The Man under the Ash

I went down a rabbit hole of Brussels lore and mysticism recently, and along the way I got inspired by the strata of city that at some point burned down, or the parts of the river Senne that were buried because of its foul stench. This converged into the Man under the Ash, a demon that lives in the tunnels under the city.

Meneer Onder d’as Man under the Ash

An honest, hungry demon of the buried city. It rides night trams and old tunnels, opens sealed ways, and charges you in the little things that make you you.
Born where the Senne, ash, and concrete press together like a composty urban lasagna.

• His deals are clear, his wording literal.
• He is hungry for things people keep despite themselves (habits, anchors, comforts).
• You have 7 stops to accept his proposition.

Appearance

Rust-skin with a damp sheen. Touch leaves an orange ring that fades. Smell of wet metal with a subtle hint of yeast. Calm eyes, station LEDs flicker in them.

Haunts

Sainte-Catherine & Vismet; Tour Noire; under Boulevard Anspach above the Senne vaults; Beurs/De Brouckère pre-métro galleries; Lemonnier/Anneessens stairwells; Coudenberg/Rue Isabelle site; Marolles service tunnels; Anderlecht abattoir drains after rain.

Abilities

• Ghost Stop: after seven stops, manifests a platform where the city should have had one. Lasts a few minutes.
• Rust Bloom: Touch corrodes locks, hinges, … Everything in a small radius ages a few years.
• Bind: A true name spoken lets it bind a subtle effect to the subject (reroute, hush, lost memory).
• Weigh the Car: Shifts center of mass: luggage slides, doors settle, a carriage levels.
• Stratomancer: Reads the stories in buried and compressed strata.
• PA Ride-along: Briefly hijacks loudspeakers.

Weaknesses / counters

Fresh plaster (≤7 days) stings; Saint-Michel’s sanctified bronze/bells scramble its count; new stamped infrastructure plans shrink its range; theft from it triggers seven nights of blocked passages.

Prices it demands

1. Your exact way home on autopilot (you’ll always hesitate at one corner).
2. The true spelling of your first name (you answer a beat late forever).
3. A lucky coin/stone carried for years.
4. Your spot at the bar where staff know your order.
5. The unlock pattern/PIN you never changed (muscle memory erased).
6. The smell of safety from your winter coat.
7. A song fragment that stops your panic.
8. The back-up key hidden under a pot.
9. A month of small good breaks coming up.
10. The story you tell about how you met your partner (the meeting stays; the story goes blank).

Evidence

Fading rust stains on poles and tickets; validators log “phantom” taps; CCTV shows doors half-open between stops; old lettering bleeding through repaint; victims report missing habits: routes, smells, reflex answers to their name.

Case hooks

• Ticket of a Name: STIB logs tie a burst of validator pings to one commuter’s initials the night a sinkhole opens on Anspach.
• Phantom Platform, Beurs: Night staff hear doors open at 02:07. Two commuters exited “between stations.”
• ISABELLE: Fresh paint in a Coudenberg service hall keeps forming the word; workers refuse continuing.
• Lost Way Home: Marolles residents report weird memory losses, strange feelings of disconnect; accidents spike after rain.
• Abattoir Rot: Anderlecht loading bay fuses under orange bloom; cameras show light dips every seventh second.