Spoiler: Wati, the half-city
Show
WATI, THE HALF-CITY
The city of Wati sits on a sandstone shelf at the confluence of the Asp and Crook rivers, which provide it with building materials, rich farmland, and deep harbors sufficient to support a settlement three times its size. But even with its tenacious citizens, abundant fish and game, and thriving marketplaces fueled by the most important rivers in Osirion, Wati is forever a city better known for its dead than for its living. Behind sanctified walls, an entire quarter of the city quietly sits as a massive, urban tomb. Shops, schools, markets, and estates serve as eternal resting places for those lost to madness and disease. To manage such an immense project, the city’s entire economy shifted to the industry of interment. Almost 1,800 years after the necropolis’s inception, many of Wati’s residents continue to serve the city’s funeral industry, either directly as embalmers, undertakers, and clerics of Pharasma, or indirectly by crafting the myriad grave goods all Osirians hope to carry with them into the afterlife. Death has become the city’s lifeblood, and Wati prospers from its morbid specialty.
HISTORY
In –1608 ar, Pharaoh Djederet II ordered the construction of a grand city to mark the birthplace of the Osirion’s greatest natural resource: the River Sphinx, springing from the confluence of the Asp and the Crook. With its early foundations magically laid by the church of Nethys, the city sprang to life within just a year. Named Wati, the riverside town soon dominated trade across southern Osirion. Hardwoods and spices from Katapesh and the Mwangi Expanse bound for Sothis, and manufactured goods and luxuries from the nations surrounding the Inner Sea bound for Osirion’s southern territories, all paused long enough in Wati’s warehouses and markets to make its citizens famously wealthy. For centuries, Wati endured through political upheaval and the births and deaths of entire dynasties as it dominated its younger sister cities of An and Tephu.
But Wati’s destiny was forever warped in 2499 ar, when the cult of Lamashtu unleashed the Plague of Madness among the city’s thriving populace. Many of those whom the fever did not immediately kill were driven to murderous insanity, and within months, more than half the city had fallen in painful, anguished death. Most of the survivors fled Wati to make new homes elsewhere, but a stubborn minority remained behind, determined to reclaim their city. But even once the plague had run its course, their livelihoods collapsed as An and Tephu took over Wati’s once-exclusive trade routes, and their floundering community struggled against recurring outbreaks of the undead from the city’s many abandoned buildings-turned-tombs.
It took almost half a millennium for Wati’s fortunes to reverse thanks to the church of Pharasma. With the tacit permission of Osirion’s Keleshiite sultan, a Pharasmin priest named Nefru Shepses marched on Wati in 2953 ar with a small army of alchemists, masons, and morticians under his banner, intent on consecrating the entire city to the Lady of Graves, beginning with a new, monumental temple to Pharasma called the Grand Mausoleum. Over the next 30 years, Nefru Shepses and his followers recovered the bodies of those slaughtered in the Plague of Madness from their hasty, makeshift graves and the Pharasmins walled off that portion of the city that had been abandoned, transforming it into a metropolis of makeshift tombs. Thousands of corpses were given formal burial rites and reinterred in this dead copy of the living city, which continues to serve as Wati’s necropolis today.
The consecration of the city and its necropolis revitalized Wati, and though it never reclaimed its dominance among the cities of the south, over the next 1,700 years Wati grew until its necropolis—once more than half of the city— took up less than a quarter of the city’s total area. Today, long after the necropolis’s completion, Wati continues to produce a great variety of grave goods for Osirion’s honored dead. A steady stream of burial figures, canopic jars, embalming fluids, prayer books, and sarcophagi sail downstream on the Sphinx, outpacing Wati’s crop and textile exports. Even Wati’s criminal underworld revolves around death, as competing gangs regularly raid the necropolis for valuables and even human carrion.
CITY OF THE LIVING
From the tidy Midwife district to the mazelike streets of Asp, Wati’s citizens appreciate life in ways that only come from respecting the dead. Taverns, dance halls, bathhouses, and game parlors dot as many corners as shops and artisans, and Wati’s boulevards and markets teem with life under the hot Osirian sun.
