for a time i was thinking of doing a forum rpg based in the world of the lies of locke lamora by scott lynch, aka the gentleman bastard sequence.

all information below is collected from the gentleman bastards sequence, including:

• the lies of locke lamora (2006)
• red seas under red skies (2007)
• the republic of thieves (2013)
• short story: locke lamora and the bottled serpent part 1 (2024) / part 2 (2025)

in addition, some information was pulled from extra-canon sources including:

• scott lynch’s website
• scott lynch’s tumblr
• scott lynch’s substack

setting

Historically, the Continent consisted of two major kingdoms naturally bisected by a series of rugged mountain ranges that span the horizontal midpoint of the landmass. These kingdoms consisted of The Kingdom of the Seven Marrows to the north and the Therin Empire to the south.

The lands of the Continent and beyond were long ago home to a lost race of ancients, known today as the Eldren to the Therins or the Glass-Leavers to the Vadrans. The Eldren were a race of beings that inhabited the lands many years before the recorded history of our time–some say at least 20,000 or 30,000 years prior–that left an indelible mark upon the lands. The cities of today are built upon the mysterious ruins the Eldren abandoned across the world, such as the glowing bottom of the lake Amathel and dozens of tall Elderglass spires.

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map of the continent

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kingdom of the seven marrows

geography

The Kingdom of the Seven Marrows is named for the seven major rivers that empty into the White Iron Sea to the north. These rivers divide the land into seven provinces, called cantons: Emberlain, Parlay, Voran, Astrath, Somnay, Balinel, and Eidrevasen. Each canton is ruled by a Graf or Grafine; for example, the current ruler of Somnay is Akeil Henrikskar Strada, Graf von Somnay. 

The capital of the Kingdom is Vintila, a special administrative territory located near the Vormanrow River. Vintila contains the fortress of Dreyfaulding, where the Vadrans keep their throne.

Emberlain is a former Therin city-state that was conquered by the Vadrans and absorbed into the Kingdom of the Seven Marrows. The smallest of the seven Marrows, Emberlain is surrounded on all sides by water and mountains and is famous for their liquor production, especially the slow-aged and much sought-after Austershalin Brandy. Emberlain is the economic heart of the Kingdom, as it acts as the key port of trade between the Therin states, Syrune, Jerem, Jeresh, and the rest of the Marrows.

history

Far northern lands beyond the Continent, called the Krystalvasen, are an icy tundra at the geographical top of the world. These frozen lands were home to a raiding people that would frequent the northern borders of the Therin-controlled Continent.

Some seven hundred years prior, disaster struck the Krystalvasen. This initiated a great migration of the Vadrans out of the north and into the northern reaches of the Continent.  Queen Drusila Stormfall led her clan ashore at Vintila, in the province of Astrath, where she built the fortress of Drayfaulding to be her royal seat.

The word “Vadran” translates roughly to “people of the argument.” The Vadrans have always nurtured a cultural love for rhetoric, stories, chatter, and debate. The Vadran system of government is based on the Vadje (Vahd-yah), or great gathering. In olden days there were many Vadjes, called on annual holidays or any time two or more local lords had a dispute to settle. In the modern Kingdom of the Marrows, the Vadje is the permanent congress of nobles to which all titled men and women theoretically belong.

people

races

The people of the Marrows, called Vadrans, are a quasi-Germanic or Nordic people. Hundreds of years ago, they entered the Continent as sea-raiders from northern lands. The Vadrans of today descend from these peoples, who were of myriad tribes with varying cultures. Though a diverse people in belief and practices, Vadrans are primarily light-skinned or pale of flesh. 

The Marrows are also home to a not-insignificant portion of the Okanti diaspora. The Okanti peoples were driven some 150 years hence from their ancestral home–a series of isles on the Sea of Brass–by a horrific natural disaster. The Kingdom of the Marrows sent emissaries among the refugees with a simple offer– free money and estates for engineers and physikers willing to move north and swear fealty. The Okanti are a dark-skinned people that worship a tiered system of distant ruling gods and intermediaries anointed from the ranks of mortal heroes.

religion

The Vadrans’ religious practice revolves around worship of the water, especially of the Seven Holy Marrows (or rivers). They don’t worship gods or anthropomorphized versions of the Marrows; rather, their spiritual belief and practice revolves around the actual water. Water, in all forms–lakes, rivers, seas, and so forth–is holy; it is the basis for all life and contains unfathomable power, and the Vadran people revere this power.

language

Vadrans primarily speak the Vadran language, which during early-era trade and raiding borrowed liberally from the alphabet of the Therin peoples. The Vadran language of today developed from an older symbology that is primarily used in religious and ceremonial practice today.

sex & sexuality

The Vadrans recognize people of all genders as equal under the law. Inheritance is determined solely by primogeniture (or birth order) and women are granted the full rights of their social order. 

Of the peoples of the Continent, the Vadrans are also those that most liberally embrace the fluidity of sexuality. They identify acts as heterosexual or homosexual, but not people. Generally, most Vadrans openly practice some form of bisexuality; unofficial third partners in a marriage between a man and a woman are common. The platonic ideal of the Vadran marriage is a partner gifted in arms and a partner gifted in subterfuge. Though homosexual marriage isn’t formally recognized by the law, informal and life-long same-sex partnerships are common and accepted.

social order

The Vadrans’ historical success in infiltrating the Continent is attributed in part to their custom of Skyrdradda, or “Red Ladder.” Skyrdradda is codified in Vadran law and culture as a promise that lower classes could scale the ranks of society in exchange for service in times of war. The red ladder thus exists as an opportunity to climb the social ranks for those willing and able to take the risks. This custom has allowed those conquered by the Vadrans to integrate fairly up and down the social ladder. Further, the Vadran people do not take slaves and believe those that practice slavery are weak. Thus, Vadran people of all social classes are equally able to climb the red ladder.

The five classes are as follows, in order from top to bottom:

• Ancestrals (Anvalta, “Ancient Names”)
  • titled nobles with exhaustive pedigrees
  • descend from the great families of the old lands and the post-Landing order of Stormfall and her dynasty
  • may stake a lawful claim to the throne
  • engage in the “golden game” of espionage,  maintain networks of spies
  • only Ancestrals and their lawful agents (soldiers, guards, etc.) are permitted to be armed at all times
• Nameholders (Kyrvalta, “Good Names”)
  • specially designated title granted by Ancestrals for a great deed or service
  • have the power to make legally binding contracts, pay for goods, and arrest lower citizens by verbal declaration alone
  • Priests and other religious figureheads are also among those in this tier
• Greatholders (Gronkaptja)
  • maintain full citizenship rights
  • owners of significant property, money, or business concerns
  • allowed to keep personal arms and armor but not allowed to display them in the ordinary course of daily life
• Smallholders (Pelkaptja)
  • maintain full citizenship rights
  • common adult citizens, granted this status at the Midsummer-mark after their 17th birthday
  • rights of free movement and free association, jobs or military service permitting
  • may hold private goods and funds, though they generally work in the service of the higher orders in some fashion, such as in sharecropping agricultural arrangements
  • required to drill with spear, axe, and bow at regular intervals
  • disallowed personal arms, use communal armories administered by greatholders or appointed officers
• Year-Bound (Jyrhalskar)
  • defeated enemies, outlaws, prisoners of war, and other unlawful peoples that consent to renounce all former rights, titles, and holdings
  • agree to serve another Vadran citizen for the term of a year and a day, after which they are generally granted the status of smallholder or allowed a peaceful, voluntary exile from Vadran lands
  • receive no pay but are protected in Vadran law from abuse by pledgeholders

military service

True to their raiding origins, the Vadrans are committed to ruthlessness in war. To maintain their military might, Vadran citizens are required to train in arms to some degree for most of their lives. Combat obligations differ; the very young, the old, and those with particularly significant domestic duties are expected to be called to arms only to defend their own lands directly. A smaller but still sizable portion of the adult population trains more regularly and are obliged to serve a certain number of weeks per year under full military discipline, if asked. These men and women would provide the bulk of the skirmishers, mixed infantry, and archers in any Vadran field army. 

Vadran smallholders are required to drill with spear, axe, and bow. Drill is simple but rigorously repeated– marching in formation, moving from line to column and vice versa, making simple camp. Vadran adults learn two primary unit tactics for the shield, “roof” (for use against large-scale indirect archery) and “wall” (for use against other ground targets). Vadran military doctrine holds that sound execution of basic tasks is more important than innovative or grandiose strategy.

Archery is the prevalent outdoor social activity for Vadran girls and women from spring to late fall; most Vadran archer formations are seventy to eighty percent women, trained from adolescence in zone shooting, plunging shots, and aimed shots.

Vadran Ancestrals maintain relatively small but highly professional standing forces; these men and women are trained not only in the arts of actual soldiering but in teaching those arts. In a time of war, Vadran professionals will provide a hard spine for a body of citizens, drilling them as hard and fast as circumstances permit. Relatively complex operations such as sieges and fortified camp construction will be carried out under the directions of the professionals; all the common Vadran citizen needs to know is where to go or how deep to dig.

There are many local variations in custom and practice, all designed along the same general lines of skill maintenance and social obligation. In some cantons, privileged hunting rights are granted to the top-scoring archers in annual contests. In others, certain common men and women train to military standards somewhere in between those of the professional soldiers and the regular citizens. The best way to characterize these men and women in our terms would be as reservist NCOs; their task in a crisis would be to serve as additional catalysts for raising the military efficiency of their fellow citizens as speedily as possible.

