Voir la source de Okeno

==OKENO  THE YELLOW CITY==

 The city, my home, is clad in yellow like the joyous sun. The endless slavers’ galleys parade in and out of the shimmering  harbor, their billowing, buttery sails bringing their ﬂesh cargoes all  day and night, keeping the pits and auction fairs flled with new  stock to be bought and sold. On quiet nights when the wind is  low, you can hear the whimpers and sobs of the slaves waft across  the bay. Despite their cries, those who thrive here call it the city  of joy and laughter. Some say the laughter belongs to my gnoll  sisters as we ﬂaunt our strength in a city of humans or to those  slavers who grow fat as they gorge on the profts of the ﬂeshfairs.

 Unlike many places in this world, we are welcomed in Okeno. Here  we are many. Here we thrive. We must always be wary, of course;  slavers have many enemies, and gnoll slavers even more.”

  —Ruuthan the Spotted, gnoll slaver .<ref name="zdv">Pathfinder - [EN] - Adventure Path - (PZO90112] - 19 - Strange Aeons - 04 -The Whisper Out of Time</ref>

==OKENO, THE YELLOW CITY==

NE large city  Corruption +7; Crime +1; Economy +8;  Law +5; Lore +3; Society +0  Qualities notorious, prosperous,  racially tolerant (gnolls), slavers’ haven,  strategic location  Danger +25  

DEMOGRAPHICS  

Government overlord  Population 13,700 (5,200 humans, 1,400  gnolls, 440 halﬂings, 380 ratfolk, 220 halforcs, 150 elves, 80 half-elves, 830 others, plus  5,000 slaves of varying races)  

NOTABLE NPCS  

Governor Morio Midasi (NE male human  rogue 9)  

Harbormaster Permelia “Peg-Leg” Cockle  (N female human swashbucklerACG 7)  

Hyena Princess Njano (NE female gnoll  aristocrat 1/bard 12)  

Justice Hanbal (LN male human cleric of Abadar 14)  

Master of Auctions Sarfaraz al-Qoor (LE male  human aristocrat 2/ranger 6)  

MARKETPLACE  Base Value 14,872 gp; Purchase Limit 112,500 gp;  Spellcasting 7th  Minor Items 4d4; Medium Items 3d4; Major  Items 2d4  

SPECIAL QUALITIES  

Racially Tolerant (gnolls) Okeno is notorious for its  large gnoll population. The hyenafolk are unruly  and ruthless, but their profciency in the slave  trade brings steady business to the Yellow City’s  ﬂeshfairs. (Corruption +2, Danger +5, Economy +2)  Slavers’ Haven Okeno is among the few ports in  the Inner Sea region where the slave trade not  only is permitted but serves as the core of the  local economy. Fleshpeddlers of all sorts are  welcome here and bring with them both their coin  and a severe adherence to the laws of the trade.

(Economy +2, Law +2) .<ref name="zdv"/>

==INTRO==

Okeno towers above the south shores of Stonespine Island. Roiling mists hang above the Yellow City and occasionally descend to  hide its tortuous streets. Okeno is called the Yellow  City because of the yellow sails of the slavers’ ships  that ﬂock here. Slavery is why the city  exists; it is Okeno’s trade and life’s  blood, which still pumps,  despite the harassment of  Andoren Eagle Knights and  abolitionist privateers who  forever seek to drive a lance  through its heart.

Okeno has been likened  to the scattered pieces of a  jigsaw puzzle, its mazelike  alleyways and haphazardly  constructed districts seemingly jumbled  around each other without thought.<ref name="zdv"/>

==HISTORY  ==

The breathtaking waterfalls that tumble from the  Stonespine Mountains were the reason pirates frst used  the area just west of the Yellow Harbor as an anchorage.

The many coves and natural harbors across the island  also served as excellent cover for the visitors’ activities.

However, it wasn’t until 3496 ar that the lawless shambles  attained a ruler. Captain Ilmatis Okeno proclaimed herself  lord of the port and oﬀered protection to those who came  to the settlement that soon bore her name. Okeno was  something of a genius, a charismatic leader who ruled the  port for a decade before her misguided attempt to unite  pirates under her banner resulted in her death.

