Southport

Southport is a small city in the Frontier Counties, recently under the flag of Bastonia. It is a fortified city with an all-season port, and its status as such makes it a critical holding for Bastonian settlement of the area. The city is under the authority of the Count of Southport.

Southport is an important waystation for Bastonian trade, both in terms of supplies brought into the Frontier Counties (with all other routes being overland), and as a stop along the lucrative trade route between Oversea and the port cities of the Shimmering Shore. As such it also has a higher than usual degree of cosmopolitanism in its population than is seen in much the rest of Bastonia.

In spite of its importance as an economic holding, Southport is not the ducal capital of the frontier counties. The Duke of Sudmarch instead holds court at the more central location of Val Verra, which has better access to the Bastonian heartland. The city was originally constructed by the Minotaur and so has an exotic feel compared to the usual mainline Bastonian architecture.

Geography

Southport is constructed upon gently-rolling planes that approach the shore, as well as, obviously, the shoreline itself. It has temperate to warm weather throughout the year, though its proximity to the Western Sea makes it prone to weather. It is known to be no more than two days' march from Skull Rock, placing it under threat from the Order of the Gauntlet. Its position also more or less marks the southern extent of the Frontier Counties - much further south than Southport and you're properly in the Lordless Lands.

Like many Bastonian cities the port's core administrative quarter is constructed upon a hill - in this case, an artificial one - protected by a double-wall - the Southport Bastion is the principal residence of the Count of Southport.

In addition to the harbour and shipyard facilities available the market and residential quarters are quite pronounced, protected on their inland edges by a large semicircular wall.

Economy

Most of the economy of the Small City of Coldwater is in trade. In addition to providing a position from which ships bound north or south can resupply, and where merchants can ply their wears, trade in exotic animal materials and certain other raw materials is at a high for export, with import being largely in books, fine goods, and persons - soldiers to fight in the ongoing conflicts with the Orcish Nation (or, indeed, between border counts) and settlers to build out the farming and infrastructure of the now-settled region.

The city also boasts a sizable fishing fleet as the waters of this part of the Western Sea are rich, and fish makes up a major portion of the diet for those living in southport, in a variety of forms. Some nobility who can afford to do so send their cooks to Southport to learn and bring techniques and spices back north with them - both in the preparation of seafood as well as in the exotic methods of cooking collectively known as "orcish barbeque".

As with all cities of Bastonia there are other economic engines in construction, agriculture, and forestry - in particularly, Southport is one of only three ports in all Bastonia that have permanent shipyards, with the other two being Oversea and Coldwater.

Politics

Southport is the seat of the Count of Southport and several other country barons and earls owe fealty to the count. The city presents outwardly as stable and secure, but is frequently targeted by raids from three sources: over-ambitious pirates, the Order of the Gauntlet, and the odd party from the Orcish Nation that has ranged this far east.

As a result the elder children of the Count of Southport are frequently experienced campaigners themselves, and there are two lesser titles - Earl and Baron Southport - which are conferred upon them, along with small fortress holdings near the city from which they may muster and train militias and assist in the city's defense.