During the calm years, it became very common for Vadran Ancestrals to lead small units of their men and women on exploratory, mercenary, or guard service in the south for a few months or years. These services, and occasional actions against pirates in the west, were the only notable passages of Vadran arms for three generations.

All Vadran citizens are granted easements to their taxes to pay for the procurement and maintenance of their arms.

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the therin throne

geography

The Therin Throne was an empire that historically spanned the Continent. The northern reaches of the Continent, over time, eroded through conquests by the Vadran peoples. Though now a defunct Empire, the Therin Throne is popularly understood as the former throne governing the city-states in the southern half of the Continent. 

Since the dissolution of the empire, Therin city-states have continued to exist as self-governing territories. The Therin city-states of today include: Salon Corbeau, Tal Verrar, Karthain, Lashain, Vel Virazzo, Telmaris, Tamalek, Lurin, Talisham, Condria, Destira, Espara, Godsdale Hill, Camorr, Iridain, Ashmere, and Issara. Camorr and Tal Verrar are the largest and most powerful of the Therin city-states.

history

The Therin Throne once controlled the Continent. Even after Queen Stormfall sailed on Ventila and the Vadrans began conquering the north, the Therin Throne maintained a strong grasp on the south. The engineers of the empire built tens of thousands of miles of roads to weave those cities together. The empire’s generals manned them with patrols to put bandits down, and maintained garrisons at smaller towns and villages to ensure that commerce and letters could flow, without interruption, from one end of the empire to the other—from the Iron Sea to the Sea of Brass.

City-states were ruled by dukes crowned by the emperor on the Therin Throne. The seat of this empire–the Jewel of the Eldren–was maintained in Therim Pel. Therim Pel was the largest and grandest of the cities that the lost race of ancients left behind. Therim Pel sat at the headwaters of the Angevine River, where they poured in a white torrent from the mountains; it sat beneath their craggy majesty and was surrounded by rich fields for two days’ ride by fast horse in any other direction.

Despite its prominence, the Therin Throne entered a decline initiated by the aggressions of the northern Vadrans. However, the Vadrans did not successfully conquer the empire. The empire was instead broken by the Bondsmagi. The Bondsmagi were newly formed in the city of Karthain; they were beginning to expand the reach of their unique and deadly guild to other cities, and they showed little sign of catering to the angry demands of the emperor in Therim Pel. He insisted that they halt their activities, and they are said to have replied with a short letter listing the prices for which His August Majesty could hire their services. The emperor sent in his own royal circle of sorcerers; they were slain without exception. The emperor then raised his legions and marched on Karthain, vowing to slay every sorcerer who claimed the title of Bondsmage.

During his march to Karthain, the emperor’s soldiers managed to kill about a dozen. Four hundred Bondsmagi met the emperor’s legions just to the east of Karthain; the sorcerers condescended to offer a pitched battle. In less than two hours, one-third of the emperor’s forces were slaughtered. Strange mists boiled up from the ground to mislead their maneuvers; illusions and phantasms tormented them. Flights of arrows halted in the air and fell to the ground, or were hurled back upon the archers who had loosed them. Comrade turned upon comrade, maddened and misled by sorcery that could chain a man’s actions as though he were a marionette. The emperor himself was hacked to pieces by his personal guard. It is said that no piece larger than a finger remained to be burned on a pyre afterward. 

After defeating the Empire, the Bondsmagi in conclave decided to enforce their rules, and to enforce them in such a fashion that the entire world would shudder at the thought of crossing them, for as long as men might have memories. They worked their retribution on the city of Therim Pel. The firestorm they conjured was unnatural. Four hundred magi, working in concert, kindled something at the heart of the empire that historians still fear to describe. It is said that the flames were as white as the hearts of the stars themselves; that the column of black smoke rose so high it could be seen from the deep Iron Sea, far east of Camorr, and as far north as Vintila, capital of the young Kingdom of the Seven Marrows. Even this hideous conjuring could not touch Elderglass; those structures in the city built by Eldren arts survived unscathed. But everything else the fire touched, it ate; wood and stone and metal, mortar and paper and living things. All the city’s buildings and all the city’s culture and all the city’s population who could not flee before the magi began their work were burnt into a desert of gray ashes—a desert that settled a foot deep across a black scar baked into the ground. Those ashes swirled in the hot wind at the foot of the one human-crafted object the magi willingly preserved: the throne of the empire. 

That chair remains there to this day, in the haunted city of Therim Pel, surrounded by a field of ashes that time and rains have turned into a sort of black concrete. Nothing grows in Therim Pel anymore; no sensible man or woman will set foot within that black monument to the resolve of the Bondsmagi of Karthain.

It was they who broke the Therin Throne with that unearthly fire; they who cast the city-states of the south into hundreds of years of warring and feuding while the Kingdom of the Seven Marrows grew powerful in the north.

people

races

The Therin people, like the Vadrans, have diverse cultural practices and differences, especially between the various city-states. Compared to the Vadrans, however, the Therins are generally of a ruddier complexion, similar to the Mediterraneans with olive-toned hues. This is especially true in the north, closer to the Vadran borders. Due to their long history, however, the Therins have intermingled with the Vadrans, Syresti, Okanti, and so on, and they maintain skin shades at all extremes of the spectrum of human variation. 

The phrase “nightskin” is, in most circumstances, not an epithet. Most people in Therin society smoothly integrate with and are happy to work alongside Okanti or Syresti. Racism and prejudice exists in Therin society, but not of the same sort as our own modern world given that the Continent has not seen the same subjugation and oppression by the basis of skin color or place of origination.

religion

Generally, the Therin people accept the existence of a pantheon of 12 anthropomorphic gods and goddesses. These gods are as follows:

• Perelandro
  • god of mercy and charitable deeds
  • also: Father of Mercies, Lord of the Overlooked
  • the Order wear white robes with silver embroidery
• Morgante
  • god of cities, justice, law, and order
  • also: The City Father, Lord of Noose and Trowel
  • rules over judges, executioners, and constables
  • the Order wear dark gray and black robes
  • traditional sacrifice: a lash and silver compass
  • Blood for Rain ritual – a resident of the Palace of Patience can consent to avoid a harsh punishment (judicial amputation, most likely) by offering to be carried in a cage about town, taking a lash for each coin offering given by the public for rain
• Gandolo
  • god of trade and wealth
  • also: Father of Opportunities, Lord of Coin and Commerce, Filler of Vaults, Wealth-Father
  • initiates of the Order train at a Temple in Lashain; initiates get pastries and ale every second week, and a copper piece every Idler’s Day, to spend as they wish
• Iono
  • god of the seas
  • also: Lord of the Grasping Waters, Father of Storms, Stormbringer, Lord of the Sea
  • the Order wear sea-green robes fringed with silver
  • traditional sacrifice: blood, silver, bread
• Azri
  • god of nature, weather, and war
• Callo Androno
  • god of travel, languages, lore, and communication
  • also: Eyes-on-the-Crossroads
  • the Order dislike finery, wear blue robes or headbands
• Aza Guilla
  • goddess of death
  • also: Lady Most Kind, Goddess of Death, Lady of the Long Silence
  • the Order wear black-robes and the Sorrowful Visage, a silver-mesh mask
  • initiates of the Order train at Revelation House, a temple carved from the seaside cliffs in the south of Talisham; training involves lectures in Death the Transition and Death Everlasting, and multiple close-calls with death via poisonings, dangerous tasks, and so on called Anguishment, in pursuit of near-death visions
  • the Order has ranks; the first is an initiate; the second is learned in basic numbers, literacy, and theology; the third has had at least one vision via Anguishment; the fourth is full priesthood; the fifth regulate inter-city affairs; the sixth and above engage with senior priests
  • believe sharks to be holy
  • traditional sacrifice: silk shroud
• Nara
  • goddess of plagues, maladies, and time
  • also: Plague Mistress, Lady of Ubiquitous Maladies, the Plaguebringer
• Sendovani
  • goddess of secrets, mysteries, knowledge, and alchemy
  • initiates of the Order train at a Temple in Ashmere
• Dama Elliza
  • goddess of agriculture and fertility
  • also: Mother of Rains and Reaping
  • the Order wear brown robes with green and silver trim
• Preva
  • goddess of love, madness, inspiration, and invention
  • also: Lady of the Red Madness
  • traditional sacrifice: a dove’s heart
• Venaportha
  • goddess of luck and fortune
  • also: Lady With Two Faces

Some (secretly) believe in one additional god:

• The Nameless Thirteenth
  • god of thieves and malefactors
  • also: The Crooked Warden, the Thiefwatcher, the Benefactor, the Father of Necessary Pretexts

language

The Therin language is common to all of the Therin city-states, though subject to varying dialects and accents across different regions. Therin is an acquisitive language that is an assemblage of remnants of many languages of days past. In speaking, it is similar in grammar and sound to romance languages like Italian and French.

Throne Therin is a refined form of the common tongue that was originally distinguished for use in both writing and speaking by nobles and the elite, as an indicator of good breeding, refined tastes, and social status. The difference can primarily be noted by Throne Therin’s fussier conjugations and tenses.

sex & sexuality

Therins do not generally openly practice bisexuality or open partnerships in the way that their Vadran counterparts do. Homosexuality and gender variance, too, are less openly accepted and embraced by the Therins. This is especially true of Eastern Therins, who are generally more prudish and unaccepting of homosexual pairings and activity. Western Therins, especially as one gets closer to Tal Verrar, are generally more open to differences in sexuality and gender.

