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The Tide Cities

The Tide Cities

A Tide City, a crowded merchant harbour of banks and guildhalls on the western ocean
Where West of Aldoria, on the Western Ocean
Government Guild councils in each city, and a yearly Tide Assembly
Chief port Westhaven
Ruled by Kaelen, since 907–908 AP
Governor Four, then the Gull from 909 AP
Status Annexed, restless

Locked Free merchant city-states on Meridia's west coast, with no king at all. They gave the continent its neutral name, Meridia, and its shared calendar. Today they are under Kaelen rule.

Before the conquest

Locked A league of six free cities. Each was run by a council of guilds and great trading families, and together they met once a year in the Tide Assembly.

Aspect Detail
Wealth Banking, shipbuilding, insurance, printing and the western ocean trade
Character Cosmopolitan, proud and cheerfully greedy. A person is judged by credit, not birth
Arms Few standing troops. They hire mercenary companies, and sell them abroad
Faith Tolerant. The Order of the Sun has chapels here, but so does everyone else
Stance on the war Lent money to both Aldoria and Kaelen. They profited from tension and feared real war, which ruins trade

Rivals: House Corvane resents the Tide banks, which undercut its loans to the Aldorian Crown.

Open The names of the other five cities.

Now

Locked Annexed into the Empire during the conquest (907–908 AP), with no neutral flag left. At first they fell under Four, governor of the western regions. Since Four's confinement in late summer 909 AP, the Gull, Ghost-7, governs them along with Blackwater's harbour. The merchants are restless, and they want to know where Alyssa's revolver came from.

DM only

DM projection for the Age of Ribbons: the Tide Cities expel their imperial magistrates, raise the neutral flag again, and sell to everyone.

For a wanderer

Nobody in a Tide City cares which side of the mountains you were born on. There's plenty of work for an honest sword: caravan and ship guards, mercenary contracts and guild disputes.

Sources

  • The Aldorian Codex: Lands Beyond, "The wider world", "The Tide Cities"
  • Campaign Three handoff, §7
  • Owner's notes of 6 November 2026