Champaya
The main port of Haragala is also the capital city of the
Commonwealth. It is a big city, with more than 10,000 inhabitants.
The city is not walled and its boundaries simply blend into the rice paddies that extend beyond its fringes. The maze of buildings that rise high above the streets, courtyards, and alleys form a web that would confuse and disorient any attacker. The streets are crowded with people, litters carrying the rich and market stalls where traders hawk their ways. Violence is endemic on the streets; the council of captains is more concerned with foreign affairs than safety after dark.
Canals snake throughout the city and many people travel through the city by boat instead of litter. Water from the sea fills the canals. The locals often use the canals as an open sewer; fortunately, the tide washes much of the worst of the city's effluent out to sea. Sea snakes are common. Many houses of the great families have steps down to the canals from their great verandas. Even the poorest homes may have people fishing from their houses where they project out over the canals. Traders ply small boats up and down the canals hawking their goods. The city extends out on to the water, where boats gather to form impromptu markets where vendors sell all manner of goods. The only fully floating market occurs near the Captain's Hall on a large lake area.
The natural harbor is poor, so the Haragalans have built a huge pier to protect the port. On this pier is the Round Castle, a large fortress encircling a smaller harbor for the warships. On the castle roof, the biggest sunscope of all guards the main harbor's entrance.
The Hall of Captains is one of the few stone buildings within the town. The Hall is a fortress made from cyclopean stone blocks, rising five stories above the ground. Surrounded by canals on all sides access to the Hall is by a narrow bridge that runs through a gatehouse. Windows are shuttered and at least fifteen feet above the ground. Inside the lower levels are dark lit by torches, unless they open onto interior courtyards. All the courtyards and gardens are within the walls not outside it. The rooftop is crenelated and high tower gives a commanding view out to the harbor and the Round Castle. There is no sunscope here, but a signaling mirror makes for easy communication between the Hall and the Round Castle. A canal enters and leaves the fortress, but strong brass gates bars access.
The Great Hall lies within the heart of the castle and is actually within a courtyard and open to the sky. Great mahogany chairs sit in a semicircle around a dais. Speakers address the council from the dais. The chairs toward the front are those of the captains with the largest fleets and those that sit further back have less power, with those commanding only a single tall ship seated at the rear. The captains sit in factions; those in the front ranks are also the leaders of their parties. The atmosphere is bawdy with jeers and heckles from the crowd. Priests of Govmeranen preside over proceedings, opening council meetings with a sacrifice to bring wise rule or aid against enemies, but they have little secular power and tend to bow to the wishes of the powerful over observing procedure.
A small but efficient army of temple-trained scribes provides administrative support to government as well as executing its will in matters of urban administration and domestic policy. Magistrates appointed by the council, administer the law; the council always tries captains. Dungeons and torture chambers aid the work of the bureaucrats. Slaves provide much of the labor within the Captain's Hall. Most are East Islanders, but a few are exotic foreigners from Kralorela, Maslo and beyond.
The Great Haragalan Families
These are the families that sit upon the Council of Captains. They
own and operate the tallships that provide that status, as well as
supporting considerable merchant fleets. The heads of these families
are all called Captain and their wife Great Mistress. Trader Jadilulo
deliberately flaunts this tradition. Although the Jadilulo maintain a
fleet of seven tallships Trader Jadilulu modestly refers to himself
as just a `trader'.
Haragalan families live in a longhouse made of bamboo and raised on stilts. There is a public space on one side and walls divide the other into a sequence of adjacent rooms, each holding parents, children and grandparents. The great families longhouses have grown over time, swallowing nearby buildings, adding new extensions and gradually transforming into a maze of buildings and courtyards. As a result the great families have their own parts of the port, where their great houses sprawl on stilts webbed together with rope bridges. The houses have large common rooms and verandas where hundreds of people can gather to watch shadow puppets or dancers accompanied. Visitors often have their own hut connected to the main buildings by rope bridges. The houses of the great families can also be identified by their elaborately gabled roofs that dominate the walls and must be supported by their own piles. The walls are highly sloped to allow run-off and the great gables prevent water entering the house and provide shade.
The Captain's Council
The Silver Party
Trader Jadilulo – The greatest captain that the Haragalans have ever
known he was beloved of the people for trying to spread the wealth
that accrues to the great ship-owning families more widely to the
masses.
First Captain Kamarla – A loyal companion to Trader Jadilulo, Kamarla has been at his side during his most famous raids, such as those on the Vormain hinterlands, and the Keetslands. He has been a solid voice for the Trader during the latter's absences. Good-looking, witty, and charismatic he is popular with the ladies, though most know that the Veiled Princess of Dreams is a particular favorite.
