Port Lydia
"Yarr, the last time I visited Port Lydia, I was with me crew!"
The sole port city of the Occidental Kingdom, Port Lydia is a rough-and-tumble settlement ruled over by an extensive series of pirate leaders, each enforcing the Pirate’s Code as its only codified law. Thus, the city has a lengthy history of piracy, with all of Uthilith’s most famous pirates taking up residence here at some point in their careers. Port Lydia welcomes anyone who’s been cast out from the greater society.
The sole port city of the Occidental Kingdom, Port Lydia is a rough-and-tumble settlement ruled over by an extensive series of pirate leaders, each enforcing the Pirate’s Code as its only codified law. Thus, the city has a lengthy history of piracy, with all of Uthilith’s most famous pirates taking up residence here at some point in their careers. Port Lydia welcomes anyone who’s been cast out from the greater society.
Demographics
Port Lydia hasn't taken an official census in quite sometime, but the rough racial breakdown is as follows:
- 42% Human
- 20% Halfling (primarily Stout Halfling)
- 11% Half-Orc
- 7% Elf (primarily Sun Elf)
- 6% Gnome
- 6% Dragonborn
- 8% others
Government
Port Lydia has no official government, other than the establishment of the Buccaneer Regnant to oversee general societal structure. The only real 'laws' in Port Lydia are loosely encompassed by the informal Pirate's Code, which all pirates swear by and adhere to (lest they be cast out by their society).
Defences
Port Lydia is placed at a very strategic point in the Occidental Kingdom, controlling the southern mouth of the Hearthstone River. The extensive ship population effectively blockades outsiders from going in or out without being easily noticed, and these ships wield some heavy firepower.
Industry & Trade
Port Lydia's economy is based heavily in bartering and favors. Although money plays a huge role (otherwise, why be pirates?) in how people interact here, the honor system is far more effective at forcing people into paying debts or actually fulfilling their various ends of bargains. Captains of various vessels and individuals with larger presences in the four guilds of Port Lydia (as detailed below) do garner more respect in the economy, and are thus the face of deals throughout the community.
Since there is no other major port in the Occidental Kingdom, the Venomous Rose of Fenrir makes present usage of Port Lydia for their various smuggling endeavors.
Infrastructure
Since Port Lydia is a port city, the docks are quite extensive. Individuals from all walks of life scuttle along the massive coastline, perfectly constructed to harbor vessels of all sizes. However, it's not primarily used for trade, but rather as a home for many and one of the Occidental Kingdom's very few methods of escape.
Districts
Port Lydia is far too unorganized to have the traditional conception of 'districts' found in places like Hresvelg and Misty Run, but there is a clear divide between two types of people: the wealthy, and everyone else. The town is much like the city of Oakenward in that way, where the nobility are afforded extravagant protections and luxuries while the common folk are left to their own devices.
However, unlike Oakenward, Port Lydia doesn't have a large population of nobility, and the nobility has little say in how Port Lydia operates. Thus, the majority of the town treats the wealthy as a neat novelty that occasionally funds various missions of piracy or helps to repair the docks.
Despite its bureaucratic disorganization, Port Lydia does have a multitude of neighborhoods that have cultural boundaries, not political ones. A very generalized district map has been created for perusal:
Despite its bureaucratic disorganization, Port Lydia does have a multitude of neighborhoods that have cultural boundaries, not political ones. A very generalized district map has been created for perusal:
- Mixø Wharf is Port Lydia's central trading area, where the majority of city docks are present. There is a significant amount of crime (primarily petty theft) in the dock areas; less so in the parts away from the coastline. Few Lydians live in the Wharf aside from business-owners who typically live above their shops or restaurants, but there are a large number of inns for travellers.
- Jewelton is a small northriver area named for the presence of The Jeweler's precious stone business. There are a number of smaller docks on the coastline for leisure vehicles and undersized transport ships.
- Bard's Row is the arts district of Port Lydia. It contains the city's only institution of higher education (the Moadal Institute of the Performing Arts) and is thus home to a number of bardic students who do not wish to commute. Parlay Palace - Port Lydia's only large theatre - is present in Bard's Row as well.
- Moadtown is Port Lydia's largest district in population, named for founder Lydia Moad. It was the original area of the city settled, though the tides had largely receded over the next several centuries (which allowed for construction south of this district). The majority of Lydians who own property live in Moadtown, utilizing Lydian Canal Transit to commute elsewhere.
- Sanctuary Precipice is home to five distinct temples, including the only city-based houses of worship for Phaedron and Ciden. Most of the residents here are members of the clergy who contribute to the day-to-day operations in these temples. Technically, the Moadal Colossus is encompassed in Sanctuary Precipice.
- Oasis Springs is the largest (though least dense) designated district in Port Lydia. This is where the vast majority of Lydian nobility live (and rarely come into the city proper). Many of their service staff have homes on the eastern side of the area, living in notably luxurious accomodations in comparison to other Occidental servants.
- Botanicae is a primarily residential district consisting of rental properties owned by Lydian nobility. The area is named for the Lydia Municipal Botanical Garden, which is the city's only normal 'park' area.
- Hearthshore is Port Lydia's major artisan's district, containing dozens of guilds and residential properties owned by the guilds for their own community lodgings. Five distinct breweries are present in Hearthshore, competing with each other in both product and combat. The world's foremost Courtesan's Guild is at the heart of the district.
