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Name

Saypish (SAY-pish)

Demonym

Saypeshi

Colors

Purple, red and blue

Common Knowledge

A port city, Saypish is well known as a stop-over destination for sea travel. It rests protected in the Copper Bay and is said to have two faces: one of luxury, riches and travel and the other of smugglers, thieves and assassins. It is led by the Merchant’s Council: a twenty-seat ruling body that is filled with some of the wealthiest merchants in the continent.

Sprawled on the northwestern banks of the Copper Bay, the estuary of the Sennomita River, Saypish is the city of water travel, 80% of all water travel based there. Canals cut through the city which, paired with the slow but steady building out into the bay itself, blurs the lines of where the bay ends and the city begins. The common belief is that if you can’t find what you’re looking for in Saypish, it hasn’t been found by anyone yet. While the accredited merchants operate under some of the most stringent standards on the continent, given that the Merchant’s Council is headquartered in Saypish, there is also a thriving, though well hidden, black market. Accredited or not, one can buy anything in the City of Sails: rare alchemy components, illicit writpaper, artifacts from the farthest reaches, books rare and dangerous, and maybe an assassin or two.

A Local’s Knowledge

While to an outsider it’s near impossible to tell what parts of the city were originally part of the bay and what parts were always land, a local knows to look for where the merchant-nobles live and base their companies: this is where the land once ended and where the first of the business elite claimed space, on the then water’s edge. This is also where some of the grandest, heaviest stone buildings reside, with the buildings and walkways becoming more and more composed of wood as they edge out further into the bay. If one looks for the merchant-noble buildings that reside alongside the widest canals, with the most unencumbered paths out into the open sea, one can find the wealthiest, most powerful members of the city.

It’s not a big secret that a black market does exist in Saypish, but locals know that it is largely not worth the trouble and potential danger: much easier to learn which licensed merchants sell certain goods on the side. The true black market, the Undermarket, is well hidden and requires vetting and a guide the first time going to it. Since most locals will never step foot in the Undermarket, what most know of it is from second- and third-hand accounts: it’s underwater, or in a deep basement. You need to swim to get to it, or walk through long, unlit tunnels. It can be accessed by opening an innocuous door on the side of some merchant-noble building, or requires specifically-spelled writpaper to even find the entrance. Regardless of what the truth is, one thing is for sure: you don’t find the Undermarket unless it allows itself to be found.

Notable locations

Government

Notable people

Common Costuming

  • Masquerade masks are a common fashion accessory
  • In the fancy side of the city:
    • Intricately patterned fabrics, colorful, many colors in a single fabric
    • Garments cover the whole body, as much as possible
    • Venetian-inspired works well
  • In the underside of the city:
    • Much darker fabrics, much less ostentatious
    • Tighter silhouettes