Port Foul
Port Foul is an island of the Western Threshold, located to the west of the Roiling Abyss and the Starfall Stone, and south of the Pigeon Isles. The Island of the Heavenly Lotus can often be found in the waters to the west of the island during the months of the Earth season.
The seas around Port Foul are rough due to the storms emerging from the Abyss, and several dangerous reefs lie just below the waterline, making navigation difficult. The open waters to the west are home to Siaka, and other Sharks are found in these waters in great numbers.
The island of Port Foul is not large, but benefits from the presence of a large reef which circles off its southwestern coast. This reef calms the turbulent waters of the region, and protects a deep bay in which a fortified port town has been established. The rest of the island is home to a few short, hardy trees used for lumber and harvesting Western Plums, and swampy flatlands used to grow roots and plants to supplement a local diet dominated by fish. A local, inedible seaweed is often washed ashore in large quantities, and as it rots gives off a vile odour, giving the island its name: this seaweed is used by locals as a building and insulating material.
Port Foul is a pirate haven, and one which has drawn many crews to establish themselves as its overlords. Due to its location, Port Foul is well placed for ships to raid the merchant vessels plying the currents crossing the empty open seas to link the populous lands of the Ocean Sea to those of the southwestern seas. While its location is not so secret as the Lintha base at Bluehaven, the difficulty of navigating the local reefs and storms means large fleets have difficulty launching an attack. While battle over the Port is frequent, this occurs between pirate gangs seeking to secure it as a base for their own operations. By tradition, navigators do not chart the waters here, instead relying on memory to keep those ships able to reach the port safely few in number, though measures such as press-gang and torture have been employed to gain it by ambitious captains.
In addition to the reef, which makes an attack from the harbour difficult, the port town is surrounded by a defensive wall, made of stinking seaweed, sand, coral, and eggs, 26ft high and 18ft thick, resistant to most siege weapons a ship crew might bring to bear from their vessels. This wall is of the style seen in the Pigeon Isles, originating from times long past when Port Foul was the southernmost settlement of the tribes dwelling there, before the first enterprising pirate crew seized it for their own.
Port Foul is, as the base of one powerful pirate group or another, not a hospitable port for traders and travelers, but the webs of alliances and agreements between pirate captains and the great powers of the West mean depending on the crew in control vessels of Coral, The Guild, Skullstone, or even the Realm might come occasionally to trade. Of greater importance to Port Foul, though, is the passage of the Island of the Heavenly Lotus through nearby waters during the Earth season, which gives access to a free port where they might buy supplies, replenish crews, and sell off their loot and prizes.
