Orchid Bay (WIP)
Cut into the table-like cliffs that rise from the gleaming beaches of Crystal Sands, Orchid Bay is a shining city in the shadow of a volcano. It’s an old city and a beautiful city, but don’t let its history fool you into thinking it’s a place of rules and laws, or its grandeur fool you into thinking there aren’t sharp corners and dark alleyways waiting for you here. Orchid Bay has history the way an old family has history: a threadbare tapestry of grudges, feuds, traditions, and unspoken rules that somehow holds the whole place together.
Impressions:
- The crystal-blue waters of the lagoon dotted with fishing boats, racing canoes, and surfers taming the waves.
- On the docks: the sound of barrels thudding into decks, ropes creaking, sails fluttering, and sailors laughing.
- An impenetrable code of signals and allegiances for the trained eye, spoken in the language of scarves and sashes and pins and cloaks.
- The many-tiered city rising above you, perched on cliffs that rise like stairs towards the glowering shape of the volcano.
- Waterfalls cascading down the tiers of the city, shining in the air and filling the streets with soothing mist.
- Crabs scuttling and frogs croaking and hopping in ponds and fountains where the water pools and trickles.
- The faint bite of brimstone underneath the clean smell of water: the breath of the Red Maw, reminding you it’s there.
Mysteries:
- Why are the cults of the Sky Dancer and Fogweaver, who have always been kindred, suddenly at each others’ throats?
- What is the mysterious cargo that the Claw Consortium brought into the city under cover of darkness and armed guard?
- When Old Shrike finally kicks the bucket, will the gangs of Perfection maintain the decade-old truce that was his legacy?
- Who is responsible for the plague of enchanted “fool’s ivory” that has flooded the streets in the past few months?
- Why is Speaker Jasper suddenly talking about closing the Farwater Colleges once and for all, claiming they’re a relic of the past?
- Is that man who keeps ranting and raving about the Red Maw erupting really a wizard from the Shroud, despite his dubious appearance?
Neighbourhoods:
Waterfront District
Although it’s always bustling with activity, the sprawling docks that cling to the cliffside beaches of Orchid Bay aren’t really a place to live. The waterfront itself is dominated by docks and shipyards and warehouses, and the narrow streets that surround it are crammed with taverns and hotels that cater to weary sailors and seafarers. It’s not a home for anything but shipping companies and cargo, but if you have a pocket full of coin then you’ll find it has plenty of hospitality to offer you.
Anchor: The House of Knots
There are many shipyards scattered along the Waterfront District, but the House of Knots is special. It’s not the most impressive shipyard nor the most profitable, but it is the oldest - and it’s part of a seafaring tradition that goes back to the city’s earliest days. The House of Knots is well known for offering ships at a steep discount to would-be explorers and seafarers, and its bustling entrance hall is more like a tavern than a place of commerce. Sailors, wanderers and weatherworkers crowd the benches and stools, swapping stories and planning their next expedition. It’s a good place to find a crew or chase a rumour.
Representative: Chief Shipwright Feldspar, a Hewn who would never set foot on a ship but knows their construction inside and out. He sits in on the negotiations for every job the shipyard takes, but only involves himself personally in very few projects. The ships he works on always make a name for themselves, for good or for ill.
Offering: TODO
Hidden: The Mystery Fish
An out-of-the-way but lively little tavern, away from the docks and out on the beach. This isn’t the headquarters of the Claw Consortium, the militant shipping company with a reputation for sourcing rare and exotic items from across the Archipelago, but it is where their leadership hangs out. It’s rougher than you’d expect; some say the Consortium aren’t much better than pirates.
Representative: TODO
Offering: TODO
The Ivory Sliver
Narrowest of the tiers that divide the city, the Sliver is a slender cord that runs the breadth of Orchid Bay. Its height and openness give it gorgeous views of the ocean and city below, and the tiers above shelter it even when Red Maw is pouring noxious fumes into the rest of the city. Home to the ostentatious manses and terraces of merchants, landlords, and magnates. The residents of the Sliver have no need of the Orchid Vigil; they hire reliable guards out of pocket, and pay them well.
There was a campaign to rename it to “The Ivory Thread” a few years back, but Sliver is the name that stuck. You can tell where someone’s from by which name they use.
