Lowport
At one time, the Lowport region was the easternmost portion of the Kingdom of Burgundia with several fortifications of ancient Hyperborea built along the coastline to guard against sea invasion and piracy. However, the territory changed hands several times after Foere quit its claims upon it, and it ultimately ended up under the jurisdiction of Penmorgh with orders to man the old fortifications. The Southvalers were unequipped to deal with the remote forts and failed to properly garrison or oversee them so that when the sea reaver Gathos the Cruel arrived in the city of Parthos in 3485 I.R., he was able to put the entire garrison to the sword and rename the place Lowport with himself as the tyrant. Lowport was declared a free city with a port open to all comers and became a bastion of pirates, smugglers, slavers, and every unsavory sort imaginable. With Oceanus wholly occupied with its wars of expansion, there was no one with sufficient sea power to dislodge the scurvy lot that had taken over. By the time things had calmed enough for the powers-that-be to turn attention toward the situation, they found Gathos and his recruited mercenaries well entrenched with a heavily defended harbor. With no land areas of real value nearby to be claimed and defended, it became more expedient to simply patrol the waters off the coast to reduce piracy rather than try to root out the entire rats’ nest. Gathos wisely ordered his piracy conducted farther afield to avoid antagonizing nearby Oceanus, and Lowport became a fixture of the Sinnar Coast.
Gathos’ rule was cruel and profitable until the old pirate was challenged and defeated by a half-orc gladiator champion. But if folk thought that the rule of Baljulias the Great would bring moderation and greater civility to the town, they far overestimated the conscience of the foul brawler. Under Baljulias, Lowport has sunk even further into depravity, getting much more heavily involved in the slave trade and beginning to conduct kidnappings for ransom of valuable targets in the nearby realms. The situation has not grown so bad to require a military response yet, but many folk suspect that it won’t be too many more years before an Oceanic fleet carrying a sufficient number of marines arrives to sweep the riffraff into the sea.
Lowport’s claim to the Stony Strand hills is almost completely spurious; the city’s reach extends perhaps 100 miles inland beyond the city walls. Orc bands make excursions into the hills, but so far Lowport has made no attempt to establish any permanent presence there.
The city itself is, as one might suspect, a haven for all kinds of seaborne villains. The tyrant’s orcish allies are permitted (in small numbers) in the city, making the atmosphere even more volatile than normal in a pirate stronghold. The original cityfolk are docile under the tyrant’s rule, waiting for some brave group of heroes to dislodge Gathos and return the city to peace and freedom.
A group of fugitives from Lowport have gathered at the nearby ruins of the Hyperborean fortress of Salyos.
Settlement
Lowport, Free City of
Type
City
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