Glimport World Bible

A. Macro Canvas — The FloodEpoch World

A1 Sky & Sea

Four centuries after the First Summoning, seawater blankets nine-tenths of Earth. At dawn the horizon is a knife-edge of polished chrome; by dusk it's a bruise-purple mirror lit by drifting holo-ads from drowned megacorps that still run on ghost code. Storms form in minutes, shredding old satellite arrays whose debris rains down as "iron hail."

A2 Geography

Dry land survives only where pre-Flood skyscrapers breached the surface. Their jagged tops were cored, ringed with barnacle-crete buttresses, and sheathed in scavenged ship-plating to form vertical hamlets. Pontoon causeways, floating algae farms, and rust-filigreed rail lines rise and dip with every rogue swell.

A3 Economy & Culture

Currency is measured in salvage rights. Divers in corrosion-proof exoskins scour the abyss for working drives, biotech vats, or pre-Flood reactor cores—every haul taxed by Salvage Permit Offices (most are cult fronts). Humanity lives in aesthetic dissonance: neon signs flicker across timber taverns; monks tattoo power-off QR codes along their arms "for the next life's login." Children learn hydrostatics before arithmetic, able to read wave pitch like their ancestors read clouds.

A4 Atmospheric Vignettes

• Chrome Skyline at Dawn

  From the highest spire roofs the horizon glints like a freshly honed blade, reflecting the first amber sliver of sun on mercurial seas.

• GhostCode Holoads at Dusk

  Billboards for brands long bankrupt drift past on rusted balloon frames, beaming spectral adverts across the bruise-purple mirror of twilight water.

• IronHail Squalls

  Microstorms coalesce in under a minute, shredding defunct satellite arrays whose shrapnel rains onto algae farms as sizzling meteoric sparks.

• BarnacleCrete Buttresses

  Whole skyscraper ribs are thick with living barnacles exhaling brine mist that refracts streetlight into rainbow halos.

• Neon Scripture Fog

  Evenings shroud catwalks in salt fog backlit by glowing neon psalms; each pulse in sync with the distant TideScar hum.

• QRMonk Procession

  Tide-monks march along pontoon causeways chanting binary sutras; their skin-inked QR codes flicker in candlelight like login portals awaiting the next incarnation.

• Children's WavePitch Games

  Kids on buoy playgrounds whistle ascending scales to guess rogue-swell heights, scoring points by how quickly they can anchor themselves before the surge.

B. Meso Canvas — Glimport in Full Relief

B1 TideScar Harbor (City Core)

A vast bowl whose center plunges two kilometers into the trench. Metal catwalks trellis the water like spider silk, rigged with resonator buoys that ring low as cathedral bells when the trench hums. Entire neighborhoods pause to listen; older residents swear the pitch has been climbing for months.

B2 Primary Districts

District	Snapshot
Stone District	Once a marble financial hub, now reinforced with basalt quarried from submerged subway tunnels. Radioactive glow-lichen paints the cracks a dull turquoise at night. Home to Last Harbor Bar and → SpireSpar & Gear (see K2).
Ridgeline	Rooftop shanties clinging to the skyline ridge. Giles rents shipping-container rooms; rain funnels through shafts into communal cisterns. Houses → Stormglass Apothecary & WaveWorth Legal Alcove.
Blue Verge	Semi-legal hydroforge quarter where techsmiths laser-carve barnacles into biosensors. Claire keeps a loft here; rooftop fogbanks host → Mirage Cinema.

B3 Subdistricts & Locales

Locale	Parent Zone	Snapshot
Bloom Drift Market	Harbor Pontoon	Dawn bazaar of produce barges & relic peddlers. Riot site during Phase III (see H-Timeline).
Stone Annex – Registry Row	Stone District	Marble colonnades housing TideTally Registry & Loan House. Lantern-lit by phosphor braziers.
Harbor UnderWalk	TideScar Harbor	Timber deck below catwalks; home to Echo Trail Courier Hub thick with kite-sail message lines.
Blue Verge Rooftops	Blue Verge	Fog-projection plazas; algae-panel carpets power hologram rigs.

B4 Everyday Tech & Atmosphere

Citizens wear wrist-stamped buoyancy foam, power rigs with algae-ethanol, and pirate bandwidth from seafloor fiber still pulsing under silt. Street vendors sell filament-ink noodles printed by repurposed 3D servers; ID tags are recycled smart-glass shards bound in gut-string. Evenings haze with salt fog backlit by neon scripture; drone jukeboxes skim rooftops projecting adverts "Feel the Future!"

