Dragons in Guang Keshar Society
As the direct descendants of Huang Ti and being made in her image, dragons are honored throughout Guang Keshar. They could be considered demi-gods or something akin to patron saints: beings can act as emissaries between mortals and the Jade Wyrm. It’s common to find votive statues of the various dragons, past and present, on family altars, which the family honors and prays to, asking for help in various areas of their lives. For their own part, dragons generally consider themselves above the affairs of mortals, though the common people don’t realize this.
This doesn’t mean that they’re above politics. They have their own extremely complex machinations they play out amongst themselves. Being immortal, dragon politics are long-range and labyrinthian. Sometimes, even the Great Houses become entangled in them, but that’s more incidental than by design; even then the focus remains on the others of their own kind. Dragon politics can also be extremely deadly–they may be immortal, but they’re not unkillable.
Having a dragon visit your hearth is considered a great blessing, unless she becomes offended or angered (usually as the result of poor hospitality). In that case, they can leave behind a terrible curse, if they so choose. Dragons are the original sorcerers and those with magical ability usually have at least a drop or two of dragon blood in their veins. Being shapeshifters, dragons may (and often do) mate with whatever species strikes their fancy. Thus, it is possible to find dragon blood in all the known races of Guang Keshar.
Those known to have dragon blood are often treated as semi-divine, or at least having been “touched” by divinity.
[Photo Courtesy of Richard Fischer via Flickr Creative Commons]
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Of Squirrels and Men: Richichi and Other Races
Most standard fantasy races don’t exist in Guang Keshar. But for GMs looking to use the richichi in their own game worlds or campaigns, here’s some ideas of how the richichi could relate to some of the other races commonly found in fantasy games. Keep in mind, these are general tendencies; exceptional individuals (such as PCs) may have different views.
- Dwarves: Dwarves and richichi generally get along very well. Both appreciate underground dwellings and superb craftsmanship, particularly involving precious metals and gems. Where they differ, though, has to do with their views of the surface world. Richichi love the natural world around them, whereas most dwarves could happily spend their lives never setting foot outside their caves. The richichi also don’t share the dwarves’ dour outlook. Still, the two races have a long history of trade and mutual respect.
- Elves: Despite both races having a love of nature, most richichi find elves difficult to understand. Richichi like to focus on the here and now, the real and concrete, quite unlike the elves’ more mystical mind-set. Many richichi view elves with the same awe and reverence reserved for dragons on Guang Keshar: as quasi-divine beings who can bestow blessings or curses, depending on how they’re treated.
- Gnomes: If ever there were two races meant to get along, they’re the richichi and gnomes. Both share a love of burrows and skilled handiwork. It’s not unheard of for a richichi clan to adopt a gnomish family and visa versa. Most richichi view gnomes as little brothers or siblings (despite the fact that the gnomish life span is three times the richichi one), since they never seem to outgrow their love of “childish” pranks.
- Half-Elves: Richichi don’t see half-elves as a separate race. The treat them as either human on elven, depending on which race they look more like.
- Half-Orcs: Like most other races, the richichi hate and fear orcs. Orcs raid and destroy richichi farms and settlements, destroying not only lives, but also livelihoods. Because of this, richichi view anything resembling an orc as an orc. A half-orc has a long haul ahead of him if he seeks to befriend a richichi.
- Halflings: Unlike with gnomes, richichi tend to look at halflings with suspicion. Richichi don’t understand the halfling’s wanderlust and tend to count the items in their collections before, during, and after a halfling visit. The halfling’s reputation for having “sticky fingers” precedes them and many richichi won’t give a halfling the chance to prove his honesty.
- Humans: The richichi and human-kind have long lived side-by-side. While most richichi are distrustful of humans they don’t know, in general they manage to be good neighbors.
Other Richichi Posts:
- Introducing the Richichi: A New player Race
- Richichi Adventure Seeds
- Richichi Town Life
- Richichi as Adventurers
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Richichi as Adventurers
Well, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated this site. I’ve been down with major sinus infections and since this is a one-man shop, when I go down, everything goes down.
But it hasn’t been a total wash. I’ve managed to do some writing, including expanding more on the holidays of the richichi, as well as their adventuring professions.
Richichi as Adventurers
Very few richichi take up the adventuring life, but some do have a restless wanderlust or are inspired by non-richichi tales of daring-do. These are generally youths who eventually tire of the constant adversity and trials of the adventuring life and settle down in their middle age. The few richichi adventurers tend towards professions or classes requiring wit and intelligence, such as bards.
