The first three weeks of the campaign were all about the new options for your characters, with new dog callings and more information on Badgers, Birds, Lagomorphs, and Reptiles for your Realms of Pugmire game. But these new characters need a place to explore, and this week we'll get more about the setting of the Realms of Pugmire!
Pugmire is more than just a single kingdom. Its realms officially spread to Houndton and some other villages, and unofficially spread as far as Mutt Town, Waterdog Port, and even some other areas at the extremes of what could charitably be called its empire. Whether the kingdom has direct influence on a location, has historically helped establish it, or only have some cultural impact on a place, the Realms of Pugmire stretch fall and wide.
Waterdog Port
Waterdog Port is a unique city in that for a long time it managed to be the main point of exchange between Pugmire and the Monarchies of Mau, using the financial leverage provided by its lucrative trading status to keep it free of control by either nation. If either one got too interested in taking an active hand with the port, they simply favored the other as a trading partner until the offender got the message and backed off. It wasn’t always neat or easy, but it worked well enough to ensure a healthy measure of independence and an unbelievable amount of wealth.
Although its detractors paint it as a lawless port full of thugs, smugglers, pirates, and outcasts of all kinds, Waterdog Port does indeed have laws and government, even city monitors who keep an eye out for troublemakers. A diverse body known as the Council of Luminaries makes policy decisions and resolves disputes, and there are numerous codes that govern daily life in the city. That said, part of living in Waterdog Port is learning what you can get away with and what you can’t; those who figure it out can become enormously wealthy, while those who don’t soon learn why it’s a bad idea to cross a town with easy access to an acid sea.
The biggest problem currently facing the city is the recent breakdown in talks between Pugmire and the monarchies, which puts the port in exactly the position they’ve tried so hard to avoid for years — picking a side. Although it can be hard to spot at first given the typical relaxed atmosphere of the city, those who know where to look can pick up on the tension under the surface as everyone wonders what will happen. It’s no secret that neither Pugmire nor the monarchies have been particularly happy with the way Waterdog Port has played them off each other to keep its independence over the years, and now it looks like that bill may finally come due.
Of course, there are those in town who see this not the end of the city’s story, but a whole new beginning — if they’re brave enough to take it. In the taverns talk of finally becoming truly independent is all the rage, and while many of these conversations are more wishful thinking than actual planning more and more of the locals are starting to talk these ideas seriously. Trying to keep the paws of both Pugmire and the Monarchies off the city would be a massive risk, but what are the residents of Waterdog Port if not gamblers at heart? After all, if freedom is on the line, are any odds too high to take the chance?
Species of Waterdog Port
While every species is welcome in Waterdog Port, dogs maintain a small majority of the population. While most dogs are content to be free of Pugmire’s rule, many maintain cordial relationships with family and friends in Pugmire and Houndton. Dogs own more plastic-hulled ships than any other species, benefiting more from the city’s lucrative economy.
Second only to dogs in population, the cats maintain a strong presence. While some retain their loyalties to Mau, most cats are moggies, and renouncing one’s house is mandatory for cats to hold positions of authority in the city (although many cat patriots still proudly hold their allegiances in their surnames). Cats own almost as many plastic-hulled ships as the dogs, gaining similar benefits from the shipping industry. They enjoy significant influence in government, although dogs and cats frequently rely upon others to settle differences when their opinions clash. The cats constantly watch for signs of Unseen activity, ready to pounce at any moment to preserve the security of their home.
The reptiles have found a niche in the city, and their authority far exceeds what their population would indicate. When tempers flare between cats and dogs, lizards and frogs are quick to defuse the situation. Serpents and turtles utilize these opportunities to share advice, steering cooler heads towards mutually beneficial conclusions. As a result, reptiles have become mediators, ensuring the interests of all species are considered, even if they’re unable to ease individual prejudices.
Birds find themselves in an interesting position. While their population has grown large enough to exert influence in the city, they end up clashing most often with themselves. Other species don’t distinguish between sparrows, crows, and parrots, lumping all birds together. Traditionalists don’t approve, while those rebelling against bird norms are delighted at the greater freedom and authority they enjoy. Regardless of neste, birds find their knowledge in high demand, and many find a place for themselves in positions requiring keen memories.
