People and Places

by District

 

City Wide

Black Hand: An ancient society of cut-throats and assassins, their sigil is a black handprint.

Breakwater

City of Pillars

 

Mountain Thunder School of Swordsmanship: Traditionally, to learn the Way of Mountain Thunder, one had to travel on a sturdy pony to the sparsely populated hilly and mountanous regions in the midst of the empire and live a way of life millenia old. The student must be willing to live the traditional life of the proud tribesman of the ancient hills including learning to ride and fight from horseback, herding sheep and goats, living in a yurt, and drinking their foul beverage of fermented blood and mare's milk. It also includes participating in the ancient shamistic religion of that region honoring their nature spirits with sacrifice, daily ritual, prayer, and fasting. However in the 12th year of reign of Isztaszni a rogue practitioner of this art came to Ashur and opened a school. A strong rivalry between the traditional practitioners of the hills and the city school exists to this day. For a few centuries now, the nobles and the wealthy of society have sent their sons to this school at the onset of adolescence to toughen them and teach them a useful skill or two. The Mountain Thunder School is famed through-out the west as one of the finest training grounds for swordsmanship in the world. Accordingly, their fees are quite high and only the very dedicated (or exceedingly wealthy) train for long. Sharu Tayub Sin-Malil (Kendrick's opponent) is both.

Traditionally, this school frowns upon duelling as the sword is seen as an instrument of death and not to be used as a "toy", however the city school has developed a duelling code along the lines of the one long practiced in Ashur society. A master of this art begins a battle by standing motionless with sword drawn, carefully studying the opponent for signs of weakness. The stance is to face the opponent, with one foot forward and the other back, arms extended forward, holding the sword in a two handed grip. Duels between two masters have seen the two standing like statues studying each other for hours, until one forfeits somehow knowing the other to be superior in skill. Any attacks at this time are met with lightening fast parries followed by powerful retalitory strikes.

Specific tactics used by this school are:

Circular Parry: This special manuever allows the martial artist to parry all incoming attacks regardless of direction. This allows a valuable defense against multiple opponents, but reduces the number of attacks per melee by 2.

Combination Parry/Attack: Usable against a single opponent, the practitioner must first make a successful parry. Then a successful skill roll will allow an (extra!) attack, as a ligtening fast strike under the opponent's guard. A failed skill roll gives the opponent a +2 to strike on his next attack. May only be attempted one time per melee round.

Disarm: The practitioner must make a successful attack against his opponent's weapon. Effective AR of the weapon is 10 plus their level. If this succeeds, then the pracitioner and the opponent make skill role. If the practitioner is the only one to succeed, then the opponent is disarmed. This is not a good technique against a skilled opponent as it uses up one attack and will likely have little effect.

Leap Attack: Usually used as a manuver to begin a battle, this is an airborne assualt with weapons wielded in mid leap. Often it will surprise the enemy and give a substantial advantage. It may only be used at the beginning of a round and uses up all the remaining attacks for the round. While in mid-leap a practitioner may parry but not dodge. If a successful skill roll is made the practitioner may parry and dodge as usual afterwards. If failed the practitioner is off balance and may only parry at -2. If a successful strike comes of this attack, then all damage is calculated and then doubled.

Others: It is rumored that there are other tactics used by advanced practitioners of the city school. It is further rumored that there are even abilities bordering on the mystical available to advanced practitioners of the traditional art learned in the hills.

 

Tibi:

Sharu Tayub Sin-Malil: A tall good looking young man in his early twenties, he is a noted practitioner of the Mountain Thunder School of swordmanship in Ashur. He is also a favorite of Umur Sethlans.

Concourse of Temples

Arch-Prelate Mordecasi: A short balding man with large eyes and sensuous full lips. Reputed to desire young boys, he will take any reference to this accusation (actually true) as a personal insult. A brilliant mage, with a tremendous repertoire of spells all granted to him by his deity. Personally wealthy and powerful, yet struck with delusions of grandeur. Not accepting this as part of his personality he represses it and so it comes out as attempts to enrich his temple. He is personally devoted to Ea and a very powerful Mage himself. He would truly like to see the League of Magi become an organization subject to the Temple of Ea as he is the God of Magic. Their is some minor support amongst mages devoted to that god.

