Salkiria

sionally battle each other for territory but usually leave strangers alone.

The three islands off the coast are settled by small fishing villages, which are inhabited by humans, elves, halflings, or lizardfolk. Like much of the mainland coast, they are subject to frequent attacks by scrags and other strange aquatic monsters. The villages consider themselves independent of Manifest or any other country, preferring to govern and protect themselves in a loose alliance that transcends race.

Chulla (Small Town, 1,500): This small settlement might not exist if not for its large docks, which accept ships from all over the world, bearing visitors to Manifest and bodies on the Ghostwalk. The town maintains one small warship in the event of an overt attack by Xaphan. The churches of Aluvan and Dracanish maintain temples here to explain to visitors what to expect when they enter the city. Chulla also has some trade with the three nearby islands.

Vestarn (Small Town, 1,100): Vestarn is a quiet place with a small but beautiful beach. It exists as a place of recreation for wealthy nobles and ghosts of Manifest, for while it is outside of the Manifest Ward its sights are still pleasant to incorporeal eyes. Vestarn gets little traffic from the Ghostwalk, as the town officials prefer that those ships dock in the Salkirian city of Nonaull or go around the peninsula to Chulla.

Important Sites

While the Manifest Ward makes the forest a strange place, the area outside the Ward has its share of unusual locations.

The Steam Pit: The earth in this area is split open and great gouts of burning steam erupt from it daily.

The moist interior walls of the pit have been tunneled out by the followers of Nessek, who consider the place a holy site and use it as a small temple. Exploration of the lower levels by brave members of the faithful protected by magic has found places where seawater enters at high tide, draining downward into cracks too small for humans to enter but presumably connecting with underground lava tubes. Molten rock in these tubes boils the water and vents it upward as steam. The members of this temple bypass the main channel of the Steam Pit to avoid death by scalding.

Lairs of the White Hound: A particularly large white dog is known to live in the northeastern part of the peninsula. Thought to be a servant of Eanius, this hound, Nila, never speaks but acts intelligently.

She rescues people from the water, chases predators away from farms and livestock, and hunts animals for families in need. She makes temporary lairs on the coast and the outskirts of the forest and rarely sleeps in the same place twice. She can climb trees as easily as walking and has recovered from seemingly mortal wounds.

The Skystones: Legends have it that these three stones fell from the sky over a thousand years ago. Now they are spaced about 500 feet apart in a straight line toward Manifest, each in a small crater. The metallic gold skystones are 5 feet across and have resisted all attempts to move or harm them. Any ghosts within a thousand feet of any of the stones are forced to manifest fully just as if they were within the Manifest Ward. Incorporeal undead cannot approach within this same distance. The churches of Aluvan and Eanius consider the skystones to be religious artifacts, and each church maintains a shrine and residence nearby for a handful of clerics.

Argalos, the Great Stone Giant: People walking along the eastern Hikirian coast eventually discover an enormous pair of stone legs and feet protruding from the water. This is the lower half of Argalos, the Great Stone Giant. The rest of the stony body extends underwater, and if he were standing, would be nearly 100 feet tall. Argalos is thought to be a demigod of passion and grandeur who died centuries ago after a failed love affair. He saw his lover sailing east, knew he had lost her, and died on the spot, his body transforming into magical stone and falling partway into the water. While barnacles grow on him and other sea creatures swim around his fallen form, Argalos still has a vestige of magic, and divine spellcasters who sacrifice jewelry in his presence are sometimes rewarded with the recalling of spent spells (as if by a pearl of power of any level). Many cults have tried to awaken Argalos or draw more power from him, but they have failed.

SALKIRIA

Capital: Donaree

Population: 1,219,800; human (92%), halfling (7%).

Government: Monarchy

Religions: Aluvan, Durann, Soggelos, Wyst

Imports: Beef, lumber, marble

Exports: Gems, sweets, textiles

Alignment: NG, LG, LN, N

Once a place of petty nobles, rampant taxation, and religious oppression, Salkiria is now a friendly and welcoming country obsessed with music, food, dance, and artistic swordplay. Because the Ghostwalk passes through the country, Salkiria sees a constant influx of trade and information, making it the most cosmopolitan territory in this part of the world.

