Chorong, City of Thieves

"Welcome to my city. Guard your belongings and your loved ones.

Anything goes, here! Make of it what you will, just don't cause a problem

and you can do whatever your little heart desires. Fare thee well."

- Uqion Yujin, distracting some visitors while his 'secretary' robbed them

"A fine city for fine folk." They stole that sign.

## History

Villainy had been a way for the strong and the lazy alike to support themselves and those they care to support since time immemorial. Some became wildly wealthy and lived long, happy lives with their plunder. Most died miserable deaths in a botched attempt to acquire someone else's wealth. It was only natural for people interested in such things to work together, as together they could accomplish far more, and be far less likely to be killed if they failed.

The city of Chorong was the amalgamation of one such effort. Several crews of pirates that had been doing well enough banded together that they found themselves unilaterally in possession of a fair amount of gold. They wanted a place to keep it safe, but none of them trusted any of the other ships to keep their secret. There was no town they could go to, no nation that would offer them a place to settle down with their acquisitions. The captains had a meeting, and after much debate and one murder, they decided to forge their own city!

From the humble beginnings of a small fleet's worth of wood built into roughshod shanty houses to dozens of fleet's worth of wood built into many more roughshod shanty houses! Because they offered a haven for those unwilling to comply by societal norms such as...don't steal, don't murder, don't sleep with your neighbor's wife while they're off at war...and other such nonsense, many lost souls were attracted to their cause. There were plenty of conflicts in the city's first few decades, and all of them involved bloodshed in one form or another. Through the haze of alchemical fire and fireball smoke, a group of captains, gang leaders, bandit kings, and other such dignitaries emerged.

This group had decided that enough was enough! They loved carnage and petty thievery more than the next guys, but they also valued the ability to call a city home and to live freely there, without a law man breathing down their necks every time they stepped out of line. As such, they put an end to the bloodiest of squabbles up to that point by brutally executing the ring leaders on both sides, then declaring themselves as representatives of the whole group, chosen by their respective larger gangs. They would determine who was correct in arguments that involved such large groups of people so the city wouldn't destroy itself.

The rest is, as they say, history. The current council has members from all sorts of smaller groups such as the wealthy head of a family in control of a private army, a barbaric tribal orc chieftain whose tribe was driven off their lands, and a very old living member of one of the original pirate crews! All are invited to climb their way to fame and fortune at the top of the pile, or to sit in the mud below and enjoy whatever their vice may be. That is the purpose of the city, and it is that freedom that has kept its rickety wooden gates standing for so long.

## Geography

People doing wicked deeds are naturally drawn to the shadows so that their sins may be hidden from the sight of others, whether out of shame or practicality. This same way of thinking applied to where the original pirate crews built their makeshift city. This particular island had an infamous reputation for being treacherous to sail around. The bizarre rock formations caused strange currents, dragging many ships to their untimely demise. There was no better place to build the sanctuary of a pirate band. Losing many men just trying to get their houses in place, the final result was a safety hazard nightmare, but it was home. The random tides and occasional gusts of wind continue to create a truly deadly environment, but to the people of Chorong, there's no place they'd rather be . . . unless they'd rather be somewhere else.

## Inhabitants

There is no easy way to define who lives in Chorong. People from all walks of life dwell in those hallowed wooden huts, grounded ships, and improvised driftwood mansions. There are witches hunted out of their homelands, fallen nobility that couldn't bare the shame of a proper exile, tribes of who knows what that live in the ground, and much, much more. A popular hobby is fishing for the kraken. Nobody has caught it yet, but they keep trying. People are murdered on a regular basis, and it is not remotely uncommon to have everything a person owns stolen while they're asleep . . . or awake and being beaten. As long as a person's trouble doesn't threaten the entire city, the citizens of Chorong do as they please. There is always a healthy fear of what would happen should one ever displease the congress of criminals.

## Religion, Magic & Technology

### Technology

Nobody cares...we told you this already, time to walk the plank!

## Law and Crime

While certainly a dangerous city of criminals by nature, the denizens would also like to continue existing in their current law free lifestyle, and so they encourage citizens to adhere to a code of conduct. It is a set of guidelines more than rules, but they are tempered by time and experience to increase the chances of not being hunted down by the armies of more righteous or greedy cities because they rampaged out of control, and decrease the chances of losing valuable lives needlessly. They are short, simple, and if followed, tend to improve a person's experience within Chorong.

1. Stay alive, stay free.
2. Keep Chorong safe.
3. Get the job done.
4. Do what's needed to be done for a contract.
5. Do nothing that isn't.
6. Cover your tracks.
7. Pay your dues.

## People and Places of Interest

* **The Broken Pawn** - The personal ship of one Uqion Yujin, nefarious captain of a feared pirate fleet and one of the most powerful actors on the stage of Chorong's governing council. The huge three deck ship of the line is most often found docked in port, as he has reached the point where the rest of his fleet makes enough money to sustain themselves while he wheels and deals with those in power. He prefers to operate from behind the scenes, getting the others to subtly start agreeing with him more and more, or attack any of their number that are staunchly opposed. He is known to receive prestigious visitors from other lands aboard his mighty sailing vessel.
* **The Scurvy Parrot** - A famous tavern in Chorong, supposedly in existence since the founding. The first crews piled all of their barrels of rum together under a tent and some of the more entrepreneurial pirates declared it to be a fine drinking establishment. One massive brawl later, it was an established fact that it was indeed a place to purchase only the finest booze. All these years later, it has grown into a thriving business full of seedy characters and acts of villainy. Don't anger the bartender, though, as spontaneous death by brain failure has an incredible 100% occurrence rate to those that do.
* **The Ferryman Express** - A simple service performed simply by the best. As Chorong does not want to appear standoffish and criminal to its neighbors over the pond, the council had at one point voted to create an easily monitored and controlled transport service for a modest fee to access their city from the mainland. Those ferrymen, as they were called, were expert wind magic casters, and could propel their specially reinforced ship back and forth at record speeds. They did their job well for as long as they lived. When they perished, a generous necromancer offered to animate their corpses to continue doing those jobs they had done. The city saw no problem with this decision, and so 'The Ferryman Express' runs to and from the coast of Uldia nearest Aetha every single night. A couple of coins and you can travel between worlds.