Harborside

*“An affront to all culture, everywhere.”*

*- A non-local*

Harborside is a crusty sea-side town located on Eithne's western coast. It is known for its hardened sailors, persistent fog, and distinctive stench. The overwhelming majority of its residents work in the whaling business, providing coveted whale oil throughout the continent, along with meat, bone, and tendon.

## Town

Harborside is situated on the Marrow Coast, roughly two hundred miles northwest of the capital city. It is best described as 'rough': housing and establishments are built with available materials that willingly (and almost gleefully) sacrifice beauty for functionality that nonetheless seems to be in a constant state of disrepair. The town is split into a lower and upper level by a ridge. Businesses occupy the lower level; residential homes, a lighthouse, and the town hall occupy the top. Harborside's port is the main feature of the town and is large enough to support several vessels of various sizes; of all the town's assets, the piers are kept in the best condition.

Due to the region's persistent, thick fog, the lighthouse is carefully maintained at all times by two keepers, one for the daytime hours and one for the night. In addition to the fog, a pervasive stench permeates the town due the constant presence of whale carcasses. Most residents no longer notice it, but it can knock a newcomer off their hooves.

There is no schoolhouse in Harborside, nor any bathhouses, fine restaurants, theaters or even a brothel someone from New Valore would find acceptable.

### Landmarks

To say that Harborside isn’t exactly a hotspot for tourism is an understatement. Besides the stench, and the harsh beauty of the coastline, there is little to make Harborside a destination, and the generally unfriendly locals don’t help matters.

One of the most infamous structures in the town is the Firerot Chapel, a truly sorry excuse for a place of worship notable mostly for its ugliness and general disregard for good taste. Slightly less horrifying is the Seawitch Pool, an indoor fountain dedicated to Cascade. It's one of the few buildings in town made in marble - very stained and dirty marble, but the blues and whites are still recognizable. The fountain itself features a large statue of Cascade on top, with pools of clear water around her.

The only real reason to come to Harborside is to experience their Cruceble - an imitation of the Crucible. This rather depressive looking but still functional fighting arena hosts fights between citizens for others to bet on. Rules tend to be loose at best, and injuries common. The activity is also highly illegal, as Harborside does not have a gambling license. Only local commoners fight here - never slaves or Champions.

The town also features a railway station, which is the best kept building in the whole city. It's the end station of the line, and services mostly cargo trains coming to pick up whaling goods, or deliver grains purchased with the profits. It offers a mercifully quick escape from town.

## Culture

Harborside residents are called Seaborn(s), a self-given title that they seem to be quite proud of. A 'black sheep' of sorts, Harborside shuns the luxury and hedonism associated with traditional Aodhian culture and seeks to distance itself from the herd's main image. Harborside's residents are hardy, persistent, and prone to a brutal honesty. They consider experience to be the most valued asset in another equine. They are hard workers and have little to no appreciation for things such as art or academic education. Children are taught by their guardians, and practical skills are valued over academic ones. Unless their occupation calls for it, the average Seaborn is illiterate.

The culture of Harborside revolves around three activities: sailing, fighting, and drinking. While not prone to the same hedonism as other Aodhians, Seaborn are not averse to the copious use of alcohol - especially not on the off-season from whaling, or when rough weather keeps the ships in harbor, or a local gets married - or any other half-good excuse, really. Their alcohol of choice is a cheap barley ale, and a much stronger booze distilled from sugar and any available malt, most commonly grains or potato. This drink is then further *enhanced* by adding fishheads, seaweed or crabs for flavoring. The locals call the drink Stormbreaker Oil - everyone else calls it ‘Disgusting’.

The rest of the local food-culture is equally revolting to most Aodhians, heavily featuring simple grains, root vegetables and seaweed, usually served either as a stew or a porridge.

