Infodumps from IC posts

The Wilderlands of Absalom

Junction, Class IV

On border of Scarlet Principality.

Exports & Imports

According to Mr. Hand:

• The main exports of Junction are meat, fur, cloth, timber and cloth and textiles refined from the bark of the whiteflower tree.
• The primary trade goods that go downriver is timber from the rare Empress Blood tree. It is a dense, oily, fine grained hardwood that is heavy enough to be used as ballast for the outgoing trip.
• In past years most of the traffic upriver has brought luxury goods and exotic wares for the nobility in Rhea's Ford and few staples.
• Junction is, as mentioned earlier, somewhat lacking in metals both common and rare. A fair amount of their supply comes from further east within the Scarlet Principality. Also, tradesmen have found that Empress Blood is hard enough to be used as bearings, gears and other parts traditionally made from metal -- and has the added benefit of being somewhat self-lubricating from the natural oils -- so the metal shortage is not as much of a hardship as may be expected.
• Junction has a high demand for metals (common and precious), glassware and armor and weapons (from the existing categories) as well as building supplies (wood and stone) due to the construction currently underway. It's essentially a frontier boomtown.
• It has a low demand for meats, furs, animals, cloth, wine and spirits, ale and pottery.

Rhea's Ford, Class II

Some distance east from Junction

• Mr. Hand hasn't spent enough time in Rhea's Ford to suss out the demand modifiers there, but you can hazard a guess that it will be fairly in line for what a relatively wealthy large city would want: silks, spices, coffee and tea, textiles, animals, etc.
• Brinas finds a breeder of dogs willing to train large mastiffs to be mounts for the kobolds. "They can be trained either to ride or to be used in war," she says, "riding dogs can be trained for fifty gold each, war dogs for one hundred and twenty apiece. Riding dogs will be fully trained in three months; dogs that can be ridden into battle will be ready in four and a half months." post

County of Chelles

Comprised of four 6-mile hexes and two urban centers (Hob, population 125 families and Pevin, population 50 families), Chelles has an overall population of 1,175 families. It is technically a wilderness domain, but for some as yet unknown reason is actually classified as being civilized. Therefore it has an overall garrison cost of 2,350 per month. You will need to garrison some number of troops here that equal or exceed this value in order to occupy it and keep the peace. Then we'll just give it time and see what transpires as p. 64 of D@W (opposing morale checks, essentially).

The domain seems to consist of four hexes on the adventurers' map: 19.29, 19.30, 18.30 and 20.30.

Growing Hob and Pevin: The Core book (p. 133) details the methods of increasing the size of an urban population. You will not see any growth, at least for the time being, from immigration, due to the restricted trade routes and the fact that not many folks *know* about the region yet. So, I will allow you guys to attempt to attract families as per settlers, but instead of spending 1000 gp on 1d10 families you'll only need to spend 500 gp on 1d10 families*. In addition to some financial inducement, part of this money will go towards establishing the urban settlers -- purchasing them a small house to live in as incentive for moving down, for instance. I'm going to say the following:

Hob currently has an urban population of 125 families and an urban infrastructure value of 10,000 gp, so it can accommodate a total population of 249 families. Once it reaches 250 families (this will require infrastructure investment) it will become a Class V market.

• Note that you can spend multiples of this (i.e. 1000 gp to try and attract 2d10 families to Hob)

• Information on the Chelles family and the Hob Standing Stone.
• Festivals in Hob

Hob, Class VI

Hob is currently a Class VI (actually, right on the cusp of becoming a Class V market) market of 125 families. It was once a medium sized Class V market (treated as Class IV because of its location on a trade route) with over twice the number of residents. So, quite literally, half the buildings in town are standing vacant.

The Mayor is Cynlas and his counselors are two women and a man, all over sixty, at least: Adelacar, Sephephie and Loccyn.

Hob was once the foremost urban center of a County, several Cycles ago. There was a great trade road that ran east to west, across a bridge that once spanned the Sarn in Hob.

