The Home Hearths of Astre

One of my favourite books of the early D&D 3e era was The Book of the Righteous by Aaron Loeb. The Home Hearths of Anwyn was my favourite church, I loved how integrated it was into the society. It seemed like a church with a real purpose, something useful for people to believe in and be a part of. My equivalent god, Astre, is directly influenced by Anwyn but both fortunately and unfortunately, my memory is terrible and I haven't read the book in over 10 years. It is packed in storage somewhere literally half a world away but in a way that's a good thing. It will force me to be less plagaristic and more creative. I also have to point out the fantastic coincidence that astre means hearth in old french. I swear I made the word up, but I will forgive the reader for not believing me.

Astre is not an interventionist god, she never dabbles in mortal affairs, even to protect her church and most devout followers. Prayers to her go unanswered, her priests claim no influence over her, nor that they can even send or receive communicatons with her. Yet, Astre is the most widely worshipped god on both the rock and her original world, Benoch. 

The reason for this is simple, the church of Astre, the Home Hearths, is not only the largest charitable organisation in the worlds, but also the largest individual provider of sustenance to the people that live in communities with a Hearthen presence. Although the nature of the Hearths differ wildly across the different cultures Astre is worshipped, Blonks (the region directly beyond the Benoch portal) provided the basic template for the city church, although the dwellers on the rock take it to great extremes. In the small villages of Benoch that fall under the influence of Astre, the centre of the village is usually dominated by a plain hall large enough to seat the entire village. Kitchens and ovens line the walls of the hall and all bread is baked therin. Although in the villages most homes have cooking facilities, the first meal of the day is always had at the Hearths. Villagers will bring their dough, made the night before and set out to rise, to the ovens of the Home Hearths. While it is baking they socialise and have their first meal of the day provided by the hearths. Usually a porridge with fresh bread, a little honey and some fruit. Once the bread is baked (and some of it consumed), the villagers will begin their days work. 

In Blonks, the communal nature of the halfling inhabitants (more on that next week) makes the Hearths even more dominant. The only building in the village with cooking facilities is the Home Hearths and all meals and most social activities take place within.

In the City in Darkness, the Home Hearths are still a large part in the day of it's inhabitants. The first meal of the day is always had at the Home Hearths.

Breakfast is usually made up of porridge, bread and unique to the city, jellied eels. Rich and poor alike will attend one of the many Home Hearths scattered around the city. As there is no specific rich district in the city, each Home Hearth will play host to people of all social classes. The nobility, merchants, workers, paupers and even priests of other gods attend the Hearths every morning. The poor attend out of necessity, the rich out of obligation. Neglecting the Hearths is sure social suicide for even nobles with their own cooks and kitchens. Meals are served from 5 bells in the morning, to mid-morning (9am), the earlier you attend the more pious you are. Workers will typically stay only a short time before hurrying to work, but for merchants and nobles, the mornings are spent talking business, doing deals and socialising. 

Attending a beautiful Home Hearth gives its patrons prestige and so the patronage of artists, architects and artisans is common. Sculpture, and other works of art are especially prized and popular artists are in constant demand. This beautification is not just a competition between different Hearths and families, there is a genuine belief that exulting Astre in this way will bring her closer to them and, despite all evidence to the contrary, make her look more favourably upon the members of the Hearth.

The priests of Astre do not make showy use of miracles, divinations or other such divine powers, nor do they claim to have any special connection wih Astre. They focus instead on providing nourishment for the vast majority of the population of the city. The food provided is donated and not all by the rich, most attendees of the Hearths will, a few times a month, purchase a sack of flour or oats to bring to the hearths. Only the truly destitute are excused from the shaming that comes with being miserly and uncharitable. 

Although the Hearths at first glance seem to be an equitable paradise, not all is as equal as

it seems. The rich, especially patrons of the Hearth are treated favourably; they never wait for food and are served the best whitest loaves, the youngest, most tender morsels of eel as well as fruit, something normal city dwellers cannot usually afford. That said, the daily meeting of all cultures, races, religions and classes is the major reason the city has so little racial tension. Any city of Nocte's size and cultural diversity would expect serious problems but thanks to the mixing influence of the church of Astre, the Home Hearths, these problems are minor.

Moving on from the original version

I started this post way back in January and planned to publish it before it fell through the cracks. It references my first post, The Original Vision, so you should probably go back and read each section along with its companion here. I am posting this now, because I do need to say what I plan to change from the original vision. I want to write a few posts about the power structure in the city from a very high level so revisiting what I have already written about them is obviously important.


