Misty Cay

WIP - Summer Camp quality. This will continue to be edited during July and likely after the prizes adjudication.

Right in the centre of the Samuaxi islands, in the island of Mukin, lies the major trading centre of the archipelago, a settlement that most of the civilized world ignore or at least stays well away from, but nonetheless one of the commercial nodes where the good that eventually end in their homes pass through.
The bustling port is the zona franca for all pirate negotiations, the refurbishment of ships, the exchange of informations and, most importanty, the exchange of goods from the ends of the people who originally came in its possession to the hands of those who are most likely to get the highest profit from it (or at least are willing to pay the highest price for an attemt at it).
In the florid market, some legal exchange of goods is even carried on, in particular for the few precious goods that the Samuaxi islands produce and that are requested in the outside world, like the ink of the crimson squid or the pollen of the golden flower. The settlement's economy is for the most part held together by this commerce and the services the city can provide for the anchored ships and their crews. Taverns, brothels, drinking holes and ship repairs docks form almost the entirety of the business activities of the settlement together with the mechants themselves that can claim a base in the town when they are not out at sea.
In the part of the island outside the city palisade, a few farmers live a fairly independent life taking advantage of the rich soil and favourable climate to grow the local crops and sell them for the internal market of the city and to the sailing merchant and pirate ship to sell outside of the island.
Because of the nature of their trade, many people in the city loosely venerate the Sea Dragon, but very few of them are the devoted types and only a small shrine is present in the outskirts of the city, serving more the function of lucky charm than of place of worship.
The city miraculously holds together through anarchy by the mere convenience of the people living in it to stick together and the fact that most of them would live a very miserable life outside of it. Outlaws, pirates, refugees, heretics and anyone on the run is usually welcome in the city as long as they can at least be of some use on board of a ship or on the docks.
The pirate's life and the treacherous surrounding areas secure the constant need of new manpower and the difficult life in the continent rarely cease to provide it.The city doesn't have a stable defence contingent, but the danger of simply pass the gorges and sandbank around the archipelagus and the fact that most of its regular residents know where the pointy end of a sword is and have very few qualms to teach it to others too, makes the town a fairly safe heaven for those who can take care of themselves.
The waters around the island are often shrowded in mists from the sea vents of the underwater volcanic activity, and sandbanks, coral reefs and sometimes the aggressive local fauna make it very tricky to approach unless one has a deep knowledge of the route to take to reach the port. No lighthouse is kept in the city to guide the route and only two physical known maps exist of the labirintine way to reach the docks, though many experienced sailors know the route by memory.