Vrendolen
AT A GLANCE
Steep double walls surround the city. The outer wall protects against invaders, and the inner wall keeps slaves from escaping. The streets are meticulously clean, and a patrol of half a dozen slaves led by a driver picking up trash, repairing roads, or digging canals is a common sight on the streets.
The misery in this city is almost palpable. Thick stone walls both outside and inside control movement. Heavily armed guards patrol a labyrinth of walls. They move in a world of their own two stories above the rest of the city. The frequent stone walls, thin streets, and musty old temples and barracks create a most oppressive feeling.
Citizens must have papers to move about freely, and this right is restricted even among its citizens according to social class. Visitors receive a pass that allows little entry into the rest of the city, unless they pay high fees or equally high bribes. Having an improper pass results in flogging or a stay in one of many pillories in the city.
TEMPLES
No faiths are allowed other than the House of Shackles, which has an immense temple in Vrendolen (and a physical presence in every town, village and thorp in the country). The temple houses no less than a dozen high-level clerics, 60 junior clerics, twenty monks, and 400 loyal followers who live and work in the temple. An open assault on the temple would require tremendous force of numbers and magic.
MAGES & SAGES
The nobility of Pel Brolenon have a great love of magic, and it is standard for wealthy families to have a minor Wizard as a tutor for their children. The nobles thus learn reading, writing, history, and other academia. Because the Brolenese consider magic a sophisticated and cultured pastime, the upper strata of Brolenese society occasionally dabble in magic. For this reason, low-level spellcasters are less rare in Pel Brolenon than in other parts of the world. Also, they tend to create unique spells designed for very specific purposes.
Helcawn Stron is a typical example. He owns a large tract of land in and along the foothills below the Yan Elenon Mountains. His slaves collect bat guano by the shipload. He knows a spell he calls “web of stinking sludge” that sprays guano at a single target, covering a person completely. Besides the horrible smell, the guano acts as a web spell of lesser range (close burst 2). Stron, however, wastes it on obnoxious people who like to mock his unusual source of income at parties.
UNDERWORLD
The Brotherhood of the Broken Chain has a small cell of fighters, rangers, and clerics in the city. These people meet in select inns and homes in the rare circumstances that require the whole group to meet. Their primary purpose is learning the departure times and places for overland caravans. Their leader, Gruthal, fears being caught and enslaved, so he refuses suggestions for overt missions against the slavers.
Unfortunately for Gruthal, the Theocrat already knows about his group. In fact, he has been receiving misinformation for nearly a year now, and the other members of the Brotherhood are beginning to suspect him of turning against them.
Demographics
Government
The Theocrat rules over the entire country as the High Priest of the Whip, but one of the four Grand Masters of the Whip rules the city. The current city leader is Ilthan Vilitek, a loud man with vitriolic temper. He dyes his naturally flaming red hair a nut brown, the better to mix in with the Brandobian majority.
Defences
The nation's military need is small, since excellent natural borders protect her. The standing army answers to General Lea Tran, a hardened veteran of a dozen battles and hundreds of skirmishes.
Lea grew up in the Whisvomi Forest. At the tender age of eleven her uncle sold her to a gang of slavers. Years of brutal forced labor only fermented her hatred of her family and expanded its scope to include all Whisvomi people.
Her master perceived her physical toughness and willpower early on and made her an overseer. In this more visible role, Lea caught the eye of one of the Theocrat's recruiters who usurped her masters property rights and dragged her off into the army. Much to his chagrin, his little prize turned out to be an infinitely more shrewd leader and quickly disposed of him and anyone else who barred her way.
The small standing army is usually preoccupied with internal policing activity - slave unrest being a constant threat no matter how harsh the penalties may be. In times of crisis, however, they can quickly be mobilized and augmented if need be by marines from Pel Brolenon's sizable navy.
Industry & Trade
The national and local economy both require the frequent acquisition and sale of slaves. The nobles and slave merchants (they are usually the same) compete with each other to build the most ostentatious and most elaborate homes possible. Their frequent spending actually keeps money moving through the economy and maintains a healthy, predictable pace. The country never has too little food. If food is scarce, slave owners sell off a few of their slaves to other nations, thereby reducing how much the owners have to spend on food while simultaneously filling their own coffers.
Numerous slave mines burrow into the Yan and Sliv Elenon ranges. The fertile mines allow the Vrendol merchants to export a variety of gems and precious metals to the rest of Tellene via Dowond-Brandel. Many Brolenese consider the risks of the Yan Elenons minor in comparison to the wealth of precious gemstones they garner there. Miners that fear loss of slaves or their own death wisely delve the Sliv Elenons instead.