KUVERAN EMPIRE

Ruler: His Majesty Most High, Kuveros, Emperor ov thee Domain ov Kuvera
Capital: Kuv City (pop, 45,000)
Population: 150,000+
Demi-Humans: Some, mostly gnomekin and gypsies
Humanoids: Few, goblinoids, gnolls, lizardkin, trolls
Resources: Iron, Silver, Copper, Cloth, Pottery, Marble, Shipbuilding, Slaves

Kuvera is the preeminent power in Testoria. Founded nearly 1200 years ago by descendants of Kuveros I ov Estoril, a powerful seer and leeder of a pacifist migration away from the tyranny of ancient Estoril. Kuveros I had a vision of the fall of Estoril and led his people to construct a floating city on Mare Luna, in what is now the Crater Isles, where they would be safe from the approaching apocalypse. There he divined not only the Fall of Estoril, and the horror of the Ogre Wars, but a bold new dawn that would come to Testoria. The Golden Age of Man.

The coastline of Kuvera extends from the River Trillium northeast to the mouth of the Dagger Loch. Over a coastal expanse of over 400 miles, the coastline varies from a rocky 50' cliff (as along the stone prominence between Trollgateand Athri) to a marshy shore (as can be found in Saltmarsh). Although the best harbors are occupied by Kuvera's wealthy trading cities, the coast boasts many small coves and harbors which could allow a ship to be hidden from view.

People of Kuvera

As can be expected in a cosmopolitan metropolis, people of virtually every race in Testoria are to be found in Kuvera. The majority are Kuveran, followed by various peoples subject to the Empire - Crater Islanders, Valar, Dagöí, Elaní from The Eastern Empire, and Ogrima from the Isle of Woe. These, and assorted persons from other nations, have come to the mighty capital for business or pleasure, to seek their fortune.

Money

The Empire of Kuvera mints four types of coins: the platinum Emperor (worth 5 gp), the gold Kuv (equal to 1 gp), the silver Val (equal to 1 sp), and the copper Taro (equal to 1 cp). Electrum is not minted in the Empire.

Everyone is supposed to use Imperial currency in Kuv City. Moneychangers will trade from other currency at a cost of 5-10% of the coins' value. However, many merchants are willing to accept equal value in genuine foreign currency, since so many foreigners come through to spend their gold here.

Law of the Land

Anyone arrested for a crime in Kuvera has the right to a trial. Nonetheless, justice is so swift that it can be unfair (that would have been so for the gladiators accused of revolt; the Emperor's stay of their trials was an extraordinary event). The time between the judiciary's decision to prosecute and the arrest and start of the trial can less than a week. A good advocate can delay the trial up to two weeks more, if he can present a good argument to the judge.

Criminal charges will be Lesser Charges or Greater Charges, and punishment if convicted depends on the judge's ruling on the defendant's intent. The nastier the intent, the worse the punishment will be. Whippings are public. Where property was lost or damaged, the defendant must repay the loss in addition to punishment. A defendant who cannot pay a fine must take either the lashing or imprisonment. If a convict is affluent, judges have been known to levy fines much larger than usual.

Lesser Charges include Assault (Fist or Cudgel); Disturbing the Public Peace; Flight from Owner (a charge brought against fleeing slaves); Flight to Avoid Arrest; Lying to an Official; Petty Theft (up to 100 Kuvs value); Vagrancy; Weapon- Carrying Violations; and other lesser crimes.

Punishments for such crimes vary. Sample punishments include:

Accident/Unknowing: No punishment; or fine of 1-6 Kuvs. Good Intentions: No punishment; or fine of 1-6 Kuvs; or 5 lashes with a whip. Error in Judgment: Fine of 2-12 Kuvs; or 5-10 lashes. Temporary Madness: Probation of 1 to 6 months under the supervision of a court cleric; and either fine of 3-18 Kuvs, or 5-20 lashes. Self-Interest/Unsociability: One week Imprisonment; and either fine of 3-18 Kuvs, or 5-20 lashes. Chronic Self-Interest/Unsociability: One month in hard labor, fine of 3-18 Kuvs and 5-20 lashes. Inhumanity: A year on Borydos Island (a prison colony).

Greater Charges include Grand Theft (more than 100 Kuvs value), Murder, Perjury, Tax Evasion, Treason, and other greater crimes.

Accident/Unknowing: No punishment; or fine of 10 to 100 Kuvs; or 1 week imprisonment. Good Intentions: Fine 10-100 Kuvs, or 1 week imprisonment. Error in Judgment: Fine 50-500 Kuvs, plus 1 month hard labor; nobles' titles and dominions may be stripped at judge's discretion. Temporary Madness: Fine 50-500 Kuvs, plus imprisonment until court clerics are certain the madness will not recur. Self-Interest/Unsociability: Imprisonment on Borydos Island (a penal colony) for 5-10 years; or death. Chronic Self-Interest/Unsociability: Life sentence to Borydos Island; or stripped to slave status; or death—property impounded by Empire in all cases. Inhumanity: Stripped to slave status, property impounded by the Empire, and death.

Gambling

All types of gambling are both legal and popular. The favorite form of gambling, predictably enough—and one quite susceptible to cheating and scams, as demonstrated in the "Veins" —is betting on Arena battles.

Challenges and Duels

When one Kuveran is offended by another, he typically challenges the other to a duel. The challenged party may dictate the terms of the duel—how many parties, which weapons, where and when, whether it's to first blood or the death— and then the challenger may reaffirm his challenge or withdraw it.

