Phosphate
2012-07-08, 03:09 PM
This is a project I've started for multiple reasons. It offers a great opportunity for quest hooks, it promotes my Veritay race quite nicely, it presents some new flavourful templates and prestige classes and what I hope will be generally intelligible and competent lore. Also, and this comes without saying, a comprehensive market, new exotic weapons, modern weapons, magical items, and maybe even some new spells.
But the best treat there is is this mere opportunity for low-to-mid level PC groups to adventure in a place where a mob of ordinary citizens can take them down with ease - and where fooling people is not exactly an option.
So, without further ado, I present to you the wonder that is the metropolis of....
Nyumir
History
When the industrious and progressive Veritay set themselves a goal, there is little that can stand in their way. Thus, when a large number of them decided that there had been enough retreating and they're no use to each other scattered as they were, the craftiest of their architects and engineers (which is to say all of them) set up to build one of the grandest metropolises the world had ever beheld. The settlement was called Nyumir in honor of the first architect from the original team to die since the completion of the metropolis - dead at age 412, of old age, no less. This would go on to represent the resilience of the Veritay people and praise the safety of the locus for generations to come.
Set on fertile land and even ground, an hour's walk away from the important commercial river of Kethe, with scores of oak forests and marble deposits nearby for material, and thanks to the newly discovered method of extracting aluminum from clay, the community of architects and labourers flourished and gave rise to impressive structures that would later house merchants from upstream, artists, explorers, adventurers, and guards to protect the inhabitants from the dangers of the wild (several ogre tribes settled nearby after the city's construction had begun, their pillaging a real nuisance and noticeably wasteful).
Soon, the settlement hit a population of 50'000, something unfathomable for the region. Many started regarding the place as messily overpopulated, and there was some truth to this statement. With commerce dwindling and untidiness piling up, it was a bleak period for many, until the engineer Hiphyrne Saradusther had a dream. In the dream, he was visited by none other than Urbanus, God of Cities, who presented him the plans for a new and improved sewer system that would allow Nyumir to extend indefinitely, and an irrigation system that would bring water from the river to every household, without making its flow inconstant. When he awoke, Hiphyrne noticed that he retained every single detail of the blueprints, and jotted all of it down for future use. His improvements brought to the city were held in such high regard that after he died he was buried in a 15 foot tall and wide concrete block on which, via carved gold fillings, the story of his life was written. The block is situated near a shrine dedicated to Urbanus, and shadowhardened* for preservation.
And thus continued the growth of Nyumir. New districts were constructed, the population rose with foreigners as well as natives, the city's reach extended as far as engulfing Kethe (which provided a new source of income, since all future travel was taxed) and one of the nearby peaks. Great walls were erected in a continuous formation around the metropolis, measuring 200 feet in height, and for months on end the numerous Veritay casters worked hard and chanted intensely to shadowharden everything. Underground levels were built to support even more people without worry of crowding, until the population peaked at an impressive 250'000.
*Magically acquired property explained further down.
Geography and Ecology
Nyumir itself is a clean urban environment of warm climate. Virtually no wild critters, pests, or vermin live within its high walls. Outside, though, one can find lush vegetation, both plains and marshes, and mountains in the west. Any kind of creatures who prefer such conditions, whether unintelligent or of savage intelligence, may be making their living on these outskirts.
Neighbors
The mountains are populated by goliaths who frequently trade with the Veritay of Nyumir or offer their services in works that require physical strength. About 40 miles downstream there's a human metropolis numbering 22'000, named Thew. It has access to two major iron deposits in the region as well as opening to D'asaw Lake, and so the citizens of Nyumir are grateful for the constant stream of ore and fish that comes their way from there. In return, denizens of Thew get to marvel at the Aluminum sent by their neighbors and their fine, clear glass objects. A good 50 miles eastward lies a high elven community with a particularly large number of gray elves, who often come to Nyumir for magical research and exchange of knowledge. 100 miles further north, dwarven cities abound, and travellers from both dwarven lands and Nyumir embark in a perilous journey through the peaks to learn something of the other race's engineering brilliance and mastery of weaponmaking.
Oh, and there was, until about a decade ago, a chain cabal of the illumians hiding in the western marshes, closely keeping an eye on the veritay community for good or ill. It's not there anymore, since veritay aren't exactly known for being tolerant of secrecy. Or merciful, for that matter.
Demographic, Language, Alignment and Class Spreads
Nyumir's population remains largely veritay, at 85%. The rest is 9% dwarven, 4% human, 1% elven and 1% other. While interracial couples are common in this tolerant culture, this does nothing to skew the statistics, as the result of a union between a veritay and a member of another race is always a pure member of the mother's race. The average lifespan is high, most individuals living way over venerable in the clean, safe, disease proof environment that is Nyumir. The unusually high average level of the metropolis' inhabitants further shields them from death by violence or accident.
100% of the population knows Common, 92% knows Honirian (100% of the Veritay), and dwarven is widely used. The official language is Common.
Since veritay value hard work and excellence, they strive to acquire class levels. Many of them have those levels in divine-inclined classes, due to their nature and tendency for worship. The following statistics apply only to the adult veritay population of Nyumir, specifically, 170'000 individuals. The rest, 42500 young veritay and 37500 members of other races are considered by and large (with notable exceptions which will be presented later on) to be of a much more common, much lower level of expertise and power.
