Harbor District

Harbor District

Overview

Type: Industrial/Maritime Hub and Contamination Zone Region: The Cerulean Reach (Port Zephyr) Population: Approximately 3,000 residents, plus 1,500+ transient workers and refugees Government: Overseen by Harbor Officials under direct Council control, with heavily armed City Watch Officers maintaining brutal order Contamination Level: Moderate to High (varies by location and tidal conditions)

Description

The Harbor District sprawls along Port Zephyr’s contaminated waterfront like a festering wound that the city cannot afford to heal. This industrial zone serves as both the source of the city’s wealth and the graveyard of its working class, where massive docks accommodate vessels ranging from desperate fishing boats to imperial merchant galleons and the dangerous experimental Airships that represent humanity’s reckless attempts to bypass ground-based contamination.

The district extends from the main harbor piers through a maze of warehouses, decontamination stations, worker barracks, and businesses that profit from desperation. The architecture reflects harsh pragmatism—reinforced concrete and salvaged steel built to contain contamination as much as to shelter inhabitants. Buildings rarely exceed three stories due to foundation instability from harbor pollution, with ground floors serving as workshops and storage while upper levels house workers in cramped, poorly ventilated quarters.

The harbor itself glows with an eerie phosphorescence after dark, a visible reminder of the magical contamination that permeates every surface. Different sections of the waterfront carry different risks: the Eastern Glow Docks are so contaminated that workers require full protective gear and rarely survive more than six months of employment, while the Western Clean Berths (a relative term) handle goods bound for the Hill Ward and require only basic decontamination protocols.

Decontamination Infrastructure dominates the district’s layout. Every major thoroughfare features mandatory washing stations, radiation detectors jury-rigged from pre-Cataclysm salvage, and disposal sites for contaminated materials. The famous Purge Gates separate the Harbor District from cleaner areas, requiring all workers to undergo painful decontamination procedures before entering other parts of the city.

The district operates on a brutal but necessary rhythm. Dawn brings the Death Shifts—workers heading to the most contaminated areas for premium pay and short life expectancy. Midday sees the Salvage Crews returning from expeditions to underwater ruins, their hauls potentially valuable enough to justify the cancer they’ve absorbed. Evening transforms the area into a desperate social hub where workers drink away their radiation sickness in taverns that serve as much as hospitals as gathering places.

Notable Features

The Glow Docks (Eastern Harbor)

  • Contamination Level: Extreme
  • Primary Function: Handling pre-Cataclysm artifacts and severely contaminated materials
  • Workers: Condemned criminals, terminally ill volunteers, the desperately poor
  • Safety Protocol: Full environmental suits required; 6-month maximum service life
  • Economic Impact: Produces 40% of Port Zephyr’s wealth through artifact trade

Quarantine Pier (Northern Harbor)

  • Purpose: Inspection and decontamination of vessels from contaminated regions
  • Features: Isolation chambers, emergency medical facilities, disposal incinerators
  • Personnel: Medical staff with high turnover rates due to exposure
  • Capacity: Up to 12 vessels in various stages of decontamination processing

The Bone Yards (Central Harbor)

  • Description: Ship breaking facility where contaminated vessels are stripped for salvage
  • Hazards: Metal that burns flesh, toxic fumes, structural collapse
  • Workforce: Rotating crews with mandatory health monitoring
  • Products: Salvaged materials for construction and manufacturing

Skyport Terminal (Western Harbor)

  • Function: Experimental Airships docking and maintenance
  • Construction: Jury-rigged from pre-Cataclysm materials of questionable stability
  • Risks: Frequent mechanical failures, crashes, contamination leaks
  • Innovation: Represents desperate attempts to bypass ground-based contamination routes

The Underdocks (Subterranean)

  • Location: Flooded pre-Cataclysm infrastructure beneath the harbor
  • Access: Diving operations for artifact recovery and waste disposal
  • Conditions: Zero visibility, extreme contamination, structural instability
  • Economics: High-risk, high-reward salvage operations funded by merchant princes

Worker Medical Center

  • Services: Radiation treatment, amputation, palliative care
  • Funding: Merchant guild contributions and imperial subsidies
  • Capacity: Chronically overwhelmed by contamination cases
  • Research: Experimental treatments using desperate volunteers

Districts and Neighborhoods

The Stacks (Northern Section)

  • Housing: Vertical worker barracks built from shipping containers
  • Population: Recent refugees and new workers
  • Conditions: Overcrowded, minimal sanitation, shared decontamination facilities
  • Community: Strong mutual aid networks born from shared desperation

Dock Boss Territory (Central Section)

  • Control: Organized labor bosses managing work assignments and protection
  • Services: Black market goods, informal banking, dispute resolution
  • Politics: Uneasy cooperation between worker unions and merchant interests
  • Violence: Regular conflicts over territory and resources

The Clinics (Southern Section)

  • Medical Services: Treatment for contamination exposure and industrial injuries
  • Practitioners: Doctors who lost licenses elsewhere, desperate healers, experimental surgeons
  • Payment: Often in trade goods, labor commitments, or body parts for research
  • Ethics: Medical care available to anyone, regardless of ability to pay or legal status

Warehouse Row (Western Section)

  • Function: Storage for goods awaiting decontamination or shipment
  • Security: Private guards protecting valuable contaminated materials
  • Smuggling: Hidden chambers for illegal artifact trade
  • Labor: Loading crews with protective gear and rotation schedules

