Ithaco is a wonderful place, full of fascinating characters and intriguing organizations.

Should you find yourself lost, or thirsty for more, a lot of information can be found here.

Potanium is a rare element that can be found in small crystalline deposits in some volcanic areas.

Untreated, it emits soft light, the intensity and color depending on mass and inclusions, blue being the most common. When potanium was first discovered, it was valued mostly as a novelty item, and sometimes used to light rooms where open flame was a hazard.

Humanity only began to tap into its full potential when a clever wyrdcraft practitioner recognized the fact that the material somehow drew on the ever-replenishing field of arcane energy that covers the world.

Much is still unclear about the exact workings of the crystals, but experimentation has revealed some aspects.

Potanium can be used easily to produce light and heat, and with some ingenuity these aspects can be used to generate motion as well.

Potanium is more potent when it is purer, and can be purified by grinding the material down to a powder, and dissolving it in aqua potanica, a mixture of several strong acids discovered by Ithaco Potanium Mining. The potanium solution is then allowed to precipitate on a copper or silver core, or in an acid-resistant mold. This method not only allows for higher potential, but also makes it possible to fashion potanium crystals in specific shapes necessary for new potanium-based technology. (Well-known examples are flux orbs and screens.)

Several high-grade potanium devices in close proximity can disrupt each other’s effectiveness.

The influence of what researchers have begun to call “potanium radiation” on living matter is still largely unknown and discovered mostly through trial and error. Perhaps the most well-known and widely used potanium infusions are the beverages that have historically been called ‘droughts of power’. These alchemical concoctions, used to temporarily amplify some natural abilities, contain small amounts of powdered potanium. Night’s eye potion is the most common example, used to improve night vision with no known side effects, and distributed by Ithaco Potanium Mining to enhance their workforce. It is rumored the criminal syndicate called the Marked Listeners that operates in Ithaco City has found a way to embed potanium in the skin to receive permanent beneficial effects, but due to the secretive nature of the organization, this theory has never been scientifically proven. Recently, medical researchers have begun to look into a myriad of different applications, some with very promising findings.

What is most clear when considering the application of potanium in every day life is that the world is still only at the cusp of unlocking the material’s true potential. Therefor it is no wonder that journalists, scientists, and historians have all mentioned that humanity is on the cusp of a potanium revolution.

Unable to follow in his mother’s translator’s footsteps because he was severely dyslexic, Enturi MacDoumyn scoured the MacDoumyn plot at the foot of the volcano for traces of silver. Although the silver was of poor quality, and barely worth the effort of purifying, he did discover shards of ‘novelty’ potanium crystals.

With modest earnings from this first discovery, he quickly began buying up plots of rocky land close to the volcano. Since the silver was nearly worthless, most owners were glad to be rid of them.

Not long after, Enturi and his Ithaco Mining Company began to dig into the volcano in earnest and hit the mother lode, the world’s largest source of potanium.

By providing an investment of high-grade potanium for research purposes to many interested parties and brilliant individuals, the Ithaco Mining Company is almost solely responsible for the Potanium Revolution.

As the sole provider of this now highly sought-after material, Ithaco Potanium Mining and its owner have reached unprecedented levels of riches and power, eventually culminating in Aaron MacDoumyn’s appointment as Don, and Ithaco’s independence from the Lychin Kingdom.

When former pirate war hero Captain Hanako Wo Shu charted a safe route through the Glass Reef surrounding Ithaco, she made the uninhabited, but fertile island accessible again after two centuries of isolation.

Once the rehabilitation of the island was underway, Wo Shu closely guarded the secret of reaching it, teaching only a select few trusted allies the profitable route. Together they formed the Trade Fleet, the keepers of the Glass Reef Trench who monopolize transportation on the only trade route between blossoming Ithaco and the main land.

The Marked Listeners are an influential and well-organized band of criminals named for their mysterious alchemagical tattoos. It is said that they have a hand in everything unsavory that happens in in the city.

Originally made up of only a handful of unscrupulous adventurers, the Marked Listeners started out as a small team dedicated to stamping out black market peonage with extreme prejudice, shortly after the practice was abolished in Ithaco.

They were experienced fighters, unburdened by a lawful nature that would curb their ruthles efficiency, and had access to alchemagical techniques the world had never seen before. They succeed where the Sentinels had failed, and their accomplishments earned them the dubious honor of being the most successful unlawful organization in Ithaco.

In several years' time they practically stamped out the now illegal flesh trade, and installed themselves at the top of the food chain of just about any other illegal trade in the city.

Today, they rule Ithaco's seedy underbelly with an iron fist, and although their more or less benign beginnings are mostly forgotten in the face of their prolific criminal activity, they remain firm in their hatred of peonage, and root it out whenever it threatens to pop up again.

The Marked Listeners have a strict hierarchy and are unusually organized for a criminal undertaking, although none of this is known outside the group itself. The group is split into four echelons, the Hands, the Crafters, the Jesters, and the Quiet, that are each led by a master. These four masters answer to one shadowy leader they call 'The Big Man'. Since its foundation Stealth has been the Big Man of the Marked Listeners.

However, as Ithaco expands, so do the Marked Listeners, and reorganization may be needed to keep up with their growing numbers and developing technology.