*WARNING: BIG LONG, TANGENTIAL POST UP AHEAD!!!*
Terraism said:
I'm one of the "no, not at all in poor taste," people, but, like Sixchan, I may be biased. Either way, Kenjib - I'm so very much intrigued with your campaign setting after just that one post. You wouldn't happen to have any more information floating around anywhere, would you?
Hi Terraism and Kevin,
Thank you for your interest! I've got a whole bunch of stuff written. The basic premise is that a certain part of the world is fairly mundane. An old empire has crumbled and is now only a shadow of it's former self, although the current Empress (who remains unmarried for fear of sharing power) is fairly ambitious -- and her bastard son even moreso should he survive the dangerous plots arrayed against him by his detractors. There are many other kingdoms near there and other regions with different agendas, all with a brisk network of trade. Pretty standard stuff with a strong focus on political intrigue, diplomacy, and war. Magic is not all too common here. There are also no races to choose from -- only humans, but I have many different cultures to choose from for variety and character options.
The world, however, gets stranger and stranger the farther you go from the center. The main continent is surrounded by the Dream Seas. Numerous islands in the Seas harbor strange places, like the Isle of Avarice, but common folk never see such fantastic things. The farther one travels from the mainland, the stranger things become, until at the edge of the world the fabric of reality itself unravels. Those who travel into the distant reaches of the world and see it's secrets are gifted with great destiny to change the world.
Here is another location, this one is to the far north, part of the main continent but high up in a remote mountain range, beyond which the world turns into a forbidding shelf of tumbled ice that nobody has ever crossed. My apologies in advance for the excessive length!
Tsa-Masu
Tsa-Masu is the ancestral homeland of the Tsa-Shotu. Hidden in the highlands of the Ma Sari peaks at the very northern edge of the civilized world, it is an isolated land that conjures strange and exotic images in the minds of people who live in distant lands.
THE PEOPLE
The people are comprised almost entirely of the Tsa-Shotu ethnic group. Exceptions usually stand out in the highland communities and outsiders are very rarely fully adopted by the culture. The lands of Tsa-Masu hold little that outsiders desire, so it has seen little influx of foreign influence. As there is little arable land, the population density here is very low and the standard of living is likewise low. Most people live in small villages that may be a good distance apart from one another. The Tsa-Shotu often make trips to neighboring villages for trade and social events.
HISTORY
The Tsa-Shotu are an ancient people who live high in the Ma Sari peaks in the far North. The word Tsa-Shotu translates roughly to “followers of the divine.” The Tsa-Shotu have lived in the northern highlands for as long as their history relates, and their history is a long and ancient one. The priests jealously guard the secrets of their occult lore, but it is rumored that they possess records of history dating back to ages far older than any other historical records of the world. The Tsa-Shotu claim to be direct descendants of the original people of the world; the first to walk upon the earth. According to Tsa-Shotu, the mountains of the North are the cradle of civilization itself. They call their homeland Tsa-Masu, the land of the divine.
While most scholars of the Central Kingdoms scoff at such claims, they have yet to find record of a time in which the Tsa-Shotu did not live in their ancient homeland, or any other contradicting evidence. Regardless of the veracity of their claims, the Tsa-Shotu are truly an ancient people with very old customs. That much cannot be doubted.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
The people of Tsa-Masu comprise numerous independent tribes that share a similar cultural tradition. There is no unified political entity of Tsa-Masu, nor is there a ruling body. Tribes vary in size from a single small village to a territory encompassing many villages. Tribal heads tend to be highly respected elders. Successors are usually hand picked by the current head of the tribe before death. When this fails to happen conflict can occur, but is usually mild and quickly resolved. There is a unified religious hierarchy in Tsa-Masu, but this hierarchy does not make any claims to secular power. The lack of a substantial food surplus due to the small amounts of arable land is one factor that has helped to inhibit the establishment of a higher organizational structure and political body.
MILITARY ORGANIZATION
Internecine wars between different tribes frequently occur over all manner of grievances. The Tsa-Shotu resolve most conflict through ritual acts of war. Carrying ceremonial (and largely ineffective) weapons into war, the act of feigning a battle usually determines a result decisive enough to obviate the need for more a more destructive open conflict. The rules and procedures for these ritual battles, which are called Kari No Itsu (literally “trials of grievance”), are intricate and usually observed meticulously by both sides. Highly skilled and effective Kari No Itsu strategists are some of the most highly venerated members of any community, second only to the tribal chief. Both roles frequently belong to the same person.
There is little fear in Tsa-Masu of invasion from the outside. The land is geographical isolated and has traditionally held very little strategic or resource value, although this has begun to change only in the last decade with the emergence of the black opium trade. Furthermore, the people of Tsa-Masu tend to be isolationist and inward looking and as a result have few disputes with neighboring nations. Because of this, there is very little military preparedness in the highlands. While an invading army would face very limited opposition, the logistics of moving forces through the extremely rugged terrain that the area is comprised of are a prohibitive factor that has also helped to protect the region from invasion.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Tsa-Masu does not have any enemies and no true allies. It is for the most part a very isolated region, the only major exception being the city of Malai, which is the only point of contact with most of the outside world. Some of the northern tribes do have occasional problems with raids from the dreaded Nekorese Ice Barbarians, but such raids are rare. The people of Tsa-Masu have a superstitious dread of the Nekorese, and they are spoken of almost more as apparitions than living people. Many legends of the terrible powers and leaders of the Nekorese circulate throughout the folklore of the Tsa-Shotu.
