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Starting a Yaramuke Campaign

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
dracochapel
Jun 11, 2004 2:43:22 Hello all.

Im starting a new Dark Sun Campaign with 3.5 rules, and instead of either the regular timeline, or the new 300yr future timeline im going to start it in Yaramuke prior to its destruction.

I plan on having the PC's start out as citizens of Yaramuke with the troubles with Urik just a distant distraction.

By the middle of the campaign they'll regularly be encountering Urik saboteurs, ambushes, and outright (small) scale battles.

At the end they'll be leading the Yaramuke army to its destruction, POSSIBLY saving the Queen - but we'll see.

Now i need a bit of help with the background and details of Yaramuke. Heres basically all i have about the city/queen:

Sielba
Sielba Destroyer of Pterrans

167th King's Age (-1,771)
-Ral's Agitation
In an attempt to increase her power, Sielba, Queen of Yaramuke attacks Urik. Hamanu easily defeats her army and personally slays the sorcerer-queen. On the heels of victory, Urik's army sacks Yaramuke and burns the city to the ground. To appease the Dragon's wrath for killing a sorcerer-queen, Hamanu presents Borys with a levy of Yaramuke's riches-which pleases the beast and spares Urik.

> Yeah, there's some. Bits and pieces, scattered through the adventure.
> Mainly hints you get from the ruins...a picture of Yaramuke in its prime,
> etc. It does *not* imply that there was more than the obsidian dispute
> behind its destruction. Well, besides the fact that Sielba tried to ruin
> Urik in order to get the obsidian monopoly...

Its sorcerer-queen, Sielba, was as just as a tyrant can be.

Im looking for anything about Sielba, her relationship with Hamanu, why the war happened (whether bad relationship or obsidian related), how big Yaramuke was and how different from the 'template' of a citystate - im presuming templars, slaves, gladiators but was she Just? Or the appearance of Just?

In the campaign the war will be short, but there will be a lot of "cold war" prelude.

Thanks in advance for any information.
#2
zombiegleemax
Jun 11, 2004 6:38:16 Read the Rise and Fall of a Dragon King... If she is the **** then she is mentioned briefly... It (to me) is a great image of Hamanu, lets you see Dragons in a new light... To the rest of you I noticed When Dark Sun was revised for 2nd ed, they took what was published in the Novels, and applied it. (Psionic artifacts of Athas) Was anyone else (who read this book) Disipointed that in 3.5 they basically ignored that which was writen?
#3
zombiegleemax
Jun 11, 2004 10:43:53 Try to get the Black Flames adventure, downloadable for a few USD. It plays in the ruins of Yaramuke, at has info about its past.
#4
zombiegleemax
Jun 11, 2004 16:34:42 Selbi, Selbia, what ever is mentionioned in The book I mentioned, (briefly
#5
Kamelion
Jun 12, 2004 4:38:39 ???

Did somebody unplug you midpost?
#6
zombiegleemax
Jun 12, 2004 7:21:22 No I read her name when trying to find out about dregoth in another post.... Plus Im tired when I post, either before, or after sleep
#7
zombiegleemax
Jun 29, 2004 19:47:56 Let's see...in Black Flames, it says Sielba conspired with great merchant houses to ruin Urik through trade embargoes and high prices. Hamanu caught wind of the scheme before it could go into action, and we know the rest. Umm...The Dark Sun revised set says she tried to increase her personal power by opposing Hamanu and Urik...and paid for it. So goes the official DS history on Sielba.

My DS campaign has a different twist with Sielba, but that's another story...
#8
dracochapel
Jul 01, 2004 0:47:56 Thanks for the replies, i wasnt going to have merchant houses, but of course there still would be merchant houses just in different guises.
Some of the changes ill have to differ from a present day (Prism Pentad) campaign are: (any other ideas are welcome)

The templars i think will not be organised into bureaus, ill say that 'lawful' organisation will come later. Instead there will be a small number of High Templars, say of War, Building, Farming, 'Praetorian' who each have their own fief within Yaramuke, each with their own structure acting against each other (+ with this infighting i get another reason why yaramuke got destroyed other than "hamanu is the best") They will each use the PC's for infighting amongst themselves, trying to be the HIGHEST templar.

There will be racial tensions as the demi-human races begin to enter the city. i would think the demi-humans avoided the cities and Champions for a time until memory of the Cleansing wars begins to fade. But they would want to enter the cities for the protection that it would give them.

