The City Mountain

Matriarch Solbec announces that celebrations will be held when the psychic warriors return. The heroes are invited to take part in both war and festivities. At night Naida is visited by a reproachful ghost, Satrap 88 attunes to their prophetic crystal snail and Nat prays for profit.

Village of Ghost and Clan

Veterans of the Psychic War

The veterans return led by patriarch Narloc. A ghost passes from him through the elders in a wave of silent ecstasy and possesses the matriarch. Dust Scorpion tells them about the war against the corrupted self-replicating machine they call Ropey Ent. Satrap 88 returns to their room and waits for a vision of the forthcoming battle ... but the signs are bleak: They see themselves being restored in a new suit and begin to hatch a plan. Nat fails to establish meaningful (read: mercantile) relationships with the elders but finds a brewer who sells them barrels of synthetic alcohol.

A Brutalist Arcology

The City Mountain

They travel three days to the city mountain, a brutalist arcology from the Best Forgotten Age. A hundred elders from ghost villages all over the Blue Mountains have gathered on the desolate car park. The heroes are invited to a shaman’s tent where they are asked to drink a dubious looking slime of parasitic eggs that will wipe their memories. They hesitate: What are they about to forget? What is the nature of this war? What are the ghosts trying to hide? Satrap 88 declares that their physiology of light won’t be affected by the eggs but a doubt remains.

The Reactor Core

A Sacrifice

They descend into the bowels of the city: Gargantuan swords of light cut through tentacles, infected vermin is slain. When they reach the power plant Satrap 88 rips out their crystal snail and slips it into Naida’s pockets. Stored on it - they hope - are the memories of past events. Then they leave their suit and enter the reactor’s core. The warriors flee, an explosion of radiant light behind them.

Naida and Nat wake up on the steppe where they met the Greenlanders. The caravan is gone and so is Satrap 88 and they have no recollection of past events. The crystal snail wiggles in Naida’s pocket and Ajax tries to establish a telepathic connection. But the memories are all jumbled up. The vermin have tentacles, there is an explosion of light … but nothing makes sense. Still the realization sinks in that Satrap 88 is dead.

Through the Cinder Wastes

The Porcelain Citadel

They continue their journey west past ruins of the Best Forgotten Age, through the cinder waste where a mechanically infected worm almost chews off Nat’s leg before Ajax intervenes. They reach the Porcelain Citadel. Naida receives a massage from the Legion: The Redlanders are still on the loose. Nat visits the exclusive Black House to strike a deal but the conditions are dismal. He prays in a small Cogflower temple for wisdom alongside destitute workers and servants who should probably spent their meager wages more wisely. Naida sits on a roof absently turning the crystal snail in her fingers.

A new Suit

In the Violet City Satrap 88 is restored to a prior state. They wake up in a new suit wondering aloud as if for the first time whether they do have a soul.

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/niU7trTJ3QU

Steppe of the Lime Nomads

Nadia and Nat hear a sharp rap on the door... 
A Redlander with a sloppy mohawk demands to be let in. His cybernetic buzz saw arm hints at violence but Nat confuses him with religious platitudes. The caravan leaves in haste.

Dry but colorful hills

The Rules of the Steppe

A winding road leads them north through dry hills. The air is filled with ash and ash lice pester the heroes. Robed figures with gas masks escort them on the ridge. Together they reach the steppe. Nat remembers the customs of the nomads and proposes to break bread. Naida tries to win them as allies against the Redlanders but the shaman insists that the wolves will always hunt the weakest deer and that blood and the dead rule the steppe. The nomads leave in silence unimpressed by moral claims.

