The Ring Fauvists school.

The City is a massive urban complex the size of a small country, and has a population of around 7 billion. The City is bordered to the south by the Great Lake, and to the other directions by the Outskirts. Underneath it lie the Ruins.

Districts: The City is divided into twenty-six Districts, quite diverse in culture and aesthetics, each of which is governed by a Wing, a corporation that has ascended to claim complete control of said area. All Wings respond to the Head, the supreme governing power of the City. The arrangement of the Districts seems to be static, as there has been no mentioned case of a District expanding into a fallen Wing's territory.

Each District is split into a Nest, a territory directly governed and protected by its Wing, and the Backstreets, expansive spaces of wilderness or slums, largely neglected by the Wings, where the Syndicates of the City run free.

Districts tend to have similarities to their neighbors, and are typically grouped into four sections: the northern, eastern, southern, and western quarters. These quarters may be distinguished by commonalities including culture and temperature, such as the same Fixer Associations differing in garb and fighting style across different quarters, or the northern quarter having colder weather.

The Head: The Head is the leader of the Wings and the central governing body of the City. It is in direct control of A Corp., B Corp., and C Corp., the three Districts at the very center of the City. The Head's identity is completely unknown, although it appears the term refers to a group of people rather than a singular entity; any detail regarding it is a closely guarded secret.

The Head, through A Corp., retains control of the entire City. It is responsible for authorizing Wings, managing patents, and the minting of Ahn, the currency used in the City.

Despite this, it does not typically interfere directly with the affairs of the various Wings in their own Districts; rather, the Head's greatest involvement in the life of the City consists in establishing and enforcing the rules that relate to the overall ethics of the City.

The Head's will shapes the image of the City, as it wields the ability to decide when a part of it no longer fits in the vision, and to chase it outside its confines. Some speculate the Head's decisions in these matters aren't aimed at maintaining order, but rather that the Head wishes to preserve its ideal image of the City, and that for this reason they allow the various Stars of the City to keep existing. This is corroborated by the agents of the Head themselves referring to their work as cultivating the ecology of the City.

To preserve this vision, the Head retains the unique power to assign the highest risk level in the scale of hazards of the City, that of Impuritas Civitatis, or Impurity of the City. The risk level of Impurity signifies a hazard that violates the ethics of the City, and that must be either destroyed or physically expelled from the confines of the City expeditiously.

At a certain point in history, sapient beings that weren't humans were driven out of the City and into the Outskirts, and their existence within the confines of the City was deemed a Taboo. This marked the beginning of the City's "age of humanity". As part of this action, the Head introduced the Artificial Intelligence Ethics Amendment, which established a series of City-wide Taboos against the creation of machines that resembled humans, outlawing the creation of both mechanical copies of a human body and machines with an intelligence comparable to that of humans. Furthermore, a Taboo was established by the Head against the resurrection of a human being. Ultimately, all of these are considered to be unethical pursuits.

The Head has also set a number of restrictions on the creation and distribution of firearms[ and on human cloning, which allow two copies of the same person to exist in the City for no longer than seven days. The Head is also responsible for various other Taboos of the City, such as not paying one's taxes, and violating a residential area during the Night in the Backstreets.

The punishment for breaking any of these Taboos usually involve physical extermination, and for a Wing, the stripping of its qualifications and immediate shutdown. The punishment for violating the Taboos established by the Head is noted to be different from breaking a Taboo of a Nest, which usually involves being chased by a small number of Taboo hunters; breaking a Taboo of the City is believed to be equivalent to a death sentence.

The Head is backed up in its functions by the Eye and the Claw, the two authorities responsible for B Corp. and C Corp. respectively. In enforcing the laws of the City, the three Wings make use of three types of agents: the Arbiters, the Beholders, and the Claws. When handling an Impurity-level threat, these agents are qualified to expel an entity from the City itself and move it into the Outskirts.

Wings and Nests: The Wings of the World are a group of the twenty-six largest, most powerful conglomerates in the City. Each Wing acts as the governing body of a Nest of the City's District, and is commonly referred to with a letter from A to Z, corresponding to the number of the District in their control. Wings generally oversee all facets of living in the Nest of their District, while leaving the residents of the Backstreets to fend for themselves.

A Nest is the urban center of a District, which is under the direct management of its Wing. The citizens and employees of a Wing are commonly referred to as "feathers"; the status of a feather is widely considered one of the best and most secure paths in life, which the people of the Backstreets are often willing to go to great lengths to obtain. To gain access to a Nest, a corresponding Nest migration permit is required, while to be granted temporary passage one must be in possession of a visa unique to the specific Nest. Visas are implied to be relatively common, with corporate employees being provided with work visas that allow them as easy passage; Nest migration permits, on the other hand, are highly sought after, and implied to be expensive enough that even Grade 1 Fixers would struggle to obtain them. During the Smoke War, migration permits were offered as rewards to Fixers participating for K Corp. and I Corp., although by the end of the war the veterans were refused entry to the Nests.

