Community Idea: Settlements!

[IanFordam]

I don't disagree with any of what you said, Speedy, but none of that changes the likelihood that Meph is right. It's just a matter of when the countdown begins in earnest.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I don't disagree with any of what you said, Speedy, but none of that changes the likelihood that Meph is right. It's just a matter of when the countdown begins in earnest.

Well it is a nice scenario to find his body in the woods (or maybe he recently died from White Fever) and while investigating his death they learn about the claim he made.

[IanFordam]

Well it is a nice scenario to find his body in the woods (or maybe he recently died from White Fever) and while investigating his death they learn about the claim he made.

Alternatively, Alskel's odds of survival might also improve if a band of adventurers gets involved.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Morguhald

A small town near the southern Misty border of Sithicus, Morguhald is inhabited by a mix of elves, half-elves, halflings, afflicted kender and humans. For a wonder, none of the locals seem to be interested in engaging in speciesism - or any other kind of social interaction.
While the townsfolk efficiently work together to tend their meagre acres and share the fields' equally meagre yields, they prefer to keep to themselves at other times. They will converse when such is necessary, but no more than is strictly needed.

Visitors to Morguhald are grudgingly welcomed, so long as they keep the peace.
The town's one inn, the Impaled Count, is open to strangers. As a matter of fact, it is used only by visitors, who are free to use any room they want and cook their own meals, using the preserved food in the inn's cellars. There are no cooks, nor wait staff.
If visitors express a genuine need for anything the villagers can provide - simple food, repairs to clothes and equipment - they will give it without demanding payment.
There is no crime in Morguhald, and no one will run to tell the Politskara or whisper to Inza's shadows that here are strangers for the reaping.
Neither is there anything approaching joy, or friendliness. No songs are sung, no tales are told, no beer is shared, no meat is roasted. A grim silence hangs over the town even at the best of times. Once strangers have what they have expressed a need for, have eaten and rested at the inn, they are bluntly asked to be on their way.

The truth is that Morguhald is home to a monastic order, the Grey Children, which has disguised itself as a more 'normal' community in order to escape undue attention. Every inhabitant has at least two ranks in the Monk class. When not engaging in the day-to-day activities required to maintain their disguise as normal villagers, the Grey Children meditate and train their bodies in their huts, in privacy.
The only time a Monk is likely to share the sanctity of their hut is when they are training a novice.

[IanFordam]

I appreciate that Morguhald has a secret... but it's not a evil secret.

[Speedwagon]

Lovely settlement Rock! Thanks for posting on the thread!

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I'm glad you guys liked Morguhald, and did up a Mistipedia article. Comments welcomed!

[IanFordam]

Tabtsted
way station in Hazlan

The ruins of the Vossath Nor are scattered across Hazlan, each one taunting would-be treasure hunters with the possibility of archaic yet powerful magic. This way station was originally established in the Dunlan as the main camp for an expedition to a nearby ruin. The ruin, initially very promising, proved fruitless, and it was abandoned. However, because a Red Wizard had already expended magic to create a well, the camp became a way station. Other expeditions stop here on their way to other ruins.

The way station is operated by a woman named Jagety Ruve. She is clearly of Nova Vaasan descent, although she will not explain how she ended up in Hazlan. She tends a small garden which consists mostly of root vegetables. She occasionally hunts for small game, either for herself or for guests. Although she receives a small stipend from Toyalis to maintain the waystation, she is always happy for tips. Occasionally a cask of beer is delivered from the city. She will share her beer with pleasant guests, which they may not appreciate unless they have a high tolerance for the taste of hops. Unpleasant guests may discover the hard way that she once studied at the Red Academy.

Jagety Ruve works for both the Red Academy and the Iron Faith (although neither knows that she works for the other). Her assignment from both employers is identical: to report any sign that someone has made an actual discovery deeper into the Dunlan.

[Edited to rename the original name, Hope's End, to Tabtsted.]