The veiled alliance doesnt exist, so any preserver PC's are going to find life very hard. On the upside there are lots of defilers in the city, Sielba has yet to purge the apprentices of apprentices of apprentices of her slave-defilers from the cleansing war. She is keeping them around to help her in case of war, but they will combine into a "dark alliance" and try to topple her regime.

As you can see im making Yaramuke a mess in its final days, something like Raam would become later on. Sielba is harsh on the general populace but unable to control all the different factions (templars, defilers, trade families). To quieten/unite them she will act against the enemy without - Urik.
#9
Kamelion
Jul 01, 2004 2:23:07 Also the official timeline (iirc) mentions that, in order to appease Borys for having killed another sorcerer-king, Hamanu gave him much of the riches of Yaramuke. Borys then used these to build Ur Draxa...
#10
dracochapel
Jul 01, 2004 2:32:24 Did some of the riches include people? i imagine borys had to get at least the starting ur draxans from somewhere.

And i cant imagine Hamanu just slaughtering say 20000 people - those days ended with the cleansing wars.

Does ur draxa mean something like 'city of the dragon'? are ur draxans therefore 'people of the dragon'?
#11
Kamelion
Jul 01, 2004 2:43:17 It doesn't specifically say, but implies that it is just treasure. The idea of slaves is excellent as well, though - definitely gonna use that in my game when I get around to Ur Draxa . An earlier thread on this board suggested that the Ur Draxans were primarily the remnants of Borys' army and its followers (who may have lived at his citadel in the Alluvial Wastes prior to the construction of Ur Draxa). All conjecture, but while we're at it, why not throw some Yaramukites into the mix? Maybe they were among the first Ur Draxan slaves, those who did the actual building of the city?

The timeline entries, btw, read as follows:

167th King's Age (-1,771)

Ral's Agitation
In an attempt to increase her power, Sielba, Queen of Yaramuke attacks Urik. Hamanu easily defeats her army and personally slays the sorcerer-queen. On the heels of victory, Urik's army sacks Yaramuke and burns the city to the ground. To appease the Dragon's wrath for killing a sorcerer-queen, Hamanu presents Borys with a levy of Yaramuke's riches-which pleases the beast and spares Urik.

Silt's Defiance
Borys uses the booty gained from Yaramuke to build Ur Draxa, which becomes the greatest city on all of Athas. At the center of the city Borys places the Black Sphere for him and his city to protect.
#12
dracochapel
Jul 01, 2004 2:53:46
On the heels of victory, Urik's army sacks Yaramuke and burns the city to the ground. To appease the Dragon's wrath for killing a sorcerer-queen, Hamanu presents Borys with a levy of Yaramuke's riches-which pleases the beast and spares Urik.

I imagine Hamanu sacking Yaramuke and leading long lines of prisoners back to urik. Then he hands over his tithe and yaramuke's as well from the prisoners he has taken(so a couple of thousand slaves), as well as a lot of the loot he took.

I like the idea of their blood surviving a thousand years in the form of the slaves of Ur Draxa,
"waste not, want not"

Is Borys citadel in the alluvial wastes in ruins or not there any more?
#13
Kamelion
Jul 01, 2004 3:08:46 It's a ruin. It only appears in The Crimson Legion novel and isn't referred to in any of the game material. In the novel Rikus (wandering about in the desert like the slaphead that he is) encounters the citadel. Inside he meets a group of Athasian wraiths who mistake him for Borys returned in another body. There was also some conjecture that the Citadel might have been Borys' city of Ebe but the timeline contradicts this by noting that Ebe was swallowed by the silt. If you go by the timeline, it seems more likely that the Citadel in the Alluvial Sand Wastes was an outpost of Ebe and not the lost city itself.
#14
theocracity
Jul 01, 2004 9:37:35
Originally posted by DracoChapel
I imagine Hamanu sacking Yaramuke and leading long lines of prisoners back to urik. Then he hands over his tithe and yaramuke's as well from the prisoners he has taken(so a couple of thousand slaves), as well as a lot of the loot he took.

I like the idea of their blood surviving a thousand years in the form of the slaves of Ur Draxa,
"waste not, want not"

Is Borys citadel in the alluvial wastes in ruins or not there any more?

Could be a good way for your characters to end up...rather than the dissapointment of having their characters killed, they have a new chance for adventure in Ur Draxa (either working against the harsh landscape and creatures fighting to build it, or struggling to revolt / escape from the other Ur Draxians)....

