Hearts of Darkness: Way of the Wicked

Game Master Celeador

4546 AR Lord Captain Markus Razor, explorer, navigator, cartographer and captain of the Royal Cheliaxian Navy discovers and charts the “Razor Coast” a series of jagged islands, hidden reefs and verdant jungle coves along the southern edge of Arcadia. He makes first contact with the Tulita people and would later report his findings to the crown.

4606 AR Aroden dies, leaving the Empire of Cheliax without a divine mandate. Cheliax gradually slides toward civil war. Quell, the so called “fisherman saint” of Aroden absorbs a sliver of Arodens divinity and is reborn in to god of Fisherman and Seas.

4608 AR Fort Stormshield is built atop a plateau overlooking Kai Bay along Arcadia’s Razor Coast by the Aspis Consortium in order to capitalize on the abundance of Tulita slaves and rare hardwoods found along the jungle coast.

4676 AR Port Shaw is founded by the notorious Free Captain Aldrin Shaw following a failed bid for the Hurricane Crown. The secluded waters of Kai Bay proved the ideal location for the renegade privateer to build his growing fleet of freebooters. Upon his initial landing, Aldrin launched several violent and brutal campaigns against the native Tulita, and in the wake of his butchery, he claimed the bay as his own. Captain Shaw and his men build the port town by hacking plank and board from the surrounding forest and constructing dozens of long piers. Shaw’s men raise houses, chandlers, inns, warehouses, taverns, and brothels to lure trade and accommodate the host of explorers and treasure hunters who descended like locusts upon the ripe, virgin Arcadia coast.

4678 AR Tulita, the original inhabitants of the Razor Coast, fragmented in their leadership and outnumbered by ever-arriving waves of foreign ships, tear apart from within. Some Tulita swear allegiance to the newcomers in exchange for powerful, easy to-use weapons – and then turn to settling past feuds.

4695 AR Fort Stormshield is sold to Port Shaw by the Aspis Consortium when the consortium decides to abandon the area due to an upswell in sea raider’s predations between the Razor Sea and the Arcadia Ocean.

4699 AR War between Port Shaw and the Pirate King Garr Bloodbane breaks out following Garr’s increased raiding on merchant ships.

4701 AR Captain Jacob Razor whose kin discovered the Coast in 4546 AR, defects from Garr Bloodbane’s crew to serve Port Shaw after falling in love with the elven freebooter Bethany Moonsliver.

4708 AR The Wave Riders, led by the renowned paladin of Quell, Solomon Trafalgar are attacked while onboard their ship the Trident by a monstrous Kraken. During the ambush the Kraken drags Trafalgar’s body to his deep demesne as a grisly trophy. The surviving heroes, viewing the defeat of their steadfast leader, fled in disgrace.

4709 AR The war between Port Shaw and Garr Bloodbane ends. Garr Bloodbane beleaguered and hard pressed after a series of defeats retained only his command ship, the Dark Lady, and one more seaworthy frigate, Devil’s Grasp. Garr was holed up near an atoll not far from Beacon Island to lay low and rebuild his fleet. Acting on a scout report Captain Jacob Razor’s fast running man-o-war, Razor’s Edge, teamed up with Gregory Bonedeuce, Captain of the Pride. During the ensuring battle Jacob Razor falls to Garr’s battleaxe, second before Boneduce is able to slay the pirate king. A few moments later the powder main on the Razor’s Edge explodes and the Razor’s Edge sinks with no survivors. Wounded from the battle Boneduce manages to beach the Pride and is rescued several days later.

4711 AR Following the death of her husband Bethany Razor shies away from direct involvement in the affairs of Port Shaw. She fills the void in her heart with an extremely successful career as the region’s only privateer. Under legal writ of the Elders, Bethany Razor preys on pirates and other dangerous outlaws of the Razor Coast, captaining her impressive ship Quell’s Whore.