Economic Activities

Contaminated Goods Handling

  • Artifact Processing: Cleaning and preparing pre-Cataclysm technology for sale
  • Material Salvage: Breaking down contaminated items for reusable components
  • Waste Management: Disposal of materials too dangerous for other settlements
  • Risk Assessment: Testing contamination levels for insurance and pricing

Decontamination Services

  • Personal Washing: Mandatory cleaning for workers and visitors
  • Equipment Treatment: Decontaminating tools, vehicles, and cargo
  • Medical Screening: Health checks for contamination exposure
  • Protective Gear: Manufacturing and maintaining safety equipment

Labor Brokerage

  • Work Assignment: Matching workers to jobs based on contamination tolerance
  • Life Insurance: Betting pools on worker survival rates
  • Medical Monitoring: Tracking health decline for compensation calculations
  • Replacement Services: Recruiting new workers as others become too sick to continue

Social Dynamics

Worker Solidarity

  • Mutual Aid: Sharing resources, medical care, and survival information
  • Union Organization: Underground labor movements demanding better safety conditions
  • Cultural Preservation: Maintaining traditions from workers’ home communities
  • Political Resistance: Organizing against exploitative working conditions

Class Conflict

  • Dock Boss Authority: Labor leaders wielding life-and-death power over job assignments
  • Merchant Exploitation: Owners prioritizing profit over worker safety
  • Government Neglect: City officials treating the district as a necessary sacrifice zone
  • Imperial Extraction: Foreign powers profiting from local contamination tolerance

Survival Networks

  • Information Trading: Sharing knowledge about contamination levels and safe routes
  • Black Market Economy: Informal trade in protective gear, medicine, and clean food
  • Family Support: Sending money to relatives while workers slowly die from exposure
  • Community Defense: Protecting each other from predators who exploit the desperate

Current Threats and Opportunities

The Crimson Tide Crisis

  • Manifestation: Red contamination spreading from deep harbor waters
  • Impact: Previously “safe” areas becoming dangerously contaminated
  • Response: Emergency evacuations conflicting with economic necessities
  • Investigation: Unknown whether natural spread or deliberate contamination

Worker Strike Organization

  • Demands: Better safety equipment, reduced exposure limits, political representation
  • Leadership: Underground union organizers risking their lives for collective action
  • Opposition: Merchant princes threatening to import replacement workers
  • Stakes: Economic shutdown versus continued worker exploitation

Imperial Labor Inspection

  • Official Purpose: The Amunrai Imperium evaluating “workplace safety standards”
  • Hidden Agenda: Justifying increased imperial control over contaminated material trade
  • Worker Fear: Imperial labor standards may be worse than current conditions
  • Political Response: City officials caught between worker demands and imperial pressure

Artifact Discovery

  • Location: Construction uncovered powerful pre-Cataclysm technology beneath old warehouses
  • Danger: Item possibly responsible for increasing contamination levels
  • Competition: Multiple factions seeking to control the discovery
  • Secrecy: Information being suppressed to prevent panic

Secrets & Mysteries

The Deep Breach

  • Harbor contamination originates from a crack in pre-Cataclysm containment systems
  • City authorities know about the breach but lack resources to repair it
  • The leak is slowly accelerating, threatening to make the entire harbor uninhabitable

Dock Boss Confederation

  • Labor leaders secretly coordinating across multiple cities for regional worker uprising
  • Network includes connections to resistance movements opposing imperial expansion
  • Plans involve shutting down contaminated material trade to force safety improvements

Medical Experimentation

  • Worker Medical Center conducting illegal research on contamination effects
  • Experimental treatments being tested on desperate workers without proper consent
  • Research funded by imperial interests seeking to understand Remnant Magic effects

The Ghost Ships

  • Vessels arriving at night with no living crew, carrying unknown cargo
  • Ships may be operating under pre-Cataclysm automation that’s still functional
  • Cargo includes materials that don’t match any known contamination sources

Smuggling Network

  • Complex underground economy moving people, information, and contraband
  • Routes include flooded pre-Cataclysm tunnels connecting to other cities
  • Network may be providing escape routes for political dissidents and contamination refugees

Adventure Considerations

Environmental Hazards

  • Contamination exposure requiring protective gear and medical monitoring
  • Structural instability from corroded foundations and makeshift construction
  • Industrial accidents involving dangerous materials and experimental technology
  • Weather events that spread contamination or destroy protective infrastructure

Social Complexity

  • Worker communities with strong solidarity but also desperate internal competition
  • Labor bosses wielding power through both protection and exploitation
  • Moral dilemmas involving survival versus exploitation of others
  • Political intrigue involving worker rights, merchant profits, and imperial interests

Economic Opportunities

  • High-risk salvage operations offering substantial rewards for contaminated materials
  • Decontamination services essential for city survival but requiring dangerous work
  • Information brokerage about contamination levels, safety procedures, and political developments
  • Underground markets providing goods and services unavailable through official channels

Party History

Notes

The Harbor District represents the fundamental moral contradiction of post-Cataclysm survival: the necessities that keep society alive are slowly killing those who provide them. Every economic transaction involves choosing between profit and human life, every safety measure comes at the cost of reduced productivity, and every day of continued prosperity is built on the calculated sacrifice of workers who have no other options.

The district serves as a perfect microcosm of the campaign’s core themes—environmental contamination as ongoing crisis, economic exploitation disguised as mutual benefit, and communities finding solidarity in shared suffering while being pitted against each other by systemic pressures beyond their control.

In the Harbor District, the true cost of survival is always visible in the faces of those who pay it.