Okay, here we are. Mike, is there any way we could get spoiler tags enabled? It'd make organising this amount of fluff a fair bit simpler.
LARIGALFACTFILEMoerasi ClanWhere: On the north coasts of Etarl's lakes; most of the clan - 60% of the population - lives in Larigal, with several small marshland villages hosting the remainder of the populace.
Clan Leader: Iual, Mayor of Larigal. He's pompous, highly annoying, corpulently fat (he rides around in a small howdah-type contraption on top of a Belan when he needs to go anywhere). He doesn't have a lot of influence within the clan (who tend to listen to Olanore and Julkaer more, with Mearl and Paerin acting as mediators if needed), but is good at inter-clan politics and dealing with the Emperor's representatives.
Info: The Moerasi essentially specialise in the inventive side of Fubarnii culture; they are mostly famed for their engineers, who (unlike in most clans, which don't tend to consider being utterly absent minded and not having any interest other than academia good job qualifications for leadership) essentially run the clan. In Larigal itself the Engineers are divided into eight "colleges", between them forming one of the Empire's greatest centres of learning. The colleges each contribute their own militia; some tend to field large militias, some small ones - Peygarl college, mostly famed for priests and stargazers, doesn't even have a militia but bankrolls that of Oran college. The non-collegiate Fubarnii form a separate group, mostly to do with servicing the colleges. Being close to the Casani lands, some Casani traders as well as Imperial ones join to create an artistic fusion that the Larigalese are intensely proud of and everyone else thinks of as totally weird. The city's main export is knowledge, and metalworkers, Oreg breeders, those who want their fortune told, apprentice engineers, Pree-pree fanciers, and many more will come in search of a specialist in their field.
Dress: The engineers tend to like cloaks and robes, and each college has its engineers and academics dressed differently. Gehran college is green, Rakka russet brown, Peygarl midnight blue, Terarl light blue, Dimor white, Oran grey, Haerahl crimson, and Karuk brown. Other citizens will dress fairly normally.
Gaming: I guess my Cracking Contraptions rules are probably close on a Moerasi variant; Engineers will really quite often be found with militia forces either collecting something or trying to test some new device. If one wanted a rather smaller clan addition then basically any engineer-based bonus would make sense, though. The militia are certainly nothing to scream about by comparison.
FURTHER FLUFFNotes on Larigal from the writings of the traveller and merchant, Muilor of Gethlir;
The city of Larigal is considered unusual even by the standards of Fubarnii regional oddities, and eccentric even by some engineers. Some even question why the Emperor bothers with the not insignificant contingent of knights needed to maintain this windswept, marshy outpost of the Empire. But the city has one thing in its favour; the unsurpassed imagination (and, some say, insanity) of its engineers and scholars. Engineers travel here to consult records, scribes to learn from the wisest (and crankiest) scholars of the Empire's history and lands.
The city is a port, built close to the great lake on a small area of dry land cut through by a twisting river that carries water from the marshes to the water. On one side is the great lake itself, and on the landward side the city is only accessible through the pools and lakes by muddy, marshy tracks. Outside the safety of the walls is some of the boggiest, wettest terrain in the Empire, frequented by Devanu raiders. West of that the land breaks into a small enclave of rugged hills that only a fool or a much-hardened adventurer would attempt to enter. These jagged and wind-blown peaks are known to the Larigalians as "Kag-Larin's Claws" after a particularly ferocious Devanu Kopa who once attacked Larigal itself. Fortunately almost all contact with the outside occurs by water, though the land route has become safer in recent years.
The clan structure of the city is split by bitter (but usually only verbal) infighting caused by adherence to different schools of academic thought. The Engineers and Scholars who support a certain set of ideas will often form themselves into a college, each of the eight colleges attempting to outdo the others. The colleges each have a place on the council of the city's leaders, along with representatives of the Emperor, his Knights, the Merchants and the Port. They each keep their own portion of the militia, deal with their own trading, and attempt to build the finest towers to outdo their rivals. While the city is not large, it is relatively wealthy due to the high proportion of artisans and other skilled Kopa that often go there. In fact, were it not for the intake of Knights and Scholars, the city would surely dwindle, for the bizarre academics leave little time for bringing up families when they could be poring over accounts of the lives of past emperors or mixing the strange substances used to create Larigalian Breath - a noxious substance used in deadly and unpredictable weapons such as the feared Gushrak.
