Shellspine

The Shellspine is a giant heap of stone, wood and detritus that rises high into the air on one of the far western islands in the Solags Folly archipelago. Winding streets crawl up the heap at steep angles with sharp switchbacks, curving around large triangular buildings that thrust out of the rock. Huge dock complexes spiderweb out from the base of the city, a base that is almost entirely surrounded by water aside from a small strip of rock attaching the city to the island. These docks are almost always full of ships flying the flags of every nation on Keskad. The winding streets meet at the top of the cities walls, the walls that then drop straight down 100 meters into the water.
Seven huge watergates ring the base of the city, leading to large and relatively well maintained drydock complexes within the cities "Walls". These gates are normally open and serve as the routes into the city from the docks. Upon closer examination, usually at these gates, several things about the city become apparent. For one, the interior of the city is not rock but instead detritus and ruins and often still used dwellings that have been built up so high that they have compacted into a mound of "stone" that the city sits upon. The strange triangular buildings seen from afar are in truth the tops of the soaring towers that once graced the city.
The goblins that make up the majority of the populace here have little care for urban planning, leading to this sprawling expanse of stone and piled housing that grew into the monstrosity it is now over the centuries since they took the city from the crippled Kingdom of Kromsgard. The average street follows no form or function aside from haphazardly avoiding the buildings, some of which are built wherever the owner felt they wanted and maintained only as long as they can defend that claim from the people that want to travel on the street.
An average goblin house in the city is a teetering and ramshackle mess, usually attached to several other buildings and has the overall structural integrity of a haybale in a hurricane. Some of the goblins still live in buildings that have been built atop of years earlier, leading to a thriving "Under-street" that can be hard to map or even navigate. Amidst this chaotic mess there are the buildings made by races that actually care about logic to an extent, the solid stone and wood homes of Dwarves and Humans can be found and often are the foundation that helps hold whole city blocks together.
The city is administered by the "Seven Bosses", powerful clan leaders who control the seven gates into the city. There is a larger Council of Captains that handles most of the day to day administration of the city, whenever any of them can be bothered to meet and if any of them are in port. It is chaos at the best of times in the pirate capital of the world. The Bosses tend to rule for life and there has not been any great upheaval in their ranks for decades. The Bosses are elected from the council of captains and is generally a time full of unrest, riots and open combat across the outer docks as crews try to eliminate competition.
Kobolds live in deep deep warrens underneath, largest Kobold city in the world that they very rarely let anyone else into. The Kobold city is called Saltdepth.
"The city is like the strata of the earth over eons except with weird shit and trash." Nir, Black-Dragonborn 'Enforcer'
Council of Captains Every ship captain has a voice

The Seven Bosses

Hagar Hagar is a noteworthy Hobgoblin as in he has not only taken to the seas he also has the third largest bounty on his head of any individual in the Seven Cities of Krom. He took nearly half of his legion with him when he left, he has one of the largest single group of armed fighters in the city. He runs the Shellback Gate with an iron fist and rarely goes out on raids any longer. He instead hires out his forces to any captain willing to pay the coin. He calls his crew the Bloody Eye and works to spread its name far and wide. His Hobgoblins serve as the main "police" force in the city.
Falkirk This unscrupulous human and his crew run the Hairymouth Gate and like Hagar he rarely leaves his home at the top of it, though this is because he is crippled and unable to walk. Falkirk operates some of the fastest ships in the Shellspine and that definitely earns him work but the real reason for his current position is due to having one of the most extensive information gathering operations in the eastern half of the continent. If you asked what the High Admiral of the Federation had for breakfast, for the right price he could provide you with that answer in under an hour.
Black Mary An elven woman with her ears cut off, she speaks telepathically with her closest cohorts who then give orders. Her crew is made up of a large amount of elves and humans and she runs the shipyards of her gate with a deft hand, hiring skilled shipwrights from around the continent to ensure that she has the best and brightest maintaining her own ships as well as her customers.
Grug Grug got to where he is today by never saying no to a job. His clan runs some of the most shoddy ships in the city but he specializes in a delivery service of sorts that is mostly focused within the city. His goblin runners can be seen scampering all across the ramshackled buildings delivering all manner of information and messages. He often hires other ships to run specific messages or cargo outside the city but in a pinch he isnt shy about sending his own, though he knows the potential problems that may come to so he usually ranks packages by a certain level of priorty based around who the customers are and how much they are paying. Though Delivery is what his crew specializes in, they are open to any and all work for a paycheck.

Jegjeg The Goblin Boss Jegjeg is boss of the Featherguts clan though his clan mostly lives in the Topwatch tower. His crews run large, lumbering ships that serve mostly as platforms from which to fly their Vulture mounts when taking prey on the high seas.
Boil The boss of the Blackboil clan, he is an incredibly greedy goblin who only does anything based on the amount of money it adds to his coffers.
Kersnisz This Kobold engineer has little care for the machinations of the other crews or the general atmosphere of the city, he leads his crew in developing and testing new and interesting Technology for ships and usually bundles offers to fix or build ships with a requirement to take "Improvements" from his workshops. His workers do solid work and he is never wanting for new ships to experiment with.

