At the Ringing Anvil: Chromium, the King's Steel

[written up by Joel, player of Durham of the Ringing Anvil, expanding the scope of the setting--thanks, Joel!]

As the work on Fa Mei's magical khopesh sword is finished (project noted in the middle section here), it seems appropriate for the scribes to make an entry about this metal’s history, properties and where it could be found.

Chromium's first recorded appearance was roughly 250 lunar years ago, In a small city of the Vermilion Mountains, ruled then by Idris, first of his name. Located many leagues west of Cothon and Gadeed. A vein of the ore was found and smelted, producing orange colored ingots. After some experimentation by the King’s smiths it was discovered when forged with steel the metal itself took on a golden sheen and color.

King Idris ordered a sword made for himself and for his guard as protection of the mine fell to the king and his men. It is recorded that the warrior king’s weapon started to take on magical properties, shining light in dark caverns and warding away evil spirits. The popularity of chromium grew due to its ability to take on magical enchantment and the alloy became a status symbol within noble and wealthy circles. Decades passed and it was not uncommon for those of great wealth or social status to have some item forged with chromium, mostly weapons or armor, though not always the case. Many of these items were passed down through family lines, while others were lost in battles with Sro, demons, or in the wars of man. Chromium started to lose its glory after a few generations; rumors swirled that chromium magical items would lose the power they had by the time the grandchildren of the original owner inherited them; others simply state it was no longer the status symbol it once was.

The small city eventually became the great city Idris, one of the ten in the Ten Cities League. Those close to the royal family swear that there is a secret chamber where the sword of Idris the first is kept and that the sword itself speaks providing the wisdom and counsel of the former King. Such rumors aside, it is no secret that the city Idris has some of the best smiths in the known world and developed most of the techniques used for making chromium.

Chromium is almost exclusively forged with steel to give it maximum durability. Often the two metals will be layered on top of one another creating a pattern (damascus), which can be further manipulated to provide more unique patterns. After being forged this new alloy gains some new properties. First and foremost it makes the metal easily enchantable; it also allows the steel to be worked much more easily, removing problems such as shrinkage and porosity during the forging process. Pure chromium is a rare thing to see as it is brittle and likely to break.

Where can chromium be obtained? Idris of course is one such place, it is also said the far northern lands is another. There is unconfirmed rumor that the Fremen have access to chromium as well but most would rather believe that those barbarian tribes traded for it. The metal is more common than the fabled zortrium of legend so it would not surprise anyone if a merchant vessel had some to sell. An adventurer who is brave enough could very well come across some in the lair of a Sro or the tomb of a king.

 

Session #106: Masters of the Zihuitlani Games

The new solar year began at about the beginning of this lunar year. At about the same time, Gan ad-Din introduced Cothon-Gadeed to the new song and dance performing troupe, the Chroniclers. After playing  their way through the taverns of Cothon, Gan had hopes to tour Ittiyqa in the same way, and perhaps Baldashmun as well, and then have the Chroniclers work their way back to the Dual Cities overland.

To this end, he chartered Najm's ship, Saint Iskameen for transport to Ittiyqa. But there was more to Gan's plans. He also harbored hopes of enrolling in the Games there--the Zihuitlani Games, which are the major Games of that city, in the way that the Tripartite Games are the major Games for Cothon-Gadeed. Others were interested, either to participate with  Gan, or to watch and support him from the stands: Bartholomew Pettibone, of course, accompanied by his friend Hanaïs; Sesel and his wife Zaida al Rashid, as well as their captain of the guard Rand al Marashi to act as Gan's squire; and Fa Min and her own squire Demitrytus, who was interested in debuting in the Arena herself to introduce her new fighting school; and Heijo and Raoden also came.

In Ittiyqa, the company rented out an entire small inn for themselves and proceeded to present themselves to the quastors (gamesmasters) for permission to present a team of fighters for the Games. For the paltry sum of 5000 dinars, Gan ad-Din, Rand al Marashi, Fa Min, and Demitrytus were duly entered into the rolls of fighters and scheduled to take part in the Games as gladiators.

The Fighters:

• Gan ad-Din
• Rand al Marashi
• Fa Min
• Demitrytus

These fighters engaged in several fights, broken up in different kinds of duels. Fa Min with Demitrytus as squire were matched against Oleg and Grimr; Gan ad-Din and Rand battled Black Pietr and his squire Amaya; and then, after their success in both battles, the entire group was matched against another team in a an objective-based battle where they were tasked with taking a torch from a pit with a feshenga serpent to use to light their own bonfire, while defending or attacking against the other team.