 

Court of Magi (See also the League of Magi)

Lisina's (An Alchemy Shop):

District of Slow Waters

Dockside

The Dockside Manor

Stavros: The first mate on the Byzatium frigate, "Fair Skies". He befriended Kendrick on his first voyage to the West.

Downwind

Dwarven Ghetto

Edom

Fens

Ghazghul's Raiders

Foreign Quarter

His Grace, Duke of Aracho: A tall broad man. Blonde hair worn in a square cut mane and piercing blue eyes of the east. Wears heavy brocaded cloaks and several layers of expensive clothing. Sweats a lot. Carries a two handed rune sword that is attached to his lineage, named "Mighty is the Sky". Feels morally superior to Westerners. Golden gryphon rampant on green field is his arms. His goal is to forge an alliance against the humanoids of the Old Kingdom with the West. He is also known to be a damn good fiddler.

Fiona the Alchemist:

Bleys' Casino:

 

Gilead

Enkenkur Gilead "Shilara Man-Bane": Tall even for an elf, her long platinum blond hair would sweep the ground when she walks if not for the two adolescent male human slaves selected to carry it for her on a bed of velvet. Beautiful beyond description she dresses in magnificent diaphanous silks that may reveal more than it conceals. Her shapely form, perfect (somewhat alien) features, and extremely ample bust complete the picture of elven feminine perfection. Arrogant beyond words to those deemed social inferiors.

Grand Quay

The Lighthouse Tavern:

Armanuum's: An exquisite clothier

Great Market

Highgate

Iron Hills

Enkenkur Iron Hills "Khazred Gold-Saddle": A pompous and arrogant dwarf, he wears ceremonial battle armor of silver and deep royal purple. A crest upon his breast plate is a hammer radiating the rays of the sun. His extremely long beard is forked and entwined with bands of copper and gold. Deep-set eyes betray a demeanor as firm and unyielding as the steel that makes his Battle hammer. This is a rune hammer named, "Breaker of My Chains".

Master Karl Tombbreaker:

Prince Otto Valarian

Isle of the Scorpion

Kohath

Leper's Field

Midian

Military Post

Bel-Qurub Malus Tarquin: A distant cousin of Hasmar's, he has been pointed out as a military contact and advisor while the Umur Tarquin is on campaign. The man is not known for his subtlety.

Necropolis or City of the Worms

Baal Malzrath's Manor

Great Temple of Nergal

Northgate (See the Ezida)

Nirra: Very refined and beautiful but older woman who has long been a part of the academic community. Never having been appointed to the Masters, she used her dwindling resources to open a bar "The Misplaced Tablet". The "Tab" as it is affectionately known is the generally accepted meeting place for students and faculty and had become a remarkably successful business. Niraa is known to be THE source for all the campus gossip and rumormongering.

Belker: The bouncer at the "tab", he is a large and menacing looking orc who is rumored to have survived the arenas. It is apparent that he has some shady contacts and always knows where to purchase recreational herbs and drugs. ( He will even tell you for a finders fee)

Taraal: Local drug connection for the students.

Dropouts: Once a street gang mostly known for drug trafficing and petty theft, in the last few months it has evolved into a group of base murderers and thieves.

Borel: A local moneylender.

Garaz and Borghul Attorneys:

Aruum: Water-seller

The Edge: A nightclub.

Morhia: Near legendary (amongst the student population) wolfen muscle for hire.

Grandmaster Ezerabbi: a botanical specialist.

Master Parshadu: a botanical specialist, student of Grandmaster Ezerabbi.

Glorson: A talented young Dwarven apprenticed scholar, interested in the antiquities of his people. Has tutored Loraan in the Ancient Dwarven language.

Tara: A young student of curvaceous figure who is fascinated with the history and culture of the East. She has tutored Kendrick in written Western. She came to the attention of the Drop-outs street gang who used her cruelly. Kendrick paid for a healer to see to her but has not talked to her since.