Each Wing has its own cultural style and social structure which are reflected in how it governs its Nest, and the policies that regulate the way of life in the District's Backstreets. The laws of a Wing are called Taboos, and are enforced by specialized Fixers called Taboo hunters that police both the Nest and the Backstreets. While all Wings have Taboos, the enforcement and punishment for breaking them varies.

The Wings are directly ruled over by the Head, which bestows the status on a corporation that possesses and is able to successfully utilize a Singularity, a unique form of technology that is able to break the laws of physics. As such, the Wings closely guard any information about their Singularity, employing military forces from their own ranks or from those of their business partners to avoid losing its secrets to rival Wings, industry competitors, or other forces. If a Wing's technology is stolen, fails commercially, or is viewed unfavorably by the Head, a Wing can collapse, resulting in the Nest losing its protection and being encroached by various factions that vie for its control, such as the Syndicates of the Backstreets. After a Wing collapses, a different corporation can attempt to ascend to the status of a Wing for that District.

Backstreets: The Backstreets are the areas of a District that lay outside the Wing's domain. The Backstreets are typically slums crowded with buildings, characterized by twisted and irregular roads, although there can be great differences between Districts.

Wings have differing degrees of presence, influence, and benevolence with regards to their Backstreets, although their relationship is ultimately exploitative. Citizens of the Backstreets are motivated to move up the ladder and into the Nests, while citizens of the Nests are motivated to maintain their statuses and preserve a more comfortable life under their Wing's protection. While not as secure as the Nest, residential areas are the safest parts of the Backstreets.

Given how strongly Backstreets denizens wish for a life in the Nest, Wings tend to uphold strict divides between the sectors, including security checkpoints and physical divisions. Security of borders between Nests and Backstreets vary from plasma walls to mere chain fences, but the Wings' power is such that no one in the Backstreets dares to cross over into a Nest without express permission.

As the Backstreets are not under the control and protection of the Wings, and even the Head's power struggles to reach within them, various factions operate freely in their place. The Backstreets are home to the headquarters of both Fixers, a type of mercenary for hire, who typically operate their Offices in the Backstreets, and organizations and gangs called Syndicates. Among Syndicates, the most important are the Five Fingers, the five largest Syndicates of the City which most other Syndicates answer to, and whose power is said to rival that of the Wings.

The Night in the Backstreets is another defining component of Backstreets life, as an 80 minute phenomena taking place from 3:14 to 4:34 AM. During this time period, nearly everything is allowed, as no one is held responsible for their deeds done during this time period. It is considered a brazenly savage, brutal, and vulgar period, even for the City. Beings known as Sweepers routinely become active during the Night in the Backstreets, and sweep through the streets in waves in order to consume any objects and structures located outside of permitted residential buildings, erasing all evidence of crime.

The Night in the Backstreets are regulated by only two Taboos: that residential areas mustn't be destroyed or violated in any way, including forcing the doors open, and that nothing which occurs during the Night in the Backstreets is recorded. The only form of testimony allowed during the Night in the Backstreets are direct eyewitnesses; even then, it is a Taboo mandated by the Head that no activity during this period are to be reported on. While the rules of the Night in the Backstreet don't apply to the Nest, it's viable to drag a Nest citizen into the Backstreets and dispose of them in this manner.

FIxers and Associations: In the City, a common path in life for those without better options is that of the Fixer. A Fixer is a sort of handyman, who can be hired for everything from menial tasks to active combat. Fixers are subject to a grading system based on the missions they complete. A Fixer starts at Grade 9 and can be promoted to a higher grade, all the way up to 1; in the case of a Fixer being caught breaking work regulations, they can lose their status and be demoted to a lower grade.

A majority of Fixers congregate in Fixer Offices, small to mid-sized businesses led by and composed of Fixers. Offices process requests dedicated to whomever in their ranks may be best suited. Offices can work independently, or they can be associated with particular Associations of Fixers, which are larger professional organizations with City-wide influence, with particular interests aimed at the Fixers working beneath them.

