The World of London Below

Abel House:  A three storey Edwardian house at the edge of Hyde Park, Abel House is a dark and dismal affair.  Every surface of the wall and ceiling is covered with
paintings, sketches and other portraits of everyone ever to have been murdered in London be it above or below. Where the pictures come from is not known, all that is known is that however hidden or covered up no murder escapes the eye of the mysterious artist. Many visitors have been shocked to see pictures of relatives or friends who have disappeared or died of ‘natural causes’. This is not such an aid to justice and revenge as one might think as the house has likenesses of everyone ever to have been murdered within Greater London dating back as long as humans have settled here. Spotting the new pictures, let alone finding one of someone you know, is difficult at best.

Achilles Way:  A winding alley carving its way through a twisted knot of lost time Achilles way is a confusing jumble
and assortment of images and time periods. The shadows are long and the darkness whispers to all who traverse its length. While it provides a fast shortcut to almost any part of London Below much like Night’s Bridge it extracts its toll. In this case by exposing those who wander through it to their greatest weakness in a way they cannot ignore.

Adam and Eve Court:  An early Romano-Christian mosaic depicting the progenitors of mankind, this tiled floor lies deep within the darkest parts of London Below. It is said that when one stands upon it one’s voice cannot utter anything but the whole and absolute truth and that anything said while stood upon it can be believed entirely.

Aeroville:  High above the tunnels, high above the streets is the rooftop world, still part of London Above but
loftier and lighter. Here amongst the rooftops bridges and ropeways span the gaps and cats prowl from rooftop to rooftop. Higher still is Aeroville, brightly coloured balloons and baskets strung together with ropes and nets
floating higher and
higher into the sky to the very clouds. At the solstice one can step from Aeroville to walk amongst the clouds and watch the sun or moon rise. The Underside’s intelligent pigeons roost here. 

The Bench:  In Alexandra Park is a plain wooden bench, bolted together with green-painted iron bolts. The Bench was laid here to commemorate someone or something but time and constant vandalism have robbed both memory and the Bench itself of the knowledge of who or what it commemorates. The Bench is an island of calm in the city, benign and restive. A night on the Bench under a sheet of paper is as restorative as a stay at The Ritz though no-one may use its hospitality for more than a single night. Many Half-Lifers come here to die in a final night of peace. 

Blackwall:  Brunel built the Rotherhithe Tunnel for the convenience of London’s citizens. London Below however already had the Blackwall. Nicknamed with little affection
‘Night’s brother’, the tunnel spans a stretch of perpetual
twilight that is not always kind to those who traverse it. It should be noted that the price occasionally extracted
from travellers is nowhere near as dire as that of Night’s Bridge. There have been documented cases on separate occasions of Blackwall taking a traveller’s hearing, left boot, eye colour, ability to count, childhood memories and shadow. More usually Blackwall satisfi es itself with some small trinket such as jewellery, keys, keepsakes and spectacles. 

Canary Warf:  This towering sleek building topped with a great pyramid is a physical representation of modern, efficient, dreamless, soulless London. When it was first
erected it was physically painful for those who dwell in the Underside to go near the place, let alone enter it.  As time has passed the inhabitants of the building have lessened its starkness and stories about the pyramid at it’s peak have spread humanising the structure and slowly bringing it into the structure of London Below.  While it is no longer painful to Undersiders, plans to hold a floating market in the Pyramid and the top floors are thought to be premature.

Hunt Street:  A large barracks here houses the Shepherd’s slaves until they are sold. Occasionally slaves escape and the search for them always begins here, hence the street’s name. Still cobbled in sections the uneven surface
makes escape for barefoot slaves rather difficult. 

Hyde Park:  The park is lorded over by the Baron who shares its name. It is advisable not to go there after dark. Baron Octavius Hyde is to be avoided at all cost. Never
accept an invitation to dine with him, as one has a lamentable tendency to become the main course.  The luckier ‘guests’ awake with a sore and shaved head, standing in shackles at Leather Market.

Isle of Dogs:  Add it to the list of things you don’t want to know about.  If you really do want to know about it keep your voice down. The place is full of degenerates, “goblins”, and creatures best not spoken of, or at least that’s what the rumours say. They also say that the place is ruled over by a mad lord with yellow eyes whose hounds
constantly patrol the island keeping out of sight until
Underside prey comes across their path. Like all rumours it probably has a grain of truth to it, but some people think that someone is trying to hide something there and is using word of mouth to discourage others from looking around. Those people are generally not brave enough to go and have a look for themselves.  But the stories do seem a little too terrible to believe. 

Leather Market:  Part of the territory of the Shepherds of Shepherds Bush it is better not to ask the providence of the soft and supple leather that they sell here. 

Lock Road:  Where goods are rare and every commodity is
desperately needed, where survival and theft are a way of life, it makes sense to secure your belongings.  Not every Undersider is an Opener or has access to a house without doors so it makes sense either to carry everything with you, take turns guarding a store with someone you trust, or to secure your belongings some other way. Lock Road has the goods to satisfy those who take the last route. Makers of locks, safes and puzzle boxes that can give all but a pureblood Opener pause the locksmiths of Lock Road view their skill as an art, constantly trying to outdo one another with finely wrought security devices of all kinds. A legendary craftsman long ago constructed the most complex and beautiful lock ever known and is said to have placed a
great treasure behind it. It is proof to all magic, even that of the Lady Door, and it has never been opened.  The challenge remains.

The Sanctuary:  Behind a locked door near Parliament Square is the Sanctuary. As its name suggests, it is a haven for those in dire need. The keeper of that place is an enigmatic young man called Hayes Murphy. It should be noted however that the door does not always open, no matter how frenzied the hammering upon it. Whether the criterion for this avenue of salvation is mystical or arbitrary no one has yet been able to ascertain.

The Underwood:  When the woods were cleared away to make room for the city above many of the roots remained and in caverns under the earth, lit by glowing crystals and fungi, the roots still descend from the roof like upside down trees, blossoming and bearing fruit and fi lling the caverns with the scent of pollen and the sound of pale woodland animals adapted to the dark.