Magichanics

A word of warning to anyone playing this campaign as a PLAYER:

Post on this Blog will contain spoilers, so read them at your own risk. Players using out-game information in the campaign will be subjected to HARSH AND UNFORGIVING PUNISHMENT.

This blog post is marked: Spoiler-free (nothing I wouldn’t tell you if asked)

Yikes… this is going to be a long one. Having briefly sketched the outlines of the Caliphate and the world surrounding the strait, I’m now going to zoom in and work on its immediate neighbourhood. This is the part the players are most likely to come into contact with directly (the journey layer, for those who have read my post on Campaign Layers) and, as I said, I want to have a very clearly developed notion of what this part of the world looks like. Since I haven’t come up with a particular plot yet, the size of this area is of course a bit arbitrary, but I’m got a lot of ideas that I’m tossing around in my head that I want to fit in somehow. The bigger I make this area, the more space I’ll have to work with in the plot stage of development; any part that ends up being largely irrelevant to the plot will at the very least still serve as a backdrop (the narrative layer, again for those who read my post on Campaign Layers). However if I make this area too large it’ll take forever before I can actually run the campaign – which I’m hoping I can do at least by next summer. Still, I think it best to err a bit on the large side, so this topic might well become a two- or three-parter.

Changing Things Around

I’m starting out with the rough draft of previous post. Its defining features are a simple strait from east to west with a landmass north and south. The Caliphate occupies a large portion of the northern coast and has control over the strait.

From the previous post... still kind of boring

Right away I feel there need to be some changes. The strait as it is now is essentially a linear and boring rectangular body of water; like on a river, the only directions to sail in are east and west. This doesn’t give room for a lot of interesting things I believe, so I decide to try to change things around. I doodle a bit until I come up with a design that piques my interest. I’ve narrowed the strait at its entrances and given in a bulge in the centre, it is now a lot more open and there more room for me to put points of interest.

Now we're talking

At this point it might be more accurate to refer to the entrances as straits and the central body of water as an inner sea. I decide to roll with this as the next idea comes to mind.

The Inner Sea

With the original theme of piracy in mind, I want to alter the above map to make room for such practices. A defining geographical feature of piracy in the Americas, particularly the West Indies (or Caribbean Sea if you like), was the presence of some 7000 islands criminals would use as hiding places, staging posts etcetera. The notion of a large amount of islands greatly appeals to me, so I decide to plant a pocket version of the Caribbean Isles right in the middle of the inner sea: the One-Thousand-And-One-Islands as a tongue-in-cheek way of referring to the literary work.

I really like the islands.

I like the idea that the One-Thousand-And-One-Island (I’m going to get tired of writing that out real soon) belongs to the Caliphate historically, but that only a handful of the larger isles are directly governed. Doing so with all 1001 would be an immense task logistically and bureaucratically, a task the caliph does not deem worth the expenses and manpower. So the Caliphate is content to leave the majority of the islands alone and turn its attention elsewhere.

Some of the island states became vassals of the Caliphate. They are under the protection of the caliph and are of course granted several mercantile leniencies – inhabitant of these isles are recognised as citizens of the Caliphate and are thus not subjected to any of the tolls or tariffs that foreigners are. However, in return, they pay a rather hefty tribute annually.
Others remain sovereign states that enjoy none of the above benefits and are still required to acknowledge the Caliphate’s de facto dominion over the inner sea; but they are otherwise independent states that only pay lip service to the caliph.

These One-Thousand-And-One-Islands belong to the Caliphate historically speaking, but only a handful of the larger isles are directly governed. Governing all 1001 would be an immense task logistically and bureaucratically, a task that is not worth the expenses and manpower. Therefore the Caliphate is content to leave the majority of the islands alone, preferring to turn its attention elsewhere. Some of the island states became vassals under the protection of the Caliphate and are granted several mercantile leniencies at the cost of a hefty yearly tax. Others remain sovereign states that enjoy none of the above benefits and are still required to acknowledge the Caliphate’s de facto dominion over the inner sea; but they are otherwise independent states that only pay lip service to the caliph.

