Swift Rock Bay
Swift Rock Bay is nestled in a natural harbor of volcanic rock, carved out by eons of storms and waves. The natural curvature of the bay provided the much desired protection from buffeting ocean waves for the original settlers, and the village grew to a town and then to a small city over the period two hundred years. Now the port town serves as a major stopping point for ships and travelers moving between the northern and southern parts of the continent of Kaddan, and is the only point from which ships will set out for the Ichidan Islands.
Swift Rock Bay is much like any other harbor town, with dock yards, wharf warehouses and offices, stinking markets, rough bars, and enough seedy action to satisfy the most corrupt tastes. The city is naturally stratified into upper and lower class neighborhoods by the bowl shape of the Bay, with the wealthier, cleaner parts of the city near the top, where the Midden Road meets the city boundaries and spills into the bowl, down to the lower portions of the city, where vice and shadows rule. East on the Midden Road takes you to past the Rakeen Plains, on to Seth Downs and then to Gale’s Notch, and eventually to the gates of the Brimrock Enclave in the Ixtapa Mountains, many hundreds of miles across the continent.
At night, the lower portion of Swift Rock Bay is slave to the passions of sailors, whores, gamblers, thieves, and miscreants of every type. During the daylight however, the streets and bazaars are bright with the promise of fame, fortune, and hope. Hawkers summon freelance mariners to crew ships both large and small, and merchants display wares and baubles from the Silvestri Forests from the north or the Redthorn Jungles from the South, or pearlescent jewelry and coral knives from the Ichidan Isles, just over the horizon to the west. Goods from inland, shipments from Gale’s Notch or Caldessa herself, are available to those who have the coin.
Work is easy to find in Swift Rock Bay. Mariners are always needed, and often ships will take on additional help to protect shipments from pirates who roam the Crescent Seas. Inland, caravans frequently move from Swift Rock Bay to Gale’s Notch, and are eager to avoid the predations of the Taheen Raiders sweeping out of the Rakeen Plains.
Recently, rumors of a new string of islands, possibly even a new continent, have been filtering through the dockyards and wharf bars. One ship, The Sea’s Righteous Might, is said to be hiring a crew to set out for these new islands, and Captain Peliad Kestor is looking to augment his crew with fighters to protect against both pirates and the savagery of the unexplored isles…
Swift Rock Bay is nestled in a natural harbor of volcanic rock, carved out by eons of storms and waves. The natural curvature of the bay provided the much desired protection from buffeting ocean waves for the original settlers, and the village grew to a town and then to a small city over the period two hundred years. Now the port town serves as a major stopping point for ships and travelers moving between the northern and southern parts of the continent of Kaddan, and is the only point from which ships will set out for the Ichidan Islands.
Swift Rock Bay is much like any other harbor town, with dock yards, wharf warehouses and offices, stinking markets, rough bars, and enough seedy action to satisfy the most corrupt tastes. The city is naturally stratified into upper and lower class neighborhoods by the bowl shape of the Bay, with the wealthier, cleaner parts of the city near the top, where the Midden Road meets the city boundaries and spills into the bowl, down to the lower portions of the city, where vice and shadows rule. East on the Midden Road takes you to past the Rakeen Plains, on to Seth Downs and then to Gale’s Notch, and eventually to the gates of the Brimrock Enclave in the Ixtapa Mountains, many hundreds of miles across the continent.
At night, the lower portion of Swift Rock Bay is slave to the passions of sailors, whores, gamblers, thieves, and miscreants of every type. During the daylight however, the streets and bazaars are bright with the promise of fame, fortune, and hope. Hawkers summon freelance mariners to crew ships both large and small, and merchants display wares and baubles from the Silvestri Forests from the north or the Redthorn Jungles from the South, or pearlescent jewelry and coral knives from the Ichidan Isles, just over the horizon to the west. Goods from inland, shipments from Gale’s Notch or Caldessa herself, are available to those who have the coin.
Work is easy to find in Swift Rock Bay. Mariners are always needed, and often ships will take on additional help to protect shipments from pirates who roam the Crescent Seas. Inland, caravans frequently move from Swift Rock Bay to Gale’s Notch, and are eager to avoid the predations of the Taheen Raiders sweeping out of the Rakeen Plains.
Recently, rumors of a new string of islands, possibly even a new continent, have been filtering through the dockyards and wharf bars. One ship, The Sea’s Righteous Might, is said to be hiring a crew to set out for these new islands, and Captain Peliad Kestor is looking to augment his crew with fighters to protect against both pirates and the savagery of the unexplored isles…