Shattered Keel Cove

Shattered Keel Cove is a lawless stronghold hidden among jagged reefs and towering cliffs, a place where mercenaries, pirates, and smugglers thrive beyond the reach of kings and empires. Built from the wreckage of ships and the ambition of outcasts, the cove is both a sanctuary and a deathtrap, where fortune and betrayal go hand in hand.
With a fluctuating population of 5,000 to 8,000, the cove is a melting pot of pirates, privateers, exiles, and criminals, its numbers swelling when fleets gather or war drives desperate souls to its shores. The streets are a chaotic sprawl of wooden shacks, rickety walkways, and rope bridges, all overshadowed by The Keelgrave—a massive, wrecked warship fused into the cliffs and repurposed into the most infamous tavern in the region.
Ruled by a loose council of pirate lords, mercenary captains, and crime bosses, the cove has no true laws—only agreements enforced by violence. Coin and cunning hold power here, and those who cannot adapt are quickly swallowed by the tides. Despite its brutal nature, Shattered Keel Cove remains a vital hub for black-market trade, illicit deals, and mercenary recruitment, making it a place of both great opportunity and immense danger.
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Demographics

Population Breakdown:

Permanent Residents (~3,000-4,000) – These are the shipwrights, blacksmiths, tavern owners, brothel keepers, fence traders, and other essential figures who keep the cove running. Many are ex-pirates, criminals, or people who have no place elsewhere.
Pirates & Privateers (~2,000-3,000 at any given time) – Crews docked in port, seeking repairs, resupply, or simply spending their latest plunder before heading back to sea.
Mercenaries & Smugglers (~1,000-2,000) – Those who don’t claim allegiance to any one ship but work for whoever has the most coin. Some are hired muscle, others are spies or informants playing a dangerous game.
Transients & Refugees (~500-1,000) – Drifters, runaway slaves, exiled nobles, and those looking to disappear. Many of these don’t stay long, but some find a place within the cove’s underbelly.

Demographics:

• Humans (40%) – The dominant race, but only just.
• Half-Orcs (15%) – Often enforcers, dockworkers, or captains with a reputation for brutality.
• Tieflings (10%) – Many drawn by the cove’s lawlessness, often excelling as spies, informants, or tricksters.
• Elves & Half-Elves (10%) – Typically exiled or rogue mariners, naval deserters, or skilled smugglers.
• Dwarves (10%) – Mostly shipwrights, weaponsmiths, and rum distillers.
• Other (15%) – A mix of goblins, dragonborn, lizardfolk, and other outcasts drawn to the cove’s dangerous freedom.

Government

The Code of Shattered Keel Cove

While Shattered Keel Cove is a lawless haven for pirates, smugglers, and mercenaries, even chaos has its rules—or at least, guidelines that keep the settlement from imploding. These unspoken (but brutally enforced) laws are known simply as The Code, a set of traditions passed down through blood and betrayal.
The Code is not a formal document, but rather a set of customs upheld by the most powerful factions and captains. Breaking it carries severe consequences—exile, execution, or worse.

• The Cove Is Neutral Ground
• No wars, no feuds, no vendettas.
• Ships of rival crews may dock at the same harbor, but they fight their battles at sea, not in the cove.
• Brawls are tolerated; murders are not—unless sanctioned by those in power.
• Punishment: Offenders are branded and cast into the reefs, left to drown or be picked apart by scavengers.


• The Tidecallers’ Word Is Final
• The Tidecallers (a council of pirate lords, crime bosses, and powerful captains) decide disputes, punish offenders, and uphold the Cove’s survival.
• A captain or crew may challenge the Code, but only if they have enough backing—or enough blades.
• Punishment: Defiance means exile or forced servitude until debts are repaid in blood.


• Gold Spent Is Gold Kept
• All deals made within the Cove are final. No stealing from merchants, no backtracking on bargains.
• If a man is cheated or robbed, he may seek revenge—but only outside the Cove.
• Debt is a noose—fail to pay, and the Daggerhands (the Cove’s enforcers) will collect by any means necessary.
• Punishment: Debtors who cannot pay vanish into the depths—or work until their bodies break.


• No Slaves, No Chains
• Shattered Keel Cove is a haven for the free, not the enslaved. Any slaver caught selling within the Cove is stripped of their wares—and often their skin.
• Those who wish to sell captives do so elsewhere.
• Punishment: Slavers are thrown into the sea with their own chains.


• The Cove Protects Its Own
• Outsiders—especially navy ships, bounty hunters, or Drakorian agents—are not welcome unless they come with coin or surrender.
• Those who betray the Cove to an enemy forfeit their life and their crew’s lives.
• If an attack on the Cove is imminent, all crews must defend it—even if it means fighting alongside enemies.
• Punishment: Betrayal is met with The Keelhauling—a slow, drowning death beneath the barnacle-crusted hulls of the Cove’s warships.


• Enforcing The Code
• The Daggerhands – The Cove’s feared enforcers, a mix of assassins, bounty hunters, and cutthroats who collect debts, enforce The Code, and ensure disputes don’t spiral into all-out war.
• The Tidecallers – The ruling council of captains and crime bosses who decide what parts of The Code to enforce and when.


• Final Rule: The Sea Gives, The Sea Takes
• The Code is only as strong as those willing to uphold it. If a pirate is clever, strong, or ruthless enough, they can break The Code—if they are ready to pay the price.

Points of interest

• The Keelgrave – A massive shipwreck-turned-tavern where captains and crews broker deals, drown regrets in rum, and occasionally settle grudges with duels.
• The Bone Docks – Made from the ribs of shattered ships, these docks are lined with smugglers, fence traders, and shipwrights who ask no questions.
• The Gullet – A winding maze of narrow alleyways and cliffside paths, where assassins, informants, and those who "disappear" go to conduct business.
• Dead Man’s Mast – A towering wooden structure built from broken masts, used for public hangings… or just for display.
• The Salt Queen’s Market – An open-air bazaar where rare goods, stolen cargo, and illicit weapons are traded without concern for origins.

Founding Date

252 HE

Type

Large town

Population

5,000 - 8,000

Location under

The Sunfire Strait

Owner/Ruler

The Tidecallers