Green indicates vassal states, Yellow sovereign states

While the vassal islands are mostly similar to the Caliphate, the independent islands essentially belong to everyone and nobody; it is a place where every city is its own kingdom and men make their own laws. Lineage is mostly irrelevant: anyone with sufficient money or weapons at his disposal can become a king. Ships are as important in these waters as land, as the isles are dependant on trade for their survival. This dependence puts a lot of power into the hands of ship captains, who exploit this vulnerability to their own benefit. An appropriate name for the inner sea comes to mind: The Sea of Kings, for it is said that every man that captains a ship in these waters lives like a king.

These states are a mixing pot of folk from different cultures, ethnicities and origins. I imagine these islands are populated by all kinds of people: Simple native fishermen that make their living off the sea; slaves from all over the world employed as dockworkers, artisans or plantation workers; merchant kings that abandoned the Caliphate in search for more lucrative practices; exiled noblemen with a desire to found a dynasty; stranded travellers from the west or east unable to pay for a passage home; outlaws and fugitive hoping to escape the long arm of the law and start a new life; deserted westerling captains that offer their services as mercenaries; raiders from the south that pillage the coastline for plunder; and slavers that come to capture or sell their wares.

This colourful bunch should make the Sea of Kings an interesting place. It is by design a very versatile and malleable place that can play a role in almost any story at any point in time. There are enough people with interests in the region and an agenda of their own for conflicts to arise; and there are enough reasons for people – both PCs NPCs – to be on one of the isles. In fact, I think I could think of two or three ideas off the top of my head for story arcs or even entire campaigns that might take place among the One-Thousand-And-One-Islands.

The Westerlings

Remember when I told you other nations are jealous of the Caliphate’s ability to control and tax the trade flowing through its waters? In the last centuries, the ‘Europeans’ west of the Sea of Kings – referred to as Westerlings in the Caliphate – have been encroaching on the Caliphate’s territory. Slowly but surely these westerlings have crawled closer to the Caliphate’s borders, settling on coastal area and islands just west of the Sea of Kings. Many westerling traders use these islands as stepping stones where they resupply their food stocks to avoid the higher prices on provisions in the Caliphate. Bolder folk have even come to several of the westernmost of the One-Thousand-And-One Isles and the coast of the Sea of Kings. They smuggle goods overland to dodge the tolls the Caliphate levies on laden ships, and prefer to deal with potential pirates in a violent manner.

Once every so often the Caliphate deploys parts of its forces to drive these interlopers from what the state considers its territory. In the past century these scourges have been a precedent – yet not the sole reason – for at least two major westerling incursions from south-European cultures (Spanish and Italian). Such attempts have all ultimately failed one way or another, but these wares have left their mark on the Sea of Kings. When the Spanish and Italians lost their fleets, the westerlings in the Sea of Kings were abandoned. Two generations later these people, while still of the same ethnicity and culture, have cut off their ties to the homeland and founded their own sovereign states. Many westerling captains deserted from their service and vanished among the One-Thousand-And-One Isles. Several such captains now rule over an isle, offer their services as mercenaries or crowned themselves king – a euphemism for turning pirate.

Green indicates vassal states, Yellow sovereign states, Orange westerling states.

I feel I should point out here, for the sake of clarity, that these ‘westerlings’ are West-Europeans with a level of technology somewhere in the early years of the Age of Discovery – think 1500-1600. This is mainly because it is an interesting period in history for naval warfare, where European powers competed with each other for control over trading routes. However, many of the ideas and methods used in this period of time (navigation, for one) were brought to the West from the Middle-East during the crusaders several hundred years earlier. So what implications does this have for my setting? Does the Caliphate have a similar technology level? If not, where did the westerlings get their technology from and why didn’t they crush the Caliphate with their superior arms during their incursions? I will come back to the subject of technology some time in the future in greater detail than I will here, but the gist of the story is as follows.

A Note on Technology

Many of the technological advancements the crusaders brought from the Middle-East originally came from China through the Silk Road. This is the same trade route that made Arabia wealthy through trade and the same route I am mimicking in my campaign. I am rather reluctant to tamper with this part of history, so for gunpowder to be available in the west it has to have passed through the Sea of Kings. At the same time, however, I still want the Caliphate to feel roughly 10^th century-ish, which doesn’t really leave room for lots of firearms. I had said earlier in my initial brainstorm post that I’m going to make the campaign relatively high-magic, which is exactly how I’m going to accomplish this.

