Blades' Breaking

Blades' Breaking is the capital of the Ragged Coast, and the principal port of the Darklands. Sheltered within the cliffs of the Bay of Swords, Blade's Breaking sits across the River Longwater (Azakh, in orcish) from the ruins of Stormport, the great shipyard of the Legion, and in sight of the broken citadel of the Swordhold.

Blades' Breaking

Blades' Breaking has grown to become one of the largest cities in the Darklands. Its location in the Bay of Swords has allowed it to dominate maritime trade, providing harbour for ships too big for Chainwall or Lastcut, protected from the storms of the Ragged Coast. It is home to the First and Second Brigades of the Ragged Coastguard. The First Brigade protects the city and the ruins of Stormport, and provide the garrisons of the Talons. The Second is a maritime brigade, responsible for the wider defence of the Ragged Coast.

The Talons

Ships enter the Bay of Storms from the south, via a narrow channel through the sheltering cliffs. On either side, the cliff is surmounted by a tall, tapering tower, which curves in towards the water, earning these eccentric bastions the name 'the Talons.' Among the last pieces of Legion architecture still occupied in their original form, the Talons are garrisoned by warriors of the First Brigade of the Ragged Coastguard and armed with formidable artillery, both mundane and magical.

The Deepwater Docks

The greatest asset of the city is, and always has been, the deep water of the Bay and the channel, which allow ocean-going vessels to harbour safely. The long sprawl of the deepwater docks provides the place where merchants, patrol vessels and warships of the Ragged Coast dock.

The Low Fort

A garrison of the First Brigade protects the docks and projects authority over the city from the Low Fort, a looming keep of dark stone. The Low Fort is also home to the city watch, who maintain order and uphold the King's Law in the dockyards and the wards, even as the garrison defend against external threats.

The Long Docks

A deep water harbour is cut into the western channel of the Longwater to receive riverine trade. The long docks - the harbour extends about three miles upstream from the narrowing of the river mouth - are also used by smaller fishing boats working the Narrow Sea.

The Dockyards and the Strangers' Ward

The area behind the docks is home to warehouses and maritime services, from shipwrights to chandleries, as well as the various teamsters' and longshore guilds. Behind the long docks, the strangers' ward holds merchant halls, banks and taverns, and all the services catering to travellers and visitors to the city.

The Common Ward and the Hunters' Ward

The common ward, located in the south and west of the city, is the division of the city where most residents have their homes, and where businesses catering to residents and domestic activities of the city trade. In the north east, above the strangers' ward, the hunters' ward houses the city's resident merchant and fighting guilds, and others whose business is with visitors or the city's external affairs.

Academy of Blades

Located in the north of the Common Ward, the Academy of Blades is one of the Darklands' foremost centres of learning. Noted for its military and naval courses, and for a substantial historical research cohort, its library is second only to that in the shrine of the ancestors.

The High Fort

The High Fort is the capitol of the Ragged Coast, a walled city-within-the-city containing the shrine of the ancestors - including the library and the Shadow Archivists - the civic and kingdom-wide bureaucracy, a Woodcutters' hall and the palaces of the rulers of the Ragged Coast, the Master of the Winds and the Storm Queen.

Stormport

Stormport was the shipyard of the Dark Lords, for which the Bay of Swords was carved from the Ragged Coast. Burned and ruined in the uprising of the Orcs, it remains as a desolate relict of the fallen gods and the Legion that served them, its streets haunted by the undead and monstrosities spawned by the Dark Lords during the Legion-Regime War.

The Old Wall

The old wall is the original defensive pallisade created to keep the rebel orcs out of the city. Breached during the assault on Stormport, it was later repaired and garrisoned by hunters of the 1st Brigade, Purifiers and Woodcutters. The defenders of the wall keep people out of the city, and both keep monsters in and hunt them in the ruins.

The Dock Wall

The dock wall was created as Blades' Breaking developed, and serves to keep the denizens of Stormport from crossing the Longwater to the new city. Garrisoned by warriors of the 1st, it is a largely defensive structure serving to protect the modern city from the shadows of the past, but also serves a role in the slow reclamation of the ruins.

The Shadow City

The shadow city is the name given to the less destroyed section of the port, primarily in the south-west of the ruins, where the buildings are mostly intact, although typically gutted by fire and time. The shadow city is home to criminals, dissidents and the desperate, who do not mind sharing their home with monsters if it means avoiding the law, or gives them a roof over their heads. The shadow city is no haven of equality, however, with its own 'aristocracy' of crime lords laying claim to, and often even taxing, their own fiefdoms.

The Watchtower

An ancient defensive structure, the watchtower has been garrisoned by the 1st and the Orders of Purity to keep watch over the city. A lantern installed in a newer structure on the roof of the tower allows it to act as a lighthouse and warn ships away from the Great Jetties.

The Wreck

The wreck is the majority of the city, where the buildings are in varying states of dilapidation and collapse, haunted by monsters and undead. This is also where most of the remaining openings into the Underport are.

Underport

The Underport is the ancient network of catacombs and sewers beneath Stormport. It is home to the worst monsters, and houses some of the last unexplored and unpurged regions of the old infrastructure, which makes it the source of new and terrible monsters. Exploration and cleansing of the Underport is a major priority for the Purifiers, but the Underport and its denizens do not make it easy.

Great Jetties

The Great Jetties are the remnants of the old shipyards, three nigh-indestructible piers jutting half a mile out to sea, where they lurk at the level of the water and form a hazard for shipping.

The Swordhold

The former stronghold of the Honer of Blades was subjected to all the destructive energy that the rebels could muster after the Honer's death. Its walls are blasted, twisted and broken, resembling a cluster of blades projecting from the hillside. Dark vaults lie buried beneath the ruin, and the entire hillside id forbidden to all but the garrison of the eastern Talon.

Type

Large city