Temple of Hydana (#2/28; #33/365)
Given the reliance upon the sea by the citizens of Pellod, it is perhaps no surprise that many people in the city are followers of Hydana the Sea God. The temple is a grand affair, with a pillared colonnade painted azure blue, and an enormous statue of Hydana plastered with gold leaf. The High Priestess is Shapanna (charismatic, beautiful), who is actually a Mermaid, and, in her rare public appearances, disguises herself using Potions of Illusion brewed from various undersea corals, sponges and seaweeds. Shapanna's influence keeps the worship of Hydana popular in Pellod, much to the chagrin of the other temples. In the cellars of the temple is a Merfolk community, living in deep 'safe-pools' connected to Pellod's harbour via secret underwater tunnels. The Merfolk are sworn enemies of several of the region's more bloodthirsty pirate captains, and from this secret base have been known to strike out and attack lone buccaneer galleons in carefully coordinated marine assaults.
Temple of Solinthar (#3/28; #34/365)
Despite, or perhaps because of, the patronage of Baron Cript himself, Solinthar is a distant second in the number of followers the god has within Pellod. The God of Sailors and Sea-Travellers has a white-washed temple, roofed with an ostentatious display of valuable ships' timber, and the statue of the god has two embedded Giant Pearls for eyes. The head priest is the Baron's own personal holy-man, Foryaz the Furious, but given that Foryaz spends most of his time politicking in the Baron's Tower, day to day duties fall on Brinebeard, a Dwarf ex-marine (arrogant, stuttering) who is proving less than successful in attracting new adherents to the temple of Solinthar. On any given day, the central worship chamber will be thronged with sailors, sea-captains, pirates (in disguise), and various ocean-travellers all paying their respects to Solinthar for his best wishes upon their nautical endeavors.
Temple of Pangara (#4/28; #35/365)
Owing to Pellod's position buffeted between the harsh winds of the desert and the howling gales of the Western Ocean, Pangara, God of the Wind, has quite a few followers within the city. The High Priestess is Fayphre Rosel (plain, unhappy), who is desperately trying to attract new believers to the Wind God. The temple building is austere in architecture and made from blocks of grey and white stone. The temple has an attached tower, where a priest calls believers to prayer in the early evening, typically five minutes before the rival temple of Sukh does the same thing. Chained to the tower is a captive BIRDMAN called Vrork, who desires their freedom and wants to escape back to their tribe in the uplands of High Arantis. Currently, light-grey-robed, low-level priests of Pangara are engaged in a turf war with the acolytes of Sukh, and every week or so, there seems to be an instance where monks in cloaks of different hues of grey are engaged in theatrical street warfare along one of Pellod's major thoroughfares.
Temple of Sukh (#5/28; #36/365)
The Temple of Sukh is a towering edifice of grey basalt slabs, spattered with bird guano from a colony of albatrosses that nest among its eaves. From here, a priest sings the 'Call to the Wind' to the faithful in the evening, five minutes after the Pangaran priesthood has done the same thing. The High Priestess Phemta (keen hearing, truthful), an exile from Vymorna, is amused by these issues with Pangara's temple, including the warring street-monks, and is currently playing wait and see with regards to both the Pangara antagonists, and also on how precarious Baron Cript's hold on power of Pellod is, or is not.
Spellcasters' Guild (#6/28; #37/365)
The Pellod Spellcaster's Guild is based in an old coral-brick building of Carsepolitan design, that was probably once a temple; inquiring as to which god the temple was originally dedicated to, is considered poor form amongst the spellcasters of the guild. All spellcasters residing within or near Pellod, are expected to be members of this guild, as are wizards and sorcerers who frequently visit the city-state. Membership fees include access to the Guild's extensive library, including many codices and grimoires that predate the War of the Wizards, and also laboratories and summoning chambers. Services offered by the Guild include the identification of magical adjuncts, the selling of minor and sundry enchanted baubles, including potions and scrolls, and the lifting of curses and especially nasty diseases and poisonings. The leader of the Guild is Grim Klarag, Baron Cript's court-wizard, but the daily second-in-command is Aldrag the Potent (long-haired, youthful), who once tried to be a dungeon-warlock deep within the Found Tombs of Arvakaten, until a close-call with a bunch of bloodthirsty adventurers convinced them to return to Pellod, rejoin the Guild, and commence an honest life as a city-based spell-for-hire.
Merchants' Guild (#7/28; #38/365)
Membership of the Pellod Merchants' Guild is mandatory for all local traders, whether they be shipping produce in and out of the city aboard either sailing galleons, or camel- and mule-trains traversing the dusty trails between Shazaar and Sapphire City. The Master of the Guild is Kalpen Silverfingers (broad, rude), who is probably the richest man in Pellod, and who, allegedly, has been rumoured to use nefarious contacts in the outlaw settlement of Dust Town to hobble and harrass the caravans of rival merchants. The Guild building is a limestone edifice in a faux neo-Carsepolitan style, with lots of wood paneling and brass ornamentation, necessitating a live-in crew of cleaners to maintain the upkeep. Two extremely bored Hill Barbarians (Tunros and Kemgar), with battle-axes and jaguar-skin loincloths, guard the entrance door; the money is good but both would rather be adventuring elsewhere. Inside the building, as well as a kitchen and meeting halls, most of the major traders of Pellod have a small office for appearance's sake, even if, by and large, they generally conduct business 'on the road'.
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