Because its government is a hereditary monarchy, Salkiria’s fortunes have risen and fallen over time depending upon the actions of its ruling family. Although their lowest point was the rule of King Illustram and his taxation of the dead caravans (which led to the War of Turrin River against Tereppek), the kings and queens of Salkiria have had their share of cruelty, madness, and squabbling. Young king Larrison has encouraged the worship of Durann, a faith espoused by his mother, and worship of the True Guide is likely to bring long-term stability to this country.

Major Geographical Features

Salkiria is a mostly flat coastal nation split in half by a mountain range and that range’s foothills.

Varlin Mountains: The easternmost end of this range extends into Salkiria and eventually becomes the Hills of Baanth. The government makes no claim of ownership of the mountains, ceding their control to the Varlin tribes on the north side and the humanoids on the southern side. This territorial agreement keeps the attacks by the humanoid tribes to a minimum and allows some amount of peaceful trade at the frontier city of Leburn.

Hills of Baanth: These mineralrich hills are the source of much of

Salkiria’s wealth. Diamonds, opals, and some sapphires are mined here at an astonishing rate. No dwarf or gnome clans call this place home (although a small number live in human mining towns hidden in the hills). Several halfling communities migrate between a few clusters of caves appropriate to their size, and most halflings that run caravans on the Ghostwalk have family members in these settlements. The primary predators are dire animals, a few smaller kinds of giants, and aerial creatures such as wyverns that fly in from the

Varlin Mountains.

Durhan Coast: While this rocky coast’s long cliffs are mostly unsuitable for ports, it does become gentler on its northern end, which means that northern coastal villages are more likely to suffer attacks from scrags that plague these waters. A few rich oyster beds provide a supplemental income for some of the villages.

Life and Society

The people of Salkiria are tan, with black straight or curly hair. Salkirians have broad faces and strong cheekbones, and few have facial hair. The native language of Salkiria is Salak, a versatile tongue with a large vocabulary well-suited to song and poetry. Most people learn the Trade Tongue as well to deal with the many foreigners coming through their cities as part of the Ghostwalk.

The people of Salkiria love experiencing life with a vigor that in some borders on hedonism. Excellent food is an important part of the Salkirian culture, and restaurants, bakeries, and confectioners can be found on almost every corner in the cities. They love music and dance as well, and every community has some sort of theater (or at least an open lot in smaller settlements) where performances can take place. Community celebrations always involve food, music, and dancing, and the luck and happiness of a marriage is reputed to be tied to the partners’ skill at these three disciplines.

When visiting someone at their home, it is customary to bring some sort of food, usually fresh bread or sweets. Salkirians would grow fat from all the rich food they eat if it weren’t for their fondness for vigorous dancing. Flashy swordplay is another favorite kind of performing, and some combine their skill with swords and dance into a specialized fighting style. Talented “dancing blades,” as they are known, gain much fame, and stories of dancing blade heroes are often playacted by children using sticks instead of swords. In addition to the many cities, Salkiria has a large number of farming plantations and vineyards, often owned by nobles or retired wealthy merchants or musicians. Salkirians usually have small families, typically parents and two to three children, although grandparents usually live in the home as well. Those families that own large farms and need extra hands rely on sharecroppers and migratory laborers to get the work done. Many of these moving colonies of laborers have a gypsylike mystique and have their own styles of music and dancing. Salkirian halflings usually live within human cities, although a few sedentary families have bought a few prosperous vineyards and now make excellent wine in very small bottles. Salkiria is not a particularly religious country, with small shrines being the order of the day instead of larger temples. Soggelos is worshiped because of the extensive coastline, Wyst is worshiped because of the many travelers through the country, Aluvan is worshiped because of his role as guardian of the dead, and Durann in recent years is worshiped as a general force of honor and good.

Although king Illustram tried to tax the dead caravans and inadvertently created the Ghostwalk, many Salkirians objected to their king’s laws and secretly helped the caravans. Many of these were bards who used bells to transmit messages in code to other helpers, and because of this, bards gained much esteem in the eyes of the common people.

A typical Salkirian warrior wears studded leather and carries a light crossbow and either a short sword or a rapier.

The Arts

Salkirians embrace song and dance at an early age, with seasonal festivals having performances by children as

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young as four. Traditional Salkirian dancing is very energetic, involving many leaps, turns, and vertical jumps. Because of this, Salkirians tend to be in very good shape and regularly live to eighty years or more.

In addition to the stringed instruments popular in other countries, Salkirians enjoy bell concerts, some of which have more than thirty musicians. Salkirian music is loud and unsubtle, and covers topics the people are interested in: love, food, passion, dancing, and the power of music itself. With the upswing of Durann’s worship, the Salkirians have turned many spoken parts of her holy text into hymnals sung by a large choir and accompanied by bells.