Only extremely rarely do any richichi show any aptitude for magic. While they would make excellent thieves and rogues, most are much too law-abiding to enter those professions. Those that do are considered mentally ill. Occasionally, you can find a richichi who has taken up a fighting profession such as a fighter or warrior. Those few who do become fierce and loyal warriors. Far more rare is the richichi with the single-minded focus of a paladin.
Other Richichi Posts
- Introducing the Richichi: A New player Race
- Richichi Adventure Seeds
- Richichi Town Life
- Of Squirrels and Men: Richichi and Other Races
Product Update
Work on Lia Tsashu is proceeding, but much slower than I would like. While writing it, I’ve realized that I’ve had to gloss over several topics that really require more in-depth explanation than a city supplement would be able to give them. Because of that, I’ve revised my release schedule.
Guang Keshar’s first official release will cover the richichi, both as new player race and as NPCs. In it you’ll find information about their life, beliefs and society. What do richichi eat? What’s their religion? What do their houses look like? You ‘ll find all of that in the richichi book, along with ideas on how to incorporate this new race into your game, as well as suggestions on adapting them to your favorite game system.
Until it’s ready for publication, I’ll continue to post excerpts from the book. Please feel free to post questions or comments, ideas and any suggestions you may have.
Religion of the common folk
Guang Keshar has a state religion – the worship of Huang Ti, the Jade Serpent. The Church of Jade, as the organization is known, is a pyramidal organization, with the top being the High Priest(ess), the head of House Thumun who hold the Seat of Faith. All residents of Guang Keshar, human or otherwise, are assumed to be members of the Church.
While attendance at religious functions (which are also state functions and visa versa) isn’t mandatory, per se, not attending would definitely be a matter for gossip, particularly in a city such as Lia Tsashu. So while attendance is (for all intents and purposes) require, belief isn’t. Like the Roman state church of our own world, as long as the rites are observed, the Empire will be safely guarded by the Jade Serpent and her offspring. Belief is a matter for the clergy.
In a town like Lia Tsashu, the highest resident member of the clergy would be a full priest. Priests are not required to be celibate—indeed, they are encouraged to marry. They do, however, take vows of poverty and they (and their families) are expected to live on church grounds, supported by tithes from the faithful. They may own no more than their family needs for it’s day-to-day sustenance.
Religion is woven into everyday life in Guang Keshar. Every household has their own guardian spirit who, along with the family’s ancestors, watches over and guides those who live there. A portion of every meal is set aside and placed on the family altar. Fresh flowers, seasonal fruits and nuts, and miniature replicas of the tools of the family’s trade are also placed there so that the family’s daily activities may be blessed and fruitful.
Before preparation for the next meal, a member of the family takes the food offerings from the last meal and sets them outside in a bowl for the fey spirits, the “little people” who are considered to be Huang Ti’s helpers. Not placing an offering is considered stingy and is likely to bring bad luck. Before big events in the family’s life, the family spirits are given a special offering and asked for guidance, which usually comes in the form of dreams or seemingly chance events. The family also shares a portion of its good fortune with the family spirits and also shares a small portion of their income (5%) with the local priest.
Public religious rites are far from dreary and quite unlike the “church services” of our Christian world. High holy days involve games and feasting.
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Lia Tsashu’s Guilds and Guild Politics
- Image via Wikipedia
Now that we know what kinds and how many of each type of business Lia Tsashu has, we can work out how many guilds there are and how powerful each of them is, how they relate to each other, and what part they play in Tsashu politics.
Lia Tsashu’s town council—it’s main governing body—is split between merchant guilds and craft guilds. Every trade in town has it’s own guild, but not all of them are large enough to play an important part in the town’s politics. The town council needs to be big enough to allow interesting conflicts between its member, but not so big it’s unwieldy for the GM.
The Guilds
Based on sheer numbers, Tsashu’s most influential guilds are:
Merchant Guilds:
- Dockworkers (including boat handlers)
- Millers
- fishmongers
- Livestock dealers
- spice merchants
- “Hospitality” workers (inn-keepers, pub and restaurant owners, hostlers)
I put millers here, rather in the craft guilds. While millers do, indeed, produce flour, they act more like selling agents for the grain farmers.
Craft Guilds:
- tailors/clothiers
- Barbers
- leather-workers
- jewelers
- shoemakers
- Masons (for simplicity, lets include all building trade workers here, including roofers, framers, etc.)
Additionally, a couple of businesses would have more clout than their numbers would suggest:
Others:
- Banks/moneychangers (after all, money talks. Especially in Kukuri)
- Fix-its (because of their magical abilities, minor as they might be)
- Magic-shop owner (because he’s a sorcerer of PC-level ability)
- Priests/shamans (because of their influence on the townspeople).
