The Mirror Cities: Reality as a Subscription
Illusion Architecture, Consensus Reality, and the Truth Market
In the Mirror Cities, what you see depends on your subscription tier. The physical infrastructure - concrete, steel, pipes, wiring - belongs to the city. The experience of that infrastructure is sold by illusion architects. A Tier 1 subscriber sees clean streets, attractive storefronts, and pleasant weather. A Tier 3 subscriber sees a curated version of the city tailored to their aesthetic preferences. An unsubscribed citizen sees the raw physical reality: a grey, functional, unremarkable city that is structurally sound and sensory-neutral. Illusion architects are the wealthiest profession in the Mirror Cities. Truth-glasses - devices that strip all illusions - are illegal in public spaces. The city council has passed 14 consecutive resolutions confirming this. Investigative journalists who work in Truth-mode are technically operating outside regulations, technically.
“The city you see is the city you pay for. The city underneath costs nothing. That is why no one chooses to look at it.”
- Anonymous graffiti on an unsubscribed wall, visible only in Truth Mode
1. Setting Overview
The Mirror Cities started as an aesthetic improvement project. Illusion architects bid to overlay the visual experience of different city districts - the winner was whoever proposed the most appealing design at the lowest subscription cost. Citizens loved it. Revenue increased. The project became permanent infrastructure.
Three decades later, the physical city has been almost entirely neglected because the city budget prioritizes illusion maintenance contracts over physical maintenance. The pipes are failing. The concrete is cracking. The electrical grid is decades overdue for replacement. None of this is visible to subscribers. The city council’s infrastructure committee has not met in four years.
Tone: Noir with a philosophical edge. Everyone is lying, including the architecture. Truth is available, but it costs you socially. The city is genuinely in trouble in ways that are invisible by design.
2. The Illusion Economy
Illusion Architects design and maintain city-wide illusion layers under contract. The top firms maintain contracts for multiple cities simultaneously. Their work is considered art. Their contracts are iron-clad and personally lobbied into city law.
The Unsubscribed are people who cannot afford or refuse subscription. They live in Truth Mode permanently. In subscribed spaces, they are visually jarring to subscribers - they appear to flicker at the edges, because their presence in the illusion layer is unregistered. They are not dangerous. They are treated as aesthetically disruptive.
The Truth Press operates technically legally under old press-freedom clauses that predate the illusion ordinances. Their journalists carry Truth-glasses and report on physical conditions. Their readership is small, mostly unsubscribed. The city council has tried to close them six times.
3. Factions
Mirrorveil Inc. - The dominant illusion architecture firm. Holds maintenance contracts for 60% of the Mirror Cities. Currently in negotiations to extend contract terms by 25 years.
The Unsubscribed Collective - A political movement of non-subscribers advocating for Truth Mode access rights in public spaces.
The Truth Press - An investigative operation that has been documenting physical infrastructure decay for three years and cannot get the story to penetrate the subscribed media.
4. Unique Mechanic
Subscribed Mode: +1d6 Presence in Tier 2+ spaces. Cannot see illusion-seams. Truth Mode: Ignore all illusion deceptions. -1d6 Presence in subscribed spaces. See all physical reality. Architect Mode (Illusionists only): Shape illusions in a zone. Complexity 1-6. Rating 4+ requires Mind roll each scene to maintain.
5. Character Archetypes
The Illusion Architect
Mid-level architect who maintains a residential district. Has been quietly expanding the illusions beyond contract specifications to hide a growing infrastructure crack that her contract requires her to report but that her senior partner told her to not mention.
- Drive: “Get the crack reported before it becomes a collapse.”
- Approach Distribution: Force 1 | Finesse 2 | Mind 3 | Presence 2
The Truth Journalist
Unsubscribed by choice. Carries Truth-glasses, works for the Truth Press, and has a complete physical map of infrastructure failures the city has never disclosed. Has been trying to find a subscribed media contact willing to run the story.
- Drive: “Get one subscribed outlet to publish the physical report before the next pipe failure hurts someone.”
- Approach Distribution: Force 1 | Finesse 3 | Mind 2 | Presence 2
The Infrastructure Inspector
City employee whose job is to assess physical conditions. Her job description requires Truth Mode access. The city has quietly stopped issuing her the Truth-glasses. She has been writing reports based on subscription-mode observation, which shows everything as fine.
- Drive: “Obtain Truth Mode access legally before the next quarterly report is due.”
- Approach Distribution: Force 1 | Finesse 2 | Mind 3 | Presence 2
6. Starter Scenario
The Visible Crack: A section of the city’s oldest district has developed an illusion anomaly - the Tier 2 and Tier 3 subscription layers are showing the same structural crack through the buildings on Fifth and Main. The illusion maintenance team cannot patch it because the physical crack is too large for the standard overlap algorithm to compensate for. Every subscriber in the area can now see the real city. Mirrorveil is calling it a system error and issuing refunds. The crack is in a load-bearing wall.