The Nameless City is a mysterious, sometimes malevolent, always-changing community full of untold wonders and horrors. Its different districts embody a variety of auras, so there's something for everyone. All beings are welcome, with their delicious array of appetites.

You may happen upon a portal that leads you to the Nameless City. You may be pushed through the fabric of your own universe — from literally any time, and any place — and into ours. Once you're in the Nameless City, you will not be able to leave. Enter our community as an already-established character, or as a fresh addition who must stumble through the city in search of meaning and purpose. Whatever sparks your creativity.

This server is inspired by the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s work, as well as those who preceded him — but we are not taking anything directly from canon. Any names/places/creatures you may encounter (e.g. elder gods, Church of Starry Wisdom, or Brotherhood of the Beast) are not related to their stories or origin, and in fact, have been intentionally repurposed to fit our lore.

We do not support H.P. Lovecraft as an author or a public figure, and we still recognize his contributions to the cosmic horror genre without condoning reprehensible racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and bigotry.

If you want to learn more about who H.P. Lovecraft is, why we condemn his worldviews, and what the cosmic horror genre is, please click here to find out more!

All languages spoken, written, or conveyed in any way, are mentally translated to those who observe, hear or read them.

If somebody is speaking to your character in a foreign language, even if your character doesn't know the words that are being spoken, they will still instinctively understand, word for word, what is being said. This must be conveyed by the person speaking the language either in roleplay or OOC.

How long has the city been around, anyway? Catch up on all our confirmed history, as well as recent events your character may want to reference in their backstory. Learn more here.

Your characters can come from any world, or any time period, to join the fun in The Nameless City. They can also be born and raised in the city itself, but that will mean that they've never been able to leave.

Characters arrive in the city by mistake (wandering lost, magic portal, wake up here randomly), or against their will (actively stolen away by some malevolent entity). Because the only escape from the city is death, no one outside of TNC has ever heard of TNC. There are no legends, no lore that exists outside of its bubble; it cannot be sought out, etc. TNC exists in perfect isolation.

All players can be assigned a designated "residential room" for private RP, upon request. Every newcomer to the city will be given free housing, so long as they go to the Department of Resettlement Services. If you’d rather play your character as nomadic, you can have them unaware of this resource, or that they simply choose not to utilize this service.

While you're encouraged to seek out other writers to play friends or family members to your OCs, we request that you not create multiple members of the same social circle. The same writer cannot write multiple OCs that are friends, family, coworkers, or any other relationship. Your OC's lore should not reference another one of your OCs — they need to exist independently. Similarly, we ask that a single player not have multiple characters employed at the same place of business.

All laws are entirely up to The Thing That Controls the City. Most of them revolve around the “Because I Said So” Act.

• The Thing That Controls the City/Universe
  
• Ethan Kindle (if you want to learn about him as a person and not just an entity, check out his bio)
  
• The Council:
  
• Faedove Ravengrove (Theatre District; bio)
  
• Autumn Prairie (Red Hook; bio)
  
• Fea Sáile (Borough Park; bio)
  
• Wistari Grippe (Slaughterhouse; bio)
• Cults (The Stock Market)
  
• Mafia (Gilt Ophidian)
  
• Military
  
• Police
  
• Gangs/Militia-for-Hire
  
• Everyone else
  

We have several official affiliations in the server — you can read about them here. Your character is welcome to join one of them, but please be sure to discuss with the affiliation leader in advance, so that you have all the information you need!

The Council is there to keep everything running smoothly, and to help Ethan maintain balance in their specific communities. They have been bestowed with powers beyond imagination in a way where they are never truly going to be bested, and so they act as the city’s second line of defense — right behind Ethan.

Only Ethan and The Thing That Controls the City know for sure. But it is not an elected position, that much is certain.

Yes, really. He's the top of the chain of command in the city, and his whole thing is balance. So, if you disrupt the balance in a significant way, he's going to notice and come looking for you.

He’s the first line of defense, and much more. Ethan is the face of The Thing That Controls the City, he's the only one who knows what the entity is, and is a liaison between our characters and it.

Because of this, he is the one who grants power and, in some cases, takes it away.

If a faction/gang/cult/institution/etc wants true power over some part of the city, they have to have a conversation with Ethan. It's give and take in a way much more metaphysical than money, or drugs, or even blood.

All things flow through him whether the people know that or not. He keeps very close watch on every node of power within the city (police force, a gang, a cult, etc.), ready to elevate or demote as needed.

Ethan Kindle is also the CEO of the Black Tower Corporation, the largest employer in the city. Black Tower Corps. has three branches:

• Commerce. Everything from business to science to manufacturing, BTC is how a lot of day-to-day comforts and necessities get created and distributed to the City. This is the largest and most public-facing side of the company.
  

• Non-Profit. The BTC runs a housing initiative so that newcomers to the city have a place to stay, and an opportunity to find a job. If you would prefer your character to roam unaided, you can write them as not knowing about this.
  

• Shadow. The Nameless City has to stay in a balance of good/evil, and productivity/chaos for it to survive. To that end, BTC is also involved in sponsoring and supporting some criminal and chaotic elements of the city. This is how BTC maintains a relationship with gangs, cults, and other nefarious elements.
  

In addition to the Department of Resettlement Services (the non-profit arm of the Black Tower), which offers housing and cell phones to newcomers, as well as job placement opportunities, there are smaller public services offered in districts around the city.

In Red Hook, individuals can exchange labor for food at the Farmlands, and the hungry are fed as generously as possible.

Medical, dental, and vision services are all subsidized by the districts and The Black Tower so that residents may obtain healthcare for free. (Healthcare is a mix of traditional and magical, to accommodate as many species as possible.)

Ballard Institute offers education at all levels and from many worlds — including technology training and world acclimation safety lessons.