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syrune

Syrune is a large island territory off the southeastern coast of the Continent. Syrune has abundant natural resources. The Syresti are a very dark-complexioned people that worship the same gods the Therins do, albeit with different names and slightly different sets of attributes. Iono, for example, is known to Syresti as Usharas. The Syresti peoples maintain arts and sciences that rival those of the Therin city-states, in spite of many attempted invasions. This is thanks in part due to their powerful naval force that guards against Vadran and Therin interests. 

jeresh

Jeresh is a smaller island off the southeastern coast of the Continent, north of Syrune and south of Jerem. The Jereshites are a dark-complexioned island peoples that worship the Therin pantheon as representatives of a unifying controller god. The Jereshti are known for their thick, aromatic coffee and olive oil production.

jerem

Jerem is a small island nation off the southeastern coast of the Continent, located squarely between Jeresh and Syrune. Jeremites are a dark-complexioned people that practice a strict religion with a two-god system; they do not allow for the open worship of any deity on the island except for their own. Jerem is also home to the Jeremite Redeemers, a fringe sect of religious fanatics that believe mainstream Jeremite theology is not radical enough. The Redeemers wander the world in exile groups, professing salvation for the sins of the island by vowing to kill anyone that enacts violence; they wish to die honorably for the redemption of Jerem.

Jerem is a deeply conservative and aggressive nation. Jerem continues to practice slavery, which is outlawed in most Therin city-states and in the Kingdom of the Seven Marrows; they engage in illicit trade across the Continent and among the island nations surrounding the mainlands. 

Of all the peoples that interact with the Therin city-states, Jerem is the only nation that demands strict and rigid gender roles, denies full citizenship rights to women, and requires dress and manners to be segregated by sex. Sexual violence and rape of women is common, especially for red-haired girls whom are said to bring good luck.

Jerem is also known for their production and trade in opium, narcotics, tobacco, and other drugs.

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magic

the eldren

The lands of the Continent and beyond were long ago home to a lost race of ancients, known today as the Eldren to the Therins or the Glass-Leavers to the Vadrans. The cities of today are built upon the mysterious ruins the Eldren abandoned across the world, such as the glowing bottom of the lake Amathel and dozens of tall Elderglass spires.

elderglass

Elderglass is the arcane substance used to build the massive ruins left behind by the Eldren. How Elderglass is made or where it may have came from is unknown. Elderglass is an indestructible substance that humankind has been unable to burn, cut, weather, shatter, sharpen, dull, melt down, reshape, or otherwise influence in any way. Even the arcane powers of Bondsmagi are unable to influence Elderglass in any evident way. Over the centuries, the ruins left behind by the Eldren have been untouched–seemingly impossible to erode and still gleaming as perfectly as they did–as far as anyone can tell–during the age of the Eldren.

Most famously, this includes the Five Towers and other megastructures across Camorr and across the entire Continent that humans have not yet been able to rival. However, these structures are not the only remnants left of the Elderglass of the Eldren. Centuries prior, humans had found miles and miles of spun Elderglass cords in the tunnels beneath Camorr; these have since been repurposed for various means, including in the making of strong glassine cables that connect the Towers and allow for travel via hanging baskets.

Due to the inability to alter or modify Elderglass, the material is infrequently used by humans beyond merely repurposing the structures. Elderglass weaponry is obscenely rare, if not entirely mythic. However, there are some uncommon artifacts that make use of the material, such as armory and vests made of a mosaic of tiny shards or chips of found Elderglass and held together by chains and leather.

Aside from the durability of Elderglass, its powers–or lack thereof–are little understood. It varies wildly in appearance–sometimes shimmery, sometimes dull, and in every color and hue imaginable. Some Elderglass seems capable of absorbing various energies and/or substances. For example, the Towers and other Elderglass structures in Camorr–and only Camorr–absorbs sunlight during the day, and then glows Falselight at sunset. Similarly, the razor-sharp Elderglass roses in Camorr’s House of Glass Roses absorbs blood from those unfortunate enough to graze the roses.

wraithstone

Wraithstone is a chalky white substance discovered in remote glass-lined mountain tunnels, presumably also created and left by the Eldren. In its solid state, Wraithstone is tasteless, nearly odorless, and inert. It must be burned to activate its unique properties. Wraithstone smoke poisons nothing physical; what it does is burn out personality itself. Ambition, stubbornness, pluck, spirit, drive—all of these things fade with just a few breaths of the arcane haze. 

Accidental exposure to small amounts can leave a man listless for weeks; anything more than that and the effect will be permanent. Victims remain alive but entirely unconcerned by anything. They don’t respond to their names, or to their friends, or to mortal danger. They can be prodded into eating or excreting or carrying something, and little else. Those that have inhaled Wraithstone smoke can be identified by their eyes, which are filled with a pale milky-white sheen and emptiness. The process of inhaling Wraithstone smoke is known as Gentling, in reference to the pliable nature of those that have thus been poisoned.

Once, in the time of the Therin Throne, the process was used to punish criminals, but it has been centuries since any civilized Therin city-state allowed the use of Wraithstone on men and women. Even Camorr–a society that still hangs children for petty theft and feeds prisoners to sea-creatures–finds the results too disquieting to bear.

Thus, Gentling is reserved for animals—mostly beasts of burden intended for urban service. The cramped confines of a hazard-rich city like Camorr are ideally suited to the process. Gentled ponies may be trusted never to throw the children of the wealthy. Gentled horses and mules may be trusted never to kick their handlers or dump expensive cargoes into a canal. 

A burlap sack with a bit of the white stone and a slow-smoldering match is placed over an animal’s muzzle, and the human handlers retreat to fresh air. A few minutes later the creature’s eyes are the color of new milk, and it will never do anything on its own initiative again.

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the bondsmagi

The Bondsmagi effectively rule over the Therin city-state of Karthain. They are the only sorcerers on the Continent; they permit no others outside of their ranks to study magic, at threat of death. They are infamously ruthless in the enforcement of this rule, and nobody dares to shelter illicit sorcery from the Bondsmagi. Beyond minor card tricks and alchemical experiments, no magic, magery, or sorcery is permitted by anyone outside of the guild in Karthain.

The second most important rule of the guild–without exception–is that anyone known to have slain a Bondsmagi will themselves be slain in a most egregious manner, as well as their families and closest associates.

powers & names

Bondsmagi study in Karthain, and as they become more proficient their ranks are tattooed in a series of rings around their wrists. A Bondsmagi may have anywhere from one to five rings on their wrist. The powers of Bondsmagi are vast. With appropriate study, they are able to conjure illusions, perform acts of telekinesis, send messages via thoughts, compel others to their own will, control fire and weather and the elements, steer ships and power machines, control animals and tame familiars, inflict pain and death, and so on. Among themselves, Bongsmagi primarily speak mind-to-mind. Each Bondsmagi has their own sigil, or a thought-impression that conveys their true selves (like a signature scent or deep memory) that that use to facilitate these thought-conversations. They are also able to transmute and cleanse (such as in removing poisons). However, the Bondsmagi have one significant limitation: they are largely unable to heal harms, especially those of the body. 

A Bondsmage is able to control their powers in several ways. One is through the manipulation of Dreamsteel, a metallic, silvery substance that can be manipulated in the hand like thread, carried like fine spikes, or kept in liquid pools. Another is through the use of a person’s Red Name. Thus, Bondsmagi enact their powers through motions (especially involving Dreamsteel), speech (especially Karthani), and names.

Bondsmagi hold that everyone has two names: a Gray Name (a common name, a nickname, an alias; for Bondsmagi, a name chosen when their first ring is tattooed on their wrist) and a Red Name (“the name that lives in the blood, the name that can never be shed”; “the very first identity that we accept and recognize as us”; often a birth name, or otherwise a name of one’s truest and deepest essence). A person’s Red Name has deep and significant power; a Bondsmagi has near-infinite power over one whose name they scribe on parchment or stitch into cloth. Bondsmagi hold their own Red Names as sacred and share them with nobody–not their significant others, their husbands or wives, their own children. 

black contracts

Bondsmagi rent out their services to the ultra-wealthy of the Continent. A novice might charge 500 white iron crowns per day; a more experienced Bondsmagi might charge upwards of 1,000 crowns. These agreements are made via black contracts with non-Bongsmagi seeking their services. Bondsmagi are forbidden from betraying their client once a contract is accepted. Black contracts allow the Bondsmagi some controlled displays of their powers to keep the ungifted in check. However, black contracts–especially any involving murder or kidnapping–require careful consideration and must first be approved by the Order that governs the Bondsmagi. 

The Order meets in The Sky Chamber, a fifty-yard circular vault upheld by illusory magic deep below the Citadel of the Magi in the Isas Scholastica (Isle of Scholars) in Karthain. The Order consists of four fifth-rank Archedons or Archedamas, operating under the names Patience, Providence, Foresight, and Temperance. The Order weighs black contracts against two Guiding Mandates: the question of self-harm (whether harm would come to the Bondsmagi in taking the contract, such as causing economic or political harm to their own interests or investments) and the question of common detriment (whether significant harm would come to the wider world).