[Strahdsbuddy]

I love the intrigue in Hazlan, I just wonder if the inn should have a more Hazlani name rather than share with a village in Mordent. Hazlan in all editions is in need of more development, more secrets to uncover, and more reason to go over the Balinoks to get there.

[IanFordam]

D'OH. Thanks for catching the duplicated name! A new name has been chosen...

[alhoon]

I actually like Tabsted. However, the presence of a "Red Wizard" that created a well sounds puzzling to me. Till a few years ago, there were no arcanists allowed. The presence of a Red wizard implies this is a new thing construction.
Also, she is also a wizard, probably young one despite being a foreigner. Did Hazlik took in his academy foreigners? That would be somewhat strange.

So, I would present, with your permission, I slight change:
She is a low-level sorceress that "came from Nova Vaasa"... while she is secretly a member of the Fraternity of Shadows and came from Richemulot. Heh heh heh.

[IanFordam]

I actually like Tabsted. However, the presence of a "Red Wizard" that created a well sounds puzzling to me. Till a few years ago, there were no arcanists allowed. The presence of a Red wizard implies this is a new thing construction.

The Red Academy was founded in 740BC. I use 760BC as the current day. Even if ten years are required to educate some Red Wizard enough to cast dig, that still gives us plenty of time afterward for Tadtsted to transition from camp to way station. Or am I misunderstanding your concern?

Also, she is also a wizard, probably young one despite being a foreigner. Did Hazlik took in his academy foreigners? That would be somewhat strange.

I could have sworn there was some precedent for non-Hazlani at the Red Academy, but I cannot track it down. I'm probably just hallucinating again...

So, I would present, with your permission, I slight change:
She is a low-level sorceress that "came from Nova Vaasa"... while she is secretly a member of the Fraternity of Shadows and came from Richemulot. Heh heh heh.

I chose Nova Vaasa so that Jagety Ruve would have some connection to the Iron Faith in addition to her history with the Red Academy. I wanted her to be caught between competing obligations. In particular, I wanted those obligations to be two local factions so that Tabtsted might feel more specifically Hazlani.

(Oh, and my thought was that she would be a non-Hazlani so that she could be outside of the Mulan/Rashemani dynamic. She lives in the social margin as well as the geographical.)

That said, especially given my misimpression about foreigners in the Red Academy, I'm open to tweaking her background. A sorceress from Richemulot? I'm good with that. Do you have any thoughts how she might have gotten caught between the red wizards and the iron priests? (Or other Hazlani factions?)

Thanks for the feedback!

[alhoon]

"I could have sworn there was some precedent for non-Hazlani at the Red Academy, but I cannot track it down. I'm probably just hallucinating again..."
Eleni of Toyalis is Rashemani and still faces a lot of issues - although it may be because the Mulans are jelly that Hazlik's protege and already a powerful spellcaster (by the time of the Gaz she's level 9) is Rashemani.
There may or may not have been non-Hazlani people admitted but it would be peculiar if someone had not taken an interest in her and they let her just do what she wanted with the magic they taught her.

No, my concerns had to do with what you described; I have not realized it was 20 years since the Red academy opened.

As for her being From Richemulot: No need to make changes, it was what I would do, because it suits me better.
How it would happen? A plant from the Fraternity of Shadows. Keep an eye on what those new spellcasters are doing. And being a spy for some far-away arcane institution... why not become a spy for more local institutions? A kind of information broker that feeds the info back to her masters hiding in the shadows - her Brothers in the shadows - playing a dangerous game of balance and walking a tightrope, but so far successfully.

[IanFordam]

Nova Vaasa or Richemulot, Red Academy or Fraternity of Shadows... Any which way, I'm glad I planted a seed that you found interesting in Tabtsted.

[alhoon]

Oh, it is "Nova vaasa" as in, she pretends to be from there. I.e. if I use her, that's what she would claim. And she would have spent time with the Red Academy, as a low-key wizard, but she would not stay for long before she left to take over this place.

Probably Eleni of Toyalis had a hand to get people to not bother Ruve too much - in Eleni's unending effort to scandalize as she patronizes a random minor foreigner mage.