Anchor: The Orchid Market
Technically it’s “The Plaza of the Sisters”, but the emblems of the Lunar Spire and Sightless Eye are obscured by crowds and market stalls except on festival days. There are many markets in Orchid Bay of course, but the Orchid Market is special. This is where you come if you’re looking to sell something rare and unusual, something that’s not easy to come by. It’s an odd mix of wealthy collectors and scruffy adventurers, rubbing shoulders and cheerfully haggling.
Representative: Speaker Jasper, the elected representative for Crystal Sands at the Speaker Council. He is mostly responsible for ensuring that the city runs smoothly: taxes are collected, trade is conducted, food comes into the city and goods flow out, and none of the gangs (or the Vigil) get too out of line. He can be found at the Orchid Market most afternoons, holding court at his favourite food cart.
Offering: You can buy things in the Orchid Market that you can’t find anywhere else.
Plateau District
In a city that’s known for being convoluted and twisty, this massive shelf of rock that rises over the Sliver can be something of a relief. It’s the city’s broadest and flattest district, and the one where the majority of the city’s permanent residents dwell. Although the views over the ocean are beautiful, the noxious fog that drifts in from the Red Maw keeps it from being too desirable. It’s also tucked away near the top of the city, untroubled by rowdy seafarers or the bustle of commerce. That gives it a reputation for being a sedate and quiet part of the city.
Anchor: The Willow House
A blocky stone building that used to be a seafort, perched on the cliffs right at the edge of the Plateau District. Although it’s rather forbidding from the outside, it’s one of the main reasons most seafarers would visit the district in the first place. The Willow House is a house of medicine: an association of surgeons, alchemists, wizards and cultists that dedicate themselves to the healing arts. They charge in proportion to what their visitors can afford, and woe betide the one who tries to cheat them.
Representative: Waiting Judge, a strider wizard who has dedicated their life to the magical art of “exchanging”. They can take on wounds and illnesses from those who come to the House and, using a kind of magic that they keep to themselves, “balance them out” into the world. Their power is reserved for the most urgent and serious cases, so most of the time they interview patients to find out what they need.
Offering: Healing potions and curative elixirs for reasonable prices. Beds and medical attention for those with serious injuries. The expertise of learned clinicians for matters such as exotic diseases, ancient curses, and the like.
Perfection
A crab mystic once said that “the road to perfection is ten thousand steps”, and that’s where this district gets it name. Dozens of narrow, twisty little neighbourhoods perch on a jumble of little cliffs and outcroppings that climb from the ocean to the jungle. The stairs that connect them sometimes rise, sometimes fall, sometimes double back on themselves, and sometimes pass through cliffside caves or over people’s roofs.
Perfection is full of nooks and crannies and shadowy corners, so it’s no surprise some of Orchid Bay’s most powerful gangs call it home. They rub shoulders with the dockhands, street-sellers, day labourers and servants that keep the city running.
Anchor: The Stone Cauldron
Maintained by the cult of the Sky Dancer in pursuit of their mandate to offer guidance and comfort to those who have lost their way, the Stone Cauldron is more than just a soup kitchen. The enchanted basin that bubbles endlessly in the center of this old shrine does offer a bowl of stew to any and all comers, yes, but the shrine itself serves a more important purpose. It’s neutral ground to the gangs and crews that divvy up Perfection: a place so cherished and sacred that no one would dare to shed blood there.
Representative: Amber Brook, a genuine Chosen of the Sky Dancer. While many of the Chosen are called to exalt their patron’s virtues across the sea, but Amber believes that her calling is in the city where she was born and raised. She believes that there is a sickness that has taken root in Orchid Bay, and intends to use her holy powers to cleanse it.
Offering: A meal and a bed when you can’t afford one. An inner cloister where you can sit down with people who want you dead. Your burdens eased by the beacon of the Sky Dancer, held aloft by her Chosen servant.
The Green Quarter
The oldest part of the city, partially swallowed up by the jungle that surrounds Red Maw Volcano. Old ruins and crumbling neighbourhoods in the process of being reclaimed by nature. Frequent drifts of volcanic fog make it an undesirable place to live, but it’s still inhabited by some stubborn old families (and those with nowhere else to sleep). The ruins are sometimes used as hideouts by smugglers and thieves.
