Sanctum Victoria: A Steam-Powered World of Adventure!

[The Nottest of Daves]

Wandering through the Nexus Portal Nexus, you've stumbled upon what you almost mistook as a machinery space. Steam-powered turbines drive complex gearworks which, as you cross the threshold, are revealed to be operating a mechanistically driven replica of an unknown starry sky. On the opposite wall stands a pair of grandiose doors, formed of luxurious wood inlaid with a coat of arms in gold and silver. The shield of the arms is divided in three, with crossed rifles in the lower left, crossed hammer and tongs in the lower right, and three gears along the top. To either side, the shield is supported by bears rearing up. The shield is surmounted by a crown bearing the symbol of a six-winged gear.

You're shaken from your distraction by a clockwork figure stepping out from behind a set of silk curtains. "Welcome, travellers!" it greets, with a strange flanging undertone to its words. "You have reached the gate to the world of Sanctum Victoria. Through these doors stands a land of invention and discovery, a nation of order and growth, a world adventure and glory!" The figure bows, sweeps around smoothly, and opens the doors, revealing the shimmering field of the portal.

"The Wigglesworth Office of the Ministry of Visitor Affairs stands beyond this gate. After completing your registration with the Ministry, you will be open to travel throughout the lands of the Bessemer Empire, or negotiate with the other nations of the world for travel rights. Make certain to obey all relevant laws and government directives whist you go about your activities, or your entry may be barred in the future. May the grace of Wynda be upon you."

[The Nottest of Daves]

Requests of and Notices to the People of Nexus from Residents of the Bessemer Empire, the Many Nations of Wyndasland, and the Colonies Thereof

--On a torn sheet of newsprint: "THE TIMES OF LYTHWICK: EXTRA EXTRA - READ ALL ABOUT IT! ANOTHER VICTIM OF THE NIGHT HAUNTER SLAIN! The third victim this week was foundry worker George Cavanaugh, who resided in the company dormitories at the W.W. Wilson Steel Mill & Foundry in the South Crittendon industrial district. Once again, the crime was only discovered upon his failure to awaken with the rest of his shift the next morning. 'The Night Haunter is a master of stealth' Chief Constable Sir Basil Rumpole said in a statement to reporters. 'If we are to have a chance to capture this vile fiend, we must all be at the utmost of vigilance at all times. If anyone has any information regarding these tragedies, or the true identity of the Night Haunter, please report them to the Constabulary at once.'"

--On a finely made page of vellum, and written in a looping, aristocratic hand: "In the name of the Kingdom of Weyreich, I, Julius von Hochstein, the Ambassador thereof to the peoples of Bessemer, do request the Aid and Comfort of any who have the Bravery, Honor, and Sense of Duty, to fight in the defense of our beleaguered colony of Pfeildorf." Several lines have been blotted out by ink. "Obtain a License for Adventuring and Other Mercenary Activities from the Ministry of Visitor Affairs, then proceed to the airdocks to book Airship Passage to Port Braxton, where the schooner Adler will be waiting to convey you to Pfeildorf. Wynda be with you." It is then signed at the bottom, and beneath the signature is the seal of an eagle wearing a crown. (*)

--On a sheet torn from a journal: "Greetings, fellow Adventurers! I, Sir Basil Frampton, Esq., GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER, am recruiting like-minded souls for an expedition into the deepest jungles of Urbesland! There will be danger! There will be hardship! But most of all, there will be TREASURE! Rumors abound of a temple of great wealth, hidden for centuries behind the veil of the jungles surrounding it! I intend to be the man who finds it! If you're with me, you'll get not only a share of the treasure, but a share of the FAME and GLORY that awaits true practitioners of that most glorious art of GENTLEMANLY ADVENTURE! Meet me in Port Sigismund in Urbesland!" (*)

--On a broadsheet: "Attend the Most Glorious Fair in All The World - The Mount Royal Imperial Clockwork Exposition! See the wonderous inventions of the most brilliant minds of our time! Enjoy foods from across the globe! Participate in the Clockwork Invention Competition, or watch the Clockwork Joust with the Emperor and Empress! Everyone who is anyone will be there!"

Starred missions have the possibility of facing enemies of level 40 and beyond, depending on how the mission proceeds.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Completed Quests:

NONE

[The Nottest of Daves]

The Varied Personages One Might Find On A Journey Throughout The Realm:
A Tale Of Travels Throughout The Empire of Bessemer

By His Grace Rupert Marsh, Duke of Innsmouth and fellow of the Royal Society of Explorers and Cartographers
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[An excerpt from the Introduction to the First Edition]
Even in my little corner of this great empire of ours, there are many sorts of people to meet and things we can learn from them. Traders, stevedores, longshoremen, sailors, merchants, tinkers, mongers; from every nation of man (and some not men at all), they come with hopes and dreams for the future, stories and legends of the past, and the many varied urges of the present. The ebb and flow of the tide is as much a part of the peoples of Innsmouth as it is the seas which surround it, but even this does not present a full picture of what the lands of Bessemer shelter within.

From the burrows of the Hundred Acre Wood to the stony shores of the Standish Isles, from the craggy cliffs of The Tor to the sunny white sand beaches of Exeter, I shall endeavor to present as complete a picture as possible of the many hidden gems and well-known wonders that the people of the Empire bring forth every day.

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[An excerpt from the Eighteenth Chapter of the Third Edition, regarding the Court of the White Queen]
Of the many shifts in the power and organization of the Court since the publishing of the Second Edition of this Work, the most notable is the replanting of the Great Dryad Serevani, She-Who-Speaks-for-the-Trees, within the formerly-unremarkable wood surrounding the Village of Whimsy, which lay outside the formal boundaries of the White Wood, and was shortly thereafter followed by the majority of the Dryads within the White Wood. This appears to have been partially in protest of the loss of power of the Court Dryads in favor of the growing might of the Tinker-fairies, Brownies, and Gremlins, and partially to increase their direct voice in the Imperial Government, as the relocation shifted the balance of power in the parliamentary riding such that they were able to elect a member of the Woodsmen's Party to the Commons (the party having previously been organized solely within the House of Lords).