Deniz Şehir

Istanbul / Vampires of Istanbul / The Maya Realms

Quote

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan"

"A stately pleasure-dome decree -"

"Where Alph, the sacred river, ran"

"Through caverns measureless to man"

"Down to a sunless sea."

- Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Elemerid Sarayi Apartments

The Elemerid Sarayi Apartments are located in the extreme south-western corner of the 19 Mayıs Neighbourhood of the Şişli District of Istanbul. The apartments occupy a central section of a thoroughly neglected set of streets that have clearly seen better days.

The nameless neighborhood is defined by four streets into a precise square: Etfal Hastanesi sokak (north), Dere sokak (east), Kucuk Bahce sokak (south), and Halaskargazi cadde (west). One street bisects the neighborhood from north to south, Samanyolu sokak and serves as the primary artery for transit and day-to-day business; interestingly enough, Samanyolu sokak translates into English as Milky Way street.

The apartments lie just east of a mansion owned by the Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and just six blocks north of the house in which Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lived as a child and which has since been converted to a museum in his honor.

Garden Square

To those locals who live along Samanyolu sokak, the neighborhood is known as Bahçeli meydanın or in English as Garden Square. The decrepit streets of Garden Square, that surround the Elemerid Sarayi are filled to the brim with makeshift, government sponsored tenement housing.

On top of every tenement building are an array of radio antennas and satellite dishes aimed at the sky as if awaiting a message from the heavens. Further down, in between the higher balconies, are strung numerous clothes lines that are perennially heavy with clothes still wet from hand washing. And closer to the ground, smoke from wood and coal stoves drifts to mix with that of cars, pipe tobacco and cooking to form a mirage-like haze in the air.

A few mundane businesses eke out a day-to-day living from the needs of those unfortunate enough to live around the Sarayi and who are trapped by their financial misfortunes into a kind of 21st century, eastern secular purgatory.

The Waking World

The people of Garden Square are neither particularly pious or industrious, for few if any of them rise before the noontime call to prayers. Many are crippled, elderly and infirm, and most are illiterate, unemployed and unmotivated.

From the rising of the sun to its setting, the neighborhood is a favorite target of petty gangstas, but those very same gang members have learned by hard experience that it isn't safe for them to remain after dark.

To the casual observer, and even those more familiar with the denizens of Garden Square like the police, rent collectors and social workers, this neighborhood defines the term squalor.

Despite those assumptions, the denizens of Garden Square have a secret, one that they would be willing to fight for, kill for, and likely even die for. The secret that has defied bureaucratic investigation and gentrification is one that would shatter the perceptions of local civic authorities.

Dual Perceptions

The people of Garden Square are living two distinct, but equally real lives.

From the time they awaken, they carry out all the acts of daily necessity that keep their mortal shells alive; but each of these acts of survival are minimalist in nature. Like the walking dead, they go through the motions of living and their days are an agonizing eternity in anticipation of the sweet surcease of their nocturnal lives.

The Dreamside

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With the setting of the sun, the sad denizens of Garden Square set aside their drab mundane lives as they they are transported via a potent spell of dream inducing cannabis, to a realm known to them as the Sultanate.

In the Dreamside, each of the dreamers step into a world of myth and magic, inspired by the the tales of the Arabian Nights: from acts of inspirational heroism to buried treasures, flying carpets to flesh eating corpses, palace intrigues and poisoned pastries, the Sultanate is a limitless world of middle-eastern adventure.

The Lay of the Land

To the denizens of the Sultanate, there is but one capital, Deniz Şehir, the Dreamside equivalent of Istanbul. Like Istanbul, Deniz Şehir grew from a simple fishing village to the capital of a vast kingdom. At the heart of the capital is the Sonsuz hayallerin Sarayı, the palace of the Sultan and often referred to only as the Saray. And at the heart of the Saray is the Taht Odası or throne room which contains the most mysterious and magical of all artifacts - the fabled Throne of Dreams. Whomsoever sits upon the Throne of Dreams rules Deniz Şehir, its soldiers, subjects, slaves to the Sultanate's farthest border.

All Roads lead to the Palace, atop the highest hill. Somehow, however, the palace is missing, leaving the city a body conspicuously without a head. A barren, broken field is all that remains of the ziggurat that once dominated the city's skyline. The surrounding palaces, drawn from two hundred eras of history and fantasy, have closed in, crowding the space as they were playing an impossible game of king of the mountain. Further down the hill, toward the small bay, or the surrounding desert, the buildings become steadily less elaborate and more dilapidated.