Anchor: The Farwater Colleges
A society of high-minded scholars and explorers, based in a crumbling campus on the edge of the Green Quarter. Their mission is to sail the seas, gather knowledge and culture from distant lands, and bring it back to their library - where it is made freely available to all. They are funded by the city itself, an old tradition that probably wouldn’t fly if it were proposed today. Even so, there’s never enough ivory to go around.
Representative: Professor Redgale, a ferretfolk wizard who trained on the Shroud and specialises in the arts of Finding. He’s the Dean of the Colleges, but secretly loves to wander and spends little time at home.
Offering: The archives and documents gathered by Farwater expeditions is made freely available to all comers. They also occasionally hire adventurers to accompany them on expeditions, or pay a modest fee for notable discoveries.
Hidden: The Hollow of Obscurity
At the very edge of the city, where civilisation gives way to jungled foothills, there is a cave which is sacred to the Fogweaver. Volcanic fog pools and gathers there, and changes somehow into something potent and hallucinogenic. People come here to face the things they fear the most, to clear their minds of the things they can’t let go, and to understand the truth within their hearts. The cult of the Fogweaver stands ready to guide them through the mist and to greet them on the other side.
Representative: TODO
Offering: TODO
Local Specialties
The Orchid Markets
Cities aren’t a common thing in the Archipelago. They’re not unheard of, but a place like Orchid Bay - where people meet and congregate from across the ocean - is rare enough to be special. There are all kinds of things that are hard to come by normally which can be found in the markets of Orchid Bay. If you know the right people and have deep enough pockets, that is.
When you search the Orchid Markets for a local specialty from some other island or locale (or just something odd and unusual), roll the Dice of Fate. Add 1d for every lead you have uncovered, useful favour you are owed, or substantial “donation” you’re willing to make. Subtract 1d if the specialty is from somewhere rarely travelled, or 2d if it’s from somewhere uncharted. Judge the results as follows:
- 1-3. You don’t find what you’re looking for. Not everything can be found in Orchid Bay.
- 4-5. You find what you’re looking for, but pick one: the price isn’t outrageous, there’s plenty available, there’s no hidden catch, you can buy more in the future.
- 6. As above, but pick two.
- 66. As above, but pick three.
Charms from the Shroud
You might think you’d find items such as this on the Shroud, but few people are going to make a voyage to the “Wizard’s Isle” just to buy a few enchanted trinkets. No, the wizards send their apprentices and assistants to Orchid Bay with these petty workings so they can keep funding their lofty research (and lifestyles).
Cinder Pot. A little clay pot of smouldering embers which never grows cool. Used to warm the hands, provide a little light, or quickly start a fire. (5 coins)
Feather Wrap. Wrap something in a sheet of this soft, fluffy material and it seems to weigh barely anything. Reduces the Supply cost of an item by 1, but it can’t be unwrapped quickly. (8 coins)
Homeward Needle. Enchanted by a wizard with a spell of finding, it will always point the way to the island where it was made. Like an ordinary compass, though, it is disrupted by strong magnetic fields and other such disturbances. (30 coins)
Kin Candle. Made by a wizard for a specific person with a drop of their blood. Burns with a bright blue flame if they’re alive and well, or a regular flame if they’re dead. The flame pulls in their general direction. (15 coins)
Paper Sprite. An expensive way to send a letter. The wind spirit bound up in this slip of paper will seek out and deliver itself to the message’s recipient, wherever they may be. It’s not foolproof, and sprites sometimes get lost along the way, but it’s much faster than waiting for a messenger. (10 coins)
Warding Charm. A magical amulet that offers protection against a single kind of magic, such as Binding, Influence, or Seeming. Works reliably against simple spells; otherwise, it acts as a setup action to resist or overcome the effects. Once it has worked, the charm loses its luster and its efficacy. The paranoid jingle with these little copper disks. (10 coins)
Denizens and Dangers
Volcanic Fog
More of a nuisance than a hazard, at least most of the time - but even if the people of Orchid Bay shrug it off and laugh about it, the fog isn’t good for your lungs. When the Red Maw belches out too much of the stuff, the city bustle slows and everyone tries to hide inside for a few days until it clears up.
Herbalists sell sprays and tonics and herbs that can keep the fog from settling in your lungs or drifting into your house, but not everyone can afford them. Not everyone can afford to stay inside when the brimstone fog is rolling through the streets, either. Go into Perfection or the Green Quarter and you’ll hear the distinctive sound of “Maw Throat” soon enough.