Tien-Wo

Geography

Tien-Wo is a city-state located in the north of the Scavenger Lands, on the western bank of the River of Tears. it is bordered to the west by the Calin Shogunate, and across the river by the Salt Marsh and beyond it the city of Sijan to the northeast. A few small fishing and farming villages in the immediate area are held by Tien-Wo, where the weather is little different from the rest of the River Province, but the city itself is constantly cloaked in a thick green-tinged fog with a slightly bitter taste and floral aroma. At the center of the city is the Cathedral of Time in the Embrace of Gold.

Economy

While Lookshy is known for its mastery of Magitechnology, Tien-Wo is renowned for its grasp of its particular expertise in the field of the 'prosthetic', artificial limbs and body parts to replace ones a person has lost. While across Creation a crutch or peg or hook might do, the wealthy bearing fists of gold or mahogany toes, the craftsmen of Tien-Wo do their work in multiple interconnecting parts of wood and metal, carefully carving and polishing prostheses with an eye for balance and comfort. This level of craftsmanship is costly, but it is only the beginning of what the hospital-workshops of Tien-Wo provide: those with more Silver and Jade can seek limbs which incorporate metal springs or attachments of wire and sinew to allow limited movement of joints.

At the highest level, for Exalts and others whose souls can bond with works of artifice, Tien-Wo's master craftsfolk have some knowledge of artifice, retaining knowledge from the Shogunate Era on building and maintaining the Prosthetics of Clockwork Elegance. While production of new clockwork body parts is slow and costly, the Scavenger Lords of the River Province know well that Tien-Wo is a market eager for any Shogunate Era limbs or related components they happen upon in their searches.

Unlike the clockwork of Varangia, which uses the mechanisms themselves as a major aesthetic element, that of Tien-Wo is often covered over with casings and panels of painted wood to disguise their mechanical nature.

Politics

The city is ruled by its craftsmen, through the Guild of the Elegant Craft. The Guild is a pyramidal structure, with numerous apprentices filling its olwest ranks and working on carving the lowest level of limbs, moving up over the years to movable limbs as they prove their skill. Those who prove themselves even further may then be inducted into the ranks of the Guild's masters, who rule the city as a council and are responsible for creating Tien-Wo's works of artifice. A number of the masters are Exalted or Godblooded, as the powers of essence and longevity make it easier for them to master the highest secrets of the Elegant Craft, but even mortals can be counted amongst them, having pursued not only perfection in craftsmanship but enlightenment of Essence in order to ascend there. Each of the masters, when they are accepted to that rank, is required to surrender a hand, to be replaced with one whose fingers are the specialized tools used in their work... and whose maintenance cannot be carried out one-handed.

Tien-Wo is a member of the Confederation of Rivers.

Military

Tien-Wo does not maintain a standing army, though some members of the Guild of the Elegant Craft are trained as enforcers and constables to maintain the Guild's power and protect its secrets. The Guild also holds a small number of Clockwork Steeds, though it is loathe to deploy these in battle.

Instead, Tien-Wo is defended by mercenary forces. At any given time, Lookshy has soldiers garrisoned in Tien-Wo, primarily to deter pirates and Linowan raiders ranging far south, both attracted by the valuable cargoes brought to Tien-Wo as payment for medical services. Tien-Wo does not pay for this service in goods or Silver, but in prosthetics for injured soldiers of the Seventh Legion... at any given time, Tien-Wo is host to a number of injured Seventh Legion soldiers being fitted for replacement limbs or organs so they might continue to serve, and if the city was faced with sudden invasion these soldiers would likely bolster the garrison and Guild enforcers in manning the city defenses.