Liminavis

As one might expect for a maritime city-state, Liminants revere Llymlaen, watcher of the seas and goddess of navigation. True believers make pilgrimages to the mark of the Navigator before they set sail, and upon their safe return to port. The worship of Lymlaen has roots in a loose collection of local beliefs, however, and thus cannot be thought of as a formal religion. Indeed, the Navigator has no grand temples nor clergy to Her name in Liminavi, save the odd bethel overlooking the endless seas. Instead, each man keeps his own faith within his home through prayer and humble ritual.

Liminavis is a traditional thalassocracy, with power lying in the hands of the ruling party and its leader, Admiral Oro Horala. A number of councilors, nominated personally by the admiral, oversee the everyday proceedings of the thalassocracy. Its economy is driven by shipbuilding, fishing, and blacksmithing, but the majority of wealth comes from the lucrative shipping industry.   Liminans choose their leader in the Trident, a competition held once every seven years. The strongest of pirate crews run this multi-pronged race, and whosoever crosses the finish line first becomes admiral, the head of the maritime city-state. Afforded sweeping powers over Limsa Lominsa, new admirals will often drastically alter existing policies—and with it, change the course of the city-state.   To maintain the safety of its maritime routes, the city employs a formidable navy known as the Knights of the Barracuda, but even in the waters nearby the city, pirate bands run rampant, raving and pillaging. Admiral Oro reinstated the Maelstrom to combine the forces of the Knights, conscripted pirates, and mercenaries into a land-and-sea army to combat all threats to the city-state.  

Beliefs

Founded by pirates fleeing the rules of kings, Liminans continue to see laws more as guidelines than actual rules. Whether pirate or fisherman, citizens generally feel less loyal to their city-state than to their immediate crew. This spirit of freedom ever drives Liminavis forward, yet the selfsame wild abandon may appear brutish in the eyes of other nations.

Piracy

In the present day, piracy as such is forbidden. Privateering, on the other hand, is permitted, provided that the plunder be of Tertian origin.  

Fishing

Liminan anglers come together in numerous loose associations of "pullers" and eke out their living by casting off the coastal cliffs and trawling the open seas.  

Shipbuilding

Whether they be crafting great warships or fishing skiffs, the shipwrights of Limsa Lominsa have no equals within the realm—as they themselves will proudly proclaim.  

Metalwork

The art of steel-making evolved alongside the shipbuilding industry and has profited much from Liminan exchanges with the dwarves who are masters of metallurgy in their own right.  

Shipping

With their considerable knowledge of shipbuilding and seafaring, it was natural that a shipping industry should flourish in the city-state. Many and more are trading vessels that can be seen sailing in and out of port each day.  

Farming

A settlement initiative has made great strides in providing an honest livelihood for those retired from freebooting, who grow mainly oranges, grapes, and wheat.

The Founding of a City

In 2420 of the Umbral Era, the Galadion set sail from the isles deep in the western seas—the last of a mighty armada which turned on its nation in the name of the people, only to meet defeat at the hands of those they meant to free. The Sea Wolf crew of this noble vessel, who could no longer abide the rule of tyrants, steered her crippled hull east through unknown waters in search of a new home. After a yearlong voyage cursed by many troubles, the ship drifted to the western coast of Laëril, and there ran aground.   The Galadion carried two Elven helmsmen: Jean De Nevelle, a navigator, and the adventurer Guy La Thagran. Tasked with exploring the interior of their newfound land, both confirmed that the region was fertile. In this land, the crew realized that they had found the home they had sought. Under Admiral Navis, leader of the expedition which later became known as The Sage of Revolution, the crew built a small village inland of what was soon dubbed La Noscea after a second lodesman who perished of scurvy just two days before landfall.   However, it quickly became clear that the men and women of the Galadion were not alone, and had trespassed upon the domain of the Scalekin, a tribe of saurian-like humanoids. After a few skirmishes, the crew abandoned their village for the relative safety of the Galadion, which they had left stranded upon the coast. From their ship, they built bridges to the small islands and exposed reefs scattered about the bay, and thus the maritime city-state of Liminavis was born.   A Maritime Age Liminavis in its early days was a place for coinless refugees. Unable to make full use of La Noscea’s rich resources due to the continued hostility of the kobolds, the Lominsans lived in poverty, much as they had in the north seas. They kept their skills as sailors, however, and thus chose the path of survival open to them—piracy.   After occupying the few scant forests of lower La Noscea and gaining a source of lumber, the Liminans set about building warships. With the salt-heavy winds at their back, the early townsfolk came into their element, and began to attack the merchant ships sailing the neighboring Sea—ferocious as wolves preying upon sheep. Soon, the city-state was rich with plunder, and a black market had opened to peddle the stolen goods.   Thus, it was through piracy that Liiminavis' population grew larger and more diverse. Plainsfolk came from the south sea isles, drawn by rumors of cheap wares, and Liminan pirates oft gave members of captured crews the choice to join their ranks. Before long, Sea Wolves worked the docks of the maritime city-state alongside humans and Whalekin.  

