magic. When carried like this increases damage and saving throw difficulty of spells by +2 until the mandragora is killed or disarmed. It can also be used as a battle standard. As long as it is being carried into a battle by any Slaugh it grants them +1 morale.

Boggart Box (1 HD, +3 AC, mindless construct that stands still once opened)

Morale- N/A

Numbers- 1 to 2 with Slaugh detachment, 1d4 in Slaugh Clan Grounds

This is a simple animated construct that releases a Greater Boggart. As with pure elves, Slaugh have innate magic when it comes to craftsmenship and this spider-like contraption is created through that magic. If the Boggart Box is destroyed, any Boggarts who flee the combat or are turned via magic will flee into the dark crevices of the caverns and go deeper into the Earth instead of returning to the box.

If a Boggart is forced to flee, as it itself is a cowardly creature, it will always return to its box first unless cut off or the box is destroyed. Once returned to the box, the boggart will regain its courage in a number of rounds equal to its HD. If the Slaugh group are being lead by a powerful Slaugh sorcerer or someone wielding a Fetal Mandragora, it takes one less turn to return.

Despite being a mindless construct with a very specific purpose; the spider-like movements of the box are incredibly fluid and it can take great evasive action as long as it holds a boggart, being able to jump over small chasms and avoid weapon attacks. It can only do this as long as it holds a boggart, as the moment it is released to fight the box simply stands still, losing its dark motion until reunited.

Greater Boggart (2-4 HD, +0-2 HD for party condition, save modified by Wisdom on appearance, nightmare powers based on feared creature, add HD to damage against shaken opponent, possess and hold characters of lower level then Boggart HD)

Morale- 8; returns to box on flee, else flees permanently into caverns

Numbers- As Boggart Box

The Boggart is a fearsome and infamous creature. It's “true” form is little more then a dark mist, but the Boggart is a shapeshifter and it transforms into the creature the person facing it fears most. Normal, “lesser” Boggarts exist on the surface world in haunted houses and scary old antiques as a form of harmless house spirit, using its fear abilities to scare people when its hiding place is uncovered and giving it enough time to flee to safety- only appearing as one creature for but a moment. Greater Boggarts are much more powerful and appear as a swirling mass of many creatures, dominated by the form of the closest engaging opponent but with common phobias appearing in the fog.

Boggarts become more powerful depending on the fear and stress of the party. On the first round of combat when they appear, the engaging player must make a save modified by Wisdom modifier or feel shaken. If this is appplied to a hireling, they lose 1 loyalty permanently and must also make a morale check to avoid fleeing. Whatever creature the engaging character fears most the Boggart becomes and gains the attacks, AC, and basic abilities of. These abilities are “lesser” then the creatures true abilities or are partially illusion based. For example, a Gorgon could not truly petrify someone, but it could make them stiff and drop their Dex mod to -2 temporarily and think their skin has a stone-like texture. These types of over time effects last until the Boggart switches to a new form.

The Boggart, when injured or threatened by a character with level under its HD, will invade and 'possess' this character. They invade them through the nose or mouth, and trap them in their mind within a nightmare, and they fall to the floor. The nightmare they are trapped within deals the monster's HD in damage per round the trapped character fails a hard save modified by Wisdom, and forces them to live out their worst fears and horrible, soul crushing fantasies. While under this effect, the Boggart cannot be hurt by physical attacks without harming the person they are possessing, as they are within their body. By succeeding three hard saves in a row or receiving help from the outside they can break the Boggart's control and expel it from their body. The Boggart will retreat once forced out.

Slaugh Immortal (3-5 HD, +2 to hit, +2 AC, 1d4+1 cruel staff or Fetal Mandragora, magic armor & magic resistance, command darkness, +2 leadership, cast spells, “returns” from death)

Morale- 14, 16 when on clan grounds

Numbers- Always 1, may lead Detachment

The rulers of the Slaugh clans are the immortals. Immortals, like all Slaugh, are truly long lived and have large and ornate clan-masks. Much of their time has been dedicated to mastering dark magic instead of combat skills, but the continue the Slaugh martial traditional and wear magic armor. These Slaugh are so named immortal as they are said to return from death; as the mask they wear holds a portion of each of their line, and the next to wear it will receive some of their knowledge.

