The City Isle of Passage, Rising from the Resting Sea
Passage is a city island found in the middle of the Resting Sea. It is one of the largest cities in the known world, as well as being one of the oldest.
History and Culture[]
Passage is a city that has existed for thousands of years, supposedly founded by the mysterious people of the western continent. Certainly, the culture of Passage has always seemed alien to the people of the eastern shores, and even after the Old Empire took control of the city as part of their conquest, Passage still held a degree of exotic intrigue for the world. When the empire withdrew from Passage to deal with other problems, a warrior both famous and loved, Ramadred, was chosen by the people to lead them into a glorious new future. In a sense he did just that, by sending seafaring conquerers to the Bonecleaver Islands and Southmark and declaring them to belong to Passage. After many generations of Ramadred's line, a new prince was born to Maradred the Meek, and he was known as Davodred. On ascending to the throne, Davodred began attacks on the Imperial Heartlands. He first won a victory over the nation of Arvania, from which it never recovered, then against Thane itself, which surrendered rather than lose its emperor. Altea, Cramen and Ravain all fell after much conflict, but an alliance between Dura and Anvar managed to repel his attacks. Davodred was eventually executed in Sharhaven by Corvan II, and Passage lost the lands it had claimed. The culture of Passage remains strange to outsiders, and it is currently ruled by Queen Elyena.
Passage is an independent military and economic power, with large armies commanded by their general, General Vahadharas. The guards of Passage were until recently led by Captain Azeidan, although he was found murdered alongside many other guards. The city is extremely wealthy, exporting many valuable commodities such as fish, salt, arms, perfumes, whale oil, spices, silks, shellfish and ichors. The city also has an absolute zero tolerance policy regarding crime, and criminals are often killed outright and put on display in stylised hanging cages, with their individual crimes carved into their forehead, (so a prostitute might have "whore," carved, or a thief or pirate have their crimes respectively).
The city is roughly divided into three districts; the sand district, which is loosely managed by a local militia under the guidance of merchants and noblemen; the stone district, which is well garrisoned and tends to be where most of the wealthy citizens reside; and the sky district, wherein the royal palace can be found as well as the city barracks. There are terrible slums in the sand district, as well as bustling bazaars and marketplaces. Recently, the city has had a devastating plague of yellow fever.
In the Campaign[]
The party arrived here alongside Garvix, Darius, Jack Morgan, Tarnish and Paedran, with the aim of finding half of the amulet (supposedly hidden by Davodred in ancient vaults below the city). They discovered that Ciad was also present, posing as a nobleman called Lord Sylvester, and he helped them inflitrate the tunnels. After leaving the vaults, they were accosted by Captain Azeidan, who had been informed of the break-in by Ciad. They managed to fight past him and return to their boat.