Rockville Mosaic – Google Docs
The Rockville Mosaic
This mosaic was recently found on a basement wall of the Red Brick Courthouse in Rockville, Maryland. It was discovered by accident about three weeks ago; a state employee looking for a file noticed the edges of it peeking out from behind a set of filing cabinets and an unused portable chalkboard. The mosaic is reproduced below: judging from the materials and general style, it appears to have been made some time in the 1890s (which would be consistent with the history of the Red Brick Courthouse).
Congratulations: it’s your first paranormal relic! Don’t worry, these things pop in and out from other dimensions all the time. Probably the Red Brick Courthouse in our universe got quantumly tangled with a close analogue several universes over; they’re probably wondering over there in the other universe where their mosaic got to (it’s made out of gold inlay and gemstones, so one would hope that they’re wondering).
It’s perfectly safe, in this case. There’s no radiation, no Weird Science, no eldritch evil, or any of the other usual red-flag emanations coming from the Rockville Mosaic; esoterically, it’s pretty inert. Which means that it’s safe to examine and research. Some teams will be sent in to poke at it, pretty much; paranormal relics don’t usually stick around for very long, so when one appears it’s pretty much used as a teacher’s aid. Which means, yes, sorry: your team is going to be running herd on a bunch of relative newcomers to This Thing Of Ours. Try not to grind your teeth too hard; we were all that callow, once.
And keep your eyes and ears peeled for any further dimensional anomalies at the site, of course. You never know when something might slip through. And, to be honest: given how many of the — states? Provinces? Independent nations? — on that map have names that translate to some variant of ‘refuge’ …well. Things could have gotten pretty lively over there.
Enjoy your visit to Rockville!
I’m looking at this map and have no idea how most of these states formed. I want to explore the world that this map came from, but I’m pretty sure I would be hunted by whatever empire rules Mexico and Canada. I’m betting it is L’empire de Quebec.
Different empires, and you’d be fine: your blood’s properly red. I have a general idea how the world formed, but these things are designed to be vague so that the GM can just shave off pieces as needed in order to fit it in a campaign.