World of Samardan: Ramgrat, the Holy City...

Greetings, All:

This post is the eighteenth in year's A to Z Challenge series describing 26 different locations in the World of Samardan campaign setting, one for each letter of the alphabet. Today, R is for Ramgrat, the Holy City.

(Hex) Ramgrat, the Holy City

Population: 10,000 (65% Rakran, 30% Human, 5% Other). Ruler: The Deva-Raganu of Ramgrat (unique 15HD artificially intelligent construct). Resources: Metal, Weapons.

Ambiance: The architecture of this strange city is a bizarre mix of clockwork gears and crystalline mechanism. Automatons, both active and inactive, are a fairly regular sight on the streets; inactive automatons are often covered in flowers, small gifts and other tokens of admiration and devotion. The most ancient building of Ramgrat are actually ruins of an ancient city, and there is a marked difference between elements of new and old construction.

History: Ramgrat has been a holy city, devout in its worship of the Ancient Ones and their war machines, since its foundation. Holy days are frequent; rarely does a week go by between days of celebration or remembrance. The Deva-Raganu does not speak often, but when it does, the Voice of the God-Emperor must be obeyed, even when the actions may not at first appear to be rational. Often, the preparations made under these prophetic commands bear surprising fruit in the future.

Encounters: A number of Ancient automatons walk the streets of Ramgrat, operating under the direction of the Deva-Raganu. Speakers for the God-Emperor, a sect of priests that interpret the Divine Words of the Deva-Raganu, rule the city fervently in the name of their god. Speakers for the God-Emperor are not known for their tolerance, even among believers. Common hazards and encounters include processionals, fanatical zealots and Rakran scholars.

Treasure: There is an abundance of Ancient technology in Ramgrat, guarded by the functioning and semi-functioning automatons serving the Deva-Raganu. In addition, a considerable stockpile of power crystals exists to support the constructs in times of siege by external sources.

Adventure Hooks: Adventure hooks for this site could include the following:

• An automaton malfunctions and goes berserk in the main market area, threatening the lives of many people unless it is somehow stopped. Of course, wanton destruction of a Ramgrat automaton is considered a High Crime against the God-Emperor, and is punishable by death.
• Kudiso Moradan, grandson of the famous Pansanu Hiko Moradan, desires an entourage to travel with him to Ramgrat, where he will beseech the Deva-Raganu for an audience. Kudiso hopes that the God-Emperor will be willing to part with divine knowledge of his grandfather's fate, or at least some insight into the mysteries of the Ziggurat of Moradan.
• Sanana Lusadan, a mercenary from Grasol, is soliciting investigators to locate a colleague of hers that was last seen in Ramgrat. Unfortunately, she fears that her friend Kad Kanagan may have been arrested for violating local laws. He's always been a curious sort about Ancient technology, with not one ounce of common sense...
• Sen Logomit, a master scholar of Mermak, needs mercenaries to deliver a gift to the Deva-Raganu, along with a request for a private audience related to the gift. Sadly, the Speakers for the God-Emperor are not in the habit of granting private audiences with the Deva-Raganu.
• Viro Ragaharan, a rather shady local merchant, clandestinely seeks adventurers to smuggle stolen power crystals out of the Holy City and deliver their cargo to a band of mercenaries, who will take the crystals to their final destination.

Standard Disclaimer: As I have not yet decided where to set this particular location on the map as yet, I've left a placeholder to remind me to come back to this in the future. Later on, I'll replace (Hex) with the actual hex location, when I put all of this together into a single document.

Enjoy,
Flynn