Slaves are nonexistent in Harborside. This is not due to moral outrage so much as Harborside's residents consider free labor to be a personal insult to their abilities; they can take care of themselves just fine, unlike Valorians. That being said, in the past when Vagabonds still occasionally moved in Eithne, residents of Harborside were more than happy to profit off of capturing and selling them.

Harborside's views on gender and sexuality coincide with the rest of the Aodh herd. Polyamory is common, and gender norms are nonexistent, as one would expect.

### Patron Gods

In Harborside, Cascade is worshipped as the primary and most favored patron due to her association with their three main sources of work and income: sailing, fishing and whaling. Cascade is seen as the personification of the ocean - unpredictable, difficult to influence, and far above mortal concepts of morality. Cascade is capable of great mercy and terrible vengeance alike, seemingly on a whim; calm when it suits her, and violent when not. She is prayed to before each voyage, and thanked for each safe return. While not traditionally religious in the Aodhian sense, Seaborn are extremely meticulous about upholding their worship of Cascade.

Cascade herself is generally depicted as greyish, with long tangled mane and the back end of an octopus, or sometimes a shark. Her face and front end are beautiful, with fine features and big, expressive and youthful eyes, and she carries on her shoulders a net full of fish. Her lower body is shown in a state of decay, and she may have skulls or other equine bones grasped in her tentacles.

Ignacio is also worshipped, but does not hold the same favor or devotion. He is considered more of a general herd patron than one for the Seaborn specifically, and their interpretation of it falls in line with the New Valore one - if a bit more dark and oily in appearance.

## Economy

Harborside lives on its produce - whale oil. Every part of the animal is used: sinew, bone, meat, skin. The oil (and to an extent the meat, which is used for feeding familiars) are the main exports, while other parts of the whale are often used locally, or ground up and sold as fertilizer to farming towns. In addition to whales, residents work with other types of goods from the sea as well: fishing, pearl diving and seaweed gathering form the other key components of the local economy.

Besides fishing and whaling, the construction and maintenance of ships is the other major job producer in town. Harborside produces some of the best, hardiest ships in Hireath, perfect for rough weather and the open sea. Local shipmakers are occasionally commissioned not only by other towns, but also nobles or even the Crown, to produce sturdy sailing ships for travel and commerce.

The minority of Harborside residents who don’t work with either of these fields work service jobs - such as at the local all-goods store or the decidedly mediocre brothel - or are something of layabouts, making themselves busy distilling booze and participating in fights in the Cruceble.

## History

Harborside was founded during the reign of King Raksha. People had lived in the region long before then, but it was with the King’s betterment of infrastructure outside New Valore that the small villages and hamlets merged to form Harborside. The town originally provided the Crown with mainly shipwright services, but with some of the following King’s having less interest in matters of state, Harborside fell off the Crown’s priority list, and became a largely independent, and very strange little town.

With the exporting of vessels to richer towns now not enough to sustain the village, they became whalers and fishers - something that quickly rekindled interest among other Aodhians. Harborside had already developed into its own eccentric direction by then, supported by its relative isolation. The town was largely left to its own devices but actively traded with, which suited the locals just fine.

During the reign of King Solaris, the railroad came to Harborside, connecting it more solidly to New Valore, and rest of Eithne. This had made their business more lucrative than ever, but little of the “southern soft culture” has managed to seep into the rough town.

## Notes

* Average Seaborn is of a light conformation (arabian, marwari, saddlebred etc). They often look unkempt and strangely muscular to other Aodhians. Seaborn aren’t big into accessorizing and generally only wear practical things.
* Harborside is populated almost entirely by commoners. There are no nobles, artisans, paramounts or armigers here, and no slaves either. Chevaliers generally visit only briefly to respond to a serious crime, and are met with contempt.
* The whole town is considered an eyesore by pretty much everyone outside it, and stereotypes generally paint Harborside even worse than it actually is.
* The locals are quite private and keep to their own circles. It is difficult for newcomers to fit in.