All adult Veritay have an ECL of at least 3. This generally either assumes two PC class levels (30%) or one PC class level and two NPC class levels (70%), plus LA.
The NPC class levels are either both expert (25%), one commoner and one expert (50%), one commoner and one adept (5%), both warrior (19%), or both enforcer** (1%)
From those who have class levels, 75% are either clerics, paladins**, favoured souls, or crusaders. The rest are either fighters, duskblades, wizards or swordsages.
10% of them (17'000) have an ECL higher than 3.
Of those 10%, half have as many NPC class levels as PC class levels.
0,1% (170) have an ECL higher than 9.
The highest level veritay characters in the metropolis are the herald Sigil (Favoured Soul 20, CR 21), cardinal Ydirial Rhasnus (Favoured Soul 1/Cloistered Cleric 7/*Scher Presence 10, CR 19), the guard commander Nyltum Senm (Favoured Soul 1/Crusader 6/*Truth Guard 10, CR 18), and the scientist and philosopher Yezenenn Dart (Favoured Soul 1/Bard 3/Archivist 5/*Epiphan 8, CR 18). The highest level non-veritay character is the human Gregor the Present (Wizard 9/Paladin 1/Urban Soul 10, CR 20)
City Councilors vary in CR from 3 to 10. Might doesn't give authority in democratic veritay lands.
All adult veritay have ranks in Sense Motive. During an encounter roll their rank number randomly from 1 to the maximum, all results being just as likely.
On the ethical axis, veritay can be and are all over the place, so expect equal amounts of lawful, chaotic and neutral individuals. On the moral axis they are a bit more particular: since veritay culture strongly discourages evil and lightly discourages good, the vast majority of the population is neutral. Refer to the table below for specific percentages:
{table]Alignment|Lawful|Neutral|Chaotic|Total
Good|10|5|13|28
Neutral|20|26|20|65
Evil|3|3|0|6
Total|33|34|33|100[/table]
A list detailing all Nyumir residents with an ECL of 15 or higher will be later provided in this thread.
*New Prestige Classes presented further down.
**New NPC Base Class presented further down.
Community Wealth, Economy, and the Market
Since Nyumir is an unusually large and both technologically and magically advanced metropolis, the normal rules for calculating wealth do not apply.
GP limit: 400'000 gold.
To calculate ready cash, multiply the entire GP limit by 1/10th of the population, normally resulting in an amount of 10'000'000'000 gold (10 billion).
While the market is free in the sense that nearly anything can be sold without restriction, taxation exists in the form of a sales tax (and a sales tax alone, aside from tariffs taken from all vessels going down Kethe*). Different merchandise have different taxes applied to them, as shown on the table below:
{table=head]Produce|General Sales Tax|**Market District Tax
Slaves|Illegal|Illegal
Food (not including spices)|-10%|-20%
Religious Objects, Holy Water, Materials, Statuettes, Incense|-5%|-5%
Spices, Books, Paper/Vellum, Writing Instruments|0%|-5%
Clothes|5%|0%
Crafting Tools, Alchemical Instruments, Arcane Material Components (excluding stones)|5%|5%
Weapons and Armor (nonmagical)|10%|5%
Weapons and Armor (magical)|10%|10%
Other Magical Items (better than faint)|15%|10%
Pets/Mounts|20%|15%
Precious Stones|25%|25%
Drugs and Poison|Illegal|30%
Anything except the above|10%|0%
[/table]
Taxes are collected monthly from merchants. Generally, merchants increase the price of their goods by the tax rate (or reduce it if the goods follow a negative rate). However, this is not compulsory, and merchants can offer any price they want for their wares. Merchants must keep a personal tab on what and how much of everything they sell so as to know what to give to the tax collectors (or in some cases what to demand from them. Goods with a negative tax rate are subsidized, and thus merchants selling them receive money the more they sell). They are examined by the tax collectors thoroughly, and if caught in a lie must pay a fine of 50 gold pieces and spend 1 year in jail. If they were honest, but due to sloppy calculations, unseen errors or a vague understanding of the tax code got their payment wrong, they are not allowed to sell things for a full 6 months, and if they had a spot at the Market District, it is immediately auctioned. They MAY participate in the auction, but even if they win, they still can't sell anything for 6 months. Such merchants are recognized from a glowing golden illusory lock floating above their head, the effect of Assign Symbol***. If someone is caught buying from a marked merchant anyway, he will be publically whipped and spend up to two years in jail. The merchant itself doesn't receive any penalty except that the period in which he cannot sell things renews to 6 months.
*The Tarriff for moving through, docking or exiting Nyumir through the river Kethe is calculated thusly:
If the ship doesn't stop in the city, it must pay 30 gold pieces +2 gold pieces for every passenger.
If the ship stops in the city, but doesn't trade, it must pay 40 gold pieces +2 gold pieces for every passenger +1 more gold piece for every passenger that leaves the ship to stay in the city for more than 48 hours.
If the ship stops in the city, and trades, it must pay 50 gold pieces +2 gold pieces for every passenger +1 more gold piece for every passenger that leaves the ship to stay in the city for more than 48 hours +2 more gold pieces for every merchant who comes to trade in the city.
**More information on the districts of Nyumir will be given in the following headings.
***New 1st Level Spell
Power Center
Despite the abundance of magic, generally divine, within Nyumir, the city is not ruled by those who can cast the most flashy spells or raise people the quickest. Power is wielded by elected representatives, and thus, Nyumir has a Conventional power center.
