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Labyrinthe Forum _ General Gameworld Information _ Thimon

Posted by: abyatt Nov 1 2007, 10:32 PM

Extract from The Companion Issue 6 Vol 1
Jan 2004
By Alan Morgan


Thimon
A city revived in recent years, Thimon has arguably changed greatly during this time where, like Alguz it has risen from adversity. That its troubles are less widely known says a great deal about the city and its character; for the Thimonese are a close-mouthed lot who rarely tend towards boastful or arrogant behaviour. Such sullenness is often confused for meekness amongst first time visitors, but this is a mistake for in the main the Thimonese are clever, watchful people who rarely forget and never, ever forgive. So close to the border with the Baronies there is a thick, racial streak of Bulaslavian blood in the people and they often resemble Baronyies folk more than the people of their native Empire.

Though seemingly crowded, the city is not in actuality very populous. Great chunks of the settlement are made up of ruined buildings and the ignored damage of various conflicts down the years. Indeed, so depleted is the population compared to that which it was in the past that there is hardly a need to buy property at all. First time visitors to the city are often surprised by the scarcity of Inn’s at which they might stay. More regular travellers know that an hour’s hunting will turn up an empty, long abandoned house with little effort.

The skyline of Thimon could also be confused with no other. So close to the Brandins, fine stone and slate are not only cheap but they are effectively free if one cares to strip the nearest empty buildings. Though the typical Thimon building is old and in need of repair, patched up with boards and canvass, the materials are of fine quality and the buildings tend to be tall, thin, pointed structures with sharply sloping slate roofs. The Brandins also provide cheap blackstone and during the cold winters the sky of the city is thick with the dense fog of a thousand overlarge fireplaces.

Much of the recent damage to the city is a result of the conflict between the Ratfolk of Slavik and the Knights of the Land. Though the Knights proudly declared their victory it is interesting to note that the rats are not only resident in great numbers but that they are well regarded citizens by both the locals, who have come to appreciate the similarity of character they share, and the Council. Indeed, Governor Saldana is known to not tolerate a word being said against his newest citizens.

Strangely, Thimon is almost bereft of the ghouls and other nightwalkers that are both a nuisance and an unacknowledged form of walking sewer in other cities. Scant years ago a plague swept through the city and the corpses that remained were then seen to walk out of the settlement and not only have they failed to return but physical undead in general seem to scent something worrying about the city and avoid it if they can. As much cannot be said though for their more ethereal peers…

Not as dark as Deci, but not far off, not as united as Sellaville, but close when faced with outsiders, nor as mercantile as Keys, but, again, close, Thimon is a city rich in character since it is the place where the culture of the Empire and the Baronies merges.

The people and the land of Thimon
The character of the people has been covered already and it extends out into the rural areas that pay their taxes to the southern city. The villages are not so prosperous as those in the Heartlands since for centuries they were the places where the Empires herds roamed. Depleted over the years the herds were first savaged during the last years of the Magiocracal Wars and what remained fell to ill husbandry and raids from the south. Now the villages have turned to agriculture since centuries of cattle dung have made the land fertile. Over the last few years farming has been mostly restricted to frantically gathering up the wild grains that have spread quickly across the grassy hillsides, that sit like islands amongst the rocky slopes and stony ground of the area.

Tough and used to living so close to both the Baronies and the Brandins, the rural Thimonese are more used to conflict, more willing to join in and ‘have a go’. Whilst many a brigand has been driven off by angry, spade wilding serfs there is more than one village that has been destroyed when they refused to give up their meagre winter supplies to roaming raiders.

The closest city to the Brandin Mountains, a great many of the people who dwell in the valleys and quarry towns have relations in Thimon. Links between the two regions are very strong taking the Thimonese yet further from what might be considered the ‘Imperial character’. Many of the cities cousins in the Brandins and Takalia fled there after one of the many revolts that took place in the city against Republic or Magiarch and for much of the cities history the people have been heavily subjugated. Whilst this might have ground others down it resulted in the quiet caution that so characterises the people now.

