[Exalted] Three Ponds Market

As a major city, Jade Plum Citadel is surrounded by several market towns within a day's distance of travel. The market town situated in the valley downriver from the Emergence Cave is called Three Ponds Market, named after the three circular lily ponds in the center of the town which surround the local market. All in all, it's a prosperous, quiet, orderly town - while there is some rowdiness associated with visitors, these are generally encouraged to stay in the hostels just outside the actual town limit. People in the town respect their elders and their social superiors, and are stoic in the face of adversity.

But there is more to Three Ponds Market - the town is, in fact, the center for the cult of the Seven-Stranded Vine for the High Lands. The leaders of the cult effectively run the town, which is reflected in the orderly and hierarchical atmosphere - aristocrats before artisans before common laborers (each have their own third of the town). The three ponds are in fact a reference to the Three Spheres Cataclysm, though none alive remember this. The cult headquarters are in underground chambers right below the market, with entrances/exits to all three town districts.

The PCs are unlikely to realize anything of this unless they go looking for it (and being new in this land, they probably have no reason to search for this cult). However, they might get involved with this town nonetheless when they spot burning opium fields outside town - there is currently a conflict between Generous Agun and Prosperous Fanaka over control of the local opium production. Generous Agun currently controls the fields and is somewhat more acceptable to the population despite her Guild ties, as at least she is a native Tenges. Prosperous Fanaka desires these fields and has hired assorted thugs to convince the townfolk to align with him.

Once again we turn to the Random Nations Generator to work out the details. We get Theocracy as the government, which we already knew (that is, the Seven-Stranded Vine is in charge). Among the organizations we get Deep State - appropriate for a town that is ruled from behind the scenes, but Deep State implies a bit more than that. Let's say that the cult has managed to subvert at least one of the noble families from the court of the Jade Plum Citadel, and make a note to return to them later. Another entry is Quiverfull - many religions are passed on from parents to children, and it makes sense that a secret cult of Yozi-worshipers that already has a strong theme of "obedience to family" would view things the same way. Female cult members are encouraged to have as many children as possible, and those who have had six children already are awarded a special honor - they will gain the opportunity to be impregnated by one of the surviving male descendants of the original royal family of An-Teng (such as Night Butterfly - see Blood and Salt, p. 30), and these children will become part of the lesser nobility of the realm once the Dragon-Blooded are overthrown and the true royal family restored to the throne. A third entry is Eastern Lightning, a Chinese apocalyptic cult which uses "violence, kidnapping, and brainwashing for both recruiting new members and resisting the Chinese government". So far, this branch of the Seven-Stranded Vine doesn't want to attract attention and has been very selective when it comes to kidnapping and brainwashing people - but they do use these methods from time to time.

Among the major personalities we get Eddie Chapman. A womanizer, criminal, and safecracker who turns into a double agent has potential. However, I think it's best if our "Eddie" - let's call him Quick Chanchai - is still in the "crook" phase of his career. He will hang out with the foreigners in town, spot the PCs - and, if they look like either destitute, desperate, or shifty, will try to convince them to help him rob a local villa (apart from trying to flirt with female player characters). What he asks of them is to stage a distraction at an opportune moment - as foreigners, they will draw lots of attention if they act strangely, which he can use to slip in unnoticed. He will promise them a part of his take (depending on their risk) and pay it. Alternatively, he may run afoul of the Seven-Stranded Vine - or he might abscond with some sort of important cult artifact which will come to haunt him later - or the PCs, if they end up with it.

And as it happens, another "major personality" in town is an Artifact of Doom. Looking at the assorted sub-souls of She Who Lives In Her Name, a Luminata (The Deer Who Hunt Men) seem appropriate. It is bound to a small urn covered with writhing branches and studded with three rubies. A cult member can invoke the Luminata by filling the urn with burning poppies and saying the right invocation in honor of the Living Tower. which will then hunt down an enemy of the cult when they are alone. Someone carrying the urn or sleeping nearby who does not know the proper rituals will first dream of the Luminata and being hunted by it, only to be eventually hunted by it in the waking world. When "slain", the Luminata does not return to Malfeas but to the urn, until the urn is destroyed.

A third personality is Cleon Skousen, the famous anti-Communist conspiracy theorist. Let's turn that into Venerable Ruthai, the town matriarch and local cult leader, who is writing and publishing anonymous pamphlets decrying various Dragon-Blooded crimes against Tengese virtues, Tengese family, and the "natural order" under the pseudonym of "Truth-Teller". The PCs will likely encounter various pamphlets during their time in An-Teng, and newer pamphlets might even refer to their own adventures once they get tangled up in the affairs of the Dragon-Born. Her villa has a printing press (using woodblock carving) that produces more pamphlets, and as a result the town has a significant number of skilled wood carvers.

Another entry is Isaac Newton, whom we will turn into Far-Sighted Manee, an astronomer and cult member who has her own observatory on top of a nearby hill and who has written quite a few texts about the "perfect order and hierarchy" of the heavens. She maintains extensive correspondence with Prince Kiotaran of the Middle Lands, who shares her interest in Astronomy (though he remains ignorant of her cult leanings).

Moving on to political issues, we get "In Search of Death", a story about gay men intentionally seeking to infect themselves with HIV as an "erotic experience". Creation does not have a direct equivalent of AIDS, but coupling "death" with "erotic experience" we get Ghost Flower Tea, a drug that allows its user to interact with ghosts (including, yes, interact with ghosts in that way). A local plantation owner, Mournful Mongkut, has been abusing the drug in order to be reunited with his dead lover Agile Kulap, who used to be a stable boy working for him. Mongkut is a cult member - his family has been part of the cult for generations - but Venerable Ruthai had his lover killed because he neglected his duties to his family (in particular, by refusing to sire children with his wife Pleasant Suda). Needless to say, Mongkut is not happy with the current leadership of the town. He gets the Ghost Flower Tea from Wandering Wiriya, a merchant who has contacts to a smuggling network in the Jade Plum Citadel, which ultimately gets the drug from the City of Dead Flowers.

Quite possibly it's Mournful Mongkut's villa that Quick Chanchai wants to rob...

None of the "Major Projects" seem to fit for a town of this size, and neither do the entries for "Economy". Among the "Major Products/Exports" we get Pigs as well as Candles - which can be made from tallow rendered out of animal fats. Thus, we should note numerous pig farms in the area, as well as many butchers and tallow producers in the poor part of town (naturally, the inns for foreigners will be next to those).

Considering the cult presence, the "Forms of Worship" for this town are especially interesting. We get Nazirite, a form of asceticism where someone undertakes a vow to abstain from wine, cutting their hair, and not come in contact with corpses or graves for a specified time - at least 30 days. Another entry is Anchorite, a religious hermit who lives in a cell and avoids contact with the outside world. While the cultural context is different, it should be noted that Thai culture does have "temporary" (Buddhist) monks. Thus, let's say that those who have been chosen to join the Seven-Stranded Vine (or rise further in its rank) retreat from the world for a while in order to contemplate the Principle of Hierarchy (and especially favored cultists may be granted visions of demons). They sit in up to 9 small cells carved out of the mountain next to a spectacular waterfall. The town youth take turns every morning and evening to bring the monks food (rice and vegetables) and replace and light their large tallow candles (which the monks aren't allowed to touch because they are made from dead things). The path they use for this purpose leads up to Far-Sighted Manee's observatory.

Another Form of Worship is Prosperity Theology - the cult teaches that in a properly-ordered society those who are the most devout to She Who Lives In Her Name will also be richer due to their higher station, while those who are rich should join the cult to pay her the proper respect for their affluence.

This should be enough material for the time being - if needed, I can always expand the town further.

