Aldaki Bay

"If you people want to live, I suggest you make every oar fly and maybe, just maybe, we'll get to Aldaki before the Admiralty sink us - or I throw you over the side myself."
-the captain of a smuggling vessel being pursued somewhere in the Beyan Archipelago

Aldaki Bay is a fortified settlement - and the bay that houses the settlement - located on the northeastern edge of Isla Pargia, a small island located on the southwestern edge of the Calinan Sea, between the Beyan Archipelago and northwestern Calina. A remote settlement operating beyond the reach of the Avadian Admiralty, it is renowned as a haven for 'independent sailors' - often but not exclusively raiders and smugglers - who wish to operate clandestine and outside of the purview of the Avadian Sovereignty, but still require the home port, support networks, amenities and supplies that all ships need.

Demographics

Due to the nature of the settlement, most inhabitants are transient and do not permanently reside there. The largest portion of these are Avadian sailors, mostly hailing from the Beyan Archipelago but with a considerable amount also from the Avadian Colonies and Maganti. Beyond this, Calinani, ethnic Magantines, and Tenundo also can be found here seeking their fortunes. A large number of these sailors' trades are considered illegal or scorned in the Calinan Sea as a whole - smugglers of illicit or stolen goods being common, but also a considerable number of raiders and unscrupulous mercenaries being among them.
Due to long-term residence in the settlement, there are a large group of people born and raised in Aldaki Bay who are not involved in the shadier maritime dealings dominating it, but provide goods and services like any regular town or village. Most of these residents are of Avadian descent, but a considerable number are also descended from the other groups who have visited and operated out of the settlement over the years.
Unusually for the far western Calinan, Aldaki Bay also has a small but significant diaspora of escaped slaves from the Kalriv Empire and their descendants- some of whom still cling to their cultural trappings, others whom have melded into Aldaki society.

Government

Not entirely true. There are unspoken rules. Don't trade in slaves, don't cross the Syndicate, and don't under any circumstances be working for the Admiralty.
A townsperson in Aldaki Bay when questioned on whether there are no laws in the settlement

Officially, Aldaki Bay is considered a politically neutral anarchic settlement without any real form of government. As with most places claiming such, the most powerful and wealthy individuals and organisations wield considerable influence in the settlement, with might generally making right, and the High Captains of the Mariners' Syndicate generally agreeing on what is permissible and what is not in the settlement - and often directing their own mercenaries and sailors to enforce this.

Defences

The most prominent defenses of Aldaki Bay are tall, cyclopean walls that have been built up over decades to surround the three sides of the settlement not fronted by the water. Due to the relatively small area to cover, these walls are considerably higher than the kind seen in most other settlements, in some cases reaching as high as fifteen metres, with rectangular towers installed at regular intervals. Two gates to the west and south sides of the settlement respectively allow access.
A number of guard towers are set up where the walls meet the entrance to the bay. Archers are stationed in these towers and are equipped with arrows soaked in flammable rags, which are set alight and fired into any approaching hostile vessel's sails and deck, often igniting flames that can provide anything from a disruption to the vessel's operations to outright setting it ablaze depending on luck.
Beyond the settlement's walls, the Mariners' Syndicate has control of enough ships going into and out of the bay - mostly penteconters and galleys, but even a few stolen bireme warships - to provide a heated and costly defense against any incursion from the Avadian Admiralty. While an all-out assault could likely defeat the defenses, the Admiralty is of a general understanding that the cost in lives, ships, and corresponding counterattacks is not worth the cost, instead opting to confront raiders and smugglers in the open sea.

Industry & Trade

By far the largest trade in Aldaki Bay is the purchase of stolen and illicit cargo. Fences and unscrupulous merchants regularly purchase these goods in the settlement from raiders and smugglers free of oversight from the Avadian Sovereignty, and then recruit other crews to redistribute these wares across the Calinan.
With the rise of this industry, a demand has appeared to provide goods and services to the visiting crews and traders, including the import of legitimate goods, materials and luxuries. Given the settlement's reputation as a safe haven, shipwrights and carpenters are in particular demand, as are farmers, smiths, brewers/distillers. In turn, other goods and services are needed to support the other workers, turning the settlement into a town with a functional economy in its own right.

