Riddleport
Riddleport is the third-largest city in Varisia and its most northern port. The city is a haven for pirates and sea-faring brigands, who find themselves far to the north of the Arch of Aroden. Teeming with criminals and rogues of all kinds, Riddleport is full of potential danger and hard-to-avoid intrigue. Also known as the City of Cyphers, Riddleport takes its name from the Cyphergate, a giant stone arch spanning the natural cove around which the city is built. It is covered on both sides with ancient Thassilonian symbols, although their exact meaning is unknown.
Demographics
77% human, 7% dwarf, 5% half-elf, 4% half-orc, 3% tiefling, 2% halfling, 1% gnome, 1% other
Government
Non-standard: Council (titular overlord with multiple crimelords)
History
The town of Riddleport was founded in the 45th century AR as a hideout for pirates attacking Chelish shipping in and out of Korvosa. Since that time it has grown to become a true settlement in its own right.
The first official pirate overlord was Captain Cabriem Maskyr, who took control of the settlement in 4558 AR.
Architecture
Most of Riddleport’s buildings are composed of wood— logs or planks—with multiple floors and steep, highpeaked roofs of wooden shingles. They are built in close quarters, and in some cases their wooden upper floors sag and lean together from the constantly sodden conditions. Stone fireplaces ward off the bitter winter cold and the chill that lingers in the fog-laden streets for much of the year, save for in high summer. During this two-month period, warmer air currents from the south bring a muggy, oppressive heat along with great black mosquitoes that breed in the nearby marshes. Many burn peat treated with incense in their hearths during these months to ward off the vermin with their thick smoke.
The major streets of Riddleport are cobbled, often becoming rain-slick cataracts during the wet seasons. Cobbles are often missing or crushed by the incessant traffic, leaving gaping holes and ruts in even the most welltended thoroughfares. Side streets tend to be relegated to muddy tracks that are swift to turn into stinking morasses of sucking mud and filth. Riddleport doesn’t have much of a sewage system, and relies mainly on gutters along street edges to carry refuse to the river and harbor. One feature unique to the major streets is the frequent oil lamps mounted on iron poles that provide beacons of light in the benighted mists. These are set in sturdy hurricane lamps and burn thick, rancid oil from barrel-shaped reservoirs at the lamppost base—a byproduct and innovation of the Gas Works. These wavering lights give off illumination equal to a torch in even the foulest weather but are not well-tended—just over a third of them are out on any given night, in need of repairs or refueling.
Geography
Riddleport is located on the northwestern coast of Varisia, where the mouth of the Velashu River forms a natural cove off the Varisian Gulf. Placed between two large rocky bluffs, each over 300 feet in height, the city occupies both banks of the river. The majority of the city is situated on the eastern bank, nestled behind the outer rim of the Calphiak Mountains, which cuts it off from hilly tidal swamps to the east. The Velashu finds its way through canyoned walls from the Velashu Uplands. Roads lead out of town to both the north and east, but they are poorly maintained, as most traffic in and out of the city is by boat. The ominous Cyphergate, which towers over the entire harbor, is never out of sight, its rune-covered span dwarfing everything around it.
Districts
The city is divided into nine different sections or districts, each with its own character and inhabitants.- Free-Coin District
- Leeward District
- Lubbertown
- River District
- Rotgut District
- The Boneyard
- The Devil's Fork
- Wharf District
- Windward District
- Maskyr's Island holds the current overlord's citadel.
Alternative Name(s)
City of Cyphers
Type
Large city
Population
13.300
Included Locations
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
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