The Maiden Saga: Role Playing Game (3 page)

 

The people of Ythan are heavily interbred with dwarves, and it shows. Squat, hirsute and solid, they lack both grace and beauty. However, they are cosmopolitan and usually tolerant, relatively advanced and the best natural craftsmen among the eight peoples. They trade extensively, most often between nations as their homeland is poor in natural resources, but in order to make up for this they have taken to breeding exotic slaves for the Vendjomois market. Ythan is only just north of the Great Parch and is a dry land irrigated by the great Ephraxis River. Their alchemists are especially skilled and they are notorious for their potions and philtres.

 

• Primary Drive - Craft
  
• Social – a lose republic. Irrigation agriculture.
  
• Slavery – breeding for export.
  
• Technology – basic industrial.
  
• Armament – cross-bow, musket.
  
• Clothing – light cloth. Kirtles, robes.
  
• Religion – vague polytheism.
  

 

Erotic Congress – sex among the people of Ythan is straightforward and practical, also frequent. They have a strong drive to reproduce, but do not find each other particularly attractive and so use stimulants and musks, which tend to hang in the hot, still air.

 

Quirks – erotic perversion is known to the people of Ythan, but not understood. Certainly they see no moral difficulties with their breeding programs, most of which involve human half-man crosses.

 

Makea

 

“Everything has a value.”

 

 

The Makeans are a people unrelated to the others, generally of middling size and seldom well-formed, while their skin is a curious charcoal grey and their hair black. They are a race of pirates and bullies, preferring to plunder than trade although their island is rich in spices, dyes, incense and other precious things. The highest class of Makeans are known as Exquisites, the next level are Elites. They take their pleasures in wrestling and other combat sports, generally between slaves, who include debtors of their own race.

 

• Primary Drive - Greed
  
• Social – structured, militaristic. Fishing, agriculture. Monarchy.
  
• Slavery – commonplace.
  
• Technology – basic industrial.
  
• Armament – musket, cannon. Swords are largely ceremonial.
  
• Clothing – light, colourful silk robes. Cloth and leather for practical wear.
  
• Religion – polytheism.
  

 

Erotic Congress – in Makea sex is almost invariably a commercial transaction, although not necessarily for money. To purchase sex is seen as a mark of high status, to sell it the reverse. Slaves are expected to do as they are told and are often trained specifically as concubines. Makeans are inveterate voyeurs and enjoying watching others perform sexual acts, preferably for money as this reinforces to status of the observer.

 

Quirks – the Makeans take particular pleasure in erotic games, generally designed to force friends or lovers to degrade each other in order to escape some worse fate. These are often public and the subject of extensive betting. They are inveterate sodomites.

 

Oretes

 

“I am prepared to negotiate.”

 

 

The Oreteans are a small, swarthy people, quick witted but not very physical. Each extended family forms a “house”, from royalty down, and there is constant rivalry and intrigue. Cunning is the highest virtue and betrayal a perfectly respectable means to an end. They bring the same attitude to trading, to war and to justice. Oretaea is a large country and thinly populated. Their caravans and ships travel great distances and their eloquence and flexibility allows them to trade even with the Aeg.

 

• Primary Drive - Guile
  
• Social – agriculture. Flexible, urban. Monarchy by election.
  
• Slavery – institutional.
  
• Technology – basic industrial.
  
• Armament – lance, sword, musket. Light armour.
  
• Clothing – silk, fine cloth. Robes, turbans.
  
• Religion – indifferent.
  

 

Erotic Congress – the typical Oretean is not particularly lustful. Sex is considered a private affair, best restricted to the bedchamber, but is frequently employed to gain advantage in their endless intrigues, which in turn makes the people wary and has led to an elaborate, formal system of official brothels. There is a mild nudity taboo, so that subtly revealing clothing is popular.

 

Quirks – oral sex, and particularly rimming, is used to display status among the Oreteans and therefore considered humiliating for the giver.

 

Vendjome

 

“How much for your daughter?”