C. Micro Canvas — Cult of the Deep Calling

C1 Iconography & Myth

Their sigil is a negative-space spiral that appears to recede out of reality. Scriptures are written in converging tidal charts; prayers are synchronized breaths timed to the trench resonance.

The Cult perceives each summoning ("Peel") as progressively refining a permanent dimensional channel. Previous resonance events have coincided with miracles or improvements—likely placebo or coincidence—reinforcing cult members' fanatic devotion. Historical records also link past resonance events to disasters, mutations, and collective traumas, further heightening the urgency and stakes for opposing factions.

Historical Context of the First Summoning

Four centuries ago, humanity glimpsed beyond its limits by summoning a cosmic entity of unfathomable scale and alien consciousness. Driven by hubris, ambition, and curiosity, ancient summoners used an immense sacrifice and intricate ritual patterns etched in blood and starlight to tear open a dimensional corridor, briefly drawing the attention of an entity that existed beyond the known boundaries of space-time.

This entity, utterly indifferent to human existence—neither benevolent nor malevolent but vastly transcendent—was momentarily drawn near Earth. Confused by the sudden dimensional shift, it paused, creating an event horizon of anomalous physics. However, humanity's fleeting triumph quickly turned disastrous. The entity's mere proximity distorted fundamental physical laws, spontaneously multiplying Earth's oceans and causing catastrophic global flooding. After this brief cosmic hiccup, the being departed, completely uninterested and unaware of the civilizations it had inadvertently decimated.

The event is remembered as the First Summoning, marking the beginning of the FloodEpoch.

Cult Objective: The Second Peel

The Cult of the Deep Calling seeks to re-enact this event, believing they can refine and stabilize the dimensional channel, compelling the entity to return. They interpret previous resonance events as evidence of their progress and potential ascension. Though the entity remains profoundly indifferent to humanity, the cultists believe sustained resonance, perfected through rituals and sacrifices, could permanently open communication or even grant godlike powers.

In reality, any re-summoning risks amplifying the catastrophic consequences of the original event—further flooding, dimensional instability, or existential catastrophe. The citizens of Glimport, mostly unaware of the true magnitude of this threat, are caught in the resonance ripples of the Cult's dangerous ambition.

C2 Hierarchy

• Navigants

  Strategists aboard tethered weather balloons routing commands via buoy relays.

• Harbor Masters

  Port lieutenants like Donovan Keel, tasked with harvesting data, bodies, resonance.

• Undertow

  Expendable drifters high on spore-brew who form living signal arrays by chanting at specified pitches.

C3 Operation "Second Peel"

Operation "Second Peel" is the Cult of the Deep Calling's meticulously staged ritual intended to tear a dimensional rift within the TideScar, facilitating a brief summoning of their cosmic patron. It unfolds across four carefully orchestrated phases, each escalating resonance, chaos, and public distraction:

Phase	Name	Mechanics	Effects & Practical Impact
I	Harmonize	Claire's hydroacoustic maps overlay Voss's avian migration charts, pinpointing resonance nodes. Cult Navigants relay precise timing and spatial coordinates to Harbor Masters.	Minor resonance anomalies (headaches, minor equipment malfunctions, distant humming). Heightened cult activity near nodes, slight behavioral changes in sensitive residents.
II	Seed	Giles Ravel distributes double-dose spore-brew widely, tuning thousands of Undertow drifters into synchronized resonance amplifiers.	Surge in bizarre behaviors, disappearances, and localized chaos. Increased city paranoia. Whisper Jellies become more frequent, especially near Elara.
III	Shroud	Mari Glassman disseminates fabricated intelligence under Donovan's directive, inciting staged riots. Sacrificial rites are obscured by widespread panic and civil disruption.	Full-scale riots divert attention from cult sacrifices. Public infrastructure disrupted; Elara's investigations severely impeded. Jellies echo Elara's increasingly unstable inner dialogue.
IV	Peel	Octavia "Tav" Rust deploys the crystalline reflector into TideScar via her barge. Chanting Undertow drifters amplify trench resonance precisely timed by Navigants.	Dimensional fabric momentarily tears open, triggering reality distortions, visions, hallucinations city-wide. Whisper Jellies now aggressively echo critical, distressing thoughts, driving Elara toward her catastrophic climax.

