Playthings of Mad Gods

The City of Crosshead, Located in the Barony of Seasalt, Where The Water Meets The Land On The Edge of Known Civilization

Introduction

The population of Crosshead is counted by The Church at 4749 residents, although the population does not include the camp of Daremni at the walls, nor the poors on the outskirts. It is an important port city, rapidly growing due to the shrewd (some claim avid) investments of its new overlord, Baron Wojciech Wołodyjowski, as well as its location on the edge of Civilisation. The city is governed by a Council of Burghers, which chooses a mayor who represents it in contacts with Baron Wojciech. It was wealthy from building ships for The Empire, now selling them to The Commonwealth instead. Only 50 miles east from here, The Hinterlands start, where harpies are heard screaming at night, and Godless Chaos Warriors create their bands and raid the nearby lands during the day. The city is located with the river White on its eastern side, coming into the Black Sea, on which trade ships of the Commonwealth may often be seen.

This is written under the assumption that 1 GP = 100 SP = 1000 CP, and that an "unskilled" labourer's daily pay is ~10 CP.

Outskirts

As one approaches the city, with The Castle behind them, the first thing they see are the surrounding bunglers: peasants or poor labourers who go outside the city to sell their low quality and cheap products outside of guild control. Their products are usually 25% cheaper (without the guild fees) than the prices shared in Interesting Shops, but have a 25% chance of having some sort of a flaw due to worse quality tools. There are also bunglers who sell things that you will not get in respectable establishments, here are some examples:

Baba Jagna

An old woman from Wheldrake, comes to the outskirts of the city to sell various medicines and poisons gathered in the forests (she is here 2-in-6 days, never on a church days. In other times she is at Wheldrake). Pleasant and understanding, hates abusers. She usually sells:

She can also help with various other diseases, but that needs more time and money. She is a respected midwife and knows how to stay discreet, unless you incur her wrath.

Jan Urwinoga

A middle-aged smith, lives in a shack where he keeps his improvised forge. He was thrown out of the city after striking a man who insulted him in the knee with a hammer. Now he shoes horses (6 SP per full set) and sells concealable weapons (blackened daggers that you can hide inside your belt's buckle or iron knuckles that look like rings, 30 SP per piece) to various people passing through, trying to make ends meet so that he can afford to move his family to any village where he could buy a small plot of land to build a proper forge on. He can fix things competently, but resents anyone who doesn't take proper care of their own gear.

Konrad Skóra

A cobbler and leatherworker, he provides shitty shoes out of shitty leather (he even tans it himself, on a stinking rack right outside the city walls, causing the guards to sometimes throw refuse at him trying to get him to go away; he just picks it up and uses it as a tanning resource). He also makes other things out of leather, including hidden compartments for more illegal operations. 8 CP per pair of shoes so thin that they will last for 1d4 months, 2 SP for a mostly normal one (lasts for 1d4-1 years, with 0 meaning 6 months), 10 SP for a hidden compartment (he can hide one in anything, with the volume of ~20% of the object). He also sells belts (5 SP) and patches up leather armour (4 SP). None of his crafts are aesthetically pleasing, but they are functional.

The bunglers are protected from having their tools confiscated by the guilds by Klepa, who intimidates anyone who tries to stop them from working (and paying her fees), as well as by themselves. The last attempt by the guilds to force them out happened 5 months ago, and ended up with a few guild members having broken bones, as well as one of Klepa's enforcers losing most of his teeth; people do not usually die during these altercations, but there were cases of maiming.

There are multiple small shacks around the walls, usually built by labourers who can not afford anything within the walls; they are even worse off than poor peasants. There are also a few "career" criminals hiding among them, thugs or prostitutes who may be found in Klepa's House. There is desperation among the residents of the outskirts of the city, all of them know hunger. They tend to dislike the Daremni, whom they usually see as thieves and rapists, who should go away and stop "stealing their place". The City Guard do not visit this place, except for when they come to retrieve a stolen item. It is rare. The outskirts have ~100 residents, who are not counted as residents of the city by The Church, with around half of the Bunglers coming from the surrounding villages, being peasants who have a craft but no license.

Klepa's House

An "inn" made outside the walls, serving poor beer and even worse wódka. It is one of the few proper buildings outside the walls, built by the guild of carpenters to great distaste of other guilds. The food available is a thin soup made out of the same piece of meat for the last few years (it is taken out from the cauldron before serving) and cabbage, fortified with a few drops of spirits. It is not food you come here for; it's the company. Each evening spent gives you a chance (1-in-4) to gain a contact who is a (roll 1d6): 1. Prostitute, 2. Smuggler, 3. Thug, 4. Thief, 5. Beggar, 6. Bungler

The prices are 2 CP per a jug of beer that tastes like piss, 5 CP per a shot of (smuggled) vodka that tastes even worse, 2 CP per bowl of soup that keeps you alive, but nothing more, 5 CP per night in a room with a bunch of hay inside, stinking like piss and rotten semen.

The owner of the Inn is "Mama Klepa" (2 HD, 12 AC, carries a thin poisoned dagger (atropine that she gets from Baba Jagna), an older woman who used to be a prostitute, before organizing the local criminals into a gang. She is resilient and loyal, but distrustful of newcomers. She has a reputation for maiming the people who hurt anyone under her protection, and she has 7 Enforcers (2 HD, 12 AC, armed with daggers and batons) to control the outskirts. She takes 1/5 out of every transaction under her protection, including some of the bunglers (who still pay less than they would to the guild) as well as the 5 prostitutes working in her inn (charging 3 SP per night of pleasure, one of them (Maria) has early syphilis: Klepa is discreetly looking for someone who could cure her).

In the back of the Inn, there is a simple shrine to The Unseen One, where all manner of criminals come to leave their little prayers, hidden from The Church. Their sacrifices are meager, and so is the shrine, just a wooden carving of a hooded figure. It is enough for Him to sometimes be seen here, once in a while, but only while there is one other person in the room. The statue is empty inside, with (stolen) 1000 SP and 10 GP, as well as a necklace of missile repulsion (-4 to hit for all ranged attacks aimed at the wearer, Klepa is unaware of its magical properties) inside.

