Ramshackle Then and Now
Centuries ago, privateers discovered a small island deep in the vastness of the ocean between three continents. Although the island was uninhabited, built upon it was a shrine dedicated to an ancient, unnamed sea deity (who has since been referred to as the Deep One). Shrine Island became a useful landmark for pirates and smugglers. It was an excellent place to rest and restock: game and edible fruits were plentiful on the island, and fish swarmed the waters around it. It was considered bad form to bring harm to another crew visiting the island, an unwritten rule that eventually became an established part of the pirates’ code.
One pirate captain realised there was profit to be made from this neutral ground. Antana “Firemane” Lecheq, captain of the Vermilion Hellion, reasoned that her crew would never have to take a risk again if they remained near Shrine Island and bought and sold spare supplies and trade commodities from the ships coming and going. She would also take stolen goods off a crew’s hands. Pirates often find that their loot was too risky to fence locally, requiring them to sail to distant lands where the treasures would not be recognised. By selling hot goods to Lecheq who would later exchange them with foreign crews, captains could cut their intercontinental journeys in half.
Unwilling to stay confined to their crowded ship indefinitely, the crew of the Vermilion Hellion initially constructed simple shelters on the island, but they soon discovered that the island was not as hospitable toward longterm guests as temporary visitors. Some sort of mystical force seemed to plague the minds of the sailors, especially while they slept, and after more than a few weeks no one could rest easy there. Instead the crew began making cabin-topped rafts, which they tethered to the Hellion to form a floating hamlet.
Intrigued by the mystery of the shrine, Captain Lecheq resolved to investigate. She uncovered arcane gifts there. The full extent of those powers is still unknown, but their effects on Firemane’s longevity were considerable since she is Ramshackle’s Admiral to this day.
Meanwhile, other crews began to feel that the continued presence of the Vermilion Hellion was giving Lecheq and her crew an inflated sense of ownership over Shrine Island, and they began taking steps to reestablish the island’s neutrality. Captains hired additional hands to crew captured vessels under their flag, leaving the stolen ships behind at Shrine Island. Soon enough, these crews had established their own floating villages, which acted as a base of operations for their captains to return to. The pirate villages began to socialise and trade with each other, spurred on by Lecheq who was more than happy to sell stockpiled spirits and luxuries to the men and women left behind while their crews were at sea.
In time, Shrine Island became a first or second home for half the pirates, freebooters, and smugglers on the water, and the rest found it a useful destination for trade and shore leave. Sailors settled down in what was burgeoning into a town as the former villages grew and began to connect. It became common practice for a retiring crewperson to finance new lives and livelihoods with their shares from their ship’s victories. Folks from other walks of life arrived, eager to settle in a place where they could be free from the tyrannies of their former lives. Over time, the town now known as Ramshackle evolved into a fully-fledged city, and is still growing.
Today’s Ramshackle is no longer a mere pirate port, though it is still as welcoming to pirates and other ne’er-do-wells as it ever was. It has evolved into a vital city which has become an important trading hub. Ramshackle has very few laws, allowing residents to pursue livelihoods and private interests that are considered morally and ethically reprehensible elsewhere, and merchants to import and export unsavoury or dangerous goods. Among those attracted to the city are necromancers, diabolists, and other spellcasters whose research crosses some arbitrary line set by polite society. These spellcasters have made significant contributions to Ramshackle’s viability and sustainability as well as its defense, such as the city’s iconic shipwreck golems. The divine also has its place in the city. After all, religion can be found wherever people gather. There are churches and shrines to all the major deities, but the Sea God is the most worshipped of them all.
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