The Seven Lakes, Part 2

Busy renovating the bathroom of our first house - when we moved in, we knew it had to happen, as the shower not working and the salmon pinky/orange & pale blue colours made it difficult to love.

But at we prepare to paint it all tomorrow (so the electrican can connect the lights and I can go biking in the weekend) here's something I found lurking in my drafts, following on, presumably, from an earlier post on the Seven Lakes region. It didn't get much use, but here's some flotsam from the streets of the city;

Things you might find on the streets of Rotogawa;

1. A rabble of goblins, wearing cast-offs and heavily modified human clothing, often with metal coins sewn into it.  These are usually found at the few major intersections, and they will politely (for a goblin) inquire if they can assist passers by with luggage, directions or running errands.  The price is always "a coin".  Any metal, make or design.  In fact, due to their protective value when sewn into clothing, copper and iron coins are more highly sought than gold or silver.

 The goblins of the Lake have been well and truly seduced by civilisation.  Their dirt warrens run alongside the garbage pile, of which the goblins revel in reclaiming and recycling any and all items discarded by other inhabitants.  They are even more docile and stupid than normal goblins too, which can generally be attributed to the brewings of Ezenal Thrump, a human Alchemist of little skill.  He has a large vat in his yard, though, which is fed by an ingenious rainwater collection pipe.  Into this, he piles all the dead vermin, cut hair, and venomous fungi he can collect.  The foetid, rank product is drained from the base of the vat into small clay flasks, that he sells (under the cover of darkness) to any goblin with a silver or richer coin.  If drunk by a human, it would induce unconsciousness, permanent nausea, and a dimming of all metal facilities.  Apparently, it does the same to goblins, but they enjoy the sensation.

2. Town Guards.  The most visible two are Tial and Shem, both born and raised locally, although their deep copper skin marks them as having family origins in the far side of the Empire.  Tial is slightly taller than average, well muscled but carrying some fat, with messy black hair and pretensions of facial hair. Shem is half a foot shorter and the same broader across the shoulders, and is much woollier.  They are scruffy, disreputable and streetsmart, and can take all the usual issues of the City in their stride.  Anything else is usually dealt with by them both disappearing to a local bar, and returning 15 minutes later, well liquored and ready to face anything.  They are usually on night shift, having annoyed their Captain, and will gladly spend their free, and working, time associating with sell-swords, hedge wizards, and thieves.

3. Hanazor Machin, a representative example of the local class of Alchemists.  Originally from one of the Islands in the Storm Reach, he arrived here 10 years ago on the trail of a fungus that could replace the need for honey in healing salves.  He found, instead, coloured clay that added extra potency to enhancement potions, frog eggs that altered the eater's voice, and a vast collection of mosses and ferns that he is still experimenting on.  For any alchemist in the City, roll a few times on a random potion chart and use modified versions of these as their unique 'specialities'.

Hanazor also found a local wife in the form of a younger daughter of an exiled Empire family, and now spends a lot of time exploring the local area, avoiding family feuding and complaining about historical actions.  He has located a cave below the surface of one of the smaller lakes, which leads to an airfilled chamber that contains an armoured skeleton sitting on a rock throne, holding a gleaming two-handed sword. Although he visits often to catch the larva of a particular mayfly (essential for a complicated and expensive light-green cordial that allows the drinker an untroubled nights sleep, regardless of curses, hauntings, or disease), he is terrified of disturbing the dead warrior.  He also has an agreement with a few goblins, to lead obviously rich travellers to his small but efficient shop. This has led to a few problems in the past, given the mental state of the average local goblin...

Average Gleaner

4. Gleaners; a viable profession in this area, at least for those who dislike normal work but thrive on danger, carefulness and risk (i.e those that would be petty thieves in most other cities).  As the community is rather close-knit, and the penalty of being caught stealing is having your hands cut off and being handed to the Lake Folk for their sacrifices to the Lake Gods, alternate options to get rich quick were sought.

The ruins of the Los Mehno produce little rich and exotic treasure without an equivalent amount of danger and effort, and these men and women possess little talent or stomach for hard, risky work. However, they have found that following along behind groups of armed treasure seekers as they spring or disarm traps, slay (or are slain by) undead or golem  guardians and solve tricky magical puzzles can produce some rewards to the cautious.

 The broken pottery vases containing a few coppers, chipped pewter plates, dented armour, strange bones or even tattooed skin cut from the hide of undead goblins that lurk in some sections. These are passed over by tomb robbers and treasure hunters, but can be stuffed (quietly) into a sack, and carried back, to sell to alchemists, tourists, minor gentry and the like, for a few coppers.

