(For Antediluvia, if you've been reading, I am on a quest to create unique Vancian fantasy cultures, taking inspiration from all kinds of things I stumble across while reading. I want to capture that sense of wonder that came over me while reading Cugel's adventures. I hope I'm nailing it! This particular small city isn't placed on the map yet.)
In Nathulmog, it is a law that each citizen be disguised in some way, whether by mask or magic. Their law is strict enough that no one should be seen in public in his or her true form, unless this true form is also passed off as a disguise, and each appearance is limited to but once per fortnight per disguise. Founded by a paranoid group of former criminals, who escaped their lives of immortality, Nathulmog was a place to begin anew. They were worried about their former comrades and commanders hunting them down to keep their trade secrets unknown, and so they subsequently built their society around the Law of Disguise.
Nathulmog is ruled by a council called the Shifted Convocation, a group of five men or women, since the original settlers of Nathulmog were five in number. All are welcome to visit, live, work, or trade, but even visitors must wear a new mask each day they are in the city. Upon becoming a citizen, which requires an oath to obey the Law of Disguise, the Shifted Convocation confers upon the new denizen of the city the ability to alter his appearance three times per day, as per the spell disguise, featured in the Player's Guide to Alphatia in the Dawn of the Emperors: Thyatis and Alphatia Gazetteer boxed set. A member of the Shifted Convocation will personally teach all new citizens how to use the spell (and the simplified way they teach it ensures success of learning, even with non-spellcasters, since they've become adept at using it exclusively to disguise themselves for centuries). A mask is still recommended since this spell can in fact be dispelled and the true appearance of the enchanted person revealed.
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