EditMEZZONAEditCity of Vipers- Tone: Canal-crossed city of feuding merchant houses.
- Timeframe: -4000 to present
- Artifice: High
- Region: Tears of Vrylakos
- Capital: Mezzona (~1,250,000)
- Notable Settlements: Lenis (~20,000), Solzt (~13,000)
- Government: Plutocracy
- Ruler: the Mercantilium
- Races: Human (98%), Merren (2%)
- Languages: Vrylakian
- Religions: Tearic Pantheon
- Coinage: Mezzona circulates the Azule (1.25 gp), and the Brizone (1 sp); coins of the Tears are in free circulation.
EditSynopsis
Crisscrossed by canals, blocked off in districts, lorded over by the elite and the wealthy; Mezzona is a city of intrigue and quiet dangers.
Mezzona is also a city of traditions, old blood, and older money; complicated further by internecine connections compounded by nepotism and oft-broken pacts of peace and marriage. The city is ruled by rich Merchant Houses profuse with Princelings and Lords and every native has a House affiliation via birth or marriage and by extension many enemies. Blood Feuds between Houses are common for slights both real and imagined, and a lesser scion of a House can find great pride of place and improvement in station via their skills with a blade.
Outsiders need not worry about these intrinsic House rivalries, but instead are fair game to all.
Vendetta is an old, respected, and legally protected right of all that bear a blade. Therefore it is not surprising that the way of the sword permeates the national mindset. Though there are many fencing schools and house styles studied in this ancient city-state, one style is grudgingly recognized as preeminent by all but the most biased of House duelists: the Mezzona Water Serpent Style.
EditMagic
- Winding: There is a small but strong tradition of Winding, primarily focusing in Violet and Blue Lore.
- Alchemy: Mezzona is the principal source of alchemical items in the Tears, and Alchemists are just another kind of merchant class.
EditDetails
- Style of the Water Serpent: Brought to the city long ago by an outsider who sold his services to the highest bidder and worked for many Houses before founding a non-partisan school to teach his style for a decade until he was slain by one of his own students in a treacherous duel. Taught to students from all the major Houses and most of the minor, it has survived to this day with but slight variations among the Houses. The style is most easily recognized by it’s reliance on sinuous body movements, complex footwork, and confusing feints intended to befuddle the fencers opponent.
EditAdventure Seeds
- Doge Day Afternoon: Doge Lufio duRolla, head of the powerful Rolla Merchant House, has taken a fancy to attractive adventurer (of either gender) and is determined to secure their affections one way or another...
- Tragic Romance: The heirs of two rival Houses have secretly fallen in love with each other. They plan to elope and flee Mezzona for Sanctuary. They have snuck aboard a departing vessel...which happens to belong to the heroes. The love-struck couple's parents assume that their heirs have been kidnapped, and their minions are in hot pursuit of the protagonists...
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