Any Veritay of at least 75 years of age and an Intelligence score of 14 or higher can be up for election. While members of other races cannot hold political office, they can vote as long as they are considered past adulthood depending on their race. The city's army, police, courthouses are all administered by the 15 leaders called Arbiters, who also decide the law of the land.
There are two types of actions: minor actions/laws and major actions/laws. Minor actions - such as deciding to spend public money to repair a certain structure or trade with a specific neighbor or send an ambassador to a faraway land or slightly modify the tax code or reposition soldiers and guards around the city - can be done directly if 8 of the 15 arbiters agree upon the decision. If the population believes an action is not minor enough and the arbiters overstepped their role, they may protest via an official petition. If the petition is signed by 10'000 adults, then the action is reclassified from minor to major, and is administered as such. For a major action to be put into effect, only 1 arbiter must agree with it, but then the entire city must vote on it. Again, any adult permanent member can vote, and everyone has one single vote, and the options are these: "Yes", "No" and "Needs to be Modified". If the number of Yes votes is higher than the number of No or NtbM votes (individually), then the action takes place. If the number of No votes is higher than the number of Yes or NtbM votes (individually), the action doesn't take place, and nothing similar can be proposed for 5 years. Military propositions, such as attacking a neighbor or strengthening the city's defense are immune to this rule, and can be proposed again at any time. If the number of NtbM votes is higher than the number of Yes or No votes, the arbiters are forced to come up with a new formulation of the law/action within 3 months.
Once a year, the arbiters must decide between themselves on which 5 members to resign. If they cannot agree on this, they must hold a public random drawing of the names of the resigned. If the resigned are chosen this way, the population present at the event may decide on one resignee to be spared, and replaced by another arbiter, which again is to be drawn at random. After this, voting begins for 5 new arbiters. Everyone has two votes, which they can use for the same person or different people. Trying to alter the outcome of the election by casting a single vote, or casting more than one ballot of two votes, or emulating someone else's vote, or tempering with the ballot boxes, carries the sentence of being permanently exiled from Nyumir with no possibility of return. If the perpetrator had a house or apartment in the city, all his belongings will be sent to him, but he will not receive anything as reinbursement for the living space itself, which is appropriated as public property and set for sale at a price 50% lower than normal.
No arbiter can hold office for more than 5 years, and no arbiter can ever be reelected after he is resigned. In the case that at the end of a year there are 5 or more arbiters that must resign due to having spent 5 years in office, no other random resigns are necessary.
The alignment of the power center is halfway between Lawful Neutral and Lawful Good. There is a codified set of laws that are competently, yet mercilessly enforced, rulers often follow their personal interest, but they are incorruptible through outside influence, there is no intolerance and citizens of any gender, race or non-evil creed are treated equally, but wandering non-citizens aren't, there is no such thing as unwilling conscription but after you willingly join the military you cannot leave, the state is perfectly transparent and cannot hide anything from you, but you can't hide anything from it either, death sentences are almost unheard of but the justice system imposes harsh physical punishment for relatively minor crimes, and while most willingly follow the law, these "most" are veritay whom naturally tend to obey it anyway, while the other races might find the legal system too strict at times.
The Law Rank of the region is 15 (DMG2), one of the highest scores possible. The power center is lawful, social standing doesn't matter, criminals are caught more often than not, the justice system is impervous to corruption, the code of law is written and rather old, and transitions of power have been orderly.
Laws and Punishment
There are 6 major types of punishment in Nyumir: death by soul destruction, death by disintegration, forced exile, imprisonment, fines and whipping.
Death by soul destruction is the punishment for destroying another being's soul. The perpetrator is tied up in an AMF and Scher himself materializes to break his soul into nothingness with his sword.
Death by disintegration is the punishment for premeditated murder while already imprisoned. The perpetrator is simply zapped until he no longer makes his saving throw.
Forced exile is the punishment for premeditated murder, rape, arson, election fraud, changing the type or subtype of a person against his will, and not declaring thar you are carrying an infectious disease you were aware of. The perpetrator must leave the city in 24 hours with nothing but the clothes on him (his pockets emptied and valuables and money confiscated). He is never to return.
Imprisonment is the general punishment for many crimes, generally those that prove you are a threat to society or actively subverting its mechanisms. To determine prison times use your common sense. Generally public urination warrants one month, while stabbing someone repeatedly in the chest without provocation warrants 10 years, which are the shortest and longest possible punishments, respectively.
Fines, aside from district specific fines, are generally given as punishment for breach of contract, tax evasion or for when the actions of the perpetrator caused damage that requires time, money and resources to repair. Judge and jury decide how much the victim needs to recover completely, and then the convict must give 250% of that - 125% to the victim(s) and 125% to the state. If the victim IS the state (for instance, damage to public property), the fine is only 200%.
Whipping is the punishment for lying and an added punishment to all crimes that imply or are based on deception. Regardless of the crime, the whipping takes 15 minutes and is done only once (per crime).
If someone is fined but not given prison time, he may choose to pay only the victim's half of the fine right away (or 100% in case of the state being the victim). If he does so, he is sent to work on the Farmlands daily for 6 hours a day, and continually assessed. If he skips a day of work or is assessed negatively for a day, he must stop working and pay the rest of the fine right away, but at one less gold for every day of work minus the last one.