 
I want to read over my original draft again. I am going to take this section by section and go over what I like and what I dislike. You can find the original overview here and then read my comments on each section below.


I like the first paragraph. 'Nuff said, now onto the real sections:

Overview:

I think the opening is strong. Nine worlds however, says too much. For my new version, I am going to cut that down to two or three (not including self-contained worlds like the Day Palace). Nine worlds is just too chaotic for me, marrying the cultures of just a few worlds is going to be difficult enough, there is no need to go over-board.

Power Centers:

Whoops, I don't know what happened there. Obviously, that is terrible writing. Somewhere along the way, Count Vanus has turned into a Duke but I don't really care. In my palaces post I didn't name the duke. This is a problem of mine in general, I don't really do people well and it is a struggle to add a bit of life to my locations. The general idea here is good though, a powerless, insane ruler and scheming guilds. I have hinted at that already, with the Night Palace playing host to several Guildhalls. I will have to remember to add in some religious organisations as well.

History:
Some good and some bad here. Although I like the general plot, some details will need to change. The discovery of the extra portals will have to go. To replace the xenophobic invaders, I have some swamp kobolds from the second world lined up. I am going to ditch the mines. There are plenty of other reasons that the pits could be built.

People:

I would like to up the population a lot. I will have to do some research on the population density of Victorian Edinburgh and London. I love the idea of seafaring orcs ever since I read Louise Lawrence's Llandor Trilogy so I must find a way to keep them.

Economy:

I will get rid of the adamantine mines, but I need to come up with some more trade goods that would be traded between the two worlds. I can see a Dungeon Dozen style list coming on!

Military:


I am fairly happy with the military section, although it slightly contradicts an earlier section. The military power of the city has to be enough to fend off potential invaders, although not necessarily the invaders themselves.

Religion:

The Book of the Righteous was one of my favourite books of the early 3.0 D&D era and the home hearths of Anwyn was my favourite church. Not being religious myself, but a lover of history, religious architecture and art, I still like the idea of fantasy religions being a big part of every-day life. I think this is missing from many campaign settings, so including it here should be fun. The mad, frenzied priests and cultists of Greek mystery cults and sword and sorcery novels must also be included.

Magic in Nocte:

I now prefer a low magic, gritty approach to magic; but I still want mages in the city. I guess what I want to avoid is the magic as technology approach. Magic should be dangerous, risky and unpredictable. I have experimented with different mechanics in various roleplaying games to attempt to simulate this, mostly unsuccessful.

Underworld and Security:
Merging the Underworld and Security section with the Military section would probably be wise. They seem to be talking about the same group of organisations. I am sick of the concept of thieves' guilds, the concept seems mostly to cater to rogue/thieves who want to join an organisation. I hope I can come up with something a little more original that would motivate these characters to get involved. It also stretches my suspension of disbelief too much to have a 'city wide thieves guild'. Dinji is a hilarious name for a goblin though, so I will have to use him elsewhere.

The Pits:

Inspired by the caves and passages beneath Edinburg, the pits are one of my favourite things in the city. I can't wait to revisit this idea in a bit more detail. There is an abundance of information about Victorian slums, and I will draw heavily on these sources. I have no intention of pulling punches here and ideally, my audience should be a little disgusted by the inhumane conditions of the pits.

The Aqueduct:

I am pretty happy with the Aqueduct. Water sources are rife for intrigue and sabotage. Given the Aqueduct's importance to the city, I think a militia dedicated to protect it would be interesting, not to mention being used by one guild or another for their own political purpose.


The Guildhouse:

Should that be Guildhall? The headquarters of the guild of merchants and traders is obviously going to be an important building in the city. That said, it is not inspiring me at the moment and so I fear I will not return to this building any time soon.

Ten Thousand Tavern:

I am toying with the idea of creating a 3d model in order to map the city. A 2D map will never be able to capture the many layers and higgledy-piggledy nature of the place. A good practice run would be to map this place, I can image corridors leading through other random buildings to yet more rooms of the tavern. I will probably ditch the gladiatorial style battles. I think sublimating the violence of the city behind a veneer of civility will be more effective at highlighting its brutality. Having open battles in a pub takes something away from this approach.

Through the Portals:

Benoch is the name of one of my homebrews, have you noticed yet that I am terrible at naming things? Look out for a post on naming in the near future! I will probably ditch these worlds and start again. I mentioned swamp kobolds above, and seafaring orcs. I also need some human civilisations on each world to trade between. I also have the option of only using one prime world, with the portals sufficiently far apart to encourage trade.

