TEXT:  
   
  Board Enterprises proudly presents 
  Build Your Fantasy World in  
   
  Small Bites 
   
  The Yugsalanti Fortune Tellers 
  of the Roads 
   
  aka All About Fortune Tellers 
  (both real and fake) 
   
   
   
  
  1 
   
  INTRODUCTION 
   
   
  Welcome to one of our most “split personality” 
  editions to date.  Why is it even more all over the place 
  than the others?  Because we’re going to be talking about 
  two types of fortune tellers:  the real ones using magic 
  and the fake ones using trickery.  More, the Yugsalanti 
  people are infamous for being scam artists and con men.  
  But not all of them.  In fact, less than a third of them are 
  dishonest and thieving (maybe as low as one-fifth), but 
  the bad apples have destroyed the barrel on this one. 
   
  So we’re pretty excited and mainly exhausted 
  tackling this subject, but we really think it’s one you’ll 
  enjoy.  There’s really something for everyone in this 
  edition:  magic, politics, backstabbing (a different kind 
  than you find in politics), craftsmen, entertainers, and 
  general roguish behavior.  With many different types of 
  Yugsalanti peoples and many types of “industry” (yeah, 
  we mean scams), you will see that this edition is filled to 
  the rafters with smaller ideas and mid-sized adventure 
  mission sparks.  Not only that, but since most the 
  Yugsalantis are nomadic, the ideas can work nearly 
  anywhere in your world. 
   
  Probably more importantly, this edition was going 
  to be covered later on, but the votes of our Patreon 
  patrons pushed it to the front of the line.  That is the way 
  we want to be building this - In the order that works best 
  for you folks.  If you’re interested in a subject, just let us 
  know what it is, and simply because our fans are looking 
  for it, we’ll get it to you as quickly as we can! 
   
  Table of Contents 
   
  Introduction .................................................................... 1 
  Artist Spotlight ............................................................... 1 
  Pronunciation Guide ................................................... 1 
  Fletnern Wiki .................................................................. 2 
  The Sounding Board ....................................................... 5 
  Lifestyles of the Magical and Mundane ......................... 9 
  News of Fletnern .......................................................... 11 
  The Good Life .............................................................. 17 
  Slang & Superstition ................................................. 20 
  Artist Spotlight ............................................................. 21 
  What’s Missing ............................................................. 22 
  In Conclusion ................................................................ 22 
   
  ARTIST SPOTLIGHT 
   
   
  We are thrilled to partner with the up and coming 
  artist Catou.  As you’ll see on the cover, in this edition, 
  and in the Spotlight later on, she’s clearly a gifted and 
  talented artist.  We’re thrilled to be able to show off her 
  work before the rest of the industry goes crazy for her.  
  The rest of her work can be seen at: 
  https://catou15.deviantart.com/ 
   
  More of her work and contacts later on. 
   
  Pronunciation Guide 
   
   
  GMs and especially world builders can often make 
  the mistake of using names that they cannot pronounce.  
  Wish we could say we’ve never done that, but well, we 
  can’t.  Some of the names here are not that easy to 
  pronounce, so we’ve tried to give them to you in what 
  we consider to be their phonetic spelling.  The 
  capitalized syllables are where you will find the accent.  
  Know what?  It really doesn’t matter if you 
  mispronounce them!  Do what works! 
   
  Bennisechktma = ben EE sect ma 
  Cynneex Alliance = sin EE axe 
  Moseequa = moe SEE kwa 
  Velesan = vell (like fell) ES (like you were saying the 
  name of the letter “S”) ann (like the girl’s name) 
  Yugsalanti = YUG sill auntie - where “yug” is similar to 
  “ugh” like a frustrated Charlie Brown would say. 
  
  2 
   
   
  FLETNERN WIKI 
   
   
  All of these posts are already out on the wiki and 
  you can refer to them there.  We have gathered them 
  here, because we think they are valuable in a group, and 
  they all pertain to our theme for the month.  All of them 
  are also tagged as being in the categories of 
  “Yugsalantis” in case you are more comfortable using 
  the wiki instead of this edition. 
   
  Bennisechktma Family 
  Group 
   
  The Bennisechktma Family leads the Cynneex 
  Alliance.  These extremely charismatic men have the 
  political skills to advance their cause and lead the largest 
  Yugsalanti alliance.  Between their soldiers and other 
  members, they are likely to become the dominant force 
  in the city-state of Parnania. 
   
  Bynar Bennisechktma is the leader of the family 
  and the de facto leader of the alliance.  He is a fast 
  talking con man like many Yugsalantis, but he is brilliant 
  in giving patriotic speeches and inserting propaganda and 
  believable falsehoods.  He has fought many battles in his 
  life and is skilled in war and raiding. 
   
  Hephestus “Heph” Bennisechktma is the “prince” 
  of the family and alliance.  He is a very handsome man 
  with wit and charm.  He has no problem controlling the 
  hearts of women and is gifted enough to sway most men 
  even without the sexual tension.  He is not only the 
  alliance’s “face man”, but he is the chief diplomat as 
  well. 
   
  Central Plains - North 
  Region 
  Continent: Drentae (Central) 
  Terrain:  Plains 
  Major City:  Parnania  
   
  The North Central Plains are the home of the 
  Velesans and the Yugsalantis.  Perhaps the flattest 
  farmland in the world, the Central Plains are able to 
  produce vast quantities of grains, especially wheat. 
   
  The Velesans of the Central Plains are stereo-
  typically known for their attention to religion.  Often 
  times, this devotion is mocked by others and assumed to 
  be superstition, but this is an unfair characterization.  The 
  religions of the Velesans stress community, which 
  strengthens the peoples of the Central Plains.  They do 
  tend to be isolationist and mistrusting of strangers, 
  especially strangers who are obviously “different”. 
   
  Cynneex Alliance 
  Group 
   
  The Cynneex Alliance is one of the largest groups 
  of Yugsalantis (if not the largest).  They are formed of 
  five major families and several smaller ones.  They were 
  originally formed to drive the orcs from Parnania and 
  return it to human (Yugsalanti) control, by force if 
  necessary.  They were active and in open rebellion, 
  having declared war on the orcs of Parnania.  However, 
  on Trintia 19, 653, 125 orcish soldiers who had been 
  assigned peace keeping duties marched out of the city 
  destined to return to the Gold Mountains.  Though it took 
  some time for the remaining orcish troops to leave, they 
  did leave.  The city of Parnania was free of its orcish 
  overlords without a battle. 
   
  With control of Parnania now in play, the Cynneex 
  Alliance is moving itself into position, typically through 
  political alliances with the neighboring states including 
  several members of the Council of Baronies and other 
  smaller states.  They were not expecting the orcs to 
  simply leave and have lost the advantage they hoped to 
  have being seen as the liberating force. 
   
  The Cynneex Alliance is ruled by a “board of 
  governors”.  There are eight governors, three of which 
  are from the Bennisechktma family.  Rough estimates 
  give them about 1,000 fighting men with a handful of 
  mages and fortune tellers for support.  But, of these 
  1,000, few are professional soldiers.  Most are raiders or 
  thugs. 
   
  Human Sausages 
  Legend 
   
  During the Conquering War, the city-state of 
  Garnock took and held the city of Parnania.  But as the 
  armies of Garnock returned home after defeats suffered 
  in the north, the administration of the city of Parnania 
  fell to their allies the Vile Ones orc tribe.  A war torn city 
  is nearly always going to have some difficulties, 
  especially in circumstances like what was happening in 
  the farmlands around Parnania.  Orc tribes, Yugsalantis, 
  and local lords were all battling for control of the best 
  farms and mills, dramatically interfering with the food 
  sources getting into the city. 
  
  3 
   
   
  While the city should not be considered to have 
  suffered under a full famine, food was scarce and the 
  people were hungry.  The Vile Ones began distributing 
  sausages.  They claimed that these sausages had come 
  from the Wembic Empire.  The taste wasn’t exactly what 
  the people desired, but it was food.  The sausages were 
  primarily issued as rations to the orc soldiers in the city, 
  but the soldiers were quick to barter these sausages to the 
  locals for other foods, plus the quarter masters were 
  corrupt and selling the sausages for their own profits. 
   
  While rumors were rampant, few people believed 
  them, at least at first.  The rumors started by saying that 
  the sausages were made from horse meat, which has 
  never found acceptance in the Velesan culture of 
  Parnania, but is far more common in the Wembic 
  Empire.  These rumors then pivoted to claims that the 
  Vile Ones were grinding up humans and throwing them 
  in the sausages.  The Vile Ones official claim was that 
  they didn’t really know what was in the sausages, but 
  that the people of Parnania should be happy they had 
  food to eat. 
   
  The matter has never really been settled.  What is 
  known is that the sausages were made in Parnania, so the 
  Vile Ones there knew exactly what was in them.  
  Further, food was supposed to be going from Parnania to 
  the Wembic Empire, not the other way around, so the 
  demands on the Vile Ones in Parnania to ship food out of 
  the city were high - probably higher than they could 
  actually contend with.  While the legend has now grown 
  into saying something along the lines of “The orcs 
  ground up the valiant defenders of Parnania after the city 
  fell and put them into sausages because orcs are all 
  cannibals”, the sausages in question were made years 
  after Parnania had been captured and those who died in 
  the battles were long buried. 
   
  It is interesting to note that the cries of human 
  sausages came most frequently from the Yugsalanti 
  rebels.  Yes, their fortune tellers and mediums would 
  have been the ones best suited to speak to the dead and 
  learn what the truth was, but they were also the ones 
  most likely to mislead the Velesans of Parnania who had 
  all but accepted orcish rule. 
   
  Makurturi Collective 
  Group 
   
  The Makurturi Collective is an alliance of 
  Yugsalanti families that typically reside in the Council of 
  Baronies.  Not surprisingly, the alliance was started by 
  the Makurturi family reaching out to some of their 
  neighbors.  They are currently led by Oscar Makurturi 
  who took over for his grandfather, the true founder of the 
  group. 
   
  The Collective seeks to strengthen the Yugsalanti 
  people by improving their reputations.  Part of this is 
  encouraging families to settle down and stop wandering 
  the roads as they normally have done.  Some families 
  have seen this as the Collective trying to change who 
  they are and they have therefore refused to join. 
   
  Far more of the members of the Collective are 
  honest, hard-working craftsman.  They shun the conmen 
  and hucksters, though there still are some within the 
  group who produce substandard goods and pass them off 
  as better than they are.  While the Collective will not 
  police this type of action, they will expel those who they 
  can prove are simply thieves or bandits. 
   
  Parnania 
  City 
   
  Parnania is the largest city in the Central Plains, but 
  has been plagued with problems since its founding.  It 
  was conquered by Garnock in 626P as part of the 
  Conquering War.  The Latvich troops never enjoyed 
  being posted in Parnania so in 634P, the orcs (mainly the 
  Vile Ones tribe) took sole authority of the city-state.  But 
  starting in 653P, the orcish troops in Parnania were 
  recalled to the Gold Mountains, leaving Parnania all but 
  undefended by the insufficient human troops. 
   
  So after a generation of being a conquered state, 
  Parnania is now trying to re-establish itself as a power in 
  the region.  In many ways, the city-state is trying to 
  determine its identity.  This comes from the fact that the 
  native Velesans may be the majority of the population, 
  but both orcish and Yugsalanti groups have become 
  powerful during the occupation.  Further complicating 
  things is that the last Velesan Prince Governor was seen 
  as incompetent and a coward, further reducing any 
  previous claims to the throne. 
   
  Playing Card Decks 
  Item 
   
  Some of the different cultures have different decks 
  of cards.  The standard Drentae deck has seven houses of 
  eight cards, while the Hughijen deck has eight suits of 
  ten cards.  Additionally, the Drentae deck has slightly 
  
  4 
   
  fancier names for some of their cards (ace, deuce, and 
  trece, instead of one, two and three).  The Yugsalanti 
  deck is far bigger with seven houses of twelve cards.  
  The Yugsalantis on Drentae use the Drentae naming 
  conventions, while those still left on Hughijen use the 
  local names / customs. 
   
