The Painted City

City founded upon the idea of illusions for communication and entertainment. The ruling Shrouded acts as a central hub/totem to allow for more interconnectivity and consistency.
Built around the upper levels of an ancient bonespider nest- said spiders are old enough to gain a sort of sapience, as their souls have grown large enough for higher reasoning to emerge.
Interestingly, the city has a rather large population of ethnic Eideli- they actually make up a larger percentage of the population than Cotd.

Illusion

• Games created of illusion, sorta like a 'true' VR experience. Fight giant monsters and explore great landscapes drawn directly from the artist's mind.

• Communication- essentially being able to send voice mails, texts, images etc. to others linked to the system with one's mind.

• Local ancient bonespiders are communicated with via this bastardized soulspeak, acting as guards etc.

Day to day

• Most construction is pretty minimalist and bleak unless linked to the system. Then it comes to life with bright colors and animated signs, looking like something out of a modern big city.

• Main currency is fragments of Ariadne's self soaked into small, papery things. These are used as access tokens to the overarching system's resources. The more fragments one has, the more they can create.

• Food is extremely bland, but nutritious- restaurants sell sensory illusions to override the flavor anyway. The most common meal being a gruel made of boiled titan cap (complex carbs, fiber, some protein), shadowroot (sugar, fiber, lots of micronutrients), and unfertilized bonespider eggs (fat, protein).

Imports

• Acryl crystal is useful for anchoring/storing illusions. Circuit glass would also work in later times, but the city existed centuries before its creation.

• Experiences. While illusionists will craft all sorts of things with pure creativity, sometimes the details from true experience add a key element of authenticity. Many an illusionist will pay well for the ability to go through the memories of those who have had interesting lives, good or bad.

Exports

• Not very much to export, given that it's all linked to Ariadne and her range.

• Famous for performance artists throughout the darklit cities, even some rep outside of the region. Something of a reputation for being like a siren to the rest of the world- people drawn in by the amazing things while actually wasting away.

Culture

• Most immigrant population out of all the Darklit Cities

• Even non-Cotd, who can use the illusion but not create their own.

• The 'true' city lies beneath the bonespider lair, while the surface area is more friendly to outsiders. More showing instead of doing, less of the deep interactivity of inner-city systems and more theme-parky in general.

• Relatively open borders. Vault Veil access isn't freely accessible, but neither is it extremely exclusive.