The Tarluskani Empire

Half a century after the Scorching, a man named Isram united the Tarluskani tribes dwelling in the desert north of the Khanates. He named himself Warlord Isram and directed his horde southward, conquering the city-states and enslaving the populace.

After the Khanite subjugation, Isram transitioned to Reyja, declaring her rule the first of the Tarluskani Empire. She gave the tribes of her most trusted supporters command over a city each before marching her forces south through Saharjin to invade Deliverance. She perished in the siege of Avondown, Deliverance’s final stronghold, and her wife’s ward, Arbab, took command of the Empire. They renamed Avondown ‘Reyjadin’ in Reyja’s honor and distributed command of the newly-conquered provinces over to their most trusted generals before returning to the Empire’s capital, Tarlusya.

The Empire resembles a constellation of loosely-aligned districts, each governed by a single tribe. While all pay fealty to Emperor Rajj, the tribes frequently squabble with each other when unsupervised. Each tribe has a specific glyph marking their flags, armor, and official seals.

A Tarluskani’s tribal heritage is central to their identity. It determines their allies, their enemies, and their sacred stories. Acting honorably is crucial; their behavior reflects on how others will view their tribe. Disputing a Tarluskani’s honor can only be resolved with a swift apology or a duel to the death. Disrespecting an entire tribe usually leads to a far more unpleasant fate.

While most in Deliverance avoided slavery, almost all in the former Khanite city-states are still enslaved. Non-ethnic Tarluskani, both slaves and freefolk, can join a tribe through a decade of military service to the Empire.

The Islands of Korg

The islands of Korg stand between the Sea of Shadows and the wide ocean beyond. When the Tarluskani invaded the Azure Sultanate, the surviving Khanite bureaucrats and merchants fled to Korg. There, they established an independent principality, sustained through piracy. These immigrants became the Pirate Sovereigns of Tal Afar. While they initially preyed only on Tarluskani vessels, their principles have eroded with time.

          The Pirate Sovereigns keep to themselves, playing intrigues against one another and plotting the next big adventure, leaving the ordinary folks in Korg free to do whatever they please. Consequently, no one in Korg cares what or how someone fucks, provided they do not make a mess. As emotional attachments provide an obvious vulnerability, those in committed relationships (queer or otherwise) work to keep them quiet.

          As the center for piracy, Korg caters to a rough crowd. While many children are born in Korg, few survive to adulthood. Those that do were often nourished on the tall and not-so-tall tales traded among the more seasoned pirates.

The Khanates

As a reference for my players, I'm posting publicly some general overview information about each of the large regions they currently know about.

North of Saharjin, but south of the northern desert lies a constellation of city-states known as the Khanates. While currently the seat of the Tarluskani Empire, before the Scorching these cities were part of the Azure Sultanate. A Khan ruled each city-state, advised by an army of ministers. Constantly feuding, each city vied for influence with both the Azure Sultan and the mystic Threnna peoples from Saharjin. The Tarluskani took advantage of the Scorching’s devastation and quickly overran the city-states, enslaving all their citizens.

All Khanites are branded, usually on their forehead or cheek. Slaves have three choices: toil in slavery until death, enlist in the Tarluskani military to be freed after ten years, or escape and flee slave-catchers forever. Escaped or freed slaves often hide their tattoo with scarring or a new tattoo.

Most Khanites have adopted the customs and dress of the Tarluskani and study the Myths of Fiája. Consequently, little remains of the culture of the Azure Sultanate. Some activists work to revive the practices of the Azure Sultanate, but the Tarluskani government takes a dim view of such efforts.

Expanding the Card Mechanic

After teaching my players the Persuasion rules and having them come up several times during the running, I'm pleased to say they worked exactly how I wanted them to, with a few adjustments.

During our discussion after the fact about the new mechanic, one of my players suggested I find other uses for it, other skills that's resolution could best be determined through this card process. We brainstormed a list, and I've now a table that lists each skill and the unique failure conditions for each suite and face card (except for Artist, which will need its own table).

	Caravanner	Mechanist	Persuasion	Ritual Mishaps	Wildcrafter	Wrangler
Hearts	Social	Jam	Bitterness	Changed	Tainted food	Defiant
Ace	4 ranks principle	Lock sealed	New enemy	roll 2d4+2d6	Half inedible	Cannot be trained
King	3 ranks principle	4 people to unstick	Followers, hirelings accosted	roll 2d4+1d6	Third inedible	4x time to retry
Queen	2 ranks principle	3 people to unstick	Party waylaid	roll 1d4+1d6	Quarter inedible	3x time to retry
Jack	1 rank principle	2 people to unstick	Reputation tarnished	roll 1d6	Quarter inedible	2x time to retry
Diamonds	Add card	Break pick	Bribery	Greedy	Misidentified	As hearts
Ace	ranks +2	Break 4	Bribe as 14	4x	All weeds	Unbroken
King	ranks +1	Break 3	Bribe as 13	3x	75% weeds	4x time
Queen	ranks +1	Break 2	Bribe as 12	3x	50% weeds	3x time
Jack	ranks +1	Break 2	Bribe as 11	2x	50% weeds	2x time
Clubs	Physical	Noise	Violence	Drained	Broken gear	Feral
Ace	4 ranks principle	6d6 yards	All-out assault	1 injury	8 pieces	Eats people
King	3 ranks principle	6d4 yards	Kidnapping	Take 3 damage	6 pieces	Attacks people
Queen	2 ranks principle	4d6 yards	New faction involved	Take 2 damage	4 pieces	Afraid of people
Jack	1 rank principle	4d4 yards	Lodgings assaulted	Take 2 damage	2 pieces	Retry +1 cards
Spades	Mental	Slowed	Negation	Flawed	Infected	As clubs
Ace	4 ranks principle	Quadruple time spent	Negate and duplicate	Higher tier ritual	Take 1 injury	Eats people
King	3 ranks principle	Triple time spent	Negates 3	All random	Take 3 damage	Attacks people
Queen	2 ranks principle	Double time spent	Negates 2	Random ritual	Take 2 damage	Afraid of people
Jack	1 rank principle	Double time spent	Negates 2	Random focus	Take 1 damage	Retry +1 cards

We'll integrate these into our game the next time we play and see how things turn out.