If someone is given prison time but is not fined, or he already paid the fine in full, he may choose voluntary exile instead of imprisonment. Unlike for a forced exile, the subject of a voluntary exile has 7 days to leave the city, can take all of his belongings with him, and can sell his former residence and keep the money (aside from the 10% tax). However, just like a forced exile, the person who chooses voluntary exile cannot return, ever.
Districts
Nyumir is divided into 8 districts: Bys, Cys, Dys, the Market District, the Farmland, the Forge, Thrice, and the Ring.
Bys, Cys, Dys
Living quarters, most of the city's population lives here, almost equally spread. Each district, however, has slightly different regulations to meet its resident's preferences.
Bys is a place for those who enjoy peace and quiet. Parades, wandering minstrels, and anyone else singing loud enough better beware, since in this part of the town (and ONLY here) making too much noise is against the law and fined from 10 to 50 gold, depending on the disturbance.
Cys is a place for those who want to be left alone by these scripture pushers. Here, and only here, proselitizing your religion, adorning the exterior of your home with religious symbols, sculptures and paintings, wearing overly religious clothes and burning incense on the streets are against the law and fined from 10 to 100 gold, depending on the behaviour.
Dys is a place for the straight edge. Here, and only here, drug consumption is illegal and fined from 100 to 250 gold, depending on the quantity of the substance, potency and withdrawal symptoms.
Aside from residential buildings one can also find impromptu shops, inns, stables, barbershops, "private investigators", mercenaries for hire, casinos, public showers and johns. There are also medical physicians tending to the sick in case of an immediate emergency, although if the situation doesn't need to be solved in a minute, the citizens more often than not prefer going to the Sacred Temple and being healed there. It's often more expensive than the alternative, but there isn't any real poverty in Nyumir.
The Market District
The market district is a place where merchants can buy a permanent spot to sell their wares. There are exactly 500 shops set up at all times, and whenever one is left vacant (the merchant simply leaving it, being sent to jail, being left bankrupt or dying) the shop is set up for auction. Shops cannot be inherited or change owners directly, they are each owned by an individual person and become free game for everybody when that person relinquishes ownership of them for whatever reason. Money from auctions is taken by the state.
The Farmland
On the fields of the Farmland people can grow their crops of edible plants, textile plants or drug plants. Animals are not grown in Nyumir, and all meat is obtained from trades with the goliaths. The Farmlands are multi-layered, totaling 6 layers floating on top of each other at regular intervals of 20 feet. Through special spells farmers can use a spire at the middle of their current layer to float to another layer. So far only the first 4 layers of the Farmland have been occupied. Buying space costs 1 gold per square feet, and no single person can occupy more than 10% of an entire layer. Unlike Market District spots, patches of land can be inherited, but this will no longer be possible after all strata are fully occupied - at that point, auctions will take effect.
The Forge
Not only a forge, this diverse district is the place where textiles are woven, ores are purified, metal is poured into shapes, aluminum is extracted, leather is battered, bricks are molded, alchemists cackle madly in their labs and animals meet their demise in the name of soap and glue. Tis' a busy place where one can easily find work.
Thrice
The coltural, spiritual, and actual center of the city, Thrice is the place where the fifteen Arbiters gather every morning (visiting hours from 9 to 13 A.M. Then, anyone can come and ask them questions or offer propositions) in their imposing manor.
Also, this is the place where the Nexus University is located, teaching any number of knowledges, crafts, languages, and magical lore and use.There are also teachers of the Sublime Path and other such martial masters. The university also holds a permanent portal to the Librarium, a demiplane where all of Nyumir's books are kept. To use the portal, one must receive the Soul-Body Sigil from the university's dean. The current dean is Myyl Retul (Archivist 16, CR 17).
Thirdly, this is the location of the Sacred Temple, a large, glowing structure of religious worship. Right at the entrance stand the golden statues of Scher and Urbanus, 20 foot tall each, with his Scher's Codes written on two pillars on his left and right. Next comes a row of 15 feet tall marble statues representing the other gods of truth: Saint Cuthbert, Istus, Berronar Truesilver, Grumbar, Hakiyah, and Cyrrollalee. Beyond them lays a large, circular room spotted with shrines of several good and neutral deities. If an adventurer comes to pray here and looks for a certain deity, as long as the deity is not evil, is not illumian, and doesn't have secrets, lying, treachery and mischief in its portfolio, he has a 75% chance of finding it. At the very back of the temple, separated from the rest by a black curtain, is a small chamber where one can come to pray to an evil deity (you're still not allowed to pray to a deity of secrets, lying, treachery and mischief).
Fourthly, here is located a public square routinely used to hold events, votes, and watch people being whipped for their crimes. Here is also the place where judge and jury (formed by 9 random adults, always differs) come to try criminals. Thanks to the extended surveillance covering every single corner of Nyumir, such trials are almost never to decide on whether the accused is innocent or guilty. Most of the time, their purpose is to determine how harsh the punishment should be.
The Ring
The border of the city is populated by the militia, the guards, the firefighters and the criminals, since the jail is located here.
Blessing of Scher
Blessed by Scher, Nyumir is a place where people lead a slightly better life than elsewhere. They get a +2 sacred bonus to saves against disease and poison, roll twice for maximum age and get the better result (it's still secret), may ignore 1 day each for the purpose of suffering from starvation or thirst, and must save against massive damage on a damage of 65 instead of 50.