Given that Fa Min is an elementalist--some kind of strange magic-user from a far away land--she was matched against the magic-user Oleg. While Demitrytus fenced with the horn-helmed barbarian Grimr, Fa Min sank Oleg into the earth to his waist and pinned him to the ground, and Oleg ultimately submitted--and the crowd acclaimed mercy.

Meanwhile, Gan ad-Din made an ostentatious entrance into the arena through magic and fire in his match against Pietr. He gave a great speech introducing himself as the Bearer of All Things, Right Hand of the Istrid, Princess of Flames, Renyu-friend and bathed in the fires of ru'un, and many other pretentious things. After this glorious speech, Black Pietr answered simply:

"I'll kill you just the same."

Well, Black Pietr's confidence was misplaced. He never even landed a blow on Gan. Meanwhile, Gan landed stroke after stroke against Pietr and finally laid him low. Meanwhile, Rand battled Amaya, fencing spear against sword; but when Pietr was laid out in the dirt and Gan turned to assist his squire and called for Amaya to yield, she did so, laying down her own arms, and she went forth from the gate of death, defeated but not slain.

The last match was fought against a team of three humans and a pair of semi-canine gadhars under the control of the Beastmaster, one of those opponents. There was a pit opened in the middle of the Arena for this, and a wooden bridge laid across the top for passage back and forth. Gan advanced onto the bridge and fought the enemy captain, a female duelist with a fine sword; meanwhile, the rest of the other team rushed for the stairs to get the torch in the pit to be taken back to their own bonfire to light it. The gadhars engaged the feshenga, but the humans were ultimately bogged down in battling Fa Min and Demitrytus and would be cut down. And Gan, on the bridge, would also fell his opponent.

But in an heroic show that played to the mood of the crowd, Gan and his team allowed mercy for the other team and had them healed of any fatal wounds, and then escorted them as captives to Gan's own bonfire, where the torch lit the great fire to the riotous acclaim of the crowds.

Any accounts by the player-characters who took part in these matches, or who observed them from the stands, will earn that player-character 100 xp per level if posted to this chronicle.

The Lucre

• 5400 dinars (that's at 100 dn per hd, doubled for captains like Pietr, Oleg, and "the Kensai") from ransoms of the slain and the surrendered back to their families or societies (ransom money does not affect xp)
• the Torch of Zihuitle, a great torch of silver and gold; would be worth an extraordinary 10,000 dinars if sold, but as a trophy of victory it is incomparable
• Pietr's equipment:
• masterwork mail (+1 AC but non-magical) (4000 dinars)
• shield +2
• helm of protection (+1 AC/saving throws)
• masterwork sword (+1 to hit, non-magical) (1000 dinars)
• Amaya's equipment:
• fine plate armor (600 dinars)
• shield +1
• spear +1
• Boots of Foundation (+1 to hit in melee; if the wearer takes a round to steady their footwork without attacking, attack at +3 to hit next round)
• Oleg's equipment:
• warhammer +1
• masterwork linnothorax (+1 to AC, non-magical) (2000 dinars)
• fine shield (100 dinars)
• Grimr's equipment:
• mail +1
• fine shield (100 dinars)
• masterwork axe (+1 to hit, non-magical) (700 dinars)

The Learning

• 10,000 xp for winning the matches and earning the Torch of Zihuitle
• x amount of xp, where x is the number of dinars earned by sale of any of the equipment taken by the victors--at the moment 0 (the total value of non-magical equipment is 8500 dn; magical equipment doesn't normally have a price on the open market, but could also be sold)
• 391 xp from Pietr
• 171 xp from Amaya
• 271 xp from Oleg
• 113 xp from Grimr
• 389 xp from "the Kensai"
• 170 xp from "the Peltast"
• 216 xp from "the Beastmaster"
• 223 xp from two gadhars (100 + hp ea.)
• 278 xp from the feshenga (250 = hp)

The Cut

• 3492 xp each to Gan ad-Din, Rand al Marashi, and Fa Min (Rand was a squire to Gan, but was played independently by another player, earning him a full share)
• 1746 xp to Demitrytus
• 1080 dinars each to Gan ad-Din, Sesel, Fa Min, Heijo, and Najm, who all went in together as "investors" in the team, to split the proceeds evenly. Sesel and Fa Min are expected to share their split with Rand and Demitrytus, respectively, at mutually agreeable fractions
• the Torch of Zihuitle
• the equipment from the defeated
• victors have first refusal of any equipment they wish to keep for themselves
• investors may then be allowed to take equipment they are interested in
• dinars from sale of leftover items will be split five ways, like the split in dinars above, while the fighters will earn xp according to the selling price

 

The Zihuitlani Games

Almost a lunar year ago, Gan ad-Din and the Chroniclers went on a short tour outside the Dual Cities and up the western coast to Ittiyqa and the port of Baldashmun on the island across a short strait before returning to Cothon-Gadeed.

