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Journeywoman's Journeys, A Fantasy Age of Exploration Worldbuilding Quest (Updated Daily)

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[X] [WORLD] Mhet "Hearth"
[X] [CITIES] Qwassilth (Goldenwash) Federation, "The Golden Cities"
 
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[X] [WORLD] Mhet "Hearth"
[X] [CITIES] Qwassilth (Goldenwash) Federation, "The Golden Cities"
 
[X] [WORLD] Mhet "Hearth"
[X] [CITIES] Tal Yann's League, "Yann's Children"
 
good evening citizens, I'm doing a bit more sane and sensible tonight
Scheduled vote count started by AKuz on Jan 29, 2022 at 12:50 AM, finished with 9 posts and 6 votes.
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tie for [CITIES], rolled a dice, came up for Qwassilth Federation
 
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Adventure 1: Journeywoman, Page 12
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] [WORLD] Mhet "Hearth"
    [x] [CITIES] Qwassilth (Goldenwash) Federation, "The Golden Cities"

    Adventure 1: Journeywoman, Page 12​

    Tarn knows Gerra. As well he should, having been born there and only choosing to operate primarily out of Khot-Sen-Lanua later in his life.

    He knows back alleys and main streets, the location of temples to both virtue and vice. As he walks through the city he teaches Anne not just how to navigate the city, but shares some of the local history and gossip along the way.

    "It's not hard" he says with a shrug, "Head towards the trees to head towards the nearest edge of the city," he says, pointing towards where the trees can be seen in the distance, "those bas- those ones there are seventy arcs and up on the hills that surround the harbour."

    "Now," Tarn says, stopping to let a company of local mercenaries pass by the street in front of him and Anne, "Few decades back they wanted to take them down and build watch towers and walls along the hills, but the fu-, the Tan Gra screamed bloody murder about some treaty violation, and some of the other cities along the Qwassilth thought that fortifying itself meant that Gerra was feeling frisky. And well, the city fathers of the time decided to back off on that idea." he says with a dismissive wave of his hands.

    He point in the opposite direction of the treeline, "Now if you want to head to the harbour, head away from the trees, and when you can't see the trees anymore, you can see the masts." the centuaric man shifts again, carefully manoeuvring his bulk away from a passerby as he takes back to the street and gestures for Anne to follow, "And in the middle of the city, you navigate by Gretal's spire" he says pointing towards a large building that rises out of the city, golden sunlight reflecting from the statue at the top.

    Anne cranes her head upwards, squinting, following Tarn, "Is that a temple?"
    "Yeah," Tarn grins down at Anne, "That's not a statue though, that's the bit- uh, Gretal herself."

    Anne looks away from the crowd to see if Tarn is joking, but his smile's for her shock, not because of a joke.

    "Aramvolk grandmistress that put Gerra on the map, she told her family that when they gilded her bones, she needed to be the highest thing in the city so that everyone would continue to look up to her, even in death."

    "Wow." Anne says, looking at the 'statue' with new eyes.

    "And that's where we're going first."

    "I'm happy to go, but why?"

    Tarn pulls out a coin and hands it to Anne, "She's the patroness of Gerra's merchants. All trade goes through her doors, even if she's been dead since before The first Ymi could walk."

    Anne takes the coin and holds it fast in her palm, "Is this a tax or a donation?"

    "Gerra doesn't do taxes, bad things just happen to merchants who don't pay their respects to Gretel" he says with a wink.

    "Bad things happen to you, or bad things are made to happen to you?" asks Anne with slightly too much enthusiasm

    "She's an ancestor god, and her priesthood is well muscled. It basically depends on how unlucky you are and how fast you run."

    Anne giggles, which instantly makes her self conscious, but she can't help it.

    Anne thinks as she follows Tarn through a sidestreet and into a main route that leads directly from the harbour to Gretel's shrine.

    "Wait, you said Gerra doesn't do taxes. Khot doesn't do taxes because the guilds work everything out in advance, how does Gerra do it?"