Nomads of the Ashwhite clan in protective gear 

Later they make camp at a copse of lonely trees. While scouting the area Naida is approached by an old salt prospector who points at the blasted mountain tops where echoes of psychic shrapnel linger in flickering images. There she might find what she is looking for. A caravan of devout Greenlanders arrive. A business opportunity for Nat! Alas, the church demands the tithe and the sack of saffron is appropriated in the name of the prophet. Copernicus prepares a celebration of life with music and vampire wine. Nat kisses a Greenlander and befriends a chicken - or was it the other way round? While everyone is asleep Naida steals the sack back. The caravans depart in opposite directions.

Further north they encounter a tribe of Armadilloids. Food is exchanged. Nat tries to establish a business relationship but breaks an innocent heart instead. "Casey" expresses his love non-verbally: He will travel with them to the end of the world if that is what it takes to be close to Nat. The chicken stares incredulously.

The Ancient City of the Nomads

The Lavender Cliffs

They arrive at the foot of the mountains. There is a huge Baobab tree to the west and way up a village is carved into the face of the Lavender Cliffs. They follow the steep serpentine road. On the plaza they are greeted by weathered elders. Naida visits the shaman and the dead visit Naida. Matriarch Solbec announces that there will be celebrations when the psychic warriors return.The heroes are invited to take part in both war and festivities. 

A Veteran of the Psychic War

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/IucWssvC0WM

The Low Road and the High

The caravan leaves the city, a solid coach drawn by two ponies, carrying their supplies and a sack of Cat coffee...

The Wandering Serai

Travelling the Low Road the caravan encounters a gigantic wooden vehicle several stories high, with small towers and balconies. While Copernicus stays behind to gaze at the stars in a daze, the party enters the wandering serai. Naida attempts to recruit a capable looking Greenlander with an intricate Cat Rifle to the cause of the Legion. Nat strikes a sub-optimal deal with the village and Satrap 88 finds a room decorated in the traditions of his people by Bagaglio a fellow healer. Satrap 88 follows him on his medical rounds.

Later Corpsepaint Monarch style architecture in the wild

In the Shadow of the High Road

The group decides to accompany the village to their destination: A caravansary in the shadow of the High Road. A mingy pigeon on the tin roof of the hacienda carries a note from the Legion specifying further the location of the ancient nomad city. Nadia sends the pigeon back inquiring about suspicious Redlanders. Surely there must be a bounty.

Copernicus scouts the area but comes up empty handed. Emboldened by his apprenticeship Satrap 88 heals Copernicus from his addiction The pigeon returns but the information is inconclusive.

The Low Road and the High

The Redlanders

A plan is schemed. Satrap 88 aided by Copernicus conjures the illusion of a gigantic beast luring the Redlanders onto the steppe while Nadia combs through the remaining autowagon. It all goes sideways when Naida fails to pick the strongbox. A gas is released, Naida faints. Nat - returning from a successful business picknick with Imona Citronella in her pristine porcelain walker - spots the unconscious figure. Inside the strongbox there are documents and jewelry of many poor souls, some rings still attached to fingers. Nat carries Naida to the hacienda. Upon returning Satrap 88 and Copernicus are questioned by the Redlanders. An innocent child points to the hacienda. Nadia and Nat hear a sharp rap on the door...

This model comes with a death head gear stick

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/DFnrRnha1g8

Violet City: The World's Edge

Characters:

Nat Mordecai: Deft Cogflower Necromantic Lawyer, carrying a neural whip, accompanied by a slightly unsettling furry pet, that giggles when petted. Nat represents the Cogflower church that sponsors the caravan.

Satrap 88 "Chemosynthesis": Wise Mendicant Healer and peddler of Illusions, soulless for now but hoping to acquire a soul in the Black City.

Naida: Deft Yellowlander Climate Migrant, a sharpshooter with a Plasma Rifle and Ajax, the exiled cat lord with a serpent tail. Looking for intel on the road to the Black City. The Legion of the Far Sight must know.

Copernicus Fuse: Strong Wandering Witness clad in a sealed golden armor, a golden sword on his side. A Violet City Revolutionary Émigré searching for memories of past glory.