DISTRICTS
Wati is divided into six districts, with its necropolis serving as an unofficial seventh district.
Asp: This long, winding district of low buildings and twisting alleyways runs along Wati’s southern edge. Asp was built without the planning or engineering insight of Wati’s core, making navigation difficult for newcomers. Few of Asp’s residents think of themselves as members of a common community the way inhabitants of Midwife or Morning Sun might. Instead, the district is a loose alliance of dozens of blocks, neighborhoods, and streets all pursuing their own agendas. These associations hold bitter rivalries as well, usually along economic lines, which run from the well-off estates in the west to the slums of mud-brick hovels huddling against the walls of the necropolis in the east.
Bargetown: Wati’s unwashed masses, heretics, and down-on-their-luck foreigners gather in this semipermanent floating district literally built atop the River Sphinx. Lashed vessels replace buildings, and narrow planks and rope railings make up Bargetown’s rickety streets. Each family maintains its own tiny barge or keelboat, and joins the community for years or for only a few days, meaning Bargetown’s layout is constantly in flux. The downtrodden bargers supply most of Wati’s fish and shellfish, drawn from the Sphinx’s sacred waters. The crocodiles and giant crayfish that prowl the river are a constant threat to the bargers, scavenging leftovers, waste, and the occasional drunk who falls into the water.
Bargetown hosts most of Wati’s smuggling operations, as its residents are mostly ignored and anonymous in the eyes of Wati’s mainland citizens.
Bargetown is a dangerous place, and not merely for its criminal element. Disease spreads quickly, and the city guards are quick to sever the ropes securing Bargetown’s boats to shore at the first sign of plague. Fire is also a constant worry on the poorly maintained collection of wood, rags, and pitch.
Midwife: The district of Midwife is the heart of Wati, cradling most of the city’s temples, markets, and professional artisans. Along with the necropolis, Midwife is the oldest of Wati’s districts, with a history stretching back to the city’s founding, and its residents take pride in maintaining their ancient community. Midwife’s buildings, carved from stone and towering two to six stories tall, reflect the grandeur of Osirion’s First Age, and house a wide variety of apartments, shops, and workshops.
Morning Sun: The majority of Wati’s noble estates sit on a small rise west of Midwife called Morning Sun, so named because the district enjoys the first touch of the sun’s rays at dawn. Morning Sun is Wati’s least populous district, containing a mere two dozen wealthy estates that consist of palatial homes, storage buildings, servants’ quarters, orchards, vineyards, and a handful of lavish apartments—all of which are colorful, well maintained, and surrounded with lush gardens and statuary. Morning Sun is the home of two major noble families who squabble for dominance in local politics. The older, conservative Mahfre family enjoys the support of many of Wati’s longtime residents and those who look to the past, while the Okhenti family holds the hearts of romantics, the young, and many newcomers to the city.
The Mahfre family was one of the stubborn remnants who stayed in Wati following the Plague of Madness, rallying their fellow citizens when times got hard and overseeing the city’s management in the absence of official leadership from Sothis. Their influence has declined in the centuries since the coming of the Pharasmins and the rebirth of the city, but the family’s loyalty and bravery in Wati’s darkest hours all but guarantees the Mahfres will always have a place in the local government. The family’s current matriarch, Damej Mahfre, sits on the city council and revels in her ancestors’ legacy while resenting the influx of lowborn outsiders into her city.
The Okhenti family, on the other hand, fled Wati after the Plague of Madness, journeying through northern Garund and across the Inner Sea. A noble family with no lands or people to govern, the Okhentis finally returned to Wati alongside Nefru Shepses and the church of Pharasma. Today, the house of Okhenti has its fingers in most of Wati’s trade and counting houses, and many acolytes at the Sanctum of Silver and Gold are either distant relations or adopted family members. The Okhentis still send their young scions to study abroad and bring back fresh new ideas and contacts to govern with a wider perspective. Critics accuse the family of being globetrotting dilettantes with no concern for their hometown, while proponents claim the Okhentis bring new lifeblood to Wati’s markets. The family’s swaggering, middle-aged patriarch, Ahbehn Okhenti, spent his youth as an adventurer in Absalom and Thuvia, and does little to convince detractors of his family’s competence. Ahbehn’s roguish charms have earned him both a reputation as a ladies’ man around town.