[Exalted] Swift Rivers Crossing

While the path from the Emergence Cave to the Jade Plum Citadel is one of the most important initial areas to detail - since that's where the PCs will likely travel first - I also have some ideas for location <7,6> which I want to write down before I forget them. This area is part of a long river valley that leads to points east, which means that it is a good location for a trade route out of An-Teng towards the eastern deserts. Therefore it is very suitable for a local Guild outpost - it sits at the threshold of the High Lands while still being useful as a base so that the Guild can keep track of major developments there and elsewhere in An-Teng. The Guild has won a concession of Prince Josei of the High Lands to run this outpost independent of High Lands jurisdiction in exchange for significant bribes. This has the added advantage that the Guild is very motivated to keep bandits out of the region, which keeps down the need for additional expenses and patrols from the government of the High Lands.

As a result, the surrounding town - which I will call Swift Rivers Crossing - is fairly cosmopolitan for such a remote place, thanks to assorted Guild traders and hangers-on. And that has made it a good location for a small cell of the Cult of the Illuminated. The cell was founded by a traveling priest named Traveling Wirat, who after establishing the cell went on to Prosperous Garden in the Middle Lands of An-Teng to spread the word. However, the cell hasn't heard of him for a while, and they fear the worst - but without him, they don't know who else to contact once they have found some Shining Ones (i.e. the PCs). Meanwhile, a peddler named Slow Kamon is traveling on a regular circuit between Swift Rivers Crossing and the Jade Plum Citadel in order to catch news from around the region. It might be a while until he hears news of the PCs as well, though if the PCs do something to draw attention he will likely hear it first and move to intercept them.

Swift Rivers Crossing, with a population of 12,000 people, barely counts as a hub city by Guild Standards - but it is maintained as one nonetheless, since An-Teng proper is too beholden to the Realm yet represents too important a market to ignore. It thus has its own Guild Factor (named Proud Shomari, originally from Harborhead), who is fully aware of the opportunities of this region and wishes to greatly expand Guild operations here. PCs who do not object to the slave and drug trading practices of the Guild will find him a useful partner, though he is wary of offending the Realm too much. PCs who strive to curtail slavery or the drug trade will turn him into a ruthless and devious enemy who will conceal his animosity behind a smile.

Now let us turn once again to the Random Nations Generator for further details. While officially the Guild and its factor are in charge of the own, the Guild is focused more on trade and less on running the day-to-day affairs of the town. Among the results for Government, I get Exilarchy, which has potential - let's say that Proud Shomari's clan (of the Izhalvi people - see Houses of the Bull God, p. 11) did badly in one of the many wars of the Harborhead region and thus they sought their fortunes elsewhere. Thanks to Proud Shomari's position and influence, Swift Rivers Crossing looked like a good place to start anew, and Shomari was happy to see an influx of laborers and artisans who probably wouldn't stab him in the back. That being said, Shomari is uninterested in involving himself in Harborhead clan politics and won't give the clan more support than a safe harbor. The clan matriarch Eldest Hasana, however, is quite determined to see her clan's triumphant return to her homeland before she dies, and as she is feeling her age she is willing to engage in increasingly desperate schemes to that end. As an added wrinkle, the Izhalvi worship both Luna and the Unconquered Sun - if the PCs could convince them that they are indeed Chosen by the latter, they might acquire quite a few allies.

The first of the Organizations listed by the generator is the Technisches Hilfswerk, a German government-funded organization dedicated to disaster relief. Let's translate that into the Good Neighbors Association, a group of people volunteering to help others in both their community and without. Led by Joyful Issa (a male immigrant from Harborhead), this group is essentially a front for the Cult of the Illuminated - they do take helping their neighbors seriously, but they have also recruited many cult members this way. In the absence of Traveling Wirat, Issa serves as the local cult priest - although he is not very firm on his theology.

Results like Triads and Mafia remind me that the existing books describing An-Teng don't elaborate on organized crime in the region. Sure, there are Lintha operating nearby - but as pirates they will stay near the coasts instead of operating this far inland. Googling for organized crime in Thailand I find a Wikipedia entry about the Chao Pho, or "Godfathers" - but using that name is likely to cause Marlon Brando jokes. But how about the "Godchildren"? The "God" in question being, of course, the Pale Mistress of An-Teng, who does have "crime" in her portfolio - along with chaos, selfishness, darkness and all that other good stuff. As a result, the Godchildren will have cells and independent splinter groups everywhere in An-Teng (as opposed to one big, organized group which would be anathema to the Pale Mistress). The leader of the Swift Rivers Crossing chapter, Bright Kanchana (female Tengese), is likely in conflict with the Good Neighbors Association - which might draw the PCs in.

We already have a bunch of NPCs, but let's nevertheless look at some Major Personalities the Generator provides. Among these, Alexis Carrel sounds interesting - a surgeon and biologist who received the Nobel Prize but also became infamous for his advocacy of Eugenics. Let's translate that as Nisai Daruth, a Wood-aspected Dragon-Blooded Outcaste sorcerer who works as the senior surgeon of the Outpost - and who has additional business revenue from his breeding projects. Breeding humans, that is - he has a fair degree of success (thanks to his Medicine charms and related Sorcerous Workings) with "improving" the offspring of couples (of whatever genders). He can and does summon neomahs for this purpose, although he also has other methods. Another service he offers are surrogate mothers, usually slaves purchased for this purpose. The Guild pays him well for these services, although they keep the bigger parts of the shares to themselves. Nisai does not particularly care, however - as long as his research is funded and he has a steady supply for his experiments, he is content. His ultimate goal is to increase the Breeding of the Dragon-Blooded (and he is willing to pay high prices for anyone able to snatch the "Lost Eggs" of An-Teng away from Tender Rose - see Blood and Salt, p. 17), but in the meantime he has all sorts of other projects. Among these, he has become aware that there is a demon taint in certain Tengese families and wishes to learn more - which will bring him into conflict with the Seven-Stranded Vine.

Another character is Allan Pinkerton, Let's translate that into the persona of a Guild Warden named Slow Hom (at least, that's her cover name) who is in town to investigate misconduct within the Guild or anything else that threatens local Guild monopolies. The political machinations of the Izhalvi Exiles certainly have her attention, but so far she hasn't found any evidence that the Factor is diverting Guild resources to help them. If the PCs are doing anything sneaky around town, they will draw her attention as well.

Among Major Political Issues we get Detroit - Too broke to bury their dead. Let's translate that as the local dedicated Guild priest/undertaker, Cheery Kilinda (female Izhalvi), skimping on the funeral materials for the slaves that are dying at the outpost and just dumping their bodies in the forest somewhere so that she can pay for her boozing and partying. So far this has not drawn anyone's attention, but this is slowly giving rise to a number of hungry ghosts.

Another issue is Eurabia, the conspiracy theory that Europe will allegedly soon be subsumed into the Arab World because of immigration and high birth rates of immigrants. Let's say that some Tengese "Concerned Citizens" are likewise worried about all these immigrants from Harborhead, which has led to some assaults in the nights by hotheaded youths (their elders are much more carefully about offending foreigners of course, for historic reasons). So far, no one important has been harmed, although foreign-looking PCs might become targets as well.

A third political issue is Sex, Lies, and Subprime Mortgages, a story about the corruption in the American housing market in the leadup to the Financial Crisis. For a suitably lurid counterpart, let's say that there are a number of rich merchants and Guild drug lords which vie for control of the various poppy fields and other drug plantations in An-Teng. Each of the provinces has different factions vying for control. In the High Lands, the primary drug lords are Generous Agun (female Tengese), Daring Klahan (male Tengese), and Prosperous Fanaka (male god-blooded scion of a minor fertility deity in Harborhead) - beyond the Factor himself, of course. All of them scheme against each other to win influence and will use any means fair or foul to make plantation villages work for them. Village headmen who are compliant are often invited to weeks of debauchery at Swift Rivers Crossing, while those who are more stubborn will get threats, beatings, and worse. This squabbling has started to annoy Prince Josei himself, and is one of the things Slow Hom is currently investigating.