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alchemy & medicine

alchemy

Alchemy is a low-level form of magic–in fact, the only form of magic allowed to be practiced by those not in the guild of Bondsmagi in Karthain. Alchemy is a form of chemical science that engages the sciences of the material world with arcane knowledge and magic. Credentialed alchemists, like physikers, study at the Therin Collegium. The best attain their Master’s Ring in Alchemy and apprentice and finally, officially join the Guild of Alchemists. Black alchemists, like famed Camorri Jessaline d’Aubart and daughter Janellaine d’Aubart, do not follow guild rules and often do not have similar proper credentials; black alchemists perform behind false shop fronts in creating poisons, drugs, and various controlled or disallowed substances. 

Though many placebos and tonics are pushed by street vendors and apothecaries, true alchemy is often more effective than most medical treatments of the time. True alchemy has practical use in many applications, including medicine, botany, animal handling, culinary arts, cosmetics, lighting, and explosives.

medical alchemy

Alchemy has many practical applications in medicine. One such application is the use of alchemical tonics and elixirs to treat various illnesses. These alchemical admixtures are made by combining various ingredients, such as rare herbs, minerals, and even animal parts, using specific arcane knowledge and techniques. The ingredients are carefully chosen based on their properties and effects on the body, and the balance of these ingredients is crucial to the efficacy of the elixir. One example is somnay pine bark, which can be brewed in a tea to cure gastric distress.

   Another application of alchemy in medicine is the creation of specialized medicines and treatments. Alchemists can create potent painkillers, powerful antibiotics, and even antidotes to poisons. However, the creation of these medicines is a delicate process, and one mistake can lead to disastrous consequences.

Alchemists–particularly black alchemists–can also intentionally work in the opposite direction, brewing poisons and other harmful solutions. This can vary from minor afflictions caused by powders and tonics–such as the powder of barrow-robber’s blossom, a purple powder that is a powerful emetic–to deadly poisons and alchemical caustics that can burn human flesh down to the bone.

botanical alchemy

Botanical alchemy is an alchemical specialization practiced in particular by many well-educated noblewomen seeking an amusement more engaging than simple flower or vegetable gardening. Botanical alchemists are engaged in several primary arts, such as: the breeding and cultivation of rare and complex poisonous herbs and flowers; the hybridization and creation of rare fruiting plants such as lemon-limes, the Sofia Orange of Camorr (a liqueur-infused citrus), and the elusive white plum; the miniaturization and scaling of decorative plants for indoor botanical flourishes; and the alchemical modification of soils for improved crop yield, pest control, root vegetable flavoring, and so on.

Botanical alchemy can also be used for more nefarious purposes as well. Alchemists have been known to use their craft to create powerful psychedelic plants that can be grown in secret gardens and harvested for recreational drug use. Alchemically altered plants have many other uses, from the harmless camouflage of certain petals to the creation of venoms and toxins that can be ingested or released through inhalation.

The impact of alchemy can also be seen in Camorr’s canal trees, which bob and spin on their thick floating roots in the canals and Old Harbor. They are prized for their fruit and their cleansing influence on the canals.

alchemy & animals

Alchemy also influences the art of animal handling across the Continent. This includes the administration of Wraithstone powder in Gentling beasts of burden and other pack animals–such as horses or goats–for use traveling in the city or in caravans trading goods across the Continent. This also includes the hybridization of animals, such as the human-made scorpion hawk–a dangerous hybrid animal that combines the sharp talons of the bird of prey with the poisonous stinger of the scorpion.

As with human medicines, alchemists are also able to create alchemical powders, tonics, and elixirs that have influences on animals. And as with humans, uses can vary anywhere from alchemical veterinary medicines to drugs that have a number of bizarre influences on animal behavior. The Alchemist’s Summons, for example, is an alchemical powder that when dumped into seawater creates an insatiable bloodlust and rage in the Wolf Shark of the Iron Sea.

alchemical culinary arts

Alchemy is used widely to enhance food and drink across the Continent. This includes the use of alchemically enhanced plants and animals, such as enhanced soils and altered or hybrid plants, as well as direct alchemical treatments during the preparation, storing, and serving of food. Zakasta’s Confectionary in Camorr, for example, sells baked goods such as cakes that are enhanced via alchemical ingredients to nobles and other wealthy Camorri. 

Alchemical hearthstones, too, are commonly used by upper-middle class and wealthy peoples for indoor cooking without a direct source of fire, much like an electric stove in today’s terminology.

As alchemical interference increases the cost of goods, the most common application of alchemy in the culinary arts is through the enhancement of alcoholic beverages. Tal Verrar is especially known for their alchemical wines, brandy mixes, and cordials. This includes Kamekona (the “shifting wine”), white plum liqueur, and aphrodisiac wine.

cosmetic alchemy

Cosmetic alchemy is a specialized branch of alchemy that deals with the creation and modification of beauty products. Alchemists who specialize in this field are called cosmetic alchemists. They use their knowledge and skills to develop a range of products that can be used to enhance or modify physical features of a person’s body.

One example of cosmetic alchemy is the creation of skin creams and lotions that are designed to improve the appearance and health of the skin. These creams may contain ingredients like rare herbs, minerals, and animal parts that have been carefully chosen for their beneficial properties. For example, a cream made with pearl powder is believed to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Other cosmetic products have more instantaneous results. This includes alchemical pastes for temporarily altering one’s hair color, waxes for adding false scars or wrinkles, and drops for changing one’s eye color.

alchemical lighting

Though regular electricity is not known in Camorr or on the Continent, gas lighting and candles are further supplemented by alchemical lighting. The most common is the alchemical globe, which is filled with an alchemical liquid that surrounds a metal rod suspended at the center. When shaken, the liquid and metal interact and emit light. There are many variations on the alchemical globe; some are suspended in decorative chandeliers, some emit bright and garish colors, and so on. 

alchemical explosives

Alchemy can also be used to generate massive explosions of heat and light, often more destructive than any non-alchemical equivalent. Alchemical twist-matches–long, white thread that can be connected to flammable oil–will self-immolate when exposed to air. Alchemical fuses can be connected to explosive substances and set to ignite after a set period of time.

The most infamous, however, is the shipbane sphere. The shipbane sphere is an expensive bit of black alchemy that, when activated, will glow white-hot, setting a whole ship ablaze in an instant. The fires set by such a sphere cannot be doused and are immune to water.

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bestiary

• Devilfish: sea creature native to the Iron Sea; many-tentacled omnivorous creatures with undulating gray-and-black striped bodies and tentacles that can reach upwards of twelve feet.
• Salt Devil: massive, dog-sized spiders that live alone in the crevices on the rocky coasts to the southwest of Camorr; they are ambush hunters that prey on fish and gulls and occasionally fall prey to sharks or devilfish; superstitious sailors will fling arrows and stones at them.
• Scorpion Hawk: a creature created by humans via alchemical processes; a dangerous hybrid animal that combines the sharp talons of the bird of prey with the poisonous stinger of the scorpion.
• Shank-flank: a gray fish native to the waters around Camorr; they have venomous rows of spines under their fins that can cause flesh to swell up.
• Stiletto Wasp: sparrow-sized insects native to the tropical islands far to the east of Jerem and Jeresh; bright red in color, their stinging abdomens are often longer than a grown man’s middle finger; survivor’s of their sting are rare and possession of a stiletto wasp queen in any Therin city-state is punishable by death.
• Valcona: huge, flightless attack-birds; larger than hunting hounds, they hop about on claws with their vestigial wings folded back against their bodies; they bond to a single person and are fiercely loyal to and protective of them.
• Wolf Shark: sea creature native to the Iron Sea; a massive, bloodthirsty shark that patrols the shallow coastal waters and has a predisposition to jumping out of the water and skin as thick as tree bark.

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culture

calendar & holidays

The Therin calendar–the calendar referenced in Camorr and by peoples across the Therin city-states–is a cyclical calendar that has been in place for some 900~ years. Each year is named for one of the twelve Therin gods; this cycle starts with the “1st Year of Callo Androno,” ends on year twelve with the “1st Year of Nara,” and then cycles back around to the “2nd Year of Callo Androno.” The current year is the 77th Year of Dama Elliza. This is equivalent to the Vadran year 540, which is a sequential calendar like that of the Gregorian calendar used in real life today.

The years proceed in cycles as follows: Callo Androno, Preva, Dama Elliza, Gandolo, Morgante, Sendovani, Venaportha, Iono, Azri, Perelandro, Aza Guilla, and Nara. 

For example, recent preceding and upcoming years are as follows:

• 538, 77th [Callo Androno ?]
• 539, 77th Preva
• 540, 77th [Dama Elliza ?]
• 541, 77th Gandolo
• 542, 77th Morgante
• 543, 77th Sendovani
• 544, 77th [Venaportha ?]
• 545, 77th Iono
• 546, 77th Azri
• 547, 77th Perelandro
• 548, 77th Aza Guilla
• 549, 77th Nara
• 550, 78th [Callo Androno ?]
• 551, 78th Preva
• 552, 78th [Dama Elliza ?]
• 553, 78th Gandolo
• 554, 78th Morgante
• 555, 78th Sendovani
• 556, 78th [Venaportha ?]
• 557, 78th Iono
• 558, 78th Azri
• 559, 78th Perelandro
• 560, 78th Aza Guilla
• 561, 78th Nara

Each year consists of 365 days divided into twelve months (28-31 days each). Each month is divided into seven-day weeks. The Therin names and their real-world equivalents are detailed below:

WINTER

• December = Marinel
• January = Aurim
• February = ?

