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Spirits in the SiliconCyberpunk Byzantium

Concept art

Neon, incense, and fog

Development art from the series bible — the churches, the streets, and the people who walk between them. Click any image to see it larger.

A robed monk whose face is a lit screen of scrolling text — A monk of the digital orders

A young woman in wet silks on a rain-soaked market street beneath a Greek sign reading angeloi tou ouranou, angels of heaven — They are called actresses. Everyone knows what is meant.

A heavily armoured guardsman on a neon street — A Varangian of the Guard

The great church seen from above at night, its domes and arcades outlined in gold light above the city — A large church, lit against the whole city

A great church of the old city with lit domes rising over the fog — A great church of the Old City

The interior of a church, its columns and arches traced in electroluminescent light — A nave traced in electroluminescent line

An altar beneath a glowing projected figure of Christ — An altar, and a Christ of projected light

A holographic icon

A winged figure with a luminous halo — An angel, rendered

A church façade lit in magenta and violet, its signage unreadable — A church gone over to the heretics

A small parish church wedged between tenements, lit by a green sign — A parish church in the Warren

A church doorway crowned with a gold roundel beneath the Greek word ANASTASIS — ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΙΣ — the Resurrection, over the door

The front of a great church lit with cyan neon lettering reading Sancta Sophia — Sancta Sophia, in the rain

A small church lit by a blue neon sign in Greek reading Saint Nicholas — Ἑγιος Νικολαος, the parish on the corner

A church facade under an amber neon sign reading Sanctus Ioannes — Sanctus Ioannes, lit for the evening

A cloaked figure crossing a plaza toward a church signed in Greek, Konstantinos — Before the doors of Konstantinos

A carved Christ inside a ring of blue neon lettering reading Iesus Christus Salvator Mundi — Iesus Christus, Salvator Mundi

A warm-lit church interior with stone arcades and hanging lamps — A side chapel, the lamps still burning

A great gilded roundel inside a church bearing the Greek word EKKLESIA — ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ — the assembly, in gold and glass

An ornate gatehouse lit in gold neon reading PORTA URBIS and AD URBEM SUPERIOREM, with a tower of the upper city beyond — Porta Urbis — where the Warren meets the High City

A cloaked figure standing in a narrow street lined with lit Greek shop signs — Shopfronts on a wet street, the tavern still open

A cybernetic repair shopfront glowing on a dark street — A Repairman's shopfront

The lit entrance of a dockside bar and lounge — Dockside bar and lounge

A shop selling rare electronics behind barred windows — Rare electronics. Some of it legal

A lone cloaked figure on a rain-slicked street under pink neon — Rain on the cobblestones

An ornate apartment building above the fog line — An apartment above the fog line

A bookshop front lit in warm neon reading LIBRI, with a Greek sign reading bibliotheke — Libri — scientia et sapientia, and open late

A monumental archway lit in cyan neon reading TABULARIUM above the word MEMORIA — The Tabularium, where the Empire keeps its memory

A covered market of produce stalls under signs reading agora trofimon and FRUCTUS — The food market, six continents deep

A crowd outside a club beneath pink and violet neon reading LUX NOCTIS — Lux Noctis, and a queue that never quite thins

A figure in a long red coat on a wet street beneath neon signs reading MERCATUS and agora — Mercatus after dark — somebody is always buying

A corner meeting house lit in cyan neon reading CONCORDIA and, in Greek, synodos — Concordia — a meeting house, where the colours talk

A crowd on a rainy rooftop under red neon reading FESTA NOCTURNA, with signs for wine and music — Festa Nocturna. The night does not end early here

A wet dog sitting alone on a neon-lit street at night — Somebody's dog. Or nobody's

An ancient triumphal arch lit by blue neon reading TRIUMPHUS, with VICTORIA carved above the archway — Triumphus — an arch of the old victories, rewired

An armoured cataphract on an armoured horse beneath a neon sign reading CATAPHRACTI — Cataphracts still patrol the Old City on horseback

A soldier in red and gold armour under red neon — The Athanatoi — the Immortals

A priest in dark robes on a night street beneath a glowing pink cross — A priest of the slums

A large bearded man in a heavy coat with technical gear — Repairman Demetrios

A crowned emperor in imperial regalia, his crown inscribed Manuel IV — Manuel IV Vatatzes, Basileus ton Romaion

A woman in gold imperial dress with a jewelled circlet — The Empress — once an actress

A young noblewoman with violet hair ornaments — Anna Vatatzes, the Emperor's ward

An elderly churchman in embroidered vestments — The Patriarch of Constantinople

Hooded figures on a neon-lit street at night — Neo‑Paulicans, speaking in cant

Three figures with glowing masks standing under strip lighting — Hackers — and whatever rides with them

Robed nobles gathered around a lit table — Nobles in council

A hooded figure with glowing green eyes on a wet neon street — Something on the street that would rather not be seen

Lux Noctis — light of the night

A young hooded man working at a laptop, blue circuitry glowing on his jacket — A heretic at his own kind of prayer

A bearded priest in embroidered robes reading from a lit tablet — A priest who reads something other than scripture

An armoured officer with a crested helm and glowing violet circuitry — A strategos of the field armies

A crowned noble in gold and violet regalia, his robe inscribed despotes above the word IMPERIUM — A Despot of the Empire

A hooded priest on a rainy street beneath a violet neon sign reading phos, meaning light — A priest walking his parish after dark

A bearded priest in dark vestments in an archway beneath a gold neon sign reading PAX — Pax. The word is easier to hang than to keep.

Concept art by Lawrence Railey. Development imagery — not all of it is canon, and none of it is final.

Now read it

Thirty Pieces of Silver

The novella that opens the sequence. One night, one ship, one reliquary.

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