Daremni Camp

The remnants of a tribe from The Borderlands, forced to flee their lands after a force of orcs led by a sorcerer has invaded them. They were accepted by Baron Wojciech in his lands, but are forbidden from entering the city by the Council(who are afraid of the possible changes of power caused by the Daremni craftspeople), and stopped from getting land in the barony by both the Church (who will only put it down in their books if the Daremni accept the Church, which they will not do as they keep worshipping the Nature Gods) and their poverty. There are ~200 of them, mostly serving as farm labourers under various peasants, or as dung gatherers, selling it to tanners and farmers. They are even poorer than the poors who come from here, and no one knows what to do with them.

Mihail Aurică, the Beggar Prince

The son of the previous chieftan of Daremni, now made into their leader. A 13 year old boy, he tries to establish a new place to live in for his people. He was groomed for rule, even if he didn't expect to become the leader quite so soon. He is ravaged by nightmares (including waking ones) sent by the ghosts of the people whom he has lost in the flight, most of all the nightmare of his father. He is vigilant, and always shaking. He is also quick, constantly learning about his new home. He is called the Beggar Prince by the people of the surrounding lands, as when he visits the various leaders, he always asks for food for his people - he knows that sometimes, rarely he will recieve it, and his people will live for a few months more. He loves them. He covertly meets with Agata Tkacz, who wants to hire a few of their weavers (who are quite competent) in secret; only Klepa knows about it, as they use a room of her house for the meetings.

Adam/Ewa

A wiseperson, a shaman who changes their gender depending on the rites that they administer. They offer curses, divinations and talismans to the people of both the city and the villages, and those are always in high demand. They are the best expert on nature gods in the barony, using this knowledge to help their people survive. They like being paid in things useful for their people, so that they can distribute them without any middlemen.

Prices:

Jon Lichwiarz

A shifty Daremni man, who has carried a few golden treasures with him as he fled. Now he has sold them and lends the money to various desperates in the city, as well as from the countryside. He is hated by the church, but they can not legally touch him, as he is not in their jurisdiction. He is hated by many peasants, as their family members had to sell much to repay him. Because of that, he always hires 2 thugs to protect him, as there are many people who owe money to him, and would love to see him dead. He also stays in the center of the camp, making it hard to sneak into his tent. Finally, Adam has placed a crow-spirit in a medalion that he wears, which will tell them the name of the attackers. He has an uneasy relationship with Adam/Eva, as while they both like each other, but Eva sees his moneylending as immoral, while he is scared of the attention of the nature spirits.

Each loan has different rules, but generally the surer he can be that you'll pay him (the more things left to him as security and the wealthier you seem) the lesser the percentage and greater time to pay. Adventurers get the short end of the stick, as they are likely to die in their work, or just go away. If someone doesn't pay, he either hires thugs to get the money out, or if that's impossible he hires Adam/Eva to put a curse on that person (requiring the payment of the loan to get uncursed).

The general rates are:

It is possible to negotiate lower rates through proving that you will remain here and will be able to pay everything back.

Inside The Walls

The city is much more aesthetically pleasing. The walls themselves are old and weak, but they are kept in good shape by the Stonemasons Guild. Baron is currently negotiating a renovation of the city walls with the Council, but it is moving slow, as the costs would be high and he wants the Council to cover most of them. The streets are entangled and thin, with the buildings painted in various colours, their facades chiseled and painted to show the wealth of their builder.

Długie kamienice Gdańsk

(Please ignore the modern umbrellas on the bottom of the picture and focus on the buildings themselves)

This is especially true in the wealthier areas around The Town Hall, while the buildings around the docks, where the poorer residents of the city rent their housing are more dilapidated, their paint usually fading and their facades slowly eroding.

It is hard to find a way without a local guide; outside of finding the main street, the church, the docks and the halls, a person who hadn't spent a month in the city has a 1-in-6 chance each 30 minutes spent searching to find something/someone.

The City Hall

A grand brick building, in the eternal process of rebuilding. It contains the place where The Council meets, as well as The Foot, The Inch, The Yard and The Pound on which the measurements are based in Crosshead. Anyone can calibrate their measuring tools based on them, after paying a "small" fee of 5 CP. There is also the Mayor's office, as well as the City Guard's headquarters.

Mayor's Office

Decorated with wall-rugs from Far Away, it is here that Mayor Adam Iskrzycki sits. He serves as the official leader of The Council, as well as the person who represents the city in negotiations with third parties like The Church, the various villages around it, and first and foremost, Baron Wojciech. He has a set of maps of the surrounding lands (including one where sightings of unusual creatures and Gods are marked) in his office, as well as a hidden line that, when pulled, calls in the guards (located under his desk). Mayor Adam Iskrzycki is a shrewd politician, as well as a slier merchant. Using his powers he has gathered a great wealth, but it is not held in treasuries, but in several ships trading all around the Black Sea. Currently, he likes his position and wants to keep it, so that his sons may grow even richer (he has 5, each in a different city, his oldest staying here being groomed for his successor). He has grown complacent, convinced that in a few generation his family will "own" most of the cities around the Black Sea.

As the Mayor, he has negotiated many deals with foreign cities, often benefiting himself just as much (if not more) than the city itself. When anyone in the city is asked about that (if they are not his enemies) they just reply "He may be a corrupt bastard, but he is our corrupt bastard".

Stats: 1 HD, 10 AC, unarmed.

The Council

The representants of the six most powerful guilds gather in a small room; it is coloured black and white, furnished with sofas and paintings of previous persons of importance that sat there before them. In there, they discuss the various local laws that need to be passed: usually it is just the various taxes and expenses that the guilds argue about, each trying to saddle the others with more than itself. The Mayor serves as a tiebreaker, as well as the person who organises the meetings themselves. The Councilmembers are chosen by the leader of the guild they represent, with choosing yourself being seen as bad form (although it has happened in the past). They currently are:

The Council of Burghers meets every friday, the day before the market day.

