Pure Blood and Blasphemy
Into Izekra, onwards away from home! Makar and company sailed North, from the small town of Dumella to the Kingdom of Sarokai, a nearby power that had been menacing the peoples of Southern Izekra. And onwards further, into the Land of Blood...
Approaching the capital of Sarokai, the city of Saroda, the coastline was a tragedy in a thousand parts. Massive plantations, armored fortifications, and burnt townships told a clear story of imperial expansion and exploitation. When the ship finally docked in Saroda, Makar was hardly fooled by its clean façade. They immediately went to go slip behind the walls containing visitors in the commercial sector, into the districts where the commonfolk were held. Foreign mercenaries stalked the streets along with city guards, menacing workers, and only the Ishkibite temples seemed to glean. Massive pools for mass conversion and purification sat stagnant across the district. The people who Makar spoke to seemed full of despair and resentment, displaced from their village homes and forced to work as serfs for the government, while also suffering from raids from those tribes not yet conquered. An intense religious hierarchy intersected with an intense class hierarchy here, favoring foreign investors and original members of the Saro tribe over the conquered peoples who composed the majority of the population.
Makar was immediately concerned with the health conditions in the city, and the possibility of this becoming a plague cauldron. They went to one of the local priests, recommended by the commonfolk, a foreign Ishkibite missionary by the name of Nesha Rukriv. Nesha was friendly with Makar and wanted to fight the foreign companies that were investing in the resource extraction going on, but was also a missionary who prioritized conversions over most other things. Nesha helped Makar get an audience with the local Joint Corporate Office and the Speaker of Sarokai, the local Ishkibite authority. With Nesha's backing Makar strolled back into the palatial district to pick a few fights.
Makar first confronted the Speaker of Sarokai, Esven the Evangelist, in the cathedral of Sarodra. Esven was an oily snake of a man, soft-spoken words of progress and a kindly face masking a clear apathy for people's suffering. Makar demanded that he improve health conditions at the very least and threatened him with Ishkibal's wrath; Esven seemed unfazed until Makar was able to convince one of his investors at the Cathedral. Said investor was a timid prism from Asalay by the name of Madrith Kalva, who had envisioned his investment as a charitable venture to bring technology and true religion to those who were underserved in Izekra. Esven took Makar's demands slightly more seriously after that, but hardly turned over a new leaf.
Makar and Madrith left the cathedral together, and Makar revealed themselves as a Divine Being to Madrith. Madrith didn't make the full leap to Architect, but did settle on Makar as a blessed ancestor here to save the world, and Makar didn't contest the idea too much. Mathrin and Makar agreed to meet again in Asalay to discuss what was to be done about the apocalypse and what possible signs of it were festering in Asalay.
Makar then went to go meet with the Zeruan Joint Corporate Emissary, Kifara the Younger of the Greater Makal Company. Uyazi was able to help Makar slip by the bureaucratic chain directly to the Emissary, and Kifara proved to be a nasty gremlin totally apathetic to the suffering of the conquered. Kifara and Makar almost went hunting for tigers (as feral tigers were recently attacking people more and more along the edge of town), but Makar decided against that and instead called up Orchid of Blue using the the Divine Contact. Orchid yelled at Kifara for being a wretch and chatted with Makar about the state of the world.
Sarokai, Sorrows High
Getting Mad at Nasty Boys
Components
Goals
QUEST GOALS
- Leave for Samvara
- Investigate the broader fallout from the arrival of the Rot
- Collect allies for the coming struggle
- Meet up with Potha
- Investigate the Rot's person-origins
- Protect Dumella
Relations
Allies
Zofara Nightwalker: Zofara is a stylish mercenary Warlock hired by the crew at the urging of Princess Maina Eramzir. Their goal is the same as Makar's: to investigate the disturbances in Makal and protect the seas from the Adversary.
Ezia of Aizari: Ezia was a neighbor and childhood friend of Makar. She is shy, bookish, and curious, always drawn to learning more about foreign lands and new things but held back by her social anxiety. Much of that anxiety melts away when she is around her friends, who she will follow to the ends of the Earth. Ezia comes from a brewing family with connections to The Circles. Knows the truth about Makar. Dailio: Dailio is a selkie outpost child, raised in Etekamo. Dailio is extroverted, polite, and open-minded, a bold and cheery business boy who hopes to one day be a merchant like his parents. Dailio is sharp of eye and has basic dueling training, but is a relentless rules-follower when not balanced out by Ezia or Makar. Knows the truth about Makar.
Dailio: Dailio is a selkie outpost child, raised in Etekamo. Dailio is extroverted, polite, and open-minded, a bold and cheery business boy who hopes to one day be a merchant like his parents. Dailio is sharp of eye and has basic dueling training, but is a relentless rules-follower when not balanced out by Ezia or Makar. Knows the truth about Makar.
Fastfin Cunning-Wolf: An old white-tipped shark and paladin of Emesh , who seeks a glorious future for shark-kind. On bad terms with their original shark-clan, the cat-inspired cunning-wolves.
Neutrals/Bystanders
Captain Yamoa: The selkie captain of the Aranu; merchant, pirate, and profiteer of dubious morals. Planning something suspicious. Kinda libertrarian.
Priestess Nesha Rukriv: A human Ishkibite priest and missionary from the Holy State of Rukray that signed up to save souls, fight Orthodox Desmian pirates, and make the world a better place. Overwhelmed by mass conversions and spread too thin, Nesha has come to resent the Kingdom and those who would abuse the new converts for profit.
Plot type
QUEST
Parent Plot
Subplots
Related Organizations
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