City in Darkness for players
Bathed in eternal darkness, the City in Darkness hangs impossibly in a plane of complete nothingness. Flickering light from thousands of lanterns and torches illuminates what one could only describe as a huge rock suspended in space. The top of this rock is covered in closely huddled buildings that aim ever higher at an empty sky.
Monday, January 16, 2017
Campaigning
Monday, January 2, 2017
A new year, a new summary
Races:
Goblins: Clever engineers that threw off the shackles of the evil god that created them and now enforce their goodness through temperance leagues and other clubs and societies.Orcs: Gentle seafaring folk who live aboard their greatships and rarely venture onto dry land
Halflings: Live communally in small villages in the homeland, but more conventionally in the city, the home hearths of Astre owe their current form in the city to the Halflings.
Dwarves: If not a dead race, then certainly dying. No child has been born in the mountainholmes for more than a century and the remaining Dwarves spend their time in a stupor, unwilling to do much besides eat and sleep.
Humans: Come from many of the worlds connected to the City, but mostly from the many shattered kingdoms of the old empires of Tikreti.
Kobolds: Recently civilized tribes from the swamps, they appear more and more often in the city as traders of fish, fowl and other products of the swamps.
Worlds Beyond Portals:
Benoch: The area around the portal is low lying hills populated mainly by Halflings. Large river near the portal makes it a huge trade route to the many kingdoms that formed from the fallen Tikreti empire.Orlock: The source of the Aqueduct, the goblins beyond the underground exit to the portal are proficient engineers, building dams and canals above and below ground.
Copia: Portal exit is to a vast swamp populated by Kobolds and much worse. A massive project to build a causeway across the swamp is nearing completion, will enable much better trade with the dwarves of the mountainholmes beyond the swamp.
Ilum: Leads to a floating pontoon that orc ships occasionally dock at. The nearest land is more than a week's voyage from the portal.
Interesting Sites:
The Palace of Justice: Next to the Night Palace, Court cases in Nocte are known for their entertainment value, creative punishment, and mad Judges.The Pits: Home to the poorest and most desperate of Nocte's peoples, the pits burrow deep below the city into the rock.
The Night Palace: The palace of the Duke of Nocte, although the Duke himself hasn't been seen in many years, is known for lavish balls and its intricate gothic architecture.
The Home Hearths: Each morning, all the citizens of Nocte eat breakfast in one of the almost 50 hearths, tended to by the Priests of Anwyn. The elite of the city do most of their business deals in the hearths.
Walker's Square: The largest open public space in the city sits next to the Palaces of Justice and is the site of all executions in the city.
The Anchor: In several Nocte neighborhoods, massive chains, with links the size of a horse, can be seen randomly piercing walls and spanning streets. These chains hold up parts of Nocte that jut out over the edge and have allowed people to build wider and higher than would otherwise be possible. Most of the chains originate from the Anchor.
The Aqueduct: The City's only water source stems from the underground canals beyond the Orlock Portal and is so important it has an entire legion of guards to protect it.
Friday, November 21, 2014
The Honourable Society of Tallow Chandlers
The Honourable Society of Tallow Chandlers, or the Lighters as they are colloquially known are amongst the most powerful in the city. Formed from a collection of merchants around the year 120, they created the guild in order to lobby the Duke of the time for public lighting in the city. Up until that point, the exteriors of buildings were not lit, nor were the streets of the city. Most people carried torches or lamps to get around and for those who didn’t, ropes were installed as guides.
The Tallow Chandlers were successful and they split the new responsibility of lighting the public spaces of the city amongst themselves. As oil lamps became more popular and the tallow chandlers diversified, they gained the name Lighters.
