Luskan

The City of Sails often conjures romantic images of a magnificent port metropolis, majestic merchant galleons with bright sails, and dashing swashbucklers who greet their enemies with a playful wink and a tip of the hat.
In reality, Luskan is anything but that. It's a dirty dive with filthy streets, squat buildings, ramshackle docks, creaky old longships, and crass pirates thinly disguised as sea traders.

Rising above the fog and the stench is the Hosttower of the Arcane, home of a league of greedy, power-hungry wizards called the Arcane Brotherhood. Their ghastly tower branches into multiple thinner spires at the top. From a distance, the Hosttower might be mistaken for a giant, leafless tree. To those who have the misfortune of seeing it up close, it looks like a gnarled hand bursting out of the ground, each of its fingers a tower with many peering windows.
While the law in Luskan is supposed to be upheld by soldiers of the Ships, who are empowered to arrest criminals and bring them before the Magistrates of the city, the Ships of Luskan have been described as bands of pirates. This characterization still misses how deeply ingrained the Ships are to the society of Luskan and the mentality of its citizens. Attack a Ship member and you might incur not just the wrath of the Ship, but of much of the city as well. Often made by mobs, arrests all end the same: an appearance before the Magistrates. Each of the five Magistrates is chosen by a High Captain, but need not be a member of that captain's Ship. The Magistrates are, at least officially, neutral. Most citizens have their cases decided by a single one of these judges, but a dispute involving a Ship member is heard by all five.

Government

Five High Captains rule the city. Each one is a glorified pirate lord who controls a fleet of longships. While the High Captains have no influence over the actions of the Arcane Brotherhood, nor is it apparent that the wizards have any allegiance to Luskan; the five fleets serve many purposes: they defend Luskan against seafaring barbarians and other enemies, they conduct legitimate sea trade up and down the Sword Coast, and they raid and plunder the kingdoms to the west (and the occasional settlement on the Sword Coast). Each captain takes on other duties as desired in order of that Ship's standing in the hierarchy:

• First High Captain Beniago Kurth

• Second High Captain Barri Baram

• Third High Captain Dagmaer Suljack

• Fourth High Captain Throa Taerl

• Fifth High Captain Hartouchen Rethnor

The five High Captains take the names of their Ships when they ascend to leadership. The captains are the highest authorities in Luskan; they and the members of their Ships conduct themselves as a sort of nobility, albeit one that isn't hereditary.

Industry & Trade

Luskan doesn't officially tax its citizens; the city makes its money through trade, fishing, piracy, and raiding. The defense of the city comes at the expense of the Ships, paid for by the profits of those activities as well as the protection money the Ships extort from businesses and homes to keep the thieves and gangs at bay. Bribery is a common practice, a seemingly accepted means of gaining the favor of one of the High Captains to obtain fishing rights, earning an advantageous decision from the Magistrates, or having a business rival or undesired suitor arrested, accosted, or roughed up.
Given its status as the harbor that feeds the goods of Mirabar to the Sword Coast, bridging the coast with the utter north, and offers the only convenient crossing of the River Mirar for many miles, Luskan makes considerable coin as a crossroads. Merchants wishing to avoid Luskan can choose to use the Blackford Crossing, some thirty miles upstream, eventually connecting with the Blackford Road on the northern bank, but the savvy know that Luskan's Ships control the cable-guided ferries at the crossing, and demand tolls based on the size and contents of the goods being ferried across. The Blackford Road still bears the ancient marks of the dwarven realm of Gharraghaur, reminding travelers of whose wealth sustains the region.
North of the city, the Northern Means heads up toward Icewind Dale. Not many take this route without purpose, but scrimshaw from the dale finds its way into Luskan, where those who would purchase it can do so without going any farther into the frozen terrain.
The north side of the city, known as North Bank, is devoted almost entirely to warehouses, caravan yards, and workspace. It includes the Mirabar Shield, the fortified compound that represents Mirabar's trading interest in Luskan. Mirabar uses it as a base to trade with the Sword Coast and the islands of the Trackless Sea.
The main city stands on the southern side of the River Mirar. North of Reaver's Run is the Reach, where most of the homes and smaller businesses are located. South of the Run are the slums, the "bad" area of town. Near the slums is the Captain's Close, where the residences of High Captains Taerl and Suljack stand, but the area is otherwise quite poor.