MAJOR SITES AND CITIES
Sanjiza (pop. unknown): The mythical forbidden city of Sanjiza is said to be the residence of the High Priest of the Tsa religious hierarchy. The location of the city is unknown and many do not even believe that it exists. It is said to appear only to those that are deemed worthy of entry, and often doing so unsought. A recent Bressian expedition that set out to find the ancient city met with no success and even the Tsa-Shotu people could not (or would not) provide help in discovering its location. Dalai Llama Sanji is said to preside over the people as the highest authority of the Tsa. He is a greatly revered and legendary figure who is said to be over 400 years old. Very few people claim to have ever seen him, let alone met him. For that matter, very few people claim to have even visited the city of Sanjiza at all. It is said to be a gleaming city of mighty temple pagodas and statues of famous idols and spirits with the most strikingly beautiful and serene gardens in the entire world. The splendor of the High Temple of the Tsa, called the Sanjugozendo, and its peaceful gardens are unrivaled, and the Great Library of Sanjiza is said to contain all of the collected wisdom of the Tsa-Shotu people, both mystical and mundane. According to rumor, those who enter the city emerge changed in an intangible manner, thereafter telling fabulous tales of the wonders of Sanjiza.
Malai (pop. 2500 summer, 1500 winter): The city of Malai is the only major city in all of Tsa-Masu and is a striking contrast to the rest of the land. At the southernmost border of the land and nestled in the Tanali pass, this city is the channel through which the vast majority of trade with the rest of the world is funneled. Being the only major city in Tsa-Masu, the architecture and layout of the city of Malai are also quite unique. The streets and buildings of Malai look like a hybridization of the aesthetic and ornamentation of the traditional Tsa-Shotu temples and hill houses with architectural techniques and structures imported from the people of the foothills and even as far south as the Central Kingdoms. This is largely because Malai was constructed by many different cultures to meet the needs of trade routes opened from Tsa-Masu south through the foothills to the Central Kingdoms. Malai also lacks the cultural homogeneity characteristic of most of Tsa-Masu. It is home to many permanent outlander residents (compromising perhaps as much as a quarter of the population) as well as a large transient population of both Tsa-Shotu and outlanders who stay in the city only for the duration of the busy summer trade months.
In general, Malai is utterly lacking in city planning and organization. The trade road from the south leads to the city center, a wide-open bazaar, and from there continues North through the pass, eventually joining the network of small trails and paths that link the villages of the highlands together. From the central bazaar the city sprawls out in all directions in cramped, narrow streets that wind claustrophobically in every direction, up and down steep hills, across the irregular terrain. The bazaar is very busy throughout the summer months, but the city takes on an aspect of eerie desolation during the cold winter months when travel to the area becomes difficult and costly. Exotic goods from the highlands are traded primarily for basic goods from the South. Food is one of the primary imports. Manufactured goods are highly coveted but traders from the South overcharge a great deal for these goods. The inflated prices prevent the import of large amounts of manufactured goods into this very poor nation.
Malai is also the source of the black opium trade, a very new industry that threatens to disrupt the cultural fabric of the Tsa-Shotu people. Black opium can be bought here much cheaper than in anywhere else in the world. The lowest grades are sold at especially low prices. In some neighborhoods, particularly on the west side, strange aromas and smoke fills the air and opium dens line the streets and alleys. There has emerged in recent years a problem with drug addicts who have become homeless and live in the streets, begging and stealing only for the chance to obtain more black opium. Many of them freeze to death in the streets every year. Malai is rapidly becoming a more and more dangerous place to live in.
Malai is ruled over by a tribal chief named Zaori and the inhabitants of Malai are known as the Zaori-Shotu. He has been in power for eight years and the city has visibly deteriorated under his rule. He has ties with much of the black opium that passes through the city and has become a very wealthy man. He maintains a contingent of over five dozen men, ostensibly to maintain law and order in the city. It is widely known, however, that Zaori and his men are involved in all manner of thuggery, blackmail, extortion, and racketeering to ensure that Zaori continues to be the primary benefactor of black opium trade in the city. There is a group of Zaori-Shotu living in Malai, comprised of traditionalists and led by an elder named Tali, that seeks to usurp Zaori’s power and end the black opium trade. Tali’s only son died from a black opium addiction several years ago. They have yet to act openly against Zaori and are currently trying to covertly gather the resources and manpower needed to take action. They expect a large amount of popular support and hope to create a popular uprising, as much of the populace lives in fear of Zaori and his men. Unfortunately, they have not taken into account the opposition that they will be sure to face from the powerful outlander merchants who rely on the city’s black opium for their black market operations in the Central Kingdoms. The merchants are sure to support Zaori, and can possibly levy resources and aid far more powerful than Zaori’s own band of thugs.
The Temple at Mizo-i: One of the many ancient temples that dot the Tsa-Masu countryside, The Temple at Mizo-i is a famous temple built around a series of hot springs. The temple is a major site of pilgrimage as the waters are reputed to have potent healing powers.
The Temple of Shagun: The Temple of Shagun is a famous temple located on a shelf of rock 100 feet up a sheer cliff face. People and supplies can only be brought in and out of the temple through the use of ropes and baskets. The means of construction of this engineering marvel from another age remain a great mystery. It is a common destination for those who seek to learn the secrets of the Tsa Shapers, but while room and board are given freely to visitors, only the most worthy of applicants are taught the sacred, occult, secrets. The Tsa Shapers gain their mystical insight into the future, and powers to twist fate, through the study of an ancient book called the Tsa-Itsu, the Book of Fate. It is said that hidden in secret messages coded throughout the book is a complete history of time, past, present, and future, yet the task of unlocking even a few of these secrets is the work of a lifetime of study.
