Shining Spire
c. 100 ADW
Over dinner at an open-air cafe, Guildmaster Alyndor "Aly" Marvale sends the party on a night infiltration of Aurelian's Spire, the Soul Brokers' newly revealed stronghold. Climbing the tower with captured soul tokens as keys, they interrupt an enthrallment "orientation" run by the manager Durnan Bronzeforge—freeing the tavern keeper Nessa Vey mid-ritual—file Harlan Stonefoot's botched paperwork to restore his suspended clearance, battle the eerily positive Soul Broker Recruiters of the glass-walled third floor, recite affirmations to the professional-development mirrors, and reach the Enlightenment Lounge at the top. There they learn the tower is only "New Arcanum Sector 1" of a far larger operation, that even Regional Director Elara Voss is owned by Aurelian, and—as Voss speaks through her hand-mirror soul token and locks the penthouse doors—that she will be happy to discuss their future in the morning.
Referenced In
This module is referenced by the following lore entries:
Factions and Organizations
- Soul BrokersThe organized network of Aurelian's agents, who trade mortals their heart's desire for a keepsake of sentimental value—and with it, unknowingly, their soul. Centered in New Arcanum but with a far broader reach, the organization runs like a corporation and a church at once: shipments of "secondhand goods" expedited through customs by the Church of Aurelian, rotating rented warehouses where collateral is tagged and recorded, a hidden archive whose clockwork counting machine binds the Ledger of Souls, and regional strongholds like Aurelian's Spire. Its hierarchy of grunts, managers, recruiters, and directors is itself bound by soul contracts—even Regional Director Elara Voss is owned by the demigod—with performance metrics enforced on pain of having one's own soul token and autonomy revoked. Meticulous record-keepers and negotiators before all else, its members honor every promise they make, down to the letter.
Legendary Characters
- Alyndor "Aly" MarvaleA tiefling who serves as Guildmaster of New Arcanum's Adventurers Guild. Sharp-tongued, brilliant, and unshakably confident, she reads the weave with unsettling precision. She favors simple but elegant robes and a faint perfume, and is fond of small pranks and bad jokes. She stands with Master Thalin Fernstride, Guildmaster Teyla Coalmaker, and Elrin Veymar when the four great guilds unite against Holt and the Molokite. As Thalin's counterpart in the west, she agrees the string of caravan robberies "smells like trouble," and welcomes the agents he sends across the Western Wastes to investigate Aurelian's soul brokers. From New Arcanum's guild hall she directs the hunt for the Soul Brokers: posting a bounty for the location of their operations, promising a team for the hidden archive beneath the canals, and briefing the night infiltration of Aurelian's Spire over dinner at an evening-market cafe ("No one plans a successful infiltration on an empty stomach!").
- AurelianA charismatic demigod who collects mortal souls through Faustian "soul contracts," granting people their heart's desire in exchange for a small keepsake of sentimental value. Unbeknownst to the mark, forfeiting that token severs their anchor to their own soul, letting Aurelian claim them as a thrall—a flawless, emotionless soldier with glowing golden eyes who cannot speak his name or break their bond without their throat searing with divine golden light. His elite agents, the Soul Brokers, broker these deals and bank the collateral in the vaults of New Arcanum, and ordinary magic such as remove curse cannot undo his contracts. Biscuit was the first of his thralls to be uncovered by the Adventurer's Guild. His worshippers operate openly as the Church of Aurelian, and the Soul Brokers run in his name like a corporation—warehouses, archives, and regional sectors under directors such as Elara Voss—tallying the debtors, friends, and materiel of the army he is building in the Ledger of Souls.
- Durnan BronzeforgeA dwarf manager who runs the Soul Brokers' orientation department at the base of Aurelian's Spire, with a neatly braided beard adorned with bronze rings and a once-well-fitted waistcoat straining over a round belly. Curt, impatient, and commanding—but a bully and a coward at heart—he reads the enthrallment ritual over hopeful "recruits" from the employee handbook as if it were mundane paperwork. His own soul token is a broken pocket watch inscribed "To Durnan - Every minute with you is time well spent. Love always, Brynn"—a gift from the woman who was his fiancée when he joined the Soul Brokers, whom he no longer sees, having given every minute to his work.
- Elara VossA half-elf woman who serves as the Soul Brokers' Regional Director of New Arcanum Sector 1, presiding over Aurelian's Spire from a penthouse off its rooftop observation deck. Dressed in tailored white robes embroidered with golden geometric patterns—every detail elegant, costly, and intentional—she is warm and encouraging, treating every interaction as a motivational speech and preferring leading questions over direct orders. Her statues, portraits, and framed quotes fill the tower ("Success is not the end of the journey. It is permission to begin the next."). For all her power, she is not the mastermind: even the Director is owned by Aurelian, her own soul token a small silver hand mirror inscribed "You were always meant to be seen. -Mother"—and through it she can speak, her face appearing in its tarnished surface.
- Harlan StonefootA middle manager of the Soul Brokers in Aurelian's Spire whose third-floor access was suspended by Director Voss after he filed his paperwork incorrectly. Unable to figure out how to re-submit it, he swept the papers off his desk in frustration, threw down his soul token—a macaroni necklace made by his oldest child—and stormed out for the night, unwittingly leaving guild infiltrators everything they needed to file the paperwork, restore his clearance, and climb the tower in his stead.
