Nantambu
The Song-Wind City
Sometimes called the Song-Wind City for the cheerful chimes of colored glass that hang from its every building, Nantambu is a bastion of peace and sophistication. Canals from the Vanji River carry water not just to the city but through it, demarcating districts in great curving lines topped by graceful, arching bridges. In Nantambu’s cosmopolitan markets, spices and magic from across the Expanse flow freely—yet the city needs no defensive walls, nor standing armies, for it is guarded by something far more powerful than stone or steel.
Founded by a legendary magician known as Old-Mage Jatembe, the Magaambya is the oldest academy of arcane magic in the Inner Sea region, and perhaps on all of Golarion. Looming over the city’s lesser stone buildings, the academy’s ring of 10 terraced towers form Nantambu’s heart, each decorated with a massive mosaic of one of the legendary Ten Magic Warriors. Students from around the world come to study in its storied halls, focusing primarily on the meticulous art of wizardry. Teaching styles within the school vary greatly; some professors teach only through didactic oral traditions, while others promote the study of ancient texts—many penned by Old-Mage Jatembe and his disciples. The academy’s teachers are notorious for sojourning in far-off lands and visiting scholars in other nations, meaning students must sometimes travel great distances to access particular mentors. The university also encourages fieldwork, and at any given time there are more tenured professors conducting research in the far corners of the world than in the school itself. Such professors often send their favorite students abroad to secure—or uncover—the ruins or artifacts they hope to study. In the Magaambya, it’s said that a wizard learns both by reading and by doing—a philosophy sometimes termed “the Word and the Way”—and thus to shut oneself off from the world in perpetual study is at best counterproductive, and at worst miserly. In Jatembe’s tradition, study is ultimately less important than using what you learn to serve others.
The Magaambyan emphasis on service is the source of Nantambu’s strength, with the resident mages ensuring that no invading force has ever managed to come within 20 miles of the city. This protection extends to neighboring villages as well, and despite no formal agreements of fealty, more than a hundred such settlements gladly and gratefully pay tribute to the city. Supported by the college’s faculty, Nantambu’s governing council of elected magistrate-mayors presides over the city and surrounding territory, using the famous Watcher’s Stone of Nantambiyan Tower to keep magical tabs on Usaro and other threats in the region.
Yet Nantambu is far more than just an outgrowth of the Magaambya. Its reputation for scholarship has led to the establishment of many other prominent schools, teaching everything from science and smithing to Mwangi martial traditions. Small wonder, then, that the city should also host the largest Pathfinder Lodge in the Expanse. Famously accepting of strangers, Nantambu’s populace boasts dozens of different ancestries, from Ekujae elves to Jaha lizardfolk, gnolls to catfolk. Here one can find even the most reclusive of Mwangi peoples, such as the shy anadi, many-eyed goloma, bone-feathered shisks, or inevitable-worshipping conrasu with their elaborate biological machines and living wooden exoskeletons. Regardless of their strangeness, all entities of goodwill are welcome in the Song-Wind City. This hospitality has only increased in the wake of the recent Lake Ocota land rushes, and each passing year sees the city grow more secure in its position as the cultural heart of the Expanse. Nantambu is a shining jewel of the Mwangi Expanse nestled in a bend of the Vanji River. Crisscrossed by canals and adorned with tinkling glass charms on every window and door, it’s a fitting home for the Magaambya, the oldest and most prestigious school of arcane magic on Golarion. Its location on the Vanji makes it a hub both for ships sailing upriver from the sea and caravans making their way through the surrounding jungles. The smells of rich spices and rare woods fill the city’s open-air markets, while glassmakers and cloth merchants display a riotous array of colors and designs. The city’s population is comprised mostly of humans, with most of them being Zenj, followed by about half as many Bonuwat and a few Mauxi. The city is also home to communities of Ekujae elves, gnolls, halflings, lizardfolk, and Catfolk, as well as a few members of rarer ancestries. Founded by Old-Mage Jatembe to be a seat of learning, the city has evolved over the millennia into a democratic haven. The Magaambya’s presence enhances the city’s prestige and contributes to the safety and stability of its peoples. Nantambu maintains peace with its neighbors through diplomatically negotiated treaties and requires no standing army to protect itself. Despite this, no attack against the city has ever prevailedthe Magaambya‘s Tempest-Sun Mages have never let any foe within 20 miles of the city. As such, the city houses few soldiers, and most of its inhabitants devote their time to the arts, principally glassmaking and wood crafting. An elected council governs the city, and any citizen old enough can cast a ballot or run for office themselves. The Magaambya at the city’s heart attracts eager students from across and beyond the Mwangi Expanse, and its renowned arcane instructors don’t confine their lessons to the academy’s buildings or enrollment rosters—they’re just as likely to be found lecturing in a courtyard as a classroom. Likewise, students of the Magaambya are not bound to one area of the city. Those of means often have apartments in other districts, while those from less wealthy backgrounds still live comfortably within the academy’s dormitories. Nantambu’s culture is built on an ethos of community. Even the poorest Nantambiyan has access to food, clean water, and a safe place to sleep, while even the most upscale restaurants set aside a table or two for charity and sponsor the city’s many public festivals throughout the year. Without having to worry about starving or freezing, Nantambiyans can innovate and take risks that citizens elsewhere can’t. The city’s artisans have honed their craft to the highest caliber, and their works, known for their quality and durability, are sought out across and beyond Garund. Some believe the constant magic of the Magaambya imbues the items with a level of power, while others posit that the crafters themselves, having acquired knowledge from the academy’s sages, imbue their own works with magic. While the various crafters’ guilds and unions sing and chant to meter out time or remember a recipe or method, there’s no evidence their creations are inherently more magical or powerful than usual—although there’s no proof that they aren’t, either. LIFE IN NANTAMBU Life in Nantambu begins before dawn, with bakers firing up their ovens to turn out small loves of tangy sourdough and fishers heading out to cast their nets onto the Vanji River. Nantambiyans enjoy a quick breakfast of bread, fruit, and fish, while children head to their lessons and merchants set out their wares. Food carts grill fish and vegetables and griddle flatbreads to wrap them in, and prepare plates for hungry laborers on their way to work. Glassblowers check the annealing ovens and the wares they left cooling overnight, before stoking the fires to start melting sand. Apprentices grind additives and fetch water to moisten shaping pads while journeyman crafters go over the day’s plans with the masters. Woodworkers likewise sharpen their tools while studying raw logs and stumps to see what beauty will be revealed from within; their apprentices, meanwhile, start working on stools and chairs to hone their fundamentals. From outside the city, carts and boats loaded with raw goods from the surrounding farms and villages flow in, all supervised by a small army of bureaucrats accounting for everything and distributing the tribute as needed. Street musicians and performers start busking around lunchtime, often setting up in a courtyard or town square so passersby can enjoy their acts while they eat. Savvy food carts feed artists in exchange for them setting up nearby, then hawk their treats to the crowds that gather to enjoy the performance. Theaters and music houses stage daily shows beginning around sundown, with most serving light refreshments with the entertainment. Guilds sponsor annual competitions for new plays, musical works, and choreography, sometimes with required elements like the Woodworkers Alliance’s stipulation that wooden instruments be used, or the Glassmakers’ Guild’s mandate of a glassworker as the protagonist. These competitions offer valuable prizes and bragging rights, but are also a way for musicians and actors to make a name for themselves, since the guilds finance a showing for each finalist and a quarter’s run for the winner. Dinners are a leisurely affair of grazing on finger foods in the summer or, in the rainy season, cradling small cups of hot stews while talking or reading. Most homes share a communal outdoor area conducive to chatting with neighbors and sharing meals with them, such as a central courtyard shared among several buildings or a rooftop terrace used by all the tenants of a larger building. There