Between the years 130 and 156, the Tallow Chandlers used the threat of withdrawing light many times to extort greater and greater sums of money from the city. Things came to a head in 155 when the Duchess Ketta began hiring rival lamplighters at a much lower cost. Conflict broke out and the rival lamplighters engaged in skirmishes across the city. Entire districts were left in the dark for days at a time and people began to carry personal torches again, as they did before the public lighting of 120. The Tallow Chandlers Guildmaster at the time, a halfling woman named Berrin paid a huge sum of money to assassinate Ketta, hoping her son would be more easily manipulable. She was wrong, the son Gerard was insane and ordered Berrin and the other senior Lighters to be imprisoned. The trial that followed was, experts agree, one of the most entertaining in the history of the city. Wild accusations were thrown, endless parades of witnesses questioned and three judges assassinated. Finally they were declared guilty and burned alive in their own lamp oil. The Lighters were broken, or so they thought, but Duke quickly lost interest in the issue and over the next few decades, the Chandlers were able to regain the influence they lost
Over 800 people are currently employed to keep the lamps of Nocte lit. Although it is not a highly paid position, the lamplighters are a respected profession and often receive a drink on the house at any tavern they wish to frequent.
The Guilden:
Pavian Morell - The head of the guild, a balding sycophant who has retained his position for over ten years by ingratiating himself not only with powerful Chandlers Guild figures but other Guildmasters as well. His wife, naturally, is the strategic mind of the pair. Irina is responsible for negotiating a new, lucrative contract with the city. A growing proportion of guild members are getting sick of Pavian and want Irina to take over instead. She is not opposed to the idea but he is. If it ever came to a vote, Pavian has been stockpiling cash, thugs and mercinaries to make the political conflict much more literal than usual.
Vannis - A almost inhumanly thin man sporting a comically large black beard. Children say he is more hair than man. Vannis is responsible for apportioning the contracts of the guild out to its various members. This position is the most powerful in the guild because he can deny families of their income, or unusually bless them with additional contracts. To date he has been scrupulous in his fairness but that will change soon. He has accrued a large gambling debt to Iryllia Revear and she has begun to call in favours.
Kyle Arran - Descended from one of the original founders of the guild and won’t let you forget it. The Arrans are one of the most respected (or at least, oldest) families in the city and one of its most arrogant. Blond haired, blue eyed they put a lot of stock in breeding and are often heard abhorring the state of the city. In recent years this attitude is getting less and less welcome amongst the becoming affluent non-human races of the city. The Arrans are spending more and more time in the country but Kyle Arran prefers to stay in the city. He is famous for his (human only) parties that overflow with excess. Last month, one of his soirĂ©es turned into a debaucherous looting expedition after running out of pheasant pate.
Some Lamplighters:
Narell “Leggy” Martock - A seven and a half foot giant, leggy is forced to walk with a stoop most of the time. He can however, light the high lamps on the main roads without a ladder.
Semtin - Known as the clumsiest woman in the city, she is famous for setting herself on fire on no less than five occasions. People in the street give her a wide birth and laugh openly at her. Semtin has almost had enough of the abuse, for some time now she has been plotting her revenge. Not so coincidentally, supplies of oil have started to go missing from the Chandler’s Store.
Ginna - A plump and jolly woman, she delights in handing out cheap candles to the children who follow her on her route. Occasionally she manages to lure one of them back to her room but only for the company, the children are unharmed.
Havin - An sandy haired, broad chested, honest looking man that is nothing of the kind. He makes a significant income on the side by threatening to burn down peoples shops unless they pay protection money. Although he has never followed through on his threats he is quick to take credit for the occasional small fire the breaks out in the city.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
The Reformation of the Orlick Goblins of Atmos
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Small Gods
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Some things about Orcs
The Orcs of the great oceans of Atmos:
- are a seafaring race, they ply the seas in great generation ships, touching land less than once a year.
- have skin like seals (although green), it is slightly oily to the touch and covered in a fine layer of hair.
- do not experience curglaff (the shock felt on plunging into cold water).
- smell of brine and fermented fish.
- diet consists mostly of fish and seaweed, although orcish fish sauce is highly prized in Nocte.
- most never set foot on land and only a tiny percentage venture farther than a few miles from the sea.
- will always have upon their person a small phial of salt water.
