The Cafila
Wandering realm of Mouqol
Mouqol’s realm, called the Cafila, isn’t so much a location as a gathering of like-minds. It’s like an entity that transcends planes and boundaries—a collection of merchants, camels and horses, elephants and tame wolves, all kinds of beasts of burden, a bazaar’s worth of tents, mobile shrines, appraisers, artisans, entertainers and guards. This gaggle follow Mouqol as he weaves through the multiverse, a wandering realm that embodies the essence of trade, barter and exchange.
Mouqol’s miraculous mobile marketplace is a hub of endless trade, where items of great rarity and value change hands. The Cafila is capable of appearing virtually anywhere in the multiverse, providing Mouqol and his followers access to markets beyond the reach of ordinary merchants, including dealings with the efreeti, the yugoloths, the gnomes of Bytopia and the powers of the Marketplace Eternal.
In the Cafila, every transaction is sacred and hard bargaining is seen as a religious duty; the marketplace itself is holy ground. Shrines to Mouqol double as bustling centres of commerce. The modest tithes collected from traders are used for the marketplace’s upkeep, with surpluses directed towards charitable works. Mouqol disapproved of the accumulation of wealth for wealth’s sake. His priests will attempt to leave an area unspoiled and perhaps even improved in the wake of the Cafila passing through.
As you step into Mouqol’s Cafila, you’re greeted by an extraordinary clamour and bustle. No matter where it’s pitches up, the air vibrates almost like it’s part of the Plane of Fire, making the atmosphere shimmer like a mirage. Tents and stalls sprawl across the landscape, their fabrics a vibrant mosaic that seems to dance in the heat. It’s an eclectic mixture of influences, from Egyptian wagons, nomadic Berber, vistani caravans, and the diligent merchant artisans of dozens of distant realms.
Buildings magically raised up from mounds of sand that offer cool respite to weary travellers. Their interiors are adorned with hieroglyphs and symbols that narrate histories of all the planes the Cafila has visited. Berber tents, adorned with protective talismans, offer goods from across the planes. These nomadic merchants, adept in the art of barter, weave tales as enthralling as the items they sell, from enchanted fabrics that change colour with the mood of the wearer to synesthesiac spices that can season a dish with the flavour of a sunset.
Also winding through the Cafila are vistani caravans, alive with music and laughter. These cutters offer a kaleidoscope of goods: potions that capture the essence of the four winds, earrings that whispers secrets of the multiverse, and instruments that play the melodies of distant worlds. They might offer palm readings and fortune telling, crystal healing or horoscopes.
Among the stalls, merchant artisans from countless worlds display their craft, turning othwrworldly materials into works of art. Glass blown from the sands of time, metals forged in the heart of stars which have fallen from the sky, or dimensional textiles woven from astral thread.
At the heart of the bazaar lies the Elemental Square, where the four elements converge in a stunning display. Here, fire dances with water, earth embraces air, and at the centre, a fountain of pure energy cascades into the air, showering the square with sparks of light and colour, providing light in the evenings so trading can carry on all night.
Mouqol’s Cafila is always on the move across the planes, appearing where it is least expected and most needed—and of course, most profitable. The Cafila might appear in a square of the Marketplace Eternal, pictch up alongside Tradegate for a few weeks, then travel down into the Lower Planes to Dis, or the City of Brass in Fire. The route might seen random—but then they do say powers move in mysterious ways. Of course, the one market that the Cafila will never be serving is the Great Bazaar of Sigil. It’s a fact that’s sure to rankle with Mouqol—although of course there’s nothing to prevent his merchants from hopping through a portal on their own, if they dare.
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