  As should be obvious, this changes the odds and 
  order of winning hands in most card games, such as 
  poker.  It will be important for any player to understand 
  the deck being used in order to avoid making a mistake 
  about a flush vs. a straight. 
   
   
  Drentae 
  Yugsalanti 
  Hughijen 
  Ruby 
   
   
  
  Clove 
   
   
  
  Spade 
   
   
  
  Heart 
   
   
  
  Key 
   
   
  
  Ship 
   
   
  
  Book 
   
   
   
  Ace/One 
   
   
  
  Deuce/Two 
   
   
  
  Trece/Three 
   
   
  
  Four 
   
   
  
  Five 
   
   
  
  Six 
   
   
  
  Seven 
   
   
  
  Octo/Eight 
   
   
  
  Warrior 
   
   
   
  Knave 
   
   
   
  Knight 
   
   
   
  Queen 
   
   
  
  Ruler 
   
   
   
  King 
   
   
  
   
  Siestine Witches Alliance 
  Group 
   
  About 90 years ago, two Yugsalanti families (the 
  Skolminch (SKULL min che) and the Dallroush (dell a 
  RUSH) families) came together to gain their revenge on 
  a local lord.  The agreement was finalized in a meeting in 
  the Siestine Forest and the alliance became known as the 
  Siestine Witches Alliance.  After accomplishing their 
  specific goal, the two families maintained their alliance.  
  Over the last few generations, the two families have 
  intermarried so often that it is difficult to see them as 
  separate entities. 
   
   
  While the two families make up the bulk of the 
  alliance, they are always eager to enhance their magical 
  powers.  They took a strong jump forward in this when 
  about 40 years ago, the admitted the Lantrikoff family.  
  The Lantrikoffs had been a more distant Yugsalanti 
  family, being shunned by many for their creepy habits 
  and rumors of direct dealings with the worst types of 
  spirits and fiends.  The Lantrikoffs were eager to align 
  themselves with families who were rooted in the physical 
  world (meaning they had strong guards). 
   
   
  Many assume that the Lantrikoffs now simply 
  control the SWA, but that isn’t the whole story.  
  Authority within the alliance rests with the most 
  powerful witches, though about half of these are (or 
  were) Lantrikoffs.  But the Lantrikoffs do not simply 
  
  5 
   
  lord it over the others; the families do work fairly well 
  together.  If the Lantrikoffs have other more diabolical 
  motives, they have kept them hidden for decades. 
   
  The SWA seeks a good sized “country” they can 
  control in order to gain power from more people, more 
  money, and the ability to experiment more than they 
  have been able to thus far. 
   
  Yugsalantis 
  Group 
   
  The Moseequas are the original Yugsalantis.  They 
  were Dethebs who came to Drentae seeking to avoid the 
  religious persecution they were experiencing in their 
  homeland.  Physically, they are identical to the Dethebs, 
  but they follow a different pantheon than is considered 
  acceptable in their homeland.  “Moseequa mysticism” is 
  the root of their fortune telling and magic.  True 
  Moseequas see their magic as religion, while the 
  Yugsalantis see it as tradition. 
   
  Oddly enough, the Moseequas are currently in a 
  religious war over whether one of their most powerful 
  divinities is named “Maive Highulle Strimshi Nuevtul” 
  or “Maivehighullestrimshinuevtul”.  For a culture that 
  fled religious persecution, they then created it within 
  their own. 
   
  The Yugsalantis are then Moseequas who have 
  blended into the more common cultures of Drentae, 
  especially the Velesan and Latvich cultures.  They retain 
  many of the Moseequa techniques and are the best 
  known fortune tellers on the continent.  They are also 
  mainly nomadic.  While they blame their nomadic ways 
  for their bad reputation, the fact that there are numerous 
  con men and fraudsters amongst the Yugsalantis is more 
  likely the issue.  That is not to say that every Yugsalanti 
  family is filled with crooks, but too many are. 
   
  THE SOUNDING BOARD 
   
   
  The Sounding Board is the name of Board 
  Enterprises’ weekly blog.  We gather the latest and most 
  appropriate blog postings here so they can relate to this 
  month’s theme, but they are available online by clicking 
  this link. 
   
  Missions with that little touch of role-playing 
   
  I like adding slang into my world.  Things like an 
  “UhOh” is what a lot of folks call a heavy crossbow 
  (because it’s what the burglars say when they see one at 
  night).  Another is “baker’s hours”.  The idea is that in 
  order to make bread for the people to buy in time for 
  their morning meal, the bakers need to get up in the 
  middle of the night and start the dough.  It needs to be 
  made, rise, kneed, rise, bake, all by sunrise.  Think of the 
  old “time to make the doughnuts” commercials.  Yes - 
  This was to be a parody of “bankers’ hours”, but it did 
  take on a life all its own. 
   
  So who cares, right?  Slang - It’s so role-play!  But 
  even goofy things like this can spark missions, and this 
  one sparked a really cool one for me:  What if the king’s 
  prized baker couldn’t wake up in the mornings because 
  he was having awful nightmares?  That would be the 
  kind of thing they would hire wizards to figure out and 
  correct!  But I like missions that can “go either way”.  So 
  instead of just laying this one out there, I tried to figure 
  out why someone would have cursed the baker with 
  nightmares.  Here’s what I came up with: 
   
  The king’s baker is the most celebrated baker in the 
  kingdom.  Not only graduating from a famous school, he 
  has shown himself to have tricks up his sleeves that other 
  bakers would literally kill to possess.  But this all went to 
  his head.  Early in his career as the chief baker at the 
  palace, he tried to woo a scullery maid.  Well, he’s an 
  ass, and he wound up raping her, but due to their 
  different positions in the palace, no one cared what 
  happened to her.  So he did it again.  And she ran away. 
   
  Well, she was half Yugsalanti (think gypsy if that 
  isn’t too politically incorrect these days).  She returned to 
  her people, and the crones taught her some things.  The 
  maid made a deal with a nightmare demon (there are lots 
  of them!) and cursed the baker.  Now with the proper 
  magics, it is almost easy to figure this out.  You have to 
  wait by the baker’s bedside until he’s having a 
  nightmare, and then have the right type of spell caster 
  either monitor the dream, or detect the “demon”/spirit.  
  Then you have to summon the spirit and question it.  
  This is not a loyal follower of the maid, and it will sell 
  her out for any type of bribe.  So then they track down 
  the maid, now a witch and somehow get her to remove 
  
  6 
   
  the curse (probably without killing her, because then how 
  would she remove the curse?).  OK - A little 
  complicated, but a pretty straight forward mission, right? 
   
  But how do they play it?  What’s the king really 
  like?  Does he value his morning pastries over justice?  
  How does his answer sit with the party?  This is in many 
  ways a “funneled adventure”, meaning that the party is 
  funneled into one series of actions that should lead them 
  to the maid/witch.  But once resolved, what then?  
  Something this silly (a baker and his nightmares) could 
  shake the relationship between the party and their king if 
  he chooses the less honorable path of ignoring the rape. 
   
  Forget about role-playing silly slang terms.  This is 
  what needs to be role-played.  What would these 
  adventurers do in this situation?  and how does that 
  affect the king, the palace, and the court?  This is when it 
  gets fun!  At least for me!  Hope it does for you and your 
  crew of players too! 
   
  Setting up the Future 
   
  I have plans in my campaign world that have been in 
  the works for years.  I’m a little tired of the lack of 
  progress, so it’s time to start setting up the future.  How?  
  Well, the players in my world have a tendency to use 
  fortune tellers, but the fortune tellers have relatively 
  limited range - only a few weeks.  So I need to use a 
  different form of prophesy. 
   
  Those street preachers - you know, the ones who 
  keep saying it’s the end of the world - well, they’re going 
  to start saying the end of the world is near, but they are all 
  going to start saying the same crazy story.  No one will 
  believe it, but the various crazy gods who feed these crazy 
  preachers are actually telling the truth.  This truth is so 
  many steps away that no one can conceive it.  Truth be 
  told, even if they do believe it, it will likely be two or 
  more years before it really gets going.  None of my players 
  remember things like that until it’s too late.  So even if I 
  give them answers, they won’t understand the questions 
  until the prophesy has been fulfilled. 
   
  This type of set up takes a while.  Not everyone 
  knows the direction their world is going a few years out, 
  but even if your plans don’t come through, then the crazy 
  guy in the street really is just a crazy guy and not a true 
  prophet - that’s easy enough to believe.  But when it does 
  happen a couple of years later, someone will look back 
  and go, “I can’t believe it.  You told us this was going to 
  happen years ago.”  Then you can smile and nod, basking 
  in the glory of your own brilliance. 
   
  Prophesy 
   
  Fletnern doesn’t have a lot of prophesies.  To be 
  honest, I typically only create them while I’m working on 
  the mission that they will affect, and then I say that it’s a 
  long lost prophesy that no one remembers.  The main 
  reason for this is that I want my players to feel, no actually 
  to know, that their characters have the ability to impact the 
  game world and make a difference.  Those differences are 
  not always good, but they are different. 
   
  Does a prophesy change that?  Does it make it so 
  that one result is going to happen no matter what the 
  player characters do or influence?  Well, probably.  I think 
  it depends on where the prophesies come from.  Here are a 
  couple of ideas. 
   
  Are prophesies just the gods bragging?  For instance, 
  if Marina, goddess of the seas, tells her priests that in the 
  year that her constellation overwhelms the planet of 
  blahblah, a new naval power will rise from the west, is she 
  just letting them know that she has a plan in place and is 
  expecting some favorite group of hers to rise to power by 
  that time?  I am really asking a separate question here, and 
  it is what is the limit of the powers of the gods?  We’ll get 
  back to Marina in a second.  In your game world, can the 
  gods actually predict the future with great accuracy?  Do 
  they KNOW what the future holds?  If so, then I think the 
  world is now limited to what the gods expect will happen, 
  and it cannot be changed no matter what the mortals do.  
  Hey, that may be what you want in your game world. 
   
  Back to Marina and her “prophesy” - I don’t think 
  that the gods can actually predict the future, so Marina is 
  just showing off.  She’s saying, “I’m bringing a new 
  power onto the seas and you better look out.”  In this 
  scenario, the player characters could thwart her plans.  Oh, 
  that would piss her off, but she doesn’t really have 
  unlimited power that will make her prophesy come about.  
  She can influence things and make miracles happen, but 
  she cannot preordain who will be the most powerful navy 
  in the world. 
   
  So without eliminating prophesies all together as too 
  limiting, where can we use them?  Well, the gods do like 
  to brag, so that’s one case, but it isn’t actually a prophesy.  
  I do think there can be prophesies like, “You will know 
  the child is my avatar when the white wolf comes down 
  from the mountain and kills the white deer in the kingdom 
  of Oznarnia.”  That’s a god telling you what they plan to 
  do and how you will know they did it, as opposed to “On 
  May 16, my avatar is going to kick your ass.”  Not really 
  
  7 
   
  sure how you’d know which child is the avatar, but isn’t 
  that the fun part about prophesies?  Leaving them open to 
  misinterpretation is always fun.  I do want to use this kind 
  of prophesy, because it isn’t that different from my Marina 
  example.  The god is still sort of bragging, but also giving 
  instructions.  There can be a guarantee, “I will create a 
  great flood” but it doesn’t say, “I will destroy this city with 
  a great flood,” because someone might find a way to 
  mitigate the effects of the flood.  I hope you see the 
  difference. 
   