Local chatter:

• The residents of Hob seem, by and large, to live a relatively bucolic existence. The fields are fertile and the fish run deep; there is little want for food and, apparently, little danger from outside threats.
• Some say that an immense standing stone, some mile or two east of town, dating back to time immemorial is the reason that they have been little troubled by roaming beasts and monsters, even during the rather chaotic times of the last Cycle. Legend has it that there is a god buried there, dreaming, and that its dreams keep the monsters at bay. Others claim that it is an entrance to Faerie, that a door opens at its base on certain nights that leads to a dwarfen lodge in an alien mountain range.
• Even though they are part of the same domain the residents of Hob don't have much to do -- or much nice to say -- about their neighbors in Pevin.
• The townsfolk are split over what seems to be imminent increased prosperity. Many welcome it and the outside world while others claim they don't need outsiders, their newfangled ideas, foreign money or strange customs.

Assets in Hob

• Rinath the Red-bearded, factor.
• Two story adobe building (hex 24.10). Cost 500 gp, needs another 250 gp labor and 250 in materials.
  • 1000 sq. ft, two story dwelling.
• Wooden single story with sidelot (hex 19.15 and 19.16). Costs 275 gp, needs 25 gp in labor and 25 gp in materials.
  • 1200 sq. ft. warehouse-style space.
• Brick building (hex 19.09). Costs 250 gp, needs 50 gp in labor and 50 gp in materials.
  • 1200 sq. ft. warehouse/factory style space.
  • Being turned into a temple for Basa.
• Starting funds of 5000 gp
  • -1,205 in real estate.
  • -32 gp in 8thmonth for workers (being paid double wages)

Map of Hob

Pevin, Class VI

Pevin is smaller than Hob, consisting of a score of sod or stone houses with thatched roofs clustered around a small square. The decaying and collapsed remains of two dozen more dwellings form an outer ring around the village proper. To the west, a quarter mile off, several bells shaped chimneys rise up, only one of which is currently smoking. Those familiar with metallurgy recognize them as crude smelters used to refine iron ore.

The road continues through Pevin, leading south to a large stone structure a half-mile further down the road. Another track bends east, away from the river, leading off into the distance. The Keep itself is squat and square, with low stone walls, a tower at each corner and a taller structure rising from within the walls. Even at this distance it is possible to see that the walls are not in good repair; the tower on the northeastern corner has partially collapsed, along with much of the eastern wall.

No one seems to own the iron mines outside of Pevin. There was a lordling who ruled there, but I think no one has claimed that land for years. The mines are communal, probably, owned and worked by the local peasants. And it is not unusual that it was abandoned. At the start of this Cycle the north was much safer than the south; there are several colonies of the Princedom there, as well. You have to understand how much the times of Chaos hurt trade and travel; we are just on the process if expansion again, ten years on. The Principality is short on metals -- iron especially, although the mines up north are helping -- and Pevin has both the mines and the smelters.

Learned later: Pevin and Hob were once the foremost urban centers of a County, several Cycles ago. There was a great trade road that ran east to west, across a bridge that once spanned the Sarn in Hob. The mines of Pevin were renowned throughout the area for both the output and quality of the ore, and its iron was shipped to the great cities of the east and west. But Tamen collapsed, some say to plague, others to civil war, and the road to Kesig was cut off by bandits, ogres and worse. The Count and his family died in a fire in their Keep, according to legend, and their ghosts still roam the decaying halls.

For years the mines sat idle, the smelters cold. There was some digging, mostly to produce ore for the smithies in Hob and Pevin, but for all intents and purposes the folk in the area turned farmers and herders. Most of the mining that was done was not for iron but for a mineral, called praum by the locals, that could sometimes be found alongside the iron veins. About two years prior the mining camp began to swell -- some folks from Pevin moving back out, some coming from Hob to seek their fortunes and others from the surrounding countryside. The smelters were fired up again, so ore is obviously being produced. It was around this tie that roving bands of rough men and women, bandits by the look, began to frequent Pevin more and more, traveling along the ancient trade roads. Some of the townsfolk suspect that they are moving the ore to new markets.

