Gerald's Dockyard
Gerald's Dockyard is the only door to the City of the Sunken Saints, and it opens for almost no one. A series of intertwined flat-bottomed barges spans between the Maerskeee and the Vale Iron City, connected to both ships by retractable gangplanks that can be sealed at short notice. Salt Wise fishmongers, traders, and boatbuilders operate the dockyard, managing all external contact with the greater city.
Access is the dockyard's defining feature and its primary function. Many years of respectable trade dealings are the minimum requirement for a docking invitation. Personal invitations are sometimes extended to descendants of people the Full Dead knew in their former lives, a gesture that speaks to the city's long memory and the personal connections that transcend death. Approved visitors receive beads of black, gold, and white that grant access to the Vieux Carre District's higher-quality trading deck. These beads are in high demand among mainland traders, as much for the prestige they represent as for the trade opportunities they unlock.
The gangplanks connecting the dockyard to the two main ships represent the chokepoint for all external contact with the Sunken Saints. They can be retracted and sealed in moments, cutting the city off from the outside world entirely. The dockyard itself is a working waterfront: boatbuilding operations alongside fish markets and trading stalls, the smell of salt and labor mixing with the business of deciding who deserves to enter and who goes home empty-handed.
Access is the dockyard's defining feature and its primary function. Many years of respectable trade dealings are the minimum requirement for a docking invitation. Personal invitations are sometimes extended to descendants of people the Full Dead knew in their former lives, a gesture that speaks to the city's long memory and the personal connections that transcend death. Approved visitors receive beads of black, gold, and white that grant access to the Vieux Carre District's higher-quality trading deck. These beads are in high demand among mainland traders, as much for the prestige they represent as for the trade opportunities they unlock.
The gangplanks connecting the dockyard to the two main ships represent the chokepoint for all external contact with the Sunken Saints. They can be retracted and sealed in moments, cutting the city off from the outside world entirely. The dockyard itself is a working waterfront: boatbuilding operations alongside fish markets and trading stalls, the smell of salt and labor mixing with the business of deciding who deserves to enter and who goes home empty-handed.