City Guard's Headquarters

Led by Felicjan Krok (3 HD, 14 AC, armed with a ridiculously large arquebus (1d12, save when hit or firing or drop prone, reloading takes 5 rounds) and a sabre (1d8/1d10)), a grizzled veteran of various wars who served under Wojciech Wołodyjowski, now hired by the city to lead its guards. His body is covered in scars, he wakes up screaming, and only his desire to keep order in place keeps him alive. He accepts the presence of little crime (as a "safety valve"), but cracks down hard on larger and more organized operations; he secretly meets with Mama Klepa every Fortnight, to discuss each one's side of the wall, so that they do not need to harm each other's interests.

The city guard itself counts 30 officers (1 HD, 14 AC, armed with a baton and a shortsword (in peace) or a spear and an arquebus during crises(these weapons are kept in the small armory, as Felicjan forbids their use on civilian population to avoid escalation; in case of war there are enough spears and crossbows to outfit up to 300 militiamen)). Some of the more interesting officers are: Maciej (who used to be a poor peasant from Tenby before being hired for his strength; dimwitted, 2.3 m tall, 2 HD and a good grappler), Wacław Cwaniak (a liutenant who has made police corruption into an art, well-skilled at avoiding his duties and stealing things when no one is looking, Felicjan keeps him for his streetwise, as well as "because it is better for him to sit inside and shit on the outside, than if he were to sit outside and shit on the inside"), Joanna (a female guard, a liutenant, she is strong and secretly blessed/cursed by her Deep One's Blood, as she comes from Kald)

The Magistrate

It the city is small, as there is not a lot of jobs for the local judge or his 3 deputies. Especially since anything outside the city walls is not under his jurisdiction anyway. Tobiasz Twardy currently has the role of a judge, which is mostly just resolving disputes between contractors and merchants, or holding their various deals so that no one can cheat the other. He gets quite excited once he gets an actual mystery, as he is usually bored out of his mind.

He secretly organises a dice game every friday evening, when he meets up with Maciej Szkutnik and Arkadiusz Wędrownik to drink some alcohol, discuss politics, and gamble for small sums (just to stay in the game).

Saint Bonawentura's Cathedral

Located right next to the City Hall, it is the religious center of Seasalt. It is a building out of bricks, the tallest in the city. The clocktower plays its tune each hour, the Old Marta bell played by the Mariusz Garbus, an old man who also carefully maintains it. From the outside it looks as if it tries to touch heaven. The inside is covered in carvings and reliefs depicting scenes from scripture. On the altar a great golden monstrance sits (it is actually just gilded, it would be too heavy if made out of only gold). Behind the sacral parts are the practical: dormitories for the priests and the apprentices and barracks for the servants, archives (for the city parish as well as for the village churches, which move their papers here every year) and a library (holding over 500 books on various matters, may be used for research for a day in return for an offering of 3 SP).

15 ordained priests of Authority serve here, as well as 20 apprentices and 30 lay-members who serve them (many disabled in some way, thus given care by the church, in return caring for the priests. It's just one of the many good ideas of Vicar Aleksander Konieczny).

The head of the parish is Vicar Aleksander Konieczny, a stern and efficient man who is trying to root out the local old faith that he sees as stopping the people from entering a new age. He is not aware of the full extent of just how full of various gods his parish is, but he is starting to make connections and it keeps him up at night. He is convinced that only through the worship of Authority one can be truly good for others, and that everything else leads to Chaos. He wants to make his Vicary (the Barony of Seasalt) into a diocese and become its bishop one day, and sees all the various gods of Seasalt as a barrier to achieving his goal.

Prices:

Guild Halls

They sit right next to the City Hall, the buildings where craftspeople hone their skills while making the highest quality products they can manage. It is here that Masters teach Journeymen and the Journeymen teach the apprentices. The Guilds are mostly old institutions, holding both money and connections, as well as the power of inertia on their side. A Guild is something like a mix between a company, a labour union, and a protection racket. Around each guild's hall a set of workshops owned by its masters and operated by its journeymen and apprentices works, with the guilds generally managing various commisions and sending the buyers to workers who are (at the moment) free.

The guilds active in Crosshead are:

Shipbuilder's Guild

Placed in a building that is closer to the docks than the other guild's headquarters, it is a brick building that is covered with various wood decorations that resemble parts of boats. This guild has control over the making of ships, although it pays a fee for the docks to the city itself. It has 100 members, including 20 masters. They get the wood needed for their ships from the rafters who flow it down the river, and the metal parts are made by the smiths. They also buy the sails from the Weaver's guild. Then, they assemble their miracles. Ships of all sizes are put out, from the fishing boats that pull nets across the depths, all the way to great Ships Of The Line.

While they earn a lot of money from their ship's sale (orders are usually booked for up to 6 months into the future), the costs of the operation are enormous. Thus, the guild has to constantly balance its expanses in ways that do not hurt the efficiency of the ship. The interior of the hall is austere, non-master's pay fluctuates depending on how much was the last order worth (usually it's bad, but the rare bonuses are really big) and their treasurer sometimes gets a bit creative.

The guild is led by Maciej Szkutnik, who is arrogant but reasonable. He is middle-aged, with his wife (Agnieszka Szkutnik) serving as the guild's treasurer. He wants the guild to gain control of the dry docks, so that it doesn't have to pay to the city for them anymore, and lobbies for that in the Council. He believes that Haku is trying to sell him low-quality nails for higher prices than before; in actuality it's just that the prices are slowly rising for unrelated reasons and one of the smiths is adulterating the ore to steal a bit of iron for himself.

Prices: 10 GP for a tiny civilian ship (up to 8 people), 100 GP for a small civilian ship (can carry enough to make a small profit trading), 1000 GP for a large civilian ship (can carry things across the western seas). 500 GP for a small miliatry ship (enough to harrass traders), 2500 for a large miliatry ship (in a group they can take ports). 10000 GP if you want something absolutely ridiculous.

Getting the military ones will probably need a good explaination, which may include some extra money.