Learned still later: During her time ministering the wounded Hira gleans some information about the basic power structure of Pevin. It, like Hob, is overseen by a Council of Elders, composed of five souls: Wilgrim Waverly is the chief councilor, a man in his mid-forties, tall and broad in stature. Wilgrim is a shepherd and farmer with a freehold just outside of Pevin and seems to be well-like and respected by all. He has a large brood; ten children in all. Andza and Carbeo An are sister and brother, both in their sixties. Carbeo is rumored to be addicted to Black Lotus, a drug not known to grow locally. This dependence is the reason his house has fallen into neglect and disrepair over the past few years. Andza is three or four years his elder and is said to be as sharp as a tack. She is also the sole -- as far as anyone can tell -- owner of the mines and has grown relatively rich running a dry goods store within the mining camp. There is a blacksmith named Betda Romes on the Council; her forge is located on the outskirts of Pevin. There are whispers that she is a witch, consorting with black powers that visit her at night. The final member of the Council is a priest named Cansa Wen, a half-senile doddering fool who maintains the village's lone shrine, devoted to some local god named Mekris.

Karag spends a second week skulking about and peering into shadowy corners. He hears and sees several interesting tidbits. Once, while lurking by an open window in Pevin's lone tavern, hears a whispered conversation about a man named Willen d'Azure, promised wealth, the sale of iron ore and hints of weapons and war. Another time he espies a quartet of men ride into town from the southwest. They are clad in blacks and browns, of dapper and distinguished cut, and all wear boots soled in red leather. The riders spend about three hours or so in the miners' camp before riding back to the southwest. Their horses ride somewhat slower, it seems, on the way out. Finally, while mosyeing around the camps he comes upon a circle in the grass, beaten down as if by many feet, some thirty feet in diameter. In the center of the circle he finds the remains of a fire; the charred sticks that are left are arranged in an arcane fashion that leaves his eyes watering and crossed if he examines it too closely. He also notes the smell of cinnamon in the air, ever so faintly.

Rumor: Some evil being -- a changeling or skinwalker -- roams the hills around Pevin, devouring the souls of those unfortunate enough to get in its way.

Imprisoned in the Pevin mine is a minor god called Nachthudhrasa, a small, local arachnid deity which was recognized to manifest in the grasslands and hills miles south of Rhea's Ford. The legends say that Nachthudhrasa is confined underground, bound by chains of silver and the influence of some sort of font of Law, and has been imprisoned so for the past six or seven Cycles.

March of Manifest

Comprised of four 6-mile hexes and two urban centers (Hob, population 125 families and Pevin, population 50 families), Chelles has an overall population of 1,175 families. It is technically a wilderness domain, but for some as yet unknown reason is actually classified as being civilized. Therefore it has an overall garrison cost of 2,350 per month. You will need to garrison some number of troops here that equal or exceed this value in order to occupy it and keep the peace. Then we'll just give it time and see what transpires as p. 64 of D@W (opposing morale checks, essentially).

The domain seems to consist of four hexes on the adventurers' map: 19.29, 19.30, 18.30 and 20.30.

• Information on the Chelles family and the Hob Standing Stone.
• Festivals in Hob
• Hob
• Pevin

Map of Hob

• Manifest Settlers

Hob

• Construction Projects in Hob
• Hirelings in Hob
• Hob Warehouse
• Population of Hob
• Church of Manifest

Pevin

• Construction Projects in Pevin

The Candle

A great mound of earth, covered by grass. Legend says it's a burial mound, left over from the Old Folk. A stone pillar sticking out of the ground, some one hundred feet high. It's visible for some distance. Thing's some kind of natural formation, about three, four hundred feet in diameter. Looks like a big fat candle stuck in the ground. Anyways, there's some caves and tunnels in there, mostly natural, I think, but worked over the years. The ogres lair in there. You're going to want to be careful of the approach, though, since the ogre chief is smart enough to put watchers up on top of the Candle. There is a water source within the Candle.

It has a long and storied history and is believed to have been first carved out of the earth by the mecistop, the crocodile folk, although it is far to the north of their traditional range. Historians believe it to have been a location of some ritual significance; later, human sources mention that a portal to Faerie can be found within its corridors. Whether or not this is the reason the mecistop established the outpost is unknown. In more recent history the Candle was used as a fortress by the various human empires and kingdoms that have sprung up on the plains, the last known one being the Ferann Kingdom some four Cycles ago. The Candle was also the home of one Waruvell the Wise, a wizard of some repute during the Third Cycle. There are tales of the top floor containing some sort of mechanism that controls various functions through the rest of the butte.

