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HELLSPORT
Hellsport is an unusual port of call in a rather seedy Wildspace realm. It is located at the edge of the realm for easy access from Astral Sea visitors, allowing individuals to mostly avoid the corsair fleets and raiders found deeper within the system. Only a short distance from Hellsport is an Astral Lake known as the Deep Dark, where brave monster hunters battle colossal space-dwelling creatures, returning their corpses for profits at Hellsport's landings.
Hellsport was founded on a nickel-iron asteroid, with the first building being the Temple of Asmodeus. Over the ages, the temple has been expanded and additional core buildings made of various stone and metal framing have added to the size of the port. As one nears the docks, the newer constructions give way to "temporary" wooden buildings and cloth structures. Closest to the ports, the city's buildings are often made of the remains of ships and other vessels, with floating docks leading to islands where grand ships have become permanently moored and homes to dozens - if not hundreds - of residents.
The mood of Hellsport is somewhat jovial and carefree. Individuals of all common walks of life fill the streets, dealing, trading and carousing as they will. A "do as thou wilt" atmosphere permeates the populace, but likewise there is a clear sense that the populace will not tolerate acts of wanton violence or cruelty towards other; the Warlocks of the Temple punish those who get out of line and cause too much trouble, and the general population has no qualms about vigilantism against those who seek to overty disrupt the freedoms the port offers.
That does not mean that crime does not exist in the city - gangs and corrupt guilds are rampant, and the sale of goods and people that other places would condemn are practiced regularly throughout the city. Theft and other crimes occur regularly off the beaten path of the Straight and Narrow. However, only a fool performs such acts openly, and then only once before dragged off to the ports dungeons or made an example by the irate population.
The one thing Hellsport lacks is a noble class. Off-port nobility are tolerated, at best but no individual can claim a title of nobility on the port or its ship-isles. The closest one can come is to being a high-ranking cleric of the Temple of Asmodeus whose power is respected and feared. However, any such positions of power are tenous, and generally only hold as long as the individual can command the allegiance of those below them.
Oddly, there a great many shrines to other deities throughout the Straight and Narrow on Hellsport. While full-blown churches are not allowed to be built, singular priests and pilgrims of these other deities are tolerated, though most individuals rarely welcome priests into their homes or establishments. Proselyting of any sort is forbidden, and is one act to surely bring the Asmodean brotherhood down on such an offender - if the populace doesn't burn the individual at the stake first.
Hellsport has a thirteen hour day and equal night on its shore. The port actually gains little light from the realm's sun - which appears as little more than a bright candle in the black sky. Instead, Hellsport is mostly lit thanks to what is known as the Cold Star - a bright, winking white light "north" and 30 degrees above the horizontal plane of Hellsport that appears in the sky as large as a dinner plate. Since the city rotates on its horizontal axis, this light provides a day and night cycle, though it provides no heat to the city - The city keeps off the chill of Wildspace with both the great bonfire atop the Temple and from stategically placed bonfires, hearths and furnaces throughout the port.
No one knows what the Cold Star truly is - attempts to approach the star have ended with explorers and their ships consumed in radiant fire or driven mad on approach. Many a tale is whispered on Hellsport that the Cold Star is in truth a bound celestial being or an enemy celestial being keep dire watch over the city, but the truth is unknown to any of the port's inhabitants or visitors.
1) Temple of Asmodeus. The central core of Hellsport is the (in)famous temple at its center. Build upon the iron-nickel asteroid core of the floating city, the Temple consists of a central tower of basalt flanked by two white marble towers, each slightly smaller in stature to the central tower. Likewise, the central tower is bedecked with grand stained glass windows and its guilded edges are carved reliefs of intertwining vines and leaves. The great basalt tower is topped with an ever-burning bonfire, which acts as a lighthouse beacon to locate the city. The two adjacent towers are plain and windowless, with their only feature being polished brass bands that bind it to the central tower. Only worshippers are allowed beyond the marble steps to the Temple, though it is believed fiendish visitors - and sneaky individuals - can enter the rumored tunnels beneath the Temple. Few dare to contemplate what occurs within the walls of the Temple itself, but the warlocks of the Temple present a friendly, if not sinister, face to the Temple. It is also known - and feared- that the white block towers of the Temple houses the city's jails, though those few who have served their sentence and return remember no details other than pure dread from their stay.
2) The Strait And Narrow. This wide, winding street runs from the foot of the Temple of Asmodeus to the main docks of Hellsport. The street is lined with shops, taverns, shrines and entertainment booths of all sorts. During the day, people move shoulder to shoulder up and down the street as they go about their business. Fiends are said to mingle among the crowds, but they are never seen - cloaked in magical or mundane disguises and otherwise keeping a low profile. For all it's business, crime is not tolerated along the street or its side shops. Illegal business and actions are instead restricted to the narrow, shadow-filled side roads, alleys and other places off the main road. The streets are heavily monitored and patrolled by the Warlocks of the Temple to ensure the peace.
