Miscellaneous Information
CASTLE CITIES. Security is a prime concern on Icengale, especially out near the less civilized regions of the world. One such development to provide security is the Castle City. Castle Cities are heavily fortified cities that incorporate numerous towers and multiple castles into its creation to create many sections with the city. Access to each section is through heavily towers. The different sections have their own storage areas for food and water as well as its own garrison of troops. These garrisons are often made up of large, extended families that are loyal to the city. They usually own one of the towers attached to their city section and use it as a home as well as a storage facility. For added security travel through castle cities is generally circuitous. For example, sometimes if one wants to go to an adjacent section they may have to first start out in the opposite direction and pass through three or more other sections as well as through a castle.
The walls of castle cities are very tall, with 40' for exterior walls being quite common. As one progresses further into the city the walls will often reach a height of 60 to 80 feet with towers being at least 10-20 feet taller. The streets are very narrow and the buildings are very tall, with 4 stories being very common. The height of buildings will always be at least 20' less than any adjacent walls, though those not adjacent to walls are sometimes as tall as the walls themselves. Castle cities tend to be dark, confining places and to alleviate this they have many sections that are devoid of any permanent structures. These are either used as market squares or are cultivated as parks. The roof of nearly every building within castle cities is used as porches or as small gardens. Walkways are permitted between buildings within a city section but are not permitted between walls and buildings. Permanent wooden structures are generally forbidden within the walls of a castle city.
A typical Castle City:
The Castle City of Anghar.
COMMUNITY OVENS. In some regions of Icengale, particularly in areas where natural fuel is scarce, in large cities, and in castle cities, community ovens are common features. These are small shops that contain large ovens. Residents will bring various food items to these ovens and for a small fee the owners of the shop will cook the food to the desired doneness. The fee is often part of the food being cooked. For the most part the community ovens are used to cook baked goods and items that take some time, such as large birds, medium to large sized game animals, and soups. In larger communities these shops double as small eateries as the shop owners often wind up getting paid with food in far excess of what they can eat.
CURRENCY. The currency of Icengale is similar to most worlds, but there are some differences. The biggest being that electrum is not used as a currency. The types of coins used are copper, silver, gold, platinum, mithril, adamantite, starshine, and lyrin. Their values are as follows:
| CP | SP | GP | PP | AP | MP | StP | LP | |
| Copper: | 1 | 1/10 | 1/100 | 1/500 | 1/1,000 | 1/2,500 | 1/100,000 | 1/1,000,000 |
| Silver: | 10 | 1 | 1/10 | 1/50 | 1/100 | 1/250 | 1/10,000 | 1/100,000 |
| Gold: | 100 | 10 | 1 | 1/5 | 1/10 | 1/25 | 1/1,000 | 1/10,000 |
| Platinum: | 500 | 50 | 5 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/5 | 1/200 | 1/2,000 |
| Adamantite: | 1,000 | 100 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1/2.5 | 1/100 | 1/1,000 |
| Mithril: | 2,500 | 250 | 25 | 5 | 2.5 | 1 | 1/40 | 1/400 |
| Starshine: | 100,000 | 10,000 | 1,000 | 200 | 100 | 40 | 1 | 1/10 |
| Lyrin: | 1,000,000 | 100,000 | 10,000 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 400 | 10 | 1 |
Gold is a relatively rare metal on Icengale, with most of it being controlled by the Sarai, who hoard it from the lesser races. They will never spend gold when dealing with other races and will always try to acquire more gold. If the Sarai get ahold of foreign gold coins they will melt them down and use the gold in the creation of their own coins or for other purposes.
Another difference is the use of mixed-metal coins. The most basic of these is the Golden Sun, a silver coin with a small gold plug in the middle. A single Golden Sun is worth 5 silver pieces. The next is the Silver Star, a copper coin with a small silver plug in the middle. A single Silver Star is worth 25 copper pieces. Lastly are the Earth Eyes. These are silver coins with a tiny hole in the middle. Into this hole is inserted a small flake of a gem. The coins are worth 1/20th of the base value of the gem, as follows:
- Ornamental Earth Eye: 5 silver pieces
- Semi-precious Earth Eye: 2.5 gold pieces
- Fancy Earth Eye: 5 gold pieces or 25 gold pieces
- Gem Earth Eye: 50 gold pieces or 250 gold pieces
Ornamental and semi-precious Earth Eyes are fairly common, fancy Earth Eyes are rare, and gem Earth Eyes are very rare. Neither the Sarai nor the drow use any mixed-metal coins. If the Sarai get ahold of Golden Suns they will extract the gold plug and use it for other purposes and melt down the base coin for the crafting of other coins.
The last major difference is the size and shapes of the coins used. The typical round coin is 1 1/2" in diameter and 0.1" thick. Some races, however, do not use the typical round coin. For example, dwarves use a square coin and the Sarai use a spherical coin.
- Drow: cubed coin, ⅝" per side, with a with a ⅜" diameter hole through it
- Dwarf: square coin, 1 ¼" x 1 ¼" x 0.1"
- Elves: stem-less, leaf-shaped coin, approximately 1¾" tall by 1" wide by 0.1" thick
- Gnome: cylindrical coin, ¼" diameter x 3 ½" long
- Sarai: spherical coin, ¾" diameter with a small ( ⅛" diameter) hole through it
* Note: There are small discrepencies in the volumes of the various coins but for the sake of game play these should be ignored.
Gnome mixed-metal coins do not have a plug through the length of the coin but instead have a plug through the middle of the coin.
