It is a fiddly place to get around is the Maze. It won’t kill you, nope..well not directly. But people do get lost in there…that’s kind of the point. Hell, just last week we found someone who had tried going through on his own. No idea how long he had been in there, the poor thing almost staved. Of course, there is the Underpassages if our rates are not acceptable for you and your crew…

Typical speeach given by a Maze-Guide

 Franner  is a large , very large city, approximatly 600 square miles. It is divided into main three parts: Outer, Middle and Central. A thick castle-like wall separates Outer from Middle and is home to the largest number of people, merchants, guilds and so on. What separates Middle from Central is a construct/landmark known simply as The Maze. The Maze goes by many names depending on who you ask. Scholars have officially named it “The Grand Halenic Labyrinth” and some get a bit twitchy when they hear locals call it the Maze, but accept that they are fighting a losing battle with regards to this point.  

History

  A popular story is that the Maze was constructed as part of the defences to keep Halen imprisoned. The story says that if he travelled the world in mortal form, the Maze would confuse, re-direct and slow him down, giving others time to plan and deal with him before he got to the world proper. This, is false, a fairy tale. Anyone who encounters the Maze would immediately be able to see that, whilst high, it is, theoretically possible to go around or under it. And that a deity-like entity as powerful as Halen would be able to teleport, fly, dig underground or more. No, the truth of the Maze, whilst it does offer substantial resistance to magi, which is what many belive led to the above tale, the reality is one that is for many equally as impressive but does contain a kernal of truth with regards to the purpose of the Maze. The Maze didnt exist until many decades after Franners Construction and marks the orginal site of the first city’s outerwalls.  As the Mage War  ended and the Great Barrier  went up, tensions towards Franner with the now trapped god-like being at its centre rose. Offically, the other Great House-Nations would not and could not attack the island and it’s only settlement, espically due to the Great Bridge .  This did not stop covert activitist being sent over and some creatures being “encouraged” to attack the war-torn city. Various defences were set up as , ironically, they knew that if Franner fell along with the Halen’s Cathedral  and what it contained, the results would be disatrous. They needed protection, something to keep them safe. The Maze was the solution, but it was not what was intended.  The one who was comissioned , who name has been carefully removed from the history books, was told “Make it impossible for those outside to come in, but still allow us to get and back in again if needed.” And they did.  What orginaly resembled a plain looking, yet heavily fortified city wall and the area just near to it on both sides, was , once the final part of the magic creation put in place transformed, but it was very subtle at first. The walls begin to move and twist into new form, delighting those who watched…and then it turne to horro as the nearby buildings followed suite, reality warping on a local level in a way that for many resembled the way reality itself warps when in The Bleed . As it turned out, this wasnt that far from the truth, as the designer was using knoweldge and material gathered from there to inact their plan. Luckikly the Maze , from an outside poV is not that large will not affect anyone directly even touching the “new walls”, but once stepping within, those who do are bounds by its rules.  Within the maze itself building twist and change on a regular basis. A passage that went right one day, might loop back onitself an hour later. From the ouside the maze is about 500 meters across. From within it feels closer to 5 miles and that is on a good day.  

Traversing the Maze

 Getting past the Maze is, relativly speaking, quite simple. Once must go under it, or through it. Magical spells that cause the user to travel are not advised and many belive it , combined with the Beacon is one of the reasons that teleportation magic is “a very bad idea”. Going under the Maze is cramped and difficult. Known as the Underpassages, it was the old sewer system converted into travel. It is not a pleasent ride and is mainly used for automated transport of supplies. A few people each year do decide to use the Underpassages, but the expereince is said to be very unearving and unpleasent, where one’s own throughts can be turned against you and made manifest. The more relalble, if expensive and slightyl slower route is by the hireing of a Maze-guide. There are patterns and “moods” to the changes of the Maze. These are quite complex and those that study it and learn can , in a way, annticapte this. Predictions on routes are never 100%  accurate and and any map made today would be invlaid within a few days. The Maze-Guides are  a guild, of sorts. They take people through the maze for a fee. They guide their clients through the maze, leading them on the most direct path, past the areas that Maze-Gangs have claimed and so on.  Many do try to traverse the Maze on their own, but it is a risky idea. Some pepole have even moved into the Maze but their rarely stay long as their homes twist and warp along with the rest of the area.