Lockhinge Notes - Portside

Everything to the east of the Ridge is considered Portside. It's an extremely bustling and important part of the city, but there are plenty of Lockhinge residents who have very little reason, if any, to spend time over there. Firstly, the only path there that isn't by sea is up through the whole Stone Quarter and across the Ridge. Secondly, Portside is nearly its own self-contained microcosm of a district, to where visitors arriving via ship would have everything they needed for a Lockhinge stay, and wouldn't have to brave the rest of the city if they didn't want to. In many ways, the two sides to Lockhinge could almost be considered separate cities. Many of the visitors from abroad speak about only having seen "East Lockhinge" and never having braved "West Lockhinge" on their visits.
Generally speaking, Portside establishments are split between those having to do with industry and trade, and those having to do with visitors to the city. The district has its own very unique persona of being just as much the gritty workhorse of the city as it is the gleaming face that welcomes the most dignified of Lockhinge's visitors, and these two facets are often blended. It is very common for establishments to somehow marry the rugged and unpolished industry of the docks with the gleam of Lockhinge's gilded personality even more thoroughly than on the other side of the ridge. An example would be the massive shipwreck that has been turned on its side, hollowed out, and added onto to become a set of luxurious merchant offices. All the barnacles and algae-stained rope has been left intact, but the gilded details have been polished to a perfect shine and the flooring is flawless marble.
While the outsiders coming into the city via the river are more commonly referred to as tourists, the ones arriving by sea are visitors--even if there isn't much of an actual difference between them. The attitude is that those who are close enough to travel by road are alright to pickpocket and sell souvenirs to, the ones arriving by ship are honored guests, even though there are dignitaries arriving by river and drinking in the culture on the way to their lodgings in the Stone Quarter and boatloads of clueless sightseers arriving by sea.
Following this difference in attitude, the lodgings are larger and more storied than those on the other side of the city-- both of the Common and Stone Quarter. The land over here is a precious commodity between the ocean and the cliffs, but it is solid and dry, so the structures are large and grand, many as old as those in the Stone Quarter, as the port was important to develope first. The architecture has a different sort of historic, sober grandeur than the flashier Stone Quarter, as they were built to blend in with the rest of the industry happening all around. Visitors arriving by sea are greeted by inns that seem just as ready to wealthy guests from afar as house haggard ship captains returning from months at sea. The atmosphere is thick with personality that outsiders absorb as being distinctly Lockhingean, but to most of the residents of the city, that's the "other" side of the city that is either to utilitarian and boring, or too obviously geared toward catering to foreigners, for them to bother with.
The crime is also different in Portside than the rest of the city. Between guests whose needs must be constantly attended to, to the extreme importance of all the cargo and trade being handled in the port, there is much more intense scrutiny being paid toward happenings all over Portside. Even the gang and guild activity is intense and businesslike there, at least during the day. So, common, small-time crime is much less prevalent that it is on the other side of the ridge. Crime tends to be either on a much larger, more high-stakes scale, or done secretively and at night down by the docks.
The Lockhinge Port is one of the grandest in the world, and is the most efficient and advanced when it comes to handling complicated cargo from many difference places. Working as a haborman in Lockhinge is a high achievement. Multiple harbormasters work in synchrony, so many areas of the port run as their own well-oiled machines, all answering to a Lord Harbormaster.
In a very protected little inlet lies the famous Lockhinge Bask.
Unlike the rest of Lockhinge, the eastern side of the city isn't so trapped against a natural border, there is only the struggle of being farther away from city center and resources, and eventually running out of land that isn't either beach or sheer cliff. Leading east is the road through the Silver Strand on the way to Liyda, which is a popular but lonely and slightly treacherous road. There is little benefit for establishments to build along it, as Lockhinge is still the only settlement for a good distance away. The settlements between Lockhinge and Liyda are all small and rather isolated, primarily either fishing and meritime, or agricultural. It's hard for anything to build and thrive along the seacliffs.

Lockhinge Bask