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 dracochapel Jun 11, 2004 2:43:22	Hello all. Im starting a new Dark Sun Campaign with 3.5 rules, and instead of either the regular timeline, or the new 300yr future timeline im going to start it in Yaramuke prior to its destruction. I plan on having the PC's start out as citizens of Yaramuke with the troubles with Urik just a distant distraction. By the middle of the campaign they'll regularly be encountering Urik saboteurs, ambushes, and outright (small) scale battles. At the end they'll be leading the Yaramuke army to its destruction, POSSIBLY saving the Queen - but we'll see. Now i need a bit of help with the background and details of Yaramuke. Heres basically all i have about the city/queen: Sielba Sielba Destroyer of Pterrans 167th King's Age (-1,771) -Ral's Agitation In an attempt to increase her power, Sielba, Queen of Yaramuke attacks Urik. Hamanu easily defeats her army and personally slays the sorcerer-queen. On the heels of victory, Urik's army sacks Yaramuke and burns the city to the ground. To appease the Dragon's wrath for killing a sorcerer-queen, Hamanu presents Borys with a levy of Yaramuke's riches-which pleases the beast and spares Urik. > Yeah, there's some. Bits and pieces, scattered through the adventure. > Mainly hints you get from the ruins...a picture of Yaramuke in its prime, > etc. It does not imply that there was more than the obsidian dispute > behind its destruction. Well, besides the fact that Sielba tried to ruin > Urik in order to get the obsidian monopoly... Its sorcerer-queen, Sielba, was as just as a tyrant can be. Im looking for anything about Sielba, her relationship with Hamanu, why the war happened (whether bad relationship or obsidian related), how big Yaramuke was and how different from the 'template' of a citystate - im presuming templars, slaves, gladiators but was she Just? Or the appearance of Just? In the campaign the war will be short, but there will be a lot of "cold war" prelude. Thanks in advance for any information.
#2 zombiegleemax Jun 11, 2004 6:38:16	Read the Rise and Fall of a Dragon King... If she is the **** then she is mentioned briefly... It (to me) is a great image of Hamanu, lets you see Dragons in a new light... To the rest of you I noticed When Dark Sun was revised for 2nd ed, they took what was published in the Novels, and applied it. (Psionic artifacts of Athas) Was anyone else (who read this book) Disipointed that in 3.5 they basically ignored that which was writen?
#3 zombiegleemax Jun 11, 2004 10:43:53	Try to get the Black Flames adventure, downloadable for a few USD. It plays in the ruins of Yaramuke, at has info about its past.
#4 zombiegleemax Jun 11, 2004 16:34:42	Selbi, Selbia, what ever is mentionioned in The book I mentioned, (briefly
#5 Kamelion Jun 12, 2004 4:38:39	??? Did somebody unplug you midpost?
#6 zombiegleemax Jun 12, 2004 7:21:22	No I read her name when trying to find out about dregoth in another post.... Plus Im tired when I post, either before, or after sleep
#7 zombiegleemax Jun 29, 2004 19:47:56	Let's see...in Black Flames, it says Sielba conspired with great merchant houses to ruin Urik through trade embargoes and high prices. Hamanu caught wind of the scheme before it could go into action, and we know the rest. Umm...The Dark Sun revised set says she tried to increase her personal power by opposing Hamanu and Urik...and paid for it. So goes the official DS history on Sielba. My DS campaign has a different twist with Sielba, but that's another story...
#8 dracochapel Jul 01, 2004 0:47:56	Thanks for the replies, i wasnt going to have merchant houses, but of course there still would be merchant houses just in different guises. Some of the changes ill have to differ from a present day (Prism Pentad) campaign are: (any other ideas are welcome) The templars i think will not be organised into bureaus, ill say that 'lawful' organisation will come later. Instead there will be a small number of High Templars, say of War, Building, Farming, 'Praetorian' who each have their own fief within Yaramuke, each with their own structure acting against each other (+ with this infighting i get another reason why yaramuke got destroyed other than "hamanu is the best") They will each use the PC's for infighting amongst themselves, trying to be the HIGHEST templar. There will be racial tensions as the demi-human races begin to enter the city. i would think the demi-humans avoided the cities and Champions for a time until memory of the Cleansing wars begins to fade. But they would want to enter the cities for the protection that it would give them. The veiled alliance doesnt exist, so any preserver PC's are going to find life very hard. On the upside there are lots of defilers in the city, Sielba has yet to purge the apprentices of apprentices of apprentices of her slave-defilers from the cleansing war. She is keeping them around to help her in case of war, but they will combine into a "dark alliance" and try to topple her regime. As you can see im making Yaramuke a mess in its final days, something like Raam would become later on. Sielba is harsh on the general populace but unable to control all the different factions (templars, defilers, trade families). To quieten/unite them she will act against the enemy without - Urik.