The time coincided with the solar new year and the Eid of the New Sun, when sacrifices are made in honor of the sun and with the intent to strengthen it and rejuvenate it for the next year.

This time is especially important in the city of Ittiyqa. Rather than simply making citywide sacrifices and donating excess meat to the poor and needy throughout the city, the Ittiyqans especially revere their founder hero Zihuitle, who was a fire bearer and so a kind of cognate with the sun and its need of rejuvenation.

To this end, the traditional sacrifices have been transformed into the Zihuitlani Games, which encompass both sacrifices and games--and specifically, the mix of the two that is gladiatorial combat (which is thus given a double meaning of funereal sacrifice and regenerative sacrifice with the spilling of the blood of the gladiators).

Gan ad-Din has been noted expressing interest in taking part in such games as a gladiator and champion himself--not only the Zihuitlani Games, but also the tripartite games of Cothon-Gadeed (Coreguyi, shortly upcoming, Tsamri-Hane, and Xoldasoteri).

For those who are aspiring, but less sure of themselves, the games include a tourney, the winner of which is granted "champion" status and then allowed to participate in the real gladiatorial challenges of the Games. To participate, one pays a 60 dinar fee to the administrators of the Games, and then participate in one-on-one duels until losing or becoming the ultimate champion, who wins 400 dinars and the title of Champion, with which one may enter the real to-the-death gladiatorial combats of the Arena.

The Champion portions of the Games are where the real glory is to be won, however, before the entire audience of the great Arena. First, there are a series of one-on-one or two-on-two (or rarely more) bouts between evenly matched fighters--these serve as the bulk of the real gladiatorial entertainment. Then, with the climax of the Games, there is some staged combat between teams, made elaborate with set pieces, monsters, and higher objectives than simply slaying one's opponents.

This year, the rumored staged combat is to represent a rekindling of the sun by one team needing to capture coals or brands away from another defending team and thus to light their own bonfire. The particular circumstances will only be revealed at the time of the Games, of course--the gamesmasters don't want to let the surprise be ruined!

Each combat in the Champion portions of the Games are affairs to the death (though individual gladiators, or those following the whim of the crowd, may strike false blows to yielding opponents, rather than actually killing them). Losers' bodies are ransomed back to their families, friends, or fighting-society, while their arms and armor are kept by the winner as his prize. It is known that the especially wealthy and magically connected may keep different panoplies ready in case of death or defeat, and in case of death may even be supernaturally called back to their bodies by those knowledgeable enough in the deep philosophies.

The Idea

As of writing this call to adventure in the Arena of Ittiyqa, these are my thoughts on the nature of the game:

• it is retroactive, i.e. it has already happened in the past within the fiction (IF a player-character dies an ultimate death--which the scribes find unlikely, given the magic the players have access to--that PC would have to cease being played, being dead, with the reasoning being that they didn't recover properly after the Games, but got a year of "extra" life before succumbing; and that's a pretty big IF, like I said, but risk is a part of the game)
• any player/character wishing to participate need only pay some fee chartering a ship (or transport by other means), and they'll be present; we're not going to worry about logistics at this hour
• depending on the number of players who wish to be directly involved, there will be a bout with Gan alone, or perhaps with a "squire" to aid him, and other players may take antagonistic roles, or play the crowd
• there will also be a larger staged bout as described including everyone who wishes to participate and (presumably, assuming he wins) Gan ad-Din as captain of one of the gladiatorial teams
• given their foreign status (coming from another city of the League), player-characters involved in fighting will have to pay a 5000 dinar fee to the gamemasters to get their team into the big staged combat; this is unique to circumstances now, and will almost certainly be different with subsequent Games (remember, winners get ransom money and losers' arms and armor)
• player-characters may of course attend the Games without participating other than to bet on the outcome--if anyone chooses to do this, I'll have to work up some odds, but for the moment I'd rather hear that there is interest before I do so