Guilds and Factions

To put it simply, by trading with the raiders and smugglers of Aldaki Bay, we can circumvent the Avadian Sovereignty's attempts to curtail our trade in the Calinan. They forced our hand, I see no moral issue here."
-correspondence from Valkris Eliksen, Prince of Kjoqvist and leader of the Kjoqvist-Calinan Trading Company

While officially Aldaki Bay holds no allegiance to any organisation or government, the day to day operations of the settlement, and the organisation with the largest presence and involvement in business in the settlement is the Mariners' Syndicate, a loose confederation of raider crews, smugglers and less discerning bounty hunters and the largest outlaw group in the Calinan Sea.
Beyond the Syndicate, a number of criminal organisations, mercenary groups and wayfarer companies have set up shop in Aldaki Bay. The official stance is that all groups may operate from the settlement - with the exception of the Avadian Admiralty or any government apparatus, who are attacked on approach. Officially there is nothing stopping wealthy, elite Avadian merchants from operating in town, but the general understanding is they would become easy prey for the more unsavoury raiders both on and off land, and there would be little to no assistance present.
Perhaps surprisingly, organisations of various faiths are permitted a presence, with the temples of numerous Avadian gods permitted to be set up. While Elementalists are welcomed, the hierarchy making up the various Templars are not. That having been said, individual priests have set up temples for the faithful, but are watched by the Syndicate.
The Kjoqvist-Calinan Trading Company, despite having mostly frosty relations with the Avadian Sovereignty and most maritime organisations in the Calinan, have established a presence in Aldaki Bay, purchasing warehouses and docking berths from the Syndicate. They both purchase and sell goods here to circumvent the Admiralty's grip on trade, and some unsubstantiated rumours suggest they even use raiders as clandestine espionage and smugglers to access markets their own ships would be denied.

Points of interest

The most prominent point of interest in Aldaki Bay is the Mariner Tower, a tall octagonal limestone tower located in the centre of the settlement. It rises fifty metres above ground level, and as the name suggests, it is the regional headquarters of the Mariners' Syndicate, hosting the conference halls of the High Captains themselves, along with storerooms, archives, records rooms and rooms for planning maritime activities. The top of the tower also serves as a lookout post, providing a view of the entire settlement and a significant distance out to sea, allowing early sighting of hostile ships.
Other important points of interest include

• Aldaki Harbour, the primary docks and harbour for vessels visiting the settlement - a combination of private docks for larger organisations, and public every-man-for-himself docks with less security and further distances from the main town
• The Kjoqist-Calinan Trading Company outpost near the western wall, a walled and guarded compound consisting of warehouses for the company's goods, barracks for its guards and sailors, and offices for its record-keepers.
• The Temple of Ceretho, Temple of Maura and Temple of Avadi, the two largest temples in the settlement, dedicated to the god of strategy, goddess of trade and the goddess of the sea respectfully, surrounded by smaller temples to various Avadian gods.
• Tradewalk, a long street set up along the section of town adjoining Aldaki Harbour and the waterfront, where most of the various wares, ill-gotten and otherwise, are displayed, purchased and sold.
• The Warehouse district, a large region on the south end of town dedicated to large warehouses that store the wares of the more powerful and wealthy traders, raiders and smugglers.
• Selia's Smile, a large taverna that also serves as a temple of Selia, the Avadian goddess of beauty and love.

Architecture

As with most Avadian settlements, most buildings in Aldaki Bay are constructed of white-washed limestone, frequenting square or rectangular shapes.

Geography

Being located on a bay, the settlement itself has easy access to the Calinan Sea, with the bay covering most of the northern end of the settlement. The waters here are remarkably warm and clear, seeing a considerable number of swimmers in the area. The outside of the settlement is ringed by various farms and plantations of a variety of crops, and further inland is mostly grassland of varying lengths, interspersed with ferns and palms.

Climate

Isla Pargia is far enough from the Backlash to be spared most of the chaotic weather in the western Calinan - with that said, it is still prone to quite humid conditions at certain parts of the year. This is mitigated by breezes coming off the Calinan, keeping the temperature quite tolerable. Summers are hot and often humid, while winters tend to be mild.

Founding Date

281 TE

Type

Large town

Population

1700

Location under

Calinan Sea