are two prominent seasons in Nantambu: the wintry rainy season, which lasts about 3 months and features storms lasting up to 20 hours a day, and the warmer and dryer growing season that begins in spring and fills the rest of the year. The local calendar begins on the spring equinox when the sun returns after the long rains, and every quarter year comprises 3 months of 28 days each. Nantambiyans mark solstices and equinoxes with a week of feasting, the first day of which is always dedicated to Old-Mage Jatembe and the Ten Warriors, while the last day is dedicated to venerating ancestors. The days between are divided among feast days for different gods and, often, weddings. These feast days are not part of any month, and an extra day is added at the new year. Spring, when the land starts drying out and young green life starts to sprout, comes with an explosion of color as merchants and crafters start displaying the wares they produced over the winter. Flowers stuffed with cheese or meat and fried in a crispy batter are available on almost every corner as people start planting their garden boxes. In the summer quarter, people store melons and fruits at the bottom of wells to keep them cool and refreshing in the daytime heat. Fish are caught in abundance from the Vanji River, grilled fresh within hours, and served with a squeeze of citrus or sprinkle of spices and salt. The autumn quarter brings leafy greens in abundance, quickly sautéed if already tender or slow cooked if tougher. The grilling and quick cooking of the spring and summer make way for stews and braises in autumn and the rainy season. Fish are salted and fruits dried or preserved to be packed away, and an annual slaughter of livestock gives meats time to cure and smoke. The rainy winter’s daily torrential downpours drive most Nantambiyans indoors. Riverbeds provide starchy marsh tubers to be roasted in coals or boiled and mashed to serve with rich, meaty stews. Most people work on their sewing or weaving projects to make clothes for the upcoming year, and they hone their crafts by putting in long hours on commissions or masterworks to showcase their skills. Nearly four-fifths of Nantambiyans are literate, and the rainy season gives them opportunities to read alone or to each other as they work, with the households’ youngest often reading aloud for practice. Most shops shut down for all but the few dry hours at midday, while the city’s mills are at their busiest, grinding the harvest’s grains into fine flours for cakes and breads in the new year. Bakers prepare mountains of delicately shaped cookies, traditionally given as gifts to friends, loved ones, and business associates alike. PEOPLE OF NANTAMBU Most people of Nantambu are artisans and crafters, and glassworkers are the most prominent among them. Exquisitely skilled, they produce all manner of works, ranging from tiny beads covering citizens’ clothes to charms that hang from every window and above every door, and up to the dazzling, dancing sculpted chandeliers that hang over the Magaambya’s halls. Fish that swim up the city’s canals from the Vanji River supplement the fruits and vegetables sent as tribute by the surrounding villages in return for protection. Neighborhood plots of vegetables and municipal orchards double as public parks and are open for all to harvest, and most households have a windowsill hosting a few pots of herbs to add to a dish. Most homes don’t have ovens, so hearth-griddled flatbreads are a staple used as both dish and utensil for fragrant stews and fluffy grains. People most often wear sleeveless sheaths and loose, wide-legged pants draped with strings of tiny glass beads in an array of colors, which wealthier citizens accessorize with large necklaces and chest and waist pieces that feature bold geometric beading patterns. Belief in deities is a personal choice among Nantambiyans. No one deity is revered above others, nor any shunned or forbidden. It’s considered rude to evangelize or question someone else’s beliefs; many wear some small, visible token that openly indicates who or what they worship. Similarly, there’s no single day of the week held holy among all Nantambiyans. Each shop or family takes days off as needed, so the odds of a shop being closed on a particular day are predictable but not necessarily consistent between shops. Temples of all sizes dot Nantambu’s streets and surrounding area, and any citizen can likely point any visitor to the temple they’re looking for even if it isn’t one the citizen regularly frequents themself. The largest of these is the Hall of Mazludeh, Goddess of Community, where meals are served to all who ask. Many Nantambiyans serve at least one day a year in its kitchen or cleaning its hall. More broadly practiced than any religion in Nantambu is the custom of leaving an empty seat. Every home has a spare chair or place at the table, every restaurant leaves one table empty even at the height of a dinner rush, and theaters always keep a box or seat open. Even the City Council has an empty chair in the corner of the meeting chambers. Only strangers are allowed to sit in these empty seats, and even then only if there’s no other option. Similarly, a stranger in need is never turned away but instead treated as a member of the family, if only for a meal—though rude guests are politely but firmly shown the door. Some claim this tradition began because Old-Mage Jatembe might return in disguise, while others believe it allows for an ancestor or deity to bring a blessing. Some simply think of it as a polite way to invite someone into their lives. Whatever their personal beliefs, most Nantambiyans are reluctant to take the last seat. Most travel within the city either on foot or via shallow boats in the canals. The streets, while wide enough to accommodate standard carts, are reserved for foot traffic, so the canals carry most of the traffic. Shallowdrafted, flat-bottomed boats transport cargo, while people usually ride in colorfully canopied wherries. The canals have little current, but the boats’ rowers (or more rarely, sails) provide enough speed for commerce to flow easily. Wealthy citizens own sleek and decorative vessels for both travel and a favorite sport: racing. Local Alliances Nantambu’s protection extends far beyond its limits, and no enemy of the city has ever come within 200 feet of its walls. As a result, the city has many alliances with local towns and villages, which often tithe to Nantambu in exchange. Wheelbarrows of produce and gifts of cattle and ibises are commonly carted into the city squares, and promising young students from nearby settlements happily fill the ranks of the Magaambya’s initiates. MWANGI EXPANSE RECLAIMING THE EXPANSE HISTORY PEOPLE OF THE MWANGI RELIGION GEOGRAPHY BESTIARY GLOSSARY AND INDEX The racing boats, called flats, look vastly different from the transport scows and travel barges. Small and streamlined, they more closely resemble a surfboard than a canoe. Citizens of all ages compete in the amateur races, while wealthy patrons sponsor professional teams. Both teams and individuals compete, spectators place wagers on the heats, and final results fly fast and furious. Some races have ostentatious prizes for the winners, others have participation prizes for all, and children compete for pure sport on the more residential canals. The city’s youth and recreational racing leagues emphasize safety and fair play, while leagues focused on magic or technology draw Magaambyans perfecting wind spells or crafters working on designs to convert rowing power more efficiently. The most widely attended race is the first regatta of the spring season, with a route that traverses every neighborhood. Any citizen or group with access to any kind of boat can participate, but the professionals come to win. Once the pros have finished, the atmosphere becomes more like a parade, with cheering crowds lining the canals and showing off their new finery made over the long rainy season, and some sponsored barges even throwing treats to the spectators. On most mornings, young children in Nantambu attend classes in open-air courtyards known as “child gardens.” Starting around three years old, they’re first taught life skills like swimming, gardening, and rudimentary cooking. These gardens are hosted by the guilds, alliances, or temples to which the children’s parents belong, or are otherwise funded by the city. Older children learn counting and money handling, and how to read and write both the Nantambiyan dialect and the Mwangi trade language. They also visit guild houses in six-week rotations to help them decide where their interests and talents lie. At the age of 13, they choose where they would like to apprentice. While this choice is important, the first apprenticeship they choose will not necessarily become their lifelong career. An apprenticeship can last anywhere from three to 20 years, depending on how long it takes the student to pick up the necessary skills. A fisher, for example, must master net making—complete with creating the yarn used to tie them—as well as fish identification and proper cleaning. A baker must master everything from the basic skillet bread to elaborate pastries. Once a student completes their first apprenticeship and graduates to the journeyman stage of their career, they are considered an adult, and their parents or guardians throw a