Most of the villages have gained new life from the wild crops since in recent years they have been descended upon by traders keen to corner a market that was formerly, in the cattle days, firmly sewn up by the Merchant Houses. Not being a thickly populated land the villagers can roam the rocky land for great distances as they search for and exploit each crop of wild grain that they find. This is perhaps, more than any other reason, why they are so different to the villagers of the Heartlands who rarely stray more than a few miles from their hometown. The rural Thimonese like to hear news and regularly make trips into the city when they’ve got a few grulls to burn.

Clothing in and about Thimon tends to add short, stout jerkins to the normal Imperial baggy shirt and britches. The britches tend to be gathered about the shin with cloth strips or puttees to keep the hems free of dirt in the villages or to prevent them snagging on rubble and jutting nails in the city. Since the villagers tend to roam more widely than their peers elsewhere they are often better armed, though with weapons that can be rightly claimed to be tools. Quite what use a sharp spade or hatchet could be for harvesting grain is not something the Watch tends to ask.

Why Mercenaries Adventure in Thimon
As has already been described, Thimon is very different to the rest of the Imperial Cities due to its closer associations to other lands than most. The influences of the Baronies and even the Brandins are strongly felt everywhere and this can provide a great deal of work for the mercenary community. Apart from Port Miere, Thimon is the city most strongly touching on the Secundal Mittlenacht and although not as strongly felt as in the Waldgrafines the citizens of Thimon are certainly no strangers to odd tales and strange events.

The Brandins, which will be looked at in more detail at another time, are close to the city and amongst the vast and mountainous range, that was once thought to be the edge of the world, the touch of nation is not felt. Neither the Empire nor the Baronies can lay claim to the Brandins according to the Treaty of Gressen and thus it is truly a place where either order or law can be readily felt. Al’Macsar is not close, being towards the west and near to Thimon the mountains are home to people, even things, that have been driven there from both north and south.

But of most worth to a mercenary is the city itself. Despite its many buildings and streets, the low population means that of all the cities in the Empire Thimon is the one that has the most potential for actual in city adventuring. Even Sellaville cannot make such a claim since really the entire city is within its Refuge Quarter whereas the Thimonese are spread throughout the settlement. Amongst the tumbled down but still sturdy streets mercenaries can find the sort of work that they might otherwise have to leave the city for elsewhere. Or, more likely, enter the catacombs that infest every settlement of Primus. Indeed, compared to other cities, only Eartholme has a more orderly under-city.

For below the streets dwell the Ratfolk. They don’t possess the entirety of the catacombs though perhaps as much as half come under their sway. Here they toil, breed and even pay their taxes, here their ever increasing numbers always need more space and thus, with their lives being precious to the Nine Aspects, the newly more wealthy Ratfolk have taken to hiring mercenaries to clear the dark galleries for them.

Lastly, the Merchant Houses are relatively strong in Thimon. Much of the southern trade comes through the city and strong links have been formed with the traders of Takalia, due in no small part to the interests and actions of both Ma’ar Saldana and Haruld of Shaehan. Merchants and traders have money and most see mercenaries as a positive investment where their business is concerned. The work is varied enough for most tastes and there are many, up-and-coming traders to whom the adventuring community is a valuable resource when they need to open a new market or act against the competition.

Dark as soot and watchful as a murder of crows, Thimon has a rich vein of excitement and possibility that can be readily explored.

Just don't expect the average Thimonese to talk about it.

Posted by: abyatt Nov 1 2007, 10:32 PM

Its worth Noting that Thimon has developed considerably since January 2004, the Guilds are much more developed, the city has become the center of the southern trade in Brandin Stone and has continued to develop as a mercantile center (largely through the efforts of the master merchant Haruld of Shaehan, though Senator Saldana has also supported Mercantile trade in the city).