Guilds and Factions

The Ships

Despite the name, each Ship is not a single vessel, but an organization of stalwarts owing allegiance to one another and to their captain, whom they elect for life. To be a member of a Ship is a select privilege, one that only one in ten of Luskan's residents can claim.
The five Ships of Luskan are more than gangs of pirates. They are fellowships of people who live, train, work, make love, and go to war with each other. To join one is a mark of honor and continues a grand tradition that Luskar associate with democracy, self-determination, and individuality.
Each Ship has its own symbol and colors. Members of a Ship often wear their colors, decorate their round shields with the symbol and colors, and tattoo themselves with the symbol. Like their Northlander relations, Luskar Ship members regularly tattoo their faces, but instead of representing their island, the tattoos are either personal marks or tattoos of their allegiance to their Ship.
Membership in a Ship is voluntary, but once undertaken it is until death. To join a Ship, a Luskar must be of fighting age (fourteen or so, for humans), and possess at least one sword or axe, one spear, and three of the sturdy, bossed shields the Northlanders prefer. Each Ship accepts new candidates from time to time to fill vacancies caused by death, but as a rule, the Ships don't expand their ranks by taking on a large number of new members at one time.
Each Ship has some number of sailing vessels, the size, crew, and type of which help to determine the influence of the Ship's High Captain and its rank within the city. The current First Ship, Kurth, has so many vessels that it nearly outnumbers the next two Ships combined, and its membership is so numerous that Ships Suljack, Taerl, and Rethnor could merge and still not equal it.
The laws of the city govern the behavior of the Ships and their captains, decreeing the Ships responsible for the city's defense, its administration, and the management of its resources. Beyond these universal tasks, each captain takes on other duties as desired in order of that Ship's standing in the hierarchy, leaving less glamorous and less lucrative tasks to the captains and Ships of lower rank.
Since each of the Ships has the ability to take what it likes and leave what it doesn't want to the lesser Ships, a strict division of duties has arisen among them.
Ship Kurth controls the city's docks and activity occurring thereupon. Among the most profitable of the merchandise that passes through the port are weapons and tools from Ironmaster, and ambergris for the perfume trade.
Ship Baram operates Luskan's fishing industry. The food it provides is so vital to the city's welfare nowadays that Baram has risen to Second Ship on the strength of its successful forays out to sea.
Ship Suljack holds sway over, and conducts most of, the piracy and raiding that originates out of Luskan. It occasionally passes the more meager opportunities down to Taerl.
Ship Taerl, recently elevated from Fifth Ship, had been accustomed to taking the hindmost. Now its workers and sailors happily accept chances for profit handed down from above, and just as happily delegate the most menial and undesirable chores to Rethnor.
Ship Rethnor engages in few worthwhile activities aside from guard duty, which is a poor source of income. Rethnor toughs sometimes roam the streets of Luskan, looking for a quick and perhaps violent way to grab some coin.

The Arcane Brotherhood

The Host Tower of the Arcane is a site of real power in the city. The current Archmage Arcane presides over around 130 mages. While delegating laws to the High Captains, the arcanists within partake in their studies and bouts of infighting. The tower itself resembled a tree with four "limbs" (spires) and exuded a magical aura that many residents found so uncomfortable that they purposely avoid looking at it.

The Zhentarim

Luskan is rumored to be allied with the Zhentarim, but no evidence of this has ever been presented.

Geography

Luskan rests atop bluffs formed by the mouth of the River Mirar that cuts trough the city. Thick stone walls with squat towers wrap around the Northern Bank before capping the city from it's Northernmost crossing. On the Southern bank, the walls pick back up along the outer portion of the Upstream crossing and encircle the rest of the city before becoming an impressive sea wall along the Southern Dock district. Other than the Host Tower of the Arcane, the city was dominated by two- and three-story buildings. Mostly built on the rocky escarpments, the city of sails makes use of most of these outcroppings that span the city. Luskan claims the Five islands that stand in the bay formed by the River Mirar.

Northern Bank

The northern section is walled and was almost entirely made up of warehouses. The Mirabar District (also known as the Mirabar Shield) was a fortified compound operated by the merchants of Mirabar, and it contained the Throat, the city's heavily guarded main water tower, which was situated in a grazing area for sheep. The Red Dragon Trading Post, Luskan's most successful overland trading company was situated on the northern bank, as was the North Gate, the portal between the northern and southern banks.
The docks on the northern bank were on the sea coast (western part of the city) and consisted of Whitesails Harbor, used exclusively for the Luskan navy, and the unprotected Open Shore, which was situated outside the city walls and was the only place foreign shipping could dock.

Southern Bank

The southern bank consists of a heavily fortified inner section surrounded by caravan compounds. This area is home to the majority of residents and shops. The southern wall is semicircular, with over a dozen towers. The two towers flanking the South Gate are named the Twin Teeth. The southern bank also houses stables, the Captains' and High Captains' Court, the Market and the Prisoners' Carnival, and the town's original harbor, Dragon Beach, a lawless place where even soldiers feared to tread.

The Bridges

Split into northern and southern halves by the River Mirar, the city is connected by three bridges. The Upstream Span is—appropriately—the furthest upstream and therefore the northernmost. At its north end is the Northern Gate. Dalath's Span being situated in the middle and Harbor Cross is the southernmost and therefore the furthest downstream. Harbor Cross is actually two bridges: the Short Span, which connects from Reavers' Run on the South Bank to Blood Island, and the Long Span which connects Blood Island to the Red Dragon Trading Lodge on the city's North Bank. Blood Island serves as the garrison for Luskan's troops and only Ship members and those authorized by a High Captain may traverse Harbor Cross.
Dark Arch connects South Bank with Closeguard Island, and only members of Ship Kurth and the Arcane Brotherhood may cross that span unchallenged. The same is true of Sword Bridge, which crosses from Closeguard Island to Cutlass Island. Although Closeguard Island is officially unguarded, it's still true that only members of the Arcane Brotherhood or Ship Kurth are expected to be there, so anyone out of place is aggressively questioned about their presence.

The Five Islands

• Blood Island is filled with Ships' soldiers tasked with guarding the city; it holds a guard tower, barracks, an armory, and little else of interest.

• Closeguard Island is the home of High Captain Kurth.

• Cutlass Island has two rocky heights split by a pebble-strewn beach. The southern peak is surmounted by the Sea Tower, where Luskan's first pirates built their stronghold, while the northern one is home to the Hosttower of the Arcane and the stables it shares with Ship Kurth.

• Fang Island has no inhabitants, and is named for its propensity for destroying vessels swept down the River Mirar.

• Harbor Arm Island is a tall spire sheltering Whitesails Harbor from the worst of the storms and waves that wash in from the south.

Maps

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  Luskan

  The City of Sails, spans the icy River Mirar. The swift river has cut deep here, and Luskan rests atop two escarpments on either side, with sheer, forty-foot bluffs of gray stone rising above the water. Around the city's perimeter, thick stone walls with squat towers provide defense.

Alternative Name(s)

The City of Sails

Type

City