SPRING

• March = ?
• April = ?
• May = Tirastim

SUMMER

• June = ?
• July = Parthis
• August = ?

FALL

• September = Tathris
• November = Festal
• October = Saris

Therin Days

• Monday = Duke’s Day
• Tuesday = ? Day
• Wednesday = ? Day
• Thursday = Idler’s Day
• Friday = Throne’s Day
• Saturday = Count’s Day
• Sunday = Penance Day

recurring events

Penance Day

In Camorr, each Penance Day at noon the weekly hangings are done. Prisoners are trotted out from the Palace of Patience and a small ceremony takes place that ends in the hanging of those criminals sentenced to death that week.

the shifting revel

The Shifting Revel is a massive formal event held once per month, bankrolled by the Duke of Camorr. The event takes place on the fourth Idler’s Day of each month in the Shifting Market. 

The usual merchants and market-goers clear the water for the day and are replaced by massive, multistoried observation barges with stadium-like amphitheater seating that are anchored at the breakwaters of the Market. Each barge is operated by a rival family or merchant combine and decked in unique livery; they compete fiercely with one another to fill their seats, and intervessel brawls between the habitual customers of particularly beloved barges are not unknown. When properly aligned, these barges form an arc about halfway around the circumference of the Shifting Market. A channel is left clear for boats entering and leaving the center of the calm water, and the rest of the periphery is reserved for the pleasure barges of the nobility.

At the center of the water, tall iron cages are sunk to support platforms for the main events. Around these, platform boats are rowed around at a steady clip, showing off rope dancers, knife throwers, acrobats, jugglers, strongmen, and other curiosities.

The main events proceed as follows:

1. The Penance Bouts: Petty offenders from the Palace of Patience can volunteer for mismatch combat against armored guards or soldiers in exchange for reduced sentences or slightly improved living conditions. These engagements occur on floating platforms at the center of the Revel for all to see.
2. The Judicial Forfeitures: Egregious offenders–such as murderers, rapists, slavers, and arsonists–are essentially executed for public spectacle. They are armed with daggers and thrown in the water surrounded by a sixty-foot diameter cage containing some dangerous beast, such as a devilfish. The rare survivor is granted a lesser sentence.
3. The Teeth Show: In this event, a specially armed gladiator (a contrarequialla) battles a live, leaping wolf shark that has been caged, starved, and maddened. Contrarequialla are Camorri women that wear red bandanas and carry two weapons: a short javelin in one hand and a special axe in the other. These axes have grips enclosed by full handguards, making them difficult to lose; they are double- headed, with the expected curved blade on one side and a long, sturdy pick-head on the other. A skilled fighter usually tries to slash a shark’s fins and tail to nothing before making a kill; few but the very best can kill with anything but the spike. 
4. Contrarequialla fight across a series of stepping-stone platforms, each about two feet wide and raised half a foot off the water. These platforms are set out in a square grid, four or five feet apart, leaving plenty of room for the opposition to swim between them. The women must hop between these platforms at a rapid pace to strike out at the sharks while dodging leaps in return; a slip into the water was usually the end of the contest.
5. Beyond the line of shark cages there is a little boat, crewed by (extremely well-paid) volunteer rowers and carrying the three traditional observers of any Teeth Show: a priest of Iono, a priestess of Aza Guilla, and a physiker. 

annual holidays

The Festa Iono

Occurs each winter on the 21st of Aurim. In thanks to the god Iono, old ships are ceremonially burned and grand parties are had.

the day of changes

Occurs each summer on the 17th of Parthis, the day before the Midsummer-mark. Camorri lore holds that the weeks preceding Midsummer-mark are the hottest of the year. This is one of the major festivals celebrated in Camorr; parties, parades, and celebrations are held across the city on this day. The Duke of Camorr hosts a massive feast in Raven’s Reach for many in the Grand Families and other lesser nobles. A smaller Shifting Revel is held in the Shifting Market, where commoners take part in friendly handball tournaments. Commoners hold wandering picnics across the city, with plenty of flowing ale and liquor. In the Temple District, each temple’s full complement of priests and initiates traded places with another in an ever-shifting cycle of ritual and sacrifice. Nobles and wealthy Camorri make way for Twosilver Green, where it was thought to be good luck to make love on the eve of the Midsummer-mark.

midsummer-mark

Occurs each summer on the 18th of Parthis. Commoners who know their dates of birth legally turn a year older.

orphan’s moon

Occurs each late winter, when the world’s largest two moons are in their dark phases together. Orphans and others whose birth years are mysteries legally turn a year older on this date.

weather & time

falselight

Falselight is a phenomenon that appears to occur solely in Camorr. At sunset each evening, from the heights of the Five Towers to the artificial reefs beneath the slate- colored waves, Falselight radiates from every surface and every shard of Elderglass in Camorr, from every speck of the alien material left so long before by the creatures that had first shaped the city. 

Every night, as the west finally swallows the sun, the glass bridges become threads of firefly light; the glass towers and glass avenues and the strange glass sculpture-gardens shimmer wanly with violet and azure and orange and pearl white, and the moons and stars fade to gray. This is twilight in Cammor. It marks the end of work for the last daylight laborers, the calling of the night watches and the sealing of the landward gates. 

Falselight lasts approximately an hour, shining a supernatural radiance across the city that eventually gives way to true night.

camorri winds

There are primarily two wind systems that impact the city of Camorr. This consists of The Duke’s Wind, a rush of fresh, salty air that rushes in from the Iron Sea each day and The Hangman’s Wind, a muggy gust that blows back out to the sea each night carrying the smells of sewage, rotting marshes, and agriculture.

camorri seasons

The Camorri generally see four seasons similar to a temperate subtropical/mediterranean locale.

• Winter: hard, driving rains are common. temperatures are mild, never quite becoming cold enough to snow.
• Spring: temperatures become slightly warmer, and precipitation remains high.
• Summer: dryer than winter, but still humid. misty squalls are common. temperatures become nearly unbearable for much of the mid-summer.
• Autumn: temperatures begin to fall, and precipitation returns with more gusto as winter nears.

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medical science

• Medical science in Camorr is approximately equivalent to the real-world medical beliefs and practices of the 17th-19th centuries (and sometimes earlier). This encompasses several core beliefs and practices:
• the miasma theory is popular at present; the germ theory of disease has yet to be discovered and it is believed that epidemics and disease are spread through “bad air”; this includes a belief that light drives back malodorous air and prevents infection
• hygiene is not particularly stressed, and though plumbing is present the poor especially are impacted by factors that facilitate disease and infection such as unsafe drinking water, poor working conditions, cramped living quarters, and so on
• humoral theory is practiced, and “balancing the humors” is considered to be the most impactful treatment, accomplished primarily through purging excess humors through bloodletting, diuresis, and so on
• the study of anatomy and the human body in general is in its early stages; the Guild of Alchemists and Physikers are entitled by ducal charter to a number of corpses pulled from the gallows for dissection and study, but research is inexact and incomplete
• medical instruments are crude and include bone saws and so on; medical treatments include various methods–some effective, some placebo, and some actively harmful–including various poultices, tonics, purgatives, and cure-alls
• alchemy is also believed to be a core field of medical science, and alchemists often brew various medicines, poisons, and so forth

practioners

There are three primary medical practitioners recognized by the Camorri as experts or near-experts in treating illness and curing wounds. There is, however, no real regulation regarding who is able to practice medicine or what proper medical treatment consists of.

The “best” medical professionals–whose services are, accordingly, the most expensive–are those belonging to The Guild of Alchemists and Physikers. These are, generally speaking, individuals that have completed secondary-level education and studied to some degree at the Therin Collegium. The top-recognized credential is the Master’s Ring in Alchemy. In this sense, alchemists and physikers are more-or-less indistinguishable: they commit to the same studies. The difference is primarily one of practice–generally, alchemists take a hands-off approach and brew concoctions, cures, and treatments that they sell to customers, whereas physikers tend directly to patients.

The services of physikers are not accessible to all, however. Those unable to afford the services of physikers–or those engaged in less savory lines of business that need utmost discretion in their treatment–generally turn not to physikers but to dog-leeches. “Dog-leech” is the common name for a physiker that holds no credentials and is not formally recognized as a member of the Guild, but nonetheless practices medicine. Their pharmaceutical counterpart, “black alchemists,” similarly have no formal credentials but are willing to brew and sell treatments, poisons, and various unseemly substances.

The trouble with dog-leeches, of course, is that one takes one’s chances with their abilities and credentials. Some really are trained healers, fallen on hard times or banished from the profession for crimes such as grave-robbing. Others are merely improvisers, applying years’ worth of practical knowledge acquired tending to the results of bar fights and muggings. A few others are entirely mad, or homicidal, or—charmingly—both.

illnesses

The Black Whisper is an infamous plague that is known to circulate especially egregiously in the more impoverished areas of Camorr, though it is devastating for any community unlucky enough to be afflicted by this disease. The Black Whisper is a guaranteed miserable death for anyone over the age of eleven or twelve; those younger, however, experience only a few days of harmless swollen eyes, bleeding lips, and red cheeks.

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technology

Like in medicine, technologies generally at this time are approximately equivalent to what was seen in the 17th through 19th centuries. Given that this is a significant stretch of time, for practical purposes this is intentionally somewhat vague and undefined. Coal and steam power are used in early industrialization efforts and metal forging. Magic and alchemy have spurred on innovation in some areas; however, other areas of study are still quite crude. 