Outer Farms: West of Wati, beyond the stable sandstone shelf on which the city rests, miles of silty, verdant farmland stretch along the banks of the Crook River. Barley, beans, cabbage, cucumbers, flax, garlic, melons, and millet fill Wati’s fields, but onions reign supreme on nearly every farm. Wati’s residents believe that onions are a gift from Pharasma. Beyond being a representation of the Great Beyond, the onion’s stalk represents life, while the bulb’s persistence represents the many stages of a soul’s growth before, during, and after mortal existence. Many local recipes incorporate one or more varieties of onion, and embalmers across Osirion stuff onions into the chests or eyes of the dead. Most farms also support a small stand of date palms or pomegranate trees, as well as goats and chickens. Larger livestock like oxen are considered an affectation of the rich or out-of-touch foreigners, and any farmer investing in them opens herself up for ridicule. Livestock must be brought inside or otherwise protected for several weeks every summer when the rivers flood, making large animals more trouble than they’re worth.
Most of the region’s farmers are composed of independent families, though they tithe a percentage of their crops to the pharaoh, whose wisdom and counsel with the spirits ensures the yearly flood and the rich silt it delivers. Wati’s haty-a, or governor, collects these tithes as the pharaoh’s representative, and his surveyors spend the end of each summer measuring and marking each farm after the annual floods shift the land. Small intrigues abound just before autumn, as farmers beg, bribe, and cajole bureaucrats to enlarge their properties or squabble over strange treasures washed ashore by the floodwaters.
The Veins: Nestled between Midwife and Bargetown, Wati’s harbor district stacks block upon block with woodcarvers, tar kilns, warehouses, and whatever shanties can be crammed between them. Its myriad shallow canals breed unabating clouds of insects, the bites of which spot the bodies of the locals, who stain their hands and cheeks with pitch to repel the pests.
NOTABLE LOCATIONS
The following are some of the more notable locations found in the living city of Wati.
Getwahb’s Tarworks: The largest and most profitable business in the Veins ironically has little to do with shipping. Instead, the sprawling, brick structure belonging to Getwahb Zet houses dozens of enormous kilns and cauldrons. Day and night, Getwahb’s dwarven and human workforce process wood shipped down the Crook River into tar, charcoal, and wood alcohol for the city’s other industries. With Wati’s reliance on barge traffic, fired bricks, and embalming, the old dwarf’s venture has paid off, making him one of Wati’s richest citizens and giving him unparalleled influence along the waterfront. While city politics bore the aging engineer, the same can’t be said for his eldest daughter, Meehr Zet, who eagerly spends her father’s money to buy her way into high society events.
Golden Lake: Separating the Grand Mausoleum from the Sunburst Market, this artificial pool takes its name from the coating of gold dust cast over its surface each year on the Day of Bones. The lake also houses a rare breed of white crocodiles that are sacred to Wati’s Pharasmin church. Regularly fed and cared for, these long-lived cousins of the more dangerous crocodiles found in Osirion’s rivers pose little threat to tourists or residents. Crocodile Keeper Neb-at demonstrates an uncanny control over the sacred beasts.
Grand Mausoleum: Rivaled in size and importance only by the High Temple of Pharasma in Sothis, Wati’s temple of Pharasma dominates the cityscape and handles the business of the city’s births and deaths, as well as the details that occur in between. Since the Lady of Graves eclipsed Nethys and Abadar as Wati’s patron deity, her followers have assumed control over much of the city’s infrastructure, and have combined the Grand Mausoleum into a cross between a house of worship and city hall. All final decisions are still made by the city council and overseen by the haty-a—the pharaoh’s personal representative—but council meetings and the day-to-day affairs of state are held within the sprawling complex. The temple’s high priestess, Sebti the Crocodile, rose to power from the common rabble. Daughter of the previous keeper of Pharasma’s sacred crocodiles and largely self-educated, Sebti has been a constant thorn in the side of Wati’s nobles since assuming control of the church a decade ago. Preaching a doctrine of personal fulfillment rather than happiness, wealth, or achievement, Sebti invariably sides with the common citizenry on government matters, making her popular with the common folk.