The tiny ships take 5 days to make, while small ones take a month, and large ones take 2 months. Something absolutely ridiculous may well block a drydock for even longer. Fixing a ship to original conditions takes 1/10th of its original price, assuming it can enter the dock on its own, otherwise it costs 1/5th of its original price.

Merchant's Guild

The Merchant's Guild tries to combine the interests of the great Magnates together with the littlest of grocers; providing them with legal help, loans, warehouse space, and opportunities. Obviously, it is not only a corrupt organization, but also a corrupting one. The Guild is a member of a larger Trader League, which is an organisation that unites the merchants from around the Black Sea.

The merchants do not have masters nor journeymen, dividing themselves only by how rich they are and what they trade in. There are 15 wealthy magnates based in the city, as well as 100 other members who are trying to make themselves just as wealthy. They elect a leader from among themselves, with the number of votes dependant on how much a member has paid into the shared coffers. You can vote for yourself.

The guild hall of the Merchant's guild is the largest in the city, its facade built out of imported pink marble, with reliefs showing scenes of commerce covering its surface. There are always merchants entering and leaving, talking about their various deals. The backside is built out of local limestones, kept much more practical, as it faces the docks. There are always porters entering and leaving, carrying the goods on their backs that pay the price of the constant expansion and trade.

The current leader of the guild is Hans Gesundheit, a young merchant from the West, resourceful and ruthless. He is a member of a wealthy family from Kaisserland, sent over here to make a name for himself with a large sum of money. He has invested it around here, and became a protégé of Adam Iskrzycki: while the Mayor uses him as a stand-in for the council and the Merchant Guild, so that he may keep its control, Hans plans to flip their relationship by manouvering Adam into having to borrow money from his family. He has already sent encrypted letters along the shipping lines, building a conspiracy across various cities using his family's influence. Adam suspects something, but he suspects everyone. He secretly lusts overone of Mama Klepa's prostitutes, Ania. He regularly visits her in secret (wearing a black cloak and a white mask), paying for her love. He would pay good money to have her kidnapped; when he wanted to buy her from Klepa she treated it as an insult, but she lets him stay around due to the money he brings.

Prices: Anything may be moved anywhere if you pay the price. 1 SP per Equipment Slot per Country Away. Double for illegal things, as they need to be hidden (the guild denies it, but the small-time merchants will accept it nontheless). ~1 month of waiting per country.

Weaver's and Tailor's Guild

The only guild dominated by women, whose smaller fingers are seen as better for this job, the weaver's and tailor's guild is located in a building that has a small upper part, but extensive tunnels and underground halls. In there, all kinds of high-quality cloth are being made from the imported materials: wool, flax, even gold or asbestos.

The guild has 25 mistresses and 75 journeywomen, who organize by virtue of the beauty of the dresses they made for themselves, as decided by their ancient rules of aesthetics. There are no men among the members of this guild, each journeywoman who is a man being ritually made into a woman in a ceremony that used to be a ritual gelding, before the church intervened and made it into a purely ceremonial change, under threat of death to anyone who would practice the old way.

In the tunnels below the guild, Arna lives, a hidden spider Goddess. She teaches the mistresses her secrets, in return for their finest works. At night, she may sometimes be seen outside, weaving a fabric out of moonlight and dreams.

Prices:

Fabrics:

The cost of dyeing clothes depends on yardage, as well as the colour:

Clothes:

(The prices are for labour, you need to bring the fabric yourself)

You wait for your order 1 day per 20 SP spent (you can halve the time by spending 1.5 the price of your order)

Other goods and services:

Smith's Guild

There is black smoke billowing out of its chimneys everyday. The striking of metal on metal, the roaring of blast furnaces, the smell of industry. The smith's skins are black from soot, their eyes are red from the heat. Even so, they continue their sacred craft. The building is short, yet wide, with multiple chimneys to and escape routes in case of fires. It is built out of limestone, painted black by its use.

There are 30 masters and 70 journeymen working here, but there are also the smiths of various kinds in the villages, who also come over to the guild when their local tools are not enough, and to purchase their high-quality metals. Any talk of threats is hearsay! The commonfolk consider smiths somewhat magical, so against the will of the church they are often invited to bless newbuilt buildings by throwing ashes into the doors, to burn out the evil forces, or to remove evil eye curses from people by keeping them in the heat of a half-lit furnace (~200 degrees C) for a few seconds. Both of these superstitions have a 1-in-20 chance to work.

The guild combines blacksmiths, tinsmiths and goldsmiths, as each craft requires good furnaces and copious amounts of coal. That being said, the tinsmiths and goldsmiths tend to be more creative (due to the incredible properties of the fumes they inhale) while the blacksmiths are more practical (due to their armourer training, no doubt). This is why they lead the guild in most practical manners. The guild is managed, not ruled, by Haku, a traveller from the far away land where pepper grows, who has travelled through the world fleeing from a curse cast by a malignant star, settling down where it never shows up in the night sky. He has a strange gift with the numbers, able to count the number of grains of wheat by looking at the size of the bag and of a single grain, leading various experiments that gather observers in the square. The church is curious about him, wanting to write down his works and publish them: they do not know that in the depths of the guild he is working on a printing press. He also knows the language of insects, and could teach that to anyone; he doesn't see it as strange in any way.

Prices:

While daggers are common (you need a knife in daily life anyway, so why not make it good for self-defense), and spears are common among the peasantry (you need something to defend yourself from the boars), swords and armour usually require explainations (although some merchants have started to wear swords as symbols of their wealth).

For some goods (like utensils) different, more noble metals may be used. If so, multiply the price by 25 if silver is used, and by 500 if gold is used.

Mason's Guild

The hall is deliberately kept just a bit shorter than the church, so as not to insult their benefactors. Even so, it is more magnificent: the stoneworkers did not pull any punches, as their own headquarters are the best advertisement, in a harmonious mix of various architectural styles. It looks almost like a church, but is not close enough as to insult the other estates. Mason's work is always needed: the city walls need maintainance, the baron wants new roads and the castle to be refurbished, and various social climbers want to build tenatements in the city, or even in some of the larger towns. The costs are not high, outside of the required labour: and there are plenty of masons, 120 journeymen and 30 masters, with others being hired as contract labourers depending on how many are needed.