huge feast to celebrate. This is often when an individual moves into their own abode, either symbolically in an added room in the household or into an apartment with friends of the same age. Marriage usually comes a little later, with young adults encouraged to take their time choosing a spouse. Parents often introduce potential partners, but arranged marriages—while not unheard of—are less common. Polygamy is also uncommon, but not prohibited. To ensure no coercion occurs, all partners must agree and apply separately before a marriage ceremony proceeds among any number of participants. governing CounCil Taking their cues from Old-Mage Jatembe and the Ten Magic Warriors, Nantambu is governed by a ruling council of 11 magistrate-mayors. It consists of the Head of Council, five councilors at large elected by the citizens, and a representative from each of the five major trade organizations. The city holds elections every five years, and no appointed or elected councilor is allowed to serve more than two consecutive terms. When voting, each citizen who can answer three basic questions in their native tongue is given a pouch of colored beads. The candidates for at-large seats are each represented by a color of bead, and voters drop beads corresponding to their six top choices into a barrel, then leave the rest in the bag to be returned to the election monitors. The candidate with the most votes is the Head of Council, and the next top five are elected as councilors at large. These magistrate-mayors serve as both legislative and judicial entities. Guild-appointed councilors usually handle criminal cases, while elected councilors handle civil cases—but any can technically preside over any case that doesn’t contain a conflict of interest for them. To further prevent potential corruption, their wealth is held in the city’s treasury while serving, and they’re paid a stipend to cover their daily expenses. The current Head of Council is Luchomo (LN male human administrator 5), serving his second term. He’s a longtime bureaucrat who worked his way up from clerk before being elected to the council. Luchomo has earned the nickname “spider” both because he sits at the center of a web of connections, and for his resemblance to the spindly-legged creatures. The name isn’t meant unkindly; Luchomo is a friendly sort who knows everyone by sight, if not by name, and he often carries sweets in his pockets for what’s now the third generation of children growing up since he first started working for the council. He runs meetings with a firm hand and doesn’t tolerate nonsense, but he eases conflicts with a kind word and a smile for nearly everyone. Ciko (NG female human glassmaker 4) is the Glassmakers’ Guild’s appointed representative. A short, ebony-skinned Zenj woman who wears meticulously-crafted glass charms woven into her hair and jewelry, she has served the guild for years and continues to represent their broader interests in the city. Like most Nantambiyans, she considers service to her community to be a core obligation, something her brief studies at the Magaambya reinforced. She’s young and brimming with ideas about everything, from how to improve the city lighting at night to expanding representation on the council. Gugulethu (LN female human fisherwoman 4) is the appointee from the Fish and Farm Federation. An easygoing Bonuwat woman with intricately braided hair and a broad grin, she’s equally at home on the deck of her fishing boat as in the council’s grand halls. Her family have fished the area for generations and are connected to most of Nantambu’s major families, making them a force to be reckoned with if crossed. With several older siblings in line to inherit the family’s wealthy business, Gugulethu has the freedom to be herself. She has found that she has a good head for administration, a skill the Federation felt was needed on the council. Enosha (CN male human trader 3) represents the Merchants and Traders Consortium. He was elected many years ago as a young man, and was asked to serve again by the Consortium despite some unsavory rumors about how he amassed his fortune. However, no one questions his qualifications or competence, only his methods. He’s a ruthless negotiator and never forgets a slight, no matter how minor, whether against himself, his guild, or his city. Some who have opposed him in the past have died or been injured in mysterious, improbable accidents, though no concrete evidence to implicate Enosha was ever found. Still, most consider it wise to stay on his good side. The delegate from the Woodworkers Alliance is Owethu (CG male human shipbuilder 5) the boatwright, a flamboyant Bonuwat man with a shaved head and luxurious beard that he dyes vibrant colors whenever the whim strikes. Though he’d been the most sought-after ship builder in and around Nantambu for decades, he hung up his tools and turned the operation over to his grandchildren before the Alliance asked him to represent them. He has a booming voice from years of directing crews and hands that could still crush a skull despite his age. Owethu is prone to telling rambling stories when delivering judgments, which lean toward leniency for first offenders while throwing the proverbial book if past lessons haven’t been learned. Nobomi (N nonbinary human miller 3) was appointed from the Millers and Bakers Collective. A fourth-generation miller, they have deep roots in the community despite their marriage to a Senghor ship captain who some would call a pirate. In fact, the notoriety of this relationship was what first gained them the spotlight, after their husband sailed into the docks with a hold full of “liberated” grain during the last unexpected rainy season and donated it to anyone in need. Nobomi was vaulted into a more important position within the collective as a result and rose to the challenge gracefully. Mongameli (CG agender halfling restaurateur 7) is the lone non-human on the council. The halfling runs an empire of restaurants and food carts in Nantambu that finances cooks of all stripes to serve their specialties to the citizenry. After being elected to their first at-large term, they quickly became the councilmember whom most non-human citizens petition for their problems. Mongameli easily won a second term with the second-most votes, falling just shy of clinching the Head of Council seat. Their shrewdness is tempered by their friendliness and openness. Thuba (CN male human glassworker 6) is a journeyman whose beads are rumored to be good luck and are always in demand. Some in the Glassblowers’ Guild have doubts about his methods—even the master he studied under isn’t sure where Thuba learned his skills. Rumors also circulate about his parentage, since he was an orphan who arrived in a barrel on a ship coming down the river from Usaro. One of the candidates who lost the election went so far as to accuse Thuba of manipulating the electoral bead colors with magic, a rumor that has so far remained unsubstantiated. Khwezi (NG female human scholar 4) has taught not only most of Nantambu’s children, but also many of their parents. Her students both convinced her to run for her first term and led her campaign. She brings the same fair but firm attitude from her classroom to the council chamber, and she is most in her element when explaining difficult concepts and negotiating between parties like they’re recalcitrant toddlers. Asanda (N male human administrator 6) was the city’s treasurer until his election to the council. The city made several wise investments under s watchful eye that brought more money into infrastructural and social programs. If he also put some of his own money into those same investments, Asanda claims, it’s a sign of how much he believed in them—and certainly not anything nefarious, like using city funds to make his pet projects succeed, as one of his detractors proclaims. The eleventh member of the council is also the youngest, but has already proven herself to be a master woodcarver. Sifiso (CG female human tinkerer 4) crafts wooden clockwork devices that range from children’s toys to sophisticated devices for Magaambyan mages. She showed amazing talent and an inquisitive mind from an early age, and was apprenticed to a cousin whom she soon surpassed in skill. She then studied under all the city’s masters before opening her own studio. In addition to her expertise, she also provides a valuable perspective of what the city’s youth are feeling. The MagaaMbya The legends say that after Old-Mage Jatembe had gathered the Ten Magic Warriors and defeated the most pressing foes, he turned his attention toward helping his peoples. In the village of Nantambu, he built a school from which he and the warriors could spread their knowledge and allow Garund’s peoples to protect themselves, thrive, and create. The first project they built was The Circle, a structure made of pillars of stone, wood, flame, water, air, ice, light, and electricity that support a glass dome which still stands in the center of the Magaambya. A circle of benches are arranged beneath the dome on an ever-shifting, mosaic map of octagonal tiles, depicting the Mwangi Expanse’s weather patterns, borders of jungles, shifting dunes, and paths of rivers. It also illustrates major disasters, like the occasional volcano eruption or forest fire, and can even display the effects of spells, given a large enough