Northgate Brewers: Quickly becoming the new brewery of choice for Northgate's student population, it creates a wide variety of strong ales and beers.

Larek Whitehanded: A wealthy (for Northgate) healer who is kind enough to see students. He does not accept credit or travel to Red Hook.

The Inn that all are staying at

Lareth, Moab, and Shem.

Dwarven dealer in Signature Scrolls

Var's Previously Owned: A clothing dealer much frequented by the student population. His Rummage Barrel is known to contain the oddest things, as he has contacts buying clothes for him all over the city.

drug dealers, inn keepers, bath house attendants

Grandmaster Schem

 

 

 

Old Market

Old Quarter

Adappu: A youthful and kindly priest of Anu. He is reads entrails at the temple of Offerings.

Sharu Amasis: Amasis is a slave trader dealing in some exotic specimens who has amassed a substantial fortune through a rare combination of shrewdness and ruthlessness. Few know that his noble title was purchased through discrete bribes and payments.

Grandmother Persis: A very old and toothless hag.(No one but the elves and dwarves are alive to remember her youth) She makes her living selling herbs, potions, fortune telling and performing abortions out of a filthy little hovel down a forgotten refuse strewn side alley. She is an inexhaustible source of useless gossip and time worn superstitions.

Sladek: A happy and kindly old man who long served in the military and as his age progressed, he served as commander for several of the private armed forces that enforce what passes for law and order in some of the wealthier districts. How he remained in such good humor after all that he has experienced is a mystery to most individuals.

Palace of the God-King

God-King Itomas: A man of average height, dark hair, brown eyes, perfect teeth, and dusky skin. An aristocratic bearing that is truly the picture of Western nobility.

Legate Gordo: 18ft tall, he has an impressive bearing even for a cyclops. He wears his hair shaved except for a long black ponytail astride the top of his head. He wears robes of fine white and his single eye wears a single crystal eyeglass set in a gold rim. He clearly feels himself to be an equal to the God-King who suffers this for political reasons. He has come to promise the aid of the cyclops, to supply an infinite number of the javelins of lightening for "Itomas's wars of conquest".

Slayer of Mountains: A tall gaunt, hairless, black skinned man. Dresses in rags, or whatever is last given him to wear. He is eerily silent and moves with liquid grace. His whole being is imbued with the stuff of Magic.

 

Rat's Run

Red Hook

Aliosh's Home

The Last Dance Nightclub

Lagash One Eye the Pawn Broker

Twila's Paradise

Lords of the Broken Wheel "the Lords"

The Shadow King

LongKnives

The Society of the Scarlet Wine

Servants of the Ebon Shepherd

Shamash the Cripple(summoner and beggar)

Black Hand

Noshadows

The Cadre

TwoHands League

Malachi The Shadow Mage: A human mage who grew up in Red Hook poverty. Twenty years previously he was a feared if not respected member of the League of Magi, until he began to delve deeply into magics forbidden to humankind by the gods. Rumor has it that he could take the form of a shadow on a whim. By the time he took the sobriquet "Shadowmage", as he walked through the streets the locals would spit upon their own shadows to ward off his evil. This reputation was well-earned and most believed he was not really human any longer. Suddenly he dissappeared and over the next twenty years the locals grew to believe that he was really gone. Recently a mage has taken up residence in his manor and the populace fears a return of his evil.

The Green Bottle:

Joshi: Brother of Vainoni and a lowly priest of Anu. He has devoted his life to charity and runs an orphanage in Red Hook. The orphanage is called "the Roof" by all who dwell there, perhaps in their appreciation for having one to sleep under.