• Elevation sketch of the Candle
• Post detailing layout of the Candle
• Staff of Gardagrim, Gardagrim the Gibbous

Mana Throne

• description
• Divination: 'the storage array is empty'
• Divination: 'siphon and collect magical energies'
• Divination: 'levers in the highest room'
• Augury: 'secrets can only be discovered by charging the array'

Rivers Bel and Sarn

The rivers Bel and Sarn are both relatively wide, shallow and flat, and the majority of the boats plying their waters are one or two masted and fairly flat bottomed, the equivalent of a small sailing ship. They rely on the current to go downstream and on the return trip use a combination of sails and oars. The body of water shown at the south of the map is a large inland lake -- almost a freshwater sea, really -- similar to one of the Great Lakes. Before Chaos descended upon the land there were numerous civilizations ringing the lake, of which the Six Principalities were but one, but know little is known of how many survived.

Kesig and Tamen

In the day there were two towns that primarily traded with Hob. Kesig to the east and Tamen to the west. All I know is there is an ancient road leading west across the river from Hob, and Tamen is supposed to be several day's ride to the west. Kesig I am a little more sure of. I don't think there's actually a road -- there may have been, once -- but I think it is about . . . here." He points to the area labelled 77.56 on their original map. Harn suddenly remembers why Kesig sounds so familiar; it is where his retainer Jeffed Ka is from. He recalls that Jeffed had been attempting to lead a caravan from Kesig to Hob but were waylaid by the ogres that dwell in the Candle.

Jeffed proceeds to wax lyrical about the rolling verdant fields of his homeland and the quality of the maidens that dwell there. Kesig is a domain of some 8,000 families, nestled between a range of mountains to the south and hills to the north, east and west. "These same hills as surround Wolf Keep, I'd wager," he says "although it is far to the east of here. There are mines in the mountains to the south where we dig for iron and gold and gemstones. There are some deposits of harbenite in the surrounding hills that the Ancients had dug; we still mine there from time to time, although such mines are almost always guarded by the walking dead, for some reason. Perhaps the ore calls to them, across the spirit world. We make several fine wines and a fabric woven from a local plant that is as soft as silk but capable of being layered more thickly."

Eros

Eros is a small village known chiefly as a training center for bladedancers. The hills south of Eros are extremely dangerous for travel due to the large presence of monsters and their ilk in the area.

Jacaar and Phiesen

Both were border towns of the Timshan Empire that flourished to the south during the Twelfth and Thirteenth Cycles (approximately 400-500 years ago). It is possible that Wolf Keep itself is a relic of this period of time -- although more likely it dates back to only the Fourteenth Cycle -- but Zizdul certainly was an important city during this time. During this time a series of roads and highways were built, many of which till survive to this day, and trade goods were brought from the far reaches of the Empire to Zizdul in the south. Jacaar is to the east of Wolf Keep, supposedly, and in its day was known for producing an alchemical substance known as zelenek, a curious greenish sand used in casting metal items of great value or magical in nature. Phieisen was to the west of Wolf Keep, about twice the distance as Jacaar, and known for its silver mines.

Jacaar is 31 miles away (probably hex 18.42) and Phieisen 77.

Zarich

Zarich was the nearest city to Hob and was fabled to sit up against the mountains somewhere to the southeast. Zarich fell before the Seven Princedoms had been founded. (Players' Map - Initial 73.54)

The Silver Sea

Until recently there was regular, if not frequent, travel down the Sarn to a city called Orahorah, the closest friendly port on the Silver Sea. In the past such trips were undertaken by groups of a half dozen ships or so, to maximize profit and safety. Orahorah is the closest port on the Silver Sea, important because of the fragility of our craft but far from ideal because of the restrictions of trade. The city is ruled by a monopolistic merchant's guild; rather than allow us to trade directly, or even transfer our goods to another ship, we are forced to sell our goods to middlemen, who then sell them elsewhere.

That's Orahorah (Seneschal's Map 56.55). You've got to understand that the Silver Sea is vast. It's supposedly an inland sea -- or, at least it was, three Cycles ago -- and the river boats we use are too small and fragile to navigate any distance from shore. Before Zizdul fell our merchants would transfer goods into larger boats and sail wherever they wanted; to Twelve Towers -- the magocracy -- Orm and Ord --the Twins -- the Gloaming, Talltree and other lands even more exotic. Now, though, we've got a further journey. Upon entering the Sea we bear east, hugging the shore, until we reach the Broken Straits and the Silent City of Orahorah. None of our merchants operate out of there -- they can't, it's a strict Guild system, no outsiders allowed -- so we sell our goods their and bring back what we can."

