Culture Focus: Redarkhan

[Username17]

This is an expansion of a Culture depicted Here.
This is also the first in a series of in-depth looks at some of these cultures, some economic info, and of course, eventually some game mechanics to go with.

The Empire of Redarkhan: City in the Clouds, City in the Mud

Lay of the Land:
The Redarkhan empire extends the length and breadth of the Redarkhan peninsula – a densely overgrown region that is dotted with tiny villages and mineral deposits in largely the same pattern. The steaming rain forests are quite literally trackless, as there are no roads connecting any of the villages to each other. The encroachment by the rain forests is constant and any open area devoid of sapient agency for more than 3 days is virtually indistinguishable from virgin jungle.

Elevations are extremely variable, with ravines and mountains crisscrossing the land beneath the thick canopy of trees in a manner which is largely unmapped by any known hand. Seasonal shanty towns are clear-cut out of the jungle and built up around quarries, farm lands, and mineral deposits every year – only to be allowed to sink back into the forests at the end of their productive cycle and rebuilt the next year (or in some case, not).

Major Cities:
The largest cities of the empire, and indeed the only major cities are Redarkhan, Dao, and Harappa. The capitol is Redarkhan. All of these cities share the distinction of being entirely without connection to the ground – being instead built atop of, suspended below, and in some cases even carved into a series of massive stones which float steadily some 3 kilometers above the leafy sea below. These cities have an enormous, if seasonally variable population which rises to as high as 715,000 people in Redarkhan, 325,000 in Dao, and 278,000 in Harappa. In addition to these formidable figures, each of these cities boast roughly four times that many golems of various sizes and strengths.

The core of Redarkhan is the Skymage Academy Tower, which is both the literal center of Redarkhan and the hub of all governmental and economic activity of the the entire empire. This massive hour-glass shaped double ziggurat is where all Redarkhan Skymages are trained in the imperial system of stone magic. It is an extremely powerful fortress, despite or perhaps because of its extremely improbable architecture. The cities of Dao and Harappa are likewise possessed of Skymage fortresses in their centers, though these are but pale imitations of the majestic imperial seat.

The cities of the Redarkhan empire produce little, what few agricultural products are grown in the tiny hanging gardens are largely constrained to luxury gourds rather than staples capable of sustaining even the slimmest fraction of the residents of the city. Nevertheless, over the course of the year the three cities play host to practically every one of the empire's 3 million residents, at least for a while. Life in any of the cities is fairly pleasant, steam and air are piped throughout the metropols in order to maintain a consistent temperature of approximately 22 degrees. Golems patrol every island of the metropols and are programmed to provide virtually any service to any resident (permanent or temporary) who requests one of them.

Architectural styles vary markedly between different islands, and it is theorized that the metropols were at some point much smaller than they currently are, and have gradually accumulated additional islands over the centuries. The islands are connected with bridges of various materials.

Economics:
The Redarkhan empire uses extremely thin clay tablets for record keeping and keeping track of their complicated and abstract financial system. The Redarkhan Empire has no taxes, but it is illegal to purchase or sell goods or services to or from any agency other than representatives of Skymage Tower. Membership in any of the guilds carries with it a waver on rent, while any other citizen of the empire must pay Redarkhan currency back to the Redarkhan Tower Authority for every day they remain within the confines the metropols.

The life of a typical resident, thus, represents a steep cycle – with a portion of the year toiling in the temporary work camps below, and a portion of the year spent in relative luxury in the cloud cities above.

Trade between villages is nonexistent, but all villages of the empire trade directly with the major metropols by way of the Skyships. These ginormous vessels are constructed of wood, stone, or clay, and suspended by bronze chains from stones. The stones are controlled and navigated by Redarkhan Skymages.

Skyships and golems from Redarkhan are seen everywhere in the known world, and Redarkhan representatives are happy to rent their powers to those who are capable of presenting them with goods or services they desire. Actualy purchasing a skyship or golem is an impossibility, Redarkhan is built on rents not sales. The Tower is no more willing to sell a skyship than they are willing to sell land in the floating metropols. Golems which stray from Redarkhan observation are usually inactive within 9 months.

Law and Order:
Travel by land outside the confines of any of the villages is strictly forbidden to non-navigators, and nominally carries a death sentence. This is largely not enforced, since the lands outside the confines of villages are in no way patrolled and the government doesn't even pretend to have a comprehensive understanding of what lies below the canopies. It is illegal to buy or sell goods from or to any organization or group other than the Tower or its representatives. This prohibition is taken extremely seriously, and its lethal enforcement is zealously pursued by the Skymage Academy Auditors.

