Port Damali

As the unofficial capital of the Clovis Concord, Port Damali has the largest population on the coast at around 82,000 by the year 835 PD. It is fairly diverse, with only 51% of the population being human. Halflings make up 16% and elves make up 15% with other races making up 18%. Some rare races tied to the sea and other nations can be spotted within the city as well, including tritons and water genasi. Many individuals can find ancestries traced back to Marquet or the original Ki'Nau inhabitants of the coast.    A majority of the individuals in the city are laborers for guilds or merchants, farmers from the surrounding area, fishermen and hunters. The large amount of trade and naval traffic lead many to take up related professions, such as sailing, carpentry, fishing, manual labor, etc. Its large size also allows for rare professions to be found, such as monster hunters, luxury item craftsmen, arcane item creation, mages, mercenary companies, etc.

The laws of the Clovis Concord are enforced with varying stringency within each city. Nowhere is this more true than in Port Damali, where the law can be bough tlike any other commodity. Anything can be purchased here, even the ear of Marquis Olesya Lapidus, the celebrated leader of Port Damali. The Lapidus family rose to prominence over a century ago, when they shifted from employing merchants to deploying mercenaries. In time, anyone who sought safety n the waves turned to Lapidus family privateers. As the fifth in her family to lead Port Damali, Marquis Olesya steadfastly collaborates with the other leaders of the Menagerie Coast to keep the concord an independent nation, free from imperial control. However, Marquis Lapidus faces threats on all sides. When she was distracted by the rise of the Revelry, the long-dormant Myriad swooped in and conscripted many of the guilds she was supposed to oversee. Now she struggles to excise the Myriad claws embedded within the belly of her city.

Surrounding the city is a strong set of stone walls, covered in defensive installations. This walls were built to protect the city in case of danger from land or sea, in the form of army or monster. For its history, the city has been kept safe by its protections, which are somewhat maintained and improved every couple of decades.    The main form of law enforcement in the city are the Zhelezo, the official guards of the Clovis Concord. In the city of Port Damali, there are roughly 800 Zhelezo spread throughout the city. These guards patrol the streets and surrounding settlements of the city, keeping an eye out for crime. However, the guards of the city are notorious for their penchant of being bought off, with enough coin.    Spread throughout the walls and outputs around the city are detachments of Shore Wardens. These are the main fighting force of the Clovis Concord, and as the largest city within the alliance, Port Damali boasts a strong contingent of them. There are nearly 750 Shore Wardens within the near vicinity of Port Damali, with some on land while others are just past the harbor's end.    There are also a large number of mercenaries who travel through Port Damali for work. Many find themselves remaining in the city as a hub for jobs, item crafting, relaxation, etc. Many adventuring parties and groups find themselves considering Port Damali as their home base. None of these is more notable than the Golden Chain Mercenary Company. This is an expensive yet efficient mercenary group with a large number of members, many of whom are highly skilled. They are often in the employ of the Concord, Lapidus family, or other powerful merchants within the city walls.   In regards to the navy, few are capable of matching the power of the Lapidus family within the city of Port Damali. Many attribute its status as the largest and wealthiest of the cities on the coast to its notable naval protections. This city alone holds nearly a quarter of the Concord's naval power. This means over a hundred military ships regularly patrol the regions around Port Damali and its major trade routes.

Port Damali is a city founded on trade and mercantile power. Therefore, nearly any item or business can be found within the city walls. Many key resources in the Clovis Concord and even other areas of Wildemount are shipped through Port Damali to reach the distant lands of Tal'Dorei and beyond. Some major goods include steamcast from Gwardan to the north and wines from Feolinn to the southeast. As long as one has enough coin, it is said that nearly any item or delight can be bought in Port Damali.

Port Damali has sprawling docks and shipyards built into the city over its long history and due to its connection to the ocean. Many of the merchant guilds have led rise to numerous crafting organizations and corresponding implements such as forges. Specifically, a complex network of steam engines were built beneath the city to power the operations of the various guilds and businesses within its walls. The various engineering and arcane minds of the city's history have built up infrastructure to allow for a comfortable life for most, especially when compared to the wilderness further beyond the city walls. A notable addition to the city in the recent decades is a skyport, a terminal for massive brumstone powered airships to touch down and depart from.