Probably the biggest change is that the feeling that there are no undead in Thimon is no longer strictly accurate:

Thimon is the home of one of the Largest communities of Nightsoil in the empire (the other being in Bildteve). These citizens (recognized as such in Thimon and offered the full protection of the Law) were formally 'traditional' Undead which had over time developed some measure of independent personality due to the prolonged time they had existed on Primus, primarily physical undead such as Zombies and Ghouls they were granted a measure of their former Life at the Final Dawn a year ago. Now termed Nightsoil their hearts beat once again - albeit infrequently.

Thimon is thus a rather bad place to go undead bashing - The odds are that what you first thought was a common Zombie is a reasonably articulate citizen with a job and the full protection of the watch, which is a well developed organization which employs citizens without regard for their racial origins and as a result boasts many competent Rats and Nightsoil as well as some truly formidable watch seargents.

Thimon is also oddly a bad place to create undead using conventional Necormancy or even the potent rites of the Decay Tree - The Nightsoil are very good at 'cleaning up' the city and have considerable civic pride, they tend not to be put off their waste disposal tasks by the fact that the corpse in question is moving around and hissing...

Posted by: LordSaldana Jan 1 2008, 06:49 PM

As of the Final Dawn IM 1007 The following individuals are notable citizens of Thimon that most mercenaries have heard of:

Count Ma'ar Lord of Saldana, Baron of Thimon. Ma'ar is the Patrician of Thimon, Govorner of the City, High Priest of Azrai, and the Senator for Mercenary Affairs. The people of Thimon love and revere him and view him as thier benificient Dark Lord. He is prehaps the main reason that the Citizens are so Loyal to the Empire and Pay their Taxes... The citizens will generally not believe anything bad about him (OOC: due to HOTE abilities). He is broadly believed to own the Entire City. The administrative and guild districts in the Heart of the Settlement are indeed reffered to as the Patrician's Quarter or Patsy Quarter in the local slang...

Sire Haruld of Shaehan, a Master Merchant and Craftenguilder of Thimon. Haruld is generally veiwed in awe by the citizens of Thimon. His tireless work on their behalf has gained him tremendous loyalty and respect. Haruld is the undisputed master of commerce and trade in the South, dominating trade with the baronies. He is famous for his good fashon sense, generosity and is generally viewed as the owner of a large part of the city where the mercantile guild and markets are concentrated. (The thimonese don't seem to mind the fact that a chunk of the city is owned by both him and Ma'ar, the two are the pillars upon which Thimon stands after all...).

Kei-Ry, Baron of Netherwell, Magistrate and acting Watch Captain of Thimon - a Hard and powerful necromancer being perceived by the people of Thimon as the harsh hand of the law. Struggeling to fill the shoes of his absent Partner Gabriel Drake (now Govorner of Deci), he is still respected by the Watch and provides the Harsh in the "Harsh but Fair" for which the extremely competent Thimon watch is Famous...

Diomedes, a Vampire and highly talented ritualist - The Stadtus. A noted ritualist and Vampire. Diomedes is seldom directly seen within Thimon outside of the Furled Scroll where he is known to go to discuss the art with like minded individuals. His influence is felt widely though as untrammeled faith is swiftly supressed and shrines and the like to hostile powers have a nasty habit of exploding shortly after the Stadtus makes his dissaproval known...

Jenard, The Mennihaft - a wily man and the nobles point of contact with Thimon. He is generally viewed as a yes man for house Saldana, his success in his position owing more to the considerable political clout of that house than is common in a Mennihaft. Still he commands the respect of the local nobility even if he has little pull of his own with the Halls as yet.

Malthas Dour, The Commisent. New in his post and leader of the Saldana Guard as well as the City Hob Malthas Dour has yet to weather any major tests of his skills and is generally seen as being very close to the Patrician - no bad thing in the minds of the citizens!

Other noteworthy individuals around town include Rasp -a rat and most prominent and visible of the cities beggars, Barab Khan is seen in town from time to time...

OOC: The last two are NPCs (so anyone who is looking for a nice council position should get in touch with BBB, Lee, Tim or me...). Also worth noting that Thimon is reasonably quiet as a city in HOTE so if you are interested in having a big effect on a place with support from well established people it is a great place to set up as a Pro Imperial type...