Few badgers call the city home. Most who do live solitary lifestyles, seldom meeting with others of their kind. The exception are otters, who frequently cluster in crews to intimidate rivals. Otters take well to the pirate life, hiring out their services as muscle to other species taking to sea. With the brutal reputation held by the badger clans, many are surprised to discover the fierce loyalty and camaraderie of their otter crew mates. Similarly, lagomorphs generally don’t find Waterdog Port hospitably, although of those that do, hares vastly outnumber the rabbits, with more than a few seeking to include nautical adventures in their travels.
With rumors of equality and opportunity for all spreading, rodents swarm to the city in the hopes of building happy lives for themselves. While some find success, most quickly find the reality doesn’t live up to their dreams. A lack of resources force many to live in the worst sections of the port, squatting in deteriorating buildings and competing for necessities. Rodents readily take to the sea, but the frequent prejudices they experience often lead them to band together into rodent crews. While seldom able to afford plastic-hulled ships, their patchwork wooden ships are frequent sights in Seaport.
Laws of Waterdog Port
While Waterdog Port plays host to many individuals of questionable morality, it does maintain its own laws. Monitors are warriors and observers act as city enforcers and are charged with arresting those who flout these rules, working to preserve a semblance of order and safety for the people. The Council and monitors enforce the laws at their discretion though, and it isn’t uncommon for favored citizens to get away with violations that would see others imprisoned or executed. Any Luminary may pardon a criminal, but the pardon can be overturned by a majority vote of the Council. While lesser laws and regulations change regularly according to Council decisions, the Great Laws have thus far remained inviolable.
Loyalty is Freedom: Waterdog Port glorifies freedom, priding itself in owing no allegiance to Pugmire or Mau. All citizens choose their own destinies, reaping the rewards and facing the consequences of their own actions, and the Council makes it abundantly clear where this freedom comes from. Any allegiance greater than family or guild must be sworn to Waterdog Port and no other. Conspiracy with other nations or organizations to undermine the city’s independence is among the most harshly punished crimes. On a more individual level, gaining the favor of the monitors or a Luminary permits more leeway in behavior, allowing for greater gains and diminished punishments in exchange for loyal service.
Business is Business: Plastic shall eternally flow to the citizens, and through them, to the coffers of Waterdog Port. The Council recommends every citizen pursue a healthy livelihood, encouraging creativity and entrepreneurship. In exchange, every transaction should benefit the city. Interfering with the business of another is strongly discouraged, although competition is considered appropriate. Inadvertent harm to others is often overlooked when it results from business endeavors. While smuggling contraband is officially illegal, rampant bribery ensures the monitors turn a blind eye to such business. In practice, even crime is condoned, provided one has the decency not to be caught. The exception to this is trade in people, as slavery in any form is never tolerated within Waterdog Port.
All are Equal: Everyone has a part to play and should take pride in what they do and likewise deserves respect from others when they know their job and do it well. After all, a captain without a crew is just a lonely dog in a big hat going nowhere — it takes a lot of capable sailors to keep a ship afloat! As such, every person is equal in value, regardless of resources, social standing, or species. Each citizen votes for Governor. Every vote is weighed the same. Anyone may become a citizen simply by taking up residence in the city, and many in untenable situations flee to Waterdog Port in search of acceptance or new opportunities. While the Council includes members of other species besides cats and dogs, however, individual residents retain their prejudices. Citizens often side with each other against outside threats, but in the absence of those, old grudges prevail.
Violence is Personal: Violence isn’t forbidden in Waterdog Port, but it’s expected to involve only the clashing individuals. Causing harm to other people or property is unacceptable. The monitors are slow to enforce this law, and brawls in the seedier sections of town are common. They step in only when making an example of someone, or when the violence threatens to fray the fabric of their society. Attempts to stir up large-scale trouble are harshly punished when discovered, but personal vendettas are tolerated.
The Council of Luminaries
Waterdog Port’s ruling body emerged from a need to bring order in the port’s chaotic early days, and originally it was a council of the most powerful ship captains who called the port home. These days you don’t need to be a ship captain to be a Luminary, as prosperous merchants form the largest group on the Council, though there are still plenty of rough and tumble types to represent the city’s roots.
