A mountainside paradise fueled by intrigue and molten rock, Yozai is a dangerous beauty. Outsiders feel like they’ve landed in another world, as they disembark from the fire-ringed harbor to gaze on the city’s massive volcano and seemingly alien architecture. Yet despite the city’s perceived exotic weirdness, Yozai’s people seem so normal - in the daytime, at least - that they appear out of place in such an unusual-looking city. The truth is slightly more complex; vast trade networks and a passion to stay well-connected and informed makes Yozai’s people cultural chameleons, of a sort. There’s a good chance that Yozai’s merchants and innkeepers know more about your culture and mannerisms than you do.
Intrigue is the name of the game here. Behind every smiling face is a potential assassin; behind every gruff reprimand is a hidden offer of alliance. The city has the wildest, most uninhibited nightlife in the known world – yet all late-night venues require masks. Dangerous, sordid affairs take place during the dark hours. There are many taboos in Yozai, but none of them matter if your identity is concealed.
Despite its geographical isolation, Yozai’s famed armada of trade and courier vessels makes it an important player in the international economy. They specialize in low-volume courier services (their courier vessels are very fast and discrete; some say they can turn invisible) and complex financial products. The currency of Yozai and its Outer-Ring cities is paper money; a curiosity in a world that relies largely on gold and other precious commodities as a benchmark for trade.
Yozai Heritage: 4th wave Sapphire Islanders, who supplanted 2nd Wave Vasa Lothrans and 1st Wave Elves (both are significant minorities in the Outer Ring, but less so on Yozai proper.)
Population: 13 (300x)
Cultural Influence: 7 Yozai’s cultural influence is much lower than it could be; its people seek to keep it that way.
Yozai is Isolated, and outsiders frequently cast it as exotic, alien, or impenetrably mysterious. Yozai’s people are no weirder than any other, yet they actively encourage this stereotype. Knowledge of culture, behavior, and motivations is considered important and valuable here; people seek to learn as much as possible about you, while leaving their own beliefs and motivations a mystery. Masks, costumes, and all manner of elaborate concealments (both physical and behavioral) are commonplace in this city of high intrigue. And yet, should they choose, Yozai can make outsiders feel right at home. The merchants and other elites know everything there is to know about YOUR culture, down to the unique lilting accent of your hometown and the cooking method for the roasted fish casserole your grandma probably made. Yozai is full of social and cultural savants.
Economic Influence: 18. When discussing economic influence, terms like “integrated into the international economy” tend to come up. Yozai defined what it means to be “integrated into the international economy”. It’s not just that Yozai is thoroughly involved in EVERYTHING vaguely economic in nature that goes on throughout Terra Trema. This is true – but more importantly, Yozai built most of the framework by which Terra Trema’s nations are economically integrated. Notably, its financial elite developed most of the exchanges, standards, and best-practices currently followed by most of Terra Trema’s bankers and traders. To be fair, much of this was just updating and repurposing economic systems from the Old Lands – but someone needed to do it when the Old Lands failed, and that someone was Yozai. Though Yozai is relatively isolated, it has a vast fleet of remarkably quick, maneuverable courier vessels that form much of the “nervous system” of the international economy. (Though not the “blood vessels” or “digestive system” per se, since the small Yozai ships can’t carry much in the way of bulk commodities.)
Yozai is second only to Fortuna in economic importance. For all its capacity to organize and direct the international economy, Yozai just doesn’t have direct access to resources or currency on the same scale as Fortuna. Yet Fortuna’s economic influence is derived primarily from its raw purchasing power, whereas Yozai’s influence is derived from its INFLUENCE.
Yozai’s economic puppet-mastery is being threatened by Mathersport, a recent upstart that is vying for control on multiple fronts. It is also concerned with the disruptive events in Peloria (specifically, the influx of gold from that region) and Port Haru (the collapse of the glass trade) but it believes to have these economic factors under control. (A collapse in value of gold would be more detrimental to Yozai’s rivals than Yozai itself, since most of its domestic economy uses paper money and firestone coins.)
Though the island is not particularly rich in resources, Yozai has harnessed its volcano’s geothermal energies to power and light the city. Factories and forges are common in the ominously smoking, glowing outer wards. This free power helps give Yozai an edge when it comes to manufacturing and defense – though living on the slopes of an active volcano is always a bit unsettling. Readily available lava also makes disposing undesirable human-sized objects easy. (Though not as easy as one might expect, since objects which coincidentally have the shape, size, and density of a human tend to float on lava.)
Military Influence: 5. Yozai doesn’t have a traditional military, but it does have three small nontraditional military units. The civil defense force (The Red Masks) keeps order on the Island of Fire, and occasionally tours the Outer Ring (the crescent-shaped island that encircles the Sea of Yozai) to remind the inhabitants of the satellite cities that they are beholden to Yozai. (The satellite cities have been very loyal since the leaders of their recent uprising all mysteriously disappeared.) An organization called the Smiling Blades acts as a spy network, secret police, and special-ops military force. The Blue Masks are guards on Yozai’s courier vessels (and its small handful of warships), commanders at the Chainway regulating access to the Sea of Yozai, and ambassadors and collectors of cultural knowledge. (Essentially, when in foreign ports they perform seemingly benign spy work that can be done in the open; more akin to scholarly research.)