About the Orphans at "The Roof"

Currently, not all of the kids who live at the Orphanage are necessarily involved in Kendrick's planting tasks. Joshi has actually found that, contrary to all logic, not being allowed to go dig in the hot sun with Kendrick is actually considered a punishment by the kids. Joshi also needs the usual help running the orphanage. Kendrick does stay around and help with the occasional chore that requires his strength, expertise, or general stubbornness. He also takes upon himself tasks that might be too dangerous for the kids themselves, like repairing the roof. He still stays at the Green Bottle, however. He needs his sleep, after all, and, helping aside, the food's much better there! There are currently about a dozen kids old enough and interested enough to go work with Kendrick. Seven are girls and five are boys. Joshi has told Kendrick that the boys tend to leave the orphanage earlier, and ten to meet one of two fates. Those who can manage to resist the lure of the gangs are smart and healthy enough if they have stayed at the orphanage for a while to find some kind of work. They can usually manage to just make enough to move out of Red Hook, or at least live in a place where they don't have to worry where there next meal is coming from, every meal, for the rest of their lives.

Jahadra Tamar- Is the oldest of the boys. He is probably about 14, but was so desperately undernourished as a child that he is quite small for his age, being about three inches shorter than Sahali, who is probably a year or so younger. He has not joined the gangs yet for three reasons, as far as Kendrick can tell. the first, and main one, that he always talks about, is that he wants to be a soldier. His mother died of a fever when he was six, so he remembers her. Her last words were a desperate plea for Jahadra to promise he would not follow in his father's footsteps, and become a drunkard ( 'he drowned in his own sickness', the boy has said to Kendrick very seriously on several occassions, 'and so I promised my mother on her deathbed I would never lift a flagon or a wineglass ever'.). He promised to become a soldier and win back glory for the family. The second reason is, that, as he has let slip on one or two occasions, he is apparently completely and utterly color blind. While an asset in the fact that he has excellent night vision to make up for it, it is a detriment to recognizing gang colors. The third reason is that he very obviously has a terrible crush on Sahali, and wants to stick around to make sure she stays out of trouble. Even Kendrick, who is not the most astute person when it comes to such things, has noticed how he stays near her and tries to please her, though she doesn't seem to take any notice. Kendrick likes Jahadra, but is a little bit worried his zealousness to be a warrior will get him into trouble and has been trying to dissuade him of the idea.

Sahali- Oldest Girl. Found by one of the 'Mercy Wives', women who work part- time cleaning and cooking at the orphanage in exchange for food to take home (donated by the church). She had been thrown into a pile of garbage to be taken care of by the rats, or whatever else happened along. She knows this story; it's worse than some of the other kids', but not as bad as others. Is known to the other kids for her phenomenal 'Luck'. They are certain she is blessed by the Gods, due to several incidents over the course of her 13 (or so) years that should have killed her. In each of them, including a 50 foot fall onto bare cobblestones, she somehow managed to escape completely unscathed. Kendrick has seen at least one instance where she should have been badly hurt, but avoided injury through some miraculous coincidence, and has begun to believe the other children's whispers (always behind Sahali's back, of course) that she has a guardian spirit that watches out for her. Such things are not unheard of back East, after all. She is believed by scholars 100 years or so hence to be the subject of the interview in 'Gardening in Hell', but despite the vividness of her testimony, there is still lingering doubt, as there are obviously no records of her lineage, birth, or even real name anywhere recorded. She is the nominal leader of the group of children, and tries to watch our for the little ones as best she can, helping Joshi get them organized and under control occasionally. Kendrick suspects she has been harassed by the local boys in the gangs now that she is just starting to look like a woman instead of just a little girl, but she strenuously denies this is pressed on it.

Irisa- Second oldest girl. She is probably around twelve years old. Her father was a merchant killed by pirates in the Sea of Scarlet Waters, and when he died, her mother had no choice but to prostitute herself to live. She was murdered while out one night; Irisa was three at the time, and waited alone for three days for her to come home, before she was found by a neighbor and brought to the orphanage. She has nursed a near-pathological fear of being left alone since then. She tries to be very tough and tomboyish to make up for this. While otherwise unremarkable, she is a phenomenal shot with a slingshot. She hates the very sight of rats of any kind, and serpent rats in particular, as they menaced her during her nights alone as an infant, so she has spent long hours practicing with her makeshift sling and the work has paid off in the ability to ping the eye of a rat with a small stone at 50 paces. While most of the children have tried since day one to get Kendrick to let them hold his sword, she has never had eyes for anything but his bow. He has actually let her hold it and try to pull the string back (she couldn't even budge it) when the other children weren't looking, and has made her promise to never tell anyone he let her touch his bow. He has also joked that she would someday be a better shot than him if she kept practicing with that sling, to which she responded that she'd someday be a better shot with a longbow than he was. She always begs for stories about the archers in the Rangers from Kendrick, and he has taken to indulging her on days she works particularly hard.