4713 AR Current Year, campaign begins.

Port Shaw stands as the largest and most infamous of the Razor Coast’s boom ports. It sits upon the most strategic point along the coast, near dead center, overlooking Kai Bay at the headwaters of the sacred River of the People. This location made Port Shaw a bustling hub for all sea trade as well as the center of trade and foreign culture. Not surprisingly, Port Shaw is not the first settlement built on this prized location. The surrounding region once marked the heart of ancient Tulita culture. Upon the crucible where Pele’s fires smoldered in the sea and birthed land, Port Shaw now squats, dumping its muddy waste into the once blessed waters.

History
Founded by the notorious Free Captain Aldrin Shaw following a failed bid for the Hurricane Crown, the secluded waters of Kai Bay proved the ideal location for the renegade privateer to build his growing fleet of freebooters. Upon his initial landing, Aldrin launched several violent and brutal campaigns against the native Tulita, and in the wake of his butchery, he claimed the bay as his own. Captain Shaw and his men built the port town by hacking plank and board from the surrounding forest and constructing dozens of long piers that pierce the sanctity of the bay like so many knives. They raised houses, chandlers, inns, warehouses, taverns, and brothels to lure trade and accommodate the host of explorers and treasure hunters who descended like locusts upon the ripe, virgin Arcadia coast.

Port Shaw attracted a dangerous breed of brigand and cutthroat, and the bayside settlement quickly grew perilous for any traveler off his guard. Smugglers, pirates, outlaws, and outcasts filled out the population. In Port Shaw, the streets are unruly, the docks deadly after dark, and the only law in town remains the crushing iron fist of the Municipal Dragoons.

Port Shaw Today
Port Shaw is divided into loose districts. Like many a boomtown, there are no legal boundaries of any kind, and the districts themselves grow and shrink with each passing year. The Dragoons patrol each, though anarchy reigns in Tide and Bawd districts after dark. They blithely ignore most murders, assaults, and robberies unless a powerful member of the Lodge takes an interest or a violent act disrupts a wealthy merchant’s lucrative business endeavors.

People of Port Shaw
There are honest, hardworking people in Port Shaw right alongside those who would turn a quick coin by exploiting someone else’s labor. Among hopeful colonists, subjugated and oppressed Tulita, swaggering pirates, and exotic sailors, life ekes by on the coast, and one never knows whom one might meet around the corner.

The Lodge
After the war against the Tulita ended, the victorious colonists determined to police both themselves and the conquered Tulita natives, and so co-opted the Tulitas’ political organization, renaming their own ruling body the Lodge after it.

Once revered for their experience and spiritual wisdom, Lodge members no longer number among the most sage of the Tulita. Since the conflict, most who sit the Lodge are merely wealthy foreigners or Tulita puppets who dance to their tune. Today’s Lodge “Elders” are mere merchants with their hands on the gold, pearls, and sunken treasure beneath the Razor’s waves, as they busily rape the bounty of the coast’s natural treasures. Other Elders are displaced or disgraced aristocrats who fled their own lands and now play god in Port Shaw. Most of these bought their titles with gold and mercenary blades and now take obscene liberties, indulging their every debauched whim. Port Shaw’s ruling body does little good for its citizens, while parasites suck as many riches from the region as possible – then retire in luxury.

Citizens of Note
Elder Barrison Hargrove: Considered the most influential member of the Lodge, the Hargrove family has been a staple on the Port Shaw community since its early days. Barrison Hargrove makes no effort to hide his dislike of all Tulita.

Elder Alastair Crimmeran: A member of the Lodge since shortly after its founding, this aged, blue-blooded elf simply purchased the title Elder. Crimmeran represents the elven interests in Port Shaw and often accompanies the Elven Ambassador, Viscount Senegar Deepwarder.

Elder Nakuakaua: This Tulita still holds the title Elder due to skilled manipulations rather than being some colonist’s puppet. He is not fast to act, fearing a misstep could cost him all, but holds steady on his commitment to find ways to gain greater power for himself and his people.