There are thirteen Associations in the City, each of which manages certain types of requests common to Fixer work, such as the Zwei Association focusing on protection missions, or the Devyat' Association focusing on delivery across the City. Associations control and distribute Fixer tasks, and can take jobs from anywhere within the City, as they have individual branches set up in various Districts. Branches are divided into four groups corresponding to the cardinal directions of the City, and employees are further divided by grade into sections ranging from 1 to 6, with lower number sections corresponding to higher Fixer grades.

Every Association has its own rules, specialties, uniform, and agreements with other factions. The Associations are governed by the Hana Association, which oversees everything related to the Fixer system, including Fixer grades.

In the case of a Grade 1 Fixer demonstrating great renown in any particular field of work, they may be considered beyond the grading system, and receive the title of Color from Hana Association as a way to signify their exceptional skill. Color Fixers can keep working in their Offices, or be contracted by a company. They are admired throughout the City, and it is a common belief that the life of a Color is one of true freedom. Despite this, Color Fixers are still bound to the regulations of Hana Associations and of the Head, and due to their ability they're often made to handle the most dangerous hazards of the City.

City People: Everyday life in the City is defined by a constant struggle to stay afloat. While the people of the Outskirts dream of living in the City, which they see as a safe place from the monsters that plague it, the people of the Backstreets strive to gain the wealth and power to gain access to a Nest, partially due to the influence of the Wings publicizing Nest dwellers' lives as the height of prosperity and comfort, and the people of the Nest struggle daily to keep their place inside it, while being constantly exploited by the Wings.

Regardless of their station, the people of the City are never free, and in order to survive, they typically tie themselves to various forms of organizations, seeking security and belonging in something larger than them. In doing so, they're willing to exploit others beneath them and make use of all the City can offer them, without caring about anyone else's well-being, and often taking pleasure in their suffering.

The people of the Backstreets must typically tie themselves to one of the Five Fingers or their subsidiaries to receive the necessary protection to carry on with their lives, while the people of the Nests depend on the Wings to shelter them. Because of this, Nest dwellers are colloquially known as "feathers". While the high level of security the Nest provides makes it the most ideal place to reside, its daily routine, which is often accompanied by overtime work and the constant fear of losing one's job and place in the Nest, can be stifling and oppressive to many of its citizens, with some recalling becoming listless as if they "lost focus, spacing out and staring into empty places".

The necessity for a connection to a group also means that the people of the City try not to form strong connections between individuals, as personal bonds can become a hindrance in one's abilities in the case of a loved one's death, which proves to be especially dangerous for those involved in Fixer work. The Cityfolk are still generally accustomed to such events, and it is not considered uncommon for them to swiftly move on by searching for a substitute.

In general, death, including mass casualties, is a common occurrence in the City. People all over the City are greatly accustomed to this, to the point even cases of 80,000 casualties are considered, while distressing, not particularly shocking, and not important enough to require special attention unless they happen to be within a Nest. Due to the frequency of such events, Cityfolk must learn to hide their grief and deal with it quickly, reflecting on the practice of funerals being uncommon in the City. Backstreets dweller instead typically let the bodies of the deceased be taken away during the Night in the Backstreets, to avoid the grave be desecrated by robbers looking to steal valuables of prosthetics from the body.

Furthermore, the availability of technologies such as prosthetic substitution, the ability to quickly reconstruct flesh, and Life Insurance in many ways trivialize pain and death itself for those who can afford it, leaving their users insensitive to such dangers.

These factors have led to the people of the City becoming apathetic and uncaring of other people's suffering, living without allowing themselves to truly feel their emotions and wishes, and lacking the curiosity to learn about the world they inhabit and the technologies they make use of every day, instead preferring to shut out reality altogether whenever possible.

Syndicates: Syndicates are a type of organization in the City, and can be seen as the unregulated counterpart to Fixer Offices, being comparable to gangs with various goals and methods of operating. In general, the term Syndicate is used to refer to organized groups that aren't tied to the responsibilities and restrictions that come with being a Fixer.

Some Syndicates focus on extorting money from people for protection, while others abduct people, kill for fun and pleasure, or do anything in between. Syndicates mostly operate in the Backstreets, but are not restricted to them. They can be small groups that only exist in one corner of the Backstreets, or large enough to exist in every District in the City.

Syndicates can be hired to do contract jobs, although there is higher risk compared to contracting an Office or Association, as they are not bound to the same regulations Fixers are. Sometimes, Wings will hire Syndicate members for criminal projects that cannot be handled officially.

Syndicates tend to have a culture unique to their group, and a way of living that distinguishes them from other Syndicates. Many Syndicates have a culture focused around replicating family dynamics and consider each other family, with some even referring to each other with familial terms. This can result in Syndicates with a strict focus on respect for those who are higher ranked, or in Syndicates whose members care deeply for each other and protect one another at any cost.