- give birth to live young. A mother can control the length of the pregnancy from four to eleven months. A four month orc baby is very immature but an eleven month old will be crawling within a week or two.
- dissolve quickly in their own acids juices upon death, leaving behind a lot less bones than expected and a small brownish pearl that, when ground, forms a heady intoxicant.
- have personal gods. Each family has a god that protects them, must be sacrificed to etc. Some of the gods have become popular since the families came to the city and are worshiped by thousands. Public shrines are not unusual, even if no one outside the family worships the god, they still want everyone to know about them.
- never anthropomorphize things, they would never say the "the ocean is a cruel mistress" or even "that cloud looks like your mother".
- have no ocean, land or animal gods as the orcs believe themselves to have souls and no one else. Animals are free to be slaughtered and fish to be caught. The ocean is not personified either. It is just the world, random, capricious, sometimes calm, sometimes angry (although an orc would never ascribe orcish emotions to the ocean, they would use kalmeren and bous respectively).
- never speak their own language on land, it being sacred of the sea.
- always refer to themselves as aboard a ship, even when on land.
- when on land, visit a bathhouse daily at a minimum.
- cherish fresh water. Although not sacred, wasting fresh water is a moderate crime.
- that live in cities are lonely folk, usually apart from their families, that like to join communities of like-minded individuals such as guilds.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
The Halflings of Blonks
Blonks is one of the many Dukedoms formed in the Sutland after the fall of the Tikreti Empire. On its collapse, over 300 years ago, Blonks was formed from one of the Duchies of the Empire.
300 years ago, the relatively unmolested halflings of Blonks were conquered by the Tikreti Empire. Empyric practices at the time were to appoint a local related to the previous system to govern and so a halfling was appointed the first Duke of Blonks. Under the duke, three barons were each appointed a portion of the dukedom. A century later the empire falls but the Duchies under it remain. The former empire splits into thousands of independent realms, some fell to conquerors, others saw sense to ally with their neighbors to form new kingdoms. The disparate groups of the Barden plains and Stallem hill valleys that form the Sutland mostly remained small and independent.
Life ruled by nobles never really suited the halfling way of life, theirs being a much more equitable and equal society than existed in most other places in the empire. For this reason, the dukes and barons that rule are mostly ignored by the majority of halflings. Their tithes are small and the barons know not to push too hard, else they find themselves completely ostracised from Blonkian society. This society is almost entirely made up of small hamlets and villages, consisting of very few large (albeit low ceilinged) communal living huts surrounding a Home Hearth of Anwyn. All food preparation and consumption is done within the Home Hearth, as well as being the common gathering place and workspace for the village. The huts surrounding the home hearths are also communal space, up to twenty people will live in a hut that has no internal walls or separations of any kind.
Halflings are not private people at all, their communal living prevents it, to extremes that other cultures may be shocked by. A Blonkian will happily defecate in front of people, as well as fornicate. Although halflings are mainly monogamous, the participants, nor or any onlookers would feel slightly uncomfortable engaging in sex in a communal sleeping area. Pre-marital sex is not uncommon, the older folk just smile at the youths and their emotions, knowing that soon they will be adults and ready for marriage. Children are brought up communally and although a child will know who their parents are, no particular affection or attachment is normal in Blonkian society.
A typical village will be surrounded by many wind chimes and other noise making paraphernalia. Loud instruments and many bodies close together keep away Malkalin, the dark stalker. A god of darkness that takes lone halflings at night, Malkalin also has influence in The city in Darkness. Halflings in the city do not live communally and there is some debate as to whether this has drawn Malkalin to the city.
The head of the village is a member of a mystery cult of Yashan. Although they still live communally, only the heads of villages and their eventual replacement are indoctrinated into the Yashani (as they are known). The followers of Yashan meet secretly every full moon to discuss leadership, perform protective rituals over the villages of Blonks and make the sacrifices Yashan demands for his protection. At every meeting, an animal born since the last full moon is sacrificed.