Mason's orders, ranks and methods are deliberately esoteric, their blueprints written and drawn in code so that no one else may understand them. If you ask the commonfolk, they will say that the masons are magicians, just sanctioned by The Church. They wouldn't be completely mistaken: while the mason's representative in the council is Przemysław Mularz, they are not actually ruled by a single person. In secret, they consult the way the stone cracks and their dreams to recieve their orders on what to do next; this is why their guild is so efficient, as it is guided completely by their own god.

If The Church were to find out, fighting would break out in the streets.

Prices:

Limestone: 5 SP/Ton Bricks: 10 SP/Ton Marble: 20 SP/Ton Day's Labour of a Mason: 5 SP Day's Labour of a Master Mason: 10 SP

Example buildings:

Double the amount of needed labour if building in a weird place (like underground). If you just want a stone foundation halve the amount of stone and divide the amount of work needed by 4.

Leatherworker's And Cobbler's Guild

Even though the tannery is far outside the city walls (thankfully, as the stench is unbearable), the leatherworkers carry the leather everyday to this place, as they show its making into shoes, belts, saddles, waterskins and other items used everyday. The building is half-open, the working shown to everyone as part of the advertising. The workers show-off their various methods of quickly piercing and sowing together the leather, as well as their waterproof natures.

There are 25 masters and 50 journeymen, who are mostly familiarly connected. It is the Szewc family that mostly controls the guild, and all of its leaders and representatives are usually recruited from among its members. Their current leader is "Old Man" Tomasz Szewc, a 90-year old (but still going strong!), shaking and slightly senile man. Even so, when his fingers touch the skin it's like a spirit enters his body and takes over. Most of the day-to-day management is done by his daughter, however - Joanna Szewc, who is mostly focused on keeping her position. She is a better manager than a shoemaker, and is terribly insecure about it. Due to it, she has picked up a nasty alcohol habit, drinking together with Felicjan Konarski. This is a friendship that they both remember only when inebriated, but would die for each other in this state.

Prices:

Double the price for high quality leather, which makes it so that the leather is almost waterproof and will not rot for at least 10 years.

Carpenter's and Cooper's Guild

From tables to eat from, all the way to barrels to keep the food in, everyone needs the services of a good woodworker from time to time. Especially now, as the ships carry goods up and down the rivers, the guild is having a good time. Their building is out of brick, but it is covered in wooden decorations, which gives it the nickname "Big Barrel".

There are 40 masters and 100 journeymen, with ~1/4 of them being coopers, the rest being other woodworkers. The coopers are the wealthiest from among the members, as they have constant demand for their product, while the others have to compete for orders: this leads to stratification in the guild. The woodworkers in turn are currently making a system where they assemble the goods together. They don't know it, but they have just invented a primitive assembly line.

The guild is governed by Witold Wysoki, a tall man and a grandson of Saint Joe Sawman. He is similiar to his grandfather (if the oldest masters are to be believed) in both his looks as well as his behaviour. He is trying to use the guild's money for good, feeding the poor of the surrounding area, which leads the coopers into rage. Some of them are planning to break away from the Carpenters and start their own guild. He knows about it, and plans to stop them with the use of both legal (stopping the formation of a new guild) and, if those were to fail, illegal (threats and hiring thugs) means.

Prices (goods):

You may double the price for a high quality item and double it for high quality wood.

Prices (buildings):

Any building larger than a peasant's cottage requires foundations that are not wood. Wooden buildings are built 2 times faster(and require 2 times less labour), but are less resistant to heat, fire, cold and water. You can mix and match parts of buildings out of stone and wood.

Barber's And Apothecary's Guild

After long years of fighting the Barbers and the Apothecaries have united, so as to end their rivalry at last. After all, both take care of people's health, and together they are enough to make a guild of their own. It is a building on the edge of the city (even if still inside the walls), smelling like alcohol and herbs and blood and rot.

There are 25 Barbers and 10 Apothecaries, as well as 10 more apprentices. The workers are eternally busy, with the constant string of people who need teeth pulled out, beards trimmed, hair cut and limbs cut off. It's hard work, and the Barbers are as maligned as they are loved. There are constant tales of stealing corpses to train apprentices on (not all are false), of using removed teeth and hair to cast curses (almost all are false) or of medicine made out of children's blood (all are false). Even so, the clients keep coming.

Their leader is Magister Olbrecht Łapiduch, a learned man who has studied medicine in the south-west, now having come here to lead his experiments, on the edge of Church's influence. He is convinced that a lack of balance in humours is not actually what causes disease, but that each disease has a reason of its own, based on the illegal autopsies that he has performed. He wants to unite the different parts of medicine into a united system, drugs as important as a barber's surgery. He is currently experimenting with hygiene, making other barber's annoyed as he orders them to wash their hands with spirits "due to its purifying properties". He would love to start the university together with Jan Mularz, but would (figuratively) stab his back to take the leadership once it is built.

Prices:

The effects of temporary treatments stay for an illness: if bloodletting or theriac made it better, it will work again in this way.

Each treatment has one chance of working for a given illness. If it doesn't you need to try something else.

Chandler's Guild

A small, and yet terribly important building. It is here that wax, tallow and cloth are made into candles, torches and lanterns, letting people see at night. The building itself is out of blackened stone, with everything kept paranoidly fireproof. The 10 masters wear asbestos aprons (each worth a fortune), as they inspect the products. They traditionally wear masks, that are passed on as they die, and new masters are accepted in their place. There are usually ~50 Journeymen trying to get chosen as masters, while spending day and night in wax, until their fingers are malformed and their tips are as hard as rock.

Chandler's guild has members of both sexes, and women are accepted as equals in it. Many members were born into it, as their parents were married members of the guild. Such children almost always become masters.

Every important decision is made by a vote among the masters, without a leader per se. That being said, they can mostly manage without the votes, instead discussing and making choices by compromise. The money is split between the masters, who in turn spread it to all the other workers.