Also, this is a place where divination magic, particularly scrying, is strongly enhanced, ignoring and going through any material at any thickness. Magic that prevents scrying, such as Obscure Object, is still effective.
But the best treat there is is this mere opportunity for low-to-mid level PC groups to adventure in a place where a mob of ordinary citizens can take them down with ease - and where fooling people is not exactly an option.
So, without further ado, I present to you the wonder that is the metropolis of....
Nyumir
History
When the industrious and progressive Veritay set themselves a goal, there is little that can stand in their way. Thus, when a large number of them decided that there had been enough retreating and they're no use to each other scattered as they were, the craftiest of their architects and engineers (which is to say all of them) set up to build one of the grandest metropolises the world had ever beheld. The settlement was called Nyumir in honor of the first architect from the original team to die since the completion of the metropolis - dead at age 412, of old age, no less. This would go on to represent the resilience of the Veritay people and praise the safety of the locus for generations to come.
Set on fertile land and even ground, an hour's walk away from the important commercial river of Kethe, with scores of oak forests and marble deposits nearby for material, and thanks to the newly discovered method of extracting aluminum from clay, the community of architects and labourers flourished and gave rise to impressive structures that would later house merchants from upstream, artists, explorers, adventurers, and guards to protect the inhabitants from the dangers of the wild (several ogre tribes settled nearby after the city's construction had begun, their pillaging a real nuisance and noticeably wasteful).
Soon, the settlement hit a population of 50'000, something unfathomable for the region. Many started regarding the place as messily overpopulated, and there was some truth to this statement. With commerce dwindling and untidiness piling up, it was a bleak period for many, until the engineer Hiphyrne Saradusther had a dream. In the dream, he was visited by none other than Urbanus, God of Cities, who presented him the plans for a new and improved sewer system that would allow Nyumir to extend indefinitely, and an irrigation system that would bring water from the river to every household, without making its flow inconstant. When he awoke, Hiphyrne noticed that he retained every single detail of the blueprints, and jotted all of it down for future use. His improvements brought to the city were held in such high regard that after he died he was buried in a 15 foot tall and wide concrete block on which, via carved gold fillings, the story of his life was written. The block is situated near a shrine dedicated to Urbanus, and shadowhardened* for preservation.
And thus continued the growth of Nyumir. New districts were constructed, the population rose with foreigners as well as natives, the city's reach extended as far as engulfing Kethe (which provided a new source of income, since all future travel was taxed) and one of the nearby peaks. Great walls were erected in a continuous formation around the metropolis, measuring 200 feet in height, and for months on end the numerous Veritay casters worked hard and chanted intensely to shadowharden everything. Underground levels were built to support even more people without worry of crowding, until the population peaked at an impressive 250'000.
*Magically acquired property explained further down.
Geography and Ecology
Nyumir itself is a clean urban environment of warm climate. Virtually no wild critters, pests, or vermin live within its high walls. Outside, though, one can find lush vegetation, both plains and marshes, and mountains in the west. Any kind of creatures who prefer such conditions, whether unintelligent or of savage intelligence, may be making their living on these outskirts.
Neighbors
The mountains are populated by goliaths who frequently trade with the Veritay of Nyumir or offer their services in works that require physical strength. About 40 miles downstream there's a human metropolis numbering 22'000, named Thew. It has access to two major iron deposits in the region as well as opening to D'asaw Lake, and so the citizens of Nyumir are grateful for the constant stream of ore and fish that comes their way from there. In return, denizens of Thew get to marvel at the Aluminum sent by their neighbors and their fine, clear glass objects. A good 50 miles eastward lies a high elven community with a particularly large number of gray elves, who often come to Nyumir for magical research and exchange of knowledge. 100 miles further north, dwarven cities abound, and travellers from both dwarven lands and Nyumir embark in a perilous journey through the peaks to learn something of the other race's engineering brilliance and mastery of weaponmaking.
Oh, and there was, until about a decade ago, a chain cabal of the illumians hiding in the western marshes, closely keeping an eye on the veritay community for good or ill. It's not there anymore, since veritay aren't exactly known for being tolerant of secrecy. Or merciful, for that matter.
Demographic, Language, Alignment and Class Spreads
Nyumir's population remains largely veritay, at 85%. The rest is 9% dwarven, 4% human, 1% elven and 1% other. While interracial couples are common in this tolerant culture, this does nothing to skew the statistics, as the result of a union between a veritay and a member of another race is always a pure member of the mother's race. The average lifespan is high, most individuals living way over venerable in the clean, safe, disease proof environment that is Nyumir. The unusually high average level of the metropolis' inhabitants further shields them from death by violence or accident.
100% of the population knows Common, 92% knows Honirian (100% of the Veritay), and dwarven is widely used. The official language is Common.
Since veritay value hard work and excellence, they strive to acquire class levels. Many of them have those levels in divine-inclined classes, due to their nature and tendency for worship. The following statistics apply only to the adult veritay population of Nyumir, specifically, 170'000 individuals. The rest, 42500 young veritay and 37500 members of other races are considered by and large (with notable exceptions which will be presented later on) to be of a much more common, much lower level of expertise and power.
All adult Veritay have an ECL of at least 3. This generally either assumes two PC class levels (30%) or one PC class level and two NPC class levels (70%), plus LA.