For the next few centuries, the port of Okeno  thrived, steadily growing despite the lack of centralized  leadership. In 3721 ar, Okeno experienced the frst major  resistance to its trade when an armada of privately  owned Taldan ships from the region now known as  Andoran attacked slavers between Okeno and ports in  Cheliax and Taldor (this was an early appearance of the  abolitionist spirit that would come to defne Andoran a  millennia later when it became an independent nation).

To defend against the Andoren attacks, a pirate slaver  named Lash-Handed Neguli took control of the city  and ruthlessly sank any ship to enter the port without  declaring allegiance to him. The months-long conﬂict  became known as the Year of Rent Sails, afer which  Neguli maintained loose control of Okeno through the  newly established Okeno pirates’ guild.

A decade later, the Pactmasters, recently arrived in  Katapesh, brought order to the pirate haven by annexing  it into the larger nation of Katapesh. They permitted  the Okeno slavers to continue their trade so long as a  Katapeshi governor oversaw the city’s operation and kept  taxes ﬂowing into the Pactmasters’ coﬀers.

In the intervening millennium, Okeno has remained  unifed, its raiding carefully targeted and its friends  carefully assessed. The present governor of Okeno, the  pragmatic and unscrupulous Morio Midasi, has learned  well from his predecessors; he uses his brains rather  than his rapier to enforce the few laws Okeno has.

Midasi has allies across the city; his eyes and ears slink  around every corner, lean against bars telling tall tales,  and lurk at the shoulder of strangers. Midasi keeps one  of the most exotic creatures ever to be sold at Okeno’s  ﬂeshfairs as his personal bodyguard—a charmed gug (Pathfnder RPG Bestiary 2 151), for which he is believed to  have paid 23,000 gp.<ref name="zdv"/>

==OKENO GEOGRAPHY ==

Huddled beneath Stonespine’s imposing mountains,  Okeno has no walls or fortifcations. None could be as  strong as its defenses: intrigue, bribery, and espionage.

The natural harbor that forms at the foothills of the  mountains oﬀers calm anchorage even during the worst  monsoons. The bay is roughly 700 yards across and deep  enough to allow even the mightiest warships. A vast  district of ashen stone rises out of the waters. Carved  seemingly from a single piece of bedrock, Stonetown is  the thriving heart of the city, where mundane markets  bustle and where most of the commonfolk—artisans and  merchants—live and trade.

Beyond and above, the lords and ladies dwell in lofy  Bowsprit. The notorious High Road, which leads toward  the upper mountains, is patrolled by guards eager to  keep the nearby felds of pesh and the mountain tracks  leading to slavers’ secret strongholds secure. This district  is better maintained and has broader streets than the  rest of Okeno, and while visitors are welcome at the  Black Circus and the lower streets of this district, anyone  venturing higher is subject to close scrutiny.

The rest of Okeno is a slippery mass of alleyways  and streets, a confusing maze of sunless dead-ends and  corners where cutthroats happily welcome those with  bulging pockets. However, all roads lead to the great  ﬂeshfairs, the seemingly endless auctions where slaves  are bought and sold. The greatest of these, the Old  Fleshfair, lurks within the city’s windings, and hundreds  of thousands of lives have passed this way.

There are scores of lesser ﬂeshfairs in the rambling  district that shares their name. In truth, all one needs is  a pit with a viewing area and a supply of slaves to begin  trade. Unfortunately, such trade is fckle, and owners and  fairs come and go on an almost daily basis. The Laughing  Fleshfair houses the majority of Okeno’s native gnolls,  and many of the slavers have townhouses with hidden  courtyards—sometimes of enormous size—lurking  behind their magnifcently carved doorways.

The oldest part of the city, the Harbor District,  features two distinct areas: Yellow Harbor (the original  slave dock) and New Dock. Between the two harbors,  the Harbor District grips the rocky shoreline, which  is smothered by buildings oﬀering entertainment to  visitors. This strip of land—in places barely 60 yards  wide—occupies the ﬂat land at the shore’s edge. The  strip is at its narrowest as it passes over the Shipyards,  where it rises above the docks on a series of boardwalks.

The entertainments oﬀered here are brutal, expensive,  and dangerous. Rogues fnd a happy hunting ground  in the Shipyards, but are careful to avoid the grinning  gnolls who form part of the local watch; these gnolls  are smarter than their kin, generally female, and always  eager for amusement.