area of effect. The Circle was where the first several years of classes were conducted, and remains in use today as a classroom. From there, 10 distinct buildings were constructed, one for each of the Ten Magic Warriors. Initially serving as homes and workspaces for the warriors to practice their arts, the buildings were expanded over time into dormitories and classroom spaces. Students came to learn from the greatest, first from surrounding villages and then from neighboring states, and eventually, as word spread, from the whole of the Expanse. Black Heron proved to be a gifted teacher who pushed students to pursue, and accomplish, bigger and more complicated goals. However, Heron eventually turned on Old- Mage Jatembe and the other Warriors and left, breaking Old-Mage Jatembe’s heart and beginning the Warriors’ withdrawal from the world. Replacement instructors were chosen from those who had already proven themselves gifted spellcasters and teachers. Old-Mage Jatembe appointed the first Learned Ones, a quintet of the most promising pedagogues from around the continent, to run the college, and then vanished. When the last of the Magic Warriors disappeared from daily affairs, Nantambu built the city’s signature pillars, each bearing a depiction of one of Jatembe’s 10 followers. The Learned Ones continued the traditions of Old-Mage Jatembe, providing leadership for not only the Magaambya but also the growing city of Nantambu. As Old-Mage Jatembe wished, they declined to lead the town and instead ensured that the people of Nantambu chose their own leaders from the citizenry. The town’s prosperity remained entwined with the school’s popularity for many years, however. Students continue to serve the city as part of their curriculum, and classes moved from within the school’s walls and out into the community. For some Nantambiyans, the students of the Magaambya were their earliest contact with other ancestries. As word spread of Nantambiyan hospitality and neutrality, more people came and built their own enclaves in the city, and sent their best and most suited folk to study under the Learned Ones’ watchful eyes. Eventually these people became comfortable enough to contribute some of their ancestral magics to the broader base of knowledge. This exchange was at times controversial—there are still factions that believe non-elves should not be taught elven secrets, or that certain magical and storytelling professions must be hereditary, but these factions mostly exist in other areas of the Mwangi Expanse. Students of the Magaambya adapt quickly to daily life in Nantambu, encouraged by the Learned Ones’ style of teaching and sense of community. Teachers are encouraged to engage inquisitive minds they encounter while conducting classes in the city’s courtyards and piazzas, and students and instructors alike are expected to assist and befriend the citizenry whenever possible. Some of the student orientation exercises include a tour of the city, often accompanied by a scavenger hunt that is impossible to complete without the aid, or at least knowledge, of a native Nantambiyan. Ancient Prestige The Magaambya is the oldest magical university in the Inner Sea region, and possibly the world. It follows Old-Mage Jatembe’s lessons that magic is magic, no matter the source, and has put truth to its words by teaching a syncretic practice that combines both primal and arcane magic. Players interested in joining the Magaambya can learn more in Lost Omens Character Guide 96-105. MWANGI EXPANSE RECLAIMING THE EXPANSE HISTORY PEOPLE OF THE MWANGI RELIGION GEOGRAPHY BESTIARY GLOSSARY AND INDEX Candidates sometimes travel to Nantambu on their own and present themselves to the Magaambya, but some Magaambyans dedicate themselves to traveling the Mwangi Expanse in order to identify potential students. Prospective candidates are given a series of tasks to determine where their talents lie. Failing the tasks does not automatically exclude a candidate from being accepted, nor does talent alone guarantee admission; recruiters also consider attitude and motivation before deciding. Larger towns and cities in the Mwangi Expanse host dedicated teams responsible for escorting students from their villages to the Magaambya and providing a safe haven for the seeking mages between expeditions. For their first five seasons, or until they can pass their first series of tests, students are expected to complete their Perquisite, a period of public service. These initiates reside in the Hall of Old-Mage Jatembe or their host communities and maintain a fairly regimented schedule. In exchange, they can attend classes and study or practice under the watchful eyes of older students and teachers. Cohorts are often structured within groups of initiates, such that each cohort gets a different day of the week off and attends the same classes. In their free time, initiates are free to move about the city and receive a small stipend to spend as they choose. They are required to wear a visible string of beads that identifies them as Magaambyan initiates should they run into—or causetrouble. The string includes one bead that represents their sponsor at the Magaambya, and some beads are enchanted to summon a Magaambyan to its location if broken, a fact of which most citizens are well aware. Fortunately, such extreme measures are rarely required. Once students have completed their Perquisite and are accepted into the school as attendants, they choose a branch of the Magaambya in which they will focus their studies. From there, they gain more freedom to direct their studies, as well as some responsibility in helping the school educate others, such as by arranging classes for initiates. Though students can achieve higher ranks, there’s no official graduation nor any set term of study. Some decide to stay at the Magaambya and become instructors, while others get as far away as they can as soon as they think they have learned everything. Some crack under the pressure and return to their hometowns with stories of the city, while others settle into the mélange of Nantambu. Unique Citizenry Nantambu has never been a large city, but it’s well in the running for the most cosmopolitan. People of all ancestries and backgrounds are lured to the city by the promise of a safe life or a prestigious education, and the Magaambya’s teachers scout out talented students from even further afield. Though some ancestries are still vanishingly rare, planar scions, iruxi, catfolk, and kobolds abound, along with members of the Mwangi’s rarest peoples, on occasion. A Magical Existence The presence of so many magic users makes life in Nantambu a peaceful existence. The city is defended by the Magaambyan Tempest-Sun Mages, and the resources that would be spent on a military are instead funneled into public works. Most Magaambyans don’t wield earth-shattering power, however, so the presence of magic in Nantambu society mainly manifests as convenience; for example, refrigeration is a popular addition to local homes. Healing magic means that most citizens live long, healthy lives, and mosquito nets are notably absent in lieu of bug-repellent lights. Roads and mosaics are kept clean by a troop of academy initiates using cantrip spells. Primal magic keeps crops healthy, and mighty trees grow tall among the bustling streets. academy Life Local students have taken to meeting on Oathdays for ‘study groups’ that are in fact alcohol samplings. Palm wines, banana beers, Bloodcove rum, honey meads, and fruit ciders are in hot demand from nearby brewers, who prepare attractive offers over the week to lure initiates looking to try the available wares. Most popular among these meetings is a drink made from dates and ginger, cut with a small amount of tea. This drink has become so associated with students of the Magaambya that residents cheekily refer to it as “Jatembe Juice.” Nantambu Clockworks While most do not associate the city with mechanics, Nantambu has long had a good relationship with Axis due to its historical position as a bastion of order within the Inner Sea. Though the art doesn’t have many Nantambiyan practitioners, water clocks and orreries can be found tucked away in stray corners of the city by those who know to look for them. Xanmba Common to Nantambu and most of its surrounding villages, Xanmba is an ancient language with a number of grammatical principles that make it sound archaic to most other Mwangi natives. It shares roots with many other Mwangi tongues, however; some scholars even believe Xanmba to be the language from which many other Mwangi languages are derived. Popular Pets Nantambu attempts to impress the importance of responsible pet-keeping on its citizens, though the lesson doesn’t always take. Public feeders provide a colorful array of tropical birds, tree pangolins, monkeys, and fantastical insects for locals to view, but this often drives demand rather than placate it. Cheerful meerkats, shy bushbabies, aardvarks, aardwolves, foxes, and civet cats are popular companions, as are small jungle cats of all types, despite the destruction the latter tend to wreak on households. Small elementals and other extraplanar pets are popular among those who can handle them. While some people are known to keep porcupines, honey badgers, and red hogs as pets, these have been banned from Nantambu’s streets after one too many incidents.