For any large-scale war, the bulk of Yozai’s troops will be mercenary soldiers, prisoners, or conscripts from the Outer Ring. Yozai has never fared well in traditional large-scale wars, and seeks to avoid them. It has mastered plenty of diversion tactics (diplomatic manipulations, assassinations, etc.) and it relies on them heavily.
Defense: 18. Yozai’s defenses are largely natural. The city has a volcano, and it knows how to use it. Invading armies can be burn-drowned under a fiery mass of glowing, molten rock, especially if they’re foolish enough to attack from the far side of the island. Even if enemies land in the city’s harbor, lavaducts can be breached to destroy or impede enemy forces. However, this tends to destroy and burn large portions of the city, and is considered a last resort.
More important than Yozai’s tamed and leashed volcano is its small private ocean. The Sea of Yozai cannot be entered without the express knowledge and permission of the Blue Masks, who keep watch over the Chainway. The Chainway is an enormous set of sea gates and bridges across the small gap in the Outer Ring (technically more of a crescent than a ring) that regulate the passage of ships between the Sea of Yozai and the Ocean proper. These defenses cannot be breached by naval vessels. However, they have fallen to amphibious assaults on the land-based infrastructure. (Once to an Albish assault force, and once to rebels in the Outer Ring.) The Celestial Span - the surface-road (navigable bridge) portion of the Chainway - is currently being rebuilt.
Yozai Cultural Stats: (A note: a surprising number of Yozai’s people have the cultural stat blocks for every town and city in Terra Trema memorized. In-world, it is the Yozai people who are compiling these statistics.)
Government: The Celestial Bureaucracy: a complicated system of power-sharing and intrigue, ever in flux. Currently no single executive.
Most Common Criminal Acts: identity theft, embezzlement, fraud, arson, burglary, dancing while sober, plus many minor infractions that are only enforced when the un-savvy culprit is not wearing a mask.
Justice: Penalties are often social or financial, typically made to fit the crime. Plenty of light punishment, but also plenty of… disappearances. Into the volcano. Everyone knows that’s where people disappear to, when the government really needs to get rid of them.
Climate: wet subtropical, but occasionally chilly at higher elevations. (The city is very vertical.)
Nights: Natural lava and fire illuminates the city. (Well; semi-natural. It’s channeled via lavaducts.) Great nightlife. Sex only acceptable at night, while masked.
Food: xxxx
Clothing: xxxx
Festivals & Holidays: xxxx
City Appearance & Architecture: unique architectural style that incorporates fire and lava into the core design. Vertically oriented city that covers the entire southern face of a large volcano-island.
Common Sounds & Smells: xxxx
Governance Building(s), Iconic Structures & Landmarks: The Palace of Schemes, The Celestial Spire (currently unoccupied), Earthheart Forge, the Burning Harbor, Couriers’ Landing, College of Cultures, the Printery of the Three Heavens, The Archive of the Seven Hells, Bureau of International Economic Standards (BIES), the Bank of Terra Trema, Temple of the Silver Tongue, The Butterfly House (Greenhouse/Ballroom/Nightclub), Palace of Venom (Macabre Nightclub/Brothel/Evil Secret Headquarters of Evil).
Districts, Sectors, Zones, Regions, Wards, and other big places: the Fishers' Ward, the High Terraces, the Smokeheart Ward, the Earthheart Ward, The Celestial Ward (Bureaucrats’ Ward), Liars Ward, Lechers Ward, the Maskway, Market Ward, Noble Ward, the Tongues (a district interspersed with fire vents), the Hanging Ward (hangs on a volcano cliff by the High Terraces; built with vines from Quistria).
Produces, Exports: financial products, courier service, rice, rice wine, fruit, luxury goods, obsidian, tea, information
Demands, Imports: dyes, gold, silver, airships, helium, constructor plants, dreamcatchers, liquor, information
Satellite Cities & Towns: On the Crescent: Fort Thaloi in the North, Kasai City in the West, Lorro in the South, and the Fire Sea Gates (& Chainway) in the East, crossing & safeguarding the Celestial Span. (Following a recent uprising in the Satellite Cities, the Celestial Span has been partly destroyed; the overland crossing is not currently possible. But the Fire Sea Gates were repaired quickly, and are fully operational. The Gates are cables that regulate sea traffic in and out of the Fire Sea; the inside of the Crescent.) Additionally, Hiroburg, Voss, and the Skyblade Towers are effectively run by Yozai, despite the fact that Yozai’s government has no formal presence there.
Highly optional game-related or story-related material:
Important People: xxxx
Plot Hooks:
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