  You might want to figure out how these prophesies 
  come to the mortals too.  Do the gods just send them in?  
  Do the mortals go looking for them in smoke and incense?  
  Were they written down so long ago that no one 
  remembers, and if so, why?  Why would a god tell you 
  that 600 years from now I’m going to do <fill in the 
  blank>?  I mean, sure they’re immortal, but they aren’t 
  known for that kind of patience.  In my game world, 
  fortune tellers can actually see the events that are most 
  likely to happen in the future (in other words destined to 
  happen at this moment unless something happens to 
  change them).  They can see forward about one week per 
  power level, and few spell casters have more than four 
  power levels.  So generically a month, maybe two months 
  of prophesy (on a critical).  Honestly, how can I as a GM 
  really be ready for more than that? 
   
  Remember, novel authors use prophesies all the 
  time, but that’s because they can.  No one is participating 
  in the creative process with them.  But you’re a game 
  master.  You may have what you want or assume will 
  happen but the players and/or their dice can change that.  I 
  think you need to make sure they have that ability.  And 
  always leave any prophesies clear only in hindsight. 
   
  Going off the reservation 
   
  Just because a spell does not exist in the rule book 
  does not mean it cannot exist.  One of the best spells I ever 
  used was in a campaign where the high powered 
  characters had begun to trust their fortune tellers to predict 
  major events for them.  Just as an army was invading one 
  of their allies, the invaders had their fortune tellers cast a 
  powerful spell.  As long as the spell was maintained, 
  anyone trying to use fortune telling or a similar style of 
  magic to see what was going on would get horrible images 
  of an old crone instead of the information they sought.  
  Card readers saw the crone’s face on their cards.  Crystal 
  ball readers saw evil eyes staring back at them out of the 
  ball.  Tea leaf readers saw the crone’s face form and then 
  dissolve in the leaves.  Not only was this creepy for the 
  players (and therefore fun for the GM), but it got them 
  involved.  They wanted to know how it was done. 
   
  By hitting them with a spell of this nature, they were 
  at a complete loss.  They had begun to rely on a power that 
  had been unleashed in the game.  Instead of trusting to 
  fortune tellers, they had to trust their own instincts.  Of 
  course, the enemies had fortune tellers, and by that time, 
  the GM had learned several tricks on how to use them 
  (from the players).  Never hesitate to use a player’s ideas 
  against them.  At least make sure you use one group’s 
  ideas against your next group. 
   
  High Fantasy - Invisible Allies 
   
  The easiest way to give a character in a FRPG more 
  power is to give them more allies.  Since these are high 
  fantasy games we’re talking about, how about giving 
  them an invisible ally?  I am not talking about an 
  invisible assassin who sits in the corner with a cross bow, 
  I am talking about supernatural allies. 
   
  Is the character a necromancer or in some other 
  way in league with the dead?  Would some manner of 
  ghost or haunt stay nearby?  Religious?  whether a priest 
  or not, those who benefit the gods are likely to have a 
  minor angel or demon hovering around them at all times.  
  Mages?  Are there spirits of magic in your game?  how 
  about sprites or pixies?  Hunters or other nature dwellers 
  could have dogs or something more like a dryad. 
   
  Am I suggesting that you dramatically increase the 
  ability of the character to fight battles?  Oh my God 
  NO!!  If that is really how you took that, you’re probably 
  in the wrong blog.  What I am suggesting is that having 
  unseen supernatural allies around serves a number of 
  incredibly powerful purposes.  For instance - The spirit 
  of the dead or the magical spirit might be able to sense 
  things like clairvoyance or other snooping spells.  A dog, 
  especially a supernatural one, would sniff out invisible 
  assassins as they were moving in (even if the dog was 
  useless in battle afterwards - still hugely valuable).  
  Depending on the god or devil who sent the “minion” 
  
  8 
   
  they could do just about anything, from warning of 
  impending dangers to healing to casting some manner of 
  defensive/protection spell.  It seems perfectly reasonable 
  for major landowner (Count or Duke) who encourages 
  his people to worship a certain deity to have an angel 
  who can cast a “summon armor” type spell on the 
  nobleman, or a devil who can do the same.  Of course the 
  appearance of the armor would be dramatically different, 
  but the effect would be the same. 
   
  A couple of examples in one of my campaigns:  
  There is a warrior who has inadvertently done several 
  missions for one of the major war gods.  Because this 
  warrior had never “declared” that they worshiped this 
  god, he cannot wrap them in his full protections, but he 
  did assign a messenger type angel to follow them around 
  and report back what they do.  (My gods are not all 
  knowing; they need to have agents.)  Not only does this 
  angel spy and report, but it serves as a guardian of sorts.  
  Should any other god try to get their hooks into this 
  warrior, the angel is there to warn them off.  Eventually 
  they did “declare” for this god, and a more powerful 
  messenger showed up, as well as some rather serious 
  “markings” of the war god’s “territory”. 
   
  One of the characters married the local baron.  As 
  Baroness, she gets involved in all sorts of issues in the 
  city and region.  One thing she did was suppress the 
  racial bigotry against what is effectively the gypsies.  
  Not only does she have a fortune teller (with real magic), 
  but she has made a point of bringing guards into their 
  neighborhood when there were people looking to 
  terrorize them.  In return, they gave her an incredibly 
  artistic deck of cards.  There’s no extra magic on it, other 
  than the standard fortune telling magic (that the gypsy 
  herself has), but only the baroness is allowed to handle 
  the cards.  The fortune tellers know that one of the spirits 
  of fortune telling will detect the deck and latch onto it.  
  The fortune telling spirits (in my campaign) can be 
  incredibly vain, so only a powerful spirit will be able to 
  claim this deck as its channel to the mortal realm.  That 
  pride will work in the Baroness’ favor as that spirit can 
  then be manipulated using its pride to find out things that 
  lesser spirits might not be able to learn, thus making the 
  deck more powerful. 
   
  This is the kind of crazy stuff that needs to be in a 
  high fantasy campaign.  Can a fortune teller tell fortunes 
  using tea leaves?  Yes, but when you introduce a fancy 
  ebony wood deck with gold and silver leaf and its own 
  personal vain spirit, that’s when it is not only cool (from a 
  role-playing POV) but also has some impact in the actual 
  playing of the game.  How often was the war angel useful?  
  Never.  Well, once - a priest of the same god wasn’t 
  trusting the party, but he noticed that the angel was there, 
  and immediately changed his tune.  The players didn’t get 
  it at the time, but that’s OK.  I may rant against a certain 
  author who is the darling of novels and HBO, but he has 
  reminded us that supernatural things happen, and not 
  everyone needs to understand them for them to still be 
  both fun and memorable. 
   
  Conning Your Players 
   
  I always get nervous about bringing con artists into 
  my campaigns.  I believe that they must exist in the 
  fantasy world that I have created and even have an entire 
  ethnicity that is well known for being tricksters (the 
  Yugsalantis).  But the idea of conning the players always 
  rubbed me the wrong way. 
   
  Let me explain what I mean.  I am absolutely for 
  quest givers tricking the party.  That is a natural part of the 
  game for me, and the players know for them as well.  
  Outright lying to them about their surroundings is most 
  commonly the result of bad die rolls (Senses tasks).  Even 
  having people they are questioning lie to them - absolutely 
  normal. 
   
   
  So what don’t I like?  Well, selling them a charm 
  from an “enchanter” and having it be a fake.  The 
  Yugsalantis are not just con men, they have the world’s 
  best fortune tellers.  Because of this, they are often selling 
  trinkets to protect yourself against the evil eye (an actual 
  spell in LEGEND QUEST) and other such things.  Some of 
  their other common tricks are to sell tools and even 
  weapons that are made of substandard steel and therefore 
  far more prone to breaking. 
   
  So with me being a pretty mean spirited game 
  master, why am I against this?  Well, mainly because I do 
  think it is cheating.  It really isn’t though.  A warrior 
  should have the Weaponcraft skills to tell a good weapon 
  from a bad one, and if he doesn’t, then he deserves to be 
  cheated.  Same with magic.  Why would you trust a witch 
  selling “healing potions”? 
   
  But it does feel like cheating to me.  Honestly a big 
  part of it is the logistics of it.  Say one of the PCs does buy 
  a faked healing potion.  But then he finds or buys three 
  
  9 
   
  more that are real.  You know his character sheet is going 
  to read “4 healing potions” and not “one healing potion 
  from witch and three from that dragon hoard”.  So how do 
  you as GM remember that he has a bad one and figure out 
  when it is to be used?  Now healing potions are probably 
  noticeable when they work and when they don’t, but what 
  about a strength enhancing potion?  As GM, you could 
  probably completely hide the fact that the strength potion 
  wasn’t working, but you will have to keep doing math in 
  your head and remember that the strength potion was fake 
  in the first place.  That’s a lot of work for a cheap scheme 
  to take a few gold coins away from one of the PCs. 
   
  So instead of punishing PCs for buying dumb stuff, I 
  go at it a different way.  When they are buying something 
  important (a magic item), especially from someone they 
  don’t know, they need to bring in a tester.  Think of it as 
  taking a used car to your mechanic before you buy it.  If 
  the enchanter says it is enchanted with vorpal sharpness, 
  someone is going to bring in another enchanter to check it 
  out.  Same type of thing with healing potions and the like.  
  This makes it more expensive to buy magic items, which 
  is a good thing. 
   
  But the same goes the other way.  If a party hands an 
  alchemist six potions and claims they are three fire and 
  three frost resistance, the alchemist is going to say, OK, 
  give me a couple of days to check them out.  He is then 
  going to charge them for the amount of testing he needs to 
  do, which means they get less for their loot.  But again, 
  I’m OK with that. 
   
  With the assumption that there are these “auditors” 
  around who can be hired to confirm what something is, I 
  can run a game where I don’t sell fake objects to PCs.  All 
  the NPCs may still be buying faked objects, because not 
  being professional adventurers they do not normally bring 
  an appraiser to the market with them to check everything 
  out. 
   
  As per usual, I’ve just explained why role-players 
  will like that this is part of the world / story, but what 
  about those non-role-players?  Well the gold farmers can 
  enjoy this added bit of lore, because it opens up 
  possibilities for missions.  If someone is trying to sell 
  faked magic items, they might kidnap the local auditor 
  enchanter, or better yet, his daughter.  Now the party has 
  to rescue the little girl before the big exchange goes down 
  or their friend / boss / king will wind up paying big money 
  for crap. 
   
  This is one of the main reasons I dive so deep into 
  my game world - You never know when some idea you 
  came up with to cover fraud among enchanters winds up 
  giving you a great idea for an adventure. 
   
   
  LIFESTYLES OF THE MAGICAL 
  AND MUNDANE 
   
   
  During 
  our 
  Lifestyles 
  articles, 
  we 
  make 
  assumptions about groups of people.  These are never 
  intended to imply that any one group of people is easily 
  described by a few traits and that they are all the same.  
  But there are stereo-types.  The unfortunate thing about 
  stereo-types is that there is typically a kernel of truth in 
  them. 
   
  This becomes even more important here where we 
  are about to go over (in length) how Yugsalantis are 
  criminals who roam the roads taking advantage of other 
  people.  Not every Yugsalanti is a criminal.  Some live 
  out their lives tending to livestock and living quiet 
  productive lives.  But those lives are quiet and away 
  from everyone else.  The Yugsalantis that get noticed are 
  those who are out there living criminal lives. 
   
  So why are so many of them criminals?  Their 
  religious beliefs tell them that they are the only group 
  who fully understands the way life, death and the gods 
  work.  This absolute belief that they are right and 
  everyone else is wrong is what has caused them to have 
  so many difficulties in their history including being 
  exiled from their homeland and the current civil war 
  going on between the two Moseequa factions. 
   
