The setting: Yoon Suin.
I'll start with some Slugman information because we have a slugman character, so they can better prepare said character:
- In the Yellow City, Slugmen form the ruling class. They alone can own property (land and building), and it is a crime to kill a slugman - but not a human, dwarf or crabman.
- Slugmen are hermaphrodites, ie genderless. However, some of them do decide to adopt a gender - (ie you can be whatever gender you choose)
- Slugmen are obsessed about 3 things above all else - tea, opium and knowledge.
- There are 57 slugmen noble house. 17 of them are on the ruling Council, and hold key trade monopolies. 9 are involved in criminal activities, and the remainder are lesser houses, more focused on scholarly pursuit. You get to decide what kind of house you are involved in.
- Slugmen often are capable of wielding magic. This is extremely important for them, because only magic users are given the life extending Yellow Tea, increasing their lifespan to 150-250 years. Without it, a slugman lives perhaps 50 years or so. However, they are often lazy - many, once they have gained a spell or 3, stop trying.
- Slugmen's language is partially pheromone based, and can't be understood or spoken by humans. However, they have a hard time with some of the human syllables. As a result, the Trade Tongue of the yellow city is one designed so that everyone can speak to one another.
Typical slugmen names: Po LE, Afagu, Malaba, Kaleva, Wulele, Eki Ulele, Befi, Papali, Hapa U, Polaha Vo
The Yellow City:
The Yellow City is built on a series of islands forming the delta of the Mighty God River. It is ancient, and its building are often built of topaz-flecked stone, hence its name. It is ruled by the Slugmen (about 10 000) but the city itself is much larger with over 300 000 inhabitants. The city is surrounded by the impenetrable Jungle of Lahag. As such, it is the only port providing access to the Yoon Suin region, which has made the Slugmen very wealthy. It is also known as the City of Gods due to its hundreds of cults, the City of Whores, the Great Stink, the First City...
The Yellow City used to be bigger, and areas that have been abandoned have been overgrown. Although not as dangerous as Lahag, decent people do not go there - there are monsters, bandits, criminals, exiled cultists and worse who live among its ruins. Still, from time to time great treasures can be found.
The laws of the Yellow City:
- As noted above, only slugmen have full legal protection. However, you can't have a functioning city and full-on anarchy. Human local merchants are often middlemen and service providers, and foreign merchants are respected. Several power groups provide informal policing in various portions of the city - protection rackets actually
do protect a bit, some cults are actively hunting violent criminals (like the cult of Vanuk The Retributer), and even the local warehouse workers will gang up and give a drubbing to troublemakers. The end result is that you can get away with violence in the city, but there will often be lots of witnesses, and if your violence has consequences will depend a lot on the circumstances, and if the victims have friends...
The lands of Yoon Suin: You can see a map here:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TRuVyiVDAxU/hqdefault.jpg
Beyond Yoon-Suin
Yoon-Suin's main trading partner is Xian, 3 months away by ship. Lots of high value goods are exchanged, and there is even a number of Xian inhabitants who have made the Yellow City their home. Lands beyond Xian are strange and mysterious. One island nation in particular is noted for the sharpness of their swords and the martial prowess of their lawyers...
More recently, ships have been coming from the far west - Occidentalia - bringing in new goods, ideas and visitors. They are over 6 months away by ship, and the volume of trade is far smaller.
Lastly, there has been rumors of a special port in the Topaz isles being built, to accept flying golden barges. Where do these golden barges come from is a matter of intense speculation in the Yellow City.
Edit: the local area:
The Grain District - a part of the Yellow City
Edit 2: The Lamarakhi: The Lamarkhi inhabit the the many branches of the God River and its surrounding jungle (
not Lahag). They are a boat people, rarely settling down, always traveling. They are vital to the economy of Yoon Suin and carry small fortunes in their boats for a modest fee - there is no other realistic way to move goods around. Lamarakhi pride themselves on their honesty and reliability, and will not tolerate being cheated. Sadly a few of them have fallen into piracy, and as a result the Lamarakhi know how to fight. They favor short wavy stabbing swords, javelins, poison darts, and wear dark blue clothing. They are not known to be powerful mages, but are noted for their art of enchanted tattoos and the crafting of Kojo stick, which they burn and inhale the smoke, sometimes to wondrous effect. Their language and customs are strange, even outlandish, but they are a vital part of Yoon Suin.
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