Posted by: LordSaldana Jan 1 2008, 07:20 PM

Structures of Note within Thimon (Final Dawn IM1007)

The Grand Rememberance: The Pinnacle of the Nightsoil Guilds in the Empire.

The Ninetails Guild: The Guild of the Ratfolk Craftsmen - rumoured to be dominated by Fat Wealthy rats from the early litters.

The Foundation Guilds: Core of the crafting and construction efforts in the Empire Thimons Guilds are widely viewed as capable of executing any project no matter now complex.

Up Street Quarter: The immense mercantile complex owned by Haruld of Shaehan, as its name implies it has, if not in size, the influence of an entire quarter of the city.

Hallowed Temples: Thimon houses several Hallowed Temples to: Azrai, Slavik and Dark Ancestors. Grand Temples to other powers are also visible in Thimon. It is notable that there is not even a Temple to one of the militant goodly faiths, nor as much as a shrine to any anti imperial cults or destructive Deities of Evil.

Thimon also has large fine walls of Brandin Stone and an active citzen militia to man them in times of need...

The administrative structures of Thimon are well developed with a Complex around the Citadel which boasts some of the finest accomodation for Scribes seen anywhere around the empire outside of Eartholme.

The Thimon Watch: The watch in Thimon is also formidably developed with men, Rats and Nightsoil treated as equals.


Other things:

Rumours persist of terrible tides of savage Rats unleashed on the cities enemies in troubled times - fearless and savage these creatures seem to be invested with power and purpose to make them a threat to anyone and anything they encounter. A competent mercenary may well be able to evade them but even for the mighty standing in their path of thousands of large feral rats in a city which is the focus of the faith of the Rat Gods seems suicidal...

The practice of Necromancy within Thimon seems to be -regulated- practitioners speak of the difficulty of enacting even the most potent rites to raise the dead against the combined will of the Nightsoil and the cities resident Decay ritualists.

The city also has a strong nocternal feel many practicioners of common trades opening shop as the sun goes down... Generally speaking Darkness is said to offer far less cover to the villain than is common in other cities...

Posted by: BBB Jan 2 2008, 11:41 AM

Thimon's Byelaws


The Act of Rat Haven “In recognition of their law abiding nature and contribution to the wealth and strength of the City of Thimon the Ratfolk are granted right of Haven here. Unless they have committed a criminal act or outlawing offence all Ratfolk are pardoned of the Outlawing that exists on their race and granted all the rights of a free citizen of the Empire whilst within the City of Thimon and its judicial jurisdiction.”
By Order of Kei-Ry, Magistrate of Thimon
IM 19/10/1002


The City Construction Act
“Planning permission: No structure may be constructed within the City of Thimon without first lodging full plans with the governor’s office. Private citizens and Factions must then receive planning permission from the Magistrate or Governor before work will be allowed to proceed.”
By Order of Kei-Ry, Magistrate of Thimon
IM 19/7/1003


The Act of Night Haven “In recognition of their law abiding nature and contribution to the wealth and strength of the City of Thimon Undead are granted right of Haven here. Unless they have committed a criminal act or outlawing offence all Undead are granted full citizenship and granted all the rights of a living citizen of the Empire whilst within the City of Thimon and its judicial jurisdiction.”
By Order Kei-Ry, Magistrate of Thimon
IM 16/07/1005

Posted by: BBB Jan 7 2008, 01:41 PM

The Citizens of Thimon: The Nightsoil

During the Masterless Times between the removal of Emperor Cerus Amora and the Coronation of Emperor Michael Stoneheart the Dark Baronies (circa early IM 999) invaded the southern parts of the Empire.

Their aim was to reach the anomaly that was Amora's Doom for reasons still not entirely known. They struck deep into the heart of the Empire, apart from the harrying forces of Thor little stood in their way until the first major engagement at Rorthril Fens, part of the expansive Bildteve territories.

The battle fought there resulted in many casualties, the Empire lost but time had been bought to allow a major force to gather to defend The Doom.

