Skurvash

I went a fair bit darker with this than I intended. If the themes mentioned in the spoiler tags are sensitive topics at all, please, do not read them.

— Rashkavar

In Chelestra, the city of Galade has a great array of entertainments sure to satisfy any polite noble. Skurvash offers everything else. Far from the seat of power, it is an open secret that Skurvash is ruled not by House Skurva, but by the criminal mastermind Faraka Uan. Despite the criminal element, Skurvash is quite safe for nobles - the money they lose in the town's many casinos is important enough that any criminal who targets a noble, even by accident, answers to Faraka Uan...and very few of those live to tell of it.

The Tourist's Experience

Skurvash is primarily a destination for tourists, and the experience it offers is carefully designed to separate guests from the coin they bring with them as quickly as possible while making the experience enjoyable enough that they're willing to return time and time again. While most cities in Chelestra only offer gambling in a corner of a tavern and the occasional dedicated gambling den, Skurvash has pioneered an all-in-one experience called a casino. Here, the gambling hall is center stage, with access to lavish living quarters, high end dining halls, and other entertainments branching off from the gambling area. Some offer luxurious ballrooms for guests who wish to dance and mingle, others have stages, orchestra halls, and so on.
Prostitution in the casinos.

Of course, those who are looking for entertainment of a more intimate nature are catered to as well. Most of Skurvash's casinos employ a wide range of skilled concubines to satisfy their customers. And if none of those on staff can meet their demands, the concierge is quite capable of arranging for a partner who can meet these individuals more exacting requirements.

Outside of the casinos, however, the experience of Skurvash is very different. What seems a chaotic, hedonistic experience in the casinos is, in reality, a performance, carefully cultivated to satisfy the desires of their guests; a guest must merely step outside the casinos and step off the main street to see true chaos and hedonism. However, any guest who isn't obviously of noble blood would be foolish to do so, as the city can be plenty dangerous even to locals.

Skurvash's Dark Side

Away from the glitz and glamour, life in Skurvash is a drug fueled nightmare built on the backs of slaves.

In Skurvash, most laws are more guidelines than rules, and the unwary are lucky to leave in any state at all. Most of Skurvash's back alleys are a twisting maze of tenements and shanties, dotted here and there with places that one might generously call taverns. Here, the magically dominated serving slaves provide anything a patron can ask for: something to eat, something to drink, something to smoke, even their own bodies. Whatever the patron demands will doubtless be of lower quality than what they might find at a casino, but it's guaranteed to be effective...and it might be something too illegal for the casinos. Skurvash is the source of most of the gold in Chelestra's black market, buying up poisons and potions with weird and sometimes terrifying effects, leaves that warp the mind when smoked.
Most of Skurvash's slaves arrive through this route...the rest are lower class tourists who got carried away by the persuit of pleasure, and were convinced to put on one of the enchanted gold collars that keep Skurvash's slaves docile and enthusiastically obedient. Custom dictates the one who convinces a tourist to wear the collar becomes their owner, and so it's become a game among some to try to con visitors into wearing the collar. The magic of these collars only works if the victim puts it on willingly, so someone who passes out and wakes up to find the collar around their neck can simply remove it. The slaves brought in as captives arrive to abusive conditions, and are told that the docile collar-wearing slaves they see will be freed if they remain obedient for a year. Most take this chance at freedom within days of arriving in the city, only realizing their mistake as the magic slams through their minds.
Control of the free people of Skurvash is achieved by a more subtle means: a euphoria inducing grey powder known as Scurvy Ash. This drug causes an intense and unforgettable feeling of pleasure. This feeling produces a strange form of addiction in all but the most disciplined individuals: an addict will do anything for another dose of Ash, and will enjoy any experience while high, but if one is prevented from acquiring it, they will suffer no ill effects. This lack of withdrawal combined with its potency makes it an excellent tool for keeping a "free" populace firmly under control of those who produce it. And those who produce it are none other than Faraka Uan's "family."

Founding Date

938 AE

Alternative Name(s)

The City of Fortune, Fortune's End, Fortune's Folly

Type

City

Inhabitant Demonym

Skurvashi

Owner/Ruler

Faraka Uan

Characters in Location

• Faraka Uan