Hex Crawl 23 #227: Dry Hills of Dhuga, With Thoughts on Ecology

Six hexes northwest, four north of Alakran.

 

This higher ridge of hills parallels the greener ridge described previously, but has not been jealously guarded by the Black Gazelles, so is more despoiled from centuries of high-intensity goat grazing. Sparse acacia bushes and clumps of horsetail grass make poor diet for a herd of goats, let alone sheep.

It might well be asked what all this background on the ecology of the Dhuga has to do with players and their experience. They see terrain, they use terrain; they have no goats to bring to market (usually); what's the point?

An ecology background's purpose is to give plausible, if not perfectly worked out, constraint, development, and depth to an adventure. Consider the sentence "The troll lives on fish from the stream in room 5." Never mind that an underground blind-fish ecosystem can't really supply the troll with enough biomass to live. The fig leaf of plausibility at one stroke gives the troll a motivation (to go to room 5, to defend it), becomes a suggestion for dealing with the troll (give him fish, or more likely, something to eat other than goddamn fish), and adds color, texture, and foreshadowing to the adventure (if the troll is defeated in his lair, a pile of fish bones suggests the nearby stream).

But all of this needs to be visible and knowable to the PCs.  The green vs. dry hills contrast, in other words, needs an adventure for the unearthing of the explanation to be of use. Perhaps ...

There's a goatherd, Kinnik, a man getting on in years with hollow cheeks and a perpetually droopy set to his mouth, who is encountered on a "lair" roll in this hex (1 in 20 chance). His goats eat poorly here on the steep hillsides, and he resents the Black Gazelle parkland to his southwest. Implausibly, he offers the party the 200 gp he has saved away in a jar if they will help him guard his herd as he goes to graze them in the rich meadow of the Green Hills described previously. The full explanation for the ecological situation, he holds back on, finally only saying that "ruffian bailiffs" from the city hold the meadow for "landed interests," and assuring the party that these can be easily chased off by people of such skill at arms and witchcraft as they.

In truth, this sets up a confrontation with a hunting party from the Black Gazelles, possibly (1/3 chance) containing the Radiant Prince himself. If they're not careful, the party will find themselves on the wrong side of the law of Eryptos. Kinnik, meanwhile, is quick to flee the scene with or without his goats, and thereafter flees the hills, for he is an agent sent by enemies of the Prince to suborn trouble. If the gazelles are beaten in combat, this will become knowledge in Eryptos, and if they abuse the party, this too will become knowledge, both to the Prince's detriment.

Hex Crawl 23 #218: Maraku

Five hexes southwest, four northwest of Alakran.

The village of Maraku is large (400 people) and prosperous, surrounded by grain fields and orchards. The sexes have come to an arrangement there, by which any woman who can claim three or more grandchildren joins a ruling council. This governing body shuns physical coercion, but is empowered to administer a highly effective punishment in which the forehead is marked with an unwashable dye and the stigmatized individual must dwell in the wilderness for a week and forage for their own food. 

For their part, men who have three or more grandchildren  are initiated into the secret of brewing karaanu, a liquor made of calabash pulp and flavored with grains of Selim. The men drink karaanu in drab, designated tents, and shame each other about getting drunk, so that there is much left over for export.

An adventure in this village begins when, on its outskirts, you encounter a dye-marked man and woman bickering over an edible cactus. The man, Shu-Turul, has been censured for drunkenness outside the designated tent. The woman, Humusi, grew violent in a Council meeting. She will explain the worry convulsing the town. The Council has been made an offer to enter into an exclusive contract supplying the Wahatti military, breaking off their trade with Targatana to the south. This will change their diplomatic relations forever and the Council has been debating the issue for months intractably and, as Humusi laments, often violently.

Shu-Turul favors the military contract, while Humusi, because she is married to a Targatan man, is against. In town, the Wahatti side is represented by the daily visits of the dashing axe-beak cavalry officer Kadashman "The Sweet-Maned Lion," and opposingly by the basket-hatted, mysterious woman sent from the secret conspiracy, "The Obscure Stair," whose goal is Targatan independence from Wahattu. Both are willing to offer gold in the three-digit range to help get their way.

On the Council of thirty-one, three pro- and five anti-contract votes will not be changed no matter what; six pro- and four anti-contract can be changed only by threats; three pro and four anti-can be changed by persuasion or additional facts, as can the five true waverers. The true difficulty lies in bringing matters to a vote, as the motion to vote must carry by a majority; therefore, at least some of the ultimately losing faction must be lured into thinking they can win.