Among the Major Projects, only "Moscow Mayor Promises a Winter Without Snow" stands out. An-Teng is unlikely to receive much snow even in the winter - except possibly the high mountain passes to the east. And even in the other years, harsh weather might make the progress of caravans difficult. For this reason, Sweet Rivers Crossing maintains its own priest, Well-Spoken Rochana (female Tengese) to appease/bribe the weather gods - but some of the drug lords have started to offer her bribes for bringing bad weather to their rivals' plantations. Rochana is very leery of accepting those bribes, but does not exactly wish to offend the drug lords either.

I will skip over the Religion sections of the generator - beyond the deities mentioned, the Guild will worship the usual divinities of trade and travel, with no unusual forms of worship. There are no dangerous creatures in the immediate area either (beyond humans, that is... plus the hungry ghosts mentioned above). The next relevant section is about the History of the region, with one of the results being "Portal to mythical Mayan underworld found in Mexico", which sounds promising - let's say that the town was built on the ruins of an old Tengese ancestor cult which eventually created a small Shadowland deep beneath the town. While the ruins themselves are well known, nobody knows of their true extent and purpose - and Cheery Kilinda is using the ruins to dump the bodies of slaves, which threatens to awaken some truly ancient dead, with potentially disastrous consequences for the town. A further Historic Event, "The Torture Colony" (referring to Colonia Dignidad in Chile) gives hints to how this old ancestor cult was run, and the "Peshtigo Fire" indicates that the old settlement was consumed in one big conflagration.

Finally, "An Epidemic of Laughing in the Bukoba District of Tanganyika" indicates that the Seven-Stranded Vine released a demonic presence in this town a few years ago, which caused everyone who was "infected" to laugh uncontrollably (I must remember to come up with an appropriate First Circle demon for this). Obviously, if they have released this Laughing Plague before they can do so again, and the Guild has their special ire as outsiders who disrupt the "proper hierarchy" of An-Teng. This means that they might have some connection to the "Concerned Citizens" mentioned above - a low-ranking cult member, Observant Tansanee (female Tengese) runs a pub and inn ("Peaceful Rest") for local Tengese laborers and tries to subtly agitate her customers against the foreigners.

I think this is plenty of detail for Swift Rivers Crossing for the time being - though I should probably return at a later date once I have figured out more about the factions of the High Lands and how they interact.

[Exalted] Hundred Dreams Village

It's been a while - real world events have kept me occupied, and there has been the Exalted 3E release to digest in the meantime. But now I am back - so let's continue in our quest to put the High Lands of An-Teng on the map!

After detailing Gankorou's Fair Folk freehold in my previous post, I should probably detail the village the Fair Folk are preying on. In my old campaign I didn't spend much time there - the villagers first ascertained that the PCs meant them no harm, then told them of their plight, and then the PCs went and fetched their dream-eaten kin, dumped them, and left the village and never returned.

That seems something of a waste, in particular since this village will be their first encounter with the local culture.

Once again using the Random Nations Generator, we get Magocracy as the government - rule by mages. Or a mage - and while a remote village like this probably doesn't have a full-fledged Exalted sorcerer (who could probably deal with Gankorou on their own), the new edition does have some rather nifty rules for mortal sorcerers. Looking at the list of sorcerous origins from the Core Rules, let's pick "Pact with an Ifrit Lord" (Core Rules, p. 467) - we will assume that the sorcerer wandered in the vast deserts to the East to attain initiation into the Terrestrial Circle. Among other things, that means that the sorcerer will always want to have a large fire nearby, and observant PCs will note that the village seems to have a rather large stockpile of firewood for being in a tropical climate (well, maybe subtropical - these are the High Lands of An-Teng).

Next, let's pick the gender. Looking back at my previous campaign, I suspect I too often went with a subconscious assumption of "most significant NPCs are male, with the exception of love interests". To prevent that from happening in the future, I will from now on determine the gender of NPCs randomly unless there is a good reason otherwise. For humans, this will be a 1d100 roll: 1-48 male, 49-96 female, and 97-100 "other" (this is Exalted, after all). For nonhumans, (non-ghost spirits, Fair Folk and the like), this will be a 1d6 roll: 1-2 male, 3-4 female, 5-6 other. For my sorcerer, I get a "37", which means he is male.

Now let's pick the name. In my old campaign, I frequently used Thai names which seemed authentic for the region. However, this had the disadvantage that none of my (German) players could remember them, and I too had frequently problems with them. On the other hand, the overly flowery names common in Exalted ("Midnight Pearl", "Ivory Cup") sound a bit silly to German ears. Thus, a compromise: I will use a flowery descriptor and a Thai name to create the full name of an NPC. For the sorcerer, let's name him "Fire-Salved Somsak" (the last part apparently means "Power of Worth" in Thai, which seems appropriate). Obviously, he is very concerned with the Fair Folk of the nearby freehold.

The village is hardly big enough for any significant organizations, but among the results provided by the Generator Rosicrucianism has potential. Let's say the sorcerer is - or at least claims to be - a member of a larger secret society which provides its initiates with "mystic knowledge" and makes them feel superior to all the uninitiated. Analogous to the Rose Cross, let's pick a flower theme for this group - the Red Orchid Society (not related to the Red Lotus Society - why do you ask?), with "red"="fire" being an appropriate association for the sorcerer's initiation. He is the ranking leader of the local society, of course, with various influential villagers being lower-ranking members. He might even have picked an apprentice among their children.

Among the "major personalities" we get Agnes of Rome, who was a Christian martyr who was executed because she refused to marry rich and powerful suitors (at the age of 12 or 13, mind you) and was denounced as a Christian as punishment. Before her execution, she was supposed to be raped by multiple men, but thanks to assorted miracles the rape was prevented (though the execution was not). Translating this into an Exalted story, let's say that a young child (a girl, as the random roll indicates) was the victim of an unspeakable crime, but her vengeful ghost killed her murder in turn. Now she lingers on as a protector of the village children, who remember her in garbled stories and call on her from time to time in a form of prayer, providing her with the equivalent of an Ancestor Cult. Her name is Pale Kanya, and the adults never speak of her - although the PCs might feel her passing, in particular if they look like they might be a danger to the children.

For "political issues" we get "Police 'can't cope' as Vietnamese flood drugs trade". We will interpret this as "this village produces drugs" - and considering the region, they will have some large opium poppy fields, However, in a twist this is perfectly legal and accepted and a major source of business with the Guild. Another result is "Man petitions to marry comic book character". Since comic books are inappropriate for this region (unless the PCs introduce them, which is not beyond the realms of possibility. In my old campaign, one of the PCs started a chain of sushi restaurants!), I am interpreting this as "villager wants to marry a nonhuman". Since the village grows opium, let's make the nonhuman the field guardian (Core Rules, p. 512). We get a human female on the roll ("Impetuous Malai"), which means that the field guardian ("Green Papaver") is male - while the Tengese are fairly relaxed about who might take whom as a lover, they have very strict ideas about who should be partners in a marriage. Let's further assume that she managed to get pregnant and refuses to induce an abortion via maiden tea (which the villagers are worried might anger the spirit anyway) and also refuses to marry anyone else to "keep appearances" - she wants to marry Green Papaver and no one else. Green Papaver, meanwhile, viewed this as nothing else than an enjoyable diversion or possibly even a fertility rite - "sowing his seeds", and all that. If the PCs make friends among the villagers, they might be asked to help with sorting this mess out.