Zazael- Second oldest boy, also around 12, though he claims to know his age exactly, because his father told him his birthday before he went to the war. That was when he was three, and he is in a serious case of denial about his father's fate. The aunt he was staying with took ill, and sent him to the orphanage to live 'until his father returns'. Anyone who denies that this will happen is in for a fight. Not a very good one, as he is a large, awkward child. None of the children get enough food, and most are quite thin, but Zazael's body is simply large and ungainly. He is not particularly strong, nor graceful, but he does have a voice that belies his age, deep and booming even before it has changed completely. He tends to back down the other kids by shouting them down and verbal argument. He likes very much to get his way, an tends to complain when he doesn't, and does the least work of the kids who participate in Kendrick's projects, often citing sunstroke as the cause for his frequent 'rests'. Kendrick really doesn't like the kid, but still avoids the subject of his father, and tries to make sure he's included in the other kids' activities, though he's not afraid to single him out to spout frontier aphorisms about the value of hard work and how if you don't use your muscles, then evil spirits can roost in them and make your idle hands do their bidding.

Saraj- A 13 year old girl, destined to become quite pretty. Quite shy to the point of trying to stay unnoticed most of the time. She has a crush on Kendrick and nursed him during his recent illness. Has come into some money of late and has bought a nice dress (by Red Hook standards) and kohl for her eyes

Sharda and Adrash, 8-year old brother-sister twins. They are pretty much inseparable, but have an older set of twins around 17 who run with the city gangs. Their parents were gang members, too , and just dropped them here when they were born. They are still a little young to understand the situation fully, but Kendrick has seen their siblings skulking around on one or two occasions, though they always run off if it looks like they are being observed trying to communicate with their younger siblings.

Karano, an orphaned Yin-Sloth native. Her name in her native tongue is Gn' Taka. She was born a slave on a plantation somewhere in Yin-Sloth, and traveled to Ashure when her mother was sold to a caravan. When she arrived in Asshure, she witnessed something she will not talk about with anyone even to this day. She was brought to Joshi by drossers who found her dumped into a sewer to die, naked, covered in deep red candle wax, with strangely-shaped wounds carved deliberately into her body. She was eight years old. By all rights she should have been dead due to blood loss, but she lived by will and her inherited immunity to the virulent jungle diseases her ancestors endured. Joshi suspects her memories of the event have either been removed or buried by her so deeply that she truly cannot recall them. She is around 11 years old, but tall for her age. She behaves like a slave child, never speaking unless spoken to, answering directly, rarely showing emotion of any kind, but she works the hardest of any of the children. Kendrick suspects she knows more than she's letting on, but has never pressed her, assuming the scars she still bears on her face and hands do not need re-opening.

'Wink', a simply named blind boy. He is only 7 or so, but always brought, cheery, and inquisitive. Blind since birth, he doesn't seem to notice the loss of his sight, as his other senses have made up for it. He has excellent hearing and smell, and can tell what part of Red Hook Kendrick has been digging in by the particular stink of his boots when he comes back to the Orphanage. He helps Joshi with religious duties at the Orphanage, not venturing out into the city much anymore, now that the other kids are working and not free to wander around with him. He will probably follow Joshi into religious service, the only one of the kids likely to do so. Joshi is perhaps a bit overprotective of him for this reason, and spends long hours reading to him, from both secular and religious teachings. He goes his nickname because one of his eyes has been closed since birth and never opens. The other is all white with no pupil of any kind, but blinks rapidly most of the time, as if trying to clear something away but never succeeding

There are several other boys and girls who have been at the orphanage for varying lengths of time; others come and go, but these several form the core of the group, who look to them for direction most of the time. Kendrick keeps pretty good tabs on this bunch, while trying his best to keep the others from getting too bored, though he wouldn't notice an extra one or two, or one or two missing.

