Of Bastards and Exiles

Discussion on game mastering Fading Suns. May contain spoilers; caution is recommended!
Amlost
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Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:04 pm
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Re: Of Bastards and Exiles

Postby Amlost » Fri Dec 04, 2015 7:35 pm

Lagos Shore – Roj Terre: Three hundred of the hardest kilometers of travel along the Pampana Route will be this stretch as you twist between ever changing tidal flats and sand dunes.
The southern shores of Lake Lagos are stunning to those coming out of the wastes. Shimmering seas appear close while Ananda shines above and are far off pools of black while she is away. The sweeping hard sands of her shores contain rare rock outcroppings of a violet and blue hue providing stunning vistas by day or moonlight.

Where Lake Lagos intersects the northern spur of Roj Terre you will stop at the treaty encampment of Dogfish Point. The small Nal tribe live on the cliffs of the Lagos Sea hemmed in between Taz claimed land and the Roj Terre Mountians. Pilgrims and most members of the southern clans are welcome and safe to stay in the encampments along the outer walls of the small village. Dogfish point has a large seasonal population of both Taz and Minnoc traders. Both tribes have used the tidal flats below the cliffs as a source for much needed salt for centuries. Nal inhabit the flats year round; harvesting kelp, panning salt, and digging for mollusks.

The Nal are an interesting tribe; I was forced to spend a number of weeks here during my return visit on my pilgrimage. They have maintained an existence on the edge of territorial claims of the much larger tribes thru diplomacy for four hundred years. They live in small clustered villages near the tidal flats with structures buried into sand dunes. They deal mostly in tubers, clams, and salt cakes with surrounding tribes. While quite friendly to pilgrims they seldom act as guides. The complex treaties that protect the tribe from aggression are said to date back to a Justinian traveler who was caught here in a sandstorm centuries back. It is said he negotiated the treaty’s to protect himself and his fellow travelers. The story is often told with the classic romanticized ending, "he eventually fell in love with a native girl and never returned to his native world."

From dogfish point you will travel southeast up a long sloping road towards the entrance to the Roj Terre Gap.

Roj Terre Gap: Spanning 110 kilometers of this leg of the pilgrimage is the infamous Roj Terre Gap. The ground has been worn down for centuries by nomads and pilgrims creating a reasonable sized path that ascends steeply 1800 meters.

The uninformed may wonder why the brown-gray rock of the western mountains are called Roj Terre till they reach the summit to discover the rock face turn reddish orange and the horizon filled with rouge and pink sands and blood red rock outcroppings.

The decent down the eastern face takes two paths. The route to the north is primarily a cargo route used by nomad carts and pack animals. It descends towards the north; turning east only 35 kilometers from the edge of Lake Lagos. This provides many nomad parties an opportunity to rest and re-water before heading across the Roj Terre Valley (Loosely translated from an old Urth dialect as “Valley of the Red Earth”) to All-Saints. Travel along well worn paths East by Southeast for 200 kilometers to reach the entry into the valley.

The second path is a narrow set of stairs accessed to the south east thru a metal arched series of pillars. The stairs rapidly change to crude paths that descend quickly thru caverns and gullies before emptying onto the rock formation known as the Mesa in Red. Once upon the mesa one is treated to 60 kilometers of travel along a stunning cliff-top. The sunrises across the Roj Terre Valley are stunning and the sunsets equally spectacular across the gap from whence you came. Travellers should note that this route may only possible going to Urzenkai and not on the return. Talking with Taz guides taking this road in a westerly fashion is far more difficult and not done by “other-worlders.”

The later route is recommended for foot travelers and recommended as part of any pilgrimage along the Pampana Route. In cases of larger parties with larger amounts of gear it may be possible to split the party up with the cargo going the northerly route and the pilgrims the more direct path. This would require careful planning and packing to ensure both teams have ample supplies.