Founded by a legendary magician known as Old-Mage Jatembe, the Magaambya is the oldest academy of arcane magic in the Inner Sea region, and perhaps on all of Golarion. Looming over the city’s lesser stone buildings, the academy’s ring of 10 terraced towers form Nantambu’s heart, each decorated with a massive mosaic of one of the legendary Ten Magic Warriors. Students from around the world come to study in its storied halls, focusing primarily on the meticulous art of wizardry. Teaching styles within the school vary greatly; some professors teach only through didactic oral traditions, while others promote the study of ancient texts—many penned by Old-Mage Jatembe and his disciples. The academy’s teachers are notorious for sojourning in far-off lands and visiting scholars in other nations, meaning students must sometimes travel great distances to access particular mentors. The university also encourages fieldwork, and at any given time there are more tenured professors conducting research in the far corners of the world than in the school itself. Such professors often send their favorite students abroad to secure—or uncover—the ruins or artifacts they hope to study. In the Magaambya, it’s said that a wizard learns both by reading and by doing—a philosophy sometimes termed “the Word and the Way”—and thus to shut oneself off from the world in perpetual study is at best counterproductive, and at worst miserly. In Jatembe’s tradition, study is ultimately less important than using what you learn to serve others.
The Magaambyan emphasis on service is the source of Nantambu’s strength, with the resident mages ensuring that no invading force has ever managed to come within 20 miles of the city. This protection extends to neighboring villages as well, and despite no formal agreements of fealty, more than a hundred such settlements gladly and gratefully pay tribute to the city. Supported by the college’s faculty, Nantambu’s governing council of elected magistrate-mayors presides over the city and surrounding territory, using the famous Watcher’s Stone of Nantambiyan Tower to keep magical tabs on Usaro and other threats in the region.
Yet Nantambu is far more than just an outgrowth of the Magaambya. Its reputation for scholarship has led to the establishment of many other prominent schools, teaching everything from science and smithing to Mwangi martial traditions. Small wonder, then, that the city should also host the largest Pathfinder Lodge in the Expanse. Famously accepting of strangers, Nantambu’s populace boasts dozens of different ancestries, from Ekujae elves to Jaha lizardfolk, gnolls to catfolk. Here one can find even the most reclusive of Mwangi peoples, such as the shy anadi, many-eyed goloma, bone-feathered shisks, or inevitable-worshipping conrasu with their elaborate biological machines and living wooden exoskeletons. Regardless of their strangeness, all entities of goodwill are welcome in the Song-Wind City. This hospitality has only increased in the wake of the recent Lake Ocota land rushes, and each passing year sees the city grow more secure in its position as the cultural heart of the Expanse. Nantambu is a shining jewel of the Mwangi Expanse nestled in a bend of the Vanji River. Crisscrossed by canals and adorned with tinkling glass charms on every window and door, it’s a fitting home for the Magaambya, the oldest and most prestigious school of arcane magic on Golarion. Its location on the Vanji makes it a hub both for ships sailing upriver from the sea and caravans making their way through the surrounding jungles. The smells of rich spices and rare woods fill the city’s open-air markets, while glassmakers and cloth merchants display a riotous array of colors and designs. The city’s population is comprised mostly of humans, with most of them being Zenj, followed by about half as many Bonuwat and a few Mauxi. The city is also home to communities of Ekujae elves, gnolls, halflings, lizardfolk, and Catfolk, as well as a few members of rarer ancestries. Founded by Old-Mage Jatembe to be a seat of learning, the city has evolved over the millennia into a democratic haven. The Magaambya’s presence enhances the city’s prestige and contributes to the safety and stability of its peoples. Nantambu maintains peace with its neighbors through diplomatically negotiated treaties and requires no standing army to protect itself. Despite this, no attack against the city has ever prevailedthe Magaambya‘s Tempest-Sun Mages have never let any foe within 20 miles of the city. As such, the city houses few soldiers, and most of its inhabitants devote their time to the arts, principally glassmaking and wood crafting. An elected council governs the city, and any citizen old enough can cast a ballot or run for office themselves. The Magaambya at the city’s heart attracts eager students from across and beyond the Mwangi Expanse, and its renowned arcane instructors don’t confine their lessons to the academy’s buildings or enrollment rosters—they’re just as likely to be found lecturing in a courtyard as a classroom. Likewise, students of the Magaambya are not bound to one area of the city. Those of means often have apartments in other districts, while those from less wealthy backgrounds still live comfortably within the academy’s dormitories. Nantambu’s culture is built on an ethos of community. Even the poorest Nantambiyan has access to food, clean water, and a safe place to sleep, while even the most upscale restaurants set aside a table or two for charity and sponsor the city’s many public festivals throughout the year. Without having to worry about starving or freezing, Nantambiyans can innovate and take risks that citizens elsewhere can’t. The city’s artisans have honed their craft to the highest caliber, and their works, known for their quality and durability, are sought out across and beyond Garund. Some believe the constant magic of the Magaambya imbues the items with a level of power, while others posit that the crafters themselves, having acquired knowledge from the academy’s sages, imbue their own works with magic. While the various crafters’ guilds and unions sing and chant to meter out time or remember a recipe or method, there’s no evidence their creations are inherently more magical or powerful than usual—although there’s no proof that they aren’t, either. LIFE IN NANTAMBU Life in Nantambu begins before dawn, with bakers firing up their ovens to turn out small loves of tangy sourdough and fishers heading out to cast their nets onto the Vanji River. Nantambiyans enjoy a quick breakfast of bread, fruit, and fish, while children head to their lessons and merchants set out their wares. Food carts grill fish and vegetables and griddle flatbreads to wrap them in, and prepare plates for hungry laborers on their way to work. Glassblowers check the annealing ovens and the wares they left cooling overnight, before stoking the fires to start melting sand. Apprentices grind additives and fetch water to moisten shaping pads while journeyman crafters go over the day’s plans with the masters. Woodworkers likewise sharpen their tools while studying raw logs and stumps to see what beauty will be revealed from within; their apprentices, meanwhile, start working on stools and chairs to hone their fundamentals. From outside the city, carts and boats loaded with raw goods from the surrounding farms and villages flow in, all supervised by a small army of bureaucrats accounting for everything and distributing the tribute as needed. Street musicians and performers start busking around lunchtime, often setting up in a courtyard or town square so passersby can enjoy their acts while they eat. Savvy food carts feed artists in exchange for them setting up nearby, then hawk their treats to the crowds that gather to enjoy the performance. Theaters and music houses stage daily shows beginning around sundown, with most serving light refreshments with the entertainment. Guilds sponsor annual competitions for new plays, musical works, and choreography, sometimes with required elements like the Woodworkers Alliance’s stipulation that wooden instruments be used, or the Glassmakers’ Guild’s mandate of a glassworker as the protagonist. These competitions offer valuable prizes and bragging rights, but are also a way for musicians and actors to make a name for themselves, since the guilds finance a showing for each finalist and a quarter’s run for the winner. Dinners are a leisurely affair of grazing on finger foods in the summer or, in the rainy season, cradling small cups of hot stews while talking or reading. Most homes share a communal outdoor area conducive to chatting with neighbors and sharing meals with them, such as a central courtyard shared among several buildings or a rooftop terrace used by all the tenants of a larger building. There are two prominent seasons in Nantambu: the wintry rainy season, which lasts about 3 months and features storms lasting up to 20 hours a day, and the warmer and dryer growing season that begins in spring and fills the rest of the year. The local calendar begins on the spring equinox when the sun returns after the long rains, and every quarter year comprises 3 months of 28 days each. Nantambiyans mark solstices and equinoxes with a week of feasting, the first day of which is always