Infobox
Bay of Ptolus
Maritime & Harbor Dossier
Attribute Detail Harbor Name Bay of Ptolus World Eraedal Imperial Realm Western Empire Parent Waters Inland Sea (with southern straits to the Sea of Scarlet Waters) Overlooking City Ptolus (City by the Spire) Dominant Landmark The Spire (3,000-Foot Basalt Monolith on the North Headland) Harbor Features Deep-Water Anchorage, Sinking Sands Shoreline, The Great Sea-Wall Naval Authority Imperial Harbor Commission & City Watch Marine Guard Major Traffic Western Merchantmen, Delver Caravels, Timro Trade Ketches, Smuggler Skiffs
🌊 Overview
The Bay of Ptolus is a deep, naturally sheltered oceanic embayment located along the southeastern seaboard of the Tarldet Plains in the Western Empire. Positioned where the eastern waters of the Inland Sea meet the coastal currents sweeping up from the Sea of Scarlet Waters, the bay serves as the vital maritime lung of the great boomtown of Ptolus.
Guarded to the north by the towering, impossible black needle of the Spire and framed to the west by the two-hundred-foot coastal bluffs supporting the city’s Oldtown and Dalenguard districts, the Bay of Ptolus is one of the busiest, most chaotic anchorages in the Megaverse. On any given afternoon, hundreds of vessels crowd its glistening waters—ranging from gold-laden Western Empire galleons and armored Timro trade ketches to battered privateer caravels transporting eager fortune-seekers arriving to plumb the depths of ancient Dwarvenhearth.
🗺️ Harbor Topography & The Sinking Sands
[ THE SPIRE & NORTH HEADLAND ]
(3,000-Foot Shadow | Jabel Shammar Apex)
|
[ THE INNER HARBOR / DEEP BERTHS ]
(Imperial Naval Slips | Custom House Pontoon)
|
[ THE WESTERN BLUFFS ] <----+----> [ THE INLAND SEA ]
(Oldtown | Dalenguard) | (Trade Routes to Eastern Territories)
|
[ THE DOCKS DISTRICT ]
(Sinking Sands | Wooden Stilt-Wharves)
|
[ SOUTHERN REEF STRAITS ]
(Passage toward the Sea of Scarlet Waters)
- The Deep-Water Basin: The center of the bay plunges into a deep oceanic trench, allowing even the largest four-masted Western Empire war galleys to set anchor without risk of grounding.
- The Sinking Sands: Unlike traditional rocky or packed-sand harbors, the western shore beneath Ptolus’s cliffs is composed of notoriously unstable, water-logged mud and sinking sands. The entire Docks district—warehouses, fish markets, taverns, and crane piers—is constructed atop colossal forest-grown pilings driven deep into the bedrock. Constant construction is required as older piers slowly subside into the brine.
- The Sea-Monster Patrols: Because ancient sewer outfalls and subterranean aqueducts from the deep Dungeon empty directly into the bay, bizarre predators—scavenging chana-sharks, giant morays, and sewer krakens—frequently lurk around the pilings, keeping the Harbour Watch on high alert.
🏛️ Geopolitical Role in the Western Empire
Within the ongoing Three-way Civil War tearing the Western Empire apart, the Bay of Ptolus is an indispensable lifeline:
- Holy Emperor Rehoboth’s Sea Road: With land routes across the Middle Kingdoms overrun by barbarian Coyles and monstrous legions, the court of Holy Emperor Rehoboth in Ptolus relies almost entirely on sea convoys entering the bay from the south to maintain food and weapons supplies.
- The Tariff Wars: Both the Imperial Commissar, Igor Urnst, and the aristocratic merchant consortium known as the Council of Coin maintain competing customs checkpoints along the docks, extracting port dues from arriving merchantmen to finance their respective private guards.
📜 The Tri-System Synthesis: Bay Canon
1. The Physical Shell (Palladium Canon)
- Fits seamlessly into the coastal geography of the Western Empire along the Inland Sea and Tarldet Plains.
2. The Ancient Bones (Praemal / Ptolus Lore)
- Directly adapted from Monte Cook’s Ptolus: City by the Spire (the Docks, the bay cartography, and harbor encounters).
- Submerged beneath the bay’s northern waters lie drowned basalt structures predating mortal history—the foundation ruins of ancient sea-temples raised during the primordial epoch of the Galchutt / Old Ones.