Prices:

Miller's Guild

The city does not have a mill itself; this place is not for that. This guild works more like a cartel, where the millers from the 8 mills that exist in the barony organize to keep the prices stable, and their mills operational. The guild (most other guilds scoff at calling it that, as it is not accepted as a guild by the law; instead, the law treats it as a ship floating on the seas of commerce) is small, mostly a place to sign deals with anyone who wants to use their mills or buy their flour. The millers themselves will be described among the villages.

Butcher's Guild

The meatmongers, their hall in the central part of the city is just where the sales and administration is done. The place where most work is being done is located just outside the walls, hiring the poors of the city for the worst parts of the job. It stinks too much to sit inside the walls. The guild, in comparassion, is clean, almost immaculate. The butchers try to keep up some appearances, after all. The meats are cured, salted, spiced and dried to preserve them, the organs are labeled and neatly laid out for purchase. Everyone wants meat, and the supply is limited: thus, they do not need to worry much about the demand going down. The prices are high, and they stay high.

There are 20 masters and 20 journeymen in the guild, which is led by Cezary Rąbacz, a man numb to anything he does, led only by his habit. He is tired of his life, seeking for anything that could make him feel again; the church tried to help his melancholy with prayer, Baba Jagna with her potions, but neither worked. He will pay really good money to anyone who could treat his strange illness.

Prices:

Choice cuts/animals are twice as expensive.

The Docks

Stinking like the sea and fish, this is the area that borders the sea itself. It is dominated by warehouses and wooden cranes, used to lift heavier boxes as well as to build ships. There are 3 dry docks (used to build or repair ships, each dock usually building 1 ship per month) as well as 12 shipyards (where ships load/unload, or are maintained). Both are under the City's administration, the fees used for maintainance. There are 6 warehouses in the docks, each holding the following: (roll 1d10) 1. Salted fish and meats for export upriver, to the hungry social climbers of The Capital 2. Woolen clothes for export to the far north, 3. Kegs of Beer, for export west, 4. Ceramics made with local high-quality clay, prized by islanders, 5. Spices from East, beyond the Hinterlands, going both ways as this port is often used in their trade, 6. Dried, Salted and Cured Meats, sold to marching armies of divided Kaisermensch, 7. Steel Weapons and Armour, from the forges of The Capital, to empower different armies across the continent, made by their old and sure methods, 8. Tools of all kind and highest quality, from the foundries of the west, where they are said to make new breakthroughs everyday, 9. Amber, gathered from the shores and cut into various items. It is cheap on this shore, and worth its weight in gold when you go far away, 10. Nothing - this warehouse is kept empty, awaiting a delivery that is running late. Someone will have some serious explaining to do.

There is a 1-in-10 chance of contraband hidden under the contents. It is (roll 1d6): 1. Distilled spirits, untaxed, 2. Heretical literature, 3. Slaves, tied up and hidden, taken from the gutters of The Capital, 4. Hashish from the Far East, banned by the King for provoking violent insanity (our own wholesome oil preparations of Ganja are good for health, instead of their horrible depravities), 5. Alchemical fire, banned by the church after heretics have used it to attack The Father of The Church 2 years ago, 6. Untaxed goods of a different kind than the goods above them.

The warehouses are usually guarded by 2 hired thugs, who will also call for guards if any intruders are detected. They also each have dogs, trained to smell any unknown people and inform them about intruders, as well as in immobilizing them. The contents are also stamped with their owner's stamp, making any respectable trader refuse to deal in them (so as to avoid the wrath of the City Guard). There are few robbery attempts, thus the guards are usually complacent, relying almost completely upon their dogs. The warehouses are owned by various merchants, who rent them out at high prices.

Central Square

In the middle of the square, there is a statue of Authority. It used to depict another God, now struck from memory as He has replaced its face with nothing with the hands of the Stonemasons, into the blank face that is the only acceptable way to depict authority. It holds a key and a harp, symbols whose meaning was forgotten over two hundred years ago when the city has accepted The Church. Under His feet there is a wooden platform, on which important people stand when they want to say something to us little folk. In the corner there are the stocks, as well as a brass ass, on which petty criminals are sat as punishment, their naked buttocks parted by a piece of brass, their skin burned by the heated up metal during the summer, or frozen by the cold metal during the winter.

the brass ass of toruń

During each saturday, the market day happens: the peasants from all the surrounding villages and town come here to peddle their wares. I will update this page with interesting people who may be met on market days coming over from the villages and towns as the project proceeds. For now I will just state that you can buy most anything food-related, or made by minor craftsmen from the villages here. (this section will be replaced by the people once I describe the surrounding 20 villages, as well as the 3 larger towns, and the lord's castle and the local monastery which is the extent of the project)

Interesting Shops

Not all jobs and shops have guilds. Here are some examples of other places that may be interesting.

Braun's Bakery

While most households still bake their own bread, it is becoming more and more common in the cities to buy it from a dedicated baker. Braun's Bakery is such an establishment; a simple house made into an enterprise. It is popular with the bourgoise women, who may focus on other things thanks to not having to bake their own bread, as well as due to its quality. Grzegorz Braun himself is the owner of the bakery, running it together with his wife Grażyna and their 9 children. He is friendly but bombastic, and tends to get outraged at any percieved "injustice". He wants to establish a baker's guild in the future, but as of now there are not enough dedicated bakers in the city; this will change in about 10 years.

Prices:

Scrivner's Tower

Created by an ex-clergyman around 100 years ago, who after learning how to read and write decided that instead of taking on the vows, he will become a scribe instead. Now it is an important establishment, letting various people write letters (that are carried by the merchants along their routs), reading documents for them, and copying books for merchants. It is located in an old tower-house, now full of scribes who spend the whole day (and ocasionally night, but you have to pay extra for the candles). The 15 scribes make their own paper, as well as their own ink. They even have a press for making copperplate illustrations. They are wealthy, but can not create a guild due to the church's meddling.