I want the Caliphate to have a well-established and relatively successful magical tradition. This means that an otherwise cumbersome siege weapon that would slow down the speed of an army is replaced with a magus of some power. These magi know how to tear down walls with their magicks, create sand storms to buffet an enemy army and shield their own warriors from enemy fire. In terms of seafaring, I like to think that the Caliphate’s ships tend to avoid conflict if possible: a capable magus can summon favourable winds to hasten some ships and slow down others, or create a thick mist that shrouds the movements a fleet to the eyes of an enemy. If it does come down to a fight, this magus could ward friendly ships from (cannon) fire and conjure up large waves, fireballs or sea monsters to sink enemy ships.

In line with the scientific discoveries during the Islamic Golden Age, the Caliphate considers magic as highly academic. Traditionally, rulers or high-ranking government officials worth their salt in Arabia have been scholars of some kind, and I like to think that a prerequisite for such ranks in the Caliphate is to have some degree of magical ability and/or knowledge. So now I’ve got a magically-adept elite within the realm that commands the majority of the trained warriors, which means that their military power over the normal – non-spellcasting, non-warrior – populace is considerate. The acquisition and widespread use of firearms would balance the scales significantly and allow relatively untrained, but firearm-equipped, peasants to hold their own against their rulers. It is therefore in the best interest of the ruling elite to prevent firearms from becoming widely available.

I also like the idea that firearms have never entered the cultural identity of the Caliphate as much as they have in, say, contemporary America. The Caliphate has a strong martial tradition alongside its magical, and folk legends of great warriors always portray them as master archers or master swordsmen, rather than gunslingers. Martial ability is considered a virtue and exceptional displays of skill are widely admired. By contrast the gun (like the crossbow in Europe) is looked down upon as a weapon, requiring little skill to wield effectively and, with the ability to easily kill an armoured man from a distance, its use is considered to be dishonourable. This rhymes pretty well with Japanese views to as late as the Sengoku Jidai (ca. 15^th – 17^th century) and I like to think that this particular piece of culture was introduced from the Far East.

The surrounding nations have less successful magical traditions and lack the resources and know-how to develop and produce gunpowder-based weaponry on a large scale. On what instances soldiers or ships are deployed bearing such arms, these do not present a real threat to the Caliphate’s well-trained warriors and the magi that support them. As such, there was also never really a need for the Caliphate to develop gunpowder weapons of its own; and its military successfully continues using relatively outdated weaponry and tactics.

This is my explanation for the spread of gunpowder weapons to the west without their widespread adaptation in the Sea of Kings.  For the better part of the past (two) century(ies), the Caliphate’s military technology has been at a standstill, but has been improving on account of their magical progression; This has allowed the caliph to hold his own, most of the time, against the westerlings.

While this is not the end of this subject and I’ve yet to cover the specifics of these invasions and how technologies reached the west, I’m already well over 2000 words in this post. Since the topic ties directly into details of the westerling incursions and the founding of another sovereign state in the Sea of Kings, I’ll postpone the remainder of the discussion to the next post.

A word of warning to anyone playing this campaign as a PLAYER:

Post on this Blog will contain spoilers, so read them at your own risk. Players using out-game information in the campaign will be subjected to HARSH AND UNFORGIVING PUNISHMENT.

This blog post is marked: moderate spoiler content (mainly thematic spoilers)

Some time ago I was hit by the urge to develop a roleplaying campaign with a swashbuckler theme. I envisioned a Caribbean-esque region riddled with islands among which pirates, merchants, explorers, mercenaries and soldiers roamed. The high concept I toyed with was light-hearted: put the players in command of a fully crewed ship, draw them a map of the surrounding area, and give them rumours of hidden treasure A, B and C hidden on island X, Y, Z. I’d give the players freedom to do as they wish and after a game or two introduce the main narrative based on what they had done so far.

With any luck and a bit of encouragement, they’d engage in a bit of piracy, extortion, plundering, treasure hunting and the sort; with the environment being trope-heavy and reacting in a rather comical fashion. Treasure coves would contain several stereotypical traps (room that floods with sand if the treasure is taken, giant rolling boulder corridors) and features McGuffin-heavy puzzles reminiscent of PC adventure games; the crazy cat lady that sold them magical items would go on about a bunch of prophecies and was absolutely convinced that each player was a chosen one; and an old boot I’d trick the players into taking with them would turn out to be one of the six lost treasures of whathaveyou.