#9 Kamelion Jul 01, 2004 2:23:07	Also the official timeline (iirc) mentions that, in order to appease Borys for having killed another sorcerer-king, Hamanu gave him much of the riches of Yaramuke. Borys then used these to build Ur Draxa...
#10 dracochapel Jul 01, 2004 2:32:24	Did some of the riches include people? i imagine borys had to get at least the starting ur draxans from somewhere. And i cant imagine Hamanu just slaughtering say 20000 people - those days ended with the cleansing wars. Does ur draxa mean something like 'city of the dragon'? are ur draxans therefore 'people of the dragon'?
#11 Kamelion Jul 01, 2004 2:43:17	It doesn't specifically say, but implies that it is just treasure. The idea of slaves is excellent as well, though - definitely gonna use that in my game when I get around to Ur Draxa . An earlier thread on this board suggested that the Ur Draxans were primarily the remnants of Borys' army and its followers (who may have lived at his citadel in the Alluvial Wastes prior to the construction of Ur Draxa). All conjecture, but while we're at it, why not throw some Yaramukites into the mix? Maybe they were among the first Ur Draxan slaves, those who did the actual building of the city? The timeline entries, btw, read as follows: 167th King's Age (-1,771) Ral's Agitation In an attempt to increase her power, Sielba, Queen of Yaramuke attacks Urik. Hamanu easily defeats her army and personally slays the sorcerer-queen. On the heels of victory, Urik's army sacks Yaramuke and burns the city to the ground. To appease the Dragon's wrath for killing a sorcerer-queen, Hamanu presents Borys with a levy of Yaramuke's riches-which pleases the beast and spares Urik. Silt's Defiance Borys uses the booty gained from Yaramuke to build Ur Draxa, which becomes the greatest city on all of Athas. At the center of the city Borys places the Black Sphere for him and his city to protect.
#12 dracochapel Jul 01, 2004 2:53:46	On the heels of victory, Urik's army sacks Yaramuke and burns the city to the ground. To appease the Dragon's wrath for killing a sorcerer-queen, Hamanu presents Borys with a levy of Yaramuke's riches-which pleases the beast and spares Urik. I imagine Hamanu sacking Yaramuke and leading long lines of prisoners back to urik. Then he hands over his tithe and yaramuke's as well from the prisoners he has taken(so a couple of thousand slaves), as well as a lot of the loot he took. I like the idea of their blood surviving a thousand years in the form of the slaves of Ur Draxa, "waste not, want not" Is Borys citadel in the alluvial wastes in ruins or not there any more?
#13 Kamelion Jul 01, 2004 3:08:46	It's a ruin. It only appears in The Crimson Legion novel and isn't referred to in any of the game material. In the novel Rikus (wandering about in the desert like the slaphead that he is) encounters the citadel. Inside he meets a group of Athasian wraiths who mistake him for Borys returned in another body. There was also some conjecture that the Citadel might have been Borys' city of Ebe but the timeline contradicts this by noting that Ebe was swallowed by the silt. If you go by the timeline, it seems more likely that the Citadel in the Alluvial Sand Wastes was an outpost of Ebe and not the lost city itself.
#14 theocracity Jul 01, 2004 9:37:35	Originally posted by DracoChapel I imagine Hamanu sacking Yaramuke and leading long lines of prisoners back to urik. Then he hands over his tithe and yaramuke's as well from the prisoners he has taken(so a couple of thousand slaves), as well as a lot of the loot he took. I like the idea of their blood surviving a thousand years in the form of the slaves of Ur Draxa, "waste not, want not" Is Borys citadel in the alluvial wastes in ruins or not there any more? Could be a good way for your characters to end up...rather than the dissapointment of having their characters killed, they have a new chance for adventure in Ur Draxa (either working against the harsh landscape and creatures fighting to build it, or struggling to revolt / escape from the other Ur Draxians)....