Religion of the common folk

May 24, 2010 · Posted in World Background · Comment 

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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Seafarers’ Guild Rumors

May 4, 2010 · Posted in World Background · Comment 

Below are some rumors about the Seafarers’ Guild. I haven’t really decided yet which ones are true, so please leave me a comment telling me which ones you would like to be true:

  • The guild reports to no one and is following the will of Admiral Limani without supervision or accountability
  • A new Emperor has been selected, but refuses to come forward while Emperor Hotashen lives. The guild actually reports to the new Emperor.
  • Emperor Hotashen isn’t really sick; the Guild still reports to him.
  • The Guild has captured the Emperor and hidden him away. The Harbingers Council made up the story of his illness to cover his disappearance. The want to put Lord Kenlo Ling on the Imperial seat because of his ties with the Guild.
  • The Council has kidnapped the Emperor and made up the story of his illness to cover it. The Guild is doing his best to find him.
  • The Guild and the Council are working together to overthrow the Emperor and have the Moot of Harbingers become the sole ruling body of Guang Keshar
  • The Guild has found a cure for the Emperor’s illness, but is withholding it for their own reasons.
  • The Guild is searching the world for a cure to the Emperor’s illness.
  • The Guild has found a cure, but it’s on the other side of the world in the hands of barbarians who won’t give it up for anything less than the hand of the Emperor’s daughter in marriage. Because the Emperor has no daughter, this is a problem.
  • Emperor Hotashen has named Admiral Limani as his heir, he just hasn’t made it publicly known yet. The Council knows this and is looking for a way to subvert it.

Which one of these should be true and why? Do you have any other suggestions for rumors? Please leave a comment below. What you suggest could become an official part of Lia Tsashu.

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The Seafarers’ Guild

April 26, 2010 · Posted in World Background · Comment 
explore 210 on Saturday, January 12, 2008 Buqu...
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The Seafarers’ Guild is a guild dedicated to the well-being of Guang Keshar’s commercial sailors and sailing ships. Having no House affiliation, the head of the guild, Admiral Limani Kukuri, reports directly to the Emperor. Even the Moot of Harbingers has no authority over the Guild.

The Guild has a monopoly on all commercial sea traffic in Guang Keshar. As per imperial law, no House may send out their own ships across the sea for the purposes of trade and commerce. Houses are still allowed to field navies and other military-purpose ships, as well as a single flagship with escort.

Most members are born into the Guild. An acknowledged child of one or more Seafarer parents automatically becomes a member of the Guild, as do all children born in Guild-controlled towns. Residents of Guild towns are also considered Seafarers, but are treated more like colonies than full-fledged members. Anyone else may join the Guild, if they can find a ship willing to take them on; after two years service at sea they become full-fledged members.

The advantages of becoming a member of the Guild are many. Upon becoming a full member, all previous obligations the new Seafarer may owe are completely forgiven. That means the Seafarer is free of all past debts, including indentured servitude. In fact, the Guild opposes indentured servitude completely: no Guild member is allowed to hold an indentured contract on anyone. That includes anyone in a Seafarer town.

Another advantage is lower taxes. Members are still obligated to pay imperial taxes, but the Guild doesn’t tax its members, who are likewise free of any tax burden to a House or lord. The Guild takes a percentage for each piece of cargo it ships, as well as charging for non-Guild passengers. All Guild members and their immediate families may ride free on any Guild ship, if there’s space available.

Unemployment is low among Guild members; the Guild does its best to provide every member with a job. The Guild also takes care of the member’s family, should he become lost at sea. It also provides for retired members.But Guild membership also has its obligations. Each member must serve two years on board a ship out of every ten. And ship definitely has its hazards. Few Seafarers make it to retirement age.

Ask anyone on Guang Keshar what word comes to mind when you say “Seafarers’ Guild” and they’ll immediately respond “shapeshifting”. Despite the fact that fewer than one quarter of all native Seafarers (those born to one or more parents carrying the Seafarer bloodline) actually have the shapeshifting ability, it’s the ability most associated with them. But more common than shapeshifting is the ability to use minor magics. These usually include cantrips for predicting the weather and means for communicating via magical mirrors from ship to ship.