The portion of the city known as the Ships’ Graveyard  is built primarily from parts of shipwrecks, stolen  sections of vessels, and other ﬂotsam and jetsam. In its  more extreme sections, it resembles a ship on land, in  others a seaside township. The district, one of rougher  trades, industry, and alchemy, draws away from a focal  point just behind the harbor district at the haphazard  plaza known as the Shipwreck.<ref name="zdv"/>

==THE SWEATWAYS==  

The sweatways—so named because of the stiﬂing stench  of slave stock confned therein—are the nickname given  to the tunnels connecting the Skindock to the various  slavers’ warehouses (often called ﬂeshpits, sweatvats,  or black holes). These tunnels, being uniformly white  below their flthy coatings, are carved from the same local  stone as Stonetown, and are barely larger than a stooping  human. The walls bear a patina of human waste—a taint,  some say, that takes on a monstrous form of its own.

Fortunately, this twisted creature, known as the  Wreakling (N corpse orgy; Tome of Horrors Complete 121),  rarely awakens, usually only after some terrible injustice  or act of cruelty. When roused, the revenant aberration  seeks out the wrongdoer, as well as his family, friends,  and associates; it abducts them, and then absorbs them  into itself. That done, the vengeance begins properly. The  victims, now dismembered and incorporated into the orgy’s  amalgamated body, are force-fed the ﬂesh of those they  love or respect, only to be ripped apart and reassembled  again in an endless cycle of misery and punishment.    <ref name="zdv"/>

==NOTABLE SITES==    

Many of Okeno’s most notable locations are listed below.

1. Yellow Harbor: A vast wall of yellow slavers’ sails  greets visitors to Okeno. The Yellow Harbor (sometimes  called Skindock) is formed from ancient stone and is the  oldest part of the city. The docks are built upon two levels:  the lower level is used to transport slavers and the slaves  in their charge through the countless sweatways (see the  sidebar above), while the upper piers (usually built from  timber) allow trade goods to be taken oﬀ the ships—as  well as any crew and passengers. Okeno hosts a thriving  tourist trade, and the countless merchants, aristocrats, and  foreigners who come here to buy slaves make this portion  of the city remarkably cosmopolitan compared to the rest.

A band of quarrelsome gnoll guards tend to the slaves  under the expertise of Nexor Halfhand (NE male gnoll  brawlerACG 6/rogue 3), the enormous right-hand man of  the master of auctions, Fleshlord Sarfaraz al-Qoor, who  oversees all the city’s slaving operations.

Yellow Harbor teems with laborers for hire, all Theoretically these laborers are free people, although  most work like slaves on behalf of greedy masters. While  these employers acquire most of their slaves  through ﬂeshfairs, many scheme to snatch the  odd slave through various nefarious methods,  especially scams involving fake escapes.

Among the more noted slavers and pirates  that are regulars at the docks are Captain  Xiren Bhey, captain of the Undertow, and  Brelitt Vinneau, a Chelish slaver who captains  the Sea Gargoyle. For more information on  these and other notorious captains of  the Okeno slavers, see Pathfnder Player  Companion: Pirates of the Inner Sea.

2. New Dock: Once a ship is  emptied of its cargo, it is towed  to anchor at New Dock. Here,  a framework of wood rises from  the sea, a confusing mass of piers and  walkways, cranes and rope, seemingly  nurturing the ships gathered about it. It is by  now far from new, and vast and ancient ship’s timbers  make up its skeleton. Lashed by storms and eaten  at by the frequent mists that fall from the mountain  of the Stonespine, the framework truly appears like  bones. The entire dock is under constant repair, but  the endless demands of arriving ships makes proper  repair impossible. New Dock is therefore the result of  hundreds of years of making do and improvising, and,  as a consequence, is a surprisingly dangerous place in a  dangerous city. According to Okeno legend, a visitor is  far more likely to die because of a loose nail upon arrival  than with a knife in her back—hence the phrase, “A rusty  nail is the deadliest weapon in the Yellow City.”  Governor Morio Midasi’s most trusted advisor, Captain  Permelia “Peg-Leg” Cockle—the one-legged former pirateturned harbormaster—collects taxes from visiting ships.

She has one of the hardest jobs in the city, and has a nest  of wererat helpers (known locally as the Moles) to locate  and open up the endless secret holds hiding goods from  taxation. Her lieutenant, Akall ni Hatrass (NE female  halﬂing natural wererat rogue 5), is a legend at snifng out  such goods and secrets. That Peg-Leg Cockle is the easiest  person to bribe in Okeno is a poorly kept secret, even to  her employer (and likely his Pactmaster overlords), but  Midasi knows the harbormaster is no worse or better than  anyone else to have held the post in his tenure, so he allows  her to think she is fooling him, fully intent upon taking  everything she has when the time is right.

3. Ratstails: Surrounding by a hundred gaudy signs,  this ramshackle gambling house made of old ship parts  leans over the calm waters of the bay. The owner, Ritheeri  Halmas (NE male halﬂing natural wererat alchemistAPG 6),  smiles the widest smile in Okeno—as well he should—for  rumor has it he’s the richest person in the city and that  he’s eyeing Morio Midasi’s position as governor. Halmas is  dangerously charming and has an uncanny memory for  detail. Visitors might spend a few minutes in his  company and not return for months, but when  they do, Halmas remembers them and the  conversations they had. A particular friend  of the gnoll slavers and an ardent admirer  of the Hyena Princess (see page 39)—  despite his wish to poison her someday—  Halmas cunningly engages the gnoll’s  inherent cruelty in special games. He  avoids the brute entertainments of the  Black Circus (see page 67), preferring to  confne his nastiness to sadistic bets  involving animals.

4. The Fleet: If sailors are lucky,  their captain lets them stay aboard  ship during a stay in Okeno. Most  do not, however, and so those who seek  a night’s sleep head for the Fleet, one of  the most disgusting, ﬂea-ridden pits in Golarion.

A vast maze of old ships partly ﬂoating in the harbor,  the Fleet is a bewildering fusion of ﬂophouse, tavern,  bathhouse, and slum rolled into one endless shambling  structure. However, the Fleet has one luxurious area,  known as the Stern. This more sedate and refned area  puts most visitors oﬀ with its high prices (10 times those  listed on page 159 of the Pathfnder RPG Core Rulebook), to  the relief of those few who can aﬀord them. It’s run by  Admiral Dziban Menkent (LN female undineB2 bard 5),  who controls an army of servants, slaves, and guards  with her quick temper and the ever-present whip at her  side. Menkent can be a delight, a terror, or an enigma;  interactions with her are perilously unpredictable.

5. Shrine of Thaﬀaar: Named for the architect who  carved the great dome that crowns this temple to Gozreh  in Stonetown, the shrine sees more activity than nearly  any other religious institution in Okeno save the bank  of Abadar. The aged Tian priests, brother and sister  Niharo (N male human cleric of Gozreh 8) and Owayu (N  female human druid 8) are held in high regard by most  locals, in no small part because, despite their feisty and  argumentative natures, they bless so many ships set to  depart the Yellow Harbor.

6. Slaver’s Vault: A huge tower winds its way up from this  squat marble building, whose ornately decorated interior  is formed about a central opening, where an astonishingly  large golden candelabrum said to be worth 40,000 gp  hangs. The vault, the largest bank of Abadar in Katapesh  aside from the grand temple in the capital itself, is the  most admired and visited place in Okeno. The original  candelabrum was actually stolen by a master thief called  Pherkad almost 300 years ago, but the forgery is so perfect  that no one has ever noticed (a successful DC 40 Appraise  check is required to note it is a fake, and even then only upon close examination). The present priest and local judge,  Justice Hanbal, sits as the appointed ofcial on all matters  from thef to murder. Harsh and humorless, Hanbal  takes his duties very seriously, and is perhaps the  only person in Okeno who cannot be bribed.

7. Okeno Tanning Pits: The tanners of  Okeno maintain this open courtyard, which is  100 yards across and houses the tanning vats  and pits of local traders. Immediately behind  and around this district, huge piles of animal  feces are mounded against the back walls  of buildings; their stench ofen wafs  across the whole city.

8. Shipyard: Lurking below  the entertainment district of  the Ships’ Graveyard—which  is suspended here at least a  dozen yards above on timber  boardwalks—the Shipyard houses  artisans who repair and enhance vessels.

Falak Tubaa (N female human expert 9) is regarded as the  most successful and gifed shipbuilder in Okeno. Sadly,  gnoll slavers hold her only daughter, Zahwah, hostage, and  occasionally force Falak to sabotage vessels so the gnolls can  overtake and rob them later.

9. The Shipwreck: A juddering mass of ship’s timbers  have been lashed together in this portion of the Ships’  Graveyard to form an open plaz.a A series of towering  houses, many of which are modifed sterns from large ships,  overlook this broken place. A recent spate of tremors in the  Shipwreck’s supports has lef the structures contorted and  largely abandoned, but criminal elements have taken to  using the somewhat luxurious, if dangerous, residences as  bases of operation, banking on the area’s instability to keep  the law from meddling in their aﬀairs.

10. The Old Fleshfair: A snaking maze of alleyways  meander through this portion of the ﬂeshfairs, an area of  exposed paths set above sandy pits between 10 and 30 feet  below. These pathways are governed by a strict hierarchy  system, formed out of respect—and ofen enforced through  violence—with the oldest and most established traders  getting the best and safest viewpoints, while lesser slavers  or those who prefer to operate anonymously are given  dangerous perches. The Old Fleshfair is linked to the docks  by the various sweatways of the city.

The auctions do not follow set timetables, although  some religious days of Abadar are used as excuses to hold  enormous slave markets; a notably vast slave market is held  each Market’s Door, during which the population of the  city has been known swell to nearly twice its normal size as  slaves and traders ﬂow into the ﬂeshfairs.

The master of auctions, Fleshlord Sarfaraz al-Qoor, a  diminutive man with an incredibly deep, far-reaching voice,  hosts the auctions, and has been known to take bribes to  hear certain bidders above others. He runs a downtrodden  staﬀ of 20 and is infamous for his aﬀection for attractive  women. An experienced lothario, he nonetheless remains  particularly cautious when in the presence of highranking gnoll females, having heard rumors of  their sexual insatiability.

Fleshfairs do not always deal in humanoid  wares alone; the monsters that pass through  the ﬂeshfair ofen appear later in private  menageries or are used as guards for wealthy  foreigners seeking unique defenders.

11. The Laughing Fleshfair: Gnolls have their  own ﬂeshfair, where they can trade with each  other. Although non-gnolls do come  to this place, they tend to attract  attention, particularly if they  are not accompanied by gnolls.

Nervous guards are everywhere,  but those brave enough to attend  these auctions sometimes fnd bargains  on certain slaves, as gnolls are generally  far more interested in ﬂesh or entertainment than brains  and artisans.

12. The Black Circus: The infamous and enormous  Black Circus is the main entertainment in Okeno, putting  on a show every week and during important festivals or  religious days. For bigger shows, everyone ﬂocks to the  circus, where the emphasis is all about putting on a bloody  spectacle, something the master of ceremonies, Ictarias (LE  female tieﬂing necromancer 14), is always keen to do. The  show requires a small army of slaves, performers, animals,  and victims, and Ictarias is ofen seen in the ﬂeshfairs of the  city, shopping for new acts.

13. Palace of Waterfalls: One of many homes of the most  famous gnoll slaver, the Hyena Princess Njano (see page  39), this palace is graced by spring water falling from high  in the Stonespines. The water is used to great eﬀect here,  with a whole wing built above a lake. The paranoid Njano  changes her home from time to time, even taking quite  humble lodgings on occasion—providing each can oﬀer  her daily baths in milk.

14. Palace of Honeyed Stone: The Palace of Honeyed  Stone houses the governor of Okeno, Morio Midasi. The  golden palace was originally built in 3499 ar by Captain  Ilmatis Okeno, although each lord since has added to  the structure. Heavily patrolled, hideously trapped, and  beautifully decorated, the palace is a series of towers built  around a central fragrant garden. The present governor  prides himself on his exotic slaves, and boasts among  his captives a number of monstrous creatures, including  his gug bodyguard. Midasi welcomes many visitors, but  always in small, easy-to-repel groups. Rumor has it that the  Pactmasters are displeased with his service for unknown  reasons and wish to replace him soon, but further details  into this aﬀair are as secret as the mysterious masked  overlords themselves.      

=Références=

<references/>

[[catégorie:Strange Aeons]]
[[catégorie:Villes]]