Hell_Born wrote: Mon May 06, 2024 1:13 am
I appreciate the suggestions, Mephisto. Ended up dropping them in the hills surrounding Ramulai and had them stumble across it after fighting off some tentacle rats. Any advice on their first interactions, beyond what S has to say about the attitudes of the Rashemani serfs living there? In particular, do we know anything about how the Red Academy is laid out or what it looks like?
From the
Unapproachable East Forgotten Realms.
Text in parenthesis have been changed or suggest that they should be changed to reflect Hazlan not Thay.
RASHEMI
The common people in Hazlan are almost exclusively Rashemi. The Rashemi are a hardy people, short and stocky with dusky skin and dark eyes. They all have thick, dark hair, (the few wealthy Rashemi choose to shave their scalps or at the least, crop their hair quite short to distinguish themselves from slaves, who are forbidden to cut their hair). (Rashemi are forbidden to tattoo themselves in the Mulan style).
Rashemi do not have the same opportunities for advancement or wealth that people of Mulan descent do, but they think of themselves as (Hazlani) first. The Rashemi are not happy about having the Mulan as their overlords, but they are resigned to their lot and take fierce pride in the strength and dark majesty of their land. Any Rashemi with sufficient means owns slaves, and most likely treats those slaves as harshly as they are treated anywhere in Hazlan. Few apprentice wizards are of Rashemi descent, but Rashemi make up the bulk of Hazlan’s free soldiers. Many of the most elite military forces are composed of cruel Rashemi warriors who are happy to serve the vrayloks and apprentice wizards.
Life and Society
There are four levels of Thayan society. They are, in order of increasing influence: slaves, commoners, nobles, and Red Wizards. It’s no coincidence that this is also the decreasing order of population. There are far more slaves in Thay than any other group, but they have the least power. The Red Wizard's apprentices, on the other hand, have few members but easily the most power.
THE RED WIZARDS (I changed this so it can be applied to the Academy)
At an early age, noble children are carefully examined for any signs of arcane talent. Any who are shown to have even a small aptitude are immediately inducted into wizardry school, followed by a long and arduous apprenticeship to the Academy.
It’s illegal for any apprentice to refuse the red robes, but this is rare: Becoming an apprentice to the Red Wizard is such an obvious path to power. At any given time, Hazlk claims up to a dozen apprentices (in game terms, wizards who have not yet acquired their first level in the Red Wizard prestige class), and apprentice wizards whom he keeps at one another’s throats to advance his own schemes. Apprentices exist to serve as Hazlik’s agents, minions, and thralls. What magical training they gain in the process is determined solely by their own ambition and initiative.
Only apprentice wizards are permitted to wear red robes, their badge of office. The penalty for posing as one is instant death at the hands of the wizard to uncover the deception.
The Academy is ruled by Hazlik and the practice of Necromantic spells is forbidden.
LAW AND ORDER
Anyone, foreigner or Hazlan, traveling in Hazlan must carry a pass issued by a satrap allowing the traveler to use specific roads and visit specific cities. All satraps delegate the task of issuing passes to minor officials and officers, which means that a travel permit for most points can be purchased with a suitable bribe (generally, 10 to 50 gp for foreigners). Soldiers, messengers, and officials engaged in the performance of their duties are exempt from the requirement to obtain permission to travel, but they generally carry tokens of their authority.
Outsiders traveling without authorization find it difficult, if not impossible, to move about. Patrols constantly scour the roads and byways, searching for escaped slaves (and the occasional brigand, criminal, or foreign spy). The penalty for being caught is usually death. Those found inside the Red Wizard’s estate, on the other hand, are in for an even worse fate as the subject of painful magical experiments.
The laws of Hazlan are simple, and the penalties are brutal. They are mostly concerned with establishing who’s in power. The tharchions and zulkirs consult a set of tomes known as the Library of Law when faced with a serious problem. However, most of the time, the authorities ignore these books in favour of expediency. These are the most important laws of Hazlan.
- Only apprentices to the Red Wizard may wear red robes, so that all shall be able to identify them instantly.
- Do not steal from other Hazlani or harm their belongings, especially their slaves.
- Do not kill or harm another Hazlani. (In practice, this means, “Do not kill or harm anyone from your class or above.”)
- Obey the orders of your betters.
The proscription against wearing red robes is unusual, but Hazlani take it so seriously that most refuse to dress in any clothing of that color. The penalty for being caught in such garb is execution on the spot. It’s rumored that some of the forces of the Red Wizard always carry a spare red robe or two. This is then supposedly thrown onto the body after the guards have killed someone, giving them an excuse for their actions.
The laws of Hazlan are enforced by whoever claims to have jurisdiction over the people involved or the location in which the disturbance occurred. In Hazlan, just about every Mulan employs slaves or commoners as private guards. The more powerful the person, the more numerous and more skilled the guards. In Hazlan, might makes right, and the Mulana have plenty of might. The trouble comes when more than one group of guards claims jurisdiction over any particular issue. This happens often, and when it does, a fight usually breaks out.
Outsiders are observed suspiciously throughout Hazlan. It’s hard for a party of adventurers to get into Hazlan without being watched.
THE GUILD OF FOREIGN TRADE
Thay’s foreign enclaves are administered through the Guild of Foreign Trade, headquartered in a vast complex of warehouses, vaults, and fortresslike offices dominating centre of Toyalis. The Guild issues licenses to Hazlani wishing to import or export goods, but in the last twenty years, its sponsorship of mercantile enclaves dealing in magic items has catapulted the Guild from a small, corrupt bureaucracy to a vast, corrupt, state-sponsored industry.
The guild is naturally obsessed with the safety of its valuable merchandise,and its vaults are guarded by skilled warriors, and monstrous creatures. Thousands of laborers and slaves toil at its docks and warehouses, loading and unloading the yellow-sailed dromonds that carry the output of magic workshops to Hazlani concessions and quarters across the river. The dromonds return even more heavily laden than they were when they set out, since most of the goods exchanged for Hazlani magic items are bulkier and heavier than a cargo of potions, scrolls, and wondrous items.