Five major roads make their meandering way from the edge of the city radially to the center. These roads deliniate divisions much greater than mere geography: Each district houses followers of one of the Pentad, the near-godlike masters of the city. Narrower alleys snake between the ever-shifting dwellings of the citizenry. Practiced observers can discern the relationship between neighbors by the way their estates react to one another. Buildings frequently shift places, though no one has ever seen them do so.

Likewise, the landscape surrounding the city reflects the mood of its citizens. It is said that the city once resided on an island, its navies plying the dreaming seas, trading with and conquering distant lands. By the reign of the Dark Queen, the city occupied a desert peninsula, surrounded on three sides by waters alternately placid and stormy. Now, the desert presses in, sere and impassable, limitless and deadly. The bay grows imperceptibly smaller, night by night.

The First Age

While Deniz Şehir is a truly ancient city, its citizens mark its history by three distinct ages. In the most ancient annals of the library of the Saray, it is alluded that the capital was born in bloodshed and fire by a set of forgotten gods. But, the wise among the learned agree that the true history of the Deniz Şehir began with the arrival of the Prophet, he whose name cannot be spoken.

The prophet brought order to a city ravaged by chaos and violence, through his force of will and purity of thought he gave hope and purpose to the citizens of Deniz Şehir. Likewise, the learned agree that the Prophet was Immortal for he endured innumerable years and guided the growth of Deniz Şehir from a tiny fishing village into the city-state of the ancient Kingdom.

For countless prosperous centuries, the Prophet ruled from a dilapidated temple of ancient character, located in the heart of the city-state. Throughout his immortal reign, the Prophet had many concubines that served as his priestesses and the enforcers of his divine will. In the later years of his reign one among his faithful harem gained his enduring favor and in time, he made of her is eternal consort. But, in her heart of hearts, she desired to rule the Kingdom for herself and once appointed to the position of consort, she schemed to overthrow her immortal lover.

Then, as if destiny decreed the Prophet's fall, an army of foreign character besieged the city-state of Deniz Şehir and plunged the capital into chaos. As the Prophet strove to battle this alien army, the queen-consort prepared a plot of surpassing guile for her unsuspecting lover. When the invaders breached the walls, the Prophet was seriously wounded and fell back to his ancient temple to heal himself and regroup the city's defenders. In that moment, the queen-consort struck a bargain with fell powers and cast a terrible curse on the Prophet that ravaged him of his divinity and transferred it his traitorous consort. As the Prophet died an unspeakable death of privation and thirst, a new Dark Queen arose from the crumbling towers of the ancient temple to seduce the invading army.

The Second Age

With stolen divinity surging through her being, the dark queen found her feminine charms had become surpassing seduction. Where the now dead Prophet could not reason with the invaders, nor out battle them, the dark queen defeated the invading army by seducing its leaders. Each became a slave to the ineffable quality of her beauty or the sensuous quality of her caresses.

With the army of invaders as her servants, the dark queen restored order to the city-state of Deniz Şehir. But where the Prophet had ruled through beneficence, his usurper ruled through fear and guile. The dark queen demolished the ancient temple of her murdered lover and with its stones constructed a terrifying fortress with nightmare guardians. Though the ancient kingdom was ruled from a fortress of fear, it nonetheless prospered and in time the invading army became an imperial legion and the dark queen became an Empress.

Over the next several centuries, the Empress sent forth first one and then numerous legions to conquer the lands that lay beyond her ever growing borders. With each campaign and conquest, the legions brought back countless treasures, new servants and wisdom from far away to add to their Empress' lore. The ancient city-state grew to become a grand capital of a vast empire. A bloodthirsty, but wealthy empire whose markets overflowed with trade goods and an unending stream of traders in every imaginable commodity.

Despite her dark magic, the Empress came to realize that she could not rule the entirety of her empire by fear and magic alone. So she sought out the wisest of the learned to serve and advise her. But, concerned that she might make a mistake similar to that of her ancient lover, she subjected her judges to a shackle of which she alone held the key, a mystical drug she called Kalif.

Over the millennia, the imperial judges took titles of their own and while they were enslave to her mystical drug, they grew skilled and powerful in the arcane. Of course, to all things there is a season and while the Empress exulted in her endless riches, immortal beauty and the seemingly limitless conquests of her legions, her arcane servants battled among themselves for prestige in the power of the arcane. Among these was born one who was both master and servant to the dark drug of Kalif.