  But this has also led to their belief that because they 
  are following the correct path, and everyone else is on 
  the wrong path, then they have nothing to worry about.  
  Their afterlife is guaranteed, and everyone else will be 
  rotting or burning in a hell somewhere.  No matter what 
  they do to these “others” in life, cannot affect their 
  eternal reward, so it simply doesn’t matter.  This is why 
  they prey on other peoples.  While most Yugsalantis see 
  conning others as continued proof that they are right and 
  the others are wrong, there are others who are more 
  direct, simply going out and taking what they want even 
  if these thefts require violence. 
   
  We covered organized crime in our edition on the 
  Killer Crime Families of Garnock.  So one might think 
  that the Yugsalanti families are not organized.  But they 
  are organized.  The main difference is that the 
  Yugsalantis are “hit and run” criminals.  They come to 
  town sell a bunch of worthless stuff, steal some more 
  stuff, profit off the vices of the villagers, and then they 
  are gone, not to be seen for years.  The crime families in 
  Garnock are there to stay.  These two methods require a 
  completely different style of skills and strategies. 
   
   
  The arrival of a Yugsalanti caravan is typically 
  treated with mixed emotions.  These craftsmen and 
  peddlers will allow the villagers to buy things that are 
  
  10 
   
  not easily available to them, but the threat of Yugsalantis 
  in town is real. 
   
  As the brightly painted vardo wagons roll into town 
  they certainly cause a stir.  The typical first move is to 
  circle the wagons and form a camp on the outskirts of 
  town, preferably next to a wooded area if possible.  A 
  fairly normal caravan would have six of the vardo 
  wagons and probably two more cargo related wagons.  
  They will draw the vardos into a big circle, big enough to 
  handle a large number of visitors and then pull the others 
  behind (out of sight) as a makeshift corral for the draft 
  animals.  These circles are probably better described as 
  open circles or crescents. 
   
  They like to hit town just before lunch time.  This 
  gives them a little bit of time to start setting things up 
  before the curious come over to see what this clan is 
  selling.  It also allows the villagers to start talking 
  amongst themselves during the day to get the word out.  
  By early afternoon, any peddlers or craftsmen within the 
  band should be ready to start selling their wares. 
   
  As the sun starts to set, a small stage will be set up, 
  lanterns will be lit, and the music will start.  Liquor, and 
  sometimes stronger stuff, will be available for sale, and 
  the party starts to get rolling.  It won’t be until two to 
  three hours after sundown that the dancing girls will 
  start.  Typically, this forces anyone there for the girls to 
  have spent a couple of hours drinking the Yugsalantis’ 
  wares and often eating their snacks. 
   
  Most caravans will have dancing girls; it is 
  expected of them.  Without dancing girls, it can be 
  difficult to attract a crowd to the little wagon circle.  The 
  girls will jump up on the stage and dance in their 
  sensuous style for some time, but almost always one at a 
  time.  The typical script for this is to have two or three 
  girls.  Each will dance for 15ish minutes with 10-15 
  minute breaks in-between.  They will each dance twice 
  and then insist that they are too tired to continue.  A hat 
  or bowl will be passed, and the girl will say it’s not 
  enough, so it gets passed again.  Then she is basically 
  obligated to dance a third time.  So with three dancers, 
  this can go on for several hours. 
   
  The first night, the dancers must leave the men 
  wanting more, so they would never dance a fourth time.  
  Also, their costumes will be less revealing, more skin is 
  for the second and third nights.  They will also refuse 
  any sexual advances the first night.  All of this is to build 
  the demand. 
   
  The second and third nights will get progressively 
  raunchier.  The girls’ costumes will get smaller and the 
  dances more seductive.  If the girls are available for 
  “companionship”, it will only be on the second and third 
  nights, and there will likely be a bidding war.  As one 
  might expect, the family needs to be traveling with some 
  dangerous looking men in order to keep the girls safe.  
  These men will quietly auction off the girls, sometimes 
  making a possible customer think he is bidding against 
  someone else, just to get him to up the bid.  Most girls 
  will only take one customer per night, so the men must 
  be willing to out pay any competitors. 
   
  The Yugsalanti camps will sell their wares during 
  the daylight.  Most of them will have a woodcarver and a 
  peddler, but other crafts could be nearly anything.  
  Among the more common are blacksmiths and medicine 
  salesmen.  The blacksmiths will repair tools and perform 
  other typical jobs.  Since some of these towns do not 
  have their own smith, this may be their easiest 
  opportunity to get their metal tools repaired.  Tools 
  purchased from the Yugsalantis are almost always of a 
  cheaper quality than they pretend.  Steel tools may 
  actually be iron, or simply lesser quality steel.  The more 
  common tools sold are the bigger heavier tools such as 
  axes and sledge hammers as these tools can often hide 
  the fact that the metal is poor. 
   
   
  The medicine sellers amongst the Yugsalantis are 
  typically the older men, those who may have passed the 
  point where they were more actively working as smiths 
  or some other trade.  Of course, the medicines are nearly 
  always alcohol mixed with something else.  While these 
  medicines rarely cure anything, they are rarely harmful - 
  well no more harmful than any other whiskey.  While the 
  quality is usually poor, the flavorings are often rather 
  clever and will hide any lack of craftsmanship.  Most of 
  the customers know exactly what they are buying and are 
  perfectly fine with buying their hooch from the traveling 
  show. 
   
  Woodworking is perhaps one of the trades where 
  the Yugsalantis excel and can be trusted.  They will have 
  numerous products for sale, including carved animal 
  figures, toys for children, handles for tools:  knives, 
  hammers, hoes, flails, etc., jars and bowls, as well as the 
  more common flourishes they make for their wagons.  
  What might have been intended as decorative pieces for 
  
  11 
   
  a vardo may wind up being used to hold up a shelf in one 
  of the villager’s homes and work perfectly to be 
  decorative and practical.  They will also have various 
  “parts” available, such as wagon wheel spokes and other 
  spindles. 
   
  The Yugsalanti peddlers are infamous.  They often 
  travel with a caravan, but have been known to go it alone 
  as well.  As with most peddlers, they will sell anything 
  they have found or purchased.  Often these items are 
  used, but typically not enough to dramatically reduce 
  their value.  But with a vardo filed with bric-a-brac, there 
  almost has to be something for everyone.  Of course, 
  most people assume that the peddlers are selling stolen 
  goods, so some folks will simply avoid them.  This may 
  or may not be true, depending on the peddler, but is 
  something that should be considered. 
   
  Yugsalantis are considered magical people.  As 
  mentioned, most families have a fortune teller.  She not 
  only works, telling fortunes for those willing to pay, but 
  she also acts as a priestess of sorts.  She is considered to 
  understand the ways of the gods/goddesses better than 
  the others and can help to interpret things and act as a 
  guide to the others in the family.  It is important to not 
  overthink this role - the fortune teller is more of an 
  earner than a leader. 
   
  But fortune telling is not the only magic that the 
  Yugsalantis will learn, just the most common.  While 
  they do tend more towards necromancy and spiritualism, 
  they are not always the dark and gloomy spell casters.  In 
  fact, there are many of their entertainers who will learn 
  illusionary magic as a form of entertainment.  Culturally 
  they are not good book learners, so they avoid the 
  universities of magic, but they can learn any styles of 
  magic.  Herbalism, druidic magic, and beast mastery 
  seem to appeal to them.  While nearly all magical items 
  sold by the Yugsalantis are fake, there are a few 
  enchanters mixed in crafting legitimate items. 
   
  Prices are shown in Gold, Silver, and What!?! 
   
  NEWS OF FLETNERN 
   
   
  Parnania has never been a major city in the world, 
  but it seems that it is destined to be used as a kick ball.  
  Garnock has conquered the city several times in its 
  history.  It has also been freed several times, but was not 
  always allowed to govern itself after being “freed”. 
   
  Parnania was under the authority of the combined 
  military rule of Garnock and the Wembic Nation from 
  626P through early 654P.  This combined authority was 
  only true in theory, as the Latvich government of 
  Garnock had completely abandoned the city by 634P.  
  This left Olinuma Croutt, the orcish governor, as the sole 
  authority within the city.  Olinuma was a corrupt official 
  and had recently begun to rule the city under his own 
  authority, in defiance of Baratock and the Wembic 
  Empire.  Baratock had intended to place his own people 
  within the city who would carry out his will when the 
  time becomes necessary, but this never took root. 
   
  In the city and surrounding it were the Yugsalantis.  
  Well known for their defiance of authority, even when it 
  was just, the Yugsalantis had been waging a failing 
  rebellion since the city fell decades ago.  During this 
  time, large numbers of Yugsalantis were wiped out.  One 
  of their main problems was their lack of organization and 
  ancient blood feuds.  Many Yugsalanti families were 
  more intent on killing each other than defeating their 
  orcish overlords.  They waited for one of their enemies to 
  be weakened in fighting the orcs, then they massacred 
  the remaining family members. 
   
  Life in Parnania had settled into a stable state.  The 
  orcs had subjugated the humans, but their government 
  was in many ways better then what had been seen under 
  the noble Velesans or the militaristic Latvich.  Even had 
  it not been a good government, consistency was better 
  than chaos. 
   
  The state of the current situation (655P) in Parnania 
  is one without Latvich or orcish troops.  The local 
  governor’s defiance of his distant king coupled with that 
  distant king’s desire to strengthen his troop base before 
  an anticipated coup attempt, were the reasons for the 
  recall of all loyal orcish troops.  This left Olinuma 
  Croutt, the orcish governor, with too few troops to 
  enforce his will on the numerically superior humans.  
  While he refused to step down, he has become far more 
  diplomatic with his human allies and the power structure 
  is shifting within the city. 
   
  The Yugsalantis feel they have a stake in the city as 
  well.  During the orcish rule, they were likely just under 
  10% of the population, but now that the orcs have left, 
  more and more Yugsalantis have been flocking into the 
  city.  They likely represent about 15% of the population 
  or about 12,000.  While this is still a minority, they 
  believe that they have a right to rule the city, at least an 
  equal right to the Velesans. 
   
  Throughout the orcish occupation, trade in and out 
  of the city was restricted, both by legal decree and by 
  fear of corrupt officials confiscating the best goods.  
  Many of the city’s craftsmen had fled to the countryside, 
  though this was not sufficient to reduce their risks.  
  Throughout this period, the already established depot 
  city of Forsbury to the south rose to become the trade 
  giant of the Central Plains and in fact of the entire center 
  of the continent.   
   
  This history all matters to the present day.  Parnania 
  is in chaos as they seek to find a coalition that can 
  effectively rule the city.  Villai has become less of a 
  Velesan city and more of a conglomerate of centaur, 
  
  12 
   
  Rhoric and Borten influences.  This in many ways leaves 
  the smaller city of Forsbury as the capital of the Velesan 
  culture and the Baron and Baroness of Forsbury are 
  eager to take advantage of this curious point in time. 
   
  Forsbury has been growing by leaps and bounds 
  over the last generation.  While it is a Velesan city with a 
  Velesan culture, it is also in many ways a cosmopolitan 
  city.  Trade cartels have been flocking to the low taxes 
  and strong protection of Forsbury for decades.  This has 
  brought jobs to the city, and of course as the population 
  has grown, but there is always more opportunity for 
  small businesses to be established.  For many years, it 
  was only the caravans and peddlers who seemed to be 
  setting up shops and stalls, but over the last five years, 
  this trend has turned and some craftsmen have been 
  attracted as well. 
   
  Parnania must deal with this competition for their 
  craftsmen.  Another city, only a few days’ travel to the 
  south, has more opportunity.  They don’t even need to 
  learn a different language. 
   
