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The Provinces of Pocalo: Muru Overview

The Provinces of Pocalo: Muru Overview published on

Valley of the Silk Sky - Muru overviewThe web structure that spans almost the entire length and breadth of the valley is a country known as Pocalo.

Each level of the web structure is a separate province, and each province has its own distinct flora and fauna, culture, dialect, food, and so forth. There are elevators connecting the provinces that allow for travel up and down.

Muru is the third tier of the lower provinces, making it the topmost province that is still in direct contact with the ground. Muru is a bit of a rough place to make a go of things, as there are a number of predators roaming about who view humans as a tasty snack. The porous nature of Muru’s borders means that people can come and go as they please, making it a desirable location for those who wish to operate outside the law.

Most settlements in Muru are built high off the ground due to the aforementioned predators and bandits. Because much of the interior is in the shadow cast by the upper provinces, almost all major settlements in Muru are found around the outer edges. The city the arrow is pointing to is Duvane, an outpost town that is not at all flashy, but a good spot to head to if you have goods to sell or trade.

Despite being rough and difficult to navigate, Muru forms a cornerstone of the Pocali economy. It is home to many rare flora and fauna which are used to make medicines. The majority of runners spend at least some of their time foraging in Muru.

Pocalo Infrastructure: Smugglers’ Tunnels

Pocalo Infrastructure: Smugglers’ Tunnels published on

Valley of the Silk Sky - smugglers' tunnelsThe country that occupies the Valley, Pocalo, is divided into provinces, and each province is stacked on top of the other. The massive structure that houses all these provinces was built up slowly over the course of thousands of years. For most of that time, the only way to get from one province to another was to take a long trek up or down the mountains that anchor the structure.

The safest way to go was via mountain tunnels. These tunnels were dug and maintained by the Daraz, who build their cities inside the mountains. They leased the tunnels to the humans in exchange for various goods and services.

A scant couple hundred years ago, humans perfected the technology to move elevators between the provinces. The early elevators could only connect two provinces; later technological advances brought elevators that could connect 3 or 4 provinces. As elevator technology improved, the need for the tunnels waned in favor of the much faster vertical transportation.

The Daraz had little incentive to maintain the tunnels with no one using them much, and shifted to other forms of trade with the humans.

Getting on an elevator typically requires going through a checkpoint, though, and may require an official passport for boarding. What to do if you are perhaps interested in avoiding any sort of official scrutiny in the course of your travels? Like, say, maybe you deal in goods you might have obtained under less than legal circumstances?

Well, it’s certainly slower going, but here are all these old tunnels no one uses anymore, cough, ahem.

Yes, there have been many attempts to seal off the tunnels over the years, but somehow or other they always get unsealed, and the resources just aren’t there to guard them 24/7. Hence the tunnels tend to be left alone much of the time, should someone wish to slip from one province to the next while attracting minimal attention.

Flora and Fauna: Sweetberry Bush

Flora and Fauna: Sweetberry Bush published on

Valley of the Silk Sky - sweetberry bush

Sure, giant mudbats can be scary if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, but by far the most dangerous thing in this picture is that massive green shrub, the sweetberry bush.

As the name would imply, the bush produces a delectable fruit. It’s quite edible and nutritious! Some enterprising soul who encountered the bush in its native habitat thought, “Why don’t I bring this lovely, innocent little plant back to Pocalo with me, that I may cultivate its delicious produce?”

Well, it turns out birds took a liking to the berries and cheerfully dispersed the seeds in their poop, and the sweetberry bush really, REALLY took a liking to the province of Muru in particular. It spread explosively, and has choked out countless native species in its rampage across the landscape.

Economic and Social Effects

Muru’s economy has long been heavily dependent on the collection and sale of the various rare medicinal plants that grow throughout the province. Runners who specialized in a particular species found themselves out of work after the sweetberry bush showed up in their region and destroyed the indigenous flora.

The resulting economic instability has led to a significant increase in crime throughout Muru, with many former runners becoming bandits. Meanwhile, the extinction of numerous medically beneficial species has caused a resurgence in various previously-treatable diseases, resulting in waves of epidemics throughout Pocalo as supplies of medicines have run out. Social services are stretched thin dealing with both the crime and the epidemics.

The Poison Marsh

Attempts to control the bush have ranged from the ineffective to the utterly disastrous. The worst of these was an experiment with an herbicide whose runoff collected into a low-lying area, rendering a whole region dangerously toxic. This area is now simply known as the Poison Marsh.

Worst of all, the herbicide not only failed to kill the bush, but destroyed various other plants, opening up even more of the landscape to colonization by … THE DREADED SWEETBERRY BUSH.

Daraz Society: Daraz/Human Relations

Daraz Society: Daraz/Human Relations published on

Valley of the Silk Sky - Daraz/Human RelationsThe Daraz are indigenous to the Pocalo Valley, while humans wandered in a few thousand years ago. For the most part, things are pretty chill and symbiotic between the two species.

Since the Daraz are subterranean and build their cities and farms inside the mountains, there is little competition with humans over living space. There is a certain amount of overlap in the use of wild food resources, particularly animal protein, but on the whole the integration is peaceful. Both parties pretty quickly figured out they could benefit from one another’s presence.

What the Daraz get out of it: FIRE. Being subterranean, they cannot burn anything basically ever. Not only would they all die of asphyxiation, fire messes with their infrared vision something fierce.

But fire is also incredibly useful for all sorts of technological innovations, so by allying with the Humans the Daraz are able to gain the benefits of access to fire without the downsides.

What the Humans get out of it: DEFENSE. The upper provinces of Pocalo (that is, all provinces that don’t touch the ground) have a universal ban on weapons of war, and on physical fighting of any sort.

What if an outside force wants to invade? What if a criminal needs to be captured and detained? What if you are a caravan merchant and don’t want your stuff stolen by bandits? For all of these things, Humans employ the Harcos, the Daraz warrior/hunters. The mere presence of the Daraz in the mountains discourages invading forces (it’s difficult enough as it is to march any kind of army up the side of a mountain, and even moreso when the mountain itself is full of people who don’t want you marching).

Harcos also act as officers of the peace to some extent – they have a huge investment in Pocalo functioning as a stable society, but little investment in or loyalty to individual Humans. As such, their susceptibility to bribery is low. And, because they’re excellent trackers, they’re very useful for hunting down known criminals.

Humans can hire Harcos for things like caravan security, or protection for runners going into particularly dangerous areas. In these cases the Harcos basically function as mercenaries, with the payment submitted to the clan as a whole. The hirer pays with a Harcos chit, a special coin used specifically for this purpose. The coins have to be bought from the Pocali government and they ain’t cheap. If you’re small potatoes, no Harcos bodyguard for you.

So, while the Harcos’ primary function is the protection and betterment of their clan, you will often see them interacting with humans as The Heavy. Jobs that involve interaction with humans are typically rotated; an individual Harcos still spends at least 75% of xer time on clan duties.

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