The NPC class levels are either both expert (25%), one commoner and one expert (50%), one commoner and one adept (5%), both warrior (19%), or both enforcer** (1%)
From those who have class levels, 75% are either clerics, paladins**, favoured souls, or crusaders. The rest are either fighters, duskblades, wizards or swordsages.
10% of them (17'000) have an ECL higher than 3.
Of those 10%, half have as many NPC class levels as PC class levels.
0,1% (170) have an ECL higher than 9.
The highest level veritay characters in the metropolis are the herald Sigil (Favoured Soul 20, CR 21), cardinal Ydirial Rhasnus (Favoured Soul 1/Cloistered Cleric 7/*Scher Presence 10, CR 19), the guard commander Nyltum Senm (Favoured Soul 1/Crusader 6/*Truth Guard 10, CR 18), and the scientist and philosopher Yezenenn Dart (Favoured Soul 1/Bard 3/Archivist 5/*Epiphan 8, CR 18). The highest level non-veritay character is the human Gregor the Present (Wizard 9/Paladin 1/Urban Soul 10, CR 20)
City Councilors vary in CR from 3 to 10. Might doesn't give authority in democratic veritay lands.
All adult veritay have ranks in Sense Motive. During an encounter roll their rank number randomly from 1 to the maximum, all results being just as likely.
On the ethical axis, veritay can be and are all over the place, so expect equal amounts of lawful, chaotic and neutral individuals. On the moral axis they are a bit more particular: since veritay culture strongly discourages evil and lightly discourages good, the vast majority of the population is neutral. Refer to the table below for specific percentages:
{table]Alignment|Lawful|Neutral|Chaotic|Total
Good|10|5|13|28
Neutral|20|26|20|65
Evil|3|3|0|6
Total|33|34|33|100[/table]
A list detailing all Nyumir residents with an ECL of 15 or higher will be later provided in this thread.
*New Prestige Classes presented further down.
**New NPC Base Class presented further down.
Community Wealth, Economy, and the Market
Since Nyumir is an unusually large and both technologically and magically advanced metropolis, the normal rules for calculating wealth do not apply.
GP limit: 400'000 gold.
To calculate ready cash, multiply the entire GP limit by 1/10th of the population, normally resulting in an amount of 10'000'000'000 gold (10 billion).
While the market is free in the sense that nearly anything can be sold without restriction, taxation exists in the form of a sales tax (and a sales tax alone, aside from tariffs taken from all vessels going down Kethe*). Different merchandise have different taxes applied to them, as shown on the table below:
{table=head]Produce|General Sales Tax|**Market District Tax
Slaves|Illegal|Illegal
Food (not including spices)|-10%|-20%
Religious Objects, Holy Water, Materials, Statuettes, Incense|-5%|-5%
Spices, Books, Paper/Vellum, Writing Instruments|0%|-5%
Clothes|5%|0%
Crafting Tools, Alchemical Instruments, Arcane Material Components (excluding stones)|5%|5%
Weapons and Armor (nonmagical)|10%|5%
Weapons and Armor (magical)|10%|10%
Other Magical Items (better than faint)|15%|10%
Pets/Mounts|20%|15%
Precious Stones|25%|25%
Drugs and Poison|Illegal|30%
Anything except the above|10%|0%
[/table]
Taxes are collected monthly from merchants. Generally, merchants increase the price of their goods by the tax rate (or reduce it if the goods follow a negative rate). However, this is not compulsory, and merchants can offer any price they want for their wares. Merchants must keep a personal tab on what and how much of everything they sell so as to know what to give to the tax collectors (or in some cases what to demand from them. Goods with a negative tax rate are subsidized, and thus merchants selling them receive money the more they sell). They are examined by the tax collectors thoroughly, and if caught in a lie must pay a fine of 50 gold pieces and spend 1 year in jail. If they were honest, but due to sloppy calculations, unseen errors or a vague understanding of the tax code got their payment wrong, they are not allowed to sell things for a full 6 months, and if they had a spot at the Market District, it is immediately auctioned. They MAY participate in the auction, but even if they win, they still can't sell anything for 6 months. Such merchants are recognized from a glowing golden illusory lock floating above their head, the effect of Assign Symbol***. If someone is caught buying from a marked merchant anyway, he will be publically whipped and spend up to two years in jail. The merchant itself doesn't receive any penalty except that the period in which he cannot sell things renews to 6 months.
*The Tarriff for moving through, docking or exiting Nyumir through the river Kethe is calculated thusly:
If the ship doesn't stop in the city, it must pay 30 gold pieces +2 gold pieces for every passenger.
If the ship stops in the city, but doesn't trade, it must pay 40 gold pieces +2 gold pieces for every passenger +1 more gold piece for every passenger that leaves the ship to stay in the city for more than 48 hours.
If the ship stops in the city, and trades, it must pay 50 gold pieces +2 gold pieces for every passenger +1 more gold piece for every passenger that leaves the ship to stay in the city for more than 48 hours +2 more gold pieces for every merchant who comes to trade in the city.
**More information on the districts of Nyumir will be given in the following headings.
***New 1st Level Spell
Power Center
Despite the abundance of magic, generally divine, within Nyumir, the city is not ruled by those who can cast the most flashy spells or raise people the quickest. Power is wielded by elected representatives, and thus, Nyumir has a Conventional power center.
