Antarctic Hexcrawl: Pediotavro
I signed up to participate in the Antarctica Jam run by Idraluna Archives, but Vanguard and some personal stuff ended up eating up all of my time.
In an effort to blog a little more and motivate myself to return to it, I'm going to publish a few of the points of interest I managed to complete.
Pediotavro
Hex: 382.378
All of its 450 inhabitants of Pediotavro, along with those in the surrounding farms, are Minoans. Bulls and cows chat in the Sunken Tongue, calves chase each other through the streets, and the elders wander towards the nearby shore. Humans and selkies visit, but rarely settle.
Pediotavro is organized into a circle within an old palisade, centered on the village market. It's impossible to miss from the Calitax Road, or if seafaring close to shore. A thoroughfare two wagons wide cuts from the north and south (shore and road) gates, respectively. While the village is away from the water, there are a few small docks near an inlet in the shore; Pediotavro only receives small ships and visits from fishing villages on the nearby coasts. The buildings are built of sod and sturdy timbers, but on the eastern end of the market, a small, grey stone shrine rises head and shoulders above the rest of the dwellings. It bears a resemblance to the temple in hex 390.373.
Pediotavro is governed by the matriarch Juradessa Calliope (as Minoan Marine Captain), an old woman with grey-blue fur, a prickly personality, and horns to match. She has no time for fools, connivers, or wandering ratcatchers, though she is tender towards children. The villagers of Pediotavro and other, surrounding hamlets value her for her wisdom, her dependability, and her fair (if uncompromising) judgments. They also maintain a respectful distance, lest she reduce even the most headstrong bull to weeping. She speaks Campesinian, the Sunken Tongue, and A'comhartaich. She patrols the market for theft and deceit, along with her 20 village guards. Repeat, non-Minoan offenders are subject to a traditional goring.
The grey stone shrine is officially a temple to Soterious, tended to by the short, black-furred priest Telemachus (as Minoan Firepriest). Along with Aeolus, the village's priest of Teotolcis, he hears petitions, gives offerings, and gives advice. Neither are politically inclined, and do not know the conspiracy of their cults, though Aeolus suspects the giant crab attacks in hex 384.374 might be caused by ill-favor of Teotolcis. Both will provide visitors with their cult's open rites.
At night, when he is sure no one is watching, Telemachus goes to the shrine to perform the suppressed rites of the Extinguished God. The shrine is, in fact, built and dedicated to the Extinguished God, as any careful examination by those with knowledge of the Extinguished God's symbolism will show. Telemachus keeps the rites alive, hoping for the day he can practice openly and bring a piece of their culture back to his people. He is very interested in anyone who can discreetly acquire scriptures or artifacts of the Extinguished God, and will reward them with the fire-rites he knows, commensurate to what they recover. If they prove reliable, he will also induct them into the Extinguished God's cult. If Aeolus ever discovers the truth, he would order the temple to be torn down immediately. If Telemachus was not captured or punished, Aeolus would hunt him down.
The village owes fealty to the Curadore Luto Bidoni in hex 382.379. Luto knows that having a company of Minoan soldiers would raise his own profile significantly. Juradessa Calliope knows that any soldiers he'd raise would be taken a hundred miles away to die in the plains. She has resisted his efforts thus far, thwarting him with recitations of ancient rights and recent oaths. His attempts at intimidation have failed: his thugs and horsemen inevitably flee when faced by an irate Calliope and a hundred armed Minoans.
Curadore Luto would handsomely reward (to the tune of 10,000 gp) anyone that manages to convince or "convince" Calliope to let him conscript a group of soldiers. Calliope knows that, greedy bastard that he is, he will not limit himself to fighting-age bulls, but will reap any bull or calf that can hold a spear. Alternatively, he would be perfectly fine letting unaffiliated ruffians replace Calliope with someone more pliable. Of course, the replacement would need the respect of the town, or else it would useless.
While Calliope has no sacks of coins to reward, anyone who scares off Curadore Luto of his conscription dreams for good will earn her respect. If the players help her, she'll lift the tolls for traveling through the hex, waive market fees, provide shelter and supplies at discounted costs, and allow them to recruit hirelings and mercenaries from the village. Should the players ever find themselves on the run, an allied Calliope will shelter them.