Saltmoor

Saltmoor is a port city on the tip of a peninsula on the eastern continent, about a week's sail from Aristonia — out through the canal and across the sea. It is not a place that welcomes lingering: a seedy town where strangers come and go on every tide and no one looks at a newcomer twice.

The city sits in a deep horseshoe cove of black, wet rock that glitters when the sun catches it, and it is not so much built on the land as carved into it — terraces cut into the back of the cliff on three sides. Because the cliff throws the city into shadow for much of the day, lanterns burn early and everywhere. Two towers older than the city itself stand at the mouth of the cove, strung with massive iron chains that can be raised to seal the harbor against any ship that isn't meant to enter.

Governance

Saltmoor is "governed" by a board of pirate captains — the council of six — headed by Captain Mireval, who keep only as much order as it takes to keep trade flowing. There is little in the way of real policing. The standing advice for anyone passing through is simple: do not lie to Captain Mireval, and always pay your tab before you leave.

The council taxes goods fenced anywhere on Saltmoor soil, taking a cut of between a quarter and a half of a haul's value; the exact rate is negotiated against a body of old written "codes." Refuse to pay and the balance owed is set as an escalating bounty on your head.

The Tiers

The city climbs the cliff in three levels:

• The Wharves — the lowest tier, at the water. Loud and foul-smelling at all hours: fish being processed, pitch heated in pots, ships worked and unloaded. A salvage trade in old relics and instruments runs through here; the fence Octavian Drell handles the serious pieces out of Bay 14. Below and behind the docks, a run of sea-caverns serves as warehouses where goods are stored and moved along the bottom of the cove.
• The Lamp Way — the middle tier, and the one visitors are steered toward. A wide, curving thoroughfare of black basalt, lantern-lit, lined with taverns, shops, boarding houses, bakeries, a shop that sells nothing but rope, another that sells nothing but knives, and a theater running three shows a night. The Rusted Mermaid inn is here, and armorers and an arcane curiosity shop besides.
• The Crow's Nest — the topmost tier, a few flights of stairs above the Lamp Way, where the council of six holds court. Its buildings are shaped like the sterns and cabins of ships — some half a dozen of them line the rim of the little canyon at the city's top — and Captain Mireval's own hall is set into a vessel crashed bodily into the cliffside. This is where sellers must report and settle their dues before leaving town.

East of the city, along the coast, lie the sea-caves of the Harrows, a dangerous place best avoided; they are recorded separately.