The Tumbledowns Within the Tumbledowns, the majority of citizens live in cramped structures of varied shape and design, from clay domes to thatched huts to warped wooden shacks. The architecture resembles a mishmash of cultures from all over Exandria, which, along with the Prism Path, creates a pleasant patchwork atmosphere even in the more run-down regions. A number of small temples are also situated in the Tumbledowns.   The Beaded Alley The Beaded Alley is the center of general commerce and trade within Port Damali, named for the decorative cords that hang over each intersection bearing all manner of streamers and dangling beads. Businesses both young and old all mingle here, competing for the attention of anyone with coin. Many bards and performers bring an air of lively irreverence to the bustling atmosphere.   The Crescents The ward known as the Crescents was named in reference to the seven large, moon shaped statues that were a gift from the Alkamar family when the city was founded. This affluent area houses competing guild families and well-connected nobles who wish to live near the politics of the city or the delights of the port. The beautiful Pearl Shrine temple to Avandra and the Sunfall Sanctuary temple to Pelor reside within the Crescents.   The Gilded Esplanade The Gilded Esplanade is definitely the most extravagant locale within Port Damali. Each street is lined with the most lauded of artists and performers, with markets lush with expensive wares and high-end imports from around the world. Home to the Auction House and venues for recurring festivities, as well as the spire-like skyport, the Esplanade is known to be the sparkling locale that comes to mind whenever people mention Port Damali.   The Larboard Light The massive harbor that forms the southern edge of the city is known as the Larboard Light. This upscale dockside region is as lavish as docks come. Dozens of ships come into port every day, carrying goods and gold from all over, and many visitors coming to briefly live like a king with the many amusements the city has to offer. The office of the marquis is located on the northern end of this ward.

The leading organization over the city of Port Damali is the Clovis Concord. In fact, many consider this city to be the alliance's unofficial capital. As its rulers, the Lapidus family seeks to maintain their power while growing the might of the city itself. An archive of the Cobalt Soul is located here, cementing the organization's tie to the government and surrounding regions. Many diplomats and representatives from others nations and organizations make their home here in the city. Out at sea, the Revelry looks to clash against the Concord and achieve victory in obtaining absolute freedom. All the while, the influence of the Myriad continues to grow from beneath the surface of the city.

Damali, later called Port Damali, was founded as an outpost in about 400 PD after a diplomatic agreement between an expedition of Marquesian explorers, who desperately needed supplies, and Ki'Nau leaders, who accepted trade items of gold, spices, and silks. This made it the first Marquesian colony in the Menagerie Coast. Marquesian settlements flourished throughout the Coast in a "tentative" peace with the Ki'Nau people in the years after. When J'mon Sa Ord came to power, Damali and the other cities took opportunity to petition J'mon for independence. Eventually, the demand was granted. In about 435 PD, Port Damali became one of the founding city-states of the Clovis Concord, and in time, it rose to become the nation's unofficial capital.   The city rose to become a center of trade and commerce both globally and on Wildemount, capital of free trade outside the Dwendalian Empire. Expeditions that later founded Whitestone and the Wanderman Assembly originated in Port Damali. Port Damali has been led by multiple generations of the Lapidus family, who rose to prominence when they began maintaining a privateer fleet. Their protection of the city has seen consecutive members of the family as marquis of Port Damali, latest of whom is Olesya Lapidus.

The largest city on the western coast of Wildemount, the resplendent seaside metropolis of Port Damali is nestled against the Tyodan River where it meets the Lucidian Ocean. The city is built atop a cluster of leveled hills, and slight changes of elevation physically mark the variation between wards. Past the farmsteads, beyond the tents and ramshackle homes that mark the boundaries of the city, lies the Prism Path, a series of connecting main roads made of smooth, multicolored stones reclaimed from the ocean shores. These roads carve through the interior wards: the Tumbledowns, the Beaded Alley, the Crescents, the Gilded Esplanade, and the Larboard Light.