  Parnania is considered to have a population of 
  around 80,000, with 5,000 being of the various goblin 
  races.  The remaining 75,000 are typically human, but 
  over the years, more and more Rhorics have been 
  moving into the city.  In 655, it can be estimated that as 
  many as one in five of the humans are Rhoric and not 
  Velesan.  75K humans = 48K VEL + 15K RHO + 12K 
  Yugsalanti 
   
  The Years of Occupation 
   
  Parnania was a Latvich war prize from 626P on.  
  The time between 626P and 634P was one of chaos with 
  varied factions within the Latvich and orcish contingents 
  competing for more and more control of the city.  Finally 
  in 634P, the remaining Latvich troops returned to 
  Garnock, each troop for its own reasons, but most 
  thinking that changes in their homeland needed to be 
  addressed. 
   
  While the Lats ruled Parnania, they ruled it like a 
  conquered city.  There was a curfew and armed soldiers 
  patrolled the streets.  Once the Lats left the city in the 
  hands of the orcs, the orcs tried to make changes.  They 
  believed that Parnania was exactly the subordinate state 
  they needed in their empire - a breadbasket that could 
  ship food into the hungry Wembic Nation. 
   
  In hopes of winning the people over and preventing 
  the near constant state of rebellion that had existed under 
  the Lats, the orcs began to create civic projects.  The Lats 
  had repaired the walls (damaged during the takeover) but 
  had never addressed other battle scars the city still had a 
  decade after the invasion.  The orcs began to correct this. 
   
  The first projects begun were based mainly on 
  repairing the roads.  While the Lats too understood the 
  value of a good road system, they simply had not cared 
  enough to do anything about it.  The orcs began a 
  process where anyone willing to work on one of their 
  road crews would be fed.  The food was typically potato 
  soup for lunch with beer and a loaf of bread to take home 
  for dinner, but it was food. 
   
   
  Volunteers for the road crews were slim at first.  
  The Velesans of Parnania claimed that this was a secret 
  means of the orcs enslaving them and that soon enough 
  anyone on the road crews would be sold off as slaves, or 
  shipped to the Wembic Nation and enslaved there.  This 
  style of propaganda made it impossible for the orcs to get 
  these projects started.  So they needed a salesman. 
   
  Kstory Prazcweicz (first name is pronounced Story) 
  is a Yugsalanti conman.  He was hired by the orcish 
  governor to convince the people of Parnania that the road 
  crews were a good thing.  Switching his trade from 
  conning individuals to large groups (aka propaganda) 
  Kstory decided to reshape the discussion. 
   
  The first rumor he started was that the orcs and the 
  Lats were going to be going to war and that was why the 
  Lats had pulled out of Parnania.  This allowed him to 
  cast the Lats as the bad guys and the orcs as simply being 
  in the wrong place at the wrong time.  But now, having 
  realized how bad the Lats were, the orcs were going to 
  battle their one time allies.  In order to do this, the orcs 
  needed to make Parnania as strong as possible so it could 
  not again be invaded by the Lats.  This rumor made a 
  small amount of headway. 
  
  13 
   
   
  Next, Kstory tried to win the various religions over 
  to his side.  The problem was that he was not a religious 
  person.  This prevented him from being able to 
  believably fake understanding the various priests and 
  religions.  But you can fool some of the people some of 
  the time, and he certainly tried to fake his devotion to 
  whatever god he thought the temple was dedicated to.  
  While he failed in his intentions, some of the priests were 
  willing to preach that it was better to work for the orcs 
  then to let your children starve.  Though the local pastors 
  negotiated a change to the road crew pay, Kstory got the 
  credit for it.  Now, instead of going home with one loaf 
  of bread, the workers would be sent home with two.  
  This allowed two workers in a home to feed four or five 
  people under most circumstances. 
   
  The trick that finally worked for Kstory was when 
  he staged a disaster.  Just after dawn, the people of 
  Parnania were awakened to the screams of a child.  Little 
  Maja Kolinktwa was in the bottom of a well drowning.  
  The first on the scene were a squad of orcish soldiers 
  who were too big and bulky to fit down into the well.  
  Even stripping off their armor, they could not fit into the 
  well.  Struggling for a solution, their squad leader 
  grabbed two mules out of a local stable and harnessed 
  them to the well’s walls while he and his men battered at 
  the brickwork with any form of hammer they could find.  
  They managed to knock a big enough hole in the wall 
  and then dangle their smallest soldier down the well.  He 
  was able to just barely grasp the girl and then was pulled 
  back up. 
   
  Ignoring the fact that Kstory dropped the girl in the 
  well (she was sleeping in a barn and has no idea how she 
  got there) and the fact that he did not think through how 
  the orcs were supposed to save the girl, his horrific plan 
  did work.  The orcs (never identified by name in order to 
  better spread the message) saved a girl from drowning by 
  their quick actions and brute strength.  If the plan had 
  actually gone the way that Kstory intended and the orcs 
  simply saved the girl, it would not have worked the way 
  he wanted.  Only in it taking quite a while, long enough 
  for a big crowd to gather, was the actual message 
  delivered. 
   
  After that point, a decent percentage of the people 
  of Parnania began to accept their orcish rulers.  They 
  agreed to work on the civic projects, and those who were 
  better skilled than simple manual laborers were paid an 
  appropriate amount of money.  Once the civic projects 
  were being staffed, the orcs began giving out bread to 
  any mothers who asked for it.  The charity was minimal, 
  but if a father and son worked on the road crews and the 
  mother got an additional free loaf of bread, starvation 
  was avoided. 
   
  Kstory Prazcweicz was lauded as the human who 
  made the orcs acceptable by the orcish governor.  Yes, 
  part of this was that the governor had hired him and was 
  taking some of the credit for himself, but Kstory was 
  made Minister of Charity for the city.  Kstory has held 
  this role since 637P.  Being a less than honorable 
  individual, he has been skimming the charity, locking 
  away a small fortune for himself.  But that doesn’t mean 
  the charity is not getting out.   
   
  Under the Lats, the Velesan religions were not 
  banned, but they were discouraged.  The orcs have no 
  such misgivings.  They simply didn’t care who the 
  humans worshiped, as long as the preachers were not 
  preaching rebellion or uprisings.  At first this probably 
  worked against the orcs as preachers told their people to 
  be strong and wait for their liberation, sowing seeds of 
  discontent.  But as things did begin to improve, some of 
  the pastors honestly remarked on it, and praise from 
  those who had been against them previously was high 
  praise indeed. 
   
  But let’s not pretend that life under orcish rule was 
  wine and roses.  Hard labor got you just enough bread to 
  keep your family from starving.  The orcish government 
  was corrupt and much of the profits and taxes generated 
  within the city were being siphoned off to benefit the 
  Vile Ones orcs ruling the city.  If the commoners weren’t 
  being squeezed hard enough by the orcs, the Yugsalantis 
  were raiding wherever and whenever possible.  These 
  “freedom fighting” bandits assumed anyone not in battle 
  with the orcs was a collaborator and did not deserve their 
  mercy. 
   
  Similarly, under both the Lats and the orcs, any 
  resistance in the city or the countryside was met with 
  efficient, disciplined troops and crushed.  There were 
  rare stories of rebels, sometimes Velesan and sometimes 
  Yugsalanti, holding out in particular forts.  When those 
  forts were not strategically needed, these nests of 
  rebellion were sometimes allowed to remain to avoid 
  losing large numbers of troops with no sizable strategic 
  benefit. 
   
  One noticeable variation on this theme is that under 
  the Lats, all vassal states to Parnania were held in the 
  city-state by force.  Under the orcs, several of the smaller 
  baronies and other vassals in the far eastern reaches of 
  the city-state’s authority declared their independence, 
  and again, the orcs sometimes did not force the issue.  If 
  the possible loss of troops did not justify teaching a 
  lesson, then the splintering away was ignored. 
   
  Throughout the occupation, enormous amounts of 
  grain were being carted away to Garnock or the Wembic 
  Empire.  In both cases of withdrawn troops, it was when 
  these shipments declined that the home government 
  decided it was no longer worth having troops that far 
  from home.   So to a point, the corruption within 
  Parnania is what brought about its bloodless liberation. 
   
  
  14 
   
  The Future of Parnania 
   
  Once the orcs declared that they would be marching 
  out of the city, the leaders began to get nervous.  Still not 
  fully recovered from the last attack, Parnania could fall 
  to a small force if they lacked defenders.  Early in 654P 
  there was a recruiting push to train humans to take the 
  place of the leaving orcish soldiers.  Despite the 
  marketing done to encourage the young men of Parnania, 
  only 50 new recruits were trained to be soldiers.  This 
  forecasts a serious problem for the city in general. 
   
  There are other problems as well.  With the 
  announcement that the orcs will be leaving, the centaurs 
  and other bandits of the Eastern Plains are no longer 
  afraid to come raiding into Parnanian lands.  This is on 
  top of the Yugsalanti groups that continue to raid the 
  region.  Several of those baronies and other vassals who 
  were looking to establish their independence are now 
  under attack and unsure of their futures. 
   
  The Barony of Zimbrook 
   
  In 633P, a small orcish tribe known as the Fekktosh 
  tribe attacked a small walled town in the southern section 
  of the city-state of Parnania (near the Trompska/ 
  Hollywood border).  They took over the village and the 
  attached estates with relative ease. 
   
  The Fekktosh tribe is an offshoot of the Vile Ones 
  tribe and though related, they decided to keep their gains 
  quiet from the orcish rulers in the city of Parnania.  They 
  continued to grow wheat on the lands, or perhaps better 
  said, they continued to oversee the peasants growing 
  wheat on the lands.  As more peasants fled the area, the 
  orcs captured or purchased slaves, including, when they 
  were available, the refugee Dethebs.  Avoiding the kind 
  of troubles that would attract attention, they lived out 
  their lives as lords of the castle.  This was made easier by 
  the fact that the mill was behind the walls, and there 
  were always folks willing to pay silver for flour. 
   
  After the first group of orcs marched out of 
  Parnania, a family of Yugsalantis, the Sarcossas, saw an 
  opportunity and flooded over the walls, slaughtering the 
  orcs and taking control of the walled village.  Like the 
  orcs, they continued to farm wheat using the slaves the 
  orcs had collected. 
   
  As life in the city-state began to normalize, again, 
  the former rulers, the Zimbrook family, returned to their 
  ancestral home thinking the orcs would have left, only to 
  find the Yugsalantis in control.  The Zimbrooks had fled 
  to the city when it was originally attacked and did not 
  realize that their lands were not directly taken during the 
  initial rush of armies back in 626P.  But now, they 
  assumed that they would be able to reassert their rights to 
  their former property.  The Sarcossas brushed of the 
  Velesan family insisting that they had no intention of 
  giving up what they had rightfully won in conflict with 
  the Vile Ones orcs. 
   
  With the courts of Parnania truly dysfunctional, the 
  Zimbrooks gathered family and friends and attacked the 
  walled village.  During the battle, the Sarcossa family 
  easily maintained control of the manor house, but the 
  Zimbrooks took control of the mill.  They immediately 
  began building a short stone wall to help them defend the 
  mill, and they are becoming more and more dug in. 
   
  This stand-off has continued for months now with 
  the opposing forces no more than 200 yards from each 
  other.  Support is along racial lines:  the Velesans 
  support the Zimbrooks, and the Yugsalantis support the 
  Sarcossas.  The Zimbrooks are baffled by why they 
  would not have rights to their own lands, but the 
  Sarcossas argue that they took the lands from the orcs at 
  a loss of several of their family members.  Additionally, 
  the Zimbrooks never even bothered to check on their 
  lands during the entire occupation, simply living safely 
  in the city. 
   
  Interestingly, the Fekktosh tribe did not loot the 
  manor house, but instead lived using the finery and 
  valuables in the house.  So when the Sarcossas moved in, 
  they brought their own furnishings and have been selling 
  off the Zimbrook’s valuables.  There really are no 
  “villagers” left in the little town as those who were here 
  have escaped and been replaced by slaves.  This means 
  that the slaves have inhabited commoner homes and have 
  taken possession of all that was there. 
   