 
Well, there it is, a little analysis of a ten year old bit of writing I did. Clearly it needs work, but that is a good thing given I have dedicated a blog to this.

The Guild of Spelunkers

The guild of spelunkers is a small group of researchers, daredevils and eccentrics that are interested in the void surrounding the rock. Although the guild has no real political or economic power, it does have some very wealthy individuals in its ranks. The guild has two offices in the city, a 'club' at the very top of the Anchor with a domed glass lounge. The other office is more practical in purpose, with a cable room allowing a platform to be lowered far below the rock. The current record for the farthest lowered person is over a mile by Aelfric Thaumage.

Notable members of the guild:

1. Aelfric Thaumage, elf - A young and impetuous elf brought up by humans. Considered something of a maverick amongst the other members, he claims to have glimpsed 'paradise' through a telescope on one of his spelunking expeditions. The night was incredibly clear of its usual smog and Thaumage tells graphic stories of a lit, verdant island with long necked, furry quadrupeds frolicking in a small stream. Of course, no one else has spotted this wonderland, but he remains convinced that he saw it.
2.  Estaar Froeid is an orcish ex-captain who lost her ship and most of her crew almost 20 years ago. Too proud to  accept help from her clan, she became a land trader until she could make enough money to return to the seas. Having made that money in the city however, she developed a new goal, to navigate the void surrounding the city.  Froeid constructed a new ship atop her tower in the city, one day it might take flight, if only she can figure out how. 
3. Darnegaast is an actual mage, a rare sight in the city, although he pretends otherwise. Most of the time he successfully passes himself off as a trader of rare books, but there are rumors he was seen flying high above the city. This feat has earned him a firm membership in the spelunkers, and despite his protestations, has even been talked into attending a meeting or two. 
4. Aelfard Tornissien proclaims his proud membership of the guild, but secretly works to thwart the others plans of leaving the rock. Aelfard knew of the portals for many years before the first halflings discovered it. He used it as a storehouse, but was forced to move everything to another rock , a few miles distant. Tornissien is able to sneak off to his storehouse without anyone noticing but he lives in fear of one of the other splunkers discovering his hideyhole so he keeps a close eye on them.
5. Grumma Daar is obsessed with the void, it concerns her every waking moment. Luckily, she inherited a vast fortune from her engineering guild parents and invested wisely. With no need to work to make a living, and the social obligations of her family handled by her little brother Laarn, she can spend all her time dreaming and planning her next delve into the void. Currently she is experimenting with rare, imported bamboo for its flexibility and strength.

Noble Curiosities

Some interesting people and situations regarding the nobility.

1. Wife who quarrels constantly with her husband's mistress. She plays pranks to humiliate them publicly including having them followed by dung throwing urchins and on one memorable occasion, arranging it so that all he clothes fell to pieces at a major ball.

2. Elven bastard daughter of the King, is exiled in the city, plans to escape and overthrow her 'evil' father.

3. The scheming landed nobles that own the counties surrounding the blonks portal are constantly competing for control of the major thoroughfare between the river and the portal. They build new roads through their territory, raid each others roads and pay seemingly numberless urchins to misdirect traders onto their lords road. 

When arriving at the landing point, 3 roads lead off in similar directions, all signposted the same. Travellers are approached by many urchins begging coin for directions. Any who refuse help should expect barricades, detours in the wrong direction, armed escorts onto the 'correct' road etc. Of course, once past the tolling booth for the appropriate county they will be able to continue unmolested. 

4. Unguent Crell has given a vast sum of money to a charitable organisation, only  to find out it was a front for a group of smugglers and money launderers. He has started campaigning against the group, even going so far as to pay people to disrupt their activities.

5. Batard de Jucee has ordered his personal guard to surround and escort his daughter Yeriel around at all times. They are becoming quite a nuisance around the city by blocking alleys. Yeriel is looking more and more depressed every day, but no one can get close enough to her to find out what's wrong.

6. Servants of Sterwyn Lanhaller keep turning up dead. Lord Lanhaller publicly offered a reward to find the culprit, only to find out that it is his lover Alonquin who is killing to cover up their affair.

7. The orcan seaclans are holding their vicennial moot in the city. Naked orcs (few orcs wear clothing on the seas, but all city orcs have taken up the custom of wearing clothing) are swarming all over the city. The nobility are scandalised.

8. A number of shopkeepers  have noticed strange new coins issuing from the servants of several unconnected noble houses. The coins bear an almost porcine portrait of a woman on one side, and what looks to be an octopus on the other. Once these coins are distributed evenly amongst the population of the city, they will activate and suck the light into them.