Roj Terre – All Saints: The Roj Terre Valley extends for 500 km of the trip to All Saints. The red sands and great valley make for relatively unimpeded travel. The first quarter of the trip includes crossing the region known as the Red Valley. This is a fabled land of misinterpreted history; locals have myths about this land that are often based on local legend. Do not get into arguments with the locals about historical fact versus local lore, you are more likely to be abandoned by your guides than win an argument.

Tales told by the guides during your travels thru these lands are both fanciful and with historical basis. Prior to the Battle of the Jumpgate (4012) fought between remnants of Second Republic space based forces and a coalition of upstart Noble Houses; a large land battle took place around Roj Terre.

The one monument of note in this region is the abandoned skeleton of a floating city or starship near the Northern escarpment of the Red Mesa. Known as the Bone Frame by locals, stands abandoned except as a camp and shelter during the occasional sandstorm that pass with a slow fury thru this region.

The last leg (150 km) to All Saints is thru dry mudflats most of the year and reasonably passable. Be warned that I have heard tell of spring rains in the region have been known to make this segment wet and cold for some travelers. The last ten to fifteen kilometers can be difficult. Approaching All Saints from the east requires walking around to the north or south. The western edge of All Saints ruins are a steep rocky incline filled with stripped out and treacherous ruins, best avoided.

Leviathan of Maddoc
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Re: Of Bastards and Exiles

Postby Leviathan of Maddoc » Thu Dec 10, 2015 4:20 pm

We deal with Bastards pretty often in our games either playing as them or playing nobles who have them. We also had an exiled noble in more than one game. I think for the most part Nobles are compassionate when it comes to bastard children. In our games we've done a lot to help our bastard children have good lives but obviously a noble cannot appear to favor their bastards or their children and spouses would turn on them quickly. However if the Bastard isn't of your immediate family or your Liege's immediate family, or if the exiled noble didn't wrong your or your family then there would be no motivation for you not to treat them better than most freemen.

Excommunication is a bit more harsh I think. People of faith have reason to be terrified of someone who's unrepentant sins brought down the wrath of the church, if only the risk of being seen as their compatriot. When the church brands you as nonredeemable it carries a lot of implications for you socially. Aliens however wouldn't have any problem with you, from the Church's point of view they have no soils to be corrupted so they can't be punished any worse than they already are.

Amlost
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Re: Of Bastards and Exiles

Postby Amlost » Fri Dec 11, 2015 8:03 pm

All Saints: Sitting on the edge of the Maya Desert lies an empty city, All Saints. It is said to be, The end of all roads. Situated on a hill the dark spires of All Saints can be seen (on clear days) for a full day’s travel before reaching the city itself. The outer ruins of the city have long been stripped of useful materials and stone shells are all that remain of hundreds of city blocks.

The Second Republic core, an area 5 blocks wide and 12 blocks long, of the city remains intact and mostly untouched. The natives protect a section of the city from habitation or salvage. For the most part the structures in the area remain intact, glass and gratings remain in-place as if people just walked away into the desert. Most of it is eerily; storefronts intact, windows shuttered, sand blasted glass doors, and time worn monuments to another era are the sites to be seen wondering these dismal streets.

All Saints is a holy place for the desert Nassari and is, by standing tradition, a place of non-violence. Even after numerous inquiry’s I have not been able to determine how and why it is a sacred place; however all seem to accept it. The nomads appear to worship the city however I believe…. After much discussion… that it is something else. The worship appears to be respect and remorse for the destruction of Nowhere sanctified on this city. Was All Saints the capital prior to the catastrophe; or the place of some memorialized event. I don’t believe the truth behind its holy nature is known to the nomads; but instead ingrained in their beliefs.

Each of the tribes maintains separate camps outside the city; although the Taz tribe is militarily and socially in control of the region. Taz camps in the South West and South East are the largest encampments averaging 50-500 inhabitants at any one time. The Minnok camp in the western ruins is the second largest retaining an average population of 35-400 inhabitants. Your encampment will be strictly driven by the tribal association of your primary guide. Camps are strictly dictated by the tribe of the leader of your guides.