Copernicus Fuse

The Prophets of Profit

The Cogflower Church has put together a caravan to the Black City. Its objective is to donate the huge profit gained on this strange commercial pilgrimage to the entity residing within the city so that it may grant the church a nefarious wish. The Lacquered Chaos of Possibility is not mentioned, maybe the church doesn’t know.

The shareholders meet in an open air café with automated platters and the journey is discussed. A guest introduces herself as Mancia, a publisher of sorts, looking for dramatic first-hand accounts of the wonders of the west. Illustration pay extra. Naida takes the offer.

Nat visits the church to see if the augurs approve of selling vidy crystals on the Low Road and the High but there is no profit in bringing owls to Athens. Nat senses a business opportunity.

Nat Mordecai

Fear and Loathing in the Violet City

Ajax kills a vome-corrupted sewer rat in a pit fight. Naida collects the bets. There is a dead drop in a pigeon coop on a roof above the city. A mingy bird carries a note from the Legion Of The Far Sight: “Deep in the Lavender Hills we lend our bodies to the war at the ancient city of the nomads.”

Ajax

Satrap 88 is looking for their contacts among the beggars of the city. Together with Copernicus they visit the Bluelander refugee camp when an old friend tries to pick their pockets - in jest of course! Edgar invites them to tea and purple haze. Satrap 88 inquires about the dangers that lie to the west ... of which there are many. Edgar introduces them to Vigo Brasteć, a tall, pale student of the dead and ghost hunter who might just be the one to insure safety on their perilous journey. His chains rattle when he walks.

Satrap 88 Chemosynthesis

The party reconvenes at the café. Nat proposes to buy vidy crystals on the Low Road and the High. Buy for a nickel and sell for a dime! Vigo knows about the Lavender Hills to the North of the Steppe of the Lime Nomads. There are rumors. A friend woke up in the hills, a whole week missing from her memory - but dreams of the dead linger.

Vigo Brasteć

The caravan leaves the city, a solid coach drawn by two ponies, carrying their supplies and a sack of Cat coffee.

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/nyKXnAXq6rU

A UVG Character Creation Guide for Whitehack

Chargen for Whitehack is mostly free-form and takes a bit more time than I am normally comfortable with in an OSR game where the stakes are high and characters fragile. On the other hand the system is setting agnostic, incredibly versatile and therefore a great fit for UVG. To help you get into the groove here is a step by step guide for Whitehack character creation in the Ultraviolet Grasslands. 

Method 1: the d40 table

Step 1 Roll 3d6 in order of the character keeper (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). You can swap 2 results.

Step 2 Roll a 3d40 on the UVG Hero table. You are free to ignore the second column (Why are you on the road?) if later on it won't fit the quest. Note two groups from Species, Vocation or Affiliation next to a Stat. Species can also be understood as Heritage. The most common species is human but Bluelanders could be distinct enough from Orangelanders to justify being a group that you can invoke. Also look at the descriptive elements of your hero for inspiration (undergraduate, secret, settled etc.) or roll on the tables from method 2.

Rainbowlanders are not as similar as you might think

Step 3 Choose your class (Strong, Deft or Wise). Roll HP and note  Attack Value (AV), Saving Throw (ST) and choose your slot(s).
Deft:    HP d6,      AV 10, SV 7
Strong: HP d6+2, AV 11, SV 5
Wise:    HP d6+1, AV 10, SV 6

The slots for the Strong are combat moves that you can find on the character keeper. 
The Deft has two slots for a weapon, item, animal, school of thought or teacher, that they can attune to.
The Wise has two slots for miracles (spells, rituals, experiments etc.).

Step 4 If your INT is equal to or higher than 13 roll or choose additional language(s):

1 High Rainbow

2 Low Rainbow (many dialects)

3 Steppe: Sunsettish, White Line (Porcelain Princes), Satrap Canto (Spectrum Satraps) 

4 Dwarven: Volkan, Deep Dwarf, Winerian

5 Elven: Woodlander, Moonlander (dead)

6 Blue Tongue (language of cultists of the Blue God)

7 Vomeish

8 Black City Alphabet (dead)

9 Lingish (dead)

10 High Ultra

Step 5 Heroes start with 200 cash. Buy equipment.