Magical Traditions:
Redarkhan society is based upon earth magic, with every Skylord, farmer, and child being taught the basics of the shaping of clay and learning the ways and forms of stone. The dominant school of thought is unquestionably that of the Skymages themselves, who have a stone gauntlet firmly grasping every artery of society, economy, and communication in the empire. The Skymage Academy is itself composed of three separate guilds:

[*] The Sculptors. The Sculptors are taught ways of shaping stone and clay above all. The pinnacle of sculptor magic is the city of Redarkhan itself. The Sculptors are possessed of the secret arts of making stone move. It is they who have lofted the great metropols, and it is they who maintain their position above the earthbound. Sculptors also create the golems who make staying in the great cities so effortless. It is rumored that the Sculptors also produce war golems of some kind, but reports are spotty at best. Upon completing their apprenticeship, each Sculptor is given a hammer and a chisel, of a material and quality befitting their new station.

[*] The Navigators. The Navigators are taught the forms and positions of stone. Navigators are, with sufficient concentration capable of finding virtually any stone anywhere in the world. So ingrained upon the Tower are they during training that every Navigator is constantly aware of its precise location relative to themselves, even while asleep. All navigational charts in the empire take advantage of this fact, and the Tower's relative location is used rather than such changeable and inconsequential items such as the sun or the stars. While the public face of the Navigational Core is one of being a cog in the wheel of communication and trade, guild members are also called upon to track down unwarranted acquisition of Redarkhan equipment and secrets. Upon completing their apprenticeship, each Navigator is given an entirely functional and magically hardened marble dagger.

[*] The Auditors. The Auditors are taught the secrets of evaluation and identification. Only the Auditors know the secret rubrics that determine the methods for determining the prices that are required and offered for goods and services throughout the empire. The Auditors are charged with the monumental task of making sure that all wealth that is produced in the empire is put to good use. It is said that you cannot fool an Auditor, because he knows what your bags and heart contains better than you do. Upon completing their apprenticeship, each Auditor is given a carved and personalized amulet which doubles as a personal stamp.

Government:
Redarkhan is controlled by the three guilds, with a high council of 9 members that meets at the apex of the two conjoined ziggurats that are the Tower. Three of the members are selected by each guild by their own rules, which are secret even from the other guilds. Every expedition of the empire has at least one representative from each guild. A skyship, for example, has at the very least one Sculptor, one Navigator, and one Auditor.

-Username17

[Murtak]

This looks very nice. Reminds me a little of the Death's Gate books and the Sword of Truth series.

Some questions that occured to me:
- How much of the ground is actually populated? Is there one of these villages every couple of miles or are they few and far between?
- How large are the big cities in comparison to the land? New York x3 as compared to the US? New York x3 as compared to Denmark?
- Is there any conflict with other empires/kingdoms? If so, who is winning and how do the sides fight each other?
- Is there any other way of flying then the skyships?
- Do smaller skyships exist? What of smaller (hidden?) skycities? What about smuggling?

[Username17]

- How much of the ground is actually populated? Is there one of these villages every couple of miles or are they few and far between?
- How large are the big cities in comparison to the land? New York x3 as compared to the US? New York x3 as compared to Denmark?

These questions go together, and unfortunately I don't really have an answer for you. From the standpoint of the actual residents of Redarkhan - it doesn't really matter. They couldn't care less how much physical distance is between any particular pair of villages. If you live there, you never travel directly between any two points on the ground - you always go by skyship. Therefore the only really important thing is that the places of interest on the ground are at least out of earshot of each other. But from the POV of the people living there - there might as well be on different levels of the Abyss. Literally the only way to get to village B from village A is to get on a skyship, fly to a hub city, and then get on a different skyship that's going to village B. These villages could be 5 kilometers away from each other and noone would ever know.

- Is there any conflict with other empires/kingdoms? If so, who is winning and how do the sides fight each other?

Well, the Redarkhan are total assholes, so I'm pretty sure that they are attempting to absorb other countries. Their primary attack form is, however, an economic one - the Redarkhan have contact with people that you don't, and they can transport stuff from distant lands to your house cheaper and safer than you could do it yourself. As such, they can undersell basically anyone on any third party goods.

So let's say that Hive Acatl has huge industrial investment in the production of prickle fruit and ambergell formed goods. If you want prickle fruit or ambergell formed goods, you either have to buy it directly from Hive Acatl or buy it from Redarkhan, because no other third party can undersell Redarkhan because no other party has an overhead as low as they do for distance trade. Thusly, if you don't have anything that Hive Acatl wants - you pretty much have to buy from Redarkhan. Because Redarkhan has access to prickle fruit as long as anyone anywhere produces anything that Hive Acatl wants and doesn't want prickle fruit in direct exchange.

