Deepberth
Deepberth is the beating, blood-soaked heart of piracy in the Pirate Isles: a sprawling harbor-town built vertically up three stony karst towers on the shores of southeastern Island of Tamerynd. This narrow, ramshackle town is are where fortunes change hands faster than blades are drawn. Murder, deceit, betrayal, and sudden wealth are not aberrations here but the city’s natural weather. A sailor can arrive penniless at dusk, command a crew by midnight, and be floating face-down in the harbor by dawn.
Every six years, Deepberth becomes the political center of the pirate world when the Warcaptains gather to debate, amend, and rewrite the Compact... the only law that pirates broadly acknowledge. During these periods, the city becomes even more volatile, as old grudges resurface and new ambitions are forged in blood and rum.
Geography
The tallest and most sheer of the three karsts, Blacktooth Rise dominates the harbor like a jagged fang, its stone face riddled with iron spikes, rope bridges, and cantilevered platforms driven directly into the rock. On calm mornings and rainy nights, the upper levels vanish into mist and smoke. As with the other two karsts of the city, buildings are stacked vertically, five or six layers deep, collapses are common and rebuilding is constant. Blacktooth Rise is where Deepberth’s most dangerous districts climb skyward, built atop ruins, which themselves rest upon older ruins from forgotten ages. Whole floors and carved caves have been sealed off and forgotten, becoming tombs, lairs, or secret routes.
Broader and more fractured, Gallowskar slopes unevenly toward the jungle interior, its stone split by old fault lines and sinkholes. It is riddled with natural arches and overhangs, many of which now support hanging structures lashed together with chains and timber. It is easily accessed from shore and jungle and has the only road leading out of the city, into farmlands and fishing villages that huddle nearby along the shore. Gallowskar has always been associated with judgment, punishment, and politics. It is said that in some distant past, when Deepberth briefly flirted with law, executions were carried out here—often by rope suspended over open air. The name endured long after the laws did not.
The most outward-reaching karst, Dagon's Horn juts directly into the harbor like a prow, battered constantly by waves and storms. Its lower reaches are perpetually slick with spray, while its upper tiers lean precariously over open water. In her shadow lie docks generally unclaimed and storm-facing drydocks, often with ships in various stages of repair or randomly careened along the shore. Even the buildings that rise up the walls are constructed from or reinforced by ship hulls and scrap from the shipyards. Entire sections of the city here are periodically claimed by the sea as improbable and reckless construction finally breaks and crashes into the waters below. Dagon's Horn is where the city meets the ocean head-on. Ships moor directly to stone piers driven into the karst, and some structures extend so far out that waves crash beneath their floors at high tide. Many believe parts of the Horn are slowly sinking.
The Harbor of Deepberth is deep and dark, providing for plenty of space for even the largest of fleets to dock along her shores. Anchors often fail to reach anything substantial, so mooring chains are essential. Sunlight seems to vanish quickly beneath the oily, grimy surface. Rumors persist of lights seen moving deep underwater and sounds echoing up from the depths on still nights, but whether these tales are superstition or a warning is a matter of opinion...People
Government & Politics
Law
There is no real law in Deepberth, other than the Compact that pirates are sworn to uphold (and sometimes do!). Each faction in the city has its own rules and regulations that it enforces as it is able, either in its business dealings or, sometimes, even over a whole neighborhood. Public killings are common, but inefficient or rampant violence is frowned upon... anyone who disrupts business too often tends to vanish quietly into the depths of the harbor.
Law Enforcement
"Justice" is more a cycle of revenge and retaliation than anything organized, characterized by crew retaliation, personal vendettas, syndicate reprisals, gang warfare and, rarely, arbitration by the Warcaptains.
Power Groups & Factions
The Anchorfall Combine
The lifeblood of the Anchorfall district, this is a loose association of warehouse masters, auctioneers, accountants and disreputable galley merchants who convert piracy into coin. They never draw blood... but they decide who starves when trade dries up.