Slaugh Immortals are so closely entwined with the powers of the underrealm that they can command darkness. Around them, they can cast an inky black shell that grants +2 AC from ranged weapons and spells that require an attack roll. They can also hound a formidable, hazy darkness that can cause terror and confusion in the weak willed; making an easy save to avoid being confused for a round and making a morale check. They can also use darkness to choke out a source of light the party is using, such as supernatural light from a Sage or spell, or from torches and lanterns. Using these abilities takes up their combat round, unless if they wield a still animate Fetal Mandragora, in which case they can use them in addition to attacking or using a spell.

Slaugh Immortals are very powerful dark sorcerers. Regardless of their HD or spell progression for monsters, they are capable of casting a single 3^rd Circle spell. They can also add their +2 HD bonus, while wearing their arcane version of the black armor, to magic for the purpose of determine opposing saves or counter spell viability. If you're using the one-spell-per-level method of spell slots and spell circle system; treat their HD is +2 from this bonus for their total spell slots. All Slaugh spells are focused on offensive and cursing capabilities; they do not learn defensive or healing magic. Additionally; the Immortal is a leader and adds +2 morale to all creatures it is commanding. When the Immortal is killed, this bonus is lost and creatures make a morale check.

Lumpus (6-8 HD, +1 to hit, two 1d8 flabby claw attacks, extra 1d6 “darkness” attacks AND bonus AC equal to HD-X, where as X is the number of torches party is carrying/light level)

Morale- 11

Numbers- 1 or 2

The Lumpus is a very strong creature of darkness. It is said to be closely related to the Grue, but isn't as powerful and is less negatively impacted by light. Like many creatures of the utterdarkness beneath the world, the Lumpus appears unearthly and treats surface dwelling beings with extreme prejudice, as if merely being here is violating some sort of natural law. Unlike most creatures and beings the Slaugh command; the Lumpus has eyes. Very large, bright eyes that it uses to see even in darkness. It is also strangely attached to color, and will sometimes just stare at the hair or colorful outfit of a corpse, long after it had finished tearing them to shreds.

The Lumpus gains bonus attacks and AC equal to the monster's HD-X, where as X is the number of torches or different torch-level sources of light the party has. The “darkness” attacks deal 1d6 damage, and just appear as gnawing black marks or scratches along the skin. These attacks happen against those the Lumpus is closest too, so even if the claws are blocked, the sheer malevolent darkness will hurt or kill you instead. If a Lumpus is exposed to direct sunlight, or a spell that mimics sunlight, they will fall to the ground and be stunned for 1d6 rounds.

Slaugh society has the highest and most successful clans being the most powerful, and having the best access to creatures. The Lumpus is one of the most highly prized monsters of the underdark, due to its strength and connection to elemental darkness. The Lumpus seem willing to serve the clans and patriarchs; but they are more intelligent then they seem. If one could find a way to communicate with a Lumpus, you could potentially turn them against the Slaugh or find an ally in the pitch black.

8 Cave Fish

[1] Stalactite Hunters

Unassuming, medium sized predatory fish. Mostly eat tiny minnows and eels, but has excellent out of water eyesight and senses when stalactites on the cavern ceiling above are going to fall. Then, they lure larger fish under them at just the right moment, and lay their clutch in the large predator's body to reproduce. Exceptionally patient- juice from a gland in their head can be added to tonics to make anyone who drinks them exceptionally patient and calm for 1d6 exploration turns.

[2] Punch-Jaw

Pinkish coloration around head. Bottom jaw has two 'batter' bones that can be used to crack shells and the heavy armor of other fish. One of the few fish capable of swimming up aquifers and hunting in lakes and coastal regions. Must journey back to home cavern to lay eggs in great migration.

[3] Helmet Fish

Have harmless sucker cups inside their mouth- jump onto bipedal creatures that pass by and wrap their mouth around their head. Since the majority are either undead, golems, or wearing helmets they often don't notice and the fish can use them to jump between different underground bodies of water. Very startling to get your head swallowed by a fish if you aren't in the above category, but not dangerous. You get +1 AC to the first attack aimed at your head with this fish on it.