Clothing technologies, for example, remain quite stilted. Plastics and synthetic fibers are not used. Instead, agriculture and manual labor sustains much of the clothing industry. Leathers, cottons, wool, linens, and silks make up the fabric of the times. Ornamentation, embroidery, beading, hand-dying, and so on are used to elevate certain garments, with the requisite price hikes. Most work is done by hand via tailors and their apprentices. The industry is upheld by technologies like spinning wheels, cotton gins, power looms, and so on.

The printing press is in its early days. Paper–especially printed books–are prohibitively expensive for most. Scrolls and parchment are still somewhat common.

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recreation

games & sports

gambling

As in real life, gambling varies widely from low-class gambling dens to chance-houses of quality, such as the Sinspire casino in Tal Verrar. Dice games are common among lower classes, while card games and board games (like Catch-the-Duke, a Camorri form of chess) are especially popular among the wealthy. 

Card Games: the card suits are Spires, Sabers, Chalices, and Flowers.

• Carousel Hazard: an expensive card game for two teams of two; at the end of each hand, the losing team was randomly dispensed two vials from the carousel’s great store of little bottles; these held liquor, mixed with sweet oils and fruit juice to disguise the potency of any given drink. The only way a game could end was for a player to become too drunk to keep playing.
• Blind Alliances: a card game played at a circular table with tall, specially designed barriers before each player’s hands so that everyone but the person directly across from them (their partner) could see at least some of their cards.
• Rich-Man, Beggar-Man, Soldier-Man, Duke: a card game that revolves around attempting to cheat one’s neighbor out of every last bent copper at their disposal.

handball

Handball is a rough sport for the rough classes, played between two teams on any reasonably flat surface that can be found. The ball itself is a rubbery mass of tree latex and leather about six inches wide. The field is somewhere between twenty and thirty yards long, with straight lines marked (usually with chalk) at either end. Each team tries to move the ball across the other side’s goal line. The ball must be held in both hands of a player as he runs, steps, or dives across the end of the field.

The ball may be passed freely from player to player, but it must not be touched with any part of the body below the waist, and it must not be allowed to touch the ground, or possession will revert to the other team. A neutral adjudicator, referred to as the “Justice,” attempts to enforce the rules at any given match, with varying degrees of success.

Matches are sometimes played between teams representing entire neighborhoods or islands in Camorr; and the drinking, wagering, and brawling surrounding these affairs always starts several days beforehand and ends when the match is but a memory. Indeed, the match is frequently an island of relative calm and goodwill in a sea of chaos.

literature & arts

Among the general populace, literacy rates are quite low due to the inaccessibility of paper and the printing press. However, nobles, the wealthy, and even the middling and merchant classes, at least, are expected to read and write to some degree. The elite, of course, will engage in tutoring in Throne Therin to distinguish their learning from commoners. However, any enterprising child or family of means is able to engage in a basic literary education. Some of those best-off may even go on to engage in more formal study at the Therin Collegium. But even those unable to read or write are likely to have some knowledge of famous plays through the attendance of performances by traveling and local theater troupes.

The Forty Corpses: The Forty Corpses is a slightly derisive common name for the forty famous plays that survived the fall of the Therin Throne empire. So-called corpses in part because they have been unchanged in some four or five centuries, the plays consist of works by playwright Caellius Lucarno (Tragedy of the Ten Honest Turncoats, The Empire of Seven Days, The Assassins Wedding, The Republic of Thieves, and so on), Mercallor Mentezzo, Viscora, Espadri, and so on.

The Korish Romances: Book of Therin Throne-era fairytales by Kimlarthen. Includes the famous tale of the Beast of Vuazzo and the knights that attempted to slay it.

substances

The Camorri people enjoy a wide variety of recreational substances, both legal and illicit. The poorest and richest alike indulge in various mind-altering substances. These can vary widely in cost, effect, ease of access, and so on. Some of the most common substances, however, include:

• Alcohol: Common ales, ciders, meads, brews, and wines are popular among the lower classes. The upper classes enjoy both the “common” products and more specialized liqueurs and specialized alcoholic beverages enhanced via alchemy. 
  • Austershalin Brandy: Sourced from Emberlain. Aged for a minimum of seven years after distillation and blending. Enhanced via proprietary alchemical soil additives. Due to the alchemical enhancements, it is very sought-after and expensive, in no small part due to the virtue of never causing a hangover. A half-gallon bottle of the most recent variety retails for 30 Crowns.
  • Burgle: a strong,  thick, dark Tal Verrari beer usually flavoured with a few drops of almond oil.
  • Mirror Wine: Tal Verrari wine flavoured with anise and juniper. Named for the reflective silvery appearance of the wine that indeed acts as a mirror in a glass.
  • Misc. Wines: Verrari Mint Wine; Nacozza retsina (dark red); Mulled Apple Wine; Verrari Aphrodisiac Wine; Kameleona (“shifting wine”); Lashani Blue; Camorri White; Anscalani; ajento (cooking wine)
  • Liquors: White Plum Austershalin; Milky Pear Brandy
  • Serpent Wine: alchemical, emerald sludge that roils the stomach and sets the blood pounding in one’s temples. often used to take bets on how many glasses one can stomach.
• Drugs:
  • Tobacco & Pipes: Includes cigarette, cigar, and pipe products such as Jeremite tobacco, Jeremite blackroot, and the Syresti-leaf cigar.
  • Gaze: Highly addictive substance often plaguing the poorest of the poor. Users of this drug are derogatively known as “Gazers.” The drug is administered through eye drops that are squeezed onto one’s eyeball and results in hallucinatory visions.
  • Akkadris dust: Very expensive alchemical drug also known as the “Muse-of-Fire” or “the poet killer.” A highly potent stimulant that lights fire to the mind and results in uncontrollable shaking. Highly addictive powder that is typically inhaled and is extremely easy to overdose. Users of the drug are derogatively known as “dustheads.”
  • Opium Milk: A very expensive narcotic made from dried Jeremite poppies; favored by wealthy and elite women with nervous disorders.
  • Jeremite Narcotic Powders: Various other narcotic substances inhaled, smoked, or injected for pain relief and euphoria. Addictive and commonly combined with alcohol.

culinary arts

The Camorri people are especially dedicated to the culinary arts as a craft, and maintain an active Guild of Chefs that take their studies very seriously. Camorri fine cuisine consists of eight styles, known as the Eight Beautiful Arts of Camorr. Guild Chefs–the masters of the Eight Beautiful Arts–wear cream-yellow ceremonial robes and black scholars’ caps and have intricate black tattoos on each of the four fingers of their hands, with each design representing mastery of one of the Eight Gourmet Forms.

• The First Beautiful Art of Camorr (vicce enta merre): the cuisine of sea-creatures.
• The Fifth Beautiful Art of Camorr (vicce alo apona):  desserts. 
• phantasmavola:  an Impossible Dish, an imaginary animal formed by joining the halves of two separate creatures during preparation and cooking.

Foods observed include:

• Spices/Ingredients:
  • Pinch-of-Gold Pepper
  • Jereshti olive oil
  • dried cinnamon-lemon rind
  • alchemical hybrid fruit
  • river-melons
  • underwater mushrooms of the Amathel
• Beverages:
  • Ginger Scald
  • punch made from pale white and bruise-purple wines
  • thick Jereshti coffee
• Appetizers:
  • platter of infant sharks
  • peppers w/spinach-almond stuffing
  • Thresher-fish tails wrapped in bacon and soaked in vinegar
  • chilled soup, heavy tomato base seasoned with peppers and onions, with sea prawns floating in it
  • dumplings of thin bread folded over chicken seasoned with ginger and orange zest, fried until the bread was transluscent
  • stuffed eels in spice wine sauce
  • steaming buns stuffed with brined pork and dark vinegar sauce
  • mustard-steamed dumplings
• Main Courses:
  • stewed mutton with onions & ginger
  • roasted capon stuffed with garlick and onions
  • cold fillets of pickled shark meat w/lemon brownish fish broiled in orange juice
  • smoked rock eel in a caramel-brandy sauce, stuffed with apricots and soft yellow onions
  • grease blanketed duck
  • turtle and oyster ragout
  • stewed octopus
  • sausage and pears in oil
  • chicken marinated in almond wine
  • birds-a-bed (large morsels of several kinds of fowl on flaked pastry mattresses stuffed with spiced rice and leeks, given covers of onion and sour cream sauce)
  • a roast boar with the head of a salmon
  • Cockentrice: pig’s head with a roast capon body covered in brown caramel sauce and figs
  • pottage
• Sides:
  • boiled potatoes
  • cold black beans in wine and mustard sauce
  • grapes and figs scalded in a hot wine sauce
  • salted peas & lentils
  • coal-black truffles in malt and mustard sauce
• Desserts:
  • spicy fried bread with sweet onions drizzled with tart yellow yogurt
  • cherry cream cakes
  • cinnamon tarts
  • marzipan dragonflies
  • bread-pretzels
  • almond-crusted rolls
  • cored pears filled with melon cylinders or brandy cream
  • green apple tarts w/Austershalin brandy poured over
  • gelled orange slices, paper thin, arranged in whorls to resemble tulip blossoms
  • black bread & butter
  • “Likeness Cakes” – little frosted cakes made to look like real people
  • treacle tarts

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camorr

map of camorr

law & politics

law

Camorr is known to other peoples of the Continent as a harsh and unforgiving land. The laws of the land are definite and enforced aggressively. Punishments are infamous for being unnecessarily harsh and often deadly. Thievery, in particular, is harshly punished; pickpocketing and other forms of theft–for both the very young and very old alike–are most commonly punished via hanging. These executions are a public spectacle and intended to instill fear in Camorri citizens. As the Masters of the Ropes declare before each public execution: “For crimes of the body you shall suffer death of the body.”