The Ashen Oath
The Ashen Oath does not exist and is merely a story meant to scare street urchins from infesting the Tidegrave. Those stories claim the Ashen Oath is a discreet cabal that traffics in souls and revenants. No one sane believes they actually exist...
The Black Chart Society
Based in various shops around the city, but rumored to be centralized in the Veil Market, the Black Chart Society specializes in selling stolen or outlawed maps... routes through dangerous oceans, past naval patrols, around cursed waters or even to places that should not exist...
The Blackwake Brotherhood
Shipbreakers, salvagers, and scavengers of cursed or ruined vessels, they are a superstitious and insular group that run the Blackwake Ward. They are rumored to worship something beneath the waves. The Blackwake Brotherhood are either organized under or closely allied with the so-called "Undertow Baron," Warcaptain Dartemis Mull of the Bilgehand Syndicate. Mull even maintains a residence in Blackwake and members of the Brotherhood are known to frequent his home when he is at sea.
The Broken Mast Union
An alliance of sailors and pirates, the Broken Mast Union represents crewmen between ships. They sell loyalty, manpower, and silence to the highest bidder. Their main power base is in Saltspire Row, but they wield no small amount of influence at all of the docks of Deepberth.
The Chandler's Ring
One of the longest-running merchant guilds in Deepberth, the Chandler's Ring controls the production of tar, rope, sailcloth and oil in Deepberth. Gang wars and street fights have started over their pricing decisions.
The Coil Crowns
The Coil Crowns are a loose coalition of stairwell lords and gang bosses ruling the Coil. Their leaders wear improvised crowns as symbols of conquered territory and change frequently, as one gang boss or another is assassinated and replaced, often by one of his own lieutenants. More often than not, the organization is just an excuse to gather the powerful of the district for drink and debauchery... rarely do they organize and when they do, it tends to fall apart quickly.
The Compact Keepers
A neutral (and feared) cadre of arbiters, scribes, and enforcers tasked with interpreting and enforcing the Compact. They carry no banners and answer to no single captain. Based out of Goldwake Hall in Anchorfall, they are ostensibly funded by the Warcaptains, but even the Warcaptains are subject to their edicts... when the Keepers' enforcers can catch them.
The Crownless Envoys
More of a profession in the city than an actual organization, the Crownless Envoys are agents of distant, more respectable, powers operating unofficially in the city, gathering intelligence on pirate activity and backing proxy captains against their state enemies. Having a reputation as a Crownless Envoy is seen as more of a deficiency in character than a boon.
The Dockhands' Brotherhood
Ostensibly a mutual-aid society, the Dockhands' Brotherhood is one of the most powerful factions in the Lower Docks, the Old Quays and Anchorfall. They can shut down entire districts by refusing to move goods from the docks to their destination... or by working selectively to support those they favor and harm those that have offended them. Few are powerful enough to court their wrath.
The Drowned Choir
The Drowned Choir is a mysterious Tidegrave cult said to be devoted to forgotten sea-spirits or oceanic demons. Members sing their droning songs during high tide rituals as the water overtakes them... some never resurface afterward.
The Gutter Admirality
The Gutter Admirality are a loose association of failed or deposed captains who still command crews too dangerous to ignore. They dream of reclaiming status... and blame everyone else for their fall. The group has some influence in both the Lower Docks and Blackwake Ward, but aren't organized well enough to pose a serious threat to the factions that run those districts.
The Knife Saints
Ritualistic killers operating out of Gallowsreach, they believe murder is sacred when performed “cleanly.” Their contracts are expensive... and irrevocable. Most assume they are adherents of Cthos the Doomsayer, god of death, Tisiphone the Despoiled, goddess of vengeance, or else Empusa, Lady Death, goddess of poison. Some even whisper that they are cultists of Maelphegor, the Crimson Wyrm, Dagonian god of air who has a sect, the Crimson Cowls, who specialize in assassination.
