People & Personalities – RuneQuest.orc

Faizel’s Supply Emporium

Shorting a generic merchant for your campaign? Have your adventurers come over to Faizel’s Supply Emporium, for top quality goods at low, low prices.

History

The original Faizel’s was little more than a wooden shack in the poor area of Draskor. Faizel was an entrepreneur who saw the value in stocking a multitude of items which may come in hand for the average person going out in search of adventure.

Barely able to move for coils of rope, barrels of oil and sacks of dried provisions – customers would haggle to ensure they received the best value for their copper. Always looking for a bargain himself, Faizel would often take barter goods in exchange for items of his merchandise.

Unbeknownst to most punters, Faizel was way ahead of his time. His innovative idea of pre packaging hard rations in a Hessian cloth sack with his shops name printed on the side and selling them at a mild discount ensured that many a cash strapped adventurer found their way to his door.

The original Faizel’s Emporium is long gone the victim of one of the many fires that were want to sweep through the wooden buildings of lower Draskor during the reign of King Elkor.

Faizel himself moved from Draskor when his shop burned down and set up as a travelling merchant. He travelled much of Drasinia and Sylmar over the next few years until eventually settling in Valos.

Present

Faizel’s Supply Emporium can still be located in the merchant quarter of Valos. It is run by Faizel’s son, who also goes by the name of Faizel, although that is not his real name. It is unknown if the original Faizel is still alive, if he is he will be an old man.

The shop in Valos is more respectable than the original Draskor establishment. While they still stock much in the way of adventuring gear, they have branched out and stock many other items, from pottery to pelts, wineskins to whetstones. They have also opened branches in Baras and Tau and there are rumours of a new branch opening back in Draskor. The original travelling wagon is also still in business, operated by one of Faizel’s trusted servants for his early days.

Notes

Faizel’s do still sell their famed adventurers hard rations pack in their trademark Hessian sack.

Faizel’s Supply Emporium – Rations Pack
Cost: 8 Bronze Coins
Contents:

Roll of dried sausage (Beef and pork mix, quite fatty).
Small wheel of strong cheese.
Small wineskin containing poor quality wine.
Wrapped paper package of roughly milled barley.
Slab of salted meat (usually pork).
Bundle of dried herbs.
A few root vegetables (usually neaps)
The sack in itself has a number of other uses.

Personalities

Faizel – Merchant
Dodge 76%, Fast Talk 83%, Speak Own 77%, Speak Other (Orc) 33%, Human Lore 56%, Orc Lore 20%, Evaluate 68%, Conceal 49%
Faizel is a friendly type person, although he does come across quite canny most times. He is well aware that the people he trades with usually tote daggers and swords about, so is by way of preservation, honest in his business dealings.

the Merchandise

Faizel’s stock all of the merchandise mentioned in the rules book as well as many other artefacts. The prices of most items are at a mild discount to the recommended price in the rulebook. The more esoteric items are up for haggling – something Faizel prides himself in.

Please feel free to contribute ideas and suggested prices for articles Faizel may have in stock by using the comments box below.

Faziel was one of the first recurring NPC’s way back when Gæa was in her infancy. The party need supplies and someone asked what the merchants name was. Someone else thought fast and coined Faziel, who went on to become a beloved recurring personage who strangely seemed to be about no matter what town the adventurers were in at the time.

Faziel’s wheeling and dealing was first put to writing on X February MMVIII

The Minorian Clan

A people who reside on a distant, isolated island in the cold north.

Geography

Elzimazia is a medium sized island, approximately the size of Britain. It is quite isolated from the rest of the world. The distance from the far north to the far south is 452 km. The distance from the far east to far west is 233 km. Elzimazia is situated approximately 8000 km to the North-North-East of the continent of Gaia. To far for a trade route in this day and age.

Climate

It has a reasonably cold to moderate climate, temperatures varying from –5 (minus five) degrees Celsius in winter to 25 degrees Celsius in high summer – generally not an uncomfortable or uninhabitable place.

Population

Sparse
The Minorian Clan

The Clan

The Minoria clan has a reputation for being rough and aggressive barbarians. In past years the clan used to raid their neighbours on a regular basis, but after the war, they have become more peaceful, trying to live in harmony with their neighbours and trading, instead of raiding has become the means of the day…. This isn’t always easy.

traditions

As a mark of manhood, the male members of the clan tattoo designs on their faces. The ink they use is normally blue, which stings painfully when applied. The new adult members of the tribe see it as a sign of strength to show no pain when the tattoos are applied. As part of their initiation, the boys design their own tattoos, before the tattoo master applies them. The spiral is central to the Minoria clan’s culture and is often used in these tattoos. The mythological Lynx is also often depicted in these tattoos.

Religion

The Minorians worship the war god of Elzimanzie.

Personages

Chief Angus The Brave
Chief Angus is a man of his middle to late years. Today he is wearing his bearskin cloak. You remember the day he killed that bear… One year, during the great annual hunt, when the men of the clan hunt the purple reindeer, Angus took his youngest son (Markus the young) out for his first great hunt. The bear appeared from nowhere. Markus was taken totally by surprise! Angus attacked the bear with his spear and killed it, before any of the other young men could even react. He is respected within his own clan and throughout the lands. Known as a principled man, Chief Angus is known for swift and harsh justice!

As members of his elite guard, you respect and fear him. You know what he is capable of and you know what he perceives as wrongdoing. His blue tattoos have, like many of the older male members of the clan’s, turned blue-grey with age as has his once black hair. However, when you look at the chief, you see that his eyes are as sharp as the first day you met him as a young initiate of the clan.

