Tianyu

Background

The Tianyu arose from a very, very old civilisation which was already highly developed when the Empire’s remote ancestors were still thinking of wooden handles for stone tools as new-fangled stuff which would never catch on, and were wondering why the mammoths were getting smaller every year.

The Tianyu have made it their mission to maintain the cosmic balance of light and dark in equilibrium, even if it isn’t always entirely clear what that entails. But they align all of their actions with that goal. Some of them, the ones who order the others about, have pointy ears.

Hiring

Challenge level

A Tianyu crew can hire the following number of characters from the different ranks:

1 Leader
The crew must hire at least as many deckhand characters as are listed on the back of the leader’s character card.
Any doubloons remaining after that can be spent on specialists and/or deckhands, without any structural restrictions.
The crew may hire as many mercenaries as are listed on the back of the leader’s character card.

History

The Tianyu are the descendants of an ancient culture which withdrew eons ago from the part of the world which is recorded on Armada maps. However, when you assign yourself to be the guardian of global, nay: cosmic, balance, you can’t just ignore large parts of the world.

Tianyu scholars not only built complex devices for long-range balance monitoring. Rather, a House of Tianyu has sent agents to the other part of the world. One of those agents had lived undetected in Longfall for years.

But then the Shadows broke out and the balance teetered toward darkness. So the Tianyu decided to intervene in a big way. Unfortunately, the trip proved to be more than just a bit risky.

Appearance

Tianyu love wearing clothing which leaves a lot of room for movement. This is frequently fashioned from shimmering fabric with fine embroidery work. Bits of armour are colourfully varnished and polished because only shiny is nice.

Of course there is the occasional fashion trend of matte asceticism, but you can usually tell a Tianyu’s social status from their clothing: the more shimmer in their clothes, the higher up the social ladder they are.

Ears are another important status symbol among the Tianyu, as the nobility comes from a distinctly pointy-eared family, while the rougher things in life are reserved for the round-eared Tianyu.

Equipment

Tianyu culture has survived the millennia of its existence in a sort of congealed state, and this is reflected in their dearth of technological development. Their weapons are unique pieces of art with exotic-looking shapes, but don’t really cut that much better than a soullessly-forged cutlass from the Armada armouries.

Although they have developed black-powder weapons and are using them effectively, there are still a significant number of bows and crossbows to be found in their ranks.

Characteristics

The Tianyu align all of their actions with maintaining the Balance. Not just their personal one, but that of their entire team.

A good leader lady must therefore constantly keep an eye on the balance to know what her team is currently capable of and manipulate it so that her team can act as they should and must.