In addition to the temple’s clergy, the Grand Mausoleum hosts an arm of the militant wing of the church called the Voices of the Spire, dedicated to eradicating any undead within the city’s sprawling necropolis. They are led by the humorless Nakht Shepses, a bastard son of the influential Shepses line.
Hall of Blessed Rebirth: A multitude of professional funerary organizations once flourished in Wati before Bahjut Everhand took control of the city’s influential embalmer’s guild. Most of the region’s morticians, doctors, and alchemists have joined the guild, transforming the guildhall into an academy specializing in anatomy, chemistry, and medicine, and even tutoring exceptional students in alchemy and wizardry. While most of Wati’s residents give the school a wide berth, ambitious families across Osirion send their children to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth to master the Half-City’s techniques in medicine and embalming.
Mistress Bahjut Everhand is a worshiper of Anubis, the ancient Osirian god of the dead, and the Hall of Blessed Rebirth contains a shrine devoted to the jackal-headed deity. Bahjut gained her epithet from her desiccated left hand. Rumors claim that she preserved the exquisitely mummified appendage while still an apprentice. Others claim the old crone mummified her heart as well, as she’s never shown a hint of fear or compassion, even to the Pharasmins whose oversight she has come to resent.
House of the Pharaoh: Wati’s massive and illustrious House of the Pharaoh is the pharaoh’s personal estate in the city. The palace hasn’t seen a royal occupant in over 30 years, however, and the building functions as the center of Wati’s secular authority—though in practice, more of the city’s governance takes place at the Grand Mausoleum. While the pharaonic apartments remain empty, the rest of the estate buzzes with bureaucrats maintaining the city’s property laws and economic records. Oshep Kahmed, the personal representative of Pharaoh Khemet III, serves as Wati’s haty-a, or governor, and head of the city council.
Insula Mater: The prominence of Pharasma’s faith in Wati attracts many expectant mothers to the city from outlying villages and regional settlements. Many of Pharasma’s clerics donate time as caretakers and midwives at the Insula Mater, a temple, clinic, and dormitory for pregnant travelers and new mothers. Although eclipsed in importance by the Grand Mausoleum, the Insula Mater still enjoys a steady stream of donations and gifts from Wati’s wealthiest women. “Aunty” Anjet Jehuti leads the Mother’s Handmaidens, the temple’s small, full-time staff of clerics and healers.
Mender’s Row: While Wati’s sister city of An exports far more raw textiles, Wati dominates the trio of southern sister cities in the creation of finished garments, funerary wrappings, and rugs. Mender’s Row—more often referred to as “the Mend” by locals—is the core of Wati’s textile industry, stretching from the Rising Phoenix dye market for several blocks to the city’s only textile mill, run by the Essesh family. Competitive pride keeps several dozen independent weaver’s shops churning out quality clothing at a steady pace and in a variety of hues. The Rising Phoenix’s technique for creating a distinct reddish-purple dye from the local giant crayfish remains a closely guarded secret of the proprietors, Shamihn Hep and Ohmun Kotem, and ensures that Wati’s fashions stand out in markets as far-flung as Absalom.
Precinct of Left Eyes: This retrofitted fortress houses Wati’s town guard. Long ago, Wati’s laws dealt only two punishments: gouging out the right eye, or death. Though these laws soon proved untenable, over the years, the locals’ nickname for the palace of justice came to be its official moniker. The precinct encloses guard barracks, a jail, and two dozen pillories used for public punishments for minor transgressions. Befitting a city obsessed with death, Wati’s criminal underworld revolves around the trade in grave goods and even the dead themselves. In response, the militant wing of the Pharasmin church, the Voices of the Spire, has taken over guarding the tombs in the city of the dead.