Also, after hearing tales of their success, a ship of thickly-accented wannabe pirates would attempt to board them an try to steal their TREASJARRGH; a hilariously clueless and incompetent commodore of the British East-India Company would track them down and repeatedly mistake them for some other group of pirates; I’d shipwreck them on a quintessential cannibal-infested island and, of course, the main bad guys of the story would turn out to be the fathers of the players taking turns captaining The Flying Dutchman, and each time the players encountered them, a newly rotated captain would loudly declare “I AM YOUR FATHER!” in the middle of a swordfight.

All this was to be set in a world where the magical is commonplace and where many of this world’s legends and superstitions are true. Dead people with unresolved business wander around as ghosts – I was going to give the players their own sarcastic ship-bound ghost –; weird sea creature such as giant sea turtles, massive whales and the Kraken are occasionally encountered; Fate and Luck are fundamental forces of the cosmos; and Karma really is a bitch.

However, there was a peculiar detail about the images I conjured up in my mind: it really wasn’t the Americas I was thinking of when I came up with this concept. I was imagining silk caravans rather than a silver fleet, travelling scholars rather than conquistadores, scimitars rather than sabres, janissaries rather than redcoats and Barbary corsairs rather than European buccaneers. In short, the setting I envisioned was an Arabic one, rather than the New World.

When I realised this, I felt I needed to push the campaign in a totally different direction: no more of the light-hearted silliness that I had originally intended – although I would like to revisit the concept for a 2- or 3-off campaign. With the Arabic setting comes the Arabic culture, which brings with itself a whole bunch of cultural concepts and societal values. Notions such as politeness, hospitality, family, honour, loyalty and piety encourage serious behaviour, which clashes tremendously with the concept described above.

In Arab society these values typically enforce a very strong group structure and create a sense of group identity, but they do so at the loss of individual freedoms and individual identity: a man without a family is not a man. This forms a stark contrast with the romanticized ideals of total freedom of pirate life that encourage a very egocentric outlook on life.

I feel I cannot simply ignore these differences without cheapening or somehow selling short the Arabic theme of the campaign. However, rather than fully discarding either idea, I think it might be possible to simply dispense with most of the tropes and silliness and merge the notion swashbuckling and seafaring with an Arabic setting. For this, I think exploring this contrast between individuality and group-centricity, between independence and mutual dependence is a promising theme for the campaign to take off on a more serious note.

•  Want to present the Arabic setting in a compelling manner. This not only in terms of mechanical flavour, where players write scimitar on their sheet instead of longsword, but also present the Arabic way of life, its culture, history and mythologies through the setting. However, despite my Egyptian lineage, I actually know bugger all about Arabic culture beyond what I’ve picked up from the internet, RPG sourcebooks and visiting Egypt a couple of times.
  So rather than attempt to build a ‘historically correct’ Arabic setting, I’m aiming to build one that feels Arabic. In this, I think I’m just going to go ahead and simply cherry-pick interesting cultures of Middle-Eastern history and arrange them on a map. This will require me to do some work figuring out why technologically inferior cultures have not acquired knowledge or haven’t been conquered yet by more advanced cultures, but I’ll figure it out.

•  I still want the campaign to be relatively high-magic. This is entirely in-line with the Arabic theme, as its mythology is riddled with the supernatural. I can also use this as part a way to justify having multiple cultures that are several thousand years apart historically – and therefore, technologically –, yet manage to coexist. It seems to be that a less advanced civilization is necessarily more magically able, which compensates for its technological deficiency.

•  While religion – and specifically Islam – is basically the groundwork of the values of Arabic culture I feel rather uncomfortable with directly grafting this modern religion onto my campaign setting, mostly because I don’t actually know a great deal about it. Regardless, it is an issue I will have to address, but I don’t want religion to play a major role in the campaign’s central conflict.

•  Last, but not least, I still want to retain travelling, seafaring, piracy and naval combat as major themes in the campaign. Again, exactly how this plays out is something I’ll devise in later stages of development, but I’m keeping this in the back of my mind as I go along.

Well, that’s it for now.

Up next: the setting.