This being Exalted, forms of religious worship are very important to a community since the gods often live very closely. The most appropriate result from the generator is Animal Sacrifice - each of the village gods will get a small animal (such as cocks for Green Papaver) on their special days (which are a bit more frequent than the Immaculate Faith allows, but the monks only come rarely into this remote region). For a gruesome twist, children might even sacrifice mice and other small rodents to Pale Kanya, which join her as ghostly apparitions when she is angry!

While I could go on with the other categories of the Random Nations Generator, this should be enough for the time being - this is only one small village among many after all and only distinguished because it will be the first local settlement the PCs come across after they get out of the Emergence Cave. But it is worth considering how the villagers will react. Unless the PCs come from Southeast Asia, they won't be able to pass as natives - and to make matters worse, none of them will initially speak Flametongue! (Nobody took the charm "Strange Tongue Understanding"? That's too bad! However, if they are willing to spend the two weeks of training time in the village to purchase Flametongue as a one-dot merit, they have no problems learning it - this can be justified as "they knew it in a previous life, and they are Solars, anyway!") So the villagers will assume that they are weird foreigners at best, and likely Fair Folk infiltrators. They will threaten them with spears and arrows, but observant PCs should quickly realize that the villagers are more scared of them than vice versa - and since they have no clue what is going on, they should probably go with them until they can figure this place out. Once brought to the village, Fire-Salved Somsak will test them with a small splinter of cold iron to see if they are Fair Folk, and once they prove to be human everyone will relax considerably. The general attitude will be: "Okay, you are probably not inhuman monsters out to suck our blood, but you are still weird so we will be keeping an eye on you." The villagers won't treat them as prisoners as such - and provide them food and shelter - but there will always be one of the villagers around to keep an eye on them.

If the PCs start displaying obvious Anathema powers, things will get... complicated. The villagers will be even more scared, but Fire-Salved Somsak urges calm and possibly sends someone downriver to the Jade Plum Citadel to warn the Immaculates if they seem dangerous to the village. On the other hand, if the PCs seem more helpful than scary, he will consider how to best point them at the Fair Folk. Afterwards, he might even give them some pointers about how the Realm will see them - given that Fire-Salved Somsak has seen all sorts of strange stuff during his travels he is not necessarily inclined to take Immaculate propaganda at face value, although he will not take any unnecessary risks to either himself or the village.

All that's left to decide is the name of the village. In honor of its major product, I will call it Hundred Dreams Village.

[Exalted] Gankorou's Freehold

Ah, Gankorou - possibly my favorite NPC in my old Exalted campaign. A Fair Folk noble, he was the first major personality the PCs encountered as they ventured into Creation. He had abducted a number of villagers and dream-eaten then, and the PCs were sufficiently heroic that they demanded that they marched right into his Freehold, demanded that he handed them back and cease preying on the villagers.

Gankorou, of course, was delighted that a bunch of Solars were coming to visit him and quickly agreed to this, provided that one of them could defeat him in a duel. The Twilight accepted (they didn't have a Dawn Caste Solar at the time, and the Twilight was always the biggest twink in the group) and soundly defeated him. Then Gankorou - true to his work - handed his captives over and closed the doors of his Freehold after them. Then they discovered that the victims were dream-eaten, and what that meant.

Then, about two months later when the Night Caste was sneaking around the City of the Steel Lotus, she stumbled across Gankorou again - who was delighted to see her, and was very helpful all of a sudden. From there, he became a recurring NPC whose exploits included the following:

• Tricking the PCs into allowing him to ravage the Temperance from every inhabitant of the Jade Plum Citadel.
• Schemed his way into marrying Princess Midnight Pearl of the Jade Plum Citadel (who had previously been the lover of the Zenith Caste and was pregnant with his child) and becoming the new ruler of the city.
• After being bound by lengthy Eclipse-enforced oaths into actually doing a good job in ruling the city, he committed suicide by sufficiently provoking the Night Caste during a government meeting into killing him while the Eclipse and the Twilight attempted to protect him. This subsequently pushed her into Limit Break and probably caused the biggest intra-party conflict in the entire campaign. It was the way he had wanted to go.
• He then got his posthumous revenge on the Night Caste by naming her his successor in his will, a post she absolutely didn't wanted because she was terrified about having to rule others, but which everyone else from the Golden Lord down agreed was a good idea.

The visual design of the character, the initial personality, and of course the name of the character were inspired by the Count from Gankutuou, an anime retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo.

This guy.

Of course, the character evolved considerably from its origin throughout the campaign. And my version was not motivated out of a desire for the most fiendish revenge possible, but provoking the Solar protagonists for the Lulz - which is a rather typical stance for Fair Folk nobles. The trick, of course, is how to continue provoking Solars and living to enjoy the experience again and again - and, like the Count, Gankorou was very adept at seeming very helpful and friendly while he plotted to stab you in the back. It's a testament to his skill - and his entertainment value within the campaign - that he lasted as long as he did.

I had established that he feeds on Temperance, although I do no longer remember his original caste. Looking at the possible combinations in Graceful Wicked Masques, a Panjandrum (a Shadowed Diplomat who also feeds on Conviction) seems like the most appropriate - he was a proper little rules lawyer.

However, what he lacked in the original campaign is a proper entourage - he is the lord of a Freehold, after all - and I want to rectify that. From what I remember, his Freehold had the appearance of a crystal cave (let's make it a Level 2 Earth Demesne, which means that the cave complex is about 200 yards across). I also remember that he had blue hobgoblin hounds. But what else is in his lair? Let's consult my old favorite, the Random Nations Generator, to find out.

For government, we get Ethnocracy, meaning that one of the groups of Fair Folk living in the Freehold is lording it over the others - presumably with Gankorou's consent, who might style himself the Lord Protector of his Freehold, instead of the ruler. He might even arrange for semi-regular changes in who the current ruling faction is, for his own amusement. One of the factions are obviously the Hounds, but who are the others?

For organizations, we get the Skull and Bones society - so let's say that there is a group that serves actual skulls, claiming the skulls to be their honored ancestors. This is nonsense, of course - but the skulls say so too, and would you argue with a talking skull? We also get the Order of the Veiled Prophet, so there is another group of Fair Folk who wears veils all the time. They are not actually wearing veils in order to hide their faces - it's veils all the way down.

Among the major personalities, we get Agnes of Rome. Considering how the relics of Catholics were worshiped, the "Skull of Holy Agira" might be the center of worship for the local chapter of the Church of Balor - Agira being one of the Fair Folk who were allegedly killed during the crusade. She and some other skulls of "lesser" saints hold court in the local chapel. Another entry is Théodore Géricault - and an artist who is famous for painting pictures of human suffering and insanity is going to fit right in with a Fair Folk freehold. "Thericalt", then, is the leader of the Veiled Ones - whose purpose in life is Art, and who require a steady stream of human subjects for their Art.

Thus, the Veiled Ones are the "official" leaders of the Freehold (as opposed to the true leader, which is Gankorou). They oppress the other Commoner Rakshas, who find solace with Agira and the Church of Balor, and send out the Hounds in order to retrieve more art subjects. Both Agira and Thericalt are Commoners as well - albeit Heroic ones with more self-awareness than the others.

While a human settlement would deserve further details from the Random Nations Generator, this is probably enough for our purposes - after all, this is not a real settlement, just an facsimile of one that exists for Gankorou's entertainment. So all that remains to do is to place the cave on the map. Since I want it to be fairly close to the Emergence Cave and in the "natural" traveling direction of the PCs (that is, towards the Jade Plum Citadel), I will place it at <5,9>.

Expanding the Random Nations Generator

I've mentioned both the Arcana Wiki and its Random Nations Generator before - in fact, I have used the latter fairly frequently for building anything from small villages to entire planets.

