Inferno Project

General metaphysical commitments: Hells are realms of the low umbra where mortal souls can go if they die, depending on their local metaphysics and the actions of mortals and demons in damning them. Besides the souls of the dead they are populated by indigenous spirits called demons. They are generally physical, even if made of ephemera.

General mechanical commitments: I'm weak at mechanics and trust GMs to pitch material at a level suitable for their players, so I'm not doing full statblocks.

The Golden City

The Golden City is a realm of beauty that sacrifices everything for art. Here are found the souls of those patrons who gave to the arts but not the poor, those artists who ruined themselves and others in pursuit of some ideal, those critics who blockade from acceptance all those who do not match their own preferences, and those who pursued 'beauty' on canvases that should never be so abused.

The Golden City is relatively physically safe for travellers, but the scars it leaves on their souls are subtle and far-reaching.

Geography

The Golden City is indeed a city. A tall curtain wall surrounds it, shielding it from the Wasteland which it abuts in an unusual physical connection of Hells. Inside the wall, the chaotic but well-kept slums and warrens of Lower Bohemia house the rabble of the city - hack artists, desperate performers and fraudulent back-alley academies all striving in poverty for fragments of precious recognition. No map of this place is consistent or reliable, as it is regularly overwritten by the grant architects and landscapers of the respectable districts.

The higher city has many regions. The Amber Districts all embody some perfected style, and protect it against the intrusion of ugly modernisms in the name of 'innovation'. The notables of these regions are some of the most reactionary and bigoted in all the low umbra, but are at least predictable in their tastes. They struggle for space against Platinum Eidos, the vision of tomorrow, which has upheld the ideal of the future from the futurist speed cult through postwar utopianism to the modern networked world. Besides these are districts given over to some particular artistic concern, such as the Pavilions of Autosculpture in which the possibilities of transformation of flesh are determinedly explored.

As a backstage to much of the wealthier city lies the Undercity. In this dismal warren run the menials and slaves who keep the facade of beauty running, appearing from their hidden entrances to clean, reorder and polish any damage before vanishing once more.

Loot

• The Ideal of Oneself is a fetish that preserves the youth, health and beauty of its beneficiary. The Ideal is an ornate but tasteful picture frame and canvas, which can be linked to by having ones portrait (willingly) painted in it. The one so depicted does not age, nor do they suffer disfigurement. Even the most horrific aggravated injuries can be healed without a trace, and so so quickly as if they were bashing damage (supernatural injuries with limited healing conditions are left to the discretion of the GM as to which force is the stronger). However, these deferred effects are transferred onto the portrait, and if it is destroyed or defaced they are immediately returned to the owner. Furthermore, the spirit in the portrait that gives it its powers is a fragment of the protraitee's own soul, and is under the influence of the powers of the City.
• Virgil is a drug that heightens all the senses, including the sense of pain. It grants +2 dice to all perception rolls, and appropriate rolls for artistic appreciation, but increases all wound penalties by 1. Virgil is highly addictive, and withdrawal takes the form of a miserable deadening of all sensation except the craving for more.
• A Muse is a type of familiar, appearing as a beautiful human of any age, sex and demeanour. Besides the typical functions of familiars, they are excellent artistic consultants, though their advice always ultimately leads in the direction of Descent. Muses follow orders, but have true loyalty onto to the aesthetic ideal, and are perfectly willing to lead other promising mortals onto the path of the sublime. And jealousy and wrath themselves can be excellent catalysts to the artistic growth of their masters.

Bavaria Megaragusa's Travel Guide

• Be prepared to sacrifice your dignity, but for God's sake don't let them know you think that's what you've done.
• Get an up-to-date style guide as soon as possible on arrival. You won't impress anyone if you're working from a book, but it'll keep the fashion police off your back.
• If you attract the attention of a critic,