31 Days of Character Creation #26 – Spire, The City Must Fall

I saw the compelling review of this game on the YouTube Channel Quinn’s Quest and it made me want to play it at some point. If you haven’t seen Quinn’s Quest it is one of the best produced tabletop RPG review channels I’ve ever seen. Watching his videos introduced me to this and The Wildsea and also helped me know a game like Lancer wasn’t for my particular tastes. Spire is a game where the characters are Drow in a vertical city ruled by tyrants. The player characters are intent on bring this power structure down.

Here is how Spire – The City Must Fall is described on its official website:

In the mile-high ancient city of Spire, the cruel and beautiful high elves rule through bloody oppression – and the dark elves have had enough. In Spire: The City Must Fall, players take on the role of a rebel cell in service of a forbidden goddess of shadows and misdirection, and it is their mission to overthrow the government with a mixture of espionage, rabble-rousing, illegal magic and murder.

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There are a lot more supplements for this game than you might imagine which add several more character options, but I went with the core basics. Meet the celebrity poet Pharryn Telenna:

Pharryn Telenna grew up in the shadowy depths of the Spire, where the oppressive weight of Aelfir rule suffocated the lower castes. As a young recruit in the city’s Guard, Pharryn worked tirelessly to protect their community from the dangers that lurked in the twisting streets. They were known for their sharp instincts that led to the arrests of several dangerous figures. Yet, with every patrol, Pharryn felt the weight of the Guards’ corruption pressing down. It wasn’t long before they uncovered a network of Aelfir-backed criminal enterprises feeding off their own people. When Pharryn’s whistleblowing led not to justice but to betrayal by their peers, they fled their post, disillusioned.

Seeking solace, Pharryn turned to poetry, finding a voice to express the pain and yearning of their people. Their performances began in shadowed corners of the city, their verses a mixture of defiance, sorrow, and hope. Over time, their words lit a spark in the oppressed, their poems whispered and recited across the Spire. Pharryn quickly became a prominent Idol, known for works that struck at the heart of Aelfir domination.

Their fame grew, and with it came the trio of relentless fans: Vornalla, a quiet scholar obsessed with cataloging every word Pharryn speaks; Umrae, a former soldier who sees Pharryn as a symbol of resistance; and Lesatar, a wandering merchant who claims Pharryn’s poems changed the course of their life. The trio’s loyalty is both endearing but frustrating when they show up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Pharryn has recently been approached by a secretive group calling themselves the Choir of Chains. They want Pharryn to weave a particular coded message into their next performance—one that will call for an uprising against an influential Aelfir lord. The Choir promises that this is the moment to ignite true rebellion, but they refuse to share the details of their plan.

At the same time, Pharryn’s former commander from their days in the Guard has reappeared, offering a cryptic warning: “They’re watching you, and they won’t let you burn brighter than the sun.” With the Choir pressuring them, the Aelfir tightening their grip, and their fans blissfully unaware of the danger, Pharryn must decide whether their art will spark revolution or if the cost will burn everything—and everyone—they love.