Prices:

Matylda's Public House

Not of that kind, get your mind out of the gutter! Matylda Piwowar is a Brewess, the wife of Cezary Rąbacz. She is resourceful, if a bit nosy. She runs a brewery in their large house, as well as opens a part of it to business. In there, she sells their beer, imported wine, as well as offers proper housing for various wanderers who don't want to spend their time on the ground of peasant's homes. It is frequented by people from all walks of life, united by their love of man's best friend - alcohol.

Prices:

Gunmaker's Workshop

Robin Génin is not a magician. He is a gunsmith, who after having fled from Aquitaine (due to a gun made by him being used in the assasination of a royal) has entered the Commonwealth. Here, he has joined the smithing guild and is now accepted as a master. He has a workshop with 5 journeymen and 4 apprentices, having made both the guard's guns, as well as the two cannons on the city's walls. He mixes gunpowder (according to several hidden recipes), makes pistols and rifles, cannons for ships and armies, as well as all else gunpowder related. He is arrogant and has a tendency to blaspheme, saying that his cannons could kill even gods. He is not wrong, but it is terribly unwise to say.

Prices:

Arkadiusz's Imported Goods From Around The Wide Worlde

Arkadiusz Wędrownik is a wealthy merchant who imports foreign goods, from the colonies created behind the western sea, the near western warring powers or the southern kingdoms of ivory, all the way to the furthest east. Each of his ships is a risky venture, but together they add up to a steady profit. Arkadiusz himself is 30 year old, having inherited his father's (who died in suspicious circumstances) wealth, now planning to marry into nobility.

Prices:

There are also always various one-of-a-kind goods: totems, fetishes, artworks, books. Each is worth 5d6-3 GP, and has a 1-in-6 chance of being magical in some way.

Interesting People

Those whom I didn't bind to a specific location, a bunch of people with whom you may get into interactions with. Unless stated otherwise, assume that their stats are "1 HD, 10 AC, dagger" and that they have clothing and items appropriate to their vocation, with some money on them (the amount dependant on the profession, but usually no more than 1 GP even on the richest).

Clergy

Jan Wariat - a half-blind priest who spends most of his free time over an alembic, a dedicated alchemist whose research is funded by Vicar Aleksander, who is his dear friend. He is known as a madman, as every morning, just before sunrise, he runs around the cathedral "for his heart", about which he has read in an ancient book(back when his sight was better). He is trying to turn lead into gold, and while he hasn't made any progress on that, he has made recipes for:

He doesn't sell them, but could give them to friends if asked; he is really enthusiastic and can not shut up about his work (which may be a positive, if you like this kind of things).

Nikodem Złoty - church's treasurer, who makes up various small and jokey poems about buying indulgences. He is seen as corrupt and disliked by many members of the bourgoise as well as the nobility, as he is brazen about the nature of the whole ordeal. Even so, he remains in place as he brings the church a lot of the money that it requires to function.

Izajasz Wyzwoliciel - a young cleric, learning his trade after being moved from a small village parish. He is well-read and absolutely apalled at the state of the church, especially the selling of indulgences. Highly religious, sometimes hears the voice of Authority, as well as being harassed by dark forces. He wants to reform it, if given the chance; Vicar Aleksander likes him and wants him to continue his studies, as he sees him as a potential good successor. Izajasz highly dislikes Aleksander as he sees the Vicar as too focused on politics and not enough on the Authority. He is planning to translate the Holy Book from The Old Language, which could cause quite a ruckus.

Labourers

Iwan Skryty - a dockworker by day, at night Iwan is the leader of a smuggling ring. Together with several of his co-workers they buy illegal or stolen goods, hide them among certain shipments, then recieve money from none other than Ksawery Szczur! It would be quite a scandal if that became known.

Albert Nejman - a veteran of the previous wars, now retired as the foreman of a crew of labourers who take goods off of ships or place them on them. He just wants calm and piece, but if any war comes he will become a liutenant for his people once more. He is formally just a free peasant, but most nobility will treat him as not equal, but more than just a commoner.

Sara Snopek - a widow without children, she runs an orphanage funded by The Church. She wants to take care of anyone, but currently focuses on the orphans left over by the previous conquest. While most orphans still have families to whom they may go, some are left completely alone. Her orphanage is the only thing stopping the urchins from making street gangs and causing general chaos. She accepts donations.

Poors

Gerard Cieślak - he used to be a carpenter, until The Fire. His wooden house burned down two years, destroying all that he owned and killing his family. While he was trying to save his child, a burning plank fell on his arms that held it, breaking them. Now, while he knows carpentry well, he can not do it due to his mangled arms. He spends most of his time outside the church, being kept alive by his friends from the guild, as well as by the church itself. He doesn't know what to do now, a man completely out of options.

Ori Mirovic - a Daremni brewer, who is unable to practice his trade as he does not have enough equipment nor grain to make his alcohols. He has accepted Authority, however, which lets him enter the city. Thus, he carries a cart through the city, gathering all manners of trash and feces into it, then selling it off: for farmers as fertilizer, for tanners so that they can make their leathers, for travellers so that they can dry them out as kindling. It's barely enough. He is trying to save up the money needed to buy new equipment and some grain, so that he can start working normally.

Tomasz Rębacz - the undertaker and the executioner of Crosshead. He doesn't lack money, as he recieves a stipend from the council. Even so, he is seen as unclean and almost no one wants to associate with him; mothers scare their children with him, while priests see him as unclean. He is genuinely a sympathetic guy, giving his money out to various poor people, but is being slowly crushed by his job. He hates the fact that his children are being bullied by other children, due to their father's profession. He hates even more the fact that one of his sons will be just as despised as he is.

When someone is executed, or another corporal punishment is delivered, the executioner is ritually arrested (for his crimes and sins of hurting another person), before recieving an indulgence from the church, as well as being pardoned by the council (as he fulfills an important role).

The Konarski Family

A noble family that owns shares in multiple workshops, merchant's ventures and ships. They do not lend, mind you (that's illegal for members of The Church, as it leads to people living over their means), nor do they trade (that is for merchants, and any nobles who trade risk losing their nobility), nor do they work(the scandal would cost them their nobility all the same), they invest in businesses, chasing any possibility of earning more gold from having their own. They are seen as improper by other nobles, while seen as dangerous by merchants. Even so, they are quite powerful due to the amount of money they control (most of it not in their coffers, but working for them in the world).

