Saos’Minthas

Campaign setting run by Franny. Formally ended on March 11, 2020, after a hiatus. Estimated session count: 23.

### Player Characters

Active Characters
 Lyr | Rogue
 Flynn Ryder
 Lox

Retired Characters
 Cornelia Livingston III
 Ramses Rael

### Setting Summary

Saos'Minthas rests on the bones of ancient elven ruins, and those lay on the foundations of something older still. It was founded by elves who wanted to reclaim those ruins and sow the fertile land between the two neighboring rivers - Nea Kios and Capivari. The elves thrived on the old magic beneath them and the bountiful harvest around them, and over time travelers sought out the young city for its knowledge and abundance.

Time passed, and the elves found themselves ceding majority to other races - humans, dwarves, halflings and more. Though many had been long tolerant of these newcomers, some elves saw their presence as a stain on the elves' long-lived glory, and unrest broke out amongst those who agreed. The unrest sparked fights between the elves and the younger races, and what followed was a brutal back-and-forth fought in the cities alleyways as each side demanded vengeance for whatever injury or loss they'd sustained. The fighting culminated in a month of civil war and rioting that saw hundreds dead on both sides and the partial collapse of the government. The survivors of the chaos managed to put aside their differences and rebuild a better system. However, the wounds left behind were slow to heal, and the city still bears scars of its old violence.

The elven majority has since faded, and Saos'Minthas is called home by all manner of creatures from all walks of life, wealth and faith. The city has been ruled by a line of silver dragonborn for the past 350 years. This has fostered the integration of dragonborn into the traditionally elvish noble class.

As the city grew, so did its commerce. The two great rivers serve as arteries to the surrounding lands, and trading companies have made their claim on Saos'Minthas's harbors. The money traded by the upper echelons of society has spawned an atmosphere of cutthroat entrepreneurship that extends all the way down to the small-time merchant. The commerce brings in many exotic goods.

This level of economic activity means a lot of different people with a lot of different opportunities. Religious folk visit and give sermons on their faiths. The general hubbub of daily life is ample disguise for underground dealings. So many minds coupled with the elvish roots of the city have founded a university that teaches magic to the skilled but also offers other branches of education as well - history, some archaeology, mathematics etc. Guilds provide order for the merchants and laborers to rally with and teach apprentices their craft. The wealthier districts shine with art, while culture permeates all paths of the city.

##### Government, Economy and Infrastructure [trimmy trim trim]

Saos'Minthas is a city-state with estimated population is approximately 90,000. It is governed by a ministry and parliament serving a monarchy. The current monarch is an imposing dragonborn titled 'the Silver Queen' for her appearance. Her line claims ancestry to Zolkulniin, legendary servant of Helm, God of protection. Her power is largely as a public social figure and arbiter of political agreements - she has little legislative authority, but her opinion is well regarded. She is generally popular with the people.

The economy is largely governed by a coalition of major and minor guilds. Trade is conducted primarily through import and export from the city's harbors. Trade with Saos'Minthas's territories and inland neighbors is performed mostly by overland caravans. Saos’Minthas's economic power rests most heavily in its agricultural exports, from wine to fruit to hemp. These goods are sourced from the surrounding villages and towns which are under Saos'Minthas's administrative control. Refined goods are produced more locally - textiles, some machinery, and arcane goods find their way onto the ships and caravans leading out of Saos'Minthas.

Policing and special investigations are performed by two branches of government. The City Guard looks after general safety on the streets, while more dangerous criminals and organizations are pursued by the Royal Security Bureau.

###### Transportation

Most inhabitants of the city walk from place to place. Carts are usually hauled by donkeys, mules, or the occasional cow. Small folk with carts built to scale have been known to haul themselves with a group of large trained dogs, but they usually stick to larger carts and larger animals. The extremely wealthy members of Saos’Minthas society occasionally go on rides in one to two person carriages pulled by giant peacocks.

###### Water Accessibility and Waste Disposal

Many of the squares in the city have public fountains in their centers. The wells are old and magical, always give pure water, and never overflow. No one has been able to figure out where the water comes from, as there is no reservoir underneath the city and the glyphs inside the wells are indecipherable despite the best efforts of the Mage College’s scholars. Still, the water is perfectly safe to drink.