Syndicates are graded through the City's hazard system, measuring their danger level and notability. Syndicates can grow under these aspects and gain power in many ways, with one of them being the practice of raiding and wiping out Fixers' Offices. The larger and more experienced an Office is, the greater the notoriety that is achieved by defeating it.

Above all Syndicates are the Five Fingers, or "the hand of the Backstreets", five Star of the City-level Syndicates, whose power rivals that of the Wings. Each of the Five Fingers has a distinct culture, and demands different things from people seeking protection under them. Other Syndicates can become subsidiaries of the Five Fingers, granting them powerful connections as long as they abide by the Finger's orders.

Singularities: A Singularity is a unique, fantastical technology that a Wing possesses and exploits for power and profit. The details of a Wing's Singularity are a closely guarded secret, but its products (such as L Corp.'s Enkephalin or H Corp.'s Boluses) and side effects (such as T Corp.'s color desaturation) tend to be widespread throughout the District and play a major role in defining its culture.

While Singularities' true abilities are usually incredibly powerful, a Wing must convert them into a marketable product in order to make a profit. Singularities are the primary source of income for the Wings to sustain themselves in the harsh environment of the City, meaning creating new products from the same Singularity is incredibly important. For example, T Corp. makes use of its Singularity for various products, such as the TT2 Protocol (which allows for the control of time in a determined area), and the TT4 Protocol (which instead allows for the synchronization of different individuals' time).

In addition, Wings must be careful during the development process of new Singularities, to prevent information leaks and intellectual theft before a patent is received. It is also common for Wings to make use of multiple Singularities, both by purchasing them from fallen Wings, or through partnering with other existing Wings.

If a Wing collapses, the patents on its Singularity expire and any individual or group who discovers how to utilize the technology may do so. In addition, the technology's status as a Singularity is lost. A number of technologies of the City were previously considered Singularities in the past, such as augmentation tattoos. Singularities, while technological marvels, are not all they're made out to be. In one way or another, every Singularity fundamentally requires human suffering in order to function, and no Wing can claim to have their hands clean of the blood of its citizens.

The Ring: The Ring is one of the Five Fingers of the Backstreets, operating with a focus on creating gruesome works of art. Like the other Fingers, the Ring is one of the most powerful Syndicates in the City, possessing enough influence to rival even the Wings.

Like the other four Fingers, the Ring is a large Syndicate with a unique culture and creed that all members follow fervently. Its focus is on art. Members of the Ring are eccentric artisans enamored with art reflecting the human condition, which they pursue by causing and exhibiting human suffering. Their artwork takes a wide variety of forms, from sculptures made of corpses to massacres painted out of someone's mind. The Ring's power extends over great part of the City, with more influential movements having even greater reach.

The Syndicate manages galleries featuring their works, and will at times auction them off. Galleries are tied to a specific School of the Ring and are typically staffed by a number of Docents; Galleries that are connected to a Maestro's atelier and auction house are called Main Studios.

The Ring offers protection to residents of the Backstreets under its occupation, so long as the citizens are willing to create art to be evaluated by the Ring. These civilians periodically submit artwork to be graded at an exam site, where Ring members refer personal judgements on a letter scale. One failing grade results in a warning, two results in the loss of the Ring's protection, and three results in an on-site execution. Similarly, lower-ranking members of the Ring, namely Students, regularly complete 'assignments' issued by higher-ups within designated time periods to maintain membership. The artwork of Students is presented to higher-ranking members, such as Docents or Maestros, during Critique sessions, and later evaluated. The goal of most individuals associated with the Ring is to achieve a regular schedule and improvement in evaluations, in order to maintain their station within the Syndicate.

The Ring makes use of special pigments both in their art and in combat. This paint is said to be made from the same material as Augmentation Tattoos, being nigh-indelible brands that can be applied to one's skin to cause various effects, such as weakening an enemy it is forcibly applied on.

The Ring has also been known to use the Corridor technology, which allows them to create an exit from anywhere. The created door will then lead into the Corridor, which takes the form of a physical hall connected to the Ring's bases, and can grow to contain hundreds of doors leading to hundreds of locations. The Ring allows random citizens the chance to access their Corridor as a prize for winning an auction for a Maestro's art piece.

Members of the Ring dress primarily in white, seeing the way it stains as a sign of the artistic process. They wear at least one ring, starting on their left hand, with the number of coils around the ring denoting their rank. Most Ring members also sport tattoo-like markings on their face, alongside other unique accessories like masks and piercings. There is considerable variation in the weapons members use.