- Nessa VeyA warm, energetic elf woman who owns the Fortunate Flagon, a bustling tavern overlooking New Arcanum's seventh-ring canal. She traded her mother's bracelet to a Soul Broker in exchange for business success, and soon after discovered an astoundingly talented young bard who drew in customers like crazy. She cannot speak of her bargain—a ring of golden light flares around her throat if she tries—and lies about having lost the bracelet, though she touches her bare wrist whenever her new success comes up. Later summoned to Aurelian's Spire for a "new opportunity," she was moments from being enthralled in the orientation office when guild agents interrupted the ritual; returning her bracelet broke the daze and sent her home shaken, though possession of her soul token alone could not lift the curse of her contract.
Legendary Items & Artifacts
- Soul TokenA small keepsake of sentimental value—a bracelet, a pocket watch, a child's macaroni necklace, a silver hand mirror—traded away as "collateral" in one of Aurelian's soul contracts. Forfeiting the token severs its owner's anchor to their own soul. The Soul Brokers tag each one with a paper label tied with golden thread recording the item, its owner's name, and their "use," then bank it in their vaults. Tokens held by ranking Soul Brokers double as keys: they can be imbued with authorization that opens the warded floors of Aurelian's Spire, and recalled to the vaults to strip a holder's clearance. Returning a token to a dazed victim can break an enthrallment in progress, but possession of the token alone does not lift the curse of the contract.
Locations
- Aurelian's SpireAn immaculate tower of pale sandstone streaked with gold in New Arcanum's third ring, dotted with glass windows and wearing its rooftop observation deck like a crown on a regal brow. Nominally a place of opportunity, it is the Soul Brokers' regional stronghold—"New Arcanum Sector 1"—ruled by Regional Director Elara Voss from the penthouse. Hopeful recruits queue in its lobby to be quietly enthralled in the ground-floor orientation office; above rise the maze-like management offices, the lavish glass-walled recruitment floor with its crystal-flower leaderboard, a small "professional development" room of mirrors and affirmations, and the Enlightenment Lounge, an enchanted retreat whose direct connection to Aurelian grants a full night's rest in minutes. Movement up its central spiral staircase is governed by soul tokens: golden runes on each landing read the tagged trinkets like keys, and without proper authorization the stairs simply never end.
- New ArcanumA magical metropolis rising from the heart of the Western Wastes that, in the century after the Dead Wars, became the seat of power for the Arcane Registry and its nation. Perfectly circular, it is a city of towering spires and gravity-defying floating platforms, with airships passing overhead and a great floating black obelisk at its center. A shimmering protective dome cools the entire city, granting relief from the desert heat to travelers who reach its gates. It is connected to other major world powers via teleportation gates, and about a week's wagon travel from Kingdom Grand along a well-marked but perilous trade route. Its Adventurers Guild is led by Alyndor "Aly" Marvale, who joins the other guildmasters against Holt. The city is laid out on a polar grid: radial avenues named by angle, ring roads named by radius, and addresses given as a distance and an angle from the Senate Obelisk, the colossal floating stone that hovers above Origin Lake at the city's center—locals insist the system makes perfect sense. Its concentric canals, fed by the artesian well beneath the lake and drained through culverted arteries and veins, double as a vast evaporative cooling and irrigation system devised by the city's builder, Merric Goldbright, with scholars and senators in the inner rings, the educated trades in the middle rings, and merchants, students, and warehouses filling the outer rings beneath the dome.
Military Units and Creatures
- Soul Broker ManagerA mid-level officer of the Soul Brokers who runs the day-to-day of a stronghold like Aurelian's Spire—coordinating shipments of soul tokens, arranging the payouts promised to new recruits, reading the enthrallment ritual from the employee handbook, and sweating under nearly impossible performance metrics on pain of having their own soul token and autonomy revoked. A capable fighter with scimitar and daggers who parries well, though most prefer to let their thralls do the fighting. Durnan Bronzeforge is one such manager.
- Soul Broker RecruiterAn eerily positive salesman of the Soul Brokers who works the lavish, glass-walled recruitment floor of Aurelian's Spire, competing on a crystal-flower leaderboard to sell mortals a dream in exchange for a cherished keepsake. Bound by their own unwitting contracts and strict quotas, recruiters bargain even mid-battle—"every great success starts with a single opportunity"—preferring enchantment-style magic and cover to melee, and honoring any deal they strike to the letter.
- Thrall GruntA soulbound humanoid enslaved by one of Aurelian's soul contracts, serving as muscle and mounted outriders for a Soul Broker's caravan. Thralls speak in a flat monotone, show no pain or fear, and press forward relentlessly, their eyes flashing with golden light. They have advantage on saves against being charmed and are immune to fear, but cannot act against their contract—if one tries to speak its master's name or reveal contract terms, its throat sears with divine golden light. They fight with a mace and heavy crossbow. Expendable thralls also guard the Soul Brokers' warehouses and strongholds, burning evidence and holding doors without fear or hesitation; they can be killed or knocked out, but not returned to their senses—not even by handing back their own soul token.