[4] Hero Fish

Looks white or colorless like the other fish, but rubs off its scales during the mating season to reveal bright and colorful skin underneath. The fish is not special, but is rewarded as a special dinner to some underground cultures for those who commit great feats of heroism.

[5] Bat-Killer Fish

Fish with dark tops and long, powerful fins to jump out of the water. Can rocket out at high speeds ot ram into, and then bite and kill bats flying too close to the surface of the water. Long teeth are sometimes used to make arrowheads or the teeth of various weapons or traps for primitive cave-dwelling cultures.

[6] Jewelbrain

These fish are uncommon and live a long time. They must dig for and insert a rough gemstone into the heads of their developing offspring, to “activate” them and have them grow to adulthood. These fish have minor magic powers, including the ability to heat a small amount of water ahead of them to boiling as a defense mechanism, or to mutate other fish into still-standing filter feeding creatures that the jewelbrain can feed off of. The blood of these fish can be used as magic ink, and their skin as leather for spellbooks or wand handles and are obviously much prized by magicians.

[7] Wave-Walker

This fish can excrete a strange slime that allows it to 'solidify' a small amount of water on the surface of a body of water. It usually uses this to stay above the water until a predator that is hunting it goes away, but makes it vulnerable to predators out of water. Large numbers of these fish are kept and 'milked' to create oils that allow the user to walk on water, if enough is dumped into a body of water, such as from the shore or on a boat.

[8] Quagmire Shark

This large fish often attacks humans, drow, and other large creatures that swim in cavernous waters. They are mostly known for being able to swim and live just fine in mud as well, and whenever a mudslide happens in a village these sharks may well be among the sludge, roaming for victims.

The City named Garden

Garden city is a setting I created specifically for a type of early modern fantasy game mixed in with psychic, occult, and alien elements. It was greatly inspired by Into the Odd, Goblin Punch's own Eldritch Americana setting, and also Blackgate (an erotic gay furry VN), and it's basically a 1 to 1 copy of that premise.

Unlike many of my other settings, Garden city comes from a special place in my heart because it is built off a feeling. When I was younger I sometimes suffered from some (very minor) insomnia. I would take walks outside in my gated community, and when I went for midnight drives to get food, I would get a certain feeling of comfortable nostalgia from the darkness of the city, combined with the electric lights. This feeling is what I want Garden to feel like. Electro-swing is its anthem.

If you take anything from this post about Garden's setting- get the feeling of a life being a trickle instead of a river. Unlike our world where there is a great surge of activity and then a quiet night, Garden is mostly a quiet night with small bits of activity constantly. Since it's always night, you'll always have some shops open and some closed, some couples laying out under the unfamiliar stars and some people sleeping in black windows above you.

Lost Souls

Everyone not native to Garden was lost. Maybe they got lost on a dirt road, ran through a sewer or crawlspace, just fell asleep in a foreign country on a park bench and then they ended up there at Garden. The first thing they realize is that it's always night time in Garden, and about the second thing they realize is that Garden is FULL of goddamn aliens.

Humans are just one of myriad of species in Garden. There are humanoid animals, demonic looking creatures, discolored and bumpy forehead people, twisted objects brought to life, crustaceans and invertebrates, walking amoeba, and things that defy even these descriptions. Every single species that calls Garden home had a world before, which had a sun that is now gone. Sun worship is popular in Garden, as a lost or waiting godling. The messiah is a sunrise. Some even believe touching someone with a sunburn when they come to Garden as good luck; because nobody here can get one.

Half the people of Garden are instead native. They look as their parents do, but have never felt or seen the sun. Their eyes are slightly bigger and darker, with pupils better adapted to the darkness. Finding a mate in Garden can be challenging, since you have to find a member of your species of the opposite sex, but plenty of people adopt or have loving childless interspecies relationships too. Many people are “married” to their job or gang instead, spending their time wearing a threadbare fedora and smoking a crudely rolled cigar filled with strange plants that grow in moonlight.

Origins

In the dusty old shelves of the city's oldest libraries, the most delicate tomes written on the most crumbling of leaf-bound parchment, you can sometimes see stories of the founding and first “settlers” of Garden. Surrounding Garden is a massive forest of huge trees, that grow and sway even in the total darkness of this land. Within this forest of trees are monsters, wild beasts, sand traps that swallow people whole, and many other extreme dangers. The people who first ended up in Garden had to stick together to survive, huddling around campfires and building candle-lit houses high in the trees.