City Centre, Red Hook, Theatre, Borough Park, and Slaughterhouse Districts are highly connected via roads, subway/trains, busses, and paths for non-motorized vehicles. Taxis can be hired to drive you around, residents can own cars or other motorized vehicles, etc.

In Hollow Heights, infrastructure is slightly less sophisticated. A train can take you to HH and after that, you’ll need an all-terrain bus, hire-out vehicles, or private transit. You can also arrive in HH via foot or on a boat/hired raft. Roads and bridges are reliable thanks to construction from the Painted Dogs.

Gemsbok Glade, our newest district, is the least connected. It has no public transit, but some residents do hire-out vehicles for residents to travel around. (Privately owned bus, etc.) Cars, horses, and 1-1 transit methods are more common in Gemsbok.

Expect to see fantasy and sci-fi elements in your transportation: horse carriages where the horse is a centaur; bicycles, magic-fueled scooters, solar- and wind-powered vehicles, flying folks who hire themselves out for transit, etc. Your character will likely experience an amalgamation of transit options. TNC is not oriented toward a character needing to own a car. Most characters use public transit.

As a final note: TNC is laid out on top of a map of New York City. If you need to calculate transportation time, compare landmarks in NYC to compare how long it might take your character to move around the city. The southern tip of Borough Park to the entrance of Hollow Heights, by train, takes about 2 hours. Transportation in HH and Gemsbok are inherently a little bit slower, because of its infrastructure being less sophisticated.

With people coming in from all different times/places, the city looks and feels like a hodgepodge of many different eras. Some of the city has a retro-future feeling to it, while other spots feel more like present-day big cities. Inventors and engineers come in from technologically primitive and advanced places, bringing their knowledge to this world.

Because of this, there's future, current, and past tech sprinkled throughout the world.

Some basic points: The internet exists here, but it is not protected. Mobile phones are a thing, whether that be an old 1990s clunker or the latest/future models.

If it can be brought from the home world, it’s in the city, but just a matter of at what scale.

Have you heard of the uncanny valley? When moving through The Nameless City, you might see ads for or run across stores, restaurants, brands, companies, services, etc. that may look familiar... but they’re just different. We call this uncanny commerce. Think of it like running a brand you recognize through an AI generator. Something is off.

Here is a list of brands you might recognize:

• Rumblr: Tumblr adjacent
• Unhingd: Tinder adjacent
• Fruity Wormy Crunchy: Sugary cereal brand
• Hyper: Uber adjacent. Known for chatty drivers.
• Google: Spelled the same, pronounced “joojle”
  

You might be trapped in TNC, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still take a nice holiday.

• Take a riverboat ride or a day-cruise on one of the City’s many bodies of water.
  
• Jump on an unofficial tour bus or grab a private tour guide for a view of all the hot spots in a certain district - you might hear some wild tales!
• Go glamping in Hollow Heights, protected by a guide who will also cook for you.
• Explore Oasis Resort in Gemsbok for a full spa treatment and some rest and relaxation.
• Every district has small hotels and inns - for the traveler who wishes to experience a different environment for a few nights.
• ...more to come in 2024!
  

Similarly, with characters arriving from such a multitude of worlds, the Nameless City's system of finances is varied and strange.

While there is no central bank, there are individual financiers who will secure your funds, offer lines of credit, etc. Large organizations accept multi-world currency, gold, and other payments. Your OC may find small vendors who do not accept your OC's particular money-in-hand. Other OCs have arrived at the city only to find their money magically transformed into some other strange form of currency.

There is also a strong trade-and-barter system at the markets and among tradespeople, particularly in Red Hook, Hollow Heights, and Gemsbok Glade.

Writers are welcome to create/narrate non-sapient NPCs to battle. If you would like ideas for beasts and creatures for your OC to battle, contact a mod! We have a bestiary in progress and would be happy to share a district-appropriate suggestion.

Please do not create swarms/hordes/large-scale infestations of any creature without admin approval, as this will impact the overall ecosystem of the server — there might be potential here to turn it into a city-wide event!

We expect you to communicate with your writing partner about combat to ensure a fair outcome, and use #dice-rolls when necessary.

Please do not create sapient NPCs as villains without admin approval. We have given permission for this in the past, but we need to make sure they aren’t too powerful, or direct copies of existing OCs in the game. Please be prepared to discuss powers, strengths, weaknesses, and your intentions for an NPC enemy when you request approval.

You are welcome to create sapient NPCs in passive scenarios to help scenes run more smoothly, for example: waiters at a restaurant, store clerks, bartenders, etc.

A fair bit of crime does occur, and since some gods and entities control this world rather than political figures/military/police forces, it's less structured. So, what could be considered a crime, or wrong, in our eyes may not be to the entity that controls the world.

It’s also important to remember that much of what we consider illegal in our real world — sex work, drug use - was created by puritanical history that has no place in TNC. This is an opportunity for you to play with tension in a mismatch from your OC’s world of origin — were they more conservative in their views? More free-spirited?

Assault and theft are still considered crimes in TNC, but are unlikely to be ticketed or punished. Drug-related crimes are specific to dangerous fantasy drugs; please ask staff if you need clarification. Poaching, particularly in Red Hook, is frowned upon. (If you hunt to eat, that’s different.) Slaughterhouse and Hollow Heights are generally considered the most dangerous areas.

When you leave our server, the mods may use your characters to help the remaining writers move their stories forward in the absence of your OCs. This could include killing your character off, declaring them missing, or referencing them as NPCs if they filled a role (bartender, cafe owner, etc.) This occurs rarely and is done out of respect for the need to prioritize our remaining community members’ creative efforts. We have no intention of writing your characters in your absence, but may use their names to add realistic padding to plots or deaths.