The Random Nations Generator is still a work in progress, however - and it always will be, since it uses Arcana Wiki entries as "feed" for its random entries. And it is easy to expand the feed by writing new Arcana Wiki entries and giving them the appropriate tags. That being said, it's probably a good idea to take stock of the current situation and see what is in the most need of expansion. This is also intended as a guide to other volunteers who wish to contribute to the wiki.

Government: Currently at 19 entries, which isn't bad - but looking at the page with the list of governments, there are lots of very iconic government types still missing. Could use some work.

Powerful Organizations: Currently only 39, which is too few since there tend to be a lot more of those than there are types of government in a single nation. The potential variety of organizations is staggering - what should be added next here?

Major Personalities: Currently at 60, which provides more variety than for organizations. Still, if you use the generator often enough the entries will get repetitive.

Major Political Issues: With 142 entries, this category is not an immediate concern - although more entries are always appreciated.

Major Projects: On the other hand, this category has only 40 entries, which is not nearly enough.

Type of Economy: And this has only 10 entries, which is far too few. Unfortunately, I am also unqualified to expand much on this.

Trade goods: Here the picture is mixed.

• Raw Resources: 15 entries.
• Pre-industrial trade goods: 96 entries.
• Modern trade goods: 109 entries.
• Science Fiction trade goods: 57 entries.
• Fantasy trade goods: 33 entries.

So while pre-industrial, modern, and science fiction trade goods are doing okay, fantasy trade goods and especially raw resources could use some major expansion.

Forms of Worship: 32 entries - not too bad, but there are so many different forms of worship out there that there is lots of room for expansion.

Worshiped Entities: 43 entries - and considering all the deities and entities that were worshiped throughout history, this definitely needs expansion.

Major Races/Species: 23 is far too few for such a vast topic, considering all the depictions of sapient creatures throughout history.

Significant Creatures: With 118 entries, we are on much firmer ground here.

Cultural Influences: While we are on safe ground with 92 entries, the problem is that most of these entries are merely "stubs" - largely empty pages for individual countries without any background information.

Historic Events: While 45 entries isn't bad, it could be better.

Dominant Terrain: While 27 entries is not a large number, I don't think this is much of a problem since this is one category where it is okay that entries come up frequently.

Famous Locations: With 177 entries, we have a very nice selection already. Still, the more the merrier...

To sum it up, the main categories that need expansion in my opinion are Powerful Organizations, Major Projects, Raw Resources, Type of Economy, and Major Races/Species. Less urgent, but also in need of expansion are Government, Major Personalities, Forms of Worship, Worshiped Entities, and Historic Events.

I will probably tackle Powerful Organizations and Major Projects by going through the archives of the Suppressed Transmissions Community. Is anyone willing to tackle the other categories?

Star Wars Sandbox: Alsapin

After we've had a look at the big picture in my previous posts on the Kreetan Narrows, let's go through each of the world in turn. First in the list is Alsapin, home of the Kassandre crime family, which (a) operates a major casino, (b) is engaging in a (quite possibly explosively terminal, if the PCs don't prevent it) conflict with a branch of the Black Sun syndicate operated by Sprax, and (c) is run by a female Laboi with telekinetic abilities (as I extrapolated here).

When I have little definite to go on when constructing a location, I like to use random generators for inspiration. Let's start by using the one in Silent Legions, since I have that, love it, haven't gotten to use it yet, and adding a slightly creepy Lovecraftian vibe is almost never a bad thing.. Rolling for two location tags, we get "Drug Epidemic" and "Recruitment Center". With the former, I am spoilt for choice considering the many crime families in the region (and it might not actually be the fault of the Kassandre Family, but of another syndicate wishing to cause problems on their turf). With the latter, while I could make this about a secretive Force Cult, I want to keep such things rare at this stage of the campaign. Instead, it could be for the Zealots of Psusan, which I mentioned earlier. The Laboi leader of the Kassandre Family - let's just call her Kassandre - might even be in cahoots with the cult. Or maybe not, considering how they view non-Laboi as prey...

But let's go back to my old favorite, the Random Nations Generator at the Arcana Wiki (remember, you can expand the "feed" for this generator by adding new content to the Wiki - so contribute to it, damnit!). For "Form of Government" we get Cosociational State, which in a Star Wars context probably means that there are a number of different alien species living on the planet who largely take care of their own affairs, but have a large Council where larger issues that affect different species are addressed. However, the Empire - taking cues from the British Imperialism School of Villainy - likely plays favoritism, giving one species more power and demanding less tribute from it - and put it in charge of keeping the others in line. This keeps the inevitable hatred concentrated on the local level - the different species will be so busy fighting each other that they won't unite against the Empire.

Moving on to Organizations, we get the Russian Business Network, which specializes in cybercrime - which implies that the Kassandre Family is also very good when it comes to code-breaking, slicing, and information brokering. Another result is Médecins Sans Frontières - apparently, a Core Worlds charity organization is on the planet and trying to do something against the drug epidemic. Presumably, they will experience some harassment/obstacles by the Imperial authorities, since they are unlikely to be keen on the problems of their worlds to be exposed - but not too much overt stuff, since they also have politically influential backers back in the Core Worlds.

Then we get Deep State (an anti-democratic, reactionary cabal within the establishment of Turkey) and Dark Enlightenment - a bunch of losers who post stuff online about how democracy is "fundamentally degenerative", liberal democracy is a "state religion", and "superior genetics" should determine who is in charge. Its main bloggers even call themselves "The Dark Lords of the Sith" - you just can't make that stuff up!

While the real Sith would likely eat these guys for breakfast, putting this in a Star Wars context likely means that Alsapin has a very active COMPNOR branch, who go out of their way to "prove" how inferior and degenerate those aliens really are. Considering the secrecy of the Deep State, they will probably hire all sorts of agents provocateurs to make trouble, and use any proof of alien strif for propaganda broadcasts that get shown all the way back in the Core Worlds.

Finally, we get the Order of the Veiled Prophet, and maybe they are the cult using the planet as a recruiting center, instead of the Zealots of Psusan - or maybe they are the same thing. So perhaps the Zealots meet on a regular basis to recite and discuss ancient poetry (written by Jedi? Sith? Other kinds of Force mystics), and every year there is this big event where one of the members is chosen as the "Queen" by the "Veiled Prophetess".

In the the "Major Personalities" section, we get James Wilkinson, a famous and skilled traitor. Let's make him (let's call him "Gar Haren", using the Star Wars Name Generator) a high-ranking Imperial Officer (possibly the highest-ranking on the planet - let's make him a General in the Army, since the military problems of the problems will likely be about controlling the world itself instead of space) who is not above selling military secrets to both the Hutts (for money) and the Rebels (to embarrass rivals) in order to further his career. He also frequently pilfers Imperial resources (selling them on the black market) to enrich himself, and has probably significant holdings on the planet and elsewhere. He hopes to supplant the current Moff.

Next up is Bertie Wooster (Star Wars name "Cen Felis"), who is "the Platonic Ideal of the Upper-Class Twit". Let's say he is from an important Core World family who got sent all the way out to Alsapin to get a high-ranking job in the local Imperial administration so that he can't embarass himself - but as he does next to no actual work in the administration, it falls to his servants (no doubt including at least one overly-anxious protocol droid) to get him out of trouble (possibly by asking the PCs for help - which will be both lucrative and silly jobs where maintaining appearances is all-important). He might also get entangled in Gar Haren's schemes, who knows a useful patsy when he sees one. And on further thoughts, let's make him from Corellia - with a fondness for participating in illegal swoop races. He actually is fairly competent at racing ("Corellian blood will tell!"), although the standards for "fairness" in Alsapin will likely differ from what he is familiar with.

Another entry is Pierre Parrant, one of the early frontier bootleggers. He is described as "pig-like" in appearance, so let's make his Star Wars equivalent ("Pugnub") a Gamorrean an unusually bright one, who came up with a new and potent variety of spice (possibly extracted from the fungi of his homeworld) and set up production in a remote frontier town. From there, he distributes it across the planet, where it is currently causing the drug epidemic mentioned earlier.

