Ahmelvet

Ahmelvet is a small Elvish settlement at the heart of the Ialen Bay (sometimes called Ahmelvet Bay by Ethelan Elves). The town is home largely to Elves and Half-Elves, although some Gnomes and even Mainlanders are known to inhabit the space, making it rather cosmopolitan for its size. Despite this and the suffocating swamp around it, it is renowned around Maletsok for the constant dense fog and the supposed haunting at the town's inn.

History

Ahmelvet was founded shortly after the Ethelan-Maletsokish War sometime in the Eleventh Century by a mainland merchant named Piolnar Gerunyr. Gerunyr hoped to strike it rich by founding a private city for fellow merchants to operate out of without the level of Imperial oversight at public ports. The site was chosen for its extremely low cost due to its marshy environs and persistent fog. The community thrived for roughly a century, but the growing Imperial presence in Maletsok eventually shut down his private operation. This, coupled with the placement in one of the marshiest areas of the Northern Wetlands, led to the communities swift decline into the humble port it is today. Merchants still operate out of the town as the shipping out of its port is slightly cheaper than out of larger ports such as Lafallameaivet, but their numbers dwindle by the century as increasing trade demands require deeper draught ships that the bay simply cannot handle.

An important chapter in the town's history was the construction of the Skimmer Lighthouse, known to locals as the Skimmer Light. In Totermu of the year 1208, a merchant schooner The Skimmer left port. She was carrying a load of 10 tons of Elonatan Whisky bound for Lafoleth to be further exported throughout the Empire. She was crewed by 14 mariners, captained by Lathlaeril Qinric.

The Skimmer had been held up in Ahmelvet for roughly a week, delayed by a dense fog in the Bay. Despite her better judgement, Captain Qinric decided to sail anyway, anxious about the demands of her contract. Tragically, The Skimmer never left the Ialen Bay. She veered too closely to the West Point of the mouth of the bay, striking rocks below the surface and quickly taking water. According to witnesses, within a mere 3 minutes, she along with her cargo and crew slipped below the waves.

The tragedy made news across Maletsok. In response, the Low Commissioner personally requested a lighthouse be placed at the West Point so that mariners could navigate safely in dense fog. After roughly a year and a half of planning, construction began in earnest in 1211, with the foundation alone taking over 16 years. Massive stone slabs were cut and hewn by masons in the Zindush Valley (see Valley Guilds) and shipped along the coast. The foundation were placed as deep as 65 feet in order to provide stability in the soft, evershifting marshlands. After another 40 years, the lighthouse was completed in 1254 and named the Skimmer Lighthouse after the tragedy that conceived it.

Haunting

Despite this rich and unique history, however, Ahmelvet is most famous -- or infamous -- for its haunting. The town's tavern, the Wet Lily Inn, is said to be haunted by the soul of a woman who wanders the Inn and the bay outside of town, singing and howling at the sea. The famous folk song The Maid of Ahmelvet Bay proposes that the woman, called the Maid, can command a horde of corpses from the sea, which has since been added upon the haunting's lore. Other legends recount how the Maid can interact with the physical plane and even harm mortals, such as during countless horrifying tales of men being chased or attacked by her in the night. This legend of the Maid is said to be the single greatest source of revenue for the town of Ahmelvet, as tourists will come from all around with hopes of spotting her out on the water.