Hierarchy: The Ring's hierarchy system features at least three major ranks, which do not appear to contain sub-ranks. The ranks are as follows:

Student: The common artist who both submits assignments to the Maestros for grading and grades the work of Ring-affiliated civilians.

Docent: A mid-rank, roughly equivalent to a Capo of the Thumb or a Big Sibling of the Middle. Appears to be the rank in charge of hosting art galleries.

Maestro: A high-ranking artist. Gives out assignments to the lower ranks and hosts Ring auctions. To earn the title of Maestro, one must have three art pieces that establish them as worthy of the rank.

Sub-sections: In addition to member ranks, the Ring also contains at least six sub-sections known as "Schools". The Schools are as follows:

Fauvism: Those who tend to make use of primary colors and complex lines. Known to wear animal masks and create artwork based on animals and Monsters. The School of Fauvism also run animal conservatories that double as galleries, and is noted to be one of the most influential Schools of the Ring. Émile Benoît is a Maestro of the School of Fauvism.

Pointillism: Those who tend to make use of small strokes and dots to depict the flow of light. Known to wield paintbrush-like weapons, the School of Pointillism was involved in Mirror experimentation with the help of the researcher Aseah. Jumsoon was a Maestro of the School of Pointillism. Cubism: Those who seek to incorporate abstract three-dimensionality and depth.

Corporism: Those who utilize the interaction between human bones and muscles, and the contraction and elongation thereof. It is indicated to be very unpopular among the Ring for its obsession over the human body, which is considered outdated and shallow.

Rufo is a Fauvist Docent of the Ring, known for her aptitude in the art of delicate compositing of animal skins.

Rufo is a tall and well-built woman with straight, dark blue, hair, featuring lengthy sidelocks and three white feathers resting on the left side of her head. Her dark complexion is marked with white face paint under her blue eyes and along the bridge of her nose. She wears a dress shirt beneath a suit jacket, and ankle-length skirt, all in the Ring's signature white color. Her left arm and right leg are composed of a chimeric blend of various animals ― including a claw seemingly belonging to a bear, and a large, bird-like foot ― similar to other Fauvists. The seams between the different animals that make up each limb are covered in gold-trimmed strips of cloth decorated with snaking brushstrokes. Atop the left side of her waist hangs a set of polished teeth and blades. She has a large plume of fur for a tail, a white center silhouetted by a pale blue bunch of fur.

Rufo carries a stitched-together mask made of a white wolf, decorated with two separate pairs of horns. Its mouth is sealed shut by the same strips of cloth seen on her chimeric limbs.

Rufo is a composed artist sharing sensibilities common of the Ring; somebody willing to reach extreme violence if it becomes necessary for her goals, yet still leaves room available for possible discussion. While her view of art is refuted directly to her, she values the use of subjectivity in viewing art.

Émile Benoît is a Fauvist Maestro of the Ring, and a former tutor of Ryōshū, now taking an interest in her former tutee for her use of Arayashiki.

Benoît is an imposing figure draped in primarily white clothing, comprised of robes overlaid over a textured undershirt. Overtop her coat, she wears a boa made up of multiple animal furs and hides stitched together, consisting of the following from bottom left to bottom right: a piece of black striped orange fur; a white feathered wing with darker wings layered beneath; the scales of a blue reptile with spikes protruding; a portion of leopard print fur; a dark colored beast's hide with yellow claws protruding; and the tail feathers of a peacock. Emerging from her back are branching antlers with sharp tips, the ends of the antlers bleached with dark tips. The antlers are draped in colorful cloth with a pixelated texture. Benoît wears a fractured mask that resembles a deer skull, with the same antlers as the ones behind her back. The forehead of the mask features white ornamentation that extends down its front. Rather than typical human legs, she has dark legs with pale hooves.

While entering combat in her gallery, she utilizes an artwork consisting of an oversized pale snake head with rows of sallow teeth behind its massive fangs, large enough to crush a person in a single attack.

Émile Benoît is levelheaded, with an eye for aesthetic perfection based in the merging of beasts. She is highly esteemed among the Ring, with a wide body of Students ready to follow her order no matter the cost. Her mastery of art has garnered her immense popularity, even among outsiders unfamiliar with the Fauvist branch, shocked by the grotesque and fascinating nature of her artworks. Benoît is incredibly capable, with the abilities and organizational force able to harvest the eyes of a Second Kindred for her art, highlighting her success as an artist. Her utilization of her artwork extends to her combative abilities, making use of a massive snake-based piece as an extension of her arm. She has a particular fondness for the forms of beasts, and a recognized air of self-superiority in the subjective field of interpreting their most beautiful aspects.

The Ring school of Fauvism