I recently came across the City26 worldbuilding challenge (or rather, a call to action), read through it, enjoyed some of the entries, and decided to join. Yes. It’s the first time I’m joining a thing like this.
The city of Wogatišpurk is my entry into City 26. It is a long-term project of mine, which I, by a stroke of coincidence, decided to revive this year and have been putting work into since January. When I saw City 26, my initial thoughts were – well, I’m doing this anyway, so why not join? I was planning to regularly worldbuild here, as well as on a local forum. I even almost had the first post ready. So perfect timing.
What is city26?
Briefly. I came across the challenge on the Alone in the Labyrinth blog. The idea, much like with similar calls — such as the well-known Dungeon 23 in which I don’t participate for various reasons — is to worldbuild piece by piece every day. An NPC, a point of interest, an adventure hook, random tables, and such – hence creating a ward of a city each week. The graphic below, from the Hwei Architects Instagram, describes the process.
I like it. But, I will be doing it my own way – no surprise for those who know me. A bit more on that below. First, a short introduction to Wogatišpurk.
Wogatišpurk
Wogatišpurk, the River Pearl, sitting on the banks of the wide and grand Tonava River, is the capital of the River Lands Imperial Administrative Region. Tens of thousands call it their home, from the bustling River Island (Riečny ostrov) to the smog-filled Hearth (Pálenisko) and the Bohemian and art-nouveau Krobúz. All this is mixed together with the various influences brought along by river trade from the north, south and east, making it more diverse and mixed than the vast majority of the Empire. The inspirations for the city are a mix of 18th — 19th century Bratislava and old Prague, both real and from my dream, with New Crobuzon.
The city is ripe with political intrigue and struggle as the Empire of the Two Eagles tries to hold on to its power at the onset of the imminent environmental and social collapse, caused by an industrially fueled climate catastrophe. (Does any of this sound familiar?) As the city and the region struggle for independence against the Empire, two major factions rise up to challenge the central authority – the reactionary Brown League and the emancipatory Solars.
All of this sits atop thousands of years of history, weird, myth, legend and mystery, hiding in the wetlands, riparian forests and the karsty hills that surround it.
Wogatišpurk is the focal point of a campaign that I have been planning to run for years. One where the party is made up mostly of locals trying to find their way in the turbulent and “interesting” times which have been forced upon them. A campaign centered about helping, developing, strengthening and securing their community and the communities of the city. When thinking about the concept, I was very influenced by the Old School Rebellion ideas of Dododecahedron. One where experience and growth come from aid and community building.
How will you be doing this?
Well, as I mentioned, I will be doing City26 my own way. Why? Well, I already kinda built the city. Or at least big parts of it. This might sound a bit weird in a worldbuilding challenge, but hear me out…
I’ve had the concept of the city in my head for some six years now. That’s when I started putting down my first notes and drawing rough outlines of the city, literally and proverbially. In 2023, I decided to build the city for a campaign I was planning. I put down the 12 districts, created some points of interest, NPCs, and some hooks for each, but before I could go further, my life changed, I moved and out went my plans. I had other things to do.
The city has always, always, been in my mind. I always get back to it, to its streets, allies and boulevards, to the river banks, to the pubs and taverns, to the hidden clubs where talks of rebellion are spread… all that and more.
Last year, I dug up my notes, or rather synchronised my Obsidian, and bam, it was back more than ever… After I regained some energy, I started to build it more in January. Some locations here, some locations there. And also an expanded district map – with a new look, new locations, and even an adventure idea. I want to continue doing that, and I will. Hence, City26.
I know I will not be writing things down every day – my brain and life just don’t allow for that. But over the course of this year, I aim to flesh out the city districts. That’s where City26 comes in. Add new points of interest, NPCs, write down adventure hooks and actually create encounter tables and random generators. I want to complete the big factions and their sub-factions and the various unaligned groups. I want to create the mysterious locations that delve into the deeps beneath and around the city. Or in the city streets themselves. And I want to finally draw all the maps. All the things I wanted to do, but never got down to.
So what will I actually do? I will be systematically working on the city when I can and when I am able to, and transfer them here. Some parts of it will be smaller chunks, like NPCs or location ideas I want to share. Once I have enough, I will publish all this tied in with the city districts. Will it be weekly? Probably not. But it will be semi-regular. Or I hope.
In the next couple of days, I want to share the River Island district, which I have been working on in January.
I look forward to this. City26, off I go.
