The Primary Factions
🕯️ The Scriptorium Council — The Hall of Three Inks
Location: Central Inkveil, adjacent to the Grand Scriptorium
Appearance:
A towering, cathedral-like structure of pale stone veined with silver script. Its walls shimmer faintly, as if written upon by invisible hands. The triple doors bear three stains of ink — black, gold, and silver — that never dry.
Atmosphere:
Inside, the sound of quills scratching fills the air like rain. Ribbons of glowing text drift lazily overhead, recording every word spoken within its chambers. Bureaucrats in ink-stained robes move between desks stacked with scrolls that write and rewrite themselves in real time.
Details & Hooks:
Every law in Inkveil is recorded in the Codex Triune, a massive tome chained to the dais in the council’s heart.
Citizens bring their petitions to be inscribed — once written, a decree becomes real.
The lowest levels are restricted, containing “Erased Decrees” — edicts struck from memory.
Rumors persist of an unwritten page that no ink will adhere to — a law that cannot exist.
Quest Hook Example:
A clerk has gone missing after discovering that the Codex is editing itself, adding laws no one recalls writing.
💰 The Guild of Gilded Ink — The Mercurial Exchange
Location: Near the Candle Market in the southern district of Inkveil
Appearance:
A glittering structure of glass and brass domes, its walls flowing with veins of luminous ink. Light refracts through liquid conduits, sending gold and indigo reflections dancing across the marble floors. The air hums faintly — alive with commerce and whispered deals.
Atmosphere:
Merchants shout prices in currencies both real and conceptual — coins, memories, even dreams. Floating ledgers hover midair, tallying fortunes faster than mortal minds can read. In private alcoves, transactions take place not with money, but with memory — a kiss forgotten, a childhood rewritten.
Details & Hooks:
Ink Brokers specialize in liquid memory, trading vials that grant visions or rewrite minor recollections.
A secret vault below the Exchange holds the Inkheart, an alchemical core that refills every inkpot in the city.
The Guild tracks not only trade but influence, selling “favor credits” between nobles and gods alike.
The Exchange never closes — its light is constant, its business endless.
Quest Hook Example:
A shipment of Ethereal Ink — capable of restoring lost memories — has vanished. The Guild quietly offers a fortune for its recovery, though some suspect the theft was an inside job.
⚔️ The Seekers’ Concord — The Gilded Compass
Location: Perched at the city’s northern edge, facing the Blank
Appearance:
A grand stone fortress carved in the likeness of a compass rose. Its outer walls are engraved with shifting maps — constellations, coastlines, and runes that rearrange nightly. The main hall is lit by lanterns whose flames are shaped like eyes, forever watching the horizon.
Atmosphere:
The air smells of wax, steel, and salt — a blend of exploration and danger. Armor hangs beside journals, and maps stretch across tables like living things. Veterans recount expeditions beyond the city’s edge, describing worlds of half-formed light and impossible landscapes.
Details & Hooks:
The Cartographer’s Flame, an ever-burning lantern, records the routes of every expedition.
A shimmering window called the Inkglass Veil overlooks the Blank — and sometimes reflects places that don’t yet exist.
The Guild’s members bear Quillmarks, sigils that change shape depending on what the Dream Archivist remembers.
Only Seekers may step beyond the city’s northern gate — others vanish without trace.
Quest Hook Example:
A Seeker returned from the Blank — alive but wordless, their shadow no longer matching their body. The Concord seeks adventurers to retrace their last route and uncover what followed them home.