Toffingthain

Toffingthain was created as a stand-alone game for the Andorith metaverse using a modified variant of the Category:Bottled Cities Game. The tables were used to select topics which were then built upon Atlas-style. This source material is intended for use as an exoplane to Andorith with no explicit connection to it. Toffingthain is the primary city on the Toffingthain exoplane. Created on 2/3/2023.

Bottled City: Toffingthain

Turn Order

• Ben
• Jon
• Kam
• Mark

Adds

• Living Skyscrapers
• Diminutive Races
• Battlemechs
• Water scarcity
• Mechs used as assistive devices and protection against environment
• Ecological Crisis
• Edwardian-era manners
• Very polite is key
• Sherlock Holmes era. Pre-World War
• Chaperones and Modesty

Bans

• War-like Culture
• The Great Age is Now
• Dominant AI

Places of Power

• A palace or castle (how is power inherited?) : Residence of the Federated League of the Patriotic Hendecarchy. Power is distributed among various old, powerful families who decide among themselves who the field of candidates for the 11 are. In a recently-implemented change, the populace democratically elects the 11 Hendecarchs for a specific period of time.
  • And they were roommates. (in a big palace, so there’s actually very little drama)
  • Head of the democratic council will drive a huge armed (but actually unarmed) mech into the chamber of the 11 to approve their seats. This evolved from a revolution that happened years ago.
  • The hendecarchs are expected to be above ostentatious displays of power and influence. So each member appoints someone to sit on the Council of Seconds who wears the ceremonial clothes, attends public activities, and generally presents the ceremonial “face” of the Council. This council has no intrinsic power.

Landmarks

• Ravenica’s Original Drytatoes. Home to drydroponically grown potato-like plant is the basis for this popular fast-casual restaurant. Fried-up into something crispy, squeezed into Al Pastor-like loaf to sear and cut. Across the street is a popular waterbar, with secret menu water pairings with the Ravenica’s food.
  • “Crispy on the Outside, Melty on the Inside” “It’s Pipin’ Hot, Like a Drytato Ought”
  • Owner is a brilliant scientist who invented the Drytato and now owns this restaurant.
  • Famous for DrytaTuesdays
• A place of learning (what is taught?): Yellow Bird College of Prosthetists & Orthotists
  • The Purity Wars placed limits on the extent of body enhancement
  • Orthotists build all sorts of stilts and braces for the diminutive races
  • Your mech is a prime marker of status. Ostentatious materials, fine craftsmanship, seasonal fashions. And always leaving your mech with the doorman when you arrive at the ball.

Nature

• Great Trisberg: Cliff, dry falls, a now dried up waterfall that now has buildings growing out of the old water divots.
  • Traditional old homes of the diminutive people.
  • Remains of a dam on top of the cliff.
  • Winds whip through creating complex harmonics

Trade

• Ships or Vehicles: Mechanized Suits have highly ornate and complex heat sinks. I.e. highly ornate and complex wings that are filigreed and articulated but designed for heat dissipation.
  • Sunday walks, at the peak heat of the day, is a way for society folks to demonstrate their awesome mechs’ heat dissipating abilities. 💖
  • The word “Mechanic” additionally implies artistic talent
• Fabric and Dyes: Due to climate, natural fabrics are rare and expensive. Mechs primarily employ iridescence to render colors which makes them sparkle and change with orientation and heat.
  • The wealthiest to employ large bolts of cloth or raw fibers on their mechs to demonstrate their wealth. Leather is virtually unheard of.
  • Normal clothing is a combination of synthetics and weaved metals, colored grays and browns.
  • Guild and government tapestries are often flecked with minerals to give a more consistent shade when solid color is desired.

Traditions

• A festival called the March of 10,000 Victories on the coldest day of the year on the coldest hour of the day (nighttime). A parade and showcase of the flashiest mech art. Run your mech HOT!
  • The celebration used to mean something else in the Great Age. But it had to be moved to another time of year and the meaning for most folks is lost or changed.
  • The only time of the year that orthotics/prosthetics may be displayed and they’re often displayed on mechs.
  • The parade is considered inappropriate for young children; the holiday on the next day is very family-centered.

Mech Modesty

• You need your mech on the street, but not indoors. Your orthotics/prosthetics should only be removed among intimates. Outsiders get this wrong all the time, or can’t seem to see the intricacies that are obvious markers of social status to a native Toffinthainian (Toffer).
  • Mechs are ornate and gothic, prosthetics are simple and understated
  • Important families have familial crests; have recognizable maker’s marks.
  • Homemade, with limited function, mechs are common.

Language and Slang

• Stumping: The shameful act of allowing yourself to be seen without your orthotics/prosthetics. Implies an intentional and ill-willed desire to expose others to indecency.
• Stump Humper: A peeping tom. There is no separation between seeing someone without orthotics/prosthetics and erotic voyeurism, as in this society these are experienced as the same thing.
• Mechanic: Someone who builds and maintains, but also makes art with their projects and repairs.

Personal Apparatus Definitions, For the Discerning Toffingthainian and Common Toffer

• Mech: Self contained machine you control from the inside
• Orthotics: Something you wear that temporarily gives you more functionality for a limb
• Prosthetics: Something that permanently replaces the functionality of a limb

Cold Storage

• Obadon Rift
• Peat Ramble