Journeys through the Radiant Citadel

Qaragarh

A metropolis filled with breathtaking plazas and public reflecting pools, the empire's new capital teems with people who see the city as the promise of the empress made manifest. Adventurers come to Qaragarh seeking employment from the empress, who needs support to stabilize her empire. Travelers arrive and depart through the Hall of Doors, which houses teleportation circles linked to locations across the empire.

Bijabad

Bijabad and the surrounding region were the breadbasket of the empire until war took its toll. Now bulettes and griffons terrorize the countryside, and work crews periodically unearth Undead left behind by the conflict. The city's struggling reconstruction efforts are chronically understaffed, so a grassroots network of veterans and influential townsfolk called the Old Sickles has taken efforts into its own hands.

Churapoor

A natural harbor shelters the port of Churapoor from seasonal monsoons. Despite the devastation of war, the city boasts a healthy economy, but it always needs adventurers to guard its shipments of alchemical concoctions, spices, and rich textiles.

Faith and Religion

The dominant faith is Iwahhid, a philosophy that rejects idols and promotes worshiping the source of divinity rather than its fallible manifestations. Its adherents are called Muwahhid. Some erudite worshipers join the Imperial Ulema, an order of Muwahhid scholars sponsored by the throne. The Ulema provides spellcasting services to the populace and maintains the empire's infrastructure of magical street lights and teleportation circles.

Fashion and Food

Clothing in the empire tends to be long and billowing. Men's fashion includes jamas and sherwanis, or loose kurtas secured with a shawl. Women's fashion includes saris and salwars. Clothing is colorful and patterned, with some wealthy citizens sporting garments bearing magic that perfumes the wearer on command or changes color.

Tayyib dishes are creamy and mildly spiced, cooked with yogurt, and served with rice or flatbreads. Dried lentils are soaked and made into various dal dishes, while slow-cooked rice, spices, and vegetables are transformed into fragrant biryani. Faithful Muwahhid avoid alcohol and predator meat, and many are vegetarians.

Monarchy and Order

Authority in the Tayyib Empire stems from Empress Firuzeh. Nobles who hold prewar titles are respected, while state-appointed judges enforce the law across the empire. This system is prone to corruption, but the empress's agents vigilantly ferret out dishonest officials, delegating that task to trustworthy adventurers when necessary.

Tayyib Empire Adventures

Bright Moon Pier

This collection of massive piers hosts a marketplace and is the haven of Umizu's premier criminal syndicate, the Safe Oceans Society. Most merchants here deal with the Safe Oceans Society eventually, whether to smuggle goods, avoid taxes, or quietly resolve conflicts. Society lieutenants run gambling dens disguised as tea rooms along the pier, while samurai and scoundrels test their mettle beneath the waves in underwater fighting rings. To avoid scrutiny, the Safe Oceans Society employs adventurers as independent operatives—while virtuous samurai-class bureaucrats hire them to investigate the syndicate's crimes.

Rurapo sometimes visit the pier to trade or sample crunchy Umizu pickles. Some have forged uneasy alliances with the Safe Oceans Society, providing illegal relics from sunken temples and shipwrecks.

Governor's Palace

A massive villa serves as the central administrative offices of Umizu and the residence of its mayor, Daimyo Hogishi Takemi. The palace is famous for Hogishi's elegant parties and for an annual poetry competition that draws nobles to Umizu—along with their bitter rivalries and personal guards.

Shrine of Storms

The Shrine of Storms is an ancient place of spiritual power. Cut deep into its island alongside residencies for the shrine's warrior-priests and libraries holding relics from around the world, the shrine is central to Umizu's many celebrations. Each winter, citizens gather for the Thunder Festival and honor the Turtle Sage—the guardian spirit of the islands—with three days of drumming, dancing, and prayer.

Social Mores

Umizu is a matrilineal culture with a preference for succession by women. Most families live in multigenerational homes, and the wealthiest favor polyamorous marriages, typically with a clan matriarch and several spouses of any gender. Powerful clans compete for prestige through formal dueling matches every few months.

Umizu has few taboos around sexuality and gender. Titles such as "daimyo" are gender-neutral, as are most names. Clothing varies by class status rather than gender—instead, people express their gender through perfumes. Bright citrus scents are feminine coded, musky wood tones are gender-neutral, and floral scents are masculine. Umizu has rigid sumptuary laws that reinforce the social hierarchy, restricting colors, fabrics, and styles of dress based on class.

Ancestor Spirits

Respect for the spirits infuses daily life. Native residents keep shrines to their ancestors in their homes and leave out offerings at dawn and dusk. They consult ancestral spirits before making life-changing decisions, but the perspectives of the dead can be just as flawed as those of the living. Disagreements in large family clans sometimes result in battles involving hundreds of ancestor spirits, with tumultuous consequences for their living descendants.

Seasonal Misfortune

The Demon Festival kicks off the summer monsoon season, marking a city-wide period of misfortune. Citizens visit the Shrine of Storms to purchase talismans of protection and beseech the Turtle Sage for good luck. At sundown, the shrine's attendants ride barges through Umizu's waterways, shouting taunts to draw out fell spirits while people dressed as demons dance on bridges and walkways.

Umizu Adventures