While the city is in a difficult and strange part of the Emperor's realms, and is never fully safe from the Devanu threat, the ingenuity of the Larigalians is a constant boon not only to this strange, pompous little city but to the whole of the Empire. The Knights that protect these bumbling, academic Fubarnii are a little-thanked but brave band, dedicated to the protection of one of the Empire's littlest known but most excellent cities.
The Colleges of Larigal
A short treatise by Marllin of Dimor College
Gehran
Gehran holds a wavering predominance among the colleges. It has the largest tower (Peygarl is taller, but Gehran is far larger inside) and is both wealthy and old. With great respect for tradition and old learning, Gehran has a vast library and its emerald-clad academics are often found sitting in small towers poring over ancient treatises. Their engineers are meticulous and document their experiments well, so Gehran produces much of the engineering literature (although Rakka makes far more discoveries, much to Gehran’s annoyance).
Named for the engineer who sparked the founding of the empire, Gehran is accorded respect even as far away as Gar Loren itself. The most political of the colleges, Gehran prides itself on its expertise on different areas of the Empire. In fact it prides itself on a lot of things, both deserved and undeserved. Their pomp and ceremony is in stark contrast to Rakka, their main rival for dominance in the city.
Rakka
Rakka College is just fifty years old, but despite being one of the newer institutions this college has gone from strength to strength. It attracts the most brilliant and bizarre scholars and engineers from across the empire, and has little respect for tradition in the face of explosive (often the “explosive” bit is literal) progress. Their chestnut robes are a common sight bustling around Larigal.
The most numerous college, it has a strong militia and is relatively wealthy, though not on the scale of some older colleges. Rakka and Gehran frequently argue, both seeking predominance in the city. Rakka’s engineers will often be seen tinkering and testing new inventions in the streets, and are often the inventors of more major discoveries (though it falls to other colleges to do the arduous task of writing such things up as invariably the Rakkans will have moved to some new project which they now find more interesting).
Peygarl
The Dark Blue robes of Peygarl’s scholars are a rare sight outside the college itself. The third largest college, Peygarl’s academics tend to be withdrawn, eccentric Kopa, keen to ignore the rest of the world as much as possible. Peygarl has no militia, but instead uses its many traders (it is the second wealthiest college per head, after Haerahl) to bankroll Oran’s militia. The observatory tower of Peygarl is the tallest in the city, although Rakka and Gehran’s towers are both considerably larger by area.
Peygarl College is named for the home city of its founder, a slightly mad Delgon priest of the Enarii who claimed to be able to tell the future from the stars. He fled (along with his wealth) from persecution by local Delgon authorities in Peygarl after some unknown mishaps, falling ill on the journey. His last wish was that his money should be used to found a college in the city which he grew to love as he spent the last two months of his life there.
Oran
Oran is a smoky, acid-smelling tower across the river from Peygarl. The two colleges, very opposing in nature, are nevertheless friendlier than any other pair in the city. Where Peygarl is otherworldly and removed, Oran deals with metallurgy, the careful and down-to-earth work of mixing noxious Larigalian fire, and other very practical experiments. They tend to be cautious, quiet folk – they know better than most the fate of engineers who are not cautious.
The Oran militia is small but steadfast and excellently quipped, often accompanied by engineers with Deraks or Gushraks. Their militia guards Peygarl’s traders, who help fund the equipping of their protectors in return.
Dimor
The white, hooded cloaks of Dimor College academics or militiamen are a common sight around the city. Dimor tends to try and stay aloof from the petty squabbling between colleges, and only fields a small militia. They tend to be quite friendly with Terarl, the other “Imperial” college (Dimor is of course named for the great founder of the Empire). Dimor’s academics – it has notably few mechanical or chemical minded engineers, although its builders (and thus buildings) are the finest in Larigal – are often well-travelled, journeying across the Empire in search of new knowledge for the Dimor library.
Dimor College tends to act as a mediator in the constant disputes between colleges, brokering settlements and persuading the Knight garrison to step in when things get out of hand. It also is a friend to travellers and traders, closer to the common worker Fubarnii than the ostentatiousness of Gehran, the ethereal mystique of Peygarl or the dazzling discoveries of Rakka.
Terarl
Terarl College is named for its founder, the ninth Emperor Terarl. Situated near the Knights’ bastion, they are publicly (and flauntingly) patriotic, and holier-than-thou in many cases. They tend to research history and tactics, and are always concerned with the practicality of their learning and the possibilities of actually testing devices.
Terarl College once had a decade-long feud with Haerahl, ending in the biggest riots Larigal ever saw. It began over defaulted loans by the Terarl master, and ended with the Terarl and Oran militias attacking the actual college tower of Haerahl. It took a hurried truce between Gehran and Rakka (who were arguing over entirely separate issues) to bring order.
Despite being the sixth largest college, they field the largest militia after Gehran and Rakka, and their bravery is never in doubt. Their azure clad militia are the best trained in the city, and are the most likely to be able to sway the knights to their side. Terarl thus is a power in city politics far beyond its financial or academic strength.
Haerahl
The red robes of Haerahl college show the affluence and wealth of this small college. Named for its founder, a rich member of the Consortium of Traders who opened a new route to Larigal, Haerahl has a reputation for greed and money-grabbing. It certainly has strong links to the Consortium and often gives loans to the other colleges at extortionate interest rates, but this dealing often rubs off unfairly on the more or less innocent academics of the college, who find themselves unjustly suspect when in company. This is of course made up for by the fact that they get better accommodation than most other colleges, better food, and better pay. Haerahl is an important trader in its own right, and often sends out trade caravans accompanied by academics looking for new knowledge.
Karuk
Karuk is the smallest (and at a hundred and twenty nine years since its founding, oldest) college. Some Fubarnii, particularly from Gehran or Peygarl colleges, see Karuk’s brown-robed scholars as mere tinkerers rather than true. It is true that Karuk’s scholars are set apart by their fascination with nature rather than mysterious chemical mixtures, but this also makes them favoured by knights and traders who can come to them for (confusing and erudite but valid) advice on just how to breed their mounts or pack-beasts, or what certain plants and animals can do or are worth.
Larigal's Council:Paerin (Master of Dimor College, Chancellor of the University)
Iual (Mayor)
Kalinor (Imperial Envoy)
Mearl (Knight Captain)
Unire (Merchant Leader)
Searl (Port Representative)
Olanore (Master of Gehran)
Julkaer (Masterof Rakka)
Ouarne (Master of Peygarl)
Sophil (Master of Oran)
Lios (Master of Terarl)
Yenuhl (Master of Haerahl)
Ouill (Master of Karuk)
Mearl, Knight CaptainMearl is the city's military leader. He has to deal with both infighting and raids by Devanu or other foes. This is more of a retirement job for the tough Kopa though; he earned his captaincy stopping a clan war and battling Devanu on the fringes of the deserts, in terrible and bloody conditions.
Olanore, Master of Gehran CollegeOlanore is the second oldest Fubarnii in Larigal. He is twenty-seven, with a great weight of experience behind him. All respect his calm, unassuming nature and there are few who would not rally to his defence should he need it. He is still - unusually for an engineer of his age - a good talker and leader who tries to keep Larigal peaceful. His great works of literature and history adorn the shelves not only of Gehran college, but half the great places of learning throughout the Empire; he is well-travelled, too, once as an apprentice travelling to far-off Peygarl and the foothills of the Setir mountains.
That said, he needs to be reminded sometimes that he is not the Kopa he once was; his habit of sometimes personally accompanying his militia against raiders may make them fight harder but puts him in great danger. His leadership skills, though, are invaluable; in a strange and divided place such as Larigal, anyone who can talk both to the mad and bumbling academics and to the bewildered city-folk, traders, knights and militia who support them is a boon indeed.
MarllinFrom Dimor college, Marllin is the foremost expert on Larigal's own history and culture.
KyirFrom Karuk college, this little brown-robed scholar is attempting to compile the greatest bestiary of Anyaral's creatures ever seen.
Muilor of GethirA traveller and merchant who made many notes on the different cities of the Empire some fifty years ago. His notes have been compiled and are now kept safely in the Library of Gehran College.
