u/OkChipmunk3238

The full city map: https://www.reddit.com/r/sake_rpg/comments/1sx8roo/the_city_of_ehnaiton_full_map_is_only_readable_on/

The Acropolis is the oldest district in the city, its origins supposedly dating back to the time of the elves – a claim supported by the elven ruins and the so-called Undercity beneath the more modern Asteanic city.

The district is filled with relatively small houses along narrow streets. Most are very old, some dating back nearly a thousand years to when the Asteans took over the site. The architecture is in the Marall style, though generally darker in tone.

Today, the district serves primarily as the religious centre of the city, housing the famous Model of Maat in the Rock Temple of Maat, the Temple of the Divine Ocean, and the Temple of Mirage.

The Acropolis is also home to two of the three most important educational institutions in the entire Atanate: the Detranic University of Sorcery and Science and the Seminar for the Doctrine of Eternal Waters. As a result, it is also the most vibrant party district, driven largely by the universities. The sons and daughters of nobles studying there tend to buy or rent apartments (or reside in family-owned houses) in the Acropolis. This concentration of students – along with professors, sorcerers, and itinerant priests – creates a constant atmosphere of revelry. The narrow streets are filled with bars, inns, taverns, bordellos, and other establishments of entertainment. This, in turn, draws not only young nobles but also the heirs of wealthy syndicate masters.

They party through the night, as leaving the upper city is typically impossible after dark – the gates between Hightown and Steeldrop are usually closed and will not be opened at the request of drunken youths.

However, there is also a darker side. During the Great Troubles, many higher and lesser nobles lost their lands and, as a result, ended up buying or renting houses in what was once the most prestigious district of the capital. Now, after many decades (or in some cases centuries) without recovering their estates, these people form a sizeable class of mostly impoverished and unemployed ex-nobles within the district. Many seek work as ronin, while others drift into outright criminality, some preying on intoxicated students.

The city of Ehnaiton and the adventures around it will be detailed in a future book.

The full city map: https://www.reddit.com/r/sake_rpg/comments/1sx8roo/the_city_of_ehnaiton_full_map_is_only_readable_on/

Hightown is the government and so-called noble district. It is home to the Grand Palazzo La Vookan, which houses most of the state’s bureaucracy. Over the centuries, various noble Houses, patrician clans, and other aristocrats have bought up much of the district, and it now contains an unusually high number of palazzi, noble domuses, and large affluent residences. Of course, not all nobles can afford such estates, so many live in more modest houses.

Today, not all of these palazzi and domuses are inhabited. The Time of Great Troubles destroyed many housestates and noble clans under the Atanate; many fled the northern Empire permanently. As a result, some of these residences are for sale or rent, some stand locked and forgotten, and others house only the remnants of formerly noble families who have lost their income, lands, and titles.

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Such unnamed (and unnumbered) palazzi and domuses can serve as potential acquisitions for the PCs, or as residences for newly introduced important NPCs.

(Regular prices of 30 000 and 5000 apply.)

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Walking through the district, PCs would see numerous nobles, politicians, and high bureaucrats being carried in sedan chairs, attended by affluent retinues meant to impress one another. The district becomes especially lively during the Senate Week, when Green Party nobles arrive from their countryside estates, many of them maintaining city residences here.

Of course, the district is not home only to the wealthy. All the shops and services found elsewhere in the city exist here as well, although the syndicate masters residing in Hightown tend to be even more prosperous. In addition, numerous lower samurai-bureaucrats who serve in the state administration live here, often maintaining their own more modest households. Lawyers and other similar professionals also work and reside in the district.

The unofficial noble district is separated from the lower city by walls, ramparts, and a gate known as the Highgate. This gate is locked at night, effectively dividing the city in two. It may be opened when necessary – but such need must come from a noble, not from drunken university students attempting to return to their homes in the Acropolis. This single gate and road between the two halves of the city is, of course, highly inefficient, and congestion from wagons bringing goods uphill is common. For this reason, suppliers sometimes take the longer route around the entire city and enter Hightown through the southern outer gate.

The buildings in the district span many periods: some are nearly a thousand years old, while others are newly constructed. The district is relatively green, with numerous small gardens and courtyards – most of which are watered from the same aqueduct that supplies drinking water, placing a considerable strain on the city’s water system. As nobles favour horses, many of these yards include stables.

The city of Ehnaiton and the adventures around it will be detailed in a future book.

The city of Ehnaiton and the adventures around it will be detailed in a future book.