dedicated to Old-Mage Jatembe and the Ten Warriors, while the last day is dedicated to venerating ancestors. The days between are divided among feast days for different gods and, often, weddings. These feast days are not part of any month, and an extra day is added at the new year. Spring, when the land starts drying out and young green life starts to sprout, comes with an explosion of color as merchants and crafters start displaying the wares they produced over the winter. Flowers stuffed with cheese or meat and fried in a crispy batter are available on almost every corner as people start planting their garden boxes. In the summer quarter, people store melons and fruits at the bottom of wells to keep them cool and refreshing in the daytime heat. Fish are caught in abundance from the Vanji River, grilled fresh within hours, and served with a squeeze of citrus or sprinkle of spices and salt. The autumn quarter brings leafy greens in abundance, quickly sautéed if already tender or slow cooked if tougher. The grilling and quick cooking of the spring and summer make way for stews and braises in autumn and the rainy season. Fish are salted and fruits dried or preserved to be packed away, and an annual slaughter of livestock gives meats time to cure and smoke. The rainy winter’s daily torrential downpours drive most Nantambiyans indoors. Riverbeds provide starchy marsh tubers to be roasted in coals or boiled and mashed to serve with rich, meaty stews. Most people work on their sewing or weaving projects to make clothes for the upcoming year, and they hone their crafts by putting in long hours on commissions or masterworks to showcase their skills. Nearly four-fifths of Nantambiyans are literate, and the rainy season gives them opportunities to read alone or to each other as they work, with the households’ youngest often reading aloud for practice. Most shops shut down for all but the few dry hours at midday, while the city’s mills are at their busiest, grinding the harvest’s grains into fine flours for cakes and breads in the new year. Bakers prepare mountains of delicately shaped cookies, traditionally given as gifts to friends, loved ones, and business associates alike. PEOPLE OF NANTAMBU Most people of Nantambu are artisans and crafters, and glassworkers are the most prominent among them. Exquisitely skilled, they produce all manner of works, ranging from tiny beads covering citizens’ clothes to charms that hang from every window and above every door, and up to the dazzling, dancing sculpted chandeliers that hang over the Magaambya’s halls. Fish that swim up the city’s canals from the Vanji River supplement the fruits and vegetables sent as tribute by the surrounding villages in return for protection. Neighborhood plots of vegetables and municipal orchards double as public parks and are open for all to harvest, and most households have a windowsill hosting a few pots of herbs to add to a dish. Most homes don’t have ovens, so hearth-griddled flatbreads are a staple used as both dish and utensil for fragrant stews and fluffy grains. People most often wear sleeveless sheaths and loose, wide-legged pants draped with strings of tiny glass beads in an array of colors, which wealthier citizens accessorize with large necklaces and chest and waist pieces that feature bold geometric beading patterns. Belief in deities is a personal choice among Nantambiyans. No one deity is revered above others, nor any shunned or forbidden. It’s considered rude to evangelize or question someone else’s beliefs; many wear some small, visible token that openly indicates who or what they worship. Similarly, there’s no single day of the week held holy among all Nantambiyans. Each shop or family takes days off as needed, so the odds of a shop being closed on a particular day are predictable but not necessarily consistent between shops. Temples of all sizes dot Nantambu’s streets and surrounding area, and any citizen can likely point any visitor to the temple they’re looking for even if it isn’t one the citizen regularly frequents themself. The largest of these is the Hall of Mazludeh, Goddess of Community, where meals are served to all who ask. Many Nantambiyans serve at least one day a year in its kitchen or cleaning its hall. More broadly practiced than any religion in Nantambu is the custom of leaving an empty seat. Every home has a spare chair or place at the table, every restaurant leaves one table empty even at the height of a dinner rush, and theaters always keep a box or seat open. Even the City Council has an empty chair in the corner of the meeting chambers. Only strangers are allowed to sit in these empty seats, and even then only if there’s no other option. Similarly, a stranger in need is never turned away but instead treated as a member of the family, if only for a meal—though rude guests are politely but firmly shown the door. Some claim this tradition began because Old-Mage Jatembe might return in disguise, while others believe it allows for an ancestor or deity to bring a blessing. Some simply think of it as a polite way to invite someone into their lives. Whatever their personal beliefs, most Nantambiyans are reluctant to take the last seat. Most travel within the city either on foot or via shallow boats in the canals. The streets, while wide enough to accommodate standard carts, are reserved for foot traffic, so the canals carry most of the traffic. Shallowdrafted, flat-bottomed boats transport cargo, while people usually ride in colorfully canopied wherries. The canals have little current, but the boats’ rowers (or more rarely, sails) provide enough speed for commerce to flow easily. Wealthy citizens own sleek and decorative vessels for both travel and a favorite sport: racing. Local Alliances Nantambu’s protection extends far beyond its limits, and no enemy of the city has ever come within 200 feet of its walls. As a result, the city has many alliances with local towns and villages, which often tithe to Nantambu in exchange. Wheelbarrows of produce and gifts of cattle and ibises are commonly carted into the city squares, and promising young students from nearby settlements happily fill the ranks of the Magaambya’s initiates. MWANGI EXPANSE RECLAIMING THE EXPANSE HISTORY PEOPLE OF THE MWANGI RELIGION GEOGRAPHY BESTIARY GLOSSARY AND INDEX The racing boats, called flats, look vastly different from the transport scows and travel barges. Small and streamlined, they more closely resemble a surfboard than a canoe. Citizens of all ages compete in the amateur races, while wealthy patrons sponsor professional teams. Both teams and individuals compete, spectators place wagers on the heats, and final results fly fast and furious. Some races have ostentatious prizes for the winners, others have participation prizes for all, and children compete for pure sport on the more residential canals. The city’s youth and recreational racing leagues emphasize safety and fair play, while leagues focused on magic or technology draw Magaambyans perfecting wind spells or crafters working on designs to convert rowing power more efficiently. The most widely attended race is the first regatta of the spring season, with a route that traverses every neighborhood. Any citizen or group with access to any kind of boat can participate, but the professionals come to win. Once the pros have finished, the atmosphere becomes more like a parade, with cheering crowds lining the canals and showing off their new finery made over the long rainy season, and some sponsored barges even throwing treats to the spectators. On most mornings, young children in Nantambu attend classes in open-air courtyards known as “child gardens.” Starting around three years old, they’re first taught life skills like swimming, gardening, and rudimentary cooking. These gardens are hosted by the guilds, alliances, or temples to which the children’s parents belong, or are otherwise funded by the city. Older children learn counting and money handling, and how to read and write both the Nantambiyan dialect and the Mwangi trade language. They also visit guild houses in six-week rotations to help them decide where their interests and talents lie. At the age of 13, they choose where they would like to apprentice. While this choice is important, the first apprenticeship they choose will not necessarily become their lifelong career. An apprenticeship can last anywhere from three to 20 years, depending on how long it takes the student to pick up the necessary skills. A fisher, for example, must master net making—complete with creating the yarn used to tie them—as well as fish identification and proper cleaning. A baker must master everything from the basic skillet bread to elaborate pastries. Once a student completes their first apprenticeship and graduates to the journeyman stage of their career, they are considered an adult, and their parents or guardians throw a huge feast to celebrate. This is often when an individual moves into their own abode, either symbolically in an added room in the household or into an apartment with friends of the same age. Marriage usually comes a little later, with young adults encouraged to take their time choosing a spouse. Parents often introduce potential partners, but arranged marriages—while not unheard of—are less common. Polygamy is also