City Layout

© RDD Wilkin / Spilled Ale Studios

Ramshackle is unlike any other city in the world. Not one bit is built on land. The entire metropolis is constructed atop a mind-bogglingly massive flotilla of sailing vessels and barges.

Rafts

Significant numbers of the vessels that make up Ramshackle’s “land” are lashed, chained, and bolted securely together into city sections which the locals call rafts. The vessels that make up a raft bob up and down on the swell and experience some shift, straining the links that hold them together. There is no uniform size for a raft: some are very small, while others are massive.

Most of Ramshackle’s rafts are free-floating. They are held in place by their many links to the rafts around them, as well as their anchors: the water directly below Ramshackle is filled with a veritable forest of iron chains, referred to as the Iron Tangle. A few rafts are actually fixed points which contribute to the city’s overall stability on the water: these are connected to ocean floor below by strong pillars made of stone blocks, constructed over decades with the aid of magic. Among these fixed platforms are the ones on which Ramshackle’s three bellhouses are built, as well as platforms with important civic buildings.

Unlike other cities, Ramshackle has no roads and streets. Each raft is circumnavigated by a footpath, and its interior is criss-crossed by narrow alleys crowded in on both sides by terraced buildings. All footpaths are assigned a name, making it easy enough to offer directions. Since the “ground” underfoot is made up of various sailing vessels, none of which are uniform in height or design, a footpath frequently changes elevation via ramps, stairs, and even ladders. There are no land vehicles on Ramshackle, since they would be quite useless, and even handcarts are only of help along the gentlest of routes.

Older rafts were built up without any kind of grand design, so the alleys in these sections of the city are crooked, and often lead to dead ends. Since these alleys are from a time before official names were assigned to new routes, their names evolved through the need to provide clear directions: as such, they are often named for a particular landmark found along the route.

In more recent decades laws have been enacted to ensure that construction can only take place with official approval. Newer rafts are therefore better laid out. Their alleys that cross them are straighter where possible, and those that are circuitous are deliberately so to better avoid sudden changes in elevation along the route.

Canals

Rafts are separated from each other by canals, but fixed bridges cross these canals to link a raft to its neighbours. Their connection is further supported by strong chains which are connected both between tall buildings at the edges of the canals, and below water level.

Lagoons

Ramshackle has developed fairly organically over the centuries, and few of its rafts have straightforward shapes. In several places throughout the city the distance between rafts widens, and in others a raft circles back on itself. In either case, a large body of mostly enclosed water is formed: an artificial lagoon.

District

A city district is a division of the city comprised of multiple rafts. Districts are roughly even in size, but disproportionate in number of rafts: since there is no uniform size, some districts have only a few very large rafts, while others are made up of many smaller ones.

Wards

The largest division of the city is the ward, which in most cases is made up of three or four districts. The exception is the South Ward, which is a recent development and currently only has one district. For the time being the South Ward is combined with the East Ward for the purposes of administration, since the East Ward only has three districts itself.

District	Number of Rafts
*East Ward*
Baleen	15
Dolphin	9
Porpoise	10
*North Ward*
Gull	15
Skimmer	31
Skua	33
Tern	25
*South Ward*
Leatherback	22
*West Ward*
Archerfish	20
Mudskipper	23
Scat	15
Scissortail	7