Municipal Dragoons
The Lodge created the Municipal Dragoons to ensure order in Port Shaw, their capital city – for themselves, not their citizens. When drunken whalers wreak mayhem in the streets and pirates prey on fat cargo freighters with abandon, the Elders’ precious profits stand in jeopardy. They formed the Dragoons, a force of sellswords and militiamen, most of whom were pirates or smugglers before signing up for a regular salary, to keep the streets safe at night and the waters pirate-free. Though they bedeck themselves in royal blue uniforms with tasseled shoulders and carry shining sabers, in practice the Dragoons bear more resemblance to a gang of pirate marauders than civic peacekeepers – only these cutthroats are on the Lodge’s leash.

Gregory Bonedeuce, the current leader of the Dragoons, commands Fort Stormshield and captains Bonedeuce’s Pride, the most impressive man-o-war ever to slice the waves of the Razor Sea.

The Districts
The following are the major districts of Port Shaw, but many smaller neighborhoods cling to the cracks between them or nestle within their larger fellows.

Silk District
Home to Port Shaw’s artisans and artists, where many of the town’s tailors, coopers, dressmakers, apothecaries, and other artisans ply their trades and keep their quarters. More than a few artists exiled from their homelands maintain exhibition halls and meager residences in Silk. The avant-garde of Port Shaw are a mishmash of artists from diverse cultures, hailing from all across the world. Tulita traditional arts and performance (most notably their dance and musical traditions) add to the mix, making Silk District a melodious and entertaining quarter to visit both day and night. Many of the Tulita arts practiced and taught here cater distinctly to tourists and are highly demystified – watered down and oversimplified to cater to the lowest cultural denominator. The lure of Silk District’s coin and pleasures commercializes the natives’ culture; an aspect of Port Shaw constantly criticized by the remaining traditionalist Tulita tribes along the Razor.

Dontorian’s House of Haberdashery
This famous hat and fashion shop, located in Silk District, produces the most capital hats on the coast. Everyone on the docks or among the rich and famous of the city’s Jade District wears a Dontorian design. Each hat is perfectly tailored to the customer’s brow to provide either a piratical or noble flair as requested. A quite fetching standard hat costs 10 gp. Finely made top hats – dashing! – cost 25 gp, and a Dontorian special design – there are no words – costs 100 gp.

Sagacious Samuel’s Magic Emporium
Adventurers seeking potions, lotions and other magical accouterments can track down this stately shop, on the edge of Silk and Tide, garishly decorated with arcane symbols and the shimmering illusion of an elven maiden enticing passers-by. Owner Sagacious Samuel offers most potion and scrolls for a “reasonable” price.

Native’s Delight
The Tulita have long tradition of tattooing their own in a style that much of the rest of the world considers exotic. The Native’s Delight in Silk District keeps a staff of several native craftsmen skilled in this Tulita style of tattooing, and many seek out their mastery of ink, some regulars even frequenting almost daily.

The Razor Lodge
This former plantation offers members of the Pathfinder Society a safe and respectable place to stay at the edge of Silk District. Overseen by Venture Captain Roarag One-Eye, The society has converted several of the outer buildings to new purposes, including communal housing for visiting junior members and a guesthouse for important persons.

Jade District
The lair of Port Shaw’s wealthiest upper crust – or at least where most aristocrats of the Coast maintain their “city residences.” Many of the richest citizens of Port Shaw also own plantations on the outskirts of the city, or spend some of the year aboard luxurious pleasure barges, intermittently restocking at Jade.