The loyal among the Empress' judges prophesied that one among them would be born who could subvert the Empress' will and would eventually overthrow her. Upon hearing this, the Empress withheld the mystical drug Kalif reasoning that without it, the child would die. That she would slay an entire caste of lawgivers, oracles and scholars mattered little to her, so long as she could maintain her position as Empress. Those among the judges who realized their fate, railed against it and as a final act of defiance, they hid the child in the Empress' own garden.

The boy grew up in the shade of the Kalif, chewed its leaves to satisfy his need and studies the arcane in secrecy. In time, he became the chief gardener of the imperial fortress, while his brethren died beyond the walls. When the last of the judges died of withdrawal, the Empress selected a new set of subordinates to administer her empire. But the Empire was in chaos without the judges and the legions spread too thin over the vast expanse of the Empire to be fully effective. Anarchy and unrest spread throughout the Empire and numerous were those who sought to establish their own dominion or overthrow the Empress.

The Third Age

The boy moved swiftly to consolidate his power. Using arcane magics, he absorbed the power of his fallen brethren, and became more than just a sorcerer or vizier, more than a simple mortal. He took possession of the palace, shaping it and the city to his will, and proclaimed himself the god-king of Deniz Şehir.

For un-told generations, the God King pursued the darkest of magics, preyed on the residents for sustenance and experimental subjects. His creations and nightmares periodically prowled the streets. Deniz Şehir became a dark and dangerous place, and turned in on itself. The desert moved in, and the port receded.

The God King ruled through a collection of advisors, viziers, lickspittles, consorts and favorites. His paranoia lead him to weed out the most powerful, competent and popular; any who might rise to challenge him. When problems and infighting grew beyond the ability of his current favorites to handle, he emerged from his laboratories and dungeons to make examples, and set things right. For an age, the power of the God King was unquestioned.

And then came the Cataclysm. For a fortnight, lightning rent the skies, and earthquakes tore the land. Shadows stalked the city, killing indiscriminately, and leaving desiccated husks and shadows of bodies in their wakes. Finally, the Imperial Palace, the edifice that dominated the city, tore away, and was swallowed inward into itself, leaving behind nothing but a twisted, barren landscape, smelling of sulfur and the forbidden drug.

The city took long to recover, as various factions fought for supremacy. The weak among the God-King's retinue were cast aside, punished brutally for their transgressions. The strongest found themselves beset on all sides by jealous rivals who teamed up to remove them. Without the God-King to unite the citizenry in their fear, the residents of Deniz Şehir turned on one another, each struggling to have a greater say in their united fate.

Potentates of the Pentad

Mufasa the Shaper

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Mufasa (MU-fa-sa), is a smallish man of medium build. In the dream, he affects a shiny bald head and a magnificent mustache that curls over a foot wide. He wears blousy purple silks split to his hairy navel, and velvet slippers with elaborately curled toes. Mufasa is known for his ability to create the most fantastic, elaborately detailed structures. He is usually accompanied by 5 uniformly beautiful statuesque women, armed with scimitars and bare to the waist.

His followers tend to be attractive, and pay him largely in sexual favors (they are certainly not all female). In the most recent sale of new slaves, he purchased the man who calls himself Habib (Nuri Hayat Veren), the leader of the Setites in Istanbul. Veren has proven himself useful or perhaps Mufasa has already fallen under his sway, but in either case the Snake has already been freed from slavery.

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Shaharazaad

Shaharazaad (Sha-hara-zaad), the leader of a cult of personality. She showers her favors on those who best stroke her ego. Shaharazaad is known for her storytelling, and ability with illusion.

Her minions are identically perfect Adonis-like servants. Four of them carry her around in a beautiful palanquin swathed in silk curtains.

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General Orbay Bardacki

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Orbay Bardacki (OR-buy Bar-Da-Chi), the self-styled commander of the armies is a large man, and for this world, is surprisingly well built. He has a small but violent following. He encourages his minions to be active in the physical world, in order to be as strong as possible in this one, and they must be willing to accompany their minions into combat. Lokhman the Gaoler is one of his lieutenants.

Orbay travels on a Greek war chariot, flanked by five Roman Praetorians, fully armed and armored all the time. They carry javelins, gladiuses, and full body tetsudo shields. This mixing of metaphors doesn't seem to bother him.

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Ümit Tiliki the Fox

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Ümit Tiliki (Oowh-mit Tili-Chi), is an Arabic beauty out of the Arabian Nights. Her followers tend to be sly manipulators united by their distrust of other factions. She is universally called "the betrayer" by those not in her employ. She is usually accompanied by at least one of her more martially-minded retainers.

Umit moves about on foot, usually behind a phalanx of Myrmidons, resplendent in their bronze armor and full body oval plywood shields.

