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Bandar Esok (ver. 1)

Discussion Phase

General setting: Bandar Esok. A town in Selangor, Malaysia that has been cursed to perpetually celebrate Chinese New Year.

Size:: Town ( 7 lines, 5 citizen tokens )

Age: Grown ( 10 developmental phases )

Developmental Phase

Geography: Valley

Features: Woods, 2x Mountain, Wetland

Decision: Exploration Outpost

The King sent some scholars and soldiers to find a secluded area to research magic rituals. This research is confidential because magic and witchcraft are considered blasphemy. The King was searching for a way to live forever with his family.

After the magic research post was set up, they also found valuable cinnabar in the nearby mountains.

Eventually, as the attempted rituals keep failing, the research post was shut down and turned into a mining settlement.

Location: Strategic Location

The area is secluded and the mountains on each side protects from hurricanes and monsters.

The large mountain in the middle of the valley contains cinnabar (朱砂）. It can be used to make red dye (vermillion) and as ore for refining elemental mercury.

There is some cinnabar in the surrounding mountains but not as much as the central "Big Mountain".

Heirarchy: Unstructured Collective

Everybody minded their own business outside of work. Houses are spread out. Justice is something you're expected to take into your own hands. Whenever there's a problem, the involved parties are expected to sort themselves out - even if it's to the death.

Attempts to claim authoritative power over the settlement are deeply looked down upon. Settlers arrived here from the main city after responding to the King's open call for miners. Some of the settlers are scholars and soldiers that stayed behind.

Initial Factions

Staunch Allies ( x2 factions )

The Scholars

Situated near the swamp. Subsists on the freshwater eels and snakeheads there.

They are the scholars and soldiers from the old research post. They refuse to give up on the original mission. The soldiers also call themselves scholars for convenience.

Research magic and the arcane in general.

Ultimate goal is to discover eternal life.

They are generally unknown to the settlers who aren't their benefactors.

Members often go into town incognito.

There are senior scholars who make the rules and act as authority figures.

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The Miner's Guild

Technically everybody at the settlement is a member.

Certain members are funneling guild resources to The Scholars. In return, The Scholars use magical rituals to benefit them - better crops, cursing enemies, hair regrowth etc.

The guild itself is meant for work delegation, trading and managing equipment. It has a pool of resources where people can take what they need. Overt greed will be punished with retaliation.

The guild building is used as the town centre.

Timeline

  1. A hostage is liberated ( +1 power to the Scholars )

  2. Hygiene gains in importance ( + bathhouse )

  3. Ground becomes unstable ( big mountain collapses, new district is formed )

  4. A great Scandal ( -1 power to The Miner's Guild )

  5. A strong claim ( +1 faction - The Royal Family, + government building )

  6. A grand palace is built ( government building => palace => community centre )

  7. A great fear ( +1 power to The Scholars )

  8. Criminals make travel difficult ( +1 bandits, new district is formed )

  9. [An important alliance falls apart ( +1 faction - The Mages split from The Scholars )

  10. Ground becomes unstable, yet again ( western district destroyed )

  11. [A revolution succeeds ( The Scholars + The Miner's Guild = City Council factions merge )

  12. The Scholars discovered "eternity", trapped the beast in the city.