The Mayor's Circle
In a city of criminals and rebels, the rebellious seek authority. The Mayor's Circle are a secret cabal of opportunists attempting to bring law and order to Deepberth... under their apt control, of course. They believe the "pirate city" should be ruled... by them or a proxy of their choosing. They are constantly agitating against the other factions, quietly causing disruptions in whichever faction they feel has brought the most chaos to the city in recent weeks. Those who are even aware of their existence presume that they have some base of operations hidden away somewhere in Gallowsreach.
Regas Dall's Ledger
This is the common name for the personal commercial empire of Regas Dall, the aging half-elven retired Warcaptain that stands as the longest-living survivor of the city. Ostensibly a fencing operation, in truth a web of debts, favors, and blackmail touching nearly every faction in the city. Deepberth has no king... and Regas Dall ensures it, because he hates competition.
The Salt Widow Cartel
The Salt Widow cartel is a matriarchal syndicate specializing in drugs, poisons, and addictive sea-distillates. Their loyalty to one another is fierce and their vengeance against their enemies is surgical. They are the most powerful faction in the Knife Market and operate the dreaded Red Canopy at the heart of the district. Madame Saltren is their matron, an impeccably polite and utterly ruthless businesswoman with connections to most of the Warcaptains. Rumor is that she's not an actual widow at all... that she was the consort of a Warcaptain who abandoned her to move into his estate high atop Blacktooth Rise when he retired.
The Silent Ledger
The Silent Ledger are neutral spies and rumor-mongers who sell information but never act on it themselves. Everyone hates them... and everyone pays them. They operate throughout the city, but maintain a quiet front in Gallowreach for those who seek to purchase some knowledge they have obtained. More often than not, the Silent Ledger finds their customers rather than the other way around.
The Red Wake
A mysterious group of agitators that rejects profit in favor of terror. Their attacks are theatrical, brutal, and designed to destabilize rivals rather than enrich themselves. They are a recent, but growing faction within the city, most prominent in the Coil and Saltspire Row.
The Veilkeepers
The Veilkeepers are the masked custodians of the Veil Market. Their true numbers, identities, and allegiances are unknown. What is known is that they are closely allied with the Warcaptain of the Moonless Wake Fleet, Maelen Draethe, who rose to power as a merchant in their Veil Market and still maintains a shop there that she tends to when in port. Some claim the Veilkeepers are not all mortal...
The Warcaptains
The loose assembly of the most powerful pirate fleet commanders, these individuals are the closest thing to nobility that Deepberth tolerates. They meet formally only once every six years to revise the Compact, but their informal influence is constant. They rarely agree... but when they do, cities burn and navies drown.
Economy
The economy of Deepberth is predatory, liquid, and brutally efficient. Wealth here is not created so much as captured, converted, and redistributed through violence, leverage, and fear. The city produces little of its own; instead, it thrives by intercepting the wealth of others and laundering it into forms that can be spent, hidden, or reinvested. It breathes by serving those eager to spend their ill-gotten coin on spirits, luck, sex and everything else coin can buy. Coin flows constantly, but stability does not. A single night can see a merchant family ruined, a captain elevated to legend, and an entire district plunged into scarcity or even falling into the ocean itself. Deepberth’s economy does not reward patience... it rewards timing.
Religion & Belief
Worshipers of Pothos the Glutton, god of vice, and Orchus the Bluefeather, god of luck, are not uncommon and, along with Taltosian worship, the only faiths that maintain a relatively stable presence in Deepberth.