- Faron Quarter is the epicenter of Lydian nightlife, containing hundreds of drinking and partying establishments. The annual Eve of Eros celebration and the Festival of the Blood Moon are celebrated in Port Lydia to a legendary extent (and to an extent that most parents keep their children at home as to not observe the public acts of hedonism that pervade the area). Though it is technically connected to Pissant's Palace, the bridge joining the two is regularly vandalized to a point of unusability.
- Regnant's Refuge is the smallest of the northriver neighborhoods, containing only a few houses, shops, and the Regnant Manor (otherwise known as the home of the Buccaneer Regnant). It is described as a quiet neighborhood without much to do during the day, but Nadine Arioso throws fabulous soirées every week that last through the night.
- Pissant's Palace is a small area southriver where the few King's Glaive officers deigned to "police" Port Lydia call home. The name stems from a nickname given to the area in the early 1000s, despite all Occidental efforts made to call it something different.
- Everchase Isle is home to Port Lydia's largest guild (Everchase), a large organization of mercenaries. Due to the flexible nature of mercenary labor, a number of homes have been built on the isle as temporary lodgings for those passing through.
- The Necropolitan Arboretum is a designated park area of Port Lydia and is where the majority of Lydian heroes and nobility are buried. The center of the park has two extremely tall cliffs that are very difficult to scale; legend states that there is treasure buried deep beneath the highest crypt.
- The Mangrove Hills are unpopulated with the exception of service workers at the Oasis Bluffs Hotel, Inn, and Spa. Wealthy individuals from all around Uthilith stay at this luxury all-inclusive resort when the lodgings in town are too 'rough-and-tumble' for their tastes.
Assets
If there's one thing that Port Lydia has in spades, it's booze. Not only are there several breweries that export from the town (the largest ale producer in the Occidental Kingdom, while more specialty liquors come from Kaljuia), but the population has the highest proportion of functional alcoholics in Uthilith. They have enough booze stored away to survive a third Calamity.
Guilds and Factions
Port Lydia has four guilds, two of which are based entirely out of town, one out of Fenrir, and one out of Argoskardis.
Everchase is the prominent mercenary organization based in Port Lydia, and it is often solicited by individuals seeking either assassination or other espionage-adjacent missions. The guild is led by Chaelen Orc Řaghia Řhouv, a no-nonsense woman who can crush a person's head in her bare hands.
The Awful Deep is the primary pirate's guild in Port Lydia, where the vast majority of seafaring individuals call their home. This guild is less of a typical 'organized job' institution and more of a large-scale community - thus, the vast majority of pirate captains have built relationships from the connections in this organization. The Awful Deep is currently headed by Ianassa Achaeus, an ethereal woman who is rumored to be a mortal descendent of the Sirens, primordial entities of the sea.
Tempestus was founded in the town of Argoskardis as one of Uthilith's only guilds dedicated to the cultivation of symbiotic magicks (see Forms of Magic and External Casting for more information), and is a major resource to adventurers of a natural persuasion. After helping with the Temporan restoration efforts following the Great Arboration and death of The Erlkönig, this guild was founded by archdruid Squall Uhrheart in the mid-1620s.
The final guild with a major presence in Port Lydia is the Venomous Rose, led by the infamous The Lady Maud. This is the criminal underbelly of Occidental politics, and they hold a stake (to various degrees) in every single settlement of the Kingdom. All efforts on behalf of the Kingdom to force the Venomous Rose to cease their activities have failed for one reason or another.
Points of interest
One of the biggest tourist draws is the Moadal Colossus, a nearly 100-foot tall statue of Lydia Moad, founder of the city and known disciple of Phaedron. It is considered to be one of the greatest feats of construction in the Occidental Kingdom of Chaelwyth.
Architecture
The architecture of Port Lydia is an incredibly eclectic hodge-podge of eras, designs, and colors with no real regard for aesthetic or taste. Thus, you can find almost any architecture developed from throughout Uthilithian history in the town. In the wealthiest homes, the architecture is generally constructed in a style that mirrors the white marble structures of Irieham.
Geography
Port Lydia is built around a bayou-delta at the mouth of the Hearthstone River, a series of once-marshy islands that have been maintained by druids for nearly a millennium to maintain enough structural integrity for building roads and homes. Enough water has been maintained to create a series of canals that transverse the city, allowing citizens to utilize them as transit. Floodwalls and floodplains have been constructed around the northriver districts as to prevent substantial damages during the rainy season, though the southriver districts are mostly left unprotected for superstitious and ecological reasons.
Oasis Springs - where most Lydian nobles live - is built atop high cliffs that overlook the town.
Climate
Because of nearby intersections (Beastlands and Elemental Plane of Fire; Beastlands and Arborea), Port Lydia has two distinct seasons - a rainy season and a dry season. The rainy season is warm and wet (prone to monsoons), while the dry season is cool and humid with occasional squalls and snowfall. Every few decades, Port Lydia is struck with a superstorm (typically a hurricane however, the city has become significantly more prepared for these occasions.
Maps
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Port Lydia
Founding Date
669
Founders
Alternative Name(s)
The Great City of Pirates
Type
City
Population
14,381
Inhabitant Demonym
Lydian
Location under
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
Related Traditions
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