Sanctum of Silver and Gold: This small, comfortable temple of Abadar has held sway over Wati’s economy for thousands of years, and has been rebuilt and remodeled dozens of times to accommodate the waning and waxing of Abadar’s appeal in the region. The result is a confusing layout that confounds visitors and faithful alike, but protects the temple’s vault like no guard ever could. The Sanctum’s leader, Banker Anok Tejuht, implies (but never outright states) that minotaurs stalk his temple’s forgotten corners, and at least one would-be burglar has been found at sunrise, mysteriously gored in the temple’s adytum.
Shrine of Wadjet: When Pharaoh Djederet II ordered Wati’s construction, he laid a golden brick where the Asp and Crook rivers mingle to form the Sphinx. The priesthood of Wadjet, the ancient Osirian goddess sometimes revered as the embodiment of the River Sphinx, established a small shrine on the site and constructed a stone staircase on either side leading down into the water. Although Wadjet’s faith is no longer as popular as it was during the city’s founding, the shrine remains, and most religious and civic festivals in Wati begin or end on these stairs and the plaza before them. Popular superstition claims that water drawn from the base of the stairs under the sun of the solstice has healing properties, and pilgrims come from across Osirion to make offerings and bathe in the first currents of the holy river. Even the priests of the Grand Mausoleum draw the water for their fonts from the stairs’ edge.
Sunburst Market: This enormous open-air market forms the bustling heart of Wati. Decorated pillars mark out a regular grid, and various merchants hang attention-grabbing banners and samples of their wares from the painted sandstone columns. On busy days, the open plaza transforms into a maze of tents and tables that display goods ranging from artwork, cosmetics, and food to weapons, poisons, and magical tomes. Traveling merchants from neighboring cities often come to the sunburst market to ply their wares. In theory, all merchants must register with and pay a fee to Abadar’s Sanctum of Silver and Gold at the north end of the market, but in practice, as much as a quarter of Sunburst Market’s retailers are squatters who move in and out of the city with all the oversight of the desert wind. Most of the fees the temple collects pay for the services of the so-called “Marketwives,” Rekitre and Khipa Yannanza, who patrol the market in daylight hours, watching for pickpockets and delivering swift justice to thieves. Anyone foolish enough to violate Abadar’s law under their gaze soon finds one of their hands added to the dozens already dangling from the plaza’s grisly Pillar of Second Thoughts.
Terhk’s Fine Expeditions: Part caravan company, part hunter’s lodge, and part adventurers’ guild, Terhk’s Fine Expeditions tries to be all things at once for anyone traveling the deserts of southern Osirion. Terhk Fourwinds, the towering, scar-riddled proprietor, is always eager to bring on new guards or wilderness guides, though word about town claims he eats those who fail him once too often.
Threshed Souls Fragrances: One of Wati’s countless perfume and incense sellers, Threshed Souls Fragrances stands out both for its variety of iris-based scents.
Tooth & Hookah: This modest inn and hookah bar is best known for its mascot, Toothy—a tiny crocodile that lives in the inn’s well.
Ubet’s Folly: Built atop a fang-shaped jut of rock in the River Sphinx, this fortress was among the first structures completed in Wati’s infancy. Intended to protect the harbor from waterborne raiders, it saw little use and was eventually abandoned. Centuries later, the half-crazed dwarf sorcerer Ubet Sandborn took possession of the neglected ruin and spent a lifetime shaping the fortress’s exterior into the likeness of a sphinx and carving tunnels deep beneath it. Ubet and his small cult vanished overnight more than 100 years ago. The general assumption is that one of their poorly planned tunnels collapsed, crushing the lot, but some whisper that Ubet stumbled across a secret from Wati’s founding best left buried. Ubet’s Folly, as the sphinx is now known, still draws occasional curious adventurers, but most of Wati’s residents recognize it for what it is—a crumbling ruin more likely to collapse than reveal any treasure. Still, it remains an open secret around town that real sphinxes occasionally visit the structure for some mysterious purpose, otherwise ignoring the city proper.
