Shandow
For most of its life, Shandow was an average sized
fishing port. It was blessed with
having an almost perfect natural harbour and this harbour was usually crowded
with fishing boats and the merchant trader ships which sailed the coasts of
Shardar. The population of Shandow
also held some trappers and hunters who sailed across to Shan Isle to bring down
the fierce beasts that dwell there and that was about all there was to Shandow.
That all changed in the Year 279 when High Lord Calloway proclaimed war
on the continent of Dargoth.
Shandow was the
obvious choice of a port to base the new ships that Calloway would need and, if
the ships were going to be based at Shandow, why not make them there?
Shipwrights were called in from all across the land and set to making the
large and fast ships that transported the armies across the Southern Sea to
Dargoth. Mercenaries and
adventurers flooded into Shandow, hoping to join up or to make some fast money
and, almost overnight, the village metamorphosed into a chaotic town.
Shandow is still
growing and the original village is surrounded by a sea of makeshift houses and
tents. There simply wasn’t
anywhere near enough accommodation for everyone that came to the village and
although permanent buildings are slowly being put up, the vast majority of
soldiers and mercenaries are housed in tents.
Neither the Lord of Shandow nor the soldiers are happy with this
arrangement, but there is little that can be done to change it at the moment.
Taverns, inns and barracks are being put up as quickly as it is possible
but it is still not fast enough to cope with the growing population.
At the moment,
Shandow has a population of about 3,000 adults but most of these do not stay for
long. There is a constant flow of
people both into and out of the town so this makes it very difficult to keep
track of the size of the population. Since
the majority of residents are part of Calloway’s army, very little is brought
into the town in the way of taxes, but large amounts of coin are spent in the
inns and on the whores that flock around the army tents.
In their own way, the soldiers and mercenaries do pay taxes, but it is in
a slightly less direct manner than most.
The harbour at
Shandow always has a large fleet of fishing boats, a regular ferry service
across to Shan Isle and Calloway’s warships.
At any one time there is upwards of half a dozen fighting craft just
waiting to take new batches of warriors across to Dargoth.
On one side of
the harbour are the headquarters of the harbour staff and the offices of
Calloway’s army and navy staff, while on the other side are the more
traditional, run down taverns, brothels and inns.
The difference between the two sides can seem somewhat startling to
strangers but the locals have become used to it and hardly even notice the
incongruity of it any more.
Despite the
prosperity that the armies have brought into Shandow, there is still a lot of
animosity between them and the locals of the town.
The town militia are often called upon to break up bar room brawls and
riots and more than one soldier has spent his last night on Shardar in a cell.
Another aspect
of Shandow that strangers should be aware of are the press-gangs that roam the
streets, looking for any individual unfortunate enough to cross their path.
With the large number of losses in Dargoth, Calloway has need of more
warriors to boost his armies and, in certain cases, he is not too fussy about
how he gets them. Normally the
press-gangs look for one or two people, dressed in the fashion of mercenaries or
warriors, and they will then attack them, seeking to knock them unconscious,
place them on a boat that is due to leave soon and then go to look for more
victims. Normally, by the time that
the poor unfortunate has regained their senses, they are out to sea and have no
choice but to fight for Calloway. There
is no official policy about these acts and, as far as the Lord of Shandow is
concerned, the press-gangs simply don’t exist.
The present Lord
of Shandow is Sekos Rack, a firm follower of Calloway and a supporter of the war
in Dargoth. He was born in the Year
249 and is fat, ugly and rude. There
are very few points in the Lord’s favour and, even among the other Lords and
Barons, he is universally disliked and distrusted.
There is something about the way he looks and acts that makes people
automatically doubt his motives and Sekos has long ago come to terms with this.
Instead of trust or love, he rules his people with fear and strength and,
as long as his subjects do what he demands of them, Sekos couldn’t care less
how they view him. In fact, he quite likes being mistrusted, it gives him a
perverted pleasure knowing that he can do what he likes because people will be
thinking the worst of him anyway.
The law in
Shandow is quite simple, don’t rock the boat!
Anyone who does anything to endanger either trade, the forces of High
Lord Calloway or Lord Sekos will find themselves being dealt with very harshly.
The usual punishment for any infringement, no matter how minor, is to be
forced to join the army and sent to fight in Dargoth.
The criminals that are used in this way are normally given the most
dangerous positions in any battle and do not have a very long life expectancy.
Many of the
Mages of Ocean Gate have spent some time in Shandow, there is something about
the natural harbour that attracts the dolphins and porpoises that the Mages love
to communicate with. It is usual to
find at least one of the Oceanic Mages in the town at any time, often more, but
they tend to keep themselves to themselves and ignore most other things going on
around them.
Calloway is
constantly trying to attract more Mages to join his campaign but it isn’t
believed that he has begun to press-gang them yet.
Any Mage who is in the areas would be well advised to remember that there
is a war on and that certain civil rights are not upheld as strongly as they
once were.
There are many
taverns and inns of every imaginable quality in Shandow but one of the most
popular for travelling mercenaries is The Far Horizon.
The Horizon is cheap and cheerful, with a room for the night costing in
the region of 1 Hawk and a meal about the same price.
Most ales cost 3 Birds for a tankard but there is a large amount of other
drinks to choose from. The
proprietor, Amos Shanke, is an old seaman who has travelled most of the explored
waters of Keltar and doesn’t have much time for the soldiers of Calloway who
think they are sailors. Amos was
once a large man but he has mostly gone to fat now and his shock of ginger hair
has streaks of grey running through it. At
one point he was a powerful warrior but now he is just another old man who runs
a tavern.
Soldiers of any
kind are not welcome in The Far Horizon but press-gangs have been known to wait
outside, hoping for some drunken fool to fall victim to their tactics.
As long as visitors are careful where they walk and remember to keep an
eye open for the press-gangs, they shouldn’t have a problem in Shandow.
But, if anyone is foolish or unwary, they could wake up far out to sea
and one their way to fight for a cause that they don’t believe in, in a
foreign country.