Various other faiths can be found in Deepberth, though typically worshipers keep their faith quiet or secret. Worshipers of Cebren the Piper, god of music, tend to be found in the many drinking halls and taverns that are scattered through the city. Orestea the Chalice, goddess of rain, is respected and her adherents sometimes attempt to institute some article or tradition that would soften the darker side of the liberties the inhabitants revel in. Worship of Thea the Muse, goddess of art, is not uncommon, particularly among shipbuilders and naval architects. Unfortunately, open worship of Empusa "Lady Death", goddess of poison; Epimetheus the Drowned Wyrm, god of floods; Tisiphone the Despoiled, goddess of vengeance; and Stheno the Stillborn, god of decay, is not uncommon. Strangely, worship of Podarge the Destroyer, god of destruction and drowning and patron of pirates is not significant in the city, though his cult certainly has a presence. The pirates of Deepberth tend to be too focused on profit and coin to truly embrace the destruction and fear demanded by the Destroyer. Worship of Gyges the Herald, god of thunder, is not unknown and is seen as something of a patron for sailors seeking to avoid the dreaded storms of Podarge. Orthus the Stormrider, god of storms, is feared and appeased... some worship him purely as a matter of pragmatism.
Betshaban cults are often whispered about and cursed in the same breath. Though most of the city's pirates at least pay some lip service to Betshaba and Taltos alike, whenever Betshabans grow numerous enough to become uncovered in Deepberth, they are generally considered enemies by most, if for no other reason than they tend to violently disapprove of the main means of income for most in the city.
Major Temples
There are no known formal temples in Deepberth, though there are various shrines, often temporary, tucked into its nooks and corners for those who know where to look. There are, of course, constant rumors of a vast temple of Taltos under one of the city's karst columns or at the floor of its harbor.
Culture & Daily Life
Deepberth’s people are hard, pragmatic, and often deeply superstitious. Sea-charms hang beside stolen relics. Names are treasured as one of the few possessions that cannot be stolen, but when sullied may be discarded as easily as knives. Loyalty is respected, but only as long as it is accompanied by profit.
Despite its brutality, Deepberth possesses a strange stability. Everyone understands the rules, even if none are written, and those who survive long enough often come to see the city as the only place in the world where freedom is absolute... right up until the moment it isn’t.
Notable Locations
Anchorfall
These are the central docks of Deepberth, where the Warcaptains (and their guests) put in to port. Nestled against the foot of Blacktooth Rise, Anchorfall is almost respectable compared to the other districts. The city's counting houses are here, storing ill-gotten treasure and semi-legitimate profits. The warehouses are well fortified and the neutrality of the area is strictly enforced by tradition, the will of the Warcaptains and the Anchorfall Combine. Anchorfall features the city's best taverns, cleanest whorehouses and most of its wealthiest (and well protected) denizens.
- Goldwake Hall: The city's central arbitration chamber, Goldwake Hall is peopled by what pass for judges and barristers in the city. Though they carry no real authority, most who come here for arbitration respect the decisions made because the only real alternative is to resort to violence to resolve disputes. Goldwake is often used for impromptu meetings of the Warcaptains and on the rare occasion that a Warcaptain sits as arbiter, court becomes a spectator sport.
- Ledger Row: The warehouse neighborhood of the district, it is characterized by the numerous tangle of cranes used to move goods up and down the vertical causeways and scaffolding. Rarely a day goes by that one of the cranes doesn't break or someone ends up taking a step too far and tumbling to their death.
- The Twelve Vaults: The city's main auction houses, most moveable goods brought to the city come through these halls to be bid upon by disreputable merchants who then ship these goods to legitimate ports for sale.
Blackwake Ward
The storm-facing edge of Deepberth, the Blackwake Ward clings to the walls of Dagon's Horn, just the other side of the Lower Docks. Ships moored here are generally unfamiliar to Deepberth, either because they are relatively new ventures who have yet to gain a reputation in the city or because they have fallen out of favor with the Warcaptains and are seen a a profitless waste of time. Crews sheltering in Blackwake Ward are desperate and violence in the causeways is common. When storms come to Deepberth, they tend to lash at the Ward hardest, often breaking pieces of it in the winds, spray and high tides. There are some drydocks here, maintained by the Gutter Admirality, and unallied ships can seek repairs here for a steep price... and questionable quality.