Chief Angus the brave was a warrior of note in his heyday and even now, in his middle to late years, most of the clan’s young men would prefer not to get into a fight with him.

Granny P
She is the clan mother. Whenever members of the clan come to visit the roundhouse, Granny P is there to greet them. She is always ready with food and drink for the traveller. She is wonderful in the kitchen as a cook and supervisor.

Granny P always knows all the clan news first. She is mother and caretaker to the young children and has seen many generations of Minorian children grow to adulthood.

The Elite Guard
The chief’s men or the chief’s elite guard are the chief’s trusted advisors, his personal bodyguard. They protect the chief whenever this is required and also go on diplomatic missions with the chief and on behalf of the chief. The men and woman of this guard have special skills and experience that are valuable to the chief. They are very dedicated to him and would offer their lives for him.

Places

The Roundhouse
A very large structure built (as the name suggests) circular. From the outside it looks a bit like a spiral tower. Central to the roundhouse is a spiral staircase with doors leading off to the sides. These doors open into bedrooms, activity rooms etc. The chief’s chambers is at the top of the stairs. The chief’s men have rooms next to the chief’s chambers, for protection and company. The ground floor is occupied by the kitchens, sculleries, cold rooms (Granny P’s domain) and conference rooms.

Outside the Roundhouse
Smithy
Stables
Barracks for permanent members of the clan guard – elite guard’s chambers are next to the chief’s chambers in the roundhouse.

This article was originally published on IX June MMV

The Jahmori Gecko Clan

“The path of the Gecko ” – A guide to the Jahmori Gecko clan inhabiting a remote jungle basin in south central Vasniss.

The Jahmori Gecko clan inhabits an extremely rich and fertile jungle basin known as “the crater of plenty” which is near the source of the Ssaliktor River, overlooked by the peaks of Sas-Ketah. The jungle basin itself is a source of many tropical fauna and flora as well as jade and many other gemstone deposits.

The Jahmori have inhabited this area for as long as any race can remember and their existence in this area is a mystery to most races as the human populations on this continent are made up of only immigrants. The Jahmori have explained this in their myths which revolve around their primary deity – Llahgorah (The divine lizard – a god of temperance and fertility). The myths are passed down by word of mouth through generations and start with Llahgorah carrying his people away on his back from a great cataclysm across the sea. The elders say that Llahgorah swam across the great ocean and up to the source of the great Ssaliktor River to deposit his people where they would be safe – always. He guided them to settle in the Crater of Plenty and the Jahmori have flourished ever since. The clan now numbers upwards of 500 members.

The people of the Jahmori Gecko clan lead a secluded, highly traditional lifestyle based stringently on what they call ” The path of the Gecko “. This revolves mainly around how chieftains are selected. When the current chieftain is nearing the end of his 100 moon rulership period all young men must leave the tribe for a full 20 moons and quest to find any knowledge and resources to help the clan prosper. Upon returning to the clan the candidates gather the following spring and are judged by the elders of the clan according the gifts they bring back, this is viewed as a rite of passage and also serves to determine future status in the clan. Only the best candidates are then selected to face Llahgorah’s challenge :- The candidates must head into the dark heart of the crater and find the egg of the Gorah lizard (An extremely rare species of lizard only living in the crater about the size of the komodo dragon, many Jahmori believe this creature to be the incarnation of Llahgorah). This is an extremely dangerous quest as the dark heart of the crater is inhabited by many species of poisonous reptile as well as many much feared mutant lizard men.

Once an egg has been found it must be taken back to the clan and preparations for the Great Gorah’aan festival begin. The festival is the conclusion of the current chieftainship, the beginning of a new clan leadership era and fertility ceremony all in one, and is the most holy festival of all for the Jahmori.
The Gorah’aan festival is a ten day long festival where the gorah egg is slowly heated over a fire in the great chamber for the duration of the celebrations until the climax when the gorah hatches. All prospective chieftains line the walls of the great chamber waiting for the hatching and may not move until the newly hatched gorah lizard has touched one of them, who then becomes the next chieftain. This symbolises the “shedding of skin” for the tribe and is believed amongst the Jahmori that this ceremony is how Llahgorah selects the next king.

The old chieftain must then take the hatchling back to the dark heart. Llahgorah then passes judgement on the ex-chieftain through his gorah lizards – if the chieftain has ruled justly they leave him alone (possibly only marking him as blessed) or if his reign was unjust or evil they will devour him to punish him for his actions. This symbolises the tribe “losing its tail” and serves as a deterrent to unjust rule. This is the path of the gecko and is how it has always been.

The tribes people live according to rules governed by the path and have many smaller cultural traditions all linked to the “divine lizard”. The gorah lizards seem to have a mutualistic relationship with the Jahmori as its eggs require fire to hatch and due to its rarity and very prolonged mating rituals and gestation periods this leads to a small sustainable population of gorahs in the crater. (Coming soon stats for the gorah and mutant lizardmen of the crater of plenty).

As to the history and politics of the Jahmori nation, the Jahmori are a peaceful nation who have had only minor contact to the outside world and only ever clashed with the snake-people of Vasniss. The coming of the Onyx Empire to Vasniss found the Jahmori in a perfect place to trade with the Giss and due to their bias towards all things lizardly the Jahmori immediately made peace and accepted protection from the Onyx Empire. With the lucrative gemstones, jade and medicinal herbs trade heading up-river into the empire, Jahmori – Onyx relations are on an all time high and the Jahmori have of late experienced a huge boom in technology and knowledge. They are up to date the only human population to have herds of war trained land dragons and now even have an elite unit of mounted warriors working within the emperors legions.

This article was initially published XX November MMII