In the "Major Political Issues" section, we get "US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive". In Star Wars terms, this means that parts of major cities on the planet are planned to be bulldozed in order to make them "more economically viable" - but because this Star Wars, it probably (a) is primarily done to non-human neighborhoods, and (b) likely is part of some real estate speculation scheme on the part of Gar Haren.

Another issue is "Cracking Crime In Brazil", explaining how companies in Brazil sometimes make deals with criminal cartels - in exchange for protecting their property and employees, the company agrees not to assist the authorities in persecuting the cartel in any way. Certainly, the Kassandre Family will have similar deals in place.

We also get "Halliburton says radioactive material was stolen". Since nuclear weapons or power sources are not genre-appropriate for Star Wars, let's say there are minor deposits of Ionite on the planet - a material that interferes with electronics and deflector shields. And a shipment of the stuff was stolen - which makes it a great MacGuffin, as every faction in the sector will want to get it.

In the "Major Exports" section, we get Musk (extracted from native animals for export to both Hutt Space and the Core Worlds), liqueur, and algae-extracted synthetic fuel.

For "Forms of Worship" (which I interpret as being about the Zealots of Psusan, again), we get Ritual Purification, Polytheism, and Prosperity Theology - an interesting combination. So they worship a pantheon of female deities or spirits, Furthermore, they believe that "success" in life (however you define that) is a sign of favor from these spirits - so they help each other to achieve success in life, since the spirits also like it when women help each other (of course, donating heavily to the temple is encouraged). Furthermore, they believe that they should go ritual purification before worship after "unclean" activities, such as contact with men - which isn't forbidden, but you must be "clean" during worship. For shaking hands, this might merely involve washing hands, while intercourse might require a shower or a bath. Marriage is not forbidden, either - but the woman is expected to take charge of male partners in one way or another and lead the couple to success.

For "Worshiped Entities" I'm just picking any female deities that the random generator spits out: Hel, Cybele, Mormo, Lasa, Alpan, Lilith, Culsu, and Rán. If I get around to detailing the Zealots of Psusan further, these will be my starting point.

(As a side note, the Mythology Section of the Arcana Wiki could really use some further contributors - there are so many fascinating pantheons of real world history, and they all deserve some further exploration for how to use them and their forms of worship in a role-playing game context. And, of course, adding entries for their deities will allow them to be used in the Random Nations Generator as well. So if you have in-depth knowledge of a particular Mythology, please contribute to it!)

In the "Major Species" section, most listed species - being of a fantasy/mythology origin - will be inappropriate for Star Wars. Still, I note that the generator lists "Sasquatch" - and since Wookiees are essentially that, I'll stipulate that there is a hidden "safehouse" colony somewhere on the planet for escaped Wookiee slaves. There are also "Reptilians", which I interpret as Niktos (given the proximity to Hutt Space). I also get "Winged Reptilians" - let's just say those are Toydarians. Apart from the obligatory human presence, other local species will be determined by terrain and other local factors.

Before we get to the "Significant Creatures" section, let's jump ahead to "Dominant Terrain". While I want to avoid the classic single-biome planets so common in Star Wars, it is still thematically appropriate to have a clearly defined planetary landscape instead of the messy mixture found on Earth. Three types of primary terrain seem appropriate, and we get Glacier, Swamp, and Savanna. So... what I am imagining is a fairly cool planet with few oceans. Instead, most of the water on the planet is stored in glaciers on vast polar plateaus. In the spring, their boundaries start to melt and feed large swamp systems adjacent to them, and from there it travels to increasingly dry grasslands in the equatorial regions where it feeds some small, shallow seas. From there, the water precipitates and is eventually deposited back on the glaciers. Let's also say that the swamps are home to a vast variety of fungi - some of which can be converted into fuel (as in the "Major Exports" section), while others are used for the spice produced by Pugnub.

Now that the basic biomes, we can move on to the Significant Creatures - and many obscure cryptozooligical critters are perfectly suitable for Star Wars. The Gowrow, for example could be dropped into the swamplands without any changes. The Giant Penguin of Clearwater Beach could show up at large glacial lakes. The Northwest Pacific Tree Octopus could live in the forested areas of the swamps or savanna. And the Ozark Howler could inhabit remote regions of the grasslands.

Among the Cultural Influences, the first result I get is Azerbaijan. Since I don't know a thing about Azerbaijan, I will keep this in mind for further inspirational reading once I need to detail the planet further.

Now we get to "Historical Events", and the first result is "San Diego Menaced By Jumbo Squid". Which leads back to the swamp octopi mentioned earlier, so let's say that every few years these swamp octopi explode in population, leading them to leave the swamps in large numbers and attacking everything that gets in their way. This is a dangerous time - but their musk organs can be harvested and sold for a high profit.

There is also the "1908 New York to Paris Race", which we will interpret as an annual swoop race that is in fact a round trip around the entire planet! No doubt this is precisely the kind of thing Cen Felis will be interested in, and following around the various checkpoints along the route should be good for a series of adventures - not to mention showcasing the variety of the planet.

Furthermore, we get "Portal to mythical Mayan underworld found in Mexico", which we will interpret as some ancient Sith temple in a remote region. Combine this with "Doomsday Cult In Cave Stand Off", and we have some local cult of Sith worshipers - with only a vague understanding of the Sith and the Force - barricading themselves into the temple. Eventually, the proper Imperial authorities will learn of this and send an Inquisitor to take charge of the site. In the meantime, the PCs might get involved here.

Finally, we get the "Mysterium", a piece of music that, if properly played in a certain valley in the Himalayas, will end the world (according to its composer, at least). This ties in well with an entry in the "Famous Locations" section - "The Quietest Place on Earth - Orfield Labs". Let us say that the Sith carved a valley out of the polar mountains which they made supernaturally quiet - even to this day, sound is suppressed. But with the right focusing instruments, you could make sounds that... well, the effects would be nasty.

Another entry is Kitezh, a Russian sunken city. Let's say that this ties in to a Sith settlement that sunk during fights with the Jedi of old and now has vanished into the swamp - but even to this day, it is a focus of Dark Side energies.

The last entry is the Drones Club - which is linked to Bertie Wooster, and thus our Star Wars equivalent Cen Felis. It's likely a place for all the upper-class expatriates from the Core Worlds (businessmen, high-ranking administrators, Imperial officers) where they can hang out and complain how primitive this world is, as well as doing some social networking. Naturally, PCs would normally not be invited to such a place - but they might have to infiltrate it for an adventure.


With this, I've come to the end of the entries in the Random Numbers Generator, and now have plenty of details for embelleshing the world of Alsapin later, should I find the time. Hopefully I have also demonstrated how useful said demonstrator is, and I encourage you to contribute to the Arcana Wiki so that it can grow!

[Cold Frontier] Locations of the East - Shrouded Tree Village

Let's take a look at the first of the villages in the eastern regions - Shrouded Tree Village. The player characters already visited it once during the last session, on their way to the Forest Witch. I have already established that the villagers all live in actual tree houses (to protect themselves from the various predators prowling the forest), and that about 300 people live here. Beyond that, the player characters haven't spent much time here, since they had rather urgent business elsewhere.

So what about the namesake "Shrouded Tree"? I originally picked the name because of the tree-dwelling association and because it sounded cool. But what if there is an actual "Shrouded Tree" at the spiritual heart of the village? A tree within its own pocket dimension that is only accessible to the initiated? Let's keep that in mind.