Salkirians don’t have much interest in theater, preferring to experience their own lives rather than see a performance of someone else’s life or a fabrication. Their painting is similarly scarce, although small portraits are common gifts between loved ones and among families.

Roles for Character Classes

Barbarian: There are no true barbarian tribes in

Salkiria, although there are some people who can fly into a rage after they have consumed enough liquor.

These people are carefully watched so they do not become a danger to themselves or others.

Bard: The bards of Salkiria are expected to know how to dance, sing, and play the bells. Many folk heroes are bards, dating back to the founding of the

Ghostwalk, and bards uphold the heroic legacies of their forebears. Salkirian bards may choose bola flail (see the Equipment section) as their free bonus weapon proficiency.

Cleric: With religion on the upswing, many young people are joining the clergy. Durann’s clergy act as spiritual guides for the country and assist trials to ensure truthful testimony. Clerics of Aluvan and Wyst bless travelers passing through, and clerics of Soggelos look after naval traffic.

Druid: The most visible druids in Salkiria are those who worship Soggelos. They are more concerned with protecting the water and its inhabitants from pollution and overfishing than looking after sailors and ships. A few druids of Eanius and Galaedros live inland.

Fighter: Salkirian fighters pursue creative styles of swordfighting. Many learn tumbling and other styles commonly attributed to rogues, and a good number of them multiclass as rogues.

Monk: While there are no formal monk schools in

Salkiria, a few skilled acrobats have found the way to transcend the normal physical limitations and progress as monks.

Paladin: Durann has few paladins, and most of them are female. They often are blessed with fine voices and lead church choirs in between missions of good. They traditionally wear white and ride only white horses.

Ranger: The Durhan Coast and the settlements near the highlands are the source of rangers in Salkiria. The rest of the country is too civilized to have need for their special skills. There is a great rivalry between the rangers who fight giants, humanoids, and dragons, with much boasting and battle songs.

Rogue: With the emphasis on skill over brute strength, many rogues in this country make a living as soldiers or multiclass as fighters. Practical and sedentary rogues invest in gambling halls, taverns, and other businesses frequented by lusty, active people.

Sorcerer: Because of its frequent ties to madness and corruption, practitioners of sorcery are held at arm’s length by Salkirian society. Many conceal their talents, pretending to be clerics, fighters, or rogues. Those who are unafraid to display their gifts are often marginalized into remote parts of the hills or poorer tracts of land.

Wizard: Similar to sorcerers, practitioners of wizardry experience a social stigma. Only those from the wizard school in Nonaull are considered “safe” by the common people.

History

What is now Salkiria has been inhabited by native humans for thousands of years. No records exist of how they came together as a country, but many believe that a strong tradition of dancing as an alternative to fighting to solve conflicts helped draw together the local tribes into a single unit. The unification of the

Salak tribes predates the founding of Tereppek, and it is likely that the country’s nobility descends from prestigious positions in the original tribes.

The Salkirian nobles are by no means infallible, and some have taken to dabbling in corrupt disciplines of sorcery, which has led many good houses into madness and decline. King Illustram and his three sons were some of these, their strange research causing megalomania and an obsession with land and property, which eventually led to the taxation of the dead caravans and the War of Turrin River. To this day, sorcerers and wizards are viewed as an enigma and are not quite trusted, a legacy of the fallen nobles who toyed with forces beyond their understanding.

In recent years the former king of Salkiria pushed to revitalize the people of his country, seeing Tereppek to the north as a rigid land of stuffy bureaucrats and Bazareene to the west as a sleeping amoral war machine. He embraced the worship of Durann, and with this good goddess leading the way he slowly turned his people from decadent hedonists to vigorous, good-hearted lovers of life and liberty. Although the king died in his sleep a year ago, his son Larrison has taken up the mantle of his father and continues to promote the ideals of truth and good. While Salkiria is allied with Tereppek and Bazareene, and views

Thurkasia as an independent daughter state, Larrison

sees his land as the only active and civilized force of good in this part of the world, a shield against corruption and barbarism.

Important Sites

Salkiria’s cities are well maintained and clean, with a strong literacy rate and few domestic conflicts.