- Farmers (who don’t actually have a guild, but do send a representative to the Council)
That gives us 17 council members, not including the mayor and the two magistrates (the “mayors” of Bigtun and Littletun).
Politics
Now that we’ve figured out who comprises the council, we can figure out its politics. Here’s where we can start to bring in the theme I’ve chosen for this city (stagnation vs. growth.) to flesh out the bare structure and give the council some life.
Basically, the town council is split into two factions: the craft guilds and the merchants guilds. We can postulate that the mayor and magistrates’ sympathies lie with whichever guild they belong to. Or they can form a third, neutral faction. The merchant guilds would have much to gain from increasing the town’s size and increasing the mining operations. While the craft guilds would also benefit from more people (who equal more customers), they’re the older guilds in town and, therefore, are more conservative and would prefer things to remain “status quo”. They oppose the mining operation and the Seafarers’ control on the basis that both bring an increased number of “undesirables” to the town.
The merchants are a newer influence on the town. Lia Tsashu hasn’t been a mining and trade town for very long—it was primarily a farming town until the Seafarers’ Guild took it over. Now it’s becoming a stop on the Seafarers’ trade route, as well as supplying ore for the Seafarers’ tool-makers. This has caused a rapid growth in the city over the course of the last five years, to the tune of 30%, which raised Tsashu from a population of 2800 to 4000 in a very short period of time. This rapid growth has caused resentment between “old-timers”–those born and raised in Lia Tsashu—and the “newcomers” who’ve recently moved here.
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A Brief History of Lia Tsashu
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Located a little inland from Kukuri’s western coast, Lia Tsashu (pronounced LEE-a TSA-shoo) is a rarity–a Seafarers’ Guild town located inland. It started as a fishing village, named Tsashu for the river it sat next to, on opposite banks from the Richichi village of Chatki. The Richichi, who resemble 3′ tall ground squirrels are famous for the fruits of their orchards and Chatki, though not the largest orchard town, was still one of the most prominent. It’s one of the few places in Guang Keshar that the malaka fruit–so essential to keeping sailors healthy during long ocean voyagers–can grow abundantly.
During the time of Emperor Hanatan, when Atum still sat as one of the Council of Harbingers, it’s sub-House Kukuri, seeing profit in both fish and fruit, obtained governance of both villages. To make tax-collection easier, Kukuri merged the two villages into a single town it called Lia Tsashu. The also saw potential of it as a quiet place, far from the temptations and distractions of the larger cities to the south, where sensitive records and accounts could be handled. The Richichi are also well-known for their meticulous attention to detail. House Kukuri already employed many Richichi accountants; they felt these accountants would feel more comfortable (and therefore do their work more accurately) around more members of their own race in a town that’s scaled to their size.
Tsashu had been a minor port on the Kukuri trade route, specializing in the exporting dried fruits, nuts, and salt fish commonly used as travel food, both on shipboard and overland. The Seafarers’ Guild resented the monopoly House Kukuri (an independent Major House at that time) had over the food supplies needed by their ships. To bring this small, but important town under Seafarers’ control, they created rumors that Kukuri was building it own merchant fleet, something prohibited by Imperial Law: only the Seafarers may operate and maintain fleets of merchant ships.
They blockaded the Kukuri islands, preventing any ships from leaving or entering legally. Any ships found entering illegally were sunk, along with their crews and cargo. Kukuri appealed to the Imperial Moot to no avail: Emperor and Moot sided with the Guild and actually aided the blockade with ships of their own. Kukuri had no choice but to sue for peace.
House Kukuri agreed to dismantle all merchant ships in current production. Additionally, as punishment, the Seafarers’ Guild demanded (and were given) the town of Lia Tsashu. Kukuri removed its accounting offices, leaving the town largely deserted. Shortly after Kukuri transferred ownership to the town to the Guild, Guild members sent to map out the borders of the town discovered a rich vein of lodestone—the valuable rock that always points due North, absolutely essential to the safe operation of ships.
Currently, Lia Tsashu remains in Seafarers’ hands. Many of the houses and lands previously own by Kukuri accountants have been filled by miners who dig out the lodestones for their living. Other trades and businesses continue as before, for Seafarers’ towns are independently chartered and as long as they pay their taxes, the Guild takes little interest in their day-to-day affairs.
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Lia Tsashu will be the first Guang Keshar product for sale from rpgGM.com. Find out more about it here:
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