PCs can carry one sack unencumbered

If we should decide to start at level 2, raise one attribute by one, update ST and AV and re-roll hp.

Ok, I rolled an exiled pirate liberal. Now what?

First you should think about the kind of pirate you want to play and which class would fit that concept the best: A Strong Pirate with say a bone harpoon and laser pistol, a Deft Pirate that is attuned to his rapier and mechanical monkey or a Wise Pirate that studied maps and blueprints in her submarine.
Secondly you need to find two groups for your attributes. As noted above the d40 list can inform some or all of the three elements of a character: Vocation, Affiliation and Species which are called groups. You can write "Pirate" as your vocation next to an attribute if you are a Wise or Strong Pirate but you don't have to: Maybe being a pirate is peripheral and the Strong is a actually a fierce warrior poet and the Wise an engineer who found a vome-infected glass eye that shoots laser rays?

The Deft Pirate needs to pick their vocation right away but doesn't have to write it next to a specific attribute. They always roll with advantage if their vocation is relevant to the task at hand. 
For the other group you can think about a heritage or affiliation: Maybe you picked up a vome-infected glass eye and you write down "vome" next to Wisdom because it helps you see in the dark or spot Ultras. Maybe you have been exiled for being part of a freethinking society of pirates: Write "Redlander Liberation Army" or "Thinking Pirates Union" next to an appropriate stat. 

If you can't think of a second group, you can also leave it open and add it in between session after you have discovered something about the character in play.

Advanced stage of  a Vome-infection

Method 2: Making a character from scratch

As above, but for step 2 roll a d20 or choose your Species / Heritage, Vocation and Lifepath on the following tables:

Species / Heritage

1 Humans: Bluelander
2 Humans: Greenlander
3 Humans: Orangelander
4 Humans: Yellowlander
5 Steppelander
6 Quarter – Ling
7 - 8 Half-Elf
9 Half – Ork
10 - 11 Dwarf
12 Great Folk / Half- Ling
13 - 14 Para-Human Porcelain Prince
15 – 16 Para-Human Spectrum Satrap
17 Machine Human
18 Ultra
19 Vome
20 Cat Lord

Vocation (inspired by the d40 list and Seacat)

1 Ambassador / Spy / Lawyer
2 Merchant Adventurer / Barbarian Destroyer / Laser Cowboy / Timelost Warrior
3 Preacher / Blue God Cultist / Priest / Seer / Summoner / Witch
4 Botanist / Freehold Archaeologist
5 Entertainer / Singer / Acrobat
6 Prospector / Engineer / Industrialist / Tinker
7 Inquisitor / Machinehunter General / Demon hunter / Warlock
8 Electric Wizard / Vome Programmer / Dream Wanderer
9 Trapper / Scavenger / Hunter / Rancher
10 Necromancer / Fleshcrafter / Bonecrafter / Biomancer

A tinker and his golem

Lifepath

If you want to flesh out the character's past you can add a descriptor like: 

1 fabulous
2 disgraced
3 chosen
4 revered
5 escaped
6 infamous
7 traveled
8 learned
9 lost
10 teleported
11 secret
12 desiccated

Fabulous!

Method 3

Sometimes you roll on the d40 table and the result is less straightforward than you would hope. One of the players from the first season for example rolled a Yellowlander Climate Migrant and didn't really know what to do. In this case you can either start with a Whitehack class and work you way towards the result or use the result more as color and inspiration than as a tight constraint. The Yellowlander could be a Strong, a typical fighter of their culture, say a sandworm riding warrior or a Deft scavenger, hardened by acid rain or a Wise engineer, using steam power technology to fight off the cold.