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Berikant Binici

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Berikant Binici (Ver-Cant Vin-Che), is a charismatic leader who advocates the unity of the realm against the waking world. His following is the largest among the Pentad, though not many of the most ambitious and powerful have fallen into his orbit.
Berikant's minions are Turkish horseman, armed with lances, cavalry sabers and horse bows.

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Citizens in the City

Lohman the Gaoler

Lohman (LO-h-mon), is in charge of the city's Prison: the point of entry for all newcomers. As master of the Gaol, he has expanded abilities within his domain, though the extent of these powers is a source of wild rumors among the citizens of the Eternal City. He is probably the most influential and well-known citizen aside from the Pentad.
Lohman is an obese brute who wears leather pants and a leather hood. His minions are similar, though extremely well muscled versions of him, coated in filth and old blood. They carry clubs and red-hot brands, and wear thick leather aprons.

Mumtaz

Mumtaz is a tall and willowy man who dresses in Persian finery made of brightly colored silk and ermine. As one of Sharahazaad's most skilled and trusted followers, he was entrusted with the training of Bors, one of the potentate's most recent and promising acquisitions. Recent Events: Mumtaz Ebru seemed not to notice that Bors had attempted to dominate him, indicating that either Bors' newly recovered vampirism isn't as complete as he might hope, or that Mumtaz is an exceptionally strong-willed individual.

Ebru

Ebru is a short, willowy woman with dark skin and piercing blue eyes. She dresses in flowing silks similar to, but calculatedly less elaborate, than those worn by Shaharazaad. Shaharazaad has assigned her to train and watch Kitara, one of her most recent acquisitions.

The Night Parade

Habib - (Nuri Hayat Veren)

Nuri Hayat Veren (Noor-i Hi-yaht Ver-An), is a tall, well built man with stunningly good looks and a force of personality that almost seems mystical. His nationality is difficult to determine: His skin is alabaster, almost translucent in the bright starlight. His clothing manifests as rich sable, deep purple silks, and soft boots in the height of fashion in the late Byzantine Empire. When he feels threatened, an oddly curved sword - a kopesh - springs to his hand. He has seemed vaguely startled when spotted by passers-by. His real name is Nuri Hayat Veren, and he is a true elder, and a leader in the local temple of Set.

-Enraptured by his stunning physical beauty, Mufasta agreed to give up the right to bid on any of the other new slaves in order to be given sole right to Habib. The price he promised was exorbitant.

Bors' observations: Habib has made contact with Bors and Katara as they were manifesting their havens in the outskirts of the city. A dialogue has begun on who of the Pentad should be the new ruler of the Sultanate of Dreams; clearly Veren has plans of his own and will likely try to sway the other newcomers to his point of view.

Fatma

Fatma gave up the pretense of being "Fatima" fairly quickly.

A tall, solidly built woman with Turkish features. She dresses in practical, modern men's (Turkey and the Arab world do not have 'unisex' fashions) clothing, designed for utility rather than fashion. The colors tend to blur when she isn't thinking about it. She has a no-nonsense personality, and an aura of efficiency that has others reacting without thinking. It would not be startling to see her in a white lab coat. She has been surly and quick to find fault since the death of her companion, Gertrude.

In the most recent slave sale, Fatma was sold to Berikant Binici.

Nikolita Giovanni

Nikolita Giovanni (Ni-co-lita Ggi-o-van-ni), is a waifish, short woman with black hair and an Italian accent. Her demeanor suggests that she finds something intensely wrong, repugnant, or at least foul-smelling, about the whole situation.

Nikolita was purchased in the most recent slave sale by Umit Tiliki.

Gorgio Puttanesca (deceased)

(Jojo) An Italian thug with an attitude. He is obviously subservient to Nikolita.

Jojo was recently purchase in the latest slave sale by General Orbay Bardaki.

Evreen

Evreen (Av-Ran), is a wild-eyed Turk with a prematurely bald head and the wild look of a fanatic or holy man in his eye. In the real world, he leads a dangerous cult of poorly washed fanatics. He gravitates toward Habib's Charisma.

Bors

Bors (Bor-SH), is a pale European with midnight black eyes who clothes and arms himself with shadow finery of North African character. He appears to be the body-guard of the gypsy Vadoma. Darkness seems to cling to his features, giving him a swarthy, even sinister demeanor.

Bors Recollections:
I was purchased by Shaharazaad in the last slave sale and have been recently freed. I have struck a deal with Shaharazaad to bring The Night Parade to her side in the political struggles of the 'Eternal City' in return for the right to come and go from the realm as a free agent and to hunt the Assamites who might be hiding in Deniz Şehir.