D. Civic & Commercial Ecosystem

D1 Storefront Matrix (who & what keeps the city alive)

#	Business	District	Owner	Employees	Plot Utility
1	SpireSpar & Gear	Stone	Ira Calder	Teg Brighton, Cora Spindle	Source of reflector bolts; cult orders odd cogs.
2	Stormglass Apothecary	Ridgeline	Maudri Shale	Rook Fen	Supplies Giles's taper crystals; possible antidote trade.
3	Blue Verge HydroForge Coop	Blue Verge	Helix Korr (guild spokesman)	30 rotating techsmiths incl. Sera Lin	Claire backups here; cult monitors heat prints.
4	Bloom Drift Market	Harbor Pontoon	Captain Jyl Yarrow	Omi Reef + barge vendors	Mari fences reels; riot site.
5	TideTally Registry & Loan	Stone Annex	Lennan Grasp	Pip Salvo + golem-crabs	Tav's debt note; Donovan bribes records.
6	Mirage Cinema	Blue Verge Roof	Alyx Ferrow	Ushers Nada & Nix	Sub-bass tests for Donovan; Mari dreams of owning.
7	Echo Trail Courier Hub	UnderWalk	Frax Docke	Venn Pace + runners	Stamp logs track cult parcels.
8	WaveWorth Legal Alcove	Ridgeline	Sol Kinwright	Jori Ampers	Issues & can pull Elara's license.

(Owners & staff are fully profiled in → E6 Civic NPC dossiers.)

E. Character Compendium

This roadmap shows where to find every character's full sheet (alphabetical list in §E6) and gives a one-sentence role hook for quick recall during outlining.

E1 Protagonist — Elara Grey

Glimport's lone private inquiry agent whose spiraling visions may either save or doom the city. → full dossier at E6 ▸ Elara Grey

E2 Primary Supporting

• Giles Ravel

  Her debt-strangled landlord caught between addiction and cult collectors. → E6 ▸ Giles Ravel

• Donovan Keel

  Affable bar owner secretly orchestrating the cult's Second Peel. → E6 ▸ Donovan Keel

E3 Extended Supporting (Core Allies & Foils)

• Claire Beckett: Rogue hydro-acoustician mapping the "black heartbeat."
• Dr Henry Voss: Avian pathologist encoding cult ledgers in migration charts.
• Marina "Mari" Glassman: Mimic-voiced courier trading vision reels for her brother's freedom.
• Octavia "Tav" Rust: Debt-burdened scrap-barge captain tasked with lowering the reflector.

Detailed sheets for each appear under E6.

E4 Civic & Commercial NPCs

Shopkeepers, guild spokespeople, and market marshals (Ira Calder, Helix Korr, Maudri Shale, etc.) are fully profiled in the D1 Storefront Matrix and alphabetically in E6.

E5 DeepDive Dossiers

(Section content integrated into E6)

E6 Comprehensive Character Sheets (Alphabetical)

Every character named anywhere in this bible has a full sheet with appearance, personality, motivations, quirks/skills, relationships, and plot stakes.

F. Resonance Threading

F-1. Resonance Threading (Setting-wide Motif & Psychological Effects)

Resonance phenomena progressively escalate, directly affecting emotional and psychological states of sensitive individuals, notably Elara Grey:

• Hum Boards

  District chalk slates; coffee prices spike with semi-tone rise.

• Last Harbor Sub-Bass

  Donovan's jukebox primes patrons for spore-brew.

• Giles's Counter-Whistle

  Dissonant thirds warn of upcoming spikes.

• Physiological Echoes

  Elara's nosebleeds, Claire's bell cracks, Voss's birds refract lasers—all crest before Phase IV.

Phase	Resonance Manifestation	Psychological & Physiological Effects
Early (I)	Low-grade hum, subtle auditory anomalies.	Mild headaches, brief moments of disorientation. Elara experiences fleeting auditory illusions.
Mid (II-III)	Noticeable environmental vibrations; minor tremors, ringing resonance.	Increased irritability, nosebleeds, vertigo. Whisper Jellies start directly echoing private anxieties and intrusive thoughts.
Final (IV)	Severe resonance; visible distortions, widespread hallucinations, overlapping timelines momentarily perceived.	Reality disorientation, panic attacks, extreme hallucinations. Whisper Jellies oppressive, repeating distorted inner narratives, exacerbating Elara's paranoia and decision-making errors.