Zizdul

Rabanus observes what was once a great city, as large as Rhea's Ford, if not larger. It is centered on three hills that slope down the to shores of the bay, terraced in buildings of sandstone and adobe. Each hill is topped with enormous edifices -- one is clearly a temple, the other, the closest to the water, a keep, and the third looks to be a palatial mansion of some sort. For the most part the buildings are several stories tall, with some reaching sixty or eighty feet into the air. Rabanus also counts a half-dozen towers reaching to the sky, some three hundred feet in height.

The main of the city is surrounded by a wall some forty feet tall, punctuated by sixty foot towers every hundred yards or so. Overall the buildings appear to suffer from disrepair and neglect; in some areas entire city blocks have been razed to the ground. Zizdul possesses a mile or more of waterfront, most of which is lined by decaying docks and half-submerged boats slipping under the surface of the water. There do not appear to be any ships capable of sailing. Numerous columns of smoke rise from the various buildings and vacant lots, but what he makes especial note of are the sheer numbers of humanoids that can be seen. Crowds of them fill the street, of a bewildering array of races, sizes and appearance. He sees goblins, orcs and ogres, bugbears and gnolls and even, sprawled around an enormous campfire in the center of a cleared city block, a family of five brutish looking giants, easily twice the height of an ogre. There are crews of kobolds working on the city walls, overseen by stern looking hobgoblins with whips, markets teeming with these races plus others less identifiable. If the mage were to guess he would say there were at least a thousand inhabitants of the city, and most likely more. IC 1615

Cities to the West

There are two cities to the west that are worth speaking of; the first is the volcanic city of Pesh, to the northwest, and the other is the city of Sangachard, to the southwest, seated on the edge of the Copper Bay.

Syndicates of the Region

https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?801538-IC-III-ACKS-The-Wilderlands-of-Absalom&p=21205769#post21205769

Rhea's Ford

Rhea's Ford, a city of some seventy-five thousand souls, has an underworld controlled largely by three different crime syndicates.

• The largest by far is the Family of Three, who control the bulk of the smuggling, blackmail and extortion.
• The Black Hand is smaller but no less viscious, and they are behind much of the petty thefts, murders and drug sales in the city.
• The Iron Ring is the third and smallest of the three, and is said to have links to slavery (illegal in the Scarlet Principality but present in several of the other princedoms) as well as dabbling assassination, intimidation, loan collection, and so forth.

The adventurers estimate that these three groups control perhaps three quarters of all crime within the city.

Junction

Junction is smaller but has a no less active criminal element, although it is much less centralized.

• As one of the main routes into the Scarlet Principality from the outside world the Family has a fairly well established presence
• The Iron Ring has a minor presence as well, and is rumored to use the newly opened road west towards Rocky Peak to send "recruits" for the mines there, often hung over and with an aching head.

Otherwise, Junction is largely controlled by a half dozen groups of street thugs and bravos who pay the minimum to the Family while doing pretty much what they want.

Merchant Consortiums

The adventurers learn that there two merchant consortiums interested in setting up operations in Deepwater: The Silver Seas Trading Company** and the United Bretheren of Amalgamated Trade. Both groups are sending associates south as part of the initial wave of urban settlers. post

The swamplands

Four Cycles ago (approximately 800 years), there was an important temple located at the confluence of the two rivers, dedicated to the worship of the river goddess Sarna. Over time a small town sprang up around the temple, to provide for the needs of the priests who dwelled within the temple, and the pilgrims who traveled to the temple to ask questions to the oracles of the place. At sometime in the past a schism formed between the priests within the temple, a divide that eventually turned violent as brother turned against brother. One notable feature of the clash were the forcible drownings on those deemed to be heretics. About two Cycles ago (four hundred or so years), during one of the periods when the forces of Chaos were ascendant, the two rivers overflowed their banks and the land around sank into a swamp. It is conjectured by some that the this was the result of Sarna visiting her wrath upon those who despoiled the sanctity of the river; others suggest that one side fell to the worship of Chaotic gods such as Dagon, or Tsathoggua, or even older, nameless gods that stalked the earth long before the rein on man.