Centak
Centak is a large township located on the banks of the Yanaze River, in the Demilitarized Lands of the Calin Shogunate, directly north across the river from Lookshy.
Centak’s location in this neutral region has seen it become the site of a Guild border station, on which Calinti and Lookshyan trade in drugs and other shunned materials is centered. It is not only intoxicants which move through Centak, however, as its position also makes it ideal for distribution of goods smuggled out of the Blessed Isle, particularly the Realm’s much-sought anti-ageing medicines. For those coming to Centak to seek such treatments, accommodations rose to house them, chirurgeons plied alternative treatments, and markets bloomed for other herbs and medicines that could be sold to the Scavenger Lands alchemists and physicians visiting in search of reagents. Today, in addition to good from the Isle, the markets of Centak hawk all manner of herbs, roots, berries, and other substances, with drugs travelling by Guild flotillas down the rivers from the North, Northeast, and East to meet here, bringing Young Monkey Tea and others to join Age-Staving Cordial and local Crampbark from Calin. While those seeking intoxicants agree that Great Forks is the superior destination, Centak provides some manner of such goods along with being a a major center for all manner of medicines, and treatments. It is home to opium parlors and brothels, hospitals and masseuses, inns and resort villas, and draws many visitors seeking both drugged escape and restored health.
In addition to medicines, Centak is known for one other thing: gambling. The presence of traders, tourists, and the wealthy seeking amusement as they stave off mortality. A number of casinos and dice halls have sprung up, and street games with dice or cards are found squeezed between stalls hawking herbs and salves. It is said that nearly anything can be gambled in Centak, from Silver and Jade to estates and manses, and while they might not be the Black Casinos of the Coral Archipelago the bets on the table have at times included even greater treasures, including at least one Warstrider.
Centak serves as the center of the drug trade in the Calin Shogunate, where the market is mostly for Opium. Within the Demilitarized Lands, Calinti laws do not apply, making consumption and trade of all sorts of drugs and indulgences legal. While Calin’s nobility sometimes looks upon the town as a missed opportunity for trade (and the tax revenue gained therefrom), to exert control would bring about the dangerous wrath of The Guild, a much higher price to pay.
If one were to listen to the condemnations issued by the General Staff of the Seventh Legion, one would likely expect Centak faces imminent invasion by Lookshy at best, annihilation with First Age weapons at worst. There is ample reason for hostility: the illegal drug trade within Lookshy flows south from Centak, and the officers of the Seventh flock to the brothels and games of the town where they might indulge in rowdy excess. And yet, if Lookshy truly wanted Centak gone, it is not likely to survive the wrath of the Seventh Legion: in fact, though they would never admit this publically, the General Staff see the town as serving a useful function for which they can bear the weight of the drug trade: certain that soldiers have lusts and energies they must expend, Centak offers the Staff a controlled release for soldiers on leave, and one where they can monitor and control issues such as honeypot espionage and venereal disease.
