< Scavenger Lands | Hundred Kingdoms | River Basin >
A small squat city, perched on a hill overlooking a bend in the Maruto, Delen is somewhat ugly at first glance. Even the vast Manse that dominates the hilltop, and around which the rest of the city squats like some unhealthy growth, is an ugly imperfect design only constructed about 400 years ago. The horrible geomancy is renowned as far away as Lookshy, and visitors to the city out at night often remark on the (admittedly beautiful) lights that glow above the Manses' roof. More damning is the truly permanent staff of servants: anyone who lives in Delenshi Manse for more than 6 years inevitable begins to mutate and often after a few decades can't survive anywhere else. The rulers of the city, a minor Dragon-Blooded Line known as the Delenshi, actively cultivate such individuals and wield effectively unlimited control over them. When at all possible, the people of the city try to stay away from the Manse, which suits the Delenshi just fine.
In addition to the Manse, there are three other fortifications overlooking the river. One of them is a minor, and much better designed, Manse while the other two are simply large imposing piles of stone that allow ballista to point out onto the Maruto. Still, tarrifs to pass through this part of the River are slight, as Delen is very much a city friendly to the Guild. Most of the cities holdings are in the form of a number of large slave-plantations that grow truly massive quantities of Qat and Marijuana for sale to the Guild. A few small client-villages help support the cities population and grow small amounts of Opium to supplement that which the Delenshi purchase from the Guild, and most of Delen's population is itself "employed" by the drug trade in one fashion or another. Other than the Dragon-Blooded and the Guild, however, most everyone in Delen is pitifully miserably poor, often wallowing in the drug dens and opium parlors that the Guild runs in the city. Most are too drug-addled to care much for a better life, and opportunities are rare for those rare souls that seek to rise above.
This is particularly evident when one walks amongst the parts of the city devoted to housing these people, squatting up along the base of Delen Hill and whatever other more important buildings have claimed the "good" spots. It's not uncommon to leave a fairly respectable opium parlor, take a wrong step down a pair of steps and end up in the muddy disease-ridden gutter. Sanitation in the cities poorest sections is atrocious, though the Wood Aspected family is good enough about ensuring that no actual outbreaks occur amongst the population. On the rare plus side, the cities extensive docks are relatively clean and safe, most of the population being too beaten and addled to think of causing trouble. Any thieves that are captured are 'mercifully' sentenced to long sentences in the dungeons of Delensi Manse.
Those forts aren't just for show, though. The City of Delen does have a bit of a martial side, and the Delenshi are careful to defend their holdings. The huge profits that the Dragon-Blooded make off their trade with the Guild supports a moderately sized army that is probably one of the most professional and well-equipped in the region. Mostly led by scions of the line itself, the younger Delenshi keep a firm leash on their troops and harshly punish any "untoward behaviors". The Dragon-Blooded Officers indulge themselves, but not nearly to the extent of their older relations (practicing some restraint). The Delenshi could likely raise an even larger force and conquer a fair swath of region, but they seem content to merely protect their own lands fiercely.
Very fiercely.
The last time Delen was attacked, by the forces of Madaan some years ago (when it's King died, and his Son needed a distraction), they utterly broke the opposing army and simply killed most of the people they took prisoner -- tossing the bodies into the River to feed the fish. If the Emerald Water's Queen was displeased by this lack of respect, no sign of it was shown. The Delenshi are strong enough, as a whole, to keep most of the Little Gods in their territory in line and are notoriously irreligious regardless of creed. Even Yozi Worship (which they've been accused of now and again) is simply "Not Delenshi."
Distances & Travel
The Rulers of Delen, the Delenshi, are one of the richest and most decadent families in the Hundred Kingdoms and a fairly successful line of Dragon-Blooded as well. While not as well-bred as the Dynasts, nor as fecund as Lookshy, they're far and away from being the typical Lost Egg. Yet while this family may bear the blessings of the Dragons, they carry none of the Enlightenment that supposedly brings. Instead, the Family is addicted to vice and excess, wedding their own great power with a lack of concern for those under them that makes the occasional Immaculate to pass through the city quite uncomfortable. For all that they are more than a little unhinged, the Delenshi manage to maintain a very tight grip on their city and maintain something of a warrior tradition in their youth.
For the most part, the duty of the Delenshi young is to ensure that the endemic violence of the Hundred Kingdoms doesn't affect the city any more than it has to. While their army and it's commanders might hire out as Mercenaries during relatively peaceful periods, most of their time is spent ensuring that trade runs smoothly between Delen and its trading partners, such as Nevin, Draven, Budan, and Narlath. Most princes and warlords know better than to attack any kind of shipping that looks like it might be heading to or from Delen.
