Entry in the SJ Settlements Contest.
Kharik Mjorin (trans. "Way Beyond") is a floating island of porous rock on a waterworld named Ngort (trans. "The Sea") by it's inhabitants. The island is a roughly circular disc, being some two miles miles in diameter on average.
Around it's edges are docking spaces for ships capable of aqueous landing, and around a quarter of it's surface is kept clear and flat for ships that wish to dock on land. Much of the rest of the surface is occupied by warehouses, although there are a number of other buildings set aside for the few services that Kharik Mjorin has to offer. There are no homes visible on the surface for the indiginous locals as they all live under water.
The majority of the population of Kharik Mjorin, and indeed the planet are Koalinth. Less than one percent of the long term population of Kharik Mjorin are off worlders.This may intimidate some visitors, but all races are welcome to trade here. The administration of this facility makes no guarantees about the safety of the remainder of the planet, however. As they say, they are but representatives of one tribe among many.
At the centre of the island, an Arcane Beacon guides visitors into the safety of this enclave.
Kharik Mjorin offers a number of the planet's unique resources for trade:- seaweeds for medicines, dyes and food; pearls from the floating oyster's of Ngort; shaped corals from some of the earth bodies of the interior as art; foodstuffs such as unique species of shell fish and eels; and the unique art of the inhabitants themselves. In exchange for these and more the locals accept only money in precious metals.
Kharik Mjorin is a very young settlement, but such history as it has is intertwined in it's purpose for existance.
You see, the sphere in which Ngort resides wa only discovered by the spelljamming community a few years ago. When it was discovered, a squidship (The Swift Scaaver), was commisioned by the Arcane to explore the sphere and evaluate for trading purposes. During this voyage The Swift Scaaver made planet-fall on Ngort and was promptly discovered by the natives; who, not previously having contact outside of Ngort, were quite surprised by this visitation. This surprise was as nothing to their cusiosity, and the crew of The Swift Scaaver were quickly overwhelmed by a large force of koalinth, backed up by the various powers of their masters—the aboleth.
The aboleth have dominated Ngort for centuries,but while they possessed knowledge of other planes, the concepts of speljamming were quite new to them. The crew of the Swift Scaaver were either taken alive, or raised from the dead and thoroughly interrogated on the subjects of spelljamming, their mission, other worlds and the Arcane.
Several Aboleth Savants then polymorpthed themselves into humanoid form, took command of the Swift Scaaver, competed the survey of the crystal sphere, and sailed off to the Arcane. When they finally met the Arcane a deal was struck. The aboleth took the payment for the survey in the form of assistance in setting up Kharik Mjorin. They then gave the Arcane a commision—to design and build ships suitable for taking the aboleth beyond the confines of Ngort in comfort.
The purpose of Kharik Mjorin is to raise money to pay for these ships.
'The Temple' is the koalinth's only name for this institution, and the priests inside are reticent about precisely which deity they worship. This is because they don't worship any normal goblinoid god, but rather The Blood Queen—goddess of the Aboleths. Since the Aboleth's don't want any hint of their presence to get out, they do not allow any of the koalinth to actually mention who their god is. Unsurprisingly no non-koalinth are permitted to attend religious ceremonies here.
All the same The Temple offers a number of services to off-worlders (at a price).
Clerical spells of levels 1-3 at 100gp per level per casting. Potion Capsules (various)—these are one inch diameter 'balloons' made from the bladders of Yuktarik (a local type of fish—similar in appearance to Angelfish). Each balloon is watertight and contains a single dose of potion. These are used by popping them into the mouth, biting and swallowing. (NB there is no glass made on Ngort—therefore no bottles).
This is the settlement's inn and tavern. It is large enough to lodge several spaceship crews should the need arise, but supplies of the usual drinks to be found in such establishments are low, often non-existant. This is hardly surprising, since there is no natural resource of them on Ngort. Thus a number of local drinks are sold. Most of these are non alcoholic but are quite refreshing, made from various plant stuffs. The favouite alcoholic drink is Gloktork (a rough translation might be mind harpoon), which is made from a concoction of natural fish poisons and served in very small glasses. The food served varies in it's particulars but is always some form of seafood.
Most of the staff of the Inner Sea are human males and females. The innkeeper is one Wenrite Holven, a fat, jovial man with the additional talent of being a good listener. He takes great care to see that all of his customers are well catered for, and any complaints are remedied as soon as possible. Neither Wenrite nor any of his staff show any inclination to leave Kharik Mjorin, although their reasons for staying are a little vague. All are dominated by the aboleths.
Nearly all trade in the settlement has to be made in this building as this is the only place to buy the resources of Ngort. Symbolising this is a fashion, the Trading Guild is situated at the center of Kharik Mjorin, with the Arcane Beacon fixed to it's roof, pointing to the stars. Meanwhile, in direct contradiction to it's status the building is not very large, since no actual goods need to pass through it. That is what all of the warehouses are for, after all.
All persons doing business here will find themselves negotiating with Glenhk Fgohst, an aged koalinth of greater than average intelligence. It is his task to maximise profits for the settlement in it's trading and he has become quite good at this task.Glenhk enjoys his role in the settlement and often surprises those negotiating with him by having a good idea of the markets and prices for Ngort goods beyond his world.
The sign outside this building is simply the name of the establishment written in thin air, with the colour of the writing changing randomly every few seconds. This gives a clue as the contents of this shop. Inside can be found Lirthart, a tall clean shaven man with grey hair and friendly brown eyes. Lirthart is very friendly and trys to draw his customers into telling him about them selves and their travels at every opportunity. For sale Lirthart has number of potion capsules available that The Temple doesn't stock, some minor scrolls (on paper specially imported for this purpose), continual light stones and other one-shot or minor items. Lirthart is also interested in learning new spells and is willing swap spells on a one-for-one basis.
Lirthart is actually a powerful Aboleth Savant (M14/P(sp)12) who takes this form through a variant polymorph spell and uses magic to hide this fact from True Seeing spells. His mission is to not only to gather money, but also information and new spells for the Aboleth.
There are no official laws in Kharik Mjorin. The koalinth are kept in line by the aboleth, and any disturbances caused by outsiders are dealt with by the aboleth directing large numbers of koalinth into the disturbance until all resistance is quelled. Koalinth for this purpose are generally armed with fish bones clubs and are not looking to kill the perputrators. This is because any off worlders caught involved in stealing, violence and the like are fined as a punishment. This minimises the disruption to trade. All of the warehouses are guarded by at least half a dozen koalinth at all times to prevent the contents beng stolen.
Any gold taken from transaction in Kharik Mjorin is not held on the surface, but rather taken down to the aboleth city which hangs from the underside. This city contains several times the average number of savants for an aboleth city, who spend much of their time monitoring offworlders on the surface through scrying spells, and directing their koalinth servants as necessary.
The Swift Scaaver is still in the possession of the aboleth. It's front is as an independant trading ship, raking in more profit for it's owners. The normal ship's complement is mastered by Yearysisa, an aboleth savant (M13 / P8) and two normal aboleth assistants; all of whom are capable, through spells or items, of polymorphing to humanoid form.
