// THE PREMISE
What this world is
The Calvertan Republic collapsed eighteen years ago and never came back. What was left of Porto Calvera carved into three estates without anybody declaring it. The Vasilakis took the Kydon docks because their fathers had run them for a century. The Dragani took Velona Heights because it suited their particular genius for what is moved at night. The Caravello kept the bank because nobody else could read the ledgers. Between the three of them, the Exchange opened in The Arcade. A neutral clearinghouse for information, money, and favors that did not fit anywhere else. Anyone could use it. Nobody had to shake hands.
Four days ago, the Exchange's longtime operator was shot twice on Basin Boulevard. He was alive long enough to leave instructions. The instructions named you.
You inherit the ledger, the safe, the small office on the second floor of The Arcade, and the target on his back. The mainland is moving again. A Provisional Council from somewhere upcountry has arrived under the cover of clearing the spectre mines that have begun to wake in the abandoned Calvertan Quay. The Vasilakis and the Dragani have signed a truce neither of them believes in. The Caravello are quietly funding the Council. Father Konstantinos at St. Nikodemos says nothing in his sermons, which is its own statement.
There is a way to keep the Exchange alive. There is a way to take a side and burn the rest. There is a way to read the ledger your predecessor was killed for and decide for yourself which page he was on.
// PLAY PROFILE
What this world plays like
Open the ledger and decide which of your predecessor's appointments to keep. Approach Adrastos Vasilakis at the docks, make the trip to Jelena Dragani's Velona Heights, or wait for Lucien Caravello to summon you. Each family has its own idea of what the Exchange owes.
Broker a favour, collect a debt, or leave an envelope unopened. The Basin Accord is fragile, the Provisional Council wants cooperation, and someone killed the last person who sat at your desk. Preserving neutrality may require a decision that looks anything but neutral.
Try to keep the Exchange independent, back a family, or negotiate with the returning mainland. Investigating the murder can become the centre of your story, or the danger behind every deal. Read the ledger carefully before deciding which promise to keep.
// FACTIONS IN MOTION
Principal factions
The old power of Porto Calvera, controlling all licit trade through the Kydon docks. Led by the deeply traditional Adrastos Vasilakis, they present a veneer of legitimacy and piety, enforcing their will through established networks and brutal, old-world honor.
Ambitious and ruthless newcomers who dominate the city's smuggling rackets from the paranoid hills of Velona Heights. Led by the cunning widow Jelena Dragani, they leverage fear, modern methods, and control over scarce goods to challenge the Vasilakis' dominance.
The indispensable financial heart of Porto Calvera, operating with quiet, lethal neutrality from the commercial Arcade. Lucien Caravello and his tight-knit clan of Maltese and Sicilian bankers facilitate and launder every major transaction in the city, making them the silent kingmakers.
The moral and spiritual center of the city, based in the neutral territory of the Basin. Father Kyrillos attempts to minister to all, offering sanctuary and mediating minor disputes, but his influence is waning against the rising tide of secular pragmatism and violence.
A clandestine cell of agents representing the foreign interests that secretly engineered the Republic's collapse. Operating from the shadows, they seek to manipulate the city's factions and destabilize the current balance of power to install a new, more compliant regime.
// KEY FIGURES
People you'll meet
// SITES OF RECORD
Places that matter
The sprawling, chaotic heart of Porto Calvera's port. The air smells of diesel, salt, and grilled fish. The noise of ship horns, rattling cranes, and shouting men is constant from dawn to dusk. White-plastered tavernas and apartment blocks crowd the narrow streets leading from the container yards.
A hillside district of respectable-looking villas and new apartment buildings overlooking the port. The streets are clean, the gardens are manicured, and an unnerving quiet prevails. From the Dragani mansion at the crest of the hill, every street below can be observed.
The old commercial heart of the pre-Collapse city, now a canyon of stone-faced banks and money-changing houses. Men in suits speak in hushed tones in cafes, exchanging documents in sealed envelopes. The Caravello Bank, a former Republic Treasury building, dominates the central plaza with its bronze doors.
The flat, low-lying old city center, a maze of alleys and small squares. The Basin is a chaotic neutral zone where the territories of the three families meet. It houses the city's only real hospital, the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nikodemos, and the narrow, unassuming building of the Exchange.
The skeletal remains of the old Republic ferry terminal that once connected Porto Calvera to the mainland. Rusting gantries stand silhouetted against the sea, and the terminal building is a hollowed-out shell of broken glass and graffiti. The wind whistles through empty waiting halls and ticket offices.
// STORY PASSAGE
A passage from the published profile
The bell on the door is broken so you hear the man before you see him. He puts a small cloth bundle on your desk and does not sit. You do not ask him to.
"From Velona," he says.
You weigh the bundle. Foreign coin. Dragani's preferred currency for things she does not want recorded in the bank's ledger. You make a note. The note is in your handwriting now, not your predecessor's. You write the date. You write the source. You do not write what it is for, because the man does not say.
He waits another moment. He nods once. He leaves.
Selected story passage. Your choices can lead elsewhere.
BEFORE YOU ENTER
Choose a first decision
Start with a person you want to meet, a place you want to see, or a problem you want to understand. You make choices through written actions and read the Narrator's response. The people and places above introduce this world; they do not promise a fixed sequence of scenes.
Completed turns save to your account. Review the latest scene and the relevant in-game information when returning. Check current access and Spark allowances before a longer session, and use the player guide for help with saves, artwork, possessions, and other supported features.
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