Dos Orillas

The city of Dos Orillas, or Orillas for short, and called Freohythe or the Hythe by its Mentian inhabitants, was founded in 1052 as a settlement some 50 miles south of Aeterna, as a river port at the mouth of River Claron. The city grew out of several separate settlements meant to support expeditions toward the former Azcarian capital of Aeterna, which has turned into a megadungeon full of treasures and riches.

Orillas is split into two subparts.

Map will be coming soon!

East Orillas

East Orillas is home to around 7,000 people, though “city” is generous. It’s a walled series of settlements with farms inside the perimeter in the valley beyond. The City Council rules here, an unelected body of faction representatives who vote on common laws and shared expenses. The City Council is seen as a proxy of the Consortium, with the Consortium’s representatives having a 60% majority on the 14 person council.

In practice, each faction governs its own turf. The only thing they always agree on: Keep the harbor running, keep the undead out.

West Orillas

Across the river, defended by a wooden palisade, sits the city of West Orillas, or “Freohythe” as its inhabitants call it. It is home to around 2,000 - 3,000 people, founded by those rejected or priced out of the east side. Officially a part of the city and under its law, unofficially, the Great Kadach Company runs the place.

Governance

The Consortium claims half the land in East Orillas and sets the rules everyone else lives by. Dungeons operate on the Parcel system — megadungeons divided into private claims, each faction dispatching adventurers and skimming fees from the loot. In return, factions pay tax to the Consortium, who maintain soldiers to purge undead hordes before they become everyone's problem.

Farmland works similarly. The Council owns three quarters of the farmland, leases it to farmers, takes a quarter of the harvest, and controls the markets where the rest is sold. Ostensibly, this is to keep food prices stable.

Economy & Cuisine

The economy of Orillas is a plunder economy. Half of the population are engaged in dungeoneering or directly supporting them. Of a known population of 10,000, jobs are distributed around this percentage:

• Farmer & Families: 40 - 45%
• Adventurers / Dungeoneering: 10 - 15%
• Service / Mercantile: 10 - 15%
• Professional Soldiers: 5%
• Laborers / Indentured Laborers: Rest
• Administration / Clergy / Nobles: 5 - 10%

The farmers largely grow hardy crops like potatoes, barley and various vegetables. Although the climate is subtropical, nearly no rice or wheat are grown with the upper class or adventurers preferring imported ones. There’s no natively grown spices in the surrounding area. Beef and lamb are mostly imported from the Langara Islands, since pasture lands are hard to protect with roaming undead, so what meat the locals eat is often chicken or occasionally pig. Fresh dairy like milk and cream is scarce — butter and cheese are shipped in from Langara instead. The only cash crop of note is tobacco. Potatoes are king - plain dumplings and noodles for the poor, maybe fried in lard, whereas the same dishes are garnished with herbs and served with plentiful meat and sauce for the rich. Cuisine is primarily Mentian-like in nature with potato dumplings and noodles being the main staple, while wheat dishes are rare and considered luxurious.

There’s local artisans like blacksmiths & tailors, etc., but no local metallurgical industry. Due to its distance from Mentia and Langara’s lack of mass steelmaking knowledge, steel and metal blanks are imported from overseas alongside most finished metal goods, with infinitely renewable dungeon loots often salvaged by magic to repair and create new goods.

Food and manufactured goods price is considered high, but income is even higher, the normal, non-indentured farmer generally has a better life than those back home, even though everything they pay for is inflated, the adventurers and upper class generally have more than enough silver to spend.

Factions

The Orillas Consortium (TOC)

The ruling power of Orillas. They consist of Lymian and Silnarian merchants who flooded in, bought land, staked dungeon claims, and then pushed for independence from Montemara. Other nations' merchants are present - but they are a minority. They control half the city, a quarter of the piers, and most of the import / export trade. Every day, there is always at least one tall, castled ship anchored in the harbor bristling with two dozen guns - as much as the city has for its own defense, a stark reminder of the Consortium’s power, and where its peace and quiet come from.

