Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Yoon Suin: An oligarchy in the Mountains of the Moon

The oligarchy of Baitadili is located west of Silash Vo and can be reached via a high mountain pass in the summer.  Most visitors however access it via one of the many branches of the God River.  This is done through a small river port (Kardang), who's best known inhabitant is  a Troll inkeeper.  He's very popular with the locals for his politeness and willingness to eat pirates. 



The capital is Padang, where the multi-stepped palace of the Chand can be found.  The Chand never shows him(?)self and is mostly concerned with adding more layers to his step-like palace.  His steward is constantly stressed trying to keep the whole thing afloat - luckily for the Chand, the nearby amethyst mine is very lucrative.   The Chand is also served by an ancient one-eyed mage who has the power to animate small objects.

To the east is a large valley at a higher altitude, filled with a large bog.  The locals collect peat from the bog to use as fuel, as well as bog iron.  Berries picked in the summer are used to make a tart wine.  The ruler of Leh is constantly frustrated at how hard they have to work to make ends meet and how unhelpful the Chang is.  To make matters worse, the bog workers have been going missing at an alarming rate.  Also troublesome is a dwarven's clan move into the impossibly tall tower of the Arch-Mage Velermert (who also never helps) and subsequent blowing up of the middle section.  They are determined to reach the still floating top to get revenge for their lost kin. They refuse to pay taxes, and Leh needs the revenue.
(Inspiration for the tower:  Dyson Logos.  Bog based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbajal_Valley )

To the west is a valley where the yak herders pasture their animals in the summer.  On the side of this valley is another tower, where a two-headed oracle is said to live.  She is guarded by 13 warriors that cannot die.  One head of the oracle is of a wizened crone, who makes ominous predictions while looking at chicken entrails.  She is ignorant of the second head, a small child, who makes commentary on her predictions.  To visit the Oracle and ask one question, one must provide :

13 sacks of barley, 13 bottles of berry-wine, 13 gold coins, 13 eggs, 13 blocks of peat
One chicken
One secret
Flowers

To properly see in full size, right click, open image in new tab
The inhabitants of Baitadili are troubled by evil dreams, and madness runs rampant.  Murders and suicide have increased, and animals are born with strange mutations.   The local temples have proven unable to fix the problem, and the Chand has done nothing.  Some say that the Fire Mountain, who's peak catches fire and magical gates open once every 27 years, is the source of the corruption...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gates_of_Firestorm_Peak

(In my campaign, the main villain in this adventure, Madreus, was a follower of the Kraken who wanted to shift the inner gate to allow the Krakens to bypass the Yellow City...)

2 comments:

  1. Wow! Thank you so much for this blog! I'm in the middle or perhaps beginning (who knows) of my Yoon-Suin campaign and your work is invaluable!

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    1. thank you for your kind words! I've done my best to use the Yoon Suin tag so you should be able to find most of my posts on the topic - there may be a few more to come :)

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