This surprisingly pedestrian (considering the importance of the maritime trades to Warwik City) five-story building houses the professional guild for merchant sailors for those seeking a harbor pilot, a full-time navigator or able seamen to round out a crew; fishermen have their own Guild on the South Wharves and are not terribly welcome here.  Non-able seamen are discouraged from hanging around until they undergo long apprenticeships or unless they are entrepreneurs or sea captains hiring for voyages.  Those hiring are expected to pay a fee to the Guild depending on the length of voyage and hazards anticipated. 

On the first floor of this wood-and-stucco edifice is a large office where captains and officers gather, and where a large cork board tracks known shipping.  There is a smaller administrative office, where a wall covered with cubbyholes hold messages for passing vessels.  Most of the second floor is taken up by a meeting hall where Venturers can hold rallies, and there is a separately run teahouse on the 2nd floor balcony upon which the sailors take tea and shoot the breeze.  The second floor also has a memorial wall of dark basalt plaques upon which are carved the names of Venturers who never came home.  On the third and fourth floors, low cost (and mediocre quality) food and beds for seamen are available barracks style.  Supervising the barracks hall is Leofo, a former bosun’s mate.  The fifth floor has modest lockers for long service mariners, with room for a bed, table, chair and seachest and not much more.  Notables include:

Tandon val Horvath is the Guildmaster, a position of enormous political influence and the reason why the influential val Horvath family have plucked this plum.  Tandon is genuinely a licensed master mariner, but has his post far more for reasons of politicking than any other, and he is quite good at it.

Naghan "Racer" val Horvath, son of Tandon, is the chief harbor pilot.  Another in his post through nepotism, he is tolerated largely because pilot posts are seen as sinecures for elderly do-nothings and because Racer is a genial, popular young man with a reputation as a skilled bladesman.

Cap’n Dolan Hide is the cheerful, swarthy son of a merchant; he is a veteran bladesman, well off enough that he sails because he wants to do so.  He cons the Windrose, a 70 fast schooner outfitted for the tea trade and noted for being weatherly.  The Windrose sports no visible cannon, but her swivel guns are enchanted to shoot lightning, not bullets.

Gwythar the Knife is Dolan’s first mate, a giant of barbarian blood. He is a skilled helmsman, but an unbelievable knife thrower, one of the world’s best.  He is festooned with knives, many enchanted and all of exceptional quality.

Vangar and Varko are twin brothers who own Manannan’s Confidence, a 250 ton roundship.  They take turns as captain and helmsman, and it is difficult to tell which is which; they are both equally humorless and taciturn.  The Connie is a once-renowned sailer that was poorly repaired following a grounding, and a good bit of rot has set in. 

Shena of Seahill captains the Black Serpent, a shallow draft sideboard schooner with four sweeps designed for inshore and reef work.  The Serpent is a jumpy, persnickety ship requiring an attentive, attuned helmsman, which Shena is.  She won’t do a knowingly illegal act (emphasis on the ‘knowingly’) such as smuggling or opium running, but she also asks few questions.

Triana Lessenya owns the Falconer, a 75 ton coastal packet.  She insists on sailing with the vessel, which is just as well, because she is a skilled weather mage (and hates being treated as one, preferring the ordinary clothes of a sea captain).  The Falconer is an average sailer, but reasonably weather-tight and set for small bulk cargos.

User Submitted Ideas (0)