Whispering Stone: Run by Teht Blackblossom, the Whispering Stone has been Wati’s most popular tavern, inn, and game house for generations. The bar is built around an enormous, ruined statue buried up to its shoulders and broken off halfway up the head, leaving only a chin and pair of lips visible atop a 7-foot-high neck. Determining the identity of the so-called “Stone Lips” is a popular pastime in Wati, and the statue has been variously identified as representing Pharasma, some ancient Osirian goddess, one of Osirion’s forgotten pharaohs, a local noblewoman lost to history, a warlord who conquered Wati in its earliest days, or a nameless wizard who supposedly tamed the local elementals. Those looking for luck in love sneak a kiss from the sandstone smile—usually after buying a few drinks, of course.
CITY OF THE DEAD
The sturdy stone buildings of Wati’s necropolis were once part of the living city, and even now could still be mistaken for apartments, estates, shops, or tenements if not for the faded paint and desert sand piling up in the streets. Separated from the rest of the city by high stone walls inscribed with prayers and blessings, the necropolis has an outward appearance of peace and repose. The dusty streets are mostly empty of life, but a variety of creatures, both living and undead, still call the necropolis home, surreptitiously avoiding the notice of Pharasma’s clergy. Entrance to this section of the city is highly regulated by the Church of Pharasma, and the priesthood reconsecrates the necropolis each year as part of a weeklong festival surrounding the Day of Bones. Astute locals know that this ceremony provides little actual protection from the dangers hiding in the necropolis.
NOTABLE LOCATIONS
The following are some of the more prominent locations within Wati’s necropolis.
Acrid Street: Once the center of Wati’s incense and perfume industry, this area takes its present name from the stench of the ravenous dead that now inhabit its streets—ghasts and ghouls. The ghouls have existed here since the Plague of Madness, and even the Pharasmin Voices of the Spire have thus far failed to eliminate them.
Archives of the Ibis: A combination library and monastery, this quiet retreat for contemplation and learning was dedicated to Thoth, the ancient Osirian god of knowledge, literature, and science.
Cenotaph of the Cynic: After the Plague of Madness decimated Wati’s population but before the necropolis was consecrated, Wati’s few remaining citizens constructed this tomblike monument in honor of all those who had fallen to the plague. With the coming of the Pharasmins and the creation of the necropolis, the cenotaph was repurposed to house the remains of those citizens who professed no faith in the gods at all.
The Dry Veins: Once part of Wati’s busy harbor district, most of the canals in this section of the necropolis have been drained and bricked over, creating a network of crypts for the poor and unknown. Artistically inclined clerics of Pharasma make room for new bodies by stacking the desiccated bones into creative sculptures and decorations, giving the catacombs an unsettling charm.
Dust Parlor: Wati’s largest gambling house now stands eerily empty, avoided even by the undead of the necropolis. Strange lights and noises float through its shuttered windows under the new moon, leading most residents of Wati to conclude that a powerful ghost or demon haunts the building.
Pharasma’s Needle: Soon after the Pharasmins arrived in Wati to rebuild and consecrate the city, a burning rock fell from the sky into the River Sphinx where Bargetown now floats. Nefru Shepses took this as a sign of approval from the Lady of Graves, and ordered the black stone dredged from the river’s depths and carved into a capstone for a sacred obelisk, erecting the monument just inside the gates to the necropolis. Today, mourners interring their loved ones inside the necropolis still stop at Pharasma’s Needle on their way to the gravesites to gain the goddess’s blessing for the deceased’s journey to the Boneyard.
Sanctum of the Erudite Eye: This ancient temple of Nethys was abandoned following the Plague of Madness.
Tahetep’s Dance Hall: Born a nameless slave to a Keleshiite master in Totra, the warrior who would be called Tahetep won his freedom after saving the life of his master during a slave uprising. Ashamed that he had sided with his master instead of his fellow slaves, the freedman fled to Wati and took a new name, Tahetep. He established a popular dance and music hall to help drown his guilt in shallow pursuits of the flesh, but the Plague of Madness struck before the old warrior could find any peace. With inhuman strength and skin that reportedly turned aside iron blades, Tahetep slaughtered his wife, children, and two dozen patrons in the course of a single night. Local stories claim the authorities boarded up Tahetep in his dance hall, fearing a confrontation with the lunatic, and other stories insist he remains there even after centuries: immortal, insane, and forever singing the few songs his broken mind remembers.
