With apologies to DMPrata, who will surely cringe at my audacity to post text he hasn't edtied yet, I'd like to share with you fellows a portion of my Ghost Ship adventure. Calencia Village is a major stop on the way to the adventure site, with an important "primer" or warm-up quest directly relating to the main adventure.
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Calencia Village
Calencia Village stands on 40-foot stilts (embedded 10 feet into the mud) on the tidal flats of Lith Fjord. The structures of this curious village are cedar plank affairs with thatched roofs. They are interconnected by boardwalks, resulting in a tightly knit community that literally lives on the water (or mud, as the case may be). Most families possess one or more canoes, these tied to the boardwalk or one of the piers. Rope-ladders are used to access the boardwalks and piers during low tide. Some individuals hoist their boats using a capstan.
Calencia Village consists of 42 families that comprise 476 individuals. Their ancestry can be traced back to two embattled families of racially mashed ancestry, comprising Pictish, Half-Blood Pictish, and Viking derivation. Over two hundred years ago (c. 262 CÆ), these ancestors migrated to the forested Cape Calencia. After enduring several ape-man raids, they ensconced themselves in Lith Fjord and established the stilted village where since they have thriven.
Physically, Calencians most resemble Half-Blood Picts, short and compact. They have bronzed skin, blue or hazel eyes, and sandy-blond or reddish hair. Females trim their hair short and comb it neatly to one side using fish oil, whilst men tend to grow their hair long, knotting and twisting it to braids.
Calencians primarily subsist on fish and shellfish, with shrimp paste a staple of their diet. Grains and vegetables are grown in stream cut gorges on the mainland; seaweed is also cultivated along the beaches just outside the fjord. Many families raise chickens, small coops placed between the houses or on the boardwalks; many chickens roam free, these often corralled by children and a small breed of herding dog raised by the Calencians.
Calencians speak the common tongue, and their names are a strange amalgamation of Pict, Half-Blood Pict, and Viking; this a product of their mixed-blood heritage.
Internally, the village supports barter and trade for the exchange of goods and services, but foreigners typically spend money using the typical exchange rates seen in the City-State of Khromarium and other centres of civilization.
Calencians pay homage to Khalk-Xu (Kraken), “The Dimensional Dweller”, whose octopoid effigies are found all about the village, from stone idols, to drinking mugs, to war canoe prows, to the totem poles that hem in the village. The spiritual elite of Calencia are the shaven-headed monks of the Brotherhood of Khalk-Xu (#C-18) and the witches of Calencia’s Peculiar (see #C-10, #C-14, and #C-17). Some villagers also pay homage to various animistic household gods; examples include aurochs, bat, bear, crab, dogfish, elk, ground sloth, lion, raven, salmon, snake, weasel, whale, and wolf.
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And here is an early draft of my hand-drawn map. I've tinkered with it quite a bit since this scan, but it gives you the idea:
HYPERBOREA- A Role-Playing Game of Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy
DMPrata wrote:
