Tankren
Tankren is a medium-sized town that is well on its way to becoming a small city, shrouded in Gloomy sheets of fog. Part of the town is built in a semi-circle surrounding a large murky lagoon. With the remainder stretching outward in a single long street leading away from the water and flanked on either side by tall buildings that rise up two floors, encircled in balconies.
Tankren is unlike any other town. built around a riverboat casino that occasionally travels up and down the river that marks Dunwel Fen’s northern border. And like this casino, the culture of Tankren has been completely driven by the idea of fate. The town is more than just inspired by gambling, it is defined by it. For generations, its people have lived lives decided by random chance, trading not in coins but in casino chips, and determining their fates at the spin of a wheel and the toss of a die.
two areas of tankren paint a clear status between those with and those without. Shoreside to the east, low and close to the lagoon, constantly flooding with the seasons. And Redcliff, lifted high up and built of beautiful townhouses and parks safe from all but the worst of weather.
Battlemaps set in this location
In Tankren the Grand Roulette is a wheel that when spun changes the fates and fortunes of the spinner, new houses, Fabulous wealth, and powerful enchantments, right alongside destitution, prison sentences, and Horrible curses. All are chosen at random, and all are left up to fate. All people of the town might be required to spin the wheel at some time or another. And it just so happens that when the characters arrive in tankren the Festival of Fate is about to begin. An event held every ten years where everyone who lives in tankren must spin the wheel.
The people of the town are preparing to possibly lose everything or completely change the trajectory of their lives. Moving from one of the 3 areas of the town, gaining or losing property, position, or title. Many are spending every coin they have facing the possibility of losing them all in the coming days.
The Festival of Fates
Emerald and Ivy Game Hall
This beautiful game hall is made of ornately carved wood and is filled with exotic plants and hanging ivy. Well-dressed Fallen Elves in golden half-masks tend to every need of the wealthy clientele. Spectral illusory butterflies flutter above the central area, where a large stone pit drops down 30 feet. Below, two monsters slash and gore at one another, and the onlookers above pass chips to the fallen elves on silver trays and chat as they spectate and drink martinis.
The Emerald and Ivy is a game hall where players bet on match-ups between monsters and can even enter the fights if they bring a monster of their own. Doing so, however, requires a contract with the Big Game Hunters’ Guild. The Emerald and Ivy is a place of excess, extravagance, and luxury, starkly contrasted with the raging violence of savage monsters tearing each other apart in the pit.
Azure Window Game Hall
This tall, purple game hall is lined with three floors of balconies, each spilling green ivy over the side. Its windows are multicolored stained glass, decorated with gold coins and treasure motifs. A curtain of cigar smoke greets those entering through the hall’s enormous doors. Above, facing the main street, a single massive window is curved against the towering domed building. Countless tables line the three floors, each separated by tall partition walls. The clientele appear to be important businessmen and women, all of whom talk to each other in hushed, secretive tones or celebrate a successful merger or buyout here and there.
Past the tables and dining area into the center of the Azure Window game hall, there is a circular railing and an elegant set of winding stairs that descend to a large wooden dance floor, where couples dance about to music magically drifting through the air. And above, illusions drift about, with symbols representing various businesses across Tankren and beyond, which the patrons use to bet on stocks and investments.
Roadside Cairn
This boulder-tall cairn is littered with small odds and ends, trinkets and casino chips. It is a local tradition to leave these as offerings to the Coven when traveling into the greater Dunwel Fen, as the people of Tankren believe the lands belong to the Luvo Witches, and that they are merely its guests. While they may not fully understand the Coven, they do respect them, and every night at midnight, many of the offerings vanish, collected by an unseen hand.
Redcliff
Home of the upper crust of Tankren, Redcliff is located in the western portion of the town and is full of parks and narrow townhouses built against each other, side-by-side. Redcliff can only be reached by crossing two large bridges over the river and passing through a large security gate; the wealthy of Redcliff have every intention of keeping those from the Grand Roulette and Shoreside out.
Little Felshire Alchemical Market
Constructed in the old elven style, Little Felshire is a cultural neighborhood of the fallen elves who survived the fall of the great kingdom of Felshire. Known for their alchemical prowess, the fallen elves apply their trade by buying, selling, and growing unique alchemical goods in their new home in Tankren. The whole of the market is built upon an old, massive tree, much like the castle many of its residents once called home.
Like all fallen elves, the citizens of Little Felshire wear masks to disrupt the curse they hold. Some of its residents were alive when Felshire was still a thriving elven kingdom and speak fondly of its hanging gardens and noble nature. Now, however, it is extremely taboo to talk of the horrors that lead to its destruction.