Bouldoh (Large City, 14,600): Surrounded by vineyards and plantations, Bouldoh is a large but quiet city known for its wines. Unlike Thurkasian wine, which is very strong, Salkirian wine is light and sweet, often used for marinades. When Tereppek invaded Salkiria in retaliation for the War of Turrin River, they bypassed Bouldoh to reach Donaree, and as a result the people of this city have always felt naturally lucky.

Deraant (Small City, 8,100): This city is Salkiria’s primary port and the point of contact for other countries to the north. The city has a fleet of over 50 ships (keelboats and sailboats), which are primarily fishing vessels but are required to include a military officer as part of the crew in case the government needs to commandeer it. Most ships have one or two bards as well to keep morale high. The city has a tall wall just behind the docks to protect against storms.

Donaree (Large City, 17,800): The capital of

Salkiria is nestled against the Hills of Baanth and surrounded by fields of grain on all other sides. The palace of the king is built on an artificial hill and overlooks the entire city. Near the city’s western gate is a large temple to Durann, the only one of its kind in human lands. The city government consists of elected nobles and leaders of the merchants’ guilds.

Leburn (Large Town, 4,800): This town is on the southwestern border of the country. It was originally a fort built to mark the Salkirian border but grew when trade with the unruly humanoids of the mountains become more common. The place is well defended against invading monsters (particularly flying ones) and streets are wide to prevent fires from spreading between buildings.

Nonaull (Small City, 5,600): A great battle between a half-dragon wyvern and the Salkirian bard

Adsaulk occurred 150 years ago at this site, causing a large section of the cliffs here to collapse, forming a shallower incline with a nearly flat area suitable for settlement and docks. Three large magical stone pillars along the waterfront bear spells that detect giants, sounding a loud alarm when such creatures (including scrags, which thrive in these waters) come ashore.

Fishermen here are well armed and trained in fighting scrags. The city has a very small school of wizardry that focuses on water and cold magic.

Ridou (Small City, 8,900): This mining town is also inhabited by representatives of gem traders from native and foreign cities. Gemsmiths live here in hopes of getting first pick of the raw gems drawn from the hills, and a handful of gnomes and dwarves live here as well. Despite its size, Ridou still has the feel of a frontier town. The one easy road through the hills leads past the city, so the locals are used to seeing many strangers pass through.

Shedarik (Small City, 7,300): This city was founded after Durgerth the Conqueror’s hordes were defeated. The fortress was intended to be a first line of defense against such an attack (as well as attacks from Bazareene), but since that time people came to settle here, and now it is a good-sized city that dabbles in mining and farming as well as being a contact point for barbarians wishing to trade. Bazareenian beef caravans from Heppara come here regularly and leave with fresh food, wine, and gems. The city’s mayor is always the commander of the fort and usually is a noble.

Shetourn (Small City, 10,500): This city is surrounded on all sides by large and small plantations, all growing cotton. The cotton is used to make textiles in independent and isolated mills, then shipped to other parts of the country by merchants for export. Salkirian cotton is very light and comfortable and is the preferred material for clothing in this hot latitude. Many people of poor or middle income build frame homes and use cloth walls instead of wood or plaster, since it remains warm here even at night.

Wialto (Large Town, 3,200): This fishing town has experienced a recent influx of people with the discovery of a large and plentiful bed of oysters a few miles offshore. Now small boats are visible at all hours near the beds, with divers entering the clear waters to acquire white, black, green, and blue pearls. Clerics and druids of Soggelos have been working to prevent the oyster beds from becoming harvested too heavily but are greatly outnumbered by the greedy divers.

Plots and Rumors

Salkiria presents a friendly face to its neighbors, but factors within its borders contribute to the many struggles that still plague its good humor.

Gruul’s Army: An outlaw has been assembling discontents and a few dire animal “pets” in one of the hidden caves in the Hills of Baanth. Gruul, a woman reputed to be a half-ogre, bears some grudge against a noble in Ridou and threatens to destroy his mine holdings. The noble professes ignorance of the woman’s identity or the cause of her grudge, but he is of a lesser house and has little resources at his disposal to deal with his attacker.

Azure Bias: With the clergy of Soggelos opposing depletion of Wialto’s oyster beds, rumors have begun to spread that the druids are trying to conceal the location of a giant oyster growing a blue pearl the size of a halfling’s head. Tensions are growing high, and a disguised cleric of Phaant is pushing the conflict toward violence. Furthermore, a nest of water nagas has taken interest in the pearl beds but hasn’t chosen sides.