The story would likely end there, had Tahetep not left his master’s service with a fortune in foreign silver. Every few years, a silver ingot stamped with Qadiran markings surfaces in the Sunburst Market, tempting treasure hunters and adventurers to brave the sealed dance hall in search of more. The only person ever known to return is the so-called Dancing Lady of Wati, a now-elderly woman who emerged from the dance hall blind, deaf, and mute, and who waltzes on her single remaining leg through the city streets to a melody only she can hear.
Umbracene Well: This deep shaft carved into the bedrock beneath Wati existed even before the city’s founding, covered by an immense stone plug crafted by unknown hands. In the worst throes of the Plague of Madness, the well became a makeshift pauper’s grave, and corpses by the hundreds, if not thousands, were cast into its black depths, which showed no sign of ever filling. Locals believe the well is bottomless, but sages speculate that the shaft likely connects to the Darklands, possibly plunging as deep as the Vaults of Orv. The stone plug that originally covered the well is long lost, and residents of Wati, both living and undead, avoid the site, no doubt due in part to the hundreds of tiny, toothed mouths that line the walls of the shaft, hungrily smacking their lips in the darkness.
Vizier’s Hill: Before the Plague of Madness, many of Wati’s nobles settled upon this hill, but like the other residents of the current necropolis, they abandoned their estates during the pestilence. A clan of dark folk known as the Xotl emerged from the Darklands into Wati’s necropolis more than a century ago, taking up residence in the subterranean wine cellars of the villas upon the hill. The church of Pharasma tolerates the dark folk’s presence in the necropolis, as they help keep the more dangerous vermin in the district under control.
Spoiler: The sixteen
Show
1. What game system are you running?
Pathfinder.
2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
Standard Pathfinder set in Golarion.
3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
In this case, the 4 of you guys. Should you wish to add somebody else, that's fine, as long as you think that person would be a good fit and unlikely to drop off. There's a small chance I propose for someone else to join at some point in the distant future, conditional on acceptance from the group.
4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
OOTS forum, with IC and OOC threads. I'm also open to using Hangouts in addition to the regular OOC thread.
5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
Level 1.
6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
Average starting wealth for the class.
7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?
Anything from Paizo is allowed, although I always reserve the right to nix something if it looks unbalanced or somehow inappropriate (I haven't ever nixed anything as far as Paizo material is concerned, so this is mostly a precaution clause).
If one or more characters elects to use firearms, then firearms will exist in Osirion; otherwise, you won't encounter any.
Third-party or homebrewed content is not allowed.
8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
Anything from Paizo is allowed. However, non-Core races are exceedingly rare. This means, if you want to play one, you'll have to come up with an extra strong story to explain why the character became an adventurer, how he/she relates to other races, etc. Special scrutiny will be given to races with RP>10. Also, please be prepared for the character to have trouble getting accepted by NPCs. That said, I won't stand in the way of an innovative, exciting character idea.
9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
25 point buy. Max hit points at first level. Afterwards, roll a half-die + half max (example: instead of 1d10, roll 1d5+5).
10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
Yes, characters are expected to be following their alignment in RP. No alignment restrictions, but characters must be able to work with the party as a team. Evil or criminal acts towards NPCs will be met with proportionate reaction from NPC authorities and/or allies of the victims.
11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
Normal Pathfinder rules.
12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
Most rolls should be made in the IC thread, together with your post concerning the action. When a description of your action depends on the roll result, it is recommended that you edit your post after the roll, rather than writing another post. If you mess up a roll (that happens to everybody), just post the make up roll in the OOC thread. Characters will roll their own rolls, except when necessary in the interest of speed: For example, I will roll for Perception and Inititative most of the time.
13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.