That's all fine and good, but Redarkhan only deals in what is essentialy credit-card transactions. If you sell something to Redarkhan, you can't transfer that account to anyone, and the only way you can actually profit from your investment is by continuing to trade with Redarkhan. And while Redarkhan has no taxes, the government actually makes a profit every time you by or sell anything using their credit tablets. So if yo trade with or through Redarkhan, you've essentially become a tax-paying Redarkhan citizen as far as they care.

More direct conflicts certainly occur, but those are rare, since Redarkhan doesn't actually want your "land", and you probably can't seriously threaten their sky. Much more comon are trade disputes in which other nations fight for their own tariff rights and get into skirmishes when Redarkhan offers to pay in Redarkhan credit (only to have prices mysteriously rise immediately afterwards). These skirmishes are ongoing and I see them as a continuously evolving stalemate.

- Is there any other way of flying then the skyships?

You could personally have wings, like a hawk or a griffon. Most of these methods of flight are of little consequence to international trade, and the Redarkhan don't even bother trying to regulate them. Personal flight generally has weight ratio limitations, which means that it's fine for sneaking ninjas around, but has a relatively minor effect on seiges or mass transport. There are also no bags of holding, so there's no sneaky method of getting a pile of troops with you when you use other methods of flight and the "fly up and drop shit" tactic is generally not all that astounding.

From a game balance standpoint, the tactic of "I take my quiver of arrows and fly around like a butterfly shooting people" is pretty similar to the tactic of "I climb a tree with my quiver of arrows and shoot people from a hgh branch." There's no particular sense in limiting any amount of flight that can't carry more ass whupping than real people can carry while climbing a tree or sheer cliff. Anything more than that is pretty sketchy as it enters new territories of potential use/abuse.

- Do smaller skyships exist?

The smallest skyship I envision is functionally a sloop. So a small skyship is still going to take a crew of at least 75 plus cargo. Of course, a skyship doesn't actually need much more than a navigator and a sculptor to stay operational - so you could very conceivably fill the ship up with about 200 terra cotta warriors in deployment urns if hypothetically there was some ground-based target that really pissed you off.

What of smaller (hidden?) skycities?

I'm leaving that a referee option. I don't see why there wouldn't be some. After all, while any navigator could get there just by concentrating - they'd also have to know what they were looking for. As such, you could hide one of those things virtually anywhere. All it has to be is off any of the navigational paths - and those all come straight in or out of the main cities like spokes of a bicycle wheel.

But I don't want to ram something like that down on a particular campaign. I think it's best if the general description just hs "rumors" of secret skybases.

What about smuggling?

And piracy too! Smuggling is a very weird enterprise in Redarkhan. Everyone essentially uses the equivalent of electronic currency. It's convenient, it's replacable if lost or stolen, and it can only be spent in certain places. You can't use Redarkhan currency at all if you want to have any secrecy at all or if you want to trade directly with anyone else. So people who want to trade directly have to barter or use the currency of other cultures - both of which are considered smuggling by the Redarkhan authorities.

So while the coastal earthbound villages of Redarkhan are certainly covertly visited by the solid water vessels of Hive Moskitia which bring in goods to trade directly with the earthbound, the thing that really pisses off the Tower is the earthbound trading stuff with other earthbound - because that's a way bigger chunk out of their economy.

It works like this: when you bring your maize or quinoa or turquoise or whatever up to the capitol, you sell most of it in order to pay your rents and purchase goods and services during your stay. But... you can keep some of your maize for your own personal use. And then, once you're up there, you can barter some of your personal maize for some of the personal quinoa of another earthbound renter - and this gets you more quinoa than if you had sold your maize and then purchased quinoa (it also gets the other guy more maize than if he had sold his quinoa and bought maize). And that is the activity that really pisses off the Skymage Tower. People undercutting them on the ground with solidwater stealth vessels is a minor inconvenience compared to the barter-related "losses" the Tower is "suffering" from.