The Consortium also claims ownership over several scattered, smaller settlements along the southern coast, but in name only.

• Leaders: Governor-General Caradoc Vael (Lymian) and Treasurer Eirlys Sarn (Silnarian). Nominal equals, each representing their nationality. Both are polite, patient, and reward their loyalists quite generously but are ruthless toward rivals.
• Base of Operation: East Orillas (The entire city)
• Wants: Profit, political independence, sustainable growth
• Fears: Montemaran takeover, faction warfare destabilizing trade
• Rivals: CIR (Montemaran Proxy), Great Kadach Company (Ungovernable)
• Missions: Dungeon clearance, undead culling, cargo escort, naval escort, anti-piracy mission, “deniable” jobs against rivals to eliminate influence

Rumhainn Western Company (CIR)

The Rumhainn Western Company, or CIR in its native language, is the successor or evolved form of the Rumhainn Western Expedition Company - the company originally founded by the Rumhainn crown that eventually rediscovered South Azcaria and established its contact with the rest of the civilized world.

Though not as powerful or wealthy as the Consortium, the CIR enjoys a very warm relationship with all three of the Langaran kingdoms, despite their internal rivalry. And it is considered a proxy of Montemaran power and Rumhainn’s power. It owns another quarter of the pier - an outsized influence given its smaller size, and its private navy ferry Montemaran adventurers.

Its operation in Orillas is considered secondary to its trade with the three Langaran kingdoms - the CIR having no qualms about supplying armaments and training and strengthening the native kingdoms to counterbalance the far more powerful Lymian and Silnarian - as long as they don’t become too strong. The CIR inherited the claims of the adventurers from discovering Aeterna, and claimed a quarter of the surrounding dungeons as theirs to explore and delve, granted by none other than the Montemaran crown itself. Its power is augmented by a professional army of a hundred Montemaran soldiers, trained by Rumhainnese trainers and armed with Rumhainnese arquebuses. For now, the CIR and the Langaran Kingdoms’ interests are aligned - you scratch my back and I scratch yours, with each of them dispatching soldiers to keep each other's colonies stable from unruly adventurers and dissatisfied colonists.

• Leader: Director / Captain Cian - A grizzled dark-skinned Silnari veteran of frontier warfare from Rumhainn who led the expedition that rediscovered Azcaria and gained unimaginable wealth. Pragmatic and primarily a military and logistical man, he leaves most economic and trading affairs to his underlings while handling the military and mercenary side of CIR’s dealings.
• Base of Operation: Port District
• Wants: Expand profit and influence. Keep Orillas independent. Stay indispensable as the neutral goes between. Eventually, in the far future, expand Rumhainn’s domain and create direct colonies
• Fears: Consortium squeezing them out, any single Langaran kingdom becoming dominant, losing their prestige or claims as the first mover.
• Rivals: The Consortium (Economic competition), Arcane Society of Panguea (Foreign interlopers)
• Missions: Naval escort, anti-piracy, exploration of coastline, diplomatic courier runs, favor and “internal stability missions” in Langaran Kingdoms, intelligence gathering.

Arcane Society of Panguea (ASP)

When word reached Panguea of a land thick with magical energy, undead hordes, living dragons and untouched ruins, scholars came running. The first wave arrived in 1053, hitching rides on the Lymian merchant ships. Then words got back, and dozens came in 1054, and then a hundred in 1055.

Distrusted by the natives of Ramul Ta, they claimed the biggest, swampy island in the river delta and built a walled compound around a mage tower. Farmland surrounds it, worked at first by hired Montemaran laborers, then by indentured workers from Runra and Koya. The Montemarans were displaced quickly - Panguean laborers asked fewer questions.

The Society funds itself by studying artifacts on-site, then selling them east at enormous markup. Lately, they’ve expanded into agriculture, draining the swampland and growing tobacco to be exported at a premium price to Panguea.

