Milmar

Location
Milmar is an island located just off the coast between The Grand Duchy of Enrieme  and An Eliaheer . The island is basically a large plateau in the sea, with cliffs rising between 50’ and 200’ above sea level. The top of the island is flat and windswept, albeit supporting a reasonable number of trees vital to the Milmarian shipbuilding industry. Although there are farmsteads and villages on the plateau, most of the population is concentrated in the city-port of Milmar. This cliff-top city lies in a semi-circle around a large cliff encircled lake which is linked to the sea by several man-made tunnels. This lake is thus one of the largest, best sheltered and most defensible deep water ports in the northern world.

Who Rules
Officially, Milmar is ruled by the “Council of Captains”. This is constituted of all the captains who own ships based on Milmar. Votes are apportioned by size of ship. Oared ships count for one vote for every 10 oars, sailing ships get one vote for every 10 Milmarian tuns (a Milmarian tun is a measure of cargo capacity, being equivalent to 50 10-gallon barrels). All those able to vote carry silver plaques on neck chains identifying them and the number of votes they have.
The 24 ship owners with the highest number of votes constitutes the “Inner Council”, which supposedly determines overall Milmarian policy, as well as deciding who gets how many votes and checking the candidacy of new captains.
Each ship registered at Milmar has a silver plaque confirming its identity, ownership and number of votes it confers, which is magically linked to its rightful captain.

Who Really Rules
Although the Council rules, it is an anarchic affair. There are numerous laws allowing voting by proxy for captains at sea, and a system of “contract captains” whereby ship owners with more than one vessel hire men to captain them but retain the voting rights. The whole system is open to many abuses; foreign ships can register with Milmarian owners, and several captains keep derelict or unseaworthy vessels to increase their votes. The most famous of these is the “Apple Barrel”, which has been bought right up into the city streets and opened up as a tavern !
With such a system of government, it is no wonder that the Council is split into several rival factions, with lesser captains giving allegiance to the more powerful owners in the hope that these will look after their interests when they are away. Most of the captains make continued efforts to increase their voting rights, with a wide variety of stratagems being employed.
The overall effect is that there is no effective government in the city. The disagreements between the various factions are usually limited to verbal arguments and general distrust, but there are frequent barroom brawls between the supporters of the various factions. Occasionally an assassination or fight causes the whole things to get out of control and full scale armed conflict breaks out, but those owners not involved usually send their troops out to quell the fighting before it turns into full scale civil war.

Population
An accurate census has never been taken, but it is estimated that the population of Milmar is in the region of 60,000. This figure includes visiting traders, but not the crews of ships currently at sea.

Important People
The 24 members of the Inner Council are;
1 Dos Varden – the First Councillor (banner – golden galleon on a black field) 2 Anvar El Maarvit (banner – quartered red and white) 3 Weblick Gorfil 4 Horvath Sebvar 5 Andar Blackhull 6 Ulf Ousland “The Barbarian” (banner – horned, fur-rimmed helmet on a white field) 7 Radnarius Difnor 8 Sendan Teth-Ocknus 9 Yentor Undellan 10 Wendar Sailmaker 11 Keth Fendion - Banner - 3 bezants or, on a field barry azure et argent 12 Lenmar Etanrios 13 Optar Imminos “The Magnificent” (banner – golden heavy dromon on a black field) 14 Meldon Blackcloak 15 Dimitri Konstantikantos 16 Kell Shadowsail 17 Isfar the Sarassid (banner – red serpent on white field) 18 Orgel Halfogre 19 Antar Thranite (banner – black oar on a sky blue field) 20 Relos Demokletion (banner – black trireme on a yellow field) 21 Kaltos Mistspell (banner – golden star on a grey field) 22 Eldin Welmath 23 Demos Drathgold (banner – golden tower on a red field: residence – the Tower of Aur) 24 Morphen Geltos

Key Buildings (WIP)
1-24 Strongholds of the Inner Council members
1 Vardenholme 2 The Dawn Tower 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 Remvar Watch (colloquially called “The Hut”, but not in Ulf’s hearing) 7 . 8 . 9 . 10 The Loft 11 . 12 . 13 Goldspire 14 . 15 . 16 . 17 The Domes of Tiraz 18 The Bonehouse 19 . 20 . 21 . 22 . 23 The Tower of Aur 24 .
25 Palace of the Council of Captains 26 Palace of the Inner Council 27 The Great Bazaar 28 Cloth Market 29 The Apple Barrel Inn – owned by Giorgio Pinotti 30 The Broken Cutlass Tavern – a large dockside shack up against a warehouse, a total dive. Sticky straw on the floor, a bar made of old barrels and planking, with a single surly bartender (talks in guttural tones only). The kind of place grounded sailors go to drown their sorrows and make sure they stay drowned. Unfriendly, but not rough. 31 The Sea Stallion Tavern 32 The Barrel & Chest Inn 33 Chambers of the Thieves Guild 34 Hall of the Warriors Guild 35 Seafarers Hall of Rest 36 City Arsenal & Chandlery 37 Great Shipyard 38 Plaza of Gathering 39 Sea Passage to the Harbour 40 Milmar Harbour 41 Outer Fort of Defence 42 Inner Fort of Defence 43 Slave Market 44 Chamber of the Shipwrights Guild 45 Jonas Jewellers (Silver Street) 46 Celmar 47 Barvon Milmath Milliners 48 Private Ship Sheds (Dockside) 49 The Captain’s Cabin – mid-market bar 50 The Red Sail – upmarket bar 51 The Fighting Pits of Faden the Black. Current champions: Harry the Huge, Terrifying Terry and Wilhelmina the Weretiger. 52 Harbourmaster’s Office 53 Lobster Pot Tavern (on the dockfront) – Old Fred the Navigator is usually to be found here 54 Hertal the Mapmaker – an old guy, been making maps for 45+ years. Absolutely exquisite workmanship; not cheap, but good. He is fair and helpful, but knows the value of his work. One of Milmar’s few truly honest men. 55 Peterrick the Mapmaker. A sturdy gentleman, sounds west-country. Maps are very good, but not as good as Hertal’s, even though he charges significantly more for them. 56 The Mansion of the Pink Flowers. Currently being used as an unofficial Jaktan Consulate and headquarters for Queen Shrekana’s Royalists. Looks like a medium sized town mansion, but is actually discreetly and very well fortified.

