Kelvath’s Mooring
Clinging to the mist-wreathed cliffs of the eastern Azure Fold, where the highland ridges plunge into the dark surge of The Drowned Sky, lies the Skyward Compact’s only actual port city: Kelvath’s Mooring. Built in defiance of wind and sea, it is the sole place where the mountain clans of the Compact set aside their differences to raise something together, not for glory, but for survival.
Named for Kelvath, one of the Compact's first and most revered storm seers, the city honors the ancient pact between sky and water, voice and silence. Kelvath was said to have stood upon the cliff’s edge and listened to the wind for seven days before declaring, “Here, the sea will not swallow us—unless we forget who we are.” His followers built the first docks with their own hands, and the city was born from that act.
Kelvath’s Mooring is carved vertically into cliffside terraces that descend in spirals from wind-beaten high streets to narrow harbors below. Pulley-lifts, spiral ramps, and winch-hoists link the levels, creaking with every shift of fog and tide. Each tier reflects the traditions of the clan that built it: high, sharp-roofed towers from the Skyclads, wind-sheltered alcoves from the Hollowfolk, and open-view temples from the Stonevoice conclave. The city is governed by a rotating assembly known as the Harbormoot, composed of delegates from each contributing hold. While the Harbormoot does not have absolute power, it coordinates dock assignments, maintains defense protocols, and speaks with one voice when foreign vessels anchor. Their authority ends where the moorings meet the stone; no laws are imposed on the mountain holds beyond.
Though modest in scale, Kelvath’s Mooring is a hub of cautious diplomacy and guarded trade. The harbor tier is sheltered by jagged sea-stone and protected by magically reinforced breakwaters. Ballista towers and mist-weaver wards ensure the city is never vulnerable, and only a select few captains, mainly from the Federated Suns or Vaskara, are granted docking rights. The Compact does not welcome the world, but does not hide from it either. Foreign banners are not flown. Imperial tongues are not spoken in council. Travelers are welcome — but only so long as they understand they are guests at a table built of stone, not gold.
Highland merchants trade in stormsteel, skyglass, cliff-root tinctures, and wind-ink vellum within the city's sun-scoured markets, exchanging them for vital coastal goods like salt, cured fish, silk, and foreign books. Compact mariners, though few, are prized for their ability to navigate fog-blind waters using wind-chant and instinct alone. Still, beneath its stern stone and salt-streaked sails, Kelvath’s Mooring is a city of reverence. Shrines to the storm seers dot every level. Chimes of cloudmetal hang over doorways. Children learn wind signs before they learn to read.
And in the oldest temple, a silent vigil is kept over Kelvath’s stone staff, placed upright on the cliff’s edge, where wind and sea meet without end.
“We did not build it to be beautiful. We built it to last.” — Tavren Ash, first Harbormoot speaker
Type
Large town
Owning Organization
