Setine, the White Rose

The city has had many titles through the millennia; the Sunset Garden, the City of Roses, the City of Ghouls, and the White Rose. Behold! Setine!

Setine history 8.12

This documentation on Setine has 3 pages of history, a page of appearance and mood, a page and a half of factions, a page of economy, 4 pages of answers to Jeff Rients’ twenty questions, 3 pages describing the neighborhoods, and a 1 page conflict generator. Pretty tidy, if you ask me–and every bit of it system neutral.

This city has withstood assaults from its neighbors, conquering by a demon-worshiping prince, engulfment for centuries by undead powers, and years of vicious attack by multiple dragons. Little wonder its once-lofty towers are thrown down, whole sections are surrendered to rubble, and the rulers find themselves vulnerable to carpet-bagging merchants from a neighboring state.

In the World Between, Setine is on the southern coast of the central plains of the Iron Principalities, by the river.

Here is a map of the city as it is now, in the year  6,995. (Drawn by me.) I did not key everything important, but the features mentioned in the neighborhood descriptions are more three dimensional, where the rest of the city is more two dimensional, so they should be easy enough to identify.

Here is a map of the city at its height, in the Age of Flowers, about 5,700. (Drawn by Paul Hughes, viewable here.) I am using his city in this way, and sharing on my blog, with his permission. Yes, I checked first. Hi Paul!

I took Paul’s map, turned it sideways as a layer in Photoshop, then traced outlines. Redrawing the walls and gates and palace from a different perspective was a brain-bending challenge, but enjoyable enough. I turned the city because up should be north, and in my setting, the port faces south. Plus, there was enough damage to the city, and reshifting of usage of real estate, and renaming, that it was prudent to make another version.

Some of my favorite changes were shattering towers, tearing a massive chunk of the palace off, turning some areas to rubble (like the Silver District and re-drawing the border  between the Baths and Docks), and moving the orc camp. Plus, you know, the kickin’ art deco font. =)

We will have our first game session in the World Between version of Setine the first weekend of November. I’m looking forward to it. In my “Thief” booklet, I suggest the World Between, Vornheim, and Setine as possible mash-ups with the rules. I will be using all three myself, to some degree. So, consider this a demo of how the Thief rules can inspire tweaking a setting so much of it will work there.