Naturally, duels between popular or well-known people attract crowds, unless they are fought in absolute secrecy. Duels are fought between hated rivals, people who just want to find out who is the better fighter, military officers who disagree on some matter, people who bump into one another on the street and choose not to apologize, people with long-standing grudges, and so on. Most are to first blood; quite a few are to the death, or result in death even if they're not supposed to.

If carried out properly, a duel is perfectly legal, and even encouraged by some magistrates as a means of settling disputes. If not done properly, it may be considered murder.

The Games

When the Ogrima conquered Kuvera 1,200 years ago, they sought to turn the Kuverans' minds away from the murder of Ogrima. One governor suggested that criminals sentenced to execution be dropped into animal-pits and given a sword and shield; should the criminal slay the beast, he would be freed. The fights were desperate and bloody, and the Kuverans loved them.

In time, special arenas were built for this type of combat. Changes in format brought men pitted against other men, singly or in groups, as well as against monsters. And, in time, freemen entered the arena also, fighting for promised rewards. Today, more than a thousand years later, the Coliseum is still the center of Kuveran entertainment. No fee is charged for entry; rich patron sponsor events, gladiators, and teams of gladiators.

Executions no longer take place here. Some gladiators are free men, earning pay for victories; others are slave, and must fight. Animals and monsters are still brought in to fight.

KUV CITY [map]

Built where the Valorían River flows into Mare Luna, Kuv City is the center of the Empire, its greatest city, most powerful port and trade center, and seat of its navy and trading fleet. Residents don't use the name, "Kuv City"—the city to them is Kuv, and the nation is Kuvera because it is an extension of the city.

The wealthy parts of Kuv have been constructed with soaring stone walls, broad streets of concrete, huge public works and buildings (such as aqueducts to supply the city with water, sewers to remove waste, baths, courthouses, and the magnificent Coliseum), lavish villas and mansions.

At the center of Kuv is the Heart, a great merchant district where goods from throughout Testoria are bought and sold.

In the poorer districts there are huge tenement areas, with city block after block of three-to five-story tenement dwellings, known as insulae (singular: insula). Here people live crowded together; there is much filth and disease, and occasional violence. Other problems in the insula districts are fires and even the collapse of poorly-constructed buildings. Unemployment is high, but people can hang on because the government provides free bread for all.

The most popular entertainment in Kuvera are the games, held in the Coliseum. Admission to the games is free; they are paid for by wealthy patrons, such as merchants, victorious generals (rich with booty from their campaigns), senators, and the Emperor himself.

The free "bread and circuses" are one of the main reasons that the bulk of the Kuveran population is kept relatively peaceful, despite their often abysmal living conditions.
The Catacombs

Catacombs have been dug beneath Kuv City since the century before the crowning of the first Emperor, when the Kuveran people were under the oppressive yoke of Ogrima conquerors (as the Kuverans describe it, at least). Besides being graves, the catacombs served another function as a secret meeting-place for many who did not possess the favor of the Ogrima overlords. Some traditions state that the entire movement to throw off the Ogrima yoke began in humble catacombs outside of Kuvera, at the funerals of people slain by Ogrima cruelty, when the survivors swore they would win just vengeance against their oppressors. This has given the catacombs a special sacredness to Tarastia, in the eyes of some of her adherents. The Ogrima were driven out of Kuvera a thousand years ago. Most of their splendid tombs were torn apart by angry, rioting mobs and during and after the Kuveran struggle for autonomy. But the catacombs remained and, rather than imitate their erstwhile conquerors, the Kuverans proudly continued to dig the subterranean tombs. Indeed, they carried the project inside the walls of the city, so that now much of the ground on which Kuvera is built is riddled with tunnels like a swiss cheese.

Catacombs are not elaborate architecturally. They consist of relatively straight passages, intersecting at right angles. When the fossores, as the catacomb diggers are called, encounter an area of particularly hard rock, they might start digging up or down (as the area permits). This results in a multi-leveled honeycomb.

Explorers of some old catacombs have found as many as five distinct levels. Besides the tunnels and accompanying loculi (graves dug into the tunnel walls), there are rooms, cubicula, where families are buried; and sanctuaries of assorted Immortals, where services for the deceased are held; plus numerous other features that the player characters will encounter in their flight.

There are dozens of catacombs in Kuvera, or possibly more if you consider as separate the ones that by chance or design are known to have been connected together by the diggers. No one is really certain if some of the catacombs have hidden or unknown connections with other catacombs, the sewers, or even deeper natural caverns that burrow into the planet's crust and ito the realm of the Underearth.

Catacombs may be home to a few creatures. The ones in Kuv City are usually not as populated as the typical dungeon, however; they exist beneath a bustling, thriving city, after all, so the more powerful monsters don't just pop in and out like in the wilderness. Most of the catacombs that have truly fantastic inhabitants are seldom visited, lead to other cavern complexes, or have a nexus with another plane.

Typical catacomb inhabitants are vermin (normal and giant), "low-life" monsters (fungi, slimes, molds, oozes, etc.), burrowing monsters, outcasts from the city above (such as wererats) and undead (arisen from the graves, naturally). Some catacombs are also used as hideouts by cutthroats, or as shelter by vagabonds and beggars.

The catacomb complex described below combines several catacombs, each with its own entrance, that grew together, as it were, over the centuries. It is a "living" catacomb, since it is still growing, under the direction of Glubius, the mensor (the catacomb's planner/ caretaker), and still serves as a site for new burials.

See Also:

Kuv City Arena
Pantheon