The Arcane Society of Panguea knows and uses necromancy - though it keeps all of it out of public sight lest other factions expel them outright, and at least a few of their members are known or actual vampires - an open secret amongst the inhabitants. Their arcane expertise, mastery of war magic and healing, and useful artifacts keep them tolerated by the other factions - especially the Sairiku group’s intimate knowledge of undead and how to put them down and predict their behaviors. Magical weapons, wards, spells, potions - the ASP dominate the trade in these goods and sell them or even gift them at a discount to keep themselves in the good grace of other factions.

• Leaders: Kagemi no Hakuto (Sairikian Nekomata) - Chief Necromancer and Researcher, probably two hundred years of age, came to study Azcarian undead and the energy powering them. Treat it like a research field trip. Xue Yanling (Runran Kitsune) - Blood Healer, around 30 years old. Sharp and calculating, officially handles medical research, healing. The indentured laborers avoid her wing of the tower - and always come out looking paler than they were.
• Base of Operation: Delta Island (TBN)
• Wants: Magical artifacts, mana crystals, rare materials, undead remains, research and non-research subjects - preferably young and healthy.
• Fears: Consortium cutting off their trade access, Montemaran invasion laborers learning Silnarian or organizing, anyone exploring the tower basement
• Rivals: Everyone distrusts them. The feeling is mutual.
• Missions: Dungeon expeditions (often lead personally), magical training, artifact retrieval, specimen collection, drained body disposal, bribery to other factions.

Order of New Sunlight

The Order of New Sunlight began as a fanatical Kozartist religious order in Salvainia, providing the Emperor with zealous soldiers and financing during his rise. A century and a half later, they found themselves sidelined as the Emperor consolidated state power and distanced himself from his radical and heathen origins. Disarmed, they were reduced to banking and charity work.

When news of South Azcaria reached Salvainia, the Grandmaster saw a chance to revitalize their mission. They established a branch offering banking, charity and crusading services against the undead. Though still Kozartist at heart, it now accepts members across faiths, emphasizing mutual aid over doctrine. Kozartist still dominate the upper echelon however.

The Order ran out of funding in 1054, just a year after arrival. Emergency funding from the Consortium and CIR kept them afloat, and they were assigned a few smaller dungeons and a section of Aeterna to generate their own income. By renting out the right to raid these dungeons and claiming a tenth of the loot, the Order has kept itself afloat to fund its loss-generating activities - charity, and crusade against the undead that yield naught but death, destruction, and rusted iron.

• Leaders: Chapter Master Elias Nemati - A Macen Paladin in his early forties that were appointed leader of this expedition. Kind, and devoutly focused on his mission.
• Base of Operation: Central District
• Wants: Artifacts (mostly for resale), medicinal herbs, food supply or meat.
• Fears: Undead invasion, running out of funding
• Rivals: Arcane Society of Panguea (Literal necromancers & vampires)
• Missions: Undead purge, route patrol, dungeon expedition aimed at profit, relief expeditions to outlying settlement, newbies onboarding

Aeterna Explorer’s Association (AEA)

The AEA is a relative newcomer to the scene of Orillas. It was formed after the riots of July 17th 1054, where a large group of adventurers joined in rioting against the Consortium and CIR’s control of most parcels, leaving freelancing adventurers with an increasingly small share of loot. They were joined by company-affiliated adventurers and fought with the Consortium and CIR’s forces. Eventually, negotiations led to the Consortium and CIR conceding part of their seldomly used parcels and lots of dungeons, to be managed by a neutral Association made up of adventurers who do not wish to be affiliated with each company.

AEA is the most numerous faction in number of affiliated adventurers, though most of its members are of dubious loyalty and mostly here for a job. It largely functions as a job board, with its upper echelon elected by members who then push in the City Council and under private channels for the AEA to acquire even more dungeons and lots of land. Unlike most other factions, AEA remains nearly entirely dedicated to its mission - only holding a small amount of real estate for its operation in the city and the rights to rent out and raid dungeons, refraining from dipping its toes in real estate or empire building, a constraint built by its founding document lest its leaders become yet another company by name.

