The World of King of Kings: The Kingdom of the Straits

Just like with my last post, it has also been more than a year since my last King of Kings worldbuilding post! I won't bore y'all with a rehashing of my intentions for the series; this is the second part in a hopefully multi-part series of posts about various parts of the world of King of Kings, told primarily through rumors, character backgrounds, random encounters, and the like. Check out the previous World of King of Kings post for a rundown on the general historical timeline of the setting and stuff about the Enlightened Empire, the core setting of the campaign!

 

From the Church of Abreha wa Atsbeha, near Wukro, East Tigray, Ethiopia

A map of the Kingdom of the Straits, with south on top.

THE KINGDOM OF THE STRAITS

Situated to the southwest of the Enlightened Empire is the commercially powerful Kingdom of the Straits, so called because it stands astride three points which control the flow of east-west trade. The Kingdom's capital, She-ako, abides among looming obelisks in the heat of the southern continent, although its influence reaches much farther. The wise and magnanimous kings of She-ako are rich off of trade, and patronize the only bank which loans to Shahanistanis, Gnostic Elves, and Dog-Headed Men alike. It was this grand bank that, along with the kingdom's fleet of Frogling-operated sea vessels, bailed out the Enlightened Empire during the Fifty Years' Crisis (when amazons, dog-headed men, and rebels almost tore the Empire apart).

Due to its geography, the Kingdom of the Straits can be neatly divided into three parts. The Kingdom's mainland stretches from windy highlands (the old heartland, where the capital is located) down to the sweltering lowlands, where the Kingdom's two main rivers empty into the sea. Across from the mainland is the arid peninsular province, rich in frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon. This was its own independent kingdom centuries ago, before one of the kings of She-ako invaded and razed its capital, Hudh, to the ground. The last of the Kingdom's territories is the small settlement of Kago on the heavily forested Isle of the Moon, little more than a trading outpost for tropical fruits and pygmy elephants.

 

Aksumite governor and Arabian troops, Angus McBride

RUMORS ABOUT THE STRAITS

Roll 1d12:

1: In the markets of New Hudh and elsewhere, a message is preached aloud and whispered at night: the last of Hudh's ancient kings still lives, and his return will usher in a millennium of independence for the peninsula. 

2: Beyond the southern mountain passes dwells the man-eating, four-eyed, ax-headed ogre Bulgu. The country is defended from him by a great warrior that wields stelae as if they were clubs.

3: A frogling sorcerer from She-ako has cast a spell on select coins from the grand bank that lets him see through the drachmae as if they were eyes. Only small signs, the barest of distinct notches, will show which coins are ensorcelled.

4: In the highlands around She-ako, every blacksmith in every town can transform into a hyena simply by biting his metalworking tongs.

5:  There is a frogling sailor who moors in the port of Kago with a ship made of banana peels, propelled by fruit flies. To some he is kindly despite his gross exterior, to others he is a rapacious pirate.

6: Dwelling in the mountainous highlands are emaciated ants with the faces of lions.

7: The southern amazons are engaged in a jungle war with the merchant princes in Kago. They burst out of tunnels dug beneath the undergrowth.

8: The elephants from the Kingdom of the Straits are the wisest of elephants, baptizing themselves in rivers and performing funerals for their dead. However, they are cursed, because they worship the moon.

9: Ostrich-hunters will trick these anxious birds by bending over and holding up an arm in imitation of the ostrich's silhouette, holding their spear between their toes until it is time to strike.

10: The bank of She-ako puts out bounties for those who have debased or defaced the currency; punching a hole through a coin is a death sentence.

11: Laughing leucrottas, with reddish fur, cloven hooves, and a single solid flat tooth on bottom and top jaw, lurk in the highlands. They compete with ghuls for corpseflesh, which they masticate into a paste. The King of Kings has been seeking out one to add to his menagerie.

12: A fisher-witch of the lowlands rides on twin crocodiles, one foot on each, as she evades the soldiers of the king that keep peace in the river deltas.

