Tempe goverment and Society - an Overview

Tempe is the largest city in Arizona, and is the preeminent Arya settlement in the region. The city is hierarchical, militarized, and home to His Lordship, the High King. The city was founded over two centuries ago during the Great Migration, when it enjoyed trade with and support from the Great River Kingdoms to the east. That connection to the east was severed a century ago by the rise of the Dark Hordes, and Arya of Arizona have been forced to subsist largely on their own since that time.

The economic base of the city is agriculture and ranching. Irrigation from the Salt River waters Tempe's fields, groves, and herds, which have become the breadbasket of the Arizona region. The main route of trade involves a triangle trade with metals from Prescott, lumber from Flagstaff, and food from Tempe. An overland route to the Colorado River at Blythe is also a significant trade corridor.

Tempe society is two-tiered, with the land-owning, noble families forming the high society, and the landless, agricultural workers forming the low society:

The Landed gentry of Tempe is made of the seven founding clans which own all the land in the town. The basis of their wealth is land ownership and the guarantee of safety they offer those who live on their land. Their young men are removed from their familes at the age of seven and raised in military academies. After eight years of discipline and hardening in common school, most are granted the rank of squire and returned to their families to assist in the clan businesses. The most gifted among the students, however, continue onward into secondary school, where they are trained as scholars and officers, and enter into the direct service of the High King, in the King's College. Membership in the King's College is considered the highest honor in Arya society.


The Landless commoners of Tempe tend to be poor and uneducated, however, they are not slaves or serfs. The Landless are paid wages and are expected to care for their own housing and family upkeep. Many of the Landless take up skilled trades, and the most gifted among them have some upward mobility through the Church, the Applied Spellcasting University, and the Ranger Battalion (see below). The brave and tough among the Landless have also been known to take up careers as henchmen and mercenary soldiers in the hire of the Landed gentry.

Goverment

The majority of decision-making power and authority is vested in the King and His College, who are entrusted with ruling for the good of all noble clans and the city at large. The various members of the College serve as administrators of the King's laws, guardians of his Treasury, and officers of his Army. The King's College chooses a new king from among their own members when the office of High King becomes empty because of the death or abdication of a King.

The House of Lords is a collection of representatives from the seven noble clans. New laws or taxes proposed by the King must be ratified by the House of Lords in order to become laws. The House of Lords is also responsible for supplying a specified number of Cavaliers to serve in the body of the King's Army.

The House of Commons is a collection of the more powerful and wealthy representatives from the Landless of the town. They have little decision-making authority, but can propose laws to the King's College, and are authorized to adjudicate disputes and conflicts among the Landless.


The King's Army

The King's Army is made primarily of the Cavaliers from the noble clans of the city. It is a standing force, with a career officers drawn from the King's College, athough the body of the army rotates through in limited times of service. The duties of the Army are primarily external, patrolling the King's settled agricultural territories and roads for incursions from magical beasts, giants, or humanoid raiders. The King's Army also patrols the city itself, enforcing internal laws.

The Ranger Battalion is an adjunct force to the King's Army, with dual headquarters in Wickenburg and Superior. The Rangers' duty is to patrol the mountain wilderness, keeping check on humanoid or giant incursions, while gathering information and expanding Aryan territory where possible. While Ranger leadership is supplied by the gentry of the King's College, the rank and file membership is largely drawn from the Landless. The Landed gentry prefers the status and money-making opportunities of the town-based Cavalier lifestyle, viewing a Ranger assignment much like a form of banishment. The Landless, however, view Ranger membership as an opportunity for upward mobility, wealth, and freedom.

Occasionally, in times of need, the King's army will be supplemented by mercenary soldiers drawn from the ranks of the Landless.

Relations with Applied Spellcasting University

The wizard towers of A.S.U. predate the Aryan settlement of Tempe. The origins of the wizarding community at A.S.U. are unknown, and the mysterious wizards are less than forthcoming with any information, but it is clearly connected with the study of the Phoenix Aerie to the immediate west. Although they share contiguous territory, A.S.U. is an autonomous power and does not bow to the authority of the High King.

Overall, the wizards prefer to be left completely alone and seem to be totally unconcerned with the politics or troubles of any other humans in the region. A cadre of servants maintains trade relations with the outside world, and they seem to derive great profit from the sale of the magical items they create. They are also known to take in students, training them in the magical arts, for a steep fee, of course.

How to Introduce Dragons

Great post over at ChicagoWiz (here) on dragons, perhaps the most under-used monster in the game ostensibly named after it. As he puts it,

"I don't care who you are... but when a dragon gets thrown into the game, especially to 1st thru 3rd levellers... hearts get racing, dice and pencils get clutched and PCs go running for the hills. It's just the coolest. I love the build up too... nervous horses or dogs, sounds, strange smells... then WHAM, the thing goes gliding overhead. Sinister, nasty, hungry... and totally in control of its domain."

This really resonates to me, because the basic mileau of my Arizona Adventures campaign is dawn of civ, and is therefore, "dragon and giant" heavy. It is my basic premise that outside of the immediate protection of the armed forts, there are no "scaled down" areas which just happen to be perfectly suited for beginning low-level characters. In short, if you choose to go into the wilds of magic Arizona, you better be ready to bring it, cause all the bad ass shit is there waiting for you. (see the previous post on "keeping PCs alive" for the necessary attitutude of latitude that must accompany such a natural and dangerous campaign mileau.)