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Richichi Adventure Seeds

April 21, 2010 · Posted in Adventures, World Background · Comment 

Below are some ideas for involving your PCs with the Richichi race. While these are aimed for playing in Guang Keshar, they could easily be adapted to any world where you’re using the Richichi.

  1. One of the PCs resembles a thief who stole many valuable items from all of the Richichi clans. Now they demand that the PC return the items and face justice.
  2. A Richichi youth wants to become an adventurer. She’ll attempt to join the party, but her parents forbid it. If the PCs refuse to take her, she follows them anyway. The problem is, she’s only four—two years before she reaches majority.
  3. A blight has infected the Richichi orchards. They know it has a magical origin, but can’t find a way to combat it. The Richichi hire the PCs to determine who caused it, how it happened and why. They will pay extra if the party can find a way to cure it.
  4. The PCs discover a plot of some young Richichi who plan to collapse the lodestone mines during the night when no one’s there. If the PCs tell the authorities, no one will believe them.

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Introducing the Richichi: A New Player Race

April 12, 2010 · Posted in World Background · Comment 

Best known for their beautiful gardens and abundant fruit and nut orchards, the Richichi have well earned the nickname “homebodies”. While other races,such as the satyrs and centaurs keep to themselves, the Richichi frequently build their towns near (or within!) human cities. Cheery and affable, Richichi make good neighbors.

Physical Description

Standing approximately 2-3 feet high, the Richichi resemble nothing more than giant bipedal ground squirrels with delicate and dexterous four-fingered hands (three digits, plus a thumb). Their fur ranges from dusty grey to nut brown in color with black stripes beginning behind their ears and running to the tip of their bushy tails. They wear few clothes, but love to adorn themselves with jewelry, hats, ribbons, belts and any number of other accessories.

Personality

Richichi are very organized and show meticulous attention to detail. They tend to be a very practical and “down to earth” people who care little for adventure or flights of fancy. While their legends and stories tend to be focused around clan histories, they are also very fond of jokes and displays of wit. They arealso very chatty and love to gossip.

Society

Though usually aloofly polite to outsiders, they are open and warm to members of their own clans. Even non-Richichi who have a close connection with one or more members of a clan will sometimes find themselves included as family. And once you’re family, you’re always family. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s best to remember that among clan members, the Richichi have very little concept of privacy.

Religion

Being home and family-focused, the Richichi care for all living things and have no patience for cruelty of any kind. While some city Richichi and those serving in the Great Houses do participate in the formal worship of Huang Ti, most tend more towards simple, home-based spiritual practices.

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.

Male Names: Rakki, Tikki, Shishi, Babaki, Kikio, Papillio, Mamano

Female Names: Babala, Tichia, Bebeta, Takia, Shakka, Pappaple, Bakka, Lakake, Papiya

[This article was featured in the Guang Keshar Development Newsletter, along with  D&D 3.5/Pathfinder stats. For more advanced information and exclusive content, subscribe to the newsletter today].

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Lia Tsashu’s Guilds and Guild Politics

April 5, 2010 · Posted in World Background · Comment 
A Roman denarius, a standardized silver coin.
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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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The Businesses of Lia Tsashu

March 29, 2010 · Posted in World Background · Comment 
Modern leather-working tools
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Despite what many fantasy games imply, towns are more than just the ubiquitous taverns, inns, weaponsmiths, armorers and magic shops we usually see. Most of a town’s businesses exist to support its own residents, not adventurers, which means that most of the towns the PCs would pass through wouldn’t even have a weaponsmith. With 4000 people, Lia Tsashu is a good-sized town by Guang Keshar standards. Because of that, it can support a wide variety of busineses. Some of the most important are:

Important Businesses

Millers

Even the smallest village has at least one miller. With 4000 people, Lia Tsashu can have as many as 20 millers. Most of them don’t live in town; rather, they live closer to the grain fields then carry the flour into town for sale.

Brewers

Beer is a very important commodity throughout Guang Keshar. While members of the noble Houses drink primarily wine, beer is the drink of the common man. Lia Tsashu has three brewers.

Shoemakers

Everyone needs shoes. In historical medieval times, a town the size of Tsashu would have between 25-30 shoemakers. Shoes of the medieval period were made from soft leather that wore out quickly, meaning that they needed replacing frequently. With even minor magics, shoes can be repaired easily and there’s no reason the Keshari shoemakers couldn’t make sturdy boots. So we’ll cut the number down to ten shoemakers.

