Jericho Locks
"Jericho Locks: the hub of the Hinterlands' canals. The place where the bargemen cool their heels between voyages, where certain trade between London and Hell flows. Once, these waters belonged to the Surface – before the Masters changed all that."[1]
Jericho Locks is the central hub for the canal workers of the Hinterlands, and the second station of the Great Hellbound Railway.
The Gondolier's Guild
"Jericho Locks is home to its Guild of Gondoliers: the canal-men and women who live and work the necessary but distasteful trade routes between the two great cities of the west."[2]
The Locks are controlled by an organization known as The Guild of Gondoliers, who maintain the trade routes between London and Hell.[3][4] The Guild is led by the Gonfaloniere of the Guild, a position which can be attained by beating its previous occupant in a boat race to Hell and back.[5] Members of the Guild can increase their standing within it by obtaining silver badges, awarded for each new place that Gondolier visits.[6]
The Gondoliers are a group with many traditions and superstitions, one of which is their complete ban of all music except the viol - supposedly because of their fear of meeting the same fate as the city's biblical namesake.[7][8] In truth, however, the Masters of the Bazaar are pulling the strings of the Gondoliers, preventing the previously unorganized and rebellious boatmen from interfering with their plans and keeping them docile.[9]
Dark, Tinged Crimson
"Beyond the dusty station, a shambles of spindly buildings huddle together in black-gabled clusters. A handful of rows and alleys are divided by great, wide canals. Water, ruddied by the tributaries of Hell, sluggishly crawls through these waterways – the arteries of the Locks."[10]
There are only two landmarks of note in the city of Jericho itself. The first is of course its canal locks, each one made out of a different precious metal, and each featuring its own unique and hideous face.[11]
The second is the Arborist's Hands, the Locks' aged and gloomy public house. Run by the Nostalgic Landlady, the building was brought down along with London due to a technicality. The Masters made an arrangement so that everything touched by the waters of the Thames would also be brought down to the Neath; unfortunately, at that very moment the river had burst its banks, forever condemning the estimable drinking house to lie underground.[12][13]
The Tributaries of Hell
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"Insects hover in clouds about the canals. They don't bite, but it's hard to breathe without catching one in your throat. Your barge follows the river network for hours, traversing a landscape silent but for the occasional arpeggio from a passing barge."[14]
The Hinterlands' river system allows access to many different places along its banks:
- The Persephone, a river filled with huge sunset-colored fish, each of them possessing seven eyes and seven hearts. Various artifacts from previous Fallen Cities lie in the waters, cast in long ago as tribute.[15]
- The Fiddler's Scarlet, a raucous inn where the smugglers from the Gondoliers' Guild congregate.[16][17]
- The Octagonal Tomb, where an ancient Merchant sleeps endlessly, surrounded by many eyeless statues.[18][19]
- The Cedar-Woods, a burnt forest where the devils opposed to Hell's current rule hide from watchful eyes.[20]
- The Eversmoulder, an eternally burning water-wheel built and later forsaken by Hell. Its walls are covered with writing in many languages, left there by smugglers and agents of the Great Game.[21]
- The Sere Palace, a mysterious Second City ruin surrounded by highly poisonous waters. Inside of the Palace lies a giant lotus pool which can be used to control the state and flow of the many rivers outside.[22][23][24]
