It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted anything about Ecryme; a pile-up of new campaigns pushed me away from this book for a bit but now I’m back at it!

We are now at roughly the 50% mark of the setting information for this book; as I’ve stated before, this game has an extraordinary amount of detail to the setting before getting into the game mechanics.

TECHNOLOGY ON THE TRAVERSES

TRANSPORT

The sheer size of the traverses has pushed necessary travel means beyond foot or horseback for those traveling greater distances. Airships (both as the tow-er and the tow-ee) are often found with caravans, but far more ubiquitous are automobiles, though they are still considered a luxury product reserved for the elite.

Trains are the most popular method of transportation for those with more limited pocketbooks.

JUNCTIONS

Oftentimes confused for cities, Junctions are distinct from them in that they are built upon artificial land made from the joining of different traverses into a single location as opposed to actual islands in the ecryme.

TRAVELING BETWEEN CITIES

Extracts from reports by the Marquess of Profit Sodoyan. A first hand account that shows the importance of stiltwalkers; specially trained individuals that can venture into the ecryme for travel or even battle.

DEPLORABLE MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

Report by the Marquess of Profit Sodoyan (continued). This section details the various technologies used by the military in Ecryme: armored trains, gliders, firearms, artillery, and diving suits.

ACCOUNTS OF WAR ON THE TRAVERSE

Memoirs of Police Chief Pillot cited as an example in an iron book written by Jeanecque, taken from the Theorician Council’s Library. Here we are introduced to degreasers, elite mercenary soldiers that don’t follow any side in particular, selling their services to the highest bidder.

Though I cannot be certain, as we haven’t come across the character creation rules yet, I get the feeling that we are being introduced to various classes or backgrounds available to players in Ecryme.

LISTING THE RISKS OF A JOURNEY ON THE TRAVERSES

Letter sent to inexperienced pilgrims by Arpent Eustache Peters, from Itinerance’s air temple. This section is a treatise on general travel concepts such as the use of maps, the importance of collecting condensed water from the atmosphere, ecryme corrosion, and the inherent danger of stitch estates.

AIRSHIPS EXPLAINED

The theory of flight, a phonographic article by airship captain Charlotte Aurige, available at the library of Aeolus. This section introduces us to another specialist: the icarian; glider-wing equipped people that fly between airships and maintain them during flight. The similarity to the name Icarus is not lost on me. 🙂 An icarian graces the cover of the Players Guide.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PILOT’S CODE

Precepts taken from the Conscientious Pilots’ Almanac, condensing the veneration of Our Lady of the Skies for young aeronauts. This section introduces us to another specialist in Ecryme: the aeronaut, highly skilled pilots of airships.

Like many dystopic stories, technology in the world of Ecryme is shrouded in the arcane and religious ritual.

This section lists the Twenty Essential Rules for aeronauts: essentially the tenets of their faith and their code of conduct. This section has one of my favorite pieces of art in the entire book!

DISCUSSION OF THE EVOLUTION OF FAUNA

Introduction to evolutionary metabolism, by the naturalist Professor Artus Matois. Animals!

This is a very interesting section on the various animals that have adapted to life amid the ecryme.

I feel like I am repeating myself a bit, but this bears repeating — while I admire this game’s dedication to giving players as much information as possible to get the full knowledge of this setting, I can’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t be easier to just read the novels and then use the setting information here purely as reference. Sadly, as they are not available in English, the non-French reader is left with little choice but to surmount the daunting task of getting through all this material.

I still think that there needs to be something published that can act as a guide for “the essential 40 pages”, let’s say, of material that players should read before creating a character.