Near the road from Gem to Dajaz, against a mountainside, can be found a small village of about two-hundred inhabitants.
Known as the Hundred Taboo Collective, this village is often joked about by travellers of the southern trading roads.
The Crimson Crane tribe are famous for their ways of living which includes so many taboos and traditions that an outsider
would find the village almost alien.
The villagers of the Hundred Taboo Collective all wear cloaks and wooden masks, hiding themselves from the gaze of the gods.
They try to craft their masks themselves and different from the others, and usually speak as little as possible while in the
streets of the town. Most villagers work in the coal mines in the mountain nearby, except for those caring for children and the
Speakers of Truth - the spiritual leaders of the town.
The town square is home to the Offering Pit, consisting of a pond of clear water, a small fertile patch of earth and an enclosure,
arranged in a circle of which each element takes a third. Each morning, fishes can be found in the pond, a pair of cattle stand in
the enclosure and fresh wheat can be harvested from the fertile land. This miracle occurs as long as every member of the community
respects all the taboos of the town - a single slip and no food is found in the morning, with the water turned to a brown muck.
The Speakers of Truth, a group of five individuals selected by the gods, are the priests and police of the small town. They know all
the taboos and respect them all, making sure the other tribe members respect them too. When someone breaks a rule, they search for the
culprit, and can even ask their gods for guidance, usually by knowing which family bears the weight of the insult.
Visitors are rare in the Crimson Crane, but they are welcomed nonetheless. Villagers are forbidden from talking to outsiders while
wearing their masks, but can communicate with any other mean, usually by writing. The rumors about the Collective are
somewhat exaggerated - visitors are held to far fewer taboos than members of the tribe, and breaking a taboo will simply result in
the visitor being expelled, rather than the food supply being ruined for the next day.