    Tarn snorts, "Khot doesn't call them taxes, but I call it in kind corvee labour, which is basically the same thing." he shakes his head.

    Anne frowns, "Oh. I'd assumed that they had guilds too. Like Khot."

    "Well girl. Gerra is run by…"

    [ ] "...the Great Families"

    Officially Gerra has no rulers, instead the city is run by agreements between individual families, with the greatest of those being the descendents of Gerra's legendary founders, like Grandmother Gretel. These families are often those who head merchant houses, control local temples, and head professional organisations.

    It's a messy process, and unofficially Gerra's headed by a council of great families who collect tribute and offerings from their territories in order to contribute to the common upkeep of the city. It's also this council who selects Gerra's Qwassilth Federation representative.

    Much of the politics in Gerra revolves around the rise and fall of these great families, and it's become common for great families to adopt outsiders for their talents. It's not uncommon for some rising families to be, "Golden Sprouts", majority composed of family members unrelated by blood.

    [ ] "...the Harbourmaster's Council"

    Gerra is overseen by an executive council of merchant lords. And as first among equals they elect a Harbourmaster with authority to act independently in emergencies, conduct forieng diplomacy, command the city's full fleets and armies in times of conflict and, most importantly, preside over council meetings.

    To be a merchant lord, one must be able to fund either two regiments of mercenaries or a squadron of warships, a distinction which grants one membership into the Harbourmaster's council and the responsibility and power to govern the city. In practice this amounts to a wealth requirement for ascension to the council.

    As well, while the Harbourmaster ceremonially oversees the operations of the port, and all the infrastructure that supports the port, actual governance is carried out by two career Harbour Procurers elected by the port's registered ship captains.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] ...The Council Of A Hundred Dead
    The name isn't just a bit of fancy. Quite literally, the spirits of the recently decorporealized are called via ritual to speak on their wisdom for the good of the living.

    What this actually means is 100 Gerra citizens (providing that they have not died violent deaths and no older then ten years dead) are randomly chosen via sortition are summoned to vote on, speak for and against various laws, deals, ect, proposed by the Council of The Living; Five Adults in Good Standing, who are chosen via majority vote by the Living Citizens.

    Each of The Living rotates the position of Representative to The Federation each year for five years, at which point a new Vote for a Living Council is had, and a new Council of The Dead is summoned.

    GHOST LAW

    That's right! It's a Democratic Necroarchy.
     
    Whoops, forgot to instructions, write ins are 140 words
     
    [X] "…The Conclave of Commodores."

    The heads of the myriad trading companies of Gerra govern the city collectively. They elect a Speaker to represent them in matters of foreign policy, and a High Admiral to lead them in war. This all seems quite ordinary for a merchant city—until one looks at the true source of the Commodores' power: bureaucratic appointments.

    Gerra is a city held up on the backs of a series of vast, interwoven patronage networks. Each of the Commodores has their own bloc within the bureaucracy, struggling to control the shifting allegiances of tax collectors, customs officials, and more. This freewheeling and cutthroat political system has given Gerra a well-deserved reputation for both corruption and social mobility—a mercurial city for the bold and cunning, the foolish and reckless, or simply those with nothing to lose.
     
    [X] ...The Council Of A Hundred Dead

    This is pretty cool and fits well with the golden founder corpse still watching over the city. It's probably harder to bribe a ghost as well. Not impossible, but harder. Plus if anyone cares about dangerous problems it's the people who got killed by them.
     
    MordredRaal said:
    This is pretty cool and fits well with the golden founder corpse still watching over the city. It's probably harder to bribe a ghost as well. Not impossible, but harder. Plus if anyone cares about dangerous problems it's the people who got killed by them.
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    "That was no fun at all. We should probably do something about those cholera epidemics..."
     
    [X] ...The Council Of A Hundred Dead
    [X] "…The Conclave of Commodores."
     
    good evening, let's a goooo!

    lol, forgot to close vote, rip
     
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