Research & Investigations (1/2)

Kantor, Hanse, and Mormaers -- Masterminds?

Kantor-associate Durham has heard rumors that somewhere in the hierarchy of the Hanse merchant-companies that operate the Kantor Kabljauhof are those who are able to read minds or detect thoughts. Curious as to the veracity of such reports, but not ready to tip his hand by simply asking, he therefore went about gathering circumstantial evidence that could point to the real possibility of such powers.

Gathering information about recent expeditions into the Tel didn't suggest anything one way or the other; parties setting out from the Kantor in recent weeks seem in fact to often return with less treasure than those that have set out from the tavern of Cothon-Under-Star.

But in following rumors about these expeditions through the taverns, Durham did consistently hear from those drinking within--and especially from sailors, seamen, and merchants' servants--that it is widely known that the ships of the Hanse have a remarkable ability to respond quickly to changes in local marketplaces. Almost as if the fleet itself is able to react en masse, even though spread across the entirety of Dirac's Sea, to suddenly arrive with holds of dna-grain as a city is nearly threatened with famine, for instance, or to come and buy up large quantities of goods or raw materials just when they seem to glut the market to be sold for mere copper and brass.

Veteran merchant-captains should, of course, know the seasons, and when best to buy garum in volume, or when the dna harvests are ready; but many an appearance by the Hanse's galleys has an uncanny timing to it, as of coming to port just at the right time--is it coincidence?

All of this is circumstantial of course, but all throughout the taverns a person could listen to any merchant-captain expound about the point-eared Mormaers--the lords of the North--and how they're working their weird magic, reading minds, directing their ships by thought alone, perhaps even manipulating events and people so that they always buy high from the Hanse, then turn around and sell low--though not even the greatest of sorcerers are said to be able to extend their influence across such great distances!

Durham also hears of an intriguing personage likely with some more direct knowledge, but who also holds herself aloof from the Kantor--the Mormaera Yrasi, who maintains an estate of her own in Cothon, away from the Kantor Kabljauhof. Rumors about--is she an exiled princess? A disaffected noblewoman? Another pair of eyes for the Hanse, when she attends feasts and symposia in the upper city of Gadeed? The only certain thing is that though aloof from the Hanse, she retains the traditional title of Mormaera ...

Lady Khadra Qamari -- A Patroness

In seeking a buyer for certain gems she happened to come by, Ravna of Cothon-Under-Star ultimately received an invitation to an audience before a certain Lady Khadra; when the servants came to guide Ravna to the Lady's abode, they came clad in livery of green, silver, and black, and hid their faces behind veils of green silk. Up from the harbor they led her, through myriad streets and into the upper city of Cothon, almost to the Processional Gate to the road between the Long Walls.

There, one of the old Klackon towers that had formed the old wall stands now inside the city, and into that spire of mixed human and Klackon architecture the servants led Ravna. Inside were a series of halls, subtly alien, yet hung with lavish tapestries and adorned with various other ornaments. Not least, glimpsed briefly down a side passage, what seemed to be a private altar set before a strange many-armed and many-faced idol ...

But in a well-appointed audience hall, Ravna was seated on comfortable cushions on the floor, given the option of tea, coffee, wine, or hookah, and allowed to marvel at various curiosities that adorned the walls of the room--wtsai swords, strange bird-faced masks, the shell of a great sea creature, a peculiar black spherical helm that seemed to have no visor ... perusing these oddities, Ravna was almost surprised by the sudden appearance of the Lady Khadra herself, radiantly beautiful, with nightblack hair and flashing eyes of green--quite unusual!

She allowed Ravna to marvel some at her collection, offering explanations here or there of certain curiosities of especial interest. When it finally came to talk business, she looked the gems over carefully, and ultimately offered Ravna 1300 gold for the set of seven. "They'll look marvelous set into a carcanet, don't you think?" she asked, and held several up at her throat to demonstrate how they might enhance her beauty. "And do come back if you find more such beauties--or, better yet, curiosities like these," she says, sweeping her arm to indicate the ornaments along the walls.

Ravna now has Lady Khadra as a patroness, and will no longer need to "find a buyer" in order to buy these certain items, as the Lady Khadra will buy them herself:

• gems or jewelry of especial value or conspicuousness
• strange artefacts recovered from the Tel, even if they have no obvious use or function
• but especially keen on anything that might be related to the Fortress Moon

Ravna is also now at level 1, "purveyor" on a custom "relationship clock" with the Lady Khadra that she would be able to advance by cultivating a relationship with her; higher levels of friendship/intimacy may require special extra steps to achieve, but would come with correspondingly more interesting favors, etc. that could be returned.

The Spire-Klackons

Given his Surivor-companions' expeditions into the Great Spire of the Klackons on the north slope of the Tel al Safina, Torkol finds himself intrigued: just who are these Klackons who dwell apart? A tribe of their people live within Cothon-Gadeed, having helped to build up its fortifications, and now helping to patrol them--and so why do these Spire-Klackons remain aloof?

To this end, Torkol asks a number of questions of Tki'it, a Klackon drone who works as half of the barkeeping team Under-Star; and also manages to find a text in the library, Ximenes' The Constitution of the Xolda, which includes a primer on the history of both the Xolda and Attine Klackons.

In short, this is what he gleans:

After Tsurr al Qadeem was already ruin, the countryside laid waste by roving Kzinti, and the citadel of Gadeed had yet to be built up and surrounded by the Mother of Cities, a column of Klackons marched down out of the north-east and encamped on the plain before the ruined city.

The men of Gadeed despaired, remembering the Immortal Columns of the Duulil, which only Dalan II.'s great armies were able to turn; but these new Klackons declared themselves to the Shaikh of the Citadel as the Xolda, and they too had been ravaged by war in their homeland. Now they were come in hope to forge an alliance, to unite man and mantis in a new Accord, and together to be strong as a skein of many strands, rather than weak like a single thread.

With this alliance, the foundations of Cothon-Gadeed were laid, literally and figuratively--the Klackons helped build the great walls that ultimately encircled both city and harbor, and linked them together via the Long Walls when the Kzinti came to ravage the country again.

But lo, there are factions even among the eusocial and communistic Klackons--the Xolda had gathered into themselves remnant tribes of local others, who called themselves Attine, and the six "houses" or clades of the Attines balked at the demands of the Xolda that all accede the primacy of their own Queen; for the Attines had always maintained a loose confederacy of Princesses, each head of her own house within the tribe.

These Attines thus ultimately rebelled, leaving the city together en masse, and they settled themselves on the headlands north of the Dual-Cities in various spires; but ultimately, they were forced by Kzinti predation to regroup and built the Great Spire as their own defence, joining together in their own Accord.

Of the six "houses" the so-called Sixth House, or Kza'ith Ir were the most intellectually curious and independent-minded of the Attines (and more so than the Xolda as well). Their dores plumbed the depths of philosophy, turning questions over and again; their alchemists and smiths sought deeply into the secrets of metallurgy and selective breeding; and the greatest artistic accomplishments of all local Klackons are undoubtedly almost all born of their fertile minds.

The Kza'ith Ir are said to have:

1. ... entered into some kind of agreement concerning the secrets of metallurgy with the Barcidae, the Bulrathi family who are the traditional keepers of the Migdol of the Dyers and Fish Fermenters
2. ... maintained close relations with some of the noble Houses of Gadeed, supplying them fine silks and matchless swords; one such is Bayt al Rasheed
3. ... delved into the Tel al Safina themselves or paid mercenaries to do so, seeking ancient wonders and secrets contained therein

(this topic remains open, especially given its open-ended nature)