- The Black Beacon: A signal tower at the edge of the Ward, it has long since been abandoned and is believed to be cursed, haunted or both. On dark, stormy nights, someone... or some thing... may light the beacon with an unearthly light.
- The Breaker's Rest: A tavern for the doomed, sailors come here to spend their last coin... and, sometimes, their last breath.
- Stormhaul Yards: The largest and best-equipped drydocks in the Ward, any vessel can get repaired here... for a price.
The Coil
The Coil is a spiraling slum of stacked housing and rope bridges strung between the three karsts of Deepberth. Gang territories here stretch both vertically and horizontally and any stairwell might well lead into a different territory with different rules. There are frequent fires and collapses here, though residents rebuild over the ashes within days of the fires going out. Street urchins are everywhere, almost more common than the hordes of rats that prowl the streets unafraid. Upward mobility is literal... the most powerful gangs rule the highest buildings and the weak are left to struggle and wallow in the damp dregs where everything drips down. The most powerful gang bosses have formed a loose coalition known as the Coil Crowns, mostly as an excuse to enjoy the district's pleasures without having to worry about them killing one another. Sometimes, they organize against some external threat, but such an alliance is brief and rarely finds much success before it falls apart to bickering and infighting.
- The Burn Run: Blackened tunnels through the district, these are ostensibly escape routes from the frequent fires in the district. They are generally kept clear of debris by residence and local gangs, who never know when they might need to use them.
- Crownstairs: This rusted iron tower is neutral ground for the gangs here. Barely visible among the buildings and structures that surround it, the Crownstairs are where the gang leaders go to negotiate and argue over the constant slights they perceive.
- The Sky Well: An open bazaar at the center of the district, it is a huge, circular area of buildings stacked atop one another from the swampy ground to the sky above. Several waterways, some secret, stretch beneath the Coil from the harbor, with bargemen constantly bringing goods for sale by the vendors here.
Gallowsreach
Once an execution ground, Gallowsreach is now home to killers who prefer privacy. Stretched across the blunted height of Gallowskar, Gallowsreach is what passes for a residential area of Deepberth. Its inhabitants are thugs, killers and assassins of various sorts, some of which have long since 'retired' from their business and others who have come to learn from and join in fellowship with the masters of their craft. The streets are silent at night and are unequivocally the safest in the city. Those few inns in the district are sturdy structures built of stone, with many quiet meeting rooms where deals can be made and death is negotiated. The stone platforms that served as the gallows in some forgotten past still remain here and are viewed by the inhabitants of the district with hallowed (or perhaps unhallowed) reverence.
- The Hanging Court: A meeting place and drinking establishment beneath the old gallows, you can find some of the best liquor and entertainment in her halls.
- The Last Drop Inn: A quiet inn near the center of the district, it is neutral lodging for any who can afford it. Even the most hated people in Deepberth can find a quiet, safe night of rest here, for as long as they can afford it.
- The Quiet Rope: Part deal-broker, part guildhall, this is where most of the district's active assassins congregate and cooperate in a loose organization for their common weal.
The Knife Market
A sprawling black-market bazaar on Gallowskar where legality is irrelevant and morality is optional, the Knife Market is primarily composed of narrow alleyways packed with stalls and hidden rooms. Prices fluctuate wildly with rumor, bloodshed and the tides. if something exists (or shouldn't), it has been bought here at some point. Pickpocketing is a constant, as is quiet violence of those powerful enough to take what they want from others. Market rules are ruthlessly enforced here by the Salt Widow Cartel, who's thugs are constantly wandering the alleys in twos and threes, collecting protection money from the vendors hoping to make enough coin to pay them.
- The Counting Knots: This is currently one of the most significant of many tally-houses in the district where debts are tracked with cord and beads. There is an unspoken agreement to leave these businesses alone and, when that agreement is violated, the locals cooperate to ensure the violator never makes such a mistake again.
- Broken Lantern Row: This alley is strangely silent during the day, its vendors only opening their awnings to trade at night. These vendors are the damned and sacrilegious, trading in stolen relics, dark sorcery and heretical texts.
