Maelstrom Campaign - The Trading Houses: Sacuza

The Sacuza are based in Nordon in Malathia, where they own nearly a third of the shipyards in that great port. From here they produce many of the swift and sturdy ocean-going vessels that the house has come to be associated with. They supply ships of every construction to any who will purchase them, a habit which has raised many questions when pirate vessels of the finest Malathian and Merisusi manufacture have attacked innocent trading ships. Although the Sacuza trading house deny any involvement with pirates, their choice of home and inability to explain where else the pirates obtain their vessels from means that intelligent men have their suspicions.

In addition to buying and selling ships, the Sacuza move passengers and cargo for those willing to pay their fees. They also maintain shipyards and dry dock facilities to repair ships damaged at sea. Despite the massive investments required to keep such places open, Sacuza insist that they are still able to provide the complete range of services expected of one of the trading houses.

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.