  These conflicts have erupted throughout the region, 
  and it is unsafe to travel.  With no military might in the 
  capital, nothing is expected to change soon.  The 
  Sarcossa/Zimbrook conflict is one of the largest and 
  longest because each side has a strong base from which 
  to operate, but neither is gaining and both are expending 
  money and time trying to hold on to what they currently 
  have. 
   
  Future State 
   
  Lord Miroslaw Polvino is a Parnanian nobleman 
  who spent most of his life being a thorn in the side of the 
  orcish government in Parnania.  He is pompous and 
  arrogant and seemed completely unworried that his 
  
  15 
   
  insults and comments would get him arrested or killed 
  under the rule of Olinuma Croutt.  Apparently, he was 
  correct. 
   
  Miroslaw was able to assemble an “army” of some 
  90 soldiers, mainly from the various noble families he 
  was able to bully into lending him troops.  Most of them 
  are based in the northern areas of the city-state, but as 
  most of the noble families also have city houses, they can 
  be in the city without any difficulty. 
   
  Miroslaw is reaching out to Velesan nobles 
  throughout the region, specifically the Barons from the 
  Council and some of the lesser lords between Parnania 
  and Rhum.  While a completely unlikeable man, he does 
  have some troops in place and seems one of the strongest 
  contenders for taking control of Parnania.  Further, he is 
  seeking and in some case finding financial backers.  No 
  one in the region had been willing to commit their own 
  troops, but Miroslaw is only looking for political and 
  financial support, making him a leading candidate. 
   
  With some financial support coming in, Miroslaw 
  begins increasing the size of his army.  He will station 
  many of these men in the city itself as well as having a 
  major force at his manor house.  He will also buy some 
  lavish gifts for some of the other nobles.  During the 
  Feast of Brakin 654P, he will ask the religions of the city 
  to back him and his claim to the throne.  The answer will 
  be:  We will not bar your access to the throne, but we 
  have no indication from the gods that you are or are not 
  the desired claimant.  Basically - Take it if you can, but 
  don’t ask us for help. 
   
  Miroslaw will then turn to Olinuma Croutt and the 
  remaining orcish government, demanding he turn over 
  power.  Croutt will be willing to share the power, but not 
  simply pack up and go home.  Miroslaw will attempt to 
  work under these conditions, but neither will be happy 
  and the city will grind to a halt.  Miroslaw’s men and the 
  remaining Vile Ones orcs will form into the new army, 
  with different barracks being used by each.  Barracks 
  will be determined by race, with all humans assigned to 
  Miroslaw and all orcs assigned to Croutt. 
   
  While many of the commoners were content living 
  under the orcish rule, by all appearances the two races 
  will be open rivals now.  Those racists on both sides will 
  start fights in the streets and fan the flames amongst the 
  more calm and moderate folks who had hoped to stay out 
  of this.  Both sides will begin insisting that the sharing of 
  power agreement affords them certain powers that the 
  agreement never attributed to them. 
   
  During this time, the Cynneex Alliance will begin 
  making the rounds, claiming that the only way the city 
  can truly come together is if it is ruled collectively by the 
  various factions.  They suggest a Board, based on their 
  own internal board.  By bringing Yugsalanti, Velesan, 
  orc, and religious leaders together on this board, they 
  believe that the city can govern itself out of the mess it is 
  in.  Backed by some of the smoothest salesmen in the 
  world, this idea begins to catch on, though the 
  Yugsalantis will have at least an equal footing on this 
  board when compared to the far more numerous 
  Velesans.  Even the churches seem to be supportive, 
  though this is likely due to pressures from their peers and 
  neighbors. 
   
  By summer (655P) the mood in the city will be 
  intolerable.  While on his way to a regular meeting, 
  Miroslaw will discover Croutt dead in the meeting room.  
  The orc was killed from behind with a dagger that has 
  the Polvino family crest on it.  Miroslaw has never seen 
  this dagger and knows he’s being set up.  Governor 
  Croutt was assassinated, and Miroslaw has no idea who 
  did it. 
   
  When Yugsalanti fortune tellers and mediums use 
  their magics to contact the dead governor, his spirit will 
  tell them that he suspects it was Miroslaw, though he did 
  not see his killer.  This will be further escalated by 
  Miroslaw’s attempts to cover up that Croutt is dead, at 
  least for a short time while he hopes to find a solution.  A 
  group of human (Velesan and Yugsalanti) soldiers will 
  arrest Miroslaw in a major brawl with his guards. 
   
  With no formal government in place, the Cynneex 
  Alliance’s Board is the only choice open, and they 
  immediately take over the palace.  While this may seem 
  an illegal action, the Yugsalanti Alliance was in the right 
  place at the right time with about 500 fighting men.  
  There was no one in a position to stall them. 
   
  Though the Board initially had only Yugsalanti 
  representatives on it, they quickly invited the Wembic 
  Empire’s ambassador to represent the orcs still left in the 
  city along with the most powerful priest and priestess, 
  army officers (from both the city’s police and garrisons), 
  several Velesan nobles, a representative from the city’s 
  merchants and the ambassador from the Council of 
  Baronies.  Even those who argued against allowing 
  Yugsalantis to lead the city had to agree that this was a 
  broad and diverse group.  What was not immediately 
  apparent was that of the fifteen people on the Board of 
  Governors, five were Yugsalanti. 
   
  This Board of Governors is patterned after the 
  board of the Cynneex Alliance, but publicly, it is claimed 
  it is based on a combination of the City Council of Rhum 
  and the Council of Baronies, Parnania’s neighbors to the 
  north and south.  This grants it a respectability, plus most 
  of the city’s factions are represented, so while they are 
  not strongly represented, this still appears to be “fair”. 
   
  The Schism 
   
  Once the Cynneex Alliance and their board take 
  control of Parnania, the city will calm for a brief 
  moment.  As autumn arrives and the harvests are brought 
  in, things will be looking up for the city.  There are 
  
  16 
   
  certainly numerous unresolved conflicts, but few of them 
  are violent. 
   
  What begins to tear the city apart again is the 
  Cynneex Alliance’s decision to invite the orcish 
  ambassador onto the Board of Governors.  Many of the 
  members and indeed whole families within the alliance 
  believe that they have a blood feud with all orcs.  The 
  Bennisechktmas believe that the remaining orcs in the 
  city are beneficial, including the fact that many are 
  veteran soldiers.  But to most of their members, they 
  have spent this entire generation fighting against the orcs 
  and they are not going to side with them now.  These 
  factions are too frequently unwilling to accept that these 
  orcs aren’t those orcs, meaning that the orcs who fought 
  the Yugsalantis have nearly all returned to their 
  homeland. 
   
  Before the first snow falls, families will be backing 
  out of the Cynneex Alliance.  Those who leave will 
  frequently find their patriarchal leader assassinated 
  within a month of leaving.  They of course blame the 
  Cynneex Alliance.  Before the year ends, there will be an 
  assassination attempt Bynar Bennisechktma, the leader 
  of the Cynneex Alliance and the leader of the Board of 
  Governors. 
   
  That’s where we’re going to stop.  We’ll leave it to 
  you to decide what happens next.  We can say that we 
  assume that Bynar will be killed, and his son Heph will 
  refuse to take the top seat on the Board, due to intelligent 
  concerns over preserving his own life.  Leadership of the 
  Board of Governors will fall to Oscar Makurturi of the 
  Makurturi Collective. 
   
  Fall 654 - Miroslaw Polvino begins to organize to take 
  over rule of Parnania 
  Winter 654 - Miroslaw denied backing by the temples, 
  but begins bribing other nobles. 
  Early 655 - Miroslaw demands that he be made ruler, but 
  winds up co-ruler.  Rivalries are nasty in the city. 
  Spring 655 - The Cynneex Alliance proposes a board to 
  administer the city, patterned after the board of their own 
  alliance.  Politicians and religions in Rhum and the 
  Council of Baronies let their Parnania counter-parts 
  know that they are in favor of the board. 
  Summer 655 - Miroslaw framed for murder and ousted. 
  Board takes control. 
  Fall 655 - Some families back out of the Cynneex 
  Alliance over the blood feud with all orcs.  Violence 
  erupts. 
  Winter 655 - Bynar is assassinated? 
   
  The Aruonda/Couradoba Feud (minor) 
   
  In early spring 652P, the Aruonda family 
  challenged the Couradoba family to a horse race.  The 
  Couradobas were known to have one of the fastest horses 
  in the Central Plains, so they accepted quickly.  The bet 
  was for 2,000sc, a fortune for either family.  Two days 
  before the race, the Couradoba horse was found vomiting 
  in his stall.  The Couradobas accused the Aruondas of 
  laying a curse on their horse, which the Aruondas of 
  course denied.  The Couradobas insisted that the race be 
  put off until the horse was well, but the Aruondas 
  demanded a different horse or payment of the bet.  No 
  race was held, so the Aruondas claimed the Couradoba 
  family owed them the 2,000sc for forfeiting the race.  
  The day after the race was to be held, the Couradoba 
  champion horse died. 
   
  Four days after the never run race, the Aruondas 
  raided a Couradoba camp/village taking a large amount 
  of livestock and a wagon filled with property.  They 
  claimed they were simply collecting on the debt 
  (something that is often acceptable in Yugsalanti 
  culture).  The Couradobas claimed that the Aruondas had 
  now killed their horse and stolen property from them.  
  The Couradobas staged a raid to “reclaim” their property, 
  during which they killed three Aruondas but took almost 
  nothing.  Not surprisingly, there is now a blood feud 
  between the two families.  The problem is that after two 
  years, the blood feud has gotten worse.  It is one of the 
  most active blood feuds among the Yugsalanti people.  It 
  is estimated that close to 50 people in each family have 
  been killed in the last few years. 
   
  The Aruonda family is appealing to the Cynneex 
  Alliance, both for acceptance and for a judgment against 
  the Couradoba family.  The Bennisechktmas like the 
  Aruondas because they have many fortune tellers.  Other 
  than that, the families are nearly identical in skills, size 
  and property.  As of the end of 654P, the Alliance has 
  not yet decided whether or not to admit the Aruondas or 
  to side with them in the blood feud. 
   
  
  17 
   
  The Silver Boy (minor) 
   
  There is a rumor amongst the Yugsalantis that a 
  very special boy has been born.  This boy was born with 
  the ability to turn iron into silver.  No one is entirely sure 
  how he came to have this gift, but everyone wants to take 
  advantage of him. 
   
  The boy’s name is Chrostoff and he is an orphan at 
  14.  He does not fully know how to control his power, 
  but if he concentrates just right, he can make it happen.  
  Of course, once he realized he could do it, he started 
  trying to turn everything to silver, but the efforts exhaust 
  him. 
   
  Once word of his ability spread, people were 
  coming from all over to have him turn things into silver.  
  At first, he loved the attention, but it turned ugly very 
  quickly.  People were trying to kidnap him in order to 
  enslave him and force him to make them rich.  Worse 
  yet, at one point, a group of villagers who believed any 
  iron that touched him would be transformed began to 
  beat him with iron bars, becoming angry when the bars 
  were not turning into silver and beating him more.  This 
  incident has left him a bit addled and will cut his life 
  short due to undetected injuries. 
   
  The best luck he has had was to run into Satrina, a 
  young but gifted fortune teller who has a bit of a 
  larcenous side.  At first attracted to his abilities, she 
  became even more attracted to his innocence.  She sees 
  herself in him in that people are always trying to use her 
  abilities for their own gain and care nothing for her.  She 
  has become a second mother and guardian to him, 
  though she is only 22.  Satrina saved him from the 
  beating by iron bars and at least one of the kidnap 
  attempts. 
   
  There are definite limits to his gift.  He cannot 
  transform more than a pound and a half, though if he is 
  able to hone his abilities, this might increase with 
  practice.  The transformation tires him, though he can 
  often do it up to three times in a day.  If he were to 
  develop a stronger will, he might be able to accomplish 
  this more, but that is unlikely in his current state. 
   