Piracy works in a couple ways. First, the Tower doesn't actually have full control of every skyship. There are occassional renegades and people who reverse engineered the methods of keeping the ships aloft and so on. So there are skypirates. Not very many of them, and as soon as the navigators get wind of it they have a tendency to come down on these interlopers pretty hard (what with the ability to find these vessels if they know what to look for and having control of a vastly larger cloud navy). So air-piracy is a pretty dangerous occupation (though a lucrative one, those vessels carry all kinds of crazy crap). But there's also land-based banditry. The skyships have to come down eventually - and when they do a determined bunch of ninjas could conceivably board the vessels and kill the operators before the sculptors could program them to leave - then you have one cargo hold filled with whatever it happens to be filled with.

-Username17

[The_Hanged_Man]

Sounds interesting. I think your talents are wasted on whatever it is you do.

Some questions.

What do the redarkans think about barter? It seems like it'd be foolish to try to stop every villager from trading a couple ears of corn for a fish or something.

Is there an aristocracy, or can anyone be a Skylord something or other?

[Username17]

What do the redarkans think about barter?

The Skymages outlaw it and pursue it to the ends of the earth and sky with fire and sword.

It seems like it'd be foolish to try to stop every villager from trading a couple ears of corn for a fish or something.

Well... yes. They actually can't stop it. Not only is it not-possible, it's not actually desirable from the standpoint of overall efficiency of the society. It's just not a working proposition to have a society in which individuals can't borrow a cup of sugar from each other or swap sandwiches because it turns out the one they got has mayo even though they specifically said no mayo. But like the RIAA, the Redarkhan don't see it that way. They see every time someone swaps a fish for a couple of tomatoes to be someone stealing from them - even though it would actually be a waste of the time of their auditors to go around overseeing the exchange of every damned tomato.

If they catch you swapping a couple of ears of corn for a sandwhich they will inflict harsh punishments upon you. Even though that's stupid. And even though the society actually allows sharing between family members without question. Give your kid a taco: good for you. Give your friend a taco: go to jail.

Is there an aristocracy, or can anyone be a Skylord something or other?

It's like the bureaucracy of Imperial China. Nominally, anyone can become a Skylord just by testing well and being admitted to the Tower for Skymage training. Prctically, the tests are really hard and require a lot of rote memorization. The children of Skymages get to stay with their parents all year being gifted with Skymage tutors and free time. The children of the earthbound have to spend a good portion of their lives working in the fields or quarries and have a lot less time and materials for study.

The tests themselves are "fair", but good luck actually scoring well on one if you aren't already the child of somebody who's in the Tower Authority to begin with.

-Username17

[The_Hanged_Man]

Hmm. I'm sensing. . . Lawful Neutral perhaps?

The main reason I asked about the barter is that a lot of historic societies had bizaare rules about who could trade w/ who, but even the most totalitarian usually observed those rules mostly in the breach. Just curious about Redarkan's take.

[Josh_Kablack]

Some random questions about the economy:

1. Is the no-barter law interpreted to apply to service-service trades as well as service-good and good-good trades? It seems that it would have to, but it also seems that enforcement would be even more problematic. I'm imagining tales of naughty children who dared to swap chores with a neighbor boy.

2. Are any particular services illegal in and of themselves? (ie prostitution, assassination). If so, do the Redharken regard the inevitable payment with non-tracable currencies as a bigger crime than the illegal act itself? If so, this totally has Al Capone implications.

3. How do the Redharken verify identities for purposes of accounts? Can their accounting system be fooled by disguises or magic? Have any of the anti-Redharken tariff skirmishers resorted to identity theft to regain their profits?

4. How do the Redharken handle inheritance or other seemingly legitimate transfer of Redharken credits from one foreigner to another? Or do they just never ever allow credit to transfer. If it's totally non-transferable, can you maintain a group account as a family or military unit or anything that modern times would call a corporation or trust?

[Username17]

1. Is the no-barter law interpreted to apply to service-service trades as well as service-good and good-good trades? It seems that it would have to, but it also seems that enforcement would be even more problematic. I'm imagining tales of naughty children who dared to swap chores with a neighbor boy.

Yes. You're supposed to work for a wage and pay for the labor of others to the Tower. Doing something else is stealing from the Tower, or something.

2. Are any particular services illegal in and of themselves? (ie prostitution, assassination). If so, do the Redharken regard the inevitable payment with non-tracable currencies as a bigger crime than the illegal act itself? If so, this totally has Al Capone implications.

Yeah, they've got a whole set of things which are illegal - like shirpaing. That's totally illegal. I severely doubt that these people illegalize prostitution. And yes, the crime they'd bag you with was "currency fraud". It's easier to prove than anything else...

3. How do the Redharken verify identities for purposes of accounts?

You have a clay tablet that is keyed to the account. The account has a magically suspicious passcode and the emotional resonance of your palm. You can access the tablet's account by giving the password or placing your palm on a master tablet operated by an Auditor. If your tablet gets lost or broken, an Auditor can make you a new one for a modest fee.