 

Riverside

Iskander: A Magus at the League.

Sharu Beth-Talsis: A legal advisor to house Tarquin.

Sharu Delanna: From a family of old Ashurian nobility, she was married off very young age to the aged Enkenkur Balaam. Recently widowed, she has returned to the city of her youth and delights the social elite with her ready wit. Gossip amongst the social elite state that it was her intelligence and gift for business that transformed Balaam's shrinking fortune into a vast network of valuable foreign investments. She is quite well traveled and it is also rumored that she took an Eastern lover during her late husband's dotage. She is young (early thirties), quite beautiful, with long black hair and unusually bright and clear green eyes.

Shambles

Sanctuary: Sanctuary is where the most dangerous thieves and cut throats go to hide themselves if authorities hunt for them. Much of this half-mythical place consistes of the cellars, vaults and excavations of collapsed areas beneath the Shambles. There is said to be a miniature town beneath the ground where one could live from birth to death without ever seeing the sun. Rumor has it that it is ruled by an ancient Summoner who tolerates no interference in his realm from those above. Supposedly one in need of refuge can beg sanctuary from her in return for servitude. Thus condemned or escaped criminal or the truly desparate come here in peril. It is said that no one may enter this realm with out this enigmatic leader becoming aware. It is certain that those who inhabit this darksome land are a close group who tolerate strangers not at all.

Gregori Hawkwind: Once a League mage in high standing, he took a dangerous political stance. He sided with (then Archmage) Lisina in opposing the League's support of the God-King's military agenda. It was widely known that one of the potential targets was Hawkwind's homeland, Lopan. When Schaub was named Lisina's successor, Hawkwind publicly vowed that he would oppose Schaub's agenda as long as he "drew breath". Later Schaub accused Hawkwind of betraying the Empire for the false monarch of Lopan. Hawkwind, well known for a fiery temper, publically made testament to his loyalty to the foreign monarch. Surpringly an edict from the God-King himself arrived proclaiming Hawkwind's treason and making him subject to the justice of the League, simultaneously showing the God-King's support of the new Archmage. Hawkwind, who has many friends in the League knew about the edict before it arrived and so had an opportunity to dissappear before its arrival. It is understood that he has taken refuge in fabled Sanctuary and is active in an underground resistance supporting the escape of Lopan nationals from the empire. Personally Hawkwind is a strong man of striking size and strength, despite being in his sixties. A fine sailor, it is known that he has served on board many trading vessels as both sea-man and wizard. He has achieved substantial wealth through his own small merchant fleet, though recently the bulk of his properties has been seized by the League. Reputed to be a specialist in spells of air, it may also be true that he is an Air Warlock in addition to being a Wizard of great skill. He has on at least one occassion been known to summon and control an Elemental of air.

Steffo: The apprentice of Gregori Hawkwind was born in Ashur to parents of Lopan nationality. After Gregori Hawkwind was proclaimed a traitor, Steffo was quick to publically come before the League and denounce his absent master. This has earned him the patronage of the new Archmage, though at the cost of a reputation for being a traitorous cur. (The relationship between a mage and apprentice is traditionally a close one) Some say that he was following the instructions of his master with whom Steffo is said to have clandestine meetings. In any event, no one will trust him, least of all the new Archmage who keeps him distant. Steffo is a very good-looking young man of perhaps 19 years of age, who is quite popular with ladies. As apprentice for only 2 years, he is as yet quite unskilled in magic. It is suggested that he has an abnormally powerful capacity for spell casting and that was the reason that Hawkwind took an apprentice of such advanced age. He is currently living in an set of inexpensive rooms on the Old Wharves.

 

Ship yards and Navy Yard

Southern Plantations

Streets of Tall Cedars

 

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