Quote:
According to the module it says this:
Kin is a small trading community. There are roughly 500
Humanoids, mutants, and Pure Strain Humans making a
living in this river village. A few farmers live outside the
village and provide most of the food for all of Kin. The
residents of Far-Go remain cautious of Kin because of
the secretiveness displayed by the village. There have
always been rumors that strange and violent
underground organizations originate in Kin, but this has
never been proven.
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Thoughts about the Town of Kin:
Trading community: if this is the kind of town that Kin is, they probably don't produce much locally but the people there import things. I'm guessing since most cultures are tech III or lower this is done by caravan, or perhaps by riverboat.
But why do that if there is no local market to sell such imports to?
And what would be the point of "secret organizations" within such a small town? Everyone knows everyone else.
Kin needs a secret to be hiding. One that Ba-a-arnabas probably doesn't know. One which would require that goods be imported there.
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So, Imagine this:
Below Kin is a pre-war nuclear bunker/fallout shelter, which is still inhabited. I'm guessing it has been more than a century since the nuclear war that created Gamma. So they are kinda squirly down there and control has devolved into factions. Each faction has a group of traders on the surface acting as "agents" for them, importing the goods necessary for the bunker to survive.
What can I say, I've been playing Fallout 2 lately. Though the game Paranoia might apply too. :)
So on the surface, the town of Kin is divided into five groups. Four are the main trading houses (each afflilated with a faction in the bunker below). The fifth are neutral people who are mostly craftsmen and other locals who sell goods and services to the various houses. Each group is about 100 people.
Each house is run by a "family" of Pure Strain Humans, but has a large number of "retainers," employees that also serve them. Say on average about 20-25 family members and 75-80 retainers. Note though that this is just the number of people resident in Kin at any given time; most of the time many would be away operating trading caravans, so the actual population of any given "house" would really be about double that.
The four houses are named after the phonetic reading of the names of old military organizations that set up the bunker:
Oosaff
Oosmarinies
Oosnavee
Oosarmee
(of course, the inner circle of each family would know the real spelling of these names, though the meanings are likely lost)
The trading houses of Kin are known for their interest in ancient artifacts (though I imagine that a lot of people are so this isn't that big of a deal) and supplies both spare parts they can find and also food and other consumables for the bunker. They are known for having plenty of expertise with ancient equipment (in part because of their access to old manuals from the bunker).
Though they were formed strictly as a supply chain for the bunkers, the families now also trade in a whole array of commodities and the majority of their work nowadays is strictly done to create profit rather than to supply the bunkers, even though it is a secondary priority among the families.
The families are forbidden by convention to engage in violence against other families, so anything beyond what would be allowable by law has to be done in secret. So the "secret organizations" are agents of the various families whose job is:
* to protect the secret of the bunkers
* to gain competitive advantage over the other families
* to prevent outside trading operations from infringing on Kin's "territory."
However, the fact that they operate in secret and ignore the law means that these organizations provide the nucleus of "thieves' guilds" who operate among the neutrals in Kin and also interfere with things in other towns.
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Quote:
Ok, so here is the situation:
There was some sort of anomaly recently that has caused the crops to fail in the area which has affected all of the food in the area. You were probably sent out by you town's mayor to see what exactly happened and maybe to see if you could barter with whomever is responsible to get special privaledges or to eliminate the issue. How the town of Kin is set up you can determine on your own.
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About Ba-a-a-arnabas:
He would have been a retainer for one of the houses (we will say "Oosmarinies") valued for his intelligence and talent with artifacts and old technology. However, his low Charisma suggests that he is obnoxious and not very likable. So when complaints from local farmers about crop failures prompted them to send someone, Ba-a-a-arnabas' rather petty co-workers saw this as a great opportunity to get rid of him by "volunteering" him for the task. They may even have tipped off the people that captured him to his whereabouts. So at this point he is presumed dead by his former house.