Horizon University of Tankren
Beyond the lands of the Dunwel Fen, there is little to no known reason a person of wealth or stature would want to venture here. Even the wealthiest of Redcliff’s elite do not measure up to the level of wealth and excess present at the capital city. However, Horizon University is an established and well-known entity, and its newest campus in Redcliff and the adjoining park have quickly become notorious for the alumni who have graduated in the last 80 years, all of which have achieved high-ranking positions within the imperial government of Collora. Because of this, many nobles have been sending their children to study here.
The Nine
Within the gates of Redcliff, beyond the gates of Fortaleza Protectorate, past countless protections and securities, there is a neighborhood that is exclusive even within Redcliff itself: The Nine—nine massive mansions built down a long, beautiful street. It is here that the nine wealthiest families of Tankren reside. Among them are the owners of both game halls, Ten Silver Tavern, The serpentine gambler and artifact collector Belloc, the Mayor in his mansion at the end of the lane. And a small handful of other less public wealthy elite of Tankren. While the belief of the people of Tankren is that anyone can take their place among the Nine with a spin of the Grand Roulette, the highest of honors, living among the Nine, changes hands very seldomly—if at all.
Ten Silver Tavern
This finely-crafted building is designed in line with the highest architectural standards of Redcliff. Its white marble, stone structures, and many fine gardens are lined with walkways of cobblestone behind a sturdy stone and iron fence that lines the property.
Named for a rare, silver, ten-petaled flower that only grows in the Dunwel Fen, this quiet tavern sits high on a hill, overlooking the entire lagoon, and is sparsely populated by a few very wealthy patrons, who are being brought fine food and wine to their tables. Its owner, a fallen elf in a stylish suit, leers out of the window down the street at what seems to be an abandoned building across the lagoon with a wild party happening inside.
Outside of the tavern is a building with ten rooms and a garden with a patch of the rare tensilver flowers from which the tavern gets its name. If asked, the groundskeeper happily tells the party the mythology surrounding these flowers
Fortaleza Protectorate
The imposing stone keep is built into the western bridge crossing the Delta River, overlooking the goings-on of Tankren and maintaining an imposing, perhaps even threatening presence on Tankren. The Historiological Protectorate serves as the only guard in the city and is on a direct loan to Tankren from the capital city far away. Many talk of how little the kingdom actually does for Tankren and say it would be better off without the Protectorate, but none can deny the safety afforded the town from the large, defendable keep-bridge they call a home base.
Shoreside
The communities of Tankren who are destitute, either by gambling all their chips away at the game halls or from losing The Grand Roulette, are crammed into Shoreside. With the exception of the Monument, The Guide Hall, and the market, Shoreside is almost entirely made up of ruined buildings sinking into the murky lagoon or shanty buildings constructed out of old driftwood and riverboat planks.
The western area of Shoreside closer to the lagoon rises up many feet on stilts and planks to keep it above the constantly-shifting water level of the nearby river. The many hut-like buildings are in a constant battle with nature. Moss, vines, mud, and rot are just as prolific as nails and planks. Any area in town that is left untended seems to be quickly swallowed back up by the Dunwel Fen, as evidenced by the shattered remains of countless structures scattered underwater in the lagoon
The Bells of Shoreside
The bells of Shoreside are built in ramshackle towers and are maintained by the lowliest of Tankren’s citizens. The bells are magically enchanted to both alert the people of the town to a coming Phantom Storm and provide arcane protection from the ghosts. They shield the whole of Tankren with the exception of the towers themselves, meaning those who ring the bells in the towers above are completely unprotected from the Fen’s many ghosts, while all others below in the town are safe.
Sticky Duke’s drinks and other such things and what have yous
Calling Sticky Duke’s a tavern is a generous, if not outright incorrect use of the term. The building is missing a wall, the windows have no glass, and the roof is leaking. There is no clear doorway, but plenty of boards big enough to make one’s way inside. The place is absolutely packed with people drinking and having a good time. Every table is filled with card players;the stage has a band playing high-energy music, and the bar has four bartenders, all of which are overloaded with patrons crowding them for drinks. The second floor is less crowded, but the path to an open space has you pressed up against the salt-of-the-earth folk all around who have claimed Stinky Duke’s as a beloved place to unwind after a long day of work.
Big Game Hunters’ Guild
Big Game Hunters’ Guild is a powerful institution in Tankren based out of Shoreside. Its base of operations is easily the best-kept building in the entire quarter and is three times as large as the next biggest. Built in the northeast corner of the town, its outermost walls are directly next to the redwoods of the Dunwel Fen.
