Societies of the Yellow City

The Yellow City is famous for its many cabals, societies, philosophical groups, and guilds of sages. Some of these are detailed below.

The Ipogo Philosophical School, mentioned here. This group aims to catalogue and categorise everything in existence, in order to create a new and more efficient language based on the fundamental properties of reality. They have at various times enjoyed patronage from the rich mercantile clans, and have grown wealthy and powerful from shrewd investments.

The Assemblage of Demarchists. This group, comprised entirely of slugmen, agitates for political reform - namely a governing council for the city with members randomly selected via lottery from the slugman populace. This form of democracy was long ago postulated by the political philosopher Fuhik Wè, who called it "democracy through sorting". The 'Sortitionists', as they are sometimes known, are considered little more than a nuisance by the powers-that-be.

The High Hunt. This secret society is said to be made up of some the sons and daughters of the wealthy elite. Bored, debauched, and dissolute, they raid the crabman ghettos along the coast for their own amusement, with the aim of cooking and eating whoever they can capture.

The Brotherhood of Celestial Interpretation. This group of human and slugmen sages study the stars and planets, believing that celestial movements influence the weather, tidal systems, and natural disasters. Their prophecising is currently much in vogue amongst the elite, and its members exert considerable influence over Yellow City politics.

The Clayshaper's Guild. Long outlawed, the practices of golem-making and re-animation have an ancient pedigree in the Yellow City. Its chief practitioners have grouped together into this loose federation, and in small clandestine meetings they discuss new techniques and methods. Rumour has it that its members have developed far beyond mere clay-shaping, and can now animate water, blood, light, and even the air itself.

The Blood of the Clam. There are dozens of gambling syndicates in the Yellow City, mostly focused around the practice of club-fighting. The Blood of the Clam is one of the biggest and richest. It achieved infamy some years ago when the son of one of the chief plutocrats of the Twelve Clans was found by the harbour with all of his fingers and limbs broken and a large clam's shell forced down his throat. His gambling debts were well known, and it is an open secret that The Blood of the Clam were responsible for his killing.