Clothiers

Like shoes, clothes are a necessity, at least for the human inhabitants of the town. While the Richichi don’t wear clothes, per se, they’re very fond of “accessories”: belts, leather jewelry, headbands and hats, hair ribbons, etc. So Tsashu has 15 clothiers, ten who specialize in human clothes and five who specialize in Richichi accessories.

Fix-its (tinkerers)

In our real world, tinkers were menders, primarily of metal items. Typically, they traveled from town to town to ply their trade. As with shoes and clothing, Mend cantrips and other such spells make mending more of a skilled trade. In Guang Keshar, “fix-its” (people who mend all types of items) are respected tradesmen, many of whom have minor magical abilities. In Lia Tsashu, they’re also the closest thing the town has to a “sorcerer’s guild”.

Healers

Most healing is done by the various temples in the town. The town has five “lay doctors”, both with magical abilities and without, most of whom are also midwives and/or herbalists. Three of these lay doctors are Richichi and the other two are human.

Lia Tsashu’s Businesses: A Complete List

Here’s the complete list of Lia Tsashu’s businesses and how many of each kind there are:

  • Apothecaries: 1
  • Banks/moneychangers: 1
  • Barbers: 10
  • Bath-houses: 1
  • Blacksmiths: 3
  • Boat handlers: 20
  • Brewers: 3
  • Butchers: 4 (2 poultry, 2 other forms of meat)
  • Chandlers: 6
  • Clothiers: 15 (10 human, 5 Richichi)
  • Coopers (barrell-makers): 6
  • Dockworkers: 30-40
  • Dyers: 1
  • Farmers’ Markets: 2, one in Bigtun and one in Littletun. Each market would have 3d10 number of vendors on any particular day.
  • Fix-its: 5
  • Hostlers: 2. Used primarily by visitors, attached to the inns.
  • Inns: 2
  • Leather-workers: 11
  • Livestock dealers: 20
  • Masons and bricklayers: 6
  • Metalsmiths: 5
  • Midwives: 5
  • Millers: 20
  • Pubs/Restaurants/Taverns: 10
  • Rope-makers: 2
  • Shoemakers: 10
  • Tanners: 1
  • Weavers: 7
  • Woodcarvers: 2
  • Beggars: Variable. 2D10 for the number encountered by the PCs on any given day.
  • Brothels: 0. Streetwalkers: 1d20 for the number encountered by the PCs on any given day/night.
  • Thieves’ Guild: 1 (very small). Most people don’t even know it exists, much less how to contact it. There are rumors, though.
  • Assassins’ Guild: 0
  • Magic Shop: 1. Also sells books, paper and curios. The shop’s owner is the towns only bookbinder and one of two papermakers (his apprentice being the second one).
  • Temples: 20. Dedicated to Huang Ti in her various aspects. The Richichi don’t build temples, per se. Their shamans operate out of their own homes.
  • Richichi shamans: 20

These numbers are beginning estimates and the list of businesses shouldn’t be considered exhaustive. These numbers will probably change as I develop the town further. Of course, feel free to add/change/alter/fold/spindle/mutilate to suit your own game.

I’d love feedback on this. If you see a trade or business you feel I’m missing, please feel free to let me know in the comments section below. Your comments can definitely have an impact on the final form of the town.

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Holidays of Lia Tsashu

March 22, 2010 · Posted in World Background · Comment 
{{es|Ofrenda mixteca poblana del día de muertos.
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Below are the major holidays celebrated in Lia Tsashu. Most of them are also celebrated throughout Guang Keshar; others are celebrated primarily by the Seafarers’ Guild.

Midwinter’s Day (the Keshari New Year): This two-week celebration is largest and most important holiday of the year for Guang Keshar. A month-long cleaning frenzy precedes this day as people prepare for the coming of the new year. It marks the shortest day of the year and celebrates the returning sun. Midwinter’s itself is celebrated with feasting, gifts, parades, fireworks, and parties.

Settlements: The first official working day after Midwinter’s day. Unlike Midwinter’s, Settlements is a somber day where all debts from the previous year are to be “settled”–paid or officially extended.

