CITY OF PRAGA

"From my balcony in the Blue Palace, Praga looks almost beautiful at dusk. The factory smoke turns golden, hiding the filth below. Most council members never leave these heights—they're afraid of what they might see. But I was raised in those streets, pulled from a birthing tank destined for the factories of Praga, toiling in the heat and the soot before Athena noticed my aptitude for governance during a worker dispute. Every month, I descend to the lower markets in disguise, a ritual my fellow councillors call eccentric, even dangerous. I go because I must remember. The human children playing in side alleys. The mud-soaked scavengers haggling over radiation pills. The neon-lit pleasure houses where factory workers spend their meagre wages to forget. They say Athena chose me because I understand both worlds—the gleaming heights and the drowning depths. What they don't understand is that Praga isn't two cities; it's a thousand cities stacked atop each other, held together by desperation and ambition in equal measure. From above, it's a machine of perfect order. From below, it's beautiful chaos. The truth, as always in Praga, lies somewhere in the shadows between."

• Councillor Mera of the Blue Council, Youngest Member of Athena's Council,
  Day 5 of The Mist, 124 AP

Right in the heart of the endless European mud land is the city of Praga, a vast colourful mess of rusty shantytown dwellings, factories, high rise buildings and a large river port.

Every day, large land-trains thread through the maze of suburbs to reach the factories, warehouses and port of Praga, delivering raw materials and taking away finished goods on their way back. The Prime AI in particular places large orders for the manufacture of weapons in Praga, to be delivered directly to the war zones of western Europe.

The factories of Praga produce many of the weapons, ammunition and vehicles used by the Prime AI's armies. Land-trains deliver raw materials from around the world almost every day, and so the factories of Praga never stand still.

A new clone delivered to the factory as a worker is required to work for 5 years to earn their freedom and full citizenship. After that, many stay on to work for actual wages, or find work elsewhere in Praga, often in the dockyards.

Human men and Reborn also work in the factories of Praga. The work in the factories is hard, but relatively safe and pays well.

The river port of Praga connects the city and the heart of the mud lands to the northern sea, and from there to the rest of the known world.

The life of a dockworker is hard and dangerous, but those that work here prefer working outside to toiling away in the unbearable heat and stale air of Praga's factories.

The waters of the Praga docks are infested with large mutant creatures. Due to the dangerous monstrosities, anyone that falls into the water is unlikely to receive any help from bystanders and even less likely to make it out of the water alive...

Praga palace - better known as the Blue Palace - home of the Athena AI and the Blue Council

The city of Praga is governed by the Athena AI. This slightly older AI is very capable, yet less powerful than the almighty Prime AI.

The Athena AI has somewhat more empathy for human life than the Prime AI, and has a habit of not only not killing her host bodies, but to even permit them time without active AI transmission, letting their own consciousness re-surface for a few hours every day. The hosts know that Athena will look after their bodies and allow them a comfortable life in luxury, so they are willing to pay the price of servitude.

The Blue Council of Praga runs the city by turning Athena's command into action. The council members reside in the Praga palace, living a privileged life of immense power, opulence and luxury compared to ordinary citizens.

In the Desolation, the live of a human is often short and violent. Many are drawn to the power and privilege of the Blue Council, so intrigue and murder are common within the walls of Praga Palace. Removing a rival may often be the quickest way to ascend the ranks of power, but to maintain law and order in the city, Athena has decreed that assassination may only be attempted within the confines of the palace, and for blades to be the only weapons permitted...

Praga prides itself on being an open city, and besides the population of the city itself, there are many visitors on the streets at any given time. Scavenger trade caravans from all over the mud come here to stock up on provisions or sell their goods; Geneticists have several convent fortresses in Praga; Nomads from the far lands of the Sand make the journey to trade rare, valuable spices... Praga is the central hub of civilisation in the eastern mud lands.

Even the mysterious preachers of the Cult of Nyx travel all the way to Praga to convert more followers...

The Praga City Watch, based in several mighty fortresses strategically distributed across the City, is a formidable standing army that not only keeps the peace in Praga, but also projects the city's power into the surrounding mud land.

Service in the City Watch is hard - patrolling the back alleys of Praga and fighting against well-armed gangs causes as many casualties as the many expeditions outside of the city.

The City Watch suffers such high losses every day, that there is a constant influx of new recruits, clones freshly delivered from the Prime facility with some basic combat training. But the true test for them will be on patrol on the dangerous streets of Praga. New recruits, referred to as aspirants, are paired up with veteran warriors of the City Watch. The aspirants must shave their heads and are not permitted to wear any armour or the famous blue cloak of the City Watch, until they win the approval of their veteran master.

Crime is rampant in a large chaotic city like Praga. Illegal substances and luxury items are bought and sold in nameless back alleys. The gang members are usually well armed and place numerous lookouts before any deal is carried out. But the Praga City Watch is not deterred. These anonymous back streets are the battleground where many brave aspirants will find their early end, but also where those that are cut out for it, will make their mark...

Those aspirants that survive the trial by fire on Praga's streets, are quickly promoted.

On occasion, male citizens will spontaneously begin to transform due to the inherit mutagen still infecting the majority of men. The transformation is usually fast and violent, almost always driving the victim into an uncontrollable killing frenzy. In a sense, this is exactly what scientists during the Great Collapse had aimed to achieve, although they had of course hoped to be able to control their creations...

Whenever a transformation occurs, the mutant will leave a trail of death and carnage in the streets of Praga...

The City Watch springs into action. Mutants are difficult to kill, so the the City Watch often use incendiary rounds to burn them down.

The tragic aftermath of a transformation.

In some men the transformation happens as originally intended by scientists decades ago, and they survive with their minds intact. While physically disfigured, they reap the benefits of a stronger, tougher physique and are save from any further spontaneous transformation. Having been given a second chance of life by fate, many refer to these individuals as the Reborn. Many of the Reborn work as mercenaries, but they may also be found working in the factories and dockyards of Praga.

After a long day at the factories and docks, the workers of Praga retreat into their personal hab-units.

Praga never sleeps. In the day the factories are endlessly churning and the port is busy with the coming and going of ships. At night, the hard workers of Praga relax with a drink and companionship for a few hours.

During the night, the creatures that populate the sewers of Praga often come to the surface, hiding in crawlspaces and back alleys to prey on the unweary and the unfortunate...

Every morning, the corpse collectors of Praga make their rounds, gathering up what remains from the previous night. These are the many victims of disease, crime or one of the countless other ways to die in Praga...

The death of fresh new clones is especially tragic, but all too common. If a new clone is separated from their group upon arriving in Praga, their odds of surviving their first night alone are dramatically low.

Every few days the City Watch sends small details of warriors into the sewers for pest control. Usually these details will be given out as a punishment - few, if any, ever return...

The warriors descend into the maze and begin searching for the abhorrent creatures that call these tunnels their home.

Before long, the creatures find them and begin to attack them from every direction!

Between waves of creatures, the warriors quickly reload, but they already know that this is a deadly fight of attrition that they cannot win.

Lost in the endless maze of sewer tunnels and down to a few rounds of pistol ammo, the brave warriors make their peace - they know they cannot make it out alive now...

Shipments of new clones - new workers and new aspirants for the City Watch - arrive every week in massive land trains from the Prime cloning facilities, far away to the east.

A new cycle of life begins.