In the City of Kashaad

The City

Kashaad is obviously an old and beautiful place, with lots of incredibly ornate stonework everywhere. It also appears almost totally deserted. The city has a population of about 30,000, making it larger than Paiden, but of those almost 25,000 are Elders, confined in one of the vast Halls of Wisdom that surround Mount Kuetar. The remainder are Youngers, who work to support the Elders and maintain the city.

The secret of Kashaad is the Blood of Abbatine, which can be reached through a fissure in the side of Mount Kuetar. This substance is a thick, reddish fluid that apparently occurs only far beneath the surface of Abbatine. It's uses are twofold:

• The Youngers spread the Blood of Abbatine throughout the city, making it a High Mana area (giving +1 to spellcasting rolls and +1 energy to all spells)
• The Elders drink the Blood of Abbatine, making them immune to death by aging, though their bodies still become frail and weak (all aging losses are taken on HT and ST, but neither stat can drop below 3).

Groups in the City

In general, the population of Kashaad are descended from blues who fled from the World of Shildree. A typical blue has slate-blue skin and a hooked lip. Blues also do not grow facial hair. They are normal humans, but with -1 hit point (-5 points) and +1 Alertness (5 points). Magery is much more common among female blues than male blues, though the fact that all residents of Kashaad learn magic mutes this difference somewhat. They split into two social groups: Youngers (those less than about 60 years old) and Elders (those who have become sufficiently feeble that they must be kept in the Halls of Wisdom). Within these groups there are several subdivisions:

• The Bloodkeepers: Youngers responsible for gathering and distributing the Blood of Abbatine. De facto rulers of the city, with the approval of the Elders.
• The Bordermen: Youngers responsible for keeping the Ganbell Clan adapoi away from the city. Tend to be very hard-bitten warrior types.
• The Khatumor: Twelve Elders of either advanced years or great knowledge who rule the city. Theoretically chosen by the vote of the Elders, the current membership of the Khatumor has not changed in decades.
• The Drones: Elders who, despite their advanced age and great status, contribue little or nothing to the city. At least 60% of the Elders fall into this group.
• The Watching Moon Sisters: Female Youngers who learn the arts of sorcery. The Watching Moons were once the only significant magicians among the refugees. Their position of power has been seriously eroded by the spread of magical knowledge among the population, but they still serve as teachers and experts.
• The Waiting Moon Sisters: Female Elders who were once members of the Watching Moon. The Waiting Moon issues orders to the Watching Moon. Most Waiting Moons have large quantities of sorcerous knowledge, but many cannot use it anymore (due to low ST and HT).

Important Landmarks

The city of Kashaad is a beautiful but empty city. The buildings are faced with stone carvings and detailed facades. The streets are paved with neat cobblestones, but are nearly empty of people. It is obvious after only minutes in the city that though thousands of folk clearly once lived here, the current population is much smaller. Significant buildings include:

• The Halls of Wisdom. Residence to the nearly 25,000 Elders of Kashaad. These huge beehive-shaped buildings stand at the foot of Mount Kuetar.
• The Hall of the Khatumor. A regal building fronted with fluted columns. The putative governing body of Kashaad dwells here, along with the Khatumor's Younger assistants and servants.
• The Bloodeepers' Sanctuary. This complex of buildings stands apart from the rest of the city, up near the fissure in Mount Kuetar. The Bloodkeepers live here. They can often be seen scaling the walls of the fissure to retrieve the Blood of Abbatine from the interior of Mount Kuetar. Soon afterward, teams of Bloodkeepers will travel throughout the city and it's lands, spreading the Blood of Abbatine into the ground.
• The Marketplace. The Market of Kashaad is a near-maze of stone stalls, all surrounding a massive fountain and pool. Though once it bustled with the commerce of the city, it is now almost three-quarters empty.
• The Bordermen's Barracks. The barracks complex isn't particularly noticeable compared to the other buildings of Kashaad. However, the pens for the riding spiders are visible around the back of the barracks.
• The Bridge to Shildree. Though the Bridge isn't in Kashaad proper, it is an important landmark. The population of Kashaad took the Bridge to escape from Shildree, and most of the Elders still remember the flight. Though none of the Youngers were alive in the days of the Exile, they consider the Bridge to be forbidden to them. Even if it weren't, most of them are unwilling to consider leaving Kashaad and the power they have there.

The Characters in Kashaad

The characters want two things: a market for their jaya and a way to get to the city of Paiden. The folk of Kashaad can provide both: they don't know about jaya, and many of the Youngers are good prospects to pick up a taste for it. They also know a path from the Kashaad River (so they call their branch of Abbatine's Great River) that leads towards Paiden. Unfortunately, they can't use it because the Ganbell Clan occupies the first part of it. The other adapoi clans beyond the Ganbell (the Ardamoi, the Tellemad and the Hoobeloi) are not nearly as hostile to the folk of Kashaad, in part because they have some contact with Paiden, but the Ganbell have raised savage atraphors, trained them to hunt and kill humans and deyrey, and distributed them along the path. The other adapoi can largely ignore the creatures, but they will attack human caravans and deyrey war-parties.