Spring Equinox: Spring Equinox is a fertility festival where people ask Huang Ti to bless them, their animals, and their crops with abundance. During this two day festival, businesses close down and anything that changes hands must be freely given or bartered, as it’s considered unlucky to handle money on this day. Marriages usually take place during this celebration, as do betrothals, which have a traditional one-year wait before the actual marriage. Spring Equinox is celebrated with dancing and music. Unmarried men and women traditionally dance the “bridepole” (what we call a “May pole”); flirting and kissing games also take place, even among married couples.

Harbingers’ Day: This is the day set aside to honor the Emperor and the original Harbingers. Gifts are made to the Great Houses and the Emperor. Every family contributes a gift according to their means and wealthy houses compete to see who can provide the most lavish gifts. This day is a half-day work day in Kukuri, who lacks a Harbinger founder. Presents are still made to the Emperor, who is expected to make an appearance on each of the House Islands during this day.

Midsummer’s Day: Also referred to as “Motherhood”, this two-week celebration honors fertility in all forms.  Pregnant women and those who’ve given birth since the last Midsummer’s celebration are given the place of honor and waited on hand and foot. Men leave baskets of fruit and flowers at the doorsteps of their female relatives and/or sweethearts. Animals who are pregnant or have given birth since Midwinters’ Day are decorated with wreaths of flowers and special food treats.

Leap Day: Once every seven years, Guang Keshar adds an extra day to balance out the year’s calendar. This extra day is added to the Midsummer’s festival. It is a day where the normal morals and mores of society are dispensed with. Drunken and licentious behavior is the rule and all work ceases. This is very much an adult celebration and the mark of coming of age is being allowed to attend Leap Day celebrations. For the children, this is like a giant April Fool’s Day, where tricks and pranks are the norm.

Market Fair: Not so much a holiday as an annual event. For one month, a giant open-air market opens up, bringing wares from around Guang Keshar. The fair travels from one House Island to another throughout the year, spending a month at each. In Kukuri, the first day of the Fair is a holiday where all of those not directly involved in the Fair get the day off.

Huang Kar (“Dragon’s Day”): This is the day all dragons are honored. Libations are pored in the places they frequent and gifts of food and drink are left out for them. Known dragon dwellings are decorated by the surrounding inhabitants and a portion of the harvest is set aside for their use. A young sheep, calf, or pig is slaughtered in their honor and eaten in a communal meal. Having a dragon or one of their known descendants attend your Huang Kar celebration is considered the height of honor and a very favorable omen. Transacting business on Huang Kar is considered extremely unlucky and an affront to the dragons.

Fall Equinox: A three-day celebration to celebrate the harvest. Feasting is the order of the day and everyone does their best to be at their ancestral home for the main feast day, which is the second day of the celebration.

Ancestor Day: Guang Keshar’s “Day of the Dead”. People decorate the graves of their ancestors and then have a picnic among them, placing a token portion of their meal on their ancestors’ graves. They tell stories about their relatives than have passed away. The day has a festive party atmosphere with much eating and alcohol.

Seadragon Festival: This honors the legendary founder of the Seafarers’ Guild. Offerings and gifts are thrown into the closest body of water as gifts for Shenlu, the Sea Dragon, said to the be mother of the first Seafarer. Boat races, as well as swimming and diving competitions take place during the day. Seafarers’ decorate their ships; all hands and those living in Seafaring towns are given the day off.

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A Brief History of Lia Tsashu

March 15, 2010 · Posted in World Background · Comment 
CHONGQING, CHINA - JANUARY 15:  Free laba porr...
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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.

————

Lia Tsashu will be the first Guang Keshar product for sale from rpgGM.com. Find out more about it here:

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What’s Next?: Lia Tsashu, a Seafarers’ Town

March 10, 2010 · Posted in Teasers · Comment 
With the free adventure done and out the door, I’m starting work on the first actual Guang Keshar project. This is Lia Tsashu, a Seafarers’ Town (yes, the one Malik went to in A Taste of Intrigue). In addition to details of town locations, this supplement will feature:
  • Detailed NPCs with histories, goals, and connections to other PCs.
  • Character webs that show NPC relations at a glance.
  • An interactive town map.
  • A new PC race: the Richichi.
  • Information about the Seafarers’ Guild and their shapeshifting ability.
  • A short adventure set in the town.
  • Plot hooks for further adventures in Lia Tsashu.
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