I turn once again to the Random Nations Generator at the Arcana Wiki to flesh out the village. For the form of government we get Plutocracy - where wealth translates into political power - which is an interesting concept for the barter economies of the coastal tribes. Perhaps the Shrouded Tree demands gifts in exchange for the blessings it bestows to the villagers, and those who are able to bestow it with the best gifts (i.e. the most "wealth") will get the best blessings, and thus are better able to lead the village. In Pathfinder terms, such gifts would likely represent various temporarily-bestowed templates. But what might a tree want? Rare soils? Animal skins from the furthest reaches of the forest? I'll have to think about this.

Moving on to the organizations, we get Drug Cartel. An obvious source of a drug is the Shrouded Tree itself - perhaps its sap has useful properties like toughening the skin, restoring fatigue, restoring damage and so forth. However, regular use will lead to addiction, and not using it will lead to withdrawal. This will not be a problem for the villagers, since they have a ready source - but it would be very easy to set up a devastating drug ring with this substance. As an additional organization we get Private Military Company - so maybe some of the hunters of the village are interested in hiring themselves out as mercenaries as long as they get more gifts for the Shrouded Tree.

Moving on to the "Major Personalities", one of the entries is Flagellant. Which sounds like the Shrouded Tree would value the blood of people, freely given. Maybe one of the shamans has the title "Tree Speaker", and in times of need he whips himself inside the Tree's sanctum until his blood waters the tree, granting him visions or power.

Another personality is Théodore Géricault, a French artist who, among other things, is famous for his paintings of disasters and insane people. This might represent another shaman - let's call her Cloud Walker - who carves wood into fairly disturbing statues, such as our old friend the Mothman. Others might relate to the activities of the PCs, past, present, or future. The other villages avoid her, but she insists that the statues are important.

We also get Julia Bulette among the Personalities. While prostitutes and brothels are not the best cultural fit for the Coastal Tribes, the ability to "charm men" puts me in mind of dryads - so let's say a dryad (named Shrouded Flower) has bonded with the Shrouded Tree and is its highly respected caretaker and guardian. Furthermore, the Tree Speaker of the village is chosen based on his or her ability to charm Shrouded Flower.

Among the Major Political Issues, we get "Superfund money to clean 'mouth of the beast'", an article about cleaning up the most polluted site in California (deriving from the runoff of a mine). While there are no mines in the area, I already had the notion of having a "bright heart" of the forest and a "dark heart" of the forest - the latter is a site of spiritual corruption, and one warrior - Angry Wasp - is agitating for cleaning it up. This is why he is also willing to hire himself and some like-minded warriors out as mercenaries - he hopes to get sufficient gifts for the tree to make himself powerful enough to cleanse the Dark Heart.

A further political issue is Feuding Families - perhaps some descendants of Yellow Seal Village are still feuding with the Silver Bird Tribe to the north because of their ancestral war. Finally, we get "Man petitions to marry comic book character" - while someone falling in love with one of Cloud Walker's statues is one option, let's say that a junior shaman - Sleeping Fire - is secretly obsessed with Shrouded Flower and seeks to replace the Tree Speaker.

Next we get to Major Projects, and one of them is the Trans-Global Highway. Maybe the Shrouded Tree wants to propagate, which is why it currently needs lots of "fertilizer" of all kind - exotic plant matter, feces from all sorts of animal, even blood (maybe the villagers will make a "Blood for Sap" drive?). Creating new Shrouded Trees is not a trivial matter, as it requires lots of spiritual energy, but when they do, the Shrouded Tree pocket dimensions will connect to each other, making travel between different locations possible.

A further project is "Rescuing A Potential Nuke From The Chile Quake". Perhaps the followers of Angry Wasp know or suspect that there is some kind of artifact creating the corruption in the Dark Heart, and their ultimate goal is to find it and destroy or cleanse it. But even getting there is difficult indeed...

Looking at the Economy section, we get Truffles as an export, which makes sense given their forested location. Among the forms of worship, we get Fertility Rite - presumably, those couples who wish to have children visit the Shrouded Tree and sleep with each other among its roots (with the Tree Speaker having his own "rites" with Shrouded Flower). We also get Bacchanalia, which hints at doing these rites in groups - presumably, there is lots of tree sap involved. Another is Animal Sacrifice, which ties in with what the Tree wants as gifts.

I could go on with the other sections, but this should provide me plenty of material to start with.


Note: A list of all Cold Frontier-related posts can be found here.

[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Soaring Eagle Village

It's time to finally detail the last village of the Coastal Tribes - Soaring Eagle Village. At only 200 inhabitants, it is the smallest but by no means the least important of the villages - as it serves as the home base for the Giant Eagle Riders, who serve as scouts for all the villages and keep an eye on the interior of the continent. As this includes warning of a new outbreak of the Great Darkness, this task is seen as being of the utmost importance for the Coastal Tribes, who all pay for these services with supplies and other support. Furthermore, they serve as one of the primary source of news.

The giant eagles don't actually live inside the village, but to the north of it at the Giant Eagle Eyrie. Still, individual giant eagles can frequently be found perching on the cliffs overlooking the village.

So, what else should we know about the village? Let us turn once again to the Random Nations Generator to fill in some details.

For government, we get Autarchy, a minimalist government whose inhabitants adhere to strong, informal codes. For this village, let's say that everyone is dedicated to the ultimate mission - everyone is either an Eagle Rider, supporting the Eagle Riders in some fashion, or a minor, and everyone who doesn't do their best to support the Eagle Riders is not-so-subtly encouraged to move to another village. The nominal chieftain is Black Falcon (male gender like all warriors, female sex), but he is out on patrol so often that there is little in the way of actual leadership, not that it is necessary. If there are any conflicts, each of the three groups (men, women, and shamans) will handle their own affairs in an informal manner.

As for organizations, we get Biker Gang - well, it should be obvious that the Eagle Riders take a lot of pride in their jobs. Some members might "mod out" their saddles, picking particularly garish colors and feathers to adorn them. Some of the giant eagles might even consent to dying some of their feathers. We also get the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, which is interesting in this context. Perhaps as part of their initiation into the higher ranks of the Eagle Lodge, the Eagle Riders must retrieve something noticeable from far inland - whether an exotic stone or even an artifact of a prior civilization. The more unusual and unique an artifact is, the more bragging rights the Eagle Rider will get, and these artifacts are proudly displayed within the local Eagle Lodge.

Among the NPCs, we get Jason And The Argonauts. Let's say that quite some time ago, a group of young Eagle Riders decided to press on inland as far as possible, and after many reached the central crater where the God Chamber is located. They even brought a minor Mothman artifact with them. Only one member of this group - one Fading Light - is still alive and very old. He would have quite a tale to tell - if he were inclined to talk to the PCs, which isn't likely.

The next NPC is Bede, the famed 8th century English monk. Let's say the village has a shaman - Deep Water - who has an unusually scholarly bent. He is deeply interested in the writing system of the Old Native culture and may be one of the few alive today who can read it. He is also interested in the writings of the Flannish Cities culture and has even managed to acquire a book all the way from Footfall. Once the colony expands, he will be very interested in acquiring print products from them, and he might not like what he reads there. Once he learns of printing presses, he might be interested in modifying one for the Old Native script and promote its use among the Coastal Tribes. Likely as a counterweight to the spread of Common - which, after all, is a memetic virus in Urbis, and he may be one of the few able to see it for what it is.

Finally, we have an Artifact of Doom - as a distinct character. Maybe the "artifact" brought back from the God Chamber by Fading Light actually contains a small fragment of the Immortal Ichor that still lives there. For now, it is safely sealed away - but if something were to crack its container, it would try to dominate a nearby human and use them as a minion to restore the God Chamber.