Most other offenders are interred in the Palace of Patience, located in the Old Citadel district. The Old Citadel district had once been the home of the dukes of Camorr, centuries earlier, when all the city-states claimed by the Therin people had knelt to a single throne. A massive stone palace was built in the heart of the Old Citadel district to house the duke. Today, the duke’s personal residence has been recast as Raven’s Reach and this old palace was refitted as the heart of Camorr’s municipal justice. This is now known as the Palace of Patience.

The Palace of Patience is a monstrous, ten-story black and gray stone building. It features massive stained glass windows in various black and red designs and four open-topped circular towers jutting out from each corner of the Palace. Below each tower hangs black iron crow cages, in which prisoners singled out for special mistreatment are aired out with their feet dangling. The southeastern tower also hangs the spider cages, a half dozen cages on long steel chains that are powered by capstan labor into constant, agonizing movement.

The Palace of Patience has multiple functions–it holds the  headquarters of the yellowjackets and chambers of the duke’s magistrates, as well as the dungeons for long-term imprisonment or temporary holding of offenders. 

political actors

Since the fall of the Therin Throne, Camorr has self-governed via an absolute monarchy passed on by hereditary tradition. The current political landscape of Camorr consists of a few major groups that enforce and enact the laws of the land:

1. The Duke and his Functionaries
   1. Current Ruler: His Grace Duke Nicovante
   2. Residence: Raven’s Reach
   3. Duchy of Camorr: an inherited title that grants the leader of Camorr unlimited legislative and judicial powers; they ultimately decide and enforce the laws governing economics, taxes, crime, and so on
   4. Duke’s Functionaries: an array of delegates and representatives of the Duchy of Camorr granted administrative powers to act in the Duke’s interests; includes various scribes, tax collectors, and so on
2. The Red Chamber
   1. Duke’s Magistrates
      1. twelve individuals appointed by the Duke to act as the sole judges of the land and administrators of the laws of Camorr
      2. collectively referred to as the Red Chamber, so called due to the scarlet robes and velvet masks they wear to conceal their identities as they preside over cases
      3. their true identities are closely guarded secrets and are instead referred to in court solely by an assumed name, one for each month of the year (“Judge Festal,” “Judge Aurim,” etc)
      4. administer over both criminal and civil matters (Common Claims Court)
   2. Headquarters: Palace of Patience
3. Midnighters
   1. Headquarters: top secret; headed by the Spider
   2. the Duke’s secret police force and silent constabulary
   3. a top-secret force of spies and special agents
   4. communications are signed solely by a blue wax seal of a stylized spider sigil
4. The Nightglass Company
   1. Headquarters: Palace of Patience
   2. also known as blackjackets (for their black tabards) or  the Duke’s Own
   3. patrol the borders of Camorr and act as the Duke’s military power
   4. in peacetime, consist of approximately 1,000 standing army officers and 2,000 or so naval officers
   5. captains and higher ranking Nightglass agents are distinguished by silver lapel pins
5. Yellowjackets
   1. Headquarters: Palace of Patience
   2. also known as The City Watch
   3. so-named for their uniforms, mustard-yellow tabards
   4. patrol the city of Camorr in pairs, squads, or battalions, with a more visible presence in the wealthiest districts of the city
   5. vigilant peacekeepers that enforce the laws of the city and enact violence via batons or restraints when the need arises
6. Quarantine Guard
   1. Headquarters: Palace of Patience
   2. also known as The Duke’s Ghouls
   3. a small but heavily-armed and well-paid special constabulary force that work close to quarantined areas and the very ill
   4. survivors of plagues are impressed into the service by law, given their natural immunities

currency

• Mintage (from lowest to highest value):
  • (Copper) Baron (equivalent to approx $20 USD today)
    • often shaved down further into half-coppers
  • (Silver) Solon (equivalent to approx $125 USD today)
  • (Gold) Tyrin (equivalent to approx $1,250 USD today)
  • (White Iron) Crown (equivalent to approx $5,000 USD today)
• Currency Exchange
  • 240 Barons = 40 Solons = 10 Tyrins = 1 Crown
• Frames of Reference
  • Yellowjacket’s annual salary = 6 white iron crowns (~$30,000)
  • Ferry Ride = 1 half-copper baron (~$10)

neighborhoods & places

the five towers

The Five Towers are the most prominent structures in the city–impossibly tall towers that were made by no man. These are arcane structures left by the Eldren, made of Elderglass. The original purpose of these towers is impossible to know. Today, they have been repurposed as homes of Camorr’s greatest and wealthiest families, with a network of glassine cables made of Elderglass and cargo baskets connecting the tops of the towers and inner workings of these grand palaces to the ground levels and to each other.

Each of the Towers is home to one of the Five Grand Families, Camorr’s wealthiest and best-connected nobles.

• Dawncatcher
  • easternmost and the smallest of the towers
  • 80 feet wide and 400 feet tall
  • shimmery silver-red in color
  • home to ?
• Blackspear
  • behind Dawncatcher, slightly taller
  • an obsidian glass, with an iridescent sheen
  • home to Enrico Botallio, Count Blackspear and family
• Raven’s Reach
  • central tower, largest and grandest of all
  • a molten silver colored glass tower crowned by the Sky Garden at the very top
  • palace of the Duke and home to the Nicovante family
• Amberglass
  • amber-colored tower
  • decorated with elaborate flutings that produce eerie melodies in the winds
  • Elderglass windchime atop the tower is unlatched each hour to single the time
  • home to Dowager Countess Angiavesta Vorchenza and the Vorchenza family
• Westwatch
  • westernmost of the towers
  • violet tourmaline, shot through with veins of snow-white pearl
  • home to ?

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non-residential districts

coin-kisser’s row

• Camorr’s financial district–the oldest and debatably richest on the Continent–featuring rows of countinghouses along the Via Camorrazza
• characterized by lacquered woodwork, silk awnings, and marble facades
• The Meraggio Countinghouse: also known as Meraggio’s, operated by Giancana Meraggio; the largest and grandest countinghouse, four-stories tall with both public and private galleries servicing clients
• The Bonaduretta Countinghouse: also known as Bonaduretta’s; a lesser but still extravagant and grand countinghouse

the shifting market

• unnatural lake surrounded by breakwaters that allow for hundreds of floating merchants and customers
• a shifting and chaotic marketplace with various merchants and craftspeople selling wares, such as spices, alchemical fruits, and various goods

temple district

• religious center of the city of Camorr that houses Temples to the twelve Therin gods, including the House of Perelando, The Temple of Iono, and so on

old citadel

• center of the Camorri government, home to canal docks and stables reserved for the yellowjackets, offices for the duke’s tax collectors and scribes and other functionaries, and so on; some small coffeehouses and freelance solicitors are headquartered here as well
• The Palace of Patience: headquarters of the yellowjackets, the Red Chamber, and the Camorri dungeons; connected to the Mara Camorazza by the Black Bridge, a human-made black stone bridge from which executioners hang criminals

twosilver green

• semipublic gardens located along the Angevine River, featuring crushed-stone paths and walls of greenery
• guarded closely by yellowjackets for enjoyment almost exclusively by Camorr’s wealthiest citizens
• it is said that consummating a union in Twosilver Green before Falselight will bring a couple what they desire most in a child
• The Eldren Arch: a broad, ornately carved Elderglass bridge spanning the Angevine River and connecting Twosilver Green to the western Alcegrante

mara camorazza

• an openly dangerous park in Camorr, largely abandoned by the Yellowjackets and a favorite spot for pickpocketing; favored only for its network of footbridges connecting eight other islands
• once a garden maze for a rich governor of the Therin Throne era, now abandoned and overgrown

shades hill

• Camorr’s oldest cemetery and one-time favorite place of rest for the wealthy of the city
• few are still buried here today, as wars, plagues, and intrigues have ended most family lines left here
• The Thiefmaker’s Orphanage: a great network of tunnels and galleries dug between the major burial vaults connects to secretly house the Thiefmaker’s orphans, a collection of strays trained in pickpocketing and petty theft

beggars’ barrow

• place of rest for the majority of Camorr’s poor, where convicts dig pauper’s holes to inter those whose families are not able to afford proper burials

hill of whispers

• graveyard for today’s nobles, merchants, and other wealthy citizens, which offers monuments and vaults on commission

arsenal district

• home to Camorr’s military industries, including various saw-yards, warehouses, wet docks, and naval yards
• in times of relative peace, such as the Camorr of today, business here is rather slow

cenza gate

• a massive gate–fifteen yards wide with huge ironwood doors–that provides an opening for traffic to pass through the twenty-foot-thick city walls
• the gate is heavily manned by Yellowjackets and Nightglass Company alike, with guardhouses atop the side of each wall
• other frequent inhabitants are customs agents taxing imports and merchants marketing their wares to travelers

