Fantasy Core RPG: Jianghu Setting-Villages

Fantasy Core RPG

© Jerry Harris 2013

Published here as Open Game Content.

(This link will take you to the Fantasy Core Index.)

Jianghu Setting

The Villages of Shang-tu Province

Were there no villages, how could the cityfolk think themselves superior?

A panoply a minor villages surround Shang-tu outside its walls and around its province.  Usually they have a particular industry present around which the town has been established.  This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list.  Add new villages whenever you desire them.

A typical village will have a lord or mayor in charge (with little authority), a small force of constables (ineffectual and corrupt), and will be serviced on a regular basis by a travelling magistrate (to adjudicate legal cases).  Army units typically only show up to escort tax collectors and other officials (unless the village services an army post).  With little organized authority running them, many villages turn to the Brotherhood to keep the peace.

Governor Yu distrusts the rural community, as he has little control over it.  Almost regardless of any act of rebellion, the villages can’t be destroyed, because they provide food for the city, and such an act would embarrass the Governor to the Emperor.

Welcome to the very end of the civilized world.

Shinju-Mata

The starting village in the sample adventure.  If Shang-tu is considered the end of civilization, Shinju-Mata is the very end of it.  It is a hardscrabble prairie town near the desert, mainly focused on herding (there are several Mongols in town who work on the ranches) and some subsistence level farming.  A regular army patrol comes by once a month to make sure the village is still there.  They are not terribly welcome as they also come with a tax collector and a travelling magistrate.  The village ruler is the honorable Lord Hanso.  Should the characters make an ally of Hanso, they will always have a place of refuge with him.

Just take a deep whiff anywhere around the lake.  You can’t miss it.

Kan-Chou

One of the many fishing villages around Lake So.  This is probably the preeminent one, being closest to the city.  It is a hustling, bustling port for transporting goods.  It is better known for its large fish market, or should I say, the smell from said fish market (DC 12 Fort Sv or sickened 1 turn, the first time a character encounters it).  The town merchants are all in the hands of the Water Rats, the nautical division of the Tongs.  The other fishing villages actively fight to keep them out and occasionally suffer for it.  However, the Kan-Chou fishermen do little better for serving them.  

We break the mountain as the mountain breaks us.  Who falls first?  (A miners’ song)

Chinju

One of the many mining villages that dot the mountains around Mount Tien.  (No mining or logging is permitted upon the holy mountain itself.  The dragon, Gemma, doesn’t appreciate the disturbance.)  This particular mine works at an iron vein and is one of the most prosperous.  Deeper and deeper they dig.  What will they find at the bottom?  Like most mining towns, these are company towns, hostile to secret societies, bandits, and the government.  Chinju maintains its own private security force (made up of mercenaries) to keep the mine safe and the workers in line.  This mine also attracts many Tibetan workers, ill trusted and badly treated.   

Let the devil come!  We’ll chop him down too!

Lin-Ju

Around the mountains is the large, thick Soon Forest.  It is the supply of wood for the area.  Ken No Sen owns the only logging consortium, and Lin-Ju village is its headquarters.  His rule is absolute and unchallenged there, backed up by a powerful force of mercenaries.  Again, there is little outside influence pressuring this village.

There are a multitude of logging camps dotting the mountain range, only held together by the iron-discipline of the supervisors.  Frankly, these woods are a scary place.  In spite of the loggers’ bravado, the deep woods are generally avoided.  That is the domain of demons and kami, usually plotting mischief and destruction against men.  There is a hidden evil temple in the heart of the forest, ruled by Dai the Vampire Lord, which draws them.  (Vampire Lord stats will be in the Monsters section.)

It is a village of a few notable vices.

Chang-li

This village services the needs of the frontier fort of the same name.  It borders Mongol lands and is subject to the occasional raid (and inevitable retaliation).  While the main business of the village is herding and farming to sustain the garrison, it is more infamous for its other services.  As an analogy, this is your typical Wild West town, filled with bars, gambling dens, brothels, and a thriving black market.  Neither the Brotherhood nor the Tongs rule here, that would the Chang Gang, a hegemony of local crime lords, but they often butt heads here over influence and the sale of illicit goods. 

The soldiers here are all hard-bitten veterans.  If they party hard, it’s because death is potentially just over the horizon if the Mongols ever unite.  (Perhaps ironically, there are many Mongol scouts employed by the garrison.)  There is no talk of rebellion or insurrection here and anti-government sentiments are not welcome.  Troops (MP’s) are everywhere in town, keeping rowdiness from getting out of hand.  The garrison is always on alert and patrols are constantly going in and out of the fort.  Also of note is the master blacksmith there, Uncle Sho.  He is the finest in the province and can reputedly forge magic weapons, if provided with the right material.

An ill omen, like hearing news from Ebisu.

Ebisu

This is an abandoned village.  Officially, it is under quarantine from a plague.  Unofficially, it is haunted from some sort of horrific demonic summoning ceremony gone wrong.  Either way, most people go out of their way to avoid it.  It is however a hideout of the Brotherhood, though they only go there as a last resort.  They apparently have some means of staying there without fear of a plague or supernatural molestation.  There are extensive underground areas beneath the village that the bandits share with other, more dangerous, denizens.