 

Statue of the Occulted King (in reality, Dhamar'aliy Yuhbabirr of the Himyarite Kingdom of Yemen)

CHARACTER BACKGROUNDS FROM THE STRAITS

Roll 1d10 or pick (in parentheses are the starting items afforded by the background)
1: Abandoned Ambassador (letter of introduction, a tattered and stained gabi, a walking stick, a gold and pearl memento of home)
2: Agent of the Occulted King (eyes that glance back and forth, a quiet whisper, a silver icon of the Occulted King's hand, a curved jambiya dagger)
3: Dhow Sailor (a dhow, your sea legs, 40' of rope, a short dagger)
4: Disgraced Banker (stolen lockbox with 30 coins in it (1 drachm each), one ear cut off, a great sense of appraisal)
5: Elephant Wrangler (A baby elephant, 60' of rope, 2 spears, experience grappling large animals)
6: Exiled Moneyer (a defaced coin on a string, a crucible for melting metal, a hammer and anvil die, quick feet)
7: Incense Harvester (a thick cloth used for climbing trees, a hammer and scraping tool, thick calluses, a hunk of sweet-smelling resin)
8: Orator of the Occulted King (a scroll of propaganda poetry, a silver tongue, a silver icon of the Occulted King's eye, a curved jambiya dagger)
9: Spice Merchant (a crate of cinnamon, a laboring servant, a set of scales)
10: Stele Carver (a hammer and chisel, extensive construction experience and knowledge of stone, a cowrie-shell necklace declaring your importance)

Fallen obelisk, more standing in the background, Aksum, Ethiopia

TREASURES FROM THE STRAITS

Roll 1d10 or pick:

1: Silver filigreed censer, filled with frankincense.

2: Specialized mancatcher, used by the march-rangers of the northern borderlands to ensnare headless man-eaters whose faces are in their chests. Its wider grip grabs them at the waist.

3: Jambiya dagger in a jewel-encrusted sheath.

4: Fan made from ostrich feathers.

5: Statuette of a previous king of She-ako carved from elephant ivory, set into an ebony base.

6: Wooden helmet that covers the neck and head, with a visor of ivory that can be lowered to block the gaze of the dreadful catoblepas.

7: Amphora with swirling designs, filled with hundreds of coins.

8: Silver necklace with a small walnut shell, complete with hinge and lock; when the walnut locket is opened, it contains a lock of the Occulted King's hair.

9: A gold statuette of a crocodile with a woman sitting atop it.

10: A stone chest full of cinnamon; but be careful! There is a 2-in-6 chance the cinnamon has been adulterated with wood shavings!

Dawit II, emperor of Ethiopia 1507-1540 (its kinda tough to find Ethiopian pictures contemporary with late antiquity unfortunately)

EMBASSY FROM THE STRAITS

The embassy from the straits is a potential random encounter (namely a subtype of the "nobles and veterans" encounter type).

Composition of the embassy:

The Ambassador: as a 1+1 HD noble. Carrying a letter of introduction that declares their stated purpose (roll on the table below). Wields a gold and silver staff topped with a wooden carving of the local god of She-ako.

2d6 slaves.

1d6 lesser ambassadorial staff.

1d3 cooks.

1d3 merchants.

1 augur trained in ornithomancy.

2d6+1 guards (as veterans).

Horses and mules enough for all the above and to transport all the embassy's food, supplies, and any gifts or tribute they bring with them.

The embassy's stated purpose:

Roll 1d6:

1: Summoned on behalf of the satrap to observe local games (and do some trade-related dealings on the side).

2: Investigating rumors of activity by partisans of the Occulted King in the satrapy.

3: Delivering a bank loan (transported in amphorae and lockboxes) to a noble client.

4: Negotiations with a Gnostic Elf merchant (the embassy has gotten lost, in no small part due to the chaos on the border between the ever-warring Gnostic Elves and the Enlightened Empire).

5: Giving tribute to the Kanarang in recognition of his essential role in keeping the lands of civilization safe from the barbarous Land of Darkness.

6: The embassy is more or less autonomous, the ambassador having received a vision in a dream telling him to go north.

The embassy will have with it treasure and tribute, including:

1d3 items from the above treasure list.

4d6x10 She-ako coins (worth 1 drachm each)

Animal skins (incl. elephant, lion, catoblepas, ape, and ostrich feathers) collectively worth 2d6x20 drachmae

Crates of cinnamon, sesame, frankincense, and myrrh worth 500 drachmae or more.

The King of She-ako confronting notables of Hudh... or, in reality, Negus Najashi (possibly the king Armah) refusing the request by the Quraysh to send back the Muslims who emigrated to Ethiopia back to Mecca (from a 14th century manuscript by Rashid ad-Din Hamadani)

Much later than the period I usually take inspiration from, but this was too cool to not include: a plaque depicting a lion from a Zagwe dynasty era church, originally manufactured in southwest India!