Spoiler: Traits
Show
Your character gets two traits, one of which is a campaign trait (please refer to the Mummy's Mask Playr Guide), and can optionally get a third trait together with a drawback. If that's not enough traits, you can have more with the Additional Traits feat. Your traits and drawback (if any) need to be somehow linked to your background, and they should be roleplayed accordingly.
Spoiler: Raising the Stakes
Show
http://esix.pbworks.com/f/RaisingtheStakes.pdf
This is an entirely optional rule, ie. using it or not is each player's choice. The general idea of Raising the Stakes is trying to implement more exciting combat by making up temporary rules on the fly, for mechanics that the rules don't cover, or just to make your character look cool. All raises should be made in the OOC thread. I may counter raise sometimes, meaning I like the idea, but it is balanced too heavily in your favor.
Spoiler: Initiative and action order
Show
The point of this rule is to speed things up in the PbP context. It works like this:
- Each character has individual initiative, while enemies have initiative as a group (equal to the average of all members).
- If one party only is aware of their opponents, then that party gets a surprise round.
- Round 1: The characters with inititiative higher than the enemy initiative act; then, the enemies act.
- Round 2: All characters act; then, the enemies act. Etc.
- Character actions are resolved in the order of posting. When necessary, you can indicate conditional actions to modify that order: For example, "Berndik waits until Alzobar casts his spell, then he charges the ogre leader; if the leader is down, he charges the closest ogre instead".
14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
Yes. You don't need to write a very long story (but if you wish to do so, it's fine, especially if you can make it an entertaining read). But I'd like you to cover at least: Who the characer is and where he/she comes from (race/ethnicity, place of origin, family, upbringing, training), why he/she chose to do what he/she does, and what brought him/her to Wati in search of tomb exploration opportunities. Originality and flavor are strongly encouraged. Your story should indicate at least a few specific links to Golarion places, events, and/or people. It should also explain about at least a couple of NPCs that are important to your character's story (parents, siblings, mentors, past or present love interests, children, friends, enemies, etc). In addition, I request that you write a personality description - again, not necessarily a long psychological profile, but at least something to help understand how the character interacts with other people. And a short physical description is in order.
On top of that, as a group, please write a description of how you got together. Chose a team name (if you haven't done so, as soon as you arrive in Wati, you'll notice every other would-be tomb raider group has one). You may have known each other for years or for a couple of hours, but you must present as a team. If you decide your characters have known each other for a long time, please also write something to explain what they think of each other.
15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
The game is a Pathfinder Adventure Path, so I expect it to include healthy doses of RP, exploration, and combat, and very few if any puzzles. Due to the specific constraints of RP, it is likely that I accelerate the scenario a little bit, for example by merging some encounters, or skipping them altogether. In particular, I will strive to make exploration faster by reducing the need for characters to listen and check for traps at every single door in a dungeon; so, you may sometimes see a post that describes the group exploring a whole lot of rooms in one go.
16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?
Anything by Paizo on the
pfsrd is allowed.
17? Any other things that would be nice to know?
Players are expected to post about once per day, and I will endeavour to do the same. Whenever you are offline for more than 2 days, please post an advance notice. If waiting for a post from a player makes the game stop for more than 48 hours, I may bot the character without warning.
I request that every character have a sheet up on Mythweavers, detailing feats, class features, equipment, racial abilties etc. Please don't forget to indicate your favored class bonus choice. Please use the boxes at the bottom of the sheet to record your backstory, personality, description etc.
For IC posts, I appreciate a modicum of effort to use correct grammar and spelling (but I know we all make typos...). Also, I recommend a degree of consistency in style, namely, either everybody writes narration in the present tense, or everybody uses the past tense. I don't mind either way, but I prefer a consistent take: One or the other. I find it makes reading more natural.
Please use the regular text style methods for PbP:
- Every character has a unique text color.
- Character speech is written between quote signs, in the character's color.
- Character thoughts are written without quote signs, in the character's color, in italics.
- Description of actions is in black, regular font.
- Technical descriptions and die rolls go in a spoiler.