Any Veritay of at least 75 years of age and an Intelligence score of 14 or higher can be up for election. While members of other races cannot hold political office, they can vote as long as they are considered past adulthood depending on their race. The city's army, police, courthouses are all administered by the 15 leaders called Arbiters, who also decide the law of the land.
There are two types of actions: minor actions/laws and major actions/laws. Minor actions - such as deciding to spend public money to repair a certain structure or trade with a specific neighbor or send an ambassador to a faraway land or slightly modify the tax code or reposition soldiers and guards around the city - can be done directly if 8 of the 15 arbiters agree upon the decision. If the population believes an action is not minor enough and the arbiters overstepped their role, they may protest via an official petition. If the petition is signed by 10'000 adults, then the action is reclassified from minor to major, and is administered as such. For a major action to be put into effect, only 1 arbiter must agree with it, but then the entire city must vote on it. Again, any adult permanent member can vote, and everyone has one single vote, and the options are these: "Yes", "No" and "Needs to be Modified". If the number of Yes votes is higher than the number of No or NtbM votes (individually), then the action takes place. If the number of No votes is higher than the number of Yes or NtbM votes (individually), the action doesn't take place, and nothing similar can be proposed for 5 years. Military propositions, such as attacking a neighbor or strengthening the city's defense are immune to this rule, and can be proposed again at any time. If the number of NtbM votes is higher than the number of Yes or No votes, the arbiters are forced to come up with a new formulation of the law/action within 3 months.
Once a year, the arbiters must decide between themselves on which 5 members to resign. If they cannot agree on this, they must hold a public random drawing of the names of the resigned. If the resigned are chosen this way, the population present at the event may decide on one resignee to be spared, and replaced by another arbiter, which again is to be drawn at random. After this, voting begins for 5 new arbiters. Everyone has two votes, which they can use for the same person or different people. Trying to alter the outcome of the election by casting a single vote, or casting more than one ballot of two votes, or emulating someone else's vote, or tempering with the ballot boxes, carries the sentence of being permanently exiled from Nyumir with no possibility of return. If the perpetrator had a house or apartment in the city, all his belongings will be sent to him, but he will not receive anything as reinbursement for the living space itself, which is appropriated as public property and set for sale at a price 50% lower than normal.
No arbiter can hold office for more than 5 years, and no arbiter can ever be reelected after he is resigned. In the case that at the end of a year there are 5 or more arbiters that must resign due to having spent 5 years in office, no other random resigns are necessary.
The alignment of the power center is halfway between Lawful Neutral and Lawful Good. There is a codified set of laws that are competently, yet mercilessly enforced, rulers often follow their personal interest, but they are incorruptible through outside influence, there is no intolerance and citizens of any gender, race or non-evil creed are treated equally, but wandering non-citizens aren't, there is no such thing as unwilling conscription but after you willingly join the military you cannot leave, the state is perfectly transparent and cannot hide anything from you, but you can't hide anything from it either, death sentences are almost unheard of but the justice system imposes harsh physical punishment for relatively minor crimes, and while most willingly follow the law, these "most" are veritay whom naturally tend to obey it anyway, while the other races might find the legal system too strict at times.
The Law Rank of the region is 15 (DMG2), one of the highest scores possible. The power center is lawful, social standing doesn't matter, criminals are caught more often than not, the justice system is impervous to corruption, the code of law is written and rather old, and transitions of power have been orderly.
Laws and Punishment
There are 6 major types of punishment in Nyumir: death by soul destruction, death by disintegration, forced exile, imprisonment, fines and whipping.
Death by soul destruction is the punishment for destroying another being's soul. The perpetrator is tied up in an AMF and Scher himself materializes to break his soul into nothingness with his sword.
Death by disintegration is the punishment for premeditated murder while already imprisoned. The perpetrator is simply zapped until he no longer makes his saving throw.
Forced exile is the punishment for premeditated murder, rape, arson, election fraud, changing the type or subtype of a person against his will, and not declaring thar you are carrying an infectious disease you were aware of. The perpetrator must leave the city in 24 hours with nothing but the clothes on him (his pockets emptied and valuables and money confiscated). He is never to return.
Imprisonment is the general punishment for many crimes, generally those that prove you are a threat to society or actively subverting its mechanisms. To determine prison times use your common sense. Generally public urination warrants one month, while stabbing someone repeatedly in the chest without provocation warrants 10 years, which are the shortest and longest possible punishments, respectively.
Fines, aside from district specific fines, are generally given as punishment for breach of contract, tax evasion or for when the actions of the perpetrator caused damage that requires time, money and resources to repair. Judge and jury decide how much the victim needs to recover completely, and then the convict must give 250% of that - 125% to the victim(s) and 125% to the state. If the victim IS the state (for instance, damage to public property), the fine is only 200%.
Whipping is the punishment for lying and an added punishment to all crimes that imply or are based on deception. Regardless of the crime, the whipping takes 15 minutes and is done only once (per crime).
If someone is fined but not given prison time, he may choose to pay only the victim's half of the fine right away (or 100% in case of the state being the victim). If he does so, he is sent to work on the Farmlands daily for 6 hours a day, and continually assessed. If he skips a day of work or is assessed negatively for a day, he must stop working and pay the rest of the fine right away, but at one less gold for every day of work minus the last one.
If someone is given prison time but is not fined, or he already paid the fine in full, he may choose voluntary exile instead of imprisonment. Unlike for a forced exile, the subject of a voluntary exile has 7 days to leave the city, can take all of his belongings with him, and can sell his former residence and keep the money (aside from the 10% tax). However, just like a forced exile, the person who chooses voluntary exile cannot return, ever.