So, how to introduce dragons into play with some kind of panache? Here are some ideas (1d6 + 1d4):

2 - Flying far overhead, you see the small outline of a dragon. Appears to be flying over you and away, but wait.... was that its head twisting to look down in your direction?

3 - As you scramble over the hilltop's rocky edge, in the valley below you see scene of chaos and mad movement, as a herd of horses/goats/cows flees in all directions in panic, a dragon having alighted in their midsts, clawing and biting wildly to bring down a meal....

4 - Your horses are suddenly snorting and skitish, rising and ready to bolt. As you struggle to keep them down, a terrifying roar emanates from the thich grove of trees to your right. You turn to see two little dragon heads peer quizically out from the brush on the ground-level. Suddenly the loud roar again sounds out from back in the trees, but closer this time... Mommy is apparently looking for her wayward babes...

5 - You see smoke rising in two columns from a dark medium-sized cave opening in the hill in front of you, and the whooshing of air from what sounds like the breathing from some large sleeping beast. Suddenly the loud regular breathing stops, replaced a second later by the sound of shifting rocks.... You see glowing eyes peer out from the darkness, surveying you silently, and the dim outline of a dragon's snout barely visible in the cave's opening...

6 - As you scan around in the bright distance, two hilltops to your east, you see what appears to be a laying dragon, curled up upon the hot rocks, sunning itself in the heat...

7 - Off in the distance to your left, a movement catches your eye, what appears to be a dragon digging his claws and snout into the rocks and dirt, seeking some unknown object in the small hole before it....

8 - As you stumble through the rocky ground around a turn at the base of the cliff wall, your feet stop cold and your blood freezes at what lies no more than 50 feet in front of you: a dragon, clawing and tearing into the dry bones of some unfortunate creature lying on the ground in front of it... Your mouth turns to cotton as that idiot Fighter calls out loudly from behind you, "Hey, what the holdup?" The dragon snaps its head up from the bones and turns to look, settling its gaze right on you....

9 - Crashing and loud screaming break out in the trees ahead of you, followed by a loud roaring sound... Suddenly a dragon comes crashing through the trees towards you, twisting at a rope slung arounds its neck. As it stumbles forward, you see a mountain giant dragging behind it, desperately holding onto the rope, and another giant running behind, trying to catch up, calling out to his partner....

10 - The distant sound of two furious beasts in combat quickly gets much louder, rapidly approaching... Suddenly, over the treetops near the river, a flying horse hurtles forward and down, a roaring dragon right behind it. The singed and bleeding creature whinnies in pain as it hits the ground running. As it turns to look over its shoulder at the pursuing dragon, it sees you, and quickly changes course, running straight at you, whinny-ing for help...


A straight 1d8 roll for dragon size can be used for the truly random experience. Or, just roll a d4 for its age, to give a young party more of an incentive to man-up and fight.

Druids in the Wild

In the Arizona Adventures campaign, druids are part of an ever-present network that can be found, and that CAN FIND YOU, pretty much anywhere you go in the wilderness. I think of the druid network as a group of self-appointed "park rangers", and they view the whole state as their park.

[Suddenly and surprisingly, from behind a tree a man steps out, mostly naked, with wild dreadlocked hair and dark sun-baked skin. He raises his hand in greeting, and says, "Hi, I'm Druid Bob, welcome to the Coconino National Forest Preserve. We invite you to enjoy your visit to our forest, and would like to kindly remind you to be a respectful visitor by picking up all garbage as you travel. The fire danger level is code red this week, so please, no campfires in the forest; remember, only you can prevent forest fires..."]

They are absolute masters of the terrain, and pretty much know everything there is to know about the monsters and humans in any area. They are likely to be keeping tabs on any intruders, probably in an unobtrusive animal form.

Depending on the actions and attitudes of the PCs, the local druids can either be guardian angels or avenging angels:

--A druid might help the PCs out of a tight spot, or provide them with some saving resource.
--A druid might reveal to the party a crucial piece of information about the area, like monster lair locations, or dungeon entrances.
--A druid might also attempt to recruit the PCs into an adventuring hook, like asking the PCs to take care of an intruding magic user who has been upsetting the balance of nature lately with his monster summoning and wacky experiments.
--If the PCs are the cause of the disturbance, or decide to disregard the "park rules", a druid may become the party's hostile stalker...

In Arizona Adventures, the druids maintain a headquarters of sorts in the area of Fountain Hills (south of the Tonto Forest, at the NE edge of the Phoenix valley), tending the sacred fountain there. They are the only group to be trusted by and have a positive relationship with the Elves of the Tonto Forest.

They also maintain a permanent liaison in Tempe to consult with and advise the Arya leaders there. The druids are privy to an widereaching network of knowledge, extending even outside the Arizona region, and so their counsel is well-regarded and highly sought-after. Their yearly blessing upon the domesticated animals and crops is also highly valued.

In return for the druids' services, the Arya leaders have agreed to recognized Celt sovereignty over the wilderness regions, and to seek the druid's permits for any major activities there. The Arya leaders also agree to send their clerics and fighters to combat any undead which make their way into the druid's wild lands.