Tangkok

The village is ruled by a group of elected Free Captains known as the Wise Council of Three. Council members serve a 3-year term before submitting themselves again to the votes of all Shenchu captains. The current council members are Jieh Hui (CN male human rogue 5), the body's leader—an ancient man thought to already have one foot in the grave; the devious Lo Shei Wen (NE male human ninja 4), captain of the frigate Serpent's Tongue, which specializes in the capture and sale of slaves; and finally, Chan Ai-Huao (CN female half-elf fighter 5), a half-elf whose elven father, a buccaneer known as Laleu the Rapier, won the respect of these insular people and married a Tian-Shu woman in the process. Chan is greatly favored by the voteless common sailors of the island's pirate f leets, but barely secured a council seat in the last election. Lo Shei makes no secret of his animosity for the “half-breed shark,” as he calls Chan in very public conversations. These feuding council members are known to hire outside agents as pawns in their internal conf licts—it is not uncommon for a foreigner to be approached dockside with offers of rich payment to perform a task that seems innocuous enough, but often before long these outsiders find themselves embroiled in local politics not to their liking. Shenchu's defensive f leet consists almost exclusively of kobuksons (literally “turtle ships”), enclosed vessels originally developed back in Tian Xia by the clever naval engineers of Hwanggot. These large ships are driven primarily by oars and are lightly armored, their roofs covered with iron spikes so that boarding and aerial assaults are much more difficult. The large figurehead at the bow of the ship, usually depicting a snapping turtle or sea serpent, is actually hollow and manned by alchemists who burn various substances and expel the smoke from the figurehead's nostrils. This smoke, while usually employed for concealment, can also be poisonous or produce other effects, such as disorientation, blindness, or worse; the crews of Shenchu Bay's kobuksons protect themselves from this clever breath weapon by hiding within the safety of their vessels, which also sport shielded portholes used by archers and wielders of magic.