The Artarran Necropolis
Dec 25, 2016 21:15:32 GMT
Post by theophenes on Dec 25, 2016 21:15:32 GMT
Art Source: "Temple of Silence," from Magic: the Gathering. Made by Karl Kopinski.
NAME: The Necropolis of the fallen lord of the Artarran Kingdoms and their Associated Principalities.
KINGDOM AT A GLANCE: A kingdom ruled by ghosts and ghouls, made of the restless dead, built on tombs of sleeping history.
SIZE AND LOCATION: Relatively small, a Hewn valley of stone and dross surrounded by rather uninspiring swamp lands. The swamps, colloquially referred to as the Grim Fens, are to the south of the Darkwoods and the West of the continent at-large. The necropolis boasts stone walls on all sides, with specialized secure gates.
WEALTH: The average inhabitent of the region does okay, but the tomblords and artifact dealers are exorbitantly wealthy. The government itself is of moderate resources, however, they run very efficiently--most undead are cheaper labor than breathing folk. The largest commodity of note here is ritual burial for the wealthy and knowledge in various magicks for protecting one's final resting place. If you want to know about tombs and dark arts, this city will sell you information--if you've got the coin up front, anyhow.
STABILITY: Stable to the point of stagnation. The Fall of Pakellan had little effect on them, as their 'truce' had been settled over a hudnred years prior. Most other cities don't want to encroach on the swamp, and the military is sufficient to protect waht few stretegically imrpotant parts there are.
DANGER TO TRAVELERS: Low, unless you're a thief. Good luck with that.
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: The Obzedat, a council of ghosts nubmering 200 strong, rule the city, mostly content to maintain their power in trade and look strong to outsiders. While interim squabbles happen often, there hasn't been major changes in a while. In general, the laws are byzantine and contradictory (a few millennia of rule by undead bureaucrats is a hell of a thing), so bribery and forgery get things done. Their enforcers, the praetors, are known to be corrupt and manipulative.
FREEDOM AND OPPRESSION: Technically, almost everythign is illegal, but in reality, few crimes outside of robbing tombs or mental compulsion of intelligent undead via magic are viewed as crimes worth doing much about. Most civil incursions can be dismissed by payign a Praetor a "sufficent fine." In general, undead generally have greater rights than living individuals, and salvery, while frowned upon, is permitted. Indentured servitude is viewed as more "decent" among those in power here. Tomb robbers are often given the death penalty, as befits the grave violation of the sacred entombment here. Performing necromancy on an entombed individual withhout their written consent is the gravest of crimes, and is punished with death by magical torture.
COMMON SPECIES: Ghosts and other intellgient undead make up about 60% of the population (around 5% are vampires), with the remaining population scattered among itinerant humans, morbid elves, and various other scholarly folk, as well as various priests who specialize in internment and perservation of the dead.
MILITARY FOCUS: Mostly local policing to clamp down on black-market offenses of grave-robbing and tomb-raiding smuggling operations. The last time somone actually laid seige to the Necropolis was well over a hudnred years ago, and frankly, it's hard to lay seige to a city where the majority of people don't eat. The Preators themselves tend to stick to light or medium armor and carry swords, but given the wide varieties in ages, tactics, and disciplines, there is a habit of specilizing in exotic and strage weapons among the best in their group. The Obzedaat has an honor guard, which consists of people who have pledge at least five decades of unliving servitude to the council, either by debt or decency. The honor guard tends towrds full plate and pikes, with some of them specializing in either the boalr or long-bow.
TECHNOLOGY: While the medical and magical techniques here are of high-quality, the sheer age of the are makes both the buildings and infrastructure an idiosyncratic mess. Most of the city rusn on medieval tech, but the city's design is very stone-age.
PLAYER CONTROLLED: No interest in controlling it currently. If you want to play a ghsot councillor, go for it.