The Trident

As the pirates grew in number, they began to organize into proper crews. As the number of crews multiplied, however, quarrels among them became more common. Questions of territory and shares of plunder erupted into violence in the 2531th year of the second Astral Era, and for nearly two decades thereafter, the streets ran with the blood of feuding pirates. The madness continued until 2556—the year that Agatzahr Roehmerlsyn assumed the admiralship.   From a buccaneer background himself, Admiral Agatzahr invited the strongest of the warring crews to the negotiation table. Through bartering and threats, he secured their solemn oath to put an end to the fighting. More miraculously, however, he put forth a code of conduct which every corsair would have to honor: No crew would cheat another of its plunder, nor rob a fellow Liminant, nor sell fellow men into slavery.   Though the code itself was revolutionary, its enforcement was perhaps more so. The best of all crews came together and founded the Upright Thieves, a shadowy organization that punished those who broke the code. Admiral Agatzahr’s rules became as law to the pirates not because they were imposed from above, but rather because they were enforced in every back alley and bad tavern. Thanks to this, peace returned to Liminavis.   Agatzahr went on to tax the revived trade in plunder, and used the proceeds to bolster the Knights of the Barracuda, the Liminavis navy. With this force, he devoted himself to fighting the Scalekins. Through Agatzahr’s reforms, Liminavis became mighty: the pirates grew wealthy from raiding foreign vessels, while the Barracudas secured the interior territories and defended the harbor. In his late years, the Admiral also established the Trident so as to avoid a war of succession. Truly, the maritime city-state would not be the power it is today without his many contributions.  

Revolution

For several decades, the Trident reliably produced leaders who served seven years—though history is littered with admirals who stayed in office for longer. Many pirate lords rose to the position, and their strength allowed them to rein in the rough seafaring citizens. In this way, Liminavis maintained unity as a city-state.   However, the Trident was to produce a leader in 2749 who would change the maritime city-state in greater ways than ever before: Oro Horala. Though she herself was a pirate leader of the infamous League of Lost Bastards, Oro declared piracy illegal upon assuming the admiralship—an act that shocked Liminants and dealt a blow to the mainstay of its economy. Why would she do such a thing? Evidently, the Admiral realized that Liminavis could not face the encroaching threat of the Tertian Empire without powerful allies, and could ill afford to antagonize the other nations of Laëril.  

The Galadion Accord

Naturally, the Admiral’s order outlawing piracy was unpopular amongst the heretofore state-sanctioned corsairs, and more than a few daring attempts were made on Oro’s life. However, her will was of steel, and she refused to budge by even one inch. She won what crews she could through negotiation, persuading them of Limina’s need to cooperate with the other city-states. And the crews who remained unyielding, she silenced.   Oro showed her strength as a leader in other ways as well, particularly in deftly dispelling the saurian threat that came to hang over the city-state. In 239 2A, she allocated state funds towards the hiring of the Company of Heroes, a famed mercenary band. This proved coin well spent as when the Scalekins summoned their dinosaur ancestors a year later, the sellswords were there to vanquish the monsters. In the same year, they worked alongside the Knights of the Barracuda to fell the then leader of the Scaleskin tribes.   Seeing both the Lord of Crags defeated through the Admiral’s foresight, many Liminants warmed to Oro, and soon those voices that decried her were singing her praises. By 248 2A, she was able to establish the Maelstrom, Limina's Grand Company. Her final victory was the Galadion Accord, which bound the pirate crews to the Maelstrom, and unified all of Liminavis under her command.

Vylbrand rises from the waves of the Rhotano Sea, and beneath the worn and ancient cliffs on its west shore stands the maritime city-state of Liminavis. A beautiful and wondrous sight, the city perches upon pillars of rock and reef that jut out from the bay. Townsfolk pass between these areas on long bridges, and so thrive above the seas.