In my quest to aid Kitara, slow the Assamite advance and learn more about the mutable laws of this realm, I have sacrificed a permanent portion of my Will in order to regain my essential vampiric form and strengths.

:My personal 'lair' is a small church formed of entire from pristine white marble with a single elegant bell-tower rising magestically above the surrounding rooftops. It is located in the outermost neighborhood of the city, next door to Kitara's villa.

Kitara

Kitara (Key-Tara), is a swarthy Gypsy Vadoma sorceress. Her understanding of the city and its metaphysical rules has her companions guessing how much is real, and how much is lies crafted for their benefit.

Kitara was purchased in the latest and largest slave sale in the history of the 'Eternal City' by none other than Shaharazaad, storyteller mistress extraordinaire, and Pentad Potentate.

Former Prisoners

Cagatay Terzi

Cagatay Terzi (Gcho-ga-ti Tur-zi), is an officer in the Tremere's paramilitary force. He fell asleep when he entered the apartment, and found himself in a dungeon. He was unable to escape, and found himself chained to a wall and tortured.

Izzet Karga (The Mighty Crow)

Izzet Karga (ill-zet Kh-arga),is a Tremere Ghoul with ancestry from central Africa, Izzet specializes in daylight raids and assassinations. No one seems to know how old he really is. He was rendered unconscious by a booby-trap left behind by the Assamites, and found himself in a cage. Still damaged in the Dream, he was shackled to the wall and left to heal.

Gulistan Degirmenci

Gulistand Degirmenci (Ghuli-stat De-gir-meng-chi) has been a personal assistant and acolyte to Fatma for decades. She entered the building, and put herself to sleep alongside her mistress. Her body is being guarded by Tremere acolytes alongside her mistress.

Kuzey Levent Marangoz

Kuzey Levent Marangoz (Ku-ze Le-van-T Maran-Goz), is a Tremere Enforcer remarkable only for his good looks.

Osman Koç

Osman Koç (Oh-ss-man Kh-o-ch), is a sniper in the employ of the Tremere, he hasn't been a ghoul long.

Alanzo Giovanni

Alanzo Giovanni (A-lan-zo Ggi-o-van-ni), is a relative, or perhaps descendant of Nikolita. He is an inbread, particularly uncreative enforcer.

Assamites

Bashir al-Amr

The would be Master. He is a small, completely hairless man, the color of smoked obsidian. He wears bulky robes and a turban that dwarfs his head. In this realm, he has learned to surround himself with Elemental Djinn warriors and servants. He travels on a palanquin floated by a spirit of air. Three Massive creatures of stone and earth flank him at all times, and two seductive spirits of fire play within a brazer burning high in the middle of his palanquin. As Kateb Zek's sire, he sees himself as the logical heir to power in this place, but has been driven from the city proper by the combined efforts of the city's naives.

Jamal Abdul Haq

The enforcer extraordinare. A Powerful warrior and assassin. His features suggest a Kurdish background. His midnight black hair flows messily to his waist, and emphasizes the suddenness and randomness of his movements. His skin is the color of matte black coal, swallowing the ephemeral light of this place. Jamal carries two scimitars (one might be a Damocene blade), a large number of knives about his body, and a Mongol horn recurve bow of ludicrous thickness.

The Dead

Gertie

A solidly built woman with short, dark hair and Slavic features. Gertie's eyes seem to take in everything, and she has shown hints of frustration at her diminished perceptions in this place. Her clothes are dark and functional, and her eyes demand attention. (KIA by giant eagles)

Berdar the Nomad

Berdar (Ver-Dar), was a follower of Orbay Bardacki who spent a lot of time patrolling the desert rather than interacting with his fellow citizens. After a moderately extensive torture session, he gave up a great deal of information about the social structure and history of the City. He was sacrificed by Nikolita to heal her wounds.

Recent Events

The fabulous realm of Deniz Şehir is built on a foundation of dreams and fantasies, and accessed through the Efemerid Sarayı Apartments. All who sleep within the building find themselves in a fabulous land where dreamers are kings and queens. Of course, newcomers find themselves in the dungeons, property of the realm's more practiced residents. Status here depends on ability, and ability comes from understanding. With understanding, comes power to shape reality.

In 2022, in what is often called the "real world," several vampires have come seeking power they think was left behind here by one of their own kind. Though the majority are ill-prepared for the rules of this mystical place, all are of strong will and accustomed to being masters of their own world - traits essential to those who would get ahead here. Unfortunately, they are without their mystical powers or vampiric resilience.