9. Several young scions of rival houses were recently caught meeting in secret and and plotting against their families. As a punishment, the four young women and two young men have been chained together for a month. Hilarity ensues whenever they are spotted around the city.

10. In order to show their piety and to stay connected to the people, many guildleaders and nobles attend the home hearths. They spend vast sums on the patronage of artists, sculptors and architects to improve the home hearths to glorify the goddess (and of course, themselves). Two families in particular strive to outdo each other, building larger and larger temples to glorify Anwyn.

The Anchor

In several Nocte neighbourhoods, 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, a great spire of rock jutting from the surface of Nocte. Although it is completely covered in structures, it is still a visible feature of the city as it is the highest point on the rock.

Almost all links from the Anchor are covered by buildings, but those that are exposed to the rain corrode. In the past, these links were painted to protect them from the elements, but the Guild of Engineers who originally constructed and maintained the links have become complacent. Although founded to construct and maintain the massive engineering works that make the city, the engineers grew wealthy and lazy.

The Guild of Engineers no longer contains engineers, only the rich decedents of the people who made the guild great. Many public works around the city are decaying, from the chains of the Anchor to the rock itself. For many years excavations into the rock have been banned by the guild, in fear of destroying the structural integrity of the rock, but again, the guild has become lax and people have once again, started burrowing into the rock to create more living space for its inhabitants.

Some random plot hooks involving the Anchor and its chains.

1.       A mysterious young man in bizarre leather overalls asks the party to travel to far Haridam, where he has found a source of a magical salve that can turn rust back into iron.

2.       In the quietest hour of the day, a gang of hooded kobolds is discovered hacking away at one of the links. If they are successful, entire blocks of the city could collapse.

3.       Posters go up around the city declaring that a new chain will be constructed, fostering a new era of growth in the city. A vast sum of money is needed and donations are sought. Of course, the originator has other plans for the money.

4.       A lone bureaucrat attempts to inspect the Anchor, the source of the chains, to determine what decay is occurring. Unfortunately a street gang has taken residence in the Anchor and are not responding well to people trying to barge in.

5.       Ignation DeFleury, a member of the Delver's Guild, has a harebrained scheme to build new chains dangling from the underside of the rock. If they can be attached, massive amounts of housing could be constructed for a tidy profit. Potential locations on the underside must be scouted, never mind the flocks of giant bats and other nasties inhabiting the underside. If only Ignation hadn't broken his leg at the last 'giant balloon croquet tournament with refreshments', he would obviously do it himself.

6.       A naked man is found, hanged by his own knee length hair fashioned into a noose, dangling from one of the links above a busy street. Painted on his body are the words 'The day will soon come when all of the sinners hang from the Anchor'. It is unclear why the sinners will dangle from the Anchor specifically, nor which religion's sinners will hang.

Palaces of Justice

A wing of the Night Palace is given over to the courts of the Palace of Justice. There are fourteen courts in all, catering to different types of crimes. The trial as a form of entertainment is taken very seriously by the judges of the city. As a result,  the courts viewing galleries are always packed full. Minor cases of theft and burglary are stretched out to days of outrageous and flamboyant posturing and debate. In many cases the accused hardly seems to be a part of the process, although since they are usually sentenced to death (to the great amusement of the audience) it is a moot point. Although death by disease or assault is an everyday horror of the city, its residents still take great delight in the sentencing and subsequent death of many of the people who pass through the justice system. Thirty judges preside over the courts, with the most popular of them getting the worst, crowd inducing crimes. 

Notable Judges

Barnaby Ruttage, human - A morbidly obese judge, known for eating almost continuously through his trials. In a given day he consumes three roast chickens or other fowl, a dozen hard boiled eggs, two loaves of bread, five bottles of wine, a leg of lamb and a small mountain of potatoes. As a young dandy, he was spat on by a passing labourer and always passes a guilty verdict for any crimes of commoners against someone of better social standing.

Eriane Whitepillar, elf - A mage of no small talent, Eriane long ago created a simaculum to cover her court duties. Her creation has degraded with age however, and is making stranger decisions every day. Last week she let off a young woman accused of murder despite eye witness accounts of the crime. The previous week she decreed that a kobold caught stealing must spend the rest of his life walking on stilts, as a loftier view should 'bring new perspective' to his life. If the simalacrum keeps this up, she may lose the respect of the mob and be removed.