Then the legends get fuzzy. There are words about a “deal” and a “compromise”. Roughly half the population of the first settlers split off from the Garden city founders- these later became the Torchlight Society. The Garden city-slickers that remained gained access to electricity, and were able to finally begin building a (relatively) safe and happy city. It brought with it industry, hovering cars, warmth, and most importantly electric lights against the darkness.

The city grew and grew, more and more districts were added to the outskirts, chopping down trees in the outer limits of the city, never straying from the electric floodlights. Building up multi-floored apartments, squat condos, Kowloon-walled city style hives, or even larger manors and family homes in suburbs out of all kinds of scavenged and reused materials. Almost any kind of city structure from history you can think of is present here- from dusty old mainstreet looking western towns, confusing cobblestone mazes like rainy old london, modern suburb grid based homes, highrises and shanty towns. Some parts barely even look inhabited, but you can be sure it's lit up.

Despite all this urban development and the ever growing number and resources of Garden's people; the darkness outside the city is ALWAYS a threat. The monsters and things outside the city do not supernaturally appear within its borders, there must be a line of black for them to follow inside. No boogeyman is going to appear in your closet at the highrise you live, but more then once a person living on the outskirts of the town opened their door and saw a window ajar or back door open to the forest beyond the city, and they simple turn around and leave and never return. If the lights ever go out in a district of the city, bad stuff comes out to play and people panic. That's why everyone in Garden's gotta be armed; and they love their guns.

Society

Garden is a true melting pot of a society. With so many different races, ideologies, religions, and people forced to live together merely for survival things have to stay flexible. The entire city could be best described as a sort of urban wild west, things tend to almost be anarchic at times but with a strong libertarian bent. If you can make it, sell it, and keep it then you get to have it. That doesn't mean there isn't justice; the concerned citizens of the city employ “Enforcers”, the lawman of the lawless metropolis, but each part of the city essentially rules itself, as long as you've got the money and guns.

Parts of the city are communist, parts are fascist, parts are theocratic. They all bow to the power of arms and the power of the dollar. Particularly headstrong old ladies can rule their tenement complexes, with gang leaders ruling city blocks and corporations sometimes co-opting entire boroughs. Some of the most stable powers in the city are the casinos and big factories; most things in Garden are hand made but the few things that aren't, like the scrap metal bullets and pork products from the pig yards, are worth a lot of money to the people who make them. And all that money glows in the dark.

There is a strong pioneer spirit in Garden. Everything is second hand and recycled. There are all kinds of abandoned subdivisions, factories, complexes, mental hospitals, nature preserves, and even sinkholes in the city that are ripe for scavenging. Most people dabble here and there, but the real juicy prizes are guarded by psychic infused monsters, bloodthirsty wildlife, territorial gangs, and even creepier things in the dark. People leave those places to the Sweeps- professional building clearers and adventurers armed with scrap metal chimney guns of their very own. ie; The players.

Anachronism

As far as technology, Garden is totally scatterbrained. People arriving to the city if they got lost in a vehicle may do so in an old kerosene clunker, a gasoline guzzler, a hybrid, a hovercar, or even something stranger from their home world. All depending on the technology of their period from their own world. These cars are sold off or stolen, especially to shifty liars that severely underpay the car owners to chop them up for scrap. Nobody actually drive these cars here in Garden, hover cars are far cheaper- tapping into the power grid is essentially free and it's not like there is any gasoline in the ground here anyway. Technology beyond this seems very stuck in a 1920s-esque period. Land-line phones, movie cameras and record players, but no computers or televisions.

Everything is hand made in Garden, especially the guns. Some mafia dons have suits of power armor for their best guys or a robot butler powered by springs; but all this stuff has to be maintained by hand. There are no replacement parts except what you can make yourself. With that being said; there are a few factories in this place, especially to sell some basic common supplies like canned food, soda pop, bullets, and really cheap cigarettes called sparklers that sometimes shoot off sparks at the end just like the firework; usually the person smoking one of these spits it out and burns off an eyebrow, getting a few laughs at his expense from his buddies.