  Truth be told, three to five pounds of silver per day 
  is not a huge fortune, though it is clearly more than 
  Chrostoff could ever have earned in any other fashion.  
  The more powerful Yugsalanti alliances are aware of 
  him and his limitations and as such do not find him all 
  that useful. 
   
  The power is a gift from one of the gods, due to a 
  prayer his mother was making as she died.  This was 
  how the god fulfilled her promise to provide for the boy 
  after his mother passed away.  Satrina will grow to love 
  him but no longer in the motherly way.  They will be 
  married when he is 26 and she 34.  They will be unable 
  to have children, and he will die in his mid to late 30s 
  due to the injuries received as a boy. 
   
   
  THE GOOD LIFE 
   
   
  Much has been argued about the true origins of the 
  Yugsalanti people.  While for all practical purposes, they 
  seem to be Dethebs, they did rise in the regions closest to 
  the Glodons.  For this reason, many believe them to be a 
  mix of the Dethebs and the Glodons.  This is likely true 
  of their culture, but not of the genetics. 
   
  When anyone thinks of the Yugsalantis, their first 
  thoughts most often go to the “Yugsalanti costume”.  
  Yugsalantis famously go about in clothing of the 
  brightest colors and often in color combinations that 
  clash, sometimes horribly.  This is clearly by design.  
  The Yugsalantis wear this style of dress to show off.  
  What originally started as a means for dyers and other 
  clothing and fabrics dealers to show off their wares, has 
  become a means by which Yugsalantis can show off their 
  wealth.  After all, who could afford to wear three skirts 
  of different lengths and colors all at the same time, but 
  only the wife of some truly wealthy man.  Similarly, 
  Yugsalanti women are well known for wearing hoop 
  earrings, and sometimes the men.  This is another 
  flourish as the hoops make the earrings seem much 
  bigger and more expensive than they really are. 
   
  This showiness is a big part of Yugsalanti life, and 
  most of them would prefer to look wealthy than actually 
  be wealthy.  One of the biggest factors in this is their 
  travelling home, the vardo wagon.  These wagons are 
  truly mobile homes.  Each family unit would be expected 
  to have their own wagon and would travel with the 
  extended family.  But simply having a home on wheels is 
  not enough - it must be showy. 
   
  When it comes to the wagons, it seems the 
  showiness was born of the Yugsalanti entertainers.  In an 
  effort to attract attention to their evening shows, they 
  needed the gaudy wagons.  But the entertainers are most 
  likely to paint their wagons bright colors.  Other 
  Yugsalantis decorate their wagons with intricately carved 
  wooden flourishes, some are even covered with gold 
  leaf.  Their horses are often dressed up too.  The 
  entertainers’ horses may be decked out in bells, but the 
  more successful Yugsalantis will have their horses 
  adorned with beautiful tack and gear to show how 
  successful and prominent the wagon’s owner is. 
   
  So what’s a vardo?  A vardo is a style of wagon 
  intended to be used as a home.  Typical characteristics 
  are that they are about 6’ wide and 12’ long.  Most 
  vardos can be pulled by two draft horses, while those 
  vardos owned by blacksmiths and other craftsmen with 
  extremely heavy tools may require more horses or bigger 
  horses. 
  
  18 
   
   
  A vardo is often characterized by its rounded roof.  
  Most have a small space on the back of the wagon that 
  serves as an entryway or even a porch of sorts.  Most 
  have a small, cast iron stove within them, with a small 
  metal chimney passing out through the roof.  This allows 
  them to cook inside and heat the home. 
   
  Light comes through “vardo windows”, which are 
  sometimes used in non-moving homes as well.  A vardo 
  window is typically about 10”x10”, and is crafted from a 
  piece of thinned leather (most often goat) placed between 
  two wooden frames.  These frames are not simply open 
  as we would expect of a window, but instead will 
  typically be divided by two cross beams that support the 
  leather against the wind.  The skin will also be oiled, 
  most commonly with beaver lard to make it water proof 
  and suppler.  Larger windows can be made, but often 
  require additional support. 
   
  Everything inside the wagon is crafted for 
  efficiency.  The bed is raised so that larger items can be 
  stored beneath.  Often times there is a shelf above the 
  bed as well.  The bench seat in the wagon is also a chest 
  for clothing or linens.  The kitchen is rarely more than 
  3’x2’, but with a fire going in the little oven, it can act as 
  a stove and handle most decent sized pans.  The chamber 
  pot is typically on the back porch to prevent it from 
  affecting the home. 
   
  Despite the vardo wagon being capable of handling 
  the needs of life, much of the living often goes on 
  outside.  When the little caravan stops for the night, the 
  family will gather outside and cook and eat together.  
  Here is where the famous Yugsalanti camp life is, with 
  music, food and dancing. 
   
  We’ve mentioned how decorative the vardos 
  become.  A new vardo wagon, often the first one 
  purchased for a newlywed couple will be horribly plain.  
  Their first night in their new home is commonly on the 
  bed platform without a mattress.  At first they will have 
  nothing but wood with a few blankets to sleep on and 
  under.  As they build their life together they will either 
  buy or make pillows for the bed and benches, hopefully 
  get a mattress, add shelves and perhaps some other 
  storage spaces, etc. 
   
  Along with adding things, they will gather or craft 
  artworks.  Some of the earliest artworks added to a vardo 
  are fancier window braces.  Instead of simply having 
  straight braces for the oiled skins, they will have scroll 
  carved wood or other decorations.  Fancy scroll designs 
  are the most frequently seen vardo decorations, but there 
  will be all manner of other wood working art, including 
  decorations like stars and moons, cornices for under the 
  roof, banisters and rails for the porch and driver’s seat, 
  and the list goes on.  By the time a couple has been 
  married for decades, they should have a wagon that has 
  been covered in these add ons.  If they are wealthy, many 
  of them will be gilded, or at least painted brightly.  
  Again, gaudy is the goal! 
   
  When a couple dies, their heirs will split up the 
  decorations from the vardo to add to their own, both to 
  make theirs fancier, but also to remember their loved 
  ones.  In this way, a vardo is also a monument to the 
  family members who have past. 
   
  For those Yugsalantis who are raising a family, a 
  longer vardo will often be purchased, one that is most 
  commonly 18’x6’.  These will have more than just the 
  one big bed, and instead have bunk beds along the walls 
  or if there are not many children perhaps bunks just 
  along the ceiling to leave as much of the floor space 
  clear. 
   
   
  With small windows, lighting such a home can be 
  difficult, but there will be lamps and candles throughout.  
  Of course, fire is the most dangerous thing in such a 
  home, but most Yugsalantis seem to believe themselves 
  immune to such bad luck. 
   
  But where do they live?  As nomads, they are most 
  commonly travelling the roads, staying in different towns 
  for a few days at a time, either selling their wares or 
  entertaining the locals, or most commonly both.  
  Whether near a town or not, Yugsalantis tend to try to 
  park their vardos next to a forest or better yet, deep 
  inside one.  Obviously when trying to attract a crowd 
  they have to be as close to town as possible, but if they 
  are simply working or planning to work, they will try to 
  disappear into the forests for privacy. 
   
  This privacy is important in that they will often 
  poach what they need from the region, be that food 
  animals, wood, honey, herbs, fruit, or whatever else they 
  may be able to find.  Their religious beliefs tell them that 
  their goddess has provided all of nature for them, and 
  they refuse to respect borders and fences. 
   
  Many who are unfamiliar with the Yugsalantis 
  assume that every female Yugsalanti is a fortune teller.  
  Though they all may pretend to have some manner of 
  magic in them, this isn’t true.  Fortune tellers amongst 
  these people are only as common as “wise women” and 
  other semi-religious leaders are in most religions.  
  Typically, a fortune teller will choose one of her 
  grandchildren to train as she ages, and an extended 
  family will rarely have more than these two. 
  
  19 
   
   
  Though their religion is important to them, it is now 
  more infused into their customs and not so much 
  practiced as a religion.  They are free spirits and believe 
  that this is the best way to be in the world.  They are not 
  expected to gather and pray as most religions do, but 
  instead simply say a quick thank you to their goddess 
  after having received good luck, such as when they 
  happen upon an orchard that hasn’t been harvested, so 
  they can borrow a few apples. 
   
  Food is important to them though.  They have 
  several traditional dishes that they have tried to make on 
  Drentae, but they lack the spices for.  In many cases, 
  they were able to find local spices that could be 
  substituted, but there are not alternatives for every spice 
  they would like to have.  For this reason, Yugsalantis in 
  major cities will often seek to deal with the spice 
  merchants in hopes of finding their native spices so far 
  from their original home. 
   
  Being more commonly herders than farmers, their 
  diets are commonly heavier in meats than many others.  
  They tend to raise sheep and goats, so their most 
  common dishes will reflect this.  Those who live 
  constantly on the roads have had to adapt to whatever 
  they can find for sale, though they still tend to favor 
  poultry and fish after goat.  Their meals can only be seen 
  as heavily spiced.  The closest Earth flavoring would 
  likely be curry, though more and more families are 
  adopting the local cuisines. 
   
  The most important thing in the Yugsalanti culture 
  is family.  Whether they refer to their family as a clan, a 
  nation or a tribe, their extended family is everything to 
  them.  While this is great in good times, this has 
  historically led to numerous problems typically in the 
  form of blood feuds. 
   
  Blood feuds should only be started when members 
  of one family kill a member of another family in an 
  unfair manner, but this is not always the case.  Blood 
  feuds have been declared over horse thefts and even 
  consensual marriages (where the bride is willing, but her 
  father is not).  Typically, even those feuds started over 
  less important events result in someone else being killed, 
  which simply feeds the feud’s fire. 
   
  The complexity of blood feuds is often beyond non-
  Yugsalanti people.  One side sees the killing of one of 
  their own as unjustified and declares a blood feud.  The 
  feuds should end when they take the life of one of their 
  enemies, but of course, it is then that the other side sees 
  the killing as unjustified and declares a blood feud back.  
  Over the course of generations, each side is keeping 
  score in their own fashion, often including deaths that 
  might have been caused by the other family, either due to 
  assumed magic or unseen “poisonings”.  It is not that 
  Yugsalantis don’t use poisoning to accomplish their 
  goals, but not every unexpected death can be blamed on 
  poisoning by enemy family members.  In practicality, 
  there are only two ways to end a blood feud:  1) by 
  killing all members of the opposing family or 2) by truce. 
   
  While killing all members of the opposing family 
  seems impossible, it can be accomplished.  If for 
  instance, many of the family members are killed and the 
  remaining members are taken in by another family (and 
  thus stop using their original family name), most enemies 
  would assume the family no longer exists.  Truces are 
  hardly ever negotiated simply for their own good.  More 
  often a family with an existing blood feud against 
  another family will seek to join the same alliance.  
  Obviously two families who are trying to kill each other 
  cannot both belong to the same alliance, so the alliance 
  members will try to equitably negotiate a truce.  Fairness 
  depends on the politics of the situation. 
   
  The Yugsalanti language, like the Yugsalanti 
  people, has been dramatically altered by Drentae.  Their 
  language has adopted much of the Velesan language as 
  well as Borten and Rhoric.  There is very little of the 
  Detheb language still remaining in Yugsalanti. 
   
  Yugsalantis in Parnania 
   
  The Yugsalantis feel they have a stake in Parnania 
  as well.  During the orcish rule, they were likely just 
  under 10% of the population, but now that the orcs have 
  been leaving, more and more Yugsalantis have been 
  flocking into the city.  They likely represent about 15% 
  of the population or about 12,000.  While this is still a 
  minority, they believe that they have a right to rule the 
  city, at least an equal right to the Velesans.   
   
