the Makadan Nordennan learn to fight from an early age, embracing the Kod, and they are a warrior culture through and through This echoes in their city’s design of stark, stout homes of functional stone architecture They disdain cosmetic “frippery and decadence” they see in other Khitan cities, most especially Teleris A Norden saying oft repeated is, “When a hot wind blows, don’t fear, it’s only the jabber from Teleris.” The Nordennan claim to fear no creature that lives on Khitus, though no dragons have ever wandered near Norden for them to test their mettle against Some proof for their strength lies in their use of massive trisaurs as beasts of burden Among the few acceptable decorations in Norden are the skulls and bones of slain animals, shown as once-living records of a family’s or a group’s prowess The Chief’s Hall has a massive entry, its double doors crafted from interlocked and petrified trisaur bones Above the doors looms a colossal trisaur skull, eye sockets ever-burning with huge brands Sounds of industry ever echo from within Norden’s walls The citizens here make excellent military-grade goods—strong weapons and quality armor, reinforced carts or chariots, and even more durable hides and clothes—from many creatures they hunt locally Their weapons and vehicles also see use against human foes, as bandits regularly raid Norden from their caves and hidden camps among the Thalos Hills Expect to check your steel weapons at the gates, though, as Norden takes no chances with the Iron Virus to his word, the brutal warlord publicly beheaded the ruler and locked up or executed nearly anyone linked to the old government Before the crowds realized that he led them not to their freedom, Khanik Thyn crowned himself in the seat of power and used his marauders to cement his hold on power through force After one full day of Khanik on the throne, several hundred more died while “threatening the new rule of Ormas.” In the past twelve years, Khanik has ruled with an iron fist so tight that the people teeter again near their breaking points Whatever catalyst may set them off is unknown, but any change will cost Khanik and his followers much The people of Ormas sought freedom, only to endure his spiteful reign and his transformation of the city into a haven for marauders The Black Cloaks are Khanik’s secret police and their primary foes at present are hidden rebels collectively known as the Spear of Freedom They are an offshoot of the Unnata, or tribal Council of First Sons Rumors tell that the group’s leader is a woman who lost her entire family to Khanik’s betrayal Less than a handful know she was once a Black Cloak herself, which makes Khanik’s betrayal more painful and her revenge sweeter She and her rebels all they can to make life in Ormas miserable for Khanik and his followers Her hand is open to brave warriors who might assist her cause Ormas One of the largest and most prosperous cities, Pacheodon rests in an ideal location, making it a hub among many trade routes in a lush land Pacheodon is less a melting pot of cultures than a bubbling cauldron of intrigue among the many Khitan races living here A three-tiered city of wonders designed long ago by pachyesh architects and engineers, the foreign ward is the smallest and rests atop this massive step-pyramid That ward alone houses courts and official embassies for dignitaries of other city-states The largest ward at the bottom is home to the pachyaur and much of the caravan-related trades and warehouses The central ward houses an eclectic mix of traders, slavers, merchants and crafters from all races Every five years, the city’s populace elects three beings—one pachyaura and two of other races—to serve as representative ward rulers and collectively as a triumvirate over the city at large The humans here are primarily Chindi, but liberally mixed with other tribes Each ward maintains its own separate and standing contingents or guilds for guard and police protections, waste removal, taxation and mercantile control, and funerary Ormas is a city on the brink of revolution In this farwestern Prajalu city, suffering from the Great Reprisals that decimated its royalty, a decadent human culture has pushed its people too far, and now the city struggles with murder, violence, robbery, vice and nearly every manner of extreme excess Ormas is humankind’s inhumanity to itself writ large and an example of why people should never let a marauder become a leader with promises of change The chieftain upanya Khanik Thyn offered people glimmers of hope that he could change a city built on the backs and blood of thousands of slaves Khanik fomented dissent against a fair but avaricious ruler, unleashing a firestorm of long-suppressed hatred that raged through the brown stone streets This unrest ruined several city wards and led to nearly a thousand deaths in one bloody rampage-fuelled night Promising a new era for the people of Ormas, he vowed to stop any from threatening “the new rule of Ormas.” True 84 Pacheodon