The vast majority of adventurers of its thousand strong membership are “Associates”, which is as simple as showing up to sign your name, “verify” your identity and promising to not break the local laws or raid AEA dungeons without permission. About a hundred are actual members, who pay fees and vote for its leader.

The AEA brought in the “mansworth” ranking, where they rank adventurers on the basis of how many normal soldiers they can beat in a fight, ranging from one to twelve, and uses it to internally assign missions based on danger. It is the closest to an IC analog of the Level system.

The AEA maintains neutrality not out of principle, but because it can’t afford another fight. With the major factions still holding the most lucrative dungeons and pulling adventurers into their own orbit, and AEA being held together but nothing but fading, shared grievances against the major factions, AEA’s support base is wobbly at best.

• Leaders: Eadric Langley - A Mentian swordsman adventurer in his late thirties that helped organize the riots and negotiated the peace. Pragmatic and more of an administrator than hero. Was elected on the spot to the first term, then re-elected for a second. Not sure if he wants a third one-year term. Appears to have developed a smoking habit.
• Base of Operation: Harbor District
• Wants: More dungeon rights, discovering and laying first claim to dungeon, steady membership fees, legitimacy in the City Council and intelligence on what major factions are planning
• Fears: Memberships hemorrhaging, internal split, dissolution
• Rivals: Consortium and CIR, any faction poaching their members
• Missions: Dungeon expeditions, escort jobs, odd jobs from neutral settlements, inter-faction courier work, new adventurers certification.

Great Kadach Company

The Great Kadach Company, named after the Mentianized name of the Kadhok, is a mercenary group that once counted five thousand men in its rank. The end of the Mentian Civil War left tens of thousands of soldiers without work and possession - and a splinter group were hired and ferried to the town of Orillas and various parts of the new colonies by merchants that needed protection for the dangerous frontier. The Great Kadach Company - now numbering some four hundred men, regrouped in the city of Orillas and originally served as its professional backbone and garrison.

Disputes between the Consortium and the Company over pay led most of the company to regroup and control the unsettled, western side of West Orillas, bringing alongside families and settlers and renaming it Freohythe, with the end result of making Mentian the largest ethnic group in Orillas - consisting of a third of the population mostly concentrated in the west. It rules the western side of the city as its own personal fiefdom.

The Company’s headquarters sits at the heart of Freohythe, a newly built estate house they call the Kadach hall. The buildings opposite it were razed and converted into a permanent drill yard where Company soldiers train daily, a visible reminder to residents of who keeps the peace. They fly a stark banner - A white saltire on black. No device, no motto. Veterans say it is a rejection of the lords they served, newcomers suspect it is because no one could agree on anything else.

• Leader: Sir Lothar van Daal, a 50 years old veteran of the Mentian Civil War, with a storied past having enlisted in Mentia’s army against invading beastkins and fighting for various sides over the next thirty years of his career. Generous to his loyalists like all successful mercenary leaders, he seems to be focused on acquiring more power as a petty lord and has been making overtures to Montemara for a noble title of some sort. No wife, but plenty of mistresses and several illegitimate sons and daughters, the youngest three he is raising in the city himself.
• Base of Operation: West Orillas
• Wants: More power, legal recognition of West Orillas as its land, spot on the City Council, money, formalization of its status under Montemara protection (Or anyone that can project power)
• Fears: Open warfare with Consortium / CIR (That it can’t win), Montemara refusing recognition, internal conflicts between ambitious captains
• Rivals: Consortium / CIR (Representation of the existing order)

Missions: Dungeon raid to the west side of the river, “requisitioning” from scattered western settlements, anti-undead expedition or patrol, Suppressing dissent in West Orillas