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wealthy districts

alcegrante

• four smaller islands stretching out before the opulence of the Five Towers, sloping up on grand hills as one gets closer to the river and the towers
• from west-to-east, the islands are: Isla Vescovia, Isla Zantara, Isla Marella, Isla Durona
• home of the wealthiest Camorri beyond the Five Grand Families, including minor nobles and greater commoners
• features large shaded manors on neat, tree-lined stone streets; home to walled gardens, elaborate fountains, and white stone villas
• House of Glass Roses: Camorr’s most exclusive school of arms; a five-story silver Elderglass tower and home to the Garden Without Fragrance, a maze of Elderglass roses that will drain human blood from those foolish enough to graze the razor-sharp thorns; the school is headed by Don Tomsa Maranzalla, Master of the House of Glass Roses

fountain bend

• a respectable and heavily patrolled upper-class neighborhood favored for its proximity to Twosilver Green, featuring broad avenues and large gardens
• Zakasta’s Confectionary: a well-to-do bakery for the nobles and elite of Camorr, selling alchemically-enhanced baked goods such as crown cake

north corner

• an upper-class neighborhood home to many traders and merchants, featuring several well-to-do and outrageously priced markets

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middle-class districts

the fauria

• crowded island of multi tiered stone apartments and rooftop gardens

the quiet

• suburban-esque island with neat rows of average-sized houses

razona

• quiet, safe, and well-lit district of primarily townhouses and small homes, home to many middle-class professionals such as solicitors and law scribes 
• the border of the island facing the docks is peppered with a row of warehouses

videnza

• a clean and spacious district interspersed with both well-maintained  residential and commercial lots, well-patrolled by the Yellowjackets
• homes here traditionally have roof tiles decoratively glazed in bright and irregular colors, such as blues and reds and greens
• The Videnza Market: at the center of the island, the Market is a more stationary and less chaotic version of the Shifting Market, where artisans and craftspeople sell their wares; in this square market, shops are operated from busy stalls manned by street vendors as well as rows of various shops bordering the square

millfalls

• a primarily business-oriented district peopled by many merchants and professionals and favored for its proximity to the Five Towers, the Cenza Gate, and the Falls
• bisected by a well-tended cobble street named the Street of Seven Wheels named for the wheels generating energy to power grain mills and so on dotting the Angevine River this close to the Falls

beyond cenza gate

• beyond Camorr proper are various small neighborhoods of stone and wooden buildings, where many merchants and lower-middle class Camorri live in proximity to the city walls

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impoverished districts

the dregs

• a deeply impoverished district victim to erosion and the creeping invasion of swampwater into the neighborhoods filled with sagging homes, packed tenements, and abandoned warehouses
• has a high rate of crime and murder and is ill-frequented by Yellowjackets
• The Unbroken Jar: at the far northeastern tip of the Dregs; disreputable bar, brothel, and gambling den. averages a death every night or two. held in trust by the Black Breeze (gang) and run by “old, one-handed, rheumatic Botari.”

the cauldron

• the absolute worst and most destitute district; Yellowjackets rarely if ever venture into this district, which is run primarily by the most violent and least restrained gangs of Camorr
• a densely populated district–housing some one in every three of the Right People of Camorr–packed into crowded tenements and dilapidated homes
• where the majority of the brawlers’ taverns, Gaze dens, and itinerant gambling circles of Camorr are located

the narrows

• a valley of warrens and hovels at the northernmost tip of the bad part of the city
• features leaning rows of tenement houses and windowless shops jutted from the tiers of the great kidney-shaped valley, tightly-packed with paths carved out that rarely allow for the passing of more than two persons abreast
• The Elderglass Vine: a seedy tavern located in a sagging three-story beast of weather-warped wood, covered inside and out with dangerous rickety stairs; a popular haunt of Gaze addicts and pipe smokers

the wooden waste

• a body of water open to the sea on its south side, acting as Camorr’s maritime graveyard, filled with floating junk and dangerous ocean intruders
• The Floating Grave: a decommissioned and dismasted hulking military galleon from the shipyards of Tal Verrar; anchored in the Waste as the acting palace of Capa Barsavi
• No-Hope Harza’s: a seedy little pawnshop on the edge of the Waste, headed by a proprietor friendly to the Capa and willing to overlook the less-than-savory origins of goods traded in here

coalsmoke

• home to much of Camorr’s metalworking industry, upheld by coal-powered forges that leave thick the air thick with mushrooming ash clouds 
• a large, poor district with sagging houses, large tenement buildings, and massive metalworking factories and forges

ashfall

• a poor district–worse than the Dregs and Coalsmoke, but slightly better than the Cauldron–covered in a thick layer of grime
• as its name implies, the forge clouds from Coalsmoke are carried by the Duke’s Wind and settle over the tenements and abandoned warehouses in this district

catchfire

• a poor district–slightly better off than Ashfall, Coalsmoke, and so on–where residents are still crammed in densely packed and often unsanitary quarters
• as in other poor districts, the presence of Yellowjackets is sparse and there is a greater-than-average presence of gang activity here

redwater

• poor district home to many seedy and low-income businesses, including the offices of many dog leeches

rustwater

• a sparsely inhabited poor district surrounding the Rustwater Lagoon; rumors hold that the lagoon is home to something far older and more fearsome than any wolf shark
• The Echo Hole: a hundred-foot gray stone cube, with the stone walls mortared together by a dull Elderglass; a hole in its center is where an aqueduct from the Angevine River empties out, sending down a small waterfall into the deep, dark catacombs below; as with other ruins left behind by the Eldren, its purpose is unknown

the snare

• a low, crowded, and impoverished district where Camorr’s navy and visiting sailors from across the Continent gather together when they make landfall
• a seedy district that caters to the needs of sailors, be that at alehouses, gambling dens, or brothels; frequented by various criminals, pickpockets, muggers, prostitutes, and so on
• The Broken Tower: located at the very northern tip of the Snare; a ninety-foot tall Elderglass tower that was found by Camorr’s settlers already sliced and cracked through–damaged by some dangerous unknown in Camorr’s distant past; today, it has been pieced together with wood, paint, and hope, and features several floors of rooms for let connected by a dangerous, spindly external staircase circling the outside of the tower
• The Last Mistake: an infamous crook’s tavern that takes up the entire first floor of The Broken Tower; a frequent haunt of Camorr’s gangs and other gems of the underworld
• The House of the Guilded Lilies: also located at the northern tip of the Snare; an ornate and well-maintained brothel under the control of the Guilded Lilies

dockside

• a poorer district located along the docks where merchant vessels and other visiting ships are parked

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right people

the right people of camorr

The Right People of Camorr are united by two respects: 1) they are part of the Camorri underworld, and 2) they share a heretical belief in the Unnamed Thirteenth, the Crooked Warden, the god of thieves that expands upon the pantheon of twelve traditional Therin gods. The Right People are thieves, crooks, criminals, and various other lawbreakers that primarily make a living upon illicit trade, confidence games, cons, criminal activity, or some other primary means of illicit income.

This year, the 77th Year of Dama Elliza, the Right People have become united under one ultimate gang-leader, Capa Vencarlo Barsavi. Vencarlo Barsavi was a scholar of rhetoric at the Therin Collegium and later a prominent  gang leader in Tal Verrar. When he moved to Camorr five years prior, he began whittling away at the thirty warring capas of Camorr and subsuming their gangs into his own. Now, Barsavi is the sole recognized Capa of Camorr. His headquarters is located at the Floating Grave in the Wooden Waste.Each gang is permitted their own territory in Camorr and is led by one garrista, a gang-leader that reports to the Capa. Each garrista is responsible for their pezons, “little soldiers” or gang members, and must pay weekly tithes to the Capa.

the secret peace

The key to Capa Barsavi’s success as Capa is The Secret Peace. This is a standing agreement made between the Capa and the Duke, handled through one of the duke’s agents. Per the agreement, the gangs of Camorr must not touch the nobles; they agree to leave alone those ships, drays, and crates bearing a legitimate coat of arms. They are disallowed from targeting the Grand Families, lesser nobles, and/or members of the Yellowjackets or Nightglass Company.

In exchange, Barsavi is the de facto ruler of a few of several Camorri districts: Catchfire, the Narrows, the Dregs, the Wooden Waste, the Snare, and parts of the docks. Further, Yellowjackets are encouraged to “overlook” certain crimes or avoid patrols in certain areas. Thus, travelers from beyond Camorr, sailors docked at port, and the less fortunate of Camorr are all unofficial “legitimate” targets of crime for the Right People.

Further, murder is severely restricted among the Right People of Camorr. Especially for other members of the underworld, permission to kill a pezon requires a significant payment and the express permission of Capa Barsavi. This permission is solidified via a death-mark, a wolf-shark tooth granted to the debt holder that acts as the Capa’s seal of approval on carrying out the death of his pezon.

gangs of camorr

• The Docksies (prostitutes; pay reduced tithes)
• The Guilded Lillies (prostitutes; pay reduced tithes)
• The Passing Fancies (prostitutes; pay reduced tithes)
• The Arsenal Boys
• The Black Breeze
• The Black Eyes
• The Black Twists
• The Canal Jumpers
• The Catchfire Barons
• The Falselight Cutters
• The Full Crowns
• The Grave Walkers (work closely for Barsavi)
• The Gray Faces
• The Red Hands (work closely for Barsavi)
• The Rum Hounds
• The Wise Mongrels