Districts
Nyumir is divided into 8 districts: Bys, Cys, Dys, the Market District, the Farmland, the Forge, Thrice, and the Ring.
Bys, Cys, Dys
Living quarters, most of the city's population lives here, almost equally spread. Each district, however, has slightly different regulations to meet its resident's preferences.
Bys is a place for those who enjoy peace and quiet. Parades, wandering minstrels, and anyone else singing loud enough better beware, since in this part of the town (and ONLY here) making too much noise is against the law and fined from 10 to 50 gold, depending on the disturbance.
Cys is a place for those who want to be left alone by these scripture pushers. Here, and only here, proselitizing your religion, adorning the exterior of your home with religious symbols, sculptures and paintings, wearing overly religious clothes and burning incense on the streets are against the law and fined from 10 to 100 gold, depending on the behaviour.
Dys is a place for the straight edge. Here, and only here, drug consumption is illegal and fined from 100 to 250 gold, depending on the quantity of the substance, potency and withdrawal symptoms.
Aside from residential buildings one can also find impromptu shops, inns, stables, barbershops, "private investigators", mercenaries for hire, casinos, public showers and johns. There are also medical physicians tending to the sick in case of an immediate emergency, although if the situation doesn't need to be solved in a minute, the citizens more often than not prefer going to the Sacred Temple and being healed there. It's often more expensive than the alternative, but there isn't any real poverty in Nyumir.
The Market District
The market district is a place where merchants can buy a permanent spot to sell their wares. There are exactly 500 shops set up at all times, and whenever one is left vacant (the merchant simply leaving it, being sent to jail, being left bankrupt or dying) the shop is set up for auction. Shops cannot be inherited or change owners directly, they are each owned by an individual person and become free game for everybody when that person relinquishes ownership of them for whatever reason. Money from auctions is taken by the state.
The Farmland
On the fields of the Farmland people can grow their crops of edible plants, textile plants or drug plants. Animals are not grown in Nyumir, and all meat is obtained from trades with the goliaths. The Farmlands are multi-layered, totaling 6 layers floating on top of each other at regular intervals of 20 feet. Through special spells farmers can use a spire at the middle of their current layer to float to another layer. So far only the first 4 layers of the Farmland have been occupied. Buying space costs 1 gold per square feet, and no single person can occupy more than 10% of an entire layer. Unlike Market District spots, patches of land can be inherited, but this will no longer be possible after all strata are fully occupied - at that point, auctions will take effect.
The Forge
Not only a forge, this diverse district is the place where textiles are woven, ores are purified, metal is poured into shapes, aluminum is extracted, leather is battered, bricks are molded, alchemists cackle madly in their labs and animals meet their demise in the name of soap and glue. Tis' a busy place where one can easily find work.
Thrice
The coltural, spiritual, and actual center of the city, Thrice is the place where the fifteen Arbiters gather every morning (visiting hours from 9 to 13 A.M. Then, anyone can come and ask them questions or offer propositions) in their imposing manor.
Also, this is the place where the Nexus University is located, teaching any number of knowledges, crafts, languages, and magical lore and use.There are also teachers of the Sublime Path and other such martial masters. The university also holds a permanent portal to the Librarium, a demiplane where all of Nyumir's books are kept. To use the portal, one must receive the Soul-Body Sigil from the university's dean. The current dean is Myyl Retul (Archivist 16, CR 17).
Thirdly, this is the location of the Sacred Temple, a large, glowing structure of religious worship. Right at the entrance stand the golden statues of Scher and Urbanus, 20 foot tall each, with his Scher's Codes written on two pillars on his left and right. Next comes a row of 15 feet tall marble statues representing the other gods of truth: Saint Cuthbert, Istus, Berronar Truesilver, Grumbar, Hakiyah, and Cyrrollalee. Beyond them lays a large, circular room spotted with shrines of several good and neutral deities. If an adventurer comes to pray here and looks for a certain deity, as long as the deity is not evil, is not illumian, and doesn't have secrets, lying, treachery and mischief in its portfolio, he has a 75% chance of finding it. At the very back of the temple, separated from the rest by a black curtain, is a small chamber where one can come to pray to an evil deity (you're still not allowed to pray to a deity of secrets, lying, treachery and mischief).
Fourthly, here is located a public square routinely used to hold events, votes, and watch people being whipped for their crimes. Here is also the place where judge and jury (formed by 9 random adults, always differs) come to try criminals. Thanks to the extended surveillance covering every single corner of Nyumir, such trials are almost never to decide on whether the accused is innocent or guilty. Most of the time, their purpose is to determine how harsh the punishment should be.
The Ring
The border of the city is populated by the militia, the guards, the firefighters and the criminals, since the jail is located here.
Blessing of Scher
Blessed by Scher, Nyumir is a place where people lead a slightly better life than elsewhere. They get a +2 sacred bonus to saves against disease and poison, roll twice for maximum age and get the better result (it's still secret), may ignore 1 day each for the purpose of suffering from starvation or thirst, and must save against massive damage on a damage of 65 instead of 50.
Also, this is a place where divination magic, particularly scrying, is strongly enhanced, ignoring and going through any material at any thickness. Magic that prevents scrying, such as Obscure Object, is still effective.