Economy
The Council would like to have the world believe that Milmar is a peaceful trading city, and, indeed, it does do a significant amount of trade, but much of its income is derived from piracy, raiding and slave trading. Its legitimate trade interests consist mainly in carrying coastal traffic from Enrieme to Jakta, the Archipelago and back.
The island produces very little itself, although the skilled shipwrights of Milmar are frequently contracted to build ships for foreign merchants. The island is not self-sufficient in foodstuffs, despite possessing a large fishing fleet, and has to import a significant proportion of what the inhabitants eat and drink (which has the benefit that it is a great place to sample the different cuisines of the world !) Most of the items the island exports are those garnered by piracy and raiding, or are finished goods re-exported after being made from imported raw materials. The trees on the island are considered to be far more important than the scattered farms; each is registered and recorded, and the timber is reserved for the exclusive use of shipwrights.
Milmar has a virtual monopoly on trade along the coast, something which is probably helped by the fact that Milmarian pirates (or, as they prefer to refer to themselves "Privateers") try to sink any foreign or independent vessels plying the area. There has been some tension recently with Enrieme, as that country has resolved the troubles which until so recently weakened it and the new Grand Duke Ossirian has adopted a more outward looking and determined foreign policy. Conversely, although Milmarian vessels generally left Jaktan ships alone when King Keshroy was on the throne, it is not known if this unwritten policy will continue now that Gortig von Telram  has taken the crown.
Much of the raiding carried out by Milmar is on the barbarian coast immediately to the North. Raids on civilised nations are rare now, due to the reprisals which tend to follow. Amongst the main objectives of the raids on the barbarian coast is the capture of slaves for export to the Sarassid Lands.
Imports to Milmar, either by trade or piracy, include foodstuffs, drink, tools and minerals (Milmar itself having no significant mineral deposits beyond the basaltic stone used in construction). A certain amount of timber for shipbuilding is also imported.

Religion
There is no state religion in Milmar, and people are left to follow their consciences as to which deities they worship. All the normal variety of Northern gods are popular, as are many of the barbarian deities. With no restrictions, the worship of evil gods and demons is also open, and no-one has yet done anything about their occasional habit of snatching people off the streets (usually foreigners) for human sacrifice.

Armed Forces
The only official armed forces possessed by Milmar are a shoddily equipped and highly corrupt militia-cum-city watch numbering some 500. There is also a 100 strong Council Guard, well equipped and efficient (and rumoured to include some more discreet officers operating without the distinction of uniforms), whose main job is to prevent conflict within the Council Chamber (not a rare event !), and also prevent outside interference on Council meetings.
Each of the major ship owners also maintains a strong guard, or even in some cases small private armies, in addition to the crews of their ships. In some cases, these have over 200 men, often very well armed and equipped, although usually mercenaries and not always as disciplined as truly regular troops. This all adds up to a sizeable number of men, although under no central control.
The ships of Milmar have a large number of fighters amongst their crews, either as marines on trading ships or as reavers on the raiding vessels. Most of these, however, are not in port at any one time; it can be estimated that about 2000 are in port normally.
The total force of ships flying Milmarian flags is probably in the region of 2500 of all types, with some 900 owned by the Inner Council. Dos Varden is rumoured to own at least 100 of these, although only the Shipclerks of the Council know the true numbers, and they don’t make the information publicly available. Few of these vessels are in port at any one time. The majority of these ships are merchant vessels of one kind or another. Most have some capacity for raiding or piratical work, but fewer than 5% of them could be considered as pure warships able to stand against the war vessels of the more powerful state navies of Argull.

Known Ships
Note: This is a very small selection of the ships registered as Milmarian (i.e. just the ones that have come into play so far !)

Name	Class	Owner	Notes
The Sea Dart	Fast Galley	Demos Drathgold	(previous owner Isfar the Sarassid) Captain Rashid Qalaeni. Usually seen flying the flag of Cal-Teln
Siyah Domuz	Small Cog	Khemed & Co	Unseaworthy – repairs in progress
The Apple Barrel	Caravel	Giorgio Pinotti	Ashore. Tavern.
The Tiraz Terror	Large Xebec	Isfar the Sarassid
Tirosc’s Gold	Carrack	Isfar the Sarassid
The Lucky Chance	Caravel	Demos Drathgold
Seldon’s Ship	Caravel	Demos Drathgold	Captain Friederich Sheldon
Goldhawk	Longship	Dos Varden
The Seaslug	Seaboat	Council of Captains
The Pierced Wave	Fast Galley	Frodegar Wavethrasher	Currently privateering somewhere near Tiraz