Shops and upscale markets cater to these displaced aristocrats, offering the latest fashions from far-off ports-of-call and every decadent tea, spice, textile or other amenity the rich simply cannot live without. The personal bodyguards of these pampered debutants prowl the streets here. Many of these warriors fashion themselves after the knights of distant Lastwall across the ocean and swear oaths of allegiance to the loathsome aristocrats they serve, displaying whatever ridiculous crest or insignia their employer takes for a coat-of-arms. The oaths of these ruthless mercenaries are only as binding as the weight of their masters’ gold; still, anyone who looks like they do not belong in Jade gets tossed.

The Kraken’s Gullet
Located right inside Jade District on Hargrove Boulevard, a red roof caps this impressive three-story, allkoa- wood inn. Sculpted in the shape of its namesake, a large tentacled kraken, the roof glowers down on all who enter. Here those with the gold can hobnob with Port Shaw’s upper crust, while noteworthy local nobles and merchants rub elbows with respected officers and sea captains. The Gullet maintains a strict dress code for its common room, and they allow no riffraff in smelly armor past the door. A patrol of Dragoons is always present outside the Gullet to see that the code is enforced. At the Gullet, rooms are spacious, secure, clean and beautifully decorated, and its third level suites supply a breathtaking view of either the mountains or the sea, depending on the room’s facing.

The Invisible Hand Society Parlor
This parlor is the meeting place of members of the Razor Coast Trading Company and maintains a well-disciplined security force on hand. As befitting of its status, members and guests must follow the dress code, but it allows former military members to wear parade armors. Most of the successful merchants and several business owners within Port Shaw have membership here.

Coppers from the Heavens
Even within Jade District money can be hard to come by, but for those who are willing to deal with the devil, riches are within reach at Coppers from the Heavens. This small sandstone building hosts one of the most successful moneylenders in the city, LaBuel Rouge, who charges usury rates from those desperate enough to agree to his terms. LaBuel keeps two minotaurs on staff to protect him and keep his building secure.

Fort Stormshield
Fort Stormshield is over 100 years old, built even before the founding of Port Shaw. Built atop a plateau overlooking Kai Bay along Arcadia’s Razor Coast by the Aspis Consortium in order to capitalize on the abundance of Tulita slaves and rare hardwoods found along the jungle coast the abandoned the Fort when the consortium – overwhelmed by sea raider’s predations – fled the area. Elder Hargrove, rumored to be the architect of the pirates’ full-blown war on the Aspis shipping fleet, purchased the fort for a pittance. Now the Municipal Dragoons of Port Shaw use the fort as their base of operations. Stormshield’s name stems from its design, with fortress wall constructed from thick stone blocks and mortar, strong enough to resist the Razor’s punishing tropical storms.

Bawd District
The low-burning, smoky tar lanterns of Bawd call sailors and other visitors to her dark twisting alleys and dock-ways, luring them to experiment with exotic and far-ranging narcotics, to lose their shirts (and occasionally their teeth) at gambling dens, to enjoy Port Shaw’s infamous houses of ill-repute, and to attend her myriad entertainments: performances from the Speckled Eyes snake charmer’s guild, baboon fights, gourd-gazing seers, legendary scorpion baths, noose races, and other wild spectacles. Bawd district is also home to The Broken Skull tavern, a well-known pugilists’ den, where nightly matches of grit, stamina, and blood on sawdust entertain the drinking crowd. Gangs and guilds of beggars and thieves are a constant nuisance in this quarter, most of who kick up “tribute” to the Municipal Dragoons in exchange for freedom to pursue their business interests. Gang wars occasionally break out resulting in bloody mayhem that can go on for weeks at a time. Eventually the Dragoons step in and quell these conflicts, usually by taking the highest offer from one warring faction and wiping out their adversaries.