The Council of Luminaries consists of eleven seats. While each Luminary maintains their personal life outside of governance, all are expected to gather for matters concerning the city. Each votes in city affairs, with the Governor casting the deciding vote when the others can’t reach an agreement. Luminaries may retire at any time, nominating a replacement, but otherwise the seats are lifetime appointments. The full title of a member of the Council is Admired Luminary, and the proper mode of address is “Your Brilliance.”
Chosen from among the Luminaries by a citywide election, the Governor functions as ruler of Waterdog Port to outsiders, and as the mouthpiece of the Council in local matters. The current Governor is Erwin Sharpei.
Noble and loyal to a fault, the cat Asher Mainecoon von Waterdog longs for the seafaring adventures of his youth. Once a member of House Rex, Asher traveled beyond the edges of the map, courageously facing the unknown without a single hair of his gray and white fur out of place. Now dedicating himself to Waterdog Port as Luminary and occasional ambassador, he avidly supports exploration, dreaming of a day when the cartographers have charted every island and when every peril is revealed for the next generation of pirates. His navigational charts note each unexplored region where previous expeditions have failed to return, and it’s only a matter of time before he recruits a crew for one last great adventure.
The renowned rat actor Aurelio is famed throughout Waterdog Port for his talent, but more so for his shining golden fur and boundless hunger for luxury. While the Council chose the popular actor to quell the growing unrest among the rodents, few take the rat seriously, believing him shallow and easily manipulated. Worse, Aurelio knows he’s merely a political tool, but he isn’t content with that arrangement. He offers daring missions to pirates in the hopes of gaining respect, but over the years he has been pressured by the other rodents in Waterdog Port to take more radical steps.
The newest Luminary on the Council, Bear Pyrenees is extremely popular with the citizens… if not as popular with the other Luminaries. Bear’s towering size and guardian training makes him quite an intimidating figure at first glance — until he opens his mouth, and he rapidly becomes one of the friendliest dogs you’ll ever meet. Quick to smile and quicker to laugh, Bear makes friends easily and has a knack for getting others to open up to him within minutes of meeting, a talent he uses subtly but quite effectively in his work as a private investigator. He is generous with his coin and known for foregoing his cut of the rewards when working for needy folks, which many of the other Luminaries consider nothing more than building a support base for a potential future run at Governor. Bear, however, is simply a good dog that wants to help.
The dog Brandi Springer-Spaniel never planned to become a Luminary, but her warm heart and renowned bravery pushed her into the role. While beloved by the dogs of Waterdog Port, she’s prone to disappearing for long periods of time, making her difficult to contact. Her wanderlust traps her between the call to adventure and her duties to her people, and she desires nothing more than to find a suitable successor so she might live out her days upon the road or the waves. Until then, she settles for disguising herself whenever the urge for excitement grows too strong, joining others to aid them on their quests.
Waterdog Port Culture
Waterdog Port is a true melting pot, a place where one can find not only dogs and cats mingling but other species as well, and even though the current political problems have chilled the atmosphere somewhat it’s still a place where what’s different is celebrated rather considered suspicious. Indeed, if anything many residents have embraced their city’s diversity more than ever as a way of showing defiance at the idea that they must soon take sides in a political conflict they feel has little to do with them.
Perhaps one of the most famous parts of Waterdog Port’s culture is its cherished beverage of choice, which is simply known as “snout” (as in “put some of this in yer snout”). Many different taverns and innkeeps in the city claim credit for inventing snout and all of them claim to have perfected it, causing frequent brawls over its origins as well as who serves the best snout in town. Though recipes vary somewhat from tavern to tavern, there are three things that all snout has in common: it’s always served as chilled as possible (sometimes even magically so), it always contains a mixture of fruits to give it a sweet flavor with just a hint of bitterness to keep it from being too sugary, and it must be served in outlandishly decorated mugs topped with little parasols. Locals swear by its relaxing and restorative properties, especially on a hot day or after a hard night, and often bring their own custom mugs to fill. Comparing mugs is almost as popular a pastime as drinking snout in them, and a prize mug is a source of great pride.