The Artisan House battlemapas are already in the Map Back ;)

Pictures:

1 – the state system

2 – Maat, the god of the Second Sun

3 – Cult of Maat

4 – Mountainkingdom of Lothran, map

Last session, the dictatorship in Ehnaiton fell: https://www.reddit.com/r/sake_rpg/comments/1spwn0k/in_the_last_sessions_the_bloody_regime_that_had/

This session started with politicking: political parties and the senate could gather once again, and the PCs decided to make their move to gain more political influence. The leader of the Green Party (the one with the most votes in the senate) had been killed as part of the dictatorial regime, and one PC (the Governor-Magistrate of Insingnia, who had family connections there: his wife’s mother, Melina Lardes) stood as the new leader. After promising to organise a war against Wyvernprincess Urrwen, who had occupied some of the party members’ estates, he was elected. They also tried to take over the Blue Party, but that failed.

Then came the senate sessions, where they got their candidate (the previously mentioned mother-in-law, Melina Lardes) elected as the High Magistrate of the state, and an allied faction candidate (Raiden from the Ottomari samurai clan) as the new Sea Magistrate. They also established a war chest to begin planning the war with the Wyvernprincess; control of this chest was given to the Daimyo of Wolfmarch (also a PC). So, a lot of voting in the senate and big wins; but they also had to concede on extra taxes, and their domain’s people will not be happy (especially as the crops also failed in Insingnia).

Between that, the shinobi PC decided to make a pact with Maat – the patron god of the ruling Great House La Vookan, and the god of the Second Sun (which does not exist) – and was led to a deep cave beneath its monastery. There she met a Greater Souleater, an avatar of the god, who gave her the task: kill the Battlebard of Lothran, Chief Edwin “the Birdsinger”, because he is somehow responsible for a vast number of undead. Maat is an anti-undead god, and his tasks are typically about fighting undead; this time it was about removing someone who creates them. The PCs had met the battlebard before, but were not that well acquainted. In any case, that went onto the to-do list, and Lothran was already a place they intended to visit to oversee their trade post there.

So, there they went. On their way through the deep forests of Camulos, they discovered a site of Mist activity: someone had used the Mist to resurrect the dead as Creatures of the Mist in a Tauric burial ground. One such creature was put to rest. /Random encounters/

When they reached Broch Lothran, they learned that the local Mountainking Duncan “the Hard” and his warriors had marched to the Misty Summit a few weeks ago to battle the Mist and destroy its inhabitants once and for all – armed with silver weapons provided by the PCs (this arms deal had made them good money some half a year ago – there are hundreds of warriors).

The PCs decided to follow them to the Misty Summit, but first made a small detour to Broch Sideloch, the home of the Battlebard.

They met the Battlebard and his warrior retinue in his throne hall, and the Battlebard immediately demanded that they hand over an artefact torc – a strange magical neckpiece held by one of the PCs – supposedly a key to some otherworldly realm, with a door located in the Misty Summit. At that point, it became clear to the PCs (as they had already suspected) that the Battlebard was a Mist Druid.

You know how those evil speeches sometimes go: “I cast lightning.”

The Battlebard died, and a battle with his entire retinue followed. It was won. With that, the pact with Maat was fulfilled.

While searching his broch (looting), they found a strange laboratory that produced mead, sold only to Asteanic merchants (the PCs!). This mead, as the PCs pieced together, was the same that had caused the madness epidemic in Asteanic lands, as it induced the madness known as Lugh’s Calling, which compelled people to travel into the Mist, where they eventually died and became Creatures of the Mist. Hundreds, if not thousands, had gone through this. And now, that problem was solved. No more random people wandering into the Mist to die.

To be honest, I had no idea they would beeline to complete this god’s task – some other god tasks have been waiting for about a year in real-world time.

And so, next session will be interesting, as the plan now is to march into the Mist, following the king’s army, to solve the Mist once and for all (or die trying?).

Pictures:

1 – the state system

2 – Maat, the god of the Second Sun

3 – Cult of Maat

4 – Mountainkingdom of Lothran, map

Last session, the dictatorship in Ehnaiton fell: https://www.reddit.com/r/sake_rpg/comments/1spwn0k/in_the_last_sessions_the_bloody_regime_that_had/

This session started with politicking: political parties and the senate could gather once again, and the PCs decided to make their move to gain more political influence. The leader of the Green Party (the one with the most votes in the senate) had been killed as part of the dictatorial regime, and one PC (the Governor-Magistrate of Insingnia, who had family connections there: his wife’s mother, Melina Lardes) stood as the new leader. After promising to organise a war against Wyvernprincess Urrwen, who had occupied some of the party members’ estates, he was elected. They also tried to take over the Blue Party, but that failed.

Then came the senate sessions, where they got their candidate (the previously mentioned mother-in-law, Melina Lardes) elected as the High Magistrate of the state, and an allied faction candidate (Raiden from the Ottomari samurai clan) as the new Sea Magistrate. They also established a war chest to begin planning the war with the Wyvernprincess; control of this chest was given to the Daimyo of Wolfmarch (also a PC). So, a lot of voting in the senate and big wins; but they also had to concede on extra taxes, and their domain’s people will not be happy (especially as the crops also failed in Insingnia).