Starshine, which is is said to come from the two moons of Icengale, is a lustrous dark green metal with lighter green flakes. It is an extremely rare metal that is much prized by all races, but especially by dwarves and elves. Lyrin is an alloy made of mithril and adamantite that is first forged with fire and then forged with extreme cold. This makes the metal take on the appearance of lightly frosted glass. Once forged it can be worked like any metal, be it heating to bend it or melting it down to cast in molds and it will not lose its qualities or appearance. If the metal is ever enchanted it can no longer be worked. Lyrin was first created by a team of dwarf and elf smiths far in the past. The process of creating lyrin has since been lost. It was once a relatively common metal used in the creation of magic items but over the years it has become extremely scarce.
FORTRESS FARMS. Life outside of city walls can be a dangerous place, especially for farmers, so much so that single farms are almost unheard of. Most farms are organized into groups of three farms. Sometimes these are three neighbors living together for protection, and sometimes they are extended families. A typical fortress farm is in actuality a small, square keep with thick exterior walls, a tower at each corner, and an open courtyard located in the center of an area of cultivated fields. The outer fields are devoted to the raising of crops and fields closer to the farm house are used for the raising of livestock. Three of the corner sections are each devoted to a single family with the courtyard being a common area. The fourth corner is the entrance, with a stout gate built into the tower. The spaces in this section that are used as living areas in the other three sections are shared storage spaces. The three non-gate towers are generally used as grain silos. The fortress farms almost always have multiple basement levels that are used for storage. Entrance to these basement levels is via a ramp and in times of emergency livestock can be herded into the common courtyard and then into the basements where they can be protected.
All fortress farms also have at least one escape tunnel. These tunnels never have open exits but are instead designed so that once inside the farmers can collapse the tunnels behind themselves and the farmers will then proceed to the other end of the tunnel where provisions and tools are stored. The rest of the tunnel is then excavated, allowing the farmers to escape. Fortress farms are also surrounded by moats which are connected to irrigation ditches. The irrigation ditches are wide and deep, designed to slow the progress of any raiders as well as act as fire breaks and provide water for the fields. A single road leads from the outer areas to the farm house itself, crossing many irrigation ditches over wooden bridges that can easily be thrown down or burned. In more civilized areas it is not uncommon to there to be dozens of fortress farms over a vast area that is also dotted with small castles for added protection. These castles are erected by the local rulers to help protect their food sources.
Fortress farms are by no means castles. Their outer walls are usually only 20' tall and the towers only 35 to 40 feet tall. They are not designed to withstand sieges or even slow down an invading army. They are instead designed to stop raiders and marauders. Most groups of bandits, even very large ones, do not have the time or equipment to storm a fortress farm.
LYRIN. Over a thousand years ago the greatest dwarf and elf smiths met in a secret location to work on something new and unique. For many years the smiths worked in isolation and great secrecy, during which time work was stopped more than once when tempers flared and the two races nearly came to blows. Finally, after nearly a century of work, the smiths revealed the result of their work, a small bar of what looked like lightly frosted glass. The bar was lighter than glass but was stronger than the strongest known metal. What made this material truly unique was that it was not glass but was actually metal, an alloy of mithril and adamantite. The exact process used to create this metal was a closely guarded secret, but the smiths did reveal that it took nearly a month of constant forging to create the alloy, and that the process involved heating it to intense temperatures and then right away reducing it to extreme levels of cold. Once the metal was returned to normal temperatures it took on the appearance of lightly frosted glass. The elf smiths retained the necessary knowledge for the first part of the process and the dwarves the second part of the process.
One of the greatest qualities of this metal is that it can later be reworked like other metals. It can be heated up enough so that it can be bent and shaped or it can even be melted and forged into various objects such as armor or it can be cast into molds. And when it cools it retains its appearance and unique properties. Lyrin was much prized for use in the creation of magical items. Once enchanted, however, the metal could no longer be reworked. When reworking lyrin it is like working with copper.
For several centuries various groups of smiths made various quantities of lyrin, but for some unknown reason all production of this alloy ceased. The process is now completely and totally lost. This has resulted in a constantly dwindling supply of the metal and with every century it becomes a bit rarer and a bit more valuable. A few mages have been able to use magic to copy small quantities of lyrin, but the process is very lengthy and quite extremely expensive, often to the point of it being cheaper to find and buy a like quantity of the metal. To this day there is still some animosity between elves and dwarves over lyrin. Both blame each other for refusing to cooperate in the forging process, and both blame each other for hoarding as much of the metal as possible. While for the most part this animosity never goes past muttering and dirty looks, it has sometimes resulted in bloodshed. It is usually best to never mention lyrin in the presence of both dwarves and elves, and it is even better to hide any lyrin from both dwarves and elves. It has been known drive them to extreme acts to acquire the metal.
STARSHINE. This rare metal is said to come from Gainem and Nirvea, Icengale's twin green moons. Legend says that during the Divine Rebellion the battle was not limited the world itself and sometimes included the moons. Some bits of the moon were thrown into space and some of that fell to Icengale in the form of flaming meteorites. There is no single locale where Starshine can be found. It is scattered throughout the entire world, but for some reason it seems to be most common in the Vainen glacier. Of course, "most common" is a very relative term. The metal itself has the texture and properties of steel, but it is dark green in color with small flecks of light green throughout it. Starshine is most often used for artistic purposes, but it is also used in the creation of magic items. The metal is all but immune to natural rusting and is resistant to electricity. For game purposes an item made out of starshine gains a +2 bonus to its saving throw against electrical attacks. If it is a worn item such as a suit of armor this bonus applies also applies to the person wearing it. Elves and Dwarves greatly love this metal. Elves prefer to use the metal for artistic purposes with rulers often creating starshine coins that are also works of art as payment for exceptional service. These coins are usually worth larger than regular coins and are usually worth at least twice the value of a regular sized coin. Dwarves prefer to use it in the creation of weapons and armor. They are also very fond of starshine drinking vessels.