The Broken Skull
Located in the heart of Bawd District, where both tightfisted women of loose morals and slow-swaggering rogues with quick blades prowl, the Broken Skull shines like a beacon to the downtrodden. Because of the noise and general bedlam, few rent rooms at the Skull. Most occupants of the dingy quarters below street level are contenders waiting for a shot at one of the Skull’s esteemed prizefighters. The rooms are damp and dirty. They reek of sweat, blood, and urine. Pit fights are the tavern’s true draw. No-holds-barred bare-knuckle contests rage from sundown to sunrise. The pit’s five current favorites bash newcomers pulpy to the crowd’s delight. Betting is forbidden by official order of the commandant, Gregory Bonedeuce, but most of the patrons gamble to their hearts content anyway. Dragoons do not come here, and it is commonplace for pit fights to spill over into full-fledged tavern brawls.

The Sailors’ Kiss
Within the Bawd District, this unassuming tattoo parlor services the sailors and other residents that make their home within Port Shaw. The artists working at the Sailors Kiss often only tattoo from the preconceived and well-practiced designs that cover the interior walls here like artwork displays. The Sailors Kiss specializes in green ink tattoos.

Miss Molly’s Bathhouse and Laundry
This large, three-story building has a large water tank atop it painted with a buxom lass, elbows deep in soap suds. A sailor looking to wash the stink of the sea off his skin and clothing would find no better place to do so. A steaming hot bath runs a silver piece every half hour. Clothes are cleaned and mended for 2 cp for each article. The famous Miss Molly posed for that water tank painting well over a dozen years ago, but it has weathered well as she pays good coin for skilled artists to touch it up whenever necessary.

Captain’s Wheel
This small inn has a good reputation of comfort for those who can afford it. The Captain’s Wheel is popular with senior officers on leave from their ship, as well as with older sailors who have done well for themselves.

Spyglass and Hook
This spacious inn with its interior courtyard is notorious for the rowdy behavior of its guests. The inn’s sign has an old brass spyglass and hook hand mounted to it and contains no writing. It is run by an old peg-legged sea cook by the name of Torch, and his wife, and they cater to a rambunctious crowd. Rooms can be pricey, but those who are light of coin can make do with camping in the courtyard for a more modest weekly fee.

The Pig’s Whistle
The sign above this tavern displays a pig-headed man in an andoran naval uniform blowing a boatswain’s whistle. This hospitable eatery serves hot pork dishes and rum. On any given night, the Pig’s Whistle is a packed location, with many of the seats and booths filled and a fiddler or two playing a lively tune.

Tide District
The docks of Tide District are the epicenter of the town, where the constant comings and goings of merchant, fishing, and whaling vessels create permanent bedlam on the boardwalks. For the right price, few goods or services in the world cannot be procured in Tide. In this bustling district ships restock their holds, off-load their cargo, and trade their goods from distant shores in exchange for local commodities, angling to fetch a handsome price in a far-off port.

The Run Aground Tavern
This ramshackle little cabin of a tavern in the Docks District is a haven for the many destitute, good-hearted folk of Port Shaw. The owner, Falgor Finney, a kindly old dwarf, allows the homeless and penniless a seat at his bar, a free tankard of ale, and a bowl of stew whenever he can spare it. Other innkeepers in Port Shaw call the poor souls who make up Finney’s clientele “driftwood” and never allow them past their thresholds.

Chapterhouse of the Church of Quell
Located at the edge of Tide and Silk, the Chapterhouse once served as the heart and soul of Port Shaw. People citywide made the journey each day to worship at Quell’s altar. Fishermen prayed for the bounty of the sea, captains for a peaceful voyage, and simple folk for Quell to keep the great waves and monsoons from their shores. A young priest from Garund recently reopened the Chapterhouse and is often found caring for Port Shaw’s poor and holding regular services.

Old Fish’s Supplies
From the outside, this ramshackle building seems nothing more than a small warehouse converted into a bait and tackle shop. Its grimy windows, well-worn exterior, and none too clearly marked sign drooping by a single rusty chain above the doorframe do not speak highly of the quality of products peddled inside. However, for those in need of hard to find bait, tackle, or other fishing gear, or fishing gear and fish trap repair – this is the place to find it.

Absalom Mercantile League Warehouse and Inn
A squat, sprawling warehouse connected a small townhouse, this building flies the Absalom Mercantile League flag above it. Any members of the League can stay within the townhouse for a minimal fee, as well as quartering any shipments within the warehouse.

Nets and Knots
The Tulita frequent this small, dingy shop famed for its sturdy, well-crafted fishing nets and fiber ropes. The proprietor, a retired skipper named Hale, is always willing to buy the native’s nets and resell them to many of the port’s fishing and whaling ships.

The Eight Pence
This old tavern sits within a stone’s throw of the docks. Once an old meat pie building, it has since expanded, now catering to those sailors with too much coin and not enough sense to spend it wisely. Certain other comforts besides a hot meal of chowder or water ale are available here for the right price as well.

Outskirts, Plantations, and Beyond
Beyond the outer periphery of Port Shaw, the endless jungle interior of the island presses against the colonists’ attempt to tame the land. Only the most adventurous mainlanders try to brave the interior, and only the desperate or bereft live in the Outskirts.

Plantations
Fields of pineapple, taro patches, sugar cane, mango trees and other delicacies worth a king’s ransom ring the interior-facing side of Port Shaw. These sprawling estates look like paradise from a distance, their colorful treasures undulating in the cool breeze. Closer inspection reveals the perspiry sheen of indentured Tulita workers and the hash beatings of their overseers.

The plantations are a place of misery. Their verdant lands no longer belong to the native peoples who now work them, slaving away for barely enough food to feed their families. The conditions at different plantations vary. Some owners treat their indentured workers as valued employees, others like rented mules.

The Sewers
The citizens of Port Shaw avoid the sewers at all costs, and all manner of horrible tales tell of the unnatural inhabitants within. Work on the sewers halted after over 100 Tulita workers lost their lives. While the newly placed foreign members of the Council of Elders cared nothing for the senseless deaths of the natives, they eventually decided further attempts to expand the sewers would waste time, not to mention good slave labor.

As a result, the small sewer system of Port Shaw remains woefully inadequate. While the brilliant design of its seawater intake system far outstrips most other cities’ sanitation solutions, the insufficient size of the sewers causes numerous problems. Pockets of explosive sewer gas accumulate in tunnels, and drainage conduits often flood during high tide, blocking sewage from depositing into the once pristine, now cesspool-like Kai Bay. Pollution of the seawater in the harbor is only one of many concerns, although it is likely responsible for the deadly sewage tainted water elementals that prowl the harbor and the tunnels below the city.

The Dragoons bar anyone from entering the sewers without their Writ of Official Business. This does not keep interested parties of adventurers from probing the murky depths below Port Shaw without such sanction, chasing hastily discarded valuables or rumors of lost treasures left behind by either the prior settlers or former occupants of the catacombs. Those brave and desperate enough to face such dangers for a chance at profit are known as “sewer pirates”, the most noted of whom is Lester Farrows.

The Outskirts
Life on the Razor forces many of the unfortunate and impoverished to eke out meager existences beyond Fort Stormshield on the outskirts of Port Shaw, subsisting as outcasts at the edge of a harsh wilderness teeming with monsters. Most of the local Tulita linger in the Outskirts, as do those who need to hide from the rulers of Port Shaw without leaving the city’s shadow.

In the Outskirts, struggling against disease, famine, and aggressive predators, some proud Tulita cling to life with the strength of their ancestors, even as their gods turn away from them. Others have lost hope. More than half the Tulita population living here toils under the backbreaking yoke of the plantation owners. Many of the rest – brothers, fathers and sons – take berths on whaling ships, leaving their loved ones to struggle in their wake.

Those left behind hope their loved ones on the waves will return with enough gold to buy their freedom and perhaps some land. However, those who depart rarely return, as slavers often raid the whaling fleets and make a beeline for Carcass with their human cargo. These unfortunates’ orphaned families persist in the Outskirts, filled with hope, anger, and despair in equal measure.