Between that, the shinobi PC decided to make a pact with Maat – the patron god of the ruling Great House La Vookan, and the god of the Second Sun (which does not exist) – and was led to a deep cave beneath its monastery. There she met a Greater Souleater, an avatar of the god, who gave her the task: kill the Battlebard of Lothran, Chief Edwin “the Birdsinger”, because he is somehow responsible for a vast number of undead. Maat is an anti-undead god, and his tasks are typically about fighting undead; this time it was about removing someone who creates them. The PCs had met the battlebard before, but were not that well acquainted. In any case, that went onto the to-do list, and Lothran was already a place they intended to visit to oversee their trade post there.

So, there they went. On their way through the deep forests of Camulos, they discovered a site of Mist activity: someone had used the Mist to resurrect the dead as Creatures of the Mist in a Tauric burial ground. One such creature was put to rest. /Random encounters/

When they reached Broch Lothran, they learned that the local Mountainking Duncan “the Hard” and his warriors had marched to the Misty Summit a few weeks ago to battle the Mist and destroy its inhabitants once and for all – armed with silver weapons provided by the PCs (this arms deal had made them good money some half a year ago – there are hundreds of warriors).

The PCs decided to follow them to the Misty Summit, but first made a small detour to Broch Sideloch, the home of the Battlebard.

They met the Battlebard and his warrior retinue in his throne hall, and the Battlebard immediately demanded that they hand over an artefact torc – a strange magical neckpiece held by one of the PCs – supposedly a key to some otherworldly realm, with a door located in the Misty Summit. At that point, it became clear to the PCs (as they had already suspected) that the Battlebard was a Mist Druid.

You know how those evil speeches sometimes go: “I cast lightning.”

The Battlebard died, and a battle with his entire retinue followed. It was won. With that, the pact with Maat was fulfilled.

While searching his broch (looting), they found a strange laboratory that produced mead, sold only to Asteanic merchants (the PCs!). This mead, as the PCs pieced together, was the same that had caused the madness epidemic in Asteanic lands, as it induced the madness known as Lugh’s Calling, which compelled people to travel into the Mist, where they eventually died and became Creatures of the Mist. Hundreds, if not thousands, had gone through this. And now, that problem was solved. No more random people wandering into the Mist to die.

To be honest, I had no idea they would beeline to complete this god’s task – some other god tasks have been waiting for about a year in real-world time.

And so, next session will be interesting, as the plan now is to march into the Mist, following the king’s army, to solve the Mist once and for all (or die trying?).

Last session before: the PCs expanded the holdings of the Resistance and secured another province under their belt: the Magistrature of Insingnia (https://www.reddit.com/r/sake_rpg/comments/1rqlkxn/this_session_the_pcs_planned_to_conquer_the_town/ ) 

Pictures:

1 – the Suzuki’s castle tower

2 – Suzuki’s full castle complex

3 – WIP Ehnaiton Megabattlemap

4 – Part of Megabattlemap getting some use

Then about half a session went to organising their assets, lands, and preparing for the battle with the Crimson Daimyo, who had taken the capital they had now fled from. They hired some new companies, mercenaries, and so on.

At the same time, the previous government's Spyweb still existed, so they refunded it, and it started doing the “Mapping the Base” action against the Crimson Daimyo, with the intent of a later assassination.

This all took two months, and now, with the information about Suzuki’s exact defence systems and whereabouts, they went all in, funded the assassination, and took on doing the deed themselves – a good call, as a random assassin would have failed (which I strongly hinted at as well).

The Spyweb got them to the daimyo’s bedroom almost without being noticed. But the last bodyguards spotted them and a fight broke out – the crazed Crimson Daimyo joined in and was killed as well. And something came out of the daimyo and possessed one of the PCs, intending to use her to attack the others (which failed spectacularly; she had built her Spell Resistance up a lot from the start of the campaign, as she had suspected her friend – a Tauric mountain princess – of some mind tricks). So, the possessor eventually just left after many failed attempts to influence her.

Anyway, the PCs were now barricaded in the daimyo’s bedroom, and one of them resurrected his spirit as a wright under his command – to rob the daimyo of the afterlife (and prevent a way for him to be brought back as himself) and, you know, get a cool servant with a cool origin story: not just a bandit, but a bloodthirsty daimyo who ruled as a dictator and now serves as a bound eternal spirit.

But then, fleeing. They used bedsheets to lower themselves from the tower of the castle to the walls, and then ropes from the walls to outside the city, and made a run for it. Got shot at a lot, but survived (they used only Reckless Manoeuvres, which made them easier to hit, but allowed them to escape faster).