But where does all this material come from? Much of it comes from outside the city by way of migrants. Sometimes a garbage truck gets 'lost' and ends up in the city, filled with things to scavenge. Sometimes people find an old burned out airplane crash or dead guy just outside the city limits; as though on its way here but failing to make it the last leg of the journey. These are ripped apart and sold. Many parts of the city are old and abandoned, all it takes is to crack open one dusty old basement filled with crumbled old pie tins and the whole city's need will be filled for months.

Gunsmiths of high quality are especially prized. People in Garden value their weapons very highly, and despite the ammunition being mostly mass produced aside from a few rare and valuable special bullets, the guns themselves are scrapped and bolted together from old roof paneling and tin cans. High quality gunsmiths can take these pieces of shit and make them automatic shotgun shell spitting death machines- some even work with explosive launching devices capable of blasting apart the paper thin walls of the tenements. If you're a Sweep; it's in your best interest to be on good terms with these artisans.

Mysteries

All of the above has only just started to touch the surface of the true strangeness of this place. The stars in the sky go by without repeating, no race in the city notices any that match their home constellations. The entire place is crawling with ivy and animals and trees and green grass lawns; but all exist without a sun. Garden is very much a living city- and despite being filled with all kinds of escaped farm pigs and ring-tail lemurs roaming the streets at night (since it's always night). The plants just seem to grow on their own accord. Some people in the city have created their own indoor farms to grow a few imported plants using special light bulbs; but that's one of those rich luxuries, actual sunlight plants.

For seemingly no reason; the nighttime conditions or other strange power of the city seems to 'awaken' the psychic ability in many of the residents. Ask around; different people from different worlds have different tales of this sort of things. In some worlds, like our own, psychic powers are largely considered a shadowy myth that some believe but are not proven. In other worlds psychics are a rare but very real part of their societies. In yet others, there has been NO belief in psychic powers, but even they can sometimes awaken strange powers. Psychic users in Garden usually gain a single power that develops along with them; some can start fires or manipulate electricity, some can move objects, others have supernatural senses or can read minds. Some become a “God-Child” that can seemingly manipulate any facet of reality in increasingly severe and permanent ways until they lose it and hole themselves up in a building, changing the dimensions within every room and every resident, morphing the rules in there to some hellish paradise in their mind.

Underneath the city of Garden are service tunnels. They're white walled, usually clean, and always dimly lit with lights. They criss cross underneath the city, most installations have access to them, and many apartment buildings have a door to one in the basement. Strange thing is, no single company or organization can attest to building all of the tunnels down here. Here and there most have done some maintenance, added a few doors or tunnels, ran wires down a length to a new subdivision of the city, but there isn't record of where many of the tunnels come from. They even seem nonsensical sometimes; between two large office buildings under the city will be a tunnel with a locked door off to the side. Brightly lit and locked, leads to a fully stocked and abandoned office; nobody has a nameplate here, as though it was just built and nobody uses it yet.

Also down here are the Lockers- along the hallways and in the side rooms. These lockers are always locked, but curious sorts who break them open find items within. Snowglobes, boxing gloves, pictures, strange coins, weird looking tools and organs in jars, even guns. Some theorize these are the lost 'items' like how people get lost to the city, but these items are never “normal”. They often have supernatural abilities, or enhance psychic abilities and are a collector's dream to get their hands on some genuine locker loot. But these tunnels are not safe. There are things down here, shifting invisibly along the walls, attracted to noise. Men in white cleansuits and masks, old women sweeping the hallways with long brooms. Breaking open the lockers is the fastest way to get noticed down here; and end up dragged away to a tunnel nobody has been down before, never to be heard from again.

And what about the Torchlight society? There is no known colony of people or beings beyond the walls of Garden, except for them. The Torchlighters live out in the forest, digusted by the city's electric lights, somehow having found a way to live with or around the scary stuff out in the black woods. They very rarely trade with Garden residents; sometimes giving away scraps of metal found in the woods or rare foodstuffs that the Garden residents don't have access too. Sometimes they are “at war” with Garden and instead attack with bombs and bullets of their own, but always supported by some of the tamed monsters of the wild. They always try to take out power lines and plunge a neighborhood of the city into darkness to do maximum damage.

And besides all that; nobody knows where the fucking electricity comes from.