G. Elara's Legal Authority

Class Δ Private Inquiry Charter issued by GBPI — requirements, powers, and revocation triggers preserved verbatim from earlier draft. (Note: The specific requirements/powers/triggers are not detailed in the provided text but referenced).

H. Plot Architecture

H-1 Operational Timeline — 7-Day Pressure Cooker

Day	Cult Phase	Key Event	POV Focus & Stakes
−5	Quiet Gather	Donovan secretly acquires Tav's balloon mortgage	Tav learns her barge is hostage.
0	Phase I – Harmonize	Claire finalizes trench map overlay	Claire debates deleting backups vs. leveraging for crystals.
+2	Phase II – Seed	Giles floods dock district with double-dose spore-brew	Mari races shipment to ransom brother.
+4	Riot at 128 dB	First Undertow brawl rattles Bloom Drift	Elara mis-visions culprit; false arrest ensues.
+6	Phase III – Shroud	Mari's fake intel sparks district lockdown	Elara faces public backlash.
+7 23:30	Phase IV – Peel	Tav lowers crystalline reflector	Claire sabotages buoy, buys Elara 30 min.
+8 00:30	Climax	Counter-hum vs. micro-summon showdown	Elara chooses self-sacrifice to seal scar—or fails.

H-2 Three-Act Outline

Act	Ch #	Beat	Turning Point
I	1	Hook	Anonymous tide-chart arrives on Elara's desk.
	2	Inciting Incident	Crystallized drifter corpse confiscated by Voss.
	4	Plot Point 1	Claire sells incomplete map to Donovan; Elara vows full truth.
II	6	MidPoint	128 dB riot floods Ridgeline; Elara's bad arrest costs trust.
	9	Dark Night	Giles OD; whispers "Peel tonight."
III	11	Climax	Reflector descends; monks prep counter-hum; Elara forced to act.
	12	Resolution	Scar reseals (or not); bell tower collapse

I. Craft Checklist

• Scene seeds, dialogue hooks, escalating misreads, sensory echoes.
• Show, Don't Just Tell: Active scenes > exposition dumps.
• POV Discipline: Stick tightly to Elara's PoV filter (or other designated POV character per chapter). Filter worldbuilding through character perception.
• Sensory Detail: Engage smell, sound, texture alongside sight. Especially the unique Glimport atmospherics (brine, rust, spore-tang, resonance hum).
• Pacing Variety: Mix fast action sequences w/ slower, character-driven beats. Avoid wall-to-wall franticness OR navel-gazing.
• Dialogue Dynamics: Each character has distinct voice/agenda. Subtext > on-the-nose statements.
• Theme Resonance: Weave motifs (sound, water, decay, hidden truths) subtly throughout narrative & description.
• Stakes Escalation: Continuously raise personal/public stakes for Elara. Each setback should feel meaningful.
• World Consistency: Adhere to established rules of resonance, spore effects, city layout, character motivations.
• Emotional Arc: Track Elara's internal journey alongside external plot. Is her transformation believable?
• Climax Payoff: Does final confrontation resolve key conflicts & thematic questions satisfyingly?

J. Tier Integration Summary

Each tier—planet, city, cult, individual—locks into the one above it, funneling pressure toward the night Glimport's TideScar rings again. That resonance will decide whether Elara's micro-summon gamble saves the spires or drowns them beneath the next cosmic shrug.

J1. Native Creatures & Ecological Anomalies

• Whisper Jellies

  Semi-translucent organisms that drift silently between rooftops during high fog. Their tendrils pulse in response to sound, capturing snippets of speech and repeating them out of sequence hours or days later. Some citizens believe they function as biological recorders, replaying memories for unknown purposes. Tide-Monks avoid them, while Undertow cultists whisper commands into their folds.

• Chalkspine Skates

  Manta-shaped trench dwellers with bio-calcium ridges resembling circular diagrams. When threatened, they flee upward and generate harmonics that echo through canal walls and tower roots. Their membrane can vibrate for hours after death, and monks believe their etched backs are prophetic renderings of past resonance cycles. One skinned skate recovered by Claire formed the basis for her trench pitch map.

• Grub-type Entity ("Larvae")

  Viscous, pallid, segmented organisms found clustered in damp, rust-lined crevices. Seem to "die" in mass migrations to certain hollow trench-cavities, where their bodies disintegrate into translucent sludge.