3) The Black Tooth. One of the oldest businesses off the main road, this building is reached via access of a wooden ramp to its highest level. Commanding a scenic view over the port proper, it deals in potions and exotic liquors, with many storage levels digging into the city's core. Among the more knowledgable, it is also known for the poisons one can buy - to those who are trusted enough to access the second level from its top (via a secret hatch on one side of the ramp). Further known to only the most trusted in the city is Hellsport's assassin guild. Though anonymous contact can be made with the guild in various spots throughout the port, only the master assassins and their most favorable customers are allowed to access the core levels of the Black Tooth and its dark chambers. It is in these dark chambers that the assassins also keep their most secret prisoners - those either too important to kill, or for whom customers have paid exhorbant fees to keep them imprisoned and tortured in the mind-bending prisons of the assassins.
4) The Docks. The main draw of Hellsport, the various docks at the mouth of the port are multi-tiered levels where ships come to buy, sell, trade or have minor repairs or upgrades installed into the ship. More than a smattering of business occurs upon the docks and their berths - though such dealing are unprotected and is very much a "buyer beware" situation. Because the Warlocks will tax any open trade or business they encounter in this area, all such business is usually conducted on-ship or within one of the many shanties that dot the docks or landings proper. The one way to be ensured denial of berthing is to fail to pay a Warlock taxes or bribes that is observed by one of the Temple's affiliates. There are also many who come to Hellsport whose business stretches no further than docks themselves, never venturing beyond a visit of travelling merchants to their ship to conduct business. However, berthed ships are never except from inspection, and Warlocks will not hesitate to levy taxes, duties or other charges on vessels they feel have or intend to conduct business in the port proper. Of course, Warlocks frown on any business performed out of berthing and within sight of Hellsport, and have been known to destroy, seize or fine individuals and ships they catch doing so, acting as befits the Warlock's mood and the reaction of those involved. A typical "protected" berthing costs 2 gp per day, while a "simple" berthing is 5 sp per day. The latter though, offers no protection against raiders, plunderers, pickpockets and other dock hazards, though it also generally has more chance of being randomly boarded and inspected - usually just before departure.
5) The Drydocks. Situated to the left of the centrally aligned docks, the drydocks are enclosed structures of wooden ramps, steel scaffolding and stone hangars. Damaged ships unable to berth at the docks or those requiring extensive refits or upgrades can request to have their ships towed to the drydocks for repairs. The carpenters and workmen of the drydocks tends to be superior to any such work done in the general docks area, though its prices tend to reflect such quality work. Warlocks ensure that any work done in the drydocks is guaranteed in its quality - a guarantee that does not extend to regular repairs at the normal docks.
6) The Pits. Situated to the right of the docks, this cave-like structure of wooden beams and stone and steel factories are used to process the space leviathans hunted in the Deep Dark. Generally there are at least two titanic beasts under work in this foul-smelling area at a given time, their carcasses being stripped and processed for consumption by the various businesses and customers within Hellsport. Oddly, the pits also act as the mortuary for Hellsmouth, where the bodies of the dead are cremeated and shuttled past the port's air enveloped to be scattered in the dark beyond.
7) The Furnaces. One of the more unusual areas of Hellsport, the furnaces are an industrial section on the right-hand side of the port. Great iron towers belch colorful smoke that is directed via extended tubes outside the air envelope of the port. The furnaces employ a large number of workers, and all of its materials come from off-port, usually brought to Hellsport from the various pirate and mining fleets further within the system. While some work is catered to in-system individuals, most is sold in the great markets on and off the Straight And Narrow. All sorts of objects are manufactured at the furnaces - many of which include magical dweomers from their crafting process, if not in the abilities the object possesses.
8) The Rickets. Most of the left side of Hellsport, within a few avenues distance of the Temple are residential districts concocted of wood and sailcloth. These slums stretch several stories tall and down to the stone buildings of the ports core and are filled to bursting with the cast-offs of ships and refugees - mostly from the inner worlds, but also from visiting ships that never made it out of their berthing. The rickets can be a dangerous place - unsecured buildings, wild gangs of street urchins and slaver gangs are among its most prominent hazards.
9) The Stones. The "middle class" of Hellsport dwell in the core of the port, which is a maze-like structure of stone buildings that forms the foundation of the port. This stone was imported to Hellsport from one location or another - mostly from the inner planets and in a few rare cases imported from distant Wildspace realms. In a couple of the rarest cases, the stone is believed to have imported from the outer planes - including the Nine Hells, Gehenna, Hades and in one case, a (defiled) stone shrine from Mount Celestia that is secretly buried deep within one forgotten section of the port. Most of the surface level stone buildings are inhabited by a mix of well-to merchants or retired seafarers. The deeper into the stone one goes, the poorer the folk generally are - but unlike the Rickets, abject poverty and the crime associated with it is relatively rare. Those who live in the poor inner grottos generally do so in ignorance of their poverty, well-fed but lacking knowledge or desire for the finery above their heads.
It should also be noted that in the deepest, abandoned sections of the Stones wander a wide variety of fiends. These fiends generally keep to themselves and rarely venture into the inhabited sections of the port, and there are vague tales among the learned that some of the deepest areas are direct portals to portions of the lower planes themselves.