Droll, Mallowney, human - At 6'4, but unhealthily thin, Droll appears more skeletal than alive. He treats his duties as an entertainer of the people very seriously, and has been known to rant for days at an accused. Thought to have never married, he actually has a wife and three children at home, locked in their rooms and forbidden to leave. Although they one day hope to escape, this is increasingly unlikely as Droll has ordered chef to add increasing amounts of laudanum to their dinners. If anyone ever discovered these unwilling occupants, he would claim that his wife is an evil spirit and the children her spawn. He could probably get away with that, but if overly pressed, he would simply end his life to avoid any embarrassment.

Creatine Gnoss, human - A hard woman, all angles and hard lines. She delights in sending kobolds to their death, considering the 'creatures' to be base and unclean creatures. She has a large compound out in the swamp with almost a hundred kobold slaves that she tortures regularly. If this was ever discovered, she would undoubtedly be lynched by a mob of not only kobolds, but humans, orcs, elves and dwarves.

Holin Ironbrand, elf - One of the fairer judges in the city, he nevertheless, holds a grudge against other elves of the Ironbrand. Almost 50 years ago, before many elves came here, he was driven from his family for consorting with an orc (who has since died after a long and happy union). Exiled, they wandered the worlds for a while before coming to the city.

Myrian DeLynn, human - DeLynn cultivates an open hatred of elves and elvenkind. In court, she sits on a throne of elven skulls. She advocates genocide and a swift violent purge of those with elvish blood. She has survived six assassination in as many years and today, she lives in a suite of rooms in the courts to avoid further attempts on her life. When she does travel, it is in a coach with no fewer than 10 guards.

Walker’s Square

The largest open public space in the city, Walker's Square is so named as all prisoners executed in the city must cross it on their final walk before death. A long, triangular space, it is bordered on one edge by the infinite void. Opposite, the Palaces of Justice in the Night Palace loom over the square. The third side of the square contains a row of wealthy lawyers and their firms. The most notable feature of the square is  Death’s Finger, a long finger of rock reaching out over the edge of the rock.  

Most days, the square is kept relatively empty as the Justicars (the guards of the Palace of Justice) are swift to move on loiterers. The only people with legitimate reaons to vist the square are the clients and employees of the lawyers that line the square. On execution day however, the square fills with people eager to watch the spactacle of the monthly executions. Up to a hundred people are executed in one of these sessions and they are a popular entertainment in the city. The best viewing spots, along the outer edge of the square fill up hours before executions start and peope bring baskets of rotton food to throw. At the ordained time, the condemned are brought up from their 'cells', suspended below The Palace of Justice. They are escorted across the square and onto the finger. Once unshackled, the Justicarswill retreat to the base of the finger and let the condemmed take their time. It is considered good form and a matter of honour that the prisoner’s last step will be their own. Of course, this happens less often than not, and results in the prime source of entertainment for the viewers. Everything from rotton fruit to cobblestones is hurled at the condemned, but often it is the cruel taunts and insults that drive the convicted over the edge.

 

The Condemned:

1.       Viktor, local human – Sentenced to death for stealing chickens from a cart, his three children now on the streets, often seen pleading with people to rescue their father from gaol.

2.       Caaom, half-orc – Falsely accused of beating a woman to death in her own home, was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Used to work as a barkeeper at The Naked Minstrel.

3.       Gopekeep, orc – A long time smuggler, was finally caught with over a hundred pearls concealed in various locations around his person.

4.       Dai, elf – Successfully poisoned Jarl Hegefer, the head of the whail oil merchants and provisioners. Although she denies any political affiliation, it is suspected she is in league with the druid-orcs of Weem.

5.       Olga, human – Cut the content of her bread with plaster dust and sold it to the Home Hearths.

6.       Bremman, human – Serial rapist, caught ater a citywide outrage. Denies his acts to this day, claiming he wasn’t even in the city during the time.

7.       Milley, human – Kidnapper of the son of the noted adventurer Augurt Jelsion, caught whe she attempted to flee the city. 10 children found in her home.

8.       Begar, Kobold – A first time jewel thief, managed to break into the store, but failed to break open the safe and was caught in the act.

9.       Felis, human – Convicted as an arsonist, but actually accidentally burnt down her own shop after breaking a pot of alchemists fire she purchased from a mysterious stranger. The ensuing conflagration burned almost an entire block of shops and homes.

10.   Ethem, human – Blackmailed Sir Dongness out of a small fortune after threatening to reveal his illicit afair, Dongness tried to keep it quiet, but everything came out out court and Dongness humiliated, fled the city.