With the Empire in considerable danger the skills of the Lich and Necromancer Ashgaroth, aided by knowledge from Rhiannon’s Dark Scholars of the Rosarians and Jon Shannow of Condesecration enacted a great rite with the power of the Felldrakken Isle (more commonly known as the Zombie Isle). They took those dead who fell in battle and animated them that they might fight once more for the Empire. This army of Undead did just that fighting for the Empire at the Battle of Amora's Doom.

These undead were loyal to the Empire as they had been in life. Thankful at a second chance they fulfilled their duties and returned to their respective homes. Some were accepted most were rejected by the living, driven away by Priests of Light who would not accept them. The vast majority found refuge in Bildteve, traditionally the seat of the Kesselharn Magiocracy and thus a place of acceptance. The Magistrate of Thimon, at the request of Governor Saldana, enacted the law of Nighthaven to protect them thus further drawing them to the city.

Due continual actions of the Governors and council members of both Bildteve and Thimon the Nightsoil are found almost exclusively in these cities.

Then, at the Final Dawn of IM 1005, the Empress rewarded their loyalty and interceded with the Primal Spirit on their behalf, changing the Primal Perception of them and thus renewed in them a spark of life, now more alive then dead but still retaining many traits of the dead as they stepped into the new year of IM 1006 they took their first breath again and felt a slow beat of their hearts, perhaps once every minute or so but none the less once again alive.

In Thimon their great Guild Hall and Monument The Grand Remembrance was built by Count Ma’ar Saldana, in what it was later discovered had been a close race with Bildteve, cementing a place of permanence for them in the Empire, that place being Thimon.

In Thimon the Nightsoil are respected and their appearance hardly even noticed any more by the locals. They are part and parcel of life and unlife in the city and their fierce loyalty to Empire reflects well in the city.

OOC: I need to double check my dates but I think I have them correct!

Posted by: BBB Mar 20 2008, 11:27 AM

Final Dawn IM 1007


Thimon, Imperial gateway to the Southern Baronies, home to probably the Empires most renown and respected Merchant, Sire Haruld of Shaehan, although none in Thimon would ever be so rude as to refer to him as a religious man. Sire Haruld, having had a particularly successful year, especially with the Gressenfest in the Baronies, has continued to strengthen the links between Empire and Baronies through trade between Thimon and Takalia and the Final Dawn found him doing nothing less then exerting his influence over trade.

The Patrician, Count Ma’ar, Lord of Saladana has presided over a city that has steadily, if not as rampantly as its northern counterparts, grown over the year and if local rumour is to be believed is now entirely owned by him. The recent construction of the Grand Remembrance being a feather in his cap now being matched at the Final Dawn with the work on the construction of a Cathedral to Azrai getting underway.

The loss of Gabriel Drake as the City’s Watch Captain to govern Deci has left a Drave shaped hole in local law and order but his benign shadow blankets the city and the Watch carry on the work he started in good order, helped, or perhaps hindered by Magistrate Kei-Ry, the Baron Netherwell. As is expected of those that have that mystic custody of the land, he seemed to have taken to his Barony to welcome the death of the year and the Dawn in, in a somewhat, musical fashion.

A few months before the Final Dawn the City Spirit’s vessel, known simply as Mother, oldest of the Ratfolk and one of the first two created by Kith Kaharn died. Even with the virtual immortality granted by a City Spirit to a host, spinning out their lifespan, the allotted time of a rat, all rats, even the Ratfolk, is but a brief one and hers had been spent. She was however prepared and not concerned, for she had been the mate of the first great Rat, created only second to him by he the rats call Blesséd Kaharn and mother to countless of the Ratfolk. She died peacefully and soon another would succeed her as City Spirit.

At the Final Dawn Primus would perceive a new spirit. The Patrician was granted the honour of being present in the deep warrens where the rats dwell. Present was Kith Kaharn himself, despite his discomfort at being in a city. The new host had been selected and having been draped in shamanic rites to draw the city spirit to it. Then, tragedy struck, unfurling out of nowhere came a pair of sinewy, creatures armoured in chitin, moving with such speed as to be all but unseen, the first attack slew Kith Kaharn with blinding speed and as the new vessel leapt to try and aid his fallen god he too was slain.