All Saints to the Gargoyle:
The journey from All Saints thru the sands of the Maya desert is the crux of the pilgrimage. A day after departing from the eastern encampments you will begin to see the great dunes. These are hard days of travel in which most are regulated to travel only in the daybreak and twilight hours as they travel the Maya’s white sands and black stones.

I do not know how the native guides navigate these twisted sands. This region is without visible markers, a winding series of dunes permeates the horizon. The howl of the winds and firm grasp of the sands on your feet are the only comfort to travelers in these wastes.

Hope, Hope alone of reaching your destination will bring one thru. That is the purpose of this last leg of the journey. That is the 2nd to last lesson to be learned on the pilgrimage.

Amlost
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Re: Of Bastards and Exiles

Postby Amlost » Tue Dec 15, 2015 11:14 pm

Urzenkai: Upon approaching the resting place of the gargoyle one will plainly see the great platform where Urzenkai rests. The platform sits meters above most of the shifting sands. The throne of the gargoyle stands a precise circle a little more than 223 meters in radius. (Almost any Eskatonic can give you more precise measurements however I spare you those details.) Most times of the year one can find one or more drifts reaching within feet of the platform and will use them to access the top.

The Throne of the Gargoyle of Nowhere is a world out of scale with its visitors. The Gargoyle sits in the middle of an eclectic collection of “monuments” and “novelties” as they are described in the diaries of travelers. They are, from my experience, a variety of strange statues and memorabilia most likely leftover from humans of a previous era.

It is in the shadow of these monuments that you will set up your camp in expectation of a visit from Urzenkai. The guides will be the first to set up camp in the shadows of one of the thirty one substructures that surround the monument. Ranging from series of concentrically arranged cylinders to rhombus ledge to groupings of tall cylindrical pillars these structures are either way remnants of another era. They act as little more than shelter and shade to today’s travelers.

Urzenkai itself is something unexplainable. Physically it sits 12 meters tall and is 24 and 32 meters in length. However this does little to explain the magnitude of the structure in person. Everything appears to have constructed to bring this being into perspective; its gaze spans the heavens’ and presence appears to span eternity once standing before it.

From the Journal of the then Bishop Abree Knevnic (b. 4959 – d. 4650);
[fimg=]
“I stood before him and breathed in his gaze. His presence pierced me. My companions and the guides who looked on told me I stood unmoved for hours, I saw precious minutes. Precious minutes in which my life was unlocked and hope seemed infinite. I was able for these moments to see the possibilities unobstructed. It was an emotionally revolutionary speck in time that allowed me to plot my life; a moment of clarity so rarely glimpsed.” [/fimg]


Much later the then Patriarch Avram III (Reigned 4638-4650) codified the Pilgrimage to the Gargoyle of Nowhere in church doctrine in his Bull Pilegeros Licentia. Within this document he reforms the rights of all orthodox pilgrims. He specifically legitimizes the pilgrimages to over a hundred sites across the known worlds. He does include a small notation that is special for this pilgrimage. “For before the Gargoyle one can briefly see clear purpose. A pure reflective moment that can guide a hundred lives of man.”

Stories of St. Mantius’s conversion before the Gargoyle of San Paulo abound most of which are recorded in the apocryphal stories . The accepted church cannon only states that he came to the Prophets side after a vision given to him by the Gargoyle instructed him to his place at Zebulons side. I recommend reading some of the Apocrypha either before or during your pilgrimage, you may find it interesting. A number of the stories, tell of the gargoyle resting on platform surrounded by a shallow sea. Some tell tales of Avram Manchewitz as a mercenary and soldier, prior to his time with the Prophet.

I will leave you with the words of Rashad son of Salimann al-Malik who visited the Gargoyle over six hundred years ago.

“I can understand my purpose. See my path. I couldn’t write it down or put it to words but it is clear as the desert sky. My soul, tarnished, was for a flickering moment, as reflective as the shallow seas. I do not now fear my future. I do not fear my return home. I do not rush towards them in delight but purpose. Both I know I will face with will and intent. My Gratitude; Eternal Urzenkai.”


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