They live in The Black House, a manor house built back in the times when this was just a little town. All the talk about the underground tunnels is surely hearsay, so is the talk about the magical powers hidden inside this old family, now adapting to the changing world. Surely.

It is a common legend that before The Church came here the progenitor of the Konarski family had defeated the trolls that ruled over these lands at night, tricking them to remain in the overworld as the sun rose, turning them into stone. Then, it is said that he took their god and struck its head with his warhammer seven times, which made copper spill out of it, planting its seeds in the ground, while killing the troll-god forever.

That legend is only a half-truth.

In the underground dungeon (I may make it one day, if so this will become a link) there is The Troll King: an ancient Troll deity, bound in seven chains made out of silver, covered in runes (the chains are worth 50 GP). It is weak, almost emaciated, kept in a cellar and forced to give its gifts, fed only the amount of worship needed for its gifts. It is a haggard troll, with a crown of iron stabbed into its head, constantly bleeding. It wants two things: its kind returning to the world to retake their rightful place, and the complete destruction of the Konarski family. It has plotted its revenge for the last 500 years.

Stats: 1 HD (if there are active trolls in the world again, it regains 1 HD per month, until it has 8. Then it breaks the chains.), 6 MD (but is kept at only 2 by the Konarskis, if there are trolls in the world it regains its MD as their prayers come to it), knows Create Food And Water, Transmutation Circle, Control Dreams, Fear, Fireproof, Darkness, AC as Leather, attacks with both claws in one round (as great-axes). Regenerates 2 HD each round, up to 64 HP. Always starts combat at 64 HP.

Leopold Konarski - the head of the family, a 48 year old man. He is eccentric, taking great joy in doing anything in a way that is unorthodox. He wants the best for his family, and believes that it is merchants who will control the world soon. He takes various psychoactive substances to "steal the secrets of the outerworlds". He is a magician, knowing various rituals, as well as always having Stoneskin ready, using the magical power stolen from The Dark God. (has 2 MD and knows Stoneskin and Blink). He is skilled with the money, using various mathematics that he came up with while super high - he is currently working on a book that describes them "Probability - The Treaty On The Use of Numbers To Describe The Likelihood Of Events Happening, And How To Use Them For Your Good".

Sandra Konarska - the second wife of Leopold Konarski, from a minor noble family Rzecki, which owns the village Wolford. She is 19 years old. She is currently pregnant with twins, and wants to remain safe. She is slowly growing paranoid due to constant nightmares of her children being devoured by monsters that live under the ground. She doesn't know about what is hidden in the dungeons, and learning it would send her spiraling into madness. The dreams are being sent by The Dark God.

Sir Zbigniew Konarski - the first-born son of Leopold, he is a skilled military commander (he fought against Baron Wołodyjowski before being captured and ransomed for a large sum; while he was held captive he started to like the Baron, and the Baron likes him). He believes in honour, but only among noblemen; for peasants he has traps and ambushes and poisoned arrows. He is a knight, and usually in conflict with his father (as he sees the father as "throwing their nobility away" with his investments). (3 HD, has plate armour, a warhorse and a lance, as well as a pair of cavalry pistols(1d10, 5 rounds to reload) covered in silver adornments). Finds the treatment of The Dark God wrong, but swore to never tell about it to anyone.

Cyprian Konarski - the second son of Leopold, a steward who does most of the day-to-day management of the estate. He is good with the money, and Leopold would prefer him to inherit the household. So would Cyprian (although he is not fond of fratricide); he is quite greedy, although it's not really the money that he wants but its acquisiton (a critical difference that stops him from stinginess). Secretly loves Alina, a Daremna woman, with whom he meets in secret. He is learning magic from his father, currently having 1 MD and knowing Instant Reading.

Albina Konarska - the daughter of Leopold, 18 year old and looking for a husband; if he is from a powerful family then she will go over to him, but otherwise her family would prefer that she will stay here and the husband will join them, conventions be damned. She sees things that no one else sees: visions of torture or rapture, out of which her family tries to divine the future. As she has these visions her body collapses in a paroxysm of convulsions, foaming at the mouth. She has a magical talent greater than her father, and if nurtured she could become an archmage (3 MD, knows Prismatic Spray, Commune With Outerworlds, Message). Corresponds with Haku, whose genius she sees and wants to help with her otherworldly knowledge.

Felicjan Konarski - the younger brother of Leopold, a drunkard with a heart of gold, beloved by beggars and despised by Cyprian, as he spends too much money. He knows about the troll god in the underground, and while he sometimes drunkenly talks about the tunnels, he never mentions to creature hidden within.

Father Krzysztof - a cousin of Leopold, a priest serving in the cathedral. He is a practical man, the librarian and recordkeeper of the cathedral. He often loses the forest for the trees, and needs to keep everything organised, living according to a strict routine. Even so, every seven days he takes out his fiddle and plays wonderful tunes that could put an angry ghost down to sleep.

(those are the interesting members of the family, there are a few more who are just normal minor nobility)

Post Scriptum

I am finally trying something bigger. Maybe, if these posts are well-liked, I will make them into a book I will then publish. If I do not burn out this time.

Do not treat this as a reference on actual medieval times, even through I've researched it a bit for this work most of it is my own invention, and the numbers may not completely add up. This work is deliberately a bit anachronistic.

All given prices are examples, and you can probably get more things done if you ask for them. You can also haggle, and that is expected.

The listings and descriptions of various available things are inspired by Old World's Armoury, an expansion for WFRP 2nd edition that I read as a child and it really tickled my autism.

There are sadly more male NPCs than female ones, tried to balance it out as much as I could but sadly it is the bourgoise who have invented the modern form of patriarchy. Worry not, it'll be much better in the countryside.

All resemblence to real or imagined people is completely and purely coincidental.

Here is one of the posts that has inspired it. Here is another.

#Seasalt