Widlas Coast

If Ixthos’ reputation for crime is only partially earned, the Widlas Coast earned theirs through years of hard, if not honest, work. The coast is changeable, with sandbars and shoals that are different every trip. The land inland is similar, with swamps and dark woods full of tangled undergrowth. It’s hard to navigate this land, but even harder for a fully armed troop of guards, which makes it perfect for those who don’t mind earning their privacy for the price of a bit of mud, bug bites, and the risk of a foundered boat.

Though challenging, the area is beautiful in its way. I stayed with a small village of prisoners who had escaped from Demos. There were forgers, murderers, and thugs amongst their ranks, but here they had built up a set of stilted huts that rose above the water. Rope bridges hung between the structures like aerial alleyways. In the early morning when you rose from the reed mats on the floor, you could watch herons striding through the marsh hunting frogs and crawdads. Young alligators floated on the water hoping herons would mistake them for logs, and turtles the size of shields soaked in the early morning sun on rocks.

I loved my time in that village, until I looked at a woman’s pack too long. She came at me with a machete, and I had to flee the village. The rest of them who had known me for months just shrugged as I ran. What could be done? I had looked at her pack the wrong way, after all.

Medissa is the only city in the area, but it has taken the stilted hut approach to new heights. The city is filled with canals and the buildings of brick and stone are high enough to loom over the water. The city is on the delta of the Medissa River which flows from Lake Walbern to the Widlas Ocean. This makes the canals brackish, and the smell of fish is everywhere.

The city is busy. There are four ruling families who make a grand, lethal game of ruling the city. The current leader is House Aleur, known for experimenting with poisons and alchemy. Their rival is House Masclo who prize information above all else. They have agents throughout Myrnia providing them updates on the latest events. House Paparni is weaker than the first two, but is excellent at obtaining hard-to-find items. Some call them fences serving thieves throughout the continent, but they prefer to see themselves as patrons for ambitious souls looking to raise themselves out of poverty. The fourth is House Thisqui. Their priority is magical skills and secrets, and their aims and full potential are mysterious. There is a rumor that the family has pledged its bloodline to a demon, though that is the sort of rumor they might plant to give the population a healthy fear of them. True or not, the dwarves want little to do with anyone from House Thisqui.

There are other, smaller families and gangs that make up the remaining power of Medissa. Each house, large or small, has partisans in dismal outposts positioned in the nearby swamp or in villages a day’s sail away. This introduces uncertainty about any family’s true strength, and prevents the rivalries from becoming outright warfare.

You must be careful about making deals in Medissa. Each family seeks an new surprise to turn the advantage to their favor, and it is easy to become a pawn in the complex chessboard of the city politics.