At this point into the warren’s most secure chamber poured a river of rats, biting, scratch, clawing and tearing at the two creatures, the killers fought back but for each rat they killed another took its place, their fury at the death of their father, their god on primus, knowing no bounds, and despite the killer's fell strength and celerity they were brought down by sheer weight and number of rats of all sizes.

What manner of creatures could so quickly slay one as powerful as Kaharn is unknown? Why they should choose to attack him and the city spirit, only can be guessed at and if agents of another who could afford to pay for such accomplished killers? What is known is that the rats want vengeance and they are ready and willing to blame the Knights of the Land, who they view as their ancestral enemies and to blame the druids who have slain Kaharn before, no doubt jealous of his power.

The greater tragedy of a city without a city spirit at the Final Dawn was barely averted by the sorely wounded Partrician’s quick actions. It is somewhat fitting that following a Rat as a City Spirit that the next host would be of the Nightsoil and so something was salvaged of the mess but it had been a bad start to the year for Thimon, a very bad start…

Posted by: LordSaldana May 7 2008, 05:21 PM

Events in Thimon ~ Martius IM 1008


With the months that have passed since the Death of Kaharn and the widely publicized contempt of the Mercenary community for their Fallen God the Ratfolk, and by extension due to their close ties all the peoples of Thimon have become bloodthirsty. Older grievences have been remembered and there is a nasty feeling that the Mercenary Caste are out to get Thimon. People are out on the streets, resentment boils.

The streets of Thimon are now a dangerous place for mercenaries, especially those associated with the Knights of the Land or any who have spoken out against Kaharn. Locals might be able to survive on the streets but even that is uncertain...

The thin line between Order and chaos is held only by the respect that the citizens of Thimon have for their Patrician and Sire Haruld, even the rest of the council appear to have gone into hiding when their duties force them to be within the walls.

Those attuned to the supernatural, even the gods who are beyond concern at mundane fears tread Thimon softly - the vast quantities of Entropy seething within the city fray and eat at all supernatural arts and beings.

The City is near breaking point...

Posted by: BBB May 7 2010, 06:42 PM

Amendments to Thimonese Byelaws

The Act of Night Haven: “In recognition of their law abiding nature and contribution to the wealth and strength of the City of Thimon Undead are granted right of Haven here. Unless they have committed a criminal act or outlawing offence all Undead are granted full citizenship and granted all the rights of a living citizen of the Empire whilst within the City of Thimon and its judicial jurisdiction.”
By Order Kei-Ry, Magistrate of Thimon
IM 16/07/1005


The Act of Night Haven ~ Subsection 1: “Followers of Mortai are required to register their presence within the city of Thimon. A licence is available from the office of the Magistrate for no charge, and can be obtained in advance of travel to the city by contacting the office. Failure to obtain a licence within two hours of entering the city is a felony.”
By Order Kei-Ry, Magistrate of Thimon
IM 07/05/1010

OOC: In the case of Mortai priests finding themselves in their brief in Thimon on open dungeons it can be assumed that if they intend to abide by Imperial Law and not simply dismiss any undead citizens they bump into and that IC wanted to that they have been able to, at referee’s discretion, acquire a licence before hand. Thus allowing such to be issued if neither the Magistrate or Governor are available to sign one off at the caves.

Bear in mind that that is an OOC Mechanism to keep LRP adventures running smoothly and it is expected that players will act in the spirit of that. A character is quite free to refuse to apply for such a licence on religious grounds and thus mark themselves as someone willing to kill all undead regardless or to apply for a licence on the grounds that they will work within the Empire’s laws.

Of course, with a new Senator for Justice and Magistrate General city byelaws may be up for changes but this was already in the paperwork before the Senatorial changes. It is hoped that it will add another roleplay option for various devout types both within the church of Mortai and Imperial structure.

BBB

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