Only within the last 60 years have city builders begun incorporating covered gutters into their buildings and streets. Most of Saos’Minthas’s newer roads have a ditch running through their centers. The ditch has cement walls and sides, while the top is covered in a sturdy metal grate. Where possible, builders have created side ditches connecting buildings and courtyards off the street with the central gutter. These ditches are also paved and covered.

###### **Lighting and Night Watches**

Saos’Minthas’s streetlights are manned by a fleet of lamplighters who make their way from street to street to replenish and ignite the city’s oil lamps.  The glass doors on these lamps are sometimes victim to vandalism in the form of a layer of colored pigment that tints the light emitted by the lamp.  There’s less crime risk on a well-lit street, and Night Watches are most concentrated on the edges of well-lit areas.

*Stained Glass Lamps* - every once in a while a public works committee will choose a few lamps in busy areas for stained glass installations.  Artists will submit designs for judging and compete to have their design installed in a lamp.

##### Arts & Culture

Street performers are a common sight in Saos'Minthas. Some buskers are known to get into fights with each other over performing spaces. Sometimes this results in short competitions of skill, where the winner is judged by responses from passerby. Most street performers are musicians, but there are groups which perform improv and dances. While street magic is effectively illegal, less patrolled areas may see performers enhancing their shows with illusion spellwork.

An uncommon street performer is the flame swallower, of which there are relatively few in number. They tend to perform only in the evenings and usually announce their show a couple days beforehand, so as not to invite ire from townspeople living nearby.

(^^ trim down??? currently is a copy of street performer section as written on arts and culture page)

###### Art Galleries

Art galleries, while uncommon, showcase the range of styles that currently dominate Saos'Minthas's artistic communities. Occasionally, small art festivals make these works more accessible to the general public.

* Nautical
* Elvish Natural
* Elvish Post-war (keep????)
* Dragonborn Royalist
* Dragonborn Reversal

###### Holidays

Saos'Minthas celebrates several holidays outside of the religious calendar.

* **Star Trader Festival** - Githyanki pirates turned collector-merchants visit on the spring equinox to trade arcane wares for supplies. The traders arrive from the Astral Sea through the twin spires of dark etched metal located in the waters south of the East Boxyards. They stay for five days, and then leave in an unofficial sendoff - the spectacle of the portal's formation draws a crowd.

* **Midsummer Burnings** - Farming villages in the countryside perform controlled burns during midsummer to take care of their fields. Villagers chant or sing prayers to Chauntea, the goddess of harvest. Once the day's burns are complete, participants celebrate and socialize.

* **Fantasy Thanksgiving** - This festival takes place on the first day of Hammer, in early winter. It celebrates the new year. Historically, the city's ruler would gather warriors and fishermen for a ritual fishing trip. The quality of the catch was considered a predictor of the year to come. A two day feast followed the return of the ship, with themes of memorializing those passed in the prior year and connecting with one's friends and family. In the modern day, the celebration is largely the same except that the ruler appoints a deputy in their place, cuisine has shifted, and a tradition of gift-giving has formed.

##### The Fettered [trim for brevity, give its own page????]

Simply put, these are the desperately poor. The Fettered are looked down on by most residents of Saos’Minthas. They are dismissed as unclean and unworthy of attention, meaning people are free to ignore Fettered individuals as they please. The destitution and shunning these people experience severely limits their ability to leave the Fettered class, and drives many to desperation and poor choices. This opens the gateway for mistreatment of the Fettered by nefarious individuals and organizations, members of which may be Fettered themselves.

Fettered individuals, when others deign to note their presence, are best described as tattered and tired. Their poverty means individuals may be hunger-thin, wear worn and dirtied clothing, and smell unwashed. Those who’ve been Fettered too long - and haven’t been able to withstand the conditions - can go half-mad in different ways. They may slip into apathy and depression, or stress makes their movements twitchy and even frenzied. The worst cases, shunned even by other Fettered, mutter nonsensical things to themselves. This madness is followed by a refusal to eat and take care of oneself, and then a rapid physical decline into death.

A spot of hope exists, though. Though this kind of treatment has existed for generations - possibly even stemming back to the old days where the city was only elves - not everyone accepts things as they are. Fettered individuals may seek help from willing churches, hospitals, orphanages, and even small clinics.

Fettered are barred from The Groves and have limited access to the Isle of the Faiths.