Port Damali
Port Damali, founded as simply Damali, is the largest city on the Menagerie Coast and one of the eight city-states of the Clovis Concord. It is located among a cluster of hills where the Tyodan River meets the Lucidian Ocean. Established around 400 PD through a diplomatic agreement between Marquesian explorers and Ki'Nau leaders, it is the original Marquesian colony in the Coast. It later became one of founding cities of the Concord and, eventually, the nation's unofficial capital. Nicknamed the Jewel of the Coast, Port Damali is characterized as a lively, colorful, multicultural place that attracts travelers from across Exandria. However, for all its lavishness, its outer wards are dense slums,
Port Damali, the largest city on Wildemount's west coast, is located on a series of leveled hills where the Tyodan River meets the Lucidian Ocean. It is surrounded by farmsteads, and tents and ramshackle houses stand at its outer edge. The five interior wards of the city are connected by the Prism Path, a set of winding roads made of smooth, multicolored stones collected from the Lucidian Ocean.
As a major hub of trade and travel built around a massive port, Port Damali is an energetic center of commerce and culture, earning it the nickname the Jewel of the Menagerie Coast. The opulent inner city contrasts with the squalor of the outer wards, despite the latter's best efforts to add color. The city's cultural diversity is reflected in a dizzying array of architecture, ranging from historical styles to thatched homes or clay domes in the Tumbledowns. It is a busy city at the center of a series of trade routes by land, sea, and sky to transport goods throughout Wildemount and Exandria, and the constant visitors have ensured the city is full of inns, taverns, and underground markets.
Demographics
- 51% humans
- 16% halflings
- 15% elves
- 18% other races
Government
Like other cities in the Clovis Concord, Port Damali is governed by a marquis. The marquis in 835 PD was Olesya Lapidus, who works with the other marquises to keep the Concord independent from the control of the Dwendalian Empire. The city is a center of naval power, as a quarter of the Clovis Concord's fleet (nearly one hundred warships) is concentrated near the city. Most business is overseen by a series of powerful guilds.
However, Port Damali is infamous for its lax enforcement of the law, which is easily bought like any other good; even access to Lapidus can be purchased. Port Damali is a "pivotal nexus" for the Myriad. Many key members of local commerce are either members of the Myriad or in debt to it, allowing the Myriad to control most elements of the city. The Myriad is also deeply embedded in law enforcement, so crime is often allowed to flourish and illegal goods and services are easily found. With heavy control from the Myriad, the city is also the center of Exandria's slave trade. All this has cultivated a reputation that "most anything is legal" in Port Damali,[8] and this "roiling underbelly of crime, murder, and corruption" is often said to be regrettable but necessary.
Districts
- The Beaded Alley is a market district located between the Crescents and the Tumbledowns. General commerce and trade within the city is housed here, and the district contains both new and old businesses. It is also full of bards and performers, lending the busy district "an air of lively irreverence". It is named after the decorative strings of streamers and beads hung over each intersection.
- The Crescents is an affluent residential district located at the center of the city. Families of the local competing guilds and well-connected nobility trying to be near politics or the Gilded Esplande live here. The Pearl Shrine and the Sunfall Sanctuary are also located in the Crescents. It is named after seven large, moon-shaped statues gifted to the city by the Alkamar family at its founding.
- The Gilded Esplande, located between the Crescents and the Larboard Light, is the district most associated with Port Damali. It is an extravagant and "sparkling" district full of prestigious artists and performers, various recurring festivities, and markets selling expensive goods and high-end global imports. The Exalted Collection Auction House and Skyport are located here.
- The Larboard Light is the harbor located in the south of the city. It is a massive, upscale port that is "as lavish as docks come" and sees dozens of ships and many visitors to the city daily. The marquis' office is found at the northern end.
- The Tumbledowns is a residential district in the northern part of the city. It also contains some smaller temples. Most homes here are cramped and are built in different styles, including clay domes, thatched huts, and wooden shacks. The district has "a pleasant patchwork atmosphere even in the more run-down regions" through the combination of the Prism Path and the variety of Exandrian cultures represented by the varied architectural styles.
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