Junction Nine
Temperate farmland and river plainsA crowded rail junction keeps grain moving, though its switching crews are threatening a walkout.Where: Western interiorNext to
Route Nine
World · A round world
Route Nine
Every road is old, every engine has a bill.
Overview
Route Nine is a wide, inhabited world whose old survey roads became the backbone of an industrial age. Rail lines, steamships, and arcane engines now carry ore, grain, and people across its continents, but the routes were laid unevenly and ownership remains contested. Every town depends on machinery that can fail, and every repair demands labor, fuel, or magic. Adventurers find work where public need meets private control, from protecting a waterworks to uncovering who altered a railway map.
The world
ShapeA round world
What it is likeA spherical world with broad continents, deep oceans, and long-established settlements clustered along rivers and coasts.
How people travelRailways connect settled interiors, steamships link ports, and roads or riverboats reach places beyond the lines.
Themes
industrial change, community and labor, arcane machinery, frontier disputes
Laws of the world
The rules
MagicMagic is common enough to power engines, heal wounds, and ward buildings; it draws on personal skill, careful materials, or divine favor.
TechnologyIndustrial steam engines, telegraph lines, railways, and mass-produced firearms coexist with spellcraft and traditional crafts.
Death and soulsSouls pass beyond the world after death, though skilled priests can briefly call a willing spirit to answer questions.
Special rules
An engine powered by a bound spirit must be given a name and regular hours of rest.
Long-distance messages travel quickly by wire, but storms and sabotage often interrupt them.
The skies
SkiesSmoke hangs over industrial basins, but highlands and coasts still see clear skies and a red star used by navigators.
Moons and stars
The Moon, The Red Star
SeasonsThe year has four familiar seasons, tracked by public clock towers whose bells often disagree by a few minutes.
Ages
3 agesA generation of strikes and public repairs has made the engines run again, but no one agrees who should control them.
Powers
3 powers · 2 conflictsPowers
- The Rail Boardcommercial authorityReach: The main continental rail corridorsStandardize rail lines and collect fees on every shipment, even where communities object.
- The Works Unionlabor coalitionReach: Workers in foundries, rail yards, and municipal utilitiesKeep essential engines and waterworks in public hands, with repairs funded by local taxes.
- The Crown Foundriesstate industryReach: Industrial districts and their dependent townsExpand the Crown's factories and secure reliable supplies of coal, iron, and spell components.
Conflicts
- The Gauge DisputeSidesA new rail standard could open remote communities to trade or leave them dependent on a single company.
- The Continental Rail Board
- The Inland Carters' Union
- Towns along the old survey roads
- The Boiler LevySidesThe levy would fund safer public works, but small workshops say it will put them out of business.
- The Crown Foundries
- The independent engine guilds
Atlas
8 regionsSecrets
Secret 1 · GM only
Secret 2 · GM only
Secret 3 · GM only
Plot hooks
4 hooks- 1The Unlisted StopexplorationA mountain rail tunnel opens after a rockslide, revealing a station omitted from every current map and a train still running on its own.
- 2The Quiet FurnaceinvestigationA foundry's bound spirit refuses to work, and its owners hire the party to find out whether it was harmed or is hiding a threat.
- 3Parts for the WeirsocialA flood-control engine is due for repairs, but the only replacement parts are held by rival companies whose workers are ready to strike.
- 4The Missing LedgerescortA courier carrying an old survey ledger disappears, and several towns fear it proves their land was wrongly sold.
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