Notable Locations

Topwatch
The highest point of the city, it is the peaked roof of an ancient tower that used to soar over the port. As it sits now, its top is poking above street level with its uppermost windows serving as doors. Perched high on its roof is a rickity tower that serves as a roost for the cities flock of giant vultures who serve as mounts for the goblin clan Featherguts. The tower is mostly intact and serves as this clans warrens, piercing all the way into the Kobold city with whom this clan has a good enough rapport with to enter and leave freely.
Blue Tunnels
Tunnels lit by glowing blue mushrooms, it is one of the two official routes into the Kobold city of Saltdepth. Dozens of Kobolds guard this entrance and only allow entrance to those with the proper paperwork and passcodes.
Shellback Gate A banner with a bloody dripping eye on a yellow field hangs on either side of this gate, Hagar and his mercenary band of cutthroats calls this gate home.
Hairymouth Gate No mark or banner hangs from this gate.
It has a huge library built into it and Falkirk employs an army of scribes to catalog and store the immense amount of information that his contacts get to him.
Saltcrust "Earshorn" Gate
This gate is the only one to have its name change in recent years, though an unofficial one. It gets its common name because of the Boss of the gate, Black Mary and saying it loud enough for her or her crew to hear you is a quick way to find yourself feedding the crabs at the bottom ofc the harbor. This gate and it environs have some of the best shipyards in Shellspine and is an incredibly lucrative location to have. If a crew needs work down, this is where they try to go. A silver fey dragon on a purple field is on the banner that hangs large above the gate, harder to see is the hundreds of shorn ears hanging from string along the top...the price one pays if Black Mary or her crew hears you calling Saltcrust gate "Earshorn" gate.
Blackwater Gate
Home to Grugs Gang, a goblin clan specializing in delivery services (and anything really, for pay) the industries surrounding this gate are focused primarely on moving cargo and moving it fast. There are rumors that he has disabled the gate mechanisms so that even in an emergency he could still send cargo but...this is likely untrue.
Redeye Gate
Splatters of dark paint in the rough shape of a vultures head adorn the walls on either side of this gate. A usual haunt of druids and rangers within the city it has shops and industry surrounding hunting, fishing and slaughtering. Most of the fishing fleet based out of Shellspine brings its catch to this gate and hunters of both the deep and terrestial wilds bring their kills here more often than not. The community of Scalesnap butts up against this gate and its shipyards are mostly used by fishing boat captains.
Crusthull Gate
The oldest drydock facilities in Shellspine and it shows more every year. The Blackboil goblin clan runs the show here and while they do have decent shipwrights, their boss isnt interested in putting in the work to build up the infrastructure.
Bluevein Gate
The Second Best Shipyards in Shellspine does not quite have a nice ring to it but if you want some Decent work OR some experimental kobold machinery slapped onto your ship, this is the place to go.
Warehouse Warrens
The most densely populated part of the city is a thick ring of overbuilt, stacked warehouses that house all manner of goods as well as homes for thousands upon thousands of individuals. People who live here can expect a box as big as they are and consider that a steal for living space. The amount of bars, inns and shops that are crammed in here would boggle the mind.
Green Tunnels
Tunnels lit by glowing green moss, it is one of the two official routes into the Kobold city of Saltdepth. Dozens of Kobolds guard this entrance and only allow entrance to those with the proper paperwork and passcodes.


Vile Violence
A tavern near the entrance of Saltcrust gate, it is built into the hull of a half completed Kromian War Galleon that was never moved. The city has built around it in such a way that the only way onto the ship is through a series of walkways strung along the dwellings at the waterfront. It is noticable by the large ornate figurehead that the owner, a half-orc called Hagbotherer, keeps polished to a perfect sheen. The figure head and a portion of the bow are the only things still visible, thrusting out over the water between the docks.
Hurkgrags Fort
On the far side of the lone bridge leading to the island from the city sits this ramshackle affair that is a shantytown dressed up in a fortress's clothing. It has walls made of bits of wreckage and detritus from the city and it serves as a first line of defense and a waystop of sorts for visitors to the city from the landward side. It boasts three Taverns and an Inn that nonee would visit a second time if they had a choice.
Scalesnap
The Swampy, shallow water on the landward side of the city has little in the way of docks or industry, instead serving as a sprawling residential district mostly populated by Black Dragonborn, Yuan-ti and Lizardfolk. Tensions run high often enough for the brute squads from Hagars enforcers to need to maintain a small outpost there just in case. The buildings are built on stilts and platforms above the fetid water with wobbly walkways meandering between them.
Old Town
A derisive term, this part of the city is actually one of the newest sections. Raised streets and clean houses set it at an extreme difference from the citys norm. Human traders eventually came back to Shellspine if not on any official basis. They ended up building this against the city walls near Shellback Gate, paying good money to Hagar and his police force to help keep their "Streets" Safe.
Traders Warf
A broad stretch of outer docks that is dedicated to incoming trade. Nearly everything that ends up for sale in the city passes through these docks. They have immense warehouses and powerful cranes powered by brute muscle. The Traders Warf also serves as the slave market of the city, though it pales in comparison to some of the ones in the seven cities.
Bluewatch
The remnant of one of the many towers that used to soar over the city. This one no longer soars and instead merely looms on the edge of the city. The streets of the warehouse warrens twist at its new base with an old window serving as an entrance. A group of warlocks and wizards control this tower, using its vantage point with a clear view of the ocean to aid in their study of the stars and to just get fresh air.
Warrenpeak
Near the top of the city lies a great hive of interconnected buildings, streets that dissapear into the pile of construction and reappear at odd places. This area is almost as densly populated as the Warehouse Warrens but it is entirely residential and is in greater demand due to the occasional breeze the outer portions of the quarter gets.

The Seven Cities of Krom
The Seven Cities of Krom are a collection of coastal citadels and towns that are inhabited by settled Hobgoblin Clans. They make war upon each other though over the centuries none has been able to gain dominance. Their distance from other settled lands makes the threat of their advancement minimal, though raiding parties are seen occasionally in the neighboring regions where the Minotaur Clans and the Azure Federation have holdings.
The Azure Federation
The Azure Federation is an alliance of the Southern Kingdoms of Man, a series of human kingdoms that sprang up around the fertile Glernorian Plains and ranges from the Boral Forest in the west, the Clawe Forest in the East and the Veshk Desert to the north.