Now, at the same time, their army was transported to the other side of the city, and the gates there were opened by a Shinobi Clan. The army marched in, and the Syndicate Masters whom they had previously persuaded to join them linked up (the session this happened: https://www.reddit.com/r/sake_rpg/comments/1rikrsn/last_session_the_pcs_broke_out_of_the_city_where/ ). This brought their force to roughly the same size as the Red Tengu forces in the city.

As their force marched towards Hightown to take over the government buildings, infighting broke out between Suzuki’s lieutenants, who now had to quickly decide who the new leader would be.

The PCs left them to fight it out and took Hightown at the same time.

The WIP Ehnaiton megabattlemap I have been working on got some action. PCs individually infiltrated the cannon towers, handed the cannons over to their soldiers, and then used those and the allied forces to conquer the gates. Red Tengu companies were shot down, and others lost their morale. The local leader surrendered, and the PCs let them all go after surrendering their weapons.

At the same time, at Castle Erturis and the harbours, the infighting had ended (as the sun was rising), and a new leader was chosen. This time, the PCs tried diplomacy, which the new leader, Nora la Vookan, was also willing to do.

Now, a bit of background lore: Nora, while carrying the same name as the ruling house, is essentially nobody in the context of higher politics. She worked in a salaried position in the Gilden Sea Trading Company, and her line holds no lands, no important positions – nothing. When Suzuki couped the government, Nora joined him and was given leadership of the Gilden Sea Company. Now, when the PCs assassinated Suzuki, she used the company warships and cannons next to the castle to apply “soft pressure” to the other lieutenants, and as the enemy force was closing in, they had to accept. 

So, Nora went to the negotiations from a very specific position: she had risen from nobody to a “ruler” in a few months (or a few hours, depending on how you count), so she could not really lose as long as she had the army and a seat at the table. She was therefore very willing to give up the couped government and all that, but demanded all of Suzuki’s lands, stock in the company, a higher samurai stipend than he had, to continue as director of the Company, and all other Suzuki holdings (including the huge castle in the capital). The PCs argued down the stipend slightly, but in the end she got it all.

She had to abandon the title of ruler, which she held for a few hours, but ended up more powerful than any other landowner in the state, with a huge private army. Just hours earlier, she had been a figurehead without lands or wealth. So, interesting.

But from the other side, order in the state was restored with just one assassination and a small street battle. It could have turned into a prolonged city-wide campaign with a lot of blood on the streets.

And the PCs were the heroes: they gained some money, were elevated into land nobility (if not yet), and had all their new landholdings secured (Insingnia). The PCs now hold two domains of about 15 000 people combined, are somewhat richer, and after a long struggle against the dictator can focus on their own affairs again.

Or can they?

The Mist is still there, Wyvernprincess Urrwen has established her new wyvernstate on their doorstep, the conspiratorial Sugano clan still reigns freely over their lands. And of course, Nora la Vookan – the new daegun of the Crimson lands and leader of the Red Tengu mercenaries: will she become a friend, or an enemy?

A critical examination of Stronghold design and Domain play throughout the various editions of Dungeons and Dragons.

https://substack.com/home/post/p-192687286

Castle Erturis

Castle of Erturis “the Bloodprice”, or simply called Castle Erturis, is today an almost empty fortress and barracks complex that received its current form in the 15th century, under Daimyo Erturis “the Bloodprice” la Vookan.

The complex consists of the Great North Thefnan Tower Castle, a walls system with two cannon towers, 32 stone barracks buildings (each able to house one company), and numerous larger and smaller buildings that serve as barracks or as private homes for officers and other military personnel – today all abandoned.

Erturis was a notorious war leader who led the Asteanic forces in the final decades of the Wyvernmother Wars (more about him in “Erturis “the Bloodprice” la Vookan and the Wars of Wyvernmother” on page 61). Since his death, the huge fortress, able to house around 6000 soldiers, was rented to the Imperial Navy and the regular forces of the House la Vookan main line, i.e. the state.

The castle is still owned by Erturis’s line, the Redlands line, today led by the Crimson Daimyo – Daegun Suzuki “the Greedhound” la Vookan (page 106). However, he rarely visits the capital.

When the wars in Thefna began, the Empire pulled out its navy, and shortly after, Sestres la Vookan withdrew his regular forces to the civil war. This left the huge fortress almost empty – only a few caretakers and loansharks serving under the Crimson Daimyo remain.

There is also a legend that the bloody Daimyo Erturis still haunts the fortress. Some claim to have seen him in the torture rooms deep in the dungeons of the castle’s main tower.

SAKE (Sorcerers, Adventurers, Kings, and Economics) Maps and Assets Pack: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/506768/sake-sorcerers-adventurers-kings-and-economics-maps-and-assets-pack?preview=1&affiliate_id=4178266