Comprised of druids, rangers, and hunters, they often go on big game hunts on behalf of the Emerald and Ivy to supply their monster fights. It has become something of a contest among the hunters — each hunter has a set amount of time to go out into the wilds, catch a monster, and bring it back to pit it against another hunter’s catch. The guild was born out of what originally was a very tame spectator sport, but has grown into a local craze. The core function of the Big Game Hunters’ Guild is the art of catching a monster, but doing as little harm as possible, in order for it to be in the best possible condition to fight their opponent's capture.
Finnagin's Monument
Towering over the northern skyline atop a small hill, along the banks of the river, is a large stone monument to a local myth, the guardian of the forest, who the locals call, “Finnagin.” Said to once have been a human man who became a quasi-deity through a series of grueling trials. Now living in the magical space that connects all the forests of Crudilex, he acts as a protector to those who become hopelessly lost.
He is said to protect children who find themselves in this place by showing them a path, guiding them with lights that burn in the eyes of his mystical jaguar companion, Hephaestus. Finnagin is said to protect travelers from the treeline as they return to where they belong. His statue stands vigil over Shoreside and stares toward the main road of Tankren, so that he might guide all of Tankren if it becomes lost.
While the legends of sightings of the divine protector have grown scarce, there are still those who leave offerings or wear amulets bearing his image in hopes he will guide them and keep them on track to their goal, either literally or metaphorically in the path of their lives. Adventurers in Dunwel may well encounter him if they themselves wander too deep into the woods, if they are lucky.
Infante’s Dice
TA clean, white riverboat with a stark red paddle wheel on the back, Infante’s Dice dominates the semicircular Lagoon port, visible all the way from the front of town down the main street where it floats, perfectly framed. Its two black smokestacks bellow clouds of white steam, and its decks are lively on all levels with gamblers.
Inside are three floors of gambling halls featuring mechanical marvels like slot machines and electric lights, not seen anywhere else in the Dunwel Fen. Each floor is dedicated to the level of stakes involved. The lowest level is where you first board, with games requiring as little as one chip to ante in. If the players show an aptitude for gambling or winning, they will be invited to the next deck up; the highest of which is where thousands of gold, magical items, and even land deeds can be won. It is here where they meet the boat’s owner: a dwarf with a deep southern drawl and wearing a cowboy hat and a bolo tie, named Abraham “Snake Eyes” Dune. He is flanked on either side by his new bodyguards, a pair of elven brothers who call themselves the Deuces Wild.
Around the City
Tankren is broken up into three quarters: Redcliff for the rich, Shoreside for the poor, and The Grand Roulette for those willing to risk it all and end up on one side or the other. At the hub of the town are two game halls, centered around the bay and the Infante’s Dice, nicknamed the Grand Roulette. Each game hall is owned by a different powerful family in Tankren, and each provides a different sort of gambling experience. At the end of this hub is the half-moon dock where the riverboat is moored. Infante’s Dice acts as the town hall of Tankren, and its owner, determined by random chance, runs the town. Upon arriving, the current mayor, Abraham “Snake Eyes” Dune is celebrating the start to the grand Festival of Fate.
CULTURE
Rulership
Events
The Grand Roulette
The central section of the town is named after a massive roulette wheel built in the heart of the Infante’s Dice riverboat. Famously enchanted with powerful magic, it decides the fate of all who spin it—from destitution and prison to rulership over Tankren. Spinning the wheel is an immense risk and is generally avoided, unless forced by law or special event.
The main street of the Grand Roulette is lively and full of music. Lanterns on strings crisscross the balconies above the streets and bathe the musicians who play below in rainbows of light. Wealthy citizens are trotted about on palanquins and spend their days gambling and partying at the two large game halls or the central riverboat casino
The Grand Roulette quarter of Tankren is home to the working and middle class, many of whom earn their chips on the river and gamble them back to the two game halls, The Emerald and Ivy and Azure Window, just as quickly.
Turmoil
Belloc and the Protectorate
Tankren is occupied by an Imperial secret police tasked with maintaining the integrity of Imperial history. One powerful local, the enigmatic and wealthy gambler Belloc, has endorsed their presence wholeheartedly and has the ear of the mayor, convincing him to allow them to keep a point of power in the otherwise isolated frontier. Belloc himself is well-known for his impressive archive of lost and historically significant artifacts. Having a small army of secret police who are always happy to buy and sell from his collection has elevated him to something of a local superpower– one who is not very eager to join in the local custom of gambling one’s whole livelihood on the Tankren Ante. He is also content with the current status quo. Small wonder he is having a private event only for those who have artifacts that may be of interest to him. He calls the Stargazer Ante.