Founding of Giltan's Port

Construction beginning/end

Giltan's Port   Zerek Giltan was a pirate, a smuggler and at times almost a hero. Five thousand years after the destruction of the ancients, he began building and growing his pirate hidout at the southern end of Kelthala's Wound. Protected from envious or vindictive neighbors, the town flourished, becoming a booming center of trade and a hub of guild activity. Giltan's Port is now home to at least 125,000 citizens, living atop and inside the cliffs, with visitors bringing the total easily to twice that number.

Zerek Galtin was a pirate, a smuggler and at times almost a hero. Five hundred and change years ago, his small flotilla was the scourge of Kelthala's Wound, indiscriminately attacking and plundering the juiciest trading vessels of the adjoining realms. Which led to a small, but significant issue. Eventually, all the realms had set stately bounties on Galtin's head, which left him precious few hiding places.   One day, after narrowly escaping the Sea Elven Navy's privateers by brazenly sailing into a storm near Seamount, knowing that his dwarven-built dreadnaughts could weather the harsh winds and towering waves much better than the relatively lightweight Elven clippers, he found himself at the southernmost point of Kelthala's Wound, the fjord the locals called The Tip. The divine fury which had sunk the lands of the Ancients had carved a mighty gash into the land, leaving the two to four kilometer wide fjord walled in with four hundred meter high, sheer cliffs. It was a death trap under normal circumstances – if another fleet should blockade the exit, there was nowhere left to turn. Or was there? While exploring the fjord, Galtin found numerous spacious – and deep – caverns leading further into the cliffs, large enough that even his mighty flagship could comfortably enter and turn inside. Even better was the discovery that the cave system had spots which would stay dry even during high tide, which would make them the perfect hideout for an enterprising sea dog like him. Over his long and illustrious career, Galtin kept on exploring and expanding his cavernous hideout, fortifying it by installing hidden cannon nests in the cliffs and paying guild mages to install almost invisible sand banks to make approaching the hideout a risky proposition. Over the years, his operation only grew. More and more hired hands settled in or above the caves and old crew members retired, choosing to settle down in the relative safety among their peers. Inhabitants needed services and goods like food and entertainment, and the pirate hideout blossomed first into a semi-hidden village and then into a small town which grew and grew, drawing interest from several guilds who valued the strategic location and Galtin's promise of non-interference in guild affairs.   The same bounties which once caused Galtin to hide himself away now were some sort of protection. While his neighbors squabbled over who would be allowed to apprehend Galtin for his crimes, the small town of Galtin's Port managed to thrive under not only the protection of the pirates, but the guilds as well. Any kind of goods could be had, for a price. Drugs, slaves, illegal weapons, contraband clockworks – if you were willing to brave the rowdy markets, you were sure to find it. And where illegal goods were sold, they were bought. Not only by crooks and criminals, but the esteemed nobility as well. Everyone has vices, from beggars to kings. Treaties were made behind closed doors or under rustling bedding, sweetened by forbidden Anocot narcotics or Elven sex slaves and Giltan's Port found itself an independent city state, a neutral haven for the lost, a glittering marketplace for those willing to strike lucrative deals.   Protected from envious or vindictive neighbors, the town only flourished, becoming a booming center of trade and a hub of guild activity. It might not be the Guild Capitol, but every major guild – alchemists, artisans, merchants, machinists, mages and even thieves and assassins have a well-established guild presence. Now, half a century after its humble beginnings, Giltan's Port is home to at least 125,000 citizens, living atop and inside the cliffs, with visitors bringing the total easily to twice that number.