If Waterdog Port has a beating heart then work songs and sea chanties keep its rhythm. These catchy tunes can be heard at all hours in town, whether sung by carpenters putting up a new house or sailors stitching sailcloth or even just some adventurers relaxing outside a tavern after a perilous mission. Some local classics include the sentimental “Only the Sea Between Us”, the rousing “Set Sails the Dangerous Shores”, or the sorrowful “Buried More Friends Than Treasure”, and when someone starts a tune it’s not uncommon for everyone in earshot to chime in. Although good singers can earn respect and acclaim, no one cares if you can’t carry a tune in a bucket if you feel like adding your voice. As the locals see it, it’s better to sing badly with your crew than stay silent on your own. Anyone who writes a new song that catches on will find themselves the talk of the town in no time.
As far as local lingo goes, it’s as diverse as the port’s inhabitants, but some words and phrases are especially useful for visitors to know if they want to navigate these colorful waters. “Plum” is used as an all-purpose adjective meaning great, useful, or clever. Arrogant or clueless outsiders are mockingly referred to as “bluejays” or simply “jays”, since they make a lot of racket but don’t add much, while visitors who fit in well are affectionately referred to as “berries” for reasons no one can clearly recall. “Dip yer toes” refers to the Acid Sea and can mean anything from a friendly “you can’t be serious” to a rude “shut up” depending on how it’s said. Likewise “ship’s biscuits!” refers to the hard biscuits sailors often survive on at sea, and is a common exclamation of shock, dismay, frustration, or alarm. Someone who shows a lot of wanderlust is called “windy” while a tough character is typically dubbed “hooped” in reference to the metal bands or hoops around grog barrels.
Places of Interest
Waterdog Port is constantly in flux, with businesses closing and new ones opening constantly due to the boom and bust nature of the trade that flows through the city. It’s not uncommon for a resident to go away on a voyage or adventure and return only to find that their entire street looks totally different than when they left (especially if a popular new paint color emerges). However, there are institutions that have stood the test of time in this busy port.
Governor’s Mansion
Overlooking the town square and the central fountain where citywide announcements are made, the Governor’s Mansion serves as seat of government and home to the current Governor. Due to its blocky gray exterior, its palatial and luxurious interior often surprises visitors. Callers are greeted by Myra Pearl, a friendly mouse assistant harried by the struggle to balance conflicting schedules and keep the government running smoothly.
The Governor’s Receiving Room, which could better be described as a throne room, is where she leads most visitors who seek an audience. The Council Chamber sees fewer outsiders. While each Luminary has their own seat along the round table encircling the room, there are few additional seats available for visitors. Most are never welcomed into the Council’s inner sanctum.
Montana’s Menagerie
One of the most popular attractions in Waterdog Port, Montana’s Menagerie houses rare creatures from all over the world, providing opportunities for travelers and residents to safely see them up close. New habitats are regularly added throughout the city and crews deliver supplies for the care of these specimens at all hours. Despite his obligations to the Council, Montana tenderly cares for many of these beasts personally, demonstrating little concern for the dangers they pose.
The Trophy Hall at the center of the Menagerie’s original location contains the results from Montana’s own hunts and those provided by other adventurers. Sonya Parisachilde, a serpent curator, helps maintain this collection, eagerly regaling visitors with tales about each specimen.
The Rattlin’ Bones
Part tavern, part gambling den, and one hundred percent trouble, the Rattlin’ Bones never opens before the sun sets and always closes when it rises, but for those hours it’s in business it never fails to be packed with a rowdy, dangerous crowd.
The Rattlin’ Bones is operated by a pair of notorious cat pirate brothers, excitable wanderer Roland and sarcastic mancer Poe von Rex, who won the place from a ferret named Harvey Pewter in a feverish night of gambling two years back, but have since proven surprisingly capable at managing it. The spacious establishment connects three different buildings, the variation in architecture obvious to any who enter, and it’s often easy to find tables or booths separate from other customers for clandestine meetings.
We'll get some excellent Pugmire fiction tomorrow, and on Wednesday, backers will have access to the complete draft version of Chapter 4, which has tons of setting material for your game. On Thursday, we'll kick off our final week countdown!
So, please continue to spread the word and let's get ready for a full press next week as we explore more of Pugmire Unleashed!