- Hook & Scale: An exotic goods dealer specializing in monstrous remains, the Hook & Scale operates under a strict "no questions asked" policy as to the source of the goods traded there.
- The Red Canopy: A poison and drug market, these alleyways are covered by permanent crimson awnings and canopies.
- The Whisper Vault: Ostensibly a tavern, the Whisper Vault is a series of soundproofed rooms carved into the face of the karst where patrons pay a fee to obtain the rare moment of privacy for high-risk deals and conversations... and more.
The Lower Docks
The Lower Docks are the lungs of Deepberth, choked with ships, laborers, and the stink of salt, tar, and blood. Everything entering or leaving the city touches these piers at some point. Power here lies not with captains, but with those who decide what gets unloaded. Sprawling beneath the shadow of Dagon's Horn, the Lower Docks are constantly in motion, day and night, and the noise of men working, cranes creaking and wagons creaking through the narrow streets are ceaseless. The docks are controlled by labor gangs with shifting loyalties who load and unload ships moored there, charging informal tolls and "dock fees" enforced with clubs and fists. Accidental fires and entire sections of the town collapsing into the harbor are not uncommon.
- Brotherhood Hall: One of the few semi-permanent structures in the Lower Docks, this is the union hall of the Dockhand's Brotherhood. It operates more as a command center for their operations, particularly when they feel some captain or faction has done them wrong and they're organizing for some payback.
- The Crane Graves: Collapsed cranes, broken ship pieces and abandoned cargo litter this area at the edge of the Lower Docks, often used as hiding places, caches for hidden treasure and ambush points for the unwary.
- The Mud Locks: Filthy, muddy slips where ships dock for little to no fee. This is one of the few places in the harbor that the sea floor is close to the surface.
- Southchain Piers: Heavily guarded unloading docks for valuable cargo. The gangs charge a hefty fee for docking here, but it is well worth the price.
- The Split Bollard: A quiet dockside tavern where labor contracts are negotiated and the laborers come for a relaxing drink and some companionship at the end of their shift.
The Old Quays
Once the main docks of the city, the Old Quays are now crumbling docks and warehouses used by only the most desperate. Cursed and broken ships are towed to the old drydocks here, stripped, burned or quietly hidden away. Situated at the rocky base of Gallowskar, the district is characterized by rotting wood and leaning structures ready to fall into one another. Even when the weather is clear elsewhere, there is often a sickening fog lingering in the air here and the harbor seems eerily calm even during storms. Most common pirates and sailors avoid the Old Quays, claiming that the cursed ships towed here leave a palpable, haunted gloominess where shadows move and whisper.
- The Black Slip: The dock where cursed vessels are moored and stripped, their parts cleaned and sold elsewhere in the city... perhaps to become a part of another ship about to find itself subject to a curse.
- The Iron Winch: The largest heavy-lift crane in the city, it is typically used for salvage and stripping of the largest of vessels... and, rarely, a monstrous sea creature some ship has killed and towed into harbor for meat.
- Saltbone Warehouse: A salvage sorting facility built out of an old, moss-covered warehouse that somehow still stands.
- The Sunk Chapel: A half-flooded shrine to forgotten gods, no one truly knows where the entrance to this accursed place lies, but none doubt its presence in the district.
Regas' Redoubt
One of the few permanent structures in Deepberth, Regas' Redoubt is a mansion built on the ruins of some ancient castle by the city's only retired Warcaptain, Regas Dall. Perched atop Blacktooth Rise, Regas' Redoubt provides for the best view of Deepberth's most powerful resident... and, it is said, the only resident who survived the end of the Third Age and the coming of the Dark Times on Deepberth a century and a half ago. Regas Dall's Ledger is based here and Regas himself rarely descends from his lofty perch himself any more, preferring to work through his agents, spies and strongmen who oversee his fencing operations in the city and abroad. Aged even for a half-elf, Regas is still respected by all of the other Warcaptains... as long as he continues to be useful to their operations. Most believe it is only a matter of time before someone finally topples him from his perch and he, too, finds himself sinking into the bottomless harbor or rotting under some stone sarcophagus in the Tidegrave.