• Metamorphosis Cycle

  Post-death sludge eventually reconstitutes—often weeks later—into rare airborne or pelagic horrors. Forms vary wildly but share twisted anatomical features, tendrils, and membranous sails or wings.

• Dangerous Consumption Attempts

  In the early post-Flood years, a desperate salvage crew attempted to cook and eat one. The larval body reanimated inside a crew-member's gut and ruptured out through their chest cavity, beginning its metamorphosis externally. Since then, all forms are considered non-edible and subject to cautionary pictographs on old ration packs.

• Cultural Impact

  Tide-Monks mark larval migration zones with iron chimes—meant to discourage settlement. Some believe these creatures act as the trench's immune response to human habitation. Undertow rituals occasionally involve deliberately seeding their "deathbeds" as offerings.

• Psychological Impact (Elara)

  As Elara Grey's mental state deteriorates, Whisper Jellies increasingly gravitate toward her. Initially distant echoes of everyday speech evolve into intimate repetitions of Elara's internal thoughts, anxieties, and memories, amplifying her paranoia. Their proximity correlates directly with her worsening mental condition, becoming a chilling indicator of her psychological unraveling. By the climax, they hover close enough to brush against her, whispering distorted versions of crucial clues, and pushing her toward catastrophic decisions.

K. Glossary & Key Terms

A reference-style glossary covering major terminology used in the Glimport setting.

BarnacleCrete

A bio-engineered concrete grown from barnacle colonies fused with slag and stone, used to anchor buildings against rogue waves and trench quakes.

BioSensor (Barnacle Sensor)

Laser-carved barnacle shell, grown in hydro-forges, used to detect wave pressure, salinity spikes, or frequency drift in resonance fields.

Brass Debtor

The name of Tav's modified scrap barge, her livelihood and collateral in a predatory mortgage scheme.

CounterHum

A resonance-cancelling bell sequence used by Tide-Monks to prevent the Peel by negating trench vibrations.

DeepCalling Sigil

A spiral glyph designed to evoke spatial vertigo; cultists wear it carved into bone or inked on their palms.

Echo Trail

Glimport's official courier hub, using under-walk kite lines and stamp-logs to authenticate sealed packages.

FloodEpoch

The post-Summoning era; a 400-year period marked by the submersion of 90% of Earth's landmass.

GBPI

Glimport Bureau of Private Inquiries; the charter office responsible for licensing detectives like Elara Grey.

GhostCode Hoload

Floating, semi-intact billboard that projects outdated adverts using still-active pre-Flood AI.

Harbor Master

A cult rank; figures like Donovan who manage ritual logistics and act as the cult's face in public.

Hum Board

Chalk slates posted in each district that track trench pitch over time; used by citizens to gauge danger.

Iron Hail

Meteoric storm of satellite shrapnel that periodically pelts Glimport, igniting anything unshielded.

Job Board

A rumor and assignment wall inside the Last Harbor Bar where Elara receives client cases.

Navigant

Cult overseer operating from atmospheric balloon stations, relaying chants and coordinates via buoy.

Peel (Second Peel)

The final cult phase intended to re-summon the original entity by piercing the dimensional veil.

QRSutra

An inked ritual tattoo used by Tide-Monks to encode scripture or wave sequences; scannable in sacred processions.

Reflector Bolt

A specialized anchor forged by the TechSmith Guild, used to fasten a crystalline summoning mirror deep into the trench.

Resonator Bowl

Portable acoustic dish used by Tide-Monks to triangulate hum spikes or purify ambient sound.

Salvage Rights

Currency tied to legally documented salvage claims; tracked through TideTally notaries.

Seaglass Reel

A translucent strip of memory-etched crystal used to replay three-dimensional visions, often used by Mari.

Spire

The roof-level of a drowned skyscraper; retrofitted into living space post-Flood with vertical farming.

SporeBrew

Psychoactive fungus drink that enhances audio sensitivity; addictive and sacred to Undertow cultists.

TideGate (Clockwork)

An unfinished city-wide mechanism designed by Ira Calder to release pressure from rising waters.

TideMonk Bell Corps

Acoustic monks who manage Glimport's wave alert system and oppose the cult's use of resonance.

TideScar

The central trench beneath Glimport believed to be a dimensional fault line or scarred boundary.

Undertow Drifters

Cultist addicts who chant in unison to act as living amplifiers during resonance rituals.

WaveProbable Cause

The legal standard for issuing writs or warrants when trench activity correlates with suspicious behavior.