 

 

Closely related to the Oreteans but mutually antagonistic, the Vendjomois are by far the most populous of the eight peoples, occupying rich, fruitful lands. Their economy is supported by a large slave population they consider little different to beasts, which means there are few poor Vendjomois and many very wealthy ones. Trade is extensive, levies and tariffs complicated, public servants and priests everywhere. Physically small and precious of their vitality, the Vendjomois prefer to employ mercenaries to do their fighting, but there is a small, elite officer class. All strangers are automatically slaves unless they have the correct paperwork as traders of mercenaries.

 

• Primary Drive - Wealth
  
• Social – imperial, bureaucratic, rigid. Agricultural. Imperialism.
  
• Slavery – economically essential.
  
• Technology – basic industrial.
  
• Armament – lance, sword, musket. Light armour. Mercenaries.
  
• Clothing – silk. Generally minimal
  
• Religion – fervent polytheism.
  

 

Erotic Congress – in Vendjome, sex is something you have with slaves, excepting only when you wish to beget an heir. Wealthy Vendjomois of both sexes keep specialised, highly trained pleasure slaves, while there is great competition for exotics, especially with blonde hair, or better still, red. Hai are particularly prized, Aprinians slightly less so while Mund and Aeg fetch the highest prices, but only from those unaware of the drawbacks.

 

Quirks – most Vendjomois make little distinction between girls and boys when it comes to sex, and all will take what is available. Some are cruel, but not studiously so, many enjoy deflowering virgins, but more for the rarity value than the sensation.

Aprina

 

“Your hypothesis is flawed.”

 

 

The Aprinians are originally from central Cypraea, a dark skinned people, the men generally slender, the women tending towards the voluptuous. They are more civilised than their neighbours, and wary, particularly of slavers. They keep tight border controls, and what trade they have is with the Hai across the Red Parch. A lush hinterland provides drugs and plenty of food, the northern desert metals and semi-precious stone, but little else. Their lives are easy and their life expectancy long, making them cautious and less hardy than others.

 

• Primary Drive – Wisdom
  
• Social – democratic city states. Meritocracy. Agriculture, husbandry, gathering.
  
• Slavery – unacceptable.
  
• Technology – industrial.
  
• Armament – rifles, artillery.
  
• Clothing – little or none. Silk.
  
• Religion – none. Atheist.
  

 

Erotic Congress – the Aprinians take a casual attitude to sex and have few taboos. Nudity is the rule rather than the exception and there is no shame in public display. Prostitution is consider a pointless barbarism, although it is not uncommon to offer sex as a courtesy. Other peoples consider the dark skin and abundant endowments of the Aprinians appealing.

 

Quirks – the Aprinians have a peculiar horror of slavery, which by a curious logic makes it their favourite erotic fantasy, often combined with bondage and spanking, which are seen as purely erotic. Decorative erotic piercings are the norm and a mark of status.

 

Half-men and beasts

 

Four distinct types of half-men need to be taken into account.

 

Dwarves – a burly, solid people fond of mining, metallurgy and mead. They live in cities to the north of Ythan and are occasionally met with elsewhere as mercenaries or traders. Dwarves are tough, surly, practical, avaricious. Dwarves can be hired, at high rates, and make excellent guards although they are ultimately loyal to their own kind. Their technology surpasses even that of the Aprinians, but they keep it firmly to themselves.

Dwarves and true humans breed true and produce fertile offspring but they don't usually go in for this and are regarded as a distinct species, especially by themselves.

 

Trolls – huge, lumbering creatures confined to mountainous regions, trolls are too stupid and too aggressive to communicate with and cannot be used for effective labour. They have a strong, distinctive scent and are easy to avoid, while they are vegetarian and will not normally attack humans. Only the most powerful and experienced warrior could hope to survive unarmed combat with a troll, but it is known. Capturing trolls is feasible if never easy, generally done using nets and packs of dogs. The Makeans and others occasionally use them for sport.