Level Up (A5E) Sins of the Scorpion Age, Sword and Sorcery Campaign Setting

[GuyBoy]

Yianthe sipped at the sour wine in what passed as a tavern in this cold, damp, shrouded city. She and her friends certainly stood out from the drearily dressed locals. Arkos and Xyges, the powerfully built Myron hoplite twins, Versaar, his scaled skin hidden beneath his hood as the sorcerer had long-learned not to draw attention, and Falgrok....well, there was no way the massive minotaur could not draw attention here, or anywhere.
Yianthe smiled to herself. She thought briefly of playing a song, anything to liven up this dour place, but returned her attention to the old man who sat opposite, his face grim. Ersek was his name. He was Zirgi through and through.
“ Leave now whilst you can, and do not enter the forests,” the old man warned, his voice hushed, “ there are...things...terrible things. This place is cursed. This land. Even the Ancais did not stay when they conquered it; even they feared these forests. Do not go in.”

Before either of the twins said anything foolish, or even boorish, Yianthe smiled at old Ersek, “ I thank you for your words, my friend, and we will be wary, but enter we must. Mylekek the Scorpion fled through this town, and we must find him for what he has done.”

 

[Steampunkette]

Yianthe sipped at the sour wine in what passed as a tavern in this cold, damp, shrouded city. She and her friends certainly stood out from the drearily dressed locals. Arkos and Xyges, the powerfully built Myron hoplite twins, Versaar, his scaled skin hidden beneath his hood as the sorcerer had long-learned not to draw attention, and Falgrok....well, there was no way the massive minotaur could not draw attention here, or anywhere.
Yianthe smiled to herself. She thought briefly of playing a song, anything to liven up this dour place, but returned her attention to the old man who sat opposite, his face grim. Ersek was his name. He was Zirgi through and through.
“ Leave now whilst you can, and do not enter the forests,” the old man warned, his voice hushed, “ there are...things...terrible things. This place is cursed. This land. Even the Ancais did not stay when they conquered it; even they feared these forests. Do not go in.”

Before either of the twins said anything foolish, or even boorish, Yianthe smiled at old Ersek, “ I thank you for your words, my friend, and we will be wary, but enter we must. Mylekek the Scorpion fled through this town, and we must find him for what he has done.”

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

 

[Steampunkette]

Figure I've gotta put Underdark Access -somewhere- so people can play with nifty concepts like Goat-headed "Cave Minotaurs" and the like.

 

[Steampunkette]

And with Valatko, Neasc is largely finalized!

 

[Steampunkette]

As a head's up: Expect little writing in the next several days. Brother is going to be moving out and everything is kind of focused in on that.

 

[GuyBoy]

I’ll be in the gloomwoods of Neasc, my back to a glyph-cared standing stone, blade in hand, as the shadow of the fell beast looms over me, bloody saliva dripping from hungry maw.....awaiting the next instalment..
Hope your brother’s move goes well!

 

[Steampunkette]

So... My brother is, officially and finally, out. It took a-while- to get him to leave and it was a lot of stress and frustration for all of us... There's a big story, there, but I'm tired of telling it and here wouldn't be the right place, anyhow. Suffice it to say this is better for everyone involved. Hubby and I have spent the last week trying to make the house "Ours", again, and I'm going to be cleaning the guest bedroom off and on for the forseeable future.

But it's time to get back to writing.

So. One of the main conceits of the Project Chronicle setting is that cities and civilizations are largely havens of vice, corruption, and wickedness, where good and noble people get turned into miserable and terrible people. Where Sorcery is occasionally sourced by powerful priests and kings, where criminals gain power and exercise it on the innocent.

But I've positioned Imba, the Unconquered, as somewhat antithetical to that. A civilization that is actually at it's heart pretty much good because of the familial tribal structure that it focuses on. Mainly because I wanted to present the fact that civilization isn't the -real- problem, but rather how people treat and perceive each other, typically as strangers and outgroups, that creates the strife and degeneration of cities in a Sword and Sorcery setting.

But now I'm staring down Kyalo on Lake Kono, Market at the Edge of Forever, with Witches and Pokenkwo Nectar and Bottled Dreams... I'm looking at it's Kleptocratic ruler, Ado, whose corrupt guards make up new rules and laws whenever they will to pluck bloodstones from whomever they feel like they can bully, and I'm worried I'm steering too hard in the other direction. The giant centipede "Riding Serpents" are great, though.

I'm worried whether I'm creating a racist allegory, here, or if I'm just making the "Worst" of the four cities of the Shrinking Savannah and both Oromi and Tefari will be more balanced...

Thoughts?

 

[GuyBoy]

Welcome back and I hope all works out well for all members of your family.
The nastiness in Kyalo is down to kleptocracy rather than any racist allegory, even more so if the other cities show more balance.
The nature of evil is a pretty intense debate, and I won’t dip too far into it here, but kleptocracy certainly ticks several boxes of “evil”, without needs for blasphemous rites in crumbling temples.
One possible solution would be inserting one or more Robin Hood type figures in Kyalo, who seek to redistribute wealth to benefit those in need. This also creates a neat urban adventure hook.

 

[Steampunkette]

 

[Steampunkette]