Sailor Bay, a small isle found on the intersection between the continents and a common resting place for trade ships, fisherman and pirates. Over the years this place of rest has developed a mismatch of buildings that tower and hang over the waters edge with strict laws and rules which surprisingly, everyone follows.
Sailor Bay? Course I know what Sailor Bay is. Every man and his dog who has been on the waters knows it. Been to it even. Strangest town I've ever known. You'll find all sorts of characters in that place.— Oralyn Fisherman
Upon setting foot on the land of Sailor Bay, all sentient creatures must obey the rules at all times. Failure to do so will resort in permanent banishment, imprisonment into the pit or death. Which ever comes first.
The Implications:
No quite knows how the rules came to be, or who made them. But it is agreed by all that come to Sailor Bay obey them or be promptly punished. This allows for all walks of life to arrive freely on the isle without fear of danger. From common fisherman and
Gillan swimming in the ocean. To the high society members such as Lady Aw-Ma-Fey, member of
The Fine Dining & Delicacy Club.
These laws allows for enemies, rivals and both sides of typical laws to meet face to face and discuss things that wouldn't normally be possible. One example of this was the meeting of the Oralyn council and the Brazen Bandits. Which came to the conclusion the pirates could enter the city without arrest if they kept to designated areas and didn't break laws.
Conversations and agreements like this can be overheard all over the town. If one was to walk down the slippery wooden walkways or the overcrowded ports surrounding the town. They would hear any number of things from the overarching jumble of windows, doorways and cracks in the wall.
While the town itself has no ruling council or royal family. They do have residents that stay on the bay to ensure the rules are not broken. Locals are also responsible for keeping the Pit contained, a gaping hole in the centre of the town that drops 60ft into a shady and murky pit of mud and sand. If falling doesn't kill you, then the unknown creature at the bottom surely will.
I like the concept of a Neutral Settlement where visitors of all walks agree to some common boundaries. I may just borrow your Idea and make something similar in my world of Evermyst. Any plans on detailing more about sailors bay? What is in the Pit?
Cheers for the comment :) I was planning to play a lot of one shots on locations as I find that a good way to flesh out a location. As for the Pit, I am debating between a few ideas so any suggestions would be great.
I started some prep for a Cairn RPG campaign that has a town with a Pit. It is basically the only city on the edge of the Vald and players have been convicted Rightly or wrongly of crimes and exiled to the vald with very little. The Pit is actually a massive network of caverns below and the players may go through proving grounds if they survive they earn the good graces of the corrupt town leader and can explore the caves for him as long as they give him a portion of his loot. The Leader has built a fortification around the pit and controls access in or out. Cairn is a Rule lite RPG similar to what you present on your world page. Thats my Idea anyway. the rest of the world of the Vald is largely unexplored and riddled with ancient settlements and fey.