Occasionally something more exotic, expensive, or downright dangerous can be 'gleaned'. One example is the time Grazos the Mute, somewhat hopeless at everything in life except running away from things, discovered, in a little travelled and dusty chamber, a secret room. It was bare, except for the skeleton of a slain Swordswoman from the South, and a headless skeleton holding a glowing wand made of some crystal. Of course, a beggar, carrying a wand that fired glowing bolts at random, pursued by both the corpse of the Swordswoman and the skeleton (carrying it's elongated head under it's arm), caused a commotion or two, and even five years on, is a favoured tale in some of the less formal taverns.

The Seven Lakes, Part 1

So, was walking through a forest a few weekends ago, with summer finally trying to break through, and got a feeling about a new area for campaigning.  The feeling of sunlight through tall trees while walking a narrow path between a deep lake and a volcanic peak left something with me...

It's developed since then, with me attempting a map on the computer, rather than hand-drawn (it's a learning process), and deciding on a mash of the local landscape (volcanic lakes and forested mountains), the Ayleid Ruins from Oblivion, and a few other little ideas and inspirations.

The Seven Lakes are known far and wide across The Empire as a place of ethereal beauty and great danger, of volcanoes and lakes and ruins and a mighty cosmopolitan city. The truth is somewhat less impressive, but so few have travelled there and back to the Empire, that word of this never seems to take root.  And no-one likes undermining the wild stories and legends of the storytellers...

The City (Twin Streams, or Rotokawa in the local language) is reachable from the Empire to the West, across a vast plateau, formed from past volcanic ashfalls, but now grassed with copses of fast growing trees and occasional volcanic tors.  And to the North, a slightly narrower and muddier road follows river valleys, gorges and animal tracks, crossing three major rivers by ancient Dwarven bridges, to reach the sheltered coastal cities of the Storm Reach.  Traders, scholars and even occasional tourists flow along each of these to experience the charms of Rotokawa.

The City perches on the southern side of the largest and most Western lake, in a small caldera that shelters it from the constant winds, but also retains smoke, and gases from the copious geothermal fumaroles, geysers and streams.  The first impression of a traveller is of mud and water, and the low, almost water level huts of the native population clustered on the edge of the lake.  Soon, however, the roads become wooden walkways, with steaming warm water running beneath them, and close set square stone buildings huddle close together beside these.  There is no orientation or structure to the walkways that intermix with carved stone ledges, and the closeness and sameness of the buildings, and strangers are often lost.

Inside each building, shop or home, the utilitarian outside gives way to a riot of warm, rich colour and smells.  The many inns and hotels are all homely and welcoming, and one can be found for all persuasions and budgets.  Shops trade incense, crystals and cut gems and jewellery, or exotic fruit and fantastical fish (the fruit are grown in geothermally heated greenhouses, and the fish are caught by the native peoples from the depths of the Lake).  Alchemists brew, melt, combine and crush the rich local flora and fauna to provide the rich and the foolish with unique salves, ointments and potions, and local smiths forge copper, silver and quicksilver, and can treat iron and steel weapons and armours to avoid the corrosion the sulphurous air can cause.

The caldera walls contain the majority of the geothermal features, with small geysers feathering spray in most areas, and multicoloured seeps staining them various colours.  Several large, somewhat fortified estates perch outside the caldera, away from the heat, humidity and smell of the heated water, but they are at risk from local raiding goblins, and maintain met-at-arms at all times.

The native population are pale skinned, with little body hair and a mane of hair running down their neck, shaved over the ears.  They have slightly webbed fingers and toes, and live in circular reed walled huts over the lake waters, with a hole in the floor.  They call themselves the Sla-ho, but others refer to them simply as the Lake People.  They are comfortable in the water, and can hold their breath and dive for up to 5 minutes, far into the vent in the floor of the lake, gathering strange fish and molluscs, water plants and minerals under the waves.  Although forming close-knit family groups, away from the water they are surprisingly conversational and are good bargainers. Usually attired in loose fitting linen-like pants and sleeveless shifts, the Sla-ho never seem to leave the Lake surrounds, and none have ever expressed a desire to do so.  However, it is hard for others to identify a particular individual, as they all seem to possess the same general facial features and mannerisms.

Nagastani, from Oblivion

Travellers visit the City for a number of reasons, including the healing properties of the geothermal water baths and muds, the novelty of endless hot and warm water, the rare and novel herbs and materials of the local environments, the mix of Empire and Coastal trade goods, and, of course, the Ruins of the ancient peoples known as the Los Mehno, which attract by far the most desperate, violent and free-spending layers of society.