Marena
Haven of pirates and smugglers on the western coast of Cirda, at the mouth of the Almiar River.
Description
Marena occupies the outer edge of the Almiar Marshes, where the main channel of the river reaches open sea. It is the largest settlement on Cirda. A log palisade encloses a crush of wooden houses, warehouses and taverns, with no straight streets and no square. Beyond the palisade, long jetties run out on pilings. Ships with dark sails that fly no flag ride at anchor in the cove.
A road leaves by the landward gate, crosses the Almiar on a stone bridge and climbs to the pass of Fort Tarsa. By water, the channels lead to Junqueda, half a day inland by boat.
People and culture
Pirates and smugglers from all over the western sea put in at Marena. No one asks where a cargo comes from or where it is going. Prizes taken in the strait, off Port Galerna, are sold on its docks within a few days. Those without a ship of their own hire on as crew, as stevedores or as guides to the channels.
Government
Marena has no king and no mayor. It is ruled, to the extent that anything rules it, by the Council of the Pearl, a group of influential pirates that has set a few basic rules for the common good of the city. The order that comes of them largely keeps itself.
The Kingdom of Vesperia would like to impose its law there, but Vesper is far away and the crown lacks the strength. It settles for watching and pressing Marena from Fort Tarsa. When pirates take prizes in the kingdom’s waters, off the coasts of Felgrum, the fort tightens its hold, and that tempers the captains. The Council’s rules stand against that constant threat.
Economy
The town lives by buying stolen goods cheap and selling them dear. The honest trade of Cirda also passes over its docks: timber from the Orvalla Weald, floated down the river on rafts, and fish from the marshes, salted with salt from Ambel. It is the end of the road that crosses Cirda from the Zahra Oasis.