Savage Tide on Mystara Part I: "There is No Honor"
by Christopher Richard DaviesThe first adventure requires very little in the way of changes, but the setting needs a few.
Sasserine, with its jungle environs, can be placed pretty easily on the Jungle Coast of Davania. Personally, I favour putting it in the hex of swampland just to the right of the "Yasuko Tribal Lands" label on the big map from PWA1011. Plus, that's close to the Manacapuru Tribal Lands region, which sets up some stuff for later.
The city was founded 700-odd years ago by colonists from the Isle of Dawn, named for the cleric of Noumenos who had a dream that led her, her lover Teraknian (who worshipped Thor) and a bunch of other people here. They fought a dragon, Sasserine got conveniently killed, and a city was built in her honour.
The city became a relatively important stop over for traders travelling along the Davanian coastline. A century ago, though, things started to go bad. First the Lord Mayor Oren Teraknian revealed himself to be a corrupt tyrant, then he was removed from office with some help from a group of Minaean "adventurers". Unfortunately, said adventurers were actually pirates. For the next century, the city would be ruled over by one group of pirates after another -- sometimes taken by force, sometimes used as stakes in gambling games, etc. They basically looted the place and used it as a hide-out.
Twenty odd years ago, the most recent of Sasserine's piratical rulers were lost at sea, and their flunkies were overthrown by a rebellion. A council of the seven surviving noble families was set up, and they've done much to draw legitimate merchants back to Sasserine. But with the general economic downturn in this part of the world (see recent almanacs) they've started to explore other methods of gaining wealth.
One of the most ambitious of these projects was the establishment, by the Vanderboren family, of a colony near the Thanegioth Archipelago's notorious Isle of Dread. Unfortunately, the new leader of the Vanderboren family is unaware of this project, since her recently deceased parents hadn't gotten around to telling her about it. She's more concerned about how she's going to settle with her creditors. And that's where you come in ...
(Ignore all references to Cauldron; they're meant to tie in this Adventure Path with "The Shackled City" Path. On the other hand, you could certainly put a mountain range with a city in the caldera of an extinct volcano to the south of Sasserine if you really wanted one ...)
Religions of Sasserine:
The Azure Cathedral is dedicated to Protius, but includes shrines to other nautical figures, many of whom are Protius' aliases.
For Kord, read Thor.
For St. Cuthbert, that's the name of a prominent cleric who believed in a philosophy of Law that's endured, even though he didn't actually win Immortality. (Sind can't be the only nation in the world worshipping Immortals that don't actually exist.)
For Fharlanghn, read Asterius.
For Olidammara, read Korotiku. (The alias of Worgul is a little jab at Asterius.)
For Pelor, read Ixion.
For Wee Jas, read Noumenos.
For Nerull, read Thanatos.
For Vecna, read Masauwu. (The cult of Vecna in the Historian's Guild is involved in blackmail, something I think Masauwu would be into.)
The Church of the Whirling Fury is dedicated to Gwynharwyf, a little known Immortal of the Sphere of Energy.
The Scarlet Embassy
During the brief period when Ochalea was an independent nation, the Kingdom established an embassy in Sasserine, one of its closest neighbours and trade partners. While I'm not sure if Ochalea's new status as an Exarchate of the Thyatian Empire allows it to maintain independent embassies, this one at least is still open ... but it's being used by a group of sinister monks and assassins. (Don't use the word ninja. It means something unpleasant in Ochalean.)
More Trivia
Anwyn Arabani claims to be of shadow elven descent, rather than drow, and she's actually telling the truth ... though she has some very strange ideas about what they're like. (The spider fetish, for instance. What's up with that?)