Horizon: City of Traitors

This site is for the trial run of Horizon, which has finished! If you want information on the full game, commencing October 2005, you should go here.

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The Ghouls

A little bit of the Treacherous Lands that's living right here in Horizon, the Ghouls are one of the most obviously spooky aspects of the city government. Chances are, any time you take a walk around the city you'll see at least a couple; superficially human, you can easily tell them apart by their elongated arms and much more powerful lower jaws. A long, long time ago these beauties were invited by the Emperor to come through the Wall and set up home here. No-one was too happy about that at first - after all, these are a race of vaguely humanoid Treacherous beasties - but the Emperor got his way. To calm down the dissent, he ruled that the Ghouls must live in just one part of the city, and that they must not travel out of Horizon. These days, the new deal between the city and the ghouls - the Mayor's Compact - says pretty much the same thing. People are used to the Ghouls now, but that's not the same as being happy with them. The district allocated to them is at the centre of the slums, and that's because anyone rich enough to move away from the Ghoul quarter has done so. One of the main reasons people are so wary of this longstanding community is the exact role they play in the running of Horizon.

You see, the Emperor brought them here for a reason. A city the size of Horizon has problems disposing of its dead, and a city this close to the Treacherous Lands has... other problems with dead bodies. The Ghouls, happily, live off carrion. Problem solved, though not to the complete content of many of Horizon's human citizens, either in the days of the Empire, or today. Now, if that was all there was too it, we'd just cremate the bodies. But the Ghouls have a kind of talent; whenever they eat a corpse, they get visions. Visions of the corpse's life, but mostly of how it came to be a corpse. And they can taste any strong connection to a god, as well. All very useful for the Watchdogs; and the Emperor had another bright idea. He made the Ghouls responsible for hunting down murderers and cultists of gods. These crimes have been removed from the jurisdiction of the Watchdogs, and the very worst criminals in our society can expect to be hounded down by the Ghouls. Of course they still have to bring any suspects before a court before they can (legally...) inflict punishment. But a lot of the city judiciary are somewhat cowed by the sight of a grim faced rank of Ghouls at the prosectuion stand. All this has been renewed in the Mayor's Compact.

So that's the situation. The Ghouls are a mostly self governing community within the city; the city authorities give them permission to live here, and in return they collect corpses, dispose of them, record causes of death, and hunt down murderers and cultists. They are expected to organise themselves to make this stuff happen, and they seem to do so pretty well. Any Ghoul on official business is required to wear the city's coat of arms, prominently displayed; while doing so, they have all the same rights and privileges as one of the Watchdogs. They are sufficiently important to the running of the city that their community's spokesman, the Headman, is reliably thought to be in regular correspondance with Colonel Zero; and the city government has been known to take harsh measures to supress propaganda against the Ghouls. Some say that the Ghouls have far too much power in the city, especially given that they are technically inhuman. They are much less answerable than the Watchdogs, and it is often pointed out that there is little to prevent them abusing their role to garner more influence in the city. Suspiscions are fueled by the Ghouls' open practice of Shamanism, their native faith. It's very different from God worship, but many question whether they should be allowed to get away with it. Others point out that it's not as though the Ghouls owe a whole lot to the Intercessor...

Not all the Ghouls are involved with official business; many of them seem to have trades or occupations, just like humans. Some even seek employment in human areas, although the fear of them makes that life difficult. The mobs are often more understanding, and a number of Ghouls are thought to be mob members.

Rumours

There's still a load more Ghouls living on the other side of the Wall. Bet they wish they were here, instead.

Colonel Zero has recently been in lengthy negotiations with the Ghouls, behind closed doors.

The Ghouls don't regard the Mayor's Compact as worth more than the paper it's written on. They made an agreement with the Emperor, and him alone. Now he's gone, and they're just biding time until they can rebel and destroy the city, or let in their relations from beyond the Wall, and destroy the city.

Agents of the Grey Order are stealing Ghoul babies. Maybe they want Ghouls to hunt cultists in Irgar... or maybe it's for something darker.

The Ghouls long ago leveraged their influence into control of the city. Colonel Zero answers to the Headman, not the other way around.

We need to get rid of the Ghouls; nothing good comes from beyond the Wall. Keeping them here in the city we're living on borrowed time. Send them back wear they came from, I say... or do something more permananent.

The government of the Ghoul community is near-totalitarian - they may not look like it, but they're ripe for revolution.

The eating of the dead is a funeral rite in Ghoul society. Sick.