Saltspire Row
Saltspire Row is a vertical riot of taverns, brothels, gambling dens, and fighting pits stacked atop one another up the wall of Blacktooth Rise. Saltspire Row is where crews spend their shares—and where future disasters are born over cheap rum. Rickety rope bridges and scaffolding span the distance between taverns and there are frequent brawls that spill out into the "streets." Murder tends to be rare (its bad for business), but a body or two is usually discovered in the cracks and crevasses of the district on a weekly basis. Rumors spread faster than venereal diseases here (and the numerous whore houses keep everyone on the same sniffle).
- The Cracked Compass: Though its location has shifted several times as structures collapsed, the Cracked Compass is an ever-present tavern favored by veteran pirates and sailors. It is viewed as neutral ground by most in the city and has even hosted a Warcaptain's Conclave or two in the past.
- Lady Foam's House: The most powerful brothel on the Row, Lady Foam's House is owned and operated by Lady Seressa, one of the best-connected information brokers in the city.
- The Pitch Pit: The premier fighting pit in Deepberth, only fighters who have proven themselves elsewhere are invited to participate in the competitions here. Though the fights are often bloody, they are rarely fatal and permanent injuries are uncommon... in the end, these fighters are just too valuable to waste on senseless slaughter.
- The Slanted Mast: This alehouse is the central meeting place of the Broken Mast Union. Strangers aren't welcome...
Tidegrave
Located at the back of Blackrooth Rise, beyond the Coil, the Tidegrave is a half-flooded district that serves as both a graveyard and dumping ground for the unnamed dead. The lowest streets are often flooded at high tide and graves are built above-ground to prevent the dead from floating back up. It is said that there are sunken shrines to forgotten sea gods and watery demons alike here, tucked away behind salt-stained tombs and moldy alleyways. There are more than a few stories of those laid to rest here who rose back from their watery graves to prowl the doomed streets of the district.
- The Drowned Steps: Stone steps that lead down into the ocean, it is believed these are the ruins of some ritual platform dedicated to some long-forgotten cult of the sea.
- The Listening Pool: A tidal basin said to whisper prophecy to those with a talent for hearing. Whatever empowers these dank waters, the revelations they provide often drive men to madness.
- Saltcrypt Row: Once a graveyard, these stone tombs were looted long ago and have been converted into living spaces for those desperate enough to live there... or those for whom the Tidegrave has become a part of their very soul.
The Veil Market
More a phenomenon than a physical district, the Veil Market appears where it wills and shifts locations throughout the city on some unknown journey. Entrances are well-guarded and participants in the Market are expected to be masked. There is an absolute prohibition on violence here that the place itself seems to enforce on the rare occasion that someone seeks to violate that unspoken edict. Reality feels thin here... almost as if the Veil Market exists out of place and time. Those who enter rarely agree on what they saw and some claim they have met people there who claim to be in the back alleys of some other distant city, not in Deepberth at all...
- Hall of Lace: A vast chamber where contracts are stored. It is said that a contract stored in the Hall of Lace carries with it mystical enforcement of its articles... and woe to any who violate a contract stored in the Hall.
- The Still Stalls: It is said the Still Stalls can only be found by accident... or perhaps they know who their clients shall be and invite them. The Still Stalls are characterized by silent merchants with empty stalls, selling intangible goods. Here, it is said, you can buy love or reputation or happiness or vengeance... for a price that may be all too dear...
- The White Threshold: The most common entry point to the Veil Market, this white-stained wooden structure seems to be disassembled and reassembled whenever the Market moves. It is always guarded by silent, helmeted guards that some claim are not entirely human.
| This page has been identified as needing a map for clarity. |