Can their accounting system be fooled by disguises or magic?

Yes. You don't even need magic - you can steal someone's account information and tablet you can essentially be them, and go on a shopping spree. However, if the real owner reports the tablet stolen the Auditors will no precisely where you are and what you are doing the next time you use it. So stealing someone's identity can be risky.

With proper magic, you could even fool the palm scanners.

Have any of the anti-Redharken tariff skirmishers resorted to identity theft to regain their profits?

Of course. If you kill someone, it is going to be a while until they figure out that the person is dead and freeze the acocunt, with the right kind of magic you could empty the account before the popos came down on you. Then it's time to ditch the tablet in a ravine, because the auditors take a dim view of that sort of behavior and can track those tablets.

4. How do the Redharken handle inheritance or other seemingly legitimate transfer of Redharken credits from one foreigner to another?

Either you hand off the passcode and tablet, in which case the tablet will continue to function until it is lost or broken (note that it can not be reactivated at this point because there is no original palm to reopen the account - hope it's not full of credits when the tablet breaks). Or you set up a transfer of account while you are still alive with an Auditor, who charges a modest fee for this service.

If it's totally non-transferable, can you maintain a group account as a family or military unit or anything that modern times would call a corporation or trust?

There are currently no multi-key tablets or multi-tablet accounts except for the Auditor's Guild themselves. That amulet they have all keys in to the central bank and manipulates the same set of funds. So they work like a corporate trust, but have not as yet allowed anyone else to do so.

The infrastructure is there, they just haven't done it yet.

-Username17

[RandomCasualty]

1108690765[/unixtime]]
You could personally have wings, like a hawk or a griffon. Most of these methods of flight are of little consequence to international trade, and the Redarkhan don't even bother trying to regulate them. Personal flight generally has weight ratio limitations, which means that it's fine for sneaking ninjas around, but has a relatively minor effect on seiges or mass transport. There are also no bags of holding, so there's no sneaky method of getting a pile of troops with you when you use other methods of flight and the "fly up and drop shit" tactic is generally not all that astounding.

Well, if you want sieges, you're probably going to have to have your combat system be fairly deadly. Low level guys have to have a chance of damaging high level ones, or the siege doesn't really mean anything.

In D&D, you could land 5000 1st level soldiers and nobody would really care. Everyone would really be worried about the 5 high level guys you just dropped.

In Shadowrun, it's sort of the other way around. Special forces do nice stealth ops, but if you want to actually win a war you'd better have a lot of men, because sooner or later special forces will get killed.

So I'm assuming if you want sieges your combat deadliness is going to lean more towards Shadowrun?

[IGTN]

How long have skyships existed? Did they exist during the Atalayan empire? What about before (Six Ways period? Older?)

How long has the Skymage tower been using a currency setup where they buy everything for money that can only be spent to them?

[Avoraciopoctules]

I will never feel bad about necroing a 3 year old thread again.

That said, I'm curious what a war skyship's weapons look like. If you are an air pirate that just got found, will the army try and board you? Pelt you with magically propelled stone bullets? Just shoot arrows?

[Antariuk]

Hey, thanks to this necro I started reading all the old "Culture Focus" threads again. Lots of cool ideas.

About skyship weapons: I think it depends on how valuable these pirate ships are to Redarkhan. Will they try to salvage them? Then a whole line of destructive spells or attacks with ballistas and greek fire are out.

[Username17]

I sort of envisioned these guys like the Earth Kingdom from Avatar in terms of combat capability (although interestingly: the show had not aired when I originally wrote them). As such, they would be mostly throwing rocks at other sky ships, which in turn would mean that they would want to get pretty close to do it. Since the skyships themselves are chained to the bottom of floating stones, they're actually fairly protected from lobbed rocks from any great distance - if a thrown stone ends up arcing much the enemy ship is essentially under ground.

So a fair amount of maneuvering, trying to get to a higher position that isn't too much higher in order to throw rocks at the enemy ship in order to clear their deck off enough that you can board them.

-Username17

[Avoraciopoctules]

That's certainly an interesting tactical situation. Almost enough to make me start looking for a decent way to model the relative elevations of flying units again.

[Vebyast]

Yeah. Shall we cast another Raise Thread?

[Duke Flauros]

Yeah. Shall we cast another Raise Thread?

Yup.

You know, Frank, you've created, in a few pages, more actual content than WOTC has put out in four years.