  The Yugsalantis were always a minority in the city 
  of Parnania, but not to hear them tell it.  They long felt 
  they were taken advantage of, and with Parnania in 
  political turmoil, various Yugsalanti alliances are 
  attempting to grab up some of the power. 
   
  With this new interest in high politics, the alliances 
  have begun to change.  No longer are they simply 
  extended families promising to aid each other and settle 
  disputes, but now they need to take on far more 
  traditional or at least well documented agreements. 
   
  Yugsalanti Culture 
   
  Yugsalanti are far less worried about minor sexual 
  things like public nakedness.  They live a life where they 
  really cannot get away from others, but the people they 
  are travelling with are considered to be family, so why 
  should their cousin get bothered by seeing them naked or 
  vice-versus.  Certain things like a Yugsalanti woman 
  breast feeding her baby are considered a normal part of 
  life, so the Yugsalanti would actually be insulted if 
  someone felt that the woman should cover up. 
   
  This goes directly against the typical Velesan codes 
  of conduct.  The Velesans are often considered to be 
  “uptight” and overly religious.  For a Velesan, a naked 
  woman walking back to her wagon after bathing in a 
  
  20 
   
  small pond would be scandalous, while the Yugsalanti 
  woman would either find the extra attention annoying or 
  more likely would take some pleasure in making the 
  outsider feel nervous and embarrassed. 
   
   
  This then leads to “all those dancing girls”.  Not 
  every female Yugsalanti is a dancing girl.  Those that 
  tend to have more desirable bodies tend to become 
  dancing girls.  Honestly, those who tend to have more 
  Velesan bodies (broader shoulders and bit boxier) tend to 
  find other crafts to pursue. 
   
  The music of the camps is most commonly made by 
  fiddles, 
  concertinas, 
  and 
  numerous 
  percussion 
  instruments.  Dancers will work to match the beat, even 
  if it is just people clapping.  Their style of dance might 
  be characterized as a combination of belly dancing and 
  flamenco, alternating between punctuating beats with 
  fast steps or body movements.  There is also a lot of 
  spinning, typically to flaunt the rising of flimsy skirts.  
  While musicians will most commonly be playing the 
  drums, tambourines and various bells, it is not 
  uncommon for the dancer to have something to play as 
  well, such as castanets or zills (finger cymbals). 
   
  Without turning this edition into an adults only 
  product - many of the dancing girls will sell their 
  company at night.  While many who come to watch them 
  dance may assume this is a guarantee, it is not.  There are 
  some families who refuse to allow this.  For some, it may 
  be dependent on circumstances, and a dancer may not be 
  for hire because she was just recently married or perhaps 
  about to be married.  And just because one of the dancers 
  is for hire does not mean that the others are. 
   
  Part of this is that the dancing girls are 
  acknowledged as working.  The tips in the hat to get 
  them up for a third dance or the coins thrown as tips are 
  what she does to provide for her family.  If she is earning 
  enough money dancing, then there is no reason for her to 
  sell herself at night.  The men in her life will honor her 
  wishes in this, unless the family is not earning enough 
  money in which case she may be pressured into 
  prostitution. 
   
  There is an urban legend that has some truth to it:  
  Since the dancing girls only sleep with men to provide 
  for their families, if a wealthy patron (often the 
  nobleman in charge of these lands) throws a gold coin 
  into each dancer’s hat / bowl for the third dance, then the 
  girls will not be for sale that night.  This is a way for 
  rulers with different morals to prevent prostitution within 
  their lands, but support the dancing girls.  But this is 
  more of a legend, and not a law.  Some dancing girls will 
  make sure the auction for their services is just done more 
  discretely if they want the extra money. 
  Slang & Superstition 
   
   
  Amongst the Yugsalantis, people are broken down 
  into the following categories: 
  Family - any Yugsalanti related or in allied families 
  Blood bags - any Yugsalanti who are enemies, typically 
  via a blood feud. 
  Prey - non- Yugsalanti 
  Jackals - non- Yugsalanti who are enemies, typically for 
  having persecuted the Yugsalanti in the past 
   
  “Mamara” - technically, “Mamara” means grandmother 
  in one of the Yugsalanti dialects, and it is sometimes 
  used as a term of endearment for one’s grandmother.  
  More commonly, it is a friendly term used with an older 
  woman who is in a leadership or advisory role.  An adult 
  Yugsalanti man who brings a skilled fortune teller to a 
  business meeting would be seen as trying to use the 
  woman’s powers to “cheat the system”.  If he refers to 
  her as his mamara, then he is seen as a good family man 
  who is caring for his family and community.  In many 
  Yugsalanti camps, the matriarchal woman is often 
  referred to as mamara by all the children in the camp. 
   
  “Use your hips” - The Yugsalanti actually walk 
  differently than other cultures.  The women intentionally 
  learn to walk in a sexual fashion with their hips 
  swiveling.  This is normal for Yugsalanti women and 
  prostitutes, because it is sexually enticing to many men.  
  The Yugsalanti men also have a different style of 
  walking - a different gait that often makes it look like 
  they are gliding along the ground.  While this is not 
  sexual, at least not directly sexual, it does tend to set 
  them apart.  Many believe that it is intended to be sexual 
  and the inference is that it shows that they have stronger 
  hip thrusting abilities - thus directly sexual.  While this 
  really isn’t true, the phrase “use your hips” is often called 
  out to Yugsalanti men or women as an intent to tell them 
  to be more sexual. 
   
  If there is a real reason to the Yugsalanti male 
  stride, it is to teach young Yugsalanti males to move 
  across the ground more quietly.  They will claim that this 
  comes from their intense religious training where they 
  needed to be quiet in their places of worship to avoid 
  bothering others, but everyone believes it is training the 
  Yugsalanti boys to be pick pockets and thieves. 
   
  “Yugs” - Yugsalanti is a long word to say, and many 
  people mispronounce it.  Because of this, Yugsalantis are 
  sometimes referred to simply as “Yugs”.  While this was 
  always intended as a means of insulting them, it has 
  become a rather common abbreviation.  Few Yugsalantis 
  would take offense to this term, if simply used as an 
  abbreviation.  If it is intended as an insult, they will 
  certainly pick up on the way it is being used and react as 
  they are able, but it is no longer a big deal to them. 
  
  21 
   
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
  ARTIST SPOTLIGHT 
  We just love her work and we hope you see what we 
  do.  To learn more about her and her phenomenal 
  work, check her out at these contact points. 
  catou15, Russia 
  https://catou15.deviantart.com/ 
  https://virink.com/catou 
  http://catousan15.wixsite.com/catou-art 
  
  22 
   
   
  WHAT’S MISSING 
   
   
  This is the “World Walker” version of this edition.  
  Therefore, it is not the complete version, but instead the 
  slimmed down version.  So the question is - What’s 
  missing?  Here is a summary of what you’d see if you 
  got the Game Masters’ version of the book: 
   
  How to Play a - Fortune Teller:  Can you play a 
  fortune teller?  As an adventurer?  Of course you can!  
  We walk through both sides of the equation - for those 
  with real magic and those who are simply gifted con 
  men. 
  How to GM a ... Fortune Teller:  Allowing a PC in the 
  party to be able to predict the future can risk game 
  balance.  How can the GM balance the game and still 
  allow the player the clues that will make fortune telling 
  worthwhile, but not overpower the character?  Yep - This 
  is a style of game mastering where we have quite a bit of 
  experience.  We’ll show you how to do it. 
  Optional Rules:  There are at least three different decks 
  in Fletnern.  We’ll walk through the aspects including 
  details on the Yugsalanti deck and the fortune telling 
  aspects of it.  We even manage to get some aspects of 
  their curses covered. 
  Church Bells:  The Yugsalantis are descended from the 
  Moseequas, so let’s get into their religion.  It is their 
  religion after all that led them to their magical powers. 
  Gold, Silver and WHAT!?!:  What can you buy when 
  the caravan of vargo wagons comes through?  Make-up, 
  toys, faked magical items, and wood carvings.  This is 
  just the tip of the iceberg, but it is a good start. 
  $ilver Sense:  Do you need the details on the 
  Yugsalantis’ services and products?  Well, here they are, 
  including how often they can work their magic. 
  Monsters & Other Menaces:  The Lantrikoffs are one 
  of the nastiest Yugsalanti families, and the Trunicata 
  Cult mirrors them with their darkest desires.  Two of the 
  most likely demon seeds are described here, assuming 
  you have the stomach to learn more about them. 
  The Dark Sides:  The Yugsalantis without magical 
  powers have their ways of making money too.  Here we 
  lay out some of the more common scams and plans used 
  by the outlaws amongst the Yugsalantis. 
  Campaign Starter Kit:  When you’re trying to fake a 
  war - what path do you follow?  What if you think 
  someone’s faking a war? 
  Mass Market Magic:  Too bad that the magic sold by 
  the Yugsalantis isn’t always for real. 
  Tavern Talk:  Guido takes us out for the night at a 
  Yugsalanti camp party.  Here is where many of the 
  people think the real magic happens. 
  A Funny Thing Happened ... What happens when a 
  well-known fairy tale seems to have invaded your 
  campaign?  Can the players handle the similarities and 
  the differences? 
  Pull Back the Curtain:  A little more about the decks of 
  cards and why making your own might be the right move 
  for your game world. 
  Y? Y? Y!:  What’s the point of the Yugsalantis and why 
  are they patterned after gypsies?  We want you to 
  understand the thought processes and how they will help 
  you through your world building as well. 
   
  The full Game Master version of this edition is 47 
  pages of content.  That is considerably more than what 
  you’re seeing here. 
   
   
  Do you know how to get the Game Masters’ 
  version instead of this World Walker edition?  Well, use 
  the links below to head out to our Patreon site and 
  become a patron.  Check it out because there’s a ton of 
  stuff that we’re doing, and we want you to be involved. 
   
  IN CONCLUSION 
   
   
  So honestly, this edition was exhausting.  Trying to 
  document the chaotic and wild Yugsalantis has proven 
  harder than we expected it would.  Still, we think we’ve 
  done a pretty good job and hopefully made you think 
  about a part of fantasy worlds that you probably haven’t 
  put this much time into before.  Not that you didn’t want 
  to think about them, but gypsy fortune tellers are 
  probably a bit outside the box for what most of us are 
  working on with our worlds. 
   
  Not to beat a dead horse, but this edition was 
  expected to come much later in the lineup, but because 
  our patrons were asking us for it, it got pushed up in the 
  priority list.  That’s the way we want this to work!  If 
  you want to have a say in the order these editions, please 
  join us on Patreon.  You will learn of what our plans are 
  and have a say in what is coming next.   
   
  We want you to be involved in the project.  This 
  isn’t just a series of supplements we’re putting out.  It is 
  an interactive world building project, where we both 
  show you Fletnern, but also continually discuss why 
  things are what they are.  The idea is not to force you to 
  use Fletnern but instead let us all work together on our 
  worlds and come out with exactly what we want.  If that 
  is appealing to you - please join us! 
   
  And if you liked the Artist Spotlight, let us know.  
  Better yet, clue us into some of the up and coming artists 
  you know.  We’d love give them some exposure! 
   
  
  23 
   
   
   
   
   
  Patreon Project Site 
  https://www.patreon.com/boardent 
   
  Board Enterprises Website 
  http://www.boardenterprises.com/ 
   
  The Sounding Board Blog 
  http://boardent.blogspot.com/ 
   
  World of Fletnern wiki 
  http://fletnern.wikia.com/wiki/ 
   
   
  The Secret Word is:  in the GM version 
   
  © 2017 John G. Josten 
   
  With many thanks to our featured spotlight 
  artist Catou! 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/_GM Books/World Building & Game Design/Board Enterprises/Board  Enterprises - Build Your Fantasy World - The Yugsalanti Fortune Tellers of the Roads aka All About Fortune Tellers.pdf