uncommon, but not prohibited. To ensure no coercion occurs, all partners must agree and apply separately before a marriage ceremony proceeds among any number of participants. governing CounCil Taking their cues from Old-Mage Jatembe and the Ten Magic Warriors, Nantambu is governed by a ruling council of 11 magistrate-mayors. It consists of the Head of Council, five councilors at large elected by the citizens, and a representative from each of the five major trade organizations. The city holds elections every five years, and no appointed or elected councilor is allowed to serve more than two consecutive terms. When voting, each citizen who can answer three basic questions in their native tongue is given a pouch of colored beads. The candidates for at-large seats are each represented by a color of bead, and voters drop beads corresponding to their six top choices into a barrel, then leave the rest in the bag to be returned to the election monitors. The candidate with the most votes is the Head of Council, and the next top five are elected as councilors at large. These magistrate-mayors serve as both legislative and judicial entities. Guild-appointed councilors usually handle criminal cases, while elected councilors handle civil cases—but any can technically preside over any case that doesn’t contain a conflict of interest for them. To further prevent potential corruption, their wealth is held in the city’s treasury while serving, and they’re paid a stipend to cover their daily expenses. The current Head of Council is Luchomo (LN male human administrator 5), serving his second term. He’s a longtime bureaucrat who worked his way up from clerk before being elected to the council. Luchomo has earned the nickname “spider” both because he sits at the center of a web of connections, and for his resemblance to the spindly-legged creatures. The name isn’t meant unkindly; Luchomo is a friendly sort who knows everyone by sight, if not by name, and he often carries sweets in his pockets for what’s now the third generation of children growing up since he first started working for the council. He runs meetings with a firm hand and doesn’t tolerate nonsense, but he eases conflicts with a kind word and a smile for nearly everyone. Ciko (NG female human glassmaker 4) is the Glassmakers’ Guild’s appointed representative. A short, ebony-skinned Zenj woman who wears meticulously-crafted glass charms woven into her hair and jewelry, she has served the guild for years and continues to represent their broader interests in the city. Like most Nantambiyans, she considers service to her community to be a core obligation, something her brief studies at the Magaambya reinforced. She’s young and brimming with ideas about everything, from how to improve the city lighting at night to expanding representation on the council. Gugulethu (LN female human fisherwoman 4) is the appointee from the Fish and Farm Federation. An easygoing Bonuwat woman with intricately braided hair and a broad grin, she’s equally at home on the deck of her fishing boat as in the council’s grand halls. Her family have fished the area for generations and are connected to most of Nantambu’s major families, making them a force to be reckoned with if crossed. With several older siblings in line to inherit the family’s wealthy business, Gugulethu has the freedom to be herself. She has found that she has a good head for administration, a skill the Federation felt was needed on the council. Enosha (CN male human trader 3) represents the Merchants and Traders Consortium. He was elected many years ago as a young man, and was asked to serve again by the Consortium despite some unsavory rumors about how he amassed his fortune. However, no one questions his qualifications or competence, only his methods. He’s a ruthless negotiator and never forgets a slight, no matter how minor, whether against himself, his guild, or his city. Some who have opposed him in the past have died or been injured in mysterious, improbable accidents, though no concrete evidence to implicate Enosha was ever found. Still, most consider it wise to stay on his good side. The delegate from the Woodworkers Alliance is Owethu (CG male human shipbuilder 5) the boatwright, a flamboyant Bonuwat man with a shaved head and luxurious beard that he dyes vibrant colors whenever the whim strikes. Though he’d been the most sought-after ship builder in and around Nantambu for decades, he hung up his tools and turned the operation over to his grandchildren before the Alliance asked him to represent them. He has a booming voice from years of directing crews and hands that could still crush a skull despite his age. Owethu is prone to telling rambling stories when delivering judgments, which lean toward leniency for first offenders while throwing the proverbial book if past lessons haven’t been learned. Nobomi (N nonbinary human miller 3) was appointed from the Millers and Bakers Collective. A fourth-generation miller, they have deep roots in the community despite their marriage to a Senghor ship captain who some would call a pirate. In fact, the notoriety of this relationship was what first gained them the spotlight, after their husband sailed into the docks with a hold full of “liberated” grain during the last unexpected rainy season and donated it to anyone in need. Nobomi was vaulted into a more important position within the collective as a result and rose to the challenge gracefully. Mongameli (CG agender halfling restaurateur 7) is the lone non-human on the council. The halfling runs an empire of restaurants and food carts in Nantambu that finances cooks of all stripes to serve their specialties to the citizenry. After being elected to their first at-large term, they quickly became the councilmember whom most non-human citizens petition for their problems. Mongameli easily won a second term with the second-most votes, falling just shy of clinching the Head of Council seat. Their shrewdness is tempered by their friendliness and openness. Thuba (CN male human glassworker 6) is a journeyman whose beads are rumored to be good luck and are always in demand. Some in the Glassblowers’ Guild have doubts about his methods—even the master he studied under isn’t sure where Thuba learned his skills. Rumors also circulate about his parentage, since he was an orphan who arrived in a barrel on a ship coming down the river from Usaro. One of the candidates who lost the election went so far as to accuse Thuba of manipulating the electoral bead colors with magic, a rumor that has so far remained unsubstantiated. Khwezi (NG female human scholar 4) has taught not only most of Nantambu’s children, but also many of their parents. Her students both convinced her to run for her first term and led her campaign. She brings the same fair but firm attitude from her classroom to the council chamber, and she is most in her element when explaining difficult concepts and negotiating between parties like they’re recalcitrant toddlers. Asanda (N male human administrator 6) was the city’s treasurer until his election to the council. The city made several wise investments under s watchful eye that brought more money into infrastructural and social programs. If he also put some of his own money into those same investments, Asanda claims, it’s a sign of how much he believed in them—and certainly not anything nefarious, like using city funds to make his pet projects succeed, as one of his detractors proclaims. The eleventh member of the council is also the youngest, but has already proven herself to be a master woodcarver. Sifiso (CG female human tinkerer 4) crafts wooden clockwork devices that range from children’s toys to sophisticated devices for Magaambyan mages. She showed amazing talent and an inquisitive mind from an early age, and was apprenticed to a cousin whom she soon surpassed in skill. She then studied under all the city’s masters before opening her own studio. In addition to her expertise, she also provides a valuable perspective of what the city’s youth are feeling. The MagaaMbya The legends say that after Old-Mage Jatembe had gathered the Ten Magic Warriors and defeated the most pressing foes, he turned his attention toward helping his peoples. In the village of Nantambu, he built a school from which he and the warriors could spread their knowledge and allow Garund’s peoples to protect themselves, thrive, and create. The first project they built was The Circle, a structure made of pillars of stone, wood, flame, water, air, ice, light, and electricity that support a glass dome which still stands in the center of the Magaambya. A circle of benches are arranged beneath the dome on an ever-shifting, mosaic map of octagonal tiles, depicting the Mwangi Expanse’s weather patterns, borders of jungles, shifting dunes, and paths of rivers. It also illustrates major disasters, like the occasional volcano eruption or forest fire, and can even display the effects of spells, given a large enough area of effect. The Circle was where the first several years of classes were conducted, and remains in use today as a classroom. From there, 10 distinct buildings were constructed, one for each of the Ten Magic Warriors. Initially serving as homes and workspaces for the warriors to practice their arts, the buildings were expanded over