Among political issues, we get "More than 230,000 Japanese centenarians 'missing'" - a report that there may be rather less old Japanese people than commonly reported. And indeed, somehow Soaring Eagle village seems to have rather fewer old people than the other Coastal Villages. Where have they all gone? Well, once they feel they can no longer contribute to the Village and its Cause, they are led to a nearby hidden cave that is strongly protected by spirits. There they are put into suspended animation by magic - inactive, but still alive, and their souls represent a vast reservoir of power as well as a ritual circle of sorts that the local shamans can tap into when the need is the most dire (as well as for enchanting powerful magic items). More than 2,000 old people have now been put into hibernation here - ten times the living population of the village!

The "Major Projects" section at the Random Nations Generator reinforces these themes. The Bible Retranslation Project represents the efforts of Deep Water to translate works in Common into the native language. The Global Consciousness Project represents the souls of the old people gradually forming a gestalt mind, which is also very sensitive to all sorts of psychic disturbances - such as increased Mothman activities, or whatever else the PCs get involved with. Finally, Scientists Make Teleportation Breakthrough could represent Deep Water's use of the Circle of the Elders to teleport to the ends of the continent - including to Footfall (where he got those books), but potentially also to other interesting locations (such as the Crater).

Among "Religious Practices", one stands out - Glossolalia. This might represent the Circle of Elders taking temporary possession of someone when they have an urgent message. The "unknown language" spoken in such a case is simply the result of so many minds speaking through one tongue - but still, it requires magic to understand. Magic which, of course, the local shamans have access to.

Among the historic events, Chilean Blob and  "Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities" stand out - which remind me of the aquatic abominations that come to the nearby Mating Beach to the west. It probably wouldn't be too surprising if sometimes the... secretions of these creatures drift further along the coast, and some of the shamans might as well collect some of the substances for their own purposes. The normal villagers, on the other hand, are encouraged to stay clear of the oceans at such times. We also have "Portal to mythical Mayan underworld found in Mexico" - which here, once again, refers to the Cave of the Elders, which has probably all sorts of warning symbols to keep outsiders away (you know, the kind of symbols that seems to attract daft graverobbers and adventurers).

Among the "Famous Locations", we get Ys, a city sunk for its sinful ways (also, by the Devil opening the floodgates). Perhaps there was a nearby village which also consorted with the abominations from the depths and which gave rise to many mutated children, just like the marsh giants. But the shamans of Soaring Eagle Village destroyed it with a mighty magical earthquake and sunk it beneath the waves.

La Isla De Las Munecas - the Island of the Dolls - also conjures an interesting image. What if the dolls are animated? What if, in fact, they are some variant of tupilaqs, a construct that fits into the general mythology of the region. What if they can be powered by the Circle of Elders? What if one form of tribute Soaring Eagle Village receives from the rest of the region is whalebone, and they have built a Strategic Tupilaq Reserve? If so, intruders had better step very lightly in these parts...

Note: A list of all Urbis-related posts can be found here.

My Gaming Projects, Part III: The Arcana Wiki

"The Wikipedia - written by gamers, for gamers!"

That was the basic idea when I created the Arcana Wiki six years ago, and that remains the goal to this day. As any veteran game master or teller of stories knows, pretty much anything can serve as an inspiration for stories if you just look at it from the right angle. The trick is then to find the right inspiration for your current needs and start thinking in the right directions. Streams of high-inspiration material like the Suppressed Transmissions Community are useful, but the posts soon vanish into the archives and are forgotten by most readers. Therefore, trying to sort all this inspirational stuff into a wiki only made sense - it would allow proper indexing, cross-referencing, and brainstorming among its readers.

Most entries in the Arcana Wiki have a fairly standard layout. A good example of this is the entry for the Kowloon Walled City, a former slum region in Hong Kong.

As you can see, this page includes a hierarchical navigation bar, which shows that the Kowloon Walled City is within Hong Kong, which is within China, which is within the "Countries" hierarchy, which in turn is within the "Places" hierarchy. Not all pages of the Arcana Wiki - 4380 pages as of this writing - are included in such a hierarchy, but it does making navigation easier.

Though some pages (see the "Love Potion" entry for an example) start with an inspirational quote, most will start with a "Basic Information" section which tries to explain the basic concept of the entry in a fairly factual manner (though not usually as dry as the Wikipedia, and we don't concern ourselves with citations as much, either).

Incidentally, the blue links refer to existing Arcana Wiki entries, while the red links refer to entries which do not exist yet - a good place to get started when writing new stuff!

This includes a short "Sources" section with links where readers can get more information. Often this will only mean the relevant Wikipedia entry, but frequently contributors came across other interesting links that would contribute to the reader's understanding - and inspiration.

Below that, there is a "Game and Story Use" section where both the creator of the entry and others can add their own story ideas in the form of bullet points. The formatting is intentionally looser here, as the ideas can be highly subjective and idiosyncratic - in fact, this part was inspired by the TV Tropes Wiki, which uses the same format when discussing tropes. If someone wants to elaborate on another idea or add variants, they can do that via higher-order bullet points, which can get some lengthy discussions going.

This is the basic formatting for most Arcana Wiki entries. So, what subjects does the wiki cover?

Plenty. While it is nowhere near as exhaustive as the Wikipedia (and how could it be, considering it doesn't have the latter's zillion contributors?), some of the highlights include a Geography section listing real world locations around the world, famous real-world People, Mythological Creatures, a List of Mythologies (which admittedly needs some work, but it does include a basic page for the Cthulhu Mythos), Organizations, sections on Science, Technology, and Magic, a Tropes section loosely based on the aforementioned TV Tropes Wiki, and a Historical Timeline which, especially in newer years, links to all sorts of fascinating news stories (which use a slightly different formatting than the standard entries described above). There are also some tools which use random wiki entries to generate ideas - like the Random Adventure Seeds (which pick three random entries for adventure inspiration), or the Random Nations Generator (I've used the latter to generate villages for my Cold Frontier campaign - see here, here, and here for examples).

But while there is a fair amount of decent material on the wiki, most of the contributions came from a very small number of people. And I'd like to change that - which is where you come in.

The Arcana Wiki needs more contributors on just about any conceivable subject imaginable - and everyone is an expert on something that can be used for gaming. Do you know a lot about fantastic or cryptozoological creatures? Write it up. Do you know about really strange places in or near your hometown? Write it up. Do you have some favorite conspiracy theories? Write them up. Have you studied some particularly fascinating periods of history? Write them up. Inspiration is everywhere, and the goal of the Arcana Wiki is to find it and make it accessible to everyone.

But how do you get started? Well, first of all you need to register - in the beginning I allowed anonymous edits, but sadly the wiki eventually attracted sufficient spammers to force me disable that option. You can register via the link at the top and right.

After that, all you need to do is to click on the edit button at the bottom of the page and start editing.

I would recommend starting small - go to existing pages first and add some gaming ideas of your own. The wiki code is fairly easy to understand - for example, the "Game and Story Use" section of the Kowloon Walled City entry looks like this:

The main code to remember here is:

• Lines starting with "* " are bullet points, and if the "*" is moved further to the right (for example, " * ", these are turned into
• higher-level bullet points.
• Words in //double slashes// are turned into italics.
• Words wrapped in **double asterixes** are written bold.
• Worlds written in [[[triple square brackets]]] are links to other Arcana Wiki entries.
• Words written in single [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_brackets#Square_brackets square brackets] with URLs are links to external (non-Arcana Wiki) pages.

 After a while, you will probably click on one of the red links, which will bring you to a page like this:

Click on the link, and a new page will be generated based on a template of your choosing (the "standard" template is the default, but there are also templates for news stories, calendar entries, and so forth) - you only need to fill in the details and save the results.

After that, the next step is to read the following essays at the wiki:

• What To Add To The Arcana Wiki
• What The Arcana Wiki Is Not 
• Arcana Wiki Style Guide 

Furthermore, the wiki has its own forum on which you can ask questions if anything is unclear.


That's it - for now! I hope to see you there, and I will be looking forward to your contributions.