Lands of Parsantium – Surivata, the Green City

With the Labyrinth Worldbook recently released by Kobold Press, I thought I would publish a few posts and share some more information about my campaign setting, the Lands of Parsantium, one of the core worlds featured in the book. This all-new post describes Surivata, an important city in Sampur.

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Surivata

The tropical port of Surivata is the capital of one of the six Kingdoms of Sampur. Lying on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Aqhran at the delta of the Charapuzha River where it emerges from the dense Vyaharaja Jungle, Surivata is known as the Green City, both for the colour of its buildings – most often painted baked brick, but sometimes constructed from green marble – and the lush foliage that covers the river banks and trails down the walls of each building.

Surivata is a city of canals, rivers, lagoons, and interconnected waterways, used to transport rice grown in the surrounding paddy fields, as well as teak, spices, medicinal plants, and other riches harvested from the jungle, to the harbour, where they are sold to merchants from the Aqhrani cities of Ezirat and Rahad on the opposite side of the gulf. River traffic jams are an everyday occurrence, and impatient shouts and the sounds of gongs being banged in frustration fill the air from dawn to dusk.

Many of Surivata’s inhabitants live on houseboats on the water, or sell their wares from waterborne shops in the famous Floating Bazaar, a chaotic, exuberant market in the middle of the city. The bazaar is known for its excellent coffee houses, and is the place to come to purchase rare orchids, fresh eels, colourful parrots and birds of paradise, exotic spices, and finely crafted wooden boxes and furniture.

With the waterways playing such a major role in the life of the city, it is unsurprising that the seven river gods of the Sapta Sindhu have been adopted as Surivata’s patron deities. Their floating temples drift along the waterways, festooned with vibrantly coloured flags and pennants. During the week-long Festival of Flowers, the temples are decorated with thousands of beautiful orchids and other jungle blooms to honour the gods.

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Surivata is ruled by its Rajput, Prince Prabhakar Chennoth, from his royal palace, an elegant green marble building situated on a beautiful verdant island. Prince Prabhakar is one of the five husbands of Maharani Rashmi. The Maharani rules over Sampur from each of its six kingdoms in turn, spending two months of the year in each kingdom with her court, and with each husband, before returning to the Royal Capital in Jhanzadar, where she has no husband, in the winter. The Maharani’s two months in Surivata always include the Festival of Flowers, and Rashmi is sure to visit each of the seven temples of the Sapta Sindhu in turn to make offerings of rice, flowers, and sweets.

The Maharani’s unusual marriage arrangements enabled Rashmi to bring Sampur together under her rule when she ascended to the Peacock Throne, but there is no love lost between her husbands. Prince Prabhakar, a well-groomed, handsome young man with an immaculate moustache, finds the Rajput of the mountain kingdom of Kawadpur particularly irksome and enjoys mocking his rival’s boorish manners and unsophisticated tastes whenever they are together.

Surivata’s proximity to the Vyaharaja Jungle makes it the perfect jumping off point for adventurers and treasure hunters seeking their fortune on expeditions into its verdant depths in search of the ancient ruins of Karjan, and the lost magics of its enigmatic, tyrannical geomancers. The jungle is home to the cunning and agile vanara who dwell in their hidden city of Kishkindha in the heart of the rainforest, as well as towering jungle giants, aggressive girallons, and other dangerous creatures. Those who travel into the jungle must be wary, however, as the backwaters are confusing and it is easy to get lost. More than one explorer has found themselves in a different world entirely by accidentally drifting into a channel connected to the Labyrinth.

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Adventure Hook. A sinister cult is on the rise in the sluggish waterways around Surivata, and innocent rice farmers and fishermen are being kidnapped. These folks are being dragged off to a blood-spattered temple in the swamps where they are sacrificed to the four-armed crocodilian demon-god Maggarach by werecrocodile priests and degenerate human cultists. Prince Prabhakar has sent three boatloads of soldiers into the waterways in search of the cult but none have returned. He is desperate to resolve the situation before the Maharani’s arrival next month and is offering a chest full of gold to adventurers who can put a stop to the cult’s depredations.

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You can download a free preview of Parsantium: City at the Crossroads to find out more about the setting, or, better still, buy Parsantium from Drivethrurpg. 

If you’ve enjoyed reading these posts, please do join my mailing list. There’s a sign up form below and subscribers receive a free Parsantium supplement. 

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Lands of Parsantium map by Jared Blando