time into dormitories and classroom spaces. Students came to learn from the greatest, first from surrounding villages and then from neighboring states, and eventually, as word spread, from the whole of the Expanse. Black Heron proved to be a gifted teacher who pushed students to pursue, and accomplish, bigger and more complicated goals. However, Heron eventually turned on Old- Mage Jatembe and the other Warriors and left, breaking Old-Mage Jatembe’s heart and beginning the Warriors’ withdrawal from the world. Replacement instructors were chosen from those who had already proven themselves gifted spellcasters and teachers. Old-Mage Jatembe appointed the first Learned Ones, a quintet of the most promising pedagogues from around the continent, to run the college, and then vanished. When the last of the Magic Warriors disappeared from daily affairs, Nantambu built the city’s signature pillars, each bearing a depiction of one of Jatembe’s 10 followers. The Learned Ones continued the traditions of Old-Mage Jatembe, providing leadership for not only the Magaambya but also the growing city of Nantambu. As Old-Mage Jatembe wished, they declined to lead the town and instead ensured that the people of Nantambu chose their own leaders from the citizenry. The town’s prosperity remained entwined with the school’s popularity for many years, however. Students continue to serve the city as part of their curriculum, and classes moved from within the school’s walls and out into the community. For some Nantambiyans, the students of the Magaambya were their earliest contact with other ancestries. As word spread of Nantambiyan hospitality and neutrality, more people came and built their own enclaves in the city, and sent their best and most suited folk to study under the Learned Ones’ watchful eyes. Eventually these people became comfortable enough to contribute some of their ancestral magics to the broader base of knowledge. This exchange was at times controversial—there are still factions that believe non-elves should not be taught elven secrets, or that certain magical and storytelling professions must be hereditary, but these factions mostly exist in other areas of the Mwangi Expanse. Students of the Magaambya adapt quickly to daily life in Nantambu, encouraged by the Learned Ones’ style of teaching and sense of community. Teachers are encouraged to engage inquisitive minds they encounter while conducting classes in the city’s courtyards and piazzas, and students and instructors alike are expected to assist and befriend the citizenry whenever possible. Some of the student orientation exercises include a tour of the city, often accompanied by a scavenger hunt that is impossible to complete without the aid, or at least knowledge, of a native Nantambiyan. Ancient Prestige The Magaambya is the oldest magical university in the Inner Sea region, and possibly the world. It follows Old-Mage Jatembe’s lessons that magic is magic, no matter the source, and has put truth to its words by teaching a syncretic practice that combines both primal and arcane magic. Players interested in joining the Magaambya can learn more in Lost Omens Character Guide 96-105. MWANGI EXPANSE RECLAIMING THE EXPANSE HISTORY PEOPLE OF THE MWANGI RELIGION GEOGRAPHY BESTIARY GLOSSARY AND INDEX Candidates sometimes travel to Nantambu on their own and present themselves to the Magaambya, but some Magaambyans dedicate themselves to traveling the Mwangi Expanse in order to identify potential students. Prospective candidates are given a series of tasks to determine where their talents lie. Failing the tasks does not automatically exclude a candidate from being accepted, nor does talent alone guarantee admission; recruiters also consider attitude and motivation before deciding. Larger towns and cities in the Mwangi Expanse host dedicated teams responsible for escorting students from their villages to the Magaambya and providing a safe haven for the seeking mages between expeditions. For their first five seasons, or until they can pass their first series of tests, students are expected to complete their Perquisite, a period of public service. These initiates reside in the Hall of Old-Mage Jatembe or their host communities and maintain a fairly regimented schedule. In exchange, they can attend classes and study or practice under the watchful eyes of older students and teachers. Cohorts are often structured within groups of initiates, such that each cohort gets a different day of the week off and attends the same classes. In their free time, initiates are free to move about the city and receive a small stipend to spend as they choose. They are required to wear a visible string of beads that identifies them as Magaambyan initiates should they run into—or causetrouble. The string includes one bead that represents their sponsor at the Magaambya, and some beads are enchanted to summon a Magaambyan to its location if broken, a fact of which most citizens are well aware. Fortunately, such extreme measures are rarely required. Once students have completed their Perquisite and are accepted into the school as attendants, they choose a branch of the Magaambya in which they will focus their studies. From there, they gain more freedom to direct their studies, as well as some responsibility in helping the school educate others, such as by arranging classes for initiates. Though students can achieve higher ranks, there’s no official graduation nor any set term of study. Some decide to stay at the Magaambya and become instructors, while others get as far away as they can as soon as they think they have learned everything. Some crack under the pressure and return to their hometowns with stories of the city, while others settle into the mélange of Nantambu. Unique Citizenry Nantambu has never been a large city, but it’s well in the running for the most cosmopolitan. People of all ancestries and backgrounds are lured to the city by the promise of a safe life or a prestigious education, and the Magaambya’s teachers scout out talented students from even further afield. Though some ancestries are still vanishingly rare, planar scions, iruxi, catfolk, and kobolds abound, along with members of the Mwangi’s rarest peoples, on occasion. A Magical Existence The presence of so many magic users makes life in Nantambu a peaceful existence. The city is defended by the Magaambyan Tempest-Sun Mages, and the resources that would be spent on a military are instead funneled into public works. Most Magaambyans don’t wield earth-shattering power, however, so the presence of magic in Nantambu society mainly manifests as convenience; for example, refrigeration is a popular addition to local homes. Healing magic means that most citizens live long, healthy lives, and mosquito nets are notably absent in lieu of bug-repellent lights. Roads and mosaics are kept clean by a troop of academy initiates using cantrip spells. Primal magic keeps crops healthy, and mighty trees grow tall among the bustling streets. academy Life Local students have taken to meeting on Oathdays for ‘study groups’ that are in fact alcohol samplings. Palm wines, banana beers, Bloodcove rum, honey meads, and fruit ciders are in hot demand from nearby brewers, who prepare attractive offers over the week to lure initiates looking to try the available wares. Most popular among these meetings is a drink made from dates and ginger, cut with a small amount of tea. This drink has become so associated with students of the Magaambya that residents cheekily refer to it as “Jatembe Juice.” Nantambu Clockworks While most do not associate the city with mechanics, Nantambu has long had a good relationship with Axis due to its historical position as a bastion of order within the Inner Sea. Though the art doesn’t have many Nantambiyan practitioners, water clocks and orreries can be found tucked away in stray corners of the city by those who know to look for them. Xanmba Common to Nantambu and most of its surrounding villages, Xanmba is an ancient language with a number of grammatical principles that make it sound archaic to most other Mwangi natives. It shares roots with many other Mwangi tongues, however; some scholars even believe Xanmba to be the language from which many other Mwangi languages are derived. Popular Pets Nantambu attempts to impress the importance of responsible pet-keeping on its citizens, though the lesson doesn’t always take. Public feeders provide a colorful array of tropical birds, tree pangolins, monkeys, and fantastical insects for locals to view, but this often drives demand rather than placate it. Cheerful meerkats, shy bushbabies, aardvarks, aardwolves, foxes, and civet cats are popular companions, as are small jungle cats of all types, despite the destruction the latter tend to wreak on households. Small elementals and other extraplanar pets are popular among those who can handle them. While some people are known to keep porcupines, honey badgers, and red hogs as pets, these have been banned from Nantambu’s streets after one too many incidents.
Founders
Alternative Name(s)
The Song-Wind City
Type
City
Population
15,470 (80% humans, 4% halflings, 3% elves, 2% amurruns, 2% iruxi, 9% other)
Inhabitant Demonym
Nantambiyan
Location under
Owning Organization
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