When not engaged in war, the life of these Dragons is enviable to many. While the vices of their elders would shame and embarrass most of them, they still live lifes that would shock even some on the Blessed Isle. Most notable of this is the blase acceptance of incest within the line, either with platitudes towards "preserving the strength of the Dragons," or simply no thought given to it at all. This is combined with the fact that the Delenshi as a whole eschew marriage or any real permanent mate bonding, instead fucking whomever they want with no real thought to anything. The family as a whole is matriarchal largely because it's rare to know who exactly your father might have been, and Delenshi children are raised by the family as a whole, almost communally and with no real sense of boundaries. The family does things in front of their children that would shock a Cynis.
After about a hundred fifty years or so, the Delenshi begins to slow down from the active life of his youth and devotes himself to the families past-time. Vice, and the enlargement of the families massive fortune, though some remain with the military for one reason or another (often a love of slaughter, and a desire to do such more than would be possible at home). Those that survive the Warrior's Life to live this long tend to reach their Twilight Years, as well, due to the families famous love of Resistance Charms and the Martial Arts (ST: No, they don't call it that). Some of the family elders are quite potent in the Terrestrial Martial Arts, having internalized numerous styles. The family as a whole has even created a style or two, rarely known to outsiders. Few have the discipline to master Celestial Intiation, however, and most of those that do end up effectively disowning themselves.
Training as Exalts
Delenshi Dragon-Blooded begin with 30 points in Abilities, 13 of which must go into the character's Aspect or Favored Abilities. Character's born amongst the Delenshi must have a minimum of Resistance 2, Socialize 1, Bureaucracy 1. In addition, all Delenshi have at least 3 dots in the traditional abilities of a warrior with the family as a whole favoring Melee or Archery 2, and War 1. Many also have dots in Martial Arts, but it's not required.
Backgrounds
The average Scion of the Delenshi has 9 points to spend in Backgrounds. He may choose from Allies, Arsenal, Artifact, Backing, Command, Contacts, Familiar, Henchmen, Mentor, Resources, and Retainers. Delenshi do not have Cult. The blood of the Delenshi is fairly strong; they may buy Breeding of up to 3 as a Realm character. Any Delenshi with a Breeding of 4 or 5 is almost certainly the product of excessive in-breeding and possibly has additional flaws, though any Delenshi with excessive physical defects would be tossed into the Maruto as an "offering" for the Emerald Waters Queen.
Other than the Delenshi Family, the Guild is the single strongest faction in the City of Delen. The most visible sign of this is the cities many Opium Parlors, where the Guild peddles a truly astonishing amount of drugs to the lower classes of the city. The Guild makes more money off this trade than even their direct dealings with the Delenshi themselves, incidentally allowing the local Guild Factor to offer the family below market prices on their own purchases to keep them happy and ensure that no outside competition (say, from the family itself) is allowed into Delen's drug market. The Guild's presence along Delen's Waterfront is less obvious but if anything even more impressive. Roughly half of the warehouses are Guild-owned, dedicated to storing drugs awaiting shipment downriver to Nevin, which includes not just locally produced drugs but those shipped overland from Terisia and Farline Ridge.
In addition to it's importance to the drug trade, Delen is also a major stop-point in the Guild Caravan's that run through the Hundred Kindgom's and hosts the River Basin's largest Caravansary just a half-hour outside of the city. A Caravan usually stops over in Delen every few months, at least, and more than a few try to ensure that they reach the city in time to spend Calibration in a drugged out haze. In addition to the facilities dedicated to Caravans, the structure also serves as a small bazaar for some of the "upper lower class" people of Delen and a stop-over point for rebellious youth from Terisia. Those Guild Employees that don't own their own small townhouse in the city are housed here, as well, along with the staff that runs the Caravansary itself.
While responsible in large part for keeping the people as downtrodden as they are, the Guild is also the only realistic way out for most of them. Every year, a few Delen folk sign on as Caravan Guards and head out to see the rest of the Hundred Kingdoms. Similarly, at least half the staff is originally from Delen, having joined the Guild at some point and slowly moved up the ranks. The entire administrative staff in Delen is, in fact, composed of homegrown locals who have managed to crawl up out of the lowest rungs of Delen Society which they themselves help maintain. At least one Factor, who has gone on to become as rich as the Delenshi themselves, is said to have been a concubine for the family in his youth. The exact identity of this Factor is not commonly agreed upon, however.
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