Third Captain Jadilulo – Trader Jadilulo's nephew and heir, who has a duty to avenge his uncle's death at the hands of his assassins or lose face. He is heir not only to his uncle's wealth, but also to his conviction that the council has failed to help the poor. He wants to raise taxes on the pirates to pay for civic works. Brilliantly intelligent he believes that a benevolent dictatorship could do more to help the people than the captain's assembly could.
Yothenara Priestess Jadilulo – Third Captain Jadilulo's sister she is determined not just to be her brother's tool. Schooled in the arts of love she was offered as a replacement wife to First captain Geblemo. She was incensed that he chose Sorceress Pomalga instead. Slighted, she plots Sorceress Pomalga's fall with Great Mistress Henali, but now realizes that she unwittingly helped Great Mistress Henali assassinate her uncle by enticing High Priest Govmeranen to visit her when she was working as a sacred prostitute in the Yothenara temple.
High Priest of Maluraya – The High Priest believes that as Govmeranen rules the gods, so should a king rule in Haragala. He controls the magic of the Sunscopes and so is vital to building new ships. He cannot decide between Trader Jadilulo's nephew who has the seal of legitimacy but little experience and First Captain Kamarla who has the record of leadership but no kingly ambition. He must persuade High Priest Govmeranen of his choice.
The Gold Party
First Captain Henali – The leader of the Gold Party, Henali was the
first to strike Trader Jadilulo down in the Great Hall, fearing the
collapse of the Captain's Council and everything that has made
Haragala great. He is a traditionalist believing that a man must
prove himself worthy as a captain to lead others, for the lessons of
running a ship applies to running a state, but that no one captain
should rule. His mother is Great Mistress Henali with whom Trader
Jadilulo once had an affair.
Great Mistress Henali – `Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' and Great Mistress Henali is proof of that. When Trader Jadilulo spurned the widow's advances for the Sorceress Pomalga, who even bore him a child she was filled with rage at the Jadilulo family and his `witchwoman'. Having brought the trader to his death by manipulating her son, she now seeks to bring down the rest of his family and the sorceress.
First Captain Geblemo – A war hero whose successes against the Wolf Pirates a few years ago when a large fleet of their ships passed through the East Isles. This was Haragala's darkest hour and the nation turned to First Captain Geblemo to defeat the enemy. His victory was brilliant, scattering the more numerous enemy fleet. The nation feted him. Once friends with Trader Jadilulo, he was married to the Trader's daughter. Her death in childbirth broke their alliance and he married First Captain Henali's sister instead.
Trader Kerenpol – Trader Kerenpol started his career selling vinegary wines and rotten rice sacks from a boat on the canals. He also dealt in stolen goods and had many contacts among the criminal gangs of Champaya. He soon found himself involved in protection rackets in the city's many markets. He invested his wealth in trade and tall ships. His crews plunder non-Commonwealth vessels and trade with Kralorela. His wealth and fleet rival that of Trader Jadilulo. At the same time, the criminal overlords of the Street Tigers still dictate his actions and they favor the disorganization of the Captain's Council. Kerenpol is ambitious and he might make his own bid for the throne if he could escape his paymasters.
Independents
Sorceress Pomalga – An ambitious dream magician Pomalga struggles to
control her house in place of the weak nephews who assert their rite
to rule on the grounds of sex. Feminist, magically powerful, and with
strong convictions her lover Trader Jadilulo kept her in power. She
seeks to replace his support and has her eyes on First Captain
Kamarla, much to the disgust of his present lover the Veiled Princess
of Dreams. Pomalga is willing to draw upon the power of nightmare,
but her experimentation risks her becoming a dream wraith.
Veiled Princess of Dreams – The mistress of First Captain Kamarla she seeks to aid his rise to power. She is an agent for Golden Mokato and seeks to control Haragalan naval power on their behalf. A secret mirror in the Masked Boudoir allows her to communicate with her Mokatan spymasters. A sorceress of dream magic her archrival is Pomalga. She believes that Pomalga has drawn upon the power of nightmare and fears she might transform into a dream wraith.
High Priest Govmeranen – remains unconvinced that just because gods have kings so should men. The high priest presides over the Captain's Council. Anyone trying to take the dictators chair without his permission would suffer the wrath of the gods. He longs for the young Yothenara Priestess Jadilulo with whom he has several `holy' liaisons in her temple, but fears it cannot be.
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