Bar’umun

Player Guide #

• Entering Bar’umun

  The skies of Bar’umun are dominated by the Azrak Mountains, which are visible from everywhere within the nation’s borders. Vast forests stretch out across the landscape between settlements, sometimes becoming so dense you cannot even see into them. You travel upon wide, smooth roads that allow for easy and fast paced travel when needed.

  When you approach any settlement you are greeted by what locals call The Song of the Forge, a melodic ringing of hammers that echoes from the busy workshops. The cool mountain air is thick with the smell of charcoal and heated metals.

• Border Crossing

  Bar’umun values the exchange of goods and ideas and as such is a hospitable place for travelers and traders alike. The border guards inform you that Bar’umun has created more of a registration process than a military checkpoint when entering the nation.

  Visitors entering the country must receive a Visitor’s Cog, a small brass token that will need to be presented regularly while travelling, such as when staying at an inn or entering and exiting settlements.

  This is issued at all border crossings or, if unavailable, a temporary sealed writ is issued that’s only valid for travel to the nearest major settlement. The Cog has built-in month, day and Kanton rings that indicate the date and place it was issued. When an official uses their wrench to lock in the date, gear teeth inside also create a corresponding marking inside the cog to prevent tampering.

• The Laws, Customs and Taboos

  Speaking with some travelers on the road around you learn a number of useful things that might help you in your travels.

  • Social standing is not inherited but earned through the quality of your work and your contribution to the collective.
  • Magic is generally viewed by the local populace as an additional tool to be used for the betterment of society.
  • Education is free and all residents are required to pursue academic study or as an apprentice in a trade or labor skill.
  • It is customary to present a detailed plan when meeting someone of higher merit. Coming to a meeting with a problem but having no proposed solution to offer is considered rude and a sign of low intelligence.
  • Trying to sell items of shoddy craftsmanship as quality wares with the intent to deceive is a legal offense and creating something that is determined to have failed due to poor craftsmanship can cause the creator to be fined or demoted.
  • Wasting resources, be it food, fuel, or time, is considered socially abhorrent and can earn you glares but flagrant disregard of this custom can even cause fines or other legal repercussions.
  • It is polite to yield to anyone carrying heavy machinery or wearing a Master rank guild or clan insignia.
  • Citizens favor functional clothing generally based on their profession. Personal wealth is often displayed through ornate tools hung from one’s belt. Most wear their rank and/or trade specialty as a series of cogs and pins prominently on their lapels.

• Currency and Commerce

  The currency is minted as precisely cut shapes so that any shopkeeper can verify the coins authenticity by inserting them into calibrated slots on a shop counter. Coins have various shaped central cutouts that allow them to be secured on a cord of leather to help avoid loss or theft. The major banks of Kemet have joined together to standardize coinage to simplify trade across the world. While the face and shape can be designed freely, the coin must meet a standard weight and purity in Copper, Silver, Gold and Platinum to be accepted as currency outside its minting nation.

  • Bit (Copper): A small circular coin with a square-cut center and a smooth, unadorned outer rim.
  • Lug (Silver): A hexagonal coin with a perfectly round center and a textured outer edge.
  • Gear (Gold): A large circular coin with a cog-shaped center and ten precision-milled teeth along the exterior edge.
  • Mainspring (Platinum): A thin, polished coin with a rectangular slot in the center.

• Rumors and Folklore

  You also hear some things that may not be rooted in truth or which may be just wild conspiracy theories or folk tales.

  • Many believe the founder, Gromdul, preserved his spirit into The Radiant Core of Umun and that if you listen closely he will whisper the solution to impossible problems.
  • It is whispered that the capital city of Umun is not built upon rock foundation but built on massive brass plates that will mechanically expand as the population grows.
  • Some say that if you describe a machine to a Dwarf, he will create a blueprint and have it improved upon before you’ve even finished your ale.

• Terminology

  • Kanton: A regional province within Bar’umun
  • Cog: A sign of an individual’s function within society.
    • Brass: Visitor Cog
    • Iron: Resident Cog
    • Verdigris: Sentinel Cog
    • Blued Steel: Diplomat Cog
    • Gold: Government Official Cog