Portus Isara

The city of Portus Isara, commonly known as the Shallow ports is one of the older cities that falls under the influence of Alvera due to how close it is to the city. The city used to be the biggest hotspots for trading, its thick walls and well-trained guards instilling confidence in passing traders who enjoyed the safe waters and hospitable locals. It is quite ironic that these thick walls, once medicine, have turned into the very thing poisoning the city and its stability.

Portus Isara is under the governing of Duca Mathia Bianchi. The Bianchi family always been the leading house when it came to the importing overseas products to the twin cities, a position that had gained them great wealth, albeit at the cost of exploiting the people of Cappalina a little bit, using the fact that it was on the other side river, much further away, as an excuse to raise the prices and fatten their own pockets.

This sentiment made them quite unpopular with House Urso’s faction, making them have to side with House Volante.

Not even ten years ago, house Ludovisi, member of Urso’s faction splurged quite a bit of their wealth to transform their city, Atranni, near a river into 'a trading hub as well, most likely with the financial support of other houses in Urso’s group. Naturally, Duca Bianchi wasn’t planning on losing competition against some upstart.

At the same time, a lot of problems also started to pop up. Merchants were being slow, workers were slow and the man's harbour master was being more sloppy with the day. Naturally, the Duca was no fool and realized that Duca Alessandro Ludovisi must have had a hand in this.

He also invested the wealth that he had built up over the years into making his port more attractive for traders. It was here that the problem of his many sleepless nights propped up. Their thick and heavy walls made it so that the port couldn’t grow any bigger. Not only this, but in the past one of his ancestors had used some of the hills and natural very dense ground to his advantage to make an almost impossible to take wall, but when one is trying to expand the port, a very hard to dig into ground and hills are all but beneficial.

In desperation, the Duca hired the best Harbor Master that coin could buy and paid even more for his loyalty, but in the end, even his talent wasn’t enough to fully compete with the new port. Now, the Duca didn’t lose his leading position, but quite a few of his funds had been wasted and he had taken a decent hit to his financials, one that grew bigger with each passing year.

This hit, however, didn't mean that he wasn't planning on hurting his enemy as well. He was the one who spread the sentiment that the 'commoners' had ruined the 'Vacation city of Atranni'. He was sure this sentiment would have appeared either way, but his interference made it pop up a year or two faster than it should have, hurting Duca's Lodovisi's coffers quite a bit.

Constructions to make the port bigger are in the works, but since the harbour is so overpopulated with merchants coming in and out of the city and the Duca’s refusal to shut their gates combined with the rocky ground, it is only happening at a snail’s pace and will never be enough.

For the rest, the city is rather normal. The only thing that stands out is the availability of rare overseas products for the cheapest price in the entirety of Erasti and their many high-class inns due to the Duca’s investments.

Currently, the city still has very strong trade connections with the city of Alvare. To use the word ‘strong’ is already quite the understatement. Alvare is where almost all of the goods that arrive in this city go currently, making this trade route the lifeblood of the city.

Many adventurers and mercenaries always flock to Portus Isari for a myriad of reasons. Due to the fact that Princeps Volante’s faction could be dealt a heavy blow by disrupting the trade, there always are raiders hitting the merchants travelling between Portus Isara and Alvare. Naturally, the merchants didn’t stop because of that. No, they hired adventurers to aid them into reaching their destination.

Not only this but the city of Portus Isara regularly funds large scale bandit and monster hunts to clean the lands and to reassure the merchants. Sometimes these hunts even extend to the waters near them.

This is the place where you will always find work as long as you have a good hand to swing a sword with.

In the city you have the following hotspots:

Isara Temple: A place of worship that houses a myriad of gods from all types of pantheons, especially those often worshipped by adventurers, merchants and sellswords. The temple offers healing at the right price, something that has aided the adventuring and mercenary industry quite a bit. It is always nice to know that you can get your wounds fixed at the end of the battle for a little bit of coin.

Vendor’s street: While the name of this location might sound bland, it is anything but that. Located in the centre of the city and being the only diagonal street is not what made it famous. No, its renown came from the fact that many of the overseas merchants come here to set up a stall and sell some of the more niche products that they often carry with them. Weapons, potions and anything that an adventurer or sellsword could need to live to see another day during a fight.

Valentino’s monopoly: A man named Valentino managed to get a monopoly on inns in this city, yes plural. Due to the sheer amount of traffic, there is a wide range of inns, each with a different price and level of service. The man himself always proudly proclaims that his chain of inns can house anyone, from the freshest adventurer to the Princeps themselves. Despite his monopoly, his prices are quite fair, having mostly armed clientele makes one rather careful of trying to rip them off. His places, or well, the lower class ones, are rather accepting of weapons being brought inside, making them popular with the resting and returning mercenaries.

The Barracks: These are not actual barracks, no far from it even. Owned by a mysterious man, this place is one of the most run-down buildings in the city and also the most popular one. Here the hot-blooded mercenaries and adventurers come to duke it out. They can drink cheap beer, have quick brawls, gamble their money away and enjoy anything they could need to destress after a tough job. This place, despite the number of people that visit it doesn’t earn much due to the low prices. Some claim that it is owned by the Duca himself and that he ignores the antics of everyone inside because he understands that if he doesn’t let these armed men destress ever so often, he won’t be able to maintain public order.