Powers & People#

Everybody in Tharsis has an opinion about the war. Half of them have one about who's paying for it.

A barkeep at Matt's Grill in Tharsis

Who matters
Five clans hold most of Sedia’s real power, the crowns of the provinces hold the rest, and a handful of famous names move between them. This page says who they are and what people say about them. What they actually want is your storyteller’s business.

The clans#

The Tribes of Tyr, Schzo’ersch, the Exuvae, the Revnati and Mandak’s Legion each have a seat, a ladder of ranks and a firm opinion of the other four. Home Province has every clan’s ranks and the stance each takes toward the others; this page is about the people.

Tribes of Tyr The Tribes of Tyr is a close-knit clan that resides around the base of Mt. Tyr. Seated in Mt. Tyr Schzo'ersch Schzo'ersch is a clan that originates from the unruly streets of Narsis, the town of chaos and corruption. Seated in Narsis Exuvae Exuvae is a clan only whispered by those powerful enough to summon the courage to betray the laws of the ancients or perhaps the foolish with too much information. Seated in New Saellem Revnati The Revna are sometimes considered a religious group because of their beliefs. Seated in Crecia Mandak's Legion Mandak's Legion is a publicly revered group of soldiers who follow Julius Mandak in a war against the corruption of Narsis and its spread throughout the continent and into the daily lives of normal peoples. Seated in Tharsis

The names everyone knows#

Grouped by where they stand. Every line here is what the taverns say, which is not the same as what’s true.

Mandak’s Legion and the war on Narsis#

Tharsis

The Legion is the most publicly loved army on Sedia, quartered in Tharsis and sworn to root out the corruption it says comes up out of Narsis. It’s pushing down into the Bleak now, and the clans that profit from the war would like it to keep going.

Julius Mandak: The legendary hero who leads the Legion. The songs make him a giant. He's a halfling, three foot two, and he rides into battle on a pony, and the part of the songs about how he fights is true.
Lela Davenport: Mandak's partner in the war, and a legend in her own right: there are more stories with her name in them than with his.
Gregory Mandak: Commander of the Legion. He took Julius's name as a pledge of loyalty, and he keeps the Legion building its strength in Tharsis.
Zacharie Mandak: The Legion's first guard, who also took the name, and who rarely leaves Julius's side.
Bredrick Elswin: A lord who gave up his lordship to look after his wife, Lela, and study the art of war. A monk of a rank nobody has managed to pin down.
Baron Penifus: Controls Dupree and has a loud voice in the Tharsian politics of the war.
Kevin: Controls Karthage. Nobody has ever heard his family name, and he prefers it that way.
Lord Dreknolt: Archlord of Crecia, and the Legion's strongest ally on the coast.
Rodan: A blind Crecian halfling said to have talked Mandak into his war. Nobody can find him.
Volo: The legendary assassin out of New Saellem who has been sent to kill Julius Mandak more than once. Mandak is still alive, and so is Volo.

Narsis#

Narsis

Narsis answers to its queen and to Schzo’ersch, and its hand reaches a long way up the stairs. The surface blames it for more than it does, which, as people in Narsis like to point out, still leaves plenty.

Qattja: The Dark Queen of Narsis. She rules Schzo'ersch and has her fingers in the politics of most of Sedia. Everyone who has sat in her presence fears her, and they're right to.
Manager Sherii: Runs a bar in Tharsis, makes mischief for a living, and is tied to Schzo'ersch closely enough that the Legion drinks elsewhere.
Taz Colespri: A famous thief from Narsis who is said to have died twice. He's Donovan Xorcos's familiar, whatever that means for a man who has been dead twice himself.

Crecia and House Xorcos#

Crecia

The port province runs on trade and on whoever controls the trade. Duke Xorcos is the loudest name on the coast, and the Legion has called him corrupt for years.

Duke Xorcos: A charming man at home, a hard one in the field. He has led armies against Mandak's Legion, and the Legion says his money doesn't all come from Crecia.
Donovan Xorcos: The duke's son, who is dead. Or supposedly dead, depending on who you ask and how much you've had.
Barkeep Telenadus: Owns the Shatteredkeep Inn in Crecia and knows somebody in every province. If you want work, start with him.

The crown of Tharsis#

Tharsis

The first province raised after the Fall of the Kingdom has a dwarven king nobody has seen, a queen who rules in his name, and old families who remember every slight since the founding.

Quillilia Stonecleaver: Queen of Tharsis and its acting regent. She was born an Elswin, sister to Evelyn and Bredrick, and gave up the name to marry Mishnal.
Mishnal Stonecleaver: King of Tharsis. Ill, dead or poisoned, depending on the tavern. The palace says he'll be back soon.
Mykil Ironfist: Master blacksmith of Tharsis, famous for his work and rumored to be the king's son.
Jonathan: The gnome priest who keeps the Temple of Goad, south of the city.
Matt: Owns Matt's Grill and hands out more work than the guilds do. It's said he was a famous thief once, and he has never denied it.

The Mage Spire#

Tharsis

The Maginaerum Arcanum in Tharsis is the order of mages and the college that trains them. It ended the plague, it bans spirit in its own ranks, and it does not like it when people leave.

Archmagi Dorso VI: Head of the Spire's Emissary Council, the arm that deals with everyone outside its walls.
Master Mattik: The Spire's minister of political affairs. He leaves the Spire now and then to recruit promising mages, and he's very good at it.
Lady Leeza: An emissary sent to bring Evelyn Elswin back to the Spire, by persuasion or otherwise.
Evelyn Elswin: A mage, an adventurer and sister to the queen of Tharsis. She left the Spire on terms that caused a stir, and the Emissary is still after her.

On the roads and the water#

Some names belong to no court. These are the ones the inns keep telling stories about.

Brandin: A miner from Dupree who said he'd found a shard of the Everspark, Lythantos's crystal staff, in the caves south of town. He's dead.
Grandin: Brandin's brother, who was in the caves with him. He's missing, and so is the shard.
Shipmaster Thomas: Runs the ships in and out of Doonan's ports, and never forgets who owes him a berth.
Shipcaptain Lockard: Captain of the Forager out of Doonan, and Thomas's oldest friend.
Shiphand Elayus: Sails on the Forager, and tells the best lies in the harbor.
Shiphand Grilton: Sails on the Forager, and tells the second-best.
Anowyn: One of four famous adventurers every inn has a story about. The four stories never agree, and Anowyn has never corrected one.
Dente: Another of the four. Ask about Dente in two towns and you'll hear about two different people.
Lyssa: The third of the four, and the only one anyone claims to have seen lately.
Penn: The last of the four. The stories say Penn always leaves a place better than it was, and the stories say it a little too often.

Powers of the provinces#

Every province has its own powers too: the Council of Forges in Jewall